Saturday, December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas 2010


"Him whom the heavens cannot contain, the womb of one woman bore." ~ St. Augustine.
Thank you, Mother Mary for your YES!



From our family to yours:
Have a Blessed and Merry Christmas!




Thursday, December 16, 2010

The Nine Days BEFORE Christmas


Today marks Nine Days BEFORE Christmas and this means it's time to start our Christmas Novenas!

A perfect way to continue to prepare for the Birth of our Savior! I found one on the lovely EWTN website that I wanted to share with our readers: Christmas Novena.


To accompany this lovely Novena, on this gloomy and yucky icy day, we will be working on our kid friendly Nativity at our Domestic Church. I got it from the lovely Lacy over at Catholic Icing...I love it when she draws things and shares with us! So here is her DYI Printable Nativity....all you need is TP tubes, her print outs and the basics: glue sticks, scissors, and crayons...and voila! Okay kiddies waiting for me, gotta run!

Here's a peek as to what this lovely printable looks like:


Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Movies for Catholic Kids

You might have seen my previous post of my quest for great Catholic movies that our family could watch on Family Movie Nights, if you hadn't here it is. There is a fantastic list on there and thanks so much to all the readers who added to it! We have yet to finish watching all of the movies on that wonderful list. Some are hard to find others, just haven't gotten my hands on them yet.

Most recently, I've been looking for great cartoons that the kids could watch. Not sure if I've ever expressed how much I police what my kids watch, and maybe you share this zeal with me? I do this because there is so much junk out there to watch...labeled "for children" and they are just utterly gar-bage (insert the French accent here)!

In my quest for great cartoons, I remembered videos I had seen when working at Church as a teenager and googled, "Catholic Children's cartoons" (or something like that) to see if I could find those very same videos and I did! The company is CCC of America and they have added to their list of movies since I first showed them to my students at Faith Formation (formerly known as CCD). They now have 11 in their Saints & Heroes Series.

I then contacted CCC and ask them if they would like me to review their videos, and they said YES! I'm so excited because my little ones get to watch these GREAT movies about the saints and I get to share with you, my readers, how wonderful these movies are. In addition, the wonderful ladies at CCC of America have also offered some FREE goodies for you all! It's a win-win situation - don't you think? ;)

So in the next couple of weeks, I will be reviewing the three wonderful movies we got in the mail this morning (I was so excited!). The three we are starting off with are Nicholas-the Boy Who Became Santa (it was on EWTN on Monday - did you catch it?), Juan Diego Messenger of Guadalupe, and The Day the Sun Danced the True Story of Fatima. I will be doing three different reviews (and maybe ideas to go along with them since I'll be doing the research already for my little blessings - why not share some more with you all?)....so stay tuned!
















I spoke with the wonderful ladies at CCC today and they have sent us a FREEBIE (I love freebies - thanks!). While you wait for my reviews of these excellent DVDs, you can take advantage of this great offer extended especially to Raising Little Saints readers, place an order for any of the DVDs on their website and get FREE SHIPPING by using this RLS exclusive promo code: CCC121210. This promo code is good from the moment this post goes live until this Sunday, December 12th (the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe)! So don't delay, start ordering these great videos for your little saints today!

The movies can be ordered online at www.cccofamerica.com or by phone Monday - Friday, 9AM to 5PM Central at 800-935-2222. You can also follow them on Facebook by clicking here.

Oh and don't forget to come back to check out my lovely reviews AND we will also be giving away one of the movies! Stay tuned Catholic homeschooling Mamas....

Catholic Mom Book Club Columnist

I'm super excited to share that I was asked by Lisa Hendey (the author of The Handbook for Catholic Moms) to join the Catholic Mom team and become a book club columnist for them! Also, I've also written my first book review and I wanted to share it with you:

Could I Paint the Sky?
By Julie Hoy
Oregon Catholic Press, 2010

Could I Paint the Sky? by Catholic author Julie Hoy is a book about a small child’s inquisitive nature as well as her amazing love for God and her willingness to serve Him!

The main character, Madeline Judith, wants to help God do something really big and asks Him if she could help Him paint the sky? As big a task as it is, she asks and asks again (I love her persistence) but then one day God says “no” and the child is puzzled. Many of us (adults) have experienced when God in His infinite wisdom says “no” to us… in the end there is always a reason and usually a good one at that!

