Friday, March 4, 2016

Children of the Church's Homeschool Day with a 6 yr, 4yr, 2yr and 4 month old

I have written about our "typical" homeschool schedule before but never a "day in the life" post before.  I decided it would be fun to document a whole day and share it with Simple Homeschool's Day in the Life link up!  The interesting thing with homeschooling is although our children do really good with structure, no two days look exactly alike!  Here is what our Friday looked like this week!
 
4am:  Baby is up to eat.  He is going through a growth spurt and loves to cluster feed early in the morning now!  Yikes!
 
4:55am:  The 2 year old is awake!  Little Einstein's is on television, which is a life saver when it is that early and the day is already starting! 
 
 
5:15am:  Coffee is made and I take some time for my morning prayer and reading time.
 
6:30am:  The 4 and 6 year olds wake up.  Some kind of play air force bombing begins in the living room (the life of 4 boys!)
 
7am:  Morning Offering Prayer together, Breakfast, Morning Chores, Showers, Starting Laundry and Calendar Time all occurs.
 
 
8am:  Out to door to morning Mass
 
8:30am:  Daily Mass followed by our own little version of Stations of the Cross.

 

10am:  Leisure reading time.  Our 6 year old has been loving the Magic Tree House Series lately.  I was reading Mouse Paint with our 4 and 2 year old.  The baby was having fun in his jumperoo!

 
11am:  Daily rosary (we've finally been doing great adding this into our day this Lent!!)
 
11:30am:  Making lunch and sending my husband off to work (he works rotating shifts at the ER and is working noon-9pm today).
 
12:15pm:  Nap time stories and kisses for 2 year old and 4 month old.  4 year old goes to his room for quiet time looking at books (some days he takes a nap).
 
12:30pm:  Clean up lunch dishes, switch out laundry, set up school books for our 6 year old.
 
1pm:  Formal school time starts with the 6 year old.  Math, English, Handwriting, Spelling Test, Religion and Reading Time today.
 

 
1:45pm:  Call from a best friend that she is going to deliver her twins today!  Usually I ignore my phone during school time, but this was a special reason to respond!  Took time to say a prayer for their family.
 
2:20pm:  The baby is awake and the 4 year comes down and wants to do History/Geography with us.  We are starting to learn about Africa with our Explore the Continents Curriculum. 
 
 
2:50pm:  Baby needs to eat and our 2 year old is waking up from his nap.
 

3pm: We made it to 3pm!  Time for the second run of the day; I say a prayer for some needed grace! 

3:15pm:  The mail comes!  The My Book House series arrives that I have been eying for a few years and finally had found a good deal on!  I am super excited and start reading a bit with the kids.

 
4:00pm:  It is 60 degrees and the sun is shining so I send the kids outside to play while I tidy up and make dinner.
 
5pm:  My husband is working and it is a Friday in Lent with the kids, so an easy frozen cheese pizza with fruit works for dinner tonight!
 
 
5:40pm:  Dinner is done and I send the kids back outside to bike and play while I clean up the dishes and tidy the house. (I'm also noticing that my kids all seem to be in different clothes, which might explain my massive amounts of laundry!  Does anyone else have kids who go through multiple outfits per day?)


6pm:  The baby and I go outside on the porch swing to watch the big boys!  I love watching our 4 year old who just learned to ride his bike without training wheels confidently ride up and down the sidewalk!
 
6:20pm:  It's getting cold!  The kids put their bikes away and come inside to play for a little while.
 
7pm:  Bath time, stories, prayers and all 4 kids are off to bed!
 
 
7:30pm:  Kids are in bed and I reflect on the day as I write this post.
 
7:45pm:  Time to do a few nightly chores, relax and wait for my husband to come home from work!  Then time to do it all again tomorrow!  Goodnight!
 

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Thursday, March 3, 2016

Big Boy Biking Fun

As parents of four boys we love watching each and every one of their individual personalities unfold.  Each of them are different in so many unique ways and it is so much fun and challenges us each day as parents.  Our second son, Connor is our adventurous one!  At 1 1/2 years old he would scoot around EVERYWHERE on his Radio Flyer scooter.  The summer when he was 2 1/2 years old he asked for a bike, and so we found him a tiny little bike off of Craigslist for $10 thinking that a 2 year old would not really be able to ride!  Well, he proved us wrong! He loved it, immediately jumped on and with little to no instruction was off, and NEVER stopped!




