Celebrate St. Luke with a Simple Snack or Meal and More!

Whether you like snacking with the saints or celebrating with simple eats at meal time, I've got some ideas for celebrating the feast of St. Luke.

Since St. Luke is one of the Gospel writers, to snack with Saint Luke, simply get some gluten-free Nature's Bakery Fig Bars - or anything like them, cut off the edges on one side and etch crosses into them to make "Bibles".

Then, since St. Luke is often depicted as an ox with wings, pick all the cows out of some Annie's Bernie's Farm Fruit Snacks as "oxen" or use animal crackers or any other cookie or treat with an ox-type shape and put them on a plate.

Set these out with a St. Luke peg doll, image of Saint Luke, or similar, and you are good to go for snacking with Saint Luke!

Or, if you would like a meal instead of a snack, prepare some simple eats!

Last, year, my son made his own Name Day meal:

• scrambled burger, because St. Luke is patron to butchers (and my son loves red meat of any kind)

• "quill pasta", because St. Luke is patron to writers and artists.

Plus, whatever vegetable you like, which in my son's case was broccoli.

Whether going with a simple snack or an easy eats meal, it would be appropriate to read about St. Luke, read portions of the Gospel or retell  what you know about St. Luke would be appropriate.

You might also glean some ideas from the Celebrate St. Luke's Feast Day with Art, Music, and Poetry plans that I shared last year or from other past St. Luke posts.

Some of the things we did as activities during our celebrations last year were:

a picture study...

writing and sharing Letter Poems, and adding symbols of St. Luke into artwork.

Can you find a symbol in each of our drawings? They might include a winged ox, a winged calf, an ox, a picture of the Virgin, a palette and brushes, vials of medicine, physician's robes, an easel, a book and pen, hatchet, a wooden horse, books of his Gospel and of the Acts, a bishop, or someone painting an icon of our Lady.

Plans for all of our St. Luke art, music, and poetry activities are described in full detail here.

However you celebrate St. Luke's feast day, I pray that you have a faith-filled, fun, and meaningful time making memories as you live the liturgical year.

St. Luke, pray for us!

Enjoy Simple Eats as Your Recall the Miracle of the Sun

Looking for easy eats for celebrating in your domestic church this week?

I've got you covered!

October 13 marks the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun - a day that is super simple to celebrate with you family! 

Just whip up a "sun" with anything that you have in your fridge and cupboards, have a chat about the Miracle of the Sun, pray the Rosary together, and, if you wish, add in some themed reading, listening, watching, or copywork. (I shared a free copywork set here before.)

If you do not know much about the Miracle of the Sun, or if you just want a succinct reminder about the day to share with your children, Catholic365 offers one here:

And, if you'd like some ideas for simple, quick "sun" dishes, you might be inspired by out simple eats from last year.

{Disclosure: Some links which follow may be affiliate ones.}

After Mass, we toasted a quick-n-easy, casein-free nacho "sun" using Chi- Chi's tortilla chips and Daiya cheese, which we served with a side of salsa.

This "sun" may have been a bit overcooked, but it was festive when placed on an outside table covered in a blue - for Mary - tablecloth and set with Marian Apparitions peg dolls, candles, and a few of our Our Lady of Fatima resources.  

In fact, once we had prayed grace, my children happily devoured our nacho "sun" while chatting about Our Lady of Fatima and retelling the story of the Miracle of the Sun.

They also enjoyed a "dancing sun" which was quickly put together with apple slices, nectarine slices, and clementine segments.

Plus, our "sun juice" - Ceres 100% juice - went down easy, too.

Satisfied by our simple eats and fortified by faith-centered chatting, the children progressed with the day, which later included the blessing of participating in a Coast-to-Coast Rosary event.

While at the event, a rainbow randomly appeared.

Wow! Magnificent! God is so good and creates such glorious beauty for us.

I pray that your Miracle of the Sun day this year has delightful moments like ours did last year.

With simple eats and praying together as a family or with others, your domestic church, no doubt, will enjoy and be blessed.

If you'd like other ideas for celebrating this feast day and learning about Our Lady of Fatima, be sure to check out past Our Lady of Fatima posts.  

You might also enjoy some of the resources we've used for prior reading, listening, and watching elated to Our Lady of Fatima and the Miracle of the Sun:

Source: Amazon

The Children Of Fatima: And Our Lady's Message to the World.

Source: Amazon

 Our Lady Came to Fatima

Source: Holy Heroes

Secrets from Heaven: The Story of the Children of Fatima, which is also available as a digital download/MP3.)

