25 Things I Learned from the Stations of the Cross and Another Lenten Resource for Children

Good Friday is one of my favorite days of the year. It is a day of sorrow, yes, but it is also the day that promises joy - that is why we call it good instead of sorrowful.  I also really like the Stations of the Cross, which focus on the events of Good Friday. 

During the season of Lent, many parishes come together weekly to reflect on the events of our Lord's Passion by praying the Way of the Cross (Stations of the Cross) devotion. By traveling along the road to Calvary with our Blessed Mother in my heart, I came to realize 25 truths of life, motherhood and love from this powerful reflective prayer. Almost every reflection can be paired with a particular station, although they are listed in random order. 

I hope you find these thoughts and reflections helpful to you in some small way.

25 Things I Learned from the Stations of the Cross

1. Always say 'thank you' when someone helps you.

2. Give of yourself even when it doesn't seem like the time or the place to do so.

3. Be willing to accept help from others.

4. Life is not fair, but God is just.

5. The cross that is carried in silence is the ultimate example of obedience and love.

6. Anyone can experience a set back.

7. God will never ask us to do anything that He, himself, has not done before us.

8. Keep trying.

9. We are more than our appearance.

10. Be willing to give everything you have in service to God.

11. Dying is a key part of eternal life.

12. God values obedience over service.

13. There is an unspeakable love between a mother and her child.

14. A Mother is called to support her child; there are some things that our children must do for themselves.

15. Mothers are made to be strong. How else could a mother witness the slow execution of her child, hold his lifeless body and then prepare it for burial.

16. Make sure you really understand what it is you are crying about or lamenting.

17. The time to help, is when you don't feel like helping.

18. God the Father doesn't show favoritism - He expects everyone to obey Him.

19. When we are weary, it is time to rest, or else we will suffer even more discomfort.

20. Anyone can be weary and weakened if they are denied food, sleep, and dignity.

21. Nothing can keep a good man down.

22. There is peace in death. Our Blessed Mother, Mary, was glad the torturing of her Son was over.

23. Eventually, every adversity comes to an end.

24. Words are not necessary to teach every lesson.

25. Love should be the driving force behind obedience.

If you would like to help your children discover or reflect on the Stations of the Cross or the Stabat Mater Dolorosa, feel free to download our Stabat Mater Copywork Set.   It incorporates handwriting, English as well as Latin translation of verse lines, and coloring for the 22 verses of one of the world's greatest hymns.   This resource has been very well received by our children, and we hope yours will find it engaging and enjoyable too. 

Blessings,

Kalei

Fun and Bright Latin Worksheets to Practice Counting and Simple Translation

Learning a foreign language can be a very difficult challenge.  Research has shown that the younger the student is, the faster and easier it is for them to develop a firm and working knowledge of a foreign or second language.

In our little homeschool we are studying Latin.  To help my kiddos learn to master concepts such as counting, I created two new sets of Latin worksheets.  As I am beginning to get in a little better rhythm lately, I have started going back to creating some new and different resources - including these two sets of Latin worksheets. 

Since Latin is the language of our Faith, we have decided to study it religiously (no pun intended) and try to bring it to life for our children even though it is a dead language.

Here are two different style worksheet sets for you to use to solidify the concept of counting from one to ten in Latin.

Count to Ten in Latin Worksheets

This first set asks children to count the pictures and write the number out in Latin.  The graphics are fun and inviting and the story line makes children want to engage in the translation.  A challenge counting question is asked although children are not expected to answer it in Latin.  This set provides three different worksheets and answer sheets as well.


Count and Translate in Latin Worksheets

One of my kiddos loves to draw and do art but does not like to practice her Latin very much.  So, that being said, I created a four page set of worksheets that encourages children to count, translate and write out simple words as well as DRAW out the answers.  This has been a real hit with my daughter.  Latin practice seemed to take on a life of its own with these resources.  Answer sheets are provided.

