Traditional Latin Mass: Feast of the Sacred Heart

Tomorrow I have the privilege and honor of hanging out with my three smallest ages 4, 2.9, and 10 months during Mass all by myself! Won't have my DH's help but sitting with some friends for help instead. It is a privilege and honor because my DH and eldest DS will be serving the Altar with Father Ferguson. I can't wait to see them up there! What a beautiful thing it will be.

Lord willing, one day one of our boys will be offering Mass...what an honor!

Catching Worms, Bright and Early!

From Nigh Owl to Early Bird: My Transformation

I'm a research-based kinda person, maybe because of my Reading Intervention background? I'm not sure but I like to find research or conduct research as to why things are the way they are. Sometimes I thought that I like being a teacher mainly because I get to be a learner all day all the time, this might prove to be true. So, as I analyzed my new life as a homeschooling mother of four and wife, I realized something: I am no longer the Night Owl I used to be. My WHOLE life I have been a night owl. My mom shares stories of me fighting my sleep as an infant. This has all come to an end at the ripe age of 35!!

I have noticed a couple of things: 1. I'm tired at around 10PM, 2. I like waking up before the kids to start my day, 3. I can't function as well as I use to with lack of sleep, so 4. I need my sleep! So strange to me! If you are anything like me (and so unlike my DH), I could function without sleep and not be grumpy or grouchy. I remember when Number 2, Josef Nicolas-Pablo had colic at six weeks old (for six weeks). He would wake up at 11PM and cry until around 2-3AM, I had to be up by 6AM and at work teaching by 7AM. I was fine...so I think, maybe I wasn't my 100%??? I thought I was.

Here's something I found regarding this topic. This new study shows that how we sleep often reflects how we function intellectually and socially. Researchers claim that early risers tend to “reach conclusions through logic and analysis. Night owls are more imaginative and open to unconventional ideas, preferring the unknown and favoring intuitive leaps on their way to reaching conclusions.

Morning people are more likely to be self-controlled and exhibit “upstanding” conduct; they respect authority, are more formal, and take greater pains to make a good impression. (Earlier research also suggests that they are less likely to hold radical political opinions.) Evening people, by contrast, are “independent” and “nonconforming,” and more reluctant to listen to authority—which suggests that teachers may have several reasons to prefer those students who wake

up in time for class.

So I guess that the Lord is forcing me to change my sleeping habits as well as many other aspects of my life. Unlike other Catholics, I need a metal hammer to the head to realize this, lol! Seriously, a couple of weeks ago I did my usual nightime web surfing in quest for the perfect homeschool curriculum, texts, etc.. By day five of staying up late and getting only about 5-6 hours a night, I got the migrane from hell! I never even get headaches so you could imagine how horrible this must have felt to me. If you have ever had a migrane, you know how bad I felt that night. I could not function, my DH had to take over from around 6:30PM until around 2AM when I woke up and showered. That was horrible, never again! This is when I realized, I can't do this anymore. Little did I know that it was the hammer to the head that I needed.

I've been on a quest to get curriculum planned and my entire life organized (and put on paper). During this process, many things have changed. Much to my surprise, I love it! The kids are happier as they are getting more sleep and better sleep patterns. I know this process will be slow and I need to pray for patience but I'm happy with the positive results thus far! So I am off to catch some worms...oh and in reference to my quest in planning and getting organized, I FINALLY found the right combination and I'm so excited! I've gotten my DH involved and he is happy (the pack rat that he is, lol). I can't talk I'm so much like him it drives me nuts because he does the things that I dislike about myself, it's a weird combination but we can laught together about it because we understand each other so much. I will post my organizational findings another day....gotta run and stay on schedule, lol!

Books!!!!

Did I mention how much I love books? I have so many children's books and now that my son is of age, my collection has been growing. In search of good Catholic novels, I came across a couple of books that are a total must have in our library at home. The first is, The Weight of the Mass by Josephine Nobisso and it's companion, Take It to the Queen. Both by the same author and geared for elementary age children.

It's Planning Time (again!)

So it's been almost a month since I was last on here...not that I haven't been thinking school (on the contrary). A couple of weeks ago, we got a chance to go back to Florida. I got a chance to dig through some of my teaching things, which was great because I found tons of things I can use with the kids at home as well as the Co-op!

