Teaching Saints

Gluten free blueberry pie

2012-01-23T16:57:00.001-06:00

Busy, busy...

2012-01-23T08:45:00.001-06:00

Very busy day today. Babysitting, car shopping, school, menu planning and need to make a grocery list, RCIA tonight, and I need to get something from the store for dinner. And make a gluten free blueberry pie, because today is National Pie Day! And I have been sick for almost 2 weeks, so we have some catch up to do. Have a blessed day!

wordless wednesday

2012-01-11T14:53:00.000-06:00

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

New Roman Missal

2012-01-11T14:49:00.001-06:00

The kids served this past weekend so we did not use the new misssal craft booklets. And will be traveling this weekend so am unsure if we will be using the them this weekend. We will pick up with them the weekend of the 22nd. God bless

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2012-01-06T10:43:00.001-06:00

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.
If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments for all to find and see.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Bashing my stash!!!

2012-01-05T21:58:00.000-06:00

I'm bashing my stash!! Yay!!! This is actually something I have been wanting to do for a while, but never got the motivation to actually do. Then when I saw this 3 in 30 challenge I decided to take the plunge and made 1 of my 3, to organize the stash and dig out all my unfinished projects. I even found these cute little girls I had forgotten all about.

But then when I saw Crunchy Catholic Momma was doing this year long stash bash link up, to say I was excited doesn't cover it :)
So I organized the best I could packing away 10, 20 gallon bins of fabric. And keeping only 5 bins out to work with. As I sorted I tried to think of projects I was wanting to do, make a list of the top ones, (including the un-finished projects) and tried to match up the fabric I wanted with the list. I started with a few quick and easy projects to get me pumped up and make me feel some sort of accomplishment.

I had this little box I had gotten who knows where, with a cracked glass top, so I super glued a piece of card stock on the top to keep the glass in place, because I couldn't get it out, then mog poged this picture on top to hold a few rosaries on my dresser.

I picked this cute fabric and pattern to make a bear for a sweet little girl I know,

I found these lids and corks and pumps in a bag my grandma gave me, so I made a soap dispenser for the kitchen. I have been meaning to for a while, and I had all the supplies the whole time! I used this glass peanut butter jar I had gotten from my great grandma YEARS ago, that she had for YEARS. you cant see it but it has an elephant on it.

and lastly I mog poged a tin coffee can to use to hold things on my sewing table, I had just a scrap of this cute fabric left and wanted to do something with it so I could look at it a lot.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

{phfr}

2012-01-05T17:54:00.001-06:00

I have seen other bloggers do this post, but have not seen a link-up.

pretty

happy

funny

real

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

A garden for Mary

2012-01-04T21:31:00.000-06:00

I posted yesterday, that I was reading A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms Mary was the first saint, in this really awesome book. Each chapter has suggested activities to do with the kids, and Mary's was a Mary garden. January in Illinois, probably not the best time to start a garden. We needed a new center piece for your dining room table, we have been changing it according to the season or holiday and the kids have been making them. So we decided to make Mary be our center piece and make her a rose garden.

First we got our supplies, the large pink octagon is the base for our roses, the green circles are our leaves and I used my quilting ruler to trace 4 inch squares out of construction paper, the little slips left over I threw in our bookmark box.

we rounded the corners then drew a spiral in the squares, cut along that spiral and rolled it up, gave it a pinch and then glued it the our leaves.

We used the dessert plate to make Mary's garden 2 tiered.

We glued our roses on to the base, I put a book on top to hold them down in the glue to make sure they really stuck.

She said "mom, let me take your picture, you look beautiful" how could I say no to that :)

I sprayed a little craft glue all over it when we were done to be sure the roses really stuck, and the girls sprinkled glitter on the bottom roses. It was a fun afternoon craft and a wonderful center piece!

St. Mary pray for us

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Wordless Wednesday

2012-01-04T12:15:00.001-06:00

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Cherished Hearts at Home link-up

2012-01-03T23:47:00.001-06:00

Linking-up with Gae over at Cherished Hearts at Home, to list a few ways I am encouraging my family, and keeping my Heart at Home what are you doing this week to keep your Heart at Home?

After reading this wonderful post by Erica, I am trying to bless my children with yes!!!! And it is amazing how often I catch my self saying, no, no, no. I am so glad to have read that post. I want to encourage my children and I never thought about how much I say NO, or how much of a disheartening word it really is!

I am reading Lisa Hendey's book A Book of Saints for Catholic Moms And it looks like it is a wonderful book full of great ideas for moms and kids I can't wait to get started. We will be doing a few "rose" crafts in honor of our Blessed Mother. Along with praying the rosary.

I am keeping my dining room table clean and clear at all times. with the exception of some one actually sitting there doing something. But as soon as you stand up you need to take your things with you and put them away. This is actually part of my 3 in 30. But having a clear table means we can all sit down to eat every meal together, which to me is very important. It gives us time to just relax and talk and listen to each other.

I am un-friending a few people from my facebook. How does this help me to keep my Heart at Home you may ask? Well the people I am un-friending have VERY different views then our family. And although we have been friends for longer then some of my children have been alive :) it is time to part ways, I do not like who I am with them, some times because I get very angry with some of their posts, which causes my to be short with my family because I am so upset. Other times because their drama just spills into our home. Either way it does not let me be the light of Christ that I want to be. I also noticed that I am trying to change them because I feel it's my job to make them believe in God. And as 1 friend pointed out, "they already have a savior, and His name is Jesus Christ" ;) So I am giving it up to God, because he can do all things.
God bless

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Color Me Catholic, Roman Missal Activity Book

2012-01-03T22:46:00.002-06:00

We recieved a preview copy of the New Roman Missal Activity Book from Equipping Catholic Families to review. We started using it this past week on the first Sunday of the new year. (My plan had been to start it earlier but with holiday craziness we just didnt find the time :) The Activity contains 10 booklets that are printed out by you, then colored and cut for booklets by your childrten. And then taken to Mass so that they can keep track of what is going on. Each booklet has the Mass parts to follow along with and then on the flip side of the pages has a different theme, like "vestments" So that your children learn not only the Mass parts but also the common terms of the different places, and items used in the Mass. Over all I like the idea of these booklets. They are well drawn, easy to use, and informative .Each week we will color and review the new booklet in preperation foe Sunday's Mass. Once we have finished the 10 booklets we will continue to review the terms and and I am sure my 10 year old will continue to take them to church with her.y come with a little folder that you color to store your booklet. All that being said... here is my review for book 1...my 10 year old loved them and followed along easily with the booklet. All the children enjoyed coloring the bookletsand learning (or seeing who knew and who didnt know) the terms in them. My son was asked to serve when we got to church so he did not use it and my older daughter, almost 13 year old, flipped through her booklet before Mas started but did not use it during the service. My 10 year old, who is a missal user :) used the booklet through the Mass and liked it. So far I would say if your kid is a missal user , or uses thier Mass book then these would be great. But even if they do not use it during Mass, coloring the booklets, talking about it when you put them together, your children would still learn a great deal. So far I give this product 2 BIG thumbs up!! I will continue to post each Tuesday about the booklets we did for the Sunday past. Hopefully with pictures, but blogger has been acting very strange on my computer, so I didnt get the pictures loaded on. God bless

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

3in30 challenge

2012-01-01T17:48:00.001-06:00

#1. To clean and sort through my sewing supplies and make a project list with all my UFOs and

all the things I want to make and then matching that list with the fabric and the notions needed for each project. The remaining fabric will be packed in a box. And then I will repeat the processes each time my project list has been completed.

