Because I am so tired, a goal for Advent was to do less. We work hard for the fifteen weeks that make up a CC semester, and then we need a break. So, for the last couple of weeks, I have required each boy to do these things:
- Chores
- Participate in the Council of Oaks
- A math lesson (until they reached their goal for this term… which was roughly half the book)
- Read for an hour (can be broken into segments)
- Practice your instrument.
- Go outside and move as the weather permits.
That was pretty much what I did also. A little math, a little reading, a little exercise, a little fellowship.
For our Council meetings, we read bits from Cindy Rollin’s Hallelujah: A Journey through Advent with Handel’s Messiah and we listened to Handel’s Messiah(Each word is linked to a different version, but both albums are available through Prime Streaming.) Cindy leads us through the entire Messiah, not just the first part, so that we don’t miss the purpose for the birth of Christ: that we all can, through His sacrifice, be forgiven for our sins. There are poems and scriptures to read and ponder in the book, including Christina Rossetti’s In the Bleak Midwinter, which is what we agreed to memorize here and worked on.
I am pondering a focus word for next year. I think we can agree that I wasn’t great at creating Margin in my world this year. It is simply very difficult to get everyone where they need to be around here. I did get better at working in the small moments of time. I am looking at some new habits to work on next year in the areas of exercise, health, and downtime. Those ideas aren’t fully formed yet.