What Adventure-Filled Christian Fiction for Kids! {An Imagine. . .The Great Flood Review}

If you and your children enjoy reading Christian fiction for kids, then add  Imagine. . .The Great Flood by Matt Koceich from Barbour Publishing to your "up next" pile.   This middle grade fiction story, written for children ages 8 to 12, is the first release in a brand-new epic adventure series written by schoolteacher and missionary, Matt Koceich that aims to bring popular Bible stories to life for today's children.

In Imagine. . .The Great Flood, you are taken from modern day Texas to the times of Noah's Ark in order to experience what the monumental Biblical event of the Great Flood might have been like.  You also are reminded that, although life may change and seem uncertain at times, God is always with you.

The book, a 110-page softcover with 15 chapters, is a quick and engaging read.  My children and I read it together in our bedtime story rotation and, more than once, they asked me to keep reading since chapters often ended with enticing cliff hangers. 

Since chapters were short, I did not mind honoring the children's requests, so it took us only about a week in our bedtime story rotation to finish Imagine. . .The Great Flood, and I would think it would take a proficient middle grade reader only about and hour or two to read the entire story independently.


My seven-year-old summarized this piece of fun Christian fiction for kids:

In Imagine, Corey was moving from Texas to Florida and was not happy about it.  Before he moved, he was in a forest and fell and hit his head.  Then, he started to imagine things. 

Corey imagined that he was taken back before the Great Flood.  He met Noah's sons and Noah.  He talked to them and helped them.  They tried to get all of the animals onto the ark.  Some giants tried to stop them, but lions helped.

Once, the evil people threw Corey in a pit.  That was when the rain started to come.  It seemed hopeless, but Corey thought and prayed.

In the end, Corey came back to modern times.  He moved and met a friend named Noah.  Something scary happened, but you have to read to find out what.

I liked this book.  The giants made it interesting.  One thing I did not like was that, at the end, there was a treasure hunt, but it didn't say who won or anything.

People who like to read or be read to might like this book, especially people who like Bible stories.  It gave me new ideas about Noah's Ark. 

My ten-year-old daughter went into more details about conflicts withing the story:

Imagine has a couple struggles in it:

The first one is that Corey does not want to move to Florida.  Then, he hits his head on a log, goes into an imaginary world, and comes back having learned that everything is not as hard or as bad as it seems.  We need to trust and obey God.

Another struggle in the story is between Corey and Elizar, an evil wizard who tries to utterly destroy Corey in the time of Noah's Ark.  At one point, he stuck him in a pit.  The flood came.  Corey was hanging onto a log...  He was not destroyed.

Imagine was a good story.  It was exciting.  I could really see the action.  It's a book about a boy who travels in time to Noah's time, because he had a concussion.  He faced evil people and, then, came back to the modern world.  He moved and used his lessons from Noah's time to help his new friend Noah.  Christians who like read alouds would like this.  You could read it yourself, too.

As you can see from my daughter's narration, Imagine. . .The Great Flood does put the "fiction" into Biblical fiction by adding imaginative details and characters to the typical Bible version of the Great Flood.  A wizard, a horde of evil giants, and a seemingly magical staff become a part of the story.  These additions are done tastefully and, honestly, add to the drama and excitement of the story helping the message of it come alive without making the story too fanciful.

My eleven-year-old especially liked the drama within the story and said:

We read Imagine together, but I could have easily read it by myself. 

The book is meant for 8 year olds and up, but I think 10 and up would be good, because there are some intense scenes.  In our home, my brother, who is seven, and my sister, who is ten, heard it, but my brother is kind of into intense things.  Other kids might be more sensitive.

This book is good for Christians.  It is an adventure story that takes you back in time to the time of the Great Flood.  The story if fiction, so it adds a lot of things to the Bible story.  These things help you imagine the times.

I liked this book.  It was fast-paced and filled with exciting parts and almost deadly encounters.

Don't let his warning scare you off, though.  Truly, there was drama in the book, but nothing gory or too frightening, in my opinion, for the target audience of 8-12 year olds, unless, of course, your child is super sensitive to good vs. evil scenes where evil seems close to winning. 

