Today marks the beginning of Lent! I've actually been really excited to start this season, which has been the case more and more each year. The reason for this is that every year my kids get older, their understanding increases, and they are more fully able to participate! It's really wonderful to be able to celebrate Lent as a family with mostly understanding persons (as opposed to celebrating Lent as a family of mom & dad with a couple of toddlers who don't know the difference between wearing diapers and wearing underwear!).

We started the day with our usual morning prayers/offerings. But we added a few more things into our religion. We started our Lenten learning with "The Reading of the Strips"...or at least that's what one of the kids yelled out when I told them to gather around the table so that I can read all the Lenten Deed tickets to them. "Guys!!!! Mom's gonna do the reading of the strips!!!"

Now our Lenten Deed jar is full and the kids are all itching to see what deed they get to work on for the week. "Can we switch tickets if we don't like what we get?" NO!!!

Another fun addition to our day today was the beginning of our Lent Lapbook from Lapbooks for Catholics. We worked on the cover and the kids were coloring and cutting while I read to them the history of Lent and asked them questions. We'll be working on the lapbook for another week or so and then I'm planning on taking it out during our religion time to review from it.




Of course, Isabella will be working on 2 different faith lapbooks. This past Sunday, she had her Sacramental Prep class and they went over the things we see in church. This was perfect since she is currently working on "The Things We See in Church" lapbook from Lapbooks for Catholics. It's so much fun to be able to do all these fun and educational things with the kids!




But what about the littlest members of our Catholic crew? Well, lets just say that they have plenty on their minds to keep them busy. Ummm....yea. That's little Jimmy with a box on his head. He was pretty adamant about putting it on and walking around. The kids and I got a good laugh from it!



And let's not forget about our little school room altar. Our Father Nick just got a change of vestments to go with the season! And you'll notice that we have yet to change the color of our tablecloth. I know I put that purple "altar cloth" somewhere!!

Good Deeds for Lent.

I've been working hard on making some preparations for Lent not only for my children, but also for my 5th grade Faith Formation class. It's nice that I can use the same resources for both! A Lenten activity we have done in the past is making a sacrifice/good deed jar. It's a great way to get kids more involved during Lent.

So I decided to go ahead with this activity for my 5th grade class as well. In the past, I would have my kids put a bean into a jar for every good deed or sacrifice they did. This year I am changing things up a bit to make it easier for classroom use. I created "Lenten Deeds" tickets to put in a bowl instead. Each ticket has a certain deed that has to be done in a week. The "deeds" correspond to prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. Whether it be giving up video games for a week (fasting), reading from the Bible (prayer), or collecting food for the needy (almsgiving)...it's something that kids can do and feel good about.

The tickets have a space for the kids to sign their name once they complete their deeds as well as a space for the parents to sign as well. Coming up with good deeds and sacrifices was a lot harder than I thought!! But I think I have a good mix to keep things going all through Lent. Take a look at my tickets below!



I'll probably be printing this on some light purple, colored paper. But I'm loving that it's done and am excited to have it out for both my Faith Formation class and my kids at home!

Love it too? Well, just click on the links below and you can print them out for personal use! I made 3 different pages. Yes...I'm just that nice. ;)

Lenten Deeds Page 1
Lenten Deeds Page 2
Lenten Deeds Page 3

Fun Science From Co-op.

I've been neglecting taking pictures of a lot of things we do in our homeschool. Not only do I forget to charge the battery to my camera, but I constantly leave my camera where it's not supposed to be. So if I'm in the school room, the camera is in the keeping room downstairs. If I'm downstairs, the camera is upstairs in the school room. In my state of pregnancy I have grown lazy when it comes to going up and down the stairs.

But I did manage to take some pictures of some fun experiments we've been doing at co-op and bringing home. I teach our co-op science class using the Mind Blowing Science Kite for Young Scientists. It's fun and the kids love it! Anthony and Isabella are in my class and they are constantly asking "What are we doing in class next??" This week we made colorful crystals using the kit's polyacrylamide crystals. They've been playing with them all week and even Christian is having fun with them.





The science kit is an awesome little addition to any homeschool. It's perfect for my crew and the experiments are easy and fun for them to do. Best part is that everything is included (except water and some other easy to find stuff)!

