Gladdest Hours

Learning Update & Booklist

We're a couple of weeks away from finishing up our "Winter Term." I can't believe it's almost spring!  Madeleine and Erika have transitioned into doing a lot more of their reading on their own. 

Read-Alouds Together:

Finished: Door in the Wall (audio), By Truck to the North, Ginger Pye (audio), Lion-Witch-Wardrobe, Saint Thomas Aquinas: the story of the dumb ox.

In Progress:  The Little Duke,  Favorite Medieval Tales, Canterbury Tales,  Our Island Story,  Joan of Arc (Stanley), Merry Adventures of Robin Hood, (this will take us forever, but we're reading with audio in little bits with Pete, and we're liking it), Burgess Animal Book, The Princess and the Goblin (audio), A Family Journey with Jesus Through Lent, American Tall Tales (audio), Little Pear.

Read lots of Snow,  Winter and Medieval Picture books.  

Madeleine, 8.5 yo ~

• Finished: Schoolhouse in the Woods, Sword in the Tree, Otto of the Silver Hand, A Prairie Boy's Winter, The Young Life of Pope John Paul II, Minstrel in the Tower, The Story of Helen Keller, Family Under a Bridge, Favorite Norse Myths, Sarah Plain and Tall, Angel Food, various MTH & Boxcar Children books.
• In Progress: The Little Flower, Ginger Pye, The Way of the Cross-a story of Padre Pio, Up and Down the River, Caleb's Story, Among the Forest People, Plain Girl, The Cabin Faced West.

Erika, 7.5 yo~

• Finished: True Stories for First Communicants, Otto of the Silver Hand, A Prairie Boy's Winter, Minstrel in the Tower, Fantastic Mr. Fox, All-of-a-Kind Family, Sword in the Tree, St. Rose of Lima, Family Under a Bridge, Along Came a Dog, Favorite Norse Myths, Story of Rose of Lima,  Angel Food, various MTH & Boxcar Children books. 
• In Progress: Misty of Chincoteague, Black Beauty, Young Life of Pope John Paul II, Among the Forest People, More All-of-a-Kind Family, Sarah Witcher's Story.
  
• She's also continuing preparation for First Communion in May, continue working on FHC Notebook! She's doing such a great job, and we're so excited!
  

Other Notes:

1. It's Lent, so we're living the Lenten season of the liturgical year.
2. We took a break from Math-U-See back in December, and just started "Gamma" (mulitplication). Playing lots of games.
3. In the middle of following The Iditarod!  Reading a few books and following the race. 
4. Nature Study - focusing on just getting out in little 15 minute spurts together, observing, talking, drawing. Getting them used to looking things up on their own in their field guides.
5. Each girl picked an animal a few weeks ago and they've been reading and learning about it.  Madeleine-Siberian Huskies.  Erika-Penguins.  Dorothy Jo-Deer. 
6. Charting our Sunrise/Sunset Data for Journey North.
7. We've learned the Table Blessing in Latin and we're working on The Our Father. 
8. Pete does "Map Skills" with the girls a couple times a month. 
9. Continued daily copy work and simple dictation sentences. I've started asking for simple 1 or 2 sentence  narrations about 1/week.  And random journaling & written stories are happening more and more.  They are both working on cursive on their own "for fun."
10. Girls go to Mrs. Asel's house for some heavier-duty Art Projects once a week.  They are working with CLAY right now.  We do an occasional Artistic Pursuit project. Other than that, art just "happens" while I'm off "creating" in the kitchen. 
11. Shakespeare - MacBeth
12. Poetry - No poet this term.  Got caught up in lots of winter poetry, and now are working on What Robin Told
13. Composer: Haydn
14. Artist: Beginning Winslow Homer next week, will go into next term.
15. Piano - Continuing with our home-lessons.  Dorothy Jo is showing interest....may start her pretty soon. 
16. Choir - continued choir program at the Cathedral, which has exceeded ALL expectations!  It is AMAZING!
17. Irish Dance - Madeleine, Erika and Dorothy Jo continue their lessons. 

Little Ones

• Colors with the Little Ones (and big ones too!). We've been painting up a storm and mixing colors and playing with the color wheel with the older girls.   Lots of color books for the little ones!
• Reading picture books, drawing, painting, cutting/pasting, outside play, puzzles, practical life activities and games. Caroline and Jacqueline play well together for the most part, except when Jacqueline wanders off and...........   :-) 

Fall Plans For Our Little Homeschool

I've never really posted "education-y" plans before......probably because I wasn't quite sure WHAT I was doing!  LOL!  I'm still not.  But here it goes anyway.  

We use two of the Charlotte Mason curriculums as a framework, and adjust as needed.   Ambleside Online - (Year 1- 3rd Term, beginning Year 2) and Mater Amabilis (Level 1A) and  I also gather ideas from Mother of Divine Grace, Montessori, reading lists from Sonlight, Tanglewood Education, Simply Charlotte Mason, Catholic Heritage Curricula,  and a few other places.  We love living the Liturgical Year and the Seasonal Year....and plan our year around both of them.  

Autumn is a beautiful time of year in the Pacific Northwest, so September and October are full of outside time and activities before the rain sets in for the next 7 months.  :(  

This year, I've divided our  "terms" (12 weeks) into:  Fall Term (Sept-Nov), Winter Term (Jan-Mar), Spring Term (Apr-June) and Summer (June-Aug).  We take December off for Advent & Christmas.  And, there are extra weeks in there too.  We take lots of random days off.  

Dorothy Jo will be going to half-day Kindergarten this year, so a big consideration in how our days flow are the priorities for when Dorothy is home in the afternoon:   

• Outdoor nature things
• Liturgical year activities
• Picture books
• Lots of free time w/ all those crazy sisters! 

We'll use the morning for the toddler (1.5) and preschooler(3.5) and for Madeleine (8.5)and Erika's (7) work.  Dorothy Jo gets home at 11:15, we'll have lunch, quiet-time and then afternoon time with a few of the above-mentioned things:  outdoor nature walks/activities, liturgical year/prayer, picture books, and play time.  

So, here are our 2nd - 3rd grade plans.  The 7 and 8.5 year old pretty much do the same "work."  They have both taken off with their reading the past year and so the transition last term was how to organize their independent work & reading, and the "meatier" books that are read aloud by me, Pete or audio books.  

Here's the subject breakdown: 

Religion: 

**Erika ~ (2nd grader) will be doing her First Holy Communion Notebook this year.  Download FHC Notebook Outline  She has a list of independent reading, read alouds, projects and notebook pages that she's working on. She's been working on it already and is loving it!  Also......

• Bible: A Life of Our Lord for Children (read & narrate) 
• Catechism: read w/Madeleine, discuss w/Mom or Dad.  Memorize a couple of the questions.  Coordinated with Angel Food for Boys and Girls, thanks to Jennifer!

**Madeleine ~ (3rd grader):

• Child's Bible History (read & narrate) 
• Catechism: read w/ Erika, discuss with Mom or Dad. Memorize a couple of the questions. 
• Saint Stories & other independent reading.  
• She'll also be in charge of reading various bible story picture books to everyone.  

The above, combined with the following, help to live out the year fully immersed in the beauty of the Catholic Church!

• Celebrating liturgical year: Catholic Mosaic, Mondays with Mary , and other fun liturgical celebration books!
• Reading about the Saints   
• Lots of Catholic Stories, Picture Books, Bible Stories, and books to encourage virtue development, etc. 
• Scripture and Prayer Memorization 
• Home Catechesis Manuals 3-5 and 6-9 
• Sunday Mass Prep on Fridays -- go through Sunday readings, Sunday Sticker books, and Psalm copy work  
• I also wanted to make time for Helen's  Saintly Supplements for Children this year.
• Celebrating the Year for Priests 

Math: Both girls are in the middle of Math-U-See, Beta, and really like it.  We use lots of board/math games, cooking and living math books.  

Language Arts ~  Handwriting:  Copy work is incorporated into other subjects we do. The girls write in a lined notebook and also make lots of notebook pages.  They do cursive copy work a couple times a week, with me printing out selections to practice with Start Write software to help them if they want it.  Spelling: Lots of reading and copy work comprises "spelling" right now.  Later in the year we'll do a bit of dictation.  They both like their CHC Spellers, and do them "for fun."  Grammar: We talk informally about the parts of speech and punctuation while they read or write.   Writing:  Nothing required, except copy work.  Reading/Phonics - We started to "backtrack" a bit with Sound Beginnings last year, but it got to be "too work-y" and "forced" for us.  I'm not sure it's necessary, so I don't think we'll continue.  Both girls learned how to read informally with no real program, so I was just thinking maybe this would make up for the lack of formal phonics. For now, I'm using this as my guide:  Ambleside's Scope and Sequence for Language Arts.