Imagine. . .The Great Flood truly was a fun read which kept us turning pages, imagining what it may have been like during Noah's time, and remembering that things change, but God doesn't, and we should always be thankful.  I would definitely recommend the story to those looking for clean reading for kids and Biblical fiction!

Learn More

Imagine. . .The Great Flood can currently be purchased for the sale price of just $4.49 and Imagine...The Ten Plagues is due out in March 2018. 

You can find Barbour Publishing on social media at:

• Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/BarbourPublishing/   
• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/barbourbuzz   
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/BarbourPublishing1  

Seventy-five Homeschool Review Crew families are sharing what we thought about  Imagine. . .The Great Flood.  Click through the banner to find all our reviews.

Make a Box of Hail Mary's

Have you heard of the Devotion of the Three Hail Mary's?  When preparing for a portion of a co-op lesson on the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, I stumbled upon this simple, yet powerful devotion which has been encouraged by many great saints, including St. Anthony of Padua, St. Leonard of Port-Maurice, and St. Alphonsus Liguorias. 

 

{Disclosure: Some links which follow are affiliate ones.}

The Devotion of the Three Hail Mary's

For the Devotion of the Three Hail Mary's we pray one Hail Mary in honor of each person of the Holy Trinity and ask our Our Lady to intercede for us with specific graces needed to live each and every day.

In a vision given to St. Mechtilde (sometimes called St. Matilda), the Blessed Mother described the devotion in these terms:

By the first Hail Mary, you will ask me in virtue of the supreme power which God the Father has given me to strengthen you in all your combats and to defend you against the power of the malignant enemy.

By the second Hail Mary, you will beseech me, through the admirable wisdom which I have received from my Son, to let the truth shine upon your soul and to banish from it the darkness of ignorance and error.

By the third Hail Mary, you will ask me by the burning fire of love with which the Holy Spirit has inflamed me, to give you such ardent charity as will enable you to overcome the fear and struggle of death.

St. Alphonsus, one of the greatest promoters of this devotion, recommended adding the following prayer at the end:

By thy pure and Immaculate Conception, O Mary, make my body pure and my soul holy.

Another option is to pray:

O my Mother, preserve me from mortal sin during this day (night).

Many also add a Consecration to the Blessed Trinity, and, you can even get a free printable prayer card from Catholic Tradition with the entire devotion written out that way.

How I Decided to Introduce the Devotion

As I said, I stumbled upon this devotion when preparing for a co-op class.  Basically, I remembered a lovely little story called "A Box of Hail Mary's" from Angel Food for Boys & Girls (which you can also find read aloud for free on LibriVox in Angel Food For Jack and Jill: Little Talks to Little Folks).

Upon re-reading "A Box of Hail Mary's", I began to wonder if there was any significance to the woman in the story praying three Hail Mary's each morning and evening.  Some quick research online brought me to information about the Devotion of the Three Hail Mary's, and, I thought, What a perfect way to celebrate Mary's birthday with the children!  We can read this story and begin praying the devotion.  Maybe we can even use a real box for them to "place" their Hail Mary's in as they pray them and this box can be placed in front of a statue of Our Lady as a gift when we sing Happy Birthday and enjoy cupcakes.


So, off I went to find a golden box in my home.  Unfortunately, the one I thought I had was nowhere to be found, so, instead, I took gold scrapbook paper and made an origami box - making the top of the box with a full sheet of square paper and the bottom with a sheet that I cut into a slightly smaller square, so the box would have a base and top that fit easily together.

Then, during our co-op class, I read and chatted about the story and guided the children in making their own origami boxes (just bases without lids, though, due to time constraints), before we prayed three Hail Mary's and "placed" them in our boxes.  The children were so cute as they carefully "placed" their gifts of Hail Mary's and, I hope, the boxes they made will remind them to pray the Devotion of the Hail Mary daily.

Our Lady, preserve us from mortal sin during this day and night.

Will the Underground Church Succeed? {A Tabletop Game Review}

Our family was introduced to Chara Games last year and, immediately, fell in love with the way they aim to create tabletop games that families and friends can enjoy while exploring historical and modern Christianity.  Thus, we were excited to be able to try out their latest card game:  Unauthorized - a 6-12 player, 30 minute, social deduction game about the underground church that can, in our experience, be played with fewer players, too.



