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June is a special and exciting month not only because our homeschool year is winding down and one of our daughters has a birthday this month, but on the liturgical calendar June is the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.


There are actually 3 special feast days during June.   

On Sunday, June 7th, the Catholic Church will celebrate Corpus Christi ( Latin for Body of Christ), which is the liturgical solemnity celebrating the joy of the Eucharist.  The history of the feast of Corpus Christi is fascinating and can be dated back to 1230 AD when St. Juliana, a Belgium nun, was led to start a celebration of the Mass.  Traditionally, Corpus Christi is celebrated with a procession of the Blessed Sacrament in churches around the world. You can take a look of Pope Francis in a Corpus Christi procession.

The Feast of Corpus Christi celebrates the gift of what is called the Eucharist, the Blessed Sacrament, Holy Communion, the Mass, and the Lord's Supper.  Few Catholic doctrines have been so misunderstood...
To read more about the Feast of Corpus Christi check out The Eucharist: The Real Presence of the Body and Blood of Christ? BY: Marcellino D'Ambrosio 

On June 12, the Church celebrates the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.
  
If you are looking for a great children's book for ages 10 and up to read (I have also enjoyed reading it aloud to my kids during the month of June each year) check out this book about the holy French nun who first saw visions of Jesus' Sacred Heart called St. Margaret Mary: And the Promises of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

May you have a blessed June celebrating such special feast days during this liturgical season of Ordinary Time!  

I'm linking this post up to #WorthRevisit hosted by Theology is a Verb and  Reconciled To You. 
See more #WorthRevisit posts HERE. 

 




  

Today the Catholic Church around the world celebrated the Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus.
 

I just finished my lesson plans for this week for our 2nd week at Sacred Heart Academy Homeschool.  On my recent "Organization System Saturday- Workbaskets + Workboxes=Works for 4 (children)"  post I blogged about how my children's subjects and workboxes were organized to help make our school days as stress-free, tear-free, and productive as possible.

So this post will focus on more details about how I have organized the 10 drawer rolling cart that I am using for my workboxes. I am showing you what is in tomorrow's workboxes as an example, but our workbox activities will rotate daily. (except for the "Busy Box" sheets)

Before I explain with photos the system that I use, I will tell you that each of my children have one workbox designated for their "Busy Box" sheet (see explanation below), one workbox where they are assigned an activity with my youngest child, and then one workbox is an activity/worksheet that my child does alone or with a sibling if they need help.  



Workbox #1 for oldest child:  When my daughter sees in her workbasket her brown board that has a "1" on it, she opens her drawer #1 which is a "Busy Box" sheet for August.  Each child is assigned one of these laminated sheets in one of their workboxes.  Since these "Busy Boxes" will stay in their drawers everyday, this is one less drawer I have to fill :)  I got the "Busy Box" idea from a teacher resource book.   It is 9 squares divided up with one activity listed in each square.  She is to do one activity per day and then put a star on the activity with a Vis-a Vis pen when the activity is completed.  The middle square always says "FREE Choice" where she can decide what quiet activity she wants to do until her next subject begins. Some other things I have listed are "do a puzzle", "do a math sheet", "read a chapter from a book", "Trace and color a picture from a Catholic art book ( I have Seton's Art 2 for Young Catholics that I use)", etc.   So I plan on making a new Busy Box sheet for each month to keep things interesting.


Workbox #2 for oldest child:  My daughter knows that her #2 box will always have something that she can do with our youngest child to keep her sibling entertained while I work with my other children on one on one instruction.  Tomorrow my daughter will be reading these picture books to her little sister.


Workbox #3 for oldest child:  Box #3 will always have an activity/worksheet that my daughter can do independently.  Tomorrow I have assigned her a page in the "Building Thinking Skills" workbook.


Workbox #4 for my son:  Box #4 will always have an activity that my son can do with my youngest child.  So tomorrow he will be playing with magnets to help entertain his sibling while I work with my other children.


