In researching Bl. Miguel Pro for my project, I came across this little treasure: (The song is in Spanish, but it's more about the images anyway. Due to the one or two images of a martyred Miguel, you may want to preview this before sharing it with your children.)
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Friday, March 19, 2010
St. Joseph's Day Celebration / Celebrando el Dia de San Jose
In honor of Saint Joseph, we set up a little altar for him during March. The upper shelf of our small bookshelf provided a perfect place to put items that remind us of this quiet, strong and faithful example:
I'll go over a few of our special items, if you please ... The San Damiano cross is above the altar, for it is the Lord who reigns supreme. And because it is Lent, there is a purple cloth around him. And because it was on sale and the only purple I could find, the cloth has polka-dots. I have since come up with the idea of the white symbolizing purity and the red symbolizing his most precious blood ... It works.Beneath the San Damiano cross is a drawing that I made specifically for Saint Joseph's Day. The Holy Family is gathered together having a little something to eat, and a young Jesus is talking to them about marvelous things.
One of my gifts to you on this special day is a printable of my drawing. You can download the PDF of it, if you'd like. Here's a close up of it:And below it is our little altar. The shoe box craft comes courtesy of Evann. The printable pictures and explanations of them can be found at the St. Joseph's Altar blog. We also have a vase of lilies from our backyard, a children's Bible, and a St. Joseph soft doll.
Here's a close-up of the soft doll. He's a bit rumpled, probably from tossing and turning from all those crazy dreams.
And because I had a little wooden peg, felt and a hot glue gun, I made a small Saint Joseph peg doll to add to the altar. He was easy and fun to make, and I am quite happy with how he looks.
As my second little gift to you, here's a quick tutorial on making the peg doll above:St. Joseph Doll
Materials:
green felt
brown felt
white felt
beige felt
toothpick
paint
black yarn
1. Paint the face as you would like. Do this first, so as it dries, you can work on the following steps.
2. Cut a half-circle of green felt.
3. Cut a strip of brown felt.
4. Cut two small triangles of green.
5. Cut two beige circles.
6. Warm up the glue gun.
7. Put dots of hot glue on the wooden body of the doll. Quickly, drape the green cloth over it and make sure it covers the body.
8. Put dots of glue on the brown strip then drape it diagonally over the green. (See picture above.)
9. Put a drop of glue on the wide part of the green triangle. (The green is the sleeve. The beige circle is the hand.)
10. Do the same for the other green sleeve and beige hand.
11. Put a drop of glue on the top of the green sleeves and press them against the body.
12. Take a strand of yarn, put glue on it, then drape it under St. Joseph's face to form a beard. (I didn't put it on his face because, in case I made a mistake, I didn't want to have glue bits all over it.)
13. Cut black pieces of yarn in the same length, enough to be hair.
14. Put glue on the wooden head then press the black yarn on it. Be careful not to burn yourself!
15. Trim the "hair" at the length you'd like.
16. To make the lily, just cut a small half-circle of white felt. Glue one edge of the circle to the top of the toothpick. Swirl it around until it looks like a lily. Then put a drop of glue on the toothpick and press it against St. Joseph.
And then, you're done.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Saint Joseph Celebration Tomorrow
Tomorrow, Evann of Homeschool Goodies/St. Joseph's Altar fame will host the first annual St. Joseph's Altar Blog Fest. Participants from around the world will share pictures of their St. Joseph's altars, all the links conveniently and happily located at Evann's site.
You still have time to join in the fun. Just snap a picture, write your post tomorrow, and head on over to Evann's to share your tribute to Saint Joseph.
I'll be posting a picture of our tiny but well-loved altar as well as a couple of sweet printables in honor of the day.
See you at the Blog Fest!
Prayer of Saint Patrick
The strong virtue of the
Invocation of the Trinity:
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.
I bind to myself today
The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,
The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,
The virtue of His coming on the Judgment Day.
I bind to myself today
The virtue of the love of seraphim,
In the obedience of angels,
In the hope of resurrection unto reward,
In prayers of Patriarchs,
In predictions of Prophets,
In preaching of Apostles,
In faith of Confessors,
In purity of holy Virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.
I bind to myself today
The power of Heaven,
The light of the sun,
The brightness of the moon,
The splendour of fire,
The flashing of lightning,
The swiftness of wind,
The depth of sea,
The stability of earth,
The compactness of rocks.
I bind to myself today
God's Power to guide me,
God's Might to uphold me,
God's Wisdom to teach me,
God's Eye to watch over me,
God's Ear to hear me,
God's Word to give me speech,
God's Hand to guide me,
God's Way to lie before me,
God's Shield to shelter me,
God's Host to secure me,
Against the snares of demons,
Against the seductions of vices,
Against the lusts of nature,
Against everyone who meditates injury to me,
Whether far or near,
Whether few or with many.
I invoke today all these virtues
Against every hostile merciless power
Which may assail my body and my soul,
Against the incantations of false prophets,
Against the black laws of heathenism,
Against the false laws of heresy,
Against the deceits of idolatry,
Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,
Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.
Christ, protect me today
Against every poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against death-wound,
That I may receive abundant reward.
Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat,
Christ in the poopdeck,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
I bind to myself today
The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,
I believe the Trinity in the Unity
The Creator of the Universe.
Amen.
(Prayer courtesy of the Catholic Encyclopedia. The photo is a free stock image.)
The Return of My Heart to the Catholic Church
In my early twenties, I always slept in on Sundays, preferring the lazier, afternoon Mass than the morning one. Shortly after turning 23, I would be blindsided by C.S. Lewis, Thomas Merton, G. K. Chesterton and Bishop Fulton Sheen. But for the first months of marriage, I did not how deeply asleep I had fallen. I went to Mass once a week, which sufficed for me. The fact that there was no other evidence in my life to show that I was a Catholic did not occur to me.
Still, my husband had promised prior to our marriage that he would do his best to learn about the Catholic faith so we could raise future children as Catholics. Plus, he was on a spiritual quest, searching for a sense of order and purpose to a life that had seemed chaotic until this point. My young husband was curious about Catholicism and decided to attend the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults) program at our local Catholic Church. This meant he was studying the Catholic faith and would, through prayer and discernment, decide to become a Catholic. His own life had been primarily seeped in the hazy feel-good paganism of his youth. It had never felt right to him, though. He wanted real food and real drink, rather than the spiritual junk food that had hardly nourished him all these years. The piety and sweetness of his paternal Catholic grandmother, appropriately named Mary, also had created a longing in him for something of substance. And then there the fact that his wife was Catholic.
Sort of.
I was Catholic in the sense that I had been baptized Catholic as an infant and had a good, honest Catholic faith during most of my childhood. My First Communion was a joyous occasion, and I truly felt in the company of the angels when I went to Mass afterward. My Catholic school years were some of the happiest ones educationally and spiritually speaking. I kept to the faith, inspired by the stories of saints, martyrs and the blesseds. At this time, Father Maximilian Kolbe was canonized, and the bishop at my Confirmation spoke about the testimony of this extraordinarily loving person. I adopted him as my patron saint, asking him to pray for his little sister in the faith. And I was an active little Catholic.
Until we moved to California.
Groggy in the Golden State
I am still not quite sure what happened to induce me into a spiritual coma. In retrospect, it could have been shock, for I was pulled out of my small-town Catholic community and left reeling.
All my Polish, Italian and Irish friends had been Catholic like me. My parents were Eucharistic ministers, I was the youngest lector at church, priests came over for dinners just like ol' relatives. The nuns of my Catholic school played kickball with us, sometimes yelled at us (like regular people), taught us folk songs and chants and Simon & Garfunkel bits. Due to my bus schedule, I was the first student in my class to arrive, usually forty minutes early. The teacher put me in charge of our little chapel. I treated it better than my own room at home. I polished everything, the altar, the pews, the crucifix, and cleaned the stain glass windows with great reverence, tracing the broken bits of glass brought into a new image. The faith was everywhere in my upbringing. But not as overtly in our new city.