I hope you find these Latin worksheets useful.  Feel free to leave me a comment on the download page or on this post itself.  I'd love to hear what you think.  I know that trying to find fun and bright Latin resources can be quite difficult and I hope to start developing more resources in Latin.

Blessings,
Kalei

Why Study Latin and Sweet Latin Posters for Young Learners

Learning a second language is always a difficult task.  It can be made easier for children when study is begun very early in life.  It then becomes a second nature. 

Latin is a classic language.  Although it is considered dead since it is not conversationally spoken and new modern vocabulary, it is still  well worth learning for the following reasons:

Latin is a beautiful way to participate in traditional Christian worship and prayer.

It helps to build vocabulary in other languages since many modern languages are rooted in Latin.  This can help learners succeed in college entrance exams and standardized tests.

There is a wealth of books, texts and music available to those who know and read the Latin language.

And lastly, as my pastor shared with my children and I, the nice thing about Latin study is eventually you know it will come to an end because it is a dead language.

Ah, yes, keeping the goal in site is a wonderful thing.  We began studying Latin a few years ago because one of my children could not, would not learn reading through the phonics method.  This same child began reading entire books quite well even months before her third birthday.  She was a whole language learner and a sight reader.  Latin seemed a perfect way to learn new words and avoid the tears that studying phonics brought to our home on a daily basis.

As another of my children begins studying Latin formally, I thought that I would liven things up to create a warmer learning style that this child needs.  Thus, I created some very colorful and inviting Latin posters.  Now other professional folks may want posters to be set up a bit differently, but this seems to work very well in our home. 

I hope that you find these useful in some way.

Visit our Latin Posters page now to download any of the bright and fun single sheet posters we have to offer.

Blessings,
Kalei

Learn Your Colours in Latin with Reading, Fun and Games!

Resources to learn colour words in Latin or accompany the book Quo Colore Est? (What color is it?) by Marie Carducci Bolchazy.

If you are studying Latin or would like to introduce your kiddos to Latin, why not start with learning the colour words.  By starting with a non-threatening topic such as a box of crayons, children of all ages can build confidence and proficiency in learning a foreign language. 

Although Latin is considered a dead language, it is still quite useful for those who will be studying medicine, science, theology, history, of other foreign languages.  There are tons of titles available in Latin which still have not yet been translated into English and Latin helps develop the vocabulary of those learning and perfecting their English vocab and usage too.

Our family loves using the series of books from Marie Carducci Bolchazy.  We have just successfully completed using the book What Color Is It?/Quo Colore Est?: Quo Colore Est? : Latin/English Version 'I Am Reading Latin' Series) with our youngest kiddo.  This series focuses on simple topics that are meaningful to children including animals, family relationships and food.  Each title is available with a read along C/D.  Three different word endings are used in the book however our resources focus on just one for simplicity sake.  The illustrations in the book are simple black and white images and quite nicely done.  They could easily be coloured in by your child with coloured pencils. 

   

To help enhance this book we created some fun go along free resources including printable Latin games, Latin worksheets, Latin Posters and Vocab cards and a few extras as well.  We invite you to visit our resource page and start the Latin learning fun.  Sometimes people can feel intimidated by Latin, but as our pastor explained to our girls, the nice thing about Latin is that at some point you will learn all there is to know about it since it is not a living language.  The end will eventually be in sight..lol.  One of our children found this to be a very comforting thought. :)

Click HERE to visit our resource page to accompany Quo Colore Est or learning your colours in Latin.

Let us know if you find these free printables fun and useful.

Blessings,

Kalei

A LIttle Latin Lesson on the Pater Noster (Our Father)

New Little Latin Lesson helps kids to learn our Lord's Prayer

Looking for a hands on way to study the Pater Noster or an easy way to spice up your Latin review?  Then this Little Lesson shared by Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle might be just what you are looking for.

Print these sheets out and cut the pieces apart.  (I like to use card stock.)  There is a reference prayer sheet as well as prayer pieces in Latin and English There is also lovely little copywork page to practice writing the entire prayer, a few lines, or even a few key words from the prayer.

