Welcome Wall for CCD

This year, our church's hall was finally completed. Having the hall completed meant being able to have our own CCD classrooms.

After teaching CCD in the local public elementary school in town, it was nice to be able to have our own classrooms to organize and decorate. 

To welcome the children into the classroom this year, I made a bulletin board for the whole class.

I printed out the bible verse...

"My sheep hear my voice; and they follow..."

The verse was a little bit longer than I needed, so I shortened it up to fit on the wall better.

I thought it was a perfect verse to help the kids learn that Jesus leads us and we should follow. 

If they follow Jesus, they can't go wrong!

I went online and found a free lamb printable coloring page. 

I used the one located here.

I used gray and white marbled printer paper, It gave the sheep a furry look.

I then cut out each lamb and printed each child's name on it.

They were all excited to see the way and had a fun time looking for their name.

I will be adding more to my classroom as the year goes on. I look forward to sharing my ideas with you.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up

In our life this week.....Nothing too exciting. Just cleaning and laundry, but that's nothing new. Those chores are just daily things when you're a mama. We did start up the wood stove this week. It has gotten a little chilly here already. We even had 10 minutes of snow flurries  on Thursday.

In our homeschool this week....Monday was co-op day. Art this week was fun and messy. We made paint! Tuesday, we caught up on school work. We made butter on Wednesday to go along with our reading of Little House in the Big Woods. On Thursday, we painted Robins to go along with our Seurat and Connecticut lessons. Friday, we did school in the morning and then headed to the kids cooking class. To wonderful moms, from our catholic homeschool group, have graciously volunteered to hold cooking classes in their homes. The idea was borrowed from the Catholic Cuisine site. They learn about a Saint, cook, and have fun with friends! This week, they did Saint O'Lanterns and made pumpkin spice cupcakes. It smelled so wonderful in the kitchen.

What I am reading.....nothing this week. I guess I shouldn't say nothing. The kids and I have been reading Little House in the Big Woods.
                                                       

What the kids are reading....Princess P has been reading various books from our shelves...Eric Carle, Dr. Seuss, Halloween stories, and her saint stories. Lego Man is reading the 2nd book in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series
                                                         .

What I am working on.....costumes for All Saint's Day. The kids will get to dress up 2 times this year. Once at our Monday co-op and Friday when we meet up with our homeschool group. I have been planning the All Saints Day party that I will be having on Sunday for my CCD class.

What I am praying for..my grandfather. He seems to be getting worse. He can not longer walk. He sits in a wheelchair all day. His hands are now so weak now, he can't feed himself. I pray that he gets his strength back and becomes his old spry self again.


Linking up with....The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, 7 Quick Takes, Friendship Friday, No Ordinary Blog Hop, Homeschool Review, Family Fun Friday, and Live and Learn

Our United States Scrapbook~ Connecticut

Connecticut

"Qui Transtulit Sustinet"

or

" He Who is Transplanted Still Sustains"

source~ Wikipedia

Coloring Page of State Flag

We located Connecticut on our United States map.

Coloring page of an outline map

Coloring page of state with state bird and state flower

State Flower~ Mountain Laurel

source~wikipedia

State Flower coloring page

State Bird~ American Robin

source~Wikipedia

State Bird coloring page

We had fun with our Robin painting project.

State Song~ Yankee Doodle

Sprit of '76 ( Yankee Doodle)

source~ Wikipedia

Coloring page of Yankee Doodle 

We listened to it on our Wee Sing America CD and learned all the lyrics.

                                                           

Other pages we used...

Connecticut Quarter coloring page from the US Mint

Books we used for our study.

    

                                                        

Recipes to Try

Joe Froggers

William Tell's Never-Miss Apple Cake

This year I added some more work to the state study. The kids are coloring in the states as we do them on a state map in the front of their State Notebook.

United States Outline Map coloring page

For each state, Lego Man and Princess P are filling out some notebooking pages. You can find them over at Harrington Harmonies. 

