What's in Our "Morning Basket" This Month?

Sick children, plumbing issues, car issues, and more all collided this past week and threatened to derail our S.K.I.L.L. T.I.M.E. + efforts.  However, the resources that I had collected in our "Together Time Bag" kept us on track.  With them, we were able to continue to roll along, at least a little, toward our 2016-2017 learning goals.

Since many of the resources in our bag are faith-based ones, I thought I'd share about our "Morning Basket" alternative today as a part of our weekly series on Training Happy Hearts in Young Children.

Before I do, for those who may not know much about what a Morning Basket is, let me direct you to Wildflowers and Marbles - one of my favorite Charlotte Mason-inspired blogs and the place where, I believe, I first heard about the idea of Morning Baskets.  (Even if you already know what a Morning Basket is, you may want to pop over to Jennifer's Wildflowers and Marbles blog anyway.  It is such a delight!  She lives and writes about the organization and beauty I aim for.)

You may also want to click through to our old Chair Pocket and Morning Prayer Pegs posts, which describe part of the inception of our current "Together Time Bag".

Why Our "Morning Basket" Is a "Together Time Bag"

 For us, a literal Morning Basket does not work.  Because we often take our reading to our back deck, our front lawn, or out and about to wherever we are headed to on a given day, a portable bag works best for us.

Likewise, since, some days, we go from beds to minivan in short order, a "MORNING Bag" won't due for us either.  Our read- -together times are just as apt to happen in the afternoon or the evening as they are in the morning.  Thus, we've dubbed our "Morning Basket" alternative a "Together Time Bag" and aim to delight in its contents early in the day, but are just as likely to enjoy them in the late afternoons or evenings.

 Little Steps Towards Big Goals
 
No matter what time of day we break into out Together Time bag, my children enjoy all the readings in it, and I am comforted knowing that we are making brief regular forays into a variety of areas that I want us to focus on.  This month, as we refocus on our habit of using our Together Time Bag, I have opted to fill it with simple resources that key into faith, nature studies, poetry, art, and literature with short, simple readings
 

In the past - and no doubt in the future, our Together Time readings have been meatier and wider in scope, including books about music, Shakespeare, history, science, geography, and other "subjects" along with a host of faith-based ones. I look forward to delving into such resources again, but for now am enjoying the simplicity of well-loved board books and resources with ultra-short sections and chapters.

It Doesn't Have to Take "Forever"

When you look at the list of books we cycle through with our Together Time Bag, you might think, Doesn't that take hours?  The short answer is:  Nope, not at all.  When we stick to just one small section of each of the main resources in our bag, Together Time takes less than a half hour. 

{Disclaimer:  Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.  Should you click through them to make any purchase, we may receive small compensation at no extra cost to you.}

Truly, we spent under 30 minutes the other day enjoying selections from each of the books in the stack pictured above.  However, there are days when we spend far longer with our Together Time Bag.  For example, just yesterday, I could not help but to smile and continue reading each time my children sang out "just a little more, please, just a little more..." while we cuddled up around a library copy of The Burgess Big Book of Green Meadows Stories.  With that, our Together Time stretched and stretched.  And, that, I think, is the beauty of using a Together Time bag:  On busy days, it helps us to ensure a little of a lot enriches our days, and on days when there is more time, it entices us to spend hours and hours curled up reading with one another.

Faith-Filled and Fruitful
 
Whether my children and I spend 20-30 minutes with our Together Time Bag or hours and hours, one thing is certain:  the time we make for it is always well spent!  We pray, learn, chat, and, of course, connect as we read through the resources in our bag.  We fill ourselves with faith, beauty, truth, and, as the name of our bag indicates, together time.  We also build (or rebuild) a super easy habit that keeps us from going completely off-track when zany weeks strike.

A Together Time Bag Example

This past Tuesday is a case in point of how our Together Time Bag keeps us on track.  As the day unfolded, we had no running water in the kitchen due to some plumbing issues, our living room was an explosion of clutter after having cleared the car from a camping weekend that had ended in rain and a child with a fever, and my heart was heavy with news that my mother-n-law was quite ill and, therefore, our family would not be able to make our annual visit to see her and Papa.  Chores beckoned and my mind raced with tasks that needed to be done.  I just did not have it in me to get the children started on their routines and lessons for their day, but I did have it in me to pause, call us all together, and simply read once I spied our Together Time Bag.