My high school years were spent in a dark, wretched abyss. I stumbled blindly through them, lost my way. Sometimes, I read the Psalms to help me through the sadness that colored all my days, but I felt mostly alone. The gentle, loving Jesus of my childhood became a memory like all the friends that I had left behind. The faith that had meant so much to me could not withstand the pressure of my new life. And rather than strengthen it, rather than grow, it crumbled.
In college, I abandoned my relationship with the Lord, aside from a few prayers murmured absently at church. If I went to church at all. For three years, I thought little of God.
An Invitation to Learn (or the Part Where I Learn That I Didn't Know Everything)
And so, years later, as a newlywed, as my husband learned about Catholicism, I would lounge lazily beneath a mountain of comforters and pillows, and think rather fondly and vaguely of that Jesus fellow. We had been so close once upon a time. I wondered what happened to Him.
"You should go with me," my husband said one morning as he put on his suit for church.
I snorted at him. "But I went to Catholic school! I know all that stuff!"
And he desisted in his invitations and continued going to RCIA. See, when we had gone to Engaged Encounters (because that's just what you do if you want to marry in the Catholic Church), we had come to the surprising realization that we wanted our marriage to be centered in Christ. And because we considered me to be "Catholic" he decided to study Catholicism.
But he knew that I was not fully awake, so he tried again weeks later.
"You should really go with me," he said another morning. "Everyone knows so much. And everyone is very nice and friendly. You should go."
"I know all that stuff! I'm a cradle Catholic. I went to Catholic school for most of elementary school! My parents are Catholic!"
"Please?"
I grumbled and got in an exceedingly grouchy mood but decided to go. For a few weeks, I went with him. My arrogance must've been obvious. I'd sit in my chair, arms crossed, stifling my boredom, staring at the clock. I knew everything they said! And then, one morning, I didn't.
The extremely well-educated members of the RCIA group talked about ideas about the Mass that presented it to me in a new light. It wasn't just a supper, something to be checked off the list for Sunday's tasks, but it was an entire experience that incorporates our faith. They quoted St. Justin Martyr, who wrote about Mass in about 150 A.D. and discussed today's Mass in the light of it. I was surprised by how true the Mass had remained to the early church.
"I never heard of the early church fathers," I told my husband. "Or maybe I wasn't paying attention. What else didn't I hear?"
The Narnia Guy
The RCIA catechist soon discovered that the peevish, arrogant wife of the new guy was a reader. And the catechist knew that a book would be the Trojan horse to launch an attack into my prideful heart. After an RCIA class, he came up to me and said, "You should check this book out. It's very good."
"The Screwtape Letters?" I said. "By C.S. Lewis? Isn't he the Chronicles guy? I loved the Chronicles." Out of nostalgia and perhaps expecting a quirky, charming little English read, I took it.
That evening, after dinner, I began reading. The satire is about a senior demon writing letters to a newbie demon about how to completely ruin his patient. At first, I laughed at the wry, scathing wit of Screwtape. By midnight, I was no longer laughing. I saw myself in the position of the tempter, not the patient. I continued reading through the night.
When I finished the book in the morning light, I burst into tears. "I've got to change my life." I just didn't know how.
I embarked on a rigorous journey that began with the basic question: "Is there a God?" That year, however, I spent every spare moment immersed in reading everything substantial that I could from known intellectuals.
18 Months of Straight Reading
The scales had fallen from my eyes with "The Screwtape Letters." Next, I read "Mere Christianity" to answer questions about the existence of God and where Jesus was the Messiah, then "The Problem of Pain" to answer some basic questions about how God can exist when there is so much evil and suffering in the world.
At the same time, I decided to read the Bible from cover to cover -- and to read it with the mindset of a person on a quest. I would analyze the Bible to see if there were prophecies regarding a Messiah, if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, and if Jesus was the Messiah, what that would mean for me. I read and read and read my New American Bible and then, for comparison, the New Jerusalem Bible. My husband and I also attended Bible study at our local parish.
"I went to Catholic school. Why didn't I know this?" I asked an RCIA team member.
"You had the faith of a child because you were a child. But then, you stopped growing and learning. You became an adult with a child's religious education. You had to open yourself up to learning and growing."
I decided to keep learning. Everything I could.
My family and friends were all a bit shocked about how I'd seemingly changed overnight. I went to my parents' house, ransacked their extensive Christian library for as many books as I could get to help me on my quest. My father, with degrees in theology, became the person I would grill endlessly about passages in the Bible, historical context, etc. He gave me a deep appreciation for the Old Testament and explained much of what was there, though I was a difficult, argumentative student for a while. My mother helped feed my heart with her recommendations of St. Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa, St. John of the Cross, and so forth.
In RCIA, I was the person who would not go home, but remained with my husband, asking this and that about the Catholic faith to the RCIA team members and director. We were given a lot of lunches by RCIA members who were thoughtful, honest and sweet ... and could not bear to end conversations either.
It's impossible to list everything read during that time. So much was just absorbed and discussed and shared with my husband. Among the highlights are: "Surprised by Truth, Vol. I: 11 Converts Give the Biblical and Historical Reasons for Being Catholic" edited by Patrick Madrid; "Rome Sweet Rome: Our Journey Into Catholicism" by Scott and Kimberly Hahn; "The Everlasting Man" by G.K. Chesterton; "The Faith of the Early Church Fathers" edited by William Jurgens; "What Catholic Really Believe: 52 Answers to Top Common Misconceptions About the Catholic Faith" by Karl Keating; "Orthodoxy" by G.K. Chesterton, etc. I read anything I could find from Thomas Merton (especially "Seeds of Contemplation"), C.S. Lewis and the early church fathers.
Once I came to embrace Catholicism, I still had to hash out some arguments regarding artificial birth control, but, in light of everything I had read, I easily came to agree with the Church's stance on it.
As I awoke in the faith, I shook the dust out of my eyes and remembered all the beautiful stories, the graces received of my childhood faith. I remembered Maximilian Kolbe and asked him to pray for me once again. I wept and wept because of the sarcastic, self-centered, worldly, inflated person that I had become ... then rejoiced in God's mercy and forgiveness. I was so happy to read that I was becoming a new creation.
Easter
During this time, my husband continued growing and learning. He was not a reader like I was, but I'd share everything I read with him. He preferred listening to the recordings of: Thomas Merton's talks at the monastery, the lectures of Bishop Fulton Sheen, Scott Hahn's testimony and subsequent talks and so forth.
The morning of Easter Vigil, the evening that he could be baptized, receive First Communion and Confirmation in the Catholic Church, we were giddy with excitement. His journey had not been alone. Through his seeking, my husband brought me, the formerly sleepy Catholic, into the Church. Sometimes, people who did not know us very well would say, "Oh, you're going to be Catholic because your wife is!"
If they only knew! When time allowed it, I'd explain how my husband's own curiosity and passion for the faith had ignited my own. My husband never said, "Are you kidding? She was Catholic in name only!" but I said that of myself.
The joy of that Easter is indescribable. I felt that I was born again, the same evening that my husband received the sacraments of initiation.
On a Journey
The lessons, joy and gratitude of the beginning of this journey remain with me forever.
Soon after my husband's reception into the Church, the priest of the parish, who knew my story (and had been subjected to my questions during his talks at RCIA), asked me to start a program for returning Catholics. I could have been the poster child for returning Catholics! Through God's grace and strength, we ran that little program for a few years and saw a good many wonderful people awaken in their faith.
It's never too late to learn more about the faith. Whether you are a cradle Catholic or a convert, you can always find new treasures in the deposit of faith in the Catholic Church. You just need a willing spirit. God will take care of the rest ...
Making the Lenten Journey With Your Child
Just as we prepare for Christmas by setting aside days for certain activities, programs, and crafts, we need to make preparations for the greatest holy day for Christians: Easter. Lent gives us 40 days of preparation and enables us to journey with the Lord through His last days as He prepared Himself for the fulfillment of His mission.
And Lent truly is a journey. It is not something that we check off days for Easter or think just about the outcome. It is something participatory, something to be experienced. Likewise, as we makes plans to celebrate Lent, let us remember that we are to experience it together, as a family. It is not something to do for the kids, but a journey to take together.
The following are a few tips for making the Lenten journey.
