Organization and consistency at the Kingdom-seekers Academy

If you've been following our homeschool daily lessons blog (Kingdom Seekers Academy), you'll see that I/we have been pretty inconsistent in recording our daily activities (my bad! huhuhu!) So in an attempt to be consistent starting this October, I've tried taking photos to record our activities.

Catholic ABC's Preschool Curriculum!

One of my all-time favorite Catholic mom bloggers, Lacy, of Catholic Icing, may have outdone herself this time! :-) I am so so pleased to re-post her announcement about her latest project, Catholic ABC's preschool curriculum in book form! :-) Way to go Lacy! I am sure a lot of Catholic moms everywhere, including us here in the Philippines, will be greatly blessed by this! (I hope you consider coming up with a downloadable version soon, hehe!) Congrats to you and to God be all the glory! :-)

Below is Lacy's post, which you can read in full version here (there's a giveaway ongoing too, so head on over to her blog to check it out!). Blessings on everyone!

Catholic ABC's (The Book)- A Catholic Preschool Curriculum

on Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Anyone wondering where I've been? Well, I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book! Catholic Icing Presents: Catholic ABC's (The Book) - A Hands On Preschool Curriculum! {Also, there's a giveaway at the end of this post you don't want to miss!}

I love that the Catholic ABC's series matured into an all inclusive, user friendly book! 

I don't have any of them actually printed yet, but I'm sending off for them later this week!!! (Insert happy dance here!) I have poured my heart and soul into this book, and I could not be more pleased with how it has turned out! 

I couldn't decide whether to write the curriculum for homeschoolers or classrooms, so I wrote it for both. Can't go wrong with that decision, huh? ;-) So Catholic ABC's the Bookincludes separate teacher scripts for both homeschoolers and classroom teachers. You could use this book to teach your child, a group of children in your home, a class at a Catholic preschool co-op, or a whole preschool CCD class- your options for teaching are limitless, and this book makes everyone a teacher!

I am so happy to have this in a book form because it includes so much more than I've been able to post online! New crafts, 5 brand new unit studies, guides for setting up your classroom and organizing your materials, bible verses that go with each lesson, visual aides of full color artwork from the religious masters, and more! Also, the entire book is going to be printed in color which I'm really excited about!  

This Catholic preschool curriculum is hands on all the way! From the unit studies, to learning the alphabet, to crafting, singing, and counting- this book strives to make learning (and teaching) fun! Hey, why shouldn't it be fun?

I designed the book to engage visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners. The activities in this book help develop gross and fine motor skills. I believe that children learn best when they have multiple senses engaged, and when they have meaningful experiences that they can connect with. This book definitely helps you create these kind of experiences with your preschoolers. 

Catholic ABC's has 26 lessons that are based on the letters of the alphabet. They're meant to be used weekly. Each lesson includes a craft, bible verse, saint of the week, full color visual aid (usually in the form of beautiful artwork from the masters), and many lessons also include a bonus activity. The 5 unit studies follow the liturgical year and have directions for making unique learning tools to teach the story, and again, make it fun! The unit studies also teach the kids counting and numbers, and they all include a fun learning song. 

               Unit Studies:

1. Ordinary Time 1 - Creation
2. Advent/Christmas - Nativity
3. Ordinary Time 2 - 12 Apostles
4. Lent - Stations of the Cross
5. Easter - He is Risen!

All the templates, coloring pages, etc that are needed for Catholic ABC's are included in the "Master Copies" section of the book. They're bound in so they won't get lost.

As always, I take all of the guess work out of the crafting for you. Catholic Icing can make a crafter out of anyone! ;-) All of the crafts in the book are fairly easy to complete, and require only affordable and readily available craft supplies.

Ok, in case you can't tell by the excessive use of exclamation points in this post, I'm very excited about my book! I can't wait to hold the printed copies when they arrive! I just might have to invite all my friends over for a fun celebration. :-)

How Much Does it Cost?

Catholic ABC's The Book is going to cost $35 plus shipping, but if you'd like to place a pre-order, you'll receive a $5 discount! So that's just $30 plus shipping.  :-) (Shipping is $5.25 US and $15.00 international) I'm taking pre-orders between now and August 15. After August 15 the book will cost $35.00.

 

*The original deal offered on pre-orders was free shipping. Everyone who ordered within that time will receive the free shipping. Everyone ordering from now on will receive the $5 discount instead. Sorry for the confusion.*

Catholic Heritage Curricula: Homeschooling is a Gift!

Catholic Heritage Curricula Daily Lesson Plans - FINALLY HERE! Thank You Lord!

I am so overwhelmed by God's amazing grace and provision!

Earlier today, Tim and I were able to get a long-awaited package from the US - it contained the Daily Lesson Plans from Catholic Heritage Curricula and Dr. Seuss and Starfall books - all sent with love, as a gift, from a fellow Catholic Filipina mom whom I had never met in person, but only got to know through, what else, Facebook! I don't remember clearly how we came to be FB friends, but I thank God that we did! Honey (and her family, of course) have been a great blessing to us, and has provided a lot of homeschooling tips for me.

With the package.. so excited!

We LOVE books!

I haven't gotten a chance to read through all of the lesson plans from CHC, but I am so encouraged by its "Welcome" page of sorts, which starts with this at the very top of the page:

+

J.M.J.

I was so delighted to see it, because a fellow HS mom, who is using Kolbe, used "JMJ" with me before in one  of our e-mail correspondences about homeschooling. She said the people behind Kolbe use it all the time, and it stands for Jesus.Mary.Joseph. 

I'm so psyched that CHC uses it too! J.M.J! 

I also like the part in the "Welcome" letter that says:

 "Education is much, much more than the subjects you study in a formal way. It is the sum total of your family life. Everything you do as a family affects the children."

(Reverend John Hardon)

Whew! Time to really pray even harder about how God wants us to mold our kids, esp. through homeschooling. In case you were wondering, yes, we will be using CHC, along with Mater Amabilis, and other free resources  from the Net. Still trying to get organized though, esp. in terms of books. :-) I hope to get some materials from Math-U-See somehow. Plus some books about the Philippines.

I am trying not to be pressured though. I believe in the adage "better late than early," and I don't think starting homeschooling just before Tim turns 5 (we plan to start in September, and his birthday is in October) counts as "late," at least not by most homeschoolers' standards.

But after today, I can really, truly say again with all my heart - "God truly provides! He is good all the time!"