A bit older children could use this lesson independently as a Montessori type activity if they use the prayer reference sheet.  Some quality mama time could be given here as well using the pieces.  In fact, you could play matching games using English to Latin or even Latin to Latin or English to English if you printed out two sets of the card pieces.

This packet is six pages.  Here are a few sample pages from this lesson.

Thanks, Michelle for sharing this little prayerful gem with us all!


Click HERE to download this Little Latin Lesson - Learn the Pater Noster from Michelle's resource page on our main website.


Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

New Latin Worksheet Set - using singular and plurals, review of stella and luna, and more

 New Latin worksheets to accompany Linney's Latin Lessons

Thanks so much to Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle who has shared a new Latin worksheet set with us to pass along to you.  This cute Little Latin lesson worksheet set goes along with lessons 24-35 in Getting Started With Latin by William Linney.

Today's sheets are bright and colourful.  The first page focuses on the terms stella and luna.  It also includes first, second and third person usage and singular and plural usage focuses on the second page.

Thanks so much for sharing this with us all, Michelle!  God Bless you for your generosity.

Click HERE to download this Latin worksheet set.
Click HERE to see the all of Michelle's Latin Worksheets


Blessings,

That Resource Team

New Greek and Latin Language Worksheets for Kids

 New worksheets to help kids learn Latin and Greek languages.

We love seeing how creative other people can be.  We find it inspirational to see how other moms or teachers design resources for the same topics we cover in our own little homeschool.  Oh the creative fun and joy that makes homeschooling so unique and effective.

Today we share resources created by Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle blog that help kids learn about the Greek and Latin languages.  The first worksheet is one that helps children learn about the Greek letters in a review form using matching strategies and a review of simple sentences that go with the Kids Greek curriculum put together by Bill Mounce.

The second resource offered today is one for Latin language lovers and those using the Latin program Getting Started With Latin by William Linney.  This two page resource is a neat little cut and paste review activity to go with lesson 24.  Very cool.

Thanks so much, Michelle for sharing your energy and creativity with us.  God bless you and yours!

Click Here to download the Little Latin Lesson 24 Sheet

Click Here to download the Little Greek, Kids Greek Review Lesson Sheets

Blessings,


That Resource team

A Few New Little Latin Resources

New worksheet and flash card manipulatives for a little Latin practice.

Today we offer some very useful resources from Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle for those of us studying Latin.  These resources correspond to chapters 21-23 of Getting Started With Latin by W. Linney but can be quite useful even if you are not using this specific program.  Flashcards help to solidify word meanings and appropriate endings which can be tricky, even for us bigger learners. :)  Michelle has also included a nice review worksheet that is simply yet very effective and fun.

Thanks so much Michelle for sharing your time and talents with us all!!

Click Here to download this Little Latin resource set.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

Some Little Latin Lesson Worksheets

Fun worksheets help learners build their skill and love of the Latin language.

We study Latin in our homeschool and it has brought us a greater appreciation of the Bible, the Holy Mass, and the writings of many of the saints.  One of the biggest problems, however, is finding fun colourful resources to reinforce basic Latin concepts and lessons and oh yes, have them also be free of charge.  So we are so grateful that Michelle over at  Thinking Love, No Twaddle has made a beginning set for us.

This set includes four pages and goes with lessons 1-12 of the book Getting Started With Latin, Beginning Latin for Homeschoolers and Self-Taught Students of Any Age by William Linney.  The pages are bright and fun and is an easy reinforcement to the basics of the book. 

If you have never explored this resource, it may be worth a look for you and your learner as it truly is a unique approach to learning Latin. I was just perusing a very nice preview of this book from his website. You can take a look at it here for yourself.  Unlike many other programs (of which we have tried), this book covers only one new thing per lesson.  No struggling with word endings while trying to learn new vocab and sentence structure.  And best of all the author provides a wealth of free audible resources from his website including pronunciation files, Latin expressions, topical lectures and more.   This is worth a peek if you are looking for something broken down a in a bit of a more Classical Learning style.  These worksheets are a great complement to this program or they can be used with any other program for review.

