Great Catholic Books & Resources

I wrote an email a while back about great Catholic books and resources we use in our home to teach our children about the faith. I have since had friends ask me for recommendations, so I thought I'd make it a blog post that I can easily share in the future. It's a LOT, but make a list and consider them for the future. THey make great Birthday, St. Nicholas Day, Christmas, or Easter gifts! Or even on the anniversary of your child's baptism! (Do you celebrate that? Their birthday in to the Church? WE just started this year!)

• Holy Heroes  are awesome. They have Glory Stories, which are like Adventures in Odyssey, but Catholic. They take the stories of the Saints and put them to an audio story, and then tell it as if St. Therese was telling you about her childhood. Some, like st. Cecelia, do talk about cutting her head off, so be warned about that for really young or sensitive kids. They also have other cool things on their website.
• Shining Light Dolls.  These are awesome Saint dolls that are small and fun for kids of all ages. Great for St. Nicholas Day gifts! They also have 2 books and we love the Mary one!
• http://www.catholicicing.com is just one of the best Catholic blogs for kids ideas. She has tons of costume ideas for All Saints Day (Dress up as a Saint when you attend Mass on All Saints Day- which is a Holy Day of Obligation!), peg-doll ideas, crafts for various Saints, make your own monstrance, great ideas for helping your kids prepare for First Communion, and so much more! She's a great resource. 
• Tiny Saints- These are just small charms that are fun to put on jacket zippers, backpacks, or I have mine on my keys! 

Good books: 

• 33 Days to Morning Glory-
• 33 Days to Merciful Love
• Any book by this author. I first read Our Lady of Kiebeho- Mary appeared in Rwanda (Like Fatima and Lourdes) and told the people to repent- and they didn't and then the genocide came. This author lived through the genocide and wrote several books about it. They are all amazing and it wasn't until i read these that I was able to have a relationship finally with Mary.  https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_5?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=imaculee+ilibagiza&sprefix=imacu%2Cstripbooks%2C700&crid=2NOGCHVOEUDO5
• THis book is an easy to read one, and it talks about how this woman came to relate to a few Saints, like St. Therese. https://www.amazon.com/My-Sisters-Saints-Spiritual-Memoir/dp/077043651X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508816467&sr=1-1&keywords=my+sisters+the+saints
• I own this, but haven't read it, but heard great things about it. https://www.amazon.com/My-Badass-Book-Saints-Courageous-ebook/dp/B01NADT694/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
• I've been loving this for a daily devotional reader- Catholic woman's book of Days by Amy Welborn  https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Womans-Book-Days/dp/0829420576/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508816914&sr=1-1&keywords=a+catholic+woman%27s+book+of+days
• Also, any devotional by Blessed is She such as Above All. 

For kids:

• I got this as a baby gift for someone, and loved it. I keep thinking I need to get one for Max. 
• Catholic Treasure Box set
• St. Joseph picture books are amazing for little kids. You can find them individually on amazon for pretty cheap as well. https://www.catholiccompany.com/st-joseph-picture-books-boxed-gift-set-26-books-i7950/?aid=117&adpos=1t1&creative=103916029598&device=c&matchtype=b&network=g&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_bSs5KuI1wIVhlt-Ch3DDwxMEAAYASAAEgKgQvD_BwE
• We have these DVDs about the Saints, and we always watch them for the Saints' feast day. https://www.cccofamerica.com/shop/saints-heroes-collection/ They often go on sale before Christmas. 
• This Saint book and others in the series are great, small Saint stories for kids. Not too much and on their levels. https://www.amazon.com/Once-upon-Saints-Ethel-Pochocki/dp/1883937159
• Most books by Tomie De Paola like the Legend of the Poinsetta (Christmas book!), the Clown of God, the Kitchen Angels, and the Holy Twins, St. Patrick, St. Christopher- all ones we own, are Saint stories and are awesome. He has many other great ones as well. 
• When kids are a bit older, Bethlehem books has a lot of great living books that are good books for kids to read. 
• Chime Travelers are chapter books, about the level of Magic Treehouse, and the kids go back in time to times of Saints. (Website says grades 2-4)
• Will Wilder (2 so far) for older kids
• The Weight of the Mass
• Roses in the Snow
• Saint Felix and the Spider
• Brigid's Cloak
• Lucia, Saint of Light (We always read this on her Feast Day in Dec. since it's our daughter's middle name)
• St. George and the Dragon
• THe Queen and the Cross

