1) NEW SCHOOLS:
All 5 our boys started new schools this year! Joseph started his first year of college at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, which I already covered in a previous post. But what I didn't cover yet is that all our other boys are attending new schools this year too. Leaving St. Andrew School was perhaps the hardest decision we've had to make as a family. St. Andrew was our school home ever since we moved to Helena in 2006. Joseph started St. Andrews as a 1st grader and graduated from there last year. Michael started there as a kindergartener and would have been a St. Andrew's graduate this year as a senior. We assumed all of our kids would graduate from St. Andrews...but the last couple of years took us for a rollercoaster ride that caused us to re-evaluate what was best for our kids. We spent months of prayerful discernment...praying countless rosaries, chaplets, and novenas...asking the Holy Spirit to guide us to God's holy will. We did not receive any flashing neon signs, but after praying and pondering the pros and cons, we felt peace about trying a new path this year. It would take many paragraphs to fully explain all of our reasons, but the shortest explanation would be that we felt that St. Andrew was not the best fit for each of our kids for different reasons. We still strongly believe in Catholic education; in fact, Paul is still the president of the school board at St. Andrew's, but we really felt the Lord calling us to venture down a road that we never expected to be on...the road of public school education. If you would have asked me 10 years ago (or even 1 year ago) if I would ever send my kids to public school, I would have given an emphatic "NO" as my answer. I always used to shake my head and judge people who chose public school over a Catholic school education. And yet here I am, eating my humble pie, and feeling at peace about this path I never expected to be on.
Michael is a senior and he really wanted his senior year to be different than the past few years at St. Andrews. The last few years were not a great experience for him. Academically, he was not challenged nor was he offered important classes that he needed at St. Andrews. Socially, he only had 2 other classmates in his grade (not exactly a recipe for fun times). He is now attending JHS in Boulder, MT, which is a small, rural high school nearby that offers him many more options for classes and friends. In fact, a few of his baseball teammates attend the school and a couple of kids from St. Andrew transferred with Michael to JHS this year, which made the transition very easy. He is much happier there and will have a senior year filled with great memories.
The youngest 3 boys are at a small, public school in Montana City, only about 3 minutes from our house, which has been a huge blessing. All of their teachers have been wonderful, many of them are Christians, and the boys have quickly fit in and made great friends. One of the biggest blessings that we have discovered at public school is the number of class options that are offered. The boys are given fun, challenging activities in the gifted and talented program that they were selected to be in, and they have many practical classes that teach about career options and technology skills, which our small Catholic school did not offer. Overall, it has been a very positive experience so far and we feel like we made the right decision for this year anyway. We will see where God leads us next year. Please say a prayer for God's protection and guidance for our family in this area. Thank you!
2) COVID19:
The only challenge we've experienced with school this year, is the same challenge that most schools across the country have faced---stupid Covid19. The kids started the year with all 5 days in-person learning, which we were super happy about. We were grateful that our schools were not doing what many other schools in the area were doing, which was 2 days in-person and 2 days remote (I don't think that would have been a good fit for our kids). One inconvenience is that all the kids and the teachers have to wear masks all day, even at recess, but everyone seems to have adjusted fairly well to that. To be honest, our family doesn't believe masks are necessary, nor do we think they significantly help curb the spread of Covid, but hopefully this mandate will be over with soon and we can all get back to seeing each others' smiling faces again :)
The first few weeks of school went fine, but then in October we were told that Michael was a "close contact" of someone at his school with Covid, so he had to quarantine and do remote learning for a couple of weeks. A week or so after that, Nathanael got sent home because he wasn't feeling well. He had a sore throat, body aches, and a fever, so I took him in to get tested for Covid. He tested positive, so we tested all of the other kids. They all tested positive except for Dominic. The doctors think Dominic's test was probably a false negative, because he did have a sore throat and a headache. Michael's only symptom was an altered sense of smell...he didn't lose his sense of smell, but everything smelled different and terrible, and even after a couple of months he still has not regained his normal sense of smell. The rest of us simply had a day or two of a slight headache and a scratchy throat. Thankfully, it was incredibly mild for all of us. I'm guessing we must have had a very mild strain of the virus---or perhaps we are just buff and tough (ha ha). It truly was easier than most colds or flus we've ever had. The only inconvenience was having to do remote learning and quarantining for 2 weeks. I also feel bad because our 3 younger kids single-handedly caused 3 entire classes at their school to do remote learning for 2 weeks (causing many of the kids to miss trick-or-treating this year...ooops) :} But there was nothing we could do to prevent that. Apparently kids are considered contagious 2 days prior to the onset of symptoms, so all of their classmates were considered "close contacts" even though we didn't know our kids were sick yet. The other big bummer was that as soon as my kids were finished with their quarantine and ready to head back to school, the entire school decided to shut down for 2 1/2 weeks because so many teachers ended up getting Covid. So my kids ended up doing nearly 5 weeks of remote learning this Fall. It was nice to sleep in and have a more relaxed school day, but I don't think the kids learned as well as in-person learning. They were super happy to go back and see their friends when the remote-learning period was over.
