The Year of St Paul

The Catholic Church has declared this year (June 28, 2008- June 29,2009) "The Year of St. Paul". Following this initiative, we are going to take some time this year to study about this great evangelist to the gentiles.

These are the main resources we are using:

1. St Paul's epistles (of course :-). My favorite Bible to use is: the Ignatius Bible: Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. We had been using the ESV, but the sentence structure and the language is much more beautiful in this version.



2. Saint Paul the Apostle: The Story of the Apostle to the Gentiles
by Mary Fabyan Windeatt
The first Mary Fabyan Windeatt book we read was about St. Benedict. We have loved her books ever since.








3. St Paul The Great Evangelizer" Faith Folder (lapbook)
This resource is offered by www.lapbooksforcatholics.com .

*We haven't started putting our folders together yet; this picture is a sample from the company's website.

The Catholic Children'sTreasure Box series

The Catholic Children's Treasure Box series, first published in the 1950s, is a charming set of books which gently detail points of the faith, stories from the Bible, lives of the saints, the Christian life, and manners, along with fun games, crafts, and activities.

I'd say this set is very appropriate for preschoolers, but even much older children seem to enjoy it very much. When it first arrived in the mail, Chloe and Kievan sat down and read the entire set. When I read portions to the younger children the older ones don't mind hearing it again.

I purchased this set because it is used extensively in the Catholic Heritage Curricula (CHC) first grade plans. I first balked at the price which was $80 for the set (about $4 per book; need all twenty) but I do think they are worth the price. These books have been enjoyed over and over again, and are full of simple but important lessons.





Some of the theological topics these books cover are: sacrament of baptism, sign of the cross, guardian angels, love, how to pray, the Church's teachings, meaning of a vocation, cloistered religious, the annunciation, fallen angels, the devil, the Mass, Church personnel, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, the blessed Trinity, temptation, original sin, nature of Jesus, about hell, God's house, the true Creator, Mary's life, Jesus' life...

Our "Moolah Chart"

Our "Moolah Chart" helps me greatly in the organization of our school days.

Dots= 10 cents
Lines= $1











The first thing I do each school morning is ask Chloe if her hair is brushed, shoes are on, teeth are brushed, bed is made, and homework is done. I then put the appropriate number of dots for each chore on her section of the board. Then I move on to each of the other children.

On Fridays the children can earn the big money:
If their math grades for the week average an 'A', they earn $3; a 'B' earns $2, and a 'C' earns $1.
Spelling tests work like this: 100% earns $3, an 'A' earns $2, and a 'B' earns $1.

Some 'dot values' change. For example, when this picture was taken, the chores of making the bed and doing the homework were worth "two dots" (20 cents) each. Now they are worth only one dot apiece.

Sometimes we add temporary "dot plans". For example, this week we are working on the habit of speaking gently. So, this week whenever a person is caught using a mean tone of voice, that person loses a dot. If I'm caught not speaking gently, the person who catches me gets an extra dot.

Whenever I get the chance, I condense a child's ten dots into a dollar "line" in order to read their totals more easily.

The dots and lines are used like credit with me. For example, if we are driving past Sonic and someone wants to spend some of their Moolah on a milkshake, we stop and purchase it. The next morning I deduct the equivalent amount of lines/dots.

Scene from Week 1:

This week in the CHC curriculum, Allie & Ben studied a bit about mammals. Here, Allie is making a short book about the characteristics of mammals.

Our Classroom

While the rest of us were in Virginia, Brad fixed up the schoolroom. He added some shelves and moved around some others to make better use of space. I am so pleased! Anyway, here is how our little schoolroom looks this year:

As you look in the door...Chloe and Kievan each have a rectangular table as a desk; Allister and Ben share the smaller table (Ben is rarely there).


















~Little nook for microscope and extra-high shelf for chemicals and science materials
~The kids keep their school books in the red baskets under their desks


















~Lots of bins to keep our "junk" neatly stowed



















~What the kids face everyday


















~Our schedule: the left column is for Chloe & Kievan, right column is Allister's (I have to stagger the schedules so that I have time to help those that need it in particular subjects.)