The Flat on Cabaniss Crescent

Dec. 13: The Feast of St. Lucy

We celebrated St. Lucy this past weekend.

I attempted to make Maggie a candle crown.  It did not work all that well, so next year I will save myself the headache and purchase this crown. I also would like to make her a beautiful white gown with a red sash to wear on this day next year. This year we had her wear a white dress with a pink sash. 

Maggie and I woke early and made this recipe for bread. It came out OK, but I will be searching for new recipes next year. 

She was so excited to put on the candle crown and deliver the bread to dad.  We have been talking about St. Lucy for months.

After she delivered the bread, I had a Lucy paper doll for her to play with.

Then I gave both kids a coloring sheet.

Here is Kerik's:

 

And here is Maggie's:

 

Finally, on her own, Maggie drew a picture of Lucy and narrated to me, "Once upon a time there was a girl named Lucy.  There was a lot of hot fire near her.  God came to save her.  Next to her is the cloud where heaven is.  Under the cloud is the place where the angels live."

Both kids eyes lit up Sunday in Mass when the priest mentioned the name of St. Lucy. 

I love making our faith come alive in their minds. 

The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe

December 12 is The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. To celebrate in our home, I made a simple Mexican dinner.  After dinner, Andy read the book The Lady of Guadalupe by Tomie dePaola. 

Then, we went to our favorite Mexican restaurant for dessert.  We go to this restaurant all the time, almost weekly, but we never have ordered dessert, so it felt extra special.  This restaurant has an image of Our Lady of Guadalupe and we made a point to show it to the kids. 

Next year, I would like to do some kind of craft or hands on activity with the kids.  Also, I think it would be nice to have a dozen pink roses as the centerpiece for our special feast. 

What did you do on this day?

Our Nativity Scene

Here is a picture of our Nativity scene (minus baby Jesus who we will add on Christmas Eve after Mass).  This year I am hoping to add the three wise men to our collection.

One tradition that we have been doing is to prepare the manager for baby Jesus with "good acts" of hay.  I saw a nice post written about this French Catholic tradition here.  One day I would like to have a larger manger to work with, but for now we just have our little one here.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary

Monday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary.  We let Kerik stay home from school to attend Mass. 

For dinner, my mother in law helped me to prepare a "White Feast."  We had white bean chicken chili with salad and corn bread with white wine.  For dessert we had peppermint ice cream in chocolate dessert shells. 

After dinner, I introduced a new custom to our family traditions: The Mary Candle.

I made this candle myself.  I bought a big white pillar candle at Walmart for $2.  The white candle represents Mary.  The beautiful white cloth (material I cut up from an old Japanese wedding kimono) represents her clothing covering her womb.  We will place this candle in the middle of our Advent wreath, lighting it nightly and say a Hail Mary as we light it.  Just as Mary waited for the birth of Christ, we spend Advent waiting for His arrival.

On Christmas Eve, I will take off the beautiful white cloth to reveal what was hidden inside her womb:
BABY JESUS!

I just carved out a little niche to place a figure of the Christ Child.  The green mantle is felt that I secured with craft glue and I made the gold marks with a paint pen.  This was simple and took less than ten minutes.  I have seen some beautiful and elaborate Mary candles on line, but this simple one will work for our family.

The kids are so full of anticipation to see the surprise that is under the white cloth.  I told them we have to wait for Christmas to see! 

After dinner we did the CGS  'Annunciation' presentation, which is in itself, another post...

Here is a picture of our Mary candle in the middle of our Advent Wreath:

 

Making Advent Candles

This year we made our own Advent Candles with this kit.

It was an easy and fun family activity that I hope to make a yearly tradition in our home. 

This is what our candles look like:

Because these burn so quickly and I like to burn candles every night, I am also going to look into electronic Advent candles for future years.  I have seen them in some of the catalogs I get.  Perhaps we will only light the real candles on Sunday, but we could keep the electronic ones burning all week. 

Advent has arrived!

On Sunday we decorated the house for Advent.  I hung up the Jesse Tree banner and underneath I put out all our "Advent Presents"  I wrapped all our Christmas books (we have so many I had to choose the best ones) in purple paper or white paper with a pink bow.  Each night we will open one present at bedtime and that will be our bedtime story.(The presents with the pink bow are for the third week of Advent)  I got this idea originally 2 years ago from Cheryl at 'My Thoughtful Spot', but I have since read about other families doing it too.  So I wonder if they too are following Cheryl's lead or if this is perhaps a tradition that many embrace?  The kids love it and are just so excited!  I do have a couple Christmas movies so I wrapped those as well and maybe I will let them unwrap those on a weekend or something. 

