Two Resource Highlights: a Timeline Notebook to Study Catholic History in the 14th Century and an easy to print Academic Diary

Are you prepping for next year?  We are too, and I thought that these resources shared by Shell of Thinking Love, No Twaddle blog might be useful as you think about your needs and requirements for next year.  

St. Francis of Assisi reminded us to preach the Gospel at all times and to use words when necessary.   Perhaps you may be like me and need of some words to help you remember historical facts and especially those events dealing with the Catholic Church.  You can download and incorporate a five-page resource to create a 14th Century Timeline Notebook.  This resource offers a peek at key events of the 1300s. It begins with the 1300 Jubilee year when coins of Florence were accepted as first International currency and ends with the death of Death of Bl. Raymond of Capua in 1399. Catholic events are highlighted in blue, and space has been left to write about additional events of the 14th century. 


The second resource shared by Shell today is an Academic Diary for 2012-2013.  This 24 page printable resource can be printed single or double sided and can be the simple help you need to keep track of events in the church calendar, the liturgical year and, of course, your own daily or weekly activities.  The calendar runs from September 2012-August 2013.  The accompanying diary pages are laid out with a simple design allowing for lines and spaces and some poetic inspiration. 

Thanks so much for generously sharing these resources with us, Shell!  Your charity reminds me of a little gem my pastor spoke to me this week, "Generosity is how we show our love to God."

Blessings,

Kalei

Resources to Help Organize Your Learning Year

If you haven't yet explored our calendar page, now might be a good time.  We have updated our at-a-glance yearly calendar, our angel themed calendar, and the bright weather themed calendar to help younger children with tracking the weather among others. If you enjoy bright colours, then our thematic calendar may be just what you are looking for with a simple layout and a background that changes monthly.  Lastly we offer a newly designed calendar which celebrates the liturgical year.  This is a great addition to your learners three ringed binder or learning log.  You can find all of these calendars and more on our predated printable calendars page.

View our Printable Predated Calendars page. 

A quick word on our weather calendar and additional go along resources: 

If you need or want your kiddos to track the weather this coming year or even for the summer, then you may want to take a peek at our weather calendar, cut out pieces to glue on it and our weather worksheets for junior or senior learners.  Weather you are simply looking out the window, using a thermometer, or using a digital weather gauge to see God's glory in action, our printable resources can come in handy.  The picture at the right shows the calendar on the bottom with stickers glued on.  The page at the top is from our incentive page collection.

Visit our Weather Resource page.

View our Collection of Incentive Pages.

 

If you are looking for other organizing helps such as an assessment log to store grades or marks, vendor sheets to help with ordering and comparison shopping from curriculum catalogs or colourful attendance sheets, then perhaps we can help with those needs as well. 

Visit our  Free Planning Sheets for Homeschoolers and Educators resource page.

We hope these free printable organizing sheets help make your job of preparing for your next learning year easier and quicker.

Want to keep up with even more of our resource additions?  Why not join us on Facebook! 

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Resources to Help Organize Your Learning Year

We have tried to offer some free printable planning sheets to help you organize your year.  To help even more, we thought we might offer a few more highlights on other resources you may find useful.

If you have joined us on Facebook, then you already know that we have updated our printable calendar selections for your next learning year.  If you haven't yet explored our calendar page, now might be a good time.  We have updated our at-a-glance yearly calendar, our angel themed calendar, and the bright weather themed calendar to help younger children with tracking the weather among others. If you enjoy bright colours, then our thematic calendar may be just what you are looking for with a simple layout and a background that changes monthly.  Lastly we offer a newly designed calendar which celebrates the liturgical year.  This is a great addition to your learners three ringed binder or learning log.  You can find all of these calendars and more on our predated printable calendars page.

Click HERE to visit our printable predated calendars page now. 

A quick word on our weather calendar and additional go along resources: 

If you need or want your kiddos to track the weather this coming year or even for the summer, then you may want to take a peek at our weather calendar, cut out pieces to glue on it and our weather worksheets for junior or senior learners.  Weather you are simply looking out the window, using a thermometer, or using a digital weather gauge to see God's glory in action, our printable resources can come in handy.  The picture at the right shows the calendar on the bottom with stickers glued on.  The page at the top is from our incentive page collection.

Click HERE to visit our weather resource page now.

Click HERE to see our collection of incentive pages now.