Unauthorized is basically a role-playing card game that mixes strategy and chance.  Intended for ages 12 and up (but, in our home, happily played by children 7 and up), the game is focused around state vs. an underground church.  This, of course, makes for a natural conversation opener about life for Christians in some other countries, as well as about what it was like, for say, the first Christians in the centuries after Christ was born.

In the game, each player is assigned a role and each role has specific abilities.  Every game has both a pastor and a police officer among the cast of characters.

Experience cards are dealt to each player with the police getting 7 red cards and the pastor getting 7 green cards, while all other players get a mix of cards. The experience cards tell players whether they are loyal to the state or the church (by chance).

Then, the game is played in three rounds where strategy comes into play and intensity can get ratcheted up as players can become imprisoned or even executed and no one can be sure where loyalties lie until the end of the game.

At the game's end - which we found takes 20-45 minutes depending on the number of people playing  - if at least one Christian remains out of prison or there is a Christian majority, the church wins.  Likewise, if there is no Christian majority or all Christians are imprisoned, the state wins.

Does this sound interesting and fun?  It is!  Does it sound confusing to get started with?  It can be for those like my children and me who are not practiced role playing game players.  Thankfully, there is a helpful instructional video about the game online:




Between this video and the direction booklet, my children and I were able to get games up and playing without much trouble and with a lot of fun, imagination, strategy and chance.

My children also liked to simply use the cards to make their own storytelling games and card games.  Yep!  The cards are full of characters and circumstances that ignite my kiddoes' imaginations!

So far, we've played the game as directed - although often with only 4 or 5 people with one or two doubling up hands - several times, and, I've also found the children playing their own imaginary solitaire and small group games with the game cards.

What the Kids Thought

 
I asked each of my children for their thoughts about the game.

My seven-year old said:

"I liked being the bad guy in the game to see what it's like, because I don't like to be the bad guy in real life.  The bad guy in this game can execute a person or put people jail.  He is powerful.  I made him have some virtue, because I never murdered anybody."

This was an honest assessment from him!  He did love playing "the bad guy", but also gave his policeman heart (which I found encouraging from a mom-perspective even if it may not have been the best game strategy.)

My ten-year-old daughter said:

"This game was fun, because you don't really know what side you're going to be until to draw your cards, and it's fun trying to get people out of prison, share facts with neighbors, and try to win. 

The police try to win by imprisoning everyone on the pastor's side, and the pastor tries to have at least everyone out of jail on his side.  You have to try to guess if people are on your side or not.  That's interesting.

I did not like that once you are executed, you were executed for the whole game. So, Mommy gave me her cards to play so I could keep playing.

I was confused when I saw boy and girl pastors, but learned some Christians have girl pastors.

This game showed me how some people might be good people, but just following orders like when Christians are really persecuted.  I think in real life people should only follow orders if they are good and just, so innocent people are not killed."

As you can tell from my daughter's concepts, thoughts were churning and conversation flowing during and between games with us - everything from, "Mommy why would they have girl priests?" (which made me aware my children did not know how some other Christians worship), to "Mommy, I don't want to do what the rules say..." when card said allegiance went with "wrong", to "Mom, it's sad the way people have treated each other..."  Plenty of conversations about Christian martyrs of old and the act that people are still dying for their faith came up, too. 

My oldest, at eleven, said:

"This game was awesome!  I like how it is a battle between church and state. Our state is not like this, but in some places, people are killed for their religion.

I don't like how there are girl pastors, because I am Catholic and in Catholicism there are no girl priests.  There are nuns, but girls cannot be pastors.  Besides that, I liked the cards.  I liked the illustrations and the graphic design. 

When you play, you never know who is on your team.  It's a game of chance, change, betrayal...  The double cards are interesting, because they can affect you either way.  You choose.  It's like real life.


I don't like this game as much as other Chara Games that I've played, because it takes so many players, but I still like it."

Again, a candid review that was spot on with what I observed as my oldest son played the game.  He quite enjoyed the cards - and often used them as he led his siblings in imagined conversations and self-made games.  However, he was bummed that the game called for six or more people to play 'for real' since we only have five in our family and, more often, just three available to play.

