Monday, January 24, 2011
Feast Day Alert: Saint Francis de Sales
I so totally love this new website and can see it as a major part of our research for our school, Cor Iesu Academy! I love the little slide presentation, how it has the text at the bottom that is being read aloud....so not only can my 7th grader look up information for things he is studying but my emergent readers, my four and five year olds can also benefit from this cool site! They even have information on saints and the Church (hopefully accurate) ;) Here is the one for today's Feast Day: Saint Francis de Sales, Enjoy!
Here it is!: Little Way Chore Chart
Hello Ladies,
Here is all the information for the chore chart. We call it the Little Way Chore Chart because it was St. Therese that said that God does not look at the greatness nor the difficulty of your actions but at the love with which they are done. She also said that if you pick up a pin with love, you can convert a soul. So, that has been our focus for the past few years. Charity in everything.
The purpose of the chart is to train their will and everything else I mentioned before. I started with the things I repeat twenty times a day, every day. You can obviously add lines to match the number of kids you are including in the chart and change the chores to fit your home. As these chores become habits, revise your chart. When you revise your chart, the old chores still need to be performed. Hopefully, by then, they are a habit more than a chore, which makes room for new chores on the chart. They get a star push pin on the chores that get done without my asking. They get a red push pin on the chores that get done after I ask them. They get no pin on the chores that do not get done. The time in each section is the cut off for each chore set. After that time they can only get a red pin or an empty space. For every section of the day completed with only with stars they get a ticket. For every section of the day completed with some red push pins they get a good job comment. For every portion of the day with spaces without pins, they owe me a ticket (after they chart has been in place for a while and only for the older kids ). Whatever they have not completed by the time school starts, they have to complete during the break, after their snack but before they go out to play. If they want a ticket, that is.
{Tangent} We also have a schedule on a clipboard which lays out the day for them. It is a target schedule, not a rigid time line of events. I have attached a sample (Monday). In that schedule you will see a reference to a clip board for school work. I have found that I cannot keep up with the daily lesson plans from CHC so I have created my own check lists for them which I can change as life happens. I keep final print outs with their completed work in a folder to store with their work at the end of the year. I have also attached that for your review/use. Each child has their own weekly clip board that they refer to throughout the day and the schedule clip board is posted up on the school area. {End of Tangent}
They can cash in their tickets for different rewards (you know your kids best so assign different ticket values to different motivators). They can also cash in their tickets for gifts for their sibblings. (In bold because I love when they do this!) For example, we do 5 tickets for 30 minutes on the computer playing games. 10 tickets to pick a movie from Netflix for a family movie night with popcorn. 5 tickets to earn back a silly band that has been confiscated by the authorities. 40 tickets for an afternoon out with mommy or a dinner date with daddy. We also have small crafts from Jo Ann or Michaels and other trinkets that they can get for themselves or get for their sibblings as gifts.
I print these out on legal paper and staple them to a thick corkboard (I use floor soundproofing cork, it is nice and thick so the pins go in easily and stay put). I have decorated ours with pictures and quotes from St. Therese of the Little Flower. My kids can relate to her right now and she is our companion saint for this year. They have a small box with pins so they can tack off their chores as they complete them. I have also stapled envelopes at the bottom to hold their tickets. That way it is all in one place.
I do have to say that you must follow through with the rewards and the punishments for it to work. If you are not on top of the ticketing, they will lose interest. Set a ticket counting day for the month/week. Take out your calendar and your reward chart and let them cash in their tickets. Whatever appointments you mark on that calendar for rewards, make sure you stick to them.
I hope this helps you guys as much as it has helped me, if not more. You know your kids best so remember to fine tune it to meet your family's needs.
God bless you,
Little Way Chore Chart - Shell
Here is all the information for the chore chart. We call it the Little Way Chore Chart because it was St. Therese that said that God does not look at the greatness nor the difficulty of your actions but at the love with which they are done. She also said that if you pick up a pin with love, you can convert a soul. So, that has been our focus for the past few years. Charity in everything.
