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Some days I feel like my kids are second-class homeschoolers. Almost every other homeschooling family I know is paying to put their kids in some kind of music class.  Weather it’s piano, guitar, viola, or flute, they are paying for these super expensive music lessons. Sadly, our family is unable to pay for music lessons for all 9 of our kids. So I signed-up our kids for our parish’s children’s choir. Unfortunately, since our kids were the only ones to join, the choir soon disbanded. I was in the choir as a teen and I’ve been told I’m a good singer, so my husband and I asked our parish priest for a few extra music books like those we had at the church. We started singing Mass songs each evening with the kids. My oldest became quite good at singing a capella  and I’ve been very pleased with her growing talent – especially since she learned from an amateur vocal teacher (me). Singing church music is a great way to teach kids a few basics, but I was looking for another way to teach music that would help them to understand music history, vocabulary, as well as, learn a little about how important music is. Many of the early composers played their music in Catholic Churches and they built the foundation of the music which the Catholic Church uses today. I thought it would be interesting to learn about the lives of these composers. The has a number of books about these early church composers, as well as many other famous composers. I tried one of these book sets out last year. For our first year we choose Bach . The main book is a story book which tells all about Sebastian Bach . The story is cute and draws you into Bach’s world. It tells about his childhood, his family, and his career. I also bought the companion CD which has samples of his music. These samples are meant to be played during many different parts of the book. The CD not only includes the MP3 music samples, it also includes printable coloring pages and sheet music (not that my kids can use the sheet music!). The study guide was also a great help. It gave a short synopsis of the reader, discussion questions, a timeline, plus, some other interesting facts. I used this set it for all my elementary level (grades 2 – 7) kids.  It was an easy read for the older kids and too hard for the youngest, but understandable as a whole. When I first introduced this book and CD to my kids they were very unhappy with the idea. They seemed to think that it was going to be “boring elevator music”, but by the end of the book they were sad it was over. I’ve seen a change in their attitude about music. It opened their ears to hearing the heart and soul of the sounds that these composers put together. It’s even more uplifting when one of the kids gets excited and points to the name of a familiar composer in the Mass music book at church! 🙂 Here are a few notebooking pages which I created to accompany this book and the music: Music Appreciation: Listening to Music This is a free worksheet which allows kids to write down the background information (e.g.: the composer, type, year composed) of a piece of music which they are listening to. Their is also space for the children to write down their thoughts about the music. It can be used along with the or along with ANY music appreciation program. Note: If we couldn’t find a exact date that the piece was written we just wrote the years of the composers life spanned. Music Vocabulary Worksheets My kids used this sheet to write down any music related words they didn’t understand. Usually, they were unfamiliar words which were in the story about the composer. Once we finished reading the chapter or paragraph we looked them up and wrote down the definition. The kids drew a picture of the idea/item if they could. Download the Music Appreciation and Vocabulary Sheets Here: This year I plan to have my kids read about Joseph Haydn and Beethoven.  There are many different composers to choose from: Sebastian Bach …….  ( Reader ) ( CD ) ( Study Guide ) Motzart ……………….  ( Reader ) ( CD ) ( Study Guide ) Joseph Haydn ………  ( Reader ) ( CD ) ( Study Guide ) Beethoven ……………  ( Reader ) ( CD ) ( Study Guide ) Franz Schubert ……… ( Reader ) ( CD ) ( Study Guide ) Johannes Brahms …  ( Reader ) ( CD ) ( Study Guide ) Check out all the other music books by Opal Wheeler : HERE No, these books are not the same as learning to play an instrument, but they are great books to teach music history. And I plan to use them until the day we can actually afford to pay for guitar or piano lessons. Then, on that day, we can stop searching YouTube for free lessons! 🙂  Hey, YouTube is a great resource for free lessons. Just don’t expect to get professional results! How do you teach music to your kids? Till Later, God Bless, ~JenMarie

