Home-School Ideas – Little Ways Sacrifice Beads

Crafts, Faith Building Resources, Home-School Ideas, Saints, Scripture Memorization

Inspiring Quote Canvas Craft!

Art and beautiful both sooth and inspire the soul. As we love crafts I wanted to share this Inspiring Quote Canvas we made. With the start of the new school year and it being the first year I would be homeschooling my daughter; I wanted to come up with a nice way to start the school year. A way that would both help inspire her and create a nice work space and that could also be easily changed as the year progresses. Thus the Inspiring Quote Canvas Project was born. Being an artist and a child whom loves to create this was a great project to start the year.

We began by visiting a few websites. After a quick google search I selected three different pages to share with here on quotes: inspiring quotes for kids, inspiring christian quotes and lovely scriptural quotes. After visiting the sites my daughter picked the quote that she felt most drawn to – that inspired her. She then typed the quote out in word, adjusted the font and size to something she liked and printed it. She painted her canvas, once it was dry she glued on her quote and then finished the project by decorating with stickers.

This project is both inexpensive and versatile: all the supplies were already in our home or came from the dollar store (including the canvas and stand). The best part is that as the liturgical year changes, feast days come up or she needs new inspiration – the canvas is removable. We can just use a new 5×7 canvas and create a brand new beautiful masterpiece – which we can display on her work area to inspire her daily or move to our dinner table to inspire us all at a tea party or family meal together!

Inspiring Quote Sites:

For some printable Mother Teresa Quotes to help get you start you can view my previous free printable Mother Teresa Quote Posting or you could visit my previous Inspiring Quotes and Scripture Post to help you find some inspiration to make your own Inspiring Canvas!

Other Ways to use this Project:

This great project could also be used to help learn some new scripture (Hide it in their hearts is a posting all about teaching kids more scripture and contains great free resources and sites for inspiring scripture for kids)
As a gift (maybe classroom exchange prayer partner or gift exchange, or a sick loved one)
Any feast day to help celebrate a favourite saint. As you create more you can create a collection to reuse each year again and again and your feast day celebrations:)
First Communion Craft – I am the bread of Life or some similar quote

The ideas are endless. Please feel free to comment with any creative ideas you come up with. Have fun and get inspired!

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Crafts, Feasts, Home-School Ideas

Cute Free Annunication Mary Writing Paper

Today my daughter wanted to send her grandma a letter in the mail. She knows grandma has a deep love of our Lady and the rosary so she wanted to send a little picture of Mary with the letter. After a quick search we found this lovely free writing paper with a cute image of Mary and the Holy Spirit. It was just so sweet I felt I had to share it.

Hope you can enjoy using it too:) Such a great sheet to use for the feast of the Annunciation, writing prayers, letters or poems! I would love to hear how you use it.

Advent, Home-School Ideas

Free Advent Sight Word Activities and Games

During Advent I know a lot of parents are asking for activities to help teach their children the real meaning of Christmas. There are great Jesse Tree Ornaments to be made and lots of other wonderful activities. But I came across something a little different than I wanted to share.

There is a new sweet website called SightWords.com. It has free tools to help parents and educators teach sight words to kids from Pre-K to 4th Grade. With in this website there is a Christmas section with games and activities with a choice of sacred words for everyone of their activities! (http://www.sightwords.com/sight-words/christmas/)

These are great to do with the kids if your homeschooling, to supplement their education over school holidays or fun to put on the table as place mat activities for Christmas day! There are also some nice colouring pages and fun games for the kids too!

Crafts, Home-School Ideas

Amazing Craft Ideas

Just came across this wonderful website Craft Project Ideas and I had to share it. It is full of great craft ideas.

You can search and find an idea:by age, season, theme, or even materials you have on hand.

They also have themed monthly ideas – this month is is water colours:

They have some many great ideas., even cute drawing lessons your kids are sure to enjoy! Best of all it’s free!

Home-School Ideas, Saints

Celebrate a Saint A Day!

OUR SAINTS AND FEASTS STICKER ALBUM

For years I have searched for a great resource to be able to share a saint a day with my kids. Last year I finally found a resource to make this possible – it is a great 12 month full colour kit to celebrate a saint a day – the kit come with a sticker activity booklet and a booklet with a short biography of the saint of the day.

Instead of using the sticker booklet we have laminated out sheets so that we can use them again and again each day. The only downside is that the Saints are based on the traditional saint calendar – so they don’t always line up with the current feast day. But if you use it as a tool to just teach your children about inspiring faith filled individuals on a daily basis it is a great resource and tool for any catholic home!