He tends to opt for the Chara Games 3 Seeds more often than Unauthorized for actual game play as directed, then, but surely used the Unauthorized game cards a lot for self-created fun!

Played as directed, or by our own adapted rules, Unauthorized has been a hit in our home, then, and we'd happily recommend it to others (and have already done so in person prior to writing this review!)  Christians and non-Christian alike can enjoy the mix of chance and strategy in this well-designed game.  Christians can also appreciate the thematic element of it.  

I certainly LOVE that the game engages and entertains while focusing us on the reality of church challenges now and throughout history.  So many other role-playing card games include mythical creatures and fanciful, dark themes.  It is refreshing to have one that centers around truths of this world.

Really, the only negative thing I could say about the game - and it is not really negative at all - is simply that two of three of my children did not like to play the police/state-sympathizer roles.  It was hard for them (and me!) to play these rules, because, of course, we want faith to always win. 

Learn More
 
If you're looking for other Christian tabletop games, you might like our review of Commissioned.

Chara Games also puts out 3 Seeds, which is a favorite of my children's!

 

You can find Chara Games at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CharaGames/ 
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/CharaGames/

 Forty-six Homeschool Crew Review families tested out this game.  See what we each thought!

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Enjoy History and More with Carole P. Roman Books

Disclosure: Some links which follow are affiliate ones.

Last year, we were introduced to Carole P. Roman's historical book series  and quite liked it.  So, we jumped at the chance to review another book in this series - If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire: An  Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time (Volume 5) - and were happy to receive two bonus books from Carole's other series - The Crew Goes Coconuts!: A Captain No Beard Story (Volume 6)
and Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag: An Oh Susannah Story


Who is Carole P. Roman?



If you are unfamiliar with Carole P. Roman, you might like her backstory:  She is a mom who took a dare from one of her sons to write a book and has since gone on to author over 35 children's books and to win over 100 awards for both her fiction and non-fiction books.

Carole P. Roman's "If You Were Me and Lived in..." series encourages children ages 8-15 or so to explore what life would have been like for people that lived in different places around the globe during various time periods. Each book in the series focuses on a specific historical location and time, introducing readers to the clothing, food, education, games, religion, etc. that were common to day-to-day life .

Carole P. Roman also has authored the following books and series:

• If You Were Me and Lived in… Cultural (for ages 4-9+), which takes readers into geography and culture

• Captain No Beard (for ages 3-8), which offer male and female characters (modeled after Carole's grandchildren) who get up to fun and adventure as they use their imaginations and teach tender lessons about sharing, stranger dangers, asking for help, bullying, and more.

• Bedtime Series, One to Ten (for ages 4-8), which teaches readers to evaluate a problem by giving it a number and to put it into the right perspective.

• Rocket-Bye (for ages 2-8), which was Carole's love letter to my grandsons in the form of a trip to the stars

• Can a Princess be a Firefighter? (for ages 2- forever), which was Carole's love letter to her granddaughters, encouraging you to reach for your dreams and not let people put you down because of gender

• Oh Susannah (for ages 7-12), which is Carole's newest series which presents life lessons in short chapter books. 

Carole also offers bonus materials on her website in the form of free worksheets, etc to go along with some of her books.

What We Thought of the Books

My three children do not agree on much these days, but, when I took their dictations for this review, I discovered they do agree on their opinions about the Carole P. Roman books we reviewed - and I do, too.

In short, we all enjoyed the If You Were Me and Lived in... series.  Like the books in this series we previously reviewed, the Mali book was packed with interesting information and engaging illustrations, which helped us each of us learn new things.  We found the Oh Susannah chapter book pleasing enough.  Short chapters and a decent storyline kept us reading. However, even though we typically love picture books, we were not enamored with the Captain No Beard Story.  While its premise was cute and message against teasing sound, the book fell short for us overall.

In further detail, here is what each of the children had to say about the different books:

My youngest, at seven said:

I did not like (The Crew Goes Coconuts!) so much. The illustrations are too cartoony. The monkey looks nothing like a monkey, and I don't like the pictures or the storyline.

I liked (Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag). It was good. It had a better storyline.