History: I don't really plan American History, as it sort of just happens naturally around here for now.  We read tons of American historical picture books (of which there are many!), which spark interest, which leads me to find a good read aloud or two, and a couple of books for independent reading.  Sometimes there's a good movie that they watch parts of to see clothing, characters, etc.  Play-ettes take place and maybe we do a notebook page, if we're motivated.   Last year was lots of Colonial and Revolutionary America.  Right now, we're reading about Lewis and Clark.  Everything is always about the Pioneer Days around here :)   Pete is pretty involved in this too...he reads many of the picture books in the evening and sometime the read alouds after dinner.  We find locations on the map.  

We've been reading An Island Story.  One chapter a week.  We listen to it on Librivox, find anything on the map, copy work the main character's name on a running list that we have, and write it in our Book of Centuries.   I printed off a new-and-improved-timeline that we keep in a 3-ring-binder.  We mark down anything we've read about with any notes or picture.  When the girls get older, they'll each have their own, but for now, this works well. 

Finish up Fifty Famous Stories.

Winter and Spring Term we'll dive into the Middle-Ages reading list.  But I'm only supposed to be talking about Fall right now!  

We also use all of the illustrated Children's Book of Virtues books by William Bennett.  We read them aloud or now they read one a week by themselves, narrate, find on map and timeline.  We love these books! 

Nature / Science: 

• Nature Walk to our nearby pond weekly until the rain sets in.  Continue with Nature Journals. 
• I really love Barb's Outdoor Hour Challenges.   They are completely do-able.  We try to do 2 of these  per month. 
• Burgess Bird Book and Burgess Animal Book and other nature folklore.  
• Zoo, Aquarium, Hiking Trips on various weekends 
• Tons of Picture Books from the Library 
• Time set aside every week to peruse our collection of Nature Books and Journals.
• Discussion and Activities from Kids' Nature Book-daily by self. 
• 1-2-3 Science & Science 2 for Little Folks (CHC)  2/month. I have this, and want to try it for a couple months.  
• Finish up James Herriott Stories. 

Geography

• Lots of Board Games
• The Earth book w/ readings and experiments 
• Keep a weather scrapbook
• Vendela-Venice, Family Under the Bridge - Europe People & Places 
• Adventure/Extreme Environments-My South Sea Adventure 
• Map Skills with Pete  
• Washington & Oregon Books with Pete - rabbit trails, looking things up, etc. 
• Puzzle Maps/Control Maps 
• Picture Books 

Literature:

• Classic Myths to Read Aloud (N)
• Tales - Blue Fairy Book, Russian Fairy Tales
• Parables of Nature, Among the Forest People, and finish up Outdoor Secrets 
• Free Reading options: Pinocchio, White Stallion of Lipizza, Wind in the Willows, Five Little Peppers, Brighty of the Grand Canyon

Languages: 

• Prima Latina (once or twice a week with me) and English from the Roots Up Flash Cards (daily by self)
• French - Continue having fun with Hop Skip and Sing French  and Play and Learn French

Composer:  Haydn.  Read aloud:   The Merry Little Peasant, by Opal Wheeler and Farewell Symphony. We listen to various pieces during morning and lunch. Watch a couple DVDs from the library of a performance.  Watch a couple performances on YouTube.

Poet: Walter de la Mare.  Rhymes and Verses, Songs of Childhood and the Ambleside Online collection  has lots of good ones that will keep us busy. Madeleine and Erika read through these on their own, and we read one together during breakfast.  They'll also pick a couple favorites and do copy work.   We'll read a bit about his life, and maybe do a notebook page.  I also pick a random seasonal poem-at-a-time and read it once each day for a week or two.  

Artist / Picture Study: I haven't chosen an artist for this term yet, but I will!  Picture Study, Picture books about the artist, possible DVD and notebook page.  

Art:  Artistic Pursuits,  Drawing Books,  fun things from MaryAnn F. Kohl's Books and other art books at their leisure.  

Shakespeare play:  Much Ado About Nothing.  We'll read the Nesbitt version of the play, along with the Shakespeare Can Be Fun! book; the girls really like this series of books.  They also usually do a notebook page with an illustration, copy work of a famous line, perhaps a list of characters.  

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

Here is how I've started managing this, now that they are a bit older and doing some work on their own: 

This is what they do "DAILY" on their own, usually in the morning, M-Th: 

• Read Poem by Walter de la Mare
• Check Weather, Moon Phase, etc. and enter in Weather Scrapbook
• States & Capitals Flash Cards
• Latin Flash Cards
• Devotion Book 
• Complete 1 page of Math (or watch new MUS lesson)
• Put in Haydn Music
• Practice Piano
• Memorize Prayer if not done at breakfast
• Read Kids' Nature Book entry for that day
• Saints for Young Readers Every Day 

**this is about 30-45 minutes of work. 

Then I give them each a "Weekly List" of Readings / Things-to-Do. They complete these things anytime throughout the week.  I print it out on Sunday and put it in their book-basket.  It's florescent colored paper :)  It's things on "the plan" but also things that I just find or think of, similar to the Workbox-concept, but I just list it for them.  If I think of something for the following week, I make a little notation on the back of the current week's list.  Download M-Weekly.  

Reading Aloud 

From the Ambleside FAQ:   "It is not necessary that the child be able to read all the books himself. In fact, it is assumed that the parent will probably be reading the books to the child at least in years 1-3; gradually, as his reading level increases, the task of reading the books will be handed over to the student. Limiting early texts to those a child can read himself sacrifices literary quality, and the early years are the prime time for exposure to well-spoken language, which isn't found in early graded readers with limited vocabulary. Ideally, by Year 4 he should be able to read them himself, but this is the ideal and there are many situations and circumstances where this won't be the case."

To keep ME on track with the meatier readings that they aren't quite ready to do independently, 

I work off a "chart."     Download Chart Fall Term 2009.    

Ambleside writes it out week-by-week, but I like the term-at-a-glance concept. We do some of the readings in the morning or throughout the day, but lots of these need to be done in the evening after the little ones go to bed.  The two older girls stay up about an hour longer than the other three and lots of times, we're reading and narrating in our bed!  I do need it planned ahead of time, so if there is a "good time" during the day (ie: littles are occupied, no one is screaming, and I'm not drowning in messes), I need to be able to go to the spreadsheet, look at the week and just DO IT....no thinking required.  It also reminds me that "slow-and-steady-wins-the-race."  (IYKWIM?) 

Madeleine wants to learn more about Cooking, so I've got some books lined up for her and some time in the afternoon when she can experiment in the kitchen.  She is also learning how to type and will continue with her knitting and maybe learn how to crochet this year.  

Erika is a voracious reader, and is very busy with all her outdoor experiments, drawing, and her First Communion Notebook. 

Caroline is three-and-a-half and will be having a little "preschool time" with Mommy and Jacqueline (15 months)  in the morning.  Then, working on all her "fun tuff" and following along with whatever craziness  we have going on for the day!

Mondays with Mary

Hot off the press!   Meredith's new book, Mondays With Mary is here!  It is available on her blog on the right sidebar.  It debuted at the Northwest Catholic Family Education Conference  last weekend and IT IS GREAT!  So many of us have enjoyed her Marian feast day blog posts at Sweetness & Light the past couple of years, and now I'm thrilled to have her ideas, research, compilations, and yearning for the Blessed Mother to lead our families in ONE BOOK.

So many times I have decided to forgo the celebration of a feast day simply because the task of sitting at the computer and looking up "just a few ideas" or finding a prayer or song just didn't happen.  Mondays with Mary brings everything together in one place and is easy to use.  The book uses the Litany of Loreto as the framework for celebrating thirty-two Marian feast days throughout the liturgical year. 

Each Title/Feast Day has: 

• Bible verse or quote from the Catechism, spiritual works or other little gem
• Explanation and history of the feast day
• Teatime Chat ~ my absolute favorite part.  Ideas and special little ways of conversation to bring Our Lady to our little ones (and big ones too!)  
• Devotional Activity ~ perhaps a craft, book suggestion, or activity, along with a prayer or song applicable for the day.  
• Teatime Recipe Idea ~ most are very simple and very yummy with ingredients that I already have in my house.