On Sunday, the first day of Advent the kids woke up to a purple present next to their bed and when they opened it they found a chocolate Advent calendar.  The only problem that I did not realize at the time, is that there are 24 chocolates and since Advent started on Nov. 30 this year we are off by a day.  So we may have to "forget" one day to get on track, but that may be hard...the chocolate is the first thing they go for in the morning!

We also decorated the banister going upstairs with purple lights which looks just lovely. 
I put out some purple candles I ordered from a Yankee Candle fund raiser and purple place mats at the table.

Finally, I displayed our nativity scene, all except baby Jesus who will be placed in the cradle on Christmas Eve.  I am having the kids "earn" pieces of hay to put in his cradle.  His cradle started off empty and every time I catch them doing something extra kind or helpful they earn a small piece of hay to lay in his bed.  The goal is to provide a soft bed for him by Christmas.  An older woman who raised 8 kids at our church in Jacksonville, FL told me she used to do this with her kids when they were little and I have read about others doing this.  This is the first year I have done it. 

I had a feeling of accomplishment Sunday night after putting the kids to bed.  My house looked lovely in purple decor, my Jesse tree (which I started back in October) was finally done, my books were wrapped, and the kids were excited about this new liturgical season. 

I have been working since October with all my preparations, but now that I have invested all this time I think future Advents will be a breeze!  To make sure I do not have any stress next year, I plan to re wrap the books in purple paper this year before I store them away until next year.

Then yesterday, I completed my Christmas cards on Shutterfly and pressed send- I am having Shutterfly send them this year.  I uploaded all my addresses (have been working on this a few years now!)  Shutterfly has a feature that allows you to design your cards and personalize each card to the individual and then they will send them out for a small fee.  It was well worth it to me to not have an extra project sitting around the house waiting to get done.  I did order a few loose cards for addresses I could not find or extras I may have forgotten, etc...but in general I am done and feel great.

The few gifts I have left to get I will order on line.  We made all our teacher gifts this year and I picked up gift cards back in October.

Now I can relax and enjoy the true reason for the season!

The Prayer Table

Based on the recommendation of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, I have added a prayer table to our upstairs living area, right outside the bedroom of both children.  The prayer table is just a little stool I found a thrift shop and painted gold.  The rug is from the 100 yen store in Japan (Japanese Dollar Store) and the little silver candle is from a local thrift shop as well.  I chose this silver candle because not only did I want to have a beautiful candle to light for nightly prayers but this candle can also be a Montessori "work" for the kids (polishing silver).  The little green cloth is actually a handkerchief.  I plan to change this cloth each liturgical season and keep the table decorated in the spirit of the season.

The kids and I have been gathering each night, after stories, showers, and teeth brushing to sit in front of the prayer table.  I light the candle and we sing a song or say a little prayer for a minute.  They love it and the nights where I do not initiate it, they ask for it on their own.

Below you can see my Advent scene.  Not the best picture, but I have changed the cloth to purple.  I found a women's pant suit at the thrift store for $1.00 and cut it up and hemmed it on my machine.  (First time I have used my machine in years!)  On the wall you can see my Advent prophecy card (I will elaborate more on this later...).  I kept the same silver candle and added a little nativity scene. 

Lenten Tea

I just came across this idea by Alice for a lovely Lenten Tea.  I always seem to find Alice's ideas after the fact, but it is good to store ideas away for the future.

The 50 days of Easter

The Garden of the Good Shepherd: A Sticker Calendar to Count the Fifty Days of Easter booklet by Peter Mazar, illustrations by Tomie dePaola

Today we started our sticker calendar.  Techinically the first day of Easter was yesterday, Easter Sunday.  So today we did two stickers. Similar to an Advent calendar, this sticker calendar counts the 50 days from Easter Sunday to Pentecost.  Each day there is a reusable sticker to add to The Garden of the Good Shepherd. The images are drawn from scripture.  I am excited to learn along with my kids more about the entire Easter Season, all 50 days of it.