A girl named Susannah woke up, put her schoolwork in a bag, didn't like oatmeal and had to eat it. Then, she put her banana in the bag. Then, she put books in the bag and more until the zipper broke. Every time she didn't want to deal with something she put it in the bag. Then, her parents found out and helped her find out things weren't so hard. It was good! I liked the illustrations. They were not too cartoony.

And, I liked learning about the Mali Empire. In ( If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire) I liked hearing about the prince that fought. Also, it is weird that they used nuts to bargain over marriage. And, I thought it was cool how the pants gets bigger and bigger... more baggie. Of the three books, Oh Susannah and the Mali book are my favorites. I would not recommend the Crew Goes Coconuts to other people, but I would the other two.

My daughter, at ten, said:

The Crew Goes Coconuts! is about a frog, a goat, two children, one baby, a lion, a monkey, and a parrot.  Some of the animals - the parrot, the monkey, and the lion - begin to tease the goat.  Then, the baby and one o the children defend the goat.  So, they get the Captain comes down and asks everyone to say something good about themselves and something bad...  Then, at the end of the book, we learn it's all imagination.

This book was okay.  The illustrations are bright, but I am a person who likes more realistic illustrations, so that is one thing I did not like.  The storyline was okay.  I liked the ending best. 

Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag is about a girl who did not finish her homework and who comes downstairs to get oatmeal and a banana.  She really does not want the banana, so she drops it in the bag with her homework.  Then, her mom made her lunch, but her dad was going to work, grabbed her lunch, and left.  So, her mom made her a new lunch, and she went to school.  At school, she puts more and more things in her bag and, then, the banana explodes in her bag and gets all yucky.  Then, when she goes home and goes to bed, she has nightmares and her parents find out what she has done and help her.

This story was good.  I liked it.  I would recommend it to people who don't want and extremely long book, but want a bit longer than a picture book and people who don't mind not having illustrations. 

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire was my favorite.  It is a very informative book.  It says what the Mali empire is like today and, then, it says what it was like back in the day. 

It's about a girl whose mother is richer, but she has many mothers, but is only born to one, because the men were married more than once.  (That's extremely weird, but I understand that maybe many women and children died back then and they needed sons to carry on their stuff.) 

The girls were not meant to go to meetings, but the girl's brother took her to one where she hid and observed.  The ruler had to giant tusks on his throne.

Then, it is about her grandfather telling stories of famines and the Mali empire.  There are lots of details. 

I think is strange that a man would come with nuts and put down three and he and you father would argue and then he would get your hand in marriage.

It was crazy how badly people were punished, too.

People that like history would like this book.

My oldest, at 11, said:
 

The illustrations in The Crew Goes Coconuts! are okay, but I prefer realistic illustrations.  The storyline was easy to follow, but was way to simple and basic.  It would only be good for little, little kids.  I totally missed the message about not teasing.  It was not delivered well.

Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag is okay.  The storyline was not my favorite, but it was not my least favorite.  I did not like that we never knew if the girl went to the sleepover or not.  That might be because the author wants people to read the next book.

It's about a girl who keeps getting mad and anxious and throws things in her bag.  Then, her bag explodes.  She tries to hide it.  Her parents find it in her room - a mess under her bed.  Then, they try to help her.  The parents learned not to ignore her and she learned not to throw all your stuff in a bag.

I liked If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire the most.  It is about history - which is probably why I like it, because I like history and did not know about the Mali empire before.

I learned a lot about the Mali empire, but sort of wish the book was told from a boy's perspective, so I could learn more about the things that boys did.

I liked to learn about how salt was worth as much as gold, that farmers were above artisans, that two generals commanded about 100,000 men, and more.

We have read other books from this series, and I like them all.  I would recommend any of this series and the chapter books, but not necessarily the author's picture books.

Learn More

My family chose to read each of the books we reviewed for enjoyment.  However, since The Crew Goes Coconuts!: A Captain No Beard Story (Volume 6) and Oh Susannah: It's in the Bag: An Oh Susannah Story, however, since both books contain clear life lessons (on not teasing in the first book and handling anxiety in the second), they could be used as resources for virtue studies or emotional intelligence and time management for young children, respectively. They also would work for helping elementary-aged children get from character and plot to theme when studying literature.