From the Preface:  "Mondays With Mary represents a glimpse into the life and heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary for our children.  We as their parents are the windows to her world; we just need to open it for them.  Let us go to Jesus through Mary!"  (

Thank you, Meredith, for providing this wonderful little gem for our domestic church!

During the Octave of Easter.......

On the agenda for this Friday

• We start counting birds today for the Great Backyard Bird Count
• A simplified version of Kimberlee's St. Augustine's Hearts for St. Valentine's Day. Listen to Donna Cori-Gibson's song "Restless" (by St. Augustine) and dance around the house.  
• Watch The Song of Bernadette  to finish our celebration of Our Lady of Lourdes
• Finish current read-aloud  Owls in the Family and order owl pellets to complete our little Owl "rabbit trail"  that we've been on for the past couple weeks....complete with an evening Owl Walk with a local-owl-expert!
• Finish narrations of said-owl-walk. 
• Sunday Prep 
• Go for a Walk outside if it's nice 
• Go through freezer, organize and revise inventory.     
• Evening of Recollection, if I'm not completely dead by 7:00 

Saturday we are celebrating Abraham Lincoln's Bicentennial with a few fun things to top off our Abraham Lincoln month-long-extravaganza!  It's technically TODAY, but we are saving this for Saturday, since Daddy is a big Lincoln fan!

• Build pretzel-log-cabins
• Make black hats
• Penny Toss
• Little Debbie Swiss Rolls for dessert 
• Centerpieces for dinner will be our beautiful log cabins, lots of pennies and our infamous paperdolls.  They are going to be so excited to be front-and-center, instead of relegated to the floor or a shelf.  Pete's Lincoln picture that hangs downstairs in the Cowboy Room may have to be brought upstairs for the day, replacing the precious Pete at the Summit of Denali photo.  
• Madeleine and Erika are each "performing" their personal favorite picture book about him.   

We have about 3 more Lincoln books to read, but I think I'm losin' my audience.  There are about 25 picture books about  Ol' Abe in this house right now, but the natives are getting restless.  I think Pete and I will be reading those on our own on Saturday evening.  What a great way to spend St. Valentine's Day! 

Visit here for more great links and ideas for celebrating this Bicentennial!!!

Hope you have a great weekend!  Happy Bicentennial and St. Valentine's Day, everyone!

Feast of Our Lady of Altagracia

We had a little tea party today to celebrate the feast day of  Our Lady of Altagracia.  

The girls were excited to share one of our favorite Catholic Mosaic books,  The Gift of Gracias, with their friends!  We learned about the image with a little Trivia Game, and then cloved some oranges.   

We made Orange Muffins to go with our Tea (aka: hot chocolate).   

The girls did a great job honoring Our Lady with a prayer.  Download Altagracia Prayer - Trivia

The tea party pauses for a moment to smile for the camera: 

Hey.....who's the lady in turquoise?  Why, it's Grama Charlotte!  She came all the way from Minnesota for our tea party, which shows you how important Our Lady of Altagracia really is!  I had to reprimand her when she started answering all the Trivia questions!   Sheez....give the 5-year-olds a chance!  She's quite competitive. *wink*

Since I had my mom and Violet here helping, I got a little picture-crazy during the cloving of the oranges, but they are just so cute, I can't help but to post some of them: 

Agnes and Dorothy Jo~

Violet helping Caroline~

Grama Charlotte helping her grand-daughters (in between saying silly things and making everyone laugh):  

Finished Products~

Here are some other posts and families honoring Our Lady today: 

Ten Kids and a Dog

Sweetness and Light 

Cottage Blessings

Catholic Cuisine

Wildflowers and Marbles

Celebrating OL Altagracia - 4Real thread

Gift of Gracias - 4Real thread

Our Lady of Altagracia, Pray for us!

Dorothy Jo Reads!

We made the big trek to McDonald's for an Ice Cream Sunday for Dorothy Jo's I-Can-Read-Party!  She's so proud and quite thrilled with herself as you can plainly see: 

We had a good time....especially Caroline, who thought moving the "wet floor sign" around was even better than the ice cream: 

And, at the table, Dorothy Jo graced us with her hundredth reading of "Pig Jigs."  It was the highlight of my day.  

Family Read-Alouds 2008

I started keeping track of  our reading last year in 2007 .   And, did it again this year for our family read-alouds, but slacked a bit with mine and Pete's.  

I'm so glad I did this!  It makes me feel like we actually "DO SOMETHING" over here at the crazy, always-seems-like-a-party-and-constantly-spinning-our-wheels House of Gallus!  

And, this is the first year we have independent readers too, so the girls have their own lists too!  Life is just SO EXCITING!  *wink*

Here are the Read-Alouds from 2008:

1. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 
2. The Adventures of Peter Cottontail 
3. More All-of-a-kind Family 
4. Blessed Imelda 
5. The Borrowers 
6. Children of Fatima 
7. James and the Giant Peach-2nd time 
8. Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle's Farm 
9. The Year of Miss Agnes 
10. Understood Betsy 
11. The Penderwicks 
12. The Boxcar Children 
13. Heidi 
14. Runaway Ralph 
15. My Father's Dragon 
16. Ben and Me  
17. Surprise Island 
18. Dolphin Adventure
19. Ramona, Age 8
20. The Mouse and the Motorcycle
21. The Seagull and the Cat who taught it to fly
22. Thimble Summer 
23. Felicity Learns a Lesson
24. Sarah, Plain and Tall
25. Miss Hickory
26. Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia
27. Happy Birthday, Felicity! A Springtime Story
28. Stuart Little 
29. Meet Felicity
30. Farmer Boy
31. Boxcar Children: Mystery of the Spider's Clue
32. Saint Martin de Porres, Windeatt
33. The Song of the Christmas Mouse
34. Abel's Island
35. Mary Poppins
36. The Lion in the Box
37. The Real St. Nicholas

And, we're off to a good start in 2009 with Saint Catherine of Siena .  And,  Little House by Boston Bay , first of a series of books by Melissa Wiley about Laura Ingalls Wilder's grandmother, Charlotte.  

Here's to a another year of Happy Reading Aloud in 2009!

Outdoor Hour with Hollyhock Seeds

Barb has a great blog Handbook of Nature Study,   based off of Anna Comstock's book.   She gives great ideas for Nature Study, calling them  Outdoor Hour Challenges.   

Outdoor Hour Challenge #30 ~ Weeds and Seeds has some good information about drying seeds, which was good timing as we had just seen a bunch of hollyhocks seeds in our neighbor's yard.  So we gathered a few of the dry heads when we were over last week, checking on the garden.  

Many were quite dry and just fell out:   

"Yots and Yots of da seeds!" 

Some of them were damp and still intact, not ready :

It started to rain, so we moved the operation indoors and looked closely at our seeds: 

Dorothy Jo:

And, Erika and I got a couple drawings in our notebooks!!!!  

Charlotte Mason Blog Carnivals

Simply Charlotte Mason has a GREAT blog carnival about Narration!

The Art of Narrating

And, here's one from September about Good Habits.

The Concept of Time

The girls were talking with Pete about covered wagon trains during the westward expansion of the U.S.  

Pete: "Sometimes they traveled for SIX MONTHS on those wagons!"

Dorothy Jo (age 4.5): "Six months!  Whoa!  How many Masses is dat?" 

Madeleine (age 7):  "It's much longer than a Mass, Dorothy.  Six months is when Mom's belly starts to get really poofed out when she's pregnant." 

Mass and Pregnancy.  How long something takes is compared to the length of the holy sacrifice of the Mass or the stage of a pregnancy. 

Makes sense.  That's pretty much what we know around here. 

The Blessed Mother oversees Math Lessons

When the girls told me a couple weeks ago that they "loved" math time, I thought it was because they liked "Mr. Steve" from Math-U-See.  Now, I know it's because the Blessed Mother is in charge. 

The girls doing some Math-U-See under the watchful eye of Mother Mary. 

Mary watching over Madeleine's next problem.  Also noteworthy is the fact that Mary is sitting on a burp rag. 

Erika deciding what to do next.

She even serves as a pencil holder.

 

 

(I wish I would've brought my Mary statue to math classes when I went to school; I may have liked it better.)