The original name of the ladybug is “Our Lady’s Bug.” It seems that during the Middle Ages, a plague of small insects (probably aphids) attacked the crops, threatening Europe with starvation. The people had recourse to Our Lady, and petitioned her to save them from this plague….. Finish reading this awesome story on Catholicism.org . In honor of Our Lady we have Ladybug cookies every year at our Marian Tea Party!! These ”ladybug” cookies they are yummy –No, they are not made with real ladybugs like my oldest daughter, Rachel, once thought when she was very little! But they are cute and fun to make! You will need: 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup butter (soften) 1/2 tsp. vanilla 2 eggs 2 cups flour 1/4 tsp. salt 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/2 square unsweetened chocolate melted.(I used chocolate chips ~ about 15 regular sized chips – I think) Mini chocolate chips for the bug’s spots Red Cookie Paint (OR – You could use red sugar sprinkles instead of the paint) egg yoke 1 tsp water red food coloring Blend sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs. Slowly add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix until well blended. Take 6 tablespoons of the dough and stir in the melted chocolate. Refrigerate the two balls of dough in different bowls for about an hour or until firm and easy to handle. Preheat oven to 350. Grease cookie sheet. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place on a greased cookie sheet – 1 inch apart. Flatten them a little and use a knife to cut a deep line length wise down the center of each cookie. Create a head for the bug: Shape the chocolate dough into finger-tip-size oval shapes and add one to each of the cookies to form a head.  Make the ”red paint” by added 1 tsp of water and 5 to 10 drops of red food coloring to an egg yoke. Use a small spoon or clean (new) brush to add the red paint to the bug’s body. The cookie area will need to be flat so the red doesn’t roll off.  Press three mini chocolate chips (upside-down) into each side of the bug’s body.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes until lightly brown.  Makes about 3 doz. We also made these in the past without the ”paint”.  We just added maraschino cherries that had been chopped into small pieces: They were good this way, too, but a few of my kids didn’t like the cherries. Next year, I was thinking it might be fun to sprinkle them with red sugar and add the mini chocolate chips! Hope you enjoy these, too! God Bless. ~JenMarie

Summer is in full swing and my 10 year old daughter, Elizabeth, has been complaining that she is ”bored”. Elizabeth is a very creative young lady, but it’s her creativity that often feeds her feeling of boredom. If she doesn’t have something creative to do she just looks lost and kind-of wonders around. So I decided to give her something to spark her creative juices. I asked Elizabeth if she wanted to make little ornaments that centered around the liturgical year. We have a ”tree” in our house which we decorate throughout the year. The changing decorations include: Saint Medals ,  Mary flowers ,    Catholic Snowflakes,   Lenten Jesus Tree ,  Assumption décor ,    and more! I thought it would be nice if the kids had an ornament to hang on the tree after we talked about the saint of the day. I told Elizabeth that she could use the stuff in my craft box which is over flowing with chenille stems (A.K.A pipe cleaner), pom-poms, felt, sequins, beads, etc.! That was almost too exciting for her to handle! She couldn’t wait to begin. Each of the ornaments that she (and I – if she needs help) will create will have a liturgical centered meaning. Most will be symbols of saints. Here are the first three she and I made. I did help her with these first few. She seemed to need a little help getting her creativity going. Now that she has an idea of what I was asking for, I'm sure she’ll be doing most of them on her own. But ether way it’s a great mom and daughter bonding time! 😉 All the ornaments will be added to this page: HERE I’ll post about our new ornaments as she/we make them. I’m not sure how often she/we will make one of these ornaments, but I’m hoping for at least 2 a month or even one a week -but no pressure. You can’t force creativity! It just has to happen on it’s own.  I’m hoping to get future ornaments posted *before* the saint’s feast day, but life is a bit crazy sometimes. (I’m sure that will be especially true once school starts again.) I’ll do my best to keep posting!  God Bless. ~JenMarie What do your bored kids do during summer break?

