The Diary of a Sower

Lent Plans and Activities

2012-02-23T14:38:00.002-06:00

I've spent the last few weeks mulling over what my family would be doing for Lent this year. I tend to over-plan these things, and try to do too much! So hopefully I can keep it simple this year and keep the focus where it needs to be...

Lenten Spiral
Before Advent, I purchased the "Advent to Lent" spiral from Ann Voskamp's son Caleb. It is such a beautiful piece! My daughter and son really enjoyed using it, so we will take it out again and replace the wooden Mary (on the donkey) with the Jesus (carrying the cross) figure and add the extra pieces to make it a 40-day path. I am really looking forward to continuing this new tradition that we began last Advent! I especially like the way that using the spiral ties in the two "preparation" seasons in the liturgical year.

Friday Soup and Stations/Taize Prayer

Creative Commons licensed image

When my son switched Catholic schools last fall, we also switched parishes. It's been fun discovering the traditions and customs of our new parish! I discovered that every Friday, our new parish has a "Soup and Prayer Event." They serve a simple meatless soup and bread dinner beginning at 5:45 p.m., then invite the parishioners to stay for Stations of the Cross or Taize prayer. (They alternate; one week they pray the stations, the next week they do a Taize prayer.) I hope to participate in this every week. I'm especially excited about the Taize prayer nights; I've wanted to try that for many years.

Spiritual Reading
During school time, my daughter and I will be reading Amon's Adventure: A Family Story for Easter by Arnold Ytreeide. During past Advent seasons, we read and enjoyed two of Ytreeide's other books: Bartholomew's Passage and Jotham's Journey.

I love the way these books mix history, geography and the story of Jesus' life from the eyes of a adolescent living during that time. It almost feels like you are there, sharing the experiences.

As a family, we will be reading A Family Journey with Jesus through Lent: Prayers and Activities for Each Day by Angela M. Burrin. This book is somewhat similar as fictional children from Nazareth, Capernaum, Cana and Jerusalem describe their lives and tell what it was like to live during Jesus' time. Each daily reading is about four pages long and includes a child's narrative story (based on an actual Bible passage), a scripture memory verse, a prayer, and a section where Jesus "speaks" to the reader about that day's reading. Each reading is built around a theme, which is indexed in the back of the book. (The themes could be a wonderful way to add even more meaning to Lent!)

The back of the book also includes suggestions for possible Lent activities like having a "family Saturday service day" or being a "secret Simon of Cyrene" and offering a kind gesture to another family member.

This looks like a great book that we will be re-using every year!

Stations of the Cross
For those Fridays when we aren't able to attend our parish's Soup/Stations event, I plan to use our "Stations of the Cross" prayer gems which I created last year.

I also plan to occasionally use the "Stations of the Cross" app on my Kindle Fire, just to try something new!

Operation Rice Bowl
Catholic Relief Services offers a wonderful family project for Lent called "Operation Rice Bowl." If you aren't familiar with it, it's a great way to mix a bit of geography with Catholic social teaching while following the three goals of Lent (prayer, fasting and almsgiving).

Every year they focus on six different countries they serve. This year, the focus is on Madagascar, Vietnam, El Salvador, Zambia, India and the U.S. Diocese of Arlington. Each week, your family can read a story about a family in one of the countries, then make a simple themed meatless meal from that country. There are also a variety of activities that can be done at home like making Lenten Prayer Eggs or watching an online slide show about the designated country. Families can also use CRS' Lenten calendar to inspire daily prayers or set Lenten goals for your family.

I know that one of the reasons my son loves studying geography is because we participated in Operation Rice Bowl when he was younger. I'm glad our new parish is involved with the program and look forward to doing country projects and lenten activities designed around this year's featured countries.

Making a Prayer Space
We had a designated "prayer corner" in our home when my son was younger, but it was a corner with a tiny shelf that we outgrew and eventually re-purposed for something else. I want to take some time this Lent to create an inviting new prayer space in our home. I've been eyeing a corner in our carpeted basement family room that would be perfect because we don't have a TV or any electronic devices downstairs. Now I just need to do some thrift store shopping for a comfy chair and a small table to hold our Bible, crucifix and an electronic candle. I'm looking forward to having a quiet place to read because one of my own personal Lenten goals is to relax with an inspirational/religious book instead of the TV each night!

Music
During our morning prayer time, I hope to teach my daughter some of the Lenten songs I learned as a kid, like O Sacred Head Surrounded, Were You There?, All Glory Laud and Honor, and the Stabat Mater Dolorosa in English. My personal goal will be to learn the Stabat Mater Dolorosa in Latin. (Or more realistically, at least one verse of it in Latin!)

Hope your Lent is filled with prayer!

Would you like more ideas on how to observe Lent? Check out these Link-ups, which are filled with inspiring ideas!


Catholic Icing's Lenten Link-up

Explore and Express' Celebrating Lent Link-up

Equipping Catholic Families Festival of Lent Links

An activity to teach kindness and love based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-8

2012-02-05T17:37:00.002-06:00

I'm not sure if it was brought on by the dreary, cloudy days we had in January, but patience and kindness seem to be in short supply around our house lately. I was wondering how I could encourage my children to show more generosity toward each other when I stumbled upon the "love" passage in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8:

Love is patient, love is kind.

It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated,
it is not rude,
it does not seek its own interests,
it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury,
it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.
It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.

(from The USCCB website)

My first inclination was to ~~require~~ encourage my nine and twelve year old to to memorize this Bible passage, but they would probably balk and argue about it, which would defeat the purpose!

Instead, I wondered how I could make a "game" out of learning the passage and encouraging kindness in our everyday actions. At the same time, I thought it would be a perfect activity for the days surrounding St. Valentine's Day.

I ran across this free printable subway art from The Girl Creative and suddenly, I knew what to do!

I printed it out twice. I framed one of the copies in a plain white frame that I had embellished with red and silver paint pens, red glitter and glitter hearts. I cut apart the second copy into phrase pieces and then decoupaged them with Mod Podge onto a clear glass vase that wasn't being used. Here are the results:

Then I picked up some acrylic hearts in pink, red and purple. I originally found small packages at Michael's for $2.99, but later found larger boxes of them for $2 at Target's dollar spot:

I put a bunch of acrylic hearts in a bowl, then placed the frame, vase and bowl on a sideboard near my dining room table.

At supper, my family discussed 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 and what it means to be patient, kind, not envious and the other virtues in the Bible passage. I told the kids I was going to give them a challenge. Every time they performed one of the virtues, they could take an acrylic heart from the white bowl and put it in the vase. If the vase is filled by February 14, I will buy all the ingredients to make banana splits and we will have a "Banana Split Sundae" on the Sunday before Lent begins.

We started on February 1. The house has been a bit more peaceful, as the kids look for ways to be kind to each other and do little errands for my husband and I (without asking). I realize the kids might go back to their old ways after the challenge is over, but I'm also praying that they begin to like the feeling they get when they do kind things for each other!

Linking up to these blogs -- check them out for St. Valentine Day inspiration!

Skip to My Lou's Made By You Monday

Catholic Icing First Friday Link-Up

Catholic Bloggers Network:

Creating your own materials for "The Presentation in the Temple"

2012-02-02T14:22:00.000-06:00

After I finished my last blog post, it occurred to me that I should share some additional information on making figures and a temple for those who might like to have these materials for their children.

Most of the inspiration for my materials came from my Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training and the Materials Manual provided by the National Association for the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. However, if you search a bit on the internet you can find directions for making wood peg dolls, which are very similar (and perhaps even easier) than the figures I made from wooden dowels and porcelain clay.

The temple was my own creation, inspired by the plastic cake pillars I found at a garage sale. However, the Faith Expressions website has helpful instructions on how to make a temple diorama using a plain cardboard photo box and a few other materials. These dioramas are designed to fit their beautiful clay figurines but would may also work with wood peg people, depending on the size of your wood pegs. I purchased their "Year After Year We Tell the Stories" booklet, which was also very helpful.

If you make something, please let me know. I would love to see photos and will share them on this blog if you would like.

Feast of the Presentation/Candlemas

2012-02-02T12:42:00.000-06:00

Although most of the world knows February 2 as Groundhog's Day, I like to remember another holiday on this day. February 2 is also the Feast of the Presentation, which has also been called Candlemas. This feast day remembers the day when Joseph and the Blessed Mother took Jesus to the temple to be presented. There, they met Simeon and Anna, two elderly people who had been patiently waiting and praying for the promised Messiah.

In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, we share this story with the students by reading its passage in the Bible (Luke 2:22-39), then meditating on the passage, then using some handmade materials to re-tell the story. When I took my first CGS training nine years ago, I made a set of wooden dowel people and a temple so my children could re-tell the story at home. These are very humble little items and far from perfect, yet my kids seem entranced by them. Here are a few photos of my handmade materials:

The people are made with wooden dowels and small wooden balls. I used a porcelain clay to form the veils on the women. Joseph is holding a basket of two turtle doves made from the same porcelain clay, and Mary has a porcelain clay Baby Jesus wrapped in "swaddling clothes" (a piece of cheesecloth.)

My daughter is working with the materials. The temple is super easy to make! It consists of wooden plaques which have been spray painted with paint that replicates a stone/pebbly surface. The floor is made up of two plaques. One is slightly smaller so when they are stacked on top of each other, steps are created. The pillars are plastic cake pillars used for wedding cakes and picked up for pennies at a garage sale. They were hot glued to the base and roof of the temple.

As I write this, my daughter is behind me, working with the materials and humming "Immaculate Mary." Ahhh, such a wonderful gift for my heart!

Tonight, our church will have a special Mass for the Feast of the Presentation. Everyone is invited to bring a candle to be blessed and used throughout the year for birthdays, Lent, prayer times, Advent and other special days. Afterwards, we'll have a small "cookie and hot cocoa" reception where everyone is invited to bring any leftover Christmas goodies to share. What a wonderful way to close the Christmas season!

Happy Feast of the Presentation! How are you celebrating this final day of the Christmas season?

Now there's a network for Catholic Bloggers

2012-01-20T14:22:00.001-06:00

I'm currently working on a few projects to put the "Saint" back in St. Valentine's Day next month. (Well, at least bring the holiday's focus back to Jesus and the Bible!) I'm also in the midst of preparing a display for our parish's faith fair. (The kids and I are "going back to Jesus' time and creating a display about homes, clothing, food, etc. in Jesus' time.) I will post photos and more information soon about both items.

In the meantime, I've joined the Catholic Bloggers Network. Check it out for some great blogs!

Catholic Bloggers Network

Favorite Find: DIY Liturgical Year Calendar Bulletin Board

2011-12-31T12:25:00.001-06:00

It's hard to believe it is already the last day of 2011! I'm thinking "calendars" today, and checking to see if everyone in the family has a calendar for 2012. While surfing, I ran across a wonderful DIY liturgical calendar on Sanctus Simplicitis. It helps families know saint feast days, which mystery of the rosary should be prayed on each day, and much more. Best of all, the files for the calendar can be downloaded for free! (Click here to see the calendar and get the downloadable files.) Thank you, Sanctus Simplicitis, for this wonderful New Year's gift!

After Christmas Deals

2011-12-28T13:26:00.001-06:00

I've been doing a bit of after-Christmas shopping with a couple of gift cards I received. Some of the deals are really great, so I thought I would pass them on to others!

If you are looking for deals on pretty religious statues, check out the Catholic Supply of St. Louis website. I was able to pick up these beautiful statues for half off! (Statues are usually so expensive, especially nice ones.)


Holy Family statue, regularly $59.95, now	$29.97

Although it won't be here in time this year, I plan to use it this beautiful statue each year on our dinner table for the Feast of the Holy Family. I love the way Baby Jesus is nestled in Mary's arms!

Here's another one I found:


Flight Into Egypt statue, regularly $49.95, now $24.97

Both of these are created by Joseph's Studio. I have their La Posada statue, so these will be a nice complement to that. I love the muted colors and the facial details are very nice.

Catholic Supply has a number of other statues on sale, too, including complete Nativity sets, if you are looking to pick up a nice set. Their Heaven's Majesty statues (which include not only statues of the Holy Family, but also of Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Grace, St. Therese, Our Lady of Lourdes, St. Joseph and the Sacred Heart of Jesus, plus more.)

Or, if you have always wanted to do the "straw in the manger" activity with your family, they have a couple of Baby Jesus in wood cribs for sale.

The 5.75" removable Baby Jesus with straw was $12.95, now $3.95. The 7.75" Baby Jesus was $19.95, now $6.95.

Their order form is a bit of a pain to use, since you must cut and copy then paste item numbers into the order form (you can't just click on an item to add it to your cart.) I usually open two windows--one with the order form and one with the page with the item I want to order, then cut and paste. But it's worth it to me, since it's not often you can find beautiful statues on sale!

These links are not affiliate links and I'm not receiving any compensation if you purchase something. I just wanted to pass on some exciting deals that I found!

This Christmas: Pray for Bethlehem

2011-12-23T12:10:00.002-06:00

But you, Bethlehem-Ephrathah

least among the clans of Judah,

From you shall come forth for me

one who is to be ruler in Israel;

Whose origin is from of old,

from ancient times.

Micah 5:1

Every year as we near Christmas, I spend some time looking at Youtube videos about Bethlehem and its holy sites. And every year, I feel sadness and helplessness when I read about the diminishing Christian population in this sacred town. Phoebe Greenwood, a journalist with The Guardian newspaper out of Britain, has written an article about the situation. She quotes Father Ibrahim Shomali, pastor of Annunciation Church in Beit Jala (a hillside town adjacent to Bethlehem)

"If Jesus were to come this year, Bethlehem would be closed. He would either have to be born at a checkpoint or at the separation wall. Mary and Joseph would have needed Israeli permission – or to have been tourists."

You can read the whole article here

This article suggests that the problem is caused by the Israelis. I've read other articles that say the problem is caused by the Palestinian leaders. Others say radical Muslims. I don't know; it is a very complicated situation where everyone feels that this relatively small piece of land should be theirs.

This year, for some reason, Isaiah 11:6-9 popped into my mind while reading the article:

6^* Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb,

and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat;

The calf and the young lion shall browse together,

with a little child to guide them.^f

7The cow and the bear shall graze,

together their young shall lie down;

the lion shall eat hay like the ox.^g

8The baby shall play by the viper’s den,

and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair.

9They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain;

for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD,

as water covers the sea.

And I pictured Edward Hick's painting Peaceable Kingdom:

This year, when you are at Mass on Christmas Eve, will you join me in prayer, asking Our Lord to bring peace to the "little" town of Bethlehem?

The Franciscan Foundation for the Holy Land sponsors a wide variety of projects and programs to help Christians living in Bethlehem. Some of their projects include a Child Sponsorship Program, a job placement program, affordable housing options, a university scholarship program, a vocational school program and social service programs for the elderly living in the area. You can find out more about the organization here.

Simple O Antiphons Project

2011-12-18T13:14:00.000-06:00

This year, I really want to spend a bit more time praying (and teaching my kids to pray) the O Antiphons. My goal is to help them recognize the Latin words and their English equivalents, in addition to better understand each of the prayers.

I planned to make a paper O Antiphons house like the one suggested by Catholic Culture, or even better yet, the wooden house created by Alice, Elizabeth, Suzanne, Ruth, Kelly, Kimberly, and Jessica. But between teaching catechism at two churches and chauffeuring kids to basketball, soccer and dance practices, I found little time to craft. I figured that if I was going to make the house, I wanted to take the time to make it beautifully. So it didn't happen. Perhaps next year.

Yet I still wanted to do something, so I came up with this quick magnet board display:

I found a purple magnet board and wooden magnetic letters at Michael's craft store. The picture and symbols below the picture are from Jennifer Gregory Miller's O Antiphon Prayer Companion. It's a wonderful booklet filled with prayers, an explanation of the symbols associated with each Antiphon, and even some suggestions for corresponding food or meals that could be served on each day.

I put two electronic taper candles on each side of the display and lit them. They will remain lit for the whole week.

Each day the kids will change the wooden letters and symbols. Here is our display for today (O Adonai):

We will also listen to O Antiphons chant on the Fisheaters website.

It's okay to be less than perfect

2011-12-18T12:14:00.001-06:00

Here it is, the last Sunday in Advent. Are you feeling tinges of guilt over all the projects and things you didn't get done during the season? Or is your list still rather long, hoping you can finish the baking, Christmas shopping, card writing, Christmas crafting and gift wrapping before next Saturday, Christmas Eve?

I know my list is too long, and I will need to rewrite it so it's more realistic and do-able. Also, I really need to focus on what's important--attending Mass each day, getting to confession, spending more time reading the Bible and meditating over the wonderful gift God gave to us in Jesus.

Check out Tsh Oxenreider's article: Plan Your Peaceful Christmas: Embrace Imperfection for inspiration on just letting go and being in the moment with Christ!

Favorite Free Find: Free Christmas Music Downloads

2011-12-09T08:45:00.002-06:00

Did you know that Amazon is currently offering "25 Days of Free Holiday Music"? Each day, they upload a new holiday song from a variety of popular Christmas albums. You can download the MP3 file for free, to put on your smartphone or MP3 player. Some of the current free songs include Greensleeves by Mannheim Steamroller, Ave Maria by Celtic Women, O Holy Night by Leigh Nash and Adeste Fideles by Bing Crosby.

You can get the free downloads here

I think I'll surprise my husband by adding some holiday tunes to his Nano, which he listens to every day on the train as he commutes to work!

Advent Glass Block Decoration

2011-12-05T08:54:00.001-06:00

I admit it--I'm on a mission to decorate my home for Advent this year! Usually, my only Advent decorations are our purple table cloth, a rather plain ring that serves as our Advent wreath, our Nativity set and a few statues or figurines depicting St. Nicholas and St. Lucia. I've felt the need to add more liturgical purple to our home.