With some parental guidance, Madeline is reminded that we can serve the Lord in the small things we do everyday by picking up after ourselves in our homes to helping our neighbors, the elderly, etc. I love how this small child goes to her mother for help and advice. In addition, this book just overflows with the message of being merciful in a world that contradicts that! What kept coming to mind as I read this book were the words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Do small things with BIG love!”

To read the rest of my review, visit CatholicMom.com by just clicking here.

Name Change...

I've been contemplating doing this for a long while so just wanted to make it official and public, Catholic Blogging Homeschooling Mamas, AKA Catholic Mamas, is now Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints. The purpose of this blog will still remain the same...no worries ;)

With this said, if there is a blog that you just simply L-O-V-E and would like featured here, please send me an e-mail (or leave a comment with this post). My e-mail is raisinglittlesaints {at} gmail {dot} com.

God bless you all and Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Prayers Needed....

Catholic Homeschooling Mommies, join me in praying for Laura Berquist's husband , Marc, and family as her husband passed this morning on the Feast of All Souls...Please pray for the repose of his soul and the consolation and comfort of his family. Thank you.

Monday, August 23, 2010

40 Days for Life - Are You Ready?


One of the best things about being Catholic is being 100% Pro-Life! To me it's part of being a Disciple of Christ, I stand firm on defending LIFE because, well, Jesus died on the Cross so that we may have it and abundantly! I recently received an e-mail from a good friend, Toni, who runs the 40 Days of Life local campaign. The new campaign to pray for the un-born is right around the corner. My kids love going and participating (not as often as I'd like but a couple of times is good since they are still small) by holding signs and praying the Rosary. From September 22 through October 31, you get a chance to get involved in this beautiful event. In addition, if you go to the Saint Michael the Archangel site, you can register to pray a Novena for the un-born.

This little video should inspire everyone to participate:


Here are some great projects for families who get their kids involved in 40 Days for Life!

Check them out: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/01/pro-life-craft-for-kids.html

There is also a super cute game: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/01/pro-life-game.html

and other pro-life printables and activities: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/01/pro-life-printables-and-activities-for.html


Catholic ABCs - A Curriculum

This year will be a very exciting one for our family....most of our kids (four out of five) are ready for some type of schooling!! Our eldest is flying solo in middle school, but our three middle kiddos are 2, 4 and 5 so they will be doing similar activities with different expectations regarding outcome. I was putting something together that revolved around the Saints and Liturgical year as well as teaching the three Rs and such. As of today, I have three weeks to square things away so as soon as I got a chance this morning, I got online for some more gathering of ideas at my usually favorite sites.

So I have some very exciting news; that is if you are a mommy to a pre-schooler! Catholic Mama Blogger, Lacy, over at Catholic Icing is going to share a preshool curriculum she designed for her Co-Op. She will begin posting it weekly commencing the first week of September. So click on this logo and go visit her. Go on, what are you waiting for? Oh and if you've never been to her site, be prepared, grab a cup of coffee or tea because she has a plethora of ideas to celebrate the Liturgical year! Thank you, Lacy, for sharing with us!


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The Trouble with Vampires***

In my "past life" (pre-SAHM/pre-Catholic Homeschooler) I was a Reading/Language Arts teacher for eight years and prior to that I spent four years in the Elementary classroom. Therefore, I know LOTS of teachers. Either as previous co-workers or peers at college, or a friend of a friend....most of my friends are teachers. Over six years ago (I think it was right before I got pregnant with #2), a group of them started a "Book Club" and the first book was great. When time came to read a second book, everyone voted on The Davinci Code. Most of the teachers in this group were Catholic School teachers in either Middle or High School. Much to my dismay, I read it...but when we met up, everyone's interpretation of the book was warped by what society teaches...not what they know as FACT from our Mother Church...these ladies were all supposed to be Catholic....I was appalled, to say the least, and once the next book was announced, I slowly but surely exited stage right from this little group. Maybe I did it to save my "friendship" with them because I just couldn't listen to my friends of many years speak such uneducated and false interpretations of our Lord and our beautiful Church. Fast forward years later and now living in a different state, my only form of contact with these ladies, most of whom are English teachers, has been via Facebook. (This is the background story to the purpose of this discussion.)