If You Were Me and Lived in...the Ancient Mali Empire: An  Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time (Volume 5) could also be extended beyond mere enjoyable, informative reading since:

• Illustrations of famous people at the ends of the book could be models for timeline drawings.

• Glossary words could be used for vocabulary exercises, copy work, and other writing/word study endeavors.

• Children could key into one or two of the topics covered in a book to study in further depth, making the book a catalyst for personal research projects or unit studies.

• Maps and globes used in conjunction with the books would tie geography and history together well.

• The wide variety of topics covered - from food, to clothing, to religion, to... you name it could open doors for a cultural fair.

One-hundred Schoolhouse Review Crew families reviewed different Carole P. Roman selections.  Click through the banner above to read all of our reviews!




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You can find Carole P. Roman on social media at:

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CarolePRomanAwardWinningAuthorAndBooks
• Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/caroleproman/
• GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5854108.Carole_P_Roman
• Twitter:  https://twitter.com/caroleproman

 

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

On September 14, we celebrate the Memorial of the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross.  Last year, my family did this largely through prayer, conversation, reading, and food.  This year, we intend to add some further lessons.  So, today, I thought I would share a look back and a look ahead, plus share the story of the history of the day (towards the bottom of this post).

A Celebratory Breakfast

 

 
Last year, my children woke to a morning note which let them know we'd be enjoying a special breakfast together for the Memorial of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.

Before the rose, I set up our simple meal as a breakfast picnic.  I decorated our breakfast blanket simply, inspired by an excerpt at Catholic Culture which explains that:

The cross of triumph is usually pictured as a globe with the cross on top, symbolic of the triumph of our Savior over the sin of the world, and world conquest of His Gospel through the means of a grace (cross and orb).

I used a small globe and a crucifix raised up on an upturned cup.

I also set out our laptop, so we could read about the day on Catholic Culture, the Story Library of Saints so we could read about St. Helen, who found the True Cross, and Pray Always, opened to a picture of Jesus on the cross.

Our meal was a simple "apple pizza" made with a GFCF pizza crust, apples, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

After grace, while focused on our cross above the world, we prayed a quick prayer also found on Catholic Culture:

O cross, you are the glorious sign of victory.
Through your power may we share in the triumph of Christ Jesus.

Then, inspired by the following passage at "The Triumph of the Cross" at Catholic Culture, during our meal we chatted about crosses in our own lives:

"... the Finding of the Cross... is connected with the old tradition that the Empress Helena discovered the True Cross of Christ in the fourth century and built a church on that place. What the Church wants to bring home to us is this: that we must take the word of Our Lord seriously: 'Whosoever wants to become my disciple, let him take up his cross and follow Me.'
When we celebrate this feast of the Cross in September in our family, this leads to talk about the different crosses in our life, small ones, big ones."

We also read "St. Helen" in the Story Library of Saints and located relevant locations on our mini-globe.

A Quick and Easy Addition to Lunch

Tradition says that sweet basil grew all over the hillside where Saint Helena discovered the Holy Cross on which our Lord died.  Thus, as a part of our lunch, I made a small "hill" of hummus and laid a GFCF pretzel cross in it, surrounded by fresh basil leaves.   

While enjoying our lunch, we narrated to one another a bit about what we recalled from St. Helen's story.

A Symbolic Dinner

Keeping up with symbolic eats, I decided to continue the basil theme into dinner by serving a GFCF penne pasta with "love" (or "blood of Christ" tomatoes in it.

I also fashioned some bread into a quick cross.

Unfortunately, just went we sat down for our meal, ominous storm clouds rolled in. 

Fortunately, the storm held off long enough for us to pray quickly and dive into the meal with joy and gusto.