So, after I made the Immaculate Conception glass block decoration described here,
I wondered how I could use the second glass block and the purple and pink mini lights to create a decoration for Advent. So I went back to the internet, searching for some sort of Advent picture--perhaps an Advent candle? Maybe symbols from the Jesse tree? No, nothing seemed quite right, until I found a silhouette image depicting Joseph and Mary's trip to Bethlehem. The phrase "waiting in joyful hope" immediately popped into my head. I copied the image into my desktop publishing program and played a bit with the text until I came up with an image that seemed to represent Advent to me. I then printed two copies of the image and attached it to the glass block using Mod Podge, like I did for the Immaculate Conception glass block project. (You can see a quick photo tutorial here.)

After the Mod Podge dried, I threaded a string of purple lights and a string of pink lights through the pre-drilled opening in the glass block. Since each string has its own "on" button, I'll turn on the purple lights on the first, second and fourth weeks of Advent, then turn on the pink lights for the third week of Advent.

Here are a couple of photos of the finished product. Unfortunately, my camera can't really capture the true purple color. But it will give you an idea of what the decoration looks like:


The "Waiting in Joyful Hope" image I created on my computer


Illuminated by the pink mini lights (unfortunately, the purple lights were too dark to photograph, although not too dark to illuminate the image.)

It really was a quick project; waiting for the Mod Podge to dry was the most time consuming part!

I still have one more set of pink and purple mini lights left. Now I'm waiting for some heavenly inspiration on how to use them, perhaps incorporating the O Antiphons!

I'm participating in Skip to My Lou's "Made by You Mondays" blog hop. There are tons of wonderful ideas over there; check it out if you have a moment:

Simple Craft Project for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

2011-12-04T12:29:00.002-06:00

On one of my trips to Hobby Lobby, I picked up two of those narrow glass blocks that have become so popular for holiday decorations. I planned to use them with some battery operated mini lights I had obtained at an after-Christmas clearance at Target. (I was able to pick up a package of blue lights, and two packages each of pink and purple lights.) I knew I wanted to make some sort of inspirational/Catholic decoration with them, but didn't know what. I was secretly hoping our Lord would inspire me with some ideas, and He recently did!

I don't have any nice statues, prints or decorations for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. I knew my daughter and I would be doing some special things to celebrate this year, so I was searching the internet for a nice picture/painting of the Immaculate Conception. I stumbled upon a beautiful stained glass image of the Blessed Mother and immediately thought of my glass block and blue mini lights.

So I copied the image to my desktop publishing software, sized it to fit the glass block, printed two copies of it, and then decoupaged the copies to the two flat sides of the block with Mod Podge. Here are a few photos of the work in progress:


I brushed Mod Podge on to the glass block.


I placed the image over the Mod Podge, carefully using my fingers to remove any air bubbles.


After the Mod Podge dried on the back of the image, I sealed the front of it with two coats of Mod Podge. It looks cloudy when wet, but Mod Podge dries clear. I then repeated the process for the other side of the block so the image appears on both sides.

I threaded the blue mini lights through the pre-cut opening in the glass block, then turned on the lights. Here is the result:

My camera couldn't quite capture the proper shade of blue that peeks through the image; its not quite as stark as this image. It is so pretty! Even my husband (who isn't too crazy about religious art) said it was beautiful.

I've seen these same blue mini lights at Target this year, so if you are interested in making a craft like this, check out the Christmas light section at the after-holiday sales.

I also made a similar decoration for Advent. Will post about it tomorrow!

Advent Meditation with Children: Isaiah 9:1 (plus a craft idea and template!)

2011-12-03T20:16:00.002-06:00

Public domain photo courtesy of PDPhoto.org

I love sharing the meditation on Isaiah 9:2 (or Isaiah 9:1 in some Bibles) with the children in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. It is the passage that says "The people who walked in darkness, have seen a great light." This passage and its meditation have enthralled me since I first heard it in my Level I CGS training nine years ago. I decided to share it with my catechism class this last week. I'm never sure how the class will react, since they are so used to "workbook/textbook" religion and seem to do best when we are physically moving around. We haven't done a meditation yet and I wasn't sure how they would react. However, their rapt attention and responses showed me that this passage speaks deeply to all children!

Thought I would share some bits and pieces about the meditation, in case you would like to try it with your children or your catechism class. This isn't quite the same presentation as I would give in the atrium because the classroom setup isn't as conducive to that presentation. For example, I'm not allowed to light candles in our classroom, so I need to tailor the presentation a bit because of that.

For the meditation you will need a Bible, a painting of the prophet Isaiah and a handmade prayer card (8" x 14" or larger is good) that also says the verse (see my example below). If you are doing this at home, you will also need a candle, snuffer, matches and place to put spent matches.

With my catechism class, I began the meditation by telling the kids we were going to do some "deep thinking and pondering" today. I don't usually do this in the atrium since the kids (except the newest, youngest ones) are used to doing meditations.

We discuss darkness--what does the word "darkness" mean? What does it mean to be "dark"? We might turn off the lights and ask if it is dark. (In our room, it wasn't because there was some light streaming in from the windows.) I ask them to cover their eyes with their hands. Is that dark, or do they see some light peeking in? I ask them to close their eyes and then cover their eyes. Is that dark, or do they still see some light?

I ask them to imagine darkness with no light at all. How does that feel? Scary?

We then discuss "light" -- what it means and what it is. When I think the children have a good grasp of the concept of light, we compare "darkness" and "light" and I ask them how each situation makes them feel.

I then pick up the picture of the prophet Isaiah while telling them that today we are going to read a Bible verse about darkness and light. I explain to them that it was written by a man named Isaiah, who was a prophet. I show them the picture of Isaiah and we talk briefly about prophets and prophesies.

At this point in the atrium, I would light the candle and pick up my Bible. I would then slowly read the passage once:

"The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light."

I then sit quietly for a few moments to give it a chance to sink in. I then tell them I also have a prayer card that has this Bible passage, and show them this prayer card:

I re-read it slowly and we discuss darkness and light again. I follow the children's lead, asking questions based on their answers. For example, in Wednesday's catechism class they thought the "great light" might be the sun, or perhaps a bright star like the star of Bethlehem. I sprinkle their responses with comments like "I wonder?" Or I might say "what else could the prophet be saying?" I never really mention Jesus but do emphasize that Isaiah's prophesies were inspired by God.

It was truly amazing to watch the Holy Spirit work in the kids. All the sudden, one girl's face lit up with understanding and she said "THE LIGHT IS JESUS!!" And a boy's face lit up as he said "AND THE PEOPLE ARE US!!!!"

I will usually then suggest what a wonderful gift that God gave us when he gave us this light Jesus so we never have to walk in the darkness again.

At this point, one of the kids asked if we could sing the song "Christ is Light." Again, the Holy Spirit at work, since this is a song I just taught them a few weeks ago. After we sang it, I taught them another song, "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light." But any song about Christ as the light of the world would be appropriate.

To finish reinforce the lesson, we did a very simple craft. I gave the kids an electronic pillar candle (purchased for $1 at Dollar Tree) and a picture of Isaiah along with the Bible verse. The kids removed the label on the pillar candle, trimmed down the verse to fit their candle, then taped it to their candle. After everyone was finished, they turned on their candles and we turned off the lights. The effect of the light shining through the picture of Isaiah and the Bible passage was beautiful, and the room was filled with excited kids saying "cool!" "awesome!" (Much to my delight!) We then sang our two "Light" songs again by candlelight.

Here are some photos of our electronic pillar candles with the Bible passage and Isaiah's picture on them:

If you would like to make this craft, you can upload the candle paper for free from here.

If you try this with your kids, please share your results in the comments section. I would love to hear about it!

Note: If you have any problems with this upload, please send a note to me at caswrite at yahoo dot com. When looking at the image created by Google docs, I can't tell if the original size was retained, or if Google docs reduced the size of the candle paper.

Free Printable: Advent to Epiphany Planner

2011-11-28T21:26:00.005-06:00

Advent is such an exciting time, and there's always so much I want to do, see, read and make with my family. I usually go a bit crazy trying to fit it all in, or at least fit in the most important things. I often see so many great ideas on the Internet, yet forget to do them! This year I decided to create an "Advent to Epiphany Planner" to help me remember the special feast days.

The planner includes a block of several lines for each day from the first Sunday of Advent to the Sunday in which the U.S. church celebrates Epiphany. Actually, I included a planner for the Feast Day of the Baptism of the Lord, because my family likes to celebrate that, too. This year, it is celebrated on January 9 in the U.S.

Dates are included in each block; common feast days are listed, too. Under the date is a section called "Theme." Sometimes I like to incorporate some special themes during our homeschooling day. For example, on "Poinsettia Theme Day" we would read Tomie DePaola's "Legend of the Poinsettia," make poinsettia cookies, do a poinsettia craft, etc.

I also included spaces on each day to jot down:

- Special meals/snacks I would like to serve (like an all-white meal on December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception),

- Activities we can do together as a family (like make a craft, look at the Christmas light display at a nearby park, or see the Nutcracker ballet)

- Read-Aloud Books (our favorite holiday books)

- Holiday DVD or video (we have a great collection of classic and newer holiday DVDs and videos, both religious and secular. This will help me set aside time to watch them.)

I thought others might like to use this resource, so I uploaded a copy on Google docs, which you can download and print out to use with your family. You can get it here.

If you use it, let me know what you think!

I linked this page to several link parties filled with terrific Advent ideas! Please check them out:

1) The "Make Yourself Monday" link party at For Love of Cupcakes. Click here for more great holiday ideas!

2) A Ten O'Clock Scholar's Keeping Advent link party. Click here for some inspiring posts about Advent!

3) Catholic Family's Advent Festival of Links, which you can reach here.

Nativity Carnival: Keeping Advent Link party

2011-11-17T13:33:00.000-06:00

Kerry, at Ten O'Clock Scholar, is hosting a link party to share ideas on how to keep the Advent season.

Check out the ideas here

Question: do you homeschool in December?

2011-11-17T13:12:00.000-06:00

I've been thinking about whether we should put formal schooling on the shelf for December, and perhaps just focus on making Advent holy and memorable. For those of you that homeschool, what do you do in December? If you take the month off, do you have any ideas for incorporating reading and math into your everyday holiday chores? Please share in the comments section; would love some advice!

Favorite Find: Advent Music

2011-11-17T09:36:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago, a local radio station began a tradition of playing Christmas music 24 hours a day, starting around November 10 until Christmas Day. I love Christmas music, but this didn't feel right to me. November 10 was too early for the exuberant, joyful tunes of Christmas. I yearned for quieter music that would help me ponder the wonderful gift that God gave us.

So began my search for "Advent music." It wasn't an easy one! Sadly, there isn't a lot of music for Advent, except perhaps for some beautiful Gregorian chants.

However, I discovered two CDs which have become family favorites:

Like Winter Waiting: The Advent Story by John Foley, S.J.
Produced by OCP Publications, this is a musical story about key Biblical events surrounding the birth of Christ. Different actors play the roles of Mary, Joseph, Zechariah, Elizabeth, the Angel Gabriel and other characters. It gives listeners a peek into the feelings and emotions that these various characters may have felt while experiencing the amazing changes that were occurring in their lives.

Tracks include a welcome/introduction from the Angel Gabriel, Zechariah and Simon talking about the pregnancy of Elizabeth, the Angel Gabriel appearing to Mary, Joseph pondering the angel's message about Mary's pregnancy, Joseph and Mary's trip to Bethlehem via donkey, the birth of Christ and the visit by the shepherds to the stable. My children's favorite song on the CD is "Unless You Lead Me On," a joyful song by the donkey about the need to have God in its life. You can hear samples of the songs here.

We Shall Prepare: An Advent Cantata for Young People by Mark Friedman and Janet Vogt
Also produced by OCP Publications, this CD is almost like an audio "Jesse Tree." It includes songs about Noah, Moses, King David and Jonah, then moves on to songs about Mary, Bethlehem and the birth of Christ. There are many wonderful upbeat songs on this CD! Our favorites include "Get On the Boat," about Noah; "Moses, Set Them Free," about God's call to Moses to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt.

For those who teach in a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, several songs would be very appropriate for Advent lessons, including "Wonderful Counselor," which corresponds to the meditation of Isaiah 9:5 and helps children understand the various titles given to Jesus; and "Little Bethlehem," which corresponds to the Biblical geography lesson about Bethlehem and the meditation of Micah 5:1.

You can hear samples of this CD here.

Do you have any favorite Advent music? I would love to hear about it!

Favorite Find: Wooden Church Playset

2011-11-14T10:44:00.001-06:00

A couple of months ago I was looking for some simple, portable materials that I could use in the catechism class I'm teaching at our parish. I ran across this Wooden Church Playset from Beulah Enterprises.

For $22.50, you get a nine piece set of wooden pieces including a priest, church backdrop, baptismal font, altar, lectern and a family of four figures (father, mother and two children). You can also get a muslin bag to store it all in for $2.

My daughter has been fascinated with the playset, setting up up to look like our church and then re-enacting the Mass or baptisms with the priest and other figures. She also took out some of our other wooden blocks and created her own small church--complete with pews and a choir section with "organ" and piano. She has asked me to look for a small statue of Mary so she can set up a rosary praying area like the one in our church.

The Beulah Enterprise website suggests that older kids might enjoy making vestments so I'll be giving her some purple felt soon so she can decorate her little church for Advent. I can also picture a tiny advent wreath make from a bit of faux greenery and four birthday candles.

I might give her some clay and suggest she make a paten and chalice.

There is so much play potential with this simple little wooden set. It would make a great gift for Christmas.

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated with Beulah Enterprises in any way and will not receive any compensation for this review. Just sharing another one of my "favorite finds!"

A great resource for tracking homeschool lesson plans

2011-11-03T11:06:00.000-05:00

While we're on the subject of homeschooling, I wanted to mention a free resource that I've been using this year to help me track our lesson plans, completion dates, etc. It's called Homeschool Skedtrack.

In the past, I wrote our daily and weekly lesson plans on a tracking sheet that I created in my computer. The problem with the paper method is that it is rather inflexible. For example, if my daughter didn't complete a phonics lesson on Tuesday, I had to rewrite the phonics lesson plan for the rest of the week to ensure that the missed lesson was completed.

Homeschool Skedtrack is an online lesson planner that has more flexibility than a paper planner. If we don't get to a certain subject in any day, that day's lesson will be moved to the next day or whenever we are scheduled to cover that subject again. For example, if we cover Map Skills on Tuesday and Wednesday, but we don't do Tuesday's scheduled lesson, that lesson will automatically move to Wednesday and be on our schedule the next day. No more erasing and re-doing lesson plans!

Homeschool Skedtrack is easy to use once you understand how to plan lessons in sequences (rather than planning by days). You determine how many days you will do school in a given year (which can start at any time during the year), in addition to dates you will be off for holidays, vacations, field trips, etc.

I took my Seton and Kolbe lesson plans and wrote them sequentially in Homeschool Skedtrack. This can be a rather overwhelming chore! So I started by writing just a week's lesson plans. This also gave me the opportunity to see if the program would work for us. I'm now writing about three weeks' worth of lesson plans into Homeschool Skedtrack, which isn't too overwhelming (I can sometimes complete it while my daughter is doing her independent school work). Eventually, I hope to put a quarter's worth of work in the program.

After the plans are inputted into the program, you simply go to the "Today" tab under the Schedule and see your child's list of assignments for the day. As your child completes each assignment, he can check them off in the online planner. At the end of the day you can approve all finished work. Unfinished work will be rolled over to the next scheduled day for that lesson.

Here's a screen shot of the "Today" page:

Best of all, the program is free! It is supported by user donations and a few ads on the left and right columns of the page.

I've used the program since August and have been very happy with it. If you're looking for an online homeschool scheduler and tracker, you can check it out here

Homeschool Curriculum Review, part 2

2011-11-02T16:05:00.000-05:00

Note: this is the second in a two part article reviewing the homeschooling material I'm using this year. For part one, click here.

We cover basic subjects (like reading, spelling, phonics and math) everyday. We also mix in several other subjects at least once or twice a week.

I find that my daughter can only do school for about 3.5 hours (which includes short snack and exercise breaks) before she really can't handle any other school work. We usually finish by lunch time. Sometimes, if we haven't finished all our subjects, I try to extend past lunch but she really isn't focused in the afternoon and gets easily frustrated. So for now, we're ending at lunch time (about 11:30 or noon). I hope to gradually extend into the afternoon, at least to do some fun hands-on projects.

English
We're using Seton's English 2, which covers subjects such as using the dictionary, ABC order, writing different types of sentences (like commanding and asking sentences), punctuation and more. I originally started the year by doing English five days per year, as suggested in the Seton lesson plan. But since she's been so enthusiastic about learning phonics, I decided to cut back on English for right now so we can reinforce phonics. So we do English once or twice a week. I like the fact that Seton's book includes poems and stories about saints, although some of them are rather challenging for my daughter. Hoping this will get easier as she progresses in phonics.

Handwriting
We generally do handwriting two times a week. I'm using Seton's Handwriting 2 course, but we skipped most of the printing practice in the front of the book and went to cursive writing. I did this for two reasons: 1) my daughter already prints very nicely (one of the areas she excels in!); 2) since last summer, she's been trying to copy words written in cursive and has been asking to learn how to write cursive. I don't have a strong opinion either way on this handwriting program. It's a basic "copy the letter formation" program that seems to get the job done.

I used Handwriting Without Tears to teach her manuscript writing, and she really liked all the songs and manipulatives in that program, so I would recommend that program to kids who aren't interested in doing a lot of copywork in a workbook.

Map Skills
I love teaching geography! When my son was in preschool and kindergarten, we spent a lot of time reading books about other countries and doing a variety of activities to learn about geography. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to do that yet with my daughter. So I was delighted when I saw that Kolbe's second grade lesson plan includes Continental Press' Map Skills C. The workbook includes lessons on understanding map keys, compass directions, distinguishing between different types of maps (e.g., political and physical maps) and more.

It recommends memorizing the state and capital city names, which are slowly doing with a couple of coloring books I picked up from Target's Dollar Spot and our local Dollar Tree store.

I'll also supplement this by reading several picture books about the states, including Marjorie Priceman's How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the U.SA. and Jackson and Bud's Bumpy Ride: America's First Cross-Country Automobile Trip by Elizabeth Koehler-Pentacoff.

