We are just a simple family trying to live in God's Glory

Proof that we really are just a simple family.

It is often supposed by many who visit our website or blog that we are somehow an organization, a non-profit, a company in disguise, or a large group of people behind one monitor.  We are simply a homeschooling family at the foot of the cross. 

For those who know us in "real life", they know that we suffer with physical ailments, practically live in service to our church, work from home, have little family support, and have children who require quite a bit of maintenance.  Our web sharing team is simply me and my husband.  That's all there is too it. :) We are just a simple homeschooling family sharing what we make for our kids, with your kids.  This whole project came to be almost six years ago when I prayed, "Speak Lord, your servant is listening."  St. Anthony quickly spoke to my heart with the task of creating our own resources and sharing it with others.  St. Conrad came on board with us as our intercessor for successful projects and we started a website.  We do what we do to answer our Lord's call to service. 

So today we thought it might be fun to share with you a bit of God's Glory from our own backyard garden.  See, we really are just a simple family.

Can you believe that this little pear tree . . .

is giving us over 24 pears this year!!

Our Hydrangeas, Snowballs as my late dad used to call them, are in full bloom.  We have quite a few different varieties.  We aren't great gardeners but we love what we have.  We just let God show His glory in its natural state.

We hope that you have a blessed week.  Don't forget to look for evidence of God's Glory in your own home and surroundings. 

Blessings,

That Resource Team

July 4 - Join us tomorrow In Johnny Crow's Garden

Beginning tomorrow we will be learning In Johnny Crow's Garden

If you have never read In Johnny Crow's Garden, then you are in for a real treat.  This delightful children's story illustrated by L. Leslie Brooke is so rich with learning opportunities and fun.  Don't worry if you don't have this book, we will give it to you tomorrow in a PIY Book. (PIY=Print It Yourself)  Our version is perfect for little hands (and big hands too) and simple to make.  No fussing with printers or printing double sided.  We've converted it all for you to mimic a children's picture book.

We will be sharing all kinds of fun learning activities for various ages using this book including using the book as a work text - really, no kidding!!  Our children love doing this and we hope yours will too.  So please stop by tomorrow to pick up the book and then join us all week as we do fun things with it - language arts, writing, drawing, puzzles, and a few backyard surprises.  Who knew that a picture book could be so much fun...we did..lol..lol.  Don't be fooled by the simplicity of the book - it can come alive and be faith filled too. :)

Please feel free to invite your friends to stop by and come along with us too on this fun, virtuous journey.  We hope to see you tomorrow.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

May 26 - Our Lady's Little Garden Helpers

How much do you know about the legendary Ladybug?

Almost everyone has heard about the usefulness of our garden friend, the ladybug. But where did its legendary status come from? Can you believe, centuries ago in Europe. Grape crops were threatened by aphids so farmers began praying to Our Lady for help and intercession. In a short while, a swarm of over 1000 red beetles came and ate up the aphids. They were thought to be a gift from Our Lady and were so called in her honour, Ladybugs.  A gardening story that is sweet and faith-filled.

Today's offering is a simple little maze to help teach children about this garden story. Simply download, print, and play.

Click Here to download Our Lady's Little Helper maze.


Blessings,

That Resource Team

May 25 - Mary Garden Montessori Cards

Here's something to brighten up your learning day - flowers from Our Lady's Garden!

Help children learn about flowers, more specifically flowers that would go into a garden dedicated to the Blessed Mother.  Find the common plant name plus the religious reference as well. 

These are easy to make and fun to use.  Simply print out these cards and cut apart.  Using card stock and then laminating the pieces is always the most durable choice. Once protected they can be taken into the yard, on nature walks, or even to the local garden centre or nursery.


Click Here to download our Mary Garden Montessori card set.

Blessings,


That Resource Team

May 23 - Mother Mary Poetry and Prayer Bookmark

We love to multi-task.  Actually that isn't true, we multi-task out of necessity...lol.  When we create resources we try to utilize multi-subject learning as much as possible to keep our learners enthusiastic and engaged.  We have found through our experience, that many times our children will become overwhelmed with a larger quantity of learning tasks which in turn reduces the joy and fun in learning.  So we try to be creative not only in our approach to teaching and learning but also in the materials we create around our faith.

Today we share our new My Mother Bookmark resource.  Look at the learning possibilities in this little resource:

1. This resource displays a beautiful image of our Holy Mother exposing her Immaculate Heart.
2. This piece uses Victorian era graphics with flowers suitable for a Mary Garden (Roses and Sweet Peas).
3. It teaches The Memorare prayer.
4. It provides an opportunity for a child to write an acrostic poem about Mary, mothers, or their own mother.
5. Oh yes, it's also a bookmark. :)

This resource is simple to use - just print, cut apart, fold and glue.  There are two per page and they can easily be laminated to create a nice little keepsake for years to come.

Click Here to download our Mother Mary Bookmark.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

May 19 - Mary Garden Math Game

Are you planting a Mary Garden this year?  If so, you might choose to put some roses for Our Lady in it.  You may even need to buy a flat of twelve seedlings or baby rose plants to put in your garden.  Voila - the premise of our math game!

Help young learners practice addition facts to twelve with this very simple game based around the theme of creating a Mary Garden in your own backyard.  Two to four players is ideal although any number could play.  Simply print out the file - one game board and set of playing pieces per player is required.  Cut apart pieces and gather two dice.  Roll the dice and put a flower onto your flat.  If the number is already filled in from a previous turn, the turn is skipped.  The first to fill their flat with flowers to plant in their Mary Garden is the winner.

Mary Garden Math playing board (left) and playing pieces (right).

Click Here to download our Mary Garden Math Game

That Resource Team

May 4 - Plan and Plant a Mary Garden

Honour and Remember Mary Year Round With a Garden Just for her!