Easter Sunday

We had a great Easter!

The kids woke up early, excited to look for their baskets and treats from the bunny.  We opened the oven to find our Easter Story Cookies waiting for us (they did not really come out, but the kids did not care).

Then I made homemade play dough so the kids could have something to occupy themselves with (instead of morning TV).  I started with this recipe:

Homemade Play dough

1 cup flour
1/2 cup salt
1 cup water
2 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoon cream of tartar

Mix flour, salt and oil, and slowly add the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring until dough becomes stiff. Turn out onto wax paper and let cool. Knead the dough with your hands until of proper consistency. Use as is, or divide into balls and add a few drops of the food coloring.

It did not really work (I think I added too much water) so I ended up adding some oatmeal and some corn starch.  Then I added more oil.  In the end, I came up with some play dough and the kids were happy.  I had a bunch of Easter cookie cutters for them to use.   

We went to the noon Mass with Grandma and Grandpa H. and then we all went over to our friends house for an afternoon of good food, drinks, and a good game of Balderdash. The kids played outside in the sprinkler and at the water/sand table and we also had a little Easter Egg Hunt for them.  It was a great day and they passed out in the car on the way home.

Holy Saturday

Note: I will be updating this post with pictures at some point...

After our Stations Egg Hunt, we had a quiet Good Friday afternoon.  We cleaned and watched various programs on EWTN.  In the evening we went to a neighborhood bonfire.  Grandma and Grandpa H., in town from Michigan, surprised the kids at the bonfire.

Saturday morning I took the kids grocery shopping, then came home and made an Angel Lush dessert for our Easter party on Sunday. It was my first time making this dessert.  Normally on Easter I make Carrot Cake, but this seemed healthier and easier.

I was planning a quiet afternoon inside, relaxing, dying eggs,  and reading Easter stories but it was so nice out and the kids wanted to be outside with the neighbors.  So I brought the easter egg dye and the hard boiled eggs to the picnic table in the yard and all the kids (mine plus 3 neighbors) had a blast dying eggs.  I have vivid memories of doing this every Easter growing up and I have always loved this simple activity. 

After we finished dying them, Tigger said, "Let's hide them!"  So we let the kids hide the eggs.  Our neighbor brought out 18 Cascarones (confetti eggs) that her grandma from Texas sent.  This is a Southwestern/Mexican tradition for many families and every year her grandma makes dozens of confetti eggs and sends them to all the grandkids.  I had never seen or heard of Cascarones before and was happy to share in their fun tradition of breaking confetti eggs on each others heads!  The kids loved it and there is confetti all over our yard that will probably be there for weeks!

We finally came inside around 3:30 and I bathed the kids (much needed!) and got them dressed for our dinner. I read Little Rose of Sharon to them.

Then we made Easter Story Cookies.  (We'll have to follow the recipe a bit closer next year because this morning when we opened the oven the did not turn out exactly right.  Oh well.)

Finally, last night around 5, we loaded up in the van to drive to our favorite Mexican restaurant to meet Grandma and Grandpa H. for dinner.

I was planning on taking the kids to the Easter Vigil after dinner last night, but we were all so tired and I knew the kids had a full day ahead of them today.  So we came home and put them right to bed. 

Eventually, when they are a bit older, I would like to go to the Vigil Mass.  In future years, I would like to spend some time during Lent preparing for the Easter Vigil (for myself and for them) so we can all get more out of it.  But we are just not there yet.

Stations of the Cross

Our main family focus for Lent was to expose the kids to the Stations of the Cross.   For starters, I ordered this beautiful book: The Story of the Cross: The Stations of the Cross for Children

We read this book studying one station a night beginning about 3 weeks ago.  Each night we read about a station and talked about it and then I presented a framed print.

I ordered these prints online for only $6 (to see what they all look like click here and you can see each one- they are the same). I framed each print in cheap Walmart frames (about $2 a frame) so this was a total investment of about $40, but I will use these every year for many years to come. 

By the time we got to Holy Week, both kids had a very good understanding of what happened in each station.

So today, Good Friday, my friend Rebecca and I planned a Stations Egg Hunt in the woods.  I displayed each framed print along a trail in the woods to represent the Station.  Each Station had a plastic easter egg filled with something symbolic of that station.  The biggest challenge was having the kids take turns opening the eggs and then not being in too much of a hurry to run to find the next print and egg.  The older kids followed along with their little guides.

