Field Trip

Today St. Walburga's Academy went on a field trip. My five students and I went to the art museum downtown OKC and saw Roman Art for the Louvre. You can view their website here: http://okcmoa.com/romanartfromthelouvre/ We had such a great time. It was better than I expected.

1- The three year old did not fuss--much.
2- Very few incidents of running.
3- We only set off one alarm.
4- I actually got to read about 1/2 the material posted for the exhibit.
5- I actually got to look at things up close.
6- One of the curators was happy to give us a lot of information about items in the exhibit without '3 weeks notice' posted for group tours.
7- The art was bigger and more detailed then expected from the pictures. Of course, a 2 inch picture on a screen does not prepare one for an enormous 5 foot tall bust of Lucilla. Just trying to imagine a full sized statue with that 5 foot head is awsome. And...there were statues MUCH bigger than that in Rome. Wow!
8- It was great to see these portraits (mostly) in marble. You can picture the historical people in a more realistic light.

All the students had a good time despite the late lunch afterward. I look forward to more, interesting field trips. The best part was that on the initiative of one of the homeschool mothers we got a group rate. The admission was only $12 (plus $1.50 for parking) as opposed to the $52 for the regular rates.
Whoo, hoo! Thanks Nici!

Praise God for a WONDERFUL DAY!!

Why can't anything be easy?

Today I finally got all my school lesson plans. Wow! One and a half boxes of paper. I can't believe how much paper that is. But, they forgot my whole third grade. So far, I have found two books I forgot to order and I ordered the wrong Latin program lesson plans. I want to wait until I've checked over everything to make sure I don't need to order more--oh, and I accidently ordered my daughter's science workbook twice. I know the homeschool we enroll in is VERY busy at this time of the year but I want to get started now. I am anxious to get school set up and start soon. Aren't I their most important customer? ;-)

Another problem I'm having...I cannot pay for an item on ebay. My paypal account does not seem to work. I wrote the security center. They sent me a nice note back that they were happy to inform me that my account now works. So, I go to pay and...it doesn't work! So, I CALL the "help" center. Of course, you have to go through a 'phone maze' first. Then I talk to some woman who talks fast and has some kind of accent. She talks to me like I am stupid...Do you know your password? Is your caps lock on? Did you try this way? Did you try that way?....IF I didn't already try those WHY WOULD I BE CALLING YOU?????? Anyway, after an hour of repitition and stupid questions (hers I mean) I just said, "Thank you very much, let's not waste each other's time," and I hung up. I sent another message to the so-called help center. We'll see.

I am trying to get my three year old potty trained. I think I already missed "the window of opportunity." You know, that window where they are willing and able to train but you're too busy. Anyway, I hope it doesn't take as long as son #3 did. I had to make a deal with him. I asked him (picture my pulling my hair out), "When will you use the potty????" He said when I am four. So, since his fourth birthday was 2 1/2 months away by then, I didn't mention it again. Yes, I kept wiping his poopy butt. On his fourth birthday, we had a heart to heart. "You promised you would use the potty when you were four." (picture the honey tones here) THREE DAYS later he said, "I did it! Wanna see my poop?" It was one of the best days of my life...sad, huh? Anyway, I hope it doesn't take son #4 that long. He was very excited to wear his new training pants today but sat on the couch and went in them. So, now I have to change him and dry the couch.

Storm clouds outside, leaky basement, ugh....

A Few Useful Links

For anyone who wants to look things up in the Bible or the Catechism of the Catholic Church, there are many online resources that are quite useful and easy to use online.

The New Jerusalem Bible: http://www.catholic.org/bible/

The New American American Bible: http://www.usccb.org/nab/bible/

Douay-Rheims Bible: http://www.newadvent.org/bible/

Catechism of the Catholic Church on the St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church Site
(My Favorite!): http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

Catechism of the Catholic Church USCB Site: http://www.nccbuscc.org/catechism/text/index.htm

Catechism of the Catholic Church on the Vatican website: http://www.vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm

Papal Encyclicals online: http://www.papalencyclicals.net/all.htm