If you are looking for other organizing helps such as an assessment log to store grades or marks, vendor sheets to help with ordering and comparison shopping from curriculum catalogs or colourful attendance sheets, then perhaps we can help with those needs as well. 

Click HERE to visit our  Free Planning Sheets for Homeschoolers and Educators resource page now.

We hope these free printable organizing sheets help make your job of preparing for your next learning year easier and quicker.

Want to keep up with even more of our resource additions?  Why not join us on Facebook! 

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

A New Calendar for Mum that Never Gets Old and Helps Reinforce the Faith

Cover Page

New must have calendar helps Mum's keep it all in a row - literally!

Keeping track of things in the year can be a daunting task for even those who are really organized.  As many of us scour the Internet trying to find those tools and printables which will make life easier for us in our teaching or homeschooling journey, we are often dismayed to find things that would be perfect if only it had this or that.  One of my pet peeves was to find things that although they were functional, they were bland or not pleasing to use.  I was also looking for Faith themed things.  Needless to say, there wasn't much out there, so I decided to start making a few things and sharing them.  And now, thousands of resources later, I like to think that we have some really good treasures for Catholic and Christian families alike to enjoy using.

Today I share a free calendar that I have been working on for a while and have finally completed to be able to use it for this coming learning year.  As I am a sacramental prep catechist in my parish, I find that my CCD or Religious Education year has to be just as organized as my homeschooling year as I am very accountable to my DRE, my pastor, the individual families, and the Bishop, if need be.  And although things can get quite hectic for me at times between home and parish learning sessions, I always try to surround myself with elements of the Faith as much as possible to keep me focused.  I also like to be in God's glory, nature, as much as possible.  Having said that, my calendar combines linear thinking, nature and the Dedication of the Months into one resource which can be reprinted and used over and over each year.  Below are the sample pages for the month of July.

In this resource you will find a cover page and then two pages to represent each month of the year.  I also noted the dedication for each month and added a little pictorial reminder as well.  You will also find sweet Victorian graphics to represent different flowers or plants that are popular for that month of the year.   I tried to allow a bit of white space at the top of the right hand pages for you to write a scribble or two, a quote, a reminder, Bible verse to ponder, a doddle, etc.  This resource is designed to be printed back to back starting with page one (cover) and is to be bound on the left hand side in a binder or duo-tang, or simply just staple it together. 

The unique arrangement of the days in rows allows for this to be useful for daily menus, activities, saint or Bible study passages, Mass schedules or a daily focus for those who do a less encumbered style of learning based on historical events of the day or teachable moments.

Click Here to download Mum's new calendar (standard version)
Click Here to download Mum's new calendar (leap year version)
**Don't forget that 2012 is a leap year.

I hope you find this sweet calendar helpful and inviting to use.

Blessings,
Kalei

Focusing on the Sacred Heart of Jesus in June

Daily reminders of the Sacred Heart of our Lord

Do you have things that you plan to do each day but do not get to them?  Do you sometimes even give your word to your children, spouse or friends and then end up having to break your promises because of lack of time or energy?  If so, you are in good company.  If you are a homeschooler, then these can be regular occurrences. 

As June begins, Mother church helps us recall the promises that our Lord gives us in the devotion to His Sacred Heart.  In fact, when Jesus appeared to St. Margaret Mary over four hundred years ago, He gave us at least twelve promises of help to those who would honour Him.  Do you remember what the twelve promises are?  What's more, do you remember them on a regular basis?

The twelve promises from Christ are:

1. I will give them all the graces necessary for their state in life.
2. I will give peace in their families.
3. I will console them in all their troubles.
4. They shall find in My Heart an assured refuge during life and especially at the hour of death.
5. I will pour abundant blessings on all their undertakings.
6. Sinners shall find in My Heart the source and infinite ocean of mercy.
7. Tepid souls shall become fervent.
8. Fervent souls shall speedily rise to great perfection.
9. I will bless the homes in which the image of My Sacred Heart shall be exposed and honoured.
10. I will give to priests the power to touch the most hardened hearts.
11. Those who propagate this devotion shall have their name written in My Heart, and it shall never be effaced.
12. The all-powerful love of My Heart will grant to all those who shall receive Communion on the First Friday of nine consecutive months the grace of final repentance; they shall not die under My displeasure, nor without receiving their Sacraments; My Heart shall be their assured refuge at the last hour.