Last year we did a lapbook based on Priceman's How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. We may also do that for Cherry Pie, using some of the free printables found on the Homeschool Share website.

Science

We're using Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy by Jeannie Fulbright. I also purchased the Astronomy Notebooking Journal rather than using a 3-ring binder or blank spiral notebook.

The 176-page textbook helps elementary students define astronomy, learn about the planets, explore stars and galaxies and discover space travel. We are doing it as a read-aloud, although stronger readers could probably read the text themselves with a little help from an adult. The lessons include hands-on activities and experiments, too, like making a solar system with balloons and creating a pinhole viewing box with a cardboard box and aluminum foil.

I like the way Fulbright brings God into the subject of astronomy. For example, she includes chapters like "Why Did God Create the Universe?" and refers to the chapter of Genesis in the Bible.

The notebook is very helpful, too. It's a great place for a student to jot down notes or drawings. For reluctant writers, there are plenty of creative frames and graphics to encourage a child to pick up a pencil and draw or write. There are also copywork pages where a student can print or cursive write a Bible verse. My daughter enjoys the vocabulary crossword puzzles. Each chapter includes a "What Do You Remember" page filled with review questions.

We are slowly working our way through this book. Perhaps a bit too slowly for my liking! It is mainly because we don't get to science until after lunch, and then my daughter has a hard time focusing on it. I may put the book aside and do it as a unit study in January/February. If I do that, I'll build all of our subjects around the book. For example, our spelling words would be astronomy terms or planet names, our copywork would be taken from the journal, our read-aloud would be the textbook and other picture books on the planets, our math work would include using planet shaped manipulatives, etc. I'm still toying with this idea since we seem to do science best when we integrate it into all of our subjects.

History
Throughout the summer, I was researching a history program that would integrate Catholic church history with world history. I was intrigued when I read about Connecting with History on Cathy Duffy's Review website, so I ordered the Volume I of the program. I like the fact that the program is implemented over four years, spanning history from creation to modern times. I also like the fact that it can be adapted to various ages. In Volume I, we're studying creation through 63 B.C. and learning about the Israelites, Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece and Rome. It also fits nicely with what my son is learning at his Catholic school this year, and ties in with the salvation history lessons I teach as part of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program.

The syllabus is full of ideas on how to implement the program, additional projects, etc. I like the fact that we also utilize a variety of multimedia resources, including CDs of Old Testament stories, paper dolls of historical figures, etc. The only downfall is that I really was looking for a program that would lay out the readings, projects, etc. on a day-by-day basis. This program is really for those who want to do the scheduling themselves. In the past, I've preferred programs that allow me to set the learning agenda, but this year I don't have the time to do it. So unfortunately, the program hasn't been used as much as I would like. I may make it a theme unit and work exclusively on it for several months this winter, using their suggestions for copywork, vocabulary, etc. It is a great program, but one has to plan some time to work out the schedule.

Faith and Religion
We go to Mass on Fridays and do an hour of adoration on Tuesdays. I also plan to periodically doing short studies on the saints, but decided not to do an actual religion textbook every day since so much of Seton and Kolbe's materials incorporate our Catholic faith. However, since I am teaching catechism, my daughter attends class with me every Wednesday after. The parish uses RCL Benziger's Blest Are We program. Truthfully, I'm not much of a "workbook/textbook" person, especially when it comes to teaching children about our faith. So I'm following it rather loosely, instead trying to emphasize some of the basics of our faith while incorporating alot of the hands on materials from the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program.

I'll be sharing some of the things we are doing on this blog throughout the year. Many can be used either at home, with a homeschool co-op, or in a catechism class.

So, that's our curriculum this year, subject to many adaptations as we go along!

Fridays
I'm also trying to make Friday a "fun day" to work on Girl Scout Try-Its, art appreciation, drawing, music appreciation. So far, I haven't been very good at this, as we usually attend Mass on Friday mornings (with my son's school) and then I try to do a few errands (like grocery shopping) which I have been putting off all week. Also, if she's had a rough day during the week and we haven't finished everything, I try to add it in on Friday.

Our homeschool curriculum this year: a review

2011-10-17T12:26:00.000-05:00

Last year I homeschooled my daughter with a mixture of books and curriculum. Because she was struggling with first grade work and refused to read, I decided to backtrack a bit, taking the emphasis off workbooks and focusing instead on reading a variety of interesting books out loud to her. I hoped it would eventually encourage her to try reading again. For read-alouds I used Five in A Row as my main resource, reading most of the books in Volume I and following their suggestions for math, science, copywork and other subjects. We also made a variety of lapbooks using free materials found in Homeschool Share, EnchantedLearning, Danielle's Place, DLTK-Kids and many other sources. Finally, we played a variety of games to memorize sight words and learn phonics.

I think this casual approach worked because by last spring, she started trying to read again. Granted, she was not reading at the level of a second grader, but she was reading! I decided that this year we would switch to a homeschool curriculum that offered lesson plans, but could not decide between Seton's program or Kolbe's program. Here's what I finally decided upon, along with a brief review of my opinion of the materials and lesson plans. Hopefully this will help others who are trying to decide what program(s) to use with their second grader.

Today I'll cover our core subjects, which we do at least four days a week.

Morning Prayer

We start every day with prayer. Last year I created a variety of prayer rings to help her learn prayers like the Morning Offering, Act of Contrition, and several different litanies. This year, I decided to use LTP's Children's Daily Prayer as our main resource. Each day, it offers suggestions for an opening prayer, a psalm, the day's Gospel reading, silent reflection and closing prayer. The prayers use simple words so my daughter can read many of the sections. We take turns reading the various sections.

Phonics

What a difference a year makes! Last year she fussed and whined when we did phonics, so I discontinued using a workbook. Instead, we played a variety of file folder games to reinforce letter sounds. This year I went back to using a workbook, and am I'm amazed that phonics is now her favorite subject! We're following the Kolbe second grade lesson plan and working our way through the Pearson Phonics Book B. The lesson plan calls for one to two pages each day in the workbook, but she wants to do more, so some days she does as many as five pages!

Spelling
We are also Using Kolbe's second grade lesson plan for spelling. Each week she gets 12 new words to review and study from Monday to Thursday. A final written test is given on Fridays. It was a bit too challenging for her; the first two weeks she did poorly on the final exam, spelling only one or two words out of 12 correctly. So now we study each list for two weeks. I give her six words each week. If a word is easy and she masters it quickly, I replace it with another word in Kolbe's list for that week. At the end of two weeks we take a final written exam with all 12 words. This has worked much better and she doesn't become overwhelmed by six new words like she did when she saw 12 new words.

Reading
We are using Seton's second grade lesson plan and the These Are Our Neighbors reader. We both love it! Its charming illustrations and gentle moral message reminds me of the reader I used when I was learning to read. In fact, I think it was an older version of this book that motivated me to read!

I was a reluctant reader until my grandmother, who was a Catholic grade school teacher, showed me the Faith and Freedom reader she used in her classroom. I loved the stories in it! She lent it to me and told me that if I could read it all by the next time she saw me, she would give me the book to keep. Three months later, I was reading the entire book by myself. I still cherish the first book I ever read!

The book centers around two grade school siblings--Joan and Mark--and their family. She loves reading about their daily life and their adventures. She feels sad when they have to move because their dad lost his job, and she laughs at the nice surprise they do for a homebound neighbor.

The reading specialist at the school told me that These Are Our Neighbors was too difficult for my daughter and she should be using beginning readers that emphasized phonics and sight words. But my daughter didn't like those type of books because the stories were basically nonsensical rhymes ("Cat likes to sit on his red mat next to Rat"). She asked me if we could go back to reading These Are Our Neighbors. I read the whole six page story to her first. She then reads three of the pages back to me. It takes us two days to read each story but she doesn't get frustrated or overwhelmed and continues to stay motivated. She wants to finish the story so she can find out what happens in the next story. Eventually I will increase the number of pages she reads to me each day until she can read a full story.

Math

We used Right Start Math last year. She loved all the manipulatives, but the lessons were so long that she grew bored and frustrated. I read many positive reviews about Math U See, so we switched to it this year.

This curriculum is built around DVD lessons and specially designed blocks. I started with the Primary level, which is really too easy for my daughter, but I find it's always better to start with a lower level for her. It tends to build her confidence: "this is easy! I can do this!" She then wants to move onto harder things. We will be moving onto the Alpha level later this week, after we finish reviewing the DVD lessons.

Read Alouds

I try to read at least 30 minutes each day to her. I use a mixture of different books depending on her interests, classics I would like her to hear, and other subjects we are studying.

We started the year by reading King of the Golden City I used the study edition of the book, which has helpful discussion questions at the end of every chapter. Although the book can be a bit deep at times, my daughter understood the basic idea and would ask questions about Dilecta and her choices throughout our day. I think this is a book that could be revisited every year; as the child grows older its meaning and symbolism will grow, too. I will be encouraging my sixth grader to read it, too!

We are currently working on Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls. The stories are interesting, but some of the verbiage is a bit dated. However, I love the morals that are built into each story. It's another book that I'll be encouraging my sixth grader to read!

We began learning about U.S. geography last week, so I also started reading Children of the U.S.A.

The challenges of teaching catechism in a secular world

2011-10-16T10:12:00.000-05:00

For the past eight years I've been blessed to be a catechist at a church that offers the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) program. If you aren't familiar with the program, it is quite different from the "workbook/textbook" religion method that is commonly used by parishes today.

In a nutshell, CGS is a religious formation program that builds upon the special relationship that children naturally have with God. It starts with a specially prepared environment (called an "atrium") using materials handcrafted especially for children. This includes puzzles and pin maps of the Holy Land, a model of the city of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus, miniature Mass sacramentals, dioramas of some of the parables and stories told in the Bible, and a variety of other beautiful material. CGS engages their senses and touches their heart to help them grow closer to God. It is a deep, meaningful approach to catechesis that affects not only the children, but also the catechists. I know it has been a transforming experience for my kids and I!

I've been trying to get the program into my home parish for years without success. This year, I decided to teach regular CCD at our parish, hoping that I could incorporate some of the CGS materials and methods into my sessions. Perhaps this will open a window so the Holy Spirit can come in and the "powers that be" can see that religious education doesn't need to be from a workbook.

My goal is to make the sessions less like a classroom, and more like a time where the kids can think deeply and explore their relationship with God.

I knew it would be a rough road. Sadly, many of the kids live in secular homes where God has been put on a dusty back shelf behind sports, dance, music and many other activities. I knew that Mass was not a regular part of their lives, although many probably attend on major holidays like Christmas and Easter.

I'm not expecting overnight miracles. I will take it very slowly, giving them some basic presentations on tangible topics that appeal to most kids--like Biblical geography--before we started working on the more esoteric and harder to understand subjects that fill their workbooks. (The workbook this year is designed around the topic of the Four Marks of the Catholic Church. A worthy topic, but perhaps not for third graders who may not yet know/understand/love the fundamentals of their faith!) My emphasis is on building a love and understanding for their Catholic faith.

I sympathize with the kids. They are in school all day and then rush over to catechism class, where they are also expected to sit still and listen to a catechist lecture for 1.5 hours.

I've decided to divide up the class time like this: After announcements, we sit in a circle and I give a 15-25 minute CGS presentation. I might teach them a new song or prayer, too, during this time. Then they have 15-25 minutes of free time to do work related to the presentation topic. (I'll talk more about this in a future blog posting.) We then have prayer corner (with the kids organizing the prayer time and selecting the readings). If there's time, they go outside and play on the playground. We head back to the room and say a final prayer before their parents pick them up.

It's difficult creating an atrium environment, since my class is held in the parish school's third grade classroom. We don't have shelves for the hands-on materials and don't have a dedicated prayer corner. Ideally, I would have the kids take their chairs and sit in a circle around me (rather than sitting in desks), but their are many desks in the room and not alot of space to move just the chairs. So I've been trying to figure out ways to work around those challenges. I obtained permission to use the chapel for our prayer corner time, since the classroom, with its bright fluorescent lights and desks, just wasn't conducive to quiet, meditative prayer. It also gives the kids a chance to move their bodies a bit, if only just while walking from the classroom to the chapel!

However, I've found the biggest challenge isn't the classroom environment. It isn't the children, who can be antsy but have been very attentive during presentations thus far. It isn't the religious education office, which tries to be helpful but is required to take up a lot of class time with fire drills, diocese required child protection classes and other sessions that seem to take away from the prayerful atmosphere I'm trying to create.

No, unfortunately, the biggest challenge is the parents.

Last week, we had a fire drill, which messed up my planned schedule and meant that we were five minutes late in returning to the classroom from the chapel. Several parents complained. "My son has football practice right after this!" "My daughter has dance class in 10 minutes, and we have to drive across town!" I understand; I usually have commitments after class too. Or at the very least, I need to get home and start supper since it is already 6 p.m.

I also have several kids who need to leave early from every class because of sports and other commitments. When you only have 1.5 hours for a class, this can be challenging. Some of the kids stay only one hour; other kids leave 15-20 minutes before the class ends. Unfortunately, it is disruptive and distractive to have kids getting up and leaving the chapel during prayer corner, which is when all the kids should be involved in their prayers and intentions.

I wonder if parents realize this? Most of them give their children only one time per week to learn more about their faith. What kind of message are they sending, when they take their kids out early to attend sports practices and other activities?

So I keep praying, asking God to touch the children's hearts so they don't want to leave early. Maybe they can reach their parents by saying "I don't want to go until class is over!" I know that isn't unusual in an CGS atrium environment (many of our kids don't want to leave even after 2 hours!) But this isn't an atrium environment so I will need the special assistance of the Holy Spirit...

If you teach a catechism class, what challenges do you face? If you have overcome some difficulties, what did you do? I would love some advice, especially on creating a prayerful environment in a classroom situation.

Time to get back to school (and this blog!)

2011-09-30T11:16:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's been so long since my last blog entry! Between swim team, soccer, music camp and all the other activities of summer, I didn't have much time to post in July and August. Then September rolled around and we went full swing into school, dance class, birthdays, soccer, drama club and so much more! But it's time to get back to it and I have 'lots to share!

Decisions and big changes
In late August we made a big change. We decided to transfer our sixth grade son from the small Catholic school he has attended since kindergarten to a larger Catholic school. It was one of the hardest decisions we have ever made! Have any of you ever made to make a tough decision to leave a school you really liked?

We like the school and love our parish, but I think the fit wasn't right, although we tried to deny that for at least the last two years. I spent many hours praying for guidance! Our son wasn't happy; he wanted to go to a larger school (for a variety of reasons).

The school couldn't really help our daughter, either. She had attended first grade there, but quit working mid-year because she was so overwhelmed. The school suggested we hold her back a year, but this didn't feel right to us. Although she's behind in academics like reading and math, she excels in anything that is physical. For example, her handwriting and drawing are probably at 4th grade level, she is a strong soccer player who was invited to play on a travel soccer team this year, and she won an 8th place ribbon at a regional conference for her breast stroke this summer (after only swimming that stroke for about 3 months). But getting her to do reading and math is another story.

So I was hoping that a year or two of individualized attention at home would help her catch up with her peers.

Although my goal was to get her back into the small Catholic school with her brother, over the summer I realized that she would probably never fit into that environment. She needs multi-level learning opportunities, where she can work more quickly on the areas she's good at, yet slow down on the pace on the areas where she struggles.

Although I don't mind homeschooling her, I know that she is one of those kids who will work harder and perform better for others. When she's with me, her main focus is to battle for control over her life. Her past experience (in the orphanage and before that) taught her that she can't trust adults and therefore must take care of herself. I understand that it may take a long time before she can really give up control and trust me.

As a result, our school days drag on as she battles with me over who is in charge. It's not even a matter of "choosing my battles" and letting her "win" the little things. Doing that only makes matters worse! It usually results in a major temper tantrum because she feels like I've let her down, since I let her make a decision.

Anyway, we started looking for another school for my son and discovered that one of the Catholic schools in the area could also meet my daughter's needs. It is a bigger school and has a full time special education teacher, plus several reading and math aides, plus teaching assistants in every kindergarten through fourth grade classroom.

It felt like a load was lifted from my shoulders! Maybe there were some solutions to my schooling problems!

Fast forward to today: my son has been in the school a little over a month and loves it. My daughter has been tested by the school's special education teacher and we are working toward enrolling her in the school. Unfortunately, she is still very behind, but the testing made us realize that we needed to look further into her overly high level of energy and her inability to focus. Our pediatrician tested her for ADHD and we learned that she is far more active and far less able to focus than a typical nine year old. So we have decided to try medication. I've resisted medication for so long, saying we could work with her behavior and would just take things slower. But over the last month I realized that behavior therapy would not work and unless we try the medication, she may just keep falling farther and farther behind. So she will begin taking Strattera soon, and I'll keep praying that things improve and she can focus better. She's a smart little girl, but so easily distracted!

I would love to hear from any of you who have children with attention deficit issues. Do you use any medication? What other things have you done to help the child learn? You can email me at caswrite at yahoo.com if you prefer not to put your advice in the comments section.

Please keep us in your prayers as we try to figure out the best way for her to learn.

In the meantime, I'll continue to homeschool her. Will be writing another post about the curriculum we're using this year and how it is working so far.

I also volunteered to teach her CCD class at our parish. They usually rely on workbooks, but I'll be incorporating alot of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) materials into our sessions. So over the next few months I'll share ideas on how to make "workbook religion" more relevant and real to kids.

Now it's time to pick some tomatoes and enjoy the beauty of fall!

Blessings,
Cheryl

Pay It Forward: Two Great Blogs by Priests

2011-07-12T22:21:00.003-05:00

The whole Father Corapi issue makes my heart weep. I listened to Corapi for years on Relevant Radio. His talks gave me a greater understanding of our beautiful Catholic faith. So I weep now, especially as I read the comments by his supporters and his dissenters on many blogs and websites. So much anger, so many accusations, so much hurt. I can imagine the devil gleefully cheering over the fact that he has again managed to scatter and confuse Jesus' flock.