#2. To stay on schedule with our school work!!! This is a biggie. We are almost always off schedule for 1 reason or another. So part of this will be when it is school time we do school! I have created a schedule for our day and my challenge is to STICK to it!!! *Prayers appreciated :)

#3. To have the dining room table and living room clean and picked up each day before I go to bed. It is not a good start to the day when I have to spend 30 minutes cleaning up so we can eat breakfast or looking for my school planner so we can start school. And for whatever reason those 2 places always get cluttered.

Wish me luck :) are you doing 30 in 30? If you are I would love to hear what your 3 are. God bless

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

It's a new blog for a new year!

2012-01-01T17:44:00.000-06:00

After much thought I have decided I do not like the way I have handled my blog.

So I am going to change up my blogging style, hopefully for the better.

I also decided to

I need to brainstorm a little on my 3, so check back tomorrrow to find out what they are.

So I have decided to Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary se words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Ahhhh...

2011-12-22T21:17:00.001-06:00

On a much needed vacation! Been much to busy, going to do nothing but enjoy the family for the next week! Life will still be there when we get back :)

Happy St. Nicholas day!

2011-12-06T11:34:00.001-06:00

I hope every one has a very good Feast of St. Nicholas. Yesterday we went with CCW to sing and deliver gifts to 2 nursing homes
Santa was there
Then we (me and hubby) went to RCIA (I am helping out this year and hubby went for fun) and was given these brand new books by the best Deacon in the world!!! I also was taught a cool card thing from one of the other leaders that I will try to post tomorrow. Happy feast day!!!! Praise God in all things.
On a side note www.stnicholascenter.org has tons of cool things for kids to do and learn about St. Nicholas (the real deal St. Nicholas)

yummy dinners

2011-11-23T07:47:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to do a post on cooking easy healthy meals....

But I just have not gotten to it.

So I decided I would make 1 post with a bunch

of the pictures I had taken.

and just tell you what each meal was.

gluten free pancakes with fried apples and bananas

super veggie salad with bok choy and seasoned rice

baked spaghetti with spinach

radish salad made with veggies from our garden

we tried dragon fruit, we're not sure how we feel about it :)

gluten free pretzels

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

School Planners

2011-11-23T06:49:00.000-06:00

At the start of this school year we started using new school planners. This was a free download I had found from The Frugal Family. I printed out a planner for myself, which has space to write daily lesson plans for 3 children. And then I printed each child there own. There were several styles to choose from, and plenty of extras, like calendars, long range planning sheet, objectives sheets for each subject. I put in some of my own extras like, prayers in Latin, chore charts and schedules. After I printed them, took them to Office Max and had them spiral bound. So far the kids love them and so do I! I also makes it a little easier in that, it holds 180 lessons, so once the kids finish I know its time to start a new year. So they can work more at their own pace instead of all working at the same.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

New Roman Missal Activities For Kids

2011-11-11T19:46:00.000-06:00

We will be reviewing Color Me Catholic, The New Roman Missal,

next week, so stay tuned :)

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

week wrap up

2011-11-11T18:56:00.000-06:00

Wow this week (this year really) has flown by.

We managed to stay on track for the most part.

Which is good,

because that is a huge struggle for us.

We started a new school year,

with new school planners!!

We started our Thankful Tree, pictures later this weekend.

I have gotten a little Christmas shopping done.

I decided to shop on BLACK FRIDAY!!

Crazy I know!

Tomorrrow I will be helping a friend do some

lesson planning for her preschooler.

My youngest daughter will be going to sing

at open mic night for the 2nd time!!

Have a blessed weekend.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

It's been so long!

2011-11-10T14:15:00.001-06:00

It has been so long since I have posted anything, it seems like every time I have an idea for a post I either get swamped and am just super busy, or I am feeling under the weather! But I think we are finally in a good schedule, and I am feeling better. So I wanted to post all the things I had planned on, but it would take to long! So I might do 1 or 2 quick posts on some of the other things I had previously planned. But other wise my plan is to do 1-2 posts a week just jumping in where we are in life right now. Have a blessed day. A picture to share from our All Hallows Eve party. And a picture of my children with some children of 2 good friends.

2011-10-25T09:31:00.001-05:00

We have a slight interruption of our life skills series, we have a very sick mama! I have been fighting some thing, and yesterday afternoon it hit me like a truck. So I am going to rest, and pray to feel better soon. *prayers for health would be appreciated*

Monday's life skills

2011-10-24T08:53:00.001-05:00

Well today is the first day of my teaching life skills series. This is a break down of the things we will learn today.
#1 what are life skills? What life skills do you (the kids) think you need to be a successful adult?
#2 a review of cleaning the major spots in the house, floors carpet and hard, bathroom, dishes, and disinfecting.
Make sure to come back later for more details and pictures.

Life Skills schedule

2011-10-22T18:36:00.000-05:00

Ok, here is the schedule for our Life Skills series. (with a little healthy living thrown in)
Monday 10/24
Basics, what are life skills, what life skills do they want to learn, review life skills they have now (mainly cleaning as they have become lax in their chores :)
Tuesday 10/25
Vitamins, which ones they should take and why they need them (I will be going to the health food store this day so I might as well kill 2 birds), Shopping and budgets
Wednesday 10/26
Organization
Thursday 10/27
no school
Friday 10/28
Sewing, we have a co-op class I teach on Fridays already, so we will go with that theme
Monday 10/31
eating with the seasons, cooking and clean-up when you are done!!!! :)
Tuesday 11/1
Produce picking, how to tell if a fruit or veggie is ripe, more cooking and recipes, creating a recipe binder.
Wednesday 11/2
Cleaning supplies, how to make them, what to use when and stain removal.
Thursday 11/3
no school
Friday 11/4
Nutrition (Co-op Class)

I hope you come and enjoy this series with us, God bless and keep you,
Amy
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

New next week...

2011-10-21T17:19:00.000-05:00

I have been inspired, by all the ladies whose blogs I follow that are doing series of blog posts. And so I have decided that next week I will be doing a blog post series on "life skills". We are wrapping up our school year, as we have finished our 180 days. So I thought it would be fun to do a week or 2 on life skills. I will be posting a list over the weekend of what we will be doing each day. I will be blogging twice a day, once in the morning as to what our hopes are for the day, in a little more detail then the list I am posting this weekend, then again in the evening to show some pictures and tell you how things went :)
God Bless.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

40 days for life

2011-09-28T14:36:00.000-05:00

Today started 40 days for life, so we went to the local planned parenthood, and PRAYED. We stayed about 2 hours, we talked with a few other people there to pray. We watched several girls going in to have their abortions. We watched the medical waste truck come to pick up what the planned parenthood officals tell their clients is "waste", but is really the small broken bodies of many, many babies. All in all 17 girls had abortions at that clinic today. But each girl had people pray for her, and her baby. As emotional as it was, we will be going back often, during the 40 days for life and after.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Great post by The Modest Mom

2011-09-23T11:56:00.000-05:00

A great post from The Modest Mom

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

some this and that

2011-09-21T10:23:00.000-05:00

Whew...where has the time gone?? We are almost done with September! I have not posted in so long I do not know if I should try and catch up and write all the posts I had planned on or just skip it and jump in where we are now? In the mean time THIS is 1 of the things keeping me busy, THIS is another. I found them both HERE, and I found the link from THIS site. Have a blessed day.
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