What a resetting time that was for me.

As we progressed through our Together Time, I noticed our camera on the table, so decided to snap some photos as we went.  I share them here as inspiration for you to see how simple using a Together Time Bag or Morning Basket can be!
 

We opened our Together Time Bag readings on Tuesday with Pray Always, a book that we are using for gentle memorization work. 

Since Jack will be starting his two-year first Holy Communion preparation at our parish this year, I am also beginning focused preparation for it at home.  As a part of that, we are making our way through our slim copy of Pray Always by having each of the children and recite the prayers contained within it individually.  When we get to one that the children or I do not know, we pause and read it daily until we all know it.  Right now, we are working on the Offering to Mary, which I find quite fitting since this month is dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
 
(Pray Always currently sells for only eight cents used.)

After working on our Offering to Mary, we opened up a perennial favorite of ours, a board book we have owned and revisited often since the children were little, Give Me Grace.  I pulled this book back off our shelves and tucked it into our Together Time Bag, because I realized some of the children do not know how to spell the days of the week yet.  The book contains each of the days of the week spelled in large print with bright illustrations over two pages and then a two page spread with a simple prayer. So, I ask the children what day of the week it is, then challenge them to spell the day of the week.  We check their spelling against the spelling in the book, and, then read the prayer and share what special intentions or thoughts come to mind as we read it.

On Tuesday, the prayer reminded us of guardian angels and we paused to pray especially for Nana's guardian angel to be near her during her time of extreme sickness.

(Give Me Grace sells used for just a penny right now.)

Next up, we briefly worked on the Confiteor as memory work by having each child recite as much of the prayer as they could and then reading the prayer as a whole together.  We also read several chapters from Jesus and I, a book I purchased especially to help jack with his First Holy Communion preparations and to ensure that we had not missed anything in Luke's and Nina's prior preparation. 

I cannot recall where I heard about Jesus and I, but I am so glad I did!  It is truly just what I needed this year - simple and complete!

The book is organized into ultra-brief lessons that lend themselves to direct, oral teaching and discussion.  Each lesson title contains a phrase of a prayer, and the corresponding lesson ties into that phrase through a narrative composed of short, simple sentences followed by comprehension questions and First Holy Communion Catechism questions.  During Together Time, we simply read the narratives and, then, chat about the questions.  Much of it is review, even for Jack, but, occasionally, the children glean new thought nuggets and information from it, such as the idea that the first sin was not committed by Adam and Eve, but by Lucifer.  (The first sin on earth was committed by Adam and Eve.)

(Jesus and I sells for just a penny used on Amazon!)

From there, we went on to revisiting a board book the children used to enjoy when they were little, Baby Einstein: Windows to Color, which we are using to review the spellings of basic color words as well as to enjoy simple picture study.

I rediscovered Windows to Color when cleaning a pile of clutter in our basement and decided it would be perfect for this month.  It contains reproductions of a variety of paintings from artists we have previously studied and also focuses on color.  I had recently noticed that not all of my children can spell the names of basic colors, so, the book seemed perfect.  On our first day revisiting it, I simply read it, and the children commented on their connection with the art in it.  Since then, we have been orally spelling color words with it, then finger spelling them in the air, and also doing picture study with the reproductions contained in the book.

On Tuesday, the children had no trouble spelling red and enjoyed studying the O'Keefe painting, noticing the different shades of color used within it and recalling other O'Keefe works we have previously explored.

(Windows to Color also sells used for just a penny.)

We then pulled out our copy of the Play Along Bible: Imagining God's Story Through Motion and Play. 

Honestly, this darling little Bible is too "young" for my children, since it is written in such simple prose and since my children already know all the stories contained within it, however, when I was tidying one day and went to put it away in another room, one of the children saw it and asked to read it.  At that moment, I realized it is a perfect book for Luke to read to us since he loves reading to himself, but does not relish reading aloud and since he thinks the instructions written in red in the Play Along Bible are fun.  The simple prose and the ability to lead us all in motion and play entices him to read the passages to us sometimes instead of having me always be the one reading during our read-together times.  In fact, on Tuesday, I read some and then he did.  Success!