Learn about Lent together. Children imitate what they see. Read about what Lent is---and even if you know, refresh your memory!---and share what you’ve learned while having dinner as a family.
Have your home reflect the Catholic Church during the Lenten season. Make an effort to add purple to your house. You can use purple tablecloths or napkins, even lights. Consider toning down the noise and the visual distractions in your home, too.
Create a prayer corner. If you don’t have one, consider making one. We all have special places in the house to eat, to read, to play. And yes, we can do all those things in different parts of the house. But in setting aside special places, it makes the task itself special. A prayer corner doesn’t have to be fancy. In our house, it is the top of a bookshelf. We cleared it from books and just have a crucifix, a statue of Mary, some holy cards and a Bible. For liturgical seasons, we have cloths of special colors to put on it. They’re not fancy clothes, just a place mat bought for $1.99 at Anna’s Linens, but it matches the color of everything at Mass. And it’s important for the Mass to be something that is lived and experienced as a family, not something that we just go to once a week.
Make a Lenten calendar. Use the idea of an Advent calendar. Create a calendar with 40 days. The journey begins with Ash Wednesday and continues through to Holy Week. Use pictures of the desert to decorate it. For Monday through Saturday, have a dry spot. For Sundays, use an oasis to show that this is our break in the desert during Lent. Have the calendar go to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and then Holy Saturday. On the back of the calendar, draw or color or paste a huge picture of Easter. My kids have used pictures of themselves, a holy card, even an image of a camel, to mark their spot along the Lenten journey.
Make a Prayer Jar. Use a nice clear jar for the family to record our prayer journey through Lent. Have different colored strips in different plastic bags on hand, so the child/parent can just pull a strip and write on it. Color ideas are: purple (intercessions), pink (praise), green (thanks), yellow (petition), blue (adoration) and white (combination). Every time someone says a prayer, s/he writes it down and puts in the prayer jar. It's a nice way to get the children (and grown-ups) to be aware of the different sorts of prayer ... and how often they pray.
Make a prayer journal.Use heavy card stock and old magazines for the kids to make a cover for a prayer journal. Then just fold paper in half and staple it inside for the pages. Every night, during the Scripture reading, the kids can either cut pictures for a collage entry in their journal or draw one. Remember that the journal is one created by the family, and there are no rules for who gets to be in the book.
For our journal, which is just a three-ring binder with plain pages in it, our kids have put pictures of everyone from Jeff Corwin (the host of a nature show and famous herpetologist) to Tim Duncan, the center of the San Antonio Spurs, to the pope to the president to Brett Favre, quarterback of the Jets. They also cut out pictures of friends and family members and added those to the book. We play the book in the prayer corner, so they can just pick it up and pray for the people in it. It’s a great visual and hands-on way to pray.
Pray the Stations of the Cross as a family. You can use a children’s book, the ETWN Website (www.ewtn) or make your own. (I've included some in my Lenten activity book here.)
Read Lenten books together. You can either get them from Amazon or check out the library or a Catholic bookstore. For example, you can get: The Tale of Three Trees, Children's Stations of the Cross, The Giving Tree, and The Very First Easter.
Watch a Christian movie together. For example, you can rent “The Gospel of John” or “Jesus of Nazareth” and just watch 10 minutes at night and then discuss it as a family. My kids are partial to “The Gospel of John” because it had a narrator, who read the Gospel, as the scene unfurled on the screen. Plus, the Jesus in it is very friendly, youthful and vibrant. My kids kept commenting how they wanted to go hang out with him, and in all honesty, it made me feel that way, too.
Make pretzels. Really! There is even a prayer attached to it:
We beg you, O Lord, to bless these breads which are to remind us that Lent is a sacred season of penance and prayer. For this very reason, the early Christians started the custom of making these breads in the form of arms crossed in prayer. Thus they kept the holy purpose of Lent alive in their hearts from day to day, and increased in their souls the love of Christ, even unto death, if necessary.
Grant us, we pray, that we too, may be reminded by the daily sight of these pretzels to observe the holy season of Lent with true devotion and great spiritual fruit. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
--With ecclesiastical approbation.
And Lent truly is a journey. It is not something that we check off days for Easter or think just about the outcome. It is something participatory, something to be experienced. Likewise, as we makes plans to celebrate Lent, let us remember that we are to experience it together, as a family. It is not something to do for the kids, but a journey to take together.
The following are a few tips for making the Lenten journey.
Learn about Lent together. Children imitate what they see. Read about what Lent is---and even if you know, refresh your memory!---and share what you’ve learned while having dinner as a family.
Have your home reflect the Catholic Church during the Lenten season. Make an effort to add purple to your house. You can use purple tablecloths or napkins, even lights. Consider toning down the noise and the visual distractions in your home, too.
Create a prayer corner. If you don’t have one, consider making one. We all have special places in the house to eat, to read, to play. And yes, we can do all those things in different parts of the house. But in setting aside special places, it makes the task itself special. A prayer corner doesn’t have to be fancy. In our house, it is the top of a bookshelf. We cleared it from books and just have a crucifix, a statue of Mary, some holy cards and a Bible. For liturgical seasons, we have cloths of special colors to put on it. They’re not fancy clothes, just a place mat bought for $1.99 at Anna’s Linens, but it matches the color of everything at Mass. And it’s important for the Mass to be something that is lived and experienced as a family, not something that we just go to once a week.
Make a Lenten calendar. Use the idea of an Advent calendar. Create a calendar with 40 days. The journey begins with Ash Wednesday and continues through to Holy Week. Use pictures of the desert to decorate it. For Monday through Saturday, have a dry spot. For Sundays, use an oasis to show that this is our break in the desert during Lent. Have the calendar go to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and then Holy Saturday. On the back of the calendar, draw or color or paste a huge picture of Easter. My kids have used pictures of themselves, a holy card, even an image of a camel, to mark their spot along the Lenten journey.
Make a Prayer Jar. Use a nice clear jar for the family to record our prayer journey through Lent. Have different colored strips in different plastic bags on hand, so the child/parent can just pull a strip and write on it. Color ideas are: purple (intercessions), pink (praise), green (thanks), yellow (petition), blue (adoration) and white (combination). Every time someone says a prayer, s/he writes it down and puts in the prayer jar. It's a nice way to get the children (and grown-ups) to be aware of the different sorts of prayer ... and how often they pray.
Make a prayer journal.Use heavy card stock and old magazines for the kids to make a cover for a prayer journal. Then just fold paper in half and staple it inside for the pages. Every night, during the Scripture reading, the kids can either cut pictures for a collage entry in their journal or draw one. Remember that the journal is one created by the family, and there are no rules for who gets to be in the book.
For our journal, which is just a three-ring binder with plain pages in it, our kids have put pictures of everyone from Jeff Corwin (the host of a nature show and famous herpetologist) to Tim Duncan, the center of the San Antonio Spurs, to the pope to the president to Brett Favre, quarterback of the Jets. They also cut out pictures of friends and family members and added those to the book. We play the book in the prayer corner, so they can just pick it up and pray for the people in it. It’s a great visual and hands-on way to pray.
Pray the Stations of the Cross as a family. You can use a children’s book, the ETWN Website (www.ewtn) or make your own. (I've included some in my Lenten activity book here.)
Read Lenten books together. You can either get them from Amazon or check out the library or a Catholic bookstore. For example, you can get: The Tale of Three Trees, Children's Stations of the Cross, The Giving Tree, and The Very First Easter.
Watch a Christian movie together. For example, you can rent “The Gospel of John” or “Jesus of Nazareth” and just watch 10 minutes at night and then discuss it as a family. My kids are partial to “The Gospel of John” because it had a narrator, who read the Gospel, as the scene unfurled on the screen. Plus, the Jesus in it is very friendly, youthful and vibrant. My kids kept commenting how they wanted to go hang out with him, and in all honesty, it made me feel that way, too.
Make pretzels. Really! There is even a prayer attached to it:
We beg you, O Lord, to bless these breads which are to remind us that Lent is a sacred season of penance and prayer. For this very reason, the early Christians started the custom of making these breads in the form of arms crossed in prayer. Thus they kept the holy purpose of Lent alive in their hearts from day to day, and increased in their souls the love of Christ, even unto death, if necessary.