Preparing the eggs was easy.  Rebecca did 7 and I did 7.  The kids helped me find the objects to fill them up and that in itself was a fun afternoon activity. 

Here is what we had in the eggs at each station:

Station 1 Jesus is Condemned to Death -- a string to represent the rope used to tie Jesus’ hands

Station 2 Jesus Carries His Cross -- a small cross

Station 3 Jesus Falls the First Time -- one band-aid

Station 4 Jesus Meets His Mother Mary -- a plastic rosary to represent the Blessed Mother

Station 5 Simon Helps Jesus -- heart stickers to represent Simon’s love in carrying the cross.

Station 6 Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus -- white fabric with face of Jesus taped on it

Station 7 Jesus Falls the Second Time -- band aid

Station 8 Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem -- a tissue for their tears

Station 9 Jesus Falls the Third Time -- band aid

Station 10 Jesus is Stripped of His Garments -- a small square of purple fabric to represent His purple cloak

Station 11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross -- a large nail

Station 12 Jesus Dies on the Cross -- a crucifix

Station 13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross -- a laminated holy card depicting Michelangelo’s Pieta

Station 14 Jesus is Buried -- a stone to represent the stone rolled in front of the tomb

At the end, I had a treat for each kid.  An plastic egg filled with jellybeans and a copy of the Jellybean Prayer.  My kids helped me sort the jellybeans and fill the eggs for this too.  It was fun and easy and we made them for all the neighbors.     

Holy Thursday

Mass of the Lord's Supper
During the evening of Holy Thursday, the Mass of the Lord's Supper is celebrated. It is celebrated in the evening because the Passover began at sundown. There is only one Mass, at which the whole community and priests of the parish participate. This is a very joyful Mass, as we recall the institution of the Holy Eucharist and the priesthood. The priests wear white vestments, the altar is filled with flowers, the Gloria is sung and the bells are rung. After the Gloria, we shall not hear organ music and the bells until the Easter Vigil. The Liturgy of the Mass recalls the Passover, the Last Supper, which includes the Washing of the Feet. The hymn Ubi Caritas or Where Charity and Love Prevail is usually sung at this time. After the Communion Prayer, there is no final blessing. The Holy Eucharist is carried in procession through Church and then transferred into a place of reposition, usually a side chapel. The hymn Pange Lingua is also usually sung at this time.

After the Mass, we recall the Agony in the Garden, and the arrest and imprisonment of Jesus. The altar is stripped bare, crosses are removed or covered. The Eucharist has been placed in an altar of repose, and most churches are open for silent adoration, to answer Christ's invitation "Could you not, then, watch one hour with me?" (Matt 26:40)

We took the kids to this Mass last night.  It began at 8 PM, so I bathed them and put their pajamas on.  They were excited to go to church at nighttime in their pajamas.  It was great.  I love this service.  It was not too long for them and I believe they got a lot out of it.  Both kids were able to have their feet washed by the priest and it was so precious, I wish I had a camera!  Then, the best moment was when Tigger lovingly helped Piglet put her crocs back on.  In front of the whole congregation for 5 minutes they looked like perfect loving siblings!  When we processed outside to go to the small side chapel, Tigger whispered to me, "This is just like the Agony in the Garden."  "Yes," I told him.  "That's exactly what this is."  I was so proud that he got it and that all the readings we have done came together and made sense to him. 

I would love to make this tradition of taking the kids to this Mass every year.  In future years, when the kids are a bit older to understand, I would like to prepare a Seder Meal on Holy Thursday.  I would like to get the proper learning materials so we can act out the events like Cheryl and her kids did.  I am going to look into making and/or buying things to be ready to do this next year. 

Oh, also like Cheryl, in future years I think I will plan to watch The Passion of Christ on this night and then when the kids are old enough they can join me.

Happy Groundhogs Day! Happy Candlemas! Happy Mardi Gras!

"If Candlemas be fair and bright, Winter will have another flight; But if Candlemas be clouds and rain, Winter is gone and will not come again."

Up until recently, I had not even heard of Candlemas.  Then I stumbled upon last years Loveliness of Candlemas Fair and I started reading and taking notes.  I learned that Candlemas is when the Catholic Church celebrates The Presentation of the Lord on February 2. 

