Enjoy Simple Eats as You Celebrate St. Padre Pio

St. Padre Pio's feast day is coming again in a few weeks, so I thought I'd share the simple eats we enjoyed last year in case you and yours would like some inspiration for living the liturgical year in your domestic home.

Sometimes the kids like dessert with the meal - and this was the case on St. Padre Pio's day when gluten-free donuts remind us to "pray, hope, and 'donut' worry."

Treat #2 was gluten-free, casein free pizza, which reminded us that Padre Pio is from Italy.

Alongside that, because we have both vegetarians and meat eater in the house, there were Italian sausages of both kinds.

Then, to balance out the treats, we had a "stigamata salad".

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The table was simply decorated with a peg doll and two books.  We used the St. padre Pio page in the frist of these, Boy Saints for Little Ones, for me to draw quick saint trivia question ideas from.

Then, we reread the St. padre Pio story in the other book, Stories of the Saints.

It was a simple celebration, easy to throw together and enjoyed by all!

What simple - or more extravagant - eats do you and yours enjoy on Saint Padre Pio's feast day? what other traditions, stories, or resources do you tap into? We always welcome new inspiration and ideas!

 

May you have a beautiful St. Padre Pio day when September 23 rolls around.

St. Padre Pio, pray for us.

Enjoy Super Simple Eats for St. Therese's Feast Day

 

Our local homeschool group is called Little Way Home Educators and is under the patronage of St. Therese.

So, more years than not, we celebrate St. Therese's feast day with others - sometimes "all out", sometimes simply.

Last year, we stuck to simple, gathering with just a few friends, where we enjoyed praying, sharing simple eats, chatting, reading together, and more.

For our celebration, we covered an outdoor table with a floral print tablecloth and had a bouquet of little flowers atop it all, of course, pointing to The Little Flower and her way of doing small things with great love.

Our simple eats consisted of French bread (to remind us that St. Therese is from France), plus produce and chickpeas arranged in "little flower" patterns.

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The book Girl Saints for Little Ones became both a table decoration and a jumping off point for a chat about St. Therese.

Then, the St. Therese reading from Around the Year Once Upon a Time Saints prompted thought and discussion as I read it aloud to the children while they devoured snacks.

It was a simple, enjoyable celebration.

Perhaps it will inspire you in living the liturgical year with your own children or homeschool group.

St. Therese, pray for us.

6 Ways to Celebrate Epiphany

Happy Epiphany Sunday!

Life got a bit harried here this end of Christmastide, so we were unable to celebrate Epiphany with all the traditions that we have in the past (like doorway chalk blessings).  However, we still observed both the traditional day of Epiphany (January 6) and this Epiphany Sunday with moments of prayer and joy.

Some highlights of our observances - which I pray will inspire you to slip in celebrations even during your own crazy, busy days - were:

~1~

Sharing Stories

(Disclosure: Some links which follow are affiliate ones.)
I did not have time to borrow all our favorite Epiphany read togethers from the library this year, so we simply shared two that we own.

Humphrey's First Christmas has gorgeously expressive illustrations and engaging text which tells the story of a cranky, yet endearing camel, who starts his journey "all about me", but ends "all about Him".  The book seemed especially meaningful this year as some preteen attitudes began infiltrating our home.  The message of being overwhelmed with love and letting that love change you hit home! 

I also love that the book ends with the name of Jesus since January is dedicated the Holy Name of Jesus.

Every year at this time, we borrow the single copy of the out-of-print The Story of the Three Wise Kings that our library owns.  This, year, though, we did not have to. 

Why? 

Much to my delight, The Story of the Three Wise Kings has been reprinted in a collection called Joy to the World: Tomie's Christmas Stories, which was (and still is!) on sale and, thus, became my children's Epiphany gift.

We are all thrilled to own our own copy of the first Epiphany picture book story we ever read together.  It truly has become such a family tradition to read this story together that it does not seem like Epiphany for us until we do.

 

~2~
Enjoying Faith through Food

We love celebrating faith through food here, so, even when things were a bit crazy here on Friday, I set aside time to put together a quick and easy celebratory dinner that, this year, included a dout stable, a blueberry sky with cashew Star of Bethlehem, pineapple and pineapple juice "gold", chocolate-nuts-seed-dried fruit-spice "frankincense", and greens "myrrh".

The kids could not wait to dig in after we prayed, snapped a photo or two, and chatted about symbolism.

