Tea Time on Independence Day

O God our Creator,
with the founders of our country,
we believe that you have given all people
"certain inalienable rights...among these life, liberty,
and the pursuit of happiness."
We thank you for our country, for the freedom and opportunity it gives us,
and for its beauty and bounty.
As we celebrate with this meal
we ask you to bless our food and to bless our nation.
Help us to choose leaders inspired by its ideal
and mindful of the rights of all people.
Help us to use our nation's gifts wisely, and to extend your care to the needy of the world.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen
~from Let's Say Grace

Handout from the Denver conference

Pioneer Stories

Little House books by Laura Ingalls Wilder

(Cherry Jones audio version is great!)

My First Little House picture books

The Little House prequels by Melissa Wiley

Inside Laura’s Little House

A Pioneer Sampler

Pioneer Girl

My Great Aunt Arizona (Houston)

Pioneer Life from A to Z (Kalman)

Warm as Wool

Nature Study

Read Alouds for everybody:

Caddie Woodlawn

My Side of the Mountain

Rascal

Walden

Laddie

Water Sky

Where the Red Fern Grows

Paddle to the Sea

Minn of the Mississippi

Owls in the Family

Upper Level Study (middle and high school)_

Black Hearts in Battersea

Nightbirds on Nantucket

The Wolves of Willoughby Chase

Michael O'Halloran

Freckles

The Keeper of the Bees

The Harvester

The Best of Beston

Girl of the Limberlost

Elementary

Trumpet of the Swans

The Herriott Treasury for Children

Autumn Moon

One Day in the Woods

One Day in the Alpine Tundra

Kildee House

Owl in the shower

The Blue Hill Meadows

Tarantula in my Purse

Winter Moon

Picture book biographies to share:

Into the Woods

A Man Named Thoreau

Black Whiteness

Pond Watching with Ann Morgan

Bug Watching with Charles Henry Turner

Bird Watching with Margaret Morse Nice

Nature Art with Chiura Obata

Flower Watching with Alice Eastwood

Fish Watching with Eugenie Clark

Exploring the Earth with John Wesley Powell

Wildlife Watching with Charles Eastman

Girls Who Look under Rocks

Picture Books (but I really

think everyone should share them):

Henry David's House

Henry Hikes to Fitchburg

Henry Builds a Cabin

Louisa May and Mr. Thoreau's Flute

Joanne Ryder

When the Woods Hum

Fog in the Meadow

A Fawn in the Grass

Each Living Thing

Wild Birds

Mockingbird Morning

Catching the Wind

My Father's Hands

The Waterfall's Gift

Hello Tree!

Eric Carle:

The Very Busy Spider

The Very Quiet Cricket

The Very Lonely Firefly

The Very Clumsy Click Beetle

Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

The Mixed up Chameleon

The Grouchy Ladybug

The Honeybee and the Robber

Cynthia Rylant

Every Living Thing

The Bird House

Tulip Sees America

Night in the Country

Blue Hill Meadows

In November

The Wonderful Happens

This Year's Garden

More good stuff:

America the Beautiful (W. Minor illustrator)

Salamander Rain:  A Lake and Pond Journal

Crinkleroot's guide to Knowing the birds

Crinkleroot's Guide to Animal Habitats

Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees

Resources and books for Mom and/or high schoolers:

The Amateur Naturalist

Golden Guides: Pond Life, Insects, Birds

Wild Days

The Curious Naturalist: Nature's Everyday Mysteries

Reading the Mountains of Home

Writing Naturally:  A down to earth guide to nature writing

Fun With Nature Take Along Guide

More Fun with Nature Take Along Guide

Drawing From Nature

Keeping a Nature Journal

A Crow Doesn't Need a Shadow—great for writing nature poetry

Hurricane

Reading

Peter Spier's Rain

Galveston's Summer of the Storm

Hurricane

Magic School Bus inside a Hurricane

Rain Makes Applesauce

Come on, Rain!

