Celebrating St. John the Baptist with a House Full of Boys

We love to take time during a Saint's feast day to talk about interesting facts about the saint and also try to learn something new.  This weekend as we were approaching the feast day of the martyrdom of St. John the Baptist (which is on August 29th) I asked our boys what something interesting about St. John the Baptist was.  St. John the Baptist is a saint that our children know quite a bit about, so I was interested to hear what stories they would tell.

I was imagining that they would bring up the story of The Visitation when Mary visited Elizabeth and how John the Baptist leapt in the womb knowing that Jesus was present within Mary (Luke 1:41).  Or maybe the great story of how John the Baptist baptized Jesus in the river Jordan (Matthew 3:13-17). 


St John the Baptist


Nope!  When I asked my crew of little boys an interesting fact about St. John the Baptist our 6 year old said "He was BEHEADED!!!"  He continued on re-telling the entire story of John the Baptist's beheading.



St John the Baptist

 

I just laughed, somewhat proud that they remember facts, but in also realizing how different little boys minds work!  In the end, the most important thing is that they are learning and interested!

St. John the Baptist, pray for us. 



A Visitor For Bear

Anyone who knows our family or who has followed our blog knows that our family LOVES to read books.  Our kids have naturally learned how to read pretty early and from then on dive into book after book.  We love read aloud time and even our little ones have their very favorite books that we read over and over again.  We have used the programs Before Five in a Row and Five in a Row in the years past (check out our homeschool page to see some examples of what we have done with these programs) which are literary based programs that we adore.  I knew I could repeat them, and was sure we would all gain something new, but I also knew that there must be something out there to bring more great literature to our family.

After asking some veteran homeschool moms I learned about Memoria Press's literature guides and enrichment programs.  These programs take wonderful literature and dive deep into comprehension and also applying other correlating subjects (art, science, poetry, music, etc) to these great stories.  They have these programs for each grade level but I knew that I wanted to teach our children together.  Our 6 year old is doing mostly second grade material but should "technically" be in 1st grade this year and our 4 1/2 year old is doing mostly kindergarten - 1st grade material but should "technically" be in pre-school this year.  After guessing what might work best for our family I choose the 1st grade curriculum for us all to use together and after only our first week I am pretty confident it will be a fantastic fit for us for this year! 

This week we read the story A Visitor for Bear by Bonnie Becker.  Memoria Press's Enrichment Guide gives great questions to ask to really look at the book in depth starting before you even read the first page.  Looking at the Title, Author, Illustrator and figuring out what you can learn about the story before you even begin.  Once you read the story it helps go through new vocabulary and has a fantastic list of questions to ask for comprehension.

The next part of the Enrichment Guide takes a theme from the story and enhances it with different subjects (art, poetry, music, science, etc).  In the story A Visitor for Bear the Bear is trying to make himself breakfast with tea when the mouse continues to interrupt him.  By the end of the story the Bear and the Mouse become dear friends and end having a tea party together.  This week enhanced our learning by studying the history of tea by reading The Biography of Tea, learning table etiquette during a tea party and other times, famous artwork including tea time (Five O'clock Tea by Mary Cassatt), and poetry from A Children's Book of Poems, all while listening to and studying the famous Pie Jesu!  We also had our very own tea party, which was wonderful to practice our etiquette skills and for our oldest son to practice his kitchen skills of learning how to turn on the stove and prepare food and drink.

Plus, since we had never been introduced to the author Bonny Becker before and quickly fell in love with the characters we checked out some more of her books to read during evening story time!  We read A Bedtime for Bear, A Birthday for Bear and The Sniffles for Bear and loved them all!

 

We all had such a wonderful time and I know that the children would not even think that this was a part of "school time".  I am so excited for what is to come for next week and cannot wait to share it all with our children and all of you!

Tour of the Church - Preparing for Sacraments

 

I was so excited to get a copy of Preparing to Receive Jesus to use as the spine for our Sacrament Preparation this year for our oldest son (they have a new edition that they are working on to come out hopefully soon).  We have been reading Little Acts of Grace and learning about the Church and Church Behaviors.  Our son Ryan participated in Catechesis of the Good Shepard last year and learned so much but it is really great for he and I to re-visit and discuss more in depth.  One assignment is to complete a church tour that is kind of a scavenger hunt to find different items and then discuss them (stained glass windows, sanctuary light, holy water font, altar, candles, tabernacle, crucifix, lectern and confessionals).  I know that he is pretty familiar with these at our home parish and also were we attend daily mass so I thought it would be fun to go to our cities Cathedral to search for all of them in a new environment.  To make it even a little bit more special I had time take pictures of all of the different things that he was finding on my I-Phone and then I will print out a photo book for him of all of the special places within the Church!  I adore that all of the pictures are taken from his point of view.

 

 

Making the time to visit the Cathedral was also a special activity for this year because we were able to walk through the Door of Mercy!

 

"In April 2015, Pope Francis announced an extraordinary Jubilee that is to have the mercy of God at its center. “It shall be a Holy Year of Mercy,” Pope Francis said:

 

  “We want to live this Year in the light of the Lord’s words:

‘Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. (cf. Lk 6:36)’

Popes typically announce a jubilee every 25 years, although extraordinary Holy Years have been proclaimed for special anniversaries. The Extraordinary Jubilee Year of Mercy includes the possibility of obtaining a plenary indulgence through performing works of corporal and spiritual works of mercy (feeding the hungry and visiting the sick, counseling the doubtful and comforting the afflicted), with a passing through a Holy Door, as well as the usual means and conditions for obtaining an indulgence.