The purpose of the chart is to train their will and everything else I mentioned before. I started with the things I repeat twenty times a day, every day. You can obviously add lines to match the number of kids you are including in the chart and change the chores to fit your home. As these chores become habits, revise your chart. When you revise your chart, the old chores still need to be performed. Hopefully, by then, they are a habit more than a chore, which makes room for new chores on the chart. They get a star push pin on the chores that get done without my asking. They get a red push pin on the chores that get done after I ask them. They get no pin on the chores that do not get done. The time in each section is the cut off for each chore set. After that time they can only get a red pin or an empty space. For every section of the day completed with only with stars they get a ticket. For every section of the day completed with some red push pins they get a good job comment. For every portion of the day with spaces without pins, they owe me a ticket (after they chart has been in place for a while and only for the older kids ). Whatever they have not completed by the time school starts, they have to complete during the break, after their snack but before they go out to play. If they want a ticket, that is.
{Tangent} We also have a schedule on a clipboard which lays out the day for them. It is a target schedule, not a rigid time line of events. I have attached a sample (Monday). In that schedule you will see a reference to a clip board for school work. I have found that I cannot keep up with the daily lesson plans from CHC so I have created my own check lists for them which I can change as life happens. I keep final print outs with their completed work in a folder to store with their work at the end of the year. I have also attached that for your review/use. Each child has their own weekly clip board that they refer to throughout the day and the schedule clip board is posted up on the school area. {End of Tangent}
They can cash in their tickets for different rewards (you know your kids best so assign different ticket values to different motivators). They can also cash in their tickets for gifts for their sibblings. (In bold because I love when they do this!) For example, we do 5 tickets for 30 minutes on the computer playing games. 10 tickets to pick a movie from Netflix for a family movie night with popcorn. 5 tickets to earn back a silly band that has been confiscated by the authorities. 40 tickets for an afternoon out with mommy or a dinner date with daddy. We also have small crafts from Jo Ann or Michaels and other trinkets that they can get for themselves or get for their sibblings as gifts.
I print these out on legal paper and staple them to a thick corkboard (I use floor soundproofing cork, it is nice and thick so the pins go in easily and stay put). I have decorated ours with pictures and quotes from St. Therese of the Little Flower. My kids can relate to her right now and she is our companion saint for this year. They have a small box with pins so they can tack off their chores as they complete them. I have also stapled envelopes at the bottom to hold their tickets. That way it is all in one place.
I do have to say that you must follow through with the rewards and the punishments for it to work. If you are not on top of the ticketing, they will lose interest. Set a ticket counting day for the month/week. Take out your calendar and your reward chart and let them cash in their tickets. Whatever appointments you mark on that calendar for rewards, make sure you stick to them.
I hope this helps you guys as much as it has helped me, if not more. You know your kids best so remember to fine tune it to meet your family's needs.
God bless you,
Little Way Chore Chart - Shell
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints: Papa Ben's Prayer Intentions
Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints: Papa Ben's Prayer Intentions: "2011 Like what you see? Feel free to grab them and use them on your blog or web page, just remember to give us ..."
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Getting Over the Free-Range Chicken Syndrome (Part II)
In case you missed Part I, here it is.
Here are a few things we have been doing in the past two years in order to address these Mother Hen needs.
Second, The Little Way Chore Chart was born! A system built around St. Therese of Lisieux’s Little Way. A chore chart that teaches self-motivated industry, love for others, accountability, diligence and humility at the same time that it teaches them to run a house efficiently. It also teaches them the value of things. They earn tickets to cash in for different rewards either for themselves or to gift to their siblings. They can see immediate repercussions on the family if they miss a chore or do it poorly. They can also see their progress through the week right on the chart. (We’ll add a separate post that goes in to the details of the chart and the files themselves in case you would like a copy of it.) It includes grooming, house chores, prayers, chores which relate directly to other family members, school work, and bonus stars for helping mommy and doing things with a good attitude. It is very simple and they keep track of their own progress. This also develops a sense of honesty and honor.
