Pinewood Castle

Circle Time at Pinewood Castle - Fall Plans

Here it is! My Circle Time Plans for Fall:

Download Circle Time Plans - Sept - November

(be sure to choose landscape orientation before printing)

These plans organize songs, poems, finger plays, movement games and picture books from several of my favorite resources into weekly seasonal themes. Hymns, songs and some picture book and menu suggestions are also provided according to the liturgical calendar.

The weekly themes from September through November are:

Establishing Rhythm and the Seasons

Orderliness, In the Kitchen

Taking Care of Yourself

Working Songs and Fall Feast Days

Apples and the Rosary

Squirrels and Chipmunks

Leaves

Pumpkins, Spiders and All Saints

All Souls', Wind and Darkness

Owls, Moon, River and Thanksgiving

Turkeys, Thanksgiving and Christ the King

The daily format goes more or less in this order:

Light Candle

Opening Song

Calendar and Weather

Saint of the Day

Bible Story (any good children's Bible you like - we use a different one every year)

Liturgical Hymn

Seasonal Song

Poem

Fingerplay

Movement

Prayer

Candle Child (in our home the child assigned to Kitchen Patrol gets to blow out the candle)

Picture Books (based on some favorite book lists - nice to move to the sofa for reading)

Crafts (if you get to them - most blanks here are open - fill in as you like)

Menu Ideas (again - go with what strikes you and don't forget to consult Catholic Cuisine!)

A cover to use if you wish for the front pocket of a three ring binder:

Download Circle Time Plans - Cover

The St. Martin's song I borrowed from Sarah's blog.

Download Circle Time Plans - St. Martin

Here's a snapshot of last year's dramatization of the St. Martin legend:

Enjoy this time with your children! I will be posting Advent plans asap.

By the way, the now out-of-print A Child's Seasonal Treasury can be viewed on Google books here. The material is copyrighted but at least you can browse through the book online.

Ten Years Today!

WHEN LOVE IS FOUND

When love is found and hope comes home
Sing and be glad that two are one.
When love explodes and fills the sky
Praise God and share our maker's joy.

When love had flow'red in trust and care
Build both each day that love may dare
To reach beyond home's warmth and light
To serve and strive for truth and right.

When love is tried as loved ones change
Hold still to hope though all seems strange
'Til ease returns and love grows wise
Through listening ears and opened eyes.

When love is torn and trust betrayed
Pray strength to love 'til torments fade
'Til lovers keep no score of wrong
But hear through pain love's Easter song.

Praise God for love, Praise God for life
In age or youth, in husband's wife.
Lift up your hearts, let love be fed
Through death and life, in broken bread.

Circle Time at Pinewood Castle Part 2 - Book and CD Links

(Links and more links)

Here are the basic books I use for circle time:

• A Child's Seasonal Treasury by Betty M. Jones
• Sing a Song of Seasons by Mary Thienes Schunemann (with CD)
• A Journey Through Time in Verse and Rhyme by Heather Thomas
• any good Catholic hymnal (the numbers I use are for Gather)
• a saint book you like (we use Saints for Young Readers for Everyday and display holy cards we collect in a holy card box)
• a children's bible story book

 

 

This year I am also planning to incorporate Tea Time on some of the Marian feast days using Meredith's new book Mondays With Mary and will include page numbers for the corresponding teas. This book can be purchased from her blog site - just look on the sidebar. We have also enjoyed Alice's Tea Time ideas!

Certain times of the year we use the following (all of these come with a CD):

• The Christmas Star by Mary Thienes Schunemann
• Lavender's Blue Dilly Dilly by Mary Thienes Schunemann
• This is the Way We Wash A-Day by Mary Thienes Schunemann
• the above are also available at Nova Naturals
• Wee Sing America
• Wee Sing Silly Songs
• Wee Sing Bible Songs

I am also fond of throwing in some music from these CDs:

• Kids Sing for Jesus
• Laurie Berkner
• Danny Schneible's Sing Little Children (available through Seton but cannot find it online right now) love this album!

Instruments I use almost daily:

• a two octave chromatic glockenspiel
• a soprano recorder (wooden or plastic)
• various rhythm instruments for the children

Also helpful are:

• a CD player with a remote
• colored silk play scarves
• a children's calendar (we use magnetic and puffy ones)

Tables:

• a season's table/nature table (ours in on the sideboard)
• a liturgical table with a candle, holy cards, holy water, liturgical art and aim & flame (top of a classroom bookshelf)

*** a note about A Child's Seasonal Treasury - I can't believe this book costs $57-63 on Amazon!!! I seriously doubt if I paid this much. It must be out of print. I suggest googling the title to shop around for a lower price. Honestly, though, if circle time is something you feel called to do in your homeschool I think this book is worth a few extra dollars!

