Author: Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

Monica is one of the Founders of the Catholic Bloggers Network and continues as an Administrator for the site. Check out Equipping Catholic Families to see what she's up to when she's not over here!

St. Joseph ~ Picture of the Carpenter on Wood ~ Craft

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network
This is a fun and easy craft project for all ages! It makes a nice addition to any altar, room, shelf, or wall.
In this simple activity you’ll crate a home/school decoration of St. Joseph on a block of wood. I felt that wood seemed like a perfect spot to put a picture of St. Joseph, since he was/is a carpenter!
It easy enough for kids in 1st grade but still nice enough for teens and adults.

 
See the complete instructions to create this for yourself – HERE.
St. Joseph the Craftsman, pray for us!
Happy crafting!
~Jennifer

We Made a Lorax Tree Craft

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

From this website , found on Pinterest, we found inspiration to make a Lorax craft.

Make sure to open the link above to see instructions I did not include here.

First, my daughter and my mother collected craft supplies. A piece of cardboard for the base…green construction paper…paper for a path….foam shapes….clay….popsicle sticks…pipe cleaner….yarn….glitter glue.

After wrapping the cardboard in green paper and cutting a winding trail out of black construction paper, my mother helped my daughter glue foam pieces onto the trail to look like a cobblestone path.

This wasn’t in the movie, but any chance to use more glue was fun for my daughter!

To make the tree trunks, we used popsicle sticks . Pipe cleaners created the look of the stripes and helped to grab the “Truffula Tufts.”

Here, we have sunk the sticks into mounds of clay that she then painted with green glitter glue.

We realized she even had tiny bears that she could include to replicate the movie, now all we need is a little Lorax.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot,

nothing is going to get better. It’s not.

-The Lorax by Dr. Seuss

Fishing for the 12 Apostles

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network
One day while teaching the kids about the 12 Apostles, I decided to come up with a fun and easy way for them to learn the names of the twelve apostles. I know grown adults that stumble with the names of Jesus’ twelve followers. I figured it might help them remember better if they could play a game.
So I came up with the game Fishing for the Apostles.

I figured the fishing game was perfect since some of the apostles were fisherman.

To learn more about the game and for the free printable CLICK HERE

Blessings,
Monique

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Penance Printable Cupcake Toppers or Stickers

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

I have two kiddos receiving their First Penance and First Communion this year! (Plus one receiving her Confirmation! It’s a busy year!) My 4th and 5th born were blessed to receive First Confesstion this past Saturday! It was a wonderful time! While Joshua (age 9) just went through the ceremony and into the confessional like an old pro, Elizabeth (age 8) needed a lot of sweet talking and hugs to calm her fears, but she came skipping out of the confessional with a grin on her face that just beamed and stretched for one ear to the other!!

So for a special treat I made white cupcakes with white icing to symbolize their clean souls! I added a topper to each cupcake like this:

I just taped a toothpick to the back and stuck one into each cupcake.
Or you could make stickers for those kids who have just made a Reconciliation to wear!!

Stickers for the kids who have received Reconciliation could be nice for any age! Teachers could give them to the kids who choose to go to confession in the time allowed during school! Perhaps his could add a bit of “advertising” to the other kids who choose not to go?!?! 😉

To read more or for the link to the free printable click here

God Bless!
~Jennifer

My Lenten Journey for Kids

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

I posted EGG-straordinary Lenten Rosary Project for your Family – a tutorial for a Lenten activity for families – over at Catholic Sistas. As I was revamping this post from one I did last year, I came across many great additions. While I won’t go into the specifics of the Easter Egg Rosary Project here, I will show you the booklet that evolved from it’s transformation from a post that was original to Designs by Birgit last year. I simply used links to various ideas for coloring pages, Stations of the Cross carousels, and other ideas and created a Lenten Journey Book for Kids.

My links are here: My Lenten Journey for Kids

Celebrating Lent in the Domestic Church

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

Advent and Christmas have only just come and gone, but believe it or not Lent is only a few days away! I have been in planning mode since just a bit after Christmas, trying to order my home and make lessons to ensure that the season is really lived and savored. While I do have a few new traditions I hope to add to our family this year, (like the Lenten Book Basket and 40 Bags in 40 Days), here is a look at what helped to make the season memorable for our family last year. My hope is that they will bless you and your family as we approach the penitential season and await the resurrection of the Lord!

 
 
 
 
 
 
   
 
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Already have plans in mind for the Lenten season? Share how you will Keep a Holy Lent with all of us in the comments!
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Holly resides in the Deep South where you are sure to find at least one monkey jumping on the bed. You can find her at Three Sided Wheel, Facebook, and Twitter, where she blogs about home education and creating Catholic culture in the heart of her home.

Pro-life Corner: SUNDAY, February 12, 2012

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

 Priests for Life has been the source of Pro-life materials  for years. They coincide with the Church calendar and ‘contain three elements: a one-paragraph bulletin insert, General Intercessions, and suggestions for drawing pro-life themes out of the Sunday reading for the homily’. I will share all three elements every Sunday in an effort help us all think with a pro-life heart. 

The Priests for Life pro-life materials for Sunday, February, 12, 2012 go to Designs by Birgit

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network

Artisan bread – only 4 ingredients


The Lord’s Prayer, as taught to us by our Savior, seems simplistic on the surface – yet is profound and multi-faceted in its message. One of the petitioning lines of this prayer has always intrigued me: ‘Give us this day, our daily bread’. Although this sentence of supplication speaks to our daily, physical needs, it has a connotation of so much more. 

Read the complete post and the recipe for Artisan Bread by going to Designs by Birgit

Unschooling and Catholicism – Yes, it's possible! :)

Posted: by Monica @ Catholic Bloggers Network
I don’t define myself strictly as an unschooler since we’ve been attempting to use a curriculum lately, but during the earlier days of homeschooling, I didn’t realize that we were actually unschooling in a way. Now, for those of you who may be thinking: “Huh? What in the world is UNSCHOOLING?,” you may find the links on this page useful.
Image source here. (Disclaimer: The blogger whose site I got this from says she’s a “free thinker,” so I don’t know if she believes in God. Just being clear that I’m not “advocating” free thinker-ism [if there’s such a term, LOL]. Of course, God loves ALL people and it’s up to Him to make the final judgment.)
Actually, come to think of it, what we’ve been doing these days could be classified as unschooling too, especially since I still haven’t been able to “land” my dream “job” of becoming a fulltime stay-at-home mom. It’s been a real struggle for me to plan our lessons and implement them, and most days I end up letting the kids play to their hearts’ content, and make up for the seeming “lack of lessons” by reading more books as usual during bedtime. 😉
In this light though, I am really grateful that I’ve stumbled upon the Unschooling Catholics blog and have even joined their yahoogroup. (Though right now, I’m more of a silent member, hehe!)
Homeschooling our children is still one of my top priorities now, and I find it really exciting that God is showing me different ways of how my fellow Catholic moms and our fellow Catholic families make it work. 😉 At least I know that there are lots of options out there for us who feel and believe that we are called to homeschool our kids – thank You, Lord! 😉
So if you’re interested to see how unschooling and Catholicism work out for the family’s best, try going over to the Unschooling Catholics blog! 😉 They have a list of Catholic unschoolers’ blogs on the right sidebar of the blog page, which you may want to explore too. 😉
Here’s to Catholic homeschooling, whatever “form” or “style”! 😉 + AMDG +