I am also looking into ways to get more organized at home. With four children ages 11 months to 11 years, I need to be in full control of all the components of house keeping to maintain a happy home life. I have a close friend who is a teacher and fellow home schoolers who once told me, "when you get to number four, you'll get super organized, it will be second nature." Bless her heart, she was right! Well, atleast I have the desire to get more organized. So I'm planning, organizing, planning, restructuring, and planning some more...because with a plan, I firmly believe that you avoid many pitfalls! So a planning I shall go!

My Quest for Catholic Novels

Although I've taught at a Catholic school for four years, never did we use an official Catholic author for the novels we selected in the Middle School.  Now that I get to choose novels for my son, as well as the ones we will read in the Co-Op, I've been searching for good books.  I've seen lists here and there but not until now did I find something that I think the kids would like.  Of course, I am basing my decision entirely on my prior knowledge of what kids this age usually like in secular teen/pre-teen literature.  So here is my list of recommendations so far:

 

• Tom Playfair Or Making a Start By: Fr. Francis J. Finn S.J. (The story opens with 10-year-old Tom Playfair being quite a handful for his well-meaning but soft-hearted aunt. (Tom's mother has died.) Mr. Playfair decides to ship his son off to St. Maure's boarding school--an all-boys academy run by Jesuits--to shape him up, as well as to help him make a good preparation for his upcoming First Communion. Tom is less than enthusiastic, but his adventures are just about to begin. Life at St. Maure's will not be dull!)
  
  
• Percy Wynn By: Fr. Francis J. Finn S.J. (Percy Wynn. In this volume, Tom Playfair meets a new boy just arriving at St. Maure's. Percy Wynn has grown up in a family of 10 girls and only 1 boy--himself! His manners are formal, he talks like a book, and he has never played baseball or gone skating, boating, fishing, or even swimming! Yet he has brains, courage and high Catholic ideals. Tom and his buddies at St. Maure's befriend Percy and have a great time as they all work at turning Percy into an all-American Catholic boy.
  
  
• Harry Dee Or Working it Out By: Fr. Francis J. Finn (Harry Dee. Young Harry Dee arrives at St. Maure's thin and pale from his painful experiences involving the murder of his rich uncle. In this last book of the three, Tom and Percy help Harry recover from his early trauma--which involves solving "the mystery of Tower Hill Mansion." After many wild experiences, the three boys graduate from St. Maure's and head toward the life work to which God is calling each of them as young men.)
  
  
• Claude Lightfoot Or How the Problem Was Solved By: Fr. Francis J. Finn S.J. (Claude Lightfoot. The story opens upon Claude Lightfoot, a reckless 12 year old boy who constantly acts first and thinks later. After being in clash with some bullies, Claude is obliged to miss his First Communion. In the course of the story, Fr. Finn manages to cover a host of topics, including smoking, drinking, the devil, Confession, Holy Communion, retaining one s Baptismal innocence, the 9 First Fridays, the priesthood, mothers and sisters, truthfulness, lying, courage, effeminacy, atheism, sacrilege, baseball, Americanism (true and false), Latin, virtue, honor, leadership, etc.)
  
  
•  That Football Game And What Came of It By: Fr. Francis J. Finn S.J. (That Football Game. This book features Claude and many other characters from Claude Lightfoot. Again, Fr. Finn covers a host of Catholic topics, giving a ringing defense of the game of football and presenting a great picture of the All-American boy. See the Catholic Faith woven into everyday life, the way it should be. Puts the right kind of role models before the eyes of our boys! Interesting to read, enthralling, hard to put down -- not only for young people, but for adults as well! )
  
  
• Crusader King A Novel of Baldwin IV and the Crusades By: Susan Peek (Crusader King. A new historical novel about the unusual life of King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, the leper crusader king who - despite ascending to the throne at only 13, his early death at 24 and his debilitating disease - performed great and heroic deeds in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. Teenagers and avid readers of all ages will be amazed at this story and be inspired by a faith that accomplished the impossible!)
  
  
• Ethelred Preston Or the Adventures of a Newcomer By: Fr. Francis J. Finn S.J. (Ethelred Preston. In this book, the new kid certainly livens things up at Henryton boarding academy! Again, Fr. Finn covers a host of Catholic topics and presents a great picture of the All-American boy!)