Handing on the Faith: The Plan and the Planner

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2009 Note: The link in this post was for last year's planner planner. It no longer works. This year's planner is equally good. You can find a description of it here.

I've gotten a couple of emails taking me to task for neglecting to plan "religion" when I planned for the year. Silly me, I knew something was missing;-)! Seriously, I didn't neglect handing on the faith. I don't neglect handing on the faith. And if you download and read the PDF file with the weekly plan posted in the planning post, you will see that there are several blocks scheduled for directly teaching "religion." That's in addition to the infusion of faith that we pray comes from living a life of faith. There, now I've finished my indignant rant.
I didn't give you details in the planning post because I wanted to dedicate a whole space to tell you all about the best investment I've made in something "school" related in a long, long time. Talk about bang for your buck! These planners are the best bargain going.
In the individual elementary planners, each child will have:
~Daily Exercises to help students learn more about Jesus through the Gospels
~Spaces to keep track of their daily classroom work and assignments
~Pages designed with liturgical colors to help students become more aware of the seasons and feasts of the Church Year
~UNIQUE symbols alert students to follow Jesus from city to city in the Gospels. Turn to the back cover for a map of the Holy Land in the Time of Jesus!
~Imprimatur, Most Reverend Robert J. Hermann, V.G. Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis, Missouri
~Official NAB Lectionary text
~A colorful two page liturgical calendar wheel
~Traditional prayers printed on the inside cover in the front
~Seven sacraments and their symbols printed on the back inside cover
~A full color page on how to pray the rosary
~ A page listing all the books of the Bible
~A page on how to read the Bible
~A two page color map of the US with all the state flags
~A two page map of the world
~A page with a multiplication table and English to Metric Conversions
~Math symbols
~A page of homonyms
~Cheat Sheet for parts of speech, punctuation, capitalization
~How to make an outline
~How to write a research report
~the periodic table
~A cheat sheet for literature genres
~Some student pages related to the year-long study of the doctors of the Church that is outlined in the Teacher's Planner

Each 2-page "planning" spread highlights:
~the coming Sunday's Gospel story and a Word of the Week from that story
~the current season of the Church Year
~who and what we remember this week in Church and secular history
~Daily Exercises that explore the Gospel, Word of the Week, and special holidays. (Primary and Elementary only)
PLUS (in Elementary Planners):
- 6 subject columns and Spelling words
- Parent / teacher comment spaces
- Parent / student check-off boxes
- Prayer list space
- Reminder space
- Weekly Goals/Values space
Hall Pass (I'm thinking of something creative to do with this ;-)

The primary and high school planners are just as wonderful.

The Teacher's planners contain:
Most of what is in the children's planners, plus
~biographies of dozens of saints
~A full section on the Doctors of Church and the Influence of the Catholic Church in the History of the World. This will become our Monday morning focus. We will study one Doctor of the Church each week throughout the year.
~A reproducible section on the O Antiphons
~A section on the Fruits of the Spirit which I will tie into our teatime study of Our 24 Family Ways
~The planner provides a review of the Gospel from the previous Sunday (we'll touch on that briefly on Monday) and then an introduction of the following week's gospel. This will be our focused study on Tuesday, followed by a re-reading every day for the rest of the week.
~There are notes for the teacher for the each week which include several feast days and thoughts on Sunday's reading.We'll discuss the saints for the week during our focused time on Wednesdays.There are lots of puzzles and such to support these studies which can be reproduced for each of my children.
~Finally, Fridays are reserved for a Catholic Mosaic meditation. This will be a simple time, using the Adoremus Hymnal CD, and Finestrae Fidae, and the Catholic Mosaic books. . This focused study was a brainstorm that Colleen and I had a few weeks a go and it takes a little more explaining. We'll get a full post going soon.

So, that's the morning faith time. On Monday afternoons, there is a block reserved for First
Communion notebooks, Confirmation notebooks and advanced saint studies.
So, there you have it--or at least some of it. I didn't leave out faith education. But thanks for reminding me;-)

Novena to St. Anthony begins today

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Say once a day for nine days, especially beginning on 4 June and endingon 12 June, the eve of the Feast of St. Anthony.

O White lily of purity, sublime example of poverty, true mirror of humility, resplendent star of sanctity. O glorious St Anthony, who didst enjoy the sweet privilege of receiving into thy arms the Infant Jesus, I beseech thee to take me under they powerful protection. Thou in whom the power of working miracles shines forth among the other gifts of God, have pity upon me and come to my aid in this my great need.

(Mention your intentions here).
Cleanse my heart from every disorderly affection, obtain for me a true contrition for my sins and a great love of God and of my neighbour that serving God faithfully in this life, I may come to praise, enjoy and bless Him eternally with thee in Paradise. Amen

Recite one Our Father, one Hail Mary, and one Glory Be.

Holy Saturday

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“They took the body of Jesus, and bound it in linen cloths withthe spices, as is the burial custom of the Jews. Now in the place where he was crucified there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb where no one had ever been laid. So because of the Jewish day of Preparation, as the tomb was close at hand, they laid Jesus there.

– John 19:40-42
Entombment
Watch and wait with Christ today. See the dark, feel the cold, and smell the spices. Wait for His wounds to heal and His body to rise again with new life. Wait for victory. Wait for triumph. Wait for joy.

image from Fisheaters.com
Read more about Holy Saturday at CatholicCulture.org.

So far...

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...so good! We didn't have our Seder supper with friends this year, but we did have a Holy Thursday meal. I fixed the Seder foods Barbara described in her post (and now I don't even have to link recipes because she has). Half my family was missing. All the big boys and dad were gone. Happily, I have lots of lamb left with which to make gyros on Saturday. And, since we had so few of us yesterday, there were just enough leftover St. Joseph Bisque Tortonis to go around.
    Feeling rather overwhelmed by the thought of taking  the five little ones to Mass by myself particularly after having taken them Easter shoe shopping and major grocery shopping earlier in the day, I remembered that EWTN was televising Mass from the National Shrine. Oh, yeah, that's why I had the five little ones by myself, wasn't it? Mike was directing that Mass. So, we watched Mass on television and I discovered that we could see things on TV that we don't see when we are there in person. Because of all the different angles and the exceedingly good judgment of the director, the experience at home was an unexpected blessing. I found myself moved to tears at the end.
I'm still working out the details of today and tomorrow (the Vigil will be televised as well)  but I am so encouraged by yesterday that I'm hopeful that we can make it all work! If you are at home tomorrow evening, do take a peek at EWTN. I was struck yesterday by what a blessing television can be. And I'm griping much less about Mike's absence when I consider what it is he's out there doing.
    Don't forget! The Divine Mercy novena begins today. And if you are going to make Resurrection Cookies tomorrow to have waiting Easter morning, you need to be sure to have the ingredients on hand. I think I'm going to make Resurrection Rolls this year for Easter Morning. Rolls and a smoothie and a hard boiled egg, and I think we can dash out the door and back to the Shrine for Easter morning Mass.