I’m so excited to share that I’ve been selected to be a contributor over at 3 Boys and a Dog…my first post was today, my profile! Go on over and take a look my friend! Oh and leave me a comment, I love comments! <3 😉
I had this conversation with a friend of mine (whom I love very much) the other day….but Father Corapi puts it very well here…Sharing our Faith with others: be not afraid!
My beloved and our great friend went to a Men’s Conference yesterday with our Bishop. They had an amazing day (the Bishop was with them most of the day)….it consisted of talks, Confession, eating, and sharing….the speaker that stood out the most was Father Larry Richards. He was able to find a video of a conference he did in Boston and we wanted to share it with our RLS readers:
If you liked this song, please click on “Votar” to vote for it…you will be helping this song “I Humbly Come” get selected for World Youth Day 2011 in Madrid! You can also click here and ‘like’ / leave comments!
I found this site that helps you set up a Homeschool that is Montessori friendly, take a look at their site: Teach Montessori at Home.
I can’t recall if we’ve ever shared Catholic Mama Kalei’s blog and website: That Resource Site and Blog…just in case we haven’t (and even if it’s a reminder) you might want to check them out…they have TONS of great things for your Catholic homeschool:
Though the new calendar considers this an optional Feast, I simply am drawn to the Feasts of really old and traditional saints that draw us back to the richness of our Catholic Faith. I was a little disappointed that it was not even mentioned today at Mass…but I guess that’s why it’s optional so I wanted to mention it here…today is The Seven Founders of the Order of the Servites:
I so totally love this new website and can see it as a major part of our research for our school, Cor Iesu Academy! I love the little slide presentation, how it has the text at the bottom that is being read aloud….so not only can my 7th grader look up information for things he is studying but my emergent readers, my four and five year olds can also benefit from this cool site! They even have information on saints and the Church (hopefully accurate) 😉 Here is the one for today’s Feast Day: Saint Francis de Sales, Enjoy!
Hello Ladies,
Here is all the information for the chore chart. We call it the Little Way Chore Chart because it was St. Therese that said that God does not look at the greatness nor the difficulty of your actions but at the love with which they are done. She also said that if you pick up a pin with love, you can convert a soul. So, that has been our focus for the past few years. Charity in everything.
The purpose of the chart is to train their will and everything else I mentioned before. I started with the things I repeat twenty times a day, every day. You can obviously add lines to match the number of kids you are including in the chart and change the chores to fit your home. As these chores become habits, revise your chart. When you revise your chart, the old chores still need to be performed. Hopefully, by then, they are a habit more than a chore, which makes room for new chores on the chart. They get a star push pin on the chores that get done without my asking. They get a red push pin on the chores that get done after I ask them. They get no pin on the chores that do not get done. The time in each section is the cut off for each chore set. After that time they can only get a red pin or an empty space. For every section of the day completed with only with stars they get a ticket. For every section of the day completed with some red push pins they get a good job comment. For every portion of the day with spaces without pins, they owe me a ticket (after they chart has been in place for a while and only for the older kids ). Whatever they have not completed by the time school starts, they have to complete during the break, after their snack but before they go out to play. If they want a ticket, that is.
{Tangent} We also have a schedule on a clipboard which lays out the day for them. It is a target schedule, not a rigid time line of events. I have attached a sample (Monday). In that schedule you will see a reference to a clip board for school work. I have found that I cannot keep up with the daily lesson plans from CHC so I have created my own check lists for them which I can change as life happens. I keep final print outs with their completed work in a folder to store with their work at the end of the year. I have also attached that for your review/use. Each child has their own weekly clip board that they refer to throughout the day and the schedule clip board is posted up on the school area. {End of Tangent}
They can cash in their tickets for different rewards (you know your kids best so assign different ticket values to different motivators). They can also cash in their tickets for gifts for their sibblings. (In bold because I love when they do this!) For example, we do 5 tickets for 30 minutes on the computer playing games. 10 tickets to pick a movie from Netflix for a family movie night with popcorn. 5 tickets to earn back a silly band that has been confiscated by the authorities. 40 tickets for an afternoon out with mommy or a dinner date with daddy. We also have small crafts from Jo Ann or Michaels and other trinkets that they can get for themselves or get for their sibblings as gifts.
I print these out on legal paper and staple them to a thick corkboard (I use floor soundproofing cork, it is nice and thick so the pins go in easily and stay put). I have decorated ours with pictures and quotes from St. Therese of the Little Flower. My kids can relate to her right now and she is our companion saint for this year. They have a small box with pins so they can tack off their chores as they complete them. I have also stapled envelopes at the bottom to hold their tickets. That way it is all in one place.
I do have to say that you must follow through with the rewards and the punishments for it to work. If you are not on top of the ticketing, they will lose interest. Set a ticket counting day for the month/week. Take out your calendar and your reward chart and let them cash in their tickets. Whatever appointments you mark on that calendar for rewards, make sure you stick to them.
I hope this helps you guys as much as it has helped me, if not more. You know your kids best so remember to fine tune it to meet your family’s needs.
God bless you,
Little Way Chore Chart – Shell