Fast forward to the present time and our now 4 year old has been practically dying for the weather to get nice so that he could learn how to ride his bike without training wheels!  We had a beautiful day this weekend and all it took was about 10 minutes of instruction by his Dad and off he went!  There are so many "firsts" in little ones lives but learning to ride a bike is always one of my favorites.  There is so much pride and it really puts them in the "big kid" category! 
 
 

His brothers enjoyed the beautiful weather as well and had fun cheering Connor on with his new found skill!  And yes, they were in shorts and tank tops in February, because when it gets to 70 degrees after a long winter kids go crazy with excitement! 




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Monday, February 29, 2016

What We've Been Reading - February 2016


"What We've Been Reading" is a series here at Children of the Church to both keep track of what we are reading and to share with others what we have been reading in our home.  Reading is such an important part of our daily lives and also our homeschooling journey.  Thank you for following along and please feel free to share what you have been reading as well so we can all learn together!

February 2016

Children's Book List (Our children are 6 years, 4 years, 2 years old, baby):
My Book List:
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One Whole Year of Love

As far as I can tell, it was one year ago today that you were born.
 
Born from nothing into something.
 
From two halves into an amazing whole.
 
One year ago today that you sparked and
started shining and growing and changing our lives.
 
They say that the first year goes quickly,
that the changes that occur in that year are astounding;
from newborn to walking, talking wonderful toddler.
 
But I'm talking about the real first year. 
From single cell to a smiling, laughing, cooing,
hugging, snuggling heart stealer.
 
I've had one whole year with you, my dear son. 
A whole year of the most wonderful love I could ever know.
 
Happiest of happy birthdays to you my happy baby.
 
 
 
"Before you were conceived I wanted you,
Before you were born I loved you,
Before you were an hour old I would die for you.
This is the miracle of love." -Maureen Hawkins
 
 
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Sunday, February 28, 2016

Celebrating Ryan's Baptism Anniversary

We were able to celebrate another Baptism anniversary today and as our son Ryan gets older it truly has been something he has been looking forward to!  He has the date memorized and has been counting down the days for weeks so that he can celebrate. 
 
 
We went to Mass this morning and after mass he proudly walked up to our Priest to tell him that it was his Baptism Anniversary.  He was so excited to receive a special little prayer.
When we came home we got out his Baptismal Candle to light and say a prayer together as a family.  Ryan REALLY loves candles right now so he was so thrilled to have this special candle out.  He was even more thrilled to receive the Holy Heroes 2016 Paschal Candle as one of his little gifts for the day.  He also loved his brother's Prayer Pillow that he received on his Baptism Anniversary this past year, so bought him one with his current favorite prayer, The St. Michael Prayer.  He was thrilled to have this prayer in an awesome Army print! 

 
 
Baptism is such a beautiful gift to receive in our Church!  We thank God for all of the graces that he gives to us through this wonderful sacrament!

Ryan's Baptism - February 28, 2010
 
Baptismal Anniversary Prayer

Remember this, Ryan
You have been washed
In the saving waters of baptism
And anointed with holy oil.
Place on your head and in your heart
The sign of the cross of salvation.

Loving God,
You created all the people of the world,
And you know each of us by name.
We thank you for Ryan
Who celebrates the anniversary of his baptism.
Bless him with your love and friendship
That he may grow in wisdom, knowledge, and grace.
May he love his family always
And be ever faithful to his friends.

Grant this through Christ our Lord.