I say, let's move on and not debate it any longer. Let Corapi and SOLT work it out. Our focus needs to turn back to Jesus. Let's spend time in prayer asking for heavenly intercession on this difficult and confusing matter. If we aren't happy with the outcome right now, let's not turn from our Church, but instead pray, and then seek out some of the other faithful priests who can guide us. And let us guard against putting them on a pedestal or turning them into a celebrity. Instead, let's pray for them, too, so they may faithfully do their job of shepherding God's flock.

*************

Holly, who blogs at A Life-Size Catholic, recently invited me to participate in her "Pay It Forward Meme." I thought the best way to do this right now -- especially in light of the Corapi situation -- it to share a link to blogs by two of my favorite priests. I understand that both of these priests have appeared on EWTN, but I since we don't have cable TV, I haven't had the chance to see them there. However, their radio sermons and blog posts are very inspiring!

Father Robert Barron's Word on Fire blog
Father Barron is a theologian and professor at The University of St. Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein, Illinois. I've listened to him on Relevant Radio since they began broadcasting his sermons in 1999. When his sermons come on the radio, I stop what I'm doing and take 15 minutes to listen. Really listen. Because each sermon is filled with many little gems about our faith. I always walk away feeling refreshed and happy. On days when I'm feeling a bit down, his sermons give me a positive new way to look at the problems of the world and remind me that God can overcome all obstacles. I hope some day to catch one of his sermons in person! You can listen to his radio sermons here.

Standing on My Head by Father Dwight Longenecker

I discovered Father Longenecker's blog a couple of weeks ago, in the midst of the Corapi turmoil. I think this blog appeals to me because Father Longenecker doesn't mince words. He tells it like it is. It's so refreshing! In a world full of doublespeak and perfectly crafted speeches, it isn't always easy to hear the truth. I think we desperately need priests who aren't afraid to speak the truth, even if they have to be blunt about it sometimes.

An example from my own life:
I once attended a parish where people would often arrive late for Mass, sometimes 15 minutes or more. One day at the end of the Mass, the priest gently reminded everyone about the importance of being in the pews before Mass begins. He talked about how disruptive it can be when people drift in after the processional. He kindly stated that he knew that some might have extenuating circumstances occasionally, but we should all try harder to be on time as much as possible. Not a big demand, is it? Nothing in his tone was accusatory or angry; it was a helpful, gentle prodding. I was guilty of being late quite often; trying to make it to 7:30 a.m. Mass with a 3-year-old can be a challenge at times! I didn't take offense but told myself that I must develop a smoother morning routine so we could be at Mass on time.

However, there must have been a lot of angry phone calls to the rectory that week, because the following Sunday the priest apologized profusely for upsetting some of the parishioners. At the time, I remember thinking it was so sad that the priest could not make this simple request without taking a lot of heat for it.

Perhaps that's why I appreciate Father Longenecker's blog. I might feel uncomfortable sometimes, but I bet I'll grow from the experience and learn something new about myself and God. As a result, I'll also feel closer to God. And isn't that the job of a priest--to help us grow closer to our Heavenly Father?

Father Longenecker's blog is here.

First Friday Link up at Catholic Icing

2011-07-02T09:03:00.000-05:00

Lacy's "First Friday" linkup is now up at her Catholic Icing blog. I love this linkup; it's a great way to see some of the liturgically inspired projects that everyone has been working on for the past month. As of today, there are links to:

- a printable priest paper doll (complete with colored chasuables) provided by Nicole

- a free David and Goliath printable shared by Alicia

- a free July saints day printable game provided by Monica (a great way to recycle those metal tops from juice cans)

- a Holy Family story bag by Meadow

- Jesus Loves Me t-shirt by Lacy

...plus much more! Check out all the links here:

Hands on Activity for Feast of the Sacred Heart

2011-06-29T21:04:00.000-05:00

I've been brainstorming a hands-on way to teach my daughter about the Sacred Heart devotion. Although we could just read Father Lovasik's excellent book "The Promises of the Sacred Heart," I wanted to do a bit more. So I dug around in my craft cabinet and found these items:

Small plastic heart boxes (purchased last February from my Dollar Tree), pink and red construction paper, and glue glitter pens in red, pink and gold, black permanent marker (not shown).

I decided to use the little boxes as a way to teach my daughter about the 12 promises. I cut out little paper hearts that would fit inside the boxes.

Using Father Lovasik's book as a guide, I wrote a promise on each of the paper hearts.

Then I tucked each one inside a plastic heart box.

I took the cover of each box and wrote a corresponding number on it with a gold glitter glue pen.

I now have 12 boxes, each with one of the promises of the Sacred Heart.

How we will use the plastic hearts:
I will have my daughter select the heart with the "1" on it and open it. Inside, she will read the brief passage about the applicable promise (a great way to encourage her to read). I will then turn to the matching page in the Father Lovasik book and read his meditation/prayer. We can discuss each one, if she wishes, or just spend some time in silent prayer after the meditation.

We will be using these over the next few days in preparation for the Feast of the Sacred Heart (Sunday, July 1). Can't wait to start!

Now you have a reason to buy those adorable plastic heart boxes at the Dollar Tree next February!

Favorite Find: Feast Day Learning Boxes

2011-06-28T17:20:00.003-05:00

I've been fascinated by the Orthodox Christian faith since 2006, when my husband and I were in St. Petersburg, Russia on one of trips to adopt our Russian daughter. While there, we visited several Russian Orthodox churches and were able to experience Divine Liturgy. The incense, the bells, the chanting and the reverence reminded me of my childhood Roman Catholic Church. Our pastor, Monsignor Lapinski, was slow to adapt to the changes of Vatican II, so I grew up with many of the church's older traditions. Church was an "other worldly" place; almost like a touch of heaven on earth. You could not find that environment or ambiance anywhere else. The sole purpose of the Mass was to worship and glorify God, not to be entertained or amused or even "fed." (Not that there is anything wrong with being "fed" by the Word of God, but it seems that many people have lost their way -- they are most worried about what they will get out of Mass, not what they can give to God.)

The beauty of the Orthodox church and the reverence of the Divine Liturgy really touched my soul. I decided that although we would raise our daughter as a Roman Catholic, I would try to expose her to the Orthodox faith occasionally. It only seems right, since she spent her toddler years in a children's home sponsored by the Russian Orthodox church, and she was baptized in the Russian Orthodox faith.

Several months ago I discovered The Crafty Contemplative blog. Written by an Orthodox woman named Amy, the blog gives a wonderful insight into some of the feasts and traditions of the Orthodox faith. It's interesting to compare the similarities and differences between our two faiths.

I also discovered that Amy has a side business called Orthodox Christian Craft Supply. She specializes in "hands on learning for all ages." She has put together a variety of inexpensive craft kits to help kids learn about their Orthodox faith. (For my Roman Catholic friends: many of these can be adapted!)

I purchased three of her "learning boxes" for these feast days: Ascension, Pentecost and the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. Thought I'd share a bit about the Saints. Peter and Paul box since their feast day is celebrated tomorrow (Wednesday, June 29).

Basically, the learning box includes a study guide and craft materials to make several different hands on projects related to the items in the study guide. Amy's kits are wonderful -- they include everything you will need for the projects, except glue. Each project is packaged in its own little plastic bag, too. No need to sort through the materials and figure out which items go with which projects! Here are some pictures of the Saints Peter and Paul kit contents:

Can you believe this kit only cost $8? It would cost me alot more if I had to run around town to find all the components myself.

The Saints Peter and Paul box has five different projects. Each project is specifically detailed in the included study guide. The study guide gives you a Sacred Scripture passage to read with your children, then a meditation, then simple instructions for completing the related craft project. The five projects in the Saints Peter and Paul learning box include:

Project 1: Saints Peter and Paul -- read passages in Luke about Peter, then create little figures of the saints with the included wooden pegs.

Project 2: Rooster -- read about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles, then create a miniature 3-D rooster picture

Project 3: Great Light -- read about the early church in Corinthians then create a small sun

Project 4: Scroll -- discover how we can learn more about God in the Scriptures and create a small scroll

Project 5: Church -- create a small wooden church. (The church is an Orthodox one with the signature onion dome, but I think it could be adapted.)

All of the completed items can be stored in the box, which can be used at home (perhaps on a home altar or in a prayer corner?). Alternatively, the box is easy to transport to church, to keep little ones occupied in an appropriate way during Mass.

We have just started putting together our kit, so it probably won't be done by tomorrow. So I'll share a photo of the finished kit from the Christian Orthodox Craft Supply website:

Isn't it an amazing little learning box? I can't wait to finish ours and will post photos when we are done!

Stations of Light Prayer Gems

2011-06-02T14:15:00.001-05:00

Back in April, I gave a brief tutorial on a prayer aid that I developed for my children, the Stations of the Cross prayer gems. (You can re-visit that tutorial here.) I've updated that prayer aid a bit, and adapted it to help my kids learn the Stations of Light.

The Stations of Light,which are also called the "Via Lucis," or "Way of Light," or "The Stations of the Ressurection." They are a relatively new devotion in the Catholic Church. It was first observed in Rome in 1990.

Like the Station of the Cross, it has 14 steps. However, these steps focus on the appearances of Jesus and the miracles that occurred after He rose from the dead. When this is prayed as a group, a paschal candle is carried instead of a cross. It can be prayed anytime during the year but is especially appropriate between Easter Sunday and Pentecost. You can find out more about each of the various stations at the Our Sunday Visitor website here. You can also find out more about the devotion here at the Archdiocese of Detroit website.

I wanted to teach this beautiful meditation to my children, so I created some prayer stones similar to the ones I made for the Stations of the Cross, but using images that represent the various Stations of Light. You can use the icon-type images on the Archdiocese of Detroit website (listed above).  I found some beautiful full color images on The Bookworm.

After downloading the images, I pasted them into Microsoft Publisher to resize them to the appropriate size to fit my clear glass gems.   I printed them out, sprayed them with a light coating of hairspray (to prevent bleeding or smearing of the images), then attached them to the back of the gems with Mod Podge. I then sealed the back of the images with a couple of coats of Mode Podge.

I also printed out a set of cards to use with the prayer gems.  I punched a hole in the upper left hand corner of the images and thread them onto a reclosable ring.

I used a cloth bag to store my Stations of the Cross gems, but wanted to try something different. I purchased a "Craftmates Lockables" 14-compartment box on sale at Joann's Fabrics and Crafts. The glass gems fit perfectly in the compartments. I glued a picture to each compartment and numbered them from I to XIV. (A good way to help your children learn their Roman numerals at the same time!) Now we can meditate on each station while looking at the cards and putting the prayer gems in their appropriate compartments.

Here are a few photos of my Stations of the Resurrection prayer gems and their storage container:

These prayer gems are so easy to make and would be a perfect craft for a vacation bible school. I can imagine using them to teach the rosary or almost any other prayer. It's just a matter of finding the right images.

Dancing Sun Cookies for Feast of Our Lady of Fatima

2011-05-14T17:59:00.001-05:00

I was looking for a simple dessert that my daughter and I could whip up yesterday and serve at dinner to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Fatima. I love the "Miracle of the Sun" cake posted by Anne on the Catholic Cuisine blog, but I knew that I needed something even simpler since we would only have about 30-45 minutes to create our dessert. Instead, I opted to embellish some plain vanilla cookies to make our "Dancing Sun" dessert. Best of all, the most time consuming part of this project was the 15 minutes it took for the icing to dry on the cookies!

We used the following items to create our cookies: Vanilla wafers, white frosting, food coloring pens in red, orange and yellow; and decorating sugars in red, orange and yellow. Food coloring pens are often available in the cake decorating aisle of grocery stores or hobby stores.

I originally planned just to use the food coloring pens to decorate the plain, unfrosted cookies, but the food coloring did not show up very brightly on the cookies, as you can see in this photo:

So, I decided to frost the cookies and then apply the designs. However, my daughter begged to use the colored sugars too. So we decided to experiment with various techniques using the frosting. I drew swirly designs (with frosting) on some of the cookies, then sprinkled then with the colored sugars. My daughter frosted the whole cookie, then added dashes of orange, red and yellow sprinkles. This is what they looked like:

Finally, we covered some of the cookies with white frosting and then let the frosting dry. After it dried, we used the food color markers to create a swirly design with a red marker, then filled in the outline with the yellow and orange markers. It was quite simple to do and the results are actually prettier than I can capture with my camera. These two photos will give you an idea of the finished cookie:

I still have decorating sugars left, so I'm thinking about creating something similar for Pentecost featuring a "Holy Spirit" flame design. And I bet the red decorating sugars and food coloring marker will come in handy for the Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus...

First Communion Decorations and Favors

2011-05-09T13:38:00.018-05:00

I searched "high and low" on the Internet for decoration and favor ideas for my daughter's First Communion. Unfortunately, there isn't much out there! I didn't want to go overboard, just add some little touches to make the day extra special for her, since this is the first time we have thrown a party for her. It is also her first party with her grandparents and godparents, since they live out of state and can't be here for her birthday or other special occasions.

First, for the color scheme: I thought I could pick up a color scheme from the paper accessories. I knew that party stores often carry paper plates and cups printed with first communion themes. However, I wasn't thrilled with the printed paper supplies at my local party store. They were mostly white with silver crosses and gold chalices. Those images didn't seem to reflect the joy of this special day, at least to me. I decided to borrow two colors from the image on my daughter's first communion cake. (It is an image of a little girl standing in front of a stained glass window; you can see a photo of it here). My daughter's favorite color is pink, so I borrowed pink and yellow from the cake image.

I didn't plan on doing favors, but my daughter saw bags of Jordan almonds at the party store several weeks ago and asked if we could try them sometime. So I purchased a couple of bags and pulled out all the white, pink and yellow almonds. She helped me pour them in little pink bags. We added a tag that said "Maria's First Communion" with the date of the big event. (The tags duplicate the image found on her cake.)

I also made stickers of the image on the cake and attached them to plain pink and yellow paper cups. I made yellow and pink paper napkin rings with the image on it, too.

We ate buffet style outside, so the tables were decorated with pink or yellow table cloths. Of course, there were pink and yellow plastic spoons, forks and knives.

I wanted to add just a couple of small decorations inside near the buffet serving table. Inspired by Lacey's "Alleluia" banner on her Catholic Icing blog, I created a paper banner that said "Happy First Communion." It was very easy to do, yet the results looked elegant! Simply print out the letters from the Martha Stewart website and cut them out. I printed them on yellow card stock paper and then glued each letter to a larger circle of pink cardstock paper. I punched two holes in each letter and then strung them to a length of narrow pink ribbon. Here is the finished result:

I also made a little banner (with the image from my daughter's cake) to hang on our piano, which is also in the dining room where we served the buffet food:

I think any of these concepts could be adapted for any child's First Communion. Basically, if you can obtain a .jpeg image of your cake top, you can use it to create stickers, banners, favor bags a variety of other party accessories. If your cake decorator or party store can't provide a .jpeg image, you could take a photo of the finished cake and use that to embellish your decorations.

Another idea: if you are taking photos of your First Communicant several days before the big day, you could pick out one of those photos and print it on sticker paper to make decorations, napkin rings, embellish paper products, etc.

Just another alternative to the silver and gold cross and chalice themes usually found on pre-printed party supplies!

I'm sharing this idea on Lacey's First Friday Link-up. Looking for more ways to celebrate First Communion or the Month of Mary? Check out this link:

First Communion Cake and Cookies

2011-05-09T08:46:00.001-05:00

My daughter's First Communion went a week ago Saturday. Here she is, all decked out in her pretty white dress and veil:

I used the cookie cutters that I mentioned in this blog post to make these cookies. They turned out far better than I expected! I saved time by using Pillsbury sugar cookie dough mix instead of making the dough from scratch. I also used Pillsbury canned icing and Wilton's decorator frosting in a tube.

For her cake, I baked a small sheet cake and decorated it with an edible image I purchased on Ebay from Rebecca's Edible Cake Images. I also purchased some gum paste flowers from another Ebay vendor, Michele's Gifts for You. I put the gum paste flowers in the corner of the cake. I decorated the borders of the cake with Wilton frosting tubes. I am not a cake decorator but I received many compliments on the cake. The edible cake image and the gum paste flowers gave the cake a professional look.

First Communion Menu Ideas

2011-04-25T17:53:00.002-05:00

My daughter is making her First Communion this Saturday, so I'm in the midst of planning the at-home celebration after the big event at church. I want to keep it simple (so the focus remains on the church) but I still need to plan a nice meal since we have grandparents and godparents coming from out of town for the weekend.

I'm sure there are other moms also planning an after-the-event brunch, luncheon or dinner, so thought I'd share some of the meal-planning ideas and links I found while searching the Internet:

Frugal Catholic Mommy
Love her idea of serving hot sides like taco bites ("Scoops" tortilla chips filled with taco meat, salsa, etc.)
She also shares a recipe for pepperoni rolls.

Food Network: Pretty Butterfly Sandwich
Perhaps shape bread dough to look like a chalice instead of a butterfly?

That article reminds me of the Sicilian custom of serving breads sculpted into the shape of chalices and other religious symbols for St. Joseph's Day. You can read about the tradition on Evann's Virtual St. Joseph blog. Saveur has an article on shaping St. Joseph's bread. Jennifer shares a photo of bread shaped like a chalice and grapes on her blog Family in Feast and Feria.

The GardenWeb forum has some great ideas for simple, nice meals that can quickly be prepared after you arrive home from church. Many of the post-ers on that forum recommended making a variety of salads and sandwiches ahead of time, then just pulling them out of the refrigerator when you come home. This really appeals to me, since I won't feel like spending the rest of the day in the kitchen cooking!

Angie's menu on her Many Little Blessings blog sounds delicious and just perfect for a spring day.

On her Catholic Icing blog, Lacy shares an idea for a "Wine Cup O Jello." Basically, red jello is poured into plastic wine cups. When it is firm, add a slice of marshmallow on the top to resemble the white host. I know the young guests at the dinner will love this, so we will definitely be doing it!

Lacy has other First Communion food and cake ideas here.

This ThriftyFun forum has some good meal and party ideas.