Have you ever considered planting a garden to honour our Holy Mother?  Perhaps this year you may want start devoting a portion of your yard, garden, or patio to honour Mary.  It is very simple to devote a little portion or a whole yard to the Mother of our Lord.  A Mary Garden usually has a simple layout, a statue of Mary as a focal point, and designated flowers that are linked to her - Marigolds (Mary's Gold) for example.

Below we've included our Family Project on how to Plan and Plant a Garden.  Simply follow the steps, print out the sheets, and use your own resources, library resources, or the Internet resource links below to select, design, and grow your own garden. 

Our Plan and Plant a Garden resource packet is designed to be printed out and then bound on the left with a three hole duo-tang, binder, comb bind spine, or hand sewn.  Almost all of our pages are in colour.  If ink is an issue, you can print out our resources in greyscale.

Step 1:


Print out the Plan and Plant a Garden resource packet in the Project Files section below to begin your unit project. Since this is a larger file, you can also download the resources separately under the corresponding steps below.
 
 

Step 2: 

Begin going through the resource pack systematically with your children. 

 

Learn about plants and their needs.
    

Answer Page

Review the needs of plants using this sheet.  Visit any of the gardening sites listed below to help children learn about these details.   


Learn about the Steps to Good Gardening.

Using the online resources links or resources of your own, fill out the steps to good gardening practices on the sheet provided.  Hints are also given on the page itself.

Learn about different types of gardens.

There are many different types of gardens.  Use these sheets to help you learn about some of the many different types of gardens that people can grow.  Choose to focus on the Mary Garden page to help you keep Mary at the centre of your planning.  Remember that whether you live in the city with just a free sidewalk, out in the country with acres to roam, or just have a small backyard in a neighbourhood, there is always a garden waiting to be planted.  What a way to experience God's glory!! 
  

Step 3: 

Select the type of garden you would like to plant and plan a garden to suit your needs. 




Decide - What Kind of Garden Shall I Grow? 

After you investigate the different types of gardens available, use this graphic organizer to help your child determine the best kind of garden to
plant in your particular home or designated area. Hopefully, you will choose a Mary Garden.

Decide - What Are You Going to Plant in Your Garden?

Use this page to help children decide what kinds of plants they would like to plant.  Do this page before you do the plant detective worksheets or in conjunction.  The purpose of this page is to provide a record of what is desired in their garden with their own art work to illustrate their wishes.  If you have a child that does NOT like art, pictures could be printed off the Internet or cut out from old garden magazines and pasted on instead. 


Be a Plant Fact Detective

Print out one sheet for each plant that will be placed in your garden or for any plant that your child may be interested in learning about.  Information can be gathered using the back of garden seed packets, info sheets available from most all garden centres, books from the library or from the Internet.  See our specially selected links for kids below for more help.

Draw a Map of Your Garden

Use this page to help map out your growing space.  There is also the opportunity for children to create a map key and practice directional activities.  Perhaps you may want to help your child develop the map based on a particular time of the day as an alternative activity.

Step 4: 

Prepare your growing area and plant your garden. 

Learn about Good Gardening Tools     Answer Page

How many gardening tools do you recognize from these pages?  With just some quick searches online or a visit to your local hardware or garden supply centre you can find out what each tool
is used for.

Create plant labels for your garden - with sample plants

Create plant labels for your garden - blank

Create and stake garden labels in your planting area.  This activity gives budding artists another opportunity to draw God's glory.  Refer to the links below to help find pictures of your selected plant(s).  The pre-printed selections are the plants in our own family garden here in BC, Canada.

 

Step 5:

Track the progress of your garden. 

This is a wonderful way to have children practice patience and also measuring with a ruler. at the same time.  As a side note, this can also be an opportunity for young mathematicians to practice graphing in another activity if you so choose by using just some simple graphing paper and different coloured pencils. 

Note - How Big Did it Grow?

Track the progress of a favourite plant with art.  You could also print this page out to do more than one plant if a child has more than one "favourite" plant that they want to track.

Have a really young learner?  This is a way that Pre/K+ can choose and track the progress of only one plant using drawing.

Make Memories using the Photo Keepsake Pages

Don't forget to take lots of pictures with your little gardeners in their element.  Great to show proof of learning for SLPs and show friends and family too!!  

     Project Files and Resources

Select the resources you would like to use and download it by right clicking on the link and selecting "save target as."




Basic Files

Plan and Plant a Garden

(28 pages) This is the complete collection of the resources above.

Additional Online Resources -

The Plant Life Cycle - This is a really neat resource for children to
view all of the parts of the plant lifecycle in a neat interactive way. 
The available lessons can be viewed using the interactive format or in a
whiteboard format as well.

My First Garden - This is a really great site with lessons to do, to
read and such.  Designed for 4th grade it provides lots of neat things
for kids to explore on their own.  They have a neat little encyclopedia
of flowers and veggies as well.  They talk about gardening in odd
places as well.  Sooo cool for kids!

The Kids Garden
- This is a great reference site our of the UK for info on gardening and
planting with children.  Many different areas are covered including
plant propagation with children, attracting butterflies and birds to your
garden, pond life info and more.  There is even an "Ask the Expert"
section as well.  Not a lot of downloads but tons of great info. 
An added plus is its clean design and well organized pages.

I Can Garden
- This Canadian site has quite a bit of info on it for avid gardeners. 
They have a special "Kidz Corner" with lots of good articles and ideas for
young gardeners.

How Stuff Works - Types of Gardens - Good reference for the types of garden
sheet above.

Mary's Gardens- All you ever wanted to know about growing, planting or
enjoying a garden devoted to our Mother Mary.  This site will tell you the history as well as the traditional flowers that are included in Mary's Garden.

 

That Resource Team