Preschool Corner~ Wild Horses of Sweetbriar

 Since the beginning of our school year I have hoped to start posting our preschool happenings in an effort to keep my sweet little one's godmother in the loop of her little world. Here we are in May and I'm just now posting something. Life! What can I say?! No matter how much I desire to blog I won’t let it take me away from my family too much. So here we are…I suppose I can begin now and work backwards! I will still try to post things we have done throughout this school year because we simply love our Five in a Row book studies. 

Five in a Row (FIAR) is a literature based curriculum. (here is why it's called FIAR!) I have used it over the years with my kids from Before FIAR to Beyond FIAR. About 5 years ago a few ladies in my homeschool group created a “FIAR Club”.  We read the books at home and met monthly for some fun activities together. The memories of those club days are so special to me and my now 11 y.o. This year I have tried to recreate some of that fun with my 4 y.o. It’s been a blast! 

Last week we read Wild Horses of Sweetbriar as our FIAR book and My Chincoteague Pony as an extra to go along with the same theme. I like to add extra books that have the same theme as often as I can. There are so many great titles, there is hardly enough time to read them all!

I have been doing a mix of FIAR and Before FIAR titles this year. Some of the FIAR books “G” has not been quite ready for. For those we only read once instead of all 5 days. Sometimes she couldn’t even get through that. Others she would sit through many more times than the 5!! 

At times the activities to go along with the books were too advanced for her. Wild Horses of Sweetbriar was one of those, however I couldn't pass on this book because in my home horses and the beach are heaven to just about all of us!! I was part of a book club in two different homeschool groups and in each one I led the meeting for the book Misty of Chincoteague. The activity I created for the children to put together was this mini Chincoteague in a jar. “G” is a little young to create this so I went with a bigger version that she could actually get her hands into, a beach island sensory bin. She absolutely loves sensory bins! 

To do this I gathered these supplies

 

*Sand (from the floral section at Michael's. I chose this over play sand in the craft store b/c it was non-toxic and made in USA. Sadly the kids sand did not say non-toxic))
*Greenery that looks like sea grass (.50 cents at Michael's)
*Play horses from the girls toys
*Blue glass beads (for water) from Michael's
*Little seashells Also available at Michael's (we had some leftover from the last project for Misty)
*Play sand pail from the girls American Girl collection
*Plastic bin-I use the lids to those disposable pans. I always seem to have those on hand.
*Fence- I had a little fence from our Peter Rabbit's Garden sensory bin so I used that as well. It looked beachy!

Here is the finished product. Super easy! 

 

And let the fun begin!

 

 

 

  

Here is the pony swim!!

"G" had so much fun using this sensory bin. 

We still have it assembled so she can continue to play with it.

Here are the two books I used for this unit this past week. You can see all the books I have used for my wild ponies units in the below links.
Both of these books are out of print, but usually a local library will have them.

 

Here are my previous units on island ponies and Misty of Chincoteague
Island Ponies Pt. 1 (Misty)
Island Ponies Pt. 2
Places to see wild ponies on the beach:
Assateague Island, MD
Chincoteague Isalnd,VA
Sable Island, Nova Scotia
Various North Carolina Islands
Cumberland Island, GA
Payne's Prairie Preserve, Gainesville FL 

"But in my heart, I knew I would only need wild horses and the wind from the sea." ~Wild Horses of Sweetbriar

Helping Little Ones with The Rosary

May 5, 2015
In honor of Mary's Month I wanted to share a quick little visual aid I put together to help my young kids focus on the Rosary a little better. I know for myself it is hard to stay focused on the Rosary. My mind is easily distracted. I like to look at images of each mystery as I pray. Most of our Rosary booklets have at least a thumbnail picture of each. I figured if it helps me it may help the kids, so I took this poster and created a little flip booklet with it.

Here is how I did it:

I began with this poster and cut out each image

Then I ran them through my laminator

Once laminated I cut again and punched a hole in the top left corner of each square. Then put them in order onto a book ring.

