Starting the New Year with Our Rule of Seven

I had fantasies of having at least the upper part of our home clutter-free and our play-and-learning room back in order by the first of this year.  But, um, life is what happens when you are making other plans.  Fortunately, even if my intent to have a clean and orderly home has yet to come to fruition, life has provided plenty of opportunities to keep living and learning by our Rule of Seven:

~1~

Love God

We have started the New Year off by continuing our habits of prayer, Mass and other faith formation.  Admittedly, Mass continues to be a challenge since the kiddoes rarely behave there.  But, we are steadfast in going as a family on Sundays...  The kids and I have also been enjoying First Friday Mass, Adoration, Reconciliation followed by a Music Club for the kids with Our Lady Queen of Saints.  We are so blessed to be a part of such a strong Catholic homeschooling group.  And, of course, at home, we continue to celebrate feast days - including the Epiphany, complete with a simple liturgical breakfast tea.  Plus, we have begun the year with a commitment to actually keeping the Sabbath -- avoiding unnecessary work, taking time for prayer and spending time appreciating our gift of family.

~2~

Love Others

With a five and a three year old in the house, loving others is something we are still working on in many, many ways - the biggest of which is learning how to consistently demonstrate love (not head butts, tackles and other forms of mauling) with siblings!  Kisses, hugs, compassion and service do happen though - praise God! - both within our little family and with others.  One way it does is through hospitality.  And, boy, can't that be fun!  We absolutely loved extending the hospitality of my brother and family, who hosted our annual family New Year party to our neighbor, who was to be alone on New Year's Eve.  Granted, we had to explain to her that not all Americans celebrate as we do -- with loads of games, plate after plate of appetizers and a midnight toast followed by a case of confetti and silly string let loose!

~3~

Love Moving

If we had to pick one thing that I think we are all going to focus on this year it would be movement!  It's so vital for the kids' growth and development and so important to physical and mental health of Mom and Dad.  So far, one of our favorite movement experiences came last Sunday when we went skating for the first time as a family.  Luke had been asking to try it, so it became our Sabbath adventure.  Our little boy is hooked!

~4~

Love Beauty

We started the New Year with a snowy hike and have been enjoying the beauty of nature with every snow fall that we can -- and there sure has been enough of that lately!  What a master the Lord is for painting the canvas of our world with so many different seasonal delights.

~5~

Love Work

Although not yet completely consistent with our efforts at family work time, we are becoming more strongly committed to the habit.  And, sometimes it is a true delight - such as the other day when Luke got some "heavy work" in by clearing small furniture and things from the floor of his and Nina's bedroom by piling it onto the beds so we could vacuum while Nina happily sorted diapers, cloths and stuffers.  And, of course, there's all the shoveling we've been doing.  (Okay, Nina works at the shoveling with us while Luke, more often than not, gets distracted by simply playing in the snow.)

~6~

Love Playing

Playing is huge in our home, and it's been such a delight to see the imaginative and cooperative play between Luke and Nina increase in frequency and depth lately.  Sometimes, I just marvel at how their ideas unfold and build upon one another's.  Equally fun to witness is when they play with Jack, getting him belly laughing.  And, for Daddy, Luke's new interest in hockey is a boon.  Hallway broom hockey, anyone?

~7~

Love Learning

 

As a part of our Free Christmas Exchange, Luke and Nina received Leap Frog videos.  And, while we are not big on lots of screen time for the kids, we do cuddle in for some at times.  These two videos - along with Jack's Hermie one, have been the most requested.  And, I have to admit:  They are a decent catalyst for literacy learning.  The kids love them and have been motivated to learn and study letters and word building, both on their own and with Dad and me, as a direct result of watching the videos.  Plus, Luke is getting more and more into wanting to read on his own -- especially to brother.

This post is being shared at Conversion Diary's 7 Quick Takes.

DIY (with Preschoolers) Recycled Crayons Tutorial with a Science and Sensory Diet Twist

In our family's Free Christmas Gift Exchange, I drew the "recycle" slip.  That served as the catalyst for a variety of Advent opportunities to demonstrate "loving others" (which part of our Rule of Seven) through working together to create and test fun gifts for family members.  The first of these was Do-It-Yourself Recycled Crayons -- a sensory-friendly preschool craft with some learning connections, too.  Here's a How-To Review

1.  Practice fine motor and one-to-one correspondence skills by placing a paper cupcake liner in each section of a muffin tin.  (Or, if you want funkier shaped crayons, try using some silicon baking trays.)

2. For some large-motor proprioceptive and vestibular input, go on a hunt throughout your house for every small or broken crayon bit you can find.  Then, get those fine motor skills to work peeling them!

3.  If any of the peeled crayons are long, work hand strength by breaking them into bits.

4. Use the pincer grasp to place all the peeled crayon bits into muffin tins, sorting them by complimentary or contrasting colors.  Add a bit of color-mixing theory to the activity by discussing what the resulting crayon colors might be -- avoiding mixes that will make dull grays and browns!  (If you wish, for extra tactile input, sprinkle glitter into the cups.  For olfactory input, add scents.)

5.  Then, after doing a little science-minded prediction about what might happen to the crayon pieces when they are heated, pop the tray into an oven, pre-heated to 150 degrees F, for 15-20 minutes.  Leave the oven light on for eager eyes to witness if their predictions are correct and be sure to take the tray out when the crayon pieces seem just melted, but not bubbly. (While checking the crayons, if you realize too late - as we did - that a few non-wax coloring pieces got mixed in - note the yellow and green bits below - just roll with it!)