St. James the Greater, who was one of the sons of Zebedee, is celebrated in high honor on July 25th (in the new and old calendars). He is, of course, one of Jesus’ apostles and is attributed to being Jesus’ first apostle. He is the brother to John (the ”disciple whom Jesus loved”) and is know as ”the greater” – not because he was smarter or better but because he was larger then the other James (James the lesser). He had a full life and brought many souls to Jesus. Read more about him here and here . For his ornament, we used the  ”Cross of St. James” image. This symbol is a mix between a cross and a sword. The cross is for Jesus, and a sword represents the instrument used to behead James at his martyrdom. To create this, I first drew the ”St. James Cross” on red sheet of felt. Then I cut it out and flipped it over. Elizabeth glued it onto a off-white oval with the drawn side down – because it was kind-of messy looking. Using a brown permanent marker, we lightly outlined the plan side of the cross to add a little bit of interest. Then, we added a threaded loop of silver thread. Because July 25 is the feast day for two well known saints, Elizabeth and I created two ornaments for the day. St. James, pray for us. ~JenMarie

St. Mary Magdalene’s feast day is July 22 (New and Traditional calendars) The story from John 12:1-8 tells us how Mary Magdalene anointed the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume. So for her liturgical ornament Elizabeth and I decided to make a perfume bottle (an older style). We used light blue felt, and a light blue permanent marker. We folded a 2×3 inch rectangular piece of light blue felt in half and cut half a perfume bottle shape from it so that it could be opened into a full bottle. Then we added a light blue marker outline and glass-glare. The shaded-outline really makes it ”pop”! A silver threaded loop was added to hang it on our Liturgical Tree.  St. Mary Magdalene, pray for us! God bless. ~JenMarie

St. Peter Julian Eymard’s feast day is Aug. 2 in the new calendar. He began his love of Jesus at a young age and became a priest at the age of 23. He had a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and tried to spread that love to all those around him. He is the founder of the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament. Read more about him HERE , HERE , and HERE . Because of his love of the Blessed Sacrament, Elizabeth and I made a monstrance for this ornament. We used yellow and white felt, as well as, gold pipe cleaners and a brown sharpie marker. This is a double-sided ornament, so all the felt parts are doubled.  We cut the gold pipe cleaner into short 1 inch strips – they are the rays of the monstrance. We used the yellow felt to make the stand part of the monstrance. We made the host from white felt and we the cross was added with a sharpie brown marker.  We glued the small strips of gold pipe cleaner to the back of one of the yellow felt shapes. Then layered the second yellow shape on top. We glued on the hosts – one on both side. I recommend using hot glue to make this ornament.  You may like to visit Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament on St. Peter Julian Eymard’s feast day. St. Peter Julian Eymard, pray for us. ~JenMarie

St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross was born Jewish (Edith Stein).  She converted to Catholicism and was baptized at the age of 31. She later became a Carmelie nun. Only a few years later she was taken to Auschwitzgas by the Nazis and killed in a gas chamber on Aug. 9th 1942. She is celebrated on Aug. 9 (new calendar) – the anniversary of her death and entrance into heaven. Read more HERE and HERE . Because of her Jewish background, Elizabeth and I made a Star of David and added a cross to the center. We made 2 identical yellow triangles and over-lapped them to make the star. We outlined them with a black sharpie marker. Then we used two small brown felt strips to make a cross in the center of the star. St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, pray for us! ~Jen-Marie and Elizabeth (Crafting Buddy)

The feast of St. Martha is July 29th (new and traditional calendars). She was a friend of Jesus and the sister to Mary Magdalene and Lazarus. Because of the story in Luke 10:38-42, Elizabeth and I decided to go with a house keeping theme. So we created a broom.  We used dark brown and yellow felt to create this ornament. We also used a brown permanent marker to add ”bristles” to the broom. This ornament is double-sided so it looks the same on both sides. Although we don’t have it pictured, we did make two broom handles and glued them back to back. This made the ornament more stable.   St. Martha, pray for us! God Bless. ~JenMarie

