Header Photos

Pc1 has developed quite a gift for an eye behind the lens of a camera. I personally want to thank her for all the inspirational header photos we posted this past year on our homeschool blog.

Thank you!

ADDENDUM: 

It's been twelve years since this last post and I just had to give a quick update!  Pc1 is graduated and ended up pursuing a career as a Catholic wedding photography.  

Please visit her website at

 https://www.nicolesandercockphotography.com

Sporter Rifle Shooting

This year Pc2 advanced from BB rifle shooting to Sporter shooting. I wanted her to write up a post about this but her high school work has been too time consuming, so I will do my best.

Last year she joined a 4H shooting team. Since she was in 8th grade and had never shot a rifle before she wanted to start on the BB rifle team. Turns out she had a natural gift and she ended up doing really well. Her team ended up 6th out of 30+ teams in the State. Pc2 ranked in the top 20 BB rifle shooters.

Well this year since she has started high school she can no longer shoot BB so she has moved up to Sporter.  At this level, Pc2 was required to register with the CMP (Civilian Marksmanship Program) which basically means all her scores will be kept on public record. This form of shooting is a lot more common than the next level known as Precision shooting. Pc2 is hoping to move into this level by next year. Something we have to take slowly because it requires a huge financial commitment.  It is also at the Precision level that these kids can go all the way to the Olympics and or get scholarships into great colleges. Both of which Jill wants to make as her future goals in pursuit of a military career. Two of her current Precision shooting teammates are ranked in the top 20 nationally and one of the girls even attended the Junior Olympics!

A couple weekends ago Pc2 went to her first tournament for this year at the Montgomery Bell Academy in Nashville TN. She was the only Sporter shooter for her team. This was a high school invitational only so there were no BB rifle shooters, only Sporter and Precision. I won't go into details on all the difference between Sporter and Precision but you will see many in the pictures below.  This was my first time attending a shooting tournament.... and what an awesome experience.  (Click pixs for larger image).

Since this was a high school invitational she was placed on the Etowah High School team. No homeschool teams. They had a lot of JROTC teams though.

Here she is getting her equipment assembled before entering the gym.

Jill is now setting up her equipment for her first relay. They actually had two gyms open for this competition. This was at an all boys college preparatory school,that had been established in 1867....very beautiful!

Pc2 was in lane #57.

Coach Bobby, Coach Lamar and Dave aka dad (soon to be a coach for BB rifle).

Pc2 was the only Sporter shooter for our team that entered the tournament this year. I was told there were over 200 Sporter shooters and only 80 Precision shooters at the tournament.

First position during the relay was prone.

Here Pc2 is laying next to her team-mate, who is dressed in her Precision shooting outfit.

They had unlimited sighter (aka practice) shots and then 20 record shots per position. After they took their first record shot they could no longer take sighter shots for that particular position

The targets were 10 meters away. We needed binoculars to see how they were doing :)

Check out the Precision rifle... and outfit for that matter :) The rifle has a longer barrel, bigger CO2 cannister, and is a heavier gun.

Next shooting position was standing.

One advantage to the Precision outfit, is that it helps the shooter to maintain each position better.

Final position was kneeling.

Unfortunately during the standing position Pc2's CO2 canister ran out of air, so her rifle did not have enough power to shoot properly. Although she compensated really well, her scores were not very good. Fortunately her coach caught the problem before she started the kneeling position. Oh well we will chalk this one up to a good learning experience for her. We really are so proud of her and we truly look forward to supporting her on this journey in the up and coming years....

More Chastity Treasures....

In my previous two postings I have touched on topics regarding chastity and dating. Today I want to share a few more treasures that I have discovered and found invaluable while teaching and supporting my teenagers during these adolescent years. I plan on using these resources with both our daughters and our sons.

For a parent just entering into these years and wondering where to start and how to communicate these topics through a solid Catholic view point, we found these booklets "Mother's Little Helper" for daughters and "Listen Son" for sons, an excellent resource. We typically begin reading these to our children around 10 years of age. I have also found that starting around 'Instruction VIII' which is towards the end of Part Two, it is very helpful to read the material from the opposite booklet. This should begin when the child is around 14 years of age. My teenagers found it very insightful to see how their actions could affect someone of the opposite sex. Personally I like the wording in "Listen Son" better.

