Watching Videos as a Sunday Morning Tradition?

Preparing for Mass with a Holy Heroes Adventure Guides Video

{NOTE:  Affiliate links are included in this post .}

It might seem odd that we, a family that consciously limits screen time for our children, have been making a habit of watching videos each Sunday morning.  Yet it is true. 

For weeks now, some time between breakfast and Mass on Sunday mornings, we bring our laptop to the table and let the kids glue their eyes to the screen.

Why?

Because we have found Holy Heroes Mass Prep Videos like this one:



Each Sunday, the Holy Heroes Adventure Guides offer a free, short video.  These help center our children's attention on the Gospel and, on good weeks, encourages them to pay more attention in church as they listen for the readings shared in the videos to be repeated during the celebration of Mass.

SPD Connection

In keeping with my promise to honor National Sensory Processing Disorder Awareness Month this month, I wanted to make three notes about videos and Mass with our son.

1.  Videos.  Our son LOVES them and would gladly watch them for hours on end.  However, he is also often over-stimulated by them.  As you can glean from the photo at the top of this post, where our son is standing with his hands behind his head, our son tends to watch videos with his whole body.  He often stands, jumps up and down, wiggles and bounces.  Plus, since he was quite young, during particularly stimulating segments of videos, he often reaches his arms forward and open and closes his fingers almost as if he is trying to repeatedly and quickly manipulate a puppet's mouth.  (This, as we learned in the past year, is actually a stimming behavior.)

2.  Heavy Work.  Regardless of whether a video causes our son to stim or not, we have learned that if our son is to remain regulated and if we are all to remain more peaceful, we have to bracket his video viewing time with active time.  When we fail to ensure heavy work (running, jumping, lifting, pushing and other activities that work the proprioceptive system) before and/or after screen time, our son's dysregulation quickly becomes apparent.

3.  Pre-Mass Strategy.  Mass always goes better when we take the time to encourage our son to have more than just a quick with a good dose of heavy work.  When we budget 15 minutes or more for heavy work activities before Mass, we usually discover his behavior at church benefits. If only we would remember to do this more often...

What special treats or favorite traditions have become a part of your family's Sunday mornings?

 

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Happy St. Luke’s Day, Notes on Our St. Luke Liturgical Name Day Tea

A Simple St. Luke's Day Tea

Life has been full and fast here this week, so I didn’t get around to preparing as much as I had wanted to for our St. Luke Name Day celebration today.  However, we enjoyed an easy tea followed by some themed handwriting efforts to kick off the lesson portion of our day anyway.

Our Made Up GFCF Lace Cookie Recipe

First, in honor of lace makers (to whom St. Luke is a patron), the kids helped me make batter for a GFCF Lace Cookie recipe that I made up this morning based upon the ingredients we had on hand in the house and a variety of lace cookie recipes that I found online an in a gluten-full cookbook that we have.   To ensure even turns at stirring the batter, we stirred while spelling S-a-i-n-t L-u-k-e.

Spelling and Stirring

Once the cookies were in the oven, we set the table with a lace table cloth (in honor of lace makers again), a Mary candle (in honor of St. Luke’s relationship with Mother Mary), a print out of a painting of St. Luke (the same one I used for our St. Luke’s Day planning post), some coloring pages (with thanks to Waltzing Matilda) and a box of art materials (in honor of artists, to whom St. Luke is a patron).  We also made chocolate-maple-coconut milk shakes (because w had no tea or kiddo favorite drinks on hand) and put these in some fancy glasses (in honor of the glass makers, to whom St. Luke is a patron).  Finally, we read a bit about St. Luke from Holy Spirit Interactive as we waited for the cookies to be ready.

Simple Centerpiece

Cookies plated, we said some prayers and dug in, not even minding that our lace cookies weren't all that lacy!

GFCF "Lace" Cookies (They tasted better than they look!)

 Then, we colored and posted the St. Luke’s pages before going out in the sunshine to write thank you letters to our awesome family physician.  (We had said prayers for all physicians and surgeon before our “tea” and decided that writing letters would be a great way to start the day’s formal lessons.)

Nina started making the beard gray-black, but then decided St. Luke was not that old and changed to brown.

