3 No Prep Ways to Celebrate St. Patrick's Day

Since late January, my family has been been facing wave after wave of crazy times - the flu, a belly bug, crazy wind-and-snow storms, job loss, and more...  Thanks be to God, there have been plenty of blessings among the challenges, some of which have added to the busyness of life - such as our homeschool co-op starting again (with me teaching two classes and coordinating the entire co-op) and the children competing in a Destination Imagination competition (with me as their Team Manager).  So, I'd by lying if I said I am not a bit tired.  

Good tired.  

Thankful tired.  

But, nonetheless, just plain tired.

Thus, as I look at the calendar and see that St.Patrick's day is not even a week away, I cannot even conceive of putting together anything akin to celebrations and lessons I have for this feast day in the past.  I just don't have the mental brain power or physical energy to do so right now.  So, instead, I plan to keep things simple this year by:

• putting out some saint candles
• making only one or two of the festive foods we've had in the past
• reading Saint Patrick stories in any of the many saint biography books we already have in our home 
• leading the children through a chat related to St. Patrick
• challenging the children to write a story about St. Patrick from a specific point of view
• and, since St. Patrick is patron to engineers, we will likely do a small engineering/design challenge, too.

If you'd like to no-prep Saint Patrick's celebration, too.  Please feel free to borrow these ideas:

Read and Chat

After reading about Saint Patrick in one of our many saint biography collections, the children and I will chat, using questions and thoughts such as:

• What happened to St. Patrick when he was a boy? What would it feel like to be taken from your home and forced to work alone all the time?  How do you think Patrick felt?  What would you do in his situation?
• It would be easy to feel lonely or fall into despair in the situation Patrick was in.  How did he avoid despair?
• Sometimes, when we are in tough situations, it is hard to remain virtuous.  What virtues and strength of character did Patrick show while in captivity?  Would you have similar patience and faithfulness?  Would you be able to pray for six years even when it seemed your prayers were not being answered?  Can you think of a time your prayers did not seem to be being answered?  How did you respond?
• After Patrick escaped Ireland, he returned home, but, then, realized he could not stay there.  Why?  What happened in his life?  How did he respond and how would you have responded?
• How does the story of Saint Patrick show us that God speaks to the “least" of people and that any of us may be called - and equipped - to share about God at any time?

Creative Writing

Since all of my children have been enjoying creative writing lately, I will suggest that we each spend three minutes brainstorming events and miracles related to Saint Patrick's life and collecting a word map of ideas together and, then, 17 minutes working on stories that take a snippet of Saint Patrick's life and retell it through the eyes of a fictional contemporary to Saint Patrick.  (Three minutes, then 17 minutes, because Saint Patrick died on March 17.) This might mean we tell of his capture, his time as a shepherd, his escape, his ministry.  Or, we might choose to focus on one the many legends that describe miracles that protected St. Patrick or proved the power of the one true God to the pagans he sought to convert.  

Engineering/Design (and Teaching) Challenge

Saint Patrick is patron to engineers, since it is claimed that he was instrumental in the construction of Irish churches and has been credited with teaching the Irish to build arches of lime mortar.  

Legends also tell how St. Patrick taught the people of Ireland about the Holy Trinity using a shamrock.  

With these two ideas in mind, I will ask the children to choose up to seventeen items from our instant design challenge box (straws, paper plates, address labels, paper clips, etc.) and, then, to spend three minutes designing and constructing a self standing teaching tool that contains an arch shape and can be used to explain something about our faith to others.  Then, this done, I will ask them to spend up to three minutes using the tool they created to teach a point of faith. 

I have no doubt they will come up with interesting creations and ideas.

Other Saint Patrick Ideas

More St. Patrick's Day Ideas

If you'd like other ideas for celebrating St. Patrick's Day, you may wish to click through to some of these:

• Feast, Learn, and Enjoy Sensory Activities for Saint Patrick's Feast Day

   

• Planning a Sense-able St. Patrick’s Day Tea and Playdate

• A Sensory-Friendly St. Patrick’s Day Story and Play Time 

• Throw the Snakes Out of Ireland (get your FREE Printable challenge sheet)

Saint Patrick, pray for us!