Candlemas also connected to Groundhogs Day, which is also celebrated on February 2.

Here is some history (from Wikipedia):

German immigrants brought their Candlemas traditions with them to the US when they settled in Pennsylvania. The earliest known American reference to Groundhog Day can be found at the Historical Society of Berks County in Reading, Pennsylvania. The reference was made Feb. 4, 1841 in Morgantown, Berks County, Pennsylvania storekeeper James Morris' diary: "Last Tuesday, the 2nd, was Candlemas day, the day on which, according to the Germans, the Groundhog peeps out of his winter quarters and if he sees his shadow he pops back for another six weeks nap, but if the day be cloudy he remains out, as the weather is to be moderate."

This is a Scottish poem about Candlemas Day
As the light grows longer
The cold grows stronger
If Candlemas be fair and bright
Winter will have another flight
If Candlemas be cloud and snow
Winter will be gone and not come again
A farmer should on Candlemas day
Have half his corn and half his hay
On Candlemas day if thorns hang a drop
You can be sure of a good pea crop

It is clear where Groundhogs Day has it's origins.  I have decided in our family we will have fun with this day and acknowledge both Groundhogs Day and Candlemas.

Some Groundhogs Day books that I reserved from our library are:

Groundhog gets a Say  and Gregory's Shadow

I really wanted this book, but our library did not have it.  Maybe our next library at our new house will.

Something that I would like to do in the future to acknowledge Candlemas is to roll beeswax candles, I did not have time to order these this year so instead I went to Michaels and found a cheap kids candle making set.  I think I will order this nice beeswax kit now to tuck away for next year...

I really like Dawn's ideas and book choices over at By Sun and Candlelight and would like to look into some of her book ideas next year.

I read (on Dawn's blog) that according to longstanding tradition, it was customary for the lady of the house to check on the household candle supply on Candlemas (Feb. 2).  I have mixed feelings about candles right now for a couple reasons:

1. Our dear little neighbor Anna, who is only 2, recently had her hair catch on fire when she went to blow out a candle on their dinner table.  She was rushed to the emergency room with 2nd degree burns on her head.  It was a wake up call for me (a candle lover) to be extra careful with candles and kids.  So as much as I love candles, I am not sure I want a huge stock pile in the home (or could afford one...) and where would I store all these candles?  Hmmm...things to think about... 

2. We move a lot and typically the movers do not let us pack candles.  I think the next move we have coming up I could pack my own candles and put them in the trunk of my car.  One more thing to do, but with every move we make I get a bit more sophisticated with my moving tricks.

I do not know if we will actually have time to make candles today because my parents are visiting.  It may be a fun activity to do with grandma and grandpa, but if it doesn't happen so be it...

And it may not happen because to complicate things, we are going to a Mardi Gras parade this afternoon!  I have never lived in a place where Mardi Gras was so big!  All the stores and businesses are decorated.  There are tons of parades and parties going on this week! 

After playing around on the web I found some interesting Mardi Gras Carnival history at this blog.  Mardi Gras is a time when we party and celebrate with family and friends before Lent begins.  How perfectly appropriate that my parents can visit us on this weekend!

So, today I am really going to overwhelm my kids with Groundhogs Day, Candlemas, and Mardi Gras, and at the end of the day all they will probably remember is a fun day with Grandma and Grandpa P., some beads, a groundhog, and maybe (hopefully) something about a candle.

Christmas Art

Last summer I found a gem of a book at a used book store called The Christmas Story.

It is the Christmas Story from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke with illustrations from New York's  Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection.

I displayed it on a shelf in our bathroom for the month of December. I also made copies of select pictures to use with the kids for art study.  I combined these pictures with a few other prints I had.  As we went through the Advent season preparing for Christmas we focused on corresponding works of art.  We talked about what was happening in the prints and read picture books to help us understand the Chirstmas story even more fully. 

I am not sure who enjoyed this more, the children or myself.

