Spring is here, the sun in Oregon is out (today any way) and the end of our homeschool year is so very close. I'm finding myself anxious to finish up with this years lessons and get started on planning for the 2013/2014 school year! Needless to say I'm as anxious to have my new Holy Simplicity planner as I know many of you are as well. My boys area also hovering over the proof saying "Is that my planner?!"

 I have good news! Its getting they are getting final touches put on them and the final proof before they are printed and start shipping to all who have put your pre-order in. Shipments are expected to start the 2nd week of May. We thank you for your support on these planners! In anticipation of the Holy Simplicity Planner, Maidens for Mary Catholic Girls Planner and the Crusaders for Christ Catholic Boys Planner we wanted to do a little give away!

Starting today we are accepting entries for afree Planner Package which is valued at $50+ including the shipping! This includes 1 Holy Simplicity Planner, a Catholic planner for planning your home, school & Liturgical Year. This years edition features 50+ Full Color Liturgical Planning pages including 8 pages just for Easter and Christmas. 225 stickers to mark fast/abstinence days as well as Name Days and other special feasts, anniversaries and birthdays. Each month contains a double spread monthly planning page with room for notes and marks Saints and major feast days. Following the monthly calendar are double spread weekly planning pages color coded according the the Catholic Church's Liturgical Season. These also contain reminders for major feast/fast days and there is room to write the weeks menu plan out along with a space for notes and planning for 4 students and 9 subjects.

Along with the Holy Simplicity planner, the winner of our give away will get to choose 2 children's lesson planners. The Maidens for Mary and Crusaders for Christ Catholic lesson planners are both laid out in similar manner. They contain a single page spread for the monthly calendar with saints and feast days marked as well as whom the Church dedicates each month to. On the back of this page is space to record any books that were read in that month, a short prayer to memorize, Catechism lessons to learn and more. Following this monthly calendar are single pages for each of the weeks in that month. Depending on the planner these feature various artwork of crusaders, castles, armor, pictures of Our Lady or other female saints. Crusaders for Christ features boyish colors of blue, green, brown and a dark red while the Maidens for Mary Planner features girly colors of pink, purple, yellow and azure. Each week's page contains space to write lessons in for 9 subjects, a weekly to-do task list as well as a place to keep track of virtue practice.

 These lesson planners are geared for grades 3rd through 8th grade and help the child to manage their homeschool day more on their own. It helps to teach time management and responsibility and limits the 'what do I do now' questions to the teacher. This also makes a great record keeping book to store away incase one needs to show what was done on such and such a date. In the back of the children's planners there is a reproducible book report for and also a tear-out Catholic report card to give to the student when the year is completed. 

To view more on any of these planners please visit our new book store All the Saints Books! The give-a-way winner will be announced on next weeks Keeping It Catholic Monday post. Details on entering the give-a-way may be found below.

We are so excited to announce that the Holy Simplicity Planner, Maidens for Mary Young Ladies Planner and Crusaders for Christ Young Man's planners are available for pre-order!!! 

The Holy Simplicity Planner is currently at the printer and we expect its full release come early May. This planner is ideal for Catholic homeschooling parents who want to plan their home, school and Liturgical Year all in one! Its about 200 pages, all but about 15 of those are full color. Each month has a double spread planning page as well as each week. There is room for 4+ children's lesson planning and 9 subjects. Each week contains a saint quote and room for planning the weeks menu as well as the weeks projects and/or to-do list. Its color coded according to the Liturgical year and has reminders for major feast days. Special to this years addition are 225 stickers to use in indicating fast/abstinence days as well has stickers for marking feasts of Our Lord and Our Lady and to give to the children as a reward. In the back of the planner is a reproducible section that includes forms for keeping track of grades, attendance and also a Catholic report card and more! In addition and also new this year are 50+ pages of full color Liturgical feast/season planning and journaling pages! Click here to preview the Holy Simplicity Planner.

The children's planners are new this year, many of you have been enjoying the free download and voiced the desire to have a printed version. We have answered that request in the Maidens for Mary and Crusaders for Christ children's planners! 

Maidens for Mary Young Ladies Catholic Lesson Planner features an easy monthly layout for writing down appointments, classes, chores, and other items and then each week also has its own page with 9 subject spaces for writing down lessons completed or for writing lessons out ahead of time for the child to follow themselves and help to teach self regulation and discipline in regards to their daily lesson plans and education. Each week also features a saint quote as well as a new image of Our Lady or another maiden devoted to Our Blessed Mother. There is also a section on the weekly page for keeping track of weekly chores and errands as well as a daily check list for virtue practice. Another section is including for other basic record keeping such as a book reading log and more. For more information on this girls Catholic lesson planner please click here.

