Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 16

Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 16
I'm blogging my way through our four year curriculum program so I don't forget everything that worked for us! Please feel free to use what works for your family and share in the comments anything you would add. For more on Classically Catholic Memory go here.

Religion
For the last two weeks the kiddos have been memorizing the 10 Commandments. For an exhaustive list of ideas for learning about them check out The Catholic Toolbox.

Lesson 1

We made a simple 10 Commandments tablet out of brown constructions paper and then the kids wrote down the second 5 commandments on the right side of the booklet. (Last week they wrote down the first 5 commandments on the left side.)

If you missed listening to Keep the Rules from Angel Food last week, you can still do it this week :).

Latin

We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History

This week's topic: The French Revolution. Yep, it drastically changed our world as we know it. Finding supplemental material that doesn't portray all Catholic clergy as overweight, lazy, comfort seekers who cared little for the poor is hard to do. (In fairness some of them did fit that descriptions, but most did not.) So we used the book You Wouldn't Want to be an Aristocrat in the French Revolution, which was the best I could find.

Kevin took it from there and gave an oral explanation of what happened, why it happened, and what it all means for us today.

Of note, there is a movie on The Battle of Waterloo, but I have not idea if it is any good. If you have over 2 hours to watch it, let me know what you think :).

Science
We are currently in the middle of memorizing one of Newton's laws of motion each week. There are three fun videos you can watch on various aspects of the laws. Here's what I suggest, but you can watch them in any order you'd like, I'll never know.

Week 15: The Magic School Bus Plays Ball
Week 16: Bill Nye Momentum
Week 17: Bill Nye Motion

Lesson 1
Newton's 2nd Law of Motion: Supplies needed:

This week we combined science and P.E. (Well, we don't formally do P.E. at home, but if I had to track subject hours for my state, I'd count this as P.E. too.)

Using the instructions for the opening discussion in the CCM Teacher Text, we demonstrated the concept of mass equals force times acceleration by letting the kids test out the difference between hitting a tennis ball and a basketball with a racquet. This is supposed to be demonstrated by the teacher, but the kids needed the exercise and, due to my lack of athletic ability, it might have taken longer for me to make contact with the balls than it did for them.

We continued the discussion portion from the Teacher Text by having the kids feel the difference between pushing heavy and light objects.

Finally we watched a short youtube clip on Newton's 2nd Law of Motion.

Lesson 2
Materials needed:

For our second lesson we completed activities 1 and 2 from the Teacher Text, which consisted of rolling a ball down a ramp at various inclines and observing the difference between the ball hitting a paper cup and a metal pot.

And lastly we did activity 3, which involved kicking a soccer ball... more P.E.

The goal was to kick the ball and bounce if off the wall with just the right force to get it to rest at the chalk line. As you can see there are cracks in our concrete, and therefore our patio is not level. This caused the ball to always keep rolling, resulting in a homeschool fail. If you do this, you need a level surface.

Math 

Lesson 1
This week we memorized the formula for the circumference of a circle. Bean drew a circle on the driveway (also not an ideal place for the kick-the-ball-off-the-wall demonstration above), and repeated the formula while walking the circumference of a circle.

Lesson 2
Next I had her write the formula on a paper circle and we learned about the concept of a radius. I left it at that and didn't do any computations with the formula. She's probably behind in 2nd grade math now, but at least she had some good P.E. lessons this week.

Timeline

Lesson 1
We called this game "Disappearing Timeline".

I wrote down the entire timeline on a white board and had Bean read it to me. Then she closed her eyes and I erased one word. When she opened her eyes she read the timeline to me again, stating the missing word from memory. We did this over and over until the board was blank and she could read all eight cards without any words on the board. For this particular week that had her reciting the timeline 24 times, which helped her successfully commit the order to memory!

Lesson 2
Our timeline book was neglected this week. My images from the swap I did never arrived... I need to go send them an email...

Geography
Now that we have memorized all of the countries in North America, we are focusing on memorizing our continent's major geographical features. I'm letting our Journey Across America continue to be the supplemental fun on this one, as I point out these features when we study the states they reside in.