The first week of Advent we did not use a print from the book.  We used a print I have had for awhile:

The Annunciation

by Simone Martini

After this print I have another that is a close-up of Mary in the above Annunciation print.  It was nice to have a close-up of Mary during the second week of Advent when we celebrated The Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The next print I used was from The Christmas Story:

The Visitation by a follower of Rogier van der Weyden

And then, on Christmas Eve, after we got home from Mass I put this print, also from The Christmas Story, in the frame:

The Nativity by the workshop of Fra Angelico

I kept this in for a couple days and then switched it to this one (another one I had in the house):

The Journey of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli

I actually just took this print out about a week ago.  I intended to keep it up until the Epiphany, but our Epiphany celebration was delayed this year and we ended up talking about the Journey of the Magi and the Epiphany for an extra 2 weeks! 

I would like to add more prints from The Christmas Story next year. This year I wanted to keep it simple for the kids so we could focus on just the basics of Christmas.  Every year we can go into a bit more detail.  My goal is to make them familiar with these works of Art as well as the true Christmas Story from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke.  The 

Epiphany

We are nearing the end of January, but my Christmas decorations are still not put away.  And I am still organizing ideas for next Christmas.  I finally accepted last week that we would not have an Epiphany party.  I had planned to have a big one and then on the weekend of the Epiphany, my husband had to leave town suddenly for a funeral.  I figured we'd postpone it to the next weekend.  But the next weekend he had a cross-country flight.  Then last weekend was full of football and other stuff.  And now it just seems too late. 

We did talk a lot and read a lot about the Epiphany this year.  I just took down this table display last weekend. 

Here is a list of all the Epiphany books we read:

The Last Straw, Story of the Three Wise Kings, How many miles to Bethlehem, The Legend of Old Befana

The Epiphany Art Print we studied was The Journey of the Magi by Benozzo Gozzoli (I found it at a used book store in Metro Detroit last spring and when I asked how much it was the clerk told me I could have it!)

Next year, I plan to read all the same books and study the same art print.  I also would love to start a fun tradition with Old Befana.  In Italy Befana delivers gifts to all the children the night before the Epiphany.  Next year I plan to fully celebrate the 12 days of Christmas with a small gift or treat each day.  Having Befana come visit on the final Christmas night would be a fun way to end our Christmas celebration. 

Hopefully next year I will be able to have the party I was not able to have this year.  I am full of ideas.  I was inspired by Alice over at Cottage Blessings.  Here is her plan for: A Very Simple Tea for the Twelve Days of Christmas and Epiphany.  Here are Scenes from Alice's Tea and Alice's Epiphany Potluck. 

I know I will make a 3 Kings Cake and organize a Treasure Hunt (with chocolate gold coins) and I would also like to help the kids perform the story of the three kings traveling.  (I bought costumes from Oriental this year...oh, I also bought lace-up crowns as a craft.)  So I will save all these materials and ideas for next year.

In the meantime, the ideas of Epiphany have been ingrained in my kids.  The other night we were driving and it was a dark night with lots of stars.  Tigger said, "Mom, this looks like the kind of night that the 3 Kings traveled."  And Piglet just loves to mention in casual conversation with anyone who will listen how King Harold was a bad bad man because he wanted to kill Baby Jesus.

Our Lady Of Altagracias Tea

Today we had an ORANGE TEA in honor of Our Lady of Altagracia, whose feast day was this past Monday (which was a holiday for us- MLK day).  We invited some friends over and together we read A Gift of Gracias by Julia Alvarez. 

I served Mandarin Orange Green Tea, Homemade Cranberry-Orange mini-muffins, a chocolate orange cake, and orange flavored chocolate candy.  I also had Sunny Delight for the kids to drink.

This is one of our Catholic Mosaic books, and so far I think it is my favorite. 

It was fun learning and celebrating with friends.

Catholic Art Study and Drawing

FOR NEXT YEAR: I am all set with our Art Study plans for this year, but this looks great for next year!

