Now available: A Mother's Rule of Life Workbook

NOW AVAILABLE!
A Mothers Rule of Life: Establishing Your Practical Rule Printable Workbook (PDF Format)

The Companion Volume to A Mothers Rule of Life (Sophia 2004)
By Holly Pierlot (with Christi Gareis)
Accompanying templates, forms and instructions to aid mothers in developing their practical schedules and routines. $8.47 CAN Funds: Pay Pal or Credit Card through Pay Pal.
Sample Page: A Mothers Liturgy of the Hours

Thanks to the assistance of Christi Gareis, Holly Pierlot's long-awaited workbook is now here for you to purchase. May God bless you as you use this workbook to help you become even more faithful to God's calling in your life.

Feast of The Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael

Saint Michael, Saint Gabriel and Saint Raphael Archangels Feast Day

The name angel comes from the word messenger in Greek, and they are called angels because they carry messages and missions for God. God gave them great wisdom, freedom and power. Archangel means prince of the angels, and the Archangels Michael, Gabriel and Raphael are the greatest of the angels. They are the leaders of all the angels.

There was a great battle in Heaven. Michael fought for God, and the other angels joined him. They drove Lucifer and the angels who followed him out of Heaven. They were cast into Hell, and are now called devils. The devils continue to battle against God, trying to turn people's souls away from God. The good angels who love us because they love God, help us fight against the temptations and lies of the devil.

from www.Domestic-church.com

Musical Arts Alive!

I found a really nice site if you are studying composers, music, instruments, orchestra..... www.artsalive.ca

You can print out a booklet of the composerof your choice. It has lots of information and includes many student activities.
Great addition to our music notebooking.

Nice biographies. http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/greatcomposers/

At the top of the page is a Timeline. Makes it easy to add to your timeline pages.

Activities and Games: http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/activitiesgames/

Teaching resources: http://www.artsalive.ca/en/mus/musicresources/teachers.html
Biographical booklets to print out.

free ART prints to see & print

I found a Yahoo group where you can download artist prints for free!
There are a lot of artists and about 6 prints for each one...they look great.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AOArtPrints/

You join the group and then it lets you in pretty quick with an email.

Then click on "FILES" and that is where all the artists and pdf. files are with pictures.

Even if you just look at them on the computer they are useful. You don't have to print them out.

Haircut.... before & after

Finally made it in for a haircut. --- Pictures by Katie

Art Appreciation Lapbook for FREE @ HOAC

Hands of a Child Lapbooking is offering "Art Appreciation" Lapbook for FREE
It teaches about 10 artists and Types of Art, Composition, Appreciating Art and more.

http://www.handsofachild.com/2/freebies/

Awesome!

This is exactly what I was hoping to find sometime soon, and here it is!

I got a great one from Homeschool in the Woods - It covers 33 different artists.
http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/AP/Artists.htm

and I'm really happy with it but I think the kids will have an easier time with the HOAC one.

Fenestrae Fidei

Our new coloring book arrived wednesday.

The title is Fenestrae Fidei A Coloring Companion for Catholic Mosaic. by Sean Fitzpatrick



A very nice spiral bound book with Illistrations listed by Month and then by Feast Day.

I'm not so sure I like that the Title and description of the next mosaic is on the back of the picture.


But there is permission to copy the pictures for use within your family. I guess they knew we would be making copies so they saved paper by putting the descriptions on the back?



Love2Learn is where I learned about it, she reviewed it and showed her families work on her blog post.


At Hillside Education there is a sample of St. Joseph you can print out and color while you wait for the mail to arrive. I ordered mine friday 9/14 in the a.m. and it arrived wed 9/19.
Very quick! from PA to CA.


Here's my picture of St. Joseph. I can't decide what color to do his halo, so it is not done. I used colored pencils.

I'm anxious to cut it out, apply the veg oil and see what happens.

Ocean Science Activity websites

The most awesome Sea Turtle Coloring book with English & Spanish text.
http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/DocServer?docID=481

American Cetacean Society -- http://www.acsonline.org/

Wyland coloring pages - - http://www.wylandoceanchallenge.org/freestuff/woccoloringpages.pdf

Turtle Talk - -
http://www.tammyyee.com/turtletalk.html

Here are a couple of great websites with info about reefs.
http://www.hawaiireef.noaa.gov/education/kids/welcome.html

http://www.reefball.org/kids/buildacoralreef/Coral%20Reefs.htm

http://www.reefrelief.org/kids/

Sorry I'm not making fancy click throughs. I'm hurrying and now you can see the actual web address to see if you've been there before.

