In anticipation of our 'blog vacation' and requests from several of our readers, we have placed the June Liturgical Year Bulletin Board pieces up ahead of time. Many people were requesting these be up early so that they could be well prepared, and I know how they feel. Its always nice to have things ready ahead of time! After Pentecost on the 27th of May the color of the liturgical season changes from gold/white to green. Maria Von Trapp, in her book Around the Year with the Trapp Family, calls this Time after Pentecost the 'Green Meadow". There is also an extra title piece for those of you who want to save your titles to use the next year. One has the year on it and the other just has the month. From here on out we will be providing both pieces and as the new year comes around we will update the others.God bless!Time after Pentecost Pieces (if you do not already have the green pieces ready from Time after Epiphany)June Title Pieces and PrayersJune Saints PiecesAs always all of these pieces and the others for the rest of the year can be found on the Liturgical Year Bulletin Board page located under the Catholic Education tab above.
 Thank you to everyone that has ordered this years Holy Simplicity Planner! There has been such an overwhelming response in orders! Starting this Thursday (Ascention Day), May 17th, all orders that arrive from that date through the rest of May will be placed on hold. We are taking a little vacation from our blog and orders during this time. You may still purchase a planner but note that the arrival time will be about double (10-14 business days from order). If you are super anxious for your planner please get your order by Wednesday 12 PM PST. All orders that are placed by that time will be shipped out on Friday. When we come back from our blog vacation orders will start going out again (June 1st) and we will also release the FREE PDF E-book of the Holy Simplicity planner! Thank you for your patience in this matter and we apologize ahead of time for any inconvenience. May God bless this special week full of Rogation days, and the Ascention!
"My God, what will happen to me today, I do not know; but I do know that nothing will happen to me which Thou hast not forseen and ordained for my greater good. I accept, then, Thy thrice holy will; I submit myself to it, and desire to delight in it despite all the revolts of my reason, and the repugnance's of my nature."
 I stumbled upon a wonderful audio book called Counsels of Perfection for Christian Mothers. This wonderful book/mp3s touch on so many subjects that are near and dear to many Catholic mothers. Often I see online articles and blog posts about burnout in motherhood and/or homeschooling, in parenting, in the normal every day life. Typically these articles talk about many things; amongst them taking more time for oneself, taking breaks, more rest and organizing ones day. This book gives a truly Catholic aspect of those every day things of motherhood and it is very different from the modern day approach to give oneself more time alone doing the things one wants to do above our duties. In fact it speaks much of the opposite, sacrifice is the theme that runs through this book and there are many saints referenced to give wonderful examples. The book contains the following topics: True and false devotion, a catalog of souls, naturalism, the value of time, promptness in rising, venial sin-its ugliness, venial sin- its effects, impediments to spiritual progress, impediments to spiritual progress concluded, affections and aversions. Part two: spiritual reading - its advantages, spiritual reading- how to engage in it, spiritual reading- what books to read, meditation, good resolutions, examination of conscience, the art of rising after we fall, the interior life, the government of the tongue, spiritual imperfection. Part three: The holy Mass, visits to the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, The communion of children and young people, the communion of little children, the Eucharistic education of the child and the Church. Chapter five gives a wonderful explanation of how we, as mothers, should have a daily rule of life just as the religious but with more flexibility yet an equal purpose:Chapter V - THE NEED OF A RULE OF LIFE. Let me call your attention to the advantages of a rule of life. First, it saves you from yourselves, so to speak; from the spirit of caprice which finds its way so easily into your actions, and robs you of the greater part of your merit. We all are tempted to do only what pleases us, and to avoid sacrifices as much as possible. An act needs but to take on the appearance of duty to become an object of aversion to us. The result is that unless you are bound by a rule, your lives will drift unceasingly; they will float along guided only by caprice, and the sense of duty will be almost entirely lost. In that case it is your own will that you have followed from morning until evening, and not the will of God…..Here is another article that ought to find its place in your rule: morning and evening prayers should be said kneeling. Moreover, there is hardly one among you who cannot spend a quarter of an hour each day in spiritual reading. You should have a special article binding you to that. Those of you who have the time, and who are unwilling to be satisfied with merely earthly piety, ought to take measures to make a meditation every morning, and also to attend Holy Mass each day, or at least several times during the week.This book keeps in mind our purpose for our life earth and our vocation. The MP3's are free to download (after clicking the link scroll down about 1/4 of the way) and if you would like a free printed version it can be found here. The book is long out of print and an original copy is near $100. Have any of you read this wonderful book? Have you written a Rule of Life?
Some free downloads to help organize a daily rule of life::
Take a closer look at the Holy Simplicity Planner for the 2012-2013 School Year, click to read the beginning and view some more on our Holy Simplicity Planner page. Thank you to all of those who have placed your order. The first orders should be out the beginning of next week. God bless!
I'm starting a little project with my son called Notebooking Alban Butler's Lives of the Saints. I recently found out about notebooking pages as a way to keep track of school projects and papers throughout the year in an orderly fashion as well as something presentable that the child can show family and friends. One of my little guys has taken up to learning about every saint that is mentioned and asking daily who the saint is on our Liturgical Year Bulletin Board. I showed him one day Butler's Lives of the Saints, he isn't yet able to read on his own, but he was still in awe because the book was much bigger than his children's saint book. I asked if he wanted to learn about each saint listed there, being one for every day, and he was full of excitement. So I share with you our notebooking pages for the month of April Lives of the Saints. The goal is to share these monthly pages along with the saints for the Liturgical Year Bulletin Board. The bulletin board may not have as many as there are notebook pages as the ones for the board come from the mass prayers the Church has for each day where as the notebooking pages come from Butler's Lives of the Saints. Directions are included in the download but as always feel free to leave comments/questions below.*** As an additional note! ***Aprils Saint download for the Liturgical Bulletin Board had the wrong picture on the 29th for St. Peter of Verona. That file is corrected now and replaced, you may find it HERE as well. Pieces have also been added for Maunday Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday per reader request. God bless!