Source: Amazon

 the Story of Fatima in our copy of Jesus and Mary

Source: Amazon

 The Day the Sun Danced: The True Story of Fatima

Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

Respond to the Call to Pray

A call to encircle our nations in prayer is being made.

On October 11 - at the close of a 54 Day for Our Nation - Americans will join international brothers and sisters to encircle our nations in prayer at the same time along coasts and borders, at state capitols, in parks, on beaches, along busy streets, and outside of churches and shrines,

Will you be among those praying? Will you answer the call to be a part of the Rosary Coast to Coast?

To do so, see if there is already a prayer location planned near you or create your own event in order to answer the clarion call of the Holy Spirit through Our Lady - a call trumpeted at Fatima, LaSalette, Akita, and Quito. You can also participate virtually.

I look forward to praying with you - side-by-side if you're local to me and in spirit if you are not.

Simply Coding Is Simply the Best Coding Resource My Son Has Used

Disclaimer: I received a FREE copy of this product through the HOMESCHOOL REVIEW CREW in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review nor was I compensated in any other way. 

 "Yes!" My son was empathic about his desire to try the Coding for Kids Annual Membership by Simply Coding when we were offered a chance to review it.

It Truly Is Simple to Set Up and Get Going With

As soon as I received an email with our Coding for Kids Annual Membership instructions in it, I quickly set up an account for my son, and - okay, I admit - did very little else with our membership.

Why?

Because I lean toward the technologically challenged and have also been ridiculously busy trying to balance homeschool, work, health situations, and more. Thus, since the program is so easy for my son to use on his own, I just left him to it.

And, let me tell you, that is something I appreciate about Simply Coding. It actually is simple! 

It took very little time or thought for me to get things up and ready for my 14-year-old son to log on and has taken none of my time nor brain bandwith since for him to progress with it. 

Since my son began his JavaScript Game Design course, he has had zero trouble navigating the platform and has been eagerly learning how to code games without any help from me.

Better still, when he's been visiting with friends, I have overheard him chatting about what he is learning and getting excited about the video game he is designing. I think I even heard him drafting an artistic friend to help him with artwork for his game ideas in the future. How awesome is that?!

My boy gets to work independently in a self-paced way at home gaining skills in an area he loves that I know little to nothing about, and he is so enthusiastic about his learning that he is sharing about it with his buds and planning forward for a self-directed communal project.

Independent learning. Communal excitement. No stress for Mom. Excitement for son. Simply Coding is a win here!

What My Son Has to Say about Simply Coding

Now, to be fair and honest with this review, I cannot possibly do all the writing.

For, as I already explained, I have done very little with our membership beyond set up my son's account, take a peak around the platform a couple times, and smile over my son's enthusiastic, self-paced learning.

So, I am going to hand this review over to him for a bit:

 The second my mom told me about Simply Coding, I knew I wanted it. I have tried to finish other coding courses before, but one of the things that I always struggled with was the fact that they had you doing boring projects as lessons. 

This is not the case with Simply Coding. There is no more making calculators or lists of names like I had to do with other courses. Simply Coding teaches you to coding in more interesting ways - modding, game creation, and web design. It can also teach you basic computer skill, digital videography and photography, and other technological skills.

The lessons are quick, easy-to-follow, and offer both text and video options. Most of the lesson sections that I have tried have consisted of three parts: the learning part, the testing, and the activity.

The learning part delivers straightforward simple text and images to give you bite-sized information that is easy to process. The testing builds upon your learning and allows you to play around a bit on the browser to test you're learning about. Then, the activity walks you through putting a new bit of code into your project. 

During the activity, you know what the outcome should be, but you do not have the code shown to you. (You can open it, however, if you really need it.) This challenges you to remember the code and apply your learning.  

I would highly recommend Simply Coding to anybody who wants to learn technological skills, since I have found it to be superior to other coding resources I have used so far. 

Sometimes my mother has been frustrated because I say I want to learn more computer skills, she gets me books and online courses, but I don't continue with them after initial excitement wears off and the tedium of the exercises and projects begins. This hasn't happened with Simply Coding, and I do not think it will, because I can feel my progress with each section of lesson I complete and do not have to waste time on useless projects or long teaching videos. I can just get to it!  

I plan to complete as much of the Java Game Design courses as I can before our membership ends and also want to try the GIMP course, webpage courses, and more. 

The only problem I have had so far is that I have other coursework and commitments, so my mom has to restrict how long I spend on Simply Coding. I would honestly spend my entire lesson day on it if she would let me. Of course, then I might fail high school, but I would have insane coding skills!

