A First Reconciliation Lapbook ~

Buck and Honeybee received their First Reconciliations recently.  We made these lapbooks and added some of the things we studied as we prepared. 

First, we glued 2 manila folders back to back.  I picked out two whose tabs matched up. 

The House Cat made the cover page for us with Microsoft Clip Art.  She's so much better at that than I am.  What would take me an hour - takes her 5 min. 

As you open the folder, you find the sheet they made as we studied the Ten Commandments.  That Resource Site had this activity which we used for this page. 

They cut out the commandments and put them in order.

On the opposite page we made these little flaps that contain the questions for a gentle examination of conscience for children based on each commandment.  We cut and glued each one accordingly.

The first folder ~

Flip over the folder page and you have a the steps for a good confession.

 On the last page they wrote in the three things that happen to you after you make a good confession.

The second folder ~

They were both so excited to receive their First Reconciliations! 

Now they ask to go every week.

And a child shall lead them!

A Blessed Woman's Daybook ~

Outside My Window ~

The temperature is 75 degrees.  Not at all what you'd expect for January - even here in the south. 

I'm hoping ~

We won't have more tornadoes tomorrow.

I'm thankful for ~

God keeping us safe early Monday morning.  The F3 tornado came within 1/2 a mile from our home!  Pretty scary!!!  Poor Buck gets so frightened during these storms.  I know God was hearing his little prayers~

Praying for ~

The families who lost loved ones on Monday.  Also for many, many special intentions.

From the kitchen ~

Hot tea, tissues and chicken noodle soup....  Yep, we are passing around a nasty cold :( 

Living for God ~

Buck and Honeybee are preparing to receive their first  Reconciliations on Saturday.  Please keep them in your prayers.  They will receive First Holy Communion in May. 

Snuggle Bug is preparing to receive The Sacrament of Confirmation also in May.  I am planning on making this lapbook with her as we prepare.

It is an exciting time for all of us.  Our babies are growing up.  We are so very blessed to have one another and our beautiful faith to keep us going strong on this journey!

Inside the Earth Study

We have been studying Earth Science lately. Not that I planned to, of course :) It's all part of this new land of "Unschooling."  It all began when Buck found this book

in the basket.  Some of you may know that he has not been like my girls who are always reading something.  Anyway, this was one of those books he asked me to read again and again.   And we did.  (By the way, I found this book in Maureen Whitman's For The Love of Literature.  I use this book for strewing good books about.)

How cool was it when this book

was on our history reading list? 

I found these pages on Enchanted Learning and ordered other books and DVDs from the library.  You can see which ones below.

Then we put these into a lapbook to keep for future reference. 

Honeybee drew this while Buck and I were working on the lapbook.  I'd say she had the idea of what was going on.  Notice the frowns ;)

We also worked an experiment in.  I had everything together and asked Dad if he'd perform the experiment for us.  He was happy to and I was happy he did.  (He's more 'science-minded' than I :)

First he added the baking soda (the base).

Then some dish detergent,

a little water,

and some vinegar (the acid) which had been mixed with red food coloring.

When the vinegar reacts with the baking soda, carbon dioxide gas is formed and the bubbles push the "lava" out of the volcano.  

Note:  I wasn't sure how messy this would be.  It wasn't too messy after all.  This pan held all of the lava flow.

Afterwards, Dad had a good discussion on chemical reactions with the rest of us.  After all, his dad is a chemical engineer! 

The Twelve Days of Christmas Lapbook ~

The kids and I pulled out this lapbook  after we read The Twelve Days of Christmas.    I guess I never got around to sharing it last year. It was a good review for the whole family.  I ended up also pulling this off the shelf.

 I think I got the templates here although I'm not positive. 

*** Notice that I changed the third day to the Three Theological Virtues***