Celebrating Grandparents on the Feast Day of Saints Joachim and Anne

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We celebrate the Feast Day of Saints Joachim and Anne on July 26th, who are the parents of Mary and thus the grandparents of Jesus and thus the patron saints of Grandparents and Married Couples.  I think of them and the amazing job that they must have done having parenting Mary worthy to be the Mother of God. 

To celebrate this special feast day we spoke about the importance of parents and grandparents and had our children make special cards for their grandparents.  They had a lot of fun coloring and making their own masterpieces!  While we did this we talked about why Grandparents are so awesome!

Our children are so blessed that they have all four of their grandparents and five of their great grandparents living and an important part of their lives.  Two of their great grandparents our oldest two children had the opportunity of meeting and two of them had already entered heaven.  Either way, each and every grandparent and great grandparent is so important to us and thought about and prayed for often!   Grandparents are such special role models and have such a special way to love children and so today we honor them in a special way!

Great Grandparents Who are Now in Heaven

My husband and his Grandmother in 2006 (7 months before she passed away)

My husband's Grandfather who passed away when my husband was 6 weeks old

I also love this special prayer in A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms by Lisa. Hendey:

Saints Anne and Joachim,

you trusted that God's grace would guide your family

even when it brought you sadness and loneliness.

You welcomed a daughter and nurtured her in love and faith,

instilling in her profound trust in God and a generous heart.

Help our family this week to treasure and care for all of our elderly loved ones.

Let us be good listeners, strong helpers, and faithful students of these wise ones.

We pray this week for their health, their ultimate rest with you in

heaven, and for our own ability to trust in your will for our lives.

Amen.

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us! 

Happy Feast of St. James

 

The feast of St. James is celebrated on July 25th!  Saint James loved being a fisherman but when Jesus asked him to leave his boat and become a "Fisher of Men" Saint James said "Yes!".  He followed Jesus and taught other people about God's love.  St James was also apparently the first of the apostles to be martyred. “About that time King Herod laid hands upon some members of the church to harm them. He had James, the brother of John, killed by the sword, and when he saw that this was pleasing to the Jews he proceeded to arrest Peter also” (Acts 12:1-3a).  St. James is definitely a wonderful Saint to have interceding for us!

St James is an important Saint in our home because it is on his feast day that we celebrate the name of our middle son Connor James.  We love to celebrate our children's individual birthdays, baptism anniversaries and Saint name days!  We like to get them a small gift and talk to them about how they can always pray to the Saints.  On the feast of their Saint Name Day we give them a small gift so this year our son Connor got a Tiny Saint of St. James and the book The Clown of God by Tomie dePoala.  I love this book, especially for our middle son Connor because he is very similar to the main character in the story and it shows that different people have different relationships with God in special ways and offering to God what gifts YOU uniquely have.

 

This week we had a fun way to celebrate St. James's feast day because we are currently in Minnesota visiting family at the lake!  We are having such a blast at the lake swimming and watching the fishermen just like St. James.  Also, this week as we were preparing to leave on our vacation we spoke about how St. James feast day was coming up and we played with our new toy fishing set and also played Go Fish!  With little ones sometimes it works best just to let them feel like they are experiencing a little bit of the life of a saint and have something to remember them by!

Teaching Your Child to Read -With Different Learning Styles

When I started the journey of homeschooling one of the biggest things that I was nervous about was how to teach our children how to read.  Reading is such a basic and fundamental core to the rest of life's learning.  I want our children to have a love of reading and a love of learning and so I was a bit intimidated by the task.  I had read about Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons and it seemed almost TOO simple!  Just follow along with the book, it tells you EXACTLY what to say as a parent/teacher and by the end your child will be reading is what it claimed. 

Now, let me back up a little bit.  Reading has ALWAYS been very important in our family.  We start reading to our children when they are born and they have always had a love for books.  I was not surprised when our oldest son personally asked to learn to read right before his 4th birthday.  We got the book and started with lesson #1!  A few weeks in we were not really struggling, but it also was not a lot of fun.  Since he was still so young we decided to stop and pick it back up later.  Well, we started again about 9 months later when he was 4 1/2 years old and it was like I was working with a completely different child.  He was ready, engaged and loved every minute of it.  Being our oldest he is driven, likes to please and we had such a joy going through this book together and learning how to read.  He finished the book in about 7 months and has moved from 100 Easy Lessons to BOB books, then to Little Stories for Little Folks, to now reading just about anything he wants to including early reader chapter books. 

 

 

 

Our second son has a completely different personality, so doing everything with him is MUCH different than with our oldest.  I knew that teaching him reading, or anything for that matter, would also be a much different experience.  It has been such a blessing with homeschooling to not only be able to determine our children's learning styles but be able to work with those different styles and see them easily excel.  Our second son knew his ABC's at 2 years old (maybe even earlier).  He could recognize all of the alphabet and put his alphabet puzzle together in order by 2 1/2 years old. 