Catholic Cuisine has some ideas for decorating a sheet cake. It has more ideas here.

It is a bit challenging to find ideas for a simple yet meaningful First Communion luncheon or dinner. I'll try to take photos of our meal and cake and do a follow up post to help other moms who might be looking for ideas.

Divine Mercy Novena and Chaplet

2011-04-25T08:38:00.002-05:00

The Divine Mercy devotion is based on the writings of a young Polish nun, Sister Maria Faustina Kowalska, who received a series of messages from Jesus in the 1930s. The devotion's practice is growing as more and more Catholic churches celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday on the Sunday following Easter (which is next Sunday).

You can find out more about the Divine Mercy devotion on the EWTN website here.

There is a novena and chaplet associated with this devotion. Since I will be teaching it to my kids this year, I decided to make up another prayer ring with directions on how to pray the chaplet on a regular rosary, along with the actual prayers used. Here's a photo of the Divine Mercy prayer ring:

If you would like a copy, you can download it for free from here.

It's time to unbury those alleluias....

2011-04-24T18:59:00.002-05:00

Jesus Christ is Risen Today!

Happy Easter!!

Simplifying the Triduum

2011-04-20T12:26:00.001-05:00

I was listening to the local Catholic radio station while driving my son to school this morning. The station, Relevant Radio, has a program called "Morning Air" hosted by Sean Herriott. This morning Sean was discussing keeping the Triduum holy with guest and AOL ParentDish blogger Rachel Campos Duffy. One of Rachel's suggestions was to take your children out of school on Thursday (and Friday, if they don't have that off) and do some activities with them to reinforce the holiness and specialness of those days. In other words, we might need to isolate ourselves from the secular world to make the Triduum meaningful.

I've been struggling with myself for the last week, wondering how I could make these holy days stand out and be meaningful to my family and I. As much as I yearn to isolate my family, it won't work for us this year. In fact, the older the kids get, the more difficult it is. They have commitments that can't just be dropped. (Although part of me wonders if it is just the devil making life difficult for us!)

Although I have more flexibility with my daughter, whom I homeschool, I'm stuck a bit with my son's schedule. My son will be missing three days of school next week so I really shouldn't take him out this week. Our schedule is pretty full with sports activities for the next few days. As much as I wish we could skip them, it isn't realistic since my husband is the coach for one of the teams. In addition, we both have the philosophy that if a person commits to a sports team, he has a responsibility to his team and coach to attend practices and games as much as possible.

In addition, I'm a bit overwhelmed with cleaning the house and baking not only for Easter, but also for my daughter's First Communion (which is a week from Saturday). Next Monday is the anniversary of the day our adopted daughter officially became part of our family, so we always try to do something special on that day, which I still need to plan. (Yes, I'm suffering from a bit of the "Martha" syndrome.)

Needless to say, I regretfully can't isolate my family this year. So for the last week, I've been asking myself "what are some simple things I can do to make the days stand out?" Here are some of my plans. Maybe some of these ideas can help other moms who are also feeling overwhelmed right now:

1) Attend Eucharistic Adoration on Friday morning
The church near us has Perpetual Adoration Chapel. It's a very special place for us. My son and I were regular adorers when he was in kindergarten, but unfortunately we haven't been able to do this for several years. On Friday morning, instead of sleeping in on this "no school" day, I'll get the kids up and we will spend some time with Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament during a time that I know there are no other adorers. We will pray the rosary together, spend time in silent prayer and I'll just encourage them to "talk with Jesus."

2) Read a book about Jesus' Passion, Death and Resurrection out loud each day
We are slowly building up a library of beautiful picture books related to the Triduum and Easter. I'll allow each kid to pick out a book and we will cuddle up and read them each night.

Some of our favorite books include.

The Jesus Garden: An Easter Legend by Antoniette Bosco
A gentle portrayal of Jesus' death and resurrection, as told from the point of view of the animals in the garden.

Benjamin's Box: The Story of the Resurrection Eggs by Melody Carson
(Sometimes we read this without using the resurrection egg set)

The Very First Easter by Paul L. Maier
Beautiful full-color illustrations in this book!

The Easter Cave by Carol Wedevan

The Legend of the Sand Dollar: An Inspirational Story of Hope for Easter by Chris Auer
This book also has beautiful illustrations. In it, a girl learns how a sand dollar illustrates the story of Jesus death and resurrection.

3) Attend as many Triduum services as possible.
When we have conflicting activities that we can't get out of, I will use Mass Times to find the times of various services at other Catholic churches in the area. (Easter Sunday is a "no outside conflicts" allowed day!)

4) Watch religious movies instead of secular ones
I do have control over what goes on in the house, so we're going to "fast" from secular TV and movies. Instead, we will dig out our favorite religious VHS tapes and DVDs:

For Holy Thursday, we like to watch a movie called The Last Supper by Mirkam Productions. Filmed in the Holy Land, it explains the origins of The Last Supper and how a Jewish family would prepare a Seder meal.

The Miracle Maker: The Story of Jesus by Family Home Entertainment

The Easter Promise by Tommy Nelson/Christian Broadcasting Network

Greatest Heroes and Legends of the Bible: The Last Supper, Crucifixion and Resurrection by Good Times Home Video (hosted by Charlton Heston)

The Miracles of Jesus produced by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera, Turner Home Entertainment

Jesus: A Kingdom Without Frontiers: Temptations in the Desert by CCC of America

The Easter Story Keepers by Zondervan Publishing and Porchlight Entertainment

The Beginner's Bible: The Story of Easter by Sony Wonder and Time Life Kids

There you have it, my scaled-down plans for this year's Triduum. If our plans change (i.e., sports and other activities are canceled!) I'll add a few other activities. I will try not to feel guilty because I can't fill our days with meaningful religious activities. Instead, I'll just try to grab a moment here and there to remember and thank Jesus for what He did for us.

And I'll try to remember that despite what's happening in our lives, I can always turn my attention toward God by silently praying The Jesus Prayer*. I love the fact that the prayer can be said unceasingly while I clean, bake or do other necessary chores in preparation for Easter!

"Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God,

Have mercy on me, a sinner"

*About the Jesus Prayer, from The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 2667-2668:

2667 This simple invocation of faith developed in the tradition of prayer under many forms in East and West. The most usual formulation, transmitted by the spiritual writers of the Sinai, Syria, and Mt. Athos, is the invocation, "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on us sinners." It combines the Christological hymn of Philippians 2:6-11 with the cry of the publican and the blind men begging for light.¹⁸ By it the heart is opened to human wretchedness and the Savior's mercy.

2668 The invocation of the holy name of Jesus is the simplest way of praying always. When the holy name is repeated often by a humbly attentive heart, the prayer is not lost by heaping up empty phrases,¹⁹ but holds fast to the word and "brings forth fruit with patience."²⁰ This prayer is possible "at all times" because it is not one occupation among others but the only occupation: that of loving God, which animates and transfigures every action in Christ Jesus.

Find of the Month: First Communion Cookie Cutter Set

2011-04-09T18:14:00.000-05:00

I was shopping online for my daughter's first communion dress and veil and was so excited to discover the First Communion Cookie Cutter Set available from The Catholic Supply Company of St. Louis! This set of six plastic cookie cutters includes a host and chalice (together), a church, a dove, a cross, an angel and a lamb. I plan to use the chalice and host to cut out a fondant decoration that I will be using on her First Communion Cake, in addition to using it to make cookies.

Actually, I think this set will be used for alot more than First Communion. The lamb will be used to make shaped sandwiches or cookies for our Liturgy of the Light brunch (which we hold in the atrium after our kid-friendly Liturgy of the Light service). I bet I could make gelatin jigglers with it, too!

I'll try to post some photos of the finished creations. In the meantime, if you want to check out the cookie cutter set (which only costs $4.95!) go to the link here.

A Link-Up: Ideas for Holy Week

2011-04-09T18:00:00.000-05:00

Looking for ideas for Holy Week? Check out the Link-Up at Catholic Icing. There are so many good ideas to make the week memorable for your family! Click on the cupcake below to reach the Catholic Icing website:

Learning about the Garden of Gethsemane

2011-04-02T14:34:00.002-05:00

In the atrium tomorrow, I will read the four Gospel passages of Jesus' agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. The kids and I will then meditate and discuss these four different versions of the story. Since several of the kids are rather energetic cherubs who don't like to sit still and just listen, I usually try to find an activity they can do along with the Bible reading. Thought I would share some of the resources I found on the internet.

Photos of the Garden of Gethsemane
To make the story more real for the kids, I like to show them photos of the Garden and the surrounding area. Our atrium has some older map books that show pictures of Jerusalem in the 1960s; I supplement these with newer photos that I've printed off the internet. They love discussing how things have changed, and trying to envision what the garden might have looked like in Jesus' time when there wasn't as much development in the area. They are also fascinated with the fact that some of the trees in the garden are very old and may have been around when Jesus was in the garden! Here are a few photos I found while doing an image search:

Jerusalm Shots: Ancient Olive Tree

Fotosearch: Garden of Gethsemane

Fotosearch: Gethsemane Gardens

TripAdvisor: Mount of Olives and Church of All Nations

Mount of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane

Garden of Gethsemane and Mount of Olives

Coloring Pages
I find that even the older kids enjoy doing coloring pages, especially if I can find pages with more detailed drawings. Here are some of the pages I will be offering them:

Calvary Kids: Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

Calvary Kids: More detailed image of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

Bible Printables: Garden of Gethsemane
(this one reinforces the fact that the garden still exists today "in memory of Jesus' life on earth.")

Sermons4Kids: Jesus Praying in the Garden

Make a Miniature Garden
Ann Voskamp, in her blog Holy Experience, suggests creating a miniature Easter garden, complete with stone tomb, out of a clay dish. I think this idea could be adapted to create a miniature Garden of Gethsemane, complete with artificial olive trees and sand pathways. Hmmm, I think I'm going to brainstorm a bit more about this idea; perhaps a project I'll take on during Holy Week!

Faith and Family's "Agony in the Garden" diorama

Garden of Gethsemane Diorama
I love the hands on activity of making a miniature garden with the kids, but it might be a bit messy for the atrium. However, a diorama might be the perfect indoor project! The Faith and Family Connections blog has a downloadable .pdf file with complete instructions and artwork for making a "Agony in the Garden" diorama. Can't wait to try this project with my kids and also the students in the atrium! (Thank you, Jon and Jennifer, for sharing this idea on your blog!)

Craft Project: Stations of the Cross Prayer Gems

2011-04-02T09:55:00.000-05:00

I was brainstorming an interactive way to pray the Stations of the Cross with my very antsy 8-year-old daughter. I love the Stations of the Cross boxes described by Lacy on her Catholic Icing blog but I was also looking for something my daughter could quietly use at the Stations of the Cross devotion at my church on Friday nights.

While pondering this, I saw the bag of clear glass gems sitting on my desk, waiting to be used for a yet-unknown craft project. I wondered: could I decoupage small stations of the cross pictures to the back of the stones? I quickly googled some images, pasted them into Microsoft Publisher and sized them to fit behind the glass stones and printed them out. I cut them out in circular shapes then placed them behind the glass stones. I loved the dimensional effect that the glass gives the pictures!

A few hints, if you would like to make these yourself:

1) You can purchase a bag of clear glass gems at many dollar stores. Look for larger, round shaped gems.

2) Use brightly colored, crisp images. I experimented with several different drawing types and found that the duller colors did not pop as much. You can use black and white images but they aren't as impressive. The traditional images on this page worked best for me.

3) If you are printing the images from an inkjet printer, allow the images to dry completely and then seal them with a light coating of hair spray. Inkjet images tend to run when exposed to Mod Podge and other decoupage mediums. The hair spray (sprayed on front and back of image) seems to prevent image bleeding.

4) I attached the image to the glass gem by applying a light layer of Mod Podge to the back (flat side) of the gem, then gently pressing the image side into the Mod Podge. Rub your finger along the back to remove any air bubbles.

5) After the image has dried to the glass gem, apply 2-3 additional coats of Mod Podge to the back of the image to seal it to the gem.

6) I printed the station's number on the back of each gem with a permanent marker. (If you have sealed it well with Mod Podge, the permanent marker does not bleed through to the image.)

7) I printed out some small Stations of the Cross cards that my daughter can use with these prayer gems. I found the cards at Kathryn's The Bookworm blog here. (Thank you, Kathryn!)

8) You will probably want some sort of simple carrying case for the prayer gems and cards. I originally planned to store the gems in a small black bag that I already had, but instead purchased some canvas pouches that my daughter and I dyed purple. (I'll try to post photos of the completed bags later.)

Here's a larger view of the completed gems:

Our Lent Lapbook

2011-03-20T17:27:00.001-05:00

When I began homeschooling my second grader last fall, I was looking especially for hands-on learning experiences. She had spent the previous year in a good school, but there was so much emphasis on workbooks that by the end of the year, she refused to read, write or attempt even the simplest math problems. She is a very active kid that needs to move constantly!

I stumbled upon the Homeschool Share website and discovered the wonderful world of lapbooks! Lapbooks are hands-on learning books created by kids, sometimes with mom or dad's help. The cutting, pasting, coloring and painting was perfect for my craft-loving daughter. She also liked all the movable parts within the lapbook (sometimes there are wheels to turn, or flaps to open, or games to play.) So we created a variety of lapbooks while reading Five-in-a-Row books like The Story of Ping, Madeline, Papa Piccolo, and Lentil.

Then we moved on to creating lapbooks for special occasions. To prepare for her First Reconciliation last December, I purchased and downloaded The Sacrament of Confession Faith Folder from Lindy Meyer. Lindy's downloadable kit contained all the files I needed to make a very nice lapbook. I simply printed out the files (alternating color and white paper). Then, as we discussed topics like The Ten Commandments or the different types of sin, I had my daughter cut, paste and color the related lapbook item into her folder.

As a big fan of lapbooks, I was thrilled when I learned about Evann's Lent Lapbook on her blog, Homeschool Goodies and Xhonane lapbook on her from Familia Catolica. I decided to borrow a few of their terrific ideas, plus add a few of my own, to create a lapbook that would not only teach her about Lent, but could also serve as a memory folder for my daughter to look back at when she's older.

Here are some photos of our lapbook:

Our lapbook covers (yes, I made one for myself, too!)

The inside of the lapbook

The inside of the flapbook contains our Lenten calendar, downloaded free from Lacy's Catholic Icing blog.

The cover of the lapbook includes a coloring page image of Jesus carrying the cross and a title square that says "My Lent Lapbook 2011." My daughter's also includes her Lent Journal (more about that in a minute.)

The left fold panel includes information about The Great Fast, which is what Orthodox Christians and Eastern Rite Catholics call Lent. I included this because my daughter was born in Russia, so I try to periodically share some of the customs and cultures of her birth country. This printable was downloaded from Jocelyn's blog, The Whole Trouble Is.

There is also a rectangle box that says "I prayed the Stations of the Cross." Underneath it is a little envelope with small cut-out pictures of a crown of thorns. Whenever my daughter prays the Stations of the Cross, she gets to glue a crown of thorns into this box. Thank you, Xhonane, from Familia Catolica, for this awesome idea!

The right panel

The right panel includes some of my own printables, including a list of our Lenten sacrifices and a "Today I prayed For..." log (we write down who we are praying for each day; it's my sneaky way of getting my hesitant writer to jot down a name or two!). There is also a journal to write down our thoughts during Lent. (My daughter pasted this to the outside of her flap.)
We have been using our lapbook since Ash Wednesday, and so far it is working quite nicely! I think my daughter enjoys the slight change in our "starting school" ritual; it gives her a chance to look at the calendar in another way and build the habit of praying for someone special each day.

I have a couple of free downloads for you, if you would like to add them to your Lenten lapbook.

Click here for the "Lenten Journal" download, and here for the "Today I prayed for...." log.

Free Game for St. Joseph's Day

2011-03-18T16:04:00.005-05:00

I was looking for something fun to add to my daughter's workboxes on St. Joseph's Day (March 19), and discovered "The Handy Carpenter Game" on That Resource Site. It's a free printable; you simply add wooden craft sticks, a clean and empty soup can and a permanent marker. I love the fact that it teaches addition in a fun way, especially since my daughter has been resisting her math work lately. To find out more about the game and download it, click here. The game is near the bottom of the page.

That page also has many other printables for St. Joseph's Day, including a mini book on St. Joseph, notebooking pages, trading cards and more.

Thank you to the great people at That Resource Site!

On our bookshelf: The Song of the Swallows

2011-03-16T22:01:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned in my earlier entry about St. Joseph's Day altars, I've been fascinated with the miracle that occurs every March 19 at San Juan Capistrano Mission in Southern California. On that day, a large group of swallows return from their winter homes in Argentina and begin building their mud nests under the eaves of the church on this historic mission site. Previously, they would arrive in large groups (sometimes described as a "cloud of swallows"), but due to development in the area, fewer are returning to the mission church. (So sad!)

I started telling my son about the miracle of the swallows when he was about 3 years old, and he asks me to re-tell it every year on St. Joseph's Day. One year, we found a perfect read-aloud book to match the story: The Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi. It's a fictional story about a young boy named Juan who visits the mission and learns about the swallows from Julian, the mission's gardener. I especially love the book's simple illustrations, many which are in soothing pastel shades. The illustrations helped the book a Caldecott award in 1950.

Many libraries have a copy of this classic book, or you can pick up a copy of it from Powell's Books online. They have new and used copies starting at just $1.95. Here is a link to the book on their website: Song of the Swallows

If you are a homeschooler, check out Homeschoolshare for language arts, math, art and other activities you can do to accompany the book.

Praying the Stations with Kids: Part 2

2011-03-16T13:47:00.001-05:00

Note: Last week, I shared some ideas on praying the Stations of the Cross with young children. Here are a few more ideas, reprinted from my article that was originally published on the Catholic social networking site 4Marks.

6. Make a game of it
I know that some people might not agree with this concept. It certainly isn’t right for every family. But I find that it works well with my daughter, who always needs to move a lot in order to absorb and understand things. I’ve set down some rules, however, to ensure that the game doesn’t become too boisterous and detract from the prayerful experience of the stations.

