Sunday School Post #4

Happy Lent my friends! How is it going so far? I apologize for the jumbo size of this post as we were out of town last week and I didn't feel like leaving my snuggly hotel bed to write a new post. 

Church is one of the things we never let get in the way of going on vacation. We love visitng new churches and meeting new people. Before we head out of town, if we are gone on a holy day of obligation or a Sunday, we research for the nearest church. We have discovered so many quaint churches, incredible and jaw dropping places and some that are so full of love that you want to move there right away! St. Cecilia's, pictured here, was where we spent our Ash Wednesday and it was truly one of those places where you felt right at home with everyone. The priest was amazing to listen to and I was inspired by his homily. He handed out crosses to everyone in the sanctuary so that they could keep them in their pockets and rub them in times of stress or happiness as a reminder to always know God is there.

All of our Easter books are out and we enjoy reading one every other day, during the weeks of Lent.

Picking up some new books for this year to go along with our Liturgical Calendar from Illuminated Ink. I love visiting our local Catholic Store, The Vineyard, for fun things to keep the kids involved in our Lenten Journey.

These booklets are perfect for our daily reflection. We use one at breakfast, one at lunch and one at dinner along with one at the start of our classroom day. They just break Lent down 1 day at a time with a brief reflection, story and prayer.

I also have packets of Lenten printouts that I found throughout pinterest. I have put them into folders for the kids and we work on a few things each day. I printed them all up in black and white, so that we can highlight and color as we go, to personalize them. Check out what I have pinned (activity-wise) for Lent HERE. Here is what I have pinned as far as meatless meals for LENT HERE!  We have cut our regular religion class in half for these 40 days, so that we can focus on just studying for Lent as well.

Our classroom cross is on one wall with a small plaque under it and cup hooks hold rosaries, so that they are always accessible to everyone and this way they do not get tangled. 

During our reflection or activity time, I have been playing the Easter Story on CD.  One activitiy that we worked on for the beginning of Lent was a DIY Paper Bag book. This was so much fun to put together and the kids had a blast doing it while learning. We enjoy doing the living stations as well as just doing them on our own when we go to church. Instructions on how to make your own tabbed book are HERE! We put one station on each page, using the tabbed pull pages for the prayer that goes with each station. I just found the sheets with the station information on pinterest and google image searches and printed them out. The kids each made their own books, glued, cut and colored all done by them. These are great books that make it easy to follow along with. They have already gotten many compliments on them.

My husband and I are on Day #5 of the Love Dare and the Love Dare for Parents. It has been a great and humbling experience. We are learning new ways of communicating along with growing closer together.

One thing I have LOVED about the kids doing their own envelopes for church, which I discussed HERE, is that the kids get their good deeds published in the bulletin the following week. It really makes them stop and think about what they are sharing when they turn in their givings, not just write something quickly. Last week my children wrote:

#1 - Prayed for unborn babies
#2 - Helped a friend
#3 - Helped my brother

Enjoy every minute my friends!

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Everything I post that is related to our Little Catholic Homeschool, can be found on the board above, I also like to pin items that I hope to incorporate into our lessons in the near future.
For a full listing of my other Sunday School Posts and general Catholic activities, visit HERE!

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