Happy 4th!

From my family to yours, happy birthday America!

Year of the Priest Faith Folder Giveaway!

Ever heard of lapbooks? If you have been homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling, I'm certain you've come across lapbooks. I had never heard of them until my quest for everything homeschooling began. I wish I'd known of this when I was teaching Middle School Language Arts and Literature. So, the other day I was thinking gosh I've never seen a Catholic themed lapbook, I bet those would be neat and bang! I found someone who creates them! This Catholic mom of six calls them "Faith Folders" - I love it! I also found that this blog, Tales from Bonny Blue House is giving away a lapbook based on The year of the Priest! How cool is that? If you post a comment on her blog and then create a post on your own blog (with a link back to her's), you will be entered in the contest. Comments on her site close this Sunday! Good luck!

The Simpler the Better: Teaching Languages

As with anything and everything in life, the simpler the better. Especially when it comes to children. I've heard and experienced it with my children when it comes to toys, they LOVE those cheaper Dollar Store toys and will play with them endlessly, the more expensive ones can be too complex at times and they loose interest easier. What does this have to do with Homeschooling you may ask? Everything! I've been searching for texts and programs to use with my kids; my most recent journey has been in search for a Spanish Curriculum. Thankfully, I follow SpanglishBaby.com, co-started by a friend from high school, Roxana. Through that site I was able to visit other sites which talk about raising children bilingual. I believe that it is my duty to teach my children my native language, Spanish. It would be a shame if they would not learn this from me! So with that said, I found a program I really like for my smaller kids (my oldest knows Spanish already, he is ready for grammar and literature-how exciting!). I've seen this advertised on TV and their ad truly does not show you just how wonderful this program is. It is called Muzzy, which is a fuzzy green "monstro" (monter) which has landed on Gonzoland and they teach the language as he goes learning about this new land.

Interesting that I went trolling for Spanish programs, found Muzzy but not in Spanish! LOL, I found someone has posted the English version of the program (it comes in various languages). I'd love to buy this, eventually, but for now I will be using the ones posted on www.youtube.com. I will be using it both in English and in Spanish because the English one is geared to teach children how to speak, read, and write in English and hey that's where my 4 and 3 year olds are at. I'm sure it wouldn't hurt if the baby (11 months old) would also catch a glimpse of it (and since most of the episodes are about 7-10 minutes long, it's a perfect match for my very active little ones). I'm so excited that this person has taken the time to post these. I'm not sure how legal this is? They are in Argentina and Muzzy is produced in England, aren't there international laws against this? I will be trolling for a used version of the program. I'm very into buying used things lately as I have sold things that my kids no longer use which are almost in new condition. Anyways, if you get a chance take a peek at this video which is the Vocabulary portion of the program; as a former Language Arts teacher I am very impressed with this video program. I can see me implementing this and using the videos to begin the lesson and creating my own flash cards and worksheets to go with the short videos. How exciting!

Teaching Spanish/Ensenando Espanol

I religiously follow this blog/webpage: www.spanglishbaby.com, because they have such great ideas and suggestions, and of course research, on how to teach and the benefits of teaching Spanish (or any other language) to your children. I think it's a shame that I haven't been more pro-active about this with my last three kids. It was so much easier with my oldest son. He was the only child for seven years so I was able to keep him speaking Spanish only up until his fourth birthday. Then I started teaching him English and kept speaking in Spanish as well. He is 11 now and well versed in Spanish as he can read it well. I would like to teach him how to be a better writer, so I'v ebeen looking for programs on how to do just that!

My other children are a different story. My husband doesn't speak, or I should say isn't fluent in Spanish. We speak English, mainly at home so that's what they hear. They have picked up a couple of words watching Dora/Diego so at least they have heard it some. With my baby, I'm speaking to him in Spanish only and Daddy will do the English. I've been looking for a program to teach my 3 and 4 year olds, thinking something like a workbook and flash cards. Well, while trolling through the site I mentioned above, I found they were giving things away this summer. Here's the info on that if you are interested: http://www.spanglishbaby.com/2009/06/bilingual-fun-spanish-for-children-dvd-series . I also found a link with information on ideas to teach Spanish in a fun way. Never did it cross my mind to do it hands on! Playing songs, games, and twisting popular American games into Spanish lessons sounds like so much fun! I think I'd enjoy doing that and flashcards for review, and books of course. Instead of the workbook idea. Thank you SpanglishBaby!

Solemn High Mass at Our Lady of Grace in Greensboro, NC

These are pictures taken by Philip Gerard Johnson of the Mass in the Extraordinary Form on the Feast of the Sacred Heart (2009). I tried to link his blog to this post but had trouble so I'm just posting the pictures of the beautiful Mass of which my DH, Todd, and DS, Guillermo served in. It was very beautiful! Thank you Father Melo, pastor of Our Lady of Grace, for your charity and allowing this Mass on a busy Sunday. Also, a very special thank you to Father Ferguson, FSSP (Society of Saint Peter), Father Kowalski (Pastor, Holy Angels in Mt. Airy, NC), and Father Parkerson (Pastor, Sacred Heart in Dunn, NC) who celebrated or deaconed/sub-deaconed this Mass. Enjoy!

How the Lord sent me my Husband

Here's the first testimony we wrote when we were in the courtship stage of our relationship. Todd was in Syracuse, NY and I, in Miami, FL. (1,500 miles apart!) We reminisce of times when we thought the days of being married with lots of kids couldn't come any sooner, and here we are!

Catholicmatch.com has since asked us to send them an update. As we approach our fifth year of Marriage, this might be a nice little project to go back and document our story for us and, our beautiful blessings, our children!