Co-op is always fun for the kids and we are blessed to have such a great group of families that help make it such a success!!

Approaching Lent and Preparing Activities.

So last year, we did a Lent lapbook. It was fun, educational, and the kids loved it. But for the life of me, I can't find it!!! I can't even find a picture!! So sorry to all who have been asking if I could post something. I'll keep looking!

But in keeping with making things education and fun, we'll be working on another Lent Lapbook using Lapbooks for Catholics, Lent: A Journey Towards Easter. You can click on the title and it will take you to the webpage where you can purchase the whole thing for only $10!!

Other things that we are getting ready is our "Walk the Lenten Path" countdown to Easter. Last year we used this cute one from Catholic Icing and the kids loved keeping track of the days. Here is a picture of the ones the kids colored last year. They loved them!



This year, however, I actually made my own to use with my Faith Formation 5th grade class. I'm going to be letting my own kids choose which one they want to print out and color too, and so far they like the look of the new one!! I made one in black and white for my older kids to color and I also made one with the pictures already colored in to make it easier for my 3 year old. (You can see my color one below).

To countdown the days, they just put a sticker on each square every morning. But you can leave your squares blank and have your kids color them instead...my kids just love stickers, so I went that route. If you want to download a copy for yourself here are the links!!! Just click on "File" on the left side and then print.

Color Lenten Path Countdown
B&W Lenten Path Countdown

Also in the pipeline are some Stations of the Cross booklets for the kids to color and use on Friday's when we do the stations together. A picture posting of that once we get them printed and colored!!

So in the mean time, I hope these ideas get you started on your own Lent preparations! I also apologize for all the emails and messages in regards to my Lent lapbook from last year. Once I find it, I will be sure to take some pictures and post them ASAP!!

Valentine's Day.

How does the time go by so fast? Well, we've been staying busy doing some hard-core learning!! Of course, we have fun along the way too! This past month, we spent much of our time getting our St. Valentine day cards ready to trade with friends. Although it's so easy to just buy them, the sentimental touch is lost.

The kids really wanted to make their own and since I "hate" crafting (please insert sarcasm), I obliged and we spent a week making around 50 cards! They turned out great, although I've failed to take a picture of a finished product. You can, however, see how wonderfully messy our table got!!



It was a blast to get the kids' creative juices flowing in such a heart-felt way! And we were lucky enough that this year we were able to share the celebration at our co-op! The kids had a blast trading valentines, eating treats, and playing together. Getting home was part of the fun too as I could hear the kids reading their cards in their seats.

Isabella with her good friend Hannah.

I'm trying to help Anthony pass out his cards on the K-1 table.

I hope everyone out there had a great Saint Valentine's Day too! My kids are already excited about making valentines for next year! I think we'll tackle St. Patrick's Day next first, however!

A rare picture of me with my kids! Love them!!

Sewing and Crafting!

These past couple of months, I've been spending some of my free time sewing up a storm!! Mostly pajamas for the kids from fabric I've had in storage. It's been fun and a learning experience, since I don't really know how to sew.

My last two accomplishments, however, have taken a lot more time than the kids' pajamas. They have been a couple of colonial style dresses for Isabella. She is still well into American Girl and loves her dolls. Since we have started reading about Felicity in our AG Club, she had been asking for some dresses just like hers.

So I decided to make her a couple, complete with cap and scarf. They turned out nice, although the first dress (in blue) took me longer to make and is not as well made as the second. I have enough fabric to even make her a third, so that should take up some more of my time! Anything to keep the age of innocence going!

It's the Thought That Counts!

So maybe I spoke too soon when I said, "I'm back!" November thru January is possibly one of the busiest times due to all the holidays, traveling, and wrapping up for school. What was I thinking?

Well, now it's a new year and we're still in full swing here at Holy Family Classical Academy. The kids are getting their lessons done, we're reading, crafting, and cleaning the house all at the same time it seems!! But that's the great thing about homeschooling...getting it all done and doing it all together as a family. Love it.

For now, I'm finally downloading pictures from the holidays, organizing them on my computer, and hopefully printing some out. While all that gets done, I have a little birthday party to prepare for...Isabella turned 7 on New Years Day! Such a big girl!