DisneySchoolers

Here we are with the other DisneySchoolers! I'm on the left, right in front of the "F" with long brown hair, Derek is tiny in front of me with Blond Hair and James in front of him with the brown hair. Our shirts are mainly white with stripes of tie dye. My mom took the picture and Katherine didn't want to be in the picture. :(

We had an awsome time at the park, especially my mom. We were celebrating her Birthday and she got a pin and lots of cast members said Happy Birthday! to her.
The best remark was on the loudspeaker at the end of her Rocket Ride, he said, "Happy 39th Birthday to Judy!"

A New blog found today

Today I would like to guide you to Jimmie's blog "One Child Policy Homeschool"
(she does only have one child and is living in China - so she wanted a humorous title)

I found her by a Yahoo Notebooking group link to her Ocean Lapbook blog page showing pictures of her daughter's lapbook. She has a long list of websites for lots of information.

We are busy doing an Oceanography Science co-op using Apologia's Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day and the Lapbook to accompany it from Live and Learn Press called Zoology II.
I'm always looking for more Ocean ideas.

She is teaching us in her blog about Charlotte Mason (CM) Artist study and has a Squidoo web page titled "How did CM suggest art be taught?" full of awesome information. Also you can click on a picture link to a CM Artist Study Yahoo Group she started (which I joined).

She also has her Pirate Diary unit study she created. That would make a fun lapbook to do with the boys sometime.

She is a busy fun homeschool mom! Looking foward to visiting her often and learning a lot!

DISNEYLAND Pics

I love these pics. I so wish Derek would have been in the first one but he wouldn't do it. At least I got him in the next one. The orange flowers behind them are in the shape of a pumpkin. Oh no.. I forgot to take a picture of the palm trees that had huge Candy Corn instead of Coconuts at the top. SO CUTE.


Thank you Walt Disney. We had gorgeous weather!! What a day. Fabuloso!
This is Geography for our Field Trip homeschool lessons for today.

On the Nemo yellow Submarine

The Brand new Nemo Submarine Ride.
The wait was supposed to be about and hour. We didn't go on it the other visit because it was way to hot to stand in line and then it was about an hour and a half.
It turned out to only be 30 minutes. YEAH. Which was 7 p.m.
It was VERY much worth the wait!!
I can't believe how they can get so much stuff down there. The ride went on and on and on.
There are screens under the water and you see the animation of the Nemo characters acting out being lost in the ocean.
Somewhat like the movie, but different.
You do have to lean forward to look out the portholes to be able to see everything. The seats flip up and down. Derek ended up standing the whole time because he is not big enough to hold the seat down and lean forward to see out the porthole at the same time.

The kids going up the stairs after the ride was over.

matterhon line.... or lack of

We were so happily surprised at the absence of a line at the Matterhorn. I had to break out my camera for a photo documentation. We have never, and may never again see, this short of a line. We waited longer at the "gate" to get into a bobsled that we did in the line. The kids going through the turnstyle. Katie's finishing her ice cream sandwich.
Grandma behind me in the No Line. James has the drink bag on his head.

having a wonderful time

Grandma & Katie on Autotopia! The last ride of the night.
We had a wonderful time!!!
Bye for now!

Our postcard to you from Disneyland

Look for us at Disneyland Today

I've been thinking of it for weeks, but didn't finally decide until late Monday night.... but we are going to Disneyland tomorrow, after piano.

There's a big group of homeschoolers that are all wearing tie dye........ so we made shirts this afternoon.
They are taking the group picture at 2:00 in front of the California (adventure) Sign.

There's a "DisneySchooling" Yahoo group where everyone coordinates getting together.
Their (Un)Official homeschool day is January 31st and Feb 1st 2008. Plan ahead!

The kids don't know yet though.... I just told them we are going somewhere with grandma to celebrate her birthday.

In case you are free and want to go too! Sorry for the late notice.

Win a Baby Sling / pouch

I have lots of baby showers coming up so I entered the contest at

From Dates to Diapers and beyond to win a Baby Pouch or Sling from Rockin' Baby Sling

My favorite is "Sweet Child of Mine" - with the purple & teal. It would be good for a boy or girl and dad or mom to carry. (My favorite Guns N Roses song too!)

I also liked "Sweet Caroline" and "Piece of my Heart". They have different titles on the sling page, but the same fabrics.

