Monday, October 31, 2011
Sunday, October 30, 2011
7 Quick Takes
Join Jen and the other Quicktakers over at the Conversion Diary.>
1. A discussion popped up here regarding Rick Santorum. His wife discovered a fetal anomaly on a prenatal ultrasound and they opted for intra-uterine surgery to fix the problem and hopefully give their son a chance at life. The surgery was successful, but Karen Santorum developed an infection and went into early labor. Because of her health issues they did not try to stop the labor. The left has been trying to spin this into "an abortion" thus turning Rick Santorum into a hypocrite. Karen Santorum wrote about this pregnancy in her book Letters to Gabriel
. Allowing a pregnancy to end on its own is not the same thing as inducing labor deliberately.
2. Video of Santorum family - I didn't kow their youngest had Trisomy 18. Clearly that little girl is loved and wanted - a real tribute to her parent's pro-life beliefs.
3. My homeschool group has organized hikes every fall. I blogged about our adventures with homeschool hiking here and here. These have not been good experiences for us overall, because Rosie was so young. This year however, Rose was not only old enough to be able to walk the parts without my carrying her, but she absolutely loved them! and meeting other girls to talk to and run with. Unfortunately as the season goes on the hikes to be hiked become more strenuous and other hikers drop out. Last week only one other family showed up to hike with us. And then this past Friday it was only us. It's kind of ironic that my baby can FINALLY walk parks by herself all the way through, even the very hard trails, and no one is showing up to walk with us.
4. Busy weekend ahead. I had been worried about what we were going to do for All Saints Day and then all of the suddenly, we get an invitation to an All Saints Day Party. I just love events that I do no have to coordinate or plan! I was also worried about trick or treating because my neighborhood - The Hood, doesn't ever do trick or treating, probably for safety reasons But luckily we got invited to trick or treating at a friend's house - so it all worked out. It will also be Raphael's 9th birthday. I'll have to figure out how I am going to commemorate that too.
5. First of many concerts coming this Sunday, but I only pay on two of the pieces - so it won't be that bad.
6. Tomorrow Sam wants to start the Insanity workout. Someone at church has the DVDs and is offering it to anyone who wants to show up at 5:30 in the morning to work out. I thought about doing it with him, but I just don't think my left knee could take all of the high intensity jumping.
7. This is more my speed.
1. A discussion popped up here regarding Rick Santorum. His wife discovered a fetal anomaly on a prenatal ultrasound and they opted for intra-uterine surgery to fix the problem and hopefully give their son a chance at life. The surgery was successful, but Karen Santorum developed an infection and went into early labor. Because of her health issues they did not try to stop the labor. The left has been trying to spin this into "an abortion" thus turning Rick Santorum into a hypocrite. Karen Santorum wrote about this pregnancy in her book Letters to Gabriel
. Allowing a pregnancy to end on its own is not the same thing as inducing labor deliberately.2. Video of Santorum family - I didn't kow their youngest had Trisomy 18. Clearly that little girl is loved and wanted - a real tribute to her parent's pro-life beliefs.
3. My homeschool group has organized hikes every fall. I blogged about our adventures with homeschool hiking here and here. These have not been good experiences for us overall, because Rosie was so young. This year however, Rose was not only old enough to be able to walk the parts without my carrying her, but she absolutely loved them! and meeting other girls to talk to and run with. Unfortunately as the season goes on the hikes to be hiked become more strenuous and other hikers drop out. Last week only one other family showed up to hike with us. And then this past Friday it was only us. It's kind of ironic that my baby can FINALLY walk parks by herself all the way through, even the very hard trails, and no one is showing up to walk with us.
4. Busy weekend ahead. I had been worried about what we were going to do for All Saints Day and then all of the suddenly, we get an invitation to an All Saints Day Party. I just love events that I do no have to coordinate or plan! I was also worried about trick or treating because my neighborhood - The Hood, doesn't ever do trick or treating, probably for safety reasons But luckily we got invited to trick or treating at a friend's house - so it all worked out. It will also be Raphael's 9th birthday. I'll have to figure out how I am going to commemorate that too.
5. First of many concerts coming this Sunday, but I only pay on two of the pieces - so it won't be that bad.
6. Tomorrow Sam wants to start the Insanity workout. Someone at church has the DVDs and is offering it to anyone who wants to show up at 5:30 in the morning to work out. I thought about doing it with him, but I just don't think my left knee could take all of the high intensity jumping.