~3~

Celebrating Mass

Traditional Epiphany found a few inches of snow on our ground and Epiphany Sunday found a foot-and-a-half of the white stuff, but that did not stop us from celebrating Mass. 

I was blessed on Friday to have some quiet time on my own at Holy Hour with Divine Mercy, and, then, my husband and children joined me for the Mass which followed. 

Then, this morning, we were among those that braved shoveling out to get to Sunday Mass.  So glad we did!

~4~

Enjoying a Pageant

Truth be told, we had two reasons to shovel out this morning!  One, of course, was Mass.  The other was the children's Christmas pageant. 

For the first year since we had children, our parish decided to host a Christmas pageant.  Because the Christmas season is so busy for so many, those organizing the pageant decided to hold it just before the vigil Mass for Epiphany Sunday.   However, Mother Nature had another plan.

A blizzard postponed our final rehearsal and show until this morning!

That caused a bit of chaos, as our cast members, accompanist, fellow Mom volunteers, and audience members had to work hard to shovel out to get to the church, and, unfortunately, our set person never made it. 

Despite that, though, the pageant turned out well.  All the children did a beautiful job, including my three children, who were cast in five roles:

My girlie was the Angel Gabriel.

My youngest was Caesar Augustus and, then, a shepherd.  (Somehow, we failed to get a photo of him as the latter, which is too bad, because he looked so cute!)

And, my oldest was a prophet, and, then, a townsperson.

Yours truly volunteered to co-direct and enjoyed doing so.

~5~

Praying for Babies

Every year, our church hands out baby bottles at the beginning of Advent to be filled with change through Epiphany to support the work of the Respect Life Committee.

My children love filling the bottle with loose change and bills, making secret offerings to it, as well as ones we make as a family. 

Due to the chaos from the blizzard this morning, we did not remember to bring our bottle to return this week (but will get it to the committee later!)  We did, though, remember to make special time to recall how Jesus came to earth as a baby and to offer extra prayers for babies today.

~6~

Learning about the Star of Bethlehem

We haven't actually done this yet, but as we settle for bed tonight, we are going to snuggle up with a library copy of The Star of Bethlehem. 

We have never watched this documentary before, but it was recommended to me by friends, so we are excited to see what we might learn from it.

May this Epiphany bring you blessings and joy, no matter what else may be happening in life!

How We Plan to Celebrate the Canonization of Mother Teresa + a SKILL TIME Round Up!

This past week was not an easy one in our home, so I did not make time to prepare for today's canonization of Mother Teresa until just about about midnight. 

Luckily, when I did so, I was HUGELY blessed by the FREE sharing of so many fellow Catholic folks online.  In fact, I discovered enough fabulous finds that I was able to easily prepare for our canonization celebration later today as well as for some of our S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E.+ lessons for the coming week. 

Mind you, "easily" does not mean "quickly". 

I admit, I get so excited when doing things like this that I sometimes lose track of time and, um, sleep.  So, let me spare you the same predicament by sharing the oodles of awesome Saint Teresa of Calcutta goodies I found online, as well as some I was inspired to jot down.

I hope the following extensive round up will help you pull together your own last-minute lessons and fun!  Enjoy.

A Simple Canonization Breakfast

There is no time for shopping and little energy for baking at this late hour, so my plan for the morning is simple:


Decorations

Mother Teresa wore a blue and white sari, so we will decorate our table simply in blue and white with a table cloth and candles.  

If I can find my son's blue duct tape, I may "stripe" our candles much like Tracy at A Slice of Smith Life did for her family's early canonization celebration, and, then, share excerpts of The Significance of Mother Teresa's Three Striped Sari with my children since we all enjoy symbolism.  If I cannot, I will likely still share the symbolism with my children later in the week.

I have also printed out Jessica's canonization cupcake toppers, free at Shower of Roses, to put into our Canonization Waffles (described below).

Food

A quick peek in our cupboards, freezer, and fridge told me pickings are slim after our week of being quarantined at home, but "treat" foods stocked for Sundays will save the day!  

Credit:Training Happy Hearts

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We have Van's Gluten-Free Waffles, So Delicious Coco Whip, and Chocolate Silk.  These, along with the few fresh blueberries we have, some defrosted strawberries and raspberries, maple syrup, and Earth Balance "Butter", will help me turn our "Assumption Day Waffles" of old into  Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta fare.

