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msclavel
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I am so excited. I got this book today. I can't wait to do it in a couple of weeks. I also got some of the books I ordered for February.
Cay, I can't tell you how much i'm loving Catholic Mosaic! I have a dear friend with just one son homeschooling right now and we've invited him over once a week for family learning with us and the mosaic books. Gift of Gracias will be the first one for the year. I will try to put together a post with the plans and some pictures of the "finished product".
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Cay Gibson
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msclavel wrote:
| I will try to put together a post with the plans and some pictures of the "finished product". |
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I will be anticipating this post and pictures with joy, Maria. 
Thank you for your kind words.
Have fun. 
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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MaryM
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Is this a good place to brainstorm ideas to go along with the study or should we start a new thread?
One thing I thought would be fun to do with this book is to plant an orange seed for sprouting. Then I did some reading and find that it may take a month for a seed to sprout. I still think we may go ahead and do it now even though it wouldn't sprout until some time after the Jan. 21st feast day. I guess having it be so long to sprout would really put into perspective how miraculous and quick they sprouted in the book, huh?
Anyone have great recipes using oranges?
Cay, in Mosaic you suggest studying the various apparitions around the world during the year. Did you have an idea of which appartitions to use? There are lists of the "approved" apparations, then there are other apparations that have been claimed and have not been rejected but the Church has not made a judgement on. There are also many ethnic depictions of Mary that aren't associated with apparitions. Would you use those as well?
We have started a focus of Mary under her various titles (many of which are related to apparitions like January's OL of Altagracia). I shared the first month's images here.
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Mary M. in Denver
Our Domestic Church
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msclavel
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Well, I will admit to being a little nervous about sharing my plans, but leap of faith and all that...
After reading we will narrate. There is a big span of ages (twelve down to just five) so some will write and other will just tell. We are all just getting into doing narrations so the discussion questions will help us focus before we start.
When we studied St. Nicholas we learned a lot about the differences between legends/stories and the "real" story. This book lends itself to discuss this again. I found info about this apparition at catholic-forum.com we can contrast with.
Since I am a fluent spanish speaker we will learn some spanish words related to the story (don't have that list together yet).
For math we will talk about big numbers and infinity (God's love for us) and maybe count out stars in groups of ten to reinforce place value (for the younger set). We may do a group graph of everyones favorite orange.
We will locate Spain and Dominican Republic on a wall map and talk about Spanish place names in North America. I have small maps for them too.
We'll taste different kinds of oranges (navel, blood, tangerine) and write a description. Cay, I particularly loved this suggestion. Also for tasting will be olives and banana chips, maybe a banana bread. Mary, I LOVE your idea and I think we'll use it, tracking the plants growth in nature journals.
For art I'm lifting Cay's words right out of Mosaic for them to think about and using watercolors to paint a picture of our home. I'll have outline pictures of Our Lady, if they want to color it in. I have planned a large group collage of things we are thankful for.
I'm not sure yet if we will put it all together in a lap book, but I have a feeling my kids will insist on
it .
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MaryM
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Maria,
Thanks for sharing your detailed plans. It sounds like you guys will have a great study. Really liked the comparison to olives included. Don't be nervous about sharing things like this - this is how we all get great ideas and develop others.
Been doing some more thinking on ideas and here are some other ideas for making this study a unit study:
-The cover of the book shows Maria's picture in a frame that looks like tin work. I think tin work from the southwest and Mexico is beautiful. We once did a really easy modified tin work project. We used the cardstock paper that is covered with a metal looking finish. I'm looking for a link to show what I mean. Anyway it is a great medium to use if you don't want to actually get thin craft metal/tin and it's much cheaper. We cut out small frames and used leather punch tools to "imprint" into the soft surface. You can easily use a toothpick as your "pressing" tool. It leaves an impression in the fake tin. We have also done something similar with the bottom of disposable aluminum trays with something sharp like a tack or thin nail for the imprinting instrument. (ART)
-Since this is a book about being thankful, find out how to say thank you in other languages (besides English and Spanish which are in book) - thank you translations page (FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
-Find out about constellations. Though it wasn't a constellation the picture of Mary in the sky with stars is similar to how we view constellations. Learn the stories behind the shapes different people saw in the night sky and named as constellations. (SCIENCE)
-Oranges make a great fruit to discuss fractions. (MATH)
And I have a question. The illustrations in the book show a tree that has a purple bark. It is shown several times and must represent a real tree. Anyone know what kind of tree that might be?
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Mary M. in Denver
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Dawn
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I'm picking up my book at the library this week!
I would like to plan an orange-themed brunch for after Mass that Sunday, the feast day. Virgin Mimosas, fruit salad with orange sections and toast with orange marmalade (which I *may* try to make from scratch with the boys). And when we have tea that week, we'll serve decaf. orange spice with orange snowballs (a variation on my lemon snowballs).  (Can you tell I love bringing the culinary angle into it? )
Cay your Mosaic is such a blessing. I can't tell you how much we are enjoying it!
I wondered if you'd seen Days of the Blackbird by Tomie de Paola? We read it every year at the end of January.
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Cay Gibson
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I love these ideas, ladies.
It's so nice to have this forum to expand and share our beautiful mosaics.
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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MaryM
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Cay, did you have any thoughts about my earlier question regarding studying the apparitions as part of this study?
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Mary M. in Denver
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Michaela
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I agree with Mary! Maria, don't feel nervous about sharing your thoughts. I'd love to brainstorm along with you...however, I haven't seen the book yet! I have it on hold at the library & plan to pick it up this week.
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Michaela
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TracyFD
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Ha, Dawn! We have Days of the Blackbird too and I stuck in on my CM bookshelf with the January books!
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margot helene
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MaryM wrote:
| Cay, did you have any thoughts about my earlier question regarding studying the apparitions as part of this study? |
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I would stick to the approved apparitions so that the children aren't confused. You can find lists of them in several