Pope Francis has asked that in every diocese throughout the world a special door of mercy be designated and opened Dec.13, in the diocesan cathedral."

Site

 

Stained Glass Windows

 

Sanctuary Lamp and Tabernacle

 

Lectionary and Confessional

 

 

Candles and Altar

 

Crucifix and Holy Water Font

 

 

 

After we did the little scavenger hunt to find all of the different parts around the church we were able to spend some time looking at special things around the church and take some time to pray.

I want to always remember how he always take time to pray and how genuine and sweet his prayers are.

They always want to light a candle and pray to our Samuel.

 

 

 

Ryan thought this statue was really special as he is learning all of the 10 Commandments right now!

 

 

May God continue to bless and guide Ryan, and for all of those children as they continue to prepare for the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion this year! 

Our First Day of School 2016-2017

 

 

Here we go!  Off to another year of school!  We are so excited about the curriculum that we have chosen for this year and think it will be a really good fit for our family.  I almost am ready to just say "First Day of School" on the kids school signs because grade levels are becoming so fluid for us, but the grades below are pretty much where they are/should be for this coming year!

 

Ryan -

 

Age:  6 1/2 years old 

Grade:  1st Grade

Favorite Subject: Reading / Phonics

Future Occupation:  Librarian at the Public Library and Union Pacific Train Engineer

 

 

Connor -

Age:  4 1/2 years old
Grade: Kindergarten
Favorite Subject: "Learning about Money" - Math
Future Occupation:  "Medical Person"
 

 

Luke -

Age:  3 years old
Grade: Preschool
Favorite Subject: Reading Stories
Future Occupation: Priest and a "Train Man"
 

Peter -

Age:  9 months old
Grade:  Nursery School
Favorite Subject:  Story time and Cuddling
Future Occupation:  ??
 

 

Each year we like to measure the kids in August to see how much they have grown in the past year!  It is amazing to see how much they have grown in only one year. Luke (3 years old) has grown the most in the past year, almost 5 1/2 inches (and is now in the 98% for height for his age!!)!  Wow!

 

 

Often times people ask why we are homeschooling or how we came to this decision.  We have lots of different reasons why it is working best for our family right now and I think our first day exemplified so many of those.  I got up for morning prayers and an outdoor run at 5:45am and came back home around 6:45 to find my husband awake with our 4 year old.  As I was unloading the dishwasher and tending to morning chores our 4 year old asked if he could do his school. 

 

"Of course", I said.

 

He was done with his individual book work by 7:30am (free to play and explore the rest of the day) and I was able to focus and give him attention when his brothers were still sleeping.  It wasn't what was on my schedule, but I have quickly learned that although it is good to plan it is even better to learn when and how to throw those plans out the window to do what works best for our family!

 

My husband worked all weekend (as an Emergency room physician he has constantly variable shifts) so he had our first day of school off work.  We were able to have a family breakfast after our oldest son woke up around 8am (I often think how I would need to be waking him up if he was in traditional school and I love that he can get sleep when he needs it when he is young and growing). 

 

 

We then went to morning mass and a lovely women who often attends the same morning mass as we do, came over to give our little ones some special "ice cream money" for a little treat for their first day!  I love the community and support that we have.

 

We got home around 10am, and I had done my meal planning over the weekend and ordered groceries on-line (best idea EVER) so they were being delivered just about the time we walked in.  It is such a treat not to have to take extra time out of my schedule with all of the kids with to get groceries!

 

Our oldest son wanted to do his book work at that time so he did as the middle kids played outside and then had story time and our baby took a short morning nap!

After that was lunch and then some extra learning all together!  We were all finished for the day around 1:30pm and they have plenty of time for play.  Also, since my husband was off work for the day he was able to take our oldest son out to play golf  and to a special trip to the local library for a while and the little ones went down for afternoon nap and I played a riveting game of Candy Land with our 4 year old! 

 

 

 

The best part of homeschooling for us is that we are all able to be together as a family.  We are able to attend daily mass together so we can all prioritize our faith together.  Our kids certainly fight and bicker, but they truly are the best of friends and could not imagine being separated from each other during the day.  I also love how nicely homeschooling fits in with my husband's variable work schedule so we can prioritize family time when he is home and off work.  I hope that as our children grow they always know and remember that faith and family comes first!

 

 

 

I also love how individualized homeschooling can be.  I look at the four faces of our little ones and realize what gifts they are from God.  I realize that through homeschooling I am blessed with a very unique opportunity to teach them what they are interested in, in a way that they can best gain new information.  I hope that God continues to grant me to be patient, understanding and open to teaching our children with grace.  As it says in one of my favorite homeschooling books Teaching From Rest:  A Homeschooler's Guide to Unshakable Peace by Sarah Mackenzie, "We may sit at His feet; we may begin our day with prayer, Bible reading, and supplication, but its our teaching and mothering transformed by it?  Do we really trust Him?  Do we live each day from a state of rest?"

 

We are excited for a great year!  These are the years I am going to remember, these are the years that I am going to hang onto.  I am so thankful to be with our children to watch them grow, learn and explore during these precious years.