 

 

By 3 years old he was reciting by word all of his favorite books like Chicka Chicka Boom, Boom, Pete the Cat or Blue Hat Green Hat!  He loved to watch the Leap Frog or Preschool Prep videos and by 3 1/2 years old he knew all of his letter sounds, a handful of sight words and basic blends.  We have a lot of learning base toys and his favorite have always been alphabet or word games.  So much so that his older brother nicknamed him "The Letters Guy!"  He even got to a point where he would take a BOB book or another easy reader and sound out the ENTIRE book with each individual letter sound.  It was hilarious and completely adorable.  So, this summer at a little older than 3 1/2 years old he asked to do the same book his big brother did to learn how to read.

 

 

I started teaching the same way I taught his older brother, following the prompts, putting our finger under each letter to sound it out and then say it fast putting it all together and was met with TEARS!  "I CAN DO IT!!  NO TOUCH IT MOM, I CAN READ!"  He did not want my involvement at all, but much to my surprise, when I backed off, guess what, he can read.  Literally, he is past lesson 30 now and he does not even sound the words out before he simply reads sentences.  If he is struggling with a particular word he does not want help sounding it out or breaking it into the different sounds but will sit there himself and take the time to break it down.  I am so glad that I have this opportunity to be available to each of our children's learning styles to truly help them succeed and learn new skills!

Reading Aloud is still a huge part of our daily homeschool schedule even though our children are learning to read independently, and we love our weekly trips to the library.  Stay tuned for a review on The Read Aloud Handbook as well as some of our past Read Alouds and some of our upcoming planned Read Alouds!  We have come a long way from a few years ago where I was terrified to teach our children to read and now I cannot wait for our younger children to grow to the age of reading themselves as well! 

Celebrating St Christopher's Feast Day

St Christopher's Feast Day is celebrated on July 25th.  This year we celebrated and learned about St Christopher earlier in the week because we are traveling to this week to visit family.  Which is kind of perfect, because St. Christopher is the Patron Saint of...you guessed it...Travelers!  

St. Christopher is one of the Saints included in Catholic Mosaic, so we picked up the book Christopher: The Holy Giant by Tomie dePaola  and The Legend of Saint Christopher by Margaret Hodges at our local library and dove right in!  These books were both fantastic and we were able to have a great discussion about what it means to say "yes" to God when he calls and how to trust in God.  Also the name Christopher means "Christ-bearer".  We discussed how we can all be Christ-bearers in our daily lives.

Our favorite part in the Tomie dePaola book Reprobus (who is later renamed Christopher) asks "Tell me how to find him (Christ)".  "You cannot find him," the hermit said.  "You must pray, and Christ will find you".  This part of the story was such a great opportunity to talk to our little ones about the power and importance of prayer and a relationship with Christ.

 

Our children also loved how they spoke in the book of Jesus being the MOST POWERFUL King of all!  When they were at Vacation Bible School this year they learned lots of fun faith based songs and one of their favorites is the following "My God is Powerful!"  We sang this song and talked about serving God!

Because we are traveling this week and learning about this great Saint, we picked up a little Holy Coin of St. Christopher to place inside our van to remind us to pray for safe travels!  "Behold Saint Christopher.  Go thy way in safety", as said in Christopher the Holy Giant.

 

Another activity for the feast of St. Christopher was using branches or a small tree to hold something special like holy cards, flowers, etc. 

As it says in the story Christopher The Holy Giant "And to show that you serve me, set your staff in the ground next to your hut.  Tomorrow you shall see it flower and bear fruit".  At that, the child (Jesus) vanished and Christopher did as he was told.  The next morning, there in front of the hut, Christopher found his staff sprouting leaves and flowers and bearing dates, just as the child said it would.

 

Since we have collected so many fun Saint Medals through our subscription to Saint Mail we decided to hang them on branches to remind us to pray to all of the Saints and remind us of the faith of St. Christopher.

 

"When you carried me on your shoulders, you carried the world, for I have the whole world in my hands." - Child Jesus saying to Christopher in The Legend of St. Christopher

 

Our Homeschool Room Tour - An Update

 

I gave a tour of our homeschool room last year, but a few things have changed since then so I thought I would give a quick update!

 

We are blessed to have turned our basement into our school and playroom.  We have learned that we definitely do not do all of our learning in our basement (sometimes we are outside, at the kitchen table, etc) but we love having such a great space to store everything and have a fun time learning!

 

Reading Nook

 

 

When you first come downstairs we have a reading nook with our big comfy chair and also all of our chapter books that we have been starting to collect for read aloud time.  We are thankful to have received a lot of the great classics from my parents that were my books growing up like the entire Boxcar Children series, Chronicles of Narnia, Little House on the Prairie, Anne of Green Gables, plus a lot of extras like Charlotte's Web, The Hobbit, and more.  We also have recently started collecting the Magic Tree House series that our oldest son is starting to read.  Also in this area we have a Busy Block and our big Wooden Blocks in a basket for our 2 year old to play with while we are reading in this area.

