Celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross with Kids

It's no secret that my family likes to celebrate the liturgical year in our domestic church - and sometimes out and about with friends.

   

Last year, we did both for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross on September 14th.  We enjoyed a simple meal at home and an easy, yet engaging, nature hide-n-seek game outside with friends.

Enjoy a Simple Symbolic Meal for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

In the morning I put together a simple symbolic meal for breakfast, which we lingered over chatting about the history of the feast day, the meaning of the cross, and more.  

We also read related excerpts and stories from Saints: Lives and Illuminations and Angel Food for Boys & Girls, Volume IV.

For our meal, I knew I wanted three symbolic things:

• red foods and drink to remind us of God's sacrificial love for us.  

• basil because tradition holds that sweet basil grew over the hill where St. Helena found Holy Cross and in Greece the faithful are given sprigs of basil by the priest. 
• something that could be made into the shape of a cross that could be taken apart.

Looking at what I had in our cupboards and fridge, I ended up serving red juice (for Jesus' blood shed on the cross for us)...

...cherries (to remind us of Jesus' heart), salad greens (to remind us of the hill where the True Cross was found by St. Helena) and eggs with basil (the eggs to remind us of our new life through Jesus Christ since eggs are a symbol of new life and the basil to remind us of traditions for this feast day)....

...apples (which continued the red symbolism but also hearkened back to original sin and Jesus' triumph over sin),and toast put into a cross shape (which we could take parts of, much like people took parts of the True cross).

We also decorated with a red cloth (again, symbolic of sacrificial love), a globe with a crucifix atop it (because the cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with a cross on top to remind us of the triumph of our Savior over the sun of the world)...

... and an image of Jesus overlaid on the cross (to remind us of how the cross - once an instrument of torture and death - became the instrument of our salvation through Jesus' death and resurrection).

Enact St. Helen Finding the True Cross by Playing a Nature Cross Hide-n-Seek Game

Later in the day, friends met us at a local park where we continued our fun and learning.  

There, I set up a blanket with a few candles, a globe, a cross, and a copy of Story Library of the Saints.  

Then, after praying and chatting with the children about the Exaltation of the Holy Cross a bit, I challenged them to go find natural materials that they could make a cross with while I read them the story of Helen of the Cross from the Story Library of the Saints.

After that, I marked one cross with red - as our "True Cross", then, had the children take turns hiding that cross and two others...

while the other children hid their eyes...

...then went our to seek the "True Cross" just like St. Helen did.

We played round after round of our this easy Exaltation of the Holy Cross hide-n-seek game, enjoying ourselves so much!

It's such an easy game to prep and play, reminds children of the story of the cross, and gets them up and moving, too.

I encourage you to try it!

If you're looking for other ideas, you might enjoy:

Celebrate the Memorial of the Exaltation of the Cross with Food, Reading, and More!

A Quick and-Easy Craft for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Plus Some Ideas for Mary's Birthday Today!)

Have a wonderful Exaltation of the Holy Cross Day!

O God, who willed that your Only Begotten Son should undergo the Cross to save the human race, grant, we pray, that we, who have known his mystery on earth, may merit the grace of his redemption in heaven. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

~ The Collect Prayer as found on Catholic Culture

Make a September Prayer Shelf: Our Lady of Sorrows

The month of September is dedicated to the Seven Sorrows of Mary, so my daughter helped me put together a simple visual display to help focus our prayers in the coming weeks.

For the base of our display, I considered using a green cloth, since green is the color of Ordinary Time which is the liturgical season we are currently in. However, my daughter suggested we use dark blue in honor or Mary's traditional color of blue, but in a more somber hue.

That's when the real vs. ideal mode I so often work in kicked in.  Ideal would be a lovely dark blue silk.  Real is that the only dark blue cloth we could find in our home was an old bed sheet. Folded, it worked.

Then, my daughter and I went through several images and prayer aid booklets, and she asked if we could print an image from the Catholic Company website, which she "framed" with cardstock and placed on one of our mini-easels.  

I, then, decided to print out a free Devotion of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary pdf from the Fatima Center to go on our other mini-easel.  This pdf has beautiful prayers, images, and more in it to help us focus this month.

Near one of our easels, we placed the two candles we have decided to keep out all year - a Paschal candle a friend made and gifted us and a blessed white pillar candle from another friend. 

