All posts by RaisingAdmin

Wife to one. Mother and educator to five active boys and two sweet girls. After 20 years in the education field as Youth Minister, Master Catechist, DRE, Retreat Leader, Elementary Classroom Teacher, Testing Chairperson, and Reading Specialist, I began a beautiful journey into the life of a home educator for my own children. A journey that began in 2008, after the birth of our fourth child, and the our eldest began middle school....it was only going to test it out one year had turned to ten! We are just an ordinary Catholic family living a fun, crazy, but lovely extraordinary life, by the grace of God!
cartoons, CCC Review, family, homeschooling

Movies for Catholic Kids

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You might have seen my previous post of my quest for great Catholic movies that our family could watch on Family Movie Nights, if you hadn’t here it is. There is a fantastic list on there and thanks so much to all the readers who added to it! We have yet to finish watching all of the movies on that wonderful list. Some are hard to find others, just haven’t gotten my hands on them yet.

Most recently, I’ve been looking for great cartoons that the kids could watch. Not sure if I’ve ever expressed how much I police what my kids watch, and maybe you share this zeal with me? I do this because there is so much junk out there to watch…labeled “for children” and they are just utterly gar-bage (insert the French accent here)!

In my quest for great cartoons, I remembered videos I had seen when working at Church as a teenager and googled, “Catholic Children’s cartoons” (or something like that) to see if I could find those very same videos and I did! The company is CCC of America and they have added to their list of movies since I first showed them to my students at Faith Formation (formerly known as CCD). They now have 11 in their Saints & Heroes Series.

I then contacted CCC and ask them if they would like me to review their videos, and they said YES! I’m so excited because my little ones get to watch these GREAT movies about the saints and I get to share with you, my readers, how wonderful these movies are. In addition, the wonderful ladies at CCC of America have also offered some FREE goodies for you all! It’s a win-win situation – don’t you think? 😉

So in the next couple of weeks, I will be reviewing the three wonderful movies we got in the mail this morning (I was so excited!). The three we are starting off with are Nicholas-the Boy Who Became Santa (it was on EWTN on Monday – did you catch it?), Juan Diego Messenger of Guadalupe, and The Day the Sun Danced the True Story of Fatima. I will be doing three different reviews (and maybe ideas to go along with them since I’ll be doing the research already for my little blessings – why not share some more with you all?)….so stay tuned!

I spoke with the wonderful ladies at CCC today and they have sent us a FREEBIE (I love freebies – thanks!). While you wait for my reviews of these excellent DVDs, you can take advantage of this great offer extended especially to Raising Little Saints readers, place an order for any of the DVDs on their website and get FREE SHIPPING by using this RLS exclusive promo code: CCC121210. This promo code is good from the moment this post goes live until this Sunday, December 12th (the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe)! So don’t delay, start ordering these great videos for your little saints today!

The movies can be ordered online at www.cccofamerica.com or by phone Monday – Friday, 9AM to 5PM Central at 800-935-2222. You can also follow them on Facebook by clicking here.

Oh and don’t forget to come back to check out my lovely reviews AND we will also be giving away one of the movies! Stay tuned Catholic homeschooling Mamas….

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Book Reviews, homeschooling, vocations

Catholic Mom Book Club Columnist

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I’m super excited to share that I was asked by Lisa Hendey (the author of The Handbook for Catholic Moms) to join the Catholic Mom team and become a book club columnist for them! Also, I’ve also written my first book review and I wanted to share it with you:

Could I Paint the Sky?
By Julie Hoy
Oregon Catholic Press, 2010

Could I Paint the Sky? by Catholic author Julie Hoy is a book about a small child’s inquisitive nature as well as her amazing love for God and her willingness to serve Him!

The main character, Madeline Judith, wants to help God do something really big and asks Him if she could help Him paint the sky? As big a task as it is, she asks and asks again (I love her persistence) but then one day God says “no” and the child is puzzled. Many of us (adults) have experienced when God in His infinite wisdom says “no” to us… in the end there is always a reason and usually a good one at that!

With some parental guidance, Madeline is reminded that we can serve the Lord in the small things we do everyday by picking up after ourselves in our homes to helping our neighbors, the elderly, etc. I love how this small child goes to her mother for help and advice. In addition, this book just overflows with the message of being merciful in a world that contradicts that! What kept coming to mind as I read this book were the words of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, “Do small things with BIG love!”

To read the rest of my review, visit CatholicMom.com by just clicking here.

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blogs, homeschooling, Name change

Name Change…

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I’ve been contemplating doing this for a long while so just wanted to make it official and public, Catholic Blogging Homeschooling Mamas, AKA Catholic Mamas, is now Raising (& Teaching) Little Saints. The purpose of this blog will still remain the same…no worries 😉

With this said, if there is a blog that you just simply L-O-V-E and would like featured here, please send me an e-mail (or leave a comment with this post). My e-mail is raisinglittlesaints {at} gmail {dot} com.

God bless you all and Happy Feast of the Immaculate Conception!

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homeschooling, prayers

Prayers Needed….

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Catholic Homeschooling Mommies, join me in praying for Laura Berquist’s husband , Marc, and family as her husband passed this morning on the Feast of All Souls…Please pray for the repose of his soul and the consolation and comfort of his family. Thank you.

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40 Days for Life, respect life

40 Days for Life – Are You Ready?

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One of the best things about being Catholic is being 100% Pro-Life! To me it’s part of being a Disciple of Christ, I stand firm on defending LIFE because, well, Jesus died on the Cross so that we may have it and abundantly! I recently received an e-mail from a good friend, Toni, who runs the 40 Days of Life local campaign. The new campaign to pray for the un-born is right around the corner. My kids love going and participating (not as often as I’d like but a couple of times is good since they are still small) by holding signs and praying the Rosary. From September 22 through October 31, you get a chance to get involved in this beautiful event. In addition, if you go to the Saint Michael the Archangel site, you can register to pray a Novena for the un-born.

This little video should inspire everyone to participate:

Here are some great projects for families who get their kids involved in 40 Days for Life!

Check them out: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/01/pro-life-craft-for-kids.html

There is also a super cute game: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/01/pro-life-game.html

and other pro-life printables and activities: http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/2010/01/pro-life-printables-and-activities-for.html

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homeschooling, PreSchool

Catholic ABCs – A Curriculum

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This year will be a very exciting one for our family….most of our kids (four out of five) are ready for some type of schooling!! Our eldest is flying solo in middle school, but our three middle kiddos are 2, 4 and 5 so they will be doing similar activities with different expectations regarding outcome. I was putting something together that revolved around the Saints and Liturgical year as well as teaching the three Rs and such. As of today, I have three weeks to square things away so as soon as I got a chance this morning, I got online for some more gathering of ideas at my usually favorite sites.

So I have some very exciting news; that is if you are a mommy to a pre-schooler! Catholic Mama Blogger, Lacy, over at Catholic Icing is going to share a preshool curriculum she designed for her Co-Op. She will begin posting it weekly commencing the first week of September. So click on this logo and go visit her. Go on, what are you waiting for? Oh and if you’ve never been to her site, be prepared, grab a cup of coffee or tea because she has a plethora of ideas to celebrate the Liturgical year! Thank you, Lacy, for sharing with us!


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