{simple saturday}: Family Coat of Arms

My husband and I homeschooled our fifth-born son, from 2002-2007 (for 4th through 8th grade), something we'd never done before.  His four older brothers all went to our local Catholic elementary school from grades K-8, and it wasn't until we grew concerned about some of the changes taking place there that we decided to try something different with him. So when son #4 graduated from 8th grade and moved on to the local Catholic high school, we thought the time was right to take matters into our own hands and educate our baby ourselves.

In 2005, I came up with a cool homeschool art project for my favorite pupil: to design a Pearl coat of arms that would be symbolic of our family and what it stands for.  (Full disclosure: I totally copied the idea from another teacher, after one of my older sons--who was in high school at the time--was assigned this project for a religion class).

I loved the design he came up with so much that I laminated it and hung it on the wall of our basement classroom, where it has been proudly displayed...until last Wednesday.  My baby boy just finished his second year of college, and I am just now--finally!--dismantling our homeschool classroom for good.  I put away most of the trappings of our little "school" years ago, but I have had a hard time shutting the door on that wonderful period of our lives completely.  However, the time has finally come.  I'm getting ready to re-paint and put up some wall shelves down there, and so for the first time in eleven years, there will be no remnants of that beloved classroom in evidence.  R.I.P., St. Dominic Savio Academy (that's the name our boy gave our little institution, in honor of his favorite saint--whose name he took on his Confirmation day).

Without further ado (because it's {simple saturday} and I've already said way too much), I give you our family's coat of arms, rendered in colored pencil by my youngest son:

I like its Latin motto: Veritas, Justitia, Virtus.  (Truth, Justice, Virtue.)  I like its symbolism: shamrocks, to show our intense love of all things Irish; the ND logo, to show our intense love of all things Notre Dame-related; and most importantly, a Cross, to show our intense love of our Catholic Faith.  To put it simply: it's just plain perfect.

You nailed it, son.  A++++++++++++

As a quick postscript, here's the sign we had hanging above the desks, too--and notice our homeschool's own little coat of arms there on the right.  It, too, was designed by my son, and he chose the motto (because of something St. Dominic Savio was known for saying--that he would rather die than commit one mortal sin): Mortis sed non peccatum.  (Death but not sin.)

And that is all!

Now head on over and visit Iris, for some more simply delightful posts by some simply delightful bloggers.