Great FREE Resources to Share the Faith with your Children

This is my favorite -- I print these pages out ahead of time for my children to take to Mass. There are appropriate pages for each age group!

This wonderful online community for home schooling covers all subjects, ages, plus more! I really can’t explain it, so check it out!!

Family Night by Jeff and Emily Cavins.  I’m eagerly waiting for the fall session to begin!

Fun way to have our food reflect the loveliness of our liturgical year at CatholicCuisine.

I frequently download these coloring pages of various saints.

This site is very fun - especially for the younger kiddos!

I use this great yahoo group to buy and sell Catholic school books and more!

Of course, EWTN has a kids’ site! At “Choir Practice” it is like playing the old electronic “Simon” game with the Nuns!!

This site has fun online Catholic games when your kiddos want some computer time and you want it "productive"! :)

Oh, there are soooo many more --- I know I've probably left out some of my favorites :(  but this is a great start! 

How will you share your faith?

What came first... the chicken or the EGG??

Our science experiment today was EGGseptional, EGGsiting, EGGselent!! 

Critter & Freckles enjoying the EGGselent science experiment

We studied how steam engines work (for Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel AND for our trip this week to Greenfield Village when we get to ride a steam train!!)

We took an old glass milk jar and placed it in a pan with water.  We boiled the water and the jar.  Filling the jar 1/2 full with the boiling water we CAREFULLY placed it on a hot pad.  Dollar placed a peeled, hard boiled egg on top.  A few minutes later the egg dropped into the jar!!  When the steam evaporated, it created a negative pressure in the jar thus sucking the egg through the opening!  Way cool!

"Ora et labora" (Pray & Work) a quote by St Benedict

We've started another year of learning at home... okay, we really never finish!  It is pretty "seamless" around here. We just refer to the next grade come Fall. :)

For our wonderful nature studies we are using Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study and I'm just CrAzY about this blog to help me utilize this truly amazing book. Since we are nearing the end of summer, I thought it would be perfect to begin our study with an in depth look at trees!  This is a great time to study their transitions from Summer to Autumn.  Each kiddo chose their own tree to analyze, draw, and learn all about these next four seasons.  We are using these pages for our study. I highly recommed these resources!

Freckles took this photo of her tree!

Freckles is most excited about studying nature!  She draws a lot and enjoys singing.  She is very creative in the story writing department, too!
We've also started LATIN! I am so excited to hear the children chant their new conjugations and their new words!! :)  Latina Christiana is our Latin program -- and we'll be learning our favorite prayers in Latin soon!

One of my favorite bonuses to educating the children at home is the opportunity to really live out our Catholic faith!  August is a RICH month in honoring our Blessed Mother's Immaculate Heart.  We celebrated her Queenship with friends... we memorized the Consecration to Mary which is also the prayer that we chose for the back of +Smiley's funeral card.  We enjoyed a crown cake and sang Immaculate Mary (one of my favorite hymns) and the kids sounded beautiful!

And FOOTBALL has started!  Dollar is in full swing and gets on with hitting in pads next week!  He is flying in math and likes the new program we are using (Teaching Textbooks).  His 24 hens have started laying beautiful eggs and we are getting just over a half dozen a day.  Freckles is his business partner!

The Raminator has to wait a couple more weeks for flag football.... patience, dear, patience!  He really likes the Five in a Row program we are doing (read the same classic kids' book each day and do activities that correspond with the book).  We just finished Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel (some activities here) and he enjoyed reading the book out loud to me!  We are all amazed at his wonderful reading abilities!

Jellybean had her first "real" babysitting job (not siblings!) a couple of weeks ago and did GREAT!  She is preparing for CONFIRMATION this year!  How exciting!

Critter is showing off his speaking skills by saying things like bug, football, me, momma, dada, ball, please, chicky, moo, bird, dog, nana.  He puts his little hands together in prayer and is trying to make the sign of the cross but when he dips those chubby fingers into the holy water font the fingers go in his mouth!  Oh, and we have to keep the holy water bottles up high since he keeps drinking it!  :)

And this coming week my Beloved and I celebrate TWENTY-ONE years of wedded bliss!  What a blessing to have a supportive, loving, encouraging husband to walk this journey with!  Thank you, God, for my hubby!!

As I work through each day, I try to focus on "praying always" and offer the joys and struggles to our Lord.  It is all good!

Moving Mountains

     No, I'm talking about the 40 Bag Challenge!  This has nothing to do with home organizing ~ and everything to do with FAITH!
     Freckles' Little Flowers Club began yesterday.  It is similar to Girl Scouts and it is Catholic! :)  They learn virtues and how to put them into practice and all along this journey, they earn flower patches.  Just like playing an instrument or sport, we must  practice to gain strength in any area.  We can't just think about being virtuous, we must exercise virtues in our lives to master them.

     Our first virtue: FAITH.  Why is faith important?  Because it gives us strength when there are troubles.  Faith keeps us believing in something even when we cannot see it.  So although I may not be able to "see" God ~ just as I cannot "see" air ~ I feel the affects of both.  I believe.  Peter believed and walked on water! 

     Having faith the "size of a mustard seed" was discussed.  

     Matthew 17:20-21  And He said to them, "Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.  ["But his kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting."]  