6.  Carefully have an adult remove the tray from the oven, showing it from a safe distance to eager young ones.  Then, after taking advantage of the inherent science lesson on matter and how it changes from solid to liquid due to the heat of the oven, place the tray in the freezer.  Or, if it is cold enough like it was here when we made our crayons, just put it outside.  (You can take a toothpick to swirl the colors a bit if you wish before freezing the crayons, which can add a little more color mixing and visual interest to the activity.)  While you wait for your recycled crayons to freeze, have a little tactile sensory fun playing with all the leftover wrappings.

7.  Once the melted crayons have frozen, have another quick lesson focused on the affect of cold temperatures on liquids.

 

8.  Then, get those fine motor skills working again peeling the crayons.

At this point, your recycled crayons are ready to test, wrap and gift, or use.  

(Just be sure that, if you are gifting them, the recipient knows what they are.  One of our young nieces actually tried to nibble hers, thinking they were homemade Christmas edibles.  Ooops!) 

This post is being shared at Life as Mom's Frugal Friday.  Check out the links there for more budget-friendly ideas.

7 Quick Takes Friday (on Sunday) (Vol. 3) -- Our Rule of 7 Review for the Week

I have been enjoying taking part in 7 Quick Takes at Conversion Diary for the past two weeks as a way to reflect upon the kids and our homeschooling efforts. I did not want to break the habit, even if this week, I am a bit late in posting. So here are our 7 Quick Takes Friday on Sunday. This week, I am focusing them around our Jammies School Rule of 7 for:

~1~

Loving God: Luke and Nina have been loving God by focusing on Saints and learning about Lent. We thoroughly enjoyed a St. Valentine’s Breakfast Tea and have also been focusing on Lent activities. Every day, we try to do something to help us learn about and live as God wishes us to during Lent. So far, we’ve made a list of ways we could give to others, made Bean Jars for earning and counting out up to three beans a day (for praying, fasting and giving), made purple “Pray”, “Fast”, “Give” letters with smiley faces on them to remind ourselves that it makes Jesus smile when we do these things for Him and begun setting up our Lent liturgical table. We’ve also, of course, been enjoying Lent and Easter theme books, such as the Story of the Cross for Children.

~2~

Loving Others: The kids sure enjoyed putting their love for others towards making Valentine’s for friends and family with glue, paper, stickers and glitter on Valentine’s Day. Why did they choose purple hearts as well as red ones? Due to inspiration from an old Valentine theme book I have that Luke enjoyed during our dailt storytimes – The Best Valentine in the World.   (Now I just have to distribute those Valentine’s so their love is really shared!)

~3~

Loving Movement: Luke’s OT specialist has suggested we add “heavy work” to his daily routines, including pushing exercises. So, along with pushing Mommy and Daddy over during “rough play” and pretend-pushing down walls, the kids enjoyed helping push about their new-to-us bunk beds the other day as we put them in place to set up. How they showed their muscles!

~4~

Loving Beauty: As the old adage goes, “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,” right? So, it is when you are two and four. One day this past week, while I attended to some important work papers, Nina and Luke took it upon themselves to decorate the windows for Lent. How? By surreptitiously making their own window “paint” from chocolate sauce, milk, water, toothpaste and who-knows-what-else. (Gotta hand it to their creativity.) Once I realized what they were doing and asked them what they were thinking, Luke responded with a smile that he was helping me. Earlier, when he had asked where our winter window clings were, I told him I wasn’t sure. So, he wanted to help by decorating the windows with Nina... Oh my!

~5~

Loving Working: Luckily, Luke and Nina were ready helpers in cleaning up the messes they had made while formulating their paint concoction. They readily sprayed and wiped walls and windows with me and mopped up spills on table and floor.

~6~

Loving Playing: For one reason or another, Luke began a new phase of biting and pinching last weekend. (Yikes!) Luckilu, not only did he decide to “fast” from such unkind habits for Lent, but I (succcesully - prasie God!) decided to help him kick start impulse-control with a little chart motivation. Since the beginning of latest biting phase had coincided with spending three days playing with dino figurines and puppets, reading dino books form the library and enjoying a few Land Before Time videos with Daddy, I suggested to Luke that he may have started biting again because of the influence of all those meat-eaters. So, together, we made a no biting-no dinosaurs chart with the numerals 1, 2 and 3 written on it. Then, we collected all his dinosaur toys and books, putting them away for three days until he could prove that he knew carnivorous behavior was unkind. (Well that is all but the two toys I missed, which Luke found and, honestly, brought to me, giving me one, saying “Mama, this one is a carnivore, but this one is a plant eater. He won’t make me bite.” His honesty earned him a pass on the plant-eater.) In any case, Luke -- with many reminders and much effort-- controlled his tooth-bearing impulses for three days and was thrilled when he awoke to find the chart “disappeared” after the third day. He excitedly asked for his dinos back and has been happily – and peacefully – playing with them since!

~7~

Loving Learning: Our main learning this past week has centered around practical life and Lent. The kids cannot get enough of juicing clementines, sipping the fruits of their labor with smiles. And, both children are paging through our Lent reading basket regularly. Nina is particular drawn to the page in our Stations of the Cross book where Jesus is stripped. I have yet to figure out if it is because she is concerned for him, as she sometimes gets quite a sympathetic pout going and declares, “Poor, Jesus. He’s naked.” Or, if it is because she happily identifies with Jesus’ in the almost-buff as she smiles with “He’s naked!” – which although not the most sacred or solemn response, is understandable when you consider our little Nina loves stripping herself down to just a diaper or big girl pants lately, as can be seen in the many half-naked pictures of her...

In any case, we are just thankful that the children keep learning and growing so actively with their Jammies School Rule of 7.  And, we look forward to more fun (and challenges) in the weeks and years to come.

We'd love to hear about your own homeschooling, pre-school rearing and chidlren's faith formation experiences.  Please leave a comment!