Another thing to keep in mind is that these booklets were written and published back in the 1930s. I still find the content very accurate and meaningful, but in this day and age and with our family's active lifestyle, discussing these topics only once or twice a year has become very unrealistic.

To begin filling in the gaps, say around the 9th grade, when several of these topics started arising during group social settings, we started using a fabulous book called "If You Really Loved Me" by Jason Evert. This book includes over 100 questions about dating, relationships, purity and chastity.

Now, this is *not* the type of book I would just hand over to my teenager and let them read; Jason does address several topics that my teenagers have not been exposed to yet. Another thing I discovered is that while the questions do not pertain to personal situations, the answers are still very educational, solidly Catholic in viewpoint, and have led into many wonderful and enlightening conversations.

So how do we fill in the gaps with this book? Well, what we have found works really well in our family is for me to go through and pre-read the questions ahead of time, then highlight pertinent information in the answers. About once a week or when situations arise, my husband and/or I sit down with our teenager and we read the question (if appropriate) along with the answer together then discuss the topic in detail. Jason Evert has a special gift for speaking and giving analogies that speak right to the teenager's heart. He makes it easy to have open conversations with your teenagers on these otherwise awkward subject matters.

I have to admit this particular book has been one of the best treasures we have discovered so far and I highly recommend it!

On a more educational level, (starting in 8th grade) I set up a thematic study (about 6 weeks long) using this fabulous book called The Joyful Mysteries of Life by Catherine Scherrer, to begin addressing these topics more formally. This book is another wonderful treasure and even though it comes from a Catholic viewpoint, many of our non-Catholic families have found it insightful.

Another book that Pc1 wanted me to mention that she really enjoyed this year and one she would recommend to her teenage friends (boys or girls) was "I Kissed Dating Goodbye" by Joshua Harris.

Deliverance Prayers

I never gave much thought to the importance of saying deliverance prayers which are very powerful until a couple months ago after we had our home enthroned under the Two Sacred Hearts, and then even more so after reading An Exorcist Tells His Story by Gabrielle Amorth.

What has inspired me to write this post is that unfortunately right now in my life, there are a couple of very dear families that are battling with teen/adolescent addictions and suicide tendencies. As a mom that has recently discovered how painful it can be as the parent watching your child suffer, I can only hope and pray that some of these deliverance prayers can offer your families some peace and comfort. Please know my dearest friends, our family is praying for you and your children everyday!!

As Christians we all know that the Lord's Prayer is the most perfect of prayers, well it can also be used as a deliverance prayer. Fortunately this prayer is incorporated into many Catholic prayers like the rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet and Mass. Our family still tries to say it every morning if we don't go to daily Mass.

Our Father,

who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
Deliver us, Lord, from every evil,
and grant us peace in our day.
In your mercy keep us free from sin
and protect us from all anxiety
as we wait in joyful hope
for the coming of our Saviour, Jesus Christ.
For the kingdom,
the power,
and the glory are yours
now and for ever.
Lord Jesus Christ, you said to your apostles;
I leave you peace, my peace I give to you.
Look not on our sins, but on the faith of your Church,
and grant us the peace and unity of your kingdom
where you live for ever and ever.
Amen.

In Fr. Gabrielle Amorth's book he mentions the importance of the St. Michael the Archangel's prayer. He states that before the reforms of Vatician II at the end of *every* Mass, celebrants would kneel and say a prayer to Mary and one to St. Micheal the Archangel. He also says this is a powerful prayer and brings great benefits to those who pray it. Unfortunately not all parishes say this prayer anymore. Our home parish only says it after daily Mass, but not after Sunday Mass, so our family has made it a habit to kneel afterwards and say this prayer. If we are at daily Mass we will kneel and recite another deliverance prayer or the Litany of Humility prayer.

Saint Michael the Archangel,
defend us in battle;
be our protection,

against the wickedness and snares of the devil.
May God rebuke him, we humbly pray:
and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God,
thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits
who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls.
Amen.