First Holy Communion Notebook and Meeting

Madeleine had her "meeting" with the DRE at our parish this morning.  It went well, and she is eagerly awaiting April 27!!! 

Here she is with her First Holy Communion Notebook that has only a couple of pages left to complete.  She has done such a good job, and is so proud of it.  She did a lot of scrapbook-type decorating, and there are many verbose narrations.  Madeleine does not enjoy drawing pictures, but prefers to talk endlessly while I type.  So, TYPE I do! 

We used the ideas and outline that the wonderful ladies at 4Real mentioned in the thread above, and tweaked it a bit.  Here is the outline of what we ended up with:  Download FHC Notebook DOC.  I'm sure this will look different with each child.   

When we got home today, we made a little prayer/candle area, similar to what Dawn did last year.  And, gave her "Welcome Jesus ~ A First Communion Preparation" , a novena booklet for first communicants.  The prayers are very sweet. 

Sixteen more days! 

Blessed Imelda, pray for her and all first communicants!

Daddy's Territory

"Why are leaves green?"  and "Where does oil come from?"  were two questions posed to me before the clock struck 8:00 am.  Golly.  Photosynthesis and Oil Refinement.  NOT two subjects that a pregnant mother of four should have to explain before her morning cup of coffee or tea and a bit of nourishment. 

I attempted the photosynthesis explanation during breakfast, and then left the oil discussion and explanation to my beloved. 

Little did I know he would take it so seriously.  Out came the photo albums, the maps, the globe, and paper and pen.  And, of course out came the infamous 8x10 framed picture of his oil rig that hangs in "his" basement bathroom.  Yes, that's right.  You read that correctly.  I am married to a man who has a picture of an Alaskan oil rig that he worked on for 3 months every year for 3 years in his twenties.  It is one of my favorite things to tease him about. 

It was also one of the things Uncle Scott laughed about when we first got married.  Chuckling he says to me, "Soooooo....whadya think of Pete's choice in framed pictures?" 

And, to Pete, "Dude, do you actually think she's going to KEEP that picture up there after she moves in here?"   

Here is the Gladdest Hours Crew learning everything you always wanted to know about OIL on a lovely Saturday morning:

Everytime I walked by, I got the smug little look from him that said, "See??? Aren't you sorry you mocked me? Some home-educating mom you are!  Underestimating the value of a framed oil rig photo." 

I just smiled and continued mashing my avocadoes.  And, then sat on the couch for a few minutes of reading while my little geologists were occupied.   

Note Madeleine learning about drilling oil in her First Communion dress and gloves.

I, personally, couldn't believe how many questions they had.  This all stemmed from the oil truck that came to fill our oil tank the other day, and the very nice oil-company-man who was very friendly and happy to see four little smiling faces run out to him, jabbering away.  I guess it was his lucky day.

Here is Daddy after a day's work in those days:

 

The Neverending Spelling Bee

Two of my favorite movies from the past couple of years are about Spelling Bees: Spellbound and Akeelah and the Bee.

So, you can imagine my delight last year when the girls were fascinated watching their Signing Time "friend," Leah win her spelling bee .  Her mother explains why this was such a Miracle!    Ever since, we have random, spontaneous spelling bees at our dwelling. 

Here is an excerpt from one a few weeks ago:

Madeleine (6.5): Erika, how to spell "John"?        (NO, that is not a type-O....they always say "How to spell" instead of "How do you spell"....we don't know why, and we think it's funny, so we don't say anything.) 

Erika (5):  May I please have a definition?

Madeleine:  The tall, skinny man with glasses who lives next door.  The mailman.  Mrs. Bergstrom's husband who lives across the street.  And, my godfather who is also tall. 

Erika:  Jon.  J-O-N.  Jon.

Madeleine: Correct.  You may please be seated. 

Wow! Four definitions for John.  I didn't realize how many Johns we knew.  And, she thought of them SO FAST.  The girl can't draw a circle to save her life....but, BOY can she verbally articulate, describe and pratter!

And, it's so hard to not burst out laughing when the question "May I please have a definition?" is posed. 

Late Winter at the Pond

We went exploring at "our" nearby pond last week, examining winter "goodies" and some very early signs of spring.  Probably the last time we'll do this until after the baby is born.  We had a special guest come with us...neighbor and Little-Flower-friend Gemma came with us!

The pond and surrounding areas look so different in the winter.  The girls can walk in places they normally cannot.  For instance, actually IN THE POND:

It may still look like winter, but they really did find lots of signs of spring.  See the little splotches of green?

Foraging for cattails:

And, pulling them apart:

Caroline was a bit tired, and quite content to be pushed in the stroller (since the backpack is out-of-the-question these days).  Except when the ducks came around.  Then she wanted in-on-the- action.

We saw a pair of ducks that we've never seen before.  One looked exactly like a ring-necked duck.  But its partner did not look like the female ring-necked duck.  It looked more like a goldeneye (except with a white "cap" on its head) or a bufflehead duck. 

Placentas are Neat

All the girls were present at Caroline's birth and hopefully, they'll see  this sister be born too. 

As my tummy gets larger and we start talking more about the nitty-gritty of another sister entering the world, some funny conversations are inevitably going to take place.    Such as this one between Madeleine (6) and me:

Madeleine: "Mom, too bad you didn't keep all of our placentas from when we were born.  After this baby, we'd have FIVE of them!  We could keep them in a jar, label them with our initials: M,E,D,C, and 'whatever this baby's name is' and we could compare them.  We could see which one was the thickest, the longest, the reddest, the heaviest.  All that.  Wouldn't that be GREAT? I wonder if the biggest baby had the biggest placenta?" 

Me: "Hmmmm, you're right.  That would be neat.  You know, the midwives ask us if we want to keep the placentas, but we have decided not to. 

Madeleine, in a very astonisted tone: "Really?  WHY NOT?"   

Me: "Well, I don't know.  Daddy wasn't really too excited about it, and......."

Madeleine: "He WASN'T????!!!!  Whoa!  Oh my gosh, he's CRAAAAZY! Placentas are SO NEAT!" 

I looked over where Pete was sitting.  He was shaking his head, burying it in his hands.  Later he commented, "Okay, this hands-on-science-real-life-experiences-thing is getting a bit out of control.  She's going to be a midwife by the time she's twelve." 

Poor guy.  First it was NFP, then natural childbirth and midwives, then breastfeeding, then home education.  Now, it's placentas.   

Things We Do For A Bit of Peace And Quiet From the Toddler

This bought us a good 20 minutes or so of read-aloud time: 

Getting back to the regularily-scheduled-program will prove challenging and funny, I'm sure, in oh-so-many ways.   

Books in 2007

I kept track of books we all read this year.  I used to do this during high school, college and in my early 20's, then stopped.  I can't find those lists....grrrrr.   I'd LOVE to have them. 

I can see from my list that I obviously needed a break from reading non-fiction: how-to's about parenting, home education, home management and political books....which have dominated my bookshelves over the past several years.  I returned to simply reading for pleasure and devouring book after book.  In a way, I thank Elena for this.  Her blog reminded me of some of my old interests and she had a few recommendations (along with her own books, of course) and voila! 

These are in no particular order, except the first four were my absolute favorites and plan on reading them again someday.

Suzanne - 2007

• In This House of Brede, Godden
• Madame Royale, Vidal
• Trianon, Vidal
• Katherine, Seton
• Dragonwyck, Seton
• Green Darkness, Seton
• A Miracle for St. Cecilia’s, Valentine
• A Woman Clothed with the Sun, Delaney
• First Fruits of Prayer
• Montessori in the Classroom, Polk
• Royal Road to Fotheringay, Plaidy
• St. Philomena: the wonderworker, O’Sullivan
• Talking to Fireflies, Shrinking the Moon: Nature Activities for all Ages
• The Cure of Ars: the priest who out-talked the devil, Lomask
• The Story of Saint John Vianney, Windeatt
• The King’s Pleasure, Nora Lofts
• The Lost King of France, Cadbury
• The Scarlet Pimpernel, Orczy
• True Devotion to Mary, de Montfort
• Real Learning, Foss (re-read)
• Look Back All The Green Valley, Chapell
• Anne of Green Gables (re-read)
• Saint Margaret Mary, Windeatt
• Pauline Jaricot, Windeatt
• Siblings Without Rivalry
• Light on Snow, Shreve
• Broken and Blessed: A Life Story, Adamkiewicz

Read-Alouds with the Girls (part of 2006-2007)

• James and the Giant Peach
• Kirsten’s Surprise
• Mr. Popper's Penguins
• Little House in the Big Woods
• Little House on the Prairie
• On The Banks of Plum Creek
• Raggedy Ann
• Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle
• The Little Flower, Windeatt
• Pippi Longstocking
• The Courage of Sarah Noble
• All-of-a-kind Family
• All-of-a-kind Family Downtown
• Old Mother West Wind
• Happy Little Family, Caudill
• Holly and Ivy, Godden

Started, but didn’t finish:

• A Bear Called Paddington
• There’s an Owl in the Shower
• Blessed Imelda

Pete – Lots of baseball books this year and the usual history and war reading:

• Guadacanal, Hoyt
• Iron Horse: Lou Gehrig in his Time
• The Last Commissioner: A Baseball Valentine
• The Teammates, Halbertstam
• Three Years Among the Camanches, Nelson Lee
• With These Hands, L’Amour
• The Queen’s Man, Penman
• Last Days of Summer, Kluger
• Clemente: the Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero, Maraniss
• Culture Warrior, O’Reilly
• The Cure of Ars: the priest who out-talked the devil, Lomask

This year, I plan on reading a few from Elena's lists of Novels with Catholic Spirituality and British and American Catholic Novelists.