Grant us, we pray, that we too, may be reminded by the daily sight of these pretzels to observe the holy season of Lent with true devotion and great spiritual fruit. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.
--With ecclesiastical approbation.
Involving Fathers in Homeschooling: 2007
Whether a father is the overseeing principal of his family’s homeschool, the financial provider, the P.E. instructor or administrative assistant (or perhaps all of the above), a father often do not get to regularly see the daily life of your homeschool. Glimpses are shown in the library books and worksheets piled around the kitchen counter and the themes in your DVD selection. However, sometimes fathers miss out on the details of what your children are learning.
Try these ideas to help Dad feel more involved. (And if your husband is has reluctantly agreed to homeschool, these ideas can help him better understand what happens while he’s at work.)
Try these ideas to help Dad feel more involved. (And if your husband is has reluctantly agreed to homeschool, these ideas can help him better understand what happens while he’s at work.)
Friday Folders: Children can show their work to their dads once a week, which might be preferable and less overwhelming than every evening. Have children choose a special folder and decorate it with Friday Folder written on it. During the week, every time the child has a particularly well-written or well-drawn paper, s/he can tuck the sample into the folder. The folder highlights their work, so Dad can look through it and get a good feel for the week. Be sure to think creatively, too. It’s not just a folder for worksheets --- children can put: photographs, narration pages, book reports, drawings and even collected leaves or seashells in it. (Think portfolio.)
Photographs: If Dad is a visual learner, he might prefer to see what is being done rather than read about it. Consider a digital camera your homeschooling friend. You can take pictures of everything from the steps in a science experiment (or a culinary one); snap photos of field trips and park days; or just capture those highs and lows of the homeschooling journey. Make sure to capture the good, the bad and the ugly of your week. Be an objective photographer.
Blogs: (If you have one, you can skip this tip.) If you don’t, consider making one. If privacy is a concern (and it should be), consider making a special one for his eyes only. You can create blogs for a select audience and even have by-permission-only blogs. Consider your husband your audience, so keep the posts short and sweet. Write just the highlights and lowlights of the week. (If you want to write one for your extended family but are considered about privacy issues, you can choose nicknames for your children, use their middle names, and avoid using specific details, such as your city or full name. You can also do permission-only blogs.)
Bulletin Boards: If you’ve got the room, a nice long bit of corkboard can be a good display for what your homeschoolers are learning. The children can take turns decorating it. You can get materials from online searches or free educational resources websites.
Field Trips: Going to the aquarium to complete a unit study on sea creatures? Heading out to the newspaper office to see how a newspaper is put together? Ask Dad to come along with you. Perhaps he’s been waiting to be invited or has not considered being part of the schooling experience. If he can’t take the day off (and in today’s economy, not many can), then consider doing your school outing during the weekend. Yes, there will be more people at the location, but the benefits of having Dad there will outweigh the crowd issues.
Family Park Day: Most homeschooling support groups have at least one family park day a year. Make an extra effort to attend it. Dad might feel a little awkward, but so will all the other dads there. It can be a bonding experience.
Sneak Attacks: To borrow the idea of strewing (leaving materials out for curious hands to pick up and read), you might consider leaving out articles about homeschooling or bookmarking pages in a book then placing them where your husband might pick them up and read it. For example, you can leave out an article about homeschooling on the kitchen table, so Dad can read it while he has his morning coffee. You can even put books in the bathroom for Dad to read. (Shhh, I won’t tell.)
Unappreciated in the movies and on television, fathers don’t have to be neglected in their homeschooling families. Many homeschooling families would not be able to choose this educational method if not for the financial support of the fathers. Be sure to let your husband know what a blessing he is…and is giving…the family through his support of homeschooling.
Starting Your Own Homeschooling Group
"Your children need the peer support that a support group provides, and you, in turn, will discover that your burdens are lighter when you find other moms who will listen to you, cry with you, laugh with you and pray for you."
(Catholic Education Homeward Bound)
If you are not finding your homeschooling needs met in your present homeschool group or no groups exist, consider starting your own.
Before you start, examine your reasons for starting a homeschool group. Perhaps you are part of a homeschool group already and feel dissatisfied. Have you spoken to the coordinator of the group? You might be able to make adjustments to the existing group. Are you wanting more control over the group’s decisions? You might find ways to help the existing group. Make sure you are not reinventing the wheel when starting a group. (For example, my friend A.C. and I started our group because one for younger Catholic homeschoolers did not exist in our city.)
Write a mission statement for your group. Imagine you had to write an ad for your homeschool group. Write down the purpose of your group in one or two sentences. You need to be able to convey this thought so you’ll have a focus for your group. Also, you will later receive phone calls and emails from mothers who want to know about your group. If you have a mission statement, you’ll be able to say it easily and clearly. Almost every week, I answer this question with my now-memorized statement: “Our Catholic homeschooling group is primarily a park day group where mothers meet for fellowship, kids play, and we celebrate liturgical days once a month with a craft and activity. We all homeschool in different ways but are united by our Catholic faith.”
If you are able to express this thought clearly, it makes it easier for people to know whether they want to be part of your group. And it’ll help you keep focused even as the group grows.
Write down the details of your ideal homeschool group. If you could have the perfect homeschool group, what would it encompass? Think as big as you want. You may not be able to have all these items in the first year or the second, but later, you’ll be able to remember why you started and what your original vision for the group was. (For example, my friend and I wrote: Catholic homeschool group, meets every Friday, lots of boys and girls, acceptance of different homeschooling methods and programs, monthly field trips, a Little Flowers group, a Blue Knights group, holiday parties, friendly conversation, no gossip, no school-bashing, encouraging conversations, bouncing ideas off each other.)
Have a brainstorming coffee chat with a fellow homeschooling friend or your spouse.Pick the most important items under your control and write them down separately on another page. Yes, I’m serious. You’ll have a folder (or notebook) with your mission statement, an ad, and reference for the future (that wish list). Plus, you can use this for your group’s blog, Yahoo message board or flyers.
For example, when we started, we could not offer field trips or the Blue Knights group or a moms’ night out. However, we wrote down what we could do: The Group meets regularly on Fridays at 1:30 p.m. for park days and liturgical crafts once a month. It was a small blurb, but when mothers called, we’d tell them that we were a new group and that, as the group grew, so would our opportunities for more activities.
Pray for your group and its members.
Decide how to organize your group. This is the most important decision. You need to decide if your group will be run by one leader; a leader and coordinators for groups (such as for prayer requests, field trips, etc.); all members putting matters up to the vote; etc. It is vitally important to decide early how to handle this. As more people come into your group, they will have ideas. You need to know upfront if you will put them in charge of their own ideas; handle all their ideas; etc.
Some groups are run mostly by one person. Others are run by all members. You’ll need to be upfront about who makes certain decisions and/if tasks will be delegated. Be honest about what you can do without negatively affecting your family and vocation.
Plan methods of communication. Some groups rely on printed newsletters; others, solely through email. Because I love the Internet and my friend likes the telephone, we decided that I would start up and run the Yahoo message board and info blog, and that she would handle telephone calls.
As your group grows, ask members what they prefer. We found that a few members hate the Internet, so we print off the calendar from our Yahoo group for them. And some members love being online, so we always keep that Yahoo calendar updated.
Choose regular venues. Some groups meet at the same park at the same time every week. Others alternate parks every month. Decide what works best for your group. You may choose to meet at different parks on opposite ends of the city to make it easier for your members. Just be sure to use your preferred method of communication to let members know where you are meeting!
Advertise. All that previous writing of your group’s focus and what you do now comes in handy. Use it to write a flyer or ad. You can post messages on Yahoo groups, your local library, church bulletin board, community newsletter, etc. Just be sure to advertise to the right demographics. For example, our group is a Catholic homeschooling group, so we advertised in our church bulletins and Catholic bookstores in town.
Start your group. Even if it is just you and your kids on a blanket at the park. Start going there at the regular time that you planned for the group. Doing so will help you see whether the time and place will work for you. And it will help you form the habit. Our homeschool group was my friend, her son, my three children and me. Even when no one showed for weeks, she and I had good conversations, and our children played.
