What We've Been Reading - Weeks 4 and 5

Preschool - Second Grade Read Alouds

  

Aesop's Fables for Children illustrated by Milo Winter

Bible Stories for Little Children under the approbation of Cardinal McCloskey (excerpt here)

A Book of Seasons by Alice and Martin Provensen

Catholic Children's Treasure Box Books by Maryknoll Sfisters

A Child's Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson, illustrated by Tasha Tudor

The Elephant's Child by Rudyard Kipling, illustrated by Leonard Weisgard

The children had a lot of questions about this story. They also thought that it was funny. I was surprised that they asked for me to read it twice on the same day. It lead to a discussion about spanking and comments from Finnian about how the elephant's child shouldn't have spanked his family.  Patrick told his older brother all about the story and enjoyed telling him about the words that the bi-colored-python-rock snake used. Like Patrick, I was amused by Rudyard Kipling's interesting use of words and phrases.

Every Autumn Comes The Bear by Jim Arnosky

James Herriot's Treasury for Children by James Herriot

Little Patron of Gardeners: The Good Saint Fiacre by Catherine Beebe

Master Maid: A Tale of Norway by Aaron Shepard

I am still trying to decide what I thought of this book. In it, the troll says to the Master Maid, "Curse your soul." She replies, "Bless my soul." While I like the Master Maid's response, I felt uneasy reading the troll's words to my children.

Miniature Stories of the Saints by Rev. Daniel A. Lord, SJ

Saint Francis and the Animals by Leo Politi

St. Jerome and the Lion by Margaret Hodges

Second Grade

Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman

Fifth Grade

The Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli

The Covered Bridge by Cornelia Meigs

Happy Times in Noisy Village by Astrid Lindgren

Sixth Grade

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, illustrated by Arthur Rackham

John Treegate's Musket by Leonard Wibberley

Peter Treegate's War by Leonard Wibberley

Sea Captain from Salem by Leonard Wibberley

Eighth Grade

The Black Fox of Lorne by Marguerite de Angeli

The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving, illustrated by Arthur Rackham

National Velvet by Enid Bagnold

The Yearling by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings

Tenth Grade

Butter at the Old Price: The Autobiography of Marguerite de Angeli
Catherine enjoyed getting a peak at this author's life. She told me in amazement, "Marguerite de Angeli and her sister used to stay up until midnight working on homework."  I always thought that Marguerite de Angeli was a Catholic, but Catherine told me that she was a Baptist.

The Catholic Girl's Guide by Fr. F.X. Lasance

Catherine received this book as a gift from her Confirmation sponsor a few years ago. This book was the perfect present for my daughter. She is constantly reading it. I will try to remember to mention the book when Catherine discusses some aspect of it with me, as she did recently.

The Lark and the Laurel by Barbara Willard

Life With Father by Clarence Day

St. Francis of Assisi by G.K. Chesterton

Me

The Mirror of True Womanhood by Rt. Rev. Monsignor Bernard O'Reilly, D.D., L.D.

We and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland

Read Aloud

Queen without a Crown by Madeleine Polland

Saint Dominic and the Rosary by Catherine Beebe

Saints for Young People for Every Day of the Year by the Daughters of St. Paul

Audiobooks

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, read by David Case

A Day at the Zoo

Aquarium

On Wednesday, the traditional feast of the North American Martyrs, we spent the day at the the zoo with some friends from our parish.

Looking at the Octopus

My two oldest children stayed at home. However, Brendan and Theresa joined us to help out and have fun.

Budgies

Monkey Time

In addition to holding my friend's son, Theresa enjoyed taking photos of the animals.

Arctic Fox

I didn't know that walruses kiss.

Walruses and Seal

We are looking forward to hopefully returning to the zoo with these and a few more families in October.

Group Photo

We all had a delightful time.

Playground Fun

As one of my friends said, "It was a lovely day!"

Food for a Wife's Soul

A couple of weeks ago, our pastor gave an excellent sermon (as usual). In it, he mentioned that charity should always be done with Christ in mind and for the good of another's soul. He urged all of us present to think of the North American Martyrs, and other saints, and what motivated them.