They are perfect for what we are doing. I like that the kids have to write the information down. I think it will help them retain some of the information better.

I also found a few printable worksheets. There are word searches, crossword puzzles, vocabulary sheets, and coloring pages! Lego Man loves word searches, so he really enjoys them.

Another resource we are using this year are a set of State books from Highlights my kids received from their grandmother. She gave them to me a few years ago when the kids weren't ready for them and I had forgotten about them. They are filled with a bunch of information and a map of each state!

Our books are over 10 years old, but Highlights still has similar set called Which Way USA.

I don't have the newer books so I can't confirm they are the same, but you may want to check them out.

Robins Inspired by Georges Seurat

The past few weeks, we have been studying the artist Georges-Pierre Seurat. 

source~ Wikipedia

For 12 weeks, we study one artist in detail. We learn about their life and study their paintings.

The Seine and la Grande Jette

A Sunday on the Island of La Grande Jette

To go along with our lesson, we painted a Robin in the style of Seurat. I chose Robins because we were studying the state of Connecticut and their state bird is the American Robin. I figured I would tie in two subjects into one fun project!

Princess P's Artwork

Mama's artwork trying to show different brush strokes

Lego Man's robin with it's Toucan bill.

Till Next Time,
Monique

Stained Glass Art Project for Kids

Recently, the kids learned about Roman Emperor Constantine and his conversion to Christianity. They had talked about the dream he had before he went into battle in history class.

To go along with the history lesson, I decided to have the children create their very own stained glass window with the Chi Rho in the middle.

It was a very easy project for the kids to do. 

I first drew the shape of a window on a piece of paper. I used watercolor paper since that was the paint we were going to be using.

Once the shape of the window was done, I placed the Chi Rho symbol in the middle.

The kids then created their own windows using watercolor paints. 

Some swirled the paint, others created a stained glass window with geometric shapes, and the older children depicted pictures in their windows.

This was a fun project that worked well for a wide range of children. We had kids between the ages of 2 and 12 doing this project.

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~Capturing the Context of Contentment in Everyday Life~

Every Thursday at Like Mother, Like Daughter

{pretty} Mountains...

I love the view from the valley. The mountains add a beauty to the skyline that can compare to nothing. After living near the mountains for 10+ years, I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

Except maybe the mountains out west.

{happy} The kids were thrilled to make caramel popcorn balls. 

We popped some popcorn and drizzled some caramel over the it.

The kids buttered up their hands and pressed into balls.

Of course, they couldn't wait to eat them!

{funny} Cats love boxes! Mama cat was climbing up on the box, the lid flipped off and in she fell.

{real}
The girls are molting, so we are down to 1 or 2 eggs a day and some of those eggs have been stolen by our egg stealing dog!

Linking up with....

Like Mother, Like Daughter

Thankful Thursdays

 Proverbs 31 Thursday

Pumpkin Patch Field Trip

Last Friday, we headed out to a local pumpkin patch for a fun filled day. The weather was beautiful.

We first attended Mass and then headed to the pumpkin patch for a picnic.

The kids were able to see pig races, drive tractors, slide down haystacks, race ducks in water, feed sheep and goats,and hang out with friends while the moms got a chance to chat and catch up on how things have been going. It's always nice to sit down and chat with friends.

After a while, the kids wanted to head into the corn maze.

So we rounded everyone up and headed into the unknown. The path was marked with clues (questions about angry birds). We decided to take the easy path, which was a good thing. The sign said it would take 30 minutes if no wrong turns were made. We should have known this was not a good idea.

Needless to say, we made a few wrong turns. We didn't know enough about angry birds and than we just got lost! 

After an hour of wandering around and only on the 3rd clue (and there were 10) we decided to give up. Kids were getting hungry, thirsty and a few even had to use the bathroom. We were hot, tired and getting desperate. We moms were just lost and confused. I will gladly admit that I am horrible with directions. 