I grew up a farmer’s daughter. My family moved onto a 60 acre farm when I was only 3 weeks old (not that I remember). My father was a hard working man who worked 2 full time jobs – as a farmer and an electrician. He needed both jobs so he could afford to put his 5 kids into a Catholic school. That old farm was the only place I lived and loved for the first 14 years of my life. The Gettysburg Civil War era farm house was always in need of repair, but it felt like home.  When I turned 14 years old my father made a smart, life-changing decision.  He decided to give up farming and to focus on being an electrician and a dad. The only problem was selling the farm. Sadly, selling a farm is never easy. After all, most people are not interested in working a farm, especially a 60 acre farm with over 2,000 turkeys and 30 cows. The realtor said it could be many years before a buyer would show interest. That information was heartbreaking to our family. If you have ever decided to move or sell a house you might understand how upsetting it can be to hear that you may need to wait several years before being able to finally move. After hearing the news, we put our trust in St. Joseph. We prayed each night for St. Joseph’s intersection. To make our prayers feel more special, my mom placed our 18 inch tall St. Joseph’s statue in a prominent spot in the front window of our old house. To the shock of the realtor and us, we sold the farm in less than 3 months! The 60 acre turkey farm was bought by a lovely young couple who were just married. In fact, they are still there today – 23 years later. (Now you have enough information to calculate my age!) Yes it was a shock and an obvious blessing from God. But what happened next only made this everyday miracle even more interesting. When the big moving day came, lots of relatives (who owned trucks), came to help us move. In all the shuffle of packing boxes and loading trucks, the large St. Joseph statue sitting in the front window was respectfully over-looked and left to be packed till last. The caravan of trucks was about to head down the road, so I climbed into the font seat of my dad’s truck. As I waited anxiously to get going, my mom handed me the statue. I held St. Joseph on my lap as the parade of trucks drove toward the new house. Around each curve and over each bump I held him and protected him, till we pulled into the driveway of the new house.  My dad opened the truck door and took the statue from me so I could climb out of the truck. Then, he turned around, opened the door to our new house, and walked in holding the statue which was now cradled in his arm. He placed St. Joseph on the kitchen counter – right in the heart of the house. The awesomeness of that moment didn’t dawn on us till later in the day. It seemed so fitting that the St. Joseph statue was the first item to enter the new house. After all it was St. Joesph, our intercessor in heaven, who helped to make the move possible! Our family has had a deep devotion to St. Joseph since that day. We have had many everyday miracles occur because of his intercession, but his intercession in buying and selling homes has been the most relevant in our everyday lives. My husband and I have bought and sold houses 3 times since we have been married. Each time we prayed to St. Joseph for help, and each time we were totally amazed at how quickly our houses sold.  If you are selling or planning to sell your home, pray to St. Joseph. He may or may not be able to help (God has a reason for all things), but I’m sure he will help if he can. About St. Joseph Home Selling Kits You may have heard about the St. Joseph home selling kits. Some of those kits bother me. They tell you to bury a St Joseph statue upside-down in the ground till he finds you a buyer. The prayer that accompanies this kit states: — Yikes! I don’t know about you all, but that seems very superstitious, strange, and downright disrespectful! Placing the statue in a place of honor worked perfectly for my parents, as well as, my husband and I. You don’t need to bury the statue. St. Joseph – in heaven- will hear your prayer whether or not a statue of him is buried in the ground. After all, the most important part of asking St. Joseph for his intersession is PRAYER!!  But if you feel you should do some thing with a statue, that’s okay – after all, it is a physical way of praying and that’s good – *but* I recommend creating a special place of honor for the statue (as you would the real saint.). It is a more respectful way of asking for help.  Once your home sells be sure to hold St. Joseph in a place of honor in your new home, too. Maybe make plans that a statue of him is the first item to enter the new home and plan a special family event to thank this wonderful saint for his help!  All those who are selling a home, take heart. I’m sure St. Joseph will do his best. So, pray, pray, pray! May God bless you and all those who live with you in your home. ~JenMarie Did you have a home selling experience that you’d like to share? How do you feel about burying a St. Joseph statue? How has St. Joseph interceded for you? How do you honor St. Joseph in your home?

