Enjoying the Journey through July

Faith:
♥Month of the Most Precious Blood
1st Feast of the Precious Blood
2nd Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary to Elizabeth
3rd St Thomas
4th Our Lady of Refuge
6th St Maria Goretti
8th St Elizabeth of Portugal
9th St Thomas More
11th St Benedict
14th Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha
16th Our Lady of Mount Carmel
18th St Camillus de Lellis
19th St Vincent de Paul
23rd St Brigid of Sweeden
25th St Christopher & St James the Greater
26th St Anne
29th St Martha
31st St Ignatius of Loyola

♥Homemaking:
Use lots of candles and lanterns
Vary the monthly menu
Make some more vegetarian Meals (where's my list Erin)
A variety of home made bread
Fruit bread
Make some winter deserts
Have cleaning routine working efficiently
Make some salve from natural products
Make a cough mixture using herbs
Make sure all Church clothes, books, Hankies and Envelope are ready on Saturday night
Learn and play together a variety of 'Parlor Games'
Make the Fleece seasonal tree for Winter
Return to the Sunday is Special routine from pre house building
Plan the Garden for Spring: use cataloges and books


♥Crafts:
Start making Christmas presents
Make whipping Snow (A child's Seasonal Treasury)
Potato print paper
Make a Gnomes pouch and gnome for it
Decorate some candles
Roll some bees wax candles
Make some candle holders from clay and wood
Make a winter fairy or Angel
Make some transparencies and put on windows
Make a lantern (glass jar or can with holes or paper star)
Make some little walnut boats, cradles with little babies etc
Carving from drift wood and other finds
Make silk puppets for story telling(Me)
Make some wooden painted or felt saints
Make some more people for the Birthday ring
Make items for seasons table
Make bulletin board items
Use natural materials for weekly craft lesson

♥Nature:
Have a snow day - travel to the mountains and spend the day
Winter beach combing
Winter picnic

♥Goals:
Have everyone familiar with the weights/yoga/exercise programme
Early rising FOR ALL
Have all preparation for lessons done the night before
Concentrate on Routines rather than time frames
Keep Story Sacks going
Continue circle time for little ones
Actually e-mail Erin with the Accountability stuff
Focus on daily rhythm in our family situation
Keep my desk/work area tidy daily
Have all the feast day crafts prepared ahead of time
♥Rituals:
Encourage older children reading to younger children more
Have a story telling night: present own or fairytale either read aloud, with puppets of mimed etc
Sing while we work not 'canned' music
Evening soft music playing
Have "the bookcase" set up with the Winter Theme
Also include the Month of The Precious Blood display
Add more things to Winter bulletin board
Continue with Daily chore routine and 15 min jobs
Daily outside time for all
Daily Rosary
Keep family altar fresh
Keep the Winter Seasons table interesting and tidy
Have sit down together lunch
Read Bible and have read aloud time at night
Friday cooking day of goodies
Have 'older kid with little kid time'
♥Learning:
Learn to sing and say Grace in Latin
Vary the Grace's we say; learn some new ones
Teach some of the old Hymns I taught the older children
Indian Unit study continue on with this
Geography study using Serendipity and Marilyn's resources as well as others, we are loving this
Use nature Journals frequently as part of Indian study
Learn Winter related poems
Paint weekly
Do circle time with the little ones
Have a few Montessori lessons planned for each day for little ones
Story sacks and activities
Lunch time read aloud
Follow new lesson plans
Learn the Rosary parts off by heart;
The Mysteries, the reading and meditation and the fruit of the Mystery
Do as many Liturgical and feast days as we can fit in
Use Catholic Mosaic books for the month
♥Special Days:
6th Autumn's birthday
19th Eden's birthday
30th Mama's Birthday
Enjoy your Month
Blessings