I purchased a beautiful set of prints from a Catholic bookstore. I put each print in different places around our house, then give my children hints on where they can find them. They must walk to the hinted location. When we have found the print, we discuss what we see in it, and what it means to us. Then we say an “Our Father,“ after which each child makes up a short prayer about the station. Sometimes we might sing a song, too. I will then give them a hint about the next location, and we will walk there and repeat the process. We do this as long as I can keep their attention. Some days we might only do four stations; other days we might be very lucky and do all fourteen!

On the 4Real Forums several years ago, there was a discussion about filling a shoebox with small items that represent each station. The children then take turns pulling the appropriate item out of the box before the station’s prayers are said. This link describes the items they use:

Others may opt to use the Resurrection Eggs, a set of 12 plastic eggs that contain little items symbolizing
Jesus’ passion and death. These are available from many Christian booksellers.

7. Use votives while praying the Stations
Some families have successfully kept their child’s attention by using 14 votive candles. Begin in a room illuminated only by the 14 votives. A simple meditation or prayer is done for each station, after which a child extinguishes a candle. (Children love doing this!) The room is completely dark after the last station. This clever use of candles, light and darkness creates a lasting impression on children and adults!

For photos and more inspiration, check out Ruth's blog, Just Another Day in Paradise or TracyC's Magnolia Cul-De-Sac. (She has a wonderful way to display her stations of the cross prints, too!) CatholicCulture.org also has an informative article entitled Candelabrum for Stations of the Cross.

8. Break it up and do only a couple of stations each day.
Although it is best to pray all the stations in one sitting, this may not be realistic with young children. Instead, consider saying one or two stations each day. It could become part of your evening prayer time. You will then cover all station in about a week. By breaking the devotion into smaller pieces, your children will retain more, too.

9. Do the online Stations with your children.
Here is one way you can use technology to build your child’s faith! There are many online sites that offer virtual stations of the cross. Here are two that I have used with my children:

Passionist Missionaries Stations of the Cross for Children

AinglKiss' Stations of the Cross for Kids

When we discuss the Stations of the Cross in the atrium where I teach, I like to show actual pictures of the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem. You can find them here:

10. Provide things for your children to do during parish devotions.
You can still occasionally attend the traditional Stations devotion at your parish with your young children. Just try to be flexible and realize that you may not be able to stay for all fourteen stations. When I need to take my children with me, I bring a small cloth bag filled with appropriate and quiet things to keep them busy. My bag includes a Stations of the Cross coloring book and books. Here are some resources:

Loyola Press offers a free downloadable book on Stations of the Cross.

CatholicMom has a downloadable coloring book. Some of the drawings are rather detailed so bring along colored pencils instead of crayons!

St. John the Baptist Catholic Church also has free Stations of the Cross coloring pages.

11. Use Prayer Gems
I developed a prayer tool for my daughter called Prayer Gems. I'll be sharing photos and a description of them soon on this blog! So please check back in a day or so for more information.

St. Joseph's Day altars

2011-03-16T10:06:00.000-05:00

When I was in Catholic school, St. Joseph's Day was a big event. Our pastor's patron saint was Joseph, so the school always put together a special show in his honor. Each class would perform a song, skit, poem or prayer about St. Joseph. It was held on the stage in our school's gym. Besides our pastor, the non-teaching nuns in the parish's convent were invited, as were the parents. After the morning performance, he would hand out little treats to the school children and we were given the rest of the day off. (The best treat of all for a school child!)

In high school, my family visited the Mission at San Juan Capistrano in Southern California, and we learned about the miracle the returning swallows. Each year, swallows would return in droves to San Juan Capistrano on March 19. The fact that they all reappear on March 19 was amazing, since birds obviously don't carry calendars!

For these two reasons, the feast of St. Joseph has always held a special place in my heart. Last year, I learned about another tradition associated with this holiday: St. Joseph's altars.

I understand that this tradition originates in Sicily, although my husband --whose heritage is half Sicilian and half Italian--was not familiar with it. (Sadly, I guess it's one of the customs his family left back in the old country so they could become more Americanized!) I guess it began in the Middle Ages. According to the CatholicCulture.org, Sicily was suffering a drought and all of the crops were drying up and dying in the fields. The Sicilians prayed to St. Joseph, asking him to speak with God about bringing rain to the country. On March 19 (the feast of St. Joseph) it began to rain. To thank St. Joseph for his help, the people filled a table with all of the different foods they had harvested, then donated those foods to the poor and hungry.

Over time, the tradition become more elaborate and the "St. Joseph tables" began including a variety of symbolic foods, including a bottle of wine to represent the Miracle at Cana, 12 fish to represent the apostles and bread shaped like chalices or crosses.

You can learn more about St. Joseph's altars by visiting the Virtual St. Joseph's Altar created by Evann Duplantier. Evann's ingenuous site also allows you to make virtual offerings to the table and to submit prayer requests for living or decreased family and friends. This year, my daughter and I will be making the 3D color, cut and paste altar which she has created and made available as a .pdf download from her website. I'll try to post a photo of it after it's done. In the meantime, check out Evann's Virtual St. Joseph's Altar!

Stations of the Cross Quiz

2011-03-13T20:00:00.000-05:00

Here's a fun quiz to take, or share with your kids, on the Stations of the Cross. Thank you to That Resource Site for kindly sharing this! If you have never visited their website, please check it out. They have many free printables for homeschoolers and catechists. I especially like their Montessori-style "Articles of the Mass" cards and their Life of Christ Timeline for Children

Here's the quiz:

Courtesy of

http://www.thatresourcesite.com/

Sunday Snippets: A Catholic Carnival: March 6-13

2011-03-13T15:29:00.000-05:00

I just discovered that RAnn of This That and The Other Thing hosts a "virtual get-together" of Catholic bloggers every Sunday. It's a chance to share some of our posts about "all things Catholic" during the last week. I'm excited to participate in this get-together and "meet" some of the wonderfully talented and inspirational Catholic bloggers out there in cyberland! I loved reading all of their posts and look forward to checking in every Sunday.

Here are my snippets from the previous week.

- Super Quick Craft: Faux "Stained Glass" Saint Candle

- Praying the Stations of the Cross with Kids (Part I)

- Making a Sacrifice Crown of Thorns

- Our Prayer for Lent: The Litany of Humility (and a free downloadable prayer link)

Wishing everyone a blessed week!

Super Quick Craft: "Stained Glass" St. Patrick candle

2011-03-12T10:00:00.000-06:00

Because I have a very bouncy and energetic daughter, I don't use real candles in my home. It's just too risky. So I was thrilled when the stores started carrying battery illuminated pillar candles; I could get the ambiance without the risk! But $5-$10 per candle was waaaaaaaaay out of my budget! So I was thrilled when my dollar store started carrying them, for only $1. I've used them for a couple of months now and they work just as well as the more expensive ones.

Recently, I found a new way to use those unembellished candles: I turned them into stained glass saint candles! This is such an easy craft. You will only need some pictures of stained glass windows featuring saint pictures, a window cling (available at office supply stores), a printer and a candle.

I found some nice stained glass window pictures by searching for images on google. Look for those that have alot of vibrant colors; they turn out the nicest. For example, the one of St. Patrick above (on the right) turned out better than the one of St. Joseph (on the left). Size the images to fit your candle, then print them on window cling material. Allow the printed image to dry completely, then trim to size. Remove the backing from the window cling and attach it to your candle. Then turn on your candle -- isn't it beautiful?? (Wish I could show you what they look like when illuminated; my camera couldn't capture it! But they glow, similar to the way a stained glass window glows when the sun shines behind it.)

You can change your candle for the different liturgical holidays. I printed images of St. Patrick, St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother, St. Francis, St. Valentine and Jesus on one cling. I'll change out the clings to match the feast day.

What a quick and easy way to dress up your prayer table or family altar.

If you try this, please let me know in the comments section below. I'd love to hear what images you used and how they turned out!

A freebie: great coloring pages and clip art from Dover Publications

2011-03-12T08:37:00.001-06:00

One of this week's free sample
coloring pages
from Dover Publications

Today I wanted to share a wonderful resource for homeschoolers and crafters. Every week, Dover Publications gives samples of some of their books, available for free download.

If you aren't familiar with Dover Publications, they publish thousands of books on a wide range of topics, many which are great for homeschoolers and crafters. They publish books of clip art, children's activity and sticker books, craft books on subjects such as origami, musical scores and coloring books with hard to find images.

If you subscribe to their free download email newsletter, each week they will send you a link to get that week's freebies. It changes each week. For example, this week's sample includes pages from these publications:

- Butterfly Fairies Stained Glass Coloring Book

- Psalms Stained Glass Coloring Book (I'll be using this to teach the psalms!)

- Artful Eggs from Around the World Stained Glass Coloring Book (idea: download the pages and include them in your Easter baskets this year!)
- Planet Earth Projects for kids
- My Garden Stickers

- Offenbach's Songs from the Great Operettas (musical score sample)
- Edward Grieg's Norwegian Dances (musical score sample)

- Knights and Samurai clipart

Subscribe to the free download newsletter on the Dover Publications website.

Praying the Stations of the Cross with Kids

2011-03-11T11:18:00.000-06:00

I wrote this article in 2009 for 4Marks, the social networking site for Catholics. Unfortunately, 4Marks recently closed. This was one of my most popular articles on that website; it was even translated into Italian by a man from Naples so he could share it with his friends! I have updated it and will re-post it in two parts.

One of my favorite things about Lent is the Way of the Cross (Stations of the Cross) devotion. I look forward to each Friday and the chance to delve more deeply into the passion, death and joyous resurrection of our Lord. But with a young child in tow, I feel lucky if I am able to say even one repetition of “Because by thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.” My daughter is usually bored by the second station. Her “hide and seek” game between the pews is not conducive to deep prayer for me or the other poor souls who had the misfortune of sitting by us.

So I came up with a new strategy that would allow me to attend the Stations of the Cross and still maintain a somewhat peaceful, prayerful atmosphere for everyone around us. I know that other parents face this dilemma, too, so I thought I would share some of my time-tested techniques.

1. Attend “child-friendly” versions of the Stations of the Cross.

Some churches offer afternoon sessions for children. Although the basic story of Jesus’ passion does not change, the wording, music and prayers are designed to appeal to children. Our parish’s school children attend the devotion on Friday afternoons. My daughter, who wants to be “like the big kids in school,” tends to behave better at these devotions. So check with a parish that has a Catholic School and find out when the children attend. The other benefit is that your child will be more aware and less crabby (hopefully), than she would be attending an evening devotion.

2. Make a tour of local churches

If your child is not overly-stimulated by new environments, consider attending a different church each week for the Stations devotion. Sometimes a new environment will keep a child entertained for at least half of the devotion time. I especially like to attend the Stations at older, more traditional churches. My daughter loves checking out the statues, stained glass windows, beautiful altar and other artwork. If she is good, she can help me light a votive candle by a statue of her choice after the Stations devotion is over.

If you live near a larger city, you may find a church that offers a “Living Way of the Cross” procession, marching through neighborhoods and to various churches while praying the devotion and using costumed individuals to re-enact Jesus’ passion and death.. For example, in Chicago there are several processions held in the Little Village neighborhood, and one in downtown Chicago. Check with your diocese or archdiocese to find out which parishes offer outdoor processions. Then plan to attend -- it is a wonderful experience for children and adults.

3. Do a Stations of the Cross Walk Through Your Neighborhood.

If you live too far from a large city and your own parish does not offer an outdoor procession, consider taking a Stations of the Cross walk throughout your neighborhood. This article, published on the St. Anthony Messenger website, describes how you can use common things around your neighborhood to reflect on the messages inherent in each station.

Neighborhood Stations of the Cross

4. Attend an outdoor Way of the Cross devotion.

Another option is to find a parish that has an outdoor “Way of the Cross” path or garden. Physically walking the path or garden, which may use statues or shrines to mark each station, will help retain your child’s attention. You could walk the stations with your parish or alone as a family. Doing it as a family gives you the flexibility to tailor the prayers and length of each station to your child’s attention span.

When I was young, my cousins and I walked the Way of the Cross outdoor path in New Ulm, Minnesota. We did this independently without parent prompting or attendance. Granted, we didn’t spend 10 minutes in deep meditation at each station. In fact, we often just stopped for a few minutes and said a quick “Our Father” before racing to the next station Yet, despite our lack of deep prayer, we still reminisce about walking the Way of the Cross path!

Here is a link to the Way of the Cross path that we walked as children: New Ulm, Minnesota Way of the Cross

This website lists some of the outdoor Stations of the Cross gardens and paths in the world:

Waymark: Way of the Cross

5. Create your own Stations of the Cross devotional area.

By doing this, you can pray the stations whenever the mood strikes you, or when your child seems most receptive. Your devotional area could be indoors (for example, a long hallway in your home); or outdoors, (for example, a plot of garden that you have turned into a prayer path). Your devotional area could be as simple as mounted prints on an blank wall or as elaborate as little shrines strategically placed throughout your yard. Creating an outdoor Stations of the Cross path might be a fun family project for the summer.

I once read about a children's home in a third world country that developed its own stations of the cross. I was struck by its simple beauty. They made little crosses out of branches and positioned them throughout a field. The children then carried a statue of Jesus from station to station while meditating on the passion and death or Jesus. Simple often resonates the deepest with children!

My next post will include more tips and techniques. Please check back!

Sacrifice Crown of Thorns

2011-03-09T06:15:00.002-06:00

I've heard about using a "sacrifice crown of thorns" during Lent from several different blogs and websites including Catholics United for the Faith and Ten Kids and a Dog, Most recommend making a wreath out of braided salt dough but my salt dough creations never turn out as nice as those pictured on other sites. In addition, I wondered if a salt dough wreath could withstand the fluctuations of heat, cold and humidity in our garage, where we store many of our out-of-season decorations.

At the Dollar Store the other day I discovered a bleached vine wreath for only $1. I immediately envisioned it as a crown of thorns with a bit of brown paint and some toothpicks. At home, my daughter (who has been bugging me to do a painting project) enthusiastically covered it and about three dozen toothpicks with brown paint. Voila! Our wreath is ready for use starting today (Ash Wednesday).

This project was incredibly easy to do and required no artistic talent at all, so it's perfect for those who are a bit intimidated by crafts.

To use the wreath: any time during Lent that a person makes a sacrifice or does a good deed, s/he can pull a thorn (toothpick) out of the wreath, with the goal of removing all thorns before Good Friday. On Easter, the wreath can be decorated with flowers. We will be putting all of our thorns in a little dish next to the wreath. Those thorns will be replaced with jelly beans on Easter morning.

Our Prayer for Lent: the Litany of Humility Prayer Ring

2011-03-08T12:01:00.002-06:00

My daughter's enthusiastic response to last month's Litany of Our Lady of Lourdes prayer ring encouraged me to search for other litanies that we could incorporate into our morning prayer. The Litany of Humility spoke to me as the perfect prayer for Lent. It was written by Rafael Cardinal Merry del Val, who was the Secretary of State for Pope Saint Pius X.

As a close friend to the pope and an influential individual within the Roman Curia, it would have been easy for him to succumb to the temptations of power and prestige. He prayed this litany each day before serving Mass to help him stay humble. You can find out more about him here and in this Time Magazine article from 1929.

The prayer challenges us to seek an unassuming and meek life. It urges us to live modestly and without pretensions. I will admit that it makes me a bit uncomfortable when I pray it. Its message directly contradicts the goals expounded by our secular world. It isn't easy to say phrases like "That others may be more esteemed than I..." or "That others may be praised and I unnoticed."

I created a prayer ring that my daughter and I will read each morning. The prayer's verses are color coordinated with two colors, making it easy for a homeschool mom and her child to do guided reading together. For example, one person could read the sections in purple while the other person reads the sections in dark magenta.

If you would like a .pdf of this prayer ring, please leave a note in the comments section along with your email address and I'll send the prayer ring file to you.

A Louisiana inspired meal for Mardi Gras

2011-03-07T13:08:00.000-06:00

Several Catholic parenting books that I own suggest having a Mardi Gras celebration with your family at home. It can be a time to eat something special from which you might abstain during Lent, like dessert or ice cream. Others recommend burying the word Alleluia, since it is a word that is not said or sung during Lent. (For ideas on this custom, see this earlier post.) Still others recommend having a party, complete with gold, green and purple decorations and perhaps a craft like mask making.

In our family, the kids look forward to our "Pancake Tuesday" celebration on Mardi Gras. (You can find out more about it here.) But this year, I wanted to also have a bit of "Mardi Gras" fun and perhaps do a short geography lesson on New Orleans.

Our Louisiana inspired supper last night included Jambalaya, a salad and a Mardi Gras king cake. It was a relatively easy meal to prepare! You can find Jambalaya mixes in the rice section of many grocery stores; simply add shrimp or sausage and cook for about 20 minutes on the stove.

I discoverd this Kings Cake mix at my local Cost Plus World Market. If you don't have one in your area, you can also buy the mix online at New Orleans Showcase website or the Mardi Gras Outlet website.

It makes a great tasting cake! The box has alot of information about the traditions of the Mardi Gras cake, including the symbolism behind the green, gold and purple colored sugars used to decorate the cake.

The mix also includes the obligatory "plastic baby." The person who finds the baby is pronounced king of the celebration.

Finally, we added to our celebration by adding some New Orleans themed music. I played the Sounds of Bourbon Street CD, which can be purchased immediately in MP3 format from Amazon. (They also sell it in CD format.) Here is a link to it on their website:

Sounds of Bourbon Street

How do you celebrate Mardi Gras? Have you found a way to mix the secular and religious aspects of the holiday? I would love to hear about it; please share your ideas in the comments section!

We're celebrating Pancake Tuesday tomorrow!