7. This is more my speed.
Friday, October 28, 2011
My Daily Domestic Clips 10/29/2011 (a.m.)
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Girl Scouts Allow 7-Year-Old Boy to Join Because He is ‘Living Life as a Girl’ | CNSnews.com
I remember when the most traumatic thing I encountered as a girl scout was getting up the nerve to go door to door to sell cookies! This is a little over the top for me. I don't know how I explain to my daughter to accept and love their bodies while at the same time we tell other kids that they are "trapped" in theirs. This is a big disconnect in the current popular world view as far as I can tell.
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Two abortion clinic employees plead guilty to murder | Reuters
Tell me again about the safety of legal abortion?
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Celebrating the Feast of All Saints 2011
All of my previous posts and pictures about All Saints Day/Halloween can be found via my del.icio.us links here.
Some Christian blogs and even some Catholic forums have been vacillating about whether or not it is right to celebrate Halloween. My answer to that is absolutely it's okay to celebrate! as long as you understand exactly what it is that you are celebrating! There is really no historical connection between the setting of this feast to November 1 (naturally placing the Eve to October 31), and the Pagan Celebration of Samhain other than Pope Boniface moved the feast to the same time of year when Samhain is celebrated. But I like to look at it another way. The change of seasons and the harvest are gifts from God, even if the ancient Celts didn't quite see it that way, and as the scriptures say, "Test everything. Hold on to the good," and Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.
Goodnight Moom ala Steven King- by Calvin circa 2004
Christians have long honored the martyrs who have died for the faith and the Christian aspect of this feast day comes from 4th Century on as All Martyrs Day. It use to be observed the first Sunday after Pentecost and then it eventually came to include all of the saints known and unknown and the feast was set for November 1, making the vigil of course All Hallows Even, October 31.
Mary Reed Newland in her book "The Year and Our Children
" put it this way:The Feast of All Saints is one of the greatest of all feasts because it celebrates what could have been impossible. The cross is a tree that bears fruit. This is the feast of its harvest. The celebrations of the mysteries in the life of Our Lord are glorious and there is no detracting from them. But he was God. This day we celebrate the perfecting or human nature by grace pouring form the side of Christ on the cross, through His Church and His sacraments, remaking men after their despoiling in the Garden.
Aside from all the lofty things to be said about the saints and to the saints on this day, we want our children to understand in the marrow of their bones what the principal idea is: "We are so glad for you. Now pray, so we'll be there too!" And they must add to this and to every feast and endless: "Thank you, Lord Jesus, for making it possible."
For the Catholic family I believe preparing children for All Saints Day really is a year-long activity. Our liturgical calendar is full of feast days all year round and it is important to remember and acknowledge these events as they happen throughout the liturgical year. Parents should take the time and the opportunity for just a few minutes each day to educate our children about the holy men and women who have become saints.
A few years ago, I was inspired by Cottage Blessing's Spoon saints and so we tried to make a spoon saint for each saint that we talked about in depth during the year. Before Halloween I hope to have the children add each of the saints that they are portraying this year to our collection.
I have several tools that help me keep on top of the liturgical year. Of course I use the links from Universalis on my blog, as well as Saint of the Day from American Catholic.
I also use this lovely Catholic Woman's Planner, and have a calendar from the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception up on my wall. With these tools I can see and plan for the liturgical year, all of the feasts and commemorations, almost effortlessly.
Most days we read something about the saint for the day and we ask that saint to, "Pray for Us" after our prayer before meals.
During the year, I like to read more about the saints to the children. I particularly like, 57 Stories of Saints 
by the Daughters of St. Paul, the Picture Book of Saints by Father Lovasik.
Father Phillip Tells a Ghost Story 
has become a holiday tradition! This really does a nice job of 
incorporating the other connection with ghosts and the dead with their proper place in Catholic life with prayers for the dead and purgatory.Throughout the year I try to encourage my children to choose which saint they would like to be for All Saints Day and then we decide about costumes. work on costumes. I have had a lot of success in the past with Simplicity Pattern 4797. Bible characters are easier to make because you don't require a lot of extra detailing or fitting.
Costume ideas:
Archangels: I had my boys wear white sweat pants and sweat shirts and just put the wings on their back. Gabriel had a trumpet, the Archangel Raphael carried a plastic fish and St. Michael had a breast plate and a sword!
John the Baptist. I took white long johns and died them brown and then made a tunic from fake fur. A wild wig added to John's rustic look and he also carried a honey jar and some fake books (John ate wild honey and locusts.
