Our Week in Review - 7 Quick Takes

 

We have been busy lately, but having a lot of fun!  I decided to do a Seven Quick Takes to catch up with what we have been up to this week!

 



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Painting For A Special Birthday

 

My mother - in - law celebrated a special birthday this week and along with having a super fun surprise party we also had a great family activity of painting special pieces of pottery for her birthday.  The boys had a blast and it is such a great way to make personalized gifts for Grama to always have from her grandchildren!



 

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New Milestones - No Training Wheels

 

Our oldest son decided out of the blue this week that he needed his training wheels off his bike!  I told him that it is a pretty big step and that once we take them off we are not putting them back on.  He said "I know, I'm ready!"  So off they went and he has been doing great!  He is practicing a lot and learning how to steer and keep his balance.   It's still so hard to believe how fast these kids grow up!

 

 

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New Territory - Starting Sports

 

Our oldest son started soccer through our parish this week and it was so much fun!  We are blessed that the parish school opens its school sports Pre-Kindergarten - 8th grade to homeschooling families as well.  For a sports loving guy, our son was thrilled to start soccer and his first organized sport.  He has been practicing in the back yard for weeks and was so excited that he could hardly sleep the night before his first practice and game.  I was such a proud momma watching him play, and couldn't help but think that this one event will probably cascade the next 20+ years of our lives watching and supporting our children's sports and activities.  I cannot wait to watch each of our children gain different interests and learn important skills and independence!

 

 

 

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Prayers for Mary

 

After the soccer game our children wanted to go to the Prayer Garden at our Church!  The Prayer Garden has become one of our favorite places and it is so much fun to watch it change and grow throughout the different seasons!  The flowers are blooming and our children brought some to Mary as they said their prayers!

 

 

 

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Fun Times at the Children's Museum

 

We have such a great Children's Museum in our town and love to go on Member Days where it is open an hour earlier for members!  Sometimes it feels like we have the whole place to ourselves!  This week we did some fun art work, did lots of imaginative play as doctors, mechanics, bankers, firemen and more.  We got to end our visit this week going to the science show about bubbles and both of our oldest children were able to participate being within a HUGE bubble.  It was a lot of fun!

 

 

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Exploring a State Park

 

We cannot get enough of this beautiful weather and have been looking for new fun adventures outside.  We went to a state park that we had a never been to before to go exploring on their trails.  The boys are in their element when they are outside and within nature.  They were listening for all of the animal sounds, finding and playing with sticks, learning about different trees and overall having a great time.  I love that homeschooling is providing us with some extra time to do these fun activities together as a family.

 

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Too Hard To Believe!  Potentially A House with NO Diapers!

 

When our third son was born our oldest was 3 1/2 years old and still wearing diapers at night time, so we had three children in diapers all together!  That was fun!  Anyway, our oldest night trained around 4 years old and our middle child just potty trained himself a few months ago at almost 3 1/2 years old.  He went from wearing diapers 24/7 to no diapers at all day and night in about 48 hours!  It was crazy, especially since I did NOTHING.  Literally, we told him he could have a special date with Daddy if he stopped wearing diapers and that was that!  He has maybe had 3-5 accidents since. 

 

Well, now since then our youngest son who is 22 months has totally decided that he is done with diapers.  Usually our children express interest between 20-26 months but do not get very far with it.  I have a feeling this time around might be different.  Our youngest son this week with no initiative from me will tell me multiple times a day that he needs to potty, take my hand to walk to the bathroom and go!  He will stay dry for hours in-between as well.  I have a feeling (although I do not want to jinx it) that we might just very well have NO ONE in diapers in our house for a while!  That would be the first time in 5 1/2 years!

 



Well, that is what we have been up to this week!  For more Quick Takes Visit This Ain't The Lyceum!

Happy Birthday Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI!

Today, April 16th is Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI's Birthday!  We love learning about all of the different Popes in the history of the Church and the amazing things that they have done.  Today to celebrate Pope Emeritus Benedict's birthday we read two fun books:

Joseph and Chico:  The Life of Pope Benedict XVI as Told by a Cat and Max and Benedict:  A Bird's Eye View of the Pope's Daily Life

 

 

Pope Benedict XVI served as the Pope of the Catholic Church from 2005 until 2013.  These were all such important years of formation for me within the Catholic Church as I was in college, newly married and starting our family!  I love sharing these important peoples lives with our children and learning more myself!

 

“If you follow the will of God, you know that in spite of all the terrible things that happen to you, you will never lose a final refuge. You know that the foundation of the world is love, so that even when no human being can or will help you, you may go on, trusting in the One that loves you.”
― Pope Benedict XVI

 

Happy 88th Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI!

When a Curriculum Isn't Working - Trying Something New for Science

As a new homeschool parent I hit my first "road block" in realizing that a curriculum really was not working out for our family.  Part of me felt like I wanted to stick with something or I could be switching every week with all of the fantastic resources out there.  Yet, another part of me knew that it is so early on, that if something is not working that I should trust my gut and look for something new!

