Things That Have Happened

The second half of May is always super busy for us. 

The twins came home from college and our first friend outing was the BHS Pops Concert last Monday. It was really fun to watch, and Tessie's solo was great!

Afterwards we had a little bonfire at home. We are so happy to be together again for the summer.

On Tuesday the sunset was gorgeous. We were driving home and took a detour to take pictures at the Veteran Memorial on the edge of town.

Isabel's college graduation was on Saturday. She now has a degree in Music Education!

Sunday was the senior Mass at church. We decided to count it as my "official" graduation.

 I got one of the church scholarships because I'm going to a Catholic college.

Maren's graduation party was tons of fun, and we recreated an old picture on her trampoline!

This past Monday was the beginning of summer jobs for Susannah and me. We are both working as research assistants in Dad's center. Lots of copying and pasting and reading scientific abstracts. Mom and Tessie brought us coffee to celebrate the first day!

Piano Festival

Last Saturday was my last piano festival! It's always fun to play on the really nice piano in the recital hall, where I will be doing my senior recital in May! The judge was really nice, and his pencil barely stopped moving while I played, so I'm curious to see what his notes were at my next lesson.
This year I played "Shadow Dance" op. 39 no. 8 by Edward MacDowell, and Nocturne op. 32 no. 1 by Chopin.

Christmas 2016 (part 2)

In the past week, the weather has been like this...

...so we've spent a lot of time inside playing games, etc.

Some interesting/special Christmas presents:

"open when" letters from Cecilia

bamboo watch from Mom & Dad

Catholic planner from Mom--it's insanely complete

Rosary bracelet from Spare Mama Kane

I knitted this scarf for Claud...it was a long and fun project!

A few days after Christmas, the besties came over and we baked gingerbread. Dad and Patrick were especially pleased with the results.

We had a quiet New Year's Eve. I went to bed early because I was singing for Mass this morning.

Happy New Year, and feast of Mary, Mother of God!

Starting School

The end of August means the beginning of the school year, which is my senior year of high school! I'm so glad to be getting done with high school and moving on to bigger and more interesting things. Here's my (mostly-elective) lineup for senior year:
Statistics
American History (part 2)
Ethics (theology)
German (still teaching myself for fun)
History of the Church
Poetry (with Dad)
ACT math test prep
Concert Choir
...and the obvious piano and voice lessons.
With so little school to do, I'll have plenty of time for my favorite hobbies: writing, reading, baking, and music!

Random Pictures from Life

Tessie stealing my phone while I put cream on her sunburns

Spending time with nature on Fathers' Day

Reading my stuff for TAC!

Solemnity = meatballs on Friday

Tessie getting an award for her art

We made a seriously amazing cheesecake

Tessie took the nature thing a little far

...And she stole my phone again while I helped make dinner.

4 Reasons I've Loved Homeschooling through High School

As I begin planning (despite my mother's insistence that it's too early in the summer) my senior year of high school, I'm realizing how glad I am that I am homeschooling through high school. Here are four reasons why.

1. You can choose what to learn. 

Sure, it's the USA and you need certain high school credits to graduate, but hey, this isn't middle school anymore! Your mother (despite what many non-homeschooled students think) is no longer teaching you out of a book. Even in schools high-schoolers get a lot more flexibility in what classes they take when. And homeschooling just takes that to the next level. For instance, I want to be an author. So my mom and I found out about several online courses on fiction writing being offered by a published author. And I took them, and they were some amazing classes. And I also happen to love history and theology. So we found an online course on the Protestant Reformation. One of the best classes I've ever taken. I'm not very good with math and I don't plan to go into anything STEM-related. So for high school physics Mom pulled our "Conceptual Physics" textbook and I did that in sophomore year. In eighth grade, I was already taking mostly high school classes, including Government, Biology, Literature, and French 1. I have an affinity for Latin, so I went to the local Catholic high school for Latin 1, 2, and 3, plus AP Latin from 7th to 10th grade. As a homeschooler, I have that kind of flexibility and the ability to shape my education based on my learning preferences and career goals.