When my husband and I were dating, he showed me that a young bride needs nourishment for her soul when he gave one of my sisters By Love Refined: Letters to a Young Bride by Alice Von Hildebrand as a wedding gift.

What do these two stories have to do with each other?

Well, I think that my husband had the right idea and that gift givers should also keep a person's soul in mind.

On August 15, CeAnne let me know that I had won the book, The Mirror of True Womanhood. I was very excited. I had read the first chapter of Msgr. O'Reilly's book online after learning about it and I felt that reading it in its entirety would be beneficial. I have not been disappointed. The Mirror of True Womanhood is a book that was written not only to help improve marriages and family life, but possibly for the salvation of a woman's soul.

So far, I have read about 150 pages and the book is very rich in wisdom. It is food for my soul. I am so thankful that CeAnne sent me this book. If you have a sister or friend who is getting married, The Mirror of True Womanhood would make a great bridal shower gift. It would also make a wonderful birthday present. This book might just be food for a sister's, a friend's, or your own soul.

Blueberry Picking Again

My Little Clowns Taking a Short Break from Picking Berries

On September 15, the Feast of Our Lady of Sorrows, the children and I went blueberry picking again. The berries were plentiful and we were happy to leave with gallons of blueberries (I had thought that 12 cups was  a lot) and a pail full of blackberries besides. Catherine made another delicious blueberry pie. I froze a bunch of blueberries. All of the children ate the berries by the handful out of a big bowl; they have also been adding them to oatmeal and cereal in the morning. Theresa made scrumptious oatmeal blueberry pancakes this past Saturday. The children want to go blueberry picking again, but I think that we will wait until next September to pick more of these delectable berries.

Four Months Old

I can't believe that four months have passed since our big little boy was born. He brings so much joy to all of us. I am so thankful that God blessed us with another child.

2012-2013 5th Grade

Oops, somehow, I failed to publish this before now.

Morning Routine

Catholic Calendar 

• Saint of the day (help younger siblings)

Morning Prayers

• Child's Treasury of Daily Prayers

Saint Stories

• Once Upon a Time Saints
• More Once Upon a Time Saints
• Around the Year: Once Upon a Time Saints
• Picture Book of Saints
• Saints for Young People for Every Day Volumes 1 and 2 (We have older copies of these books.)
• Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints by Alban Butler

Composer Study 

• Classical Kids: Collection
• Music Masters
• Opal Wheeler's Books

Poetry 

• The Harp and Laurel Wreath
• The Oxford Book of Children's Verse

Art

• Artistic Pursuits
• Art 5 for Young Catholics
• Various art supplies as needed

History

• America's Catholic Heritage (almost finished)
• Maps, Charts, Graphs Level E
• D'Aulaire's biographies
• The Columbus Story (and other history picture books by Alice Dalgliesh)
• Vision and/or Windeatt books
• Various other history books (still need to organize suggestions)

Language Arts

• 5th Grade Faith and Freedom Readers
• Handwriting 5 for Young Catholics
• Phonics 5 for Young Catholics
• English 5 for Young Catholics
• Reading 5 for Young Catholics Comprehension and Thinking Skills
• Spelling 5 for Young Catholics
• Creative Writing
• The Institute for Excellence in Writing's Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales

Literature

• Various books from our personal library and the public library
• Read-Aloud books and Audiobooks

Math

• Calculadders MasterPak 1
• Saxon Math 6/5
• D.I.V.E. CD

Music

• Classical Music
• French CDs
• Religious Music CDs
• And more

Religion

• A Year with God
• Religion 5 for Young Catholics
• Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints
• Baltimore Catechism No. 2
• Bible

Science

• Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day (Theresa's older sisters and brother have enjoyed using this text, making ocean boxes, etc. My oldest still mentions how much she learned from it. Hopefully, Theresa like it too.)
• Zoology 2 Notebook
• Vegetable Gardening

Field Trip Possibilities

• Beach
• County Fair
• Farms
• Flight Museum
• Mountains
• Science Center
• Zoo