Pray for your group and its members.
Answer each phone call or email within two days. You know it’s hard to call or email a complete stranger for information about a park day. And it’s even harder to show up. So, be kind and friendly in a prompt email or call.Be patient. Let the Lord be your social coordinator and send the people He wants for your group. Maybe His idea is for an intimate group of good friends. Maybe He wishes for your group to be huge and active.
Don’t stress. If this is too stressful, then don't do it. The main focus should be on your homeschooling journey with your children. A support group is to support, not to weigh down.
Be grateful for each member. You will receive people of all sorts of dispositions and personalities. Even if you all are of the same faith, you will find great variety in homeschoolers. Be grateful for whoever shows up and pray for them.
Focus on the bigger picture. As your group grows, remember that the group is the Lord’s and the members are His children. If it flourishes, it is because He allows it to do so. Give credit to the Lord.
And always include your group and its members in your prayers.
(Catholic Education Homeward Bound)
If you are not finding your homeschooling needs met in your present homeschool group or no groups exist, consider starting your own.
Before you start, examine your reasons for starting a homeschool group. Perhaps you are part of a homeschool group already and feel dissatisfied. Have you spoken to the coordinator of the group? You might be able to make adjustments to the existing group. Are you wanting more control over the group’s decisions? You might find ways to help the existing group. Make sure you are not reinventing the wheel when starting a group. (For example, my friend A.C. and I started our group because one for younger Catholic homeschoolers did not exist in our city.)
Write a mission statement for your group. Imagine you had to write an ad for your homeschool group. Write down the purpose of your group in one or two sentences. You need to be able to convey this thought so you’ll have a focus for your group. Also, you will later receive phone calls and emails from mothers who want to know about your group. If you have a mission statement, you’ll be able to say it easily and clearly. Almost every week, I answer this question with my now-memorized statement: “Our Catholic homeschooling group is primarily a park day group where mothers meet for fellowship, kids play, and we celebrate liturgical days once a month with a craft and activity. We all homeschool in different ways but are united by our Catholic faith.”
If you are able to express this thought clearly, it makes it easier for people to know whether they want to be part of your group. And it’ll help you keep focused even as the group grows.
Write down the details of your ideal homeschool group. If you could have the perfect homeschool group, what would it encompass? Think as big as you want. You may not be able to have all these items in the first year or the second, but later, you’ll be able to remember why you started and what your original vision for the group was. (For example, my friend and I wrote: Catholic homeschool group, meets every Friday, lots of boys and girls, acceptance of different homeschooling methods and programs, monthly field trips, a Little Flowers group, a Blue Knights group, holiday parties, friendly conversation, no gossip, no school-bashing, encouraging conversations, bouncing ideas off each other.)
Have a brainstorming coffee chat with a fellow homeschooling friend or your spouse.Pick the most important items under your control and write them down separately on another page. Yes, I’m serious. You’ll have a folder (or notebook) with your mission statement, an ad, and reference for the future (that wish list). Plus, you can use this for your group’s blog, Yahoo message board or flyers.
For example, when we started, we could not offer field trips or the Blue Knights group or a moms’ night out. However, we wrote down what we could do: The Group meets regularly on Fridays at 1:30 p.m. for park days and liturgical crafts once a month. It was a small blurb, but when mothers called, we’d tell them that we were a new group and that, as the group grew, so would our opportunities for more activities.
Pray for your group and its members.
Decide how to organize your group. This is the most important decision. You need to decide if your group will be run by one leader; a leader and coordinators for groups (such as for prayer requests, field trips, etc.); all members putting matters up to the vote; etc. It is vitally important to decide early how to handle this. As more people come into your group, they will have ideas. You need to know upfront if you will put them in charge of their own ideas; handle all their ideas; etc.
Some groups are run mostly by one person. Others are run by all members. You’ll need to be upfront about who makes certain decisions and/if tasks will be delegated. Be honest about what you can do without negatively affecting your family and vocation.
Plan methods of communication. Some groups rely on printed newsletters; others, solely through email. Because I love the Internet and my friend likes the telephone, we decided that I would start up and run the Yahoo message board and info blog, and that she would handle telephone calls.
As your group grows, ask members what they prefer. We found that a few members hate the Internet, so we print off the calendar from our Yahoo group for them. And some members love being online, so we always keep that Yahoo calendar updated.
Choose regular venues. Some groups meet at the same park at the same time every week. Others alternate parks every month. Decide what works best for your group. You may choose to meet at different parks on opposite ends of the city to make it easier for your members. Just be sure to use your preferred method of communication to let members know where you are meeting!
Advertise. All that previous writing of your group’s focus and what you do now comes in handy. Use it to write a flyer or ad. You can post messages on Yahoo groups, your local library, church bulletin board, community newsletter, etc. Just be sure to advertise to the right demographics. For example, our group is a Catholic homeschooling group, so we advertised in our church bulletins and Catholic bookstores in town.
Start your group. Even if it is just you and your kids on a blanket at the park. Start going there at the regular time that you planned for the group. Doing so will help you see whether the time and place will work for you. And it will help you form the habit. Our homeschool group was my friend, her son, my three children and me. Even when no one showed for weeks, she and I had good conversations, and our children played.
Pray for your group and its members.
Answer each phone call or email within two days. You know it’s hard to call or email a complete stranger for information about a park day. And it’s even harder to show up. So, be kind and friendly in a prompt email or call.Be patient. Let the Lord be your social coordinator and send the people He wants for your group. Maybe His idea is for an intimate group of good friends. Maybe He wishes for your group to be huge and active.
Don’t stress. If this is too stressful, then don't do it. The main focus should be on your homeschooling journey with your children. A support group is to support, not to weigh down.
Be grateful for each member. You will receive people of all sorts of dispositions and personalities. Even if you all are of the same faith, you will find great variety in homeschoolers. Be grateful for whoever shows up and pray for them.
Focus on the bigger picture. As your group grows, remember that the group is the Lord’s and the members are His children. If it flourishes, it is because He allows it to do so. Give credit to the Lord.
And always include your group and its members in your prayers.
Fairies Unit Study
"…when the first baby laughed for the first time, its laugh broke into a thousand pieces, and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies." (J.M. Barrie)
When asked about the next topic for our unit study, Essie said she'd like to learn more about fairies. It's the perfect excuse to read fairy tales and watch fairy movies and get to do all sorts of coloring projects. She is still in the middle of the unit study, so I'll add to this page as we discover new books and resources.
Definition
A fairy is "a mythical being of folklore and romance, usually having a diminutive human form and possessing magical powers." An extensive definition is also available.
Cover of the Notebook
We used the images from the following sites to decorate the notebook, use as clip art for book reports and just color while listening to a story.
Dulemba's Reading Fairy
Flowers & Fairies
Fairy vs. Angel
Sometimes, in art, fairies are drawn almost in the same form as traditionally illustrated angels. The images often share the traits of wings and gossamer-light clothing. Sometimes, artists draw them alike, yet there are fundamental differences.
Fairies are shown as having the same traits as humans, often create mischief, possess their own power, grant wishes to whomever they please.
In comparison, angels, in Scripture, are superior to humans; are messengers of God; do not possess any magical powers; and usually strike fear and trembling in those who see them. They serve as intermediaries between God and man. In the Bible, angels are never seen as scampering sprites with magical dust. The first words the angels utter are usually: "Do not be afraid" --- which suggests they're not cuddly creatures. A good encyclopedia entry about angels is available for reference.
Famous Fairies
Tinkerbell
Morgan Le Fay (the name means "Morgan the Fairy")
The Fairy with Turquoise Hair (La Fata dai Capelli Turchini) is a fictional character in Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio. (In the animated movie, she's the Blue Fairy.)
The Tooth Fairy
Oberon ("King of the Fairies") and Titiana, his wife in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream"
Good Books About Fairies
Here are some favorites:
This delightful book, "If You See a Fairy Ring," has pretty illustrations and tabs to pull. The poetry from classic authors and new ones make it a fine read, too.