Crafts, Home-School Ideas

Fun Spring Craft

Here is a fun Spring Craft to do with your little ones – A Beautiful Rainbow

Step 1: Either take 1 large piece of paper and fold it in half or take 2 large pieces of paper and place them on top of each other then cut the arch of the rainbow

Step 2: Glue the two pieces together

Step 3: Do the same idea with your paper and cut out two clouds

Step 4: Set-up your paints, water, paint brushes or dish sponge (that’s what we used to get the thick smooth rainbow colours)

Step 5: Paint the rainbow with a sponge or paint brush

Step 6: Finger pain the clouds to make a nice cloud texture (your kids will love this part)

Step 7: Set it out to dry

Step 8: Glue the clouds on to the rainbow and enjoy!

Biblical Idea: First read the story of Noah’s Ark and talk about God’s Promise.

Faith Building Resources, Home-School Ideas, Saints

Have you heard about Cat Chat?

Have you heard about Cat Chat?

It was a typical Sunday morning at our parish when we walked out and saw the Light House Media CD display table at the back of our church. But this Sunday was different I actually had extra money in my wallet and thought – let’s take a closer look at the CD’s they’re offering – well I can’t go into all the incredible CD’s that Light House Media offers in this posting – I will say it is well worth checking their website out – you’ll love what they offer.

I spotted some great CD’s by Scott Hahn, one by Kimberly Hahn, Matthew Kelly… and then I saw this CD called Cat Chat – All Saints Day Party Part 1 & 2 and The Mass Comes AlivePart 1 & 2 noticed they were for kids and thought I’d pick them up. Well we put the Angels and Saints Party CD on and our lives were never the same again – as it first began a cat was talking about how we were going to learn about Cat Chat – Catholic Chat – I wasn’t sure what to expect – but then the audio show began with an array of characters, wonderful catholic teaching and cool well written songs to reinforce the lessons – my daughter whom was 3 at the time was hooked! All she wanted was Cat Chat – the following Sunday we picked up Part 2, the Sunday after that ordered CD’s to give away to about 10 friends, a week later I bought the whole set from their website, the week after the whole set for my two godsons! We even own the DVD – which has made its way around our friends and back again. Cat Chat is still a regular favourite in our home and car!

Everyone we have given the CD to has wanted more and passed their love on to new friends. This wonderful catholic audio show – features the same family in each CD and is packed with Catholic teachings, hip and catch music. Your car trips will never be the same as you sing along to “Cat Chat, Cat Chat Where I Learn more about Jesus…”

Although they are a bit of an investment they are worth every penny – kids aged 2 – 10 love these. I’ve noticed that at the beginning of December for the past two years their CD’s have gone on sale for about $7 each – so if your budget can’t afford these right now – try buying them through light house media ($3 a CD or $2 MP) or waiting till December.

They also do live shows check their website to see if they’re coming to your area soon or do what my friend is and book them for your school!

Home-School Ideas

How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons!

When I first thought about homeschooling I felt overwhelmed and was not sure where to really start. We started going to a lovely homeschool meet-up in our area and I met some incredibly supportive and friendly mom`s there. After talking with many of them and since talking to many more mom`s that home-school – I learnt the one book your preschool curriculum just can`t do without is Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons!

Our family loves this book – it is honestly worth every penny you spend on it. We used it with our daughter and before the book was finished she was reading! The lessons are straight forward and easy to follow once you have the basic lesson plan structure down. We tended to skip the writing practice to help make the lesson a bit shorter as our daughter was 4 when we started the book.

I have since this this book in many of my friends homes – you can always tell it has been well loved and used through the children! If you are only going to buy one book for your preschool or kindergarten curriculum this is the book to buy!

Home-School Ideas

Great Websites to help your children learn how to or practice their writing!

Great Websites to help your children learn how to or practice their writing!

Font Space: Site with various forms of print from beginner to cursive writing. Choice the font you want and then customize the text and print! Great way to teach your child how to write their name or practice a favourite scriptural memory verse.

That Resource Site: This is an amazing website my friend Karolina shared with me- they have pages from A- Z for kids to use to practice their writing in print or cursive; as well as scriptural quotes from saints with their pictures on the page. I printed all the letters from A-Z and some of the Saint Pages and put them in a duo-tang – I had my daughter read each word to practice her phonics and then had her write the words out. She loved doing these sheets! The rest of the website offers great homeschooling resources too!
We’re going to work through their vowel word-lists next!

CatholicIcing’s – Catholic ABC’s – Offers a free weekly Catholic home-school curriculum for preschoolers. It is designed to help your preschooler learn through the bible, help them with routine, she has crafts for their fine motor skills, and covers numbers 1-5, every letter in the alphabet, and many saints and Catholic prayers.