I couldn't have survived James without a sling. He wanted to be held & carried constantly. He was my first, so I didn't care. I wasn't letting go of him anyway. He was our precious miracle baby. Well the first one, all 3 are precious miracles & blessings.
I loved grocery shopping with the sling. I had both hands free and he was happily sleeping.
You would usually see me pushing the stroller with him in the sling.
This was early 1997, so slings were a "new" thing - well at least around here, I rarely saw anyone with one.
Now days you see them everywhere. There were 3 moms with slings in Mass yesterday.

homeschool buyers co-op...possible buy spellingtime.com

Many of us enjoyed www.Spellingtime.com for free last year.
Unfortunately, they started charging to used the service last month.
Plus you have to pay for each child - it is not a "family" rate.

There is a chance that you can do it cheaper through homeschool buyers Co-op
It is free to be a member of the Co-op and they offer a lot of things at a group discount.
(we're going to get the Pokemon League @ reduced price)

Here is a message from the Homeschool buyers co-op:

We are deep in conversations with the developers of SpellingTime.com
and BigMathTime.com regarding a Group Buy.
Check them out online and then use the form on the Contact Us page to let us know if you are interested.

I sent them a message that I hope they'll get discount rates on the Spelling Time site.

Pool is formed

The pool is formed.
The spa is formed.

Parish Picnic time.

Our parish annual picnic. This year's theme..... a luau. The kids had fun at the games.

.99 trays for art / watercolors

Lissa @ "The Lilting House" wrote an excellent post about how her children do watercolors.
She writes about using tubes of watercolors very sparingly,
using the expensive watercolor paper very carefully,
a delightful anecdote about caring for brushes by treating them like
the beards of an elf.
She mentions how she and other bloggers use whiteboards as
support.

We were in IKEA and found these trays in the kitchen section marked
down for clearance for .99. The picture doesn't show that they are about 12 X 18.
So I grabbed 3. Now I wish I would have grabbed one for me.
They'll be great for keeping liquids on the tray, brushes and pencils from rolling off.
And we have lots of Sculpey art going on around here.... so this will be easier to clean.

Pool update photos

I'm behind on posting about our pool construction.
Filling in the shot crete. I don't know how to spell it.
9/8

win a cute pendant

Visit pameringbeki and leave a comment to enter to win an adorable pendant from

Littleput Books . The original designer will choose the prize.

They are all so very cute. I love all of the flowers, the owl and my favorite is the koi fish.

The Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary. + a new protrait to see

Happy Birthday to our Blessed Mother Mary!

What better way to honor her than with a new icon painted of Her with Jesus in her womb.

From a Catholic Exchange Article & Interview:

"Nellie Edwards is an artist. When I saw her painting, "Light of Life," the
very strong impression that I felt years ago was renewed and fulfilled.
Here was what I had pondered in my heart a decade earlier, only strikingly
more beautiful: Our Lord, fully God and fully man — fully God and fully unborn
infant — is cradled in the womb of the Blessed Mother. The story of
how this marvelous and startling portrait of Our Lady came to be interested me
greatly, so I was eager to learn about it from the artist herself."

click to see the full image and the article:
http://www.catholicexchange.com/node/64141

The artits Nellie Edwards says, "If the print is prominently displayed in homes where lax family members and visitors cannot help but see, I believe it will aid in bringing them back into the Faith. Many will find, as I do, that it will be a powerful visual aid when praying the Holy Rosary. I do plan to continue speaking and using the images to evangelize, as is, I believe, their purpose."

Coco on the desk?

Somehow Coconut went from my lap to the top of my desk.
Katie snapped her picture and we all had a laugh.
I'm enjoying my yummy Starbuck's Frappaccino
Geoff brought on his way back from the bank.

Katie has the camera

Katie's self portrait.
Her photo of Coconut.

A shot of my Cross wall.
Ooops the banner is still up from our HighSchool Musical 2 Party.
this is also the "drop spot" for things coming and going from the house since it is in the foyer as we all come and go.

Friday art & ocean science

This is called ART / Science Class on a Friday when the mom/teacher has a migrane!
Derek's Giraffe. A gift for Grandparent's Day.
Derek is in charge of baking the Sculpey objects. With LOTS of supervision of course.
He is so proud of himself. (Those mitts are bigger than he is.... Safety first!)
2 hammerhead sharks, giraffe, yellow fish, 3 turtles, pink sea otter, Katie's rainbow, the octopus and I made the yellow sea star.