In "Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg," Gail Carson Levine always puts her personal, quirky spin on Neverland. The above book takes the idea of Tinkerbell and tweaks it for an entertaining read.
Did you know that Laura wrote fairy books? It wasn't all about using a blown-up pig's bladder as a ball or watching Pa kill a bear. She had a fanciful streak, too, which shows in "Laura Ingall Wilder's Fairy Poems." The pictures make it even better.
Yes, there was a movie a few years ago based on this book. As a fan of "Ella Enchanted" (the book), I ask you to put that icky movie memory aside and dig into this wonderful, engaging adaptation about Cinderella. The spin is decidedly modern --- Ella obeys because she must due to a fairy's spell --- but she is an intelligent, interesting character that girls would love to have as a friend.
Ah, Daisy Meadows --- you collective of writers. You've unleashed countless themed series about fairies. The books are almost syrupy, the stories are mildly adventurous, and all the pages have stars and sparkles and cutesy illustrations. My daughter loved these books for a long time. (The reading level is second grade.) For the Rainbow Magic series, Daisy Meadows has cranked out Pet Fairies, Party Fairies, and the Weather fairies.
No, this is not a Gail Carson Levine unit study, but she produces such well-written, funny stories that we delight in them. A revision of the story of Sleeping Beauty, "Princess Sonora and the Long Sleep" made us laugh aloud.
Activities
Make a gallery of famous fairies. Do a Google search for fairy images then take construction paper and make an accordion fold, then color and glue the fairies into each section.
Imagine that you are a fairy about to bestow a gift on Princess Aurora. What gift would you give her? Why? What is good about this gift? Write or narrate your answer.
Read a fairy poem from a library book then brainstorm ideas for your own poem. Decide on a subject, a rhyme scheme, then brainstorm. Use colorful, vivid words that will bring your poem to life.
Read a fairy tale and imagine what would happen next in the story. Write five sentences or narrate five sentences.
Complete a fairy online puzzle.
Make a fairy house for your garden or backyard.
Pretend you are Rose Pastures (a made-up relative of Daisy Meadows). You want to write a series of books about fairies. She's already written about pets, music, gems, etc. So, choose a theme of your own. Create five fairies. What are their names? What special powers do they have? Where do they live? What adventure do they have?
Read the following poem by William Shakespeare and draw a fairy according to the description:
"Oh, then I see Queen Mahab hath been with you.
She is the fairies' midwife, and she comes
In shape no bigger than an agate stone
On the forefinger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies
Athwart men's noses as they lie asleep;
Her wagon spokes made of long spinners' legs.
The cover of the wings of grasshoppers,
The traces of the smallest spider's web,
The collars of the moonshine's watery beams,
Her whip of cricket's bone, the lash of film,
Her wagoner a small, grey-coated gnat,
Not half so big as a round little worm
Prick'd from the lazy finger of a maid;
Her chariot is an empty hazelnut
Made by the joiner squirrel or old grub,
Time out o' mind the fairies' coach makers."
Blink: 2009
As I write this entry, scattered Legos are beneath the computer desk. A figure of St. Paul is inexplicably entangled in a basketball net, which is on the floor instead of the door. A copy of "The Secret Garden" is face-down beneath the train table. And an American Girl shoe is woefully alone on the printer.
The sight of clutter usually frustrates me. I fall into the typical, almost knee-jerk reaction of "Why do I bother cleaning?" or "Can't the kids pick up after themselves?"
But not tonight. The sight of such stray items makes me want to cry for different reasons.
Some day, everything will be neat and orderly, clean and fingerprint-less. A gallon of milk will last for an entire week. The kitchen table won't have crayon marks. The carpet will lack Lego confetti. The cushions will be on the sofa instead of the ground, where they serve as perfect landing spots. And the bathroom towels will hang perfectly in the center of the rail.
I can hardly stand the thought of it.
This afternoon, I had coffee with a friend whose children remained young in my recollections. We'd not seen each other in a while. It had not been years and years. Still, she mentioned how her children now are preparing for college. I could hardly picture it.
"What? They were just little kids. Does it happen that fast?"
"Yes, it does."
I looked at my children then, so diligently producing the Roman Empire in the sandbox at the park, with its various tunnels and routes throughout its width. My little girl with her high ponytail and apple cheeks is already eight. I've only ten more years before college. And then, my son, strong and purposeful in his endeavors, seems so much older than six. I sometimes even see glimpses of the man he will be. Something in his look or stance. Sebastian, naughtily eating sand and crabby from not having a nap, has already passed the snuggling, nursing age.
Only eight years ago, I was introduced to the first of these beautiful beings and given the monumental task of taking care of God's children on loan to me.
Only eight years, did I say? Already eight years.
While I plan and manage the household and get school done and juggle a thousand other tasks, the children keep right on growing. They refuse to wait until I am more patient or smarter. They will not remain on hold until I get the more obvious errors and flaws of my personality smoothed out. No. They move on. They keep evolving and stretching taller and leaner, impatiently hurling towards adulthood, which has only just begun to make sense to me.
Right now, when my children are so little, it breaks my heart to think of the days when they will not be under my roof. These evenings, I am the mother hen, content and happy and joy-filled as my chicks roost in the coop with us. Yet some day it will not be so. And though I love my husband beyond words, though I can think of ways to occupy myself, though I can think of places to visit and projects to undertake, all when the children are grown ... I know that it won't be the same. It won't be like now.
"How can mothers stand it?" I ask my own mother, knowing I did the same to her. I grew up and left, too.
"It's very, very difficult. Enjoy these years, these happy, wonderful years."
And so tonight, while the toys are scattered everywhere despite my insistence for neatness, my iPod has more children's tunes than grown-up ones and our TV recordings feature more animated flicks than documentaries, I appreciate all the evidence of children living with us. I find joy in the Reading Program flyer on the fridge, the stickers lining the bookshelf in offbeat patterns, the heart-balloon drawings from the girl, and the knights and teddy bears sharing a place on the love seat.
There will time, there will be time, for the taking of tea, for the million projects that I think about doing which seem so important to me right now, for the peace and quiet that I feel I deserve.
Right now, I am happily immersed in motherhood. My life is filled with laughter that is too loud, with hugs that squeeze the life of me and sloppy, enthusiastic kisses, and underscored by crayon drawings and children's music.
Thank God. Thanks so much ...
The sight of clutter usually frustrates me. I fall into the typical, almost knee-jerk reaction of "Why do I bother cleaning?" or "Can't the kids pick up after themselves?"
But not tonight. The sight of such stray items makes me want to cry for different reasons.
Some day, everything will be neat and orderly, clean and fingerprint-less. A gallon of milk will last for an entire week. The kitchen table won't have crayon marks. The carpet will lack Lego confetti. The cushions will be on the sofa instead of the ground, where they serve as perfect landing spots. And the bathroom towels will hang perfectly in the center of the rail.
I can hardly stand the thought of it.
This afternoon, I had coffee with a friend whose children remained young in my recollections. We'd not seen each other in a while. It had not been years and years. Still, she mentioned how her children now are preparing for college. I could hardly picture it.
"What? They were just little kids. Does it happen that fast?"
"Yes, it does."
I looked at my children then, so diligently producing the Roman Empire in the sandbox at the park, with its various tunnels and routes throughout its width. My little girl with her high ponytail and apple cheeks is already eight. I've only ten more years before college. And then, my son, strong and purposeful in his endeavors, seems so much older than six. I sometimes even see glimpses of the man he will be. Something in his look or stance. Sebastian, naughtily eating sand and crabby from not having a nap, has already passed the snuggling, nursing age.
It happens quickly?
Only eight years ago, I was introduced to the first of these beautiful beings and given the monumental task of taking care of God's children on loan to me.
Only eight years, did I say? Already eight years.
While I plan and manage the household and get school done and juggle a thousand other tasks, the children keep right on growing. They refuse to wait until I am more patient or smarter. They will not remain on hold until I get the more obvious errors and flaws of my personality smoothed out. No. They move on. They keep evolving and stretching taller and leaner, impatiently hurling towards adulthood, which has only just begun to make sense to me.