One particularly powerful prayer that our family has made a habit of saying right after receiving the body and blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ in holy communion is the Anima Christi prayer. Fr. Amorth actually has this listed at the end of his book as a deliverance prayer. I personally LOVE this prayer and have found over the years to bring a lot of comfort and peace.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me
Body of Christ, save me
Blood of Christ, inebriate me
Water from Christ's side, wash me
Passion of Christ, strengthen me
O good Jesus, hear me
Within Thy wounds hide me
Suffer me not to be separated from Thee
From the malicious enemy defend me
In the hour of my death call me
And bid me come unto Thee
That I may praise Thee with Thy saints
and with Thy angels
Forever and ever
Amen

When we had our home enthroned under the Two Hearts which I HIGHLY recommend every Catholic family have done today, we were having particular problems with a next door neighbor that actually escalated to an abusive state. After having the home enthroned Fr. Jose recommended we pray the deliverance prayers sited in the back of The Alliance of the Two Hearts book, everyday. Now our family has made it a habit to recite these prayers after we pray the family rosary together in the evenings.

Tertullian Deliverance Prayer

(This prayer can be used by lay people)

P. In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, begone satan! Get

away from us all evil spirits of pride, anger, jealousy, gluttony,

sloth, lust and avarice. You are not going to disturb anyone of us

for we are bought by the Most Precious Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

R. Amen

P. In the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary who crushed the

head of the serpent, the devil, begone you evil spirits caused

by curses, spells, evil eye, white and black magic, (mention all

possible sources)! You are not going to disturb anyone of us

from now on, because we are covered by the mantle blue of

the Blessed Virgin Mary.

R. Amen

P. In the Name of the Holy Spirit, the source of holiness of life,

begone you evil spirits of unforgiveness, unrepentance, discour-

agement, despair, suicidal tendencies! You are not going to

disturb anyone of us for we are temples of the Holy Spirit.

R. Amen

I think these particular prayers will be very helpful for those poor suffering families. Fr. Amorth's book lists some other wonderful deliverance prayers, that I will put into another post, later.

Baptismal Anniversary Mats

It seems every year there are so many important occasions to celebrate. We have birthdays, wedding anniversaries, liturgical feast days, but other major occasions seem to be left out.

One major occasion in my life that I never wanted to forget was the day I was baptized. This was a day I would rank right up there with my wedding day and the births of all my children. Truly, it is one that has changed my life forever! Now that we are converts to the Catholic faith where all my children were baptized as infants, I really wanted the importance of this beautiful sacrament to be remembered and celebrated each year, along with their birthdays.

Several years ago, I came up with the idea to make Baptismal Anniversary mats. Each year on the anniversary of a particular child's baptism, we set the dinner table with their personal Baptismal Anniversary mat, then celebrate with a special dessert, and share reminiscent stories about that special day. The mats provide wonderful visual aides. Now, when we are blessed to become God-parents, I like to make one for our Godchild.

Since the children did this as a group project, each mat was personalized with their own creative flair. The girl's mats had the prayers printed on pink and the boy's were on blue.

Here is a list of items I printed out for them to use while creating their mats:

• Special pictures from their Baptism day
• Pictures of their Godparents
• Cards with their Godparents names
• Quotes from the Saint they shared their Baptismal day
• Pictures of the church they were baptized.
• Copies of a Baptism Prayer from this book
• Copies of their certificate of baptism (shrunken down on the computer)

Other items: Poster board, ribbon, glitter glue, construction paper and fancy scissors, stickers of saints and other christian symbols etc. After the mats were throughly dry, I got them laminated at Kinkos.

We have recently added the feast day of Our Lord's Baptism to this celebration, and on that particular day we place everyone's baptismal mat on the dinner table.

How Far Is Too Far In A Relationship?

In a previous post I touched on Dr. Popcak's book, "Beyond the Birds and the Bees", and spoke on some of his invaluable advice to parents, on guiding teenagers through those difficult adolescent years. Today I want to jump ahead to a time when there will be dating adolescents in the home. I plan to use this post as a personal reference someday too. :-)

In Dr. Popcak's book, he lists "The Twelve Stages of Physical Intimacy". When I came across this list for the first time, my initial reaction was that I wished I had been given these guidelines before I started dating back in my adolescent years. I found them very insightful and my hope will be that they can help other teens and adolescents too.

Dr. Popcak stresses that "each stage corresponds to a level of intimacy and each level must be attended to before the next level can be reached with any success..... Stages 1-5 are appropriate levels of friendship, but no unmarried persons can safely go beyond stage 9 before they have gotten too close - that is, they are engaging in a near occasion of sin."