I got a new book :)... and poison ivy :(

2011-07-27T23:12:00.000-05:00

I will start with a warning, PLEASE always wear long pants, nylons, a long skirt, knee high socks, something that covers your legs fully whenever you go geocaching with your family! Poison ivy is no fun!!!
Now for the fun stuff, I bought a new book, it was very cheap being it was a "hurt" book from IGNATIUS Press, it is titled Designing your own Classical Curriculum by Laura M. Berquist. It looks very interesting. All of the children have subjects that they will be finishing mid-year, and I have been leaning towards a "classical" education, I figured as they finished subjects we would flow in to a curriculum I will make using this book as a guide. The way I figure it I will have this home school thing down by the time the have graduated. ;)

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Feast days and meal planning

2011-07-16T11:29:00.000-05:00

I was just over at Catholic Cuisine, getting tons of ideas for my next month of meal planning, if you have not checked it out, go right now! it has super fun recipes. while I was doing this I was also texting a friend who was kind of shocked I plan a whole month at a time. She said she just wings it each day. I was amazed, "how do you know what to buy" "how do you know what to take out of the frezzer" "what if you want are making tacos and realize you have no cheese" these are the questions running through my mind. But I am a planner, and I could not wing it, it would stress me out, and add to my spending. She has no problem winging it, and either goes without cheese or runs to pick it up. What kind of shopper/meal maker are you?

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Blessed Kateri

2011-07-14T10:12:00.000-05:00

Today is the feast day of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, and over at Holy Heros they have a free coloring book download, and who doesn't like free!! Enjoy and have a truely blessed feast day, Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha pray for us

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

becuase I like to see what other people are eating...

2011-07-12T14:40:00.000-05:00

Yesterday I went and raided our garden of everything that was ready, these two bowls are full of about 3 different kinds of radishes, some jalapeno peppers, and onions, not pictures was the cucumbers, turnips, spinach and green beans. We are trying to eat a much more natural diet, we have been slacking in our food choices lately. So I needed what to make with all of this so it didn't go to waste...

This is the veggie salad we had with dinner, it is radishes, cucumbers, onions, carrots and tomatoes (carrots and radishes are not from our garden)

These are the green/burgundy beans from our garden, I lightly steamed them and they turned out like this...

The kids thought it was pretty cool that they turn green when cooked, so did I ;)

Then I made mostacolli and put spinach in some, but really could have put it in more, because I had planned on only me wanting some, but my son wanted it and older daughter would have too if there had been enough.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

giving encouragemnet for the everyday

2011-07-10T16:45:00.001-05:00

So I saw some cute little cards the other day with little sayings like, God is crazy about you... I just think you are crazy, and, God loves you for just being you... and so do I. they were the 99 cent small cards but when I saw them I instantly thought AHA!! What a great thing to stock up on and give to your kids when they least expect it, like slip a card in their pj drawer so when they go to get ready for bed they find it, or slip it in their math book if you know they have a hard time with the lesson. You get the point. I will have to take some pictures of the cards and the little gifts I plan to slip in some of them for an even extra special pick me up... when I get them, I saw them when the kiddos were with me. Giving your kids encouragement in the everyday is so important,
"you should praise a child 10 times more then you correct them"- Michelle Duggar

**edited for spell check, I was typing really fast and then hit post**

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

food shopping, in the desert....

2011-07-10T12:38:00.000-05:00

After reading what Melissa had to say here, I realized we live in a food desert, while I have the means to drive ands shop elsewhere, unlike the people Melissa talks about in her post, it is a pain to drive 30 minutes or more 1 way, then shop and drive back home. I would much prefer if I could even get most of my food closer to home and maybe only do a once a month "travel" shopping. SO.... I headed over to ALDI the other day, now I have shopped at ALDI before, but never with the mindset of can this be a replacment place to shop? More often I see fruit or veggies in the flyer on sale and run to grab just those things. But here is what I found,
1st our ALDI is SMALL, so the selection was not good and I did not find anything in the "pantry" or frezzer sections that I would buy.
2nd I was happily surprised on the amount of fruits and veggies they had and they were super cheap.
Bananas $0.93 for 7
Strawberries $0.99 or a pound
Limes $0.99 for 7
Cantaloupe $0.99 each
Tomatoes $1.49 for 7
Green Peppers $0.99 for 3
I bought more, but you get the jist... Now I would still need do go some where else for most of the shopping that I would need to do, but I could run in to ALDI for fruit and veggies and it is only a few blocks away and it is a easy in out type of store.
On the other hand I stopped at HYVEE while my son had an appointment and boy howdy do they have an awesome "health" food section. I used to shop there when we lived in Iowa, and they just built on close to us, and by close I mean 1 hour away. My other option in Woodmans, they have an awesome selection of anything and are pretty cheap. but the are 40 minutes away, But if I was only going once a month, that would not be that bad. my other choices would be Wal-Mart, But I pretty much hate them, so I only go when I HAVE to. We also have a Target and a Jewel, both that I shop at but are not for everyday shopping if you are trying to be frugal :)

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

going into the desert...

2011-07-05T09:17:00.000-05:00

after reading Melissa's post here, I realized I live in a food desert, although I can drive and in anywhere from 30-60 minutes be at a store that sells good, organic food that is a long drive round trip plus the time of shopping, cost of gas etc... plus the stores are pretty pricey. So we grow a garden to help somewhat and make do or buy whatever, even if it is not something I would normally buy, coupons don't help much because I got on a kick of buying whatever I got a good deal on, which equals crap food, with a son who has food intolerance's I really need to watch what we eat especially after a vacation at my moms where he ate whatever and now feels like junk!!! so I am off to ALDI to see what I can find, they are about 5 blocks from us, and then to the new HYVEE while my son has a therapy appointment, I am trying to combine trips and time as much as possible!!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Sewing link

2011-07-05T08:03:00.000-05:00

I just found the funnest sewing project link up here, they have already started and are about 1/2 way done, but I think I am going to start at the beginning and have my girls do it with me, which means it may take way longer then planned in the link up, but it looks like a blast.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Patron Saints/Names for your home school

2011-07-05T07:15:00.000-05:00

This is a good post on the patron saints/names for your home school. We named our school Sacred Heart of Jesus Learning Center, mainly because I would like us all to keep Jesus as our main focus and I really like the pictures of His Sacred heart, which has lead us to have a special devotion to Jesus and His Sacred heart :) and we are a learning center NOT a school because I wanted to teach my children to learn, to love learning and to be able to learn on their own, now and for the rest of their lives, and so calling ourselves a learning center helps me to remember why I am doing this. We do not have a permanent patron saint, we rotate yearly, and we let the kids write a report on which saint they think we should have, the best report wins. We take in to account the child's age and skill level when writing, and supply them with books to get facts and dates from. this year we have, St. Maximilian Kolbe. We will be choosing a new saint next week. This lets us learn in depth about new saints and celebrate them in a special way. What do you call your school? Who is your patron saint?

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

thinking out of the grade level box...

2011-07-04T21:25:00.000-05:00

thinking outside of the grade level box
here is a link to a link, both are very good blogs, which is why I am linking to the the first one who linked to the second one, enjoy and good night!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Oh boy....