So what did we do.....we walked straight through the corn. We ended coming out near a fence and followed it all the way to the pumpkin patch. We were way off!

Cries of elation as we found our way out of the cornfield.

Next year, I suggest apple picking instead!

After our adventure in the corn maze, we went on a hayride around the farm.

We had a fantastic time with friends, but I doubt we will be going into a corn maze anytime soon.

The Homeschoole Mother's Journal/Weekly Wrap-Up

Another week has gone by. I can not believe we are already in the middle of October. Where did summer go?

In my life this week....I have been trying to get things cleaned, organized, and de-cluttered. It never goes as quickly as I would like. I would love to say pouf and have everything done. I'm sure most of us would. I need to start working on the tree skirt for our Christmas tree and new stockings for the family. I have been planning this for 3 years now and still haven't gotten them done. Tuesday was errand day here. We went to the library, picked the last batch of beans, dropped off donations to our local thrift store, and Lego Man picked out his costume for Halloween and All Saints Day. Princess P didn't find anything. Either the costumes were babyish or they looked like outfits that some not so respectable lady would wear. Who designs these trashy costumes for our girls and sadly why do parents allow their children to wear them!
Migraines! All week I have had a migraine. I was stupid and ate gluten. Just further proof I need to stick to my gluten free diet. I just love bread! It did go away after the lovely moms from our Monday prayed a rosary for me. Those ladies and their prayers are amazing.

In our homeschool this week...Monday was co-op day. I truly love this day! The kids are learning so much from the other mothers teaching the classes. They are having fun hanging with their friends and I love seeing them together. On Monday, in art, the kids worked on creating a collage of a knight, a lady in waiting(princess), or a battle scene. I was amazed with the variety of ideas that the children came up with.
Next week we are making paint!

On Tuesday, we ran errands. We needed to go to the library, so kiddos could pick out books to use for their oral reports they have to give to daddy and myself. Princess P is doing owls and Lego Man is doing the history of the gun. This is part of the U.S. History class, since we are reading Little House in the Big Woods and following the Prairie Primer.

Wednesday and Thursday were catch up days. After visiting the grandparents for a week, we are a week behind. We are trying to see what we can catch up on and what will have to me made up over our Advent and Christmas break. On Thursday, Princess P started up violin again! I was so proud of her, she played her first piece from memory!!! Her teacher is a dear lady, who is 83, that just loves to pass on her knowledge (and love) of the violin. We are so blessed to have her in our lives.

Friday went attended Mass with our homeschool group and then headed to a pumpkin patch to have some fun!

What the kids are reading... Lego Man is still reading the Guardians of Ga'Hoole. He is still on the first book. Princess P is reading a puppy and kitten series she checked out at the library.
Together at bedtime, they have been reading through the Halloween books we have. I even saw them reading a Winnie the Pooh Halloween book.

What I am reading....I am reading a light book right now. It is a trilogy from Lauraine Snelling. It's called the Wild Westwind. I am already on book 3. The books are light and easy to read.

What I am working on....Two bulletin boards for my CCD class. I am making a bulletin board of all the kids in my class and an I know my prayers bulletin board. Once I have it up I will post about it. I am very excited about it. I am also working on the normal mom stuff...laundry, ironing, cleaning, etc. Nothing too exciting, unless of course you LOVE laundry.

On the homestead...After 5 days of steady rain, we were very thankful to see the sun. I thought we might need to start building an ark. We picked the last batch of beans. The girls are slowing down with their egg production. My indoor herb garden is doing rather well.

What I am praying for....my grandfather. He is currently in a wheelchair and is working on trying to walk again.


Linking up with....The Homeschool Mother's Journal, Weekly Wrap-Up, 7 Quick Takes, Friendship Friday, No Ordinary Blog Hop, Homeschool Review, Family Fun Friday, and Live and Learn