Wonderful Reads to Start the New Year With

What better way is there to start the New Year than with some quality books? 

I'd love to hear what you and yours are reading.

This post does contain affiliate links, I will receive a commission for products you buy through my referral link at no extra cost to you.

Here, among the books we've been curling up with are:

The Screwtape Letters by C.S. Lewis. This classic has taken a place in our nightly read together pile and is perfect for it! Chapters are relatively short, yet meaty, and give us plenty to think about. 

If you've never read this book with your tweens and teens, I highly recommend it, and, if you'd like ideas for discussion points, be sure to pop over to the C.S. Lewis Institute to find free PDF reading guide for the book.

My eldest - who sadly is eschewing most things Catholic/faith-related right now unless "forced" into participation, received the book The Eighth Arrow by J. Augustine Wetta, O.S.B. for Christmas.

I have not had a chance to browse the books since he has it squirreled away in his room where he stays up until the wee hours each night reading.

Score! He likes the book! 

And I like that it is by a priest - J. Augustine Wetta O.S.B - who wrote another good book that we read as a nightly read together some months ago upon a recommendation and loan from a friend.

My eldest son did not take to Humility Rules as well as he is taking to The Eighth Arrow since Humility Rules is more overtly faith-related. Still, on the whole, Humility Rules was a fruitful read for my children and me.

Plus, my children all enjoyed the humorous illustrations in the book. Thus, I don't hesitate to recommend the book as a solo read or group one to you and yours.

Finally, in my personal reading pile is a book recommended to me by a wise and holy local priest: The Temperament God Gave You. I have only just begun the book, but am already appreciating it. 

I would love to hear what you and your have been reading!

Woah! ONE Resource for the Entire Family with Every Subject for Every Grade {A SchoolhouseTeachers.com Review}

Disclosure: I received this product free through the Homeschool Review Crew.

This post contains affiliate links, I will receive a commission for products you buy through my referral link at no extra cost to you.

Would you like a one-stop resource for homeschooling that includes:

• Online Classes
• Online Electives
• Elementary Homeschool Courses
• Middle School Homeschool Courses
• High School Homeschool Courses
• Homeschool Parent Support
  
• Lesson Plans
  
• Report Card Generator
  
• High School Credit and Transcript Support
• a Custom Schedule Builder
• Rightnow Media
• a Video Library with 100s of Videos On Demand
• 10 Libraries of World Books Online
• Homeschool Planners
• Interactive Content
• School Boxes (which are like "boxed curriculum" with a full year of pre-prepared lessons for each grade level)
• Individual Courses (which allow flexibility of use for individual course supplements or allow you to build your own customized complete curriculum)
• a Literacy Center
  
• a Community Members Forum
• Special Needs Support
  
• a Complimentary Issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine 

...and other special bonuses with one membership price - either by month or year - which covers every person in your family? Oh, and no textbooks to buy, plus no limits on classes.

Such a thing might seem like a proverbial unicorn, but, I assure you, it is not. The Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership from SchoolhouseTeachers.com
really offers all of this!

The online Christian curriculum resource offers 475+ courses that can selected from to suit whatever needs your family has in this particular season. 

Complete curriculum for every student? If that's what you want.

Cherry picked supplements, one-off games and activities, or self-pace courses for just one of your children? You got it!

Helps and resources for parents? It's there!

Family entertainment? Yep!

Downloadable, printable elements as well as online classes and video components? You bet!

Whatever your homeschool need, whatever the season, SchoolhouseTeachers.com is a trusted source.

Case in point: One rather busy day during Advent, my children and I needed a simple, quick, and easy way to wind down. So, I pulled up our membership to SchoolhouseTeachers, browsed, and immediately found a cute, short video to chill with.

The kids and I cuddled up and watched, enjoying a peaceful ending to a busy day. My kids said:

The cartoon we watched was fun, too. A man taught a town about Baby Jesus.

The cartoon had a nice meaning.