As usual, we will enjoy "faith formation through food" by chatting about how each part of our meal might connect to Saint Mother Teresa.  If I know my children they may decide:

• The brown of our Chocolate Silk reminds us of our earthly humanity.
• The blue and white of berries and Coco Whip remind us of multiple things - the heavens, the colors of Mother Teresa's sari, and Mother Mary's colors (which are the colors Mother Teresa purposefully chose for her sari).  
• The red of berries call to mind hearts - the daily love and compassion Mother Teresa lived with, hearts for the poor including the poor in spirit), hearts for Jesus...
• The roundness of our waffles may remind us of the earth, and how we are called to live our loves here with love for one another.  Or, it may bring to mind the eternal joy of being in Heaven with Jesus (for a circle has no end...)
   

Prayers and Reading

Over the past two days, the children and I have been enjoying a copy of Living Faith Kids: Meet Mother Teresa which we picked up at church last week.  We'll revisit this sweet booklet and also read the Mother Teresa excerpt from our copy of Loyola Kids Book of Heroes.

We will also pray the Mother Teresa's Nazareth Prayer for the Family.

S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E. + with Some FREEBIE Links

Each week as a part of our lessons, we focus on S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E.+, an acronym I came up with to help remind us to keep literacy and math at the fore of our independent and mentored study time, while adding in other "subjects", too.

Already, I can see our S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E.+ efforts shaping up for the coming week with all the Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta ideas I found and what they brought to mind for me.

S - Spell and Write Words 

On whiteboards, we'll see how many words we can make with the letter from Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta.  We may also use the Can Do Cubes I recently reviewed to spell out "saint", "mother", etc. and see what we can change those words to by adding, taking away, or moving one block at a time.

K - Keep Reading to Yourself

I just ordered a whole bunch of Mother Teresa books from the library just now, so we'll have a plentiful basket for the children to draw from.  I also just printed out Holy Heroes inexpensive Mother Teresa coloring book, which the children can enjoy coloring, and, then, reading on their own (or with me) depending on the child.

I may also introduce a simple activity from Sadlier to the kids and as they complete small acts of love they can read the hearts on the sheet and color them in throughout the week.

Plus, they are rather "schooly", but, at some point this week, I may offer my children the simple Mother Teresa Reading Warm Up from Teacher Vision or the work packet at Really Learn English (which is meant for ESL students but has some value for my children in portions, too).

I - Illustrate and Write

 

Credit: Real Life at Home

 
Angie at Real Life at Home and the Lawrence Family at Catholic Inspired are providing this week's FREE copywork for my children.

 

Credit: Catholic Inspired

Tara at This Sweet Life of Mine is, too.  She has also made reading comprehension, writing, and more a breeze.  (I  just love the FREE mini-unit pack she has gifted readers of her blog like me.)

We also might try a how-to-draw at dragoart.com.  It could be a flashback to five years ago when we did a collective family sketch of Mother Teresa.
 
Listen to Reading

I have already mentioned the inexpensive Holy Heroes Mother Teresa coloring book I've printed out and the bevy of books I've ordered from our library.  We'll also be listening to our Holy Heroes Glory Stories CD Vol 4: St. Teresa of Calcutta & St. Faustina Kowalska if I can find where I laid it (and I hope I can!  If not, I may just have to order a new copy since it is on sale this week.)

I may read the story of Mother Teresa I found in lesson plans at Catholic Relief Services, too.

Learn and Play with One Another Using Language Arts

Tracy from A Slice of Smith Life shared a ton of ideas for a Canonization of Mother Teresa lapbook.  I may borrow some of these for notebooking pages here! I found a wonderful printable lesson plan pack on Mother Teresa and charity at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church's website that has me envisioning a trivia type Q & A game with among other things. 

Plus, Learning to Give has a quick True/False quiz that aligns to the reading in the Mother Teresa excerpt from our copy of Loyola Kids Book of Heroes, so when we need to burn some energy inside this week, we may be playing a hallway game where we run to one side of our hallway for "true" and another side for "false".
I also found a skit within a long and varied FREE lesson plan pack download at Ave Maria Press.


T - Think, Read and Write About Math 

We will likely make a host of story math problems related to Saint Teresa of Calcutta.  Thing such as:

• How long did she live?
• How many years passed between when she became a "Blessed" and when she was canonized?
• How many years was she a nun?

I - Investigate and Problem Solve with Math

 I realized this past week that two of my children did not know the math term "capacity", so we may just need to make some Indian foods (lentils and rice) this week as living math making sure to speak about the capacity of our measuring cups.

M - Master Math Skills Together

We have not done much for graphing lately, so I may combine the freebie Small Things with Great Love sheet from The Religion Teacher with a graphing exercise, having the children record small things they can (and do!) do with great love, then sorting those things to make different kinds of graphs.

