Celebrating Life

I love the Catholic Channel on XM/Sirius radio and now that I have "discovered" it, we listen to it in the car almost all the time.  It is funny and interesting and entertaining.  Why shouldn't it be?  Should it be boring and serious and critical because it is about religion?  NO.  I do not believe so.  But  my kids have come to recognize Lino and Fr. Rob, Cardinal Dolan, Fr. Dave Dwyre and other's voices and I hope they also have come to appreciate their living spirituality and love for the Church.

Yesterday, on the Entertaining Truth show, Fr. Leo and Tom Leopold discussed how to makeover the pro-life movement and bring a new voice to the people who support and celebrate EVERY life.
So here are my thoughts based on yesterday's episode.

1. I would never bring my children to a pro-life march, mostly because as a young girl I went to one and was shocked and horrified by the images I was exposed to.  This is a terrible process, but one does not need to see it to know that it is wrong.  Thank you to the thousands of young and old who are out in the cold today and praying peacefully for the end to this monstrosity.

Instead I will tell my children the stories and help them to imagine the lives and possibilities within EVERY human being.  Take this beautiful 10 week old child.

What will he be?  What are her dreams?  Will she cure parkinson's disease?  Will he discover a new galaxy?  Will he play baseball with his friends?  Will she love a special doll?  Will he marry your daughter?  Is she the perfect spouse God has intended for your son?  The mother to your grandchildren?
Think of the potential hidden inside each child, inside each of us.  All of these possibilities are in EVERY child in EVERY woman's womb.

And what about this 9 week old child?  Is she going to be our country's first woman president someday?  Will he  be your grandchild's favorite teacher?  Maybe he just wants to kick a soccer ball.  Maybe she wants to learn to dance in a ballet.  Should we let them?  Do they deserve the chance?  The chance to succeed, the chance to fail, the chance to love, to learn?

One day 38 years ago, my mother made the choice to offer me a life and the chances I deserved.  It was not easy for her.  It was not convenient or simple, or lovely or fun.  It was hard.  Harder than I can ever imagine.  But she knew I deserved a chance to live, love, and lose.  She could have chosen a different path.  She could have not told her parents.  She could have quietly hidden away the pain, difficulty, suffering and inconvenience in a quick trip to a doctor.  But she did not.  She took the difficult path, that so many young women have traveled and so many more have forgone.  And because of her choice, I am here and free to love, to be my children's mother, to teach, to sing, to dance.

I planned to say something else today. (I know there is no #2). But here it is.  Part of my story of love.  I guess it inspires me to try to live even more fully for those who never have the chance to live at all.  Should you care to read more, I urge you to visit Bonnie at A Knotted Life and Ginny at Small Things.  They discuss it all so eloquently.  I had forgotten how much the song "Zion" meant to me.

Wishing you all blessings on this wintry day.  Stay warm my comrades in DC.  Thank you for marching for me.

Presents for God

So, I am not a "craft mom".  I see cute craft kits in stores and think they look great, but once they get home they stay locked in the basement closet, never to see the light of day again.  In addition to the guilt I feel for wasting the money on the craft supplies, I also feel like I am missing the opportunity to teach and learn with my girls. 

Why? You might ask.  Because I don't like the mess, because the project may not be perfect, because it is another spot of clutter to clean up...  recently I realized these were not only not good reasons, but just excuses for limiting me from being the mom I could be... just because of my own fear of failure.
So yesterday, Magnolia and I read a delightful story from  Catholic Children's Treasure Box magazine about St. Therese of the Child Jesus about creating a reminder chain for giving presents every day to God.

There was a craft described at the end if the story that looked like one I could do.  I had the supplies or the close approximations and I could follow the directions, and all the parts were relatively contained in one box.  The girls could do the craft without too much help and best part, I had a babysitter coming who could certainly handle the craft and give them something constructive to do together while I was gone.

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans ... to my shock and dismay ;) they did not decide to do the craft.  They chose to play hide and seek instead... the gall.

So this morning the craft box and directions were still sitting on the kitchen table staring me down over my morning coffee.  (This might be a slight exaggeration.)  But after new revelations, I realized I could tackle this and move forward on my path of the mom I want to be.

I called Magnolia and Daisy in to start our task.  When I found a misplaced St Therese of the Little Flower medal in my purse, I knew we were on the right path.  So we tied a medal onto the middle of the string and threaded on 10 pink heart beads and finished the strand with a crucifix.  Magnolia used a crucifix with Lourdes water that we had gotten last year.  Daisy used one of the turquoise crosses that we had gotten when we lived in Arizona. 

At the end, we had two beautiful beaded chains for them to use to count their daily presents to God, two happy girls who did a craft, and one happy mom who had accomplished something new.

The icing on the cake was when Daisy said "we should start the beads down by the saint medallion everyday because they will help us do the gifts for God, then each time we move a bead up to the cross it helps Jesus as a gift to Him."

JACKPOT!

Are you a "craft mom?"  If so, how do you do it?  If not, have you found any tips to make crafting with kids easier??

Top 3 Posts of 2012

Here is an update on the 3 most visited posts of our 2012 year!

Number 3:  Homeschool Help: Saint Report Form

The Saint Report Form that I made has been a great help this year.  It gives the girls a starting point to investigate any particular saint.  Sometimes they do not have all the answers and then they get to do some further research to find out!  Usually I go to google images and print out a small image of the saint for them to add to their report.  Go to the post to download the saint report form to use in your homeschool!