2011-03-07T12:17:00.002-06:00

The Tuesday before Ash Wednesday is a big day in our house. Every year we celebrate "Pancake Tuesday." It is one of the few times each year where we have pancakes for supper. But these are not just ordinary pancakes. Instead, the kids are invited to go "all out" and embellish their pancakes with a variety of toppings, including chocolate chips, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, peaches, bananas, whipped cream, a variety of jams and marmalades, peanut butter, Nutella (a chocolate hazelnut spread), nuts, chocolate sprinkles or any colored sugars we may have in the house. We usually only serve maple syrup during the year, so to make the day special I'll add a blueberry, strawberry or apricot syrup.

After the decorating is finished, everyone casts their vote for the creation that looks the most delicious. The winner's name is added to our perpetual "World's Best Pancake Chef" plaque. She or he can wear a special chef cap for the rest of the meal. In addition, the winner chooses the meals we will have for the upcoming week. (This is also my sneaky way of teaching them how to plan nutritious meals!)

Here is a picture of our "World's Best Pancake Chef" plaque:

Each year, I add the name of the winner. It is displayed in our kitchen for the remainder of the year. The kids like to reminsce about the contest and its winner throughout the year, plus plan their creations for next year's contest.

Burying the Alleluias

2011-03-07T11:37:00.000-06:00

In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium where I teach, the kids are invited to color slips of paper that have the word "Alleluia" on them. (All of the alleluias are written in different type styles to encourage creativity.) We bring out writing materials not used during other times of the year, like gold, copper and silver markers, which they can use along with colored pencils and regular markers. The older kids are invited to write their own alleluias.

The results are quite beautiful! The kids take alot of time and care in preparing their paper alleluias.

We then put them in a special jar and bury them in the ground outside the church (weather permitting) or put them in an empty space under the tabernacle in the church. They are removed during our special Liturgy of the Light ceremony on Holy Saturday.

This custom could easily be adapted to a home. The FullHomelyDivinity website suggests decorating and burying an egg on Fat Tuesday (the day before Ash Wednesday). I like the idea of giving another purpose to those plastic easter eggs that are filling the shelves of the dollar stores right now. You could write "Alleluia" on the eggs using a glitter glue pen. I think I would also include a little surprise in the egg -- perhaps a Bible citation relating to Jesus' resurrection or a chocolate shaped like a lamb or butterfly.

Although we use paper alleluias in the atrium, I like the idea of creating something more permanent and reusing it every year. In her blog By Sun and Candlelight, Dawn uses wooden letters, which she painted in bright colors. She "buries" her letters inside a plain wooden box embellished only with a small cross. Alternately, Ruth (who writes the blog Just Another Day in Paradise) painted her letters and storage box gold. How exciting it would be to uncover that box on Easter!

Be sure to explain to your children that we do not use the word "Alleluia" during Lent because it is a word that signifies abundant joy. During Lent, we practice sombre remembrance of Christ's suffering for us, so using the word would not be appropriate. If you need more background on this medieval custom, check out this link at the Roman Catholic Diocese of Patterson, New Jersey website

Printable Stations of the Cross cards

2011-02-19T17:02:00.000-06:00

I'm starting to work on a few projects for Lent devotions (which I will be posting soon!) While doing research, I ran across some beautiful Stations of the Cross cards that can be downloaded for free from Kathryn at The Bookworm Blog. I think I will add them to our Lent lapbook, or make punch a small hole near the top and attach them to a ring, so my daughter can use them while we pray the Stations of the Cross.

Thank you, Kathryn, for providing us with this wonderful gift!

"Love in the Bible" Game for St. Valentine's Day

2011-02-13T17:16:00.002-06:00

I was searching for a way to encourage the eight- and nine-year-olds in my atrium (Sunday School class) to pull out the Bible and really look at it. We have a variety of beautiful Bibles in our room but they often sit forlornly alone on the shelf near the window, only to be cracked open briefly by the child who is doing the "Bible" reading of our morning prayer.

I was also looking for a way to bring a Biblical perspective to Valentine's Day for my kids.

I decided to create a Valentine's Day game that would encourage my students and kids to look up the various passages about love in the Bible.

After a quick trip to the craft and dollar stores, I gathered together these materials to create the game:

Small notebooks, valentine-themed pencils, valentine stickers, a black permanent marker, white and pink paint pens (not shown), small wooden hearts and a box of Conversation candy hearts.

I originally planned to purchased plain wooden hearts (which I would paint red and paint), but Hobby Lobby had a 40% sale on all their valentine decorations so I was able to pick up pre-painted hearts and save a step.

Using the concordance in my Bible, I looked up age-appropriate passages about love in the Bible. I used a permanent marker or paint pen to write the citation for each verse on one heart. I decorated the little notebooks with valentine stickers to make them a bit more festive.

To play the game, each child takes a small notebook and a valentine pencil. She picks a wooden heart and looks for the passage in the Bible. When she has found it, she writes the passage in her notebook, then selects another heart verse and searches for it. If several children are playing, the one who finds (and writes down) the most passages within a set period of time (for example, eight minutes), wins the prize: a box of Conversation hearts candy. If only one child is playing, then she "wins" the candy by finding a pre-determined number of verses.

I store everything in a discarded heart shaped candy box! (A great way to repurpose those boxes!)

Litany of Our Lady of Lourdes Prayer Ring

2011-02-11T07:31:00.001-06:00

I was surfing the internet for ideas on celebrating the Feast of Our Lady Of Lourdes (which is today, Friday, February 11) when I stumbled upon the beautiful "Litany of Our Lady of Lourdes" prayer on the Women For Faith & Family website. After reading it a couple of times I realized it would be a perfect prayer to share with my second grader. She is a struggling reader who quickly becomes frustrated when she doesn’t know every word in her easy reader. The repetition in this prayer would build her confidence while improving her vocabulary of faith words like "redeemer," "Holy Trinity" and "saviour."

I knew that she would be quickly overwhelmed by the length of the prayer if I simply printed it out and suggested we read it together. I decided to give it to her in bite-sized pieces. I divided the prayer into section of four to six lines then copied the document into my desktop publishing program. I created a set of cards and put each section on one page. To encourage co-reading, some sections have light blue type while other sections have purple type. She picks the type color she would like to read.

Finally, I added some beautiful artwork of Our Lady of Lourdes, Jesus and the Trinity. I punched a hole at the top of each card and added a blue ring so we could flip through the prayer while we are reading it together.

We began using our "Litany" prayer ring on Monday and it has been a success! We have had far better results than I was expecting. She looks forwarding to reading it together as part of our morning prayer and has even asked to read the harder sections of the prayer by herself. I can see that God has really touched her heart with this simple activity, and plan to adapt it to some of the other prayers that we will be learning.

If you would like a printable of this litany prayer ring, please add a note to the comments section with your email address and I will email you the .pdf file.

Bernadette: The Little Girl from Lourdes

2011-02-10T16:08:00.095-06:00

I was in our Catholic bookstore the other day looking for a book about St. Bernadette and Our Lady of Lourdes that I could read to my daughter. I planned to pick up a copy of Father Lovasik's classic Our Lady of Lourdes, but the store was out of them. Instead, I ran across a wonderful picture book written by Sophie Maraval-Hutin titled Bernadette: The Little Girl from Lourdes.

Published in 2010 by Ignatius Press and Magnificat, this delightful book will find a permanent place on our bookshelf! I love its simple, watercolor-type illustrations. The story, presented from a young girl's point of view, enchanted my eight-year-old daughter. That's no small feat since my daughter seldom sits still for more than five minutes. Yet this book, which has many words on its 32 pages, kept her still and interested for more than 30 minutes. I tried to stop half way through the book but she begged me to continue!

It starts out in a beautiful storybook fashion:

"Perhaps you have already heard about Lourdes, a little town in the French Pyrenees Mountains famous all over the world. Thousands of Christians go there every year to pray. Sick people from all countries come in the hope of being cured. And yet, a hundred and fifty years ago, Lourdes was a very little village, and Bernadette, the one who started it all, was just a very simple girl of fourteen. This is her story..."

How can anyone put down a book with a beginning like that?

The book describes how Bernadette, while picking up branches to burn in her family's fireplace, experienced her first vision of a beautiful girl wearing a white veil and dress with a blue sash. It gives insight to the feelings a young girl might have if something like this would happen to her, which is why I think the book resonated with my daughter. The story shows how Bernadette suffered through the anger of her parents, the disbelief of the villagers and the ridicule of the local judge. Bernadette is a wonderful role model for girls because she remains calm despite the reactions of others. In addition, her faith in the "beautiful lady" is unwavering and steadfast even when everyone else doubts her and thinks she has gone mad.

The last two pages briefly describe her life after the apparitions ended in 1858 and how she later became a nun who devoted her life to caring for the sick before falling ill to tuberculosis. It then describes how she was declared a saint in 1933 and gently describes the incorrupt state of her body. ("...her body has remainded untouched by death--Bernadette looks as if she is sleeping.") I think this is a wonderful way to describe this miracle to children.
You can find out more about this book by clicking below:

Feast of the Presentation in the Temple

2011-01-31T11:26:00.002-06:00

In the United States, February 2 is known as "Groundhog's Dog." According to Wikipedia, this tradition began in the 18th and 19th centuries in southwestern and central Pennsylvania. Germans living in the area borrowed the European custom of predicting the weather by using an animal like a badger or a bear. The Pennsylvanian town of Punxsutawney is especially famous on this day, thanks to its famous groundhog Phil, who predicts the remaining length of winter in the United States. If he sees his shadow on that morning, tradition says that we will have six more weeks of winter.

This whimsical holiday falls on the same day as a much older holiday in the Christian church -- the Feast of the Presentation in the Temple. We remember the day that the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph, who were following Mosaic law, took Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and dedicated him to the Lord.

In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium, we give a special presentation to the children about this feast. We read Luke 2:22-39, which describes this event, then meditate on how Mary and Joseph might have felt when they heard the prophecies and words of Simeon and Anna. After a candle-lit meditation, we use a diorama and figures to make the scene come alive to the children.

Here is the very simple diorama and figures I made for my children's at-home use:

The temple diorama itself is very simple to make. I used two wooden plaques, one slightly smaller than the other. I stacked the smaller one on top of the larger one then used wood glue to hold them together, creating a "step" effect. The top of the temple is another wooden plaque. I spray painted the pieces with "stone effect" spray paint to create the textured look. The pillars are plastic cake pillars usually used for wedding cakes. I found mine at a garage sale for pennies, but they are also available in many hobby and craft stores that sell cake decorating supplies.

My figures are simple wooden dowels with a round wooden ball glue to the top of them. I used an air-dry clay to create the arms on the figures, in addition to Baby Jesus (in Mary's arms) and the basket of doves (in Joseph's arms). The Baby Jesus is a separate piece because Simeon holds Baby Jesus during part of the presentation. Oh, the women's veils are sculpted with a plastic type clay.

My figures are very simple (some of the first ones I ever made) but the kids love using them. As I was taught in my Catechesis training, often the most rustic and simple materials speak most to the children. I've found this to be true even as my children get older.

After the presentation, the children are invited to work with the materials or trace some simple figures depicting the story. This year, I also gave them the option of making a collage:

I love the fact that Baby Jesus can be moved from Mary to Simeon's arms in this collage. You can find the collage and directions here (scroll down to page 10 for the reproducible collage pieces.)

You can find out more about this feast and its association with candles on the New Advent website

The Traveling Cross Tradition

2011-01-22T21:22:00.002-06:00

My son's Catholic school has a neat tradition. Each Wednesday at their school Mass, one class receives a special cross called the Vocations Cross. They are asked to take the cross back to their room. That class dedicates its prayers all week to vocations, whether it be priests and religious who currently serve the Catholic Church or young men and women who may be considering the religious life. The hosting class brings the cross with them to the following week's Mass where it is passed to another class. Our pastor announces which class will host the Vocations Cross for a week, so everyone knows who has the special honor for the upcoming week.

Here is a document that describes how this tradition is used within a parish. It was published by the Archdiocese of Chicago's Office of Vocations.

I was thinking about adapting this tradition to our domestic church. We will decide the week's prayer intentions as family -- whether we are praying for the souls in purgatory, for people we know who are having a tough time, or for vocations, or for some other need. Then one child will have the privilege of taking the cross to her room for the week and asked to dedicate a special prayer each night for the intention.

I think we will craft a special cross especially for this purpose.

We already have a plain wooden cross like this, which I found at Hobby Lobby a couple of years ago. It could use some embellishment. Maybe we could paint it. It has a slight lip around the edge, so perhaps we could turn it into a mosaic cross using some of the gems I have left from another project.

Alternately, I've thought about making a burnt match cross. It would be a good way to use those wooden matches that are left over after lighting our prayer candle. Of course, it would take some time to collect those matches. But in the meantime, perhaps we could move our prayer candle to each child's room. Each time we light the candle, we could write down the prayer intention, then save the spent match. It would be interesting to read over all those intentions while matching our burnt match cross.

I found directions for making a Burnt Match cross at the DLTK-Bible website.

Have any of you ever used a traveling cross? Please share your experiences!

A new holiday cookie favorite -- just in time for New Year's Day!

2010-12-28T10:57:00.001-06:00

Although this isn't generally a food blog, the Christmas Cookie Recipe Exchange Link-Up at Catholic Cuisine inspired me to share a new recipe: Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This will become a standard holiday recipe for my family: it is DELICIOUS! And the green color is so festive. Best of all, it is easy to make because it uses one pouch of Betty Crocker's Sugar Cookie Mix as its base. (No need to measure flour, baking powder, etc.)

Here's the recipe:

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract

6 to 8 drops green food color (for me, this created a very light green color. I added 10-12 drops. You will need to experiment based on the strength of your food coloring.) 1 egg

1 cup creme de menthe baking chips (I used Andes Crème de Menthe Baking Chips)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks (I used semisweet chocolate chips)

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, extract, food color and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in creme de menthe baking chips and chocolate chunks. Using small cookie scoop or teaspoon, drop dough 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Serve warm or cool completely. Store tightly covered at room temperature. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

You can also check out this recipe (and reader reviews) on the Betty Crocker website.

Incidentally, my first batch is already gone, so I'll be making another batch for our New Year's celebrations!

Check out other delicious holiday recipes at Catholic Cuisine.

My favorite gift

2010-12-28T10:27:00.001-06:00

I love my 8-year-old daughter Maria, but she has fine-tuned her ability to drive me crazy! She likes to debate (argue) about everything. If I say "Isn't the sky a beautiful blue color today?" she will spend the next hour debating with me on whether the sky is actually blue. ("No, I don't think it is really blue. I think it is pale blue. Or maybe indigo blue. Or maybe a true blue. And the clouds aren't white; they are grayish white. Or maybe a whitish gray.")

Changes in her routine especially seem to bring out her argumentative side. Which means that the holidays are always challenging, since she isn't in her regular school routine, her brother is home from school, and daddy is around more often. Some days I go to bed exhausted, asking God (or rather, begging him!) for a better day tomorrow.

Then, out of the blue she will do something that touches my heart so deeply. On Christmas Eve she gave me this gift -- a coloring sheet she had just finished:

Kinda' makes it easier to forget all the arguing and debating...if only for a little while!

O Holy Night

2010-12-24T14:57:00.001-06:00

As we remember the birth of our Lord, thought I would share a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite songs:

May you have a Holy Night ...

An inspirational song by Casting Crowns

2010-12-21T07:52:00.002-06:00

Was paging through YouTube, looking for some inspirational Advent/Christmas music to play in the background while I worked on a writing project, and came across a video by Casting Crowns called "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day Live." Some of you probably saw this a couple of years ago on TBN but the lyrics touched me so much I had to share it here.

I heard the bells on Christmas day
Their old familiar carols play
And mild and sweet their songs repeat
Of peace on earth good will to men

And the bells are ringing
Like a choir they're singing
In my heart I hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

And in despair I bowed my head
There is no peace on earth I said
For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men
But the bells are ringing
Like a choir singing
Does anybody hear them?
Peace on earth, good will to men

Then rang the bells more loud and deep
God is not dead, nor doth He sleep
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men
Then ringing singing on its way

The world revolved from night to day
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good will to men

And the bells they're ringing
Like a choir they're singing
And with our hearts we'll hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

Do you hear the bells they're ringing?
The life the angels singing
Open up your heart and hear them
Peace on earth, good will to men

Peace on earth, Peace on earth
Peace on earth, Good will to men

Another freebie from Holy Heroes

2010-12-20T08:32:00.000-06:00

Holy Heroes is giving away another freebie, just in time to fill those Christmas stockings. It is offering a free download of a 19-page coloring book about Joseph (which includes scenes depicting his marriage to Mary, the Annunciation, the Angel Gabriel's visit to him, the trip via donkey to Bethlehem, the visit to the Temple, and much more. The pictures were drawn by former animators for Disney so they are especially appealing to children. After filling out a short survey, they give you the download page for immediate download. I may turn some of these coloring pages into ornaments for our Christmas tree.

Here's the link to the survey and free coloring pages:

http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/a07e2d2k2zdfl668wyz/a02423ghxgibyz/questions

Alternately, you can find the link on their homepage. Look on the right hand side of the page in the "Free Stuff" box.

A beautiful tradition -- the Advent Spiral

2010-12-19T06:00:00.002-06:00

We won't be homeschooling next week, so I wanted to find some meaningful faith-based activities to keep my kids busy. I came across the idea of the Advent Spiral, which I guess is a tradition in Waldorf Schools.

Basically, a spiral is created on the floor with evergreen boughs. A lit candle sits in the center of the spiral. Each child takes a turn walking through the spiral path while holding a candle or votive. When she reaches the center of the spiral she lights her candle, and then walks the path back to the beginning. Sometimes she places her candle along the spiral.

When all children have finished, the path is beautifully lit by glowing candles. Prayers or songs may be sung, too.

I could see this spiral as the perfect place to sing O Come, O Come Emmanuel or pray the Rosary.

Waldorf Without Walls has a better description of the advent spiral, along with ideas on how it can be adapted for a smaller area, like a tabletop.

An Art Family blog has photos of an outdoor spiral created with evergreen boughs, in addition to photos of their candle-lit indoor celebration.

Here is a spiral set up indoors at the Lancaster Steiner School in the United Kingdom.

