The Week Ahead - or the Week That Is!

(Note: I had planned to post this on Sunday, but time got away from me, so even though it is now Wednesday, I thought you might like a peek into the plans I projected for this week. I've made notes here and there about changed plans and crossed out things we've accomplished so far.)

Following is a sketch of our plans for this week. (Now I said sketch very purposefully as nothing here, with the exception of EB's birthday, is written in stone. Still, it's a place to begin!)

It will be a busy week for us with a few feast days to honor, a birthday to celebrate and Advent activities to continue. Oh, and Christmas is just two weeks away! Many of our activities follow Elizabeth's Advent unit, Cay's Catholic Mosaic, with a bit of Mary's O Night Divine post added in for good measure. If we start the day off with a little math, we're all set.

Math:

• Complete one Saxon lesson each morning. (Er ... more or less.)

Language Arts:

• Listen to A Christmas Carol on audio book during afternoon quiet time.
• Read The Legend of the Poinsettia, The Lady of Guadalupe, and Hanna's Christmas. (Waiting for Hanna to come in on request at my library.)
• Follow discussion questions from Catholic Mosaic.
• Do copywork per Elizabeth's suggestions.

Social Studies:

• Find Mexico on a map; review continents.
• Read Let there be Llamas!

Faith Formation:

• Review Moses story in A Catholic Book of Bible Stories as preparation for Crackerjack's CCD class (they're seeing a video). (No time to read the story. Review occured in the van, en route to class and consisted of brief recall of the Disney movie Prince of Egypt.)
• Read new board books to EB: Our Father and Hail Mary. (Have you seen these new books? They're wonderful.)
• Read Magnifikid in advance of Sunday Mass; discuss readings and Gospel.
• Practice a Child's Act of Contrition with CJ , who's making his First Penance next month. (Ongoing)

Video of the Week: The Polar Express

Crafts:

• Make "stained glass" letters.
• Prepare O Antiphons for next Sunday evening.
• Weave a God's Eye, as Alice did, if time allows.
• Paint a sand dollar ornament.
• Make a poinsettia fairy ornament.
• Make star hats for the boys on St. Lucy's Day.
• Fashion a miniature shrine for O.L. Guadalupe.
• Make construction paper poinsettias like my friend Kim showed me last night.

Tea:

• Serve Mexican hot chocolate and poinsettia brownies.
• Serve orange buns on St. Lucy's. (No time for Karen's awesome recipe; we'll do Pilsbury after lunch!)

Nature study:

• Visit a local nursery to look at holiday plants, especially poinsettias. (I brought home two small plants from the grocery store. I'd still like to make it to a greenhouse.)
• Clip holly and boxwood from front yard; add sketches to nature notebook.
• Take a starlight walk; watch the sunrise.

Co-op:

• Celebrate our Christmas/Birthday party!

To-do:

• Put out mailman and newspaper tips.
• Mail Christmas cards by end of the week.
• Finish shopping (online).
• Catch up on emails.
• Bake cookies for homeschool cookie swap. (Mexican Wedding Cookies - Nope, didn't realize the recipe called for nuts; I made Lemon Snowballs instead. Really yummy.)
• Order snow pants and boots for the boys.
• Prepare Earlybird's wooden birthday gifts.
• Read reviews of Eragon to see if it's OK for Bookworm, who's read the book, but the trailer looks a bit dark. I see they haven't rated it yet, probably not a good sign.
• Wear pink to Mass on Gaudete Sunday. :)
• Take pictures of my craft bins for a future post. ;)

Celebrations:

• National Poinsettia Day (Tuesday)
• Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Tuesday)
• Feast of Saint Lucy (Wednesday)
• Earlybird and Papa's birthday (Thursday)
• Gaudete Sunday (Third Sunday in Advent)

All together now, one big PHEW! :) Expect updates all week, of course! I wish you a great one!