The third thing I did was create a target daily time-line; target being the operative word. In home schooling, life happens while you are living it. Because you are not in the car dropping them off here and there, there are lots of opportunities for spills, falls, fights and other non –scheduled events. That is why it is a target and not set in stone. Target Daily Time-line
The target time line allows us to move forward on our day in segments divided by prayers. We start with the rosary at 7:30 am and work our way through the different time blocks of the morning. The afternoon starts with the Angelus at noon and the school day ends with Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:00ish. Then we move through the late afternoon until we get to the Angelus at 6:00pm which marks the beginning of our evening block. This block ends with prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication, then a session of good night kisses and the day is done. This target daily time-line gives the children a clear view of what the day looks like. I have one for each day of the week and include extracurricular activities on each day as they are scheduled. Here is what it looks like: )
The fourth and last great change we made was the institution of uniforms for school days. Yep, you read it right, uniforms. This year I decided that the fashion show was highly overrated. I had also not had my laundry epiphany yet so the less laundry I had to do, the happier everyone at home would be. Now, getting dressed in the morning is joyful and efficient. There is no more looking for shoes to match or the other sock that goes with that outfit. No need to change from the dress to the shorts before going out to play. I don’t even care if they get grass stains or paint drips or holes in their pants. These are their uniforms and they were instituted for that purpose. It is carefree attire to be worn all day, no matter what the circumstances and I LOVE IT!
Here are a few things we have been doing in the past two years in order to address these Mother Hen needs.
First, I scheduled a wake up time. If they were tired in the morning, that only meant they would appreciate their bed time a lot more. After a few days of waking up at the same time, they adjusted nicely.
Second, The Little Way Chore Chart was born! A system built around St. Therese of Lisieux’s Little Way. A chore chart that teaches self-motivated industry, love for others, accountability, diligence and humility at the same time that it teaches them to run a house efficiently. It also teaches them the value of things. They earn tickets to cash in for different rewards either for themselves or to gift to their siblings. They can see immediate repercussions on the family if they miss a chore or do it poorly. They can also see their progress through the week right on the chart. (We’ll add a separate post that goes in to the details of the chart and the files themselves in case you would like a copy of it.) It includes grooming, house chores, prayers, chores which relate directly to other family members, school work, and bonus stars for helping mommy and doing things with a good attitude. It is very simple and they keep track of their own progress. This also develops a sense of honesty and honor.The third thing I did was create a target daily time-line; target being the operative word. In home schooling, life happens while you are living it. Because you are not in the car dropping them off here and there, there are lots of opportunities for spills, falls, fights and other non –scheduled events. That is why it is a target and not set in stone. Target Daily Time-line
The target time line allows us to move forward on our day in segments divided by prayers. We start with the rosary at 7:30 am and work our way through the different time blocks of the morning. The afternoon starts with the Angelus at noon and the school day ends with Divine Mercy Chaplet at 3:00ish. Then we move through the late afternoon until we get to the Angelus at 6:00pm which marks the beginning of our evening block. This block ends with prayers of adoration, contrition, thanksgiving and supplication, then a session of good night kisses and the day is done. This target daily time-line gives the children a clear view of what the day looks like. I have one for each day of the week and include extracurricular activities on each day as they are scheduled. Here is what it looks like: )
The fourth and last great change we made was the institution of uniforms for school days. Yep, you read it right, uniforms. This year I decided that the fashion show was highly overrated. I had also not had my laundry epiphany yet so the less laundry I had to do, the happier everyone at home would be. Now, getting dressed in the morning is joyful and efficient. There is no more looking for shoes to match or the other sock that goes with that outfit. No need to change from the dress to the shorts before going out to play. I don’t even care if they get grass stains or paint drips or holes in their pants. These are their uniforms and they were instituted for that purpose. It is carefree attire to be worn all day, no matter what the circumstances and I LOVE IT! So in short, I have found freedom in structure. I have found peace in schedules. I have found growth in training my will to stick to this new way of home schooling so I can train my children’s wills. I have found that even with all the planning we do and all the scheduling we do, there are those days, sometimes weeks, that are just impossible and everything falls apart. However, I have also found that because I now have a plan, a solid base to go back to, it is a lot easier to get it all back in order and start over.