I hope you find these sheets useful and thank Michelle for her wonderful efforts, as always! :)



Click Here to download this Latin worksheet set now.


Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Little Litugical Year For September - St. Jerome

Worksheet Pack to Teach About the Transcriber of the Bible, St. Jerome

September is a great month to get children inspired and excited about reading the Bible.  St. Jerome's feast day is the 30th of September.  He was an amazing hardworking saint credited with painstakingly copying God's word from many different languages into the common or Vulgate Latin version of the Bible.  Many people thought him to be quite grumpy but that thought never even entered my mind.  If you have ever done graduate work, you know about the tediousness and accuracy that is required in a thesis or dissertation.  Now imagine doing work a hundred times more meaningful, under pure obedience, on a document that would become THE most important book in history!  Yikes!!!  I'd be grumpy too - oh, the sheer pressure of it all.  Yet, St. Jerome did an excellent job.  So much so that he became a Doctor of the Catholic Church.

Today we offer a neat 3 page resource pack about St. Jerome created by Michelle Scott over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle.  This is a set includes great info about this saint, a chance to practice using the Bible while a little Latin is learned as well.  There is even copywork included.  Concise, accurate and bright, this is a great way to introduce the Bible to children through the eyes of St. Jerome.

Click Here to download this Little Liturgical Lesson on St. Jerome.

Don't forget to mark the 30th of September on your Calendar and experience the efforts of St. Jerome by reading the Bible that day.

Blessings,

Kalei - That Resource Team

Pater Noster (Our Father) Hands-on Resources

Help learners learn the Pater Noster - Our Father in Latin

Today we offer the Little Latin Pater Noster hands-on learning fun.  Contributed by Michelle over at Thinking Love, No Twaddle, this resource is laced with fun and is as complete as it gets.  Use the sheets for a number of neat learning activities weather you are a Classical Learner, a narration lover, or CCD Catechist.

Michelle offers a few ways that this resource can be used.  She suggests that you could:

• Print off sheets and let the child practice cursive on the grey letters.
• Cut out the cards and get the family working out which order the Latin ones go in and which English ones go alongside in a matching play style.
• Check out and further investigate the art and artists presented for discussion and art appreciation.
• Make a scrapbook with construction or sugar paper (or even posh scrapbook paper) and stick the prayers in.
• There’s a note book page for those who can write the prayer out freehand.

(Sample pages)

   

It is always neat and fun to see how someone could take one thing and use it in so many different ways.  Oh the joys of homeschooling!  Thanks, Michelle for helping us put the fun in learning for other Catholic homeschooling families.

Click Here to download the Pater Noster resource set.

Have a wonderful week!

Blessings,

That Resource Team

June 17 - More Animal Classification Cards

Classification Learning Cards sets 4-6

Here are sets 4-6 of the Animal Classification Learning Cards.  We hope that your older learner finds them challenging yet fun practice.  Simply print out, fill out, fold and glue.  Laminate for stability and longevity.  These work great for Trivia Quest on Fridays. :)

Today's resource sets include the following animals:

Set 4 - Leopard Tortoise, Read Eared Slider, Short Horned Lizard, Red Legged Frog, Copperhead Snake, Rattle Snake, Canadian Goose, Mallard Duck, Canary Lizard, Coral Snake

Set 5 - Hummingbird, Snowy Owl, Dragonfly, Ladybug, Yellow Jacket, Honey Bee, Fly, Green Hornet, Gila Monster, Roman Snail

Set 6 - Polar Bear, Pacific Walrus, Wasp, Gypsy Moth Caterpillar, Octopus, Caribbean Reef Squid, Desert Tarantula, Black Widow Spider, Rabbit, Bottlenose Dolphin