Great Words I
We continued memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out the books Pocahontas a Life in Two Worlds or Pocahontas, watch the Disney movie (maybe, I don't know if it's any good, I've never seen it), or check out this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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The Good Shepherd's Garden Party: Week 2

Inspired by Jessica and Charlotte we have an Easter tradition in our home of celebrating the entire Easter season with the Garden of the Good Shepherd. The program consists of a daily prayer time in which you add a scripture inspired sticker to your garden. By the end of Easter season your scene is filled with reminders of Jesus, the good shepherd, and heaven.

This is our 3rd year having a weekly garden party at the end of each themed week. For dinner on Saturday we incorporate each sticker into our meal and talk about what we've learned from our nightly prayer time. It's a favorite tradition in our home and one that keeps the season of Easter alive.

Week 2: Welcome to the Lord's Table!

This week we discussed how heaven will be like a banquet. It is by far the easiest week to put together, as most of the symbols are already food. This was great for me since Bean made her First Communion this weekend and I didn't have time to pull off anything fancy!

Day 8 and 9: The Table and The Chairs: Um, do I even need to explain this one?

You could be more fun than me and let the kids decorate the tables and chairs with balloons and crepe paper.

Day 10: The Bread: Bread

Take and bake loaf from the bakery. I'm not even going to pretend like this is homemade.

Day 11: The Wine: Wine

For the kids we mixed some sprite and grape juice.

Day 12: The Milk: Milk

We also had ice cream for dessert, but alas, no photo of that one. I did if for you really... I didn't want you to get jealous that we were having ice cream and you are not. Or, maybe you are eating a bowl as you read this. Sometimes I do that... read blogs and eat ice cream. Okay, you win, I should have taken a photo.

Day 13: The Pot of Honey: Honey BBQ Chicken Strips

Again, no pretending here, these are courtesy of Tyson. In the past I've made honey baked chicken and honey roasted red potatoes, but I had a Sacrament celebration to attend to, so real food got the boot this year.

Day 14: The Fruit: Fruit Salad

We ate fruit salad ad nauseam over the weekend, but nobody complained.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Bean's First Holy Communion

Yesterday Bean made her First Communion. What can I say, it's a Sacrament, how could the day not be blessed?

To add to the already joyous day, much of our extended family was there to celebrate with us, the weather was beautiful, and our small family reception was a success.

After all of our time preparing for this day, Bean was beyond excited to finally receive Jesus in His flesh and blood.

I was very thankful that Bean was able to wear the veil that I wore at my first communion. Yes, I still have my late 80's dress. Yes, the sleeves were too puffy to even consider having Bean wear it.

When given the option, Bean wanted to have a party just with her family, so we kept things fairly simple. The projects Bean made during her preparations served as the decorations and I ordered Subway for our lunch.

We did however still pull out the china and silver and had my dear friend make us gorgeous chalice cookies.

After lunch we played baseball... naturally...

And opened up some very special gifts.

Bean's Grammy made her a beautiful and intricate cross stitch and we took the small crucifix that the priest who did her first confession gave her and had a friend turn it into a rosary.

We are so happy for our little Bean, what a beautiful day it was!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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The Good Shepherd's Garden Party: Week 1

Inspired by Jessica and Charlotte we have an Easter tradition in our home of celebrating the entire Easter season with the Garden of the Good Shepherd. The program consists of a daily prayer time in which you add a scripture inspired sticker to your garden. By the end of Easter season your scene is filled with reminders of Jesus, the good shepherd, and heaven.

This is our 3rd year having a weekly garden party at the end of each themed week. For dinner on Saturday we incorporate each sticker into our meal and talk about what we've learned from our nightly prayer time. It's a favorite tradition in our home and one that keeps the season of Easter alive.

Week 1: The Good Shepherd's Pasture

Day 1: The Good Shepherd: Mini Shepherd's Pie

For the past few years we've been using this recipe, but my kids didn't like the ketchup flavor. This year I took out the ketchup, doubled the worchstershire sauce, and threw in a 1/2 c diced onion. And for the potatoes... they are instant.

Day 2: The Shepherd's Crook: Crookneck Squash

I sauteed these bad boys in a little bit of olive oil, period.

Day 3 and 4: The Sheepfold and the Gate of the Sheepfold: Gates

Pretzel sticks, graham crackers, and peanut butter. Call it an appetizer.