The past two months on Facebook have been bothersome to me...not just because ex-students status and posts but also because of adults my age (married and all) where acting like obsessed out of control teenagers....all because of the Twilight series! The adults were, yep you guessed it, the SAME LADIES from my book club 7-8 years ago. One post or two I can live with, but when they continued to post things about this series and one who recently divorced posted this status, "I am leaving my window open tonight, maybe Edward will pay me a visit." well, my jaw dropped!

In addition, it brought flashbacks of when Harry Potter came out and all of my students went nuts! I must admit I did read books one and two of the series until I stepped back and thought
about the whole thing and something bothered me about it. I even had it as one of my required reading books in my seventh grade class at the charter school I was teaching at. Sad to say, not one parent objected to my selection! So the Twilight books are also being devoured by
teenage and adults of the female species alike...something about these books just didn't sit right with me! Then I came across this article: http://www.patrickmadrid.com/vampires.pdf A little long but so well written and if you have a teenage girl wanting to read Twilight, it's a MUST READ!

I have not read them....I must confess...but I have to say that the pattern of "LOVE" for this series, like that of Harry Potter, kinda worries me. Ladies, the Devil comes in many ways and we MUST call him at it...please don't think I sound kooky...read the attached PDF and give me your thoughts on this and PLEASE pass this on to any mom with a teenage/pre-teen girl....

*** I am no expert on this subject AND I had no time to go back and re-read or edit this piece...so please excuse my errors, and point them out if you'd like! ;)

Friday, July 23, 2010

Holy Spirit Novena Day 2 "Fear"



Type your summary hereType rest of the post here

Extraordinary Mass


This is a wonderful post for those of you who have considered ever visiting a Mass in the Extraordinary Form: Colleen Hammond: New Booklet: "For the Visitor at Mass".

If you've never been to one, I HIGHLY recommend you visit one. It will only make you say, "ahhhhh...." how amazing our beautiful Catholic Faith is! I promise!!! To find a Traditional Latin Mass (or now known as the Extraordinary Form of the Mass) go here: http://www.ecclesiadei.org/masses.cfm




Confession: Search your Heart

Cool video created by a priest, enjoy:



Enjoy!

Holy Spirit Novena Day 1 "Spirit"



Pray with me!

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Nifty tool bar for Catholic Mamas...you have to get it!

This is so neat and yours truly is linked up on the "Blogs" portion of the toolbar...so hurry on and get yours today: Catholic Gadget

There is "Blogs", "Homeschooling", Links, "Crafts" (which also give you Liturgical ideas), "Forums", even a "Tools", then you can customize and add your e-mail notifications and even the weather! Too neat not to pass up...so stop reading this and go get it! LOL!

Catholic Gadget - Catholic Family Toolbar


Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Two Priests Who tell it like it is!


If you ask my DH who my most favorite priest in the US is, he would say two names: 1. Father Euteneuer (HLI) and 2. Father Corapi! Fathers Euteneuer and Fr. Corapi, I've never met but would love to! I subscribe to Father Euteneuer's newletter and love how straight forward he is about the whole situation in America (and the world) regarding humanity's disdain for life!

Father Corapi is amazing! I've blogged about him in the past and I have almost all of his retreats and/or converences recorded on my DVR at home (I think I might have over 30 hours recorded!). I love both of these priests for many reasons but mainly because they tell it like it is! They are not afraid to speak up and truly preach the Gospel!! They, in my eyes, remind me the most of Christ! I'm certain there are tons of priests out there just like them, these are just the two that are my most favorite!

Father Corapi will be at a Conference in Cincinatti coming soon on July 17th. At this conference he will be speaking about something that will touch lots of nerves with people, secular and Church: social teachings of the Catholic Church. Father Euteneuer will emcee this event as well and I WANT TO BE THERE! So why is this conference stirring things up all over the place? Here is an article at the National Catholic Register by Danielle Bean (a great Catholic mother and wife - she's got 8 kiddos and the editor of Faith and Family Magazine!) article on the whole situation.

