Pope Francis Art

Pope Francis

by: Guadalupe

Pope Francis Comes to Visit

Okay, well not to our house specifically, but he came to visit the US.  I decided that was something worth celebrating.  Inspiration struck in the middle of the night which resulted in paint and a giant poster.  Even though a road trip to Philadelphia wasn't on our schedule, we were still able to welcome him into our home.  I came up with a few fun ideas for the week so that we could welcome a guest, learn about him and his culture, and have some fun in the process.  This is one of those weeks that homeschooling allowed us to shift gears completely and learn something we hadn't planned.

 The kids woke up to this fun surprise in the morning.

We cleaned the house and made decorations for our visitor.

 We spent time working on learning all about Pope Francis.  We studied his career leading up to the papcy.  Here is Kateri showing off her artwork of his Pectoral Cross that he carries.

  

 Sebastian enjoyed working on his project.  He was learning all about the the outfit the Pope wears.  He was surprised how many pieces of clothes he had to wear!

Getting to research on the internet is always fun. 

                 

I found a great resource on TeacherPayTeachers.com for the kids to learn about the Pope.

 We made the most of our week by celebrating Mass and praying for the Holy Father intentions.  We also made a feast of some favorite foods from Argentina.

Back to School Time-Thoughts from the Kids


Claire:
This school year has been an awesome so far.   Claire joined a homeschool co-op near our house, where she is taking Geography, Science, Writing, Bible Timeline and History.

 My history class is called American and World History Book Club, and we are learning about the Civil War through literature books.  We just finished the book Across Five Aprils by Irene Hunt.  It is a coming of age story for a nine year old boy named Jethro.  He was directly affected by the war because he had to become the man of the house when his father got sick and his brothers were off to war.  He had to grow up quickly to learn to run the farm by himself.  I enjoyed the book even though the beginning was tough to get into.  After a few chapters I really got into the story because sometimes if my mom gets a cold or something, I also have to step up and help out with my siblings and sometimes make dinner.

My goal for the school year is to blog more often about the fun stuff we do.


                                                                Guadalupe:

Pretty much it's been a great school year.  There have been a few bumps on the way, but mostly it has been good.  I started taking Spanish this year.  I am using the program Spanish With Grace.  I like this program because it has a CD that tells you exactly what to do and sounds out the words for me. It also has conversation books that I can read and songs and some Catholic prayers in Spanish.

My goal for the school year is to speak as much Spanish as I can and learn more Science.











Sebastian:
I really didn't want school to start because I had just gotten back from staying with my Aunt for a few weeks.  We didn't have all of our books yet, so I felt panicked.  My mom started us slow, and each week added a little more work for us.  Now we are 6 weeks in and it's not so bad.

I celebrated my birthday this week and it was fun.  I received a bunch of books. I am most looking forward to reading the Frank Einstein series.  It is about a boy who builds robots and uses science to build new inventions.  The first book is called Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor.

My goal for the school year is finish the Infinity Ring book series.




Kateri:

This year is my first year of homeschooling.  I mostly think that means I get to play all day long.  Sometimes my mom makes me do things that have to do with reading and the alphabet.  I like to paint and and color and I have a big collection of drawings that I carry around with me.  I am going to school on Fridays and I really like playing with my friends.  Gymnastics is my favorite class each week.

My goal for the year is to learn to read (ok that is my parents goal) so mine is to have as much fun as I can.

 

Mini-Francis:

My goal is to make big messes with the blocks and to distract my siblings as much as I can with my silliness.  Oh and to watch as much Daniel Tiger as my mom will let me!

Claire's Star Wars Costume Contest

In honor of May the 4th I am hosting a Star Wars Costume Contest. You have until the end of the month to email the following to anniegifford@gmail.com for a chance to win a cool prize:

-a picture of you dressed as a Star Wars character
-a description of your character
-your name 

You must take a full length photo to win.  I will chose the best or draw a winner at random.  It all depends on your imagination.  Good luck and May the Forth be with you :)

-Claire

Teal Pumpkin Project

This year we came across an article about painting a teal pumpkin for those who have allergies to know there is a non-food option for trick or treaters.  Three of our five beautiful children suffer with various food issues that have made trick or treating a challenging event.  As a child, my favorite part of Halloween was dumping my candy on the floor and trading with my sisters for the candy I liked the most.  Visions of Reese's and Tootsie Pops still dance in my head.  But I, like my children, have become afflicted with a food allergy that keeps me from many of the delicious treats enjoyed by most.  As an adult, I am okay with this affliction now, and can work around it when I have a sweet craving.  But for my 6 and 4 year olds who struggle to be like the other kids, this is not so easy.  Many a day have ended in tears as I had to tell them the food wasn't safe for their little bodies.  It's a hard sacrifice when those brownies or slice of pizza look so good.  They usually get over it pretty fast, but the sacrifice is not lost on me.  