Favorite kids' bibles- 

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Picture-Bible-Book-Publishing/dp/089942435X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508817011&sr=1-1&keywords=new+catholic+picture+bible

https://www.amazon.com/Bible-Young-Catholics-Eileen-Heffernan/dp/0819811513/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508817033&sr=1-1&keywords=bible+for+young+catholics

https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-Childrens-Bible-paperback/dp/159982177X/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1508817033&sr=1-7&keywords=bible+for+young+catholics (We usually give this one for First Communion) 

I'm always checking Seton's website for good books and ideas. They are a homeschool program. we don't use them, btu they have great materials and good book suggestions. setonbooks.com

ANyway, i know it's a lot, but hope you find it helpful!!

End of School and the Bravewriter Lifestyle

The school year has basically ended, we've wrapped up most of our subjects, and I'm already beginning to look forward to next year. I knew I was keeping most of our subjects, but there was one curriculum I wanted to embrace more fully. We started using Bravewriter's Language Arts program the middle of last year, but I wanted to adopt it completely this coming year.

How does Bravewriter work? The part we used had one book assigned for each month, such as Charlotte's Web. I would assign a few chapters each week, and they would have a small passage they would copy, correct, and then at the end of the week, I would dictate it. (Copywork, reading, dictation, handwriting). I would also go through the chapters of the week, and pick out 10 spelling words, and sometimes a fun bonus word (like this week, it was bruahaha). They would copy the words during the week and write the vocabulary definitions. (Spelling and vocabulary). At the end of the week, prior to the dictation, ,we would do a grammar lesson on the dictation passage. This could include capitalization, commas, phrases, quotes, etc.

Some of the books my kids will be reading next year.

I LOVE how this wraps so many subjects in to one. Also, through Bravewriter, we were introduced to poetry teatime. I was doing once a week, but now strive for once a month, of setting up our teaset and reading poetry. It's amazing how this has fostered a love for poetry for my kids by tying it with something fun. (Poetry)

The other part that we instituted was freewrite. Many people do Freewrite Friday, but Monday works better for us. It started as 5 minutes. The rules are the pencil must keep moving. It doesn't matter if they write "I hate writing. The wall is blue. I stubbed my toe yesterday." The idea is to just be writing and not stop. As weeks went by, I slowly added more time. We eventually got up to 30 minutes of just free writing. Every week, they could show me if they wanted, or just put their writing in a folder. After 8 weeks, I had them read all of them and then pick their favorite. Then they would edit that one, and we'd discuss it, and work on making it perfect for them. (Writing!)

So, I definitely instituted a lot of the program in to our lives, but I knew there was more. So, I began reading all of the Bravewriter materials I had, and listening to all of her podcasts. There is so much more I want to include! For example, she talked about learning to write in every day language versus writing for college or a research paper. Kids don't just know that immediately. So, as teens, encourage reading of academic essays, editorials, movie and video game reviews, etc. But that doesn't work for younger kids, so she suggested have them write for different audiences. For example, write like they were telling their friend, who's been, about the roller coaster at the park. Then tell her grandmother who's never been, and finally, the state representative so you can discuss the safety of the ride. Each person requires different language and writing abilities, and it sets them up to be prepared for writing in different ways.

Another thing I love is her idea of "Big, juicy conversations". Instead of just saying "That's great" when your kids say they love birds, ask questions- what is your favorite bird? Why do you like birds? What birds are local to this area? Questions that bring about conversation between you and your kids. If you're interested in what they want to talk about it, they'll want to talk more. ANd talking is a step to good writing.

Another is the one thing principle. Once a month, pick that topic you've been wanting to study, and just dive in. Say, ok, June 30, we're going to talk about Renaissance Art. And begin to prepare now. Do research. Order books or pick them up from the library. Order examples of the art. Buy some inexpensive frames, and the night before, after kids are in bed, hang up the artwork. When the kids wake up and see it, their interested is piqued and they want to know more.

All-in-all, Bravewriter is a LIFESTYLE, and I love the idea behind it. I want to incorporate more of her ideas, so that we can have a more delightful lifestyle where we are cultivating a plethora of learning.

And, in one of her podcasts, she asked the woman she was interviewing, what was one thing THEY, the moms, learned from homeschooling. I think this is a great question for my next blog post.