Workbox #5 for my son:  Box #5 is where he will find his "Busy Box" sheet for the current month that we are in.  He will choose one activity and after he completes it he will put a star on it with a Vis-a Vis pen.


Workbox #6 for my son:  Box #6 will always have an activity my son can do independently.  Tomorrow he will be doing a ziplock bag activity where he matches up insect cards to their names.  There is also a puzzle that I made and laminated about where different products come from.


Workbox # 7 for my third child:  Box #7 will always have an activity my daughter can do with my youngest child.  Tomorrow she can do different puzzles with her. 


Workbox #8 for my third child:  Box #8 will always have my daughter's "Busy Box" sheet for the current month.

Workbox #9 for my third child:  Box #9 will always have an activity my daughter can do on her own or ask for help from one of her siblings.  Tomorrow she will do a page in her Draw Write Now book, which she loves.  She copies the sentences in her Draw Write Now Workbook, then she tries to draw the steps to make the picture for her handwriting entry in her workbook.  We have enjoyed using these books for our homeschool activities.


Workbox #10 for my youngest child:  I have this box designated for our 2 year old to make her feel included.  Tomorrow she can use Melissa & Doug stamps and an ink pad to make a picture.

So I have all these drawers filled each day with different activities, but the problem I am having is that most of these activities don't last as long as the lessons that I am teaching with another child.  My 2 year old's attention span is very short and she begins to disrupt things (or my other children start quarreling over something)  and then chaos usually breaks out.  So I'm still trying to figure out what works best during our school days.  This is at least a start as my homeschool journey continues....

I just found out tonight that I am the winner of the new APOLOGIA Anatomy science kit!  To enter the contest I had to become a Facebook fan of Creation Sensation Apologia Science Kits and leave a comment on why I would like to win the kit in the Discussion part of their Facebook page.   WOW, am I excited!  Thank you Creation Sensation for this awesome kit to use in my Sacred Heart Academy Homeschool!
I used APOLOGIA Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day text last year with my cupcakes and we did a full year of lapbooks designed by Knowledge Box Central with this text.

See photos below of sections of our completed lapbooks for Zoology 1:
 
APOLOGIA science is a great science curriculum with lots of wonderful information in each text!  Our cupcakes really enjoyed learning all about bats, birds, birds, beetles, butterflies, ants, dinosaurs, and so much more with Zoology 1!  We are looking forward to diving into the Exploring Creation APOLOGIA Anatomy text, especially with our new kit to go along with our studies!


So my (Organization) System Saturday tip is to check out Creation Sensation APOLOGIA science kits Facebook fan page and join in on a discussion as there are more giveaways and chances to win other awesome products in August!

I found some pictures of cakes tonight that I had stored in my photo albums and on my computer that my cute cupcakes and I made to celebrate the beginning of a couple of school years at Sacred Heart Academy. Starting a new school year off with a cross cake is a fun and meaningful way to get the year started off on the right foot! I hope to continue this blessed tradition for many years to come in our homeschool!

I never thought I could start a blog or even have time for it, but I am taking on this challenge after I had a prompting from someone to journal one of my passions...creating and decorating birthday cakes for my 4 children (aka my 4 cupcakes). I have always said that I need to start a blog on how I don't have time to start or keep a blog. Well, here is my attempt to embrace and enjoy the blogging world hoping that it will make a positive impact on myself and on the visitors to "A Slice of Smith Life."

I have visited many blogs in the past and I hope to finally become an official "follower" of some of the blogs that I enjoy reading. I often wonder how bloggers come up with the name of their blog. What is their story of why they chose the name they did?

 Here's how I came up with my title, "A Slice of Smith Life": The title relates to the many decorated cakes I have created and sliced over the past 10 + years and this blog will also give my readers a glimpse into the other passions in my life, including Sacred Heart Academy Homeschooling, Cakes, and Natural Family Planning. I hope that by sharing some areas in my life that are fun and important to me, it will help all those who visit "A Slice of Smith Life" to be inspired and touched by what they read.