Wordless Wednesday: Hands On Preschool

Wordless Wednesday: Homeschool Sewing Fun

Book Detectives: Saint Teresa of Calcutta

Today was our first homeschool co-op and I volunteered to teach Book Detectives this semester, with a focus on liturgical living and celebrating feast days.  I taught the Pre-K/K group and 3/4th groups today.

Here's what we used for materials....

PreK-K group
We started the class by talking about books and I had each child share a favorite book or what they like to read about.  I then shared one of my favorite books - the Bible.  So I began with this book and read to them the first story in all children's bibles - the story of creation.  And, of course, we sang the B-I-B-L-E song before actually reading from it.

Then, it was time to move on to our saint story.  It was a no brainer who would we study - the soon-to-be St. Teresa of Calcutta (in 2 days!).  I read the smaller printable book St. Teresa of Calcutta (available at Real Life At Home).  There are many St. Teresa Calcutta books that are just coming out to help celebrate her canonization, but aren't even available for shipping yet..  So, I had to be creative and thankfully, this little book worked great!!  I still prefer picture books for this age, as it helps capture their attention the best, but I had to use what was out there.  (The book on the top left is absolutely beautiful and I very much recommend it - but not for this age).  As I was reading the printable book, I think I was asked at least 17 times when snack time was, so I let them eat their snack as I finished reading the book.  And, then I gave them each a coloring page of St. Teresa of Calcutta (also available from Real Life At Home).

3rd/4th grade group
I had taught many of these kids before, so they were familiar with how to be a Book Detective.  But since we had a couple new students, I thought we better review WHY we read books and HOW we read books.  I teach them four simple questions to ask every time you read a book....

1.WHO?
2.  WHAT?
3.  HOW?
4.  WHAT?

We say this a few times until it sounds like we are chanting them.  And then the giggles follow. It's fun to say and easy to remember.  But then, we expand upon the single words.....

1.  WHO is story about?
2.  WHAT is the problem?
3.  HOW is the problem solved?
4.  WHAT did you learn from the story?  (WHAT does the author want to teach me?)

Simple, simple, simple!!!  For this group, since they were a bit older, I would have loved to have read the Mother Teresa book by Demi, but it takes a little longer than our class time allowed.  Thankfully, once again, God provided perfectly for our learning time on St. Teresa of Calcutta.  We read a short story about her from the Book of Heroes from Amy Welborn.  If you don't have any of Amy Welborn's books on saints, I highly recommend them!  They read beautifully to kids with many places to pause naturally and ask them questions to draw them into the story.  After we read about Mother Teresa, I had the kids work on the "All About Saint Teresa of Calcutta" sheet (available from Real Life At Home).  And, I couldn't pass up printing these beautiful Mother Teresa quote coloring pages  for them to color as well, although most kids took them home to work on, since class time was up.

The (Cool) School Kids - 2016/2017

We have already completed three full weeks of school here at the Young Family Academy.  Things are going great so far!!  We wanted a good head start before young one #9 arrives in a couple months.  That way, we can take a little school off once she's here.

We started our homeschool co-op today, so I thought that it would be a good day to take back-to-school pics for the year.  The two littles, Rose and Yoda, didn't go to co-op though.  Instead they got to have a playdate at their grandma's with two cousins their age.

Here's our students for the year...

Fone

Mario

Melody

Ariel

Max

Pookey

Rose

And da momma and da baby (Yoda)....

(Poor little Yoda was not fond of the waking up early part.  Thank God we could bring him to Grandma's with an empty belly, since she didn't mind feeding him a bowl of Rice Krispies.  So here he is about 2 minutes before walking out the door - couldn't even open his peepers)

TKD April Promotions

Pookey promoted to Orange belt 
(he had to do an in-class test because he wasn't feeling good the actual day of promotions)

Max promoted to High Green

Ariel promoted to High Red

Melody promoted to 1st Brown (Highest Brown belt)

Fone and Mario promoted to 2nd Degree Black !!!!
 (they won't officially get their certificate until the next promotion though)

Congrats, crew!!  

We are so proud of you!!

Our Very First D.E.A.R. Moment

Last Tuesday around noon, I called out to the kids and had them all congregate to our dining room.  On the white board, I had the following written...

D - drop

E - everything

A - and

R - read

I got the idea from Read Aloud Revival for doing this, and it was in honor of a special birthday - Beverly Cleary's 100th birthday!!!  So, I gathered all our books written by her that morning and surprised our kids with our very first D.E.A.R. time.  Notice, I say "very first"... it was such a hit, I am hoping to do this quite often.  It was a nice break away from their normal school and a little bit of a reward when they are all working hard!

Thankful Thursday - ed #3

So much to be thankful for!!  

Today has just been a normal school day.  But here's three things that stand out from today that I am extremely thankful for...

The kids (who are done with school) are playing Lego's and Max and Pookey just came out to me with this cool creation.  I love how their little brains are not limited with time and most especially space when it comes to creating.  Isn't this Lego dude the coolest?

Little Yoda was ready for a nap, and thankfully his sweet sister (who is almost done with her school) scooped him and up, and rocked him to sleep.  She's a multi-tasker at heart, so she has to squeeze in some reading while keeping babe asleep.  She's reading the last of the Mysterious Benedict Society books on our kindle.  I read the first three aloud to the four big kids over the last couple of years, and told them they have to read the last one on their own.  So of course, Melody is wasting no time at all.