Then, in the middle of our display, we placed a blue candle (for Mary's color).  On one side of this candle, we put a Marian peg doll of Our Lady of Sorrows atop a red origami box stand (recycled from last month's display).

On the other side, we placed the heart box my daughter made last month, but, pierced it with seven cocktail swords.  Inside the box, we wanted to place our laminated Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-part cards, but, since we could not find them, we simply printed and cut a new batch without lamination.  (Again, real vs. ideal.  We always seem to make do with the real here.)

Our simple Seven Sorrows of Mary display will serve as a practical visual reminder for us all month, connecting our family with the current season of the the Church year and directing us toward Jesus, as each of Mary's Seven Sorrows points directly toward a Biblical event in Jesus' life.

We'd love to hear about your favorite Seven Sorrows of Mary images, prayers, and traditions. Please do share about them in a comment here or on our Facebook page.

We'd also appreciate if your continued prayers for a baby we know that has had two unexpected heart surgeries within the past month and is still in recovery.

O God, who willed that,

when you Son was lifted high on the Cross,

his Mother should stand close by

and share his suffering,

grant that Your Church,

participating with the Virgin Mary

in the Passion of Christ

may merit a share in his Resurrection.
Who lived and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Also, dear God,
please offer extra measures of strength

and abundant blessings 

to baby Alex and his family.
Unite their suffering 

with that of Jesus on the Cross

and turn their their suffering into joy.  

May strength, healing, hope, and love be theirs.
Amen.

Thank you for praying this prayer adapted from the Collect with us!

If you'd like more ideas for Our Lady of Sorrows, check out:

Plans to Honor Our Lady of Sorrows through Art, Music, and a Poet-Tea

Honoring Our Lady of Sorrows with a Poet-Tea and Art

Seven Sorrows of Mary 3-Part Cards (A Free Printable - Now Updated)

You might also like to see our other liturgical shelves.

4 Steps for Living the Liturgical Year with Children

Today, someone asked how to go about living the liturgical year with children, and I found myself sharing the 4 steps I go through to do so:

1.  Put Your "Big Rocks" in first.
Years ago, I heard  Stephen Covey's Big Rocks story and the idea of "big rocks" has never left my brain.

Regarding the liturgical year, of course, the biggest rock is Mass.  I try to go daily and to get my children to Mass at least 2-3 times a week. 

On the days when the children do not go to Mass with me, we typically read the Daily Mass Readings and chat briefly about them.  We also often read or listen to a brief story of a "saint of the day".

We also prioritize a weekly Holy Hour of Divine Mercy and monthly Children's Rosary, which may, technically, be more tied to prayer habits than the liturgical year, but which we consider part of "calendar" of liturgical living.

Besides that, I consider our "big rocks" the larger seasons and feasts of the liturgical year - Advent, Christmas, Lent, Easter, and Holy Days of Obligations.  Thus, I make sure to reserve time for family traditions and observances during these times.

2.  Add Some "Pebbles"
With the "big rocks" in the jar of life, "pebbles" fit in next. 

For my family, these are smaller, personal celebrations, such as Name Days, Baptism anniversaries, feast days that have become traditional for us, etc.

On such days, we often find ourselves reading particular books, praying special prayers, eating symbolic foods, and simply enjoying living our faith.
3.  Shake in Some "Sand"
Next, comes the "sand" of living the liturgical year.

For us, that means observances of saint days, monthly dedications, etc. which we enjoy through many means - audios, movies, displays, special foods, poet-teas, nature study, instant challenges, etc.

4.  Fill Up on "Water"
Finally, we pour the "water" of liturgical living into life's cup - that is, embracing whatever fits into life without stressing us out.

And, of course, we do all this with a sense of letting the Spirit lead us, understanding that, outside of Mass and simply living as we are called to live, the rest is "extra". 

The stories, the faith through food, the gatherings, the movies, the outings, the audios, the displays, the you-name-it... are all blessings that enhance our faith journey only when we can add them in without taking away from living the responsibilities of our vocations and responding with love to those around us.

Indeed, sometimes in order to keep Christ at the center of our lives, we need to let go of some of our liturgical observances and celebrations and just live the day at hand, responding to what God has put in front us.