Click Here to download Simple Animal Learning Cards set 4
Click Here to download Simple Animal Learning Cards set 5
Click Here to download Simple Animal Learning Cards set 6


Blessings,

That Resource Team

June 16 - Classification Animal Learning Cards

Classifying God's Creatures

As we previously posted, we have made additional sets of animal learning cards that focus on Classification.  These sets use the exact same animals as our Simple Animal Learning cards but they require a full classification of each animal.  These are quite challenging and are perfect to help teach multi-aged learners at the same time.  Much of the info can be found in most encyclopedias or online using Wikipedia.  There are a host of great websites to help children (and grown-ups :) learn about animals.  Perhaps we will tackle sharing those online resources in a future post?  But for today, we focus on classifying our Lord's creatures great and small.  We adding to this collection as well as the Simple Animal Learning Cards in the near future.

Today's resource sets include the following animals:

Set 1 - Lemur, Koala Bear, Armadillo, Coatimundi, Manatee, Badger, Gray Wolf, Bearded Seal, Wolf Brown Bear

Set 2 - Moose, Coyote, American Bison, Marmot, Ground Squirrel, Raccoon, African Elephant, Lion, Masai Giraffe, East African Hippo

Set 3 - Cheetah, Impala, Giant Panda, Bactrian Camels, Banteng, Komodo Dragon, Peacock, Bengal Tiger, Brown Long-eared Bat, Pig-Tailed Macaque

Click Here to download Simple Animal Learning Cards set 1
Click Here to download Simple Animal Learning Cards set 2
Click Here to download Simple Animal Learning Cards set 3

Visit us tomorrow to collect the next 3 sets of  Classification Animal Learning Card sets.

Blessings,

That Resource Team

May 31 - Hail Mary, full of grace!

Feast of the Visitation

Today we celebrate The Visitation on the liturgical calendar.  In this joyful mystery of the rosary, Mary visits Elizabeth and is joyfully greeted by her cousin and the infant, John the Baptist, in her womb.  It is during this visit that the words to the Hail Mary prayer reveal themselves to us.

"Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb." Luke 1:42

Our resource today is trace copywork sheets for the Latin version of the Hail Mary Prayer.  Find the Ave Maria prayer in both print and cursive trace styles.

Click Here to download the Ave Maria trace copywork in print.
Click Here to download the Ave Maria trace copywork in cursive.

Don't forget to pray the Joyful Mysteries today! :)

Blessings,

That Resource Team

May 22 - Hail Mary Prayer in Latin Put it in Order Game

One of our favourite games for home as well as CCD use has just been made into a Latin version.

As year round learners, we are always creating and using resources in our effort to prevent backsliding.  The study of Latin is one of those subjects that you definitely don't want to lose any ground on over breaks or the summer.  We have just begun converting some of our resources into Latin.  We thought it only fitting to begin with the prayer of our Holy Mother, Mary.

Find our popular download of the Put it in Order - Hail Mary game in Latin.  Available in both colour and black and white, this colour scheme matches its original English counterpart as well.  This makes it even more useful for mix and match games.

Click Here to download the Latin version of the Hail Mary Put it in Order Game (colour)
Click Here to download the Latin version of the Hail Mary Put it in Order Game (B/W)

Blessings,

That Resource Team

May 20 - A Little Latin with our Holy Mother

Let's learn a little Latin.

Here is another wonderful classical language worksheet contribution from Thinking Love, No Twaddle.  This is a cute gentle little Latin worksheet combo pack that teaches young scholars about Mary, more specifically Stella Maris (Star of the Sea) and Our Lady of Peking.

Many children as well as adults are not too familiar with Stella Maris or Our Lady of Peking (China), so this is a great way to introduce children to these lesser known titles and images of Our Lady.

Thanks again to Thinking Love, No Twaddle for her generous contribution.

Click Here to download A Little Latin worksheet combo set


Blessings,

That Resource Team