2. You have free time.

"Free time" is rather a foreign word to most high-schoolers. My little sister could tell you that. But when eight hours of your day aren't ruled by an electronic bell (which, for the record, sounds nothing like a bell), you find that you can make time for things that matter to you as an individual. I'm a musician: I take piano lessons and voice lessons, sing in choir, and play a little organ. Because I'm homeschooled, I have the time to go to concert choir at the public school every day, play piano at nursing homes, participate in church choir, and learn piano and voice duets with my sisters and friends. I'm a writer: anyone who reads this blog knows that. Homeschooling allows me to set aside an hour every day to work on my current novel or short story, and gives me the opportunity to realistically participate in things such as NaNoWriMo. Actually, since I finished AP Latin last year, I've found I have even more free time, since I don't have to spend an hour every day translating Julius Caesar or Vergil. I have time to take tea breaks during math, go on walks while memorizing Shakespeare, read a chapter of a book during breakfast, and go to Eucharistic Adoration and daily Mass.

3. You can learn about colleges firsthand. 

This is related to reason number 2 above. I'm exciting for senior year because based on the number of high school credits I still need (which is technically zero), I can make time this year for college visits. I'm already planning road-trips to the closer colleges, and finding good dates to visit some of the further ones. This summer I'm going to the Thomas Aquinas College summer program (among other things) instead of working a summer job. I also hope to return to a couple of the convents I visited on the Nun Run last summer, and maybe go on retreats to a few other ones, too. Homeschooling allows me to actually make all this happen.

4. Family life is good practice.

By the time you enter high school, chances are your parents are viewing you more as a responsible individual and you have more responsibilities. This time of growing up and being able to get to know your parents as peers, or friends, with whom you can have real, meaningful conversations and experiences, is priceless. Homeschooling offers 24/7 access to at least one parent, so you can learn together. Since I entered high school, my mom and I have been home alone together for countless hours. And we've gotten to know each other so much better and she has taught me so much, that I couldn't have wished it any other way. We have conversations about theology or history while making dinner and listen to classics while knitting and drinking tea. Dad and I love going to classical music concerts together and listening to lectures while he drives me around. There's so much to learn from your parents, even just by being in their presence. And spending most of your day at home really ingrains in you the give-and-take of family life. Which is useful in college communities, religious communities, work communities...basically anywhere.

Those are the top four reasons I've absolutely loved being homeschooled through high school. Are there any other awesome aspects of homeschooling I missed?

Dad's Birthday

Happy birthday, Dad! Thanks for being an awesome essay-editor, Russian-lit-teacher, fellow listener to music lectures, fellow concert-goer, plane-ticket-purchaser, world-traveler, and all-around the best dad anyone could ask for.

Mothers' Day

It was a very special one with both Mom and Grandma here! 

The mothers came home to this after Mass.

Outside church, with the roses from Dad. Not sure why they made me hold them...

And a photo of Grandma holding baby Dad!

Thomas Graduates from College!

A happy occasion for all, with the added bonus of beautiful weather!

The fam minus Claudia and Isabel, plus Grandma and John Michael.

His cap had two tassels for his double-major!

I got an action shot of him shaking hands with the president of SDSU.

And Dad, processing out in his academic robes.

Lent, and other things of interest

Lent is upon us! It started off with Mom's birthday. We had cake the night before.

On Ash Wednesday we went to 7am Mass, so Tessie was sporting an ashen forehead at school all day.

Did I mention it's been snowing almost every day since February began?

Later that day we went to an interesting lecture about J.R.R. Tokien and the middle ages "theory of courage" and comitates oath. I don't have any pictures, but the room was packed.

Patrick came for a visit on the long weekend, and he met up with us at a choir concert of Thomas's.

We had fun with Patrick (when we weren't at birthday parties!), and after Mass on Sunday we went to the coffee shop. There we found dad in the college newspaper.

Also, mom and I made Valentine cookies for Thomas's geography club fundraiser.

It's been a fun Lent so far! 

[All photos stolen from Mom's Facebook]