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Thinking Like an Engineer {An Innovators Tribe Review}

When my oldest child heard about an opportunity to review Thinking Like an Engineer from Innovators Tribe, he was excited to get started with it.  Self-paced, independent, online, and with an opportunity to learn about CAD (computer aided design)  Yep!  He dug right in to explore the fields of applied science, design, and technology and only began to slow down when he hit the part about making paper gears - which has been a challenge for him.  (But challenges are good!)

What Is Thinking Like and Engineer?

Thinking Like an Engineer is an online curriculum created by Wayne Kroeplin (also known as Mr. K) to foster creative problem solving and thinking skills in students at a 6th-12th grade level.  The curriculum is delivered completely online, so, of course, you need a reliable computer and internet service to partake in it.  You also need a variety of easy-to-find materials for hands-on projects the course directs you to do.

The course is easy to navigate and self-paced.  When you log in, you are brought to a dashboard where you can access pre-recorded lessons which include slide shows and videos.  There are also downloadable printable unit journal pages to help focus students on certain parts of lessons, highlighting important terms and concepts.  Plus, of  course, there are opportunities for research as well as hands-on challenges which encourage you to put into practice ideas discussed in lessons.

The entire course is meant to take about 30 hours and to equal 1/4 credit for high school students.  However, like any self-paced course, it can take less or more time depending on your personal level of skill, knowledge, effort, and interest.

Regardless of pacing, Thinking Like an Engineer makes it easy to pick up where you left off, since each time you log back in you can click a link to continue right where you left off previously.

Some of the topics included in the course are:

• What is an engineer?
• Types of Engineers
• Types of Problems Solved or Studied by Engineers
• Real World Examples of Engineering and Problem Solving
  Intro to 3D Design
• Engineering Rollercoasters
• Engineering Bridges
• Nano Engineering
• Thinking Like and Engineer

These are presented in several units broken down into sub-units, which makes the course easy to pace.  

Within the units, you will find plenty of hands-on challenges, too, including

• making a tower of paper five feet tall using minimal materials
• creating a water filtering system
• designing computer-aided design projects (which uses downloadable 3D software)

Perhaps best of all, your subscription is open for to your whole  family and, even when it ends, the downloadable software you use during the course is yours to keep.  With this in mind, now that my family's crazy fall schedule is winding down, my two  younger children and I plan to begin using the course together, following in the footsteps of my oldest son, so our entire family can
fully  benefit from the program.

Truth be told, my younger two and I have already dabbled alongside my oldest at times.  One night, we all got caught up on videos from the course about 3-D printers and their real world applications in everything from marketing high-priced, designer

models of pets to making food for astronauts to constructing huge buildings.  It was fascinating to see where 3-D printing technology is going.

Likewise, all of my children have already been  enjoying dabbling with the 3-D design software my oldest downloaded as a part of the course. Thinking Like an Engineer is right up our homeschool happiness and learning engagement alley!

 What My Son Thought

As I said, my oldest (at eleven) was the one we got Thinking Like an Engineer for and he immediately dove in to the program.  He was in a more hands-on mood (in other words NOT keen on writing, but on doing) when I asked him to write his thoughts out for this review, and so all he ended up sharing was:

This is course that teaches you about engineering using videos, slides, and activities. I liked this program.  I REALLY liked the Computer Design.  I don't like the paper gear making.  

I think this would be good for kids who like both hands on and computer stuff.

Succinct, yet accurate opinions, he offered.

Some Final Thoughts

In college, I was an acting major that lived in a dorm of mostly engineers.  I did not get a lot of what they studied and they didn't get what I was skilled at.  In fact, although we respected, enjoyed, and helped one another, it often seemed like we spoke different languages.  Their math-science speak was something I never thought I would get. 