Down Comes The Rain

One Morning in Maine

Picture Study

Thomas Locker:

Cloud Dance

Mountain Dance

Where the River Begins

In Blue Mountains

Walking With Henry

Helpful booklists:

Real Learning

RC History

By Way of the Family

Reading Your Way through History

MacBeth's Opinion

Bethlehem Books

Five in a Row

Sonlight

Sacred Heart Books and Gifts

First Communion Book Pages:

What my name means (Patron Saints)

God made the World and He made Me

Creed (memorize and copy)

God gave us the Bible

Guardian Angel

Original Sin

Gospel of Children (JPII)

My Baptism

Deuteronomy (Our family’s verse)

Noah's Ark

The Ten Commandments (re-state in my own words)

The Prodigal Son

The Vine and the Branches

The Lost Coin

The Lost Sheep

The Steps to a good confession (cut apart and paste them in order, with my own definition of the steps)

The Act of Contrition

Old Testament foreshadowing of the Eucharist :

Manna from Heaven

Ark of the Covenant – the tabernacle is our new ark of the covenant

Paschal Lamb (the last plague)-prefigurement of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God

Psalm 110. M both priest and king who offered a special sacrifice of bread and wine. Christ offered an unbloody sacrifice at the last supper.

Malachi 1:11. “From the rising of the sun to the setting of the sun, a perfect offering will be made.”

Universal Church

New Testament:

Jesus Christ is truly the Son of God. He is divine. He forgave sins. He worked miracles.

Wedding at Cana

narration John 2. Jesus changed water into wine and showed that he had power over material elements

Loaves and Fishes (Small Gifts in God’s Hands narration) again, showing power over material elements

Jesus walked on water—showed power over his own body

Resurrection—again, power over his own body

Storm on the Sea—when Jesus speaks, it becomes a reality

The Last Supper—all the miracles rolled into one miracle.

Road to Emmaeus—the disciples did not recognize him until the breaking of the bread. We might not recognize him but he is really present. Because Jesus is glorified, he is not limited to normal physical limitations.

(1Corinthians 10 and 1: 1 Christians who do not recognize the Body and Blood of Christ.) No narration but discussion.

John 6: I am the bread from Heaven

Order of the Mass

What we see at Mass

The Weight of a Mass (narration)

The Little Caterpillar That Finds Jesus (narration)

Letter from me to Jesus asking to receive Communion

Letter to child from parents with our prayer for her.

At the end of the book are two pages signed by guests at First Communion and all the pictures taken that day.

Resources for Bible stories:

The Parables of Jesus (de Paola)

DK Illustrated Family Bible

New Catholic Picture Bible

Resources for a learning lifestyle:

Real Learning: Education in the Heart of the Home

A Charlotte Mason Companion (Andreola)

Educating the wholehearted child (Clarkson)

To Sing You Must Exhale—poetry by Kathryn Mulderink,--a balm for mom’s soul

Sing a New Song: Do Something For Yourself

"Don't you ever do something for yourself?"

People ask me this quite frequently. Usually, they have a day spa in mind or a weekend away without the kids. Truthfully, I'm not the day spa type. I don't know exactly what the day spa type is; I just know it's not me. Any place that requires me to shed my clothes for a dressing gown and lay on  an  adjustable table is a little too much like a hospital  for me to ever relax there.

However, I do think that one way to ease out of that burned out state is to acknowledge that it's nice to be nice to ourselves. When you are nurturing yourself, you have to use the same approach that you use when nurturing your children. I f I think a child is particularly burdened, I look for ways to help lighten the load. And if I think a special gift--a gift chosen just for that child--might help in some way, I usually endeavor to provide it. So...I provided three gifts for myself recently to help brighten my days and sing a new song.

First up, a good laugh. I re-read Danielle Bean's Mom to Mom, Day to Day. This book is funny. You're guaranteed a laugh. But more than that, it's a place where I can go and find someone who "gets it." It's nice to see in print a family a lot like mine and a mother who is honest about the fact that the struggles inside our homes are different than those of our neighbors with 1.8 kids. Not better, not worse, just different. We are weird. But at least we're in good company. I find comfort in that.

Next, and similarly, I love Marie Bellet. First, a disclaimer: I'm not a music critic. I like the music; it works for me, but I have no idea if it's good music. I'm all about the lyrics. When she sings about a new springtime and invokes John Paul the Great, I'm belting it out at the top of my lungs and the whole day seems sunnier. And when she sings about "nine more months, one more time," I'm grinning from ear to ear and hoping "me, too." Marie Bellet expresses joy in this crazy lifestyle and she is honest about our failings while encouraging us to strive to be something more.