Luke then went from reading to us to reciting for us as all of us took turns reciting poems from Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization by IEW. 

We reviewed the Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization package from the Institute for Excellence in Writing a while ago and have just begun reusing it for the new year.  We so enjoy the selection in it!  The children laugh and smile as they recite them, and I love that the selections move from an early learning level to an advanced (high school) one.  I also relish the fact that we have an audio CD collection which contains the same poems and speeches used in the Student Book.  That means our Together Time recitations can be easily supplemented with occasional reinforcement when we are out and about in our minivan, which, in turn, makes developing a mutual collection of memorized work so easy for my children and me!

(Even as I write this post, two of my children are proudly reciting poems from Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization.  Yep, it's not just for Together Time!)

After that, we read a poem and a story about Wupsy in our Catholic Children's Treasure Box, Book 2.  Luke often likes the poems in our 20 book collection of Treasure Box books and Jack is particularly partial to the Wupsy/Sunny stories.  Nina simply adores the entire vintage collection and so do I.  So, since we are reading our way through our Treasure Box books from Book One to Book 20 again, in order. 

(The Treasure Box books can be found used and online as a collection as well as sold separately for as little as a penny used.)

After that, we read a bit from our Christian Liberty Nature Reader, Book One. 

Our copy of the Christian Liberty Nature Reader is another book that I rediscovered while cleaning some clutter.  No sooner did I find it, than did Luke start reading it to himself.  Then, Nina - and, to my surprise, Jack - wanted to read it to me, too.  So, I put it in a 1:1 lesson bag, and we pulled it out periodically during the spring during Jack's and Nina's 1:1 lessons times with me.  Over time, though, both Jack and Nina found the book too difficult to keep using for reading lessons, so, since they still wanted to discover all the information in it, we moved our Christian Liberty Nature Reader from a 1:1 lesson bag to our Together Time Bag.

The text in the Christian Liberty Nature Readeris quite simple but it is also interesting.  We have all discovered a new thing or two about the creatures God has made and we've enjoyed reading about familiar things, too.  Sometime, we read just one short segment of the book, and at other times, we read several.  Tuesday, we read three.

And, with that, our Together Time drew to a close after only about a half hour on Tuesday.  Short, simple, yet rich in faith, exploration, chats, and connection. I am grateful that our Together Time Bag helped keep us on track this past week and look forward to toting it along with us daily for weeks and months to come.  

If you have suggestions for resources to toss into our Together Time Bag in future months, do share them, please.  Likewise, if you'd like to know anything more about the resources we are currently using or ones I have "on deck" for future months, just ask!

I pray you have a week filled with beauty, truth, connection, and not getting derailed.

My Children Talk about Talking Shapes: A Supplemental Curriculum for Early Literacy

Not long ago, my children fell in love with a keyboarding program from  Talking Fingers Inc., so I was excited when I heard we might have the opportunity to review another program by Talking Fingers Inc.: Talking Shapes: A Supplemental Curriculum for Early Literacy. 

Upon looking at the webpage for Talking Shapes my excitement waned a little bit, since it was immediately obvious to me that the program might be a little "young" for my children.  The program is aimed at preschoolers and kindergartners, and I currently have a rising first grader, a nine year old, and a ten year old.  However, as I read further on the webpage, I decided that Talking Shapes might be a worthwhile fit for us regardless of the age it is aimed at.



My youngest can write all his letters, but I have admittedly not spent as much time on handwriting with him as I did with his older siblings, so his handwriting can use some fine tuning. The Talking Shapes webpage explained that children draw letters onscreen to make three-letter words.  Such activities, I felt, could help my youngest to see models of excellent handwriting and move closer to having beautiful printing himself.

My middle child knows the 40 speech sounds of English, but still struggles when decoding them and is not yet a confident and fluent reader.  Even though it was immediately obvious to me that Talking Shapes was below her typical grade level, and perhaps, even her actual reading level, I felt that it might offer her a chance to feel confident and "shine" with simple reading, being the "expert" who could help her little brother should he ever get stuck with a lesson. 

So, since all of my children loved the keyboarding program by Talking Fingers, I sat them down with the Talking Shapes webpage and asked them if they'd like to review it.  They did.  And, thus, we've spent the past month with the children testing the program out and, to my surprise, finishing all its levels.