 Yes it is near completion! Many of you are asking about it, reserving your copy, anticipating and anxious for a release date! We do not quite have a date yet but it is near done and then it will go to be reviewed and any corrections made. We are anticipating yet another month before we have a firm date. The calendar in the planner starts in the month of June. In the mean time feel free to download last years planner and just print out the last few months in the mean time. If you would like to reserve your printed copy (all we know of pricing at this time is under $30 plus $5.15 for shipping) please fill out the form below. May you have a blessed Holy Week!
 ~*~ UPDATE! ~*~ A new file is linked below that has a couple corrected items on the previous file AND A SECOND PAGE that allows you to fill in your own daily tasks instead of the pre-filled. God bless!Many of you know about the Daily Tasks Download that was shared back in December, it will be included in the next season's Holy Simplicity planner. There are also plans to make it a bit more elegant with a color option. Color always seems so much more motivating! I've been using the daily tasks page off and on since I shared it on the blog. I found that while all the space was nice it was sort of a waste of paper and I liked to have a weekly overview. Also I had another sheet with my weekly household chores on it so I was essentially using three items to plan my day (daily task sheet, cleaning sheet & Holy Simplicity Planner). By merging the two in one, the daily task and cleaning, I cut down some waste and gained some time. I also realized that while noting down daily goals they often would be too many for one day and ended up being weekly goals. There is a spot on this new form for weekly goals with all the other items from the daily task sheet. What do you think? Should this be included for each week in the Holy Simplicity Planner? Should it be it's only daily planner? Leave it just a single download sheet? How would you use this form best?
 As many of our readers know the new 2012/2013 Home*School*Liturgical Holy Simplicity Planner will be out very soon. Last year we printed a very few hard copies and then discontinued printing as our printing option wasn't working out for us. We continued to give the PDF version for free which many loved.
We have decided this year to continue giving the PDF version of our lesson planner for free. The inspiration for this Liturgical Year based planner came about in trying to organize, our homeschool, our household and our Liturgical Year in the home all in one place. It seems many people are looking for a similar tool to utilize in their homes and so we decided to share it with others in the most affordable way.
We are currently seeking the best option for a printer in order to bring the printed version to you at the most affordable price, more details should be following soon! Please take our short survey and let us know if you will be downloading the FREE PDF version or purchasing the printed version (ranging from $14-$30 depending on amount of orders, plus shipping). God bless!
Two more freebies for our readers! A great way to teach the order of the 10 commandments, something of conversation in our house more recently as the boys are learning them. They also seem to get reminded of certian ones throughout the day ;) What better way than to make it a game and with the special ones in our house any game that is moveable always captures the attention much better! The Matching the 10 Commandments with Moses gives them the opportunity to use their fine motor skills and strengthen those fingers! The second printable is Ordering the Stations of the Cross- 'busy bag'. If you are aware of the busy bag craze you will know what these are about. Great simple games that can be contained in a small bag. Easy to take on the go and simple enough to entertain without too much instruction. This printable features the 14 stations of the cross on which the child places the correct number station (as marked on the clothes pin) to the correct picture and title. This one comes with an answer key so the child or the parent can check the work when it is complete. For those who can't read yet they can use the answer key to match up the pins and still have a fun, entertaining and educational time.Feel free to share the printables, if you would link back to our website or give credit in some way that would be wonderful! May God provide you a most fruitful Lenten season! God bless!Matching the 10 Commandments with Moses- Busy Bag DownloadOrdering the Stations of the Cross- Busy Bag Download Spring time is getting near and so is the time for our new Home*School*Liturgical Year Planner! Visit here for more details and make sure to sign up for our weekly newsletter so you don't miss out on new information!
The same wonderful friend of mine who generously shares her families St. Catherine Academy's Newsletter has allowed me to share her wonderful Lenten Lapbook. Created by a Catholic mother for her children using many resources. Here are a few files to help out in creating a lapbook similar to the one pictured above. Stations of the CrossSacred Heart StickersFlower Stickers
Inserts for LapbookCrown of Thorns ImageA few directions:Use the cross to count down the days to Easter by placing a Sacred Heart sticker at the end of each day, and the crown of thorns is where they keep track of their good deeds. My Gifts for Jesus Can you make sacrifices and acts of love for Jesus throughout the day? The thorns are reminders of Jesus' love for us, and how much He willingly and lovingly suffered. When you love someone, it overflows from your heart into action! The love we pour into each small act is precious to Jesus. At the end of each day, if you have tried your best to love Jesus during the day by being obedient, kind, and helpful, place a lovely flower sticker on a thorn (or draw and color a flower "sprouting" on a thorn). On Easter you will have a beautiful wreath(s) of flowers to give to our Risen Lord! ( From a Year with God by Catholic Heritage Curricula) Under each small picture is an explanation of what takes place in the Church on that day and why. The little folder with Jesus and the Children is where they write down the sacrifices they are trying to do along with some of the bad habits they are trying to correct. The Stations of the Cross cards are for them to color. The yellow envelope contains a picture of the Resurrection to open on Easter. It is done on a purple file folder. May you have a blessed Lenten season!
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