Crusader's for Christ Catholic Young Man's Lesson Planner is very similar to the young ladies planner but is designed to appeal to young men. The theme for these planners features a new image of a crusader on each weeks page and has a very knightly design and layout. Otherwise this planner has the same features as the young ladies: monthly calendar, weekly planning pages with daily task list, virtue practice and 9 subject spaces for lesson planning. To view more on all of these planners please visit our new book store site!

Our blog has been a little quite since Lent, Holy Week and Easter as we were busying keeping the season ( or in the case of Lent taking a break to keep the season) but we have also been working not only on these three projects but another exciting adventure for our little family!

Along with the release of the pre-orders on the lesson planners we also opened a book store featuring vintage Catholic reprints of some wonderful books! So many of these books we have reviewed and shared on our site and many of them can be hard to find. Quite a few of them are dated from the late 1800's and early 1900's. True treasures and full of the Catholic faith! We are so excited to be able to share these with you and make them readily available for your enjoyment. The book store may be found by going to www.AllTheSaintsAndPeterAndPaul.com and clicking on the book store tab to the top right.

We are still in the process of growing our selection so please check back weekly to see what is new. We are adding an average of one new title a day. To keep up on the new selections without the hassle please sign up for our e-newsletter that will come out once a month. The link to sign  sign up for the All The Saints and Peter & Paul Newsletter is here or you can also find it on our main book store site at the bottom right of the page.

Many different subject matters are covered in the book selections but special attention has been given to educational books as well as books on motherhood as we understand that our readers (of this blog) seek those sort of books out most and they can be hard to find. Please if there is a topic you feel is missing or a subject that you have been searching for let us know by emailing us.

So many of you offered such wonderful support last year in purchasing our Holy Simplicity Planner. We are excited to announce that we WILL be printing again this year! There are a few changes to the layout but we hope that you will enjoy them and that they will still continue to make planning your homeschool, house and liturgical seasons easier.

The 2013-2014 Holy Simplicity FULL-COLOR Planner features double page monthly layouts, making appointment setting and keeping track of feast days simple. There is also room on the side for notes both for tasks and devotions. 

The double page weekly spread will look very familiar to all of those who purchased or downloaded a planner last year. We added some more space to the note section and made the meal planning section a bit larger. Also added is some beautiful Catholic artwork which is based on the theme in which the Church dedicates each month to. There is still room to plan 4 students lessons plus an additional 9th subject line verses the 8 from last year.

This year we will not be offering the Catholic Life book within the planner as we did last year. In its place we have designed some Liturgical season/feast day journaling pages that help to plan and/or record the happenings of your feast days and seasons. Plan your St. Valentine's day recipes, Christmas gift giving lists & space to write down devotions, Lenten season devotions and so forth. These pages are available for every major feast and every month of the year will have at least 1-2.

In the back of the planner you will find lesson planning pages, goal setting pages, forms that may be reproduced in order to track school attendance, grading etc. We hope that you will enjoy this years planner even more than last years! In addition we will also be offering PRINTED children's lesson planners. We will have more information on those as they get closer to completion. Please visit our Holy Simplicity Planner page often for new details and make sure to sign up to receive email updates. Expected release day is May 2013. Previews of what the children's planners will look like may be found on our children's planner page. God bless and may you have a most fruitful Lenten season!

Our friends over at Crusader's for Christ have shared yet another WONDERFUL article on feast day traditions, they sure have some good resources! We thought you might enjoy, below you will find a teaser of this wonderful information. Also we are adding some Journaling Pages to each of the liturgical seasons and major feast days. They are intended for adults so that they may plan their feast day and/or season and have a record for the following year. These will also be replacing the Liturgical articles in the Holy Simplicity planner (due to be out in May!) So far we have Lent, Easter & St. Patrick's Day Journaling pages up with more to follow!

- A Candle is Lighted, Imprimatur 1945 -
This day was a general holiday, particularly for apprentices, and it  would have been strange if it had not frequently become a day into which people tried to cram all the pleasure they would soon have to forego.

In Norwich, as probably in other cities, processions were made to symbolize the rapid approach of Lent. In 1440, say the Norwich  records, such a procession was instigated by a certain John Gladman, who was known "as a man ever trewe (true) and feythfilll (faithful) to God." Crowned as king of Christmas, his horse bedecked with gilt and every sort of finery and tinsel he was preceded in the procession by twelve other horsemen, each representing a month of the year and each dressed appropriately. Last in the procession, following after the glittering king of Christmas, came Lent, a horseman dressed from head to foot in white cloth and herring skins, mounted on a horse with trappings of oyster shells--and this "in token that sadnesse shulde folowe (sadness should follow), and a holy tyme (time)." Thus they rode through Norwich, and many others of the townspeople joined in, dressed in every sort of fantastic dress, all of them "making myrth, disportes and playes."