Happy Reading in 2008!

First Confession

Madeleine made her first confession tonight.

It seems like only yesterday that I was reading Danielle Bean's "Resurrection Triumph: Gratitude for the Sacraments" from her first book, My Cup of Tea.  She reflects on the Sacrament of Penance after her oldest daughter made her first confession.  I remember saying to myself, "Oh, THAT's far off.......the Sacrament of Penance for my children."  I had to check the date on this book.....2005.  Two years ago.  How silly I was to think that was "so far off."  Two years has gone so quickly. 

I read this "chapter" again this morning to myself before beginning our last preparation for tonight.  I was in tears, of course. 

"Afterward, as she and I knelt together in the church, I thanked our Lord for his forgiveness as I always do after confession, but this time was different. I was thanking him not for the mercy he had shown me, but for the gift of forgiveness he had given to my daughter.  As I gazed upon the crucifix, I understood clearly, maybe for the first time, that Christ had suffered the pains of the crucifixion for the sake of my child.  Although intellectually I had always known that God loves my children more perfectly thatn I do, I had never really appreciated it in this way before.  My daughter's sins were forgiven through the sacrament of Penance, not because I loved her so well, but because God did.  It had nothing to do with me."

"....I am particularly grateful that it is not only for the love of me that Christ suffered, but for the love of all his children, including the ones he has lent to me.  He endured the scourging at the pillar to gain forgiveness of sins my children have yet to commit.  He suffered the crown of thorns so that my little ones might see heaven.  Even as the nails were driven into his hands and feet, he saw my children's faces and loved them.  He accepted death on the cross so that they might enjoy new life."        ~Danielle Bean, My Cup of Tea

Thank you, Jesus, for this wonderful Sacrament.  Help Madeleine stay close to you through it.

Because we are all about COLOR over here

Martha Stewart would be proud.  (Of this ONE TINY PIECE of my house.....definitely NOT of the whole house, in general.  Decorating is NOT one of my talents.)

The conversation that followed the presentation of this coloring project went something like this:

Erika (age 5) :  Mom, can I have MORE of this paper? 

Me:  Uhhhh, you mean more scratch paper?  (leading question....hoping to avoid the inevitable)

Erika: No, more of the paper with the notes on it.   

Me: Sure, I guess so. 

Add "Make copies of Moonlight Sonata" to To-Do-List and try not to laugh too hard or roll my eyes continuously. 

A Nature Day From Beginning to End

A couple days ago, upon waking, I was feeling "OK," so we headed out the door.   No pond stomping today.  Simply an hour walk around our beautiful neighborhood.  Here are a few of our findings:

When we come home for a walk like this, we just sit down somewhere outside, place our findings out in front of us, and just sit there for awhile and chit-chat about any ol' thing.  On this day, I think we sat and talked for about 45 minutes.   

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The leaves are beginning to change colors.  The girls collected Red Maple leaves and made bouquets out of them.  Yes, those are Red Maple leaves, not Poinsettias.  They kept count of how many Maple trees we saw.  I forgot to ask what the final count was. All I remember is that they determined that there were more Maple trees on the east sides of the streets than on the west.

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Our neighbor's Chestnut Tree was dropping its "fruit," so we collected the husks and a couple nuts still in the  shell.  We measured the leaves.....13 inches!  We dissected the husks, and determined that they are "smelly, mushy and  prickly."  This led to lots of discussion about squirrels and chipmunks, etc. who are collecting nuts for the winter.  We came home and read Chipmunk Song. They spent about 30 minutes looking up chipmunks and squirrels in Mammals Golden Guide and North American Wildlife. 

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The girls were interested in the berries on a Juniper, so we picked a branch, came home and identified it as a Rocky Mountain Juniper. Identified the Rocky Mountains on the US map.

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I finally verified that the beautiful tree in our back yard that I look at every day is a Mountain Ash. That's what I thought, but I never actually checked.  We've only been here for 5 years.  Sheez.

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We read the poems for the Mountain Ash and Horse Chestnut from our favorite Book of Flower Fairies.  Caroline tried to eat the inside of the Chestnut husks while we were doing this.

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The girls did leaf rubbings.  We pulled out our Parts of a Leaf Cards.  And, they started tracing leaves from the Botany Cabinet.  I requested a few books from the library from my Books About Trees List.

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Copywork of "Horse Chestnut,"   "Mountain Ash"  and "Red Maple"

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Saw this tree for the first time today.  Anyone know what it is?  Dad?   

We looked at the September and October pages of Nature All Year Long.  Which led to making a list of all the birds that migrate and the ones that will stay the winter.  Which led to a call to Wild Birds Unlimited and also looking up a few things on our Birds of Washington software.  Which then led to listening to bird calls for an hour while I made dinner.  After dinner the girls drew pictures of a few things that they found and of birds.

Whew!  These days always just seem to take on a life of their own.  They lead....I follow, help and suggest.  I had absolutely no plans to do any of this.  They had a busy and fun day.  Me too.   Truth be told, I WAS a bit anxious to get horizontal in bed that night. :)      

Three Cheers for Low Tide!

We met the Rodabaugh Clan at the Beach on Tuesday, as it was low tide.  Low tide just BEGS us to an early morning out the door with some banana bread, grapes and oranges for brunch, and a pail and shovel for everyone!

Here are some of the beach-combers (Caroline even gets into the action, in the bottom left):

Then, it's on to a bit of team work:

While the "babies" of each family relax:

And some rock-climbing to finish off the morning:

   

Picture Books About Going To The FAIR

"It's the day of the Fair.  For miles around, people are getting their prize animals, their vegetables, their cakes and preserves ready to display.  Before the sun is up, everyone in the Martin family is out and about. What a lot of bustle!"  ~Come to the Fair, Janet Lunn/Gilles Pelletier

We're off to the Fair sometime within the next week.   So, we've started diving into a few of our favorite picture books....... 

• Come To The Fair, Janet Lunn.  Dawn mentioned this one last year, and it is now our FAVORITE!  We read this over and over last year and spent hours looking at the pictures, as there is always something new to discover in them.
• Corgiville Fair, Tasha Tudor
• Old Thunder and Miss Raney, Darrow / Brown
• Oh, Look! , Patricia Polacco
• Mrs. Rose's Garden, Elaine Greenstein
• County Fair, Little House Book
• Country Fair, Gail Gibbons
• Minerva Louise at the Fair, Morgan Stoeke
• Country Fair, Elisha Cooper
• Maisy at the Fair

Enjoy your trip to the fair!

A New Way to Begin Mass

The Altar is prepared.  Dorothy Jo (3) and Erika (5) are in the hallway with the Candle and Crucifix waiting for the procession music.  Madeleine (6) is bopping around pretending to light the candles and setting up the CD.  (Because she is the oldest,  she can apparently be the Sacristan, Priest, Usher, Altar Server and Choir Director all at the same time.) 

She then moves over to "the other side" (where the choir supposedly would be) and says in a very loud voice, "Would everyone kindly silence their cell phones?   The opening hymn is number 516 in the Red Hymnal."  She then runs to the CD, turns it on, and runs to the Procession Line.

Yes, indeed. That's PRECISELY how it goes.