Number 2:  Life of Fred Worksheets

We are slowly moving our way through the elementary series of Life of Fred.  Rose has zoomed through on her own and needs more of the books, but Daisy and Magnolia and I have not really made time for them this fall, so we need to get back to them.
The worksheets I created are just a "fun" way to give the kids some journaling pages to do their work on when it is "their turn"!  Go to the post to download the saint report form to use in your homeschool!

Recently I came across a great site that thoroughly walked through where to start your child with Life of Fred.  I do not know if it is endorsed by the author, but it includes the new intermediate books and I felt that it was a very thorough analysis.  You can visit the site here:  www.lifeoffredmath.com

Number 1:  Our Homeschool Room 2011-2012

We have way too many books.  I am trying to create a library for my 3 kids to keep them organized. Most of the time, my kids can not find things even when they are looking right at them.

Apparently I am not alone.  Homeschool moms want to be organized.  We need to be organized.  But how do we do it???

Expedit shelves by IKEA are hot.  Hot, as in popular, not hot.  They are versatile, they hold a lot of stuff and they keep things organized.  NOW if only I did not have so many things to organize....

Here are the old photos!

I tend to get bored easily and move my furniture at least every 6 months.  Here are some pics of the latest arrangement, (ignore all the clutter on the school table, otherwise the picture will never get taken.)  :)

Presenting:  Our Homeschool Room 2012-2013

Wall one:  Shelf 1: Moms bookshelf of teachers books, resources, books I am trying to hide from eager readers, etc.

Shelf 2: Rose's books by subject in cubbies and art supplies and books.

Wall 2:  Magnolia's books and toys and things to keep her occupied.  (This is not working and needs to be overhauled).

Wall 3:  Shelf 1:  Reference books, Timeline, File box with blank worksheets (like the life of fred journal pages, religion journal pages, blank maps, saint report forms, book report forms)  AND Daisy's books by subject.

Shelf 2: Our Cathechesis Corner with religion books and our family altar.  (Apparently the nutcracker represents the little drummer boy in our school room nativity).  Theoretically this altar changes with the liturgical season.....(the Christmas season was only over yesterday ;)  )

Wall 4:  Magnolia's desk and the student computer.

So there you have it,  the most popular posts of our year!  Thanks for visiting and please, leave a comment !  I love to read them and they make my day brighter!!!  If you have a blog, be sure to leave your address so I can visit you too!

Sacred Art Camp

In August, the big girls attended a super neat sacred art camp at the Holy Spirit Center.  During the class, they explored sacred art with a professional art restorer.  She introduced them to all sorts of great techniques and styles of sacred art.  This fit in perfectly with our Middle Ages studies this year and introduced them to art forms that we will never have a chance to try at home.

During the week, they started with a study of Byzantine style icons.  Using the traditional forms of large eyes and precious metals of gold and silver, the children drew their icons free hand using a patron saint, Jesus or Mary as their subject.

Rose's "Blessed Kateri", age 10

Daisy's "GESU", age 8

The next form they explored was stained glass.  They started by tracing a line drawing onto a piece of glass and then used glass paint to color in the glass areas.  The pieces were then framed.

Daisy's "Lamb of God", age 8

Rose's "Blessed Mother", age 10

The last form they tried was fresco tondo.  The students traced their drawings onto a round wooden tablet coated with wet plaster.  They traced it using a wooden stick then painted over the traced lines with green paint.  Once that was complete they finished the painting with the colors of their choice.

Rose's "Madonna and Child", age 10

Daisy's "Beautiful Mother", age 8

At the end of the class, the students and their families were invited to an art show displaying all of the sacred works.  All of their works were beautiful and inspiring, especially considering they were created by children between the ages of 6 and 13.  Well done!

After watching this beautiful process this week, I may be inspired to just try some of these techniques at home.  I think they did a beautiful job.  How about you?

Remembering

Each story, each life precious in its own way.

Melding Story of the World and Old World and America

In choosing our curriculum last year, we really liked Story of the World, but as we got closer to the dawn of Christianity, I started looking for ways to incorporate more Catholic history into the program.  When I came across Old World and America, by Fr. Furlong, it seemed like an easy way to get another perspective on history, one that we would especially appreciate this year when we do cycle 2.

So I put together this chart to add Old World and America to Story of the World vol. 1.  I also added some chapters from Our Island Story  by H.E. Marshall since it was recommended by the Mater Amabilis curriculum.  This is not a Catholic text, but there is a nice explanation and teacher's notes on MA's site for how to use it and when to amend it here.  If I ever come across Old World's Gifts to the New,  by Sr. Mary Celeste, I will add it in, but so far i have not bought it.  I also added in a column for supplemental books with a Catholic flavor and which Saints to cover during the time period studied.  We are using individual saint books and Once Upon a Time Saints and More.   

Either way, this is my first attempt at adding this all together.  Let me know if there are any errors.  We are finishing Cycle 1 right now, so I will not actually be testing this plan for 3 more years :), but I am working on finishing Cycle 2 and will post it as soon as it is finished.

If you add this to your blog, please credit my blog as your source. :)


Sotw and Owaa Chart

Homeschool Help: Saint Report Form

I have been creating forms and pages to use for our homeschooling this year. I will be sharing these on my blog for anyone who wants to use them. The first is a saint report form. I will be adding more as I get them made!

My children will be adding saint reports to their curriculum this year, so I made this form to make it a little easier for them to hit the highlights! It is fashioned on the book report forms CHC uses in their 2nd grade curriculum.

If you add these to your blog, please credit my blog as your source. :)

Saint Report Form