That they ate pancakes everywhere is merely because eggs and butter and milk had to be finished off before the fasting began, and the making of pancakes, the beating of the batter, the frying and tossing of the pancakes, could be a festive affair.


To finish reading visit Crusader's for Christ

Today we are sharing a bit on the Church's teaching on education which also doubles as a blog hop post. Below the encyclical you will find some of our homeschooling plans for this year. God bless!

ON CHRISTIAN EDUCATION RAPPRESENTANTI IN TERRA

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XI DECEMBER 31, 1929

To the Patriarchs, Primates, Archbishops, Bishops and other Ordinaries in Peace and Communion with the Apostolic See and to all the Faithful of the Catholic World.

Venerable Brethren and Beloved Children, Health and Apostolic Benediction.

Representative on earth of that divine Master who while embracing in the immensity of His love all mankind, even unworthy sinners, showed nevertheless a special tenderness and affection for children, and expressed Himself in those singularly touching words: "Suffer the little children to come unto Me,"[1] We also on every occasion have endeavored to show the predilection wholly paternal which We bear towards them, particularly by our assiduous care and timely instructions with reference to the Christian education of youth.

2. And so, in the spirit of the Divine Master, We have directed a helpful word, now of admonition, now of exhortation, now of direction, to youths and to their educators, to fathers and mothers, on various points of Christian education, with that solicitude which becomes the common Father of all the Faithful, with an insistence in season and out of season, demanded by our pastoral office and inculcated by the Apostle: "Be instant in season, out of season; reprove, entreat, rebuke in all patience and doctrine."[2] Such insistence is called for in these our times, when, alas, there is so great and deplorable an absence of clear and sound principles, even regarding problems the most fundamental.

3. Now this same general condition of the times, this ceaseless agitation in various ways of the problem of educational rights and systems in different countries, the desire expressed to Us with filial confidence by not a few of yourselves, Venerable Brethren, and by members of your flocks, as well as Our deep affection towards youth above referred to, move Us to turn more directly to this subject, if not to treat it in all its well-nigh inexhaustible range of theory and practice, at least to summarize its main principles, throw full light on its important conclusions, and point out its practical applications.

4. Let this be the record of Our Sacerdotal Jubilee which, with altogether special affection, We wish to dedicate to our beloved youth, and to commend to all those whose office and duty is the work of education.

5. Indeed never has there been so much discussion about education as nowadays; never have exponents of new pedagogical theories been so numerous, or so many methods and means devised, proposed and debated, not merely to facilitate education, but to create a new system infallibly efficacious, and capable of preparing the present generations for that earthly happiness which they so ardently desire.

6. The reason is that men, created by God to His image and likeness and destined for Him Who is infinite perfection realize today more than ever amid the most exuberant material progress, the insufficiency of earthly goods to produce true happiness either for the individual or for the nations. And hence they feel more keenly in themselves the impulse towards a perfection that is higher, which impulse is implanted in their rational nature by the Creator Himself. This perfection they seek to acquire by means of education. But many of them with, it would seem, too great insistence on the etymological meaning of the word, pretend to draw education out of human nature itself and evolve it by its own unaided powers. Such easily fall into error, because, instead of fixing their gaze on God, first principle and last end of the whole universe, they fall back upon themselves, becoming attached exclusively to passing things of earth; and thus their restlessness will never cease till they direct their attention and their efforts to God, the goal of all perfection, according to the profound saying of Saint Augustine: "Thou didst create us, O Lord, for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it rest in Thee."[3]

7. It is therefore as important to make no mistake in education, as it is to make no mistake in the pursuit of the last end, with which the whole work of education is intimately and necessarily connected. In fact, since education consists essentially in preparing man for what he must be and for what he must do here below, in order to attain the sublime end for which he was created, it is clear that there can be no true education which is not wholly directed to man's last end, and that in the present order of Providence, since God has revealed Himself to us in the Person of His Only Begotten Son, who alone is "the way, the truth and the life," there can be no ideally perfect education which is not Christian education.