I do as I'm told

We were out inspecting the neighbor's wonderful array of spider webs filled with drops of dew.  They did indeed have a lot.  Erika (5) was especially excited.  "Stay right here, Mom, and make sure Caroline (1.5) doesn't poke the dew drops.  I'll be right back with the camera." 

I have to admit, I WAS a bit excited to hear, "Stay right here."  Usually it's "Come here!" or some variation or plea for help, requiring me to use my legs and heart.   

So, I took my job as spiderweb-with-dew-protector very seriously in the somewhat supine position.   As stated in the title, I do as I'm told:

I laughed out loud when I saw this, as I was doing my evening duty of deleting most of the crazy pictures that the kids take throughout the day.   I wonder what the neighbors thought. 

In any case, I did my job and Erika was able to take a few pictures.

 

Here is the above-mentioned spiderweb-destroyer off to dismantle other things since I was doing such a good job:

Meanwhile, back at the ranch......

Obviously our dollies don't understand the Charlotte Mason quote   "Why be indoors when you can rightly be without."

Nature study at our house. 

Coming soon......our new Outdoor Nature Shelves!  I'm so excited about this I can hardly contain myself.    

Sinking and Floating during the Month of August

Erika (almost 5) asked me to put this on the blog.  (How can I refuse?)  She wanted Grama Charlotte , Auntie Becca and Natalie to see her "Sink and Float Espeerment" (experiment). 

Here are the things that float:

Stick, Apple, Flowers, Plastic Nail, Clothespin, Leaves, Dandelion, Ronald McDonald, Measuring Cup, Plate, Syringe

Things that Sink: Seashell, Pebble, Penny, Rocks, Golf Ball, Fireman, Blue bucket, Hairclip

Mats

I started having the girls use mats a few years ago, and it has really helped to contain their work and give each child  independent work space.  We keep them folded in a small wastebasket container on a bottom shelf.  They are simply throw rugs, found at various stores.  Here are a couple pictures of them working on their mats.

Erika sorting some buttons:

Dorothy Jo doing some work with her lacing shape beads:

 

Here is a thread about mats from the 4real board a few months ago, and one going on right now , where there are a couple links about introducing mats.

ETA one very important aspect of mats.  During "mat activity" the 15-month-old is in one of three places: the backpack or sling, the playpen, or her crib sleeping.   When Caroline is wandering free, mat activity is not possible!   

Scottish Dancing

Our little group of Scottish dancers, ages 4-7, performed at our Annual Homeschool Variety Show on Sunday.   

Michelle married a Scotsman and has learned Scottish Dancing from his family.  She knows all the moves and is our official Dance Instructor, and I am her (ah-hem) assistant. 

The group is known as "The Riverside Clan."

They had just 3 lessons before the Variety Show.  We meet once a month for an hour.  They rallied at the performance, and we are so proud of them!

Watch them in this 2-part video, performing the Virginia Reel.  Madeleine is the taller blond dancer.  And pay no attention to the crazy ladies occasionally intervening. 

God bless all of our wee lads (Nathan, Brandon, Gabe, Quinn) and lasses (Mary, Roisin, Alice, Madeleine).

Bringing Life and Learning Out-of-doors

The weather has been wonderfully sunny the past few days.  Not always WARM, but sunny and beautiful!  We have moved our life OUT-OF-DOORS! 

Phys Ed:

Reading, Poetry, Religion and a Picnic in the front yard:

Lots of Nature Study, Botany & Composting:

More Botany:

Geography & Beachcombing:

A bit of Physics:

Socialization and Team Work:

Entomology:

Dendrology:

Picture Books:

Civil Engineering:

Math (How many steps to get to the compost pile?)

Even Mom gets a couple minutes seconds of peace in the backyard, perusing a new book. 

      

And Photography.  Don't forget Outside Photography! (Dorothy Jo took this picture.) 

   

The Good Shepherd

Today we did The Good Shepherd presentation from Moira Farrell's Home Catechesis 3-5.  It's really a Lenten presentation, but since this is the Gospel reading for this Sunday, I thought we'd do it today.   

Yes, I know that's a cow and a goat, but we just PRETENDED.   Their names were Charlotte, Marie and Desiree. 

A Tupperware lid  and blocks make up the sheepfold. 

The Good Shepherd Statue was a gift for Dorothy Jo's Baptism from her Godparents, Mr. & Mrs. McIntyre. 

Felt pieces are used for the danger area, green pasture, and pool of water.   

 

The Good Shepherd going back for the lost sheep. 

They loved this Presentation, and so did I.  Later we did the Psalm refrain for Sunday for copywork.  "We are his people, the sheep of his flock." 

Jesus said:
"My sheep hear my voice;
I know them, and they follow me.
I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish.
No one can take them out of my hand.
My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all,
and no one can take them out of the Father's hand.
The Father and I are one."   ~John 10:27-30

Toddler Carnival

Be sure to visit Meredith at her blog, Sweetness and Light for a wonderful Carnival of Toddlers.   

Meredith's blog was one of the first homeschool blogs I began reading last year.  It's wonderful and this Carnival is no exception.  Thanks, Meredith!

Losing Boo

Sitting down for lunch, everyone was looking at the map with the First Holy Communion recipients on it. 

"Oh no!  Mom, we lost Boo!"

Me: "Oh I'm sure he's there.  Just look a little harder.  I'm sure you'll find him."

Pete: "Who's Boo?" 

Madeleine: "He's a boy who lives in Washington D.C.  I wonder if he's seen the statue of Abraham Lincoln?  His REAL name is Christopher, but nobody calls him that.  Everyone calls him Boo and his mom emails Mom and she said it's OK if we call him Boo too."

Pete looks at me.  I shrug my shoulders and raise my eyebrows.  I'm sure he was quite sorry he asked.  The girls continue looking.  Slowly working themselves into a fit because they can't find him. 

Dorothy Jo: "Mom, he wiwee isn't dere.  He's no-wher.  Maybe heez in da ocean wit Wyan."  (We're not sure where Ryan lives, so we just put his name tag on the Atlantic Ocean.  I got reprimanded for this because even 4-year-olds know that "no one yives in da ocean!" 

Pete bends over to take a look.  He looks at me.  "Nope, he's really not there." 

Not believing, I bent down to scour the map.  Sure enough.  No Boo.  "Hmm, I wonder where he went?" 

Pete: "Maybe he had to go potty."  I gave him an eye-roll. 

Erika starts crying.  "We lost Boo.  Where IS he?"   Then, Dorothy starts to sniffle and almosts starts crying too.  Good grief.   

Me: "Oh I'm sure his little pink tag is here somewhere.  It's no big deal, I'll just make another one.  It's not that hard." 

A bit of eating.  LOTS of lamenting about where in the world could Boo be?

Suddenly Dorothy Jo turned her head quickly to look outside at something and I see a florescent pink color in her hair.  "Uh, Dorothy Jo, what's in your hair?" 

Dorothy Jo: "Nu-sing." 

"Uh, yeah, there's something in your hair." 

Madeleine exclaims, "I KNOW!"  (as if she were in high school algebra had just understood how to factor a polynomial).  "Dorothy Jo turned her head REALLY FAST and her hair caught on the sticky stuff and the tape on the name tag. THAT's what happened!"  Lots of oooh-ing and ahhh-ing and reaching over to retrieve poor little Boo, lost in Dorothy Jo's hair. 

Dorothy Jo: "Dat's funny! How come I did dat?  I don know.  Dat's siyee of me."   

Lots of giggling.  Lots of rejoicing.  Lots of relief.  Then, lots of talk about the different types of glue, tape and adhesive.  THEN, discussion ensued about what really happens when a child gets lost and no one knows where they are.  And, THEN what do you do if you're lost in the woods.  Basically, Survivor 101 for Pre-schoolers and Kindergartners.   

Crazy.  All THAT, from a missing piece of post-it-note.   And, I only have time for ONE story.  There are, believe it or not, many more resulting from this little map of ours.  It's amazing how much mileage you get out of one activity.  It has taken us to places I never dreamed possible! 

"My name's Suzanne, and I think I'm becoming an un-schooler."   

Books about Sisters

I found these recommended on Amy's blog, Among Women.   She has four girls, so naturally she has a sidebar entitled "Books About Sisters."  Well, didn't I just request a few from our nifty little library, and lo and behold, we have some definite winners!

