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Kristy, welcome

Welcome New RLS Blogger….Kristy!

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I am very excited to share that we are ready to submit the first post by our newest Raising Little Saints (RLS) blogger, Kristy. I’ve asked her to give our readers a little background, so without further adieu, meet Catholic Blogging Mama Kristy:

  • ABOUT KRISTY:
    I am Kristy, a stay-at-home Catholic mom of five wonderful blessings. Before I became a stay-at-home mom I was an artisan bread baker and still love making breads/cakes/cookies for family and friends. My other big hobby is genealogy research, I love researching my family tree and helping others research theirs.

    I was raised marginally Lutheran in Connecticut by parents who had been cradle Catholics. In 1994, I met my future husband, Carl, a cradle Catholic, at college. We weren’t very regular churchgoers at first but eventually after the birth of our first daughter in 1999 we found our way back. We had our marriage convalidated and I went through RCIA and was received into the Catholic Church at Easter 2004! We really enjoy doing special activities throughout the Liturgical year and sharing the richness of the Catholic faith with our children and I look forward to being able to do even more once I have the freedom that homeschooling will allow.

    I had thought about homeschooling in the past but it wasn’t until God showed me that it was possible in the form of a chance park encounter that I seriously considered it. Last summer, as the kids played at an area park I struck up a conversation with Erika and to my delight discovered that she was a fellow Catholic (rare in these parts!), had five children (even rarer!), and that she homeschooled them. We hit it off right away, almost like we had always been close friends. It was suddenly like a light went on and I thought here is this sweet, faithful woman of five who can do this and still remain happy and sane, maybe I can too?

    So I started researching it and talking to other homeschoolers and now I feel confident that it is the right path for our family. I am sure that it will not be without its setbacks but I am confident that God will give me the grace I need to be successful. I look forward to embarking on the adventure this fall and sharing its trials and triumphs. Please keep our family in your prayers as we begin our homeschooling journey!

Friends, please leave a comment here, welcoming Kristy to our Raising Little Saints family! Oh, what Kristy didn’t mention to you is that if you saw her Facebook pages/pictures, you’d never know that she hasn’t begun home educating…they are richly-filled with tons of Liturgical activities and goodies…so she has become part of the RLS family to share these with us! Isn’t that exciting? 🙂

If you are interested in becoming part of the RLS contributor, please e-mail me raisinglittlesaints {at} gmail {dot} com. You do not need to have a blog of your own to be a contributor…and you do not need to have blogging experience either just homeschooling experience and live a Catholic life – these are our only requirements. =) If you blog already and would like to submit posts to share with RLS readers, we can do that as well and link back to your blog (and as my DH-a Web Marketing Expert-reminds me often bring more traffic to your blog.) You help us, we help you! 😉

God bless you all and Happy Feast of the Baptism of the Lord!

Thank you for following Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints! Visit us again soon!
Cristina, welcome

Welcome our New RLS Blogger…Cristina

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The purpose for this blog has evolved a little from its start back in June of 2009. At its commencement, the Lord put in my heart to start a place where all Catholic Homeschoolers can gather to find support, encouragement, and enjoy each other’s wonderful blogs. When I first started home educating, I had so much to learn (no matter how many years I had been teaching already – it was a total different world)! The blogs I found where mommies shared their ups and downs and ideas, were my source of energy and encouragement. I had just moved from one state to another, leaving my entire family behind. New to a place and new to homeschooling, I found myself very lonely but very excited to learn this new venue of schooling! As time has gone, and life happened, I had a million ideas for this blog but found that I didn’t have the time to devout to it. So I started asking around (here on the blog and on Facebook to friends and acquaintances), for anyone interested in sharing their ideas. I’ve had four people interested in contributing to this lovely little blog and I’m super excited! We’ve even had some dads inquire which will bring an interesting dimension to the blog! On a side note, I took this opportunity to update this blog and give it a little face-lift…new look for the new year and new bloggers 😉

I am very excited to share that we are ready to submit the first post by our newest Raising Little Saints (RLS) blogger, Cristina. I’ve asked her to give our readers a little background about her, so without further adieu, meet Catholic Blogging Mama Cristina:

  • ABOUT CRISTINA:
    I was born in Costa Rica some 36 years ago. Grew up between the city, the country and the beach, surrounded by siblings and cousins of all ages. My grandmother on my mother’s side made sure I made it to Mass on Sundays and often gave me a few coins so I could light some candles. I strayed for a few years but found my way back home after I met my husband and he encouraged me to get back to my roots in the faith. So I have been walking this path, growing in faith for 12 years now and find that every day is a miracle.