8. From this we see the supreme importance of Christian education, not merely for each individual, but for families and for the whole of human society, whose perfection comes from the perfection of the elements that compose it. From these same principles, the excellence, we may well call it the unsurpassed excellence, of the work of Christian education becomes manifest and clear; for after all it aims at securing the Supreme Good, that is, God, for the souls of those who are being educated, and the maximum of well-being possible here below for human society. And this it does as efficaciously as man is capable of doing it, namely by co-operating with God in the perfecting of individuals and of society, in as much as education makes upon the soul the first, the most powerful and lasting impression for life according to the well-known saying of the Wise Man, "A young man according to his way, even when he is old, he will not depart from it."[4] With good reason therefore did St. John Chrysostom say, "What greater work is there than training the mind and forming the habits of the young?"[5]

9. But nothing discloses to us the supernatural beauty and excellence of the work of Christian education better than the sublime expression of love of our Blessed Lord, identifying Himself with children, "Whosoever shall receive one such child as this in my name, receiveth me."[6]

10. Now in order that no mistake be made in this work of utmost importance, and in order to conduct it in the best manner possible with the help of God's grace, it is necessary to have a clear and definite idea of Christian education in its essential aspects, viz., who has the mission to educate, who are the subjects to be educated, what are the necessary accompanying circumstances, what is the end and object proper to Christian education according to God's established order in the economy of His Divine Providence. CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING THE ENCYCLICAL

Religion-The Living in God series is one of our favorite!!! Reprinted by Our Lady of Victory a religion series that is set up similar to a reading primer but teaches the catechism using stories. This first book in the set is 1st grade level, we will also be using Living in God's Law for 2nd grade this year. A set of books worthy of any investment!

Along with these books we will continue to follow the Liturgical Year as a way to learn all the aspects of the Holy Catholic Faith. Sunday's the kids learn their Catechism using some new reprints of the Baltimore Catechism from Refuge of Sinners Publishing.

Reading - Our plans are still formulating for reading as we just discovered both our students are dyslexic. if you have any tips for teaching kids with dyslexia please do pass them along! At this point we are going to use both the Little Angel Readers along with All About Reading (be for-warned with All About Reading, one of their readers has an image in it not sutible for children... we plan to cover this up or remove that one story. This program is not Catholic but suppose to help children with Dyslexia and other reading issues.) Hopefully between the two programs we get both a Catholic perspective and help with the reading issues. All about reading is a hands on approach using colored magnet tiles, a workbook with cutting and pasting and also flash cards along with the readers. I think so far my son enjoys the progress chart most because he can see what is left and what he has done. Its nice as a parent too because its all set up and easy to use.

Writing- For handwriting practice this year we are using the Catholic Child's Daily Journal and as review we are going to go back over the 2nd Grade Handwriting Without Tears to help with the dyslexia (dysgraphia) issues.

Math- With our little guys everything seems to be done hands on and the perfect math program has been Math On The Level.  This is a K-8th grade program that can be used with multiple chidlren. It features a 5-A-Day math review and hands on learning for each of the math subjects. We use living math books from livingmath.net along with board games, and lots of other items we find on Pinterest to teach math. This is one of the only math products that is not workbook based and can be tailored according to maturity of the child rather than grade level. When they need more practice there is no worry and when they are ready to move ahead then they move on ahead. It has been a real blessing to our family and worth every penny! We also use Catholic File folder games to add a Catholic touch to our math program :)

History- Our plan this year was to use Founders of Freedom, the 1st of a 5 vol history set. While it is aimed at a 4th grade level and both our boys are about 2nd grade I decided to make it a hands on approach and add living books. The project turned out to be larger than thought so we will see how it goes. If you would like to see the links and notes for each section, they will be logged away here on the site under Catholic History. Its still in the works so please check back often to see if the password requirement has been removed.

The Land of Our Lady series is a wonderful Catholic History series from the early 50's from Newman press. The books are set up with the history of a Catholic Hymn at the beginning of each chapter, questions at the end of each chapter and a end of unit test. They are easily useable as is. They give a most wonderful Catholic perspective and they are worth every penny!

Science - This year we will be using Science and Living in God's World 2. Another wonderful Catholic book that has been reprinted (the whole set reprinted) and is available at Our Lady of Victory. We will also be adding science experiments to the ones included in the book and some more living books on each of the subjects through out the book as time allows.

Last but not least we couldn't do our planning without our Holy Simplicity Planner! Our planner was created so that we could plan our school year in tune with the Church's Liturgical year all in one place. Last week we shared a guest post over at Forever Always No Matter What, for more details on the planner visit our planner page!

Please make sure to share your homeschooling Curriculum plans at this years "Not" Back to School Blog Hop, it goes on for four weeks. Next week everyone will be sharing their School Room set ups! We can't wait to see what you are up to this year!

Thank you to those of you who entered our drawing for our free give away of the Holy Simplicity Planner. We actually decided to give two copies away so there are two winners who have already been contacted. Thanks also to those of you who shared the Holy Simplicity Planner on your blogs, social networks and through emails to your friends and family!

The Holy Simplicity Planner is still on sale, you can come on over and get a hard copy for $21.95 plus shipping HERE, as well as getting the FREE PDF version HERE! Plan your home, school and Liturgical year all in one place!