Seven Chinese Sisters - This was probably the biggest HIT of 2006!  They did so many activities with this crazy book that I could barely keep up.  It's the story of seven Chinese sisters, and the gets stolen by a dragon and the other six sisters rescue her with their various talents.  The Finale was a playette performed by the three girls, Jemma (our neighb0r, who is Chinese), Raggedy Ann, me, Pete (dragon) and a doll.  The playette was preceeded by a Chinese noodle soup lunch with everyone in their Chinese silks, thanks to Jemma and her mom!

The Lemon Sisters - This is a wonderful book to read in the winter when the snow is coming down. It's a very sweet story about youth and growing old, and, of course, the beauty of sisterhood.  The three  little sisters make Lemon-Ice for the three elderly sisters who arrive to celebrate a birthday.  It always made me cry because it's so sweet, and the girls thought I was crazy.  It led to many episodes of making Lemon Ice during our snowfall this winter.  What is Lemon Ice, you ask?  You'll have to read the book to find out!

First Holy Communion & Blessed Imelda

The girls have been talking about other children making their First Holy Communion and about Blessed Imelda.  We've been listening to the Glory Story about her, coloring in the  coloring book, and reading Patron Saint of First Communicants . 

This is our "First Holy Communion Area" that we made this morning.  There is the Blessed Imelda prayer, FHC and Eucharist Holy Cards, some copywork done by Madeleine and a picture colored by Erika.  The U.S. map has stickers with the  4Real Children who will be receiving their First Holy Communion this Spring, and we will pray for them! 

Blessed Imelda, You showed us by the miracle of your First Communion how much Jesus loves us, and your short life was an example of how we should love Him.  Look down on these children from heaven and pray that they will love Christ as joyfully as you!  Amen.

When Your Day Is Dictated By The Grocery Ad

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast was on sale this week at a doorbuster price.  As a result, my morning was spent doing my adapted version of "bulk cooking" with my 35 lbs. of chicken breasts.   (I know....I know.....those of you with LARGE families, 35 lbs. is PEANUTS.....and will hence LAUGH at my forthcoming sense of accomplishment.) 

What does one do with 35 lbs. of boneless skinless chicken breasts?  I'm so glad you asked!  Twenty pounds goes right into the freezer in the 5 pound packages in which it came.  The rest is:

• 3 containers of "Chinese Chicken Morsels" (cubes marinated in lemon/soy/mustard sauce)
• 3 containers of Chicken Nuggets  (ready to be breaded)
• 5 containers of cooked, shredded Chicken for Enchiladas
• 1 container of "leftovers" that didn't fit in the containers
• 2 containers of Chicken Broth

And, of course, there is the loaf of Banana Bread to keep the troops happy, satisfied, and "nourished."  Obviously, one of the troops got a bit courageous and was picking at the top of the bread.  (This must have been during the loud shredding stage of the game.) DOROTHY JO!  As if I wouldn't notice.

Here it is waiting to go down to the freezer:

 

There is just something immensely satisfying about containers of food all lined up.

The girls spent the morning at their table in the kitchen with me.  Most of their time was spent doing these caterpillars:

I did not know I could cook chicken AND discuss all of the fascinating parts of a caterpillar's anatomy.  Head, thorax, abdomen..la, la, la, la, la!   (1 cup of lemon juice, 1/2 c. soy sauce). 

And, then.....there were (what seems like) hundreds of these:

Naturally, after all that Chicken-Prep......we're having Fish-n-Chips for dinner:

My Sister ~ On Paper

I found these words written in "small girl writing" (small girl being Madeleine) on a sheet of paper the other day: 

• Lent
• Doll
• March
• Saint Cecilia (Little-Flower-Group's saint of the month)
• Piety (Little Flower Virtue of the month)
• The Lord is my light and my salvation (Psalm refrain for Sunday Mass)
• Senta Kay (as in "Auntie Senta," my sister)

Wow! Auntie Senta ranks right up there with her favorite toy, the Psalm Refrain, St. Cecilia, the liturgical season, the month and Piety. 

Shape of the Week

Any guesses?  Come on.....just GUESS! 

We're a bit heart-crazy around here these days.  And, these are only the ones that have NOT been distributed yet.  You'd think they'd get tired of this.  They don't.  They just keep working on the SAME thing day in and day out, which is FINE with me.  Pete thinks it's becoming a bit obsessive; I tell him that I keep hoping for a bit of their focus and ability-to-stick-with-ONE-thing to rub off on me.

We've also been reading some books for the Feast of St. Valentine:

Saint Valentine, by Robert Sabuda

Saint Valentine, by Ann Tompert, Kestutis Kasparavicius

And, memorizing the ejaculation, "Jesus, make my heart like unto thine"

On Wednesday, we'll color, cut and paste our pictures of the Sacred Heart , and renew our Family Consecration to the Sacred Heart .

My Valentine

I have a little valentine

That someone sent to me.

It’s pink and white and red and blue,

And pretty as can be.

Forget-me-nots are round the edge,

And tiny roses, too;

And such a lovely piece of lace –

The very palest blue.

And in the center there’s a heart,

As red as red can be!

And on it’s written all in gold,

“To You, with Love from Me.”

      ~Mary Catherine Parsons~

St. Valentine, Pray For Us!

 

Raggedy Ann

Madeleine's Narration from Chapter 1 of Raggedy Ann

Marcella found Raggedy Ann in the old barrell with a picture of a little girl, a mother and a father.  She snatched up the doll and ran downstairs to show her grandmother.  Grandma gave Marcella the Raggedy Ann dolly.  Grandma introduced the other rag dolls to Marcella. 

"Oh dear, where have you found the rag doll?" 

"Up in the attic," Marcella said. 

"My oh my, you were locked in the attic for a long time, Raggedy Ann."  The end.

   

 

Ordinary Time with Extraordinary Girls

Not accomplished tonight:

• Clean-up Kitchen
• Prep dinner for tomorrow
• Make Bread
• Breakfast Prep
• Coffee set-up
• Put Clutter Basket away
• Vacuum
• Put away laundry
• Christmas stuff away

Apparently there was a change in plans somewhere during the evening, and I'm glad I put aside my normal tendency to be a bedtime-nazi.  Because for the two oldest girls, the night was heavenly and their beaming smiles melted my heart.   

Accomplished:

• Dorothy Jo and Caroline in bed early
• Reading with Madeleine and Erika
• "Big girls" stay up late and help put tree ornaments away and...
• Help mom haul the Christmas tree out of the house
• Big girls sweep and clean in their PJ’s with smiles and pride on their faces while....
• listening to the Nutcracker and....
• talking about how helpful they are now that they are so big and old and...
• relishing in undivided talks and laughter with mommy, who normally doesn’t know which end is up. 
• Eating a late night snack

Sleep tight big little helpers!

"God is the only Master who rewards effort rather than results."    Fr. John Hardon

Nicholas the Saintly

We had our St. Nicholas Day Party today.  Nine little girls (ages 4-7) and four older brothers who were helping and "in and out."  I love St. Nicholas Day, and have made it a grand celebration in our house for religious reasons as well as cultural ones....Pete's father came to America from Germany in the late 40's as a young man. 

We're all set up and waiting for our guests~

Working on some St.Nicholas puzzles~

Mrs. McGill, my lovely neighbor who is a retired 1st grade teacher, reading The Baker's Dozen and Saint Nicholas to the party attendees~

And, then......knock, knock, knock...

THIS brought the 4 boys in from playing football:

  Nicholas the Saintly wanted to know what we were up to.  So, we told him about this, puzzles and Mrs. McGill's storytime.  We sang this song.  We bowed our heads in prayer and the children asked St. Nicholas to pray for:

• ~a grandfather
• ~elderly people who are alone
• ~children who don't have a mommy or daddy
• ~children learning to read
• ~pop-pop (grandpa) who just passed away
• St. Nicholas, pray for us.

St. Nicholas reminded us to be good, because it's almost Baby Jesus' birthday!

He handed out bags that Madeleine, Erika, Dorothy Jo made, with a few gold coins and other goodies from our saintly friend. 

The girls sleep, while their shoes eagerly await this beloved saint who adores our dear little ones!

We hope you all have a blessed St. Nicholas Day! 

O Saint of love,
            be a guide for us
            in our lives, we pray,
      that we may
            create joy for each other,
            as you have done for so many.