Our resource to share today is a new monthly over-sized wall calendar featuring the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  The images used were selected to allow children to colour the individual pieces while still providing classic colour images as well.  This is a creative first for us in this popular style resource, but we thought it would be a nice interactive change that would allow for lots of art practice and blending of colours using coloured pencils.  

Each image represents the Sacred Heart.  The flames coming forth from His heart remind us of our Lord's burning love for us and His wanting us to love Him in return. The crown of thorns reminds us of the sacrifice required to make up for sin.

We hope this helps you to remember to focus on Christ and His love for us daily and to remember the promises that our Lord gives us which He is never too tired, overwhelmed, or short on time to follow through on.

Click Here to download this June Sacred Heart of Jesus Calendar.

Click HERE to see our entire collection and learn how to assemble the calendars.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Welcome, February!!

Monthly wall calendar brings joy and smiles and reminds us of special days too!!

Help welcome in a month that should be focused on charity and love.  To help us further develop our spiritual life, Mother Church dedicates the focus for this month on the Passion of our Lord.  It is fitting that St. Valentine's Day, a holiday used to express love between people, is in this month.  Although it has become a bit too commercialized for our liking, it still has much value in helping to remind us of the love that God requires we have for Him and each other.

We will be trying to highlight and offer all kinds of fitting themed resources throughout the month.  To get us started, we share our February over-sized themed wall calendar.  This cute creation is a favourite of many families as it is bright and cheery, and a reminder of many special events in the month or liturgical year.  To use this resource, simply print out the pieces, cut apart on the lines and affix to your prepared poster board or bulletin board.  The pieces can be laminated for extended use and durability.

To make the calendar base, start by making a general template from plain dime store poster-board.  Measure out evenly seven columns by six rows, counting the days of the week titles.  Don't forget to leave a bit of space to put on the border decals!  Numbers for all days are given with the option to substitute liturgical days and holidays provided.  Not all saint feast days are listed nor all liturgical notations.  We have also included a 29th day for a leap year, although this current year is not a leap year.  We tend to reuse our pieces each year.  

Don't forget that this creation doesn't need to be perfect, it just needs to be fun and festive.

Click Here to download the February calendar set. 
Click Here to see our entire collection of over-sized calendars.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

More Planning Sheet Add-ons for January Featuring Shopping, Budgeting and Resource Tracking Sheets

More requested planning sheets for your January planner.

Good news for those of us who want to stay organized in our homes as well as our learning - there are a few more January planner sheets to download!!  

Michelle of Thinking Love, No Twaddle  has sent along a few more sheets for her January planner set which have been requested by some of us homeschooling parents.  Today's extras include a shopping planner sheet with a few budget sheets to help make January a little bit easier on our pocketbooks as well as some sheets to help us keep track of borrowed library books and other resources.  These sheets, combined with the other January planner sheets, help to get you organized and can help to keep your stress levels down.

We are so thrilled that Michelle has created these sets for us all.  They are sweet, unique, inviting and free.  It just doesn't get much better than that.  She intends to make and share more sets with us as the year progresses and time allows.

 

If you haven't seen the winter journal planner sheets before, consider taking a peek now to take advantage of these cool freebies.  You can find all of the available winter journal planner sheets on Michelle's page on our main website.

We hope these resources are of help to you in some way and make your homeschooling journey easier in some way.

Click HERE to visit Michelle's page now and see all of her collection of planner pages and resources.  Just find the month you are looking for in the "Planner Sheets" section.

Blessings,


That Resource Team

New Planner Journal Pages and more Goodies

New winter journal planner pages help you organize your life plus download more learning goodies.

I have just updated Michelle's (Thinking Love, No Twaddle)  resource page on our main resource website featuring all the goodies that she has made for us including her latest creations: extra additions to the winter journal for January, February and March as well as new notebooking pages for Alexander Graham Bell including a set especially for primary learners.

I don't know about you, but I am finding the winter journal pages so helpful.  I love that they are sweet and colourful, but I also like that they include lots of little niceties such as a new add-on note page where you can keep task lists and little reminders to yourself.  Michelle has managed to merge the home ed., home ec., and personal needs all in one.  The calendar portions are helpful for planning activities and lessons especially because she has included some church and liturgical reminders of saint feast days, etc.  This is so great as we can sometimes get so immersed in life, that we run the risk of forgetting something important.  I love these sheet sets and look forward to more months in the future.  