Now, we are enjoying a rare treat that has little to do with St. Luke:  an unexpected period of relaxation!  

Lesson in the Sunshine

Jack’s Early Intervention specialist had to cancel his appointment today, and Nina’s Speech Therapist called to move Nina’s appointment to tomorrow.  We finished up our Core Four lessons already, and as tempted as I am to fill the rest of our day with things that have been beckoning from our “school” to-do list and from my personal task lists, I am resisting doing so.  

Luke's Letter to Our Physician

The sun is shining.  The temps are ideal.  The kids are playing together perfectly in the yard as I sit on the stoop breathing in a calm that I have sorely needed all week.  Life IS good.

Cheers, Love and Healing to All from Our Luke and Us Today

Praying that your day is blessed with exactly what you need, too.  And, also asking for you to join me in two prayers that I found online.

One, for physicians and all who are in their care.  (I have just learned over the past week of two more friends of mine facing cancer):

Prayer to St. Luke

Most charming and saintly Physician, you were animated by the heavenly Spirit of love. In faithfully detailing the humanity of Jesus, you also showed his divinity and his genuine compassion for all human beings. Inspire our physicians with your professionalism and with the divine compassion for their patients. Enable them to cure the ills of both body and spirit that afflict so many in our day.
Amen.

And, two, for all who need an extra special dose of love and healing, including a homeschooling friend of mine who I have been lifting up all day:

Prayer of the Order of Saint Luke
Almighty God, who inspired Your servant Luke the Physician to set forth in the Gospel the love and healing power of Your Son: Graciously continue in Your Church the love and power to heal, to the praise and glory of Your Name, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
Amen.

SPD Connection

I realized that I neglected to make an obvious SPD connection in honor of SPD Awareness Month in my last post on planning for this feast day.  So, I have just gone back and added one to the end of the post.  Feel free to click on over and, then, scan down, to read it.  Much of what I say it in relates to our feast day celebration today.

In addition, I would like to add WHY we eat GFCF on feast days and every day.

After much reading about SPD and related disorders, my husband and I decided that we would try dietary-based solutions before medications for our son's SPD/ADHD and related symptoms.  First, we got stricter than we had always been about limiting preservatives, additives and dyes in all of our children's diets, changing "limit" to "avoid".  Then, we went casein free.  Finally, right around the same time that a neurologist told us that is was not a matter of if  we medicate our on, but which medication we would use and at what dosage, we went gluten free.  It has been less than a year since taking the gluten-free step and we could not be happier that we chose to do so.

Although eating a diet like we do here does not help all children with SPD and related disorders, it has certainly made a HUGE difference here.  Many of our son's symptoms have dramatically decreased.  Thus, I encourage parents and physicians everywhere to at least consider dietary interventions alongside more typical medical ones.  I cannot see how it can hurt, but can absolutely see how it can help.  Since making dietary changes, our son has been freed of some things that held him back while still remaining very much himself -- a gift to us!

With that in mind, I would like to add one final prayer:

SPD Moms Prayer to St. Luke

Saint Luke, it was with great love that you detailed the humanity of Jesus and his compassion for all humans.  It  is with great love that each parent of a child with SPD lives daily, blessed by the gift of that child to family, and, indeed, to the world.  Yet, it can be with great challenge, too.  Thus, today I ask for your intercession.  Please inspire parents, professionals and physicians everywhere to embrace all children with a heart for healing, even when a particular child's healing might include strategies that hitherto have been less mainstream.  Likewise, please help each of us to see that not all things need healing.  Some children, though different, may be exactly as our Father wants them to be.  Help us to know what approaches to take to unwrap the gift of each and every child without, haphazardly, destroying a part  of that gift.  Let us discern the difference between affliction and unique beauty, and encourage to do all we can to see what is beautiful and true.

Planning St. Luke Feast Day Tea: A Resource Round-Up

Saint Luke the Evangelist Russian Icon (image from Wikimedia)

We are going strong with my re-committment to celebrating family Name Days this year, and this week will bring another one: St. Luke’s Feast Day.

So, in case anyone else is planning to celebrate St. Luke this week, I thought I would share a round-up of resource ideas that I have collected for our St. Luke tea. 