Here's some information on the conference:



To order tickets go here!


Drowning in Laundry?

So, as a family of six I felt (a couple of months ago) that I was drowning in laundry! When laundry day came, I wanted to run away as fast as I could! When I found myself doing laundry and about six months pregnant with number five - I freaked! So I did what a good mommy and housewife would do, first, I panicked, second I called for help from the "veterans" AKA mom friends with more kids than I!

To the rescue comes my friend Stephanie (mommy of SIX)! She taught me a system that works like a charm. I've been wanting to blog about her system since the first day she told me about it but I thought I'd give it a couple of months to try it out and see how it worked for me - it's simply amazing! Then another friend of ours (Blogging Mama Liz) reported that she posted something on her blog about it a couple of weeks ago, so here it is: Stephanie's Laundry System (for BIG, and not so big, families)! Thanks, Liz!

In my quest for a cool picture for this post, I found this cartoon about "the laundry monster" and I wanted to share it (oh how things change, lol):

Friday, February 26, 2010

New EWTN Show for Catholic Moms!

"Everyday Blessings for Catholic Moms" is the new show on EWTN hosted by Donna-Marie Cooper O'Boyle. I've blogged about her wonderful books on here in the past and wanted to share this news with you! You can read more about this great experience on her blog by clicking here. You can also read up on the show on Faith & Family Live, written by Lisa Henley (creator of CatholicMom.com and an author herself, The Handbook for Catholic Moms) by going here. I can't wait to watch the show myself...her books are fascinating (I'm reading two right now: One with a local group of moms Domestic Church: Room by Room and the other Prayerfully Expecting on my own since I'm 7 weeks away from seeing our new baby!). She is such a great Catholic mother and woman!

Thanks, Donna-Marie, for your devotion and for guiding us in the beautiful vocation of motherhood.

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Good Wholesome Catholic Movies



We have a couple of friends who have ditched the TV from their homes...no, this is NOT a typo. They had consciously decided to get rid of the TV, well mainly cable and some the actual sets, from their lovely homes. In 2010, this is hard to believe! Personally, I'd love to do it if only I could get DH to agree with me 100% on this, lol! He's about 75% of the way there...still working on him about it. Why would I want this for my home? Several reasons:


1. TV/Cable is a distraction for real wholesome family time.
2. It is a venue for the wrong kind of messages to my children (EVEN THE CARTOONS)!
3. It is addictive and keeps you from focusing on the things that matter most.


I've had days were we don't turn the set on all days...the silence is lovely! Now, my friends who have opted for this lifestyle do watch movies. Some very limited kind, of course and no, they aren't weird or dress or look weird, lol! They are very "normal" Catholics who are trying to keep the focus on their faith - that's all.

The past week, one friend recommended a movie entitled The Robe...she saw it with her nine-year-old and they both loved it! It is from a very different perspective about the life and ministry and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the view and words of the Roman Soldier who cast lots to win Jesus's robe. I really want to see it with my 12 year old! I think it would be a fantastic film to watch during Lent as well!

Last night I asked another friend to make a list of these kinds of movies so that I could share with other moms; and for my family as well of course. These are older Catholic movies that you could watch with your kids. Here is the list that my friend Dan compiled for me, he entitled it "The Best Catholic themed films that I have seen" [he has made specific comments]:


  1. "The Last Hurrah" starring Spencer Tracy

  2. "The Fighting Sullivans" starring Thomas Mitchell and Anne Baxter.

  3. "I Confess" starring Montgomery Clift and Anne Baxter.

  4. "San Francisco" with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy.

  5. "The Reluctant Saint" with Maximilian Schell. [overtly Catholic]

  6. "Ben Hur" The Charlton Heston version.

  7. "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne and Maureen O'hara.