A simple tunic with a set of keys and you have St. Peter!
Here are some samples of what my children have been over the years.
Noah as St. Juan Diego
Gabriel as St. Isaac Joques
St. Tarcisius - patron of first communicates
Two Archangels and John the Baptist
An angel and the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha
A block of wood with some holes to stick arrows in, hidden under a tunic and you have St. Sebastian! Martyrs are lots of fun and little boys like them because you can use lots of fake blood and that seems to appeal to their sense of gore that goes with Halloween.
Calvin once appealed to his sense of comedy by stuffing himself with pillows and a skull cap, which we glued fuzzy hair to, so that he could portray Thomas Aquinas! He carried a big old fashioned Ledger book as his Summa.
Sam as St. Francis, Gabe as John the Baptist, Calvin as St. Thomas Aquinas, Izzy and Noah as Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego.
Gabriel wears a black medieval frock that I bought for a a buck at our local community center's yard sale . With that he has been Saint Isaac Joques and Father Damien the Leper. In another year we added a beard and voila - St. Ignatius Loyola!
Father Damien, Saint Christopher and the Christ Child, Saint Tarcisius, Blessed Imelda
I made a midieval dress for Izzy when she was little. Rosie is going to wear it this year. A $30 midieval dress from a Halloween Store was a great investment for us. There are a lot of female saints from tht era. Rosie can wear it in the future too!
This year the kids are St. Anthony of Egypt,
Blessed Imelda (before she entered the convent!) and
St. Ignatius Loyola
Added beard to our St. Francis robe and we had an instant St. Anthony of Egypt the Hermit.
The kids with Grandma for the Halloween Brunch!
Izzy as an angel, and Rosie as St. Kateri.
Zelie Martin and The Cure D'Ars
Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego
G.K. Chesterton
St. Veronica
I use cards from a collection called Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives. I can't find that available anywhere on the net. Old holy cards or other pictures you can find and save on the net also work very well.
For us I put them on the table cloth and cover them with a plastic covering, that way the kids can talk about them during meals. I also put up some of the children's other holiday art including pumpkins and spiders!
All Hallows Eve, All Saints Day and All Souls Day are a wonderful Christian time of the year. With a little thought and creativity it can make wonderful memories for families and provide our children with more education about their Catholic faith and Christian heritage as well as deepening their faith.
Other Links:
Women for Faith and Family.
A great article by Scott Richert here.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Works for Me Wednesday - Interesting remedial readers for older students
I have had two kids that have been behind grade level in their reading because of small learning disabilities. One of the most frustrating things about having an older child who is struggling with reading is finding them good reading material that isn't too babyish. For example, my 12-year-old daughter who is a struggling reader chose a book at the library to read called Pinky and Rex and the Spelling Bee (Pinky and Rex Ready-To-Read)
.It was a cute little book and she enjoyed it, but it was about second graders and one of them pees his pants after winning a spelling bee. Not exactly the kind of thing my pre-teen was interested in, although her 6-year-old sister enjoyed it. Then I remembered that I had purchased a set of readers for my oldest son from High Noon Books. From their website:
High Noon Books offers high interest / low reading level books for students, struggling readers, and those learning English as a second language. High Interest / Low Level books are designed to contain content that appeals to a struggling readers' age and maturity level, but are written at a reading level that is lower than the student's grade level.
A lower readability level provides an opportunity for the student to read words he or she is familiar with, while introducing a few new words and terms. In this way the student should read more fluently and therefore comprehend the story easier.
A good reading experience will hopefully encourage the student to read more books and develop a joy of reading! –controlled vocabulary –simplified sentences –connected text (not picture books) –engaging stories High Noon Books can serve as a bridge between beginning readers (picture books and stories with only a few words per page) and standard text (as in a magazine, or schoolbook, or trade book).
Special Features of High Noon Books
• Short and fast moving chapters
• 5X7" paperback format
• 32, 48 and 64 pages in length
• Colorful covers and engaging illustrations
• Type size and line spacing adjusted to reading level
I had purchased the Problem Solvers Biographies and we started reading about Louise Braille. So I feel as if she is getting a dose of history and social studies as well as working on her reading. Two of my older sons (including a struggling reader ) had also enjoyed these books.
I would definitely recommend these inexpensive readers to any parents who want good books to hold the interest of their older remedial reading students.
(Note to Linds - my first struggling reader who used these books is now a practicing EMT - working and going to paramedics school. So there's that...)
Works for Me!
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