Art Masterpieces: A Liturgical Collection Looking for a simple, hands-on method to teach art appreciation? This beautiful art masterpiece collection features ten different artists. Each has been chosen to illustrate how artists make use of color, line, and contrast to produce works of art. Additionally, the collection is arranged to follow the liturgical year (monthly from September-June). For example, the pictured masterpiece by Botticelli is suggested to be displayed in January (January 1st-Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God). Collection includes art prints and a short instructional guide. Wide variety of artists: Michelangelo, Botticelli, Rembrandt, Lippi and six others. Affordable for families! 8" x 10" full color prints. $14.95 :   A Catholic How-To-Draw Andrea Helen Smith Beginning to advanced artists will enjoy creating their own masterpieces by following the step-by-step instructions in this book. This art activity allows children to draw, trace, and color over 30 inspiring Catholic subjects: Mother Mary, Nativity, Lamb of God, Monstrance, Baby Jesus, Saint Joseph, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Good Shepherd, and many more. Children will find many ways to share their drawings–and their Faith–with family and friends throughout the year. On cards, invitations, gifts, greetings, and decorations For Christmas & Easter, Get Well, Birthday & Feast Days, Sympathy, and Sacramental Celebrations 102 pages. Spiral-bound for ease of use. Softcover. Shrink-wrapped. 11" x 8-1/2" We are still working on basic handwriting and drawing shapes.  We are not ready for anything more than that yet.  But when we are (maybe this summer or next fall?) this Catholic How-to-Draw book, along with Drawing with Children by Mona Brooks will be the resources I am going to use.

Religion

CATHOLIC MOSAIC

For religious study (and also a little history and geography) we are reading the books in Catholic Mosaic.  The Catholic Mosaic was created by Cay Gibson, a homeschooling mother of 5, and I was just lucky enough to stumble upon it one day while playing on the Internet.  Reading the books in the Mosaic allows us to celebrate the liturgical year and introduce saints to the children through literature.  I am slowing collecting all the books.  I am trying to find them at used book stores or on line.  I am also checking some out from the library, but eventually I would like to own them all.  This week Thursday  was the Feast of St. Francis so I read Francis: The Poor Man of Assisi by Tomie dePaola  

The book was long and a bit advanced and truthfully the kids did not understand much of it.  But it was fun for me to read and I learned about St. Francis, who I knew little about.  Over the years, the kids will come to know and understand the story if I always read it on Oct. 4.  For this year we talked about St. Francis being from Italy and we found Italy on the map, we looked at the pictures in the book and talked about how Francis loved God and loved animals.  That is enough for them for this year.  Maybe next year we can get into the story more.  Cay Gibson has created a study guide for all of the books in the Mosaic and eventually I would like to get that.  It is called Catholic Mosaic: Living the Liturgical Year with Literature an Illustrated Book Study for Catholic Children.  Again, this is something I can do with my kids even if we are not homeschooling.

CATECHESIS OF THE GOOD SHEPARD

For religion we are also using Catechesis of the Good Shepard an approach to the religious formation of children. It is rooted in the Bible, the liturgy of the church, and the educational principles of Maria Montessori. 

We use the Miniature Mass Kit for Children available from the on line store 'Our Fathers House'.

I have been studying the Montessori method of Catholic education for about 3 years now.   Again, at this point I am learning a lot more than them, but I do look forward to presenting all the lessons to them to give them a better understanding and appreciation for our Catholic faith. 

With the Mass Kit, I am doing one small (10 min.) presentation a week.  We are slowly learning the names of everything used in the Mass, how to set up an altar, and  how to fold an altar cloth. As with all Montessori lessons, presentations are short, and we do not move on to a new lesson until the previous one has been mastered.

My sister-in-law, Sr. Ave Maria, is a Dominican Sister of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist (a Catholic religious community in Ann Arbor, MI whose apostolate is teaching).  She has used the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in both her prekindergarten and kindergarten classrooms. 

The books that really helped me understand and implement the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd in my home were:

The Good Shepard and The Child by Sofia Cavalletti, Patricia Coulter and Silvana Q. Montanaro.

This book has lesson plans and describes how to  implement the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd with children ages 3-6. It includes presentations for the Parables of the Kingdom, the Eucharist, Baptism, and the Parable of the Good Shepherd. It also has a section for Advent and Lent studies with children.

The Religious Potential of the Child: Experiencing Scripture and Liturgy With Young Children

This book describes a Montessori approach to religious education for children from 3-6 known as Catechesis of the Good Shepherd. This is not a "how-to", but rather a glimpse inside a specially prepared environment that allows children to develop rich spiritual lives.

There are more books, for ages 6-9, and then for ages 9-12, I think.  There are also workshops available.  If you are interested in finding out more check out http://www.cgsusa.org/

There are good pictures and also supplies available from Catholic Montessori. 

"If we want to help the child draw nearer to God, we should with patience and courage seek to go always closer to the vital nucleus of things. This requires study and prayer. The child will be our teacher if we know how to observe." --
Sofia Cavalletti