Crime & Punishment

Today our Russian Lit class will finish discussing Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky. I enjoyed it a lot more than I was expecting to--it was fascinating, intense, unpredictable, and so different from anything I had read. The story focuses a lot on the inward state of the characters, because that is the real driver of the plot, but that's not to say it doesn't have its share of action.
I loved how much it emphasized the fact that no one is either all good or all bad; rather, all the characters lay in varying levels of the gray area. Even the most virtuous characters have their moments of questionable decisions and moral ambiguity. Despite this, it's easy to tell which characters are bad news. Dostoevsky's characters are incredible nuanced. Each of the icky characters is icky in his own unique way, and the reality of their ickiness makes you cringe.
The entire host of characters is varied, human, and rigorously alive. Dostoevsky manages to dig deep into each character's soul, sometimes bypassing such trivial things as physical description, and brings the character's true motives into the light in very few words.
And then we come to the plot. The story is heavily introspective. Every plot point that occurs has something to do with the mental, emotional, or spiritual state of those involved. Moments of discovery, redemption, or tribulation are shown mainly through the thoughts of the characters. I expected to get tired of this, but I didn't. Nowadays everyone tells writers to "show, don't tell," but look at what Dostoevsky has crafted by putting action secondary to character development. It is one of those few stories in which the plot is driven by the character development, rather than driving the character development.
Dostoevsky doesn't gloss over things. His descriptions are blunt, straightforward, and sometimes brutal. He makes you feel what the character is feeling, often down to physical sensations. The mood of each scene is revealed in the way it makes the reader feel, as much as in the way it makes the characters feel.
I didn't really like the epilogue, but that's personal preference. I wanted to read more!
If you're looking for a book that challenges your intellect through the lens of vivacious characters, an impelling plot, and wonderful writing, read Crime and Punishment.
(Oh, and if it sounds a bit somber for you, I promise there are funny parts!)

Accomplishments

They've been rolling in at a good pace this past week.

We had our first choir concert on Monday.

I also finished the first draft of my book on Monday! I can't believe it's finally done, after over two years of planning and writing. Now I'm planning to do NaNoWriMo, after which it'll be time to put on my editor's hat! I sadly don't have a photo of this momentous occasion, but I will say that in my excitement I forgot to type the words THE END.

Oh, and in passing, I received a 100% on my first chemistry exam.

On Tuesday was our first quiz bowl of the season. It was a success, and as usual a ton of fun!

And then yesterday I took the PSAT/NMSQT. The English part was very easy, but the math part was harder than the ACT in my opinion. I was exhausted for the rest of the day. I always like checking the boxes at the beginning, though, saying both my parents have a graduate degree!

I hope things keep going this well!

The School Year...and some fun stuff.

Today, Mom and I went school shopping.You know what that means! Notebooks! Hooray!

*Ahem* Anyway, we also signed up for online classes today and are figuring out my schedule for the school year. This year I am doing:

-Algebra 2 (online with Kolbe Academy)

-Chemistry (online with Kolbe Academy)

-American History

-Latin American History (online with Homeschool Connections) (yes, both histories, because why not?)

-Church History for theology

-Russian Literature with Dad

-The usual piano, voice, maybe organ lessons

-Fiction Writing Critique Group with Prof. Conroy

-Concert Choir at the high school

...So yeah, a fairly easy year, considering. 

And speaking of Concert Choir, we had our retreat on Monday. (For choirs, "retreat" means you take a day to learn songs and do team building.) It was somewhat overwhelming and exhausting but very fun! I'm looking forward to that...except maybe the fact that I'm gonna have to actually get dressed every day. Like a normal, school-going person. Hmm...

A Baby Grand Piano

...is now residing in our house! We bought it used from someone we know from church. It is the smallest baby grand you can have, but it makes an enormous difference when compared to an upright! The action is about 5000% better and the sound is nice and warm. It is taking a bit of getting used to, but after we tune it things will be considerably better. I'm so happy!

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Isn't it pretty? 

Independence Day 2015: Evening

After eating, buying fireworks and groceries, watching a soccer game, and going to Confession and Mass, we came back to the house to make dinner and begin shooting off fireworks. The little girls, who had not had much experience with fireworks, had tons of fun. Before dinner Claudia and I did snakes, snappers, and smoke bombs with them.  Again, the camera was out in full force.

Marguerite especially liked the smoke bombs. 

We had made a cheesecake with Hope the day before, so we decorated it accordingly.

The dads had fun being the grillmasters. 

Josie was in love with Nora the kitten, who was obliging enough to sit with her while she watched the fireworks.

 After a late dinner, around 9 pm, the more interesting fireworks began while the adults sat around the fire.

 The Pepino kids had never done sparklers, so there was a lot of excitement when we got out a bunch. We had bought 150 sparklers for the occasion--they are a family favorite.
 Claudia had Raphael, Tessie, and me write USA with our sparklers while she took photos with long exposure, to see the word. Only one worked, and we were thrilled. We celebrated with s'mores, minus the graham cracker and marshmallow.

Happy Birthday America!