A fun little find!!

Sometimes ya just gotta share the amazing things you find. This book is SO much more than a book!!! We checked it out from the library, but it’s going on a birthday wish list now!

Each page is fun and silly and interactive!! 

What are some fun finds that you have discovered lately??

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.

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!++

Some video sharing...

Sweet Rose singing her favorite song,,,

Rose instructing all children...

Fone and Mario's YouTube contest submission for our area library...

These young ones are so much fun and always SO entertaining!!!

++Thank you, God!!++

Catholic "Book Detectives" book club ~ Little Nellie of God

We are so blessed to have so many active homeschooling groups and opportunities for homeschoolers in our area.  A couple weeks ago, I had received an email about a "book detectives" book club group starting up soon.  It was being offered by a homeschool group that I haven't really done much with and I was hesitant going (it's always hard to be the "newbie").  But I was so happy when I recognized a friend (from a different homeschool group, which we are both active in) who was commenting and interested as well.  And, then the thought hit me.... maybe we should have a Catholic "book detectives" group and we could use books from Catholic Mosaic!  She was all for it and today was our first meeting.  What a hit it was!  My friend chose to "dissect" the book Little Nellie.  She had the kids take turns reading the book out loud (such great practice!) and then they broke the book down into the different parts (see picture).  She also read Brigid's Cloak since it was her feast day a couple days ago.  I helped entertain the toddlers, babies, and older kids upstairs with my sister-in-law.  What a wonderful learning opportunity it was!!!   Here are some pictures from our afternoon together....

Bigger boys entertaining themselves with games....

Sweet little girls tearing apart the house and playing so sweetly with each other...

 "Book detectives" playing the how-many-kids-can-you-fit-on-one-couch game while they are dissecting and learning about the book...

(and maybe you recognize this sweet momma friend of mine- she blogs at Annery at Home.  Go now and see her beautiful blog!!)

++Thank you, God, for fun in learning, especially when it includes learning with friends!!++

(for more info on where the "book detectives" idea came from, see this site!)

Mom-ism post #3

Late again, but nonetheless, here is my third "mom-ism" post, linking up with the lovely Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle....

~#1~

Our schoolyear for 2014/2015 is planned and items on their way - woo hoo!  We are using more computer/online learning to help make smooth the transition of new baby!  Hopefully once all the books are here, I can share a little more about our plans!!!  For now, rejoice with me that the planning is done!! 

~#2~

Like I shared in my {pretty, happy, funny, real} post, our kids love to read.   Wanna make them happy, then take them to the library!!  I found Fone reading some of our favorite puzzle books to Max and Pookey the other day.  I think Fone read these books when he was around their age - definitely a favorite in this house!!

~#3~

Today was the feast of St. Thomas the Apostle!  Our monthly "10 July Activities for Catholic Families" calendar suggested we have the kids create and build something in his memory since he is the patron of architects.  The kids already love build and create, so when I shared with them the reason why today, they were thrilled!  It's so neat to make special connections like this when living the liturgical year!

++St. Thomas, pray for us!!++

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Please join in with your "mom-ism" moments and link up your post by clicking on the image below or just stop by to read and see what God is doing in the lives of other momma's....

{pretty, happy, funny, real} ~ summer days

~Capturing the context of contentment of everyday life~

{pretty}

I know I post many pictures of our sweet Rose, but I know you would all probably agree that she most definitely qualifies as {pretty} and adorable and squishy and chubby and silly and on and on and on...  But since this is my first {pretty, happy, funny, real} post, I thought I better start off with one of my beauties.  First is one of her cheesy smile pictures and in the next few, she is showing off her bracelets and "new" purse that her sisters dug out and filled for her this morning.  

{happy}

Wanna makes kids {happy} in this house??  All you gotta do is take them to the library!!!  They LOVE to read and be read to!  Here are my six oldest posing after a library trip a few days ago holding one of the books they checked out....

{funny} 

Fone and Mario love to make videos with their Lego Stop Motion app on our iPad.  Some of the videos they have created take setting up and snapping 100+ pictures, all planned perfectly to tell a story.  The boys work so well together and love every minute of it.  I love their silly voices that they use too - just makes me giggle!!  This is one of my favorites - I think you would agree that it most definitely qualifies as {funny}....

{real}

We had some strong storms roll through the area on Monday, all within a few hours of each other.  We lost power during the first storm and our sump pump stopped working.  Tie that in with the 2-3 inches that fell already made for a slightly wet basement.  Our wetness was very minor compared to others in this area, so I am super thankful for that.  Things dried out pretty fast thanks to our dehumidifier and fans and my husband who rocks at using the shop vac!!  Our power returned a little before the second storm and thankfully, we kept our power through that one and didn't have any more water to deal with.  But....  when I woke up the next morning and looked out into our back yard, I saw another {real} issue that we were going to have to deal with from the storm...  (one of our trees broken in two - doh!!  Guess it's going to be coming down now!!)

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Wanna join in on all the fun with {pretty, happy, funny, real} or just read all posts from others on the net "capturing contentment in everyday life", then click on over here!!  

My first guest post

  
A little over a week ago, the kids and I wrote up a review of our books on Saint Patrick for a Lent Book Series over at Reading Catholic.  You can read our post here.

Although it was a book review, we couldn't help but include a song the Trinity.  Gotta love our Youngun's singing and dancing....

++St. Patrick, pray for us!!++

A poem to share

"Dogs and Cats"

by:  Melody

Dogs are cuddly, dogs are cute,

But their puppies are never mute.

Cats are fuzzy, cats are nice,

Except when it comes to mice.

Cats and dogs, dogs and cats,

Friends for you and all the rest. 

(This was her reading assignment today - to read some poems and create her own.  She did it all on her own!!  I think she did a super job!!)