Coming Up Next: my typed up plans for Fall using the books listed in this post

Wordless Wednesday

(blooms from a few weeks ago - on Father's Day)

Circle Time at Pinewood Castle - Part 1

Do you do circle time?

We are in the habit of beginning the school morning with circle time as a way to gather together and start the downbeat of the day with an agreeable rhythm.

My goals for the children include:

• to learn the calendar; days, weeks, months
• to learn about the saint of the day
• to read Bible stories
• to live the liturgical year through singing, crafts, reading and meals
• to learn Catholic hymns (especially since we don't sing at the Latin Mass)
• to sing seasonal songs and standard children's repertoire
• to learn how to sit with a a group of children, pay attention to the leader and show consideration for other children in the group
• to begin the day in prayer together

In the next post I will share what we use for basic books and equipment . . .

How to Quit the Homeschooling Habit

Step One: Decide that you all need a summer break, even if unfinished workbook pages remain in math, handwriting and Explode the Code.

Step Two: Call the babysitter who is now available during the day. Ask her if she is available in, like, 30 minutes to come over while the baby naps.

Step Three: Take the school-aged kids out for ice cream.

Step Four: Go somewhere fun. My kids like this place along the highway with playhouses and gazebos. We went there last year too, so now it qualifies as a Last Day of School Tradition.

We calculated that each child would need to save $2000 and pool their money for one of these  -

Actually, this one met all their criteria: porch, porch swing and an inside loft We can always dream. I told them that if we ever won the lottery they could jump on the bed and then come  here to buy a play house.

Good-bye to 3rd, 1st and kindergarten! Hello to 4th, 2nd and 1st grade!

Happy Birthday America

A Baby I Will Miss Carrying

I experienced my first miscarriage during my blogging break. It was very early - a week or two or three depending on how you count.

It started about the 19th day of my cycle with hip and low back pain. I had such muscle spams I felt as if one wrong move would immobilize me and my back would "go out" as they say. After three visits to the chiropractor that took the edge off of my back pain I could sense more pain in my lower left pelvic area. The 27th day of my cycle I went in for an M.D. appointment in case I had an ovarian cyst or and ectopic pregnancy. Blood work was done that confirmed a positive pregnancy. Everything else was normal. I was reminded to continue to watch for symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy.

For a whole week we felt the excitement, wonder and awe of God's blessing us with another baby who would be born sometime around the EDD of February 25th, the feast of St. Caesarius. The children were excited, my DH was happy and I was happy yet a bit perplexed. The pain in my left side gradually faded and I refocused my attention to this blessing that was obviously part of God's will for us. I ordered prenatal vitamins and shared the news and perplexed feelings with one close friend.

In my efforts to rejuvenate my prayer life and faith in prayer I had been praying overlapping novenas to St. Therese and St. Joseph for the ability to move back to the city, closer to a parish we could call home; to be part of a faith community and have an easier time getting to Saturday confession and Mass on holy days.

Instead a new location, it seemed, God was giving us a new baby. I was okay with that. I felt rather humbled and honored that God thought we were up to responsibility of a fifth child.

Then about the 29th day of my cycle I began to bleed heavily for two days. Although I felt somewhat relieved that I wasn't too far along I also felt like seeing a teeny tiny baby come out would have given me a greater sense of reality and closure. Instead I was looking at chunks of bloody tissue just wondering how to identify where my baby was in all of this. Feeling uncertainty at having to flush the toilet, not knowing what part of what I saw was a growing embryo. Feeling let down that God was not going to give us a new baby after all.

On the heaviest day of bleeding we were in the cities all day for dental check-ups and to celebrating our little boy's birthday.

We named the baby Pat because this name could be for a boy or a girl. Also because our friend Pat helped watch the children while I was in the dentist's chair getting my teeth scraped and polished. She has been such a blessing to me over the years - calling every now and then to check in and offering the best advice and counsel any young mom could hope for.

Now I have a little time to grieve. Time to accept what has happened and find a was to rejoice in God's will rather than feel abandoned. Battling with my melancholic nature to despair is no easy task.

So pray for me and I will pray for you. I will ask our little baby Pat to pray for you too. After all God did give us a baby - one more voice for the heavenly choir (as Marie Bellet's song come to mind). One whom I will miss carrying in my arms but one who may help carry us closer to God and His perfect though perplexing will.

Wordless Wednesday

Now I am Six

When I was One,
I had just begun.
When I was Two,
I was nearly new.
When I was Three
I was hardly me.
When I was Four,
I was not much more.
When I was Five, I was just alive.
But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever,
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

~ A. A. Milne