They say you never really appreciate your mother until you are one, and I can tell you that it is absolutely true. And this is also why family life and good community is so important; we're not really meant to do it all on our own. We need help in properly forming our children to be wonderful, joyful, productive, and insightful members of society. We especially need help to form them while avoiding physical exhaustion and mental breakdowns.
That being said, I love it when things just happen to make my life easier- especially when homeschooling. I've mentioned before that the Hubby and I are writing our own curriculum. And that means writing our own lesson plans 9 times out of 10. And that (for us) means writing a lesson plan for a 5 year old who is advanced, but still can't do most of the work on her own, since she just learned to read. It also means planning coordinating activities to keep a 4 year old busy but still allows him to pick up on at least some of the information, and wrangling a 2 year old who gets into everything so she doesn't destroy whatever projects we just did. Eventually, if macro-evolution turns out to be legit, and there is any justice in the world, it will allow mothers to grow 4 eyes and 6 arms.
But NEXT week, we have HOLY DAYS, which means I get 2 WHOLE DAYS where the lessons practically write themselves. So for those of you who are Catholic and Homeschool and are looking for something to keep your kids busy on Tuesday and Wednesday next week, here's a sampling:
Tuesday, March 4: Fat Tuesday!
5 year old's lesson: I am a huge fan of schooling in any way other than a lecture, because no small child wants to sit through a session of you just talking at them. So for our own personal Mardi Gras, we do some baking- and while we bake, we do mini-lessons in measuring and baking (it's TOTALLY MATH!) and the tradition of getting rid of the extra sweets in the house before Lent. You can choose to do a traditional treat (Paczki are a little beyond my expertise) like a King Cake, and expand your kids' palettes, or just go ahead and do the family favorite, like chocolate chip cookies or banana bread.
4 year old's lesson: 3- and 1-year olds can't be distracted from a lesson as delicious as this one, so we just pass around measuring cups and spoons for everyone to play with, let everybody have a chance at pouring or stirring or whatever, and bribe them later on with batter-filled spoons for licking. Nobody's gotten Salmonella yet, I swear.
Wednesday, March 5: Ash Wednesday!
Mass and a lesson for everybody today, so they know more of the significance of what's going on. I find it helpful just to explain to the kids beforehand (especially if there's an extra part in the liturgy, like there is on Ash Wednesday) what will be going on and why, so they know what to look for. For this day, we run through the Biblical creation story, and talk about how God made Adam out of the dirt, and the Holy Spirit breathed life into him, and gave him a soul. Give them a context for the whole "Remember that thou art dust, and to dust thou shall return" thing. While you're discussing the Ash Wednesday Mass, go ahead and give them some coloring pages to tackle on the same theme. Some other things you can add in, if your kids are sufficiently interested: Vestment colors for liturgical seasons (Purple is for Preparation!), the Ashes on Ash Wednesday come from the palms from Palm Sunday the previous year (there's a reason Liturgical Calendars are formed like a circle, and I'll give you 1 guess why!), and the season of Lent as a penitential time (so we make certain sacrifices, like fasting and abstaining from meat, etc.).
Side note: I ritually do Google image searches for just about every topic to find coloring pages before the lessons we do, because my kiddos are still of an age where coloring holds their interest longer than me talking. Having images associated with the topics before they are of reading age still gives their memory something to hold on to, and they can use the visual cues from the coloring pages to notice things during the Mass. Same premise here as with the older, traditional stained glass windows and triptych iconography- teaching to the non-literate by assimilating educational images.
This year, I think I'll be tricking my kids into enjoying vegetables once again, by making an amazing Zucchini Bread:
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