3) HARVESTING:
Much of our Fall was spent gathering the garden harvest, and picking chokecherries and cherries for Paul's homemade winemaking hobby. I love working in the garden, and I love having my little helpers out there with me.
4) BEAR TRESPASSING
Another exciting event that happened this Fall was a visit from a bear...apparently he got the memo that it was "harvest time" and came to help. We were able to watch him for an hour or more "harvesting" our chokecherries. He would use all of his weight to pull down a chokecherry tree, and the simply lay on it while eating all the berries he could reach. Then he would waddle over to another tree and start the routine over again. He didn't mind a bit that we were watching and talking and taking pictures from a safe distance away. :)
5) BIRTHDAY BOY TURNS 10!
Our sweet Nathanael with the dimpled chin turned 10 in November and simultaneously decided he wanted to be called "Nate" from now on instead of "Natey." Apparently turning double digits is a major coming of age experience and he wanted to put all "childish" nicknames behind him :) I still forget and call him Natey sometimes, but he doesn't mind too much :)
We were able to have a small party with a few of his new friends from his new school, so it was great for me to get to know his classmates and their parents a little bit. The boys had a blast doing all the typical boy things at a party like Nerf guns, zip lining, and capture the flag---oh, and eating of course! Here are some photos:
Happy Birthday, Nathanael!!!
This year was a WILD RIDE,
but you handled it with calm and fun and faith.
May you always handle the crazy adventures in life that way,
and may you grow closer to God every year on your adventure through life.
We love you more than all the minutes you've played Minecraft or ever will play it! :)
Love, Mom and Dad
6) THANKSGIVING ADVENTURE
Our kids were on quarantine during Thanksgiving break, so we decided to jump in the car and head to Arizona to visit Paul's mom. It was so much fun and we are so glad we did it. We were able to spend quality time with Grandma Jean, visit the amazing Sonoran Desert Museum, and did some hiking in the beautiful Arches National Park near Moab, UT. Here are some photo highlights:
Paul and his momma taking a stroll on a nature trail near her house.
The boys at Arches National Park.
The boys were excellent hikers and we were honestly thankful to have our masks
because it was so cold in the morning that they kept our faces warm.
Probably the first and the last time I'll be thankful for the mask mandate :}
Sweet Isaiah by one of the many arches in the park.
Nathanael and Isaiah pretending to sleep in one of the cool rock formations.
The boys looking through a double arch.
Many places in the park are a bit dangerous,
so I was thankful that Michael was there to help take care of his little brothers :)
A cool picture of our shadows as I was taking a picture of an arch.
This is the famous "Delicate Arch" that is pictured on the Utah license plate.
Isaiah standing by a sign explaining the ancient Ute Indian petroglyph
which can be seen behind him in the distance.
Totus Tuus,
~Maria
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