Home-School Ideas

Over 101 Ways to Praise your Child

When my daughter was about about 10 months old I printed and posted a list of over 101 Ways to Praise Your Child on my fridge. I found the original list of 101 Ways to Praise at Kinderteacher but then I went on to add to the list so that it was over 101 Ways to Praise your Child! It has stayed on my fridge since:)

Here is the complete 101 Ways to Praise your Child list as a colouful pdf (I included the list from Kinderteacher and added a few of my own praise ideas at the bottom)

Over 101 Ways to Praise your Child
Taken from Kinderteacher and added to from ***

WOW WAY TO GO * SUPER * YOU’RE SPECIAL *OUTSTANDING * EXCELLENT * GREAT *GOOD* NEAT *WELL DONE *REMARKABLE* I KNEW YOU COULD DO IT* I’M PROUD OF YOU* FANTASTIC *SUPER STAR *NICE WORK *LOOKING GOOD *YOU’RE ON TOP OF IT *BEAUTIFUL* NOW YOU’RE FLYING *YOU’RE CATCHING ON * NOW YOU’VE GOT IT * YOU’RE INCREDIBLE* BRAVO YOU’RE FANTASTIC HURRAY FOR YOU YOU’RE ON TARGET* YOU’RE ON YOUR WAY* HOW NICE* HOW SMART* GOOD JOB* THAT’S INCREDIBLE *HOT DOG * DYNAMITE *YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL *YOU’RE UNIQUE *NOTHING CAN STOP YOU NOW *GOOD FOR YOU* I LIKE YOU* YOU’RE A WINNER *REMARKABLE JOB *BEAUTIFUL WORK *SPECTACULAR *YOU’RE SPECTACULAR * YOU’RE DARLING * YOU’RE PRECIOUS *GREAT DISCOVERY* YOU’VE DISCOVERED THE SECRET *YOU FIGURED IT OUT *FANTASTIC JOB *HIP, HIP, HURRAY* BINGO *MAGNIFICENT* MARVELOUS * TERRIFIC* YOU’RE IMPORTANT *PHENOMENAL *YOU’RE SENSATIONAL * SUPER WORK *CREATIVE JOB * SUPER JOB *FANTASTIC JOB *EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE *YOU’RE A REAL TROOPER * YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE *YOU ARE EXCITING *YOU LEARNED IT RIGHT * WHAT AN IMAGINATION* WHAT A GOOD LISTENER *YOU ARE FUN *YOU’RE GROWING UP *YOU TRIED HARD *YOU CARE* BEAUTIFUL SHARING* OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE *YOU’RE A GOOD FRIEND* I TRUST YOU* YOU’RE IMPORTANT* YOU MEAN A LOT TO ME *YOU MAKE ME HAPPY * YOU BELONG* YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND *YOU MAKE ME LAUGH * YOU BRIGHTEN MY DAY* I RESPECT YOU *YOU MEAN THE WORLD TO ME * THAT’S CORRECT *YOU’RE A JOY *YOU’RE A TREASURE *YOU’RE WONDERFUL * YOU’RE PERFECT *AWESOME* A+ JOB *YOU’RE A-OK-MY BUDDY * YOU MADE MY DAY* THAT’S THE BEST *A BIG HUG* A BIG KISS* I LOVE YOU!***
I’M SO PROUD OF YOU* YOU’RE A DOLL* HOW CREATIVE* YOUR SO MUCH FUN* I LOVE SPENDING TIME WITH YOU* NOW YOU’VE GOT IT !* YOU’RE A DELIGHT TO BE AROUND* YOUR SO FUNNY* AMAZING* BRILLIANT* CLEVER* INCREDIBLE* YOUR SO KIND* YOUR SO THOUGHTFUL* THANK YOU* YOU HAVE A BEAUTIFUL HEART* LOVELY* MARVELLOUS* NEAT* YOUR SO PRETTY INSIDE AND OUT* TERRIFIC* WONDERFUL* GORGEOUS* HOW HANDSOME* CHARMING* EXQUISITE* SUPERB* MAGNIFICENT * HOW ENCHANTING* YOUR SUCH A PLEASURE TO BE AROUND* NICE* HOW AMUSING * A BIG CHEER FOR YOUR * WHAT A SMARTY* YOUR TALENTED * YOUR GIFTED * YOUR BLESSED*GOD LOVES YOU* GOD MADE YOU SPECIAL * YOUR ONE OF A KIND* REMEMBER A SMILE IS WORTH A 1000 WORDS!*