Fast forward to my recent homeschooling years, and I've been discovering that I get more STEM stuff than I ever thought I would and enjoy it, too - especially when it does not require me to be super old-school "mathy" or "sciency", remembering formulas, theories, etc.  Thinking Like an Engineer falls in line with this. 

The course introduces concepts, encouraged research, and teaches how you can think like an engineer without getting you stuck in a mire of advanced math or science.  Thus, it is perfect to whet your appetite for further engineering studies, providing a solid, engaging, and accessible base upon which to build.

Instruction is understandable and anything but boring.  Topics are interesting (and - caution - can lead to bunny trails!)  Hands-on challenges balance online learning.  Software downloads and plenty of provided links prompt further exploration.  Thinking Like an Engineer is definitely a course I would recommend for anyone with middle schoolers on up that love computer learning, projects, and STEM.

Learn More

Through 11/11/21017 all Innovators Tribe are 35% off!  That includes:

There's also a new course coming out, which I am excited about, because I think it would be right up all of my children's alleys:

Seventy-five Homeschool Review Crew families tried Innovators Tribe courses.  Click through the banner to read how students of different ages and skill sets enjoyed either the Engineering or Architect programs.

 

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Celebrating St. John Paul II Outdoors

What happens when Sunday, sunshine, and Saint. John Paul II's  Optional Memorial day coincide? 

If you're my me - and you've been promising one of your children a final romp at the beach before the weather cools too much - you make lunch after Mass, have everyone change into swimwear, pack up a few items, and head to the beach, praying a family Rosary along the way!

{Disclosure: Some of the links which follow are affiliate ones.}

 

 

 

Then, on the beach, some of your children play in the "lazy river"...

...while another just lazes around on a towel...

....listening to you read parts of For the Children: Life Lessons From Pope John Paul II aloud.

Later, you call all your children over to where you've made a casual beachside saint day vignette using you copy of  For the Children: Life Lessons From Pope John Paul II*, the Encyclopedia of Peg Saints, a St. John Paul II peg doll, a tape measure, and a bag of Dandies all-matural mini marshmallows.  

You ask your children what they can recall about St. John Paul II, add some further details, read the page in the Encyclopedia of Peg Saints about him...

...and ask who'd like to try a little challenge related to St. John Paul II before sharing in sweetness, symbolic of God's love.

Enticed by the symbolic sweetness, of course, all your children want to try the challenge.  So, borrowing from a prior St. John Paul II-related design challenge,  you explain:

St. John Paul II loved being outdoors and especially loved the mountains, which he said were "a special place to meet God".   He also said, "We can pray perfectly when we are out in the mountains or on a lake and we feel at one with nature. Nature speaks for us or rather speaks to us. We pray perfectly."  You challenge is to use natural materials you find around you to build a "mountain" that is almost 27 inches high - one inch for every year St. John Paul II was pope.  The mountain has to be able to hold our St. John Paul II peg doll on it for at least 84 seconds - one for very year St. John Paul II lived.

Then, everyone sets to work.

Some build with just rock.

Others add plant material.

Measurements are taken.

Different designs are tried.

Someone thinks he's done.

 

Official measurements are taken.

Redesigns are considered.

Teamwork unfolds.

New progress is measured.

Varied ideas are tested.
 

A simple design meets the height specification.

And, St. John Paul II (in peg doll form) meets God on the "mountain".

A team of three finishes another "mountain".

Everyone - solo and in teams  - meet success.

Then, the sweet mini marshmallows are distributed, reminding us of God's pure love shared with others.

Hoots of joy are called out.  You continue to enjoy the great outdoors with gratitude, just as. St. John Paul II often did.

Later, you all join in prayer, thanking God for the day and asking for St. John Paul II to intercede for your family and for others.

An October beach day in celebration of St. John Paul II has been a blessing!

*Note: When I was putting this post together, I noticed that there are copies of  For the Children: Life Lessons From Pope John Paul II selling for just a penny right now.  So, if you've been thinking about getting a copy, now's the time!

St. John Paul II, pray for us.

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