From St. Nikola an der Donau, Austria

Cranberry Thanksgiving

  This is our third day reading Cranberry Thanksgiving, (from Five in a Row) and the girls adore this book.  I would not have guessed that they would appreciate it so much and want more, more, more.   This book is truly becoming a “living book” in this household.  It has led to many discussions about cranberries, cranberry bogs, whiskers/beards/facial hair, large fireplaces/firepits/firewood, cold weather, recipes, lonely and poor people, men wearing ties, “trilling,” stealing, hair styles, grandmothers, Thanksgiving, etc. 

Here are some of the things we've done while "rowing" Cranberry Thanksgiving:

• Made cranberry bread to eat at our Cranberry Tea Party
• Sang “We Gather Together”
• Laughing about Mr. Whiskers saying “How about some more?”   (This has become a regular phrase while eating, followed by lots of giggles)
• Found pictures of cranberry bogs and cranberry bread on the internet

And then, this whole morning was basically dedicated to making letters, counting and adding cranberries.  This wasn't exactly the plan, but it just sort of took on a life of its own!

Here are some pictures from our Cranberry Math Morning Extravaganza:

Counting as per Mommy's directions:

Making letters (M,A,D) with cranberries:

Erika - Matching Math-U-See Rods to number of berries:

Dorothy Jo doing whatever she wants:

Madeleine's steps - counting out berries as she lines them up.  How many berries total? 

Hmmm...starting to get the "10 plus 1,2,3" concept:

Erika did this FOREVER:

An Arial View of "Cranberry Math":

And, there you have it!

Front-Loading Once Again.....

These are the things a mother must do in order to ensure that her daughters will be experts in the kitchen in a few years.  I am dedicated to this.  Pete and Kari call this "front-loading."  Much work NOW, in order to help with LESS work in LATER years.  I know they are right....but, my my my....was this MESSY.  Yet, very fun and quite delicious.  Thanks for dinner, my little pizza queens!

November Prayers

Every year I look forward to Autumn and then to the month of November and Praying for the dead.  In my head (LOL!) I have designed a beautiful mini-altar for deceased loved ones and poor souls to use during this month.  This will hopefully become a reality as the girls get older and can help! For now, however, this is what we'll use; it's a pre-school version of the the "Communion of Saints Project: Family Tree of the Church" from A Year With God.  We did this today; and, of course, it took ALL MORNING!  It's really NOT very complicated, but in between diaper changes, nursing, snacks, arguments over crayons and holy cards, separating and sorting the holy cards, learning to use the craft-scissors, and lengthy discussions about purgatory, saints, sacrifices, God's love, heaven, and the words suffering, militant, and triumphant (because EVERY 3,4,and 5-year-old should have a firm grasp of these words!!! hahahaha!)...it took some time.  But, it was well worth it. 

They each chose a holy card of Jesus or Mary....at the top.  The next row is the Church Triumphant...the saints. The next row, the Church Suffering....headstones colored with the names of deceased family/friends.  The next row, the Church Militant....pictures of those on earth. 

At night we'll light the candles and sing the Litany of the Saints, not the "real one" but a "small-fry-version" using the saints pictured and whoever else the girls mention.   Then list all those on the headstones and say "Eternal rest...." 

If I take a picture of this in a couple of weeks, I'm sure there will be a picture of a turkey, maybe a pilgrim, thrown in there somewhere! 

Opa and Oma are visiting and so are some SAINTLY FRIENDS

Look! They're here! Pete's mom and dad made it to our neck of the woods, and we are all having SO MUCH FUN!  This picture was taken right after Mass yesterday morning, then pumpkin carving and off to our All Saints Day Party.  I'll bet life isn't this chaotic exciting in Texas!  We had a few guest visitors: St. Therese the Little Flower, St. Rita, St. Lucy, St. Nicholas, and the Cure of Ars!                           

I was in charge of the Musical Saint Chair Game.  Bedlam? Pandemonium? Complete Chaos?  All of the above. But what else does one expect when you assemble 80+ little saints under one roof?

Watercolors

We found a videotape at the library the other day that had a picture of "other homeschool kids painting," so NATURALLY we checked it out.  Yesterday we curled up on the couch and watched it.   It was actually pretty good.  Since I am NOT artistically-inclined (and that's putting it mildly) I am always very eager to learn new, creative, art things.  Pete walked in when we were watching it...he thought we were crazy watching a bunch of children using watercolors, but the girls were entranced, so we continued.

This morning, this is what we did.  Blotches of color, mixing, etc.  Let it dry.    

Then, drew in flowers, leaves, etc.  Hmmpph, kind of pretty, if I do say so myself.

Scarecrows

Books are the quietest and most constant of friends: they are the most accessible and wisest of counselors, and the most patient of teachers.  ~ Charles W. Eliot

This week, our new friends are the SCARECROWS, thanks to some of our Favorite Autumn Picture Books.

1. Waltz of the Scarecrows
2. The Lonely Scarecrow
3. Scarecrow
4. And, our favorite, Little Scarecrow Boy by Margaret Wise Bown.  This book inspires us all to practice our very FIERCE FACES!

“No, No, little boy.  You can’t go.  You’re not fierce enough to scare a crow.  Wait till you grow.” 

Atrium Presentation - Altar Work IV

This morning we prepared for our Atrium Presentation by making Tabernacles.  The one we'll use for our Atrium is very rough....simply a box covered with gold wrapping paper, big enough to fit the ciborium. Not really very "Montessori!"  But, it will do! The girls made their own "home for Jesus" with paper cups covered with gold paper.  Thankfully, Caroline was napping during this activity.  Then we did the Altar IV presentation, which introduces the Ciborium, Eucharist, Tabernacle and Sanctuary Lamp. I don't have the set-up exactly as Moira describes in her album.  We do the actual presentations in our living room on the coffee table which is what is pictured here, for space reasons.  I found that when I did them at the "altar" area, it was just too crowded and we were tripping over each other. Not very conducive to a prayerful and peaceful presentation. As a result, there is no crucifix behind the Tabernacle and the Tabernacle is elevated on a basket.    When the girls want to "do altar work" they bring the materials out from the basket they are kept in and set up on 1 of 3 surface areas that I've explained to them (depending on who is sleeping and working  where)

Home Atrium

We have started a Home Atrium using Moira Farrell's Album 3-5. 

Definition of ATRIUM: a spiritual setting where the Montessori method of "self-teaching" is used in a classroom setting or, in the case of a home setting, as a prayer corner.  It is often referred to as "holy ground" and, in the words of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd foundress, Gianna Gobbi,  "creates the conditions for silence and reverence and helps children focus on and listen to God." 

We did the first presentation (Altar Work) about 6 weeks ago.  It went extremely well, the girls were mesmerized and completely fascinated with the items presented in the miniature mass kit.  The second presentation went equally well, and they were eager to do the “altar work” on their own a few times throughout the week.  By the third week, however, interest waned. Now, they are starting to fidget, argue, get antsy, and act disinterested.  I’m sticking with it, however, because there is just too much that everyone is learning!  It’s not perfect, and it IS frustrating at times….but THAT’s OK!

Originally, I found This link helpful when I began to consider this about 6 months ago. 

Here are some other links:

Catholic Montessori

Shepherd's Closet

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

I'm still in the process of getting the catechesis materials (figures, props, etc.) made....This link has some ideas that I'll be using, to make things affordable and not too time consuming. 

Make Disciples of All Nations....

....baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.  Matthew 28:19-20

We celebrated Erika's Baptism Saturday night, with dinner and dessert with her Godparents, and Mass on Sunday morning at the church where she was baptized.  We were able to take up the gifts during the Offertory, a special treat that the girls are always asking to do! 

We decorate the top of our living room toy shelf with various Baptism items: white blanket and gown that they were baptized in, statues received as gifts, shells, bowl with Holy Water, Crucifix pin (gift), holy water from the font they were baptized in, baptismal candle, baptismal certificate, baptism pages from their baby book, "baptism teddy bear," Jesus, Our Good Shepherd statue, rosary, vial that symbolizes the oil used in baptism, pictures of Godparents, and "Today I was Baptized" book. 

These are our "Baptism Cookies"....also known as "Russian Tea Cakes."  They are WHITE and each person receives three of them, symbolizing the Holy Trinity.  The Baptism girl goes around the table and presents everyone with THREE cookies, while saying, "Here are 3 baptism cookies for you, In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Everyone responds, "Amen."   We decorated the table with shells, Holy Water, and candles. 

This celebration never fails to result in an hour or so of repeated baptizing of our many baby-dolls in the house!