Another case in point: During a 1:1 time with one of my children, I noticed his multiplication fact recall was flagging. So, I quickly went to the printable game section of SchoolhouseTeachers.com, found one that would help him practice, and printed it out. 

In minutes, we were playing, and he had so much fun that, later in the day, he asked, "Can we play another one?" 

So, I printed more and using a mix of luck, strategy, and skill, he got stronger with multiplication while we had some fun together!

Later, we tried language arts games, which he enjoyed, too. In fact, he said:

The printable games were awesome and fun. I liked the math ones. They made it so I could practice multiplication. My favorite was the one we colored the four squares for.

Another child and I played some similar games with success as well!

And, now that the holiday season has wound down, and we are getting back to more focused learning times, I have been eying self-paced courses to use
with my oldest child as he moves forward with his goal to complete high school early while also looking at art, photography, film, and other electives for all of us to enjoy.

Ooo, and, of course, the Video Library continues to be a boon for us - allowing us to quickly tap into favorites like Drive-Thru History videos without the need to go through the entire course they are a part of.

Yes, we are once again enjoying SchoolhouseTeachers.com for its flexible and comprehensive content!

We recommend SchoolhouseTeachers.com as a helpful Christian resource that can offer complete curriculum, one-off activities, enrichment, and parent helps.

Learn More

The Ultimate PreK-12 Annual Membership from SchoolhouseTeachers.com
is well worth looking into.

Membership is currently on sale until 31 January 2021 using coupon code START139, which - for new members - allows you to pay $139 for the entire family for the year, or START16, which allows you to pay $16 for the month.  

If you'd like to see how homeschool families with different styles and a wide variety of children's ages have been using the curriculum, head on over to find video, blog, and social media reviews from the entire Homeschool Review Crew!

Connect on social media:

Website |  Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram | YouTube

Get a FREE No-Rehearsals-Needed Christmas and Epiphany Play Script

Oh what blessings and fun we had celebrating the Epiphany.

Mass. A reception. Picking saints for the year. Carols. A blessing of chalk and water so we can continue the Epiphany tradition of chalking our doors... And a partially narrated-partially improvised play.

The play was especially fun this year.

Some local priests asked me if I would lead a play, but, given everyone's Christmastime commitments and other hurdles, doing a traditional pageant with rehearsals was not going to work. Plus, we wanted to include anyone who showed up for the reception and wanted to participate.

So, I wrote a a no-rehearsals-needed script which took the form of a narration that could be used as a base for improvised scenes. Then, I simply laid out costume pieces and simple props in a "backstage" area, invited anyone who wanted to participate to come close to the stage area, and began.

Children and adults alike joined in on stage with quick readings from cue cards and improvised pantomime and dialogue.

The entire audience joined in at times with background pantomime and dialogue as well as song.

And the play was a wonderful success with everyone's good-natured participation.

In case you ever have a need for such a play for your family, classroom, or community, I am sharing a free copy of the narration I wrote for it here. I pray this Christmas and Epiphany Narrated and Improvised Play script can bring you delight.

Have a wonderfully blessed Epiphany!

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Charades {A Free Printable}

 Are you planning to celebrate Elizabeth Ann Seton's feast day this January 4th? 

If so, any alphabet-themed eats could be fun, or get ideas from Catholic Cuisine.

Then, you could read a story about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton or watching A Time for Miracles, which is free on Youtube.

Finally, you could play St. Elizabeth Ann Seton charades!

My children have been having fun with charades lately, so I put together a FREE printable St. Elizabeth Ann Seton game. 

To play, simply cut the 20+ cues into strips and place them face down. Have a player draw one strip and act out the large bolded word or phrase without using any words. When someone guesses the word, briefly discuss its connection to St. Elizabeth Seton. Then, have whoever guessed the word take the next turn.

Have fun.

O God, who crowned with the gift of true faith Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton's burning zeal to find you, grant by her intercession and example that we may always seek you with diligent love and find you in daily service with sincere faith. 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

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, pray for us.

A Free Printable Family Game for Christmas!