These stages are created to help teens know how far is too far at what stage of the relationship. I will only be posting the first nine stages, because it is unacceptable for unmarried couples to go past stage nine without crossing 'the point of no return'. Likewise, unless a person builds the friendship required by the first nine stages, sex is nothing more than eroticism aka using and being used by another person.

The Twelve Stages of Physical Intimacy

1. Eye to Body - This is the innocent first look when you notice that space is being filled up by another person. There is no sexual content to this sighting.

2. Eye to Eye - Eye contact is crucial to gauge some one's interest.

3. Voice to Voice - This is perhaps the hardest stage. Dr. Popcak recommends a teen should stay at this level for 4 to 6 months, because to go further before having successfully completed this stage is to put sexual feelings before true intimacy (i.e., the friendship that comes from knowing that someone is willing to help you become the person God created you to be -- and vice versa). This is the stage in which you learn about someone without your judgement being clouded by all those warm fuzzy love chemicals that are released in skin-to-skin contact. This is where you make judgement calls as to whether or not you like this person's character, habits, attitudes, etc. Failure to take this step seriously leads to disaster!

4. Hand to Hand - Now the young man and young woman are a couple and "joined" in a public way; if they break up now, people will ask "where is so and so?" This is also where those love chemicals start pouring in. This is also a stage of friendship; for example young girls in Europe are often seen walking hand-in-hand with their best friends.

5. Arm to Shoulder - This is the "arms around each other" look, also seen in a football huddle. Guys are comfortable doing this step with their buddies. Between a woman and a man it is the physical, public way to say, "We are joined in a special kind of friendship". It joins a couple closer in the public eye.

**Now we approach those stages that leave behind mere platonic friendship and begin to express a more romantic kind of intimacy **

6. Arm to Waist - The elbows are crossed behind the back, hands fall to the waist, the couple is "x-linked" together. Conversation is more intimate and serious. Commit now or break up. At this point, if the relationship is broken off, there will be anger and grieving and depression.

7. Face to Face - IT IS IMPORTANT TO BE SURE ALL THE STAGES PRIOR TO THIS HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED! Intimate kissing serves a 'cementing purpose' and triggers sexual arousal, and once arousal is experienced, stages 1-6 are abandoned and critical work that may still need to be completed in the relationship is left by the wayside. If this stage is rushed into, premature sexual relationships usually occur. The basic friendship will be shallow and the foundation weak. **Kissing is special; don't give it away**

8. Hand to Head - This is actually more intimate than hand to hand. Think of a mother caressing a child's face. The gentle stroking of a face is very intimate and tender action. In Asian countries, it is disrespectful for anyone other than a family member to touch a child's head because of the intimacy level.

9. Hand to Body - By now, you are comfortable with each other; a bear hug, shoulder massage, a stroke on the arm are all acceptable forms of this hand-to-body stage. This does not include any kind of "petting" which is reserved for the last three stages.

**If a person goes any further than stage 9, he or she is entering into the stages of sexual arousal. An unmarried couple avoids these situations, not because they are bad, but because unless they are enjoyed at the right time in the right way, these joys can be spoiled. And that would be a tragedy! **

Well, I hope you found these guidelines as helpful as I did. Please understand that my last two postings on Dr. Popcak's book, barely scratch the surface of all the wonderful wisdom he has to offer parents raising teenagers today. My prayer would be, if you have not already read his book, that after reading my two posts you will feel more inclined to do so. I promise it will be worth every penny.

Before I finish here are some resources for teens as well as parents. Here is a link where the founders Jason and Crystalina Evert have done an amazing job addressing teen chasitity. Then here are some free audio recordings from their show that aired on EWTN. I highly recommend listening to these if you or your teenager have an interest in becoming more informed on this topic.

Beyond the Birds and the Bees

I have many favorite parenting authors like James Stenson, Dr. Ray Guarendi, and Dr. Ross Campbell. However, in the past year, it seems like I have been getting a lot of parenting wisdom from Gregory Popcak and his wonderful book, "Beyond the Birds and the Bees".