Decoration

• Lace on table, since St. Luke is patron to lacemakers.
• A Mary candle, painting or sculpture, since it is aid that St. Luke painted her portrait.
• Symbols of professions St. Luke is patron to, such as the kids’ doctor dress up items for physicians and surgeon.

Tea Time Fare

• Since St. Luke is patron to butchers, have some sort of grass fed beef dish.
• GFCF painted cookies, since St. Luke is patron to painters.
• GFCF Chocolate Lace Cookies, since St Luke is patron to lace makers (and we love chocolate!)
• GFCF Beer Bread, since St. Luke is patron to brewers.

Prayer

• Pray to St. Luke.
• Pray for artists, bachelors, bookbinders, brewers, butchers, glassworkers, goldsmiths, lacemakers, notaries, painters, physicians, sculptors, stained glass workers and surgeons, as St. Luke is  patron to all of these.

Activities

• Color Waltzing Matilda’s St. Luke coloring page.
• Paint or do so some other sort of art, since St. Luke is the patron saint or artists and patrons (which is fitting since Luke loves art an painting!)
• Since legend has it that St. Luke was the first artist to paint the portrait of the Virgin Mary, if it is nice weather, we may have a picnic tea near a statue of St. Mary, which we will paint.
• Write our family physician a thank you note and say a prayer for him since St. Luke is a patron of physicians.
• Perhaps make and play a card game based on St. Luke’s patronage or symbols.

As always with our Feast Day celebrations and teas, the children’s interests and ideas will play a large part in what we actually do.  Without a picture book to help in our celebration this time, the tea is sure to be full of hands-on fun.

What are some of your favorite St. Luke resources?  Does anyone know a good children’s story or picture book related to St. Luke?

 

(If you receive this post via email and cannot see the linky, be sure to actually click over to the blog to read browse the rich catalog of ideas there.)

 

Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!

SPD Connection

I neglected to add this SPD connection earlier in honor of SPD Awareness month, so I am doing so now.

With the mix of sensory challenges our son has, nutrition and food tolerance has been an issue in the past.  With the help of a nutrition/feeding specialist, we got over some major hurdles.  With consistent introduction and re-introduction of foods through shopping, cooking, eating and celebrating together, we have met with more success than I ever expected.

Our Liturgical Teas often give us opportunities to expand or reinforce accepted foods.  They also provide opportunities for getting a lot of tactile input -- both through the food and decorations.  God gave us each of our unique children.  He also laid it on my heart to celebrate their feast days.  I think there may be a connection... ;)

 

One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease, A Rich Resource Review

Reading the title of this post, readers may wonder what happened to my month-long focus on SPD.  Rest assured, there is a connection.  As you will see in the review below, although the book that the rest of this post is based on is specifically about one man's journey through heart disease, it is more generally about two messages that anyone with a child affected by Sensory Processing Disorder should hear and live by: 

1.  Take control of your own health and that of your kids. 

2.  Recognize that traditional medicine is often best used in balance with other approaches, such as nutrition.  (In our family, diet has been a HUGE factor in minimizing SPD symptoms.)

 

 Now, onto the book:

When I received an email asking if I’d like to review One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease by Thomas Martin,.  I jumped at the chance.  Now, those who don’t know my family history well, might think that One Percent is an odd choice for me to want to read.  It is not.  Heart disease, cancer and other “big” diseases run in every branch of my family tree.  Thus, I am always interested in learning from folks who have combined traditional medicine with personal choices about diet, exercise and life style in order to manage or overcome disease.  Thomas Martin’s honest chronicle about his quick descent from perfect health to near death from heart failure, as well as his hard won ascent through recovery, is a story that appealed to me and will appeal to others, too.

 

A Review of One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease 

 
* * * ½ 
based on my Rich Review Criteria, but I would give it 5*’s on Amazon based on more general criteria

A * READABILITY

One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease is an easy, and almost addictive read.

Part One of the book chronicles Thomas Martin’s harrowing health journey with brief, honest diary-style entries that kept me turning page after page, completing the book between caring for home and family in but two days.

