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Our Year at a Glance: a Calendar Class Curriculum

4/4/2018

At some point this month an interview I gave to Pam Barnhill for her podcast "Your Morning Basket" will be published, so I've prepared this blog post for any of her listeners interested in seeing what a customized calendar class curriculum could look like for a Catholic family like our's. We're always tweaking it but most of what is in the plan below stays the same from year to year. As always, if you have any questions we'd love to hear from you. Just send us a message on our FB page (the Kirkos Caravan) or an email to kirkoscaravanhomeschool@gmail.com.

The Assaf Family’s Calendar Class Overview
Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Seasonally, Annually

*Daily Calendar Class:
P.E.S.C.L. Sequence four times a day= Pray, Eat, Study, Clean, Leisure
at breakfast, lunch, tea time, and dinner

Nine O’Clock
Pray: morning offering noting the date, saint, and weather of the day
Eat: Breakfast and vitamins
Study: Calendar Class then independent studies with journals
-Readings on the Four Cycles of Life of the day; entries in our perpetual and school journals
Resources: catholicculture.org, Aleteia.org, Saint of the Day books, New Teacher’s Almanack, Chamber’s Book of Days, Farmer’s Almanac, History of the Day apps, 365 Nature book, Nature Connection book
-Copy-memory work recitation and cursive practice
-Lessons of the day, independent studies with journal entries
Clean: Kitchen and finish anything left over from the morning routine, household chores
Leisure: Play outdoors, move, stretch, tone, juggle

Noon
Pray: Angelus or Regina Caeli
Eat: Lunch
Study: Story Studies
Clean: kitchen
Leisure: nap or quiet time

Three O’Clock
Pray: Divine Mercy Prayer
Eat: Tea Time healthy snack or treat
Study: Arts Appreciation with Morning Time plans and other selected resources for art study, history, geography, anthropology, nature study (indoors or out), music appreciation, poetry, instrument and voice practice, theater and circus skills practice, educational game or documentary
Clean: kitchen
Leisure: play dates or outings

Six O’Clock
Pray: Gratitude and Arabic meal graces
Eat: Dinner
Study: Kitchen Classroom--cooking, cleaning, decoration, manners, conversation about the day
Clean: kitchen, bedrooms, household chores, get ready for bed
Leisure: Family Hearth Ritual prayers, hymns, family formation readings, coloring or drawing, tuck-in ritual

*The first of the week (Sundays), month, season, and year--
special celebrations with family and friends including:
-Themed graces, litany, memory prayers and hymns
-Themed food and drink
-Themed decorations, crafts, art, music
-Readings and conversation about the themes and plans for that particular time period (year, season, month..) and the Four Cycles of Life in it, with journal entries and recitations
-Homesteading activity, seasonal tree/wreath/garland decoration, and nature study walk
-Bonfire with Storytelling Theater, themed games, and a sing-a-long

Monthly Themes Through the Year

Winter: Sages, Death, Christmas, Carnival, memory work Sage stories, songs, and poems, snow and ice sports, baking, fire-making
December: Winter Solstice, St. Nicholas, St. Lucia, Advent and Christmas, Month of the Incarnation, memory work carols, Christmas basket-making
January: New Year’s Eve Play about the Four Cycles of Life and Time, Annual Agenda, Month of the Holy Name of Jesus, St. Anthony, St. John Bosco, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, Holy Family, Cordelia and Tony’s birthdays, memory work Solo per Oggi
February: Love, Month of the Holy Family, St. Valentine, St. Marun, Valentina’s birthday, memory work 1 Corinthians 13

Spring: Lent and Easter, Apprentices, Growth, field trips in Rome, Italy, Lebanon, Europe , memory work stories, songs, and poems of apprentices, planting, hiking, lawn games, kite flying, animal husbandry, Spring cleaning of the home, body, garden, soul
March: Spring Equinox and World Storytelling Day, Month of St. Joseph, St. Francesca Romana, St. Patrick, St. Rafqa, St. Dominic Savio, Lebanese Mother’s Day, memory work Lorica of St. Patrick, Easter basket-making
April: Easter, Month of the Holy Spirit, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Mark, memory work Easter hymns
May: Marian and May traditions, Month of Mary, St Philip Neri, Maya’s birthday, U.S. Mother’s Day, memory work Marian hymns and May themed poems

Summer: Missionaries, Flourishing, Ordinary Time, field trips in Michigan and the U.S., memory work songs, stories, and poems about adulthood/vocations, camping, tending garden and animals, water sports
June: Summer Solstice, Month of the Sacred Heart, Corpus Christi, St. John the Baptist’s nativity, Sts. Peter and Paul, Father’s Day, memory work folk songs
July: American History and Folk Culture, Month of the Most Precious Blood, Visitation, memory work patriotic songs, poems, and speeches
August: Michigan History, Month of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, memory work Michigan poems, songs, and stories

Autumn: Decline, Teachers, Harvest, Ordinary Time, memory work songs, stories, and poems about Teachers, harvesting, cross country, hiking
September: Autumn Equinox, St. Michael, Month of the Holy Cross, memory work St. Michael the Archangel prayer
October: Month of the Holy Rosary and the Holy Angels, All Saints party, Souls, Spirits, and the Supernatural, St. Francis, Joseph and Andrea’s birthdays, memory work ghost stories
November: Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory, Thanksgiving and Gratitude, St. Andrew, memory work Thanksgiving recitations

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Our Year at a Glance: a Calendar Class Curriculum

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