Lent 2014: Reconcile and Share

We're not doing much that is different from our past Lenten seasons around here.  I have transformed our nature study area into our Lenten season table.

Our wonderful Lent/Easter book basket is out.  What a treat to enjoy these books once a year.  As a family, I chose to read out loud the Michael Hague Easter Treasury.

Our Lent Box with the Stations of the cross is out.  This is such a wonderful activity that my kids enjoy every year.  We have our Stations of the Cross Fridays.

Every year I also hope to inspire the kids with our Lenten countdown calendar.  Every day we nail a cross to the board.  This year I chose to decorate the board with a path made of 40 stones.  Every time we nail a cross, I try to talk about our focus for the season: Reconciling and Sharing is our theme this year.  I do this by choosing a prayer or a poem or simply reminding them about specific situations/times we need to remember these values in our lives.

Here are my past Lent and Easter posts:
Lent 2012
Easter 2012
Lent 2013

St. Valentine's Morning

Happy Valentines Day! This morning I was reminded of just how blessed and graced filled my chaotic days actually are.  My wonderful husband and kids woke me up this morning with cards and treats in hand.  They are so sweet.  They all moved on to the dinning table to have their breakfast.  I had to get up just for a bit because I could hear my husband talking to the girls.  The girls had some oohs, aahs and huge blushing smiles;  while they read their Valentine's from dad.  He started this tradition a few years ago, but as they are getting older his cards and words are starting to really have sweet sentiment...oh and what little girl doesn't want a big bar of chocolate ; )

 

 

Later today he'll take the kids to our home school group's Valentine party where the kids will distribute their treats and their hand made cards.  I'm sure he'll have tons of fun with them ; )

 

 

As for me, well, I had my wisdom teeth removed yesterday (after going to Ash Wednesday morning mass with the kids and dad).  Needless to say laying low and curling up in bed just feels so nice.  So as I was taking a picture of the girls cards this morning, I couldn't help but grab these off the shelf. I found these two lovely books at the library used section a while ago. They have lovely artwork: Love: Penhaligons Scented Treasury of Verse and Prose and A Victorian Posy. They are both very nice collections to curl up with today while dad takes a lead this Valentines day.  

 

I hope everyone enjoys their day and can surround themselves with love, peace and grace.  Especially as we've begun the lent season.  As soon as I'm feeling better I'll come back to share what we're reading and doing this year.

Our Advent Countdown Calendar

Even though we had a full week after Thanksgiving before Advent began I have to admit there wasn't much I did to get ready.  Any time we can spend with Dad we absolutely do! Luckily, I had ordered my candles several weeks ago and, of course, our Advent/Winter term was ready before Thanksgiving.  The kids enjoyed their first week already. But over the weekend I realized I hadn't purchased or put up an Advent countdown calendar.  The kids always enjoy the treat but really I'm not enjoying having six of them around anymore (maybe that was my procrastination).  ; D

What to find in my craft drawers that I could turn into just one calendar?  ... board, push pins, rubber stamps, garland and candy!!!  With the help of the kids this is what I came up with:

We took a pin board; decorated it with a garland and stamped some pocket pillows from the craft store.  These were on a clearance bin over the summer and I couldn't resist the price.  I'm glad I've found use for them.  Each pillow is filled with six treats the kids get to enjoy:

I'm having the kids replace the candy with a piece of paper.  They can write a word or more about something good they've done or seen that particular day.  A sort of good deeds/things collection spot. There it is a quick put together Advent countdown calendar for our family. 

I'll be back later to share our Advent/Winter term books and nature study table ; )

On All Soul's Day: a little Dia De Los Muertos

Last year my oldest daughter requested that we please observe All Soul's Day Latin style; meaning with some Dia De Los Muertos traditions.  I thought that with our Nana, now in heaven, the kids would appreciate the significance this year.  I've heard of the traditions all my life, but, honestly, never participated because I didn't understand loss. 

So, early fall I ordered a sugar skull making kit from MexicanSugarSkull.com.  We stayed up one night to mold our sugar skulls, all 30 of them:

And then over the weekend we invited some friends and cousins to join us in decorating our skulls:

They turned out pretty neat:

Now, you can't eat these and you know kids...so I decided to use last year's All Soul's Cake recipe to make skull cookies.
 

We let them decorate and eat these!!!

Everyone had a wonderful time and we did talk about the significance of the tradition and the ties to All Souls Day.  Our Dia De Los Muertos Altar has sat all week as we remember our Nana and all the other soul's who have passed.