My youngest child and nine-year-old were the primary users of Talking Shapes in our home.  Their big brother sometimes sat with them and helped or played along with them just because he liked to.  (Anything on screen that is anything game-like lures him over to the computer!)  So, I thought I would let my youngest two tell you a bit about the program interview-style.

What is Talking Shapes?


Nina (9): 

It's a story about two girls that made the alphabet.  It teaches you how to write the upper case letters, what they sound like and how to make basic words.

Jack (6):  

It is a computer game that teaches words and spelling.

Mom's Note Post-Interview:  

The children summed up what the Talking Shapes is, but missed saying that it comes an iPad App, too. Since we do not have an iPad, they played it on our touchscreen laptop and are not aware that it can be used on tablets.  When you purchase Talking Shapes, you get a one-year online subscription to access the program.


Also, I would like to add that as my youngest mentioned, the program does, indeed, only teach printed capital letters and their sounds.  I had hoped it would include lower-case, too, since I am a strong believer in children learning lower-case letters before capital ones as most printed materials are, in lower-case letters.

What do you need to use Talking Shapes?

Nina:  

A computer with internet connection.  But, it does not even always work.  It freezes and takes forever to load, or the game freezes, but nothing else on your computer does.  Then, you have to restart the whole game.

Jack:  

You need a computer.  I could do it by myself after Mom helped me get on.

Mom's Note Post-Interview:
  
The program does, indeed, "freeze and take forever to load".  At one point, I called the company about this because I had been waiting well over 15-minutes for it to come up on our computer.  When I called, I was delighted to get a live, pleasant, and knowledgeable person on the end of the line right away.  He explained that the program is still new and that my less-than-top-notch (my words not his) internet speed may be causing the slow load time.  He explained how to quickly test our internet speed and, then, confirmed that our internet speed was likely the issue.  I, then, explained that it had not been an issue with their keyboarding program or with any other programs we have used from other vendors, whereupon he explained that they are working on Talking Shapes to make it quicker and easier for all users, even those like me with slower connections.  He also suggested clearing the cache on my computer, asked if I had further concerns, and suggested I call back anytime if I do.

Although not thrilled with the persistent slow loading times for Talking Shapes, then, I was pleased with their customer service in that I was able to get ahold of a love person right way and he proved personable and genuinely interested in helping.

The freezing up must be frustrating, Nina, but do you still like Talking Shapes?

Nina:

Yes.  I like it, but it's kind of a little young for me.  It sings the alphabet and does, "c-a-t" and "f-a-t", below my level.  So, I didn't like it as much as Talking Fingers keyboarding, but I still liked it some. 

I liked that it was a good review and, for kids that are younger, it would be good for them - teaching.  I felt like I knew a lot and I finished all seven books.

Did it give you confidence?

Nina:

Yes.

Mom's Note Post-Interview: 

Confidence was a HUGE reason I chose to try this program with Nina.  As a potential dyslexic, Nina often struggles with decoding and fluency when reading.  Her struggle, in turn, becomes frustration, sadness, and upset.  One of my goals at the beginning this summer, then, was to have Nina experience some of the same joy she does when I read to her when she is reading by herself.  In short, I want her to begin to be as excited to read independent as she is to be read to and believe confidence plays a large part in experiencing such excitement. 

Since Talking Shapes was easy for Nina yet still interesting enough to hold her attention, it did just what I hoped for:  it built her confidence.  There were no tears as she used the program and the only frustrations came when the program took a long time to load or froze during games.  There were also smiles as Nina quickly made her way through each of the "books" of the program.  Success!

What was your favorite part?

Nina:

The gamey part.  You clicked on letters to make a word and you had to connect the letters to make a word, and, then, a machine popped something out.

Is there anything else you liked about it?

Nina:

Yes, at the end of each section when you build things out of parts.

Jack:

I liked the doggie thingie where you move a dog and try to find the right word.

Jack, what do you think of the program overall?

Jack:

I did not learn much.  It was too young for me.  It gave me a little practice and was okay.