Resources for Living Liturgically
Some go-to blogs and sites I use for inspiring our liturgical celebrations are:

• By Sun and Candlelight
• Catholic Cuisine
• Catholic Culture
• Peanut Butter & Grace
• Shower of Roses
• A Slice of Smith Life
• our own Training Happy Hearts archives
• Wildflowers and Marbles

There are more, too!  And, I always love finding new ones, so, please do leave your favorites in the comments!

Enjoy a Nature Craft and Poetry for St. Rose of Lima's Feast Day

Last year, I shared a long list of ideas for celebrating St. Rose of Lima's feast day on August 23rd.  Among them, were the lyrics of a song attributed to St. Rose:

Tiny singer, flit your wings;
Bow before the King of kings.
Let your lovely concert rise
To Him Who gave you songs and skies.
Let your throat, full of carols sweet,
Pour them before the Eternal's feet
That we His praise may magnify
Whom birds and angels glorify.
I shall sing to Him who saved me:
You will sing to Him who made ye.
Both together, we shall bless
The God of love and happiness.
Sing, sing with bursting throat and heart!
In turn our voices will take part
To sing together, you and I,
A canticle of holy joy.
{As the bird flew away:}
The little bird abandons me:
My playmate's wings ascend.
Blessed be my God,
Who faithfully Stays with me to the end.

Then, when going through an old pile of papers the other day,  I found a print out of how to make an Easy Orange Bird Feeder.  I had kept these instructions as a "tickler" idea for a craft for a future Our Lady of Altagracia feast day celebration, however, tonight, I realized the craft could be an ideal one for this week!

What a simple, enjoyable pairing it would be to read and chat about the lyrics of the song, and, then, make the bird feeders to hang, perhaps while listening to some birdsong:

Or even becoming more expert at indentifying bird calls.

I hope to enjoy this simple poetry and nature time as a part of our St. Rose of Lima observances and activities this year.  I'd love to hear what your may do!

St. Rose of Lima, pray for us!

A Wonderful Book for Homeschool Mamas {A Review}

Have you been seeking encouragement, perspective, or a chat with a veteran homeschooler?  You may enjoy God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco.

Julie is a homeschooling mom of four who has already graduated one child and is still in the trenches with her other children.  During her homeschool journey, she has learned to let God lead the way and has also taken to sharing the wisdom she has learned.

Her work has appeared in The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Home Education Magazine, and many trade publications.  She has also developed a high school botany course for www.schoolhouseteachers.com and, of course, written the book I have been blessed to read this past month - God Schooling.

In a nutshell, in God Schooling, Julie shares the struggles and soul searching she faced at the beginning of her homeschool journey and, then, moves on to elaborate upon the unschooling approach she chose to follow.  As she does, she offers stories, insights, and food for thought for homeschoolers of all kinds - unschoolers, relaxed homeschoolers, and traditional homeschoolers.  (Relaxes homeshcoolers and unschoolers, however, will likely appreciate the book the most.)

The book is divided into two parts:

• Part 1: Dispelling Myths
• Part 2: Practice

In Part 1 - which is two chapters long, Julie encourages you to help your children learn naturally, as "God intended"* and offers plenty of Scripture to support her point of view. 


In Part 2 - which is 7 chapter long, Julie dives into how to teach children under eight years old, those between the ages of eight and 12, and teens, attending to their development needs, building character, focusing on relationships, and guiding children to be who God calls them to be.

Julie also tells you how to get started on child-led, natural learning, addresses common questions and answers, and shares ideas for keeping records of non-traditional learning in a world that so often demands proof of academic progress.

At the end of each chapter are questions to help you further digest, reflect upon, and discuss the ideas in the book and how to apply them to your family's homeschool journey.
*I put as "God intended" in quotes, because, although I agree with many things Julie shares, I do not believe that God intends all homeschoolers to be unschoolers, and, I think that, at times, Julie writes in such a way that more traditional homeschoolers might miss some gems of wisdom while dismissing some things as "well, that works for her, but not for me and mine" or bristling about feeling that their more traditional homeschooling approach being considered not God's intention. 

That said, I do not think Julie is saying other approaches are wrong or that God might not have different plans for different people's approaches.  I just wonder if uber-structured homeschoolers might feel Julie does, and, therefore miss some of the wonderful gems of wisdom in the book - and, gems are aplenty!