Part Two provides synopses on Thomas’:

• lessons learned
• thoughts on challenging the medical establishment
• refutation of fatalistic views about disease
• opinions on cholesterol and other myths

 

As such, it acts almost as a primer for those who face disease.

Part Three offers details about which prescription medications, supplements and nutrients Thomas now uses to maintain his health, what his diet and nutrition approach is and what resources for further information he recommends.

Thus, part human-interest, part inspiration and part practicality, One Percent, in its total, is a quick engaging and informative read.  It earns a star from me for readability.

A * for RELEVANCE

Although no one in my family has ever faced the unfortunate need for a Thoratec Heartmate II left ventricular assist device (LVAD) as Thomas Martin did, I still find One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease quite relevant.  For although Thomas’ heart failure and recovery is different than the health issues that have affected my family and me, I find Thomas’ approach both inspirational and practical.  His message that optimal health cannot be dispensed from a pharmacy and that we each have to take control of our own health is one I agree with.

Traditional medicine has its place.  I owe the fact that I am still blessed to have my mother and sister around to it.  (One is a survivor of multiple heart attacks; the other beat cancer.)  However, other approaches, such as diet and nutrition are important, too.  (We are constantly reminded of this as we journey along with ADHD/SPD with one of our children.)  No matter the disease or the disorder, finding the right balance of traditional medicine and other approaches, as well as staying personally on top of one’s care, is vital. 

Being proactive before disease and disorder progress can be important, too.  I know that I came away from One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Diseasewith a list of ideas and books I want to research further in order to better take care of my own health and that of my family.  Thus, One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Diseaseearns a star from me for relevance.

A ¾ * for PRACTICALITY

As I have already mentioned, the narrative in Part One of One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Diseaseis engaging and personal and the latter parts of the book offer practical ideas and information.

On the whole, for those who face – or know someone facing – life with an LVAD, this book would be a valuable, practical resource.  Likewise, I think many medical professionals would do well to read it. 

However, from a personal perspective, I cannot give the book a full star for practicality.  Based on my usual questions for rating resources (which can be found at the end of this post),One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease did not push me to take a clear, further step on my parenting or homeschooling journey.  It did, however, reinforce steps that I am already taking and offer further books and articles to look into.  Thus, I am giving the book a ¾ star for practicality, with the caveat that for the aforementioned others, it would definitely earn a full star.

A ¼ * for LONGEVITY

Since I am not someone who is likely to need an LVAD and I am not in the medical community, I cannot see picking this book up time and time again.  However, it is a brief an interesting enough read, that I can definitely see keeping it to read again at some point or to lend out to others to read.  Thus, I am giving the book a ¼ star for longevity.

A ½ * for VALUE

I would love to give One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease a full star for value, but staying true to my Rich Resource criteria, I cannot.  Frankly, as much as I enjoyed and learned from the book, I cannot see pulling it off my shelves time and time again.

That said, I feel One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease is well worth anyone reading, and, in particular, would be a valuable read to:

• those in the medical field
• those facing or living with LVAD’s
• those with different, yet just as life-changing, diseases and disorders
• those interested in balancing traditional and alternative health approaches

I give kudos to Thomas Martin not only for taking his health into his own hands and becoming one of few people who can say he beat heart disease and the need for an LVAD, but also for pouring himself into sharing his story to help others.  There are not many people who could live through what Thomas did and there are fewer still who could encapsulate their experience in a slim book which honestly chronicles the experience and then encourages others to prevent or overcome similar experiences.  Thomas has succeeded with this with One Percent: My Journey Overcoming Heart Disease.

Interested?

Buy a print or digital copy of the book at Amazon.

Wondering what my criteria for earning stars is?


READABILITY: Is the book an easy read based on its style, formatting and the information it offers? It gets one star if I can read and digest it even while interacting with the kids as they explore playdough, build constructions or otherwise work “independently”.

RELEVANCE: Does the book provide information and ideas I can use right now, or in the relatively near future? It gets one star if I find myself thinking “Do now,” “Think about soon,” or “Ah-ha! That’s it!” while reading a portion of it.

PRACTICALITY: Does the book provide practical suggestions or solutions for challenges, activities, etc.? It one star if it pushes me to take an actual step on my parenting and homeschooling journey, rather than getting lost deeper in “Theory Jungle”.