      I shared with the girls that my cross of Smiley's death feels like a mountain on my back.  I am too weak to go anywhere with that burden ~ but with FAITH, I have the "confident assurance concerning what [I] hope for, and  conviction about things [I] do not see." Hebrews 11:1  

     My faith is truly an answer to my prayers ~ it didn't just sudddenly appear.  I saw the beautiful faith lived sincerely through people I admired and I longed to know that same faith.  Eleven years ago I learned how to pray the rosary and reverted to Mother Church.  Receiving the Sacraments of the Eucharist and Confession regularly, praying, fasting, and "offering up" are the tickets needed for a successful journey.  I don't take my faith for granted and I know I have to exercise it to keep it strong. 

     What are you doing to strengthen your faith?

    

      

Earth Day 2010

To honor our beloved Earth that our Lord so generously created for our pleasure, we celebrated with friends!  We spent a lovely afternoon Cleaning Smiley's Room ~ at the cemetery.  The children were such hard workers raking, picking up trash, and hauling sticks out of the way. 

What a blessing to have such willing friends to lighten the load!

The next day we cleaned our road that we adopted in memory of him.  It is only a mile of road and it took us over an hour to clean it!

A Lighter Way this Lent

2010 has kept me busy with ORGANIZING! 

I'm working on my 40 bags in 40 days... my journey of "letting go" throughout lent!  So far, I'm at 9 bags!  The Challenge? Get the clutter out!  This doesn't include your *normal* trash!  Donate, purge ~ RELEASE!  Walk closer with God and detach from worldly things that are in your way!  Want to join us?  Head on over to Danielle Bean's corner here http://www.faithandfamilylive.com/blog/40_bags_in_40_days/ and get inspired!


I started with (not done yet!) school... we have gone to a notebooking approach to schooling.  Each kiddo has a notebook with the tabs: Presidents, USA History, USA Geography, Book Reports, Science, Math, Language (which includes spelling, vocab, etc).  They also have a Religion notebook which includes: Rosary, Scripture, Saints, etc.  These notebooks will be built upon through the years and allow the children to review what they have learned and see their improvements.  Utilizing creative bookmaking, photos, drawings, and such, they are proud of their accomplishments. 


My planning has gotten simpler, too.  I have folders for each month and plop handouts in it that I want to cover.  I keep those in a portable filing box with other folders labeled Bible, Science, blank notebooking pages, Rosary,  To Correct, and Resources. Resources has my Master List of topics to cover each month (for example: January ~ Religion - Holy Family, Conversion of St Paul; Virtue - Loyalty; Saints - St Paul, St Elizabeth Ann Seton, St John Bosco; Sacrament - Baptism; States - MI, AK, UT, NM, KS; Science - Atoms/Molecules, winter weather; History - Dr Martin Luther King, Jr; Presidents - Roosevelt, McKinley, Nixon, Fillmore; Country - Italy; People - Louis Braille, Ben Frankline, AA Milne; Art - ?; Enrichment - ? ~~ some items still need work!)  Tweaking as I go....


I saw this the other day and Dawn has really laid it out nicely! Go here to see what she's up to ~ http://dawnathome.typepad.com/by_sun_and_candlelight/file_crate_system/
I want to read through hers to give me more inspiration!  I'll keep mine in my portable box (keeps the little fingers out and I can transfer to other rooms a bit easier) but I'm sure I can learn a lot from her!


I keep reminding myself that God loves order (notice the Universe?! He has ordered EVERYTHING!) and that Satan thrives in chaos.  To walk closer with my Lord, I am striving for more order in my life.  I want to rid my home of any chaos that I am able and kick that nasty bugger outta here!

May you have the peace of Christ, too!

15,000 days and counting...

Woohoo, it has been 15,000 days since my birth (thanks, Mom & Dad!).  What have I accomplished with this gift of life that has been granted me?  My first reaction is so earthly "not enough!".  But come on!  The angel on my shoulder is whispering, "Ahem, who is that on your lap that you are nourishing whilst computering?"  That's right... I've helped usher in six blessings to the planet!  That is quite a feat!  That means I was pregnant roughly 1,680days (240 weeks). I've nursed about 3,200 days.  That does tend to be a lot of sacrificing!  But my dear hubby has really sacrificed ~ we've been married for 7448 days (178,752 hours!) ~ over 20 years!

I was thinking about how fleeting time is...

My precious +Smiley only lived on the planet for 3921 days (560 weeks or 129 months or 10yrs 8 months).  He accomplished so much during that short time frame.  The most amazing feat? He brought us to Christ ~ through His blessed Mother, Mary.  God sent that precious boy to us to teach us to focus our lives on Him and to rely on His Graces.  Faith has been a beautiful gift!

The unyielding pridefulness that guided my life crumbled beneath me as I suffered through many humbling experiences.  Today I am eternally grateful for God's wisdom in granting me those situations because they continue to shape me into a more godly woman.  I seek holiness of which I cannot obtain through me.... rather the experiences He gifts me. The secular world calls it "no pain, no gain."  The faithful know it is His way to draw us to Him.  I appreciate the challenges He sends my way so that I may grow closer to Him and rely only on Him.  He is very generous with His crosses because He wishes to bring us Home to Him when we complete our earthly mission. 

+Smiley was entrusted to a very specific mission and was able to complete it in less than 130 months.  Wow!  Our Father knew how much that young man enjoyed being first so He helped him complete his mission in record time.  Without that special child, I wouldn't have thought I needed God so much because I relied on my own 'wisdom' (ha!!).  But how I was lacking!  Thank you, Lord, for guiding me and letting me know how wonderful life can be under Your loving care.  Although those holy 2by4s hurt like crazy when I get whacked upside the head, I get the epiphany ~ my "aha!"~ and rededicate my life to You.

My goal is to remember to ask God how He wants me to serve Him through my family. 

What is your goal?