With teenagers in the house, I find myself recalling those earlier days when I use to tell people: "no one could ever pay me enough money to go back to those teenage years". I truly believed that after putting those years behind me, they were gone -- Boy was I wrong! Nobody ever told me that when you become a parent you get to relive those wonderful experiences all over again. Only this time the pain is 100% worse!! I never imagined how much it could hurt, watching my own children struggle through those familiar ups and downs.

I realized that this time around, as the parent, I needed to find a way to help my teenagers along this trying path. I knew I would have to be a good listener and be sensitive to their feelings, but more importantly I needed to give them the skills to decide to do the right thing on their own. At this stage in life when crushes come and go, my challenge was finding a way I could help them deal with those *feelings*. My children needed to learn how to take those very real feelings and harness them in an appropriate and healthy direction, so no one would be hurt in the process. It has been a work in progress, but this is where I truly have found Dr. Popcak's guidance invaluable.

I personally believe we live in a world under great spiritual warfare. It seems our children and families are the main target. Children today are continually being exposed, no, bombarded by mixed and distorted messages from TV, music, movies, books, media, people and sadly even our public schools. This really came to my attention last week when I ended up having a long talk with one of our neighborhood boys on the topic of abstinence. This young man was only in 7th grade and he already had a 'girlfriend'. I was initially asking him about this when the conversation led into a discussion on what he learned during his sex education class at school.

Over the years, I have grown more annoyed by the terrible mixed messages these sex ed classes teach our youth. These children are taught the facts of life through visual aides. Next, they are taught about using contraception and, in some cases, with hands on practice. Then the teacher might spend 5 minutes or less telling them about abstinence. Now, Dr. Ross Campbell emphasizes that, in order for adults to relate to children and adolescents, we need to communicate on an emotional level through action and feelings, not on an intellectual level through rationalization and words. I couldn't agree more. In these sex ed classes, abstinence is nothing more than a word with absolutely no meaning attached, while the former part of the class is taught through arousing (emotional) pictures, stimulating talks and in some cases practical applications. If children could only be taught, empowered, and be fully supported on what the true meaning of abstinence meant, I am convinced they would not only welcome this concept fully, but we would live in a much much better world.

What does it mean to be abstinent? Bottom line: it means living a life where no person makes it their right to objectify another human being for their own pleasure or satisfaction. In the case of the young man from our neighborhood, he came from an abusive home so he had experienced first hand and understood well what it "felt" like to be objectified. This actually made it much easier to help him understand the meaning of abstinence and how wrong it was to be using his 'girlfriend' to satisfy his own pleasures. Obviously, the conversation went into way more examples where I was able to point out several mixed messages we are fed by the media alone. At the end of the conversation the young man felt challenged and empowered to try and live this lifestyle. He had also expressed wishes that his friends could hear this message too. Unfortunately if he doesn't find the proper support system it will be difficult for him, but I will say that a week later he broke up with his 'girlfriend'.

Back to Dr. Popcak...here are some quotes on what he has to say about why adolescents have those powerful feelings and what they can do with them, that I have found invaluable when counseling my teenagers. First quote: "... sexual attraction is God's way of reminding us that we are not created for ourselves, that we were ultimately created to give ourselves to others, to work for their good." And for those persons that have a calling to religious life or celibacy he says, "It is God's way of calling us to remember that we cannot live for ourselves, and whether we marry or not, we are to use our bodies to work for the good of others." Now, isn't that profoundly different than what society tells us?

Here is what he suggests that we can do as parents: "Teach your children from this age forward that sexual attraction, in its purest form, is really the voice of God calling us to pray, or do some genuine act of service, for the person who has come to our attention." This advice has been so helpful, and you can pretty much guarantee that, as of lately, we find ourselves saying a lot of prayers for those 'that have come to our attention'.

Dr. Popcak also goes on to explain that thoughts cultivate feelings and we need to choose our thoughts carefully. I used this advice a lot during my conversation with the young man from our neighborhood. So I can express this point clearly I am going to use the exact example Dr. Popcak gives in his book... "If every time I am attracted to a woman, especially my wife, I say to myself, 'What a hot babe. I would love to get into her pants,' I am actually cultivating feelings of lust. I am nursing those feelings of sexual attraction for my own benefit and speaking of the other person as if she were an object that I could pose and use as I saw fit. On the other hand, if I experience sexual attraction and say in my mind, 'Thank You, God, for creating this person and giving her Your beauty. Bless her,' I will actually experience feelings of altruism because of the initial sexual attraction." I really like this advice, because it is completely opposite to what we are bombarded with everyday in our society.