    I went to college in Florida and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Hospitality Management. Worked for hotels for a few years in everything from front office to revenue management. I married Christopher in November of 2000 and had our first daughter in September 2001. We switched shifts for her first year until we decided we’d all be better off if I stayed home with her. From that day on, I have been a stay at home mother and loved every minute of it. Yes, even the gross, sticky, stinky, cranky minutes are on my list of minutes I have loved. We have homeschooled our children since the beginning and plan, with God’s grace, to homeschool them through high school.

    Three years ago I was diagnosed with two bulging discs in my back, bone spurring and scoliosis. No wonder it hurt so much to carry my children! My old cheer-leading (yes, I cheered in college but none of my girls will cheer, ever!) injuries were taking a huge toll on me. After lots of adjustments and an infinite search for the baby carrier that would allow me to carry my children for as long as possible, I decided to design my own. Now a run a very tiny home-based business at night, after all the kids have gone to bed and all the schoolwork is checked, making baby wraps for moms and grandmas. I love sewing so it works out very well; I sew and make something helpful, wonderful and amazing women use it and feel better. All in all, a great deal all around.

    So, as if a husband, four children, homeschooling, housework and a small business wasn’t enough, now I find myself contributing to this wonderful blog. Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts, my trials and my triumphs with all of you. God bless you and keep you always, Cristina

Friends, please leave a comment here, welcoming Cristina to our Raising Little Saints family!

If you are interested in becoming part of the RLS contributor, please e-mail me raisinglittlesaints {at} gmail {dot} com. You do not need to have a blog of your own to be a contributor…and you do not need to have blogging experience either just homeschooling experience and live a Catholic life – these are our only requirements. =) If you blog already and would like to submit posts to share with RLS readers, we can do that as well and link back to your blog (and as my DH-an Web Marketing Expert-reminds me often bring more traffic to your blog.) You help us, we help you! 😉

God bless you all and Happy Feast of the Three Kings!

Thank you for following Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints! Visit us again soon!
welcome

Welcome Homeschoolers!

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+ JMJ +

Welcome to Catholic Blogging Homeschooling Mamas!!!
Raising and Teaching Little Saints in small ways but with big love! One Day at a Time…

Oh, how exciting! I’ve had this idea on my mind for weeks now. I’ve been thinking, breathing, sleeping, eating, praying all things homeschooling. Well, not just homeschooling but CATHOLIC homeschooling – there is a difference you know? A Catholic Homeschooler’s main focus is on raising little saints, don’t you agree? (I’m sure great scholars will also come out of this deal, but that’s just an indirect outcome of the low teacher to student ratio and the individualized lesson plans!)

I MUST confess that this whole topic was pretty foreign to me up until about ten months ago. I mean I knew what it meant to home-school, I have my share of friends who are involved in it. What caught my attention is how much they (and their children) love it! I also liked how it became part of their way of life. It wasn’t just a set time for schooling, it was raising and teaching children…oh goodness, could it be proper parenting? LOL!

Even with eleven years of teaching experience, I feel like such a newbie when it comes to this. It’s such a different world! Thanks to so many blogging mamas out there, I have learned so much; oh, they have NO IDEA how much my world has changed thanks to them! Also, the amazing new friends the Lord has sent our way from the local Co-Ops and Play Groups which have guided me (and continue to guide me) in our homeschooling journey.

So now that I am here, trying to plan and learn and get ready for the Fall, I realized that I had too many tabs on my browser open, why? Simply because all of the wonderful resources that are out there are in many different sites but NOT in a single site, which is what planted the seed in my mind that there was a need for this blog/site.

I did pray about this little dilemma and suddenly these wonderful ideas started popping in my mind and as each idea intertwined with the other, I knew it was God talking back. Don’t you just love how perfect His plans are? I do! (now if only I was a little more patient, lol). I have had this stirring in me about creating a place were all these fantastic ideas would meet. So, our main goal is to create a one stop blog site for all things homeschooling (with a special emphasis on Catholic homeschooling). Think of this as a guide to make the transition smoother for mamas and papas out there that want to begin homeschooling but don’t know how, why, where, etc. (like me, ten months ago, lol). Also, a resource for parents out there who aren’t sure which program or book to use. For those who are seasoned home schoolers, this would be the place were you can share your wisdom with others. This would be an online community that would serve as a resource for others. We would have an expert panel, guest speakers, book suggestions, etc. The possibilities are endless!

There are a couple of things that I’m not familiar with but my tech support guy, AKA my DH, will help me with. Such as formatting templates, HTML coding, you know all the techy stuff that I don’t know about but fortunately, my better half does. So sit back relax and follow us as we build this great online community from the ground up. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment.

The ideas in my head are still (and slowly) materializing in this blog. Please sign up for updates on posts or just simply come back and see us again soon! In God’s time not ours…GBY!

PS: Thank you, DH, for your patience with my million questions the past couple of weeks, you are such a saint! See we raise little and big saints as well (the very important Papas) – a two for one deal! Yet another perk for the homeschooling Mama! 😉

Thank you for following Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints! Visit us again soon!