This year we have decided to get together on the First Friday of each month, with our Homeschool Group, for Mass followed by a potluck and a variety of crafts in honor of some of our favorite saint feast days for each month.
Our first get together for the year was this past Friday, the feast of St. Therese, and we had such a great time! To be quite honest, with the Baby Shower the weekend before, contractors still coming and going, feeling a bit overwhelmed with homeschooling this year, not to mention a conflict in plans (We had Father coming over for dinner and to bless our home at 4:30 pm and the Homeschool Event was scheduled from 12-4, 30 minutes from our home!), I wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked to have been, but it all came together in the end and it was such a lovely day!
Here are some pictures from our afternoon:
~ Cupcake Rosary ~
Since October is dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary, we brought our annual “Cupcake Rosary” to share!
Being the feast of St. Therese, I topped each of the “Hail Mary” cupcakes Beads with a Chocolate Rose.
~ Our Lady of the Rosary ~
One of the creative mothers in our Homeschool Group set up a table for the children to create their own Rosary Boxes!
~ St. Therese, The Little Flower ~
Now, being the feast of St. Therese, I HAD to make sure we’d have a craft in her honor! I had one late night and early morning to prepare – most of which was spent baking 59 cupcakes and a
Rose Cake (for our dinner with Father, and which I FORGOT to photograph this year!) – but after borrowing a few supplies in addition to a discount on medals from the local Catholic Bookstore on the way to Mass, the children were able to make
Sacrifice Beads!
~ The Holy Guardian Angels ~
~ St. Francis of Assisi ~
At one table the children could all make
Pipe Cleaner Creatures. My children LOVED this craft and we will have to make some more here at home sometime soon!
There were a couple other tables set up with lots of worksheets, activity pages, and coloring pages.
~ A Few More Pictures ~
My children are all ready looking forward to next month!
Prayer of Mothers
Father in heaven, grant me the grace to appreciate the dignity which you have conferred on me. Let me realize that not even the Angels have been blessed with such a privilege—to share in your creative miracle and bring new Saints to heaven. Make me a good mother to all my children after the example of Mary, the Mother of your Son. Through the intercession of Jesus and Mary I ask your continued blessings on my family. Let us all be dedicated to your service on earth and attain the eternal happiness of your kingdom in heaven. Amen.
thanks for the idea Jessica. I am new to our area and it seems the homeschool group here is kind of dead? I have already approached Father about a Holy Hour for kids and then eating lunch in the basement downstairs, I am going to ask him about using it for a few hours and see what he says. This is a great idea.
WOW!!! That was one busy day. So much for the kids to do and learn. Such a great idea!
lovely ideas. how wonderful you have such an active homeschool group of friends who share the faith !
How wonderful to have a Catholic homeschool group that does these kinds of things! Our closest group is a little over an hour away.
I think we are going to do some variation of the cupcake rosary this year!
Our Homeschool Group hasn't been doing that much together these past few years either, and since a few of us families were getting together "on our own" to celebrate feast days anyways, we thought it would work out well to start meeting at the church on First Fridays and open it up to the whole group.
Our Catholic Homeschool Group is very spread out, probably about 1 1/2 hours from South to North, but we choose a church that is centrally located so it would only be a 45 minute drive at the longest for any family in our group.
We weren't sure how much interest there would be, but 13 families ended up coming!!
Nevertheless, I am sure my children would have enjoyed it just as much had there only been a few families.
Great idea to meet for First Fridays.
Your cupcakes look store bought. You're becoming a pro at it.
How do you transport your cupcakes? I've been holding out and haven't purchased a cupcake carrier.
I think I'll move to join you. 😉
What a wonderful Friday in a week on fun in our beloved Church !
May I ask the name of the children's book for making Sacrifice Beads that is on the photo ? It remainds me of a "Treasures box " book I once found, and I am thinking of getting more of them as we loved it so muh . Can you help me with the name? Have a blessed week!
Emma
Jessica, You never fail to amaze me with your energy, creativity, love of family and of course, love of God and our Church. Bless you for being such an inspiration.
Our group meets very informally on First Fridays. We have not gotten to the point of crafts and so on, but we enjoy visiting for an hour or so after Mass and Adoration.
Praise God, we get to read along the path of holy parenthood and blessed childhood. May Our Lord supply abundant grace for you all!!!!
It was great! And the kids love heir sacrifice beads!
Oooh…I LOVE the miraculous medal hairbow!
Whoops…at a closer look, it seems to be a St. Francis medal!! Nonetheless, I'm going to turn some spare medals into hairbow pieces! 😉
Wow, love these ideas. We are starting a mom's group at church and will definitely show these ideas off.
Lena ~ I actually just had them all on trays. I've been wanting to find a cupcake carrier for sometime, and even looked at one at Michaels last Thursday, but it seemed overpriced and too bulky to store for how many cupcakes it would actually hold (I would have needed a few carriers). Anyways, if you find one you end up loving, let me know!
Emma ~ It is a page from a Treasure Box book! Aren't they great?!?!
Jennifer ~ The medal is actually a St. Therese medal! 🙂 And the bow came from Hair Bows for Life – there is a link in the right sidebar, if you are interested in checking them out!