Let the Little Ones Come

Welcome Jesus: A Novena to Prepare for First Holy Communion

Grace (second oldest), age 7, First Holy Communion, 2005

Since my oldest received her First Holy Communion almost nine years ago, I have had this little booklet with a beautiful Novena you and your first communicant pray begininng 10 days before they receive Jesus for the first time in Holy Communion.  :)  I ordered it from CHC many moons ago.  :)  I looked all over their website for a link but they don't seem to sell it anymore.  :(

On the back of the booklet is a website:  www.oremus.com.  But, this website is no longer in existence.  At the beginning of the prayer book it mentions that this novena is adapted from another source:

Preparing to Welcome Jesus, by Rev. George Dennerle and Sr. mary Magdela SND, MA.  I googled that and found five of these original prayer booklets on ebay.  I ordered one for myself and there are four left!  :)  They are not cheap but if you plan on using them for each of your children, they are well worth the money!  :)

I do feel it would be a service to post the novena for any other families who would like to use it to prepare their little one to receive First Holy Communion since these prayers are so hard to find.  

Today, we started it with Marie, who will receive Our Lord in Holy Communion in 10 days!  I will post the novena each day we pray it beginning today.  May God bless all our children receiving First Holy Communion this spring!

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To the First Communicant:

This little booklet...contains a nine day novena to help you prepare for your First Communion, and other prayers which can be used whenever you receive Holy Communion.  Begin this novena ten days before your First Holy Communion Day.  

May God always bless you through the Holy Eucharist.

My Novena to Welcome Jesus

In only ten days I will receive Jesus for the first time.

I can hardly wait!

I must get myself ready.

I must make my heart ready for Jesus to come in.

I will make my hart a beautiful garden.

I will fill it with flowers to please Him.

When He comes into my heart He will be very happy.

He will see how much I love Him.

I will work very hard to make many flowers for Jesus.

Holy Guardian Angel, help me to do my best each day.

Dear Mother Mary and Saint Joseph, please help me to get ready to receive Jesus.

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See this link for Day One.

 

 

 

In the morning, when I wake up...

It was one of those very rare mornings....I had  made it to Mass with all my littles (it was Ash Wednesday, I believe)...I have rarely in my motherhood career, been able to navigate all the kids out of bed, into clothes and out the door to Mass by 8:30 am on a week-day morning...It has happened some, but not often.  :(  I am now able to finally achieve my goal of daily Mass once (sometimes twice!) a week now that the baby is FOUR.  ;)

Anyway, I digress...I was sitting in the very back of our very large parish sanctuary and our jolly (yes, like St. Nick) pastor was speaking to the little ones (it was a school Mass) about offering your day to the Holy Family first thing!  My ears pricked...this sounded important...I hoped my oldest (5 at the time) was listening...

Father began, "When I was a little lad, the nuns taught all us children to say a morning offering.  They wanted to be sure that we remembered it, so they made it into a little song. It goes like this (to the the tune of Immaculate Mary).

In the morning when I wake up,

With a cross I sign myself ,

Singing, Jesus, Mary, Joseph,

All I do,

I do for you!

Amen.

Father continued, "Do you like the song?"  (Cheers of yes! echoed throughout the church)..."Well, good.  I want you to practice with me...let's try it now.  Be sure and make the sign of the cross when you sing the second  line."

So, the homily continued with the kids learning their morning offering and doing a bang-up job.   I  sang along as did my two oldest.  This was one of those crucial moments when you just feel so grateful to God for the truth and beauty of our Catholic faith.  My kids felt it, too.  They loved this little song, the melody, making the sign of the cross, all of it.  Father ended his homily by gently reminding, " I've taught lots of children this morning offering song and I have prayed it for a very long time.  I wanted to share it with you because it's very important to start your day by giving it to God.  Never forget to begin your day with your morning offering...this way Jesus, Mary and Joseph will always be at your side to help you and your day is made holy."

We went home that morning and practiced our new offering in the car and right away began singing our morning offering each day.  