This year, we have embraced this idea of the teal pumpkin.  If you see one on the front porch of a house, that means they have special non-food items for trick-or-treaters who have allergies.  We had a great time going to the store to buy some non-food items like bubbles, coloring books, whistles and the like.  

As a parent, I am super excited at the idea that my girls get to walk around the block and be "normal" kids for a night even if it means they get bubbles instead of tootsie rolls.  To all parents who have painted teal pumpkins-thank you.  Thank you for offering my girls a night of no tears and excitement about what's in their bag.  I can't wait to watch them dump their bags and share safe items.  To all those who don't know about the Teal Pumpkin for Allergies-keep your eyes out this year.  We may be few and far between, but we are out there.  And hopefully as the years go by, more families will be purchasing teal paint! 

M

Kateri paints as Claire looks on.

Guadalupe smiles as she paints our Teal Pumpkin

Mini-Francis gets in on the painting action too.

Claire's Book Picks of the Week

Kyla Mae Miss Behaves as an International Super Spy
By. Kyla Mae



This book is like a diary or journal about Kyla Mae's day.  She has an extremely active imagination.  During English class at school, she imagines she is a super spy on a mission to find someone who is stealing diamonds at a dog show in Russia.  She and Fifi-Belle, her dog, compete in the competition while looking for the thief. Kyla Mae was day-dreaming about being a spy because her arch-enemy, Bianca, lost her favorite bracelet and accused Kyla Mae of taking it.  In this book, Kyla Mae works to solve the mystery of the missing bracelet.  

I thought this book was really cute because she drew a lot of funny pictures on each page.  The book pages looked like they came straight out of an actual journal with colorful words, pictures and side notes.  This book would be great for girls ages 8-12 who love colorful pictures and like to journal. 


President of the Whole Fifth Grade
By: Sherri Winston




In this book, Brianna, wants to run for class president of the fifth grade, to be like her hero Miss Delicious.  Miss Delicious is a celebrity cupcake baker who had also been class president when she was younger.  Brianna has to fight in the election against a new girl in town.  

I liked this book because it was like a real life story of a girl and her hardships with her friends and bullies.  I could see myself in this character because she likes to bake and because I ran for student counsel in 3rd grade.  Even though it's about the 5th grade, girls ages 9-11 would enjoy this book.  


Sisters in Time American Challenge: Lydia the Patriot
By: Susan Martins Miller




This book is about a young girl named Lydia and her brother Stephen during the Boston Massacre.  This was a scary time for their family as the British soldiers were marching all around the town.  Lydia's aunt goes into labor and Stephen has to fight the mob to go and find the midwife.  Lydia was afraid because if the midwife didn't come soon, she would have to help her Aunt give birth.  

This book taught me about history and how we have had bad times in the past where we made wrong choices.  We have made many good choices along the way, and I am glad that America is free so that we aren't ruled over by England.  I am also  thankful for not living during the revolutionary war because having British soldiers all around me would be very scary.  They could come into your house whenever they wanted.  I am a sensitive person so this would really upset me.  This story is part of a larger collection of stories.  The other stories are Kate and Spies, Betsy's River Adventure, and Grace and the Bully.  They are historical fiction stories based in the time period of 1770-1819.  This reminds me of the American Girl series, but I liked this better because I learned more about history from this one story than from the many American Girl stories I've read.  I learned about Samuel Adams and other patriots who stood up to the British Soldiers.  I would recommend this for girls ages 8-12. 

THE STORY OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II: A BOY WHO BECAME POPE by Fabiola Garza

  On Sunday April 27th, the day Pope John Paul II was canonized, my dad read us all a book called THE STORY OF SAINT JOHN PAUL II: A BOY WHO BECAME POPE  by Fabiola Garza. This book is about the life of Saint John Paul II, when he was a boy. There are were some interesting facts that I found in the book that I didn't know before. Did you know that his real name was Karol, but he went by Lolek.  Lolek became an actor when he was in high school and performed in plays until he became a priest.  He became a priest during World War II, when the Nazi's invaded Poland and forced the Jewish people to leave. JP had lots of friends and some of them were Jewish, so he did not see them for a long time. After the war ended, he stood up to the Communists who took over Poland by celebrating Mass in public on Christmas Eve.


The author and illustrator, Fabiola Garza, did a beautiful job drawing the pictures.  They are perfect down to every last detail because some of the pictures remind me of one of my favorite movies, Tangled.  I feel as if I could just jump into the book and be a part of it. 
It's also cool because they are carrying a picture of Our Lady of Czestochowa, whom I studied, through the streets?

Fabiola Garza, the author and illustrator signed our copy

Lolek chatting with his Jewish friend Jerzy

This is my mom's favorite page

This page reminds me of movie Tangled where the lanterns are lighting up the sky.

Claire