Mom's Note Post-Interview: 

Jack was sick when I interviewed him and, thus, moody.  So, although honest, his responses to my questions lack the enthusiasms he sometimes showed when using Talking Shapes.  Often, when Nina had her turn on the computer with the program, Jack quickly went to sit right next to her.  When she was done, he'd ask for his own turn.  Then, his big brother would walk by and become interested in what was n the screen, and Jack would happily "teach" his big brother how to use the program.  It was cute to see Jack so confident in what he was doing.

Final ThoughtsTalking Shapes offers a one-year subscription.  If your children are truly new to phonemes, reading, and spelling, they might use this entire subscription period.  However, if your children have some command of early literacy already or are "old" for Talking Shapes, as mine are, you may only need a small portion of your subscription time to move through the entire program.  My children completed all of the Talking Shapes activities in less than a month.In doing so, my children reviewed:

• phoneme awareness
• phonics
• building basic words
• letter sounds
• letter shapes
• basic beginning spelling

They did this through:

• listening to stories
• viewing letters embedded in pictures
• drawing letters onscreen with guidelines and without (although sometimes they did not have to actually staying the guidelines for the letters to appear.  Basically, they could scribble over the screen sometimes and still have it appear that they wrote the letters correctly.)
• playing games
• building words

Because Talking Shapes  had slow load times and freezing issues on our computer, it was not as convenient as it could have been.  However, the children still enjoyed using it and I would recommend it as something to check out for families with young children who like online learning and are just starting out with literacy skills or who would like to build confidence in them.  I do so with the caveat that when using the program, you may want to bring it up on your computer, walk away and do something else until it loads, then come back and enjoy, expecting occasional freezing.  (This is what we did.)  I add a further note, however, that since since Talking Shapes has kind and helpful customer service agents, I a confident that they will have the slow loading and freezing quirks worked out soon and your experience with the program may, therefore, be more seamless than ours was.
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Luke's Five Favorite Faith Aids

When Luke saw that Nina had shared her Top Five Traditions for Family Faith a couple weeks ago, he asked if he could share five of his favorite faith things.

{Disclosure:  Some links which follow are affiliate ones.  Should you click through them and choose to make any purchase, we may receive large compensation at no extra cost to you.}

~1~
The Action Bible

Luke said:

I am trying to read The Action Bible every day like a regular book, because I am trying to become familiar with all of the Bible stories.  I like reading the Bible stories this way because I just love the book.  It's my style.  It doesn't have much print and has a lot of pictures.  (I also like novels and handbooks.)

It is such a joy to see Luke reading his Action Bible every day.  He truly is dedicated to it right now.  Every day lately I witness him find a quiet space to read.  In fact, over the weekend, when we went camping and I told him he could only pack one book for the trip, I was happily surprised to see him grab The Action Bible.  As he put it in our minivan, he said, "I want to read this every day, Mommy."  I am delighted that he does.

Of course, at some point, I would love for Luke to read the Word straight from a traditional Bible with the same dedication he I doing so with the The Action Bible.  However, for now, I am just glad that he is choosing to read the Word in any form on a daily basis - all of his own impetus.

(As a side note, I noticed that The Action Bible is 42% off at Amazon right now.  So, if it's something you think your children would like, now might be a good time to look into getting it.)

~2~
The Picture Book of Saints

Luke said:

I got the Picture Book of Saints as a gift.  I really like it.  It has an illustration and large biography of a saint on each page.  We use it for saint feast days, to browse through, ...  And, I once used it to help a friend.  My friend's mom could not think of names for her new baby, so I used this book to make a list of suggested names.  She chose two of the names on my list as the baby's first and middle name.

~3~
Peg Dolls

Like Nina, Luke loves peg dolls.  He said:

I made my own, so I know a few things about them, such as: Be patient, and let it dry.  Mine were not the best and are not in this picture.  Mom has to find pictures of mine later.

I sometimes play with our peg dolls.  We play that they knock the devil out of heaven and stuff like that. We once even did a saint show-and-tell show.  More tell than show.  We also use them for saint day decorations and when we do feast days with our friends.  We use them for a lot.  They come in really handy.

~4~
Rosary Decades in the Car

 

Luke said:

Every time we get in the car we pray a decade of the rosary with a special intention for each prayer.  I really like that, because I get to have more people praying for intentions (my family) and it gives me intentions to think about when I pray by myself.  It also allows me to pray for many people.