2011-07-04T18:49:00.000-05:00

Ugh, after months of trying to make all of our stuff work in our little apartment I give up! It will not work, not at all. I have to much, plain and simple. I asked my husband to bring home boxes from work and I am packing up all things not needed in the next few months, (our lease is up in November and we will be doing a month to month lease while we look for a house to rent) we may need to live with out books, and most of the toys, fancy kitchen do-dads but the space will be worth it!!!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

uuhhh.......

2011-06-25T16:40:00.000-05:00

I so hate it when I am wrong, especially when it is because I did not look at something good enough... While making my lesson plans for the girls history, I noticed that the book on google books is not complete like I had thought. I had skimmed through it and thought it was all there, but about every other chapter it is missing pages. I was just so happy about finding it that I did not pay enough attention to the books. So now I need to decide do I bite the bullet and spend the $80 for the books? I really want them... but $80 is a lot. I have 2 Christian American history books, I could use either 1 of those, but I had really wanted to use Catholic books.... oh what to do....

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

This years curriculum

2011-06-25T13:02:00.000-05:00

Well here is or lesson plans/curriculum so far. I think I have everything we need and I am hoping that in writing this I will not discover things I forgot :)

I would usually wait to switch books and curriculum until the start of our new year, January 1st, but we have finished early or come to a point in the curriculum where I thought, "wait we need to go back and start over because you are NOT getting this as much as I feel you should". And I am not very concerned about what "grade" they are in, we just move on as we finish and continue in a progressive order. So I am just putting their age and not a grade level for each child, but I will put a grade level for the books. Also this does not include crafty, read a louds and field trips, those are planned weekly. We also only have 4 basic subjects, english, math, history and science. We do Bible/prayer/Catechism together daily. I also included prices and places I got the books to give you an idea of how much we spend for a school year.

Claire age 10

Math- Arithmetic 4 curriculum this is a review unit for her, we had been doing a 6th grade book, but fractions and more so decimals were a struggle. I got this curriculum (teacher workbook key I am just going through and writing the problems in a spiral notebook, my grandpa gives us about 25 each year, for her to use as her "workbook"and teacher lesson book that I will use for the daily teaching lessons) for free at a book sale and decided to just start over, we will be flying through this book just because most of it she has down, but thought it would be more beneficial to start at the beginning and I really like ABEKA.

History- From Sea to Shining Sea grades 5-9 American History from Ignatius Press we will be doing this a combined class with Maria. I found the book on google books and the teachers edition up to chapter 6, but that gives me time to either find the teachers book cheap or go through and make my own tests.

Science- Science Order and Reality, grade 7, I really like ABEKA books they seem to flow nicely and are easy to use. Claire has not done a science curriculum before she has done unit studies in the past, but looking through this book she has already learned about most of the units, so she will be expanding what she knows. This is another book (just the student book) I got off the free table at the last book sale I went to.

English- Literature and the Language Arts this is a grade 6 textbook that is full of short stories, it focus on reading comprehension and vocabulary and writing skills. I got his curriculum (student book, teacher book and answer key) from my dad, my brother who was home schooled never used it.

Claire age 10 at least 1 year of lessons; cost free

Maria age 12

Math- Saxon 6/5 grade 6, I love Saxon math, I always use Saxon (except for Clarie's review bc I got the ABEKA free) I got this student textbook free from a book sale. We will do 1 lesson a day, Maria was just not as strong as I wanted her to be for math. We will supplement with some of the free resources on the Saxon website.

History- From Sea to Shining Sea grades 5-9 American History from Ignatius Press we will be doing this a combined class with Claire. I found the book on google books and the teachers edition up to chapter 6, but that gives me time to either find the teachers book cheap or go through and make my own tests.

Science- Matter and Motion in God's Universe grade 8 ABEKA. I got this student book from a friend. Maria also has done only unit studies in the past but I like that ABEKA mixes reading and hands on in their books so I think she will enjoy this book.

English- Grammar and Composition I grade 7. I have the teacher book and student book, I got both from my dad unused.

Maria age 12 at least 1 year of lessons: cost free

Pio age 13

Math- Saxon 8/7 grade 8 with pre-algebra. another set of books (teachers, student and test) I got from my dad, we will do 1-2 lessons a week. Depending on how Pio does in the teacher instructed lesson, if he gets it we usually just do part of the mixed practice, if he needs more time to work with it we do the lesson practice and all of mixed practice

History- Christ the King, Lord of History this is a 2 year curriculum book for 9th and 10th grade and is world history. I got he book off a Catholic curriculum swap Yahoo group for $13 including shipping. And found the workbook for it on a Catholic book website, it is in a down loadable/printable form but I will probably just have him answer the questions in a spiral notebook instead of printing it all out (we are all about being ~~cheap~~ frugal around here)

Science- Exploring Creation with Biology High School grades, I have never used anything from Apologia but this is a computer based curriculum, all of the lessons are on that computer disk that runs on Internet explorer and has hands on experimentsPio will answer in a notebook so we can cut out printing costs. This is a really in depth curriculum and I am excited to use it. I only wish it had a timeline of how long each study unit will take. I did not take biology in high school and I am unsure of how easy/hard it will be for Pio, so I do not know how to plan my lessons.

English- Themes in Literature grade 9 (another free table find) similar to Claire's book this is a collection of short stories, poems and the like the are read and have vocabulary and comprehension questions along with each story. It also has writing assignments that go along with each story, so if it is a biography the student might need to write a biography. All assignments are short and able to be done in a day. It also has a timed out loud reading section so once every 9 weeks you can test their reading speed which for me is not a big deal but some people like it. Aslo the teacher book is outlined very well as far as lesson plans, easy to implement.

Pio age 13 at least 1 year of lessons: cost $13

So for 1 year of home school curriculum for 3 children I spent $13 on textbooks. On craft items and printer ink I spend around $100 a year. I try to ask for craft items, glue and that sort of thing from my in-laws who like to by the kids "back-to-school" stuff. And depending on what I find at Good Will and garage sales that number might go down, or up if I have a pricey craft that I have to buy all the items for at a regular store. So all in all not a bad cost considering that school fees in our district are between $160 and $200 a child depending on grade.

I hope you enjoyed seeing what we are up to. :)
Amy

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

uuggghhh.......

2011-06-20T16:25:00.000-05:00

Ughh.... I havebeen busier than a 1 legged man in a.... well you get it, I have all these pposts in my head ready to go, now just to find the time to jot them down. I am hoping that after VBS this week I will be able to get to it, May God bless you all in these wonderful summer months.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

sorry....

2011-06-14T08:50:00.000-05:00

Sorry to anyone that was wanting to see/read the posts I had said I was going to post last week, I was in Michigan with my mom and did not have wifi, ssooo after I get unpacked today I will be posting the link up with raising arrows (if it,s not to late) and the school posts about our upcoming year. have a great day,

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2011-06-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

Well my pots will have to wait until next week, no wifi while on vacation. :( Have a turely BLESSED! week, :)
+JMJ+

???????

2011-06-05T15:55:00.000-05:00

Really the 10 worst toys ever, I saw this and could not believe that this was real. please do not click the link with children present. But this speaks volumes to what is wrong with the world today, with companies making these and worse, parents buying them, we really need to PRAY!!!!! for children and families.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Well...