LONGEVITY: Will the ideas in the book help me in a year, two or ten? The book gets another star if I spot something in it that I know I will want to revisit at a later point.

VALUE: Is the book one that would be worth tipping the budget to buy or will borrowing it from the library periodically suffice? If I think I will be taking the book out of the library for more weeks in a year than I leave it on the shelves, the book gets another star.

*For this review, I received a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.* 
 
Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!  

Spotlight on Nina and Luke: Marmalade and Manners

We recently began reading A Bear Called Paddington as our family read aloud.  No sooner were we through the first chapter than were Luke and Nina asking about marmalade.  So, during "just Mommy and Nina" time the other day, we picked up some apricot marmalade for breakfast.

Thus it was that yesterday, at just a day shy of five years and four months old and at exactly six years and ten months old, Nina and Luke had their first taste of marmalade.

Nina chose hers straight up on toast.

Luke surprised me by mixing almond butter and marmalade together to make a sandwich.  (He often does not like mixed foods.)

Both got so into their treat breakfast of chocolate almond milk, toast and marmalade that, while I was reading the next chapter of A Bear Called Paddington, they forgot their table manners.

Luckily, a set of knock-knock jokes was all I needed to alert them to their errors.

Table Manners Knock-Knock Jokes

Knock-Knock.
Whose there?
Noel.
Noel who?
No elbows on the table.

Knock-Knock.
Whose there?
Annie.
Annie who?
A knee (or two) is at the table and does not belong there.

We learned the first of these jokes from a homeschool friend of ours whose daughter politely used it during Christmastime to correct her grandmother's table manners.  The second is one we made up since our children put their knees up against the table all too often.

Since we have been enjoying these jokes for a while now, we usually only need to begin repeating one joke, the other, or both before body positions are corrected.

SPD Connection

I realize that having a hood on at the table is not exactly mannerly.  However, we pick our focuses here with an understanding of sensory needs in mind. 

Luke has always had a difficult time with behavior around the change of seasons.  As the weather has cooled over the past few days, I have noticed a series of mild, but apparent, sensory integration issues, impulsive actions and poor choices.  So, I have been trying to minimize additional catalysts for trouble.

Now that it is getting chillier out, Luke has been choosing to wear his hoody sweatshirt daily.  However, when the hood is down on it, it irritates him.  For although he is not as tactilely defensive as he used to be, he still has some tactile quirks.  And, like many SPD kids, some of these have to do with collars, tags, the sensation of air on skin, etc.  Thus, the hood.  For now, we are overlooking it.  Once we get through the seasonal change, we just may have to think of a new knock-knock joke!

For the Record 

Though not a sensory kid, Jack chose to use his marmalade and toast as much as a meal as he did as a sensory experience.  Much like Paddington Bear and his sticky bun, Jack needed a good cleaning by the time his marmalade and toast was done.  Indeed, his shirt, face and hands were so covered, our camera had to run for cover not long after the above shot was taken.

Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!

Charlotte's Web: Book Basket and More

Charlotte, Templeton, Wilbur and Some Books

About a week ago, in culmination of our Charlotte's Web explorations, I put together a Charlotte's Web Book Basket for the kids.  Not a day has passed since when they have not asked one of us to read the books or chosen to play with the items in the basket.

Nina draws Wilbur and his food after she and Luke set up a feeding trough with the cover of a cardboard jewelery box and some marbles.

And on more than one occasion, they have teamed up to build a barn for Wilbur.

Templeton is peaking out of his hole.

Considering that we began informally exploring Charlotte's Web over a month ago, I think the fact that Luke, Nina and Jack remain interested in dramatizing the story serves as testimony to what a timeless, classic tale it is and to how putting together a simple basket of inspiration can help children of all ages access the story even more.

Charlotte's Web Through Audio, Text and Video 

In late August, we took a long road trip to see family.  One of the audiobooks we listened to while traveling was Charlotte's Web .  Then, as the school year began, we read the unabridged, anniversary edition of the book as a read aloud with the kids, followed by two Charlotte's Web picture books, Some Pig!: A Charlotte's Web Picture Book and Wilbur's Adventure: A Charlotte's Web Picture Book and one early reader, Charlotte's Web: Wilbur Finds A Friend (I Can Read Book 2), which we happened to find in the waiting room at Nina's speech therapy.