Further Lesson and Discussion Ideas

This year, I will be curious to see what my children recall about the Exaltation of the Cross and St. Helen, so I plan to serve up symbolic meals again, to take out some St. Helen readings, and to see what the children recall.  I also hope to include further lessons, chats, and resources in our week's plans, to include:
Copywork

One of our learning goals this year is to build our copywork muscle.  Thus, this week, we'll be using the lovely Sign of the Cross print and handwriting pages that Crusaders for Christ freely shares.  (To find the download link for these pages, just scroll down to the section of the page entitled "Holy Sacrifice of the Mass".)  When giving these pages to my children, I plan to chat with them about some of the times and reasons we use the Sign of the Cross, such as:

• to profess the deepest mysteries of our: the Trinity - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and the saving work of Christ on the Cross
• before prayer to help fix our hearts and minds to God
• after prayer to keep close to God
• during challenging times as a sign of protection
• as a seal at Baptism to signify the fullness of redemption belonging to Christ
• at any point when we seek to give our entire self to God -- mind, body, soul, will, and heart.

Digging Deeper into Prayer

 Depending on the way our day is going, we might also read "Significance of the Sign of the Cross" at EWTN, which details how the sign came about, what six meanings it has, and why making it reverently can enhance one's life in Christ.

Old and New Testament

After reading the daily readings, we will also likely chat about how when Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it foreshadowed our salvation through Jesus when Jesus was lifted up on the Cross. 

Nature Study

If we have time, the children an I might also play a nature version of the cookie hide-n-seek I read about at Catholic Cuisine.  Basically, my thought is that each of us could fashion a cross out of found materials in nature and, on one of these, we'll put some red.  Then, one of us will hide the crosses and the rest will seek them.  Whoever finds the one with the red will get to lead us all in a prayer and, then, hide the crosses for another round.

Stations of the Cross 

We will likely pray the Station of the Cross at home or at church, too, especially focusing on the prayer:

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, for by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

If we do so at home, we may use our D.I.Y Stations of the Cross Prayer and Sequencing Sticks.

Folktales
We may re-read The Tale of the Three Trees...

... or watch The Legend of the Three Trees on video.

A Basic History of the Triumph of the Cross

On September 14th, we celebrate the Exaltation (or Triumph) of the Holy Cross on which our Lord died.  During Jesus' time, the cross was used as an instrument of public torture, punishment, and shame for criminals that broke Roman law.  Our Lord used the cross for a different reason, however.  He took on the suffering of the cross as an sacrifice for the sins of everyone else in the world, and died in public view, so people could see how much He loves us.

from Wikipedia - True Cross by Agnolo Gaddi

In the 300's AD, a Christian queen named St. Helen went to Jerusalem to search for Christ's cross.  She found three crosses here and decided to test them to see which was the one Jesus died on.  A very sick woman touched each cross and, when she touched the third one she was instantly healed.  Through this miracle, St. Helen determined which cross was the true cross of Christ.

from Wikipedia - Illumination from Tres Rich Heures, Duc du Berry by Jean Colombe

 

St. Helen's son Constantine was not yet a Christian, but when he was about to go to war, he had a vision of the Cross and heard the words, "In this Sign, you will conquer."  He had crosses drawn on flags and shields, won the battle, and became a Christian.  Then, on September 14, 335, he had the Church of the Holy Sepulcher dedicated on the site where Christ died and rose again.

from Wikipedia - Treasure Room, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem with True Cross

In 614, Persians invaded Jerusalem and stole the True Cross.

In 629, the True Cross was recovered and brought back to Jerusalem on September 14.  Thus, on this day, we celebrate the discovery and recovery of the True Cross and that, through uniting ourselves to Christ's Sacrifice on the Cross, we can enter into eternal life. While doing so, we think about our love and gratitude for Jesus and respect for the cross.

For more thoughts about the feast day, listen to Bishop Barron's podcast at Word on Fire. 

Also This Week...

This is the month of Our Lady of Sorrows and the Memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows is on the 15th.  If you didn't catch them last year, you might like to browse my Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea planning post:

You might also enjoy our post-tea post filled with pictures and descriptions of how our Our Lady of Sorrows Poet-Tea and Art time actually went.

As always, we'd love to hear your favorite prayers, ideas, resources, and practices for living the liturgical year.  Do share!

God our Father, in obedience to you, your only Son accepted death on the cross for the salvation of mankind. We acknowledge the mystery of the cross on earth. May we receive the gift of redemption in heaven. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

~Collect Prayer for the Exaltation of the Holy Cross