So the Ortiz Free Range Chicken Home School, is now measured and structured and we have more freedom to do the things we want to do because all the things we have to do have already been done. All with God’s grace, always!!
God bless,
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
BlogSHARE: JoyFilled Family
It's time for another Blog Share! Take a little visit to this Catholic Homeschooling Blogging Mama who is Raising Little Saints just like you and me! Enjoy:
Catholics Come Home
If you haven't seen any of these videos, you need to see them! The Catholics Come Home campaign is amazing! Every time I watch one of these, I get chills:
They have done a great job with these...I'm posting them on FB all the time as I have lots of family and friends who don't understand the Church as it truly is...a great way to evangelize and open channels of communication with others...so spread the word!
They have done a great job with these...I'm posting them on FB all the time as I have lots of family and friends who don't understand the Church as it truly is...a great way to evangelize and open channels of communication with others...so spread the word!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
How to Foster Vocations
I found this fantastic article entitled: Seven Quick Takes: How to Foster Vocations and thought that our RLS followers would also enjoy it. My favorite suggestion has to be the one that says to stop asking children what they want to be when they grow up and instead ask, "Who is God calling you to be?” We don't push for the religious life at our home **wink** (though deep in me I'd be the happiest mother in the world if all of our children became priests and nuns; though DH says he'd like one boy to keep the family name going), but instead we are active about discussing this as an option, just like marriage. So in today's post, I'd like to focus on promoting vocations to the religious life.In our home these are some of the ways we foster vocations:
1. All boys whom have received First Holy Communion, train to serve at the Altar. Our eldest knows most of all the positions to serve at the Latin Mass and just today we asked our Associate if he would train him to serve in the Novus Ordo...he will be trained this Spring and ready to serve ASAP (since our Latin Mass was moved 50 minutes North of us)
2. We are friendly with our priests and make it a custom to say hello and encourage the children to speak with them as well. We also invite priests over for dinner (which reminds me we need to invite our new associate to dinner-wonder what his favorite is?). We encourage the children to draw pictures or make them simple cards through out the year and for special days.
3. We have a card that our Diocese publishes with the names and pictures of all the seminarians in our Diocese. This card sits at our Home Altar and we say special prayers for them to Our Lady of Perpetual Help as we have commend them to her guidance and aide in these difficult times of our Mother Church.
4. We use technology to promote vocations. For example, we love to pray the Rosary with a DVD of Mother Angelica and her nuns...my kids have asked (especially my daughter) tons of questions while watching them pray the Rosary. We also love to surf the internet and find recordings of Ordinations and Solemn Professions. =) Movies/videos of the lives of Saints (religious or not) is also another great way to discuss vocations.
5. We have this really great book called, Could I Paint the Sky (a book I reviewed on CatholicMom.com)...which talks about how you can discern the vocation God has in store for you...again, "who is God calling you to be?"
Have you prayed for our priests and for the increase of vocations? Maybe this could be something your Domestic Church would like to take up for the new year?
So tell us, how do you foster vocations in your homes?