  8. "Come to the Stable" with Loretta Young and Celeste Holm. [overtly Catholic]

  9. "The Miracle of Marcellino" 1950's version [overtly Catholic]

  10. "The Long Gray Line" with Tyrone Power and Maureen O'hara [excellent film, somewhat Catholic]

  11. "The Fugitive" 1948, with Henry Fonda and Dolores del Rio [overtly Catholic but hard to find]

If you have other films you'd like to add to this list or if you have already seen any of these and you'd like to tell us about them, please feel free to leave a comment. Also, when I taught at a Catholic school in Florida, I always went to this website: http://usccb.org/movies/ to see what the Catholic US Bishops had to say about current films and TV shows. Of course, for newer films you can also visit: http://www.lukefilms.com/

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Catholic Homeschooling Conferences for 2010


Since I'm a newbie in home education, I have not been priviledged enough to attend a Home Schooling Conference recently. My husband and I did attend one once back in 2006, when we thinking ahead of what we wanted for our family's future. We were just a family of five at the time and our eldest had always attended Catholic school all of his educational life. Never did we know that we were "opening a can of worms", sorta speak, when we went to this conference.


As a teacher in both Catholic and public schools for 12 years, I attended several conferences and loved how neat it was to be able to fan through the books and see lots of goodies we yearned to have in our classrooms. The difference between the Catholic Homeschooling conference my DH and I attended and the ones I've been to in the past on my own (yes even the ones while teaching at a Catholic school) was the spiritual component. The atmosphere was very different and it is was drew us closer and opened our hearts and minds to home educating our children. With all of this in mind, I want to direct you to a list that Catholic Homeschooling Support has created for home educators of upcoming Catholic Conferences in your state. In my case, a group of home educators will be traveling to DC as it is the closest conference to our state. Here is the link to the list they have create.

If you have attended a home educating conference in the past, please leave us a comment of your experience at these conferences. Also, let us know why you would recommend that Catholic home educators attend these conference. By the way, a lot of these conferences are FREE of charge! :) Who can resist that? LOL! Don't forget, leave us a comment with your experiences.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Lent is Here! Activities for Children

There is a plethora of ideas and activities to work with your home schooled children via other Catholic Blogging Mamas throughout the net. Here is the line up of what I've found thus far (if you find other good sites to recommend, please post a comment on here withe link). Some of these overlap a little, be aware! :) Here is the line up (hover over the name of the blog to click on the link):
  • Catholic Blogging Mama Lacy @ Catholic Icing (I LOVE THIS BLOG): Not sure if Lacy is a homeschooler but I love her blog because she has tons of activities for Lent (and other Liturgical seasons for that matter). I love her ideas for kids to make sacrifices by giving up favorite toys and putting them away during Lent! What a great way to teach children sacrifice!!!
  • Holy Heroes Lent Adventures: Follow Lent with Holy Heroes! If you sign up for their program (which is FREE) you will receive a daily e-mail with what will be done next for each day of Lent. There are activities and adorable videos (the their kids), check them out!
  • Catholic Blogging Mama Liz @ Holy Family Classical Homeschool Academy: She has compiled a list of activities on her blog, very neat! You will find a Lent Lapbok, Sacrifice Beads, Prayer Jar, Pretzels, Way of the Cross candle craft, Station coloring book, family chart, Crown of Thorns, Sacrifice Jar, and a Merciful Cross.
  • Catholic Blogging Mama Erin @ Catholic Homeschool Society: Lent resource for families - Lent Journal for Children posted to view sample pages and order a copy.Includes: Liturgical Calendar, Coloring Pages of the Saints, Family Discussion for the Sunday Gospel Readings, Collection of Prayers, Family Activity Ideas during Lent, The Ten Commandments, Stations of the Cross, The Holy Rosary - focusing on the Sorrowful Mysteries, Family projects for Lent - Cooking, Sewing, Woodworking, and Gardening and more..
  • Family in Feast and Feria: They have created a printable Stations of the Cross for kids! I love it!
  • Catholic Blogging Mama Gae @ Cherished Hearts at Home: She has put together a Stations of the Cross box with ideas for each station, go to her neat blog for the list of items you probably already have around your house!
  • I Blog, Therefore I am! isn't a homeschooler but a Faith Formation teacher and has come up with lesson plans that she will be using for Lent with her students with vocabulary and everything!
  • Catholic Blogging Mama Sally @ Castle in the Sea: Sally has details of a Stations of the Cross activity she does with her family from the printables to how to actually do it to involve your children, big and small. Thanks, Sally, for sending us this information!

Enjoy!