Amen
 
With Ryan's Godmother - Our dear friend Callie
 
Read about how we have celebrated other Baptism Anniversaries below:
 
Connor's Baptism Anniversary 2014

Connor's Baptism Anniversary 2015
 
Luke's Baptism Anniversary 2015
 
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Friday, February 26, 2016

The Hour of 3 o'clock

It is 3am and the baby wakes up to eat.  I nurse him and shut my eyes for a while and hear the pitter patter of little feet around 4:15am.  It is our 2 year old wanting to cuddle.  I put him back to bed and try once again to shut my eyes.  5:15am our 4 year old is awake and ready to start the day.  I walk downstairs and make the much needed pot of coffee.  I pour a cup and curl up in my favorite chair for my morning prayer and devotional time.  I breath in the graces that God is granting me for the day and am feeling energized.
 
By the time I am finished with my morning prayers our whole house is awake and going.  There is breakfast to be made, showers and dressing to occur, beds and rooms to be tidied, and chores to be done.  We kiss my husband goodbye as he goes off to work and start our day plans.  We learn, play and explore.
 
By noon lunch time comes and hungry little ones gobble down their food and chat about the randomness of life.  At 1pm the little ones go to bed and school time starts with the older ones.  We learn about Jesus, explore the world, and read about great adventures.  By the time we are finished we hear little ones cries or coming down the stairs as their nap time ends.
 
3pm.  We made it here.  It's been a good day, or maybe it hasn't.  Either way, 3pm comes and I have usually been up and giving for about 10-12 hours by now.  I am getting tired, but I still have hours of play, dinner to be made, being excited for my husband to return home, bath time, stories, bedtime and more. 
 
3pm.  That hour that as mothers we feel like our day has gone on forever, but we still have so much of our day left. 
 
3pm.  The hour that Christ died on the cross.  He died for our sins.  He died to give us everlasting life.  He was too exhausted to carry on, He followed God's plan for Him, and He handed His life over to God.
 
 
Jesus understands the cross.  He understands what crosses He gives to us in our daily lives.  Each of our crosses look and feel different for each one of us.  But each of us are hearing the same thing from Jesus if we listen, "I am here.  I want to help you carry your cross.  I love you."
 
3pm.  The hour that we have the opportunity to make a choice.  We can grumble, and complain, and be exhausted.  We can fall apart, start yelling, and feel stressed. 
 
Or, we can meet Jesus at the cross. 
 
We can stop, literally stop, right where we are and meet Him there at the cross.  We can say a prayer of thanksgiving for what has occurred so far in the day and ask for Jesus to give us grace to continue to carry our crosses throughout the rest of the day.  We can trust in Jesus, that He will help us through those difficult moments, those stressful moments, those moments of pure exhaustion. 
 
The best part is understanding what happened after that horrible hour of 3 o'clock when our Savior died on the cross, and that is the beautiful gift of the Resurrection.  Jesus was resurrected from the dead and is living again with each one of us, right now, today.  He is here to get each of us through our own hour of 3 o 'clock, and help us with each of our own crosses.  The big question is, are we ready to meet Him there at the hour of 3 o'clock!     

 
For the sake of His sorrowful Passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.

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Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Eucharistic Miracles of the World

We were blessed to be able to attend St. Gerald's Parish Mission of the exhibit of Eucharistic Miracles of the World this week.  If you are a local reader, today is the last day of the exhibit at St. Gerald's Parish and it continues until 10pm today!  They also are wonderful and have childcare set up so that you are able to spend some time at the exhibit free of "distraction"!  Although after I went through the exhibit on my own my boys still wanted to quickly go see what I was looking at and were amazed, especially by the relics!
 
I am always trying to learn more about our Catholic Faith and I feel like whenever I do learn more I am always amazed at the depth and richness of our Church!  At this exhibit they had over 100 accounts of Eucharistic Miracles from around the world.  It was truly amazing to read these stories and hear of all of the miracles that have occurred over time and are still occurring in the present day.
 
If you want to learn about the exhibit definitely check out this book The Eucharistic Miracles of the World!
 
They also included in this exhibit relics of a few very famous Saints including St. Therese of Lisieux, St Jude, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, St. Francis of Assisi and more.  This part of the exhibit was very special to see and study especially since St. Elizabeth Ann Seton holds a special place in our lives (and is the name sake of this blog!).
 
 

 
 
The church also had Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration occurring during the same time as the exhibit so we were able to spend a little bit of special time with Jesus!  This was such a special activity during Lent.

 
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