“The pastoral care of vocations needs to involve the entire Christian community in every area of its life. Obviously, this
pastoral work on all levels also includes exploring the matter with families, which are often indifferent or even opposed to the idea of a priestly vocation. Families should generously embrace the gift of life and bring up their children to be open to doing God's will. In a word, they must have the courage to set before young people the radical decision to follow Christ, showing them how deeply rewarding it is.” Pope Benedict XVI (Sacramentum Caritatis, 25)Vocations Websites & Blogs
Friday, January 14, 2011
Getting Over the Free-Range Chicken Syndrome (Part I)
For me, home schooling was about pride for a long time. We were going to do everything differently from schooled children, every day, and all the time. There was no way I was going to teach my children like school systems teach or keep such a tight schedule. We will school in our pajamas and we will wake up when our body is ready to wake up! We will go on field trips at least once a week! We will do arts and crafts every day! Free range chickens vs. those chickens in those super crowded, mega sized coups. We are free range chickens!!! At least we were until I realized that we are not.
The Ortizes have needs that free range chickens don’t have. By the Ortizes, I mean the mother hen (the rooster kinda goes with the flow most of the time when it comes to home schooling issues. He mostly steps in to discipline when called upon by a frantic mother hen). Two years ago I gave in and took another look at my Free-Range Chicken Philosophy. Even though we were getting all our schoolwork done, there was an overall feeling of chaos throughout the day. From meal planning to lesson planning to crisis management, it was all improvised.Realizing I have three girls who changed outfits at least three times every day and, later, a son that actually required changing outfits at least three times a day forced me take another look at the Freedom of Attire Policy in our home. Having four children wake up at different times of the day meant they would get hungry at different times of the day so the Letting Your Body Wake Up When It Is Ready Policy started losing popularity. We were struggling with diligence and willingness (with a good attitude) so the Get Your Chores Done Any Time Before Bedtime Policy got sent to editing. Spending one whole day out of the house every week started to mean spending one whole day packing and preparing for the next day, so the One Fieldtrip a Week Policy got in line for the axe.
At about the same time, a dear friend kept saying that we must train our children’s will so that they don’t have the same internal struggles that we do. Another friend, kept mentioning the importance of actually being at home. I tended to agree with all they were saying and yet, it just did not occur to me that these were essential for a joyful home schooling environment in my Free-Range Chicken world. Then one day, it did and the idea of a big modified and highly efficient coup for my free range chicks started to grow on me. I started looking at what other people were doing in their homes. Two of my closest friends, Mimi and Christine, had just come home from FPEA with Accountable Kids’ chore tabs which the children switched from one wooden peg to another as they completed them. I thought they were amazing! Another friend, Theresa, had passed out a list of age appropriate chores at one of our mom meetings. I was awed by what she proposed little ones could and would do.
At our Little Flower’s meetings lead by the most awesomest ( yes, that is a world if you really mean it) LF leader on earth (yes, you are Jenny) the kids were learning about self-motivated industry, humility, love of neighbor, love of God and many other great virtues. The wheels started turning in my head: How can I implement all these great things without sending my free-range chickens into shock?
Tabs would never work in our home because I have seen what they do with the loose parts of toys and games. (I mostly find that they don’t survive the washer and dryer.) I had a lot of questions desperately needing answers, like:
- What to do about all those outfits the girls seem to need to change into every day?
- How does one train a will exactly?
- How do I get them to want to do the things that I have to repeat thirty times a day everyday like it was the first time I said it to them? (Yeah, because Catholic home schooling moms never yell and never lose their patience…when strangers are watching!)
- How do I reinforce everything they are learning at Little Flowers at home, constantly?
[Stay tuned for Part II of Getting Over the Free-Range Chicken Syndrome....]
In the meantime, did you have an epiphany about the need for an organized Domestic Church/Homeschool? If so, what triggered it for you? (just don't tell us what you did just yet - save that lovely comment for Part Deux of this post)...come on, don't be shy!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Blog Share: Little Things
We've decided to take a peek at those friends who follow us at Raising Little Saints. Here's our first Blog Share:
Take a little visit to this Catholic Homeschooling Blogging Mama who is Raising Little Saints just like you and me! Enjoy!
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