Are you looking for a silly way to spend a family game night during the 12 Days of Christmas?

Perhaps the FREE Christmas Word Puzzle Cards my daughter and I just made can help you!

{Some links which follow are affiliate ones.}

The cards are modeled after the game Mad Gab from Mattel.

To use them, simply print the first sheet of cards and cut them out.

Then, break your family into two teams. Flip a timer, have a player from Team One draw and read a card, for example: "Egg Wrist Mask Herald".

Then, have the rest of the players on Team One guess what Christmas related word or phrase the card is giving a clue to (A Christmas Carol).

If the team guesses correctly before the timer runs out, they keep the card, score a point, and go again, continuing until the timer runs out. 

When the timer runs out, the other team can have one chance to guess an unguessed card, stealing the card/point. Then, the other team goes.

Whichever team has the most cards/points at the end wins, much like in the Mattel game Mad Gab, which I remembered from my younger years and told my kids about today.

After I did so, my daughter wanted to see more about the game, so we watched a Youtube video of people playing it.

We then decided it would be fun to make and try out our own cards using a Christmas theme.

So, we set to work and think you will enjoy the fruits of our fun labor and be able to solve the puzzles cards we created.

Just in case you cannot, though, we included a second sheet of cards with the solutions to each puzzle.

Have a blessed and merry Christmas and a fun family time playing!

It's Time to Get the Donuts... for Our Donut Stable Christmas Tradition

"Donuts!"

That was my youngest son's answer when I asked my children what one food each of them would like to see on the table on Christmas day.

His answer made me smile.

For I had asked my question thinking about how different our 2020 Christmas will be in comparison to Christmases past - with so many traditions on pause since COVID-crazy will prevent us from having our usual extended family gathering, and my son had answered, unexpectedly, with one thing that could remain traditional: donuts!

Yes. Donuts.

When my children were quite young, I used to make a cake on Christmas morning - a birthday cake for baby Jesus.

We would gather, sing happy birthday to Jesus, and blow out a candle. 

Then, one year, the cake changed to a stable. (I think it was because one year I did not have the time to make a cake, so grabbed GFCF donuts I had hidden in the freezer as a treat and made a donut stable.

Ever since, my children have eagerly looked forward to donut stables on Christmas and Epiphany...

And a corresponding open tomb on Easter.

Simple. Traditional (for us). And the first thing that came to my youngest's mind when thinking about our table at Christmas.

A donut stable, there will be!

And a warm, happy heart there is inside of me. What a delight for a tradition to hold up even in the COVID-crazy of 2020.

Does your family have a unique-to-you tradition that helps you celebrate the joy of Christmas morning, too?

Secretly Gift a St. Nicholas Basket {An Advent Tradition}

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

I pray you and yours had a lovely feast day.

Here, along with waking to goodies in shoes, reading "virtue letters" from St. Nicholas, and going to Mass, my children and I made time for a long-time family tradition: gifting a neighbor with a St. Nicholas basket!

If you're looking for a fun idea for encouraging secret service and neighborhood cheer, St. Nicholas neighborhood baskets are an easy and enjoyable way to do it!

We first heard about the idea six years ago when I was researching ideas for a St. Nicholas Sensing the Saints Playdate. 

Since then, each year, we cut out paper snowflakes...

... fill a real basket...

...or a homemade paper one...

...with goodies...

... print out The Story of St. Nicholas from the St Nicholas Center website and walk to a neighbor's house...

... to secretly spread St. Nicholas' story.

Some years, we have been delighted to see snowflakes popping up on other doorways in our neighborhood. 

Other years, we are just happy to gift some happiness to whatever family we drop a basket to whether they share forward or not. All years, we enjoy spreading some secret cheer close to home.

Perhaps you and yours will enjoy this tradition, too.

However you choose to spend your St. Nicholas Day, we pray is blessed with love and service.

Saint Nicholas, you were a kind and generous man and a special friend of children. I pray that I may always show my gratitude to people who are good to me. May I return their kindness with love and may I never hesitate to share their care with others. Amen.