2011-06-03T17:58:00.000-05:00

Well I was going to do a nice post that I had all planned out in my head but... We went and unloaded a truck and helped fill bags for the local food pantry, and then went to play at the park with our homeschool group, in the 100 degree sunny hotness. Came home and I am beat. we all took a cold shower to cool off and I was going to cook dinner but I think pizza might be a better choice. Which will please my son to no end! Have a great weekend everyone. I plan on doing posts next week out our orginazation, and school plans, so come check me out starting Monday, and starting Wednesday join me in a link up with Amy from Raising Arrows and Caroline from Modest Mom, for She Wears Skirts, where they are inviting all ladies who chose to to show a weeks worth of their skirt outfits. Can't wait!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Top Ten Tuesday- Sewing Projects

2011-05-31T20:33:00.000-05:00

This Top Ten is my sewing projects that I am working on right know. Complete with pictures : ) my list is in no order, other then what came to mind first. All projects are in various stages of completion, so you may have to use your imagination on some... but it might get me working harder on some of them so I can do a follow up post. And if you want to join the Top Ten fun, head over to ohamanda to link up.

#1 This little jacket and matching dress and purse for a way too cute 2 year old I know.

#2 I used a old woman's knit top to make this little skirt, and the matching top is an up cycled girls top also for that cute 2 year old.

#3 These quilt squares will one day keep me and the hubby warm on cold winter nights while we watch our shows in bed.

#4 This is an up cycled ladies polo shirt. I just took the sleeves and narrowed the chest a little, Viola a 3T polo dress

#5 I plan on taking in this 2X men's t-shirt and making it a M ladies T

#6 This is a skirt for my older daughter, the white with stars is a band at the bottom of the skirt, I just need to put a waist band on it.... and maybe some pockets

#7 This red white and blue will be a little girls sundress

#8 These 2 little dresses just need the bodice lining put in, add some buttons and button holes and call them done!

#9 I plan on making place mats for the girls with this, they will each have a plain color back, to match the green and pink.

#10 this is a skirt that we found at the GoodWill that was to big, and to long, sooo I chopped off the top and will add a lining and an elastic waistband.

So that is what I have been, and will be working on this week. How about you?
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

"Hearts at Home"

2011-05-30T21:59:00.000-05:00

This is my first "Hearts at Home" post... So for a "Hearts at Home" post if you don't know all ready is a post in which you list 4-6 things that you do, or will be doing this week to encourage yourself and other stay at home moms to keep your "Hearts at Home" put on by Gae over at Cherished Hearts at Home. So on with my post...

This week I will be working on our lesson plans for the fall (and if I am real lucky I might get all the way til spring done) I will be incorporating more crafts and meal prep/planning for my girls and more hobbyish stuff fr my son.

I will continue to pray for help having a gracious and thankful heart, by not letting my grumpies show through when doing housework I don't like, grumbling because it's hot, or being in a mood because my husband is running late coming home from work, instead I will try to focus on the positive of each situation, at least I have a house to clean, it could be cold : ) , and so on.

I am reworking our chore and school schedule so that we have a bit more free time during the day, and more "quick clean" times so that instead of doing a huge block of chores we will be breaking it up through out the day.

I have made some new goals for myself to always have the dishes washed and put away before I leave the house and before I go to bed, and to have the house picked up before my husband comes home each day. These are some things that I think make me feel better which in turn makes me in a better mood and that just flows though to every one else : )

What are you doing this week to keep your "Heart at Home"?

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Smart Martha's, a book review

2011-05-30T17:24:00.000-05:00

Smart Martha's Catholic Guide for Busy MomsSmart Martha's Catholic Guide for Busy Moms a book by Tammi Kiser
Over all this book was a easy read, with chapters like, Toys 'R' Taking Us Over, which gives you suggestions about keeping toys under control through which toys are meaningful, and how to organize them, and From T-Ball To Trombone, a chapter on how to keep track of all the kids activities. I would recommend this book to any mom, weather they are looking for a organizational book or not, it gives good hints for Catholic moms, without being SO Catholic that other Christan moms could not read it and use the techniques. Her techniques would work well if you have 1 toddler or 10 kids of multiple ages. She just throws out what has worked for her family, 9 kids and a husband. I linked to her web page up top along with a link to Amazon.com, top link. So go out and grab this book or rent it from your local library and see if you can be a Smart Martha!!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

it's been soooo long

2011-05-24T07:26:00.000-05:00

It has been so long since I posted on my poor neglected blog. So many posts I want to write... I do have a book review to do on a really good book, and hope to have it posted by tomorrow night. until then I am going to do a quick link up with The Simple Woman's Daybook

Outside my window... The sun is up and shining, it is going to be a gorgeous day
I am thinking... That it has been way to long since I was at Adoration and glad I was feeling good when I got up this morning so I could go.
I am thankful for... My family and the time we spend together and My Faith
From the learning rooms... We are gearing to slow down for the summer, we go year round, but once May hits we get shorter and shorter days. Today after a quick math lesson and Bible time we will be taking a family bike ride/picnic.
From the kitchen... Bread! yummy, after we all get home I will be baking some bread, but it has been to warm to do to much cooking, sandwich and salad weather I call it ; )
I am wearing... I light weight black with colorful designs skirt and a t-shirt
I am creating... SSSOOOO much sewing happening over here. Dresses and skirts, some gaucho pants for bike riding, and costumes for VBS
I am going... to get my lists together and do some grocery shopping, no extreme couponing this week, but I will be couponing, : )
I am reading... A couple of books, Consoling the Heart of Jesus, is 1 of them.
I am hoping... For a good day, we have a lot to do and I hope we can do it and have fun at the same time.
I am hearing... My youngest, she is giving her horse a check-up and being very quite so she doesn't wake anyone else up.
Around the house... Sewing, sewing, some more sewing, gardening, biking, cleaning and some school thrown in for good measure.
One of my favorite things... Silly kids
A few plans for the rest of the week: Babysitting a fun pair of twins, as much school as we can squeeze in to maybe get a head, a lot of outdoor time and of course some sewing.
Here is picture for thought I am sharing... Me and my son at the flea market on Sunday.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

54%

2011-04-12T18:56:00.000-05:00

So I have been couponing and today is the first day that I did a "good" job, I have saved a couple of bucks in hte past but today I saved 54% over all. I hit 5 stores and saved more at some then others.

Target; I spent $7.93 before coupoms, after coupons I spent $7.01

Pet Smart; before coupons $27.37 after $8.37

Walgreens before coupons, $55.94 after $21.10

Jewel before coupons $143.35 after $78.53

Woodmans, $79.10 (this is a guess bc of the clearance fruit I bought, I did not look to see how much full price was I just figured $1 apiece for mangos, avacadoes and 3/$1 for kiwi.) after $57.90

Total I spent $320.69 before coupons and after coupons I spent $146.41 for a total savings of 54% not as good as the ladies on "Extreme Couponing" but pretty darn good.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Happy Feast

2011-03-25T12:24:00.002-05:00

Happy Feast of the Annunication!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Smart Martha's Catholic Guide for Busy Moms

2011-03-24T16:56:00.000-05:00

I just recieved my copy of Smart Martha's Guide for Busy Moms. I can't wait to start reading it!

Thank you to Fr. Longenecker for sending me this book to review.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2011-03-22T19:55:00.001-05:00

I have to say we might have some of the coolest priests ever. The priest singing is not "our" priest. We do have Marian priests at our parish and our parish priest is in several of the pictures, and we know many of the other priests pictured.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

"Mary's Sons" Music Video (Performed by Giuseppe Mignano and Br. Brent T...