With the hot summer months now upon us in the Northeast, this cool, edible craft is just right for the feasts of the Sacred Heart and Immaculate Heart. The fun, jiggly jello and the cool, juicy peaches, are a nice mix. My kids enjoyed creating them just as much as eating them! It’s a great way to satisfy your child’s spiritual and snack needs.  You will need: 1 box of red Jello – 6 oz box – whatever flavor you like – cherry, strawberry, or punch can of peaches – we used a 29 oz can but that was more than we needed – slice them thin chocolate sprinkles flower sprinkles pretzel sticks – you only need a handful or two heart shaped cookie cutter (if possible) flat, un-slotted spatula/turner (or whatever you call it; the name depends on where you live)  plates to put the jello hearts on – so the kids can decorate them Make your jello ahead and pour the liquid into two 13×9 inch pans. Chill till it’s that fun solid-jiggly texture. Using a heart shaped cookie cutter, cut hearts into the jello. Use the spatula/turner to gently remove the hearts from the pan and place two hearts side-by-side on a plate. (This is the hardest part.) The key is to gently tap the spatula against the plate as you slide the heart off the spatula. Now cut the peaches into small, thin slivers. Place them at the top of the heart. Try to make them flare out so they look like flames. I let my older kids (8 and up) help with this part. Then all the kids added their own chocolate sprinkles to one of their hearts to create a ”crown of thrones” and they added flower sprinkles to the other to make the ”crown of flowers”.  They used a whole pretzel stick and a half stick to make a cross on top of the heart with chocolate sprinkles. All the kids had a fun, jiggly, and giggly time creating these treats! Although, Caleb thought the best part was eating the jello! Don’t have a heart shaped cookie cutter? If you don’t have a cookie cutter, try smashing up the jello and spoon some onto a plate to form the two hearts. It’s not as clean of a look, but my girls liked the ”gem” look that these have. I made the ones pictured above with the leftover ”scraps” of jello that were around the cookie cutter shapes. Waste not; want not! 🙂  Till later, God bless. ~JenMarie

For our first Liturgical Saint Ornament we created St. Veronica’s veil. This was a nice easy one to start with! St. Veronica’s feast day is July 12 (That’s her historical feast day.) This ornament was created with only a small piece of off-white felt, black and brown permanent sharpie markers, and a needle & tread to hang it (We used gold thread.).  Elizabeth created most of this one. God Bless. ~JenMarie

Sts. Anne and Joachim are remembered and honored on July 26th in the new Catholic calendar (Traditionally – July 26th for Anne and Aug. 16th for Joachim). While we don’t know much about these two saints, we do know that they were blessed to the the parents of an amazing woman – Mary the Mother of God. How special was this couple that God allowed them to conceive a baby with no original sin!? Wow! What a blessing! St. Anne and St. Joachim, were the first teachers of Our Blessed Mother, so my daughter, Elizabeth, and I decided to use a book for one of the symbols. Because Anne would have also taught Mary how to keep house, cook, and make clothes, we use a spool of thread as another symbol. We used maroon, light blue, light brown and white felt to make this ornament.  The book was make with a larger maroon rectangle shape which was folded in half. We added  three smaller, white, rectangle shapes inside the folded maroon rectangle to form the pages. It was all hot glued at the ”binding”.  The spool was a light brown spool shape and a few small strips of light blue to make the ”thread”. The spool was glued onto the book. The above picture has a better view of the spool of thread.  Sts. Anne and Joachim, pray for us. God bless you all. ~JenMarie & crafting buddy, Elizabeth 🙂