I’m a Jennifer Garner fan from way back. Whether it’s her light and funny films like 13 Going on 30, or her more serious pics like Juno, something about her work – and her take on “stardom” – has always appealed to me. When her latest film, Miracles From Heaven (from the same producers as […] Read more…
We know kids love Lego, and The Brick Bible For Kids series by Brendan Powell Smith (fully illustrated with Lego scenes) is a fantastic way to introduce them to powerful Bible stories. When I was sent Joseph and the Colorful Coat for review, I decided to read it to my students (few were familiar with […] Read more…
I teach at a Catholic school, and this year I have Grade 2s for the first time (in a 2/3 split) which means I get to help prepare the students for two sacraments, First Reconciliation (which was in the fall) and First Eucharist (also known as First Communion), which will be taking place next weekend. […] Read more…
I gave my kids a writing assignment: after listening to the Gospel account of when Mary learned she would be giving birth to Jesus, students were asked to complete a diary entry from Mary’s point of view. Here’s one particularly astute entry, shared (as always) with parental permission. Love it! Read more…
For the month of August, “The Happiness Project” author Gretchen Rubin tackled a pretty big project, which was to “Contemplate the Heavens”: I definitely consider myself a religious person. I’ve inherited a very strong faith and I value Catholic education, Mass and sacraments. This chapter of Rubin’s book was about more than religion, though. Her […] Read more…
I’m rarely wordless, but after a wonderfully full weekend this is all I have for you today: Have a fantastic week, everyone! P.S. Frannie was quite tickled that her First Communion photo drew one of the largest ever number of “Likes” on This Mom Loves’ Facebook page, as well as many comments. Thanks for that! Read more…
Wait! Don’t surf away/delete this e-mail just because you aren’t Catholic. Or Christian. Or a believer at all. Even if that is the case, I would be hard pressed to believe that there isn’t a single tidbit of advice, encouragement or support for you to glean from any of the quotes below. Give the words a chance […] Read more…
While I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions, I did set a few goals for myself for 2013, and one of them was to read the bible. Cover to cover. Seriously. While I’ve never been a huge bible reader at home, I use it constantly with my class. One of my favourite teaching resources ever […] Read more…
While my students are Christian (most Catholic, as are my daughters) I see a great value in reading stories about Judaism (as well as other religions). I mean, we share a whole Old Testament of history and beliefs with the Jewish people, and it creates a great opportunity to teach about differences. The simple bottom line that […] Read more…
As I began planning this post, I was just going to tell you about my latest Pandora bead purchase, and touch on how faith is so important to me and my family. As I got going, however, I decided that I wanted to share a little bit more about my thoughts on organized religion. I always find […] Read more…