The other goodie I have just updated to her web page is her great little set of Alexander Graham Bell notebooking sheets.  They are so well done and there is a separate file for primary learners too.  I am so inspired by Michelle's designs as each sheet is different and includes wonderful historical graphics.  They are so inviting for young writers or learners of any age.  This is another great resource to welcome back the kiddos to a new year of learning time.

Click here to visit Michelle's resource page on our website and see all that she has shared with us for our homeschool learning journey.  You can also find the link to her blog where she always has something inspiring or thought provoking to share.

All of her resources are free and approved for personal/family use only.  She simply asks that you remember her family (and our family too) in your prayers. :)

Thank you so much for all of your generosity and hard work, Michelle!!

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Ice Crystals Spark the Desire for New Nature Journal Sheets and . . . a calendar?

Ice Crystals remind us it's time to think about our nature journal again as January and winter weather begin to leave their mark.

The kids found some beautiful ice crystals and shards in a frozen bucket in the yard.  Although the ice was covered with dirt and other organic "goodies", we could see the beauty of the ice forms and crystals as they gleamed in the sunlight.  This made me think about starting up our nature journal again.  As we get ready to head back to more scheduled learning in a few days, today's resource couldn't have come at a better time. 

Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle has created some beautiful nature journal sheets for us all.  This set is lovely with some classic sweet pics of flowers and little plants.  Spring will be here before we know it and of course if you live in the southern hemisphere, you can make good use of these pages right now.


Here are a few more sample pages.

As we get ready for the height of winter, I remembered today to have the kids change our over sized monthly wall calendar from December to January.  This cute winter calendar themed set is sure to bring smiles - especially when the kiddos see the hot cocoa graphic.  Nothing goes with winter like snow, mittens and hot chocolate - at least that is what my children tell me.  If you would like to create your own calendar for January or any other month, visit our special calendar page here to see the directions and our entire collection.

As we all get ready to head back to learning and lessons shortly, don't forget to stop and smell the flowers, or in our case, look at the ice crystals as opportunities to see God's glory in action present themselves anywhere and everywhere.

Thanks so much for sharing the beautiful nature journal pages, Michelle!!

Click Here to download the new nature journal pages.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

It's Time to Think About Getting Organized for the New Year

 New winter journal pages help us to get things organized in the new year.

It is time to think about the approaching new year.  If you are like me, you may be a bit overwhelmed with all that still may need to be done in 2010 and with the thought of starting a new year.  Homeschooling will start again shortly as well as planning for winter tasks, activities, and spring needs as well.  What we all may need is some simple organization of our time, talents and tasks.  Thanks to Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle, we offer a nice set of Winter Journal pages to help us get our sights set on moving forward into a new year. 

In this set of twelve landscape styled pages, we can see weeks at a glance, note down birthdays so they are not forgotten, plan our menus, track our learning and reading, plan our curriculum purchases, and more.  This cute winter themed resource brings life and smiles to the tasks that we need to complete. 

Find the link to this set below as well as an add-on two page set with the numbered days of the month for January 2011.

Thanks so much, Michelle, for sharing this goodie with us busy homeschooling mums!!

Click Here to download this set of Winter Journal Pages.
Click Here to download the add-on Journal Calendar set of Pages.
Click Here to see all of Michelle's resources from our website.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Countdown to Our Lord's Arrival Using Our Monthly Oversized Wall Calendar

Let the countdown to our Lord's arrival begin!!

Most children especially love to countdown to important dates or events.  Our children are no different.  As we focus on the first week of Advent, we think about the hope that the promise of our Lord's birth brings for our eternal salvation.  One of the three theological virtues of the church, hope is defined as one truly and strongly trusting in God for the support and attainment of salvation.

Today we offer and remind you to help your children countdown to Christmas using our over-sized family wall calendar for December themed with Christmas Preparations.  Since we are year round learners, we take all of the Advent season off from our regularly scheduled learning activities.  We have found over the years that this eases our parenting/teaching stress levels and allows our family to really focus on the season including activities such as attending daily Masses, visiting and serving those in need, having daily family prayer & devotion time, sharing time together baking, and crafting.  It's really a GREAT time to focus on building and improving home skills or Home EC. as we used to call it in high school.