Mom's Desk and Organizational Area

 

 

Across from that we have a desk and organizational bins set up for me to use.  I have our busy bags and laminated theme packs in these bins along with extra paper and supplies.  This is also were our computer is if we are doing any computerized activities together.

Storage for Puzzles, Games, Musical Instruments

and Learning Toys

 

 

Next to our reading nook we use our old TV cabinet to store all of our puzzles, games, musical instruments and learning toys!  We have them all labeled and in bins to help it make it really easy to clean up and move to the next activity!

Some of our favorites are our Talking GeoSafari Globe Jr., Melissa and Doug Abacus, Melissa and Doug Floor Puzzles, Grimm's Rainbow Stacker,  Melissa and Doug Lacking Sneaker, Melissa and Doug Stack and Sort Counter, and games like High Ho Cherry O, Chutes and Ladders and more!

 

Schedule and Curriculum Storage
 

Continuing down the room we have a bookshelf with all of our current educational books that we are using from Seton, CHC, Making Music Praying Twice, Catholic Mosaic, etc.  It is great to have all of these books together for when we want easy access!  Also, down in the red bin at the bottom we have all of our flashcards that we use for Numbers, Letters, Addition, Subtraction, States, Presidents, etc. 

You can read more about our Curriculum Choices HERE!

 

On top of the wall shelf we have a magnetic white board where I made and laminated different activities that we do throughout our day (brush teeth, prayers, eating meals, play time, school time, bath, bedtime, etc).  I love that it is laminated separately because then our children have a visual picture of our day that we can move and rotate around when our schedule changes!

 

Learning/Study Area

We have added and changed this area a little bit this year with the biggest change being the addition of my sister's and my old school desks.  These desks were actually my fathers when he was a child and then my sister and I played with them all of the time when we grew up!  It is so much fun to be able to add them to our learning space.  Our boys still really like doing a lot of activities at the table together, but I like having the individualized space as they get older.  Plus they are the perfect height for little ones to work on proper penmanship!

 

We also recently put in new French Doors in our walk out basement which let in a lot more natural light into the room which we love!  The fun United States rug we found this year at Costco!

 

 

 

Printer and Supplies 

 

We store our printer and other supplies in my husband's old computer armoire.  I keep it locked with a baby lock so little hands are not getting in there when they shouldn't be!  We also have our Lego's stored above this station so that they are easily accessed but not available for our little ones.  We also have our Melissa and Doug Easel and our ABC Saints Poster in this area!

 

 

Art Storage and Puzzles

 

I love that we have a tiny "wet bar" or sink in our basement space because it has been wonderful for doing crafts and art projects.  All of our paint, playdough and art supplies are stored under the sink and it is so great to have a dedicated space to rinse off paint brushes, etc. 

 

On this bookshelf we keep all of our Before Five in a Row, BOB Books and leisure board book reading.  We also keep all of our Melissa and Doug puzzles on a fun wire rack for easy storage.  On the bottom two shelves we have chunky puzzles and activities for our 2 year old that he can easily reach and access on his own!

 

We also do have couches and a small TV in our basement where we can watch learning movies or cuddle up all together for Read Alouds!  Our favorite videos lately have been CCC's Saints, Leap Frog Videos, Magic School House and Liberty's Kids.

 

 

Playroom

In our basement we have an extra bedroom past the TV area.  I enjoy having this separate area with our toys set up where we can shut the door if we are focusing on school time or our little ones can play in their and still be close enough to hear if I am working with older kids.  We continue to try to go through our toys to keep what is the best quality and most promotes independent and learning play.  Some of our boys favorites are wooden trains, our Melissa and Doug wooden castle, Wooden Kitchen Center, Lego Table, and our Little Tykes Trampoline.  We also have a small plastic desk by Step 2 in this area that is great for the little ones to use and not worry about it getting crayon or paint all over it!

We also have our over the door shoe holder in this room with the alphabet letters in it which is an activity with Seton Pre-K.  It is still one of our kids favorite games to go around the house and find items and figure out which letter they start with!  I always find fun objects in the holders!
 

 

Fun Art and Decorations

 

Finally we have added some fun art and decorations through out our room to keep it fun and enjoyable for us to spend our time in!  We made a simple Behavior Chart that we use throughout our day as well.  We have each of our names on clothes pins that move up and down throughout the day as a visual to see how everyone is doing!  We also like to display some of the fun art projects that we do throughout the year!

 

 

 

Our Homeschool Room

So, that's it!  I hope you enjoyed the tour of our homeschool room!  Thanks for stopping by!