2011-03-22T19:55:00.000-05:00

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Mother daughter tea

2011-03-20T20:30:00.000-05:00

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

chore packs

2011-03-19T16:16:00.000-05:00

I made the kids each thes packs as there schedules. So each day starts with their name,

then the day,

then their bathroom and bedroom things that get done each morning,

as they do each thing they put it to the back of the stack, in the clear pocket.
each item in the pack follows the same time line as our daily schedule, these just have all the details,

whn you make it back to your name you are done! That way if I am working with someone else there is no one inturupting saying, "do I do all the questions for my math?" So far everyone likes them, They like being able to look ahead and see what they have to do exactly, for each subject.

and they can wear them, so no misplacing them.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Lenten simplifing

2011-03-19T15:55:00.000-05:00

So here is a list of things for our Lenten simplifing. In addtion to this things I am also tring to really think things through that I buy, even little things. I am not running to the store, unless it really is needed, inbetween grocery visits. I pared down how much food I make for each meal, we were thrwing away more leftovers then I care to admit. I want this to not just be a Lenten donation, but a lifestyle change where we are not focusing on "things" or spending more time then needed dealing with our "things"

each day we will go trough and clear out the unwanted/needed things from these areas.
3-19 vhs/dvd movies, books
3/20 nightstands
3/21 school books
3/22 games
3/24 pots and pans
3/25 stuffed animals
3/26 dresser drawers
I will also be clearing out my facebook "like pages". I deleted 118 blogs that I did not read on a regular basis.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

simplify, simplify, simlify

2011-03-19T15:37:00.000-05:00

We are taking this Lenten season to simplify our lives. Last year we did a variation of 40 days 40 bags. This year we are just going to pick 1 area/thing to go through each day. The other day I went through my clothes and was shocked to see that after getting 2 boxes, of just tops, together for donation/garage sale that I still had more tops then anyone person needs. I am especially mindful of how much we have as we pray for those in Japan who have lost everything. In today's society of more more more, oh wait I need that too, I really want to teach my children that we need to keep our eyes on the prize, Jesus! but then I go through my clothes and remember that I struggle very much with the more, more, more myself. And that I need to keep my eyes on the prize, Jesus, and teach by example more then words.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

maple syurp

2011-03-19T15:24:00.000-05:00

Today we went maple syrup tapping.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Free copy of "Smart Martha's Catholic guide for busy moms"

2011-03-15T16:00:00.000-05:00

Last time I checked there was still 1 copy left, here. All you need to do is donate an amount of your choice for shipping and handling, and then review it on your blog.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

ugh...

2011-03-15T08:56:00.000-05:00

First I would like to say thank you for the prayers, my b-i-l is doing pretty good. He is still in the hospital and will be for a while. We got home in thime for the craft show I had signed up for. Which was a total bust, but more on that another time. The girls had been a little under the weather last week and by the end of Mass Saturday it had hit me like a ton of bricks. I am out of bed which is something. More later when we are feeling better.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

prayer request

2011-03-11T00:37:00.000-06:00

Prayer request,
My husbands brother suffered a stroke yesterday morning. If you could please say a prayer. We are currently in Iowa to spend time with my husbands family. May God bless you durning this Lenten season.
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Hello Tuesday

2011-03-08T07:54:00.000-06:00

Good morning all,
on todays agenda,
Mass, for me and Pio, the girls have mighty big colds so they will stay home with dad
handwriting today will be The Confetior
history/geography will be a PBS movie on India, we will watch part 1 of a 6 part series
english will be their reading book and the literary guuide workbook 30 minutes on each
fine arts will be reproducing a Fra Angelico painting and using it as illunanation writting, write the corisponding prayer or Bible verse. Pictures to follow. This is something that is so fun to do.
Have a blessed day.

Oh, while reading my morning blogs I read this, I give it a big boo!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

so much...

2011-03-07T20:42:00.000-06:00

Oh so much to say... I have been doing a lot of praying about this blog, I love to read the blogs I follow and I love to write posts. I just don't feel like I am a good post writer. Sooo...
I will be trying a few different things with my posts until I find my niche.

Today we started our new schedule. Not too different from what we did before, I just moved around a few lessons for a better flow, I have also been reading and looking at different time/schedule keepers for the kids to keep track of things like their chores, groups, practices etc...
I think we will be going with a homemade version of this

new schedule
M-F
9:00 prayer
9:15-9:45 bible/religion
9:45 handwriting
10:00 M math TU history/geography W Blue Army prayer group TH math F math
11:30 M english TU english W history/geography TH history/geography F english
M-F
12:30 lunch
1:00 free time
2:30 M science TU fine arts W science TH fine arts F science

right now we attend a home school group on Friday afternoons, so we either do science before if time or after, but as that schedule will be changing to meet only 1 Friday a month I figured no need to have it be part of the schedule, we will just do our work before, after or Saturday morning. Or maybe just skip our lessons that day.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

: P

2011-02-27T22:12:00.000-06:00

Well my week long post was a bust, I was just way to busy then I came down with a terrible migraine and spent 3 days in bed. But we did go to Iowa to my in-laws for Pio's 13th birthday! Happy birthday Pio!!

Pio and his cousin, who according to him likes him very. : ) well I am off to print some coupons, I am trying to extreme coupon! wish me luck.
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

A.l.t.a.r. prayer books

2011-02-20T15:31:00.000-06:00

These are the A.l.t.a.r. prayer books we made the other day. On the front we wrote "my prayer book" and decorated it however they wanted, on the inside the left page had a large A or l or a you get the picture, then on the right page at the top we wrote what that letter stood for adoration, love and so on under that we wrote a prayer asking God to help us in that area or a prayer adoring, love etc... God. We then put a small picture at the bottom, and Voila! All done. God bless,

A. adoration
L. love
T. thanks
A. ask
R. reconcile

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2011-02-20T15:21:00.000-06:00

Maria got new sunglasses, she is loving them!
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Saturday, day 3

2011-02-19T10:26:00.000-06:00

Saturday day 3, Today started out by me waking up late, I don't know what it is about this week but the only day I didn't wake up late was Tuesday, which I guess is all that really matters because Tuesday I have Adoration. Although I spent more then half the time talking to the lady that is there before me, long story short she is the Adoration cordinator, and I am her parish council representative, and we use our old church as a Adoration chapel, but like everywhere money is tight and we might not be keeping it. Sssoooo, she was letting me know how the people who attend Adoration feel about that. But that's nothing to do with nothing. Anyway, I got up and started some laundry grabbed Maria and flew out the door to go to walmart before my husband had to leave for work. came home and threw a bowl of cereal at the starving children sitting around my table. And now to start sewing. Way to much to do and only about 3 weeks until the craft show. Yikes!! The children are playing quietly for now ; )

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

disturbing

2011-02-19T09:53:00.000-06:00

I found this link over here at RealChoice, and found it very interesting that the places that had "low" compliance would be places that would be considered to be places of "low" education.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

sb 136

2011-02-18T20:56:00.000-06:00

I had heard from someone about this, but did not have the details, we do not have cable, only listen to 2 radio stations. so now that we have internet I looked into it. It is tabled for now. But...
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Thursday part 2