Today's calendar offers festive graphics as well as pieces to mark the Sundays of Advent, the Nativity of our Lord, St. Nicholas' Feast Day and much more.  Among our most popular resources, these calendars are easy to make using poster board, a black marker and a metre or yard stick.  You can find the directions as well as the December calendar download HERE.

Do you need to be inspired today? 

Why not try reading Isaiah 60:1-3 to secure your own hope in our Lord.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

New Resource Based on Servitude - How Do I Serve? Oversized Calendar

New bright oversized monthly wall calendar helps children to think about how that all jobs can serve the Lord.

I was inspired by the Gospel used during daily mass a few weeks ago (Luke 10:1-12) which spoke very clearly about servitude.  "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few."  I was stirred to think about how everyone is called to serve not just the seventy that Christ chose.  I prompted me to think even more about how each person serves the Lord from the place they are at.  Every worker, every parent, every person is called to serve our Lord in some unique way.

Today I offer this new oversized monthly wall calendar.  This is question game style calendar that asks the question daily: " How do I serve?"  Using the daily graphic as a starting point, great little discussions can follow about how each person can serve our Lord through serving each other in their daily occupation.  This set can be used year round with its colourful monthly header as well as the other corresponding decorations.  I have even included two Bible passages that could be discussed when using this resource.



To use this resource, simply print out the pages (cardstock works best), cut apart pieces on the lines, and affix to a large poster template that you can easily make using standard poster-board or a bulletin board.  See HERE for a photo sample of template and template instructions as well as to see our entire collection of interactive calendars.

This resource is the first in a series dedicated to the idea of servitude.  Visit us tomorrow for another corresponding resource.

Click Here to download the How do I Serve? Oversized Wall Calendar

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Keeping Your Learning Goals on Track With Goal Oriented Teaching

Help Organize Your CCD or Homeschool Year with Goal Oriented Teaching

As we begin a new CCD year or home learning year, there is so much to think about.  Resources, supplies, schedules, meetings - there are so many details.  But, one of the most important things to keep in mind is what you want your learners to actually know by the end of the year.  Goal oriented teaching can work for many different teachers (and learners).  Goal oriented learning takes the pressure off the textbooks and curriculum and puts the joy back in learning.  As goals are met using various selected resources, progress is made and learning is enjoyed.

Each year as I prepare for my CCD class I print out a few key organizing sheets.  I use a yearly calendar in portrait form to put in my three ringed binder.  I like to use our Angel set personally.  You can find all of our printable calendar sets here.  Opposite to my calendar, I always put a Goal Oriented Monthly planning sheet for one singular subject; in this case, it is my CCD Religious Education class.  It lets me see my plans for the week and month including a space for a weekly focus, date, hands-on learning opportunity, and reading or assignment box.  This is simple but very effective especially if you are the kind of teacher that likes to or is willing to explore rabbit trails - little tangents - in your learning.  Find this resource here.

I use this layout to keep things organized but also to help keep things flexible as well.  Sometimes the learning pace needs to be adjusted to meet the needs of students, weather (we get snow days here :), or the liturgical calendar.  I would hate to miss a teachable moment because I was locked into a rigorous schedule.  You may forget a feast day or the Parish Mission or Penitential service may need to be added into the schedule, etc. Being flexible and goal oriented can not only keep you on track, but keep you feeling positive as well. 

If you like a block style calendar with goals then this layout may work a bit better for you.  This is not subject oriented.  You fill in the days and then assign your goals on the right by week.  This is great for scheduling in special church functions, guest speakers, saint feast days, class experiments, youth meetings or anything else that you may need to remember at a glance.  Find this resource here.

If you are looking to help your learners stay on track with assignments and tasks, then these check-off style sheets can help keep them working toward a goal in a manageable way.  These could be used for each class meeting or perhaps for the month, or even for the year.  I once used this sheet to track the entire year's reading goals.  I suppose it is like a homework sheet but when you call it a "goal" it seems more purposeful to learners. We have a nice selection of religious sheets as well as other themes.  And yes, we will be adding more themes throughout the year and trying to finish off the Rosary Collection.  Find these resources and other themes here.

I hope that these sheets help you prepare for your learning year in your living room or CCD Classroom!! :)


Blessings,


Kalei - That Resource Team