My Thoughts on the Book

God Schooling encouraging you to put God at the center of your homeschooling endeavors and to ask Him to lead you to what works for your family.  It also reminds you to work on character and relationships before academics. 

From its earliest pages, the book offers food for thought.  For example:

"Curriculum can be a great tool as long as it doesn’t become our religion." (p. 6)

So often, at this time of year, decisions center around what curricula or curriculum activities will be done in the fall.  That makes it easy to lose sight of the WHY of our homeschooling journey while focusing on the what.  Those words brought me back to a truth I already knew.

"If God has prepared…works for your child to do, then won’t He make sure she is adequately prepared for them?" (p. 11)

All three of my children are in very different places with their learning styles and their actual skills. This can be challenging.  Even more challenging is the constant chatter in my brain that wonders if I am doing the right things right now to lead my children to the future God has prepared for them.

When I read the words above, I felt so encouraged, remembering that no matter what I do, God is in control, not me.  Yes, I need to do my part, but, in the end, He has a call for each of my children, and He will ensure they are ready to meet it.

"The one thing we can do and are admonished to do is to…train our children in righteousness." (p. 13)

Of course, the day I began reading the book was "one of those days" when I was feeling the tug between tasks that needed to be done at home, commitments we had with others, where my children are at with their skills, and what had overcome my children and turned them into less-than-virtuous young humans that day.

The words above - although not sharing a new concept with me - reminded me to just pause everything and work on character.  ALWAYS, guiding my children toward virtue should trump everything else.

This same idea was echoed later in the book, - and "needed" by me each time.

In fact, there were so many portion of the book that "spoke" to me, I believe God put God Schooling in my hands right now to help guide me toward guiding my oldest child' next phase of development.

You see, I've been in a place recently where I am debating what direction to go with homeschooling my three very different learners, and, especially, my oldest. 

A traditional curriculum-in-a-box approach has never worked for my children nor me.  So, through the years, we've leaned toward eclectic, with some inspiration from Montessori, Charlotte Mason, unschooling and more. 

To date, this has worked for us for the most part.  However, now my oldest is middle school age, and I have been praying and thinking about whether to gear up more with traditional curriculum-type learning for him, to embrace a Charlotte Mason approach more faithfully, or, to finally, just "let go and let God" by diving into true unschooling approach for him.

Truth be told, my son would love to be an unchooler, and my husband has said he thinks it might be the best approach for him.  I agree - to a point - but have reservations.  I am a former school teacher and a recovering Type A personality, so it is hard for me to to let go 100% from conventional approaches.  I am also running in a lot of directions with responsibilities to home, homeschool, work, and more, and, therefore, I admit I have a bit of fear that I won't have the time to unschool well.  I might not have time and focus to keep up with my son's child-led learning...

So, yep, I have a ways to go with my thoughts and have found God Schooling quit encouraging.  Reading it affirmed for me that if, indeed, God is calling me to unschool my oldest, it will be okay!

The book may have a different message for you. Read it and see.   It is well worth reading, and God will surely speak to you through parts of it!

Learn More

Read the first chapter of the book for free!

You can also get the e-book for 50% off through August 22. 

Follow Julie on social media:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/juliepolancobooks/ @juliepolancobooks
• Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/jpolancobooks/

Read what other Review Crew families thought about the book.

Read more reviews.

Enjoy a Paddington Bear Unit Study

We are big picture book lovers in our home, so I was curious to check out one of the Picture Book Explorer Packs from Branch Out World: Paddington Bear when it came up for review.

Made for Homeschoolers by a Homeschooler

This literature-based unit study is aimed at children ages 5-10, but appropriate for a wider range, too.  It comes as a downlaodable pdf, so you can use it with all your children at once - printing copies of maps, mini-books, and more for each child to complete - or with one child now and another child later.   

Obviously, the study's creator Helen Royston gets that homeschool families appreciate the freedom of being able to ethically print as many copies of the study materials as necessary for family use.  That may be because Helen is a 25+ year homeschool veteran herself.

Like all Picture Book Explorer Packs, the Paddington Bear one has a link to the United Kingdom and provides fun and learning for families.

What Will You Find Yourself Doing During This Unit Study?