Right now, when my children are so little, it breaks my heart to think of the days when they will not be under my roof. These evenings, I am the mother hen, content and happy and joy-filled as my chicks roost in the coop with us. Yet some day it will not be so. And though I love my husband beyond words, though I can think of ways to occupy myself, though I can think of places to visit and projects to undertake, all when the children are grown ... I know that it won't be the same. It won't be like now.
"How can mothers stand it?" I ask my own mother, knowing I did the same to her. I grew up and left, too.
"It's very, very difficult. Enjoy these years, these happy, wonderful years."
And so tonight, while the toys are scattered everywhere despite my insistence for neatness, my iPod has more children's tunes than grown-up ones and our TV recordings feature more animated flicks than documentaries, I appreciate all the evidence of children living with us. I find joy in the Reading Program flyer on the fridge, the stickers lining the bookshelf in offbeat patterns, the heart-balloon drawings from the girl, and the knights and teddy bears sharing a place on the love seat.
There will time, there will be time, for the taking of tea, for the million projects that I think about doing which seem so important to me right now, for the peace and quiet that I feel I deserve.
Right now, I am happily immersed in motherhood. My life is filled with laughter that is too loud, with hugs that squeeze the life of me and sloppy, enthusiastic kisses, and underscored by crayon drawings and children's music.
Thank God. Thanks so much ...
With Love, From Me, To You
As a little girl, I always wrote letters to my mother. Sometimes, it'd be an apology. Perhaps a sample of a verse that I had cobbled together and considered brilliant. A line or two about what had happened at school. At times, I would color a picture about a day's event. Afterwards, I'd decorate the envelope with my best handwriting, a dozen puffy Smurf stickers or scratch-n-sniff strawberries, then send it to her.
My mother's replies varied in length and content. I'd receive letters correcting me for naughty behavior and a hope for my betterment, or a sketch of myself done in my mother's girlish drawing style. She'd write me notes that I've kept all this time: a letter of encouragement when I was twelve and feeling unloved and unwelcomed in my triad of friends; one to declare my mother's emancipation from having to goad me into cleaning my room (I was thirteen); a heartfelt tome of compassion from her when my heart was ripped into shreds by a dashing yet cruel charmer. The letters were almost always on pretty paper --- except for ones that she wrote in an upset hand because my behavior was horrible. Even those, however, ended with kisses and hugs and a deep-rooted belief in my becoming a better person.
All these letters --- of correction, sympathy, love, encouragement --- were only sent from one side of the house to the other. My mother and I often wrote letters, even though we lived under the same roof.
Perhaps it might seem strange, but it seemed natural for us to do. In the midst of my deeply emotional, black-cloud teen years, I could express myself far better in letters than in conversation. Though we always talked, I felt like I had more time to ponder the words, ruminate and then share the thought. I was less likely that way to hastily launch into a high-strung crying jag that characterized those bleak years. And my mother, knowing her audience, would take the time to make me feel special by writing letters on floral paper.
Receiving a letter felt so important. Moms talk all the time. However, to receive an actual letter from my mother was a tremendous event for me. It meant that my mother took time from her job, her ministries and her housekeeping to sit down and think just about ME for a while. It meant that she had her mind full of me. Not my father, not my brother, not the assortment of curious characters that occupied the fringes of our lives. No, a letter was something I received greedily and far more happily than I would have confessed then. I admit it freely now, and my mother still writes me beautiful notes for special occasions.
All these memories came to me the other day when I helped my daughter organize her desk. She had a pink wire in-basket that reminded me of the one I had as a child. And I decided to write her a note that evening and to sneak it in her in-box.
I chose bright, retro-designed paper and wrote in my neatest handwriting. It felt odd to be the parent in the parent-child correspondence, but I wrote about how much I enjoyed spending time, just us girls, reading two chapters of a Nancy Drew mystery silently snuggled in her room, and how I looked forward to the next time.
And I've been dropping little notes in their now and then.
This evening, she surprised me with a letter. She's always written me little notes here and there, but this was far longer, far neater and far more thoughtful than her scribbled hearts and I LOVE YOUs (though those are also treasured).
As I read the letter, I felt us moving into the sweet, familiar cycle of letter-writing beneath the same roof. It made me so grateful for the mother I had, who always took time to pen some lines for me at the end of her day. And it had inspired me to do the same for my all little ones.
This little growing habit of ours today may be a very good outlet for sharing her feelings and thoughts in the future as well.
My mother's replies varied in length and content. I'd receive letters correcting me for naughty behavior and a hope for my betterment, or a sketch of myself done in my mother's girlish drawing style. She'd write me notes that I've kept all this time: a letter of encouragement when I was twelve and feeling unloved and unwelcomed in my triad of friends; one to declare my mother's emancipation from having to goad me into cleaning my room (I was thirteen); a heartfelt tome of compassion from her when my heart was ripped into shreds by a dashing yet cruel charmer. The letters were almost always on pretty paper --- except for ones that she wrote in an upset hand because my behavior was horrible. Even those, however, ended with kisses and hugs and a deep-rooted belief in my becoming a better person.
All these letters --- of correction, sympathy, love, encouragement --- were only sent from one side of the house to the other. My mother and I often wrote letters, even though we lived under the same roof.
Perhaps it might seem strange, but it seemed natural for us to do. In the midst of my deeply emotional, black-cloud teen years, I could express myself far better in letters than in conversation. Though we always talked, I felt like I had more time to ponder the words, ruminate and then share the thought. I was less likely that way to hastily launch into a high-strung crying jag that characterized those bleak years. And my mother, knowing her audience, would take the time to make me feel special by writing letters on floral paper.
Receiving a letter felt so important. Moms talk all the time. However, to receive an actual letter from my mother was a tremendous event for me. It meant that my mother took time from her job, her ministries and her housekeeping to sit down and think just about ME for a while. It meant that she had her mind full of me. Not my father, not my brother, not the assortment of curious characters that occupied the fringes of our lives. No, a letter was something I received greedily and far more happily than I would have confessed then. I admit it freely now, and my mother still writes me beautiful notes for special occasions.
All these memories came to me the other day when I helped my daughter organize her desk. She had a pink wire in-basket that reminded me of the one I had as a child. And I decided to write her a note that evening and to sneak it in her in-box.
I chose bright, retro-designed paper and wrote in my neatest handwriting. It felt odd to be the parent in the parent-child correspondence, but I wrote about how much I enjoyed spending time, just us girls, reading two chapters of a Nancy Drew mystery silently snuggled in her room, and how I looked forward to the next time.
And I've been dropping little notes in their now and then.
This evening, she surprised me with a letter. She's always written me little notes here and there, but this was far longer, far neater and far more thoughtful than her scribbled hearts and I LOVE YOUs (though those are also treasured).
As I read the letter, I felt us moving into the sweet, familiar cycle of letter-writing beneath the same roof. It made me so grateful for the mother I had, who always took time to pen some lines for me at the end of her day. And it had inspired me to do the same for my all little ones.
This little growing habit of ours today may be a very good outlet for sharing her feelings and thoughts in the future as well.
Mary Cassatt Unit Study
Biography
Read about Mary Cassatt online at WetCanvas, a virtual museum.
Read "Mary Cassatt (a Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists book)."
Read about Mary Cassatt's life and times online at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Before Studying Art
Please check out these excellent resources for looking at art with children. You can print out questions that will inspire reflection and conversation. (I laminated this page and added it to our art shelf.) MOMA also has a downloadable PDF for looking at art and provides examples of how to do so.
Online Art
Take an online tour of Mary Cassatt's work at the National Gallery of Art. (It has a bio, and 10 paintings by her. If you click on the name of the painting at the bottom, you get to good background info on the work.)
Visit CGFA, the beautiful nonprofit online gallery's Cassatt section. (It has three pages of Cassatt thumbnails that you can click to enlarge and study.)
Read the brief analytical info about specific Mary Cassatt works.
ActivitiesPaint a coloring page of Mary Cassatt's "The Boating Party."
Work on the free printable "Artist of Influence" biography sheet.
Take a family picture in the style of Mary Cassatt then draw it or paint it.