2011-02-18T16:40:00.000-06:00

Well I never even started the post for Thursday part 2 until Friday afternoon, : ) but we did not do much we made a prayer book, with the A.l.t.a.r. prayers. Adoration, love, thanks, ask, reconcile. And some more quite reading. And I do not remember what else! And so for today we have not done much, me and Maria went to Joann fabric to get some things for a up coming craft show. They were having a big Presidents sale so they were super busy.so it much longer then I thought even though I new it would be busy and allowed more time then usual. so we got home had a late lunch. and watched The Little Princess, with Shirley Temple. And I plan on going through a couple of folders of school stuff. We will doing a couple of things after dinner, just what I am not sure yet.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Day 2 Thursday part 1

2011-02-17T16:31:00.000-06:00

Day 2 of our week, morning
We got up late again! Opened the curtins only to see a dreary overcast day,

eat some cearel for breakfast, and while the kids did room clean up I downloaded some things, and joted down some ideas for the up coming Lenten season. Then it was time for chores.
We finally got started with our school work at about 10 a.m.
we started we handwriting, I will put a different bible verse on the board and they will copy it, they also do 1 letter a day, so today was O they will fill their page with O words, in cursive. Then personal Bible reading and study, they each do this on their own schedule, that they make on their own. They just need to spend about 15 minutes reading the Bible and thinking about they read. Pio does a Bible in a year, Maria reads a chapter a day and she started in Genisis, and Clare reads a chapter a day and alternates between old and new testaments, while we listened to Fr. Corapi. Then while the kids got out their literary guide books and had 20 minutes of reading, I cleaned the cat litter.

after we did our reading, we got started with math, the girls use a combination of math workbooks and texts books, all range from 4th to 6th grade and they are books that were giving to me, so we just go back and forth with which ever book explains it better, and then I just tear out the wokbook pages that go along with that lesson. Pio is in Saxon math 8/7 prealgebra. we then worked in our science notebook. for that we read from any number of books on whatever we are learning about right now it is the sun. (we will continue with the sun until we feel we learned enough, no real time schedule for science just a order) then the kids will right down a certine number of facts, today it was 2 and draw a picture to go along with it. and teh notebook is just a spiral 70 page notebook. then lunch and free time.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Matt Maher - Hold us together with lyrics

2011-02-17T15:04:00.000-06:00

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

A week in our life day 1, Wednesday

2011-02-17T09:45:00.000-06:00

I have been wanting to do a day in our life kind of post, but each day of the week is so drastically different from the next I think that making it a day by day week in our life would be the best way to show the thngs I want to show.

Wednesday 2-16
I let everyone wake up slowly and everyone, including me slept in a little bit. I got up at 8 a.m. did my pilates and started breakfast. I went grocery shopping yesterday and got tons of fresh fruits and veggies on clearance. (not as bad as it sounds ; ) so for breakfast I sliced; mangos, apples, kiwi and green and yellow peppers. then we all got dressed and ready for Blue Army, then I spent way too much time talking to one of the other ladys after we got done so we didn't get in the door til noon. We got started with lunch right away, and had sandwiches and snack crackers. After lunch was cleaned up we did our daily chores and got bedrooms cleaned up. Then it was time to get ready for C.C.D. So I quickly cut some fruit and veggies so that when my husband picked the kids up from choir, which they have right after C.C.D. they could come home and make some sandwiches and pull out the fruit and veegies and Voila! dinner. I stayed at church for a parish council meeting and talked to the same lady way to long and didn't walk through the door until almost 11 p.m. Wednesday is always a crazy day with not much in the way of "learning" God bless.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Gratituesday, and back on the internet

2011-02-15T22:03:00.000-06:00

Today I am grateful for my wonderful husband who got me a new laptop and the internet. So that I might better be able to blog, surf the web, and find fun and nifty home schooling ideas. I will say that I do enjoy being able to sit in bed and catch up on my favorite blogs, like this one or find super fun game ideas like this one, I really can't wait to try that one. But most of all I am grateful for the little things, the kids, love, a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. God bless you all.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2011-02-03T11:47:00.001-06:00

Happy feast of St. Blaise everyone.
+JMJ+

2011-01-29T22:19:00.001-06:00

Well we should have a new computer and internet in the next 1-3 weeks, can't wait to start blogging regularly again.
+JMJ+

Who knew...

2011-01-10T15:42:00.000-06:00

Who knew that finding info on lions and gorillas would be so hard! We are doing a unit study on Africa and as part of it we are studying lions and gorillas, I have been all over our library, other librarys and the internet and am having a real tough time finding anatomy worksheets or books on their anatomy? Can't wait to get a new computer so I can start blogging more often and add pictures, the kids would also like to start blogging more, but it is just tough when we are at the library and only have so much time. We have started looking at computers and are trying to figure out what will work best for us, along with finding an internet provider in our area, seeing how we just moved and it is a bigger town with more choices. Hope everyone has a good week.
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Sooo much to post, soooo little time

2011-01-06T12:17:00.000-06:00

I have so much that I want to blog about and so much fun school stuff to post, but... with no computer at home it is hard to do, we are hoping to have a new computer this month or next. We have started our new school year, we go from January to December. We have been doing crafts for the Holy name of Jesus, cards to hand out magnets to give to family and friends, We made some sarki (sp) which are just African maracas. We used paper mache and as soon as it is dry we will paint them in African style painting. We have spent most of today at the library, looking at books and playing on the internet, but is about lunch time and we should be getting home, so as soon asap I will post more and some pictures. : )
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Merry Christmas

2010-12-20T11:11:00.002-06:00

Merry Christmas to all!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2010-12-13T17:41:00.001-06:00

Super cold temps outside, check! Sloppy deer and fries 4 dinner, check! Jiffy pop popcorn, check! Toy Story 3, check! Awesome family night, double check!
+JMJ+

Snow!!!

2010-12-04T12:32:00.000-06:00

We have snow! And I love it. I am one of those weird peole who hates to be cold but LOVES the snow?!?! Go figure. We got up early bundled up and walked over to the old church where we prayed the Rosary with our Blue Army group and then walked over to the new church and participated in Mass. Went over to the rectory for breakfast with the Fathers. My son shoveled a path from the old church to the rectory and from the rectory to the new church. We are now at the library getting some things for next weeks lessons and having a little internet time. Then we will be off, back to home for a late lunch, and some Saturday lessons. And some board games later on. Tomorrow will be a packed day of Mass in the morning, then helping to sort presents for the food pantry that the church collected, then getting things set up for out multi-faith Christmas choir service that our church is hosting this year. It is a great event, each year a different church hosts it, with treats served after. And all the church's choirs sing and each priest/minister reads a part of the Christmas story. My children will be singing again with the childrens choir. I love it! Have a good start to the 2nd week of Advent!