A Review: Naturally Fun Parties for Kids

Several weeks ago I volunteered to review a book.  Mind you I've never done such a thing, but just the title alone was enough to want my attention.  I was so excited when I received my copy of Naturally Fun Parties for Kids by Anni Daulter with Heather Fontenot yesterday.   I put the little boys down for a nap, the big boys had quiet time in their room and the girls had some independent reading time (a usual mid day routine for us).  Mom gets to sit down and read a bit too ; )  I cuddled in my favorite chair with this book and a cup of my favorite Chocolate Raspberry Tea.

The photography is just lovely.  I opened to the first chapter and there was a huge smile on my face.  The very first party is none other than an Egg-Dyeing Spring Garden Party.  Now, how perfect is that with our current nature study theme and season.  The ladies at 4Real have been discussing and sharing ideas on this very subject: Egg Dyeing.  Oh, this is a book for me; was my immediate thought.  The book is divided by seasons and gives just a bit of information about them, nothing deep,  just a reminder of seasonal changes and their important solstice/equinox dates...another plus.  Within each season there are several party ideas.  The first page of every party is detailed with a list of Projects & Materials and a Timeline needed for the event planning (perfect, for this list kind of gal).  Several pages follow each party introduction with gorgeous photos and detailed how-to's.  Each project or recipe could easily stand alone depending on what we are working on or where our nature study takes us.

There are so many possibilities for fun projects and kid friendly recipes in this book.  While the title does say parties, let's face it, with my six children every project becomes an event with craft and food at the forefront.  Not to mention getting together with friends for play dates ... yeah, those easily could become parties too.  I loved going through the book and nodding my head at just how much our lives have naturally flowed through the seasons with our habits of nature study and out of doors time.  My wheels are certainly turning.  There is a Pancake P.J. and a Strawberry-Picking & Jam Making theme parties with some great recipes to use after our annual strawberry and blueberry picking days.  Besides the recipes there are several projects and game ideas that I know the kids will enjoy trying.  There is Sea Glass Hunt for our beach days and a Gratitude Treasure Hunt perfect for Thanksgiving.  Simple crafts like cute banners we could make for our nature table window; I'm sure my kids would like a break from my crochet inspired ones ; )

I'm not the most naturally creative person or fine cook in the world but I can easily be inspired to create an atmosphere my children will enjoy a living education from.  I depend on books such as this one.  I think for some of my readers I should mention that there is no reference to educational philosophies just fun natural upcycled ideas and healthy recipes.  I'd add further that this book reminds me very much of Alice Cantrell's books (all of which are favorites for me).  I never thought that my chaotic care-free children would enjoy sipping tea with me but thanks to creative work's like Alice's Tea and Cakes with the Saints as our guide; the kids love our Liturgical Teas and we have learned so much about saints. 

I know this book will get just as much use for our seasonal nature study focused planning fun and, of course, my chaotic care-free children will love that much of this will be done out doors.  Anni and Heather just made sure that our "small mountain in the backyard" get lots of use with their wonderful ideas.  I'm sure some of my future post will reflect things from this book.  This is a review I've enjoyed giving you!

Ode to Leaves

How The Leaves Came Down

by Susan Coolidge

I'll tell you how the leaves came down.
The great Tree to his children said,
"You're getting sleepy, Yellow and Brown,
Yes, very sleepy, little Red;
It is quite time you went to bed."

"Ah!" begged each silly, pouting leaf,
"Let us a little longer May;
Dear Father Tree, behold our grief,
'Tis such a very pleasant day
We do not want to go away."

So, just for one more merry day
To the great Tree the leaflets clung,
Frolicked and danced and had their way,
Upon the autumn breezes swung,
Whispering all their sports among,

"Perhaps the great Tree will forget
And let us stay until the spring
If we all beg and coax and fret."
But the great Tree did no such thing;
He smiled to hear their whispering.

"Come, children all, to bed," he cried;
And ere the leaves could urge their prayer
He shook his head, and far and wide,
Fluttering and rustling everywhere,
Down sped the leaflets through the air.

I saw them; on the ground they lay,
Golden and red, a huddled swarm,
Waiting till one from far away,
White bed-clothes heaped upon her arm,
Should come to wrap them safe and warm.

The great bare Tree looked down and smiled.
"Good-night, dear little leaves" he said;
And from below each sleepy child
Replied "Good-night," and murmured,
"It is so nice to go to bed."