I combined the symbolic food for days 3 and 4 because they are both about the fence that protects the sheep. If you want to have 7 separate symbols, give the kids a glass of milk and tell them the white color of the milk represents the sheep who sleep within the sheepfold at night.

Day 5: The Ewe and Ram: Ram Horn Apple Curls

Using my apple peeler, corer, slicer gadget, I made ram's horns.

Day 6: The Lamb: Chocolate Lambs

I bought these. I know you are impressed.

Day 7: The Wolf: Wolf Paw Cookies

Shortbread cookies, almond bark, and white chocolate chips. I think you can figure it out.

Next week's theme is the Lord's table, which is the easiest of all the weeks because it's focus on how heaven is described as a banquet!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Ideas for Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 15

Classically Catholic Memory: Gamma Year: Week 15
I'm blogging my way through our four year curriculum program so I don't forget everything that worked for us! Please feel free to use what works for your family and share in the comments anything you would add. For more on Classically Catholic Memory go here.

Religion
For the next two weeks the kiddos are memorizing the 10 Commandments. For an exhaustive list of ideas for learning about them check out The Catholic Toolbox.

Lesson 1

We made a simple 10 Commandments tablet out of brown constructions paper and then the kids wrote down the first 5 commandments on the left side of the booklet and next week they will write down the second 5 commandments on the right side.

While doing the craft they listened to Keep the Rules from Angel Food. P.S. I love this one!

Lesson 2 
You can also check out what Family Catechism has to say on this topic as well.

Latin

We are learning the Anima Christi by listening to a few different versions on youtube.

History

Lesson 1:

It was all things Industrial Revolution and inventors this week. We read Kids During the Industrial Revolution and then perused Hooray or Inventors (review this one before you pass it to your kids) and The Industrial Revolution.

Kevin also did his dad-teaching-history-thing and explained how technology is good, but we don't want to sacrifice humans for efficiency talk.

Lesson 2
Then mom did her mom-doing-crafts-thing and had the kids come up with their own invention and draw out a prototype. Pal would like to invent a flying car (and asked if he could put some wings on our new van to test it out) and Bean will be making a Wild Kratts inspired Creature Power Suit.

Science
For the next three weeks will be memorizing one of Newton's laws of motion each week. There are three fun videos you can watch on various aspects of the laws. Here's what I suggest, but you can watch them in any order you'd like :).

Week 15: The Magic School Bus Plays Ball
Week 16: Bill Nye Momentum
Week 17: Bill Nye Motion

I compacted this week's science demonstrations into one lesson because it's a pretty straightforward concept. Here are the supplies we used:

First we used the balls for the opening discussion on motion and force by rolling one ball on a blanket and another ball on our "hardwood" floors (it's pergo).

Then we did activity 1 in the Teacher Text. This involved abruptly stopping a moving object and allowing the other objects to go flying off of it. (You can't see it but there are books on the highchair, not a baby... yes my son is wearing his PJs... don't your kids homeschool in PJs sometimes?)

Finally instead of doing activity 3, which is a simple version of the tablecloth trick, we watched this video of the real deal. I wasn't brave enough to let me kids try it.

Then we watched this quick demonstration on Newton's First Law of Motion.

Math 

Lesson 1
To demonstrate the formula for the area of a triangle we did a worksheet from Math Worksheets 4 Kids.

Lesson 2
And we played an area of a triangle online game at Fact Monster. I gave Bean a calculator to use for the problems with bigger numbers.

Timeline

Lesson 1
Missing Timeline Card was the name of the game this week. It's pretty simple. The cards are laid out in order on a table. One child closes their eyes while another child or adult removes one card from the sequence and squeezes the rest of the cards together so the missing card is not apparent. The child opens their eyes and determines where the missing card belongs and identifies the name of the card. In this case "The Alamo, the Republic of Texas, and the Mexican War" is missing.

Lesson 2
And our timeline book gained 8 new events this week.

Geography
Now that we have memorized all of the countries in North America, we are focusing on memorizing our continent's major geographical features. I'm letting our Journey Across America continue to be the supplemental fun on this one, as I point out these features as we study the states they reside in.

Great Words I
We continued memorizing "Pocahontas" by Rosemary Carr Benet this week.