Since thoughts cultivate feelings, challenge yourself further by thinking about where you might be getting your thoughts......possibly TV? Billboards? Magazines? Trash novels? -- Be cautious!

Our Lazure-inspired Learning Room

I have always liked the look of Lazure painted walls. A couple years ago I ordered a PDF manual called "How To Lazure Paint" but the process seemed way too difficult. Then between starting a part-time job and having another baby I never quite found the time to practice the technique.

Last year I discovered this wonderful post where these ladies really de-mystified the process and this video helped to put a visual on the process of Lazure painting. That is when I made up my mind that I would repaint the schoolroom using this technique, but the only stumbling block at the time stopping me from going through with the process was that I couldn't choose which color theme to use. I really liked how the Waldorf schools used a different color theme for each grade, but my schoolroom is composed of multiple grades, making it hard to choose just one color. Then, early one morning it hit me that I could paint our learning room multiple colors.

When I actually started the process I found it was not as easy as those people made it look, so I ended up modifying the application process greatly, which really intensified the colors and gave a different textural appearance. We were all really quite pleased with the final outcome. Each child has their favorite wall (or two), and for those of you that follow the Waldorf method would it surprise you that each child chose the color theme for their actual grade level?!

Now I usually warn folks before they see our learning room to please keep in mind that I grew up on an island that is known for it's flamboyant carnival colors and my mother is a professional artist so I have inherited a natural desire for COLOR! In other words this may not be your cup of tea, but it works great for our family.

I also want to point out that the beautiful Fall chalkboard drawing you see at the end of the slide show was actually done by our own Aravis!

Chores...

One question I get asked often is 'how does your family handle chores?' So I thought today I would answer that question.

Over the years we have adapted our own method for organizing and getting chores done. Way back when I had a lot of time on my hands I use to print up my own pictures and words on the computer and create stickers then put them on magnets and our chore system was placed on the kitchen refrigerator....

Then I learned about this wonderful company called Family Tools. I took what I had already developed as a system with our family and I adapted it using their P.E.G.S system. Basically this allowed me to free up our refrigerator and it is a great visual reminder for me to check and see what has or hasn't been completed each day. I really do like their pictures.

Now I must stop and say we absolutely do not believe their should be a reward system attached to doing chores around the house. We do not offer allowances or special treats for getting chores done. Our belief has always been that chores are the basic training grounds for learning about charity towards each other and our home and responsibility. Chores are a team effort.

With that being said this is how we have set up our family chore system. The peg board is kept in the kitchen because I need a location with high visibility mostly for reminders, otherwise they would be forgotten. I used my label machine to put every one's names along the left side of the board, and every tag in that row is their personal chores for that day.

If you notice across the top you will see some yellow tags labeled daily chores, weekly chores, meal jobs and two clock tags. The two clock tags separate my day into a morning time zone for chores and an afternoon time zone for chores. I don't put an exact time because our homeschool schedule fluctuates too much. The meal job chores are for dinner time and these are mostly for the four older children.

Then if you notice along the bottom I have rings with different colored tags and chore tags. Each color represents a day of the week. This visual along with the picture tags has been incredibly helpful with my non-readers, all the way down to my four year olds. For us Mondays are purple, Tuesdays are yellow, Wednesdays are blue, Thursdays are red and Fridays are green. So this particular board is set up with Thursday's chores.

A couple years ago when my homeschool doubled and the workload got more intense for the older ones we went from doing all our chores on Monday mornings to spreading them out over the week. The best way I found to organize that task was to purchase some extra sheets of chore pictures/words from Family Tools and place whatever chores I needed done on that certain day. What I did was to take our home and divide it into three zones. The upstairs, main level and basement. Because the main level is the most used area of the house we have dedicated chores to this zone three days per week, then one day goes for upstairs and one goes for downstairs.

Well, I hope you found this helpful and it answers the commonly asked question 'how does your family handle household chores'.

Happy 20th Anniversary

There is no way to take all the fabulous memories over the past 20 years and place them in just one video, but I do hope you enjoy this condensed recap as much as I enjoyed putting it together for you! I love you very much.... H.B.