Finally, a present of extraordinary value. I am the delighted and inspired owner of a truly beautiful rosary. I love the rosary.  In his gracious goodness, the Holy Spirit has infused in me a love for this devotion over the past year that has born immeasurable fruit. Mostly, I've prayed the rosary while listening to a CD. Recently, I decided that I wanted a rosary to hold. I wanted the sensory experience of touching the beads (Catholics are like that, I think--we pray with all our senses). And oh, what a sensory experience is mine. I might just have the most beautiful rosary ever! It was named "Vessel of Life, Vessel of Joy" by Kimberlee, who created it for me. There is a large centerpiece of Our Lady of Guadalupe, which reminds me of her words to Juan Diego: Am I not here, I who am your mother? Are you not under my shadow and watch? Am I not the source of your joy? Are you not in the fold of my mantle, in the crossing of my arms? The Ave beads are a deep rose color, my favorite color, and the Church's color of joy. I fall asleep every night holding this rosary, prayerfully considering my joys in life. Everything about my rosary reminds me to take joy in my vocation, my greatest delight.

This gift--this something I did for myself--is something I do for myself every day and something I do for myself for eternity. With the rosary, comes these promises of Mary to Saint Dominic. I have to think they have more value for me and for my family that a day at a spa.

1. Whoever shall faithfully serve me by the recitation of the rosary, shall receive signal graces.
2. I promise my special protection and the greatest graces to all those who shall recite the rosary.
3. The rosary shall be a powerful armor against hell, it will destroy vice, decrease sin, and defeat heresies.
4. It will cause virtue and good works to flourish; it will obtain for souls the abundant mercy of God; it will withdraw the hearts of men from the love of the world and its vanities, and will lift them to the desire of eternal things.
5. Oh, that souls would sanctify themselves by this means.
6. The soul which recommends itself to me by the recitation of the rosary, shall not perish.
7. Whoever shall recite the rosary devoutly, applying himself to the consideration of its sacred mysteries shall never be conquered by misfortune.
8. God will not chastise him in His justice, he shall not perish by an unprovided death; if he be just he shall remain in the grace of God, and become worthy of eternal life.
9. Whoever shall have a true devotion for the rosary shall not die without the sacraments of the Church.
10. Those who are faithful to recite the rosary shall have during their life and at their death the light of God and the plenitude of His graces; at the moment of death they shall participate in the merits of the saints in paradise.
11. I shall deliver from purgatory those who have been devoted to the rosary.
12. The faithful children of the rosary shall merit a high degree of glory in heaven.
13. You shall obtain all you ask of me by the recitation of the rosary.
14. All those who propagate the holy rosary shall be aided by me in their necessities. I have obtained from my Divine Son that all the advocates of the rosary shall have for intercessors the entire celestial court during their life and at the hour of death. All who recite the rosary are my sons, and brothers of my only son Jesus Christ.
15. Devotion of my rosary is a great sign of predestination.

Look what the man in brown just brought me!

I took a sneak peek at Danielle's new book last fall.  Here's what I said then (and I'm sticking with it;-)!

I read Danielle Bean's new book, Mom to Mom, Day to Day, while in the hospital after the birth of my eighth child. It was like having a chat over a backyard fence with an experienced mother who exudes an infectious joy. Danielle believes in vocation and loves the life to which God has called her. I wanted to jump up and give a copy to every new mother in the Birth Center that day!

So, have you ordered yours yet?

Lessons from Little House

I've written before about the powerful effect Little House can have on childhood. This post expresses some of the same sentiments. But she asks an important question: I have a difficult time understanding where taking care of one's own (extended) family fits with Catholic ideals of generosity and charitable giving. Is giving to one's family being charitable?

I'm no expert in Catholic social thought either, but I definitely consider taking care of own's own family (extended or otherwise) to be our first field of ministry and most obvious place for charity. It can also be more difficult to give to the "cause" chosen for you in your family than it is to give to the cause you choose. Sometimes, the hard thing is the best thing. What say you?

HT:Melanie