Here is the finished product

The girls love using this whenever we pray a Rosary! The whole project took about 2 hours. I did it one Sunday afternoon while watching some Waltons episodes!

Don't forget about these roses I mentioned last year! They are so helpful for little ones!

Blessings to you,
Jen

Focusing on Blessings and Growing in Virtue

February 24, 2015 I have never been a big fan of New Years resolutions. (I do realize it’s February but stay with me!)  I can never seem to keep those resolutions. It can be so defeating to begin something big at the start of a fresh year and then “fail” at whatever change I have made. A year is a L O N G time!  Plus there are SO many things I want to work on, how do I decide which ONE thing to work on all year through? Why do we feel such a need to start fresh on the first day of a new year, or even the start of a new month or week?  I am so grateful God’s Mercies are new EACH MORNING! We are offered a fresh start each and every day! That just gives me such comfort. 

 Something we like to do all year as a family is to keep a Blessings Jar. Basically this is a simple jar that each family member places slips of papers into now and then describing how they feel blessed. On New Year’s Eve we read all the blessings. It’s really neat to remember things from earlier in the year that we have since forgotten. We skipped this past year and decided to do it again this year because we missed reading those blessings on New Year’s Eve. I also wanted to do something more, but not those New Year’s resolutions! I have been seeing some different things about a virtues jar. I was intrigued. That’s it! We can work on all kinds of virtues! Shortly after this thought a friend shared her virtue jar and gave me a virtue to work on this year. Between her suggestions and a little research on virtues we were up and running by the beginning of February. I know, a month late, but hey, the year does have 11 more months! 

 The way we are using our virtue jar is by choosing a new one each month to six weeks. There are so many virtues and I feel like that may be a good amount of time to study our virtue and work on it. I have printed out a number of virtues on slips of paper and placed them into our jar.

 I used different colors based on the main virtue. I have many virtues that branch off of each of the four cardinal Virtues; Prudence, Fortitude, Justice and Temperance, and the three theological virtues; Faith, Hope and Charity.

 As each person takes one out, their virtue goes up onto a chalkboard hanging in the kitchen (if they want) so we can all help each other out along the way. They have the option of keeping that private. We discuss how everyone is doing with their virtue about once a week during dinner. About a month in I am amazed at how much you can learn about virtues. And now I want to just keep learning. This site has been extremely helpful.

  I have also had a strong desire for the whole family to focus on one word each month throughout the year. Many people are doing the “One Word Challenge” where they choose a word to focus on all year. My sister especially encouraged me to try this when I read her blog post about it. But my attention span must just be too short! The idea of one word the entire year is too long for me as well, but I do love the concept. 

 To do this I am going to have the word front and center where we can see it each day to be reminded of it. I also will have quotes or Scripture verses based on that word in a little frame next to our word. I began with Love since it was February. Love on a deeper level. I wanted us all to work on serious Christ-like love. I printed two Mother Teresa quotes and used them in the frames on either side of some blocks that I created with the word "Love" on.  

 The blocks were easy to make. I simply cut some squares of paper with my 1&1/2 inch paper punch and used Mod Podge to glue them to 1&1/2 inch blocks. I just glued the papers to each side and the tops. Then once they were dry I used pretty letter stickers to create the word Love. Easy peasy!

 So, our plan to grow this year is to focus on our blessings, work on our virtues and to live out a new word each month. Hopefully, with His Grace, we'll keep the momentum going.

 

 If you find yourself discouraged about some resolutions you may have made and have not kept, rejoice in the fact that God’s mercies are new each morning, and begin again!

Blessings to you,
Jen

Hiding the Alleluia

February 6, 2015

With all the wonderful ideas out there, I always have grand plans to accomplish so many things with the kids, especially during Advent and Lent. I usually have to scale back quite a bit, but that is ok. We just keep trying to focus on something new each season. Last Lent we did enjoy doing many things together, but I wanted to share with you our most favorite thing. I was so excited about the idea of “Hiding the Alleluia” and actually doing that was as awesome as I’d hoped it would be. 