Look up Pennsylvania (Mary's home state) and France (where Mary's true heart was) on the globe.
Do the Mary Cassatt activity in the book "Discovering Great Artists."
Check out the coloring book of Cassatt work. It's inexpensive, but you'll have to get this ahead of time for the unit study.
Cassatt learned about art by copying the masters when she was young. Choose a favorite work and attentively copy it.
Check out the four coloring pages for Cassatt works.
Choose a favorite painting and write a description for it.
Choose a couple of favorite paintings by Cassatt, print them out and create a little gallery on paper. Make sure to draw the frames for each picture and to include yourself in it as a gallery visitor.
Additional Resources
Mary Cassatt's sponsor and friend was Degas. Spend time learning about this master's work.
"A Child's Book of Lullabies" is a thin but lovely book with beloved old-fashioned lullabies, each accompanied with a beautiful print of a Cassatt painting. If you have little ones, it's worth adding it to your library.
Books About Homeschooling: 2007
You can tell the life of a tree by its rings. You can tell the life of a beluga whale by its color. And you can tell this homeschooling mom's philosophical life by her reads.
In organizing our bookshelves, I could see, through my reading, the progression of these nearly four years of homeschooling from a school-at-home person to a more relaxed, eclectic unit-studies parent.
Here are my favorite picks in my own homeschooling journey.
Everyone always remembers their first love. "The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling" was my first introduction into homeschooling. This book broke down the nuts and bolts of homeschooling; explained different styles; and made the journey seem less daunting and scary. It held my hand through those first knee-knocking months.
You need to know a little about something to know what questions to ask. Once I read more about homeschooling, I had to figure out more. At the advice of the helpful, encouraging gals at a favorite homeschooling board, I jumped in and started homeschooling with just good books and printable sheets from the Internet. Yet, I had questions, which "The Homeschooling Book of Answers" answered.
The above book was read at the same time as the Q&A one. It helped me keep homeschooling in perspective. As a mother of a five-year-old, I was so obsessed with what I'd do and teach when my daughter was a junior in high school. This book helped me realize that I was just embarking on the first tiny step of the journey. And it was kindergarten. Not calculus.
"The Well-Trained Mind" has made a huge impact on my life. When I first read it, I wanted to take a look at the whole homeschooling experience, and this book set the road map for me of what subjects I wanted to cover for my children. The amount of details (from list of subjects in science to names of people in history to the titles of books for high school) is extraordinary. Well-written and organized, the book is a favorite here, mostly for its amazing lists.
The only problem that I have with the book (indeed, a huge drawback for me) is that it is very rigid in its sense of scheduling. The book seems to be very school-at-home with its schedules. This may work for many people, but not us. We are more creative and loose than this grueling schedule allows. The book, however, is a tremendous resource for what to study and focus on the chronology of history and science, I would recommend it.
This eccentric out-of-the-box thinker saved my sanity. "How Children Learn" broke the rigid boxes in my mind regarding education. I had been so much about workbooks, a set schedule, definite time tables for learning a subject, etc. Then, thanks to some good friends out there who love this man, I read him. Though we are not unschoolers or as radical as John Holt, the book helped me view the world as a classroom, children as seekers of education rather than "buckets to be filled" and taught me how to relax.
"A Mother's Rule of Life" is not a book about homeschooling, but it is about running the household. This book came into my life (a friend had an extra copy) about the time that I was thinking, "Well, it's all fine and good to be more relaxed with schooling, but who is going to run this house? How can I homeschool and do housework and find time for me?"
It provided a framework for running my life. She offered me a good way to view my life and to set a loose schedule for our living, but not something so constrained that I would fall back into the trap of over-organization.
In organizing our bookshelves, I could see, through my reading, the progression of these nearly four years of homeschooling from a school-at-home person to a more relaxed, eclectic unit-studies parent.
Here are my favorite picks in my own homeschooling journey.
Everyone always remembers their first love. "The Unofficial Guide to Homeschooling" was my first introduction into homeschooling. This book broke down the nuts and bolts of homeschooling; explained different styles; and made the journey seem less daunting and scary. It held my hand through those first knee-knocking months.
You need to know a little about something to know what questions to ask. Once I read more about homeschooling, I had to figure out more. At the advice of the helpful, encouraging gals at a favorite homeschooling board, I jumped in and started homeschooling with just good books and printable sheets from the Internet. Yet, I had questions, which "The Homeschooling Book of Answers" answered.
The above book was read at the same time as the Q&A one. It helped me keep homeschooling in perspective. As a mother of a five-year-old, I was so obsessed with what I'd do and teach when my daughter was a junior in high school. This book helped me realize that I was just embarking on the first tiny step of the journey. And it was kindergarten. Not calculus.
"The Well-Trained Mind" has made a huge impact on my life. When I first read it, I wanted to take a look at the whole homeschooling experience, and this book set the road map for me of what subjects I wanted to cover for my children. The amount of details (from list of subjects in science to names of people in history to the titles of books for high school) is extraordinary. Well-written and organized, the book is a favorite here, mostly for its amazing lists.The only problem that I have with the book (indeed, a huge drawback for me) is that it is very rigid in its sense of scheduling. The book seems to be very school-at-home with its schedules. This may work for many people, but not us. We are more creative and loose than this grueling schedule allows. The book, however, is a tremendous resource for what to study and focus on the chronology of history and science, I would recommend it.
This eccentric out-of-the-box thinker saved my sanity. "How Children Learn" broke the rigid boxes in my mind regarding education. I had been so much about workbooks, a set schedule, definite time tables for learning a subject, etc. Then, thanks to some good friends out there who love this man, I read him. Though we are not unschoolers or as radical as John Holt, the book helped me view the world as a classroom, children as seekers of education rather than "buckets to be filled" and taught me how to relax.
"A Mother's Rule of Life" is not a book about homeschooling, but it is about running the household. This book came into my life (a friend had an extra copy) about the time that I was thinking, "Well, it's all fine and good to be more relaxed with schooling, but who is going to run this house? How can I homeschool and do housework and find time for me?"It provided a framework for running my life. She offered me a good way to view my life and to set a loose schedule for our living, but not something so constrained that I would fall back into the trap of over-organization.
The above book was lent to me by another homeschooling mom who overheard my comment about unit studies sounding like a great idea for us but that it also seemed like a lot of work. This book, despite its troubled spots (typos and rambling sentences), really helped me figure out how to put into practice all the homeschooling ideas that I had in my head. All those lists of classical education and the freedom and joy in Holt's philosophy were in constant battle. Each school of thought, in its purest form, was against the other.
However, in reading about unit studies, I realized that we could create our own style of homeschooling. Part of homeschooling's joy is its flexibility.
Finally, my lists and more relaxed beliefs about homeschooling and childrenmade peace with one another ... and indeed have thrived through unit studies.
This book added to my list of things to teach and learn, which had been mostly from "The Well-Trained Mind." "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum" helped me round out the learning with my Catholic faith.
"Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home" is my favorite homeschooling book. Ever. It is the most beautiful, gentle guide to homeschooling from a Catholic perspective. This book, with its sweet, real-life examples of both the joy and difficulties of homeschooling, has been my companion guide for our educational journey.
The online 4Real Learning: Education in the Context of Real Life is the ultimate message board on how to put into practice the desire to teach the Catholic faith, live the liturgy and somehow balance the roles of wife and mother.
However, in reading about unit studies, I realized that we could create our own style of homeschooling. Part of homeschooling's joy is its flexibility.
Finally, my lists and more relaxed beliefs about homeschooling and childrenmade peace with one another ... and indeed have thrived through unit studies.
This book added to my list of things to teach and learn, which had been mostly from "The Well-Trained Mind." "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum" helped me round out the learning with my Catholic faith.
"Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home" is my favorite homeschooling book. Ever. It is the most beautiful, gentle guide to homeschooling from a Catholic perspective. This book, with its sweet, real-life examples of both the joy and difficulties of homeschooling, has been my companion guide for our educational journey.The online 4Real Learning: Education in the Context of Real Life is the ultimate message board on how to put into practice the desire to teach the Catholic faith, live the liturgy and somehow balance the roles of wife and mother.
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