Some spirals are made out of wood to fit a tabletop. This spiral was created by a German company called Grimm's Spiel and Holz Design.

Alternately, you could try making one from salt dough, like Kimberly demonstrates on her blog Catholic Family Vignettes.

Wouldn't this be a nice activity to accompany prayers for each evening in Advent? I'll be filing this idea for next year!

Advent Meditation with Children: The Visitation

2010-12-19T01:00:00.001-06:00

In an earlier post, I mentioned the presentation on the Annunciation that we do with the children in our Catechesis of the Good Shepherd atrium. Even the smallest children, as young as three years old, are deeply touched by Infancy Narratives like the Annunciation. I think it's because the process becomes a hands-on experience when they are able to use the diorama and other materials to recreate the story.

We also present other Infancy Narratives in the atrium, like the Visitation presentation I gave to my daughter yesterday. It is based on Luke 1:39-56, where Mary goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth, who is also pregnant despite her advanced age.

My diorama of Elizabeth's house is a work in progress, but we used it anyway. Like Mary's house for the Annunciation presentation, it is made from a photo storage box covered with plaster. It hasn't been painted yet; I'm debating whether to leave it white or paint it. (By leaving it white, it will help the children differentiate between Mary's home and Elizabeth's home.)

The Mary and Elizabeth figures are made from 1" wide dowels, cut to a length of about 3". Their veils are made from a plastic compound I found at a craft store. Unfortunately, I don't remember what it was called but I think an air dry clay would work too. The clothing, hair, hands and facial features were painted on with acrylic paint or fine-tipped permanent markers. As an alternative, you could use wooden pegs (available at many craft stores) instead of the wooden dowels.

Unfortunately, it is a project that takes time but it's well worth the effort! My son loved these dioramas and now my daughter is beginning to fall in love with them. Feel intimidated? In the atrium, we have found that the children love the figures and dioramas best when they appear homemade and are less-than-perfect. The Fontanini figures are nice but they don't speak to the children as much as these little wooden doll figures do!

First approved Marian apparition in the United States!

2010-12-18T14:48:00.001-06:00

Our Lady of Good Help

Things have been so hectic lately that I forgot to mention some exciting news that happened a couple of weeks ago.

On the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8) Bishop David Ricken of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisconsin, announced that he officially approved the Marian apparitions that occurred in the late 1850s in rural northeast Wisconsin, near the town of Champion. These are the first approved Marian apparitions in the United States.

It's amazing how God works. I was recently pondering the many apparitions of Mary around the world, such as those that occurred near Mexico City, Lourdes and Fatima. I wondered why there had never been any apparitions in the United States.

God answered my question on December 8. He answered it in a big way for me! This site is not in Hawaii, Florida, Alaska or some other distant state. In fact, it is in my neighboring state of Wisconsin! But even more amazing to me is the fact that these apparitions seem to be directed especially to catechists, homeschooling parents, or any Catholic parent who wants to instill the faith in their child.

In these apparitions, Our Lady appeared to Adele Brise and asked her to teach the children “their catechism, how to sign themselves with the sign of the Cross, and how to approach the sacraments."

I've always taken my role of catechist very seriously, striving to help the children in my classes develop a personal relationship with Jesus. But lately, it's seemed harder than ever, and I've wondered if I really ever reach the children. This apparition has given me a renewed passion to teach the faith!

You can find out more about this apparition on the Relevant Radio website. You can also check out the Shrine of Good Help, which is located near the place where Adele Brise saw the apparitions.

By the way, I think I've found the inspiration for my next yogurt cup saint!

Yogurt Cup Saints: Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego

2010-12-18T10:19:00.001-06:00

Finally finished my yogurt cup saints for Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Juan Diego! Wanted to show them to you; they came out better than I expected!

Juan's tilma even has a miniature imprint of Our Lady's image on it. Her veil is covered with handpainted stars.

I'm looking forward to making some for the patron saints in our home, and a few other saints, throughout the year. It seems that each one gets a bit easier to make, although I did have difficulty getting Our Lady's face just right. I tried five times to capture the beauty of her image. Finally settled on simple dots for eyes and a line drawing for her nose and mouth.

Will work on more of these during the year, in hopes that I can publish a tutorial on how to make them during Advent 2011. Start saving those 6 oz. yogurt cups!

Cute Idea: Advent Cubes

2010-12-18T08:49:00.001-06:00

St. George's Church in Worcester, Massachusetts, has a wonderful idea for celebrating Advent, using an Advent Cube. You can download graphics and directions from their website. I love the idea of putting a "jingle bell" inside the cardboard cube to "remind us that Jesus is the REAL present at Christmas!"

This would be a good project for next year, or perhaps could be adapted for the days following Christmas to Epiphany?

I've been brainstorming some ways to keep my kids busy over their Christmas holiday, which begins today. I'm thinking about adapting this Advent Cube idea and one created by Alice Gunther on the O Night Divine blog. I'll post an update with photos soon!

An early morning surprise -- St. Lucia's Day

2010-12-12T22:31:00.001-06:00

My Ebay find: an adorable St. Lucia doll

Tomorrow is St. Lucia's Day, a favorite Advent holiday in many Scandinavian countries. Lucia lived in Syracuse, on the island of Sicily, in the 3rd century. She died at age 20 because she refused to renounce her Christian faith. Her name, which derives from the word Lux, means light, so this feast day is especially appreciated during the cold, dark days of December.

In Sweden, a young girl in each family dresses in a white robe with a red sash and wears a candle-lit crown on her head. She awakens her family members in the morning with a call to "share breakfast with me," then serves them special sweet buns and coffee.

Although my family isn't Scandinavian, I grew up in Minnesota, a state where almost everyone considers themselves at least partially Scandinavian! In any case, my daughter looks forward to dressing up and serving the family every year. I purchased a crown a few years ago from Hemslojd, a Scandinavian online store. It uses battery operated candles, which are much safer than real candles!

This year, we will also be planting wheat berries, a tradition in Hungary, Croatia and other European countries. I ordered a St. Lucia wheat planting kit from The Confraternity of Penitents Gift Shop in Middletown, Rhode Island. They suggest planting the seeds on December 13 so green shoots will be showing by Christmas. They then recommend placing the plant near your Nativity set to remind us that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, a word that means "House of Bread" and that bread (including the host used at Mass) is made of wheat.

We will be reading:

1) How to Make a Swedish Christmas by Helen Ingeborg. This book is filled with recipes and has some Swedish craft ideas, including directions on making heart-shaped woven tree ornaments and a straw Julbock (goat).

2) Lucia: Child of Light: The History and Traditions of Sweden's Lucia Celebration by Florence Ekstrand. A great little book that explains the history behind the Lucia festivities, in addition to information about tomte (Swedish elves or little people), plus recipes and lyrics for popular holiday songs like Santa Lucia.

3) Lucia Morning in Sweden by Ewa Rydaker. A fiction story that follows the adventures of the Svensson family as their three children get ready for Lucia Day.

Resources:

How to Make a Swedish Christmas! Crafts - Recipes - Traditions

Lucia, Child of Light: The History And Traditions of Sweden's Lucia Celebration

Lucia Morning in Sweden

Yogurt Cup Saints

2010-12-12T13:25:00.001-06:00

We eat a lot of yogurt in this house. That means we have a lot of 6 oz. yogurt cups in our recycling bin. For the longest time I've looked at them and tried to brainstorm ways to recycle or re-purpose them. It bothers me that all those little cups are filling up our landfills! I've used them for paint cups and to pot seedlings. Yet every time I ate some yogurt, I pictured them as something else, perhaps the body of a shelf sitter or doll.

Recently, I experimented with transforming them into saint figures. Here is the result:

St . Nicholas of Myra made from a yogurt cup


St. Lucia made from a yogurt cup

Isn't it amazing what one can do with a little paint, a wooden ball, some felt, hot glue, some birthday candles, artificial greenery and a red ribbon?

I'm also finishing up my St. Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe figures. Will post those photos in a few days.

After I've perfected the process a bit more I'll post more instructions, a pattern or a tutorial.

Celebrating Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego

2010-12-12T12:52:00.043-06:00

Today is the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe. However, we've been celebrating the feast since last Thursday, which was the feast of St. Juan Diego.

Juan Diego was a poor Aztec Indian who experienced an apparition of the Virgin Mary. She appeared to him three times, asking him to ask the bishop to build a chapel on the rocky hill where they were standing. The bishop did not believe Juan Diego and asked for a sign to prove it was the Blessed Mother. The Blessed Mother had him pick roses and put them in his tilma, then bring them to her.

That in itself was a miracle, since roses did not grow in that rocky area, especially in December. Even more miraculous is that fact that they were Castile roses, a gorgeous red rose known in the Spain but not yet grown in the Americas.

Juan Diego brought them to Mary, who arranged them in his tilma, then asked him to show them to no one but the bishop. He took them to the bishop in Mexico City and dropped his tilma, allowing all the roses to cascade to the floor. He thought the roses were the sign, not realizing that a beautiful image of Our Lady was now imprinted in his tilma.

You can find out more about this miracle and why red roses are so popular in Mexico here.

We spent the last few days learning more about Juan Diego and Our Lady of Guadalupe, plus tying in a bit of Mexican geography and culture. Some of the things we have done (or will be doing today) include:

1) Eating a Mexican meal of tacos and spanish rice, and drinking non-alcoholic Sangria. Sangria is very simple to make! Just mix 1/2 cup of grape juice, 1/4 cup of orange juice, and 1/4 cup of Sprite or 7-Up. Add ice cubes to glasses and pour mixture into glass then add a maraschino cherry or orange slice for garnish. Makes about 2 cups. It is delicious!

2) Making roses and/or poinsettias out of red tissue or crepe paper. Martha Stewart has directions for large and small roses here, including templates.

I originally planned to make roses, but decided to try poinsettias instead after viewing this tutorial on the Essential Packaging Store Blog. I thought we could make a few extras to decorate gift packages. Isn't the flower on this package beautiful? (By the way, it would also be a great project to go along with Tomie DePaola's book The Legend of the Poinsettia.)

3) Watch CCC of America's DVD Juan Diego: Messenger of God. My now 11-year-old son was fascinated by this cartoon video when he first watched it at age 8. I will be introducing it to my 8-year-old daughter this year.

4) Read Tomie DePaola's book The Lady of Guadalupe. It's a beautiful story told in a way that children can understand. We also read a small book called Our Lady of Guadalupe by Father Lovasik on Thursday.

5) If we still have time, we might make this Guadalupe Day Decoration found on the Crayola website. I've been looking for a way to use those packages of Model Magic clay in our craft cabinet!

6) Listening to the Glory Stories CD that features the story of Juan Diego. This is a CD we picked up for free from Holy Heroes! My daughter received it from St. Nicholas on December 6.

7) Adding pages to Our Saints Notebook. My daughter is keeping a notebook about all the saints that she is learning about this year. Each saint has a brief biography, a handmade trading card, a coloring page or her drawing of the saint and a paper doll. We developed our own trading cards but some saint trading cards are available for a free download from That Resource Site. For paper dolls, we use either the free downloads from the Paper Dali blog or adapt the Biblical paper dolls on the Making Friends website.

We spread out our activities during the past few days since some of them were more time consuming. today. If we have time, might do some of the simple Mexican activities found on the DLTK website. Their paper quilt would be a fun way to learn a little about Mexico's customs and cultures.

Some resources:

Juan Diego: Messenger Of Guadalupe

The Lady of Guadalupe

The Legend of the Poinsettia

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Meditating on the Annunciation with children

2010-12-11T22:22:00.000-06:00

As you may know, I am a trained catechist with the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) program. CGS helps children build a personal relationship with God by creating a prayerful environment for the child; sort of a quiet retreat away from the world. While the children are in the atrium, they are taught to think deeply about the mysteries and miracles found within the Bible.

One of my favorite meditations is on the Annunciation. Using simple materials, the catechist demonstrates the wonderful miracle that occurred when the Angel Gabriel appeared to the Virgin Mary. The passage from Luke is read from the Bible, and then a variety of "wondering" questions are asked to help the children ponder this wondrous event.

After Mass on the feast of Immaculate Conception, I went home and gave this presentation to my daughter, hoping to reinforce the Gospel reading that she had heard that day at Mass. Here are a couple of photos of the materials I used to tell the story:

The diorama is made from a photo box covered with plaster cloth and then painted. The figures are purchased Fontanini pieces. Unfortunately, Angel Gabriel is larger than the diorama; I'll be working on that.

I've left the materials out for my daughter to work with over the past few days. Today I noticed that she borrowed something from her doll house and added it to the diorama: a baby.

I guess it just didn't feel right to her that the Blessed Mother was without Baby Jesus!

Saintly Soaps

2010-12-07T23:01:00.002-06:00

I think I'm going to do alot of Christmas shopping this year in the Catholic shops on Etsy! I am so impressed with the beautiful, creative things I found when I did a recent search of Catholic shops.

For example, aren't these beeswax Christmas tree ornaments gorgeous? I'll be purchasing them to give to catechists and a few other special people! Check them out here. $8.50 for a set of four.

Another find: these Catholic Lego Rosaries from MomentoMoose. They include real Legos strung on waxed cotton cord. Your child can put all the Lego pieces together before she starts praying the rosary, then pull them apart as she says each prayer. I can see this rosary working very well with my daughter, who sometimes can't sit still unless she has something to occupy her hands. They are just $20. I noticed they sell Divine Mercy chaplet bracelets made from Legos, too.

Update (12/13/10): Mark, the owner of the Momento Moose Etsy Shop, has kindly volunteered this discount for my blog readers. Use coupon code "sower10" at checkout and you will receive a 10% discount on your purchases until Christmas. Thank you, Mark, for helping us stretch our gift dollars a bit farther!

What did you find in your shoes this morning?

2010-12-06T12:17:00.000-06:00

Today is the feast day of St. Nicholas, the 3rd century bishop of Myra. In many countries, St. Nicholas visits the children on the eve of his feast day and leaves gifts like oranges, a candy cane, chocolate coins and other small gifts. Many of the gifts have a symbolic meanings. For example, the foil-covered chocolate coins represent the coins he gave to a poor man who had no dowry money for his three daughters.

In our house, we observe St. Nicholas Day in two ways. My children attend the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program and "meet" St. Nicholas there. They help "dress" one of the men in the church, learning about various parts of a bishop's clothing including the alb, cincture, cope, miter and staff. After that, he is given a large bag filled with small gifts for all the kids. The small gifts (which are provided by the parents) are wrapped in holiday-print cloth and tied with a red or green ribbon. Each package has a note attached (also written by the parents). "St. Nicholas" reads the note, which includes compliments to the child on things she has achieved during the year, and encouragement/gentle coaxing on how he can improve in the upcoming year. After the kids have all spoken with St. Nicholas, they open their gift bags together. It is a very special time and the kids look forward to it every year!

This year, our fabric sacks included gold coins, a Kinder (German) cookie, a St. Nicholas bookmark, a candy cane, a small "Squirmie" toy and a CD of saint stories (Glory Stories). In addition, my son received a card game and my daughter received some clothes for one of her little plush kittens. In the past they have received oranges, nuts, a St. Nicholas icon, book, holy card or ornament. I try to include something about St. Nicholas each year, no matter how small.

At home, the children put out their shoes before going to bed on December 5. When they awaken in the morning, they find little gifts nestled in and around their shoes. This year, they received a St. Nicholas Nutcracker (my find from Costplus World Market!), an Advent story book called Bartholomew's Passage, a Kinder cookie, chocolate candy coins and a shepherd piece for their Nativity sets.

Today, we will be watching the CCC video on St. Nicholas, reading a story about him, and enjoying some traditional St. Nicholas treats like Pepernoten cookies. My daughter also learned to draw St. Nicholas this morning as part of her homeschooling day. The drawing turned out so nice that I think I will use it for this year's Christmas cards. Such a fun day!

By the way, if you are interested in learning more about the Advent book Bartholomew's Passage, check out the link below, which includes reviews of the book. It's the sequel to another Advent book called Jotham's Journey. I have read Jotham's Journey to the kids during Advent for the last couple of years. We're looking forward to diving into this new book together.

Bartholomew's Passage

Jotham's Journey

Another free gift idea: free Veggie Tales Music Download

2010-12-06T06:55:00.002-06:00

Amazon is currently offering a free MP3 download of the Veggie Tales Album The Incredible Christmas Tree. The album is built around the Veggies search for a Christmas "Star" to be the top of their singing Christmas Tree for a holiday production. The music is a nice mix of serious and silly songs to entertain all ages. You will hear
classics like Silent Night and Joy To the World, and Veggie Tale originals like Candy Cane Blues and Was He a Boy Like Me.

To get your free download, surf over to the Amazon website by clicking on this link: The Incredible Christmas Tree

While you're waiting for the songs to download, check out some of the other free downloads listed further down the page, which include several other Christmas albums!

Ideas for St. Nicholas Day (December 5/6)

2010-12-04T00:22:00.000-06:00

St. Nicholas Eve is on Sunday night; are you ready? If not, check out the crafts and cooking ideas at St. Nicholas Center. Some of these (like the printable puzzles and "I Spy" game) would make nice items to accompany the orange, foil-covered chocolate coins and candy canes you put in your children's shoes on St. Nicholas Eve.

Over at the Shower of Roses blog, Jessica has a wonderful way to turn those generic chocolate coins into something very special: she adds St. Nicholas stickers, advent stickers and nativity stickers that she created herself and printed off her computer. I love this little touch -- that's the kind of thing that children will remember when they have kids of their own!

Lady of Guadalupe Playset

2010-12-03T21:59:00.001-06:00

Wow, look at this gorgeous Lady of Guadalupe Playset over at StLuke's Brush Etsy Shop!

What a wonderful way to tell this miraculous story to children. I love the fact that the inside of the storage case is also a diorama of the Mexican desert. This would be a great gift for either St. Juan Diego's feast day (December 9) or the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12), in addition to Christmas.

Check out this neat shop; they have a beautiful "Storybook Nativity Set" which would also make a nice Christmas gift. (I am not associated with this shop in any way; I'm just very impressed with their beautiful peg doll sets!)