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!

Back From My Break!

Wow...has it really been that long since I last posted? Well, I want to thank everyone for their emails of concern! But I am happy to say that I'm back and feeling better than ever! It's been quite a busy last couple of months!!

Our household has been buzzing with homeschool, co-op, field trips, and the fabulous news of a new baby joining our family in May!! That's right...baby #6 is happily growing! With that, I'll add that I've had the most horrible morning sickness ever. Which has kept me from doing what I normally do around the house (blogging being one of those things). To bed at 8pm for me, with an afternoon nap thrown in. That was giving me minimal time to do anything else!

But my morning sickness has improved so much since I've headed into my second trimester! I'm only at 13.5 weeks, and it's exciting to see that I'm already showing. News of our little peanut has made everyone quite excited!!

So of course, morning sickness will never stop a homeschooling mom from doing lessons or toting the kids around to fun things. We've kept busy with everything from trips to the pumpkin patch, to making fall crafts, and even hosting our annual Halloween party!! Check it out! And I plan on fully coming back to the blogosphere to share all our adventures!

We created a fun coffee filter, fall tree in our school room window. Looks lovely with the light coming in!! **This craft idea was from the Frugal Family Fun Blog. You can see that post here.**

We took a field trip to our town's fire department with lots of our friends!

A trip to the pumpkin patch with the kids included a ride on a little cow train. Here I am with the kids waiting our turn.

Our 7th Annual Halloween Party was a blast!!

These past couple of months have been fun, busy, but most of very difficult with all that a first trimester pregnancy brings. But hooray for our growing family!! We are blessed so abundantly!