E - Exercise Math Skills on My Own

The children can extend some of the aforementioned math learning and skill work.
+ Extra Learning and Exploration

 Of course, will be chatting about how a person becomes a names saint and about what the miracles approved by the church were during the cause for Mother Teresa's sainthood.  American Catholic.org has a lot about all that.

This video may also be enjoyed:




Finally, although I am tempted to stay up and watch the entire canonization live now since the time for it is getting close anyway, I am also aware that this mama has to get at least a few hours of sleep, so I will be watching it with my children later, I hope.




While we watch it, if anyone gets antsy, they can always paint or color any one of the many free Mother Teresa coloring pages and quotes I have found online at:

Waltzing Matilda
Life, Love, &  Sacred Art
Brother Francis Online
Look to Him and Be Radiant (and here)
Catholic Kids BulletinPaper Dali

And, there you have it...  Me, busy printing, planning, and getting excited for a canonization and a mini S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E + unit in the coming week... and short-sleeping myself because of it.  So, I better catch some shut-eye now. 

I hope some of the ideas here help you quickly find just what you may be looking for to learn about and celebrate the newly sainted Saint Teresa of Calcutta!

Do share other links and ideas in the comments.  Thanks!

Celebrate (and Learn!) with St. Mark

This past week began with Saint Mark's Feast day, which meant more faith through food, fun, and a bit of themed "study" for us.

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None of my sleepyheads woke up in time to join me for Mass in the morning nor to help me prepare our simple feast day breakfast table.  However, they did wake to a winged lion vegetable plate for breakfast.

Since St. Mark's symbol is a winged lion, I decided to make a veggie-and-dip lion with romaine lettuce wings for breakfast.  I also put our red, yellow, and white candles, and opened our Picture Book of Catholic Saints to the Saint Mark page.

Then, over breakfast and beyond, the children and I enjoyed the following faith, fun, and learning activities.

Prayer

As well as grace, we prayed this prayer:

O Glorious St. Mark, through the grace of God our Father, you became a great Evangelist, preaching the Good News of Christ. May you help us to know Him well so that we may faithfully live our lives as followers of Christ. Amen.

We also read the Bible readings for the day from the USCCB site and chatted about what stood out to each of us.

English Language Arts

We listened to a short biography about Saint Mark on American Catholic.org, chatted about it, and read about St. Mark in the Picture Book of Catholic Saints.
 
Using notes from Saint Mark Parish's page, our winged lion veggie-and-dip platter, and images I had printed out and put on our candles, we also talked about the about the symbolism of the winged lion symbol for St. Mark.

Further, I read the children quotes related to St. Mark from All Great Quotes and, then, concluded with these two quotes:  

Go ye into the whole world, and preach the gospel to every creature. ~ Mark 16:15

For what shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul? ~ Mark 8:36

I asked each of my children to pick one of these quotes to use for copywork, and wrote each child's chosen quote out neatly for him or her to copy.

For spelling, I challenged the children to come up with as many words as they could within five minutes from the words "Saint Mark the Evangelist".  In doing so, they had to pay attention to which letters were capitals and which were not, using capital letters properly.

Plus, since we had recently been learning about nouns and adjective, for grammar, we brainstormed common and proper nouns that had to do with Saint Mark and then came up with different adjectives that could be used to describe them.

Arts and Crafts

We gently studied a few icons and images of St. Mark that I brought up on our laptop or printed out in miniature and put on our candles.

I plan to follow up with a deeper study of art in future years using notes from this page I found as well as other resources I might find.  (Your suggestions are welcome!)

The children also chose to color some images I had printed out from online and/or to draw their own winged lions using instructions on how to draw a lion from Draw Write Now as a guide.  T
These children's artwork along with their copywork and some printed images, were glued onto cardstock to make pages for their faith binders.

Geography

On a map and small globe, we located places that were mentioned in the Saint Mark biographies that we read and listened to.

Math

Some of my kiddoes are still working on days and dates, so we all wrote April 25, 2016 in three different ways on white boards.

We also used story math to figure out about how long ago St. Mark lived.

For fun, we used Cuisenaire Rods to make 25 equations with the number 25 in them, since St. Mark's Day is April 25, and this activity could be scaffolded to each child's math level.

What a faith-centered, fun, and fruit-filled morning our St. Mark feast day study proved to be!

Which saints will you be celebrating soon?  How do you integrate celebration into learning, meal time, or the rest of life?  Do share.