2019-20 School Year–Week Seven

What a week! I keep wondering when things are going to slow down, but at this point, almost a quarter of the way into the school year (!!!), maybe I just have to realize they’re not going to…

Turkey and Bunny finally reached something in pre-calculus that made them pause (a bit)…they started a chapter on reference angles. They were a little confused, until they realized that they were basically learning about the same thing in physics in regard to vectors, and then it all came together, which was exciting for me as a teacher to watch! Their US history lessons focused on troublemakers in colonial America: Roger and Abigail Williams (surprisingly, they were unrelated!). They practiced utilizing different points-of-view in writing.

Ladybug worked with metric conversions in pre-algebra, which was pretty easy. She is almost done with her literature study of The Hobbit. We were sad when Lake-town was destroyed! In history, she read about the self-imposed isolation of Japan in the late 1500s. She practiced composing different styles of introductions and conclusions in writing.

Chickadee started her study of Tales from Beatrix Potter in literature, beginning with the story of Peter Rabbit. We also read the “Tippy Bunnies” stories by Candace Fleming, because they have so many things in common with the story of Peter. She worked on carrying numbers to the hundreds place in math. She also finished the chapter on Mercury in science…Venus is up next!

We also played a new game this week. While we’ve already enjoyed Chrononauts and Chrono-Trek, this is the first time we’ve played Early American Chrononauts. Turkey and Bunny are edging closer to the Revolutionary War in their study of US history, so I thought this would be a fun addition, because I really like talking about the domino effect that is events throughout history, and this really helps us visualize just how differently things could have ended up. I hope to play ÜberChrononauts with them soon!

And for a little extra fine arts education, we attended two different organ recitals this week. While we are very familiar with organ music within the church service, it’s a completely different experience to hear the organ playing on its own, especially when you have the opportunity to hear an artist like Christopher Houlihan play on an exceptional instrument!

And finally, we did get to go on another field trip this week, this time to Grant’s Farm, because not only was it pleasant out, it actually felt like fall!!! This is the outdoor field trip I’ve been saving for really pleasant weather, and we weren’t disappointed. And even though we’ve been to Grant’s Farm countless times, we all learned something new (and we heard the call of an elk for the first time, which was something special!).

I can’t wait to see what next week has in store!

Church Before and After

After a year and half without the organ, and nine month of worshipping in the basement, the renovations at Hope Lutheran Church in St. Louis are finally complete! We were fortunate that some of the family got to be part of the special choir that sang for the service of re-dedication this morning, but before we take a look at the new worship space, let’s look back at what it used to look like:

We’ve been checking in on the renovations all along, and we even heard the children’s choir perform a recital in the not-quite-complete space last month, but there was something special about seeing it this morning!

It is the same, and yet so very different (and lovely!):

This was the perfect morning for an organ re-dedication, because it also happened to be the commemoration date for Johann Sebastian Bach, Kantor. Can you think of a better day for music of all kinds? I will leave you with a few selections from the choir this morning, beginning with “Locus Iste,” which welcomed worship back to the sacred space, followed by two verses of “Stone on Living Stone,” which written for the church’s 100th anniversary a few years ago:

How lovely is Your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!

Organ Dedication

This afternoon, our church dedicated a new organ. It was a huge project, which involved not only installing and voicing a new hybrid organ, but also new wood flooring in the organ loft and in the sanctuary.

I’ll leave you with one selection from the service…not only did the organ sound amazing, it’s one of the most Lutheran songs there is!

Organ: A Work in Progress

Yesterday, the choir camp that “The Bigs” are attending took a field trip to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Des Peres, MO, to see how the work on their organ installation is going, and I got to tag along. I’m not going to lie…I didn’t really know what I was looking at, but it sure was cool!