*Thanks for the idea Shirley Ann : D

Pretty Composition Notebooks

We've come close to completing our first week and it has gone very smoothly.  I am pleased so far.  We did run into one little annoyance.  Some background first.  My third grader is very much a girly everything pretty type of person (just like her mommy).  I always have composition notebooks for my oldest to do any written work in so I let my younger daughter do the same last year.  Unfortunately, I think having regular lines without that middle dotted line did not help her writing.  (I know I should have gone with ruled paper from the beginning.)  Now, I need to work on forming the habit of nice neat printing from her.  I found the Mead Primary Composition notebooks with those lines at my local Target and was thrilled.  I purchased them for her to use this year.  One problem they look like this:

She didn't appreciate the look at all and immediately wanted to get the prettier ones instead.  In order to accomplish my goal and please her I've turned them into this:

(Sigh) Much better!  Here is how I did it, in case you like pretty things too ; )  You will need  the notebooks, your pretty paper, scissors and I used the Elmer's X-treme glue stick.

Step one:  Cut the paper to fit the outer covers of the notebook ( I made mine to fit up to the black binding tape because we wanted to keep that look.)

Step 2:  Place some glue on the cover and line your paper up.  I try to line it up as a right angle so I only need to trim from one side, in case the paper happens to be too big.  Try to leave the corners free from glue for the final step.  Press hard and let it sit for about a minute once your happy with the position.

Step 3:  Cut the corners or any excess paper on top or bottom of the notebook.  Then add some more glue to secure the corners at this time.  Repeat the steps with the other side if you wish.

The final look. It's so pretty.  She's happy and we will have nice neat writing all year.  BTW, This also saves me from printing my own StartWrite blank ruled line paper all year long for her ; )  I'll reserve my printer for actual copywork pages : )  I picked this up some where online, some one's blog; but I honestly can't remember who it was or I would link you to it too.

Edited To Add .... I found it, notice the pretty spiral notebook in the middle.  If you like pretty notebooks, read Jen's post.

A Little Mouse Inspires Watercoloring

Right before lunch time today my kids finished their summer read aloud:  A Nest for Celeste.  I first heard about this cute little mouse over at Nancy's Sage Parnassus.  We had just finished a few weeks of some wonderful readings about Mr. Audubon, enjoyed some of his paintings, my oldest two had visited the Camarillo Bird Museum in CA and had gone on an all day tracker field trip on birdwatching.  I knew they would enjoy this book too.

Late in June I decided this would be the read aloud for the younger boys.  My seven year old daughter immediately decided she wanted to be part of our readings. Great!  Then by chapter 15 my oldest decided she liked this too.  It sounds familiar.  By midway, I was no longer doing the readings.  My oldest had taken over.  She is a great reader; she even changes her tone in parts and with characters.  I love to hear her read!

What I really didn't expect was that this little book would end up also inspiring my kids to watercolor painting.  My four year old one day had caught a little moth butterfly and had placed it in a mini butterfly tent.  The immediate reaction was to take out our watercolors and start drawing.  Since then we have picked several flowers and insects to draw.  My quiet observer can catch them for us and we are inspired.

After several sessions of this, I was inspired to do a project of my own.  I kept cutting our watercolor paper into little squares just for our drawings.  Then I realized I had the perfect tools to create little watercolor books for the kids.  So I cut lots of 4x6 140lb watercolor paper, I used chip board for the backing, decorative paper for the front and my Zutter binder to wire bind the booklets.

A good friend recommended a few good tools to use for those very unlikely spills of water cups.  I love them.  I purchased the Aqua-flo Brush set for my little ones and a few of the Niji for myself and my oldest.  I am still tempted to purchase a how to dvd but it's not a priority yet.  I decided my little ones are still too little and it's best to just enjoy.   We certainly are practicing a lot lately!

I did purchase the Eve Anderson's Teacher Training Tools on Nature Study after reading about it in Marcia's guest post at Educating Mother.  I enjoyed it and it was helpful to see beginning tips for dry brushing technique in relation to nature study; especially since given by a CM teacher.

All this to demonstrate how one good living book can bring about such an inspiration, energy and connection to many subjects.  My kids certainly enjoyed a very sweet tale about a cute mouse and I loved to see the relationship they created to Mr. Audubon, birds, nature, friendship and painting.

Book Binding, Oh No

The season of preparing for the next school year is in full swing around here. For months I've been working on what our fall curriculum will look like. Now I'm just in the process of putting it together. Which means printing e-books, creating copybook journals, and other such materials. And of course after printing I have to have them bound. *

I pondered very hard on which machine to purchase for the task. In the end I went with Zutter Bind it All. I have to admit for the purpose of just binding books there are much easier and practical machines. However, for those of us who tend to enjoy turning something ordinary into something extraordinary you wont be disappointed. The process is straight forward enough and with some practice it will be right down easy peasy.

Not bad for a first project ; )

* Tweaking of plans is permissible.