 I created an alleluia banner (Thanks to Lacy for the link to the printable letters! See above link) and had the kids put it in a box the night before Ash Wednesday. We discussed how we would not sing the “Alleluia” at all throughout Lent and that it would be very special to sing it again on Easter morning. The kids thought it was neat and we packed it away in a desk drawer to be taken out again on Easter morning. 

 I wanted to make sure bringing out the banner was special, so I decided that instead of just pulling it out on Easter morning I’d make it a fun event and created a scavenger hunt. The final clue would lead the girls to the Alleluia banner and we'd hang it up together. It turned out to be a really fun way to do an Easter egg hunt. 

 To do this I chose 8 “Resurrection Eggs” and numbered them. They had to find them in order from 1-8. Each egg had an item in it with a clue to lead the kids to the next egg.

 

Once they found the first egg they found the donkey inside. The inside message was this,

Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem. What did the people lay down for Him?

When you figure it out, go find these for your next clue!

When the girls remembered that they laid down palms for Jesus they realized they had to go to our china cabinet where we had some palms, to find the next egg. Sitting on the palms was egg number 2. 

The item inside was a chalice.The message in this egg was,

What did Jesus teach us at The Last Supper? What special food was shared that night? When you figure it out go find this for your next clue!

This led them to bread in the kitchen. Here they found egg number 3 and in it was a set of praying hands.

The note said,

The praying hands remind us that even Jesus prayed when He was afraid. What is one special way we pray? When you figure it out go find your next clue!

The girls realized I meant for them to go to where we keep our Rosaries, in an old antique desk that belonged to my great aunt. In the drawer with the Rosaries was egg number 4. 

In it were nails in the shape of a cross, a crown of thorns and a whip. The message inside said,

These things represent how Jesus suffered for us. Can you find something upstairs that shows us this? You will find your next clue there!

This led them to a Crucifix upstairs. 

Egg number 5 had a lance in it. 

The message was,

When they pierced Jesus’ side what came out? What do we have that reminds us of this? Go downstairs to find this!

They were to go to our picture of The Divine Mercy and find egg number 6 near it. 

In this egg was a die.

The clue said,

When Jesus was on the cross the men gambled to see who would win his clothes. They acted like this was a game. Where do you think you can find your next clue? 

To find the next clue they had to go to our game closet. 

There they’d find egg number 7, containing a stone, and the message,

When Jesus died they laid Him in a tomb and put a stone in front of it. What happened on Easter morning? Go to the kitchen to find your next clue.

On the windowsill in the kitchen they found egg number 8. 

It was empty! The message inside said,

The stone was gone and the tomb was EMPTY!!!! What happened? What do we get to SING today???? Can you remember where we put this special word? Go find it and we will hang it up!

When the girls realized it was time to find the box we put away (so long ago to them!) they were thrilled!!

Here they are unpacking our Alleluia! It was a really fun way to put emphasis on the transition from the quiet, reflective time of Lent to the celebratory morning of Eater. The girls would like to do it again this year. I am hoping I can get creative enough to create new clues!

For more ideas for Lent you can see my past Lenten posts on my Feast Days and Liturgical Seasons page.  

Praying for many blessings for you this Lent,
Jen

Prepare The Way

November 30, 2014
 Advent begins today! I love this time more and more each year as I turn my focus to teaching my children the importance of the season. December and the entire holiday season can be so very stressful. I used to survive the whole season, and feel like I could breathe again when it was over. That is a terrible way to move into the time of preparation for our Saviors birth. These past few years, as I have made more of an effort to teach my girls more about the season I have learned more myself, and have a renewed love for the season. Funny how that works! Here is the plan for this Advent...

In addition to some of the things we implemented the past couple of years I have a few new ideas this year. I never was able to find the wooden Journey to Bethlehem statue I had been looking for to match my Nativity set, so I just finally decided to purchase this one.  

 

It just arrived yesterday! I am so happy to have this! Now I can see Mary and Joseph on their way instead of looking at them adoring an empty manger!!