~5~
CD's

Luke said:

I LOVE CD's!  Heirloom Audio Productions, the Brinkman Adventures, Holy Heroes...  They are exciting, especially the Heirloom Audios and the Brinkmans.  And, the Holy Heroes ones tell you the lives of saints.  I REALLY enjoy these!  I love when we get them.  It's so exciting listening to new CD's and old ones over and over, especially In Freedom's Cause.

As you can see, Luke prefers faith aids and traditions that are highly visual and auditory.  He also likes general Christian resources along with strictly Catholic ones.  Using a wide variety of resources offers us many opportunities to chat about similarities and differences between the tenets of our Catholic faith and the beliefs of fellow Christians who are not Catholic.  Luke wishes all Christians would understand the Mass and the Eucharist and also is thankful that so many know and love Jesus in one way or another.

What faith resources and traditions speak to your child?

Celebrate St. Anne with Breakfast Al Fresco This Week

In 2012, I recommitted our family to celebrating our name days and baptism anniversaries.

Shortly thereafter, I kicked off our family tradition with our first celebration of St. Anne, a plant-strong, gluten-free, casein-free "Saint Tea".  ("Saint Tea in quotes, because, as much a I love tea, my children do not.  Thus, our "teas" have developed more into breakfasts, lunches, and dinners through the years.)

Since our first St. Anne "tea", we've enjoyed celebrating St. Anne every year on July 26, the feast day of Saints Joachim and Anne, grandparents to Jesus.  Some years our celebratory meals have been more elaborate and some they have been super simple.  However they have turned out, we have enjoyed sharing faith through food.

Last year was no exception.  On St. Anne's feast day, our family enjoyed a beautiful breakfast al fresco. 

The children helped me to prepare and lay out a simple meal, and, then, we all gathered to pray, chat, and celebrate.

After we all prayed grace, Daddy led us in a prayer.

Then, I focused the children's attention on an image of St. Anne that I had printed out, and we chatted about what we already knew about St. Anne.

{Disclosure:  Some links which follow are affiliate ones.  If you click through them to make any purchase, we may receive small income at no extra cost to you, which is put straight back into training happy hearts in our children and sharing about it here.}

We also read two brief readings about Saint Anne, one from the sweet little book Prayers to the Saints (which sells used for as little as 53 cents) and the other from the classic Picture Book of Saints (which sells used for just a penny).

After that we were more than ready to dig in and enjoy symbolic eats.
St. Anne is typically depicted in wearing green (for rebirth or immortality) and red (for love), so both our table decorations and our food reflected that symbolism.

Green beans, a gift from a friend, reminded us of the gift of grace we receive from Jesus.  The seeds within the beans reminded us of Mary in St. Anne's womb, and, in turn, Jesus in Mary's womb. 

Red raspberries reminded us of the heart of Jesus - so big and so loving for us.  They also reminded us of the Fruits of the Spirit. 

Coconut-fruit smoothies also reminded us of the Fruits of the Spirit as well as the sweetness of God's love.

 

  

Gluten-free pretzels reminded us of prayers St. Anne offered, asking for a child even in her late age.  They also reminded us of the Holy Trinity. 

The hummus the pretzels were dipped in (which added protein to our meal) was brown - an earthy color, and reminded us of the incarnate Jesus, St. Ann's son, coming from the havens to be with us on earth.
 

Watermelon and tomatoes reminded us, again, of the Fruits of the Spirit, as well as the seeds of faith within us. 

Herbs reminded us how something seemingly small - like prayer - can result in big changes - like Mary's birth, and, in turn, Jesus' birth.  For, just as a bit of herb can change the entire flavor of a dish, St. Anne's persistent prayers, when answered by God, changed the world.  Mary was born unto Saints Anne and Joachim, and Jesus to Mary.

The round shape of chocolate chip cookies reminded us of God's eternal love.  The chips in them reminded us of many small prayers answered as well as of the sweetness of answered prayers.

It truly was a lovely breakfast - simple to prepare, delicious, and focused on faith.  I look forward to celebrating St. Anne al fresco again this year and encourage you to consider celebrating saints al fresco with whatever is in your garden, fridge, and pantry, too.  Doing so truly is a tradition that brings fond memories and time spent together celebrating faith.

May your Saints Joachim and Anne day be filled with faith and grace!