I don't know of any picture books of the actual poem, but as you memorize it you could do several things to learn about Pocahontas. Check out the books Pocahontas a Life in Two Worlds or Pocahontas, watch the Disney movie (maybe, I don't know if it's any good, I've never seen it), or check out this Pinterest board for snack and craft ideas.


Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Easter 2014: In Pictures

He is Risen Indeed!

Easter 2014: In Pictures - Because I'm too tired to write something intelligent about today, but I still want to remember this lovely, blessed Easter.

Insert your favorite what-is-the-baby-saying line here. "Umm, I have a question, when will we be done?"

Peanut liked her baby leggings... well at least she liked the packaging.

Hiking with cousins.

Just for the record, we did go to church and hunt for Easter eggs, but I didn't really get any pictures of those events.

I hope you had a blessed Easter Sunday!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Good Friday 2014

"Behold, behold, the wood of the cross, on which is hung our salvation. Come let us adore."

On this Good Friday the big kids and I were able to pray the Stations of the Cross while hiking to the top of a mountain at a local shrine dedicated to St. Francis Xavier Cabrini. It was moving to see hundreds of the faithful making the way along side us. The young couple climbing the nearly 400 steps on their knees, the teenaged boy weeping manly tears at the 12th station, the family praying the Divine Mercy Chaplet at the foot of the crucifix, this are the images I want my children to have of living the Triduum as a child.

The inspiring view at the top of the mountain.

When we arrived home shortly after 3:00 I had the kids shroud all of the images of Christ throughout our home, just like they do at our churches. This is a tradition we've held since our first, and only, Easter before Bean was born.

And I was happy to see, that after weeks of sacrificing, our crown of thorns only had one lone thorn, which I believe has already been pulled by a pair of little hands.

In the morning we made a chocolate crown of thorns out of almond bark and pretzels, which will be eaten of Easter. While we made it we didn't eat any of the chocolate, not even the melted goodness on our fingers. For a five year old, this is a real sacrifice. On Easter I'll fill the center of the crown with dyed eggs and turn it into a nest to remind us of new life.

We also crafted our paschal candle today. While typically we would do this on Holy Saturday (because the paschal candles for our churches are marked and used for the first time at the Easter Vigil on Saturday night), we have guests coming for Pysanky tomorrow and I don't think we'll have time. Using an illustrated guide from FOCUS and these instructions from Catholic Culture we taught the kids about the candle as we created it.

And before heading out for a 7:00 Passion Service (which we had to leave early from, but at I'm glad we tried!), the kids pulled out the Resurrection Eggs. Bean put on a "show" for us by telling the story of Holy Week in her own words. It's nice to know things are sinking in.

May your Holy Saturday be blessed as we await for the stone to be rolled away on Sunday.

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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Holy Thursday 2014

Each year we try to truly engage in the Triduum as a family. Some of our traditions have grown and changed with our family, and others always stay the same. Here is what we have been up to on this Holy Thursday. 

For dinner we had sparking grape juice (regular grape juice with sprite - it's cheaper than a real bottle) and unleavened bread to remind us of the Last Supper. I was able to double this up with our 4th First Communion lesson on the Last Supper, which made for perfect timing!

A new addition to our plans was the serving of chicken noodle soup for dinner. I picked chicken to remind us of the cock crowing after Peter's denial. If I keep this up I'll have an entire dinner based on Holy Thursday in the next few years.

We also made a mound of hot cross buns for Good Friday/Easter. Tomorrow we'll eat them without frosting and on Easter we'll have them with frosting. Pal kept singing "hot cross buns, hot cross buns, see how they run" in an effort to combine the two nursery rhymes together. He thought he was awfully clever.

The real highlight of the day was the kids' new Last Supper "Lego" Set. I was blessed to get it for 1/2 off with our FOCUS missionary discount from Spiritus. The thought crossed my mind to give it to them on Easter, but it was just too appropriate to give it to them today.

The set is compatible with Legos!

At first the kids spent time reenacting the story of the Last Supper, but by the end of the day they were dividing up into teams for capture the flag... Judas was picked last.

Finally, making it to the 7:00 pm service tonight with baby Peanut, who usually goes to bed at 7:00 pm, was a huge blessing. The Triduum has officially begun, I pray that yours is fruitful!

Be saints, it's worth it!
Lisa

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