Fast forward about 11 years...here I sit having sent off my oldest (now just turned 16) to Christendom College for a week of fun and fellowship with other Catholic kids.  I am weepy and miss her already (she has been gone 20 minutes!).  As I knelt in front of the crucifix and sent my guardian angel to help hers care for her today, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this memory, I sang my offering, I felt the peace of giving my day to God.

Our family has grown (four more children we have here on earth, six more in heaven), but we still sing this offering song each morning once we are all relatively awake...to be truthful, on most mornings, it is my first prayer, offered before the kids are even awake...a bit simple?  Yes,  but it reminds me that everything I do throughout the day, I can sanctify.  My job is holy because I offer it as a loving gift to Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  All I do, I do for them.  

Simple, little, prayerful.  It's enough. 

It's all joy!

 

 

Tell Me A Story, Daddy!

 

 We have been adjusting slowly but surely to Bill's travel schedule with his new job.  :)  When he is home, we try to make the most of our time with him.  Marie (5) got Tell Me A Story from her grandparents for Christmas and one afternoon, she and her Daddy had a lot of fun making up silly stories (many of them very long and with intricate details!) with the cards.  I highly recommend the Eeboo brand of games.  We have the Tea Party Game and it has been a big hit at our house as well.  They are very well-made and so delightfully engaging for young ones!    

I am hoping to begin again with regularly documenting some of our days on the blog.  Life has been so full, though, that I have been finding it hard to pull together my thoughts enough for even a quick post.   :S

Happy New Year to everyone!   Hope to be back soon...

A Small Start

Our Lady Queen of Peace Homeschool always begins on the Tuesday after Labor Day each fall.  :)  This year, Labor Day falls later than usual.  It is September 7.  September 8 is a special day in our house--little Marie shares a birthday with Our Lady and I think we will celebrate their birthdays and begin our learning this year on the 9th!  :)

This coming fall,  we will be homeschooling five of the six children in grades K, 2, 4, 6 and 9.   And I guess Joseph will need some diversion, as well, since he will turn 3 in January!  :)

This summer has been a long and difficult one for many reasons and though I am hopeful that the stress of the summer will not affect our upcoming school year too adversely, I am trying to be realistic and know my limits.

So, my approach to planning this coming year's academics is a bit different than previous years.  I decided to complete the kids lesson plans beginning with the youngest, and ending with the oldest.  I have a lot of materials gathered and orders placed for most of the kids' subjects, but nothing is complete and the weekly lesson plans have yet to be written.  

So, last week,  I began gathering toys, manipulatives, puzzles and a few learning games together for little Joseph.  He will only be allowed to play with these toys during learning time.  This is an approach that many a veteran homeschool mom  has used with great success!  I am assigning an older child (the oldest four will rotate) to play with Joseph throughout the morning.  This way, I hope to be able to focus my attention on the children who will need me without worrying about  little Joseph left to his own devices, which can be a scary and dangerous thing, believe me!  I have also drafted a brief plan for a more detailed weekly lesson that either I or one of the older kids will introduce each week. 

By starting with the 2 year old, I figured I could work my way slowly up to the high schooler!  Yikes, it is almost impossible to believe that I have a child in 9th grade and this is our 10th year of homeschooling!   Next up, the preschooler/kindergartner!   Plans coming soon!  

Joseph playing with his magnetic tow-truck puzzle.  

Preschool Art Fun

A good Bible for active boys!

Paul, who will be eight later this month, just finished reading this Bible. It is a Bible illustrated with cartoon/comic pictures and is quite unique. Paul actually picked it up on his own and began reading it after our family Rosary one night about six weeks ago. He proceeded to consistently and avidly read right through it in chronological order. He would come to me often and narrate all the exciting parts (the Old Testament with all of King David's adventures was a highlight).

This is such a great example of having the right materials available at the right time--I am an avid collector of children's bibles. I really like to have a vast assortment at the ready so each child can pick and choose one that fits their age level and perhaps their mood or temperament. I am going to prepare a post on the Bibles that we have in our home with a brief review--and try to post this for Holy Week.

And as an aside, I am slowly reading through the Gospel of St. John with my Navarre Bible. I heartily recommend this Bible for anyone who can only read scripture in small time slots. The commentary is excellent and I am really able to "see" and "participate" in the life of Christ this way through prayer. It has been a wonderful gift to me this Lent. It will probably continue through the Easter season as I just started the ninth chapter this morning. The eighth chapter took me two weeks. I might get an award for the most plodding pace of bible-reading, ever, but it has been a gift to truly be able to savor this beautiful Gospel slowly and with love.