I was not liking our Kindergarten Science book with Seton, simply because it was becoming a lot of work for me to gather the proper things necessary for the experiments each week and so it was not getting done.  We are loving everything else with Seton so I knew I didn't want to switch curriculums entirely!  I was frustrated that we were not doing that much science because both my husband and I love science and want to instill that love within our children.  I decided that if our current selection wasn't working then I should change it!  Gaining advice from some wonderful homeschool parents we decided to try Behold and See from Catholic Heritage Curricula, which is their science program for 1st grade.  I am so glad that we decided to go in a different direction because after only a few weeks using this new book we are all in love!  Plus, even with enrolling with Seton, during the younger grades Science is a parent graded subject so we are able to change our curriculum and still grade with Seton!

One common complaint about Behold and See is that the lessons are arranged by season and start with the spring (while most people are starting their school years in the fall).  This worked perfectly for us since we were starting this book in the spring.  We got it in the mail and started immediately.  I love that along with fun activities that there are real life stories, teaching pages, explanations of terms and new concepts.

We started learning about plants including seeds, roots, how plants grow, different kinds of seeds, monocots and dicots, etc.  We learned about different seeds, measured the growth of our seeds as we started to grow seeds inside our home, watched as the seeds grew toward the sun and more!  We then took the time to plan our own vegetable and flower garden and learn about the responsibilities of having a garden.  We cannot wait to watch our garden grow this summer.  Finally, we also took a fun field trip to the Children's Museum and while we were there we talked a lot about what plants we eat at their garden area and grocery store!

 

 

 

Next we started learning about different kinds of animals and the differences between mammals and reptiles.  Our son thought it was fascinating that humans are mammals and to learn what we have in common with some other animals!  They had the most adorable workbook page about the Human Family as well.  I try to let my son do a lot of independent school without me standing over his shoulder so I explained this page to my son before I went to put our little ones to bed and came downstairs to a completed adorable page of our family (including all of our ages and spelling our names by himself!)  We also worked this learning into taking a fun field trip to the zoo to see and discuss the different animals and if they were mammals or reptiles.

Finally, we have been discussing weather and learning how to look up information about the average weather and rainfall in our state, how weather is different in different parts of the world, and about the equator.  It has been really great for him to learn how to use different resources to find information.  He initially just wanted to ask "Siri" on my I-phone all of the questions, but then we also went to the library to learn about what an Almanac is and gain some information from that as well.  We then are starting a weather chart to record our daily weather and learned about weather predictions and patterns.

 

My work as a parent is minimal and our children are learning so much and having a blast!  Since we are planning on homeschooling year round we are excited to work on the summer projects this summer and continue with this book as the seasons change.  I am so glad that we decided to try something new and that even as a new homeschooling parent that I trusted my instincts when something was not working for our family.

What do you do when a curriculum is not working or you hit a roadblock with homeschooling?  What are some of your favorite science curriculums or activities with young children?

A.D. The Bible Continues: Reviews on The Catholic Viewers Guide and Ministers and Martyrs

Are you one of the 9.5 million who tuned in for the first episode of A.D. The Bible Continues on NBC?  The first episode was about the Aftermath of the Crucifixion aired on Easter Sunday, and although I already knew the story I still truly enjoyed watching the drama play out before my eyes.  I was curious to see what was to come over the 12 week series. 

Then, I was sent a copy of A.D. The Bible Continues - Catholic Viewer's Guide by Veronica Burchard to review.  I sat down to study this viewer's guide before I watched episode two about Jesus's Resurrection and continued after watching the show and I immediately realized how much I gained using this viewer's guide rather than watching the show on its own.  It helped not only bring so much more depth to my watching experience but it also brought my Sunday night television into great discussion questions and reflection.

Each week the viewer's guide starts with a brief summary of what will be included in the episode, a time-line of events occurring, a map showing the places discussed in the episode and the key characters.  They then discuss the background story in reference directly to Catholicism.  They continue with important terms to know and a focus question to think about before watching the episode!

Then, after you watch the episode they have great discussion questions and then specific ideas to "Go Forth and Evangelize" throughout the week.  It is a fantastic way to learn more about our faith and put it to action in our daily lives.  Thank you to Veronica Burchard and Sophia Institute Press for this amazing resource! 

Sophia Institute Press has also published A.D. The Bible Continues: Ministers and Martyrs which is a fantastic book about being a first century Christian.  It is based off of the television series, but it also is a book that can be read separately and still greatly appreciated.  It is a great read and packed with wonderful and fascinating information!  Make sure if you are watching A.D. The Bible Continues to pick up the Catholic Viewer's Guide  and A.D. The Bible Continues:  Ministers and Martyrs today!