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

homeschool resources

2010-11-18T13:47:00.000-06:00

I just stumbled on That Resource Site and it is awesome! lots of the stuff is for younger kids, but you could use it as a start point for ideas if your kids are a little older, or if you teach ccd. have a happy thanksgiving,

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Wow,

2010-11-06T12:39:00.000-05:00

Wow, lots happening over here at teaching saints. We had a big move to a new town, only about 20 minutes away from where we were before but we downsized A LOT which meant a lot of going through and getting rid of for all! And in the middle of it all I planned a All Hallows Eve party for church. which thanks to some very creative priests was a HUGE hit. we had about 150 kids and everyone had a great time. And that was a the end of a long, and very busy summer. So much for a quiet fall, lol. but we are now settling into a normal routine again, Praise be to God!! So I hope to be blogging more often. May God Bless you during this month of thanksgiving. And don't forget to pray for those in purgatory. We went to a awesome remembrance mass last night. and we will be doing this awesome craft on Tuesday, from Waltzing Matilda. She really has some of the coolest ideas. enjoy.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2010-09-10T08:03:00.001-05:00

If you love little house books the check out raising homemakers for a great give-a-way
Amy

2010-09-03T11:34:00.001-05:00

How can children be grumpy at the park?!?!?? Play, be merry, enjoy the sun, anything but be grumpy!
Amy

2010-08-18T15:27:00.001-05:00

Going to make some play-doe tonight, this is one thing my kids never seem to get to big to do, or play with.
Amy

new lesson plans

2010-07-27T19:02:00.000-05:00

well we started our new lesson plans yesterday, and it seems good so far, ha ha.
we started reading Our Lady came to Fatima and we will read a chapter or 2 each day that we do school, (which I think for the most part will be Monday, Thursday and Friday. Tuesday the kids will have some independent work and be able to catch up if needed but no group work other then bible reading and Rosary, because I have prayer group in the afternoon and I plan on using it for errand day as well. Wednesday my older daughter prays with Blue Army during adoration and my younger daughter goes to a home school group, so it can be the day my son mows the lawn and catch up day for me.)
but, we will have vocab from the book which I will give them the words and then they can find the meaning and write it in their own words. we will be learning about world war 1 and Portugal for history and geography, handwriting will be d'neilen (Sp) starting with l, science will be weather and earth, moving into solar systems if we move quickly, music and art will be whatever strikes our fancy, which is not decided yet, although I did get out some religious artwork, the last supper, Sistine chapel etc... They also have a book list that they work off of and then write in their reading journal. Hoping to have some fun stuff to do in the next week or to, we have just been swamped the last few months,

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2010-07-15T11:52:00.001-05:00

Wow, my cousin is going to the spam muesum! Who knew!
Amy

fun holidays

2010-07-01T09:57:00.000-05:00

check out brownie locks for your fun and sometimes wacky July holidays.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

small sacrifices with big impacts,

2010-06-29T19:49:00.000-05:00

for all you ladies who sew, here is a pillow case challenge I think me and my girls will whip up a few out of fabric already in my sewing room. it is a nice easy thing for young girls just getting started to do that will have a huge impact on some ones life!! just think 30 minutes or so of your life could let some one else know they are loved. how awesome is that.
Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

web sites

2010-06-29T13:18:00.000-05:00

I added some new links in sites that I like to visit, one for catholic supplies and one for my local catholic book store, both have many thngs, books, roseries ect.. I also found this site might give it a try.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

planning

2010-06-29T10:08:00.000-05:00

Well today is the day, I will start planning for the fall learning! I am always a little nervous because there is so much out there and soooo many choices. I never can make a decision, it seems like I am changing plans more then making them, hehe
But I think I have a good plan this year, vision books. We will be using vision books as our main learning and going from there. I picked up a couple of them at my local catholic book store, along with a teacher guide book. It has vocab, time lines, C.C.C. and Scripture connections, and more. So I think we will read the books out loud over several weeks. And study the geography and time period of the saints life. If the saint lived in 1504 a.d. you could study things happening all around the world in 1504 a.d. You could study all the geographical places the saint went. You could use the vocab words as spelling words and use the C.C.C. and Scripture as handwriting practice. They also have topics for reports and discussions. So from one book as your core you can spin off into;
engish, handwriting, vocab, spelling
geography, history,
Bible, C.C.C., church teachings
so all you are missing is science and math. Awesome!!, so I think we will each book read slowly and plan a lesson for each book that goes over about 4 weeks. We will have group time each morning doing things related to the book and then after lunch do individual math on Tuesday and Thursday and have science after lunch on Monday and Friday, Wednesday will be nothing after lunch to prepare for C.C.D. I figure if we read 2-3 chapters a week, that leaves plenty of time for other learning and spreads it out enough to not feel rushed. There are enough of these books that I think I could plan 2 or 3 years like this. I like this because it puts our Faith at the center of our learning, and our lives. And after all isn't that where it should be?

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2010-06-26T18:41:00.001-05:00

I really should start planning for the fall, but its sooo hot I don't think my brain will work. On the plus side we had a great vbs and had a house blessing
Amy

2010-06-16T17:03:00.001-05:00

I think I need a day off!! Haha, somehow I don't think I will get one.
Amy

week of 6/13-6/18

2010-06-13T11:34:00.000-05:00

Well This will be a light week. We have company coming from out of state, and V.B.S. is next week so I will be doing a lot of prep and meeting with the helpers.
We will be doing a lot of reading for the library's summer reading program. We will be doing daily bible study along with bible workbooks. I might squeeze in a math lesson, and we will talk about interdependence of people in the world. I am still not sure how we will do this, I think mainly it will be a discussion. I think we might make some flow charts on how things go from point a to b to c to you! And talk about how we use things like our home garden to support ourselves, and tie it in with carbon footprints, and being a good steward of our earth and resources and how this relates to being a good follower of Christ.
We will also be getting ready for our trip to Michigan the week of the 28th, busy busy time.
I thought summer was supposed to be relaxing : )

As for the home schooling group I am trying to start in our town We have 4 families signed up, not to shabby.
this is a great homschool resources, it has books that are great in instructing boys and girls in things like home ec, hygine ect...

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

2010-06-13T10:42:00.001-05:00

Well I am trying a mobile post, lets see how it works!
Amy

2010-06-08T14:55:00.000-05:00

This has been one of those weeks where I need to decide if its worth the fight. My son who is 12 just has not wanted to do his work, he has just a bit to catch up on, really an hour or so of work if he would just sit down and do it, and he is just not willing to do, fussing and asking to take a break after not doing anything for 2 hours. So do I make him sit and do the work?? Or say this is why we home school so that when he is having an off week he can step back, put the work down and come back to it with renewed interest. The thing is I want him to get it done so we can be down except the little bit of group work we do after our morning bible study, I have tons of things racing through my mind, and would love to be able to say; school, CHECK so I have one less thing to think about.
V.B.S.is only 2 weeks away and I have so much to do still, next week will be a busy one.
Over at wardrobe refashion I got tons of ideas and can not wait to start sewing!! oh, if only there were more hours in the day, or I didn't need to sleep, : )

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

Summer schedule

2010-06-06T18:29:00.000-05:00

Well summer is here, I had hoped to be on our summer schedule by now, but we were a little behind and will be finished by the end of this week. Some sooner then others. We do school all year long but use the summer to review, touch on new things a little and do READ!! The kids are reading up a storm and each have read quite a few books for the summer reading program. We also turned in the Borders reading program sheets and picked out their free books.

It seems like time is flying by much too fast, 2 weeks until v.b.s. I am a little unprepared feeling, It is the first v.b.s. that I have made up on my own, but I think it will go well it is called Saints Alive!! and all about saints. We picked 5 saints to do 1 for days, 1-3, day 4 we do 2 blessed Marian founders, and Friday we do Mary and the party. Wish us luck.

I have much to think about as far as planning next years school, having tried a lot of different methods the last few years, I am thinking of doing a mix of traditional and unschooling starting in the fall. But I am still unsure. I hate changing so often but I am still trying to find the right fit.
Summer schedule goes like this:
bible & ccc reading, a little group work (maybe 30 minutes or so) and then reading.

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi

web site

2010-05-24T14:27:00.000-05:00

I picked up this magizine last week and they have a web site by the same name, if you have not seen it before check it out, home school today

Preach the Gospel at all times. If necessary, use words. - St. Francis of Assisi