We also enjoyed a family movie time watching the classic film and look forward to seeing the more recent version as soon as it comes in at the library.

Family Movie Time (Please excuse the multitude of clashing patterns.  The children collected various pillows and blankets to set up our stadium seating theater in the boys' room)

However, all the reading, listening and watching were not enough for our kiddoes.

Nope.

Our Kiddoes Like to Play

Thus, one sunny day (prior to making the book basket), the kids and I collected a stuffed pig, a stuffed girl (for Fern), a plastic spider, a recycled fruit bag (for a web) and a stuffed chipmunk (because we could not find out stuffed mouse) from around the house.  The children enjoyed dramatizing scenes from Charlotte's Web with these all afternoon.

I love the way the kids created the green web for Charlotte here.

Unfortunately, that included the scene where Wilbur tried to make a web...

What a time we had trying to get Wilbur out of the tree!

Best of all, Jack, our boy who is just beginning to converse, cannot seem to get enough of "Shar-it weh".  Yep, he's right in there with Luke and Nina with the dramatic play!

"My shpida"

Plus, Charlotte has motivated us to do a bit more reading and spelling, too.  Or, more precisely, has been a catalyst for Nina focusing on decoding words and sentences.  Hoorah!

After matching some Charlotte's Web inspired CVC and VCC words, Nina asked me to write a sentence for her to puzzle out and illustrate.  This from a girl who has been fighting lesson time since September.  Thank you, E.B. White!

Faith, Montessori and SPD Connections

• Although not directly related to faith, the pro-life message of Charlotte's Web, as well as the obvious themes of love and friendship, touched us.
• Although not classically Montessori, I consider our Charlotte's Web forays to be Montessori-inspired.  Why?  Because they have developed through a process of following our children and because with some basic planned environment elements, the children have been able to self-select/request aspects of study.
• From an SPD perspective, our explorations have been helpful.  
• They began with an audiobook in the car.  We have found that audio books calm and focus Luke when on long drives, helping him to keep his mind off the vestibular input that used to affect him greatly when riding in a car.  
• The variety of textures  involved with dramatic play offer natural tactile input to our once tactile-defensive, although sometimes seeking, and now much more "normalized" boy and his siblings.
• The dramatic play encourages a lot of movement.  "Heavy work" happens naturally when building constructions, stretching to help Charlotte high in her web, bending to help Templeton crawl, etc.
• Having a variety of books of interest on hand allows Luke to take calming "read the pictures" breaks when he begins to feel overstimulated.  (Granted, sometimes we have to encourage him to self-regulate, or directly help him to calm down.)
• Watching movies at home allows us to control what would otherwise be an overstimulating experience for Luke.  Between the huge screen, loud volume, crowded conditions, etc. of  a real theaters, sensory input can become too much for Luke and a "good" experience can turn bad quickly.  Likewise, even movies at home can be overstimulating for him, so we tend to bracket them with heavy work.

Revisiting and Expanding

Because we have a variety of concurrent explorations and studies going on right now, I did not expand our Charlotte's Web experience much beyond a literary and dramatic play one.  However, I can imagine numerous Montessori activities, lapbooking ideas, unit study components, etc. grounded in the story.  Since Jack is still so young, I am confident that we will revisit Charlotte's Web again in a few years.   (We actually read the story a couple of years ago, too, but did not spend so much time on it.)  At that time, I expect Luke and Nina will be able to do some reading on their own, and, we may develop our studies further.  Thus, I would greatly appreciate any Montessori, Sensory, Unit study, Lapbook or other cool exploration links you might have for Charlotte's Web. 

 Want to be inspired with others' Montessori ideas an work?  Click on over to Montessori Monday and enjoy.

Please note: Links to Amazon within this post and others are affiliate ones. Should you choose to click through one to make an Amazon purchase, we may receive a small percentage of the sale. This does not cost you anything, but is a choice we thank you for making. Anything we make from links goes straight back into training up our children and to much of what we share with you here. Thank you!