And progress!!!  Plaster guys are here today.  Painting (plain ole white is hubs preference) and flooring next week!!  Can we possibly be done in the next couple of weeks?  I think so!!!

++Thank you, Lord, for your presence living and breathing among us in the simplicity of our lives!++

My biggest "secret" for getting it all done

How do you do it?

A question that I get asked all too often.

People think that because I homeschool.  Because I have a crew of kids.  A crew of happy, sweet, good kids.  Because I seem happy.  And always seem to have a smile on my face.  Because I am joyful.  That I am some sort of super mom, super woman.  Golly, I wish I could take that credit and award!!  But, no such luck.

I have had to learn many things....

You must have limits!!  You must say "no" to many things.  Many good things.  Many amazing educational opportunities.  Many cool field trips.  No.  No.  No.  Because if I say "yes" to it all, then I am saying "no" to something else.

As a mom/homeschooler, my number one priority is to serve God and my family as a wife and a mother.  I have been called to homeschool, so this is also added to my plate.  These things must come first.  Nowhere does it say that I must send my kids to every single education opportunity, go to every field trip, or even leave the house daily to go to daily Mass or adoration.  You see, my biggest "secret" for getting it all done is to STAY HOME.  That's right, if I'm gone every single day, or multiple times a day, who is going to teach my kids?  Who is going to do the grading?  Who is going to do my laundry?  Who is going to do the cleaning?  Who is going to keep things tidy?  Who is going to cook the food?  Who is going to do the dishes?  ....no one!!  It is my job to keep things running smoothly on the homefront.  My job to keep up with the house and homeschooling and keep things running running peacefully and smoothly.

So when the world starts spinning and my house is starting to fall apart.  Mountains of laundry. Bellies filled with too much fast food and junk food.  Grading days and days behind.  My head so much in a fog that I don't know up from down, left from right.  Then I know it's time to scale back and STAY HOME more!  My kids need me.  My house needs order.  (not perfection, I must add, but enough of an order where we can all focus clearly without the mess starting to sink into our souls and making our head and hearts spin, and taking away every ounce of peace that once was)

This fall has been the busiest we have ever had.  I am so so so grateful that it is done and the busyness is over.  It was a huge blessing to offer our kids so many great opportunities.  But I quickly realized that this is the busiest I want things to be.  I don't want to go beyond the number of activities we had.  We not only ran almost every day, but we ran multiple directions in the evening.  Barely had one or two family meals during the week.  Laundry and the house, thankfully, didn't fall apart.  But it was enough of a "split" feeling, that I know I want less of that and more simple from here on out.  These kids will grow too fast.  I don't want them to remember all the running and craziness and rushing.  I want them to remember our home.  That haven of peace.  And joy.  And love.  The place where they spend most of their time.  And have the best of memories there.

A very good and holy priest friend of ours encouraged us that staying home and living fully in our Domestic Church is what we need to be doing.  We cannot miss these opportunities for holiness in the most simple of moments.  Eating family dinners and being together is such a grace-filled time. He shared with us that staying home and being together is a lot more important than doing everything and being in every single sport and activity.  Satan wants to rob us of these holy moments by constantly making us be on the run.  Sometimes we just need to say no, and ground ourselves at home.

HOME is where the HEART is!!  

Pope Francis visits the US - activities for kids!

Oh yes!!  He'll be here on Tuesday.  Well, "here" meaning the United States!!  And, we *know* he'd be visiting us personally if he had some spare time, eh?  ;)   But since we know he's a busy man and we couldn't swing out to visit him, we had to celebrate these days nonetheless.

When I saw this Flat Francis idea, I jumped on it!  We couldn't go to see him, he couldn't visit us, so why not bring him to us in a special way - as Flat Francis!!

I printed out a schedule of his visit, so that we can refer to it throughout his stay, and a couple more print-outs.  And, I'm sure we'll be watching EWTN plenty as well.  Can't wait!  :)

Stay tuned - we are planning on taking lots of pictures of Flat Francis during his stay with us and sharing them here on the blog!

***click on the image below to take you to a beautiful post on praying a Novena during the Papal visit***

School is in session!!!!!

Today, Young Family Academy was in session for the first time for the 2015-2016 school year.  Our line-up of students and grades are:

Fone - 9th grade

Mario - 7th grade

Melody - 6th grade

Ariel - 4th grade

Max - 2nd grade

Pookey - 1st grade

And, we do have two sweet tag-a-longs, Rose and Yoda!!  Going to be participating in an activity bag swap soon to have activities on hand for miss Rose who needs something to keep her busy, rather than her interrupting us every 30 seconds. I am thinking about making these and these for the swap and getting two sets back.  

With 8 young ones and all activities they are in, and knowing how important it is to maintain a huge sense of peace, we use quite a bit of computer curriculum.  We mix-and-max what works for our family.  Some of our choices include:  Saxon Math, My Catholic Faith Delivered, AOP Switched on Schoolhouse, Abeka, Seton, Catholic Heritage Curriculum, and Homeschool Connections.  So, a little bit of everything, I guess.  We pick and choose the "best of the best"!!  :)

School days, school days

Dear old Golden Rule days

Reading and 'riting and 'rithmetic

++Thank you, God, for calling us to homeschool.  Please bless our year as we learn and grow in faith, academics, and bonding with each other!!++