Mitten Strings For God by Katrina Kenison

This book came highly recommended from several resources, and I am sad to say I have had it on my night stand for almost two years before picking it up to read. This summer I promised to take some time in the early mornings to read something for my own enrichment. It could not be about homeschooling or work related. I immediately found myself waking up each morning with a smile and eagerness to read and think about the next segment in this gem of a book, especially before the little ones woke up.

This book has brought back so many wonderful memories from my own childhood, but it is also full of nuggets of wisdom for mom's today! Very refreshing for a mother's soul and quite thought provoking.

I highly recommend it too!!!

How Safe Is Your Home?

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Happy Birthday Reepicheep!

Busy weekend... we celebrated Reepicheep's 4th birthday Saturday.  Boy does time fly by....

Our Square Foot Garden

In an effort for to take another step towards being healthier and going green (ecologically friendly) we started our own version of Square Foot Gardens last year. This year we still continue to enjoy reaping the benefits!!

We turned this into a wonderful school project! The children were responsible for completing a sun gride for each box from Spring until Fall. They also researched 'companion plants' and plotted their gardens on paper before we planted the seeds. Even though it was real sad that gummy stem rot attacked and destroyed Aravis's pumpkin plant it was a great learning experience!

While the plants grew they had to research visitors (good and bad) and find natural methods of repelling those critters that were not welcomed. It was a lot of work but SOOOO rewarding.

Our Return...

.... wow it has been a l-o-n-g time since I last posted. To be honest I have been on another tremendous learning curve and I needed to take the time off to immerse myself and regroup before I could begin focusing on blogging again.

I am almost finished with my preK-8th grade curriculum planning for Knotty Pines Academy, and even though I am not ready to start back to school next week returning to the blogsphere somehow has really helped my creative and motivational juices flowing again.

As some of my readers will notice I left my former blogsphere host and moved over here to "blogger". I transferred over what I felt were some of my favorite past postings, and must apologize if I missed updating any links or pictures. As time permits I will continue updating and please don't hesitate to email me if you find a link that needs fixing.

After reading and updating old posts it reminded me of how much I missed writing about what we have done in our schooling this past year and keeping our extended family updated on some of what has been happening here on the homefront.

One change that readers will notice here at Knotty Pines Trails from my previous blog is that I will be opening it up to other family members for blogging. As time permits I personally will post about some of our fun lesson blocks from last year, and with additional authors contributing we should be able to do a better job of keeping family and friends updated.

Believe - Shamu Show

This summer after a hectic schedule in San Diego with our Great-Grandma (96 years young), Jill was treated to a day of fun at Sea World by her Aunt and Uncle.

This is where God is sooooo good!!!

Anyone who has gone to Sea World knows that it's every child's dream to be chosen to be part of the show with Shamu. Well this time our precious Jill was chosen out of the crowd to be part of the show! The name of the show was called 'Believe' and it was about never loosing sight of our dreams.

The show started out about a young boy who had always wanted to train whales. To remind himself of this dream he carved a tail of a whale out of wood. The boy turned out to be the announcer/trainer - Matt. At some point you will get to see on a big screen a glimpse of the boy. Also in the video you will see Matt giving Jill the necklace with the wooden whale tail as a memento to never forget her dreams for they too can come true!

Apparently there were seven killer whales that played the role of Shamu. The quantity of tricks Jill could do in the show depended on which whale they used. I also would like to thank Doug for taping the show on his camera, and for a fabulous day at Sea World!!!!! We could not have been more stunned and happy. Enjoy the show!!

Honey Bee Farm Field Trip

We had the opportunity to organize an amazing field trip to a honey bee farm.