What Makes Simply Coding Different

Obviously, both my son and I appreciate our Coding for Kids Annual Membership, and I think other families with students that have graduated beyond elementary-level coding sites that have you dragging and dropping codes and images until an expected result happens will be pleased, too.

For Simply Coding is designed to offer both simplicity in self-paced learning for students age 11 and up who wish to learn real coding and rigor yet ease with doing so.

With Simply Coding, engaging activities, understandable explanations, useful video tutorials, and live instructors all work together to ensure that students have a positive experience learning to code.

And, yes, you have read correctly - I did say live instructors and mentors!

Simply Coding offers access to both video instructors that walk students through projects with pre-recorded instructions and live support at specific times of the day and week.

Live coding instructors and mentors are available to help students move past roadblocks that Mom or Dad might not be able - or just might not have the time -  to help with.

To me, that is a huge boon that makes Simply Coding unique. 

For not only is Simply Coding self-paced and available 24/7, like many online course options are these days, but it is not a product that leaves a student in a learning lurch. There is an option for live instruction and mentoring which can help fill in gaps in self-paced learning. That means students who get stuck when following pre-recorded video and text instruction don't stall out too long with coursework. Even if Mom or Dad are busy (or clueless about coding in my case!), help is available.

If Your Child Wants to Learn to Code, Try Simply Coding for Free

Now, I admit, I am not always thrilled with my son's sometimes overuse of screentime and am, therefore, not one to typically enthuse about him having yet more reasons to sit in front of a computer. 

However, I do not mind when he does so with Simply Coding.

For, it's a fact: in today's world, coding is a valuable skill. My son happens to have a distinct interest in all things online. Simply Coding feeds his interest with well-designed, trustworthy coursework that delivers easy-to-succeed with independent learning and excitement about skills that my son will likely use far into his future.

Such online interactive curriculum that teaches my son how to code computer games, websites, and apps - all things I cannot do nor teach him about - pleases both my son and me.

If you have a child that wishes to learn to code and also have a PC computer or laptop with Windows or Mac that has 2 GD RAM and 10 GB Free Hard Drive Space (as opposed to an iPad, Tablet, Cell Phone, or Chrome Book), then I encourage you to try Simply Coding.

An annual membership (which is currently 33% off for a single student and 20% off for a family membership with up to three accounts) will give you unlimited access to a full pathway of homeschool computer coding courses at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. And, you can try before you buy since Simply Coding offers a 10-day free trial. 

Over 300 hours of simple-to-use homeschool coding curriculum await. Enjoy!

Learn More

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Over 60 Homeschool Review Crew families tried different courses with Simply Coding. Click through to find links to all our video, blog, and social media reviews!

Enjoy Simple Eats on the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, Archangels

Apples, bananas, cookies, mini-donuts and... saints? 

Sure! 

Why not?

When life is busy, and yet you seek to slip in a pleasant pause for celebrating the liturgical year, you see what you've got stocked in the house and get creative!

At least that's what sometimes happens here.

Case in point: our simple eats for the Feast of Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael last year...

Apple slice angel "wings" and (failed, yet tasty) oatmeal-applesauce donut "halos" represented Saints Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael on one plate.

Cookies and banana slice "wings" did so on another.

These simple eats - along with more fruit and the rest of the failed donuts batter made into pancakes - acted as an invitation for my children to pause to pray, chat and eat with me.

Together, we prayed the St. Michael prayer and grace.

Then, we chatted about how angels do not really have human bodies and wings, but are spiritual, non-corporeal beings and messengers of God.

We recalled a few details about each archangel:

• Michael (Who is like God?) fighting against Satan and all his evil angels

• Gabriel (Strength of God) announcing the forthcoming birth of John the Baptist to Zachariah and the birth of Jesus to Mary

• Raphael  (Medicine of God) taking care of Tobias on his journey

{Some links in this post may be affiliate ones.}

We also read from Once Upon a Time Saints Around the Year, and, of course, polished off our snacks.

Spontaneous, simple, do-able, and delightful!

We enjoyed our celebration of the Feast of the Archangels and hope sharing about it inspires you to get creative with whatever you have in the house in order to pause for prayer and celebration this week.

 St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray; and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, cast into hell Satan and all the other evil spirits who roam about the world, seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

O God, who dispose in marvelous order ministries both angelic and human, graciously grant that our life on earth may be defended by those who watch over us as they minister perpetually to you 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 

Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, pray for us.