Learning all about Helen

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.--Helen Keller

Recently, we rented a copy of Disney's version of The Miracle Worker. About a year ago, Bill and the two oldest girls watched the original version with Anne Bancroft and thoroughly enjoyed it. So, this was not my first choice of a family movie, but it was a lovely movie to watch with good, solid acting and beautiful cinematography and costumes as well.

It sparked interest in the life of Helen Keller for all my kids but especially my just-turned six year old. Rose went to the library with her Daddy and came home with these books, some which she used to practice her reading and the others we read-aloud.

A Picture Book of Helen Keller

A Girl Named Helen Keller

Helen Keller: Courage in the Dark

There are a lot of books on Helen. My oldest Meg, who is 12, has read her autobiography and really enjoyed it.

After reading (and re-reading!) our library books, we decided to splurge and we've got this one coming in the mail and will read it together next week:

Helen Keller: From Tragedy to Triumph (Childhood of Famous Americans)

We have also visited a few cool websites about Helen:

The Helen Keller Kids Museum

Birthplace of Helen Keller

And we found a good website with lots more information on this amazing woman.

Our interest in Helen was a natural result of learning some sign language ourselves. Like so many others, we began watching and learning sign language with Alex and Leah and Rachel about a year ago.

Even Baby Joseph has a few books of his own on sign language. All the kids love the songs and the fun and they are learning a lot of signs, too. I think Helen would be proud! :)

The Best Play Dough!

You will need:

1/2 cup salt
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon cream of tartar
1 tablespoon oil
1 cup water
food coloring
wax paper

What to do:

Add 4-5 drops of desired food coloring to 1 cup water,then combine with
remaining ingredients in a saucepan.
Heat gently over low-medium heat, stirring all the time.
The dough will begin to thicken and start sticking together.
When the dough forms a ball, it is done.
Remove pot from heat and transfer playdough to wax paper. Soak saucepan
immediately!
Allow dough to cool for five to ten minutes and then knead a minute or two
until it is smooth.
Store in plastic ziploc bags or disposable plastic containers.
Lasts forever!

*I let each child help me make one batch and they get to choose the color of their dough.*

D is for Dinosaur

This week we had a mini-dinosaur unit study. The older four kids were invited to attend the Walking with Dinosaur show with some fellow homeschooling friends (see sidebar for some neat photos). Bill and another brave father took ten kids to see this fantastic show. According to Bill, it was quite the fun adventure. All the kids from Meg (12) to Rose (5) came home with rave reviews...Rose was a bit frightened for the first few moments, but quickly got over it. She really enjoyed our studies this week so her curiosity outweighed her momentary fears...

We started the week reading one of our all-time favorite books about dinosaurs for the younger set...

All the younger kids love Patrick's Dinosaurs as well as What Happened to Patrick's Dinosaurs?

Then, we got out this book to learn a few more details about these long-extinct animals.

Thankfully, we have a TON of other dinosaur books which I will add to this post later (baby just woke up!)...Meg, was quite the dino-lover when she was five and six...I think we may have as many books as our local library! :)

Oh, and let's not forget that we made some play dough D's....as little Joseph can attest--"D" is for dino! :)

Imitation is the sincerest...

...form of flattery.

A friend introduced us to a great recipe for salt-dough.  We made it to Michael's and found the last container of cookie cutters and got to work shaping and forming!

  As we cut out certain letters, we practice our letter names and phonograms (depending on age, of course!).  Then after popping the letters in the oven, the creative part comes...choosing colors and painting our favorite letters.   This is such a very simple and relaxing activity and since all children are tactile learners, it's such a good way to reinforce language arts.  It is also a great way to unwind after a busy day...I had fun painting a few letters myself!  :)

Q is for quilt, of course! 

The kids painted their own quilt-like pattern on the Q after we finished reading Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt.

More letter fun is to come, I'm sure.--thanks to such fun and creative ladies who are so generous with their gifts.