St. Nicholas Thematic Study

LIVING BOOKS

1. The Miracle of Saint Nicholas
2. The Baker's Dozen
3. Saint Nicholas: The Real Story of the Christmas Legend
4. Saint Nicholas
5. A Gift from Saint Nicholas
6. The Real Santa Claus: Legends of Saint Nicholas
7. The Legend of Saint Nicholas

Read Aloud Chapter Books

• The Real St. Nicholas: Tales of Generosity and Hope From Around the World
• St. Nicholas: The Wonder Worker

LITERATURE / POETRY

1. Select any of the following stories, folktales or picture books for copywork.
2. After reading about the life of St. Nicholas cut out a graphic of St. Nicholas and trace several blank pages on which to narrate his biography. Compile in order and attach a with a gold brad at the miter to make a fan book.
3. Select one of the following poems for memorization and use others for copywork:

• Origin of Species
• Saint Nicholas Day Poem
• Find Us Quickly If You Can
• St. Nicholas Verse
• Saint Nicholas
• A Rhyme for Nicholas
• Will the Real St. Nicholas Please Stand Up? -- And Indeed He Did!
• The Story of Saint Nicholas

CRITICAL THINKING

1. Compare/contrast St Nicholas and Santa using a Venn Diagram
2. Complete this Word Search and this word search puzzles
3. Complete the following Crossword Puzzle

RELIGION / CHARACTER

1. After reading and narrating the chosen stories, discuss the virtues of humility and charity as modeled by St Nicholas.
2. Research the office of Bishop: What qualifications are necessary? Do Bishops normally get nominated by the people as St Nicholas did? Who is your local Bishop? Archbishop?
3. For which countries, causes, and groups of people is St Nicholas a patron saint?
4. St Nicholas's tomb is in Myra which was a popular place of pilgrimage. What is the Catholic definition of a pilgrim?
5. The sailors of Bari made a box to hold St Nicholas's relics. What is a relic?
6. Select one of the following St. Nicholas activities to imitate the virtues of humility and charity.

SOCIAL STUDIES

1. Create a timeline of Saint Nicholas's life. Look at this interactive online timeline.
2. Make a Chronology timeline of the development from St Nicholas as Saint of the Church into Santa the popular folk figure of the 21st century. Who is responsible for the character of Santa as we know him now? Additional stories of St. Nicholas for can be found here and for older children here.
3. Create a map with details of St. Nicholas's travels.
4. Find and create a map of Asia Minor (use Uncle Josh's or Blackline maps) and for comparison overlay it with a map of modern day Turkey on transperancy paper.
5. Create a map of modern day Turkey. Create a 'key' for major oceans, rivers, mountains, cities and other landforms. Draw a flag and create a facts sheet.
6. Talk about the different symbols of St. Nicholas and make note of them as you read through the many stories during this unit. Identify the symbols associated with St. Nicholas and narrate the stories behind them (older children in writing).
7. Compile customs about St. Nicholas from around the world and make them into a booklet map:

• Poland
• Russia
• Netherlands
• Italy
• Germany
• Turkey

MUSIC

1. Listen to and learn a traditional St. Nicholas hymn. Use for copywork.
2. Music students may wish to print the sheet music and play traditional St. Nicholas songs.

ART

1. St. Nicholas is especially loved in the Russian Orthodox Church which is known for its icon art. Research icons and study details of St. Nicholas icons. Use this icon link for your art appreciation studies during this unit study. After coloring your own St. Nicholas icons brush with Modge Podge or vegetable oil t make a more authentic icon, mount on wood when finished.
2. Older children might want to follow this link for a meditation on such an icon.
3. From living books above there are three printable illustrations for narration for The Baker's Dozen. Please print and copy. Free online text for this fabulous picture book maybe found here.
   

CRAFTS

• Clay pot figure
• Converting Chocolate Santas
• St. Nicholas Coins
• Pop-up Scene
• Roll-up figure
• Cut-out figure
• Coloring Pages
• Saint Spoon
• Create a St. Nicholas Christmas ornament.

DRAMA

1. Select one or two of each of the following stories, folktales or picture books to create a puppet show or skit with your siblings for our traditional family St. Nicholas Eve night.
2. Consider organizing a larger presentation using full size costumes, with homeschool friends for local parish or nursing homes. Try this link for skits.

COOKING

• Spend St. Nicholas's feast day baking traditional cookies and treats.
• Follow suggestions for completing an entire St. Nicholas menu. Cut and paste recipe and directions with pictures at the top of the page. Don't forget to include photographs of children making cookies and main dishes.

EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS

• Watch the CCC movie, Nicholas: The Boy Who Became Santa and How St. Nicholas Became Santa Claus: The True Story.

WEBSITES

• Saint Nicholas Center
• O Night Divine
• St. Michael the Archangel Online
• Family in Feast and Feria
• Domestic Church
• Catholic Culture