We will once again count down with our Advent basket, but this year I have lowered my expectations based on last year’s reality check! I am using some of the same books as last year, but have also added these to the collection:

(There are NO affiliate links in this post!)

  

And these awesome new books I just discovered from Liguori. They are great little books!

In an effort to cure the focus on “Me, myself and I” this year we plan to take the family to purchase some things to bring to a homeless shelter and deliver them together. I hope this will help the kids to think about the needs of others vs. their own wants.

We always did the Santa thing with the first three kids, but my fourth really didn’t care for it. She would get so nervous about some man coming into our home at night while we slept. (Even if it was Santa!!)  It was so upsetting to her it just wasn’t worth continuing the tradition. To be honest it was a bit of a relief to be finished with that, as I was always torn about whether that took the focus off the real reason for the day. When my youngest came along four years ago we just decided to not start that up again. She has never cared. But now she has started to ask about Santa. At first I was torn but then when I thought about it I just decided to fix this dilemma with a bigger observance of the feast of Saint Nicholas. We had friends years ago that gave their children their Christmas stockings on December 6^th, in honor of Saint Nicholas, instead of Christmas morning. I love this idea and have decided to try this out this year. The girls will wake up to find their stockings on the feast of St. Nicholas. The stockings will be filled with a few meaningful gifts instead of just typical little stocking stuffers.  And of course a little chocolate! I am hoping this will put the focus on the right people at the right times; Saint Nicholas on his feast day and Jesus on Christmas.

I have really wanted to teach the girls more about the liturgical seasons. I have been working toward the kickoff lesson being the first Sunday of Advent since this is the beginning of the liturgical year. Many years ago a friend showed me her Atrium for her Catechesis of The Good Shepherd class. I loved the whole thing, but what really struck me were the miniature liturgical vestments. I thought it was such a great way to show children the different seasons. Those Liturgical Calendars can be confusing for a little one! I have since discovered that many people create these miniature vestments to use at home with their kids. Unfortunately I could not find any to purchase. I cannot sew well, but decided to take this on! I found quite a few to choose from to base mine off of. I am keeping these things simple!! I printed the pattern for the chasuble from this site. I printed it at 75% and it was the perfect size. 

 How do you like my template? Amateur sewing at its best!!

I decided to go with the cross idea from this site as a stand for the vestments.

 Here is the first one! 

Not too bad for an amateur! I still need to finish the others. I also forgot to purchase rose colored fabric, so for the rose vestment I had to do it the old-fashioned way!  I cooked down some cranberries and strained them. 

Then soaked the white fabric in it for a few minutes. 

The color turned out really nicely. 

From the same website I found the pattern on, I really loved how she had pictures for each part of the priests clothing with an explanation of each piece. So I created some cards using the images and the explanation and prayer. I then printed and laminated them and put them together on a ring.

Here are a few of the cards close up

Lacy over at Catholic Icing has an awesome printable liturgical wheel for only $2-! I have printed and laminated this to use with the girls. Michelle Quigley has a more traditional printable Liturgical Calendar here. 

In my search for all of this liturgical goodness I found this website. I think I will purchase some things from here in the future. They seem to have many great printables to use in teaching about our faith.

I am very excited to now have Mary of Nazareth and The Nativity Story in our collection! I can’t wait to watch them as a family.

This Advent is a shorter one and we have many things on our calendar so I don’t know that we’ll be able to celebrate any more feast days throughout the month, but my little one has a serious devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe so we may need to do a little something on her feast day. 

Father Barron's Lenten reflections were such a big hit he is offering Advent reflections too. You can sign up here. 

I also wanted to share the beautiful artwork of Nellie Edwards. Her work touches my heart. We are so happy to have some of her prints in our home. A few favorites are:

 Adoration

 Mother of Life

 Sacred Communion

 You can find these and more of Nellie's beautiful work here.

 Praying you have a very blessed Advent,
Jen

Linked up with Catholic Bloggers Network Advent Link 2014