Used as designed, you read the picture book Paddington by Michael Bond (ISBN 978-0007236336) over five consecutive days and choose accompanying activities from the study to complete.  These activities are grouped, daily, by subject area:

• Day 1 – Exploring the Setting:  You can learn about England and Peru, do mapwork, create timelines, make a mini-book about the pushes and pulls of migration, and more.
• Day 2 – Exploring the Words:  You can read about the author of Paddington Bear Michael Bond, chat about themes, encourage narration, make a vocabulary pocket, spotlight subject-verb agreement, focus on characterization, and adapt stories for different audiences.
  
  
  
  
  
• Day 3 – Exploring the Pictures:  You can learn about the illustrator R.W. Alley, do a picture study of one of the book's illustrations, chat about and/or make a mini-book of architectural features, learn about principles of design and try your hand at overlapping and creating emphasis through the use of color, leading lines, contrast, and position - studying an illustration from the book and, then, creating your own artwork.
• Day 4 – Exploring Science: You can learn about spectacled bears and fill out a fact sheet if you like, learn about shaving cream, create edible and nob-edible foam, explore steam and do nature study in your garden.
  
  
  

• Day 5 – Exploring Math, Crafts and More: You can explore parallel and perpendicular lines (in connection with train tracks), play around with numbers spotted in the book, explore spatial awareness with packing (in reality or with a paper template), make shaving foam art, create a cultural craft, cook up recipes, and more.

Truly, if unit studies are your family's favored style of learning, this one is excellently written - providing information and ideas that you might not readily find elsewhere and helping your children make connections while also making memories.

There are over 30 activities described in the book and pages and pages of printables including timelines, mini-books, maps, flags, and notebooking pages.  There are also handy lists of needed supplies and book and film go-alongs. It is a well-written study.

It is also one that can be used flexibly!


How Did We Use This Study So Far?

My children and our lifestyle do not currently accommodate sitting down and reading the same picture book day after day for five days.  Nor are we able to spend time this summer diving into loads of Paddington-inspired activities.

What we have been able to do is cuddle on the couch with a picture book in hand and a unit study nearby on a laptop creen during a few particularly rainy days when other plans have been cancelled. 

As such, we have enjoyed reading together, then, using portions of the unit study pdf on-screen to help guide chatter about the book's author, the illustrator, certain pictures, art and design techniques, and more.

We have also pulled up the included maps and named South America and the United Kingdom, found London and Peru, etc.  (Because we are in a constant battle against paper piles here and simply do not want to print more things that will increase their depth, we chose to do many of the activities in this study through discussion and pointing onscreen rather than through printing, coloring, cutting, and writing.)

We have opted to forgo some of the messier or more time-consuming experiments and recipes included in the study for the time being, but have read through them and are looking forward to trying some out during colder, less busy seasons.

However, because we do like hands-on things, we have not delayed all the fun!

Indeed, we opted for some hands-on art and math -which has been enjoyable (and easier to clean up then science and cooking at this juncture in life!)

We have also borrowed a stack of other Paddington books from our local library to use for free reading and 1:1 reading times and have been happy to revisit the character that we spent time with previously when my oldest was younger.

Without question, as we have revisited Paddigton using our Branch Out World: Paddington Bear, we have made new connections. 

We have also been able to apply ideas from the study - such as those we practiced on layering and emphasis - in making cards for a sick friend.

This was a fun endeavor that made the study more valuable to us.

For, in our homeschool endeavors, even more valuable than a lesson learned in connection to a piece of literature, is a concept or skill we can incorporate into daily life.

Inspired by the conversations we had during unit study activities about themes in the book - such a being kind to others...

And, knowing a dear little baby we know is in the hospital with a very serious condition, and we'd be blessed to see his siblings, we decided to step away from just drawing fruits as suggested in the unit study, and, to apply art and design ideas to creating cards with well wishes instead...

I just love that things discussed and focused on with the study transferred to life so easily.

Helen Royston did a wonderful job researching and presenting information, activities, and ideas for this study.  I truly appreciate how this homeschool resource could provide a full week's worth of homeschool studies or can be used flexibly in the time life allows for it.

Of course, is you are a picture book and unit study lover with elementary-aged children Branch Out World: Paddington Bear  is ideal. 

Learn More

Some of the other Homeschool Review Crew families dove into all of the activities in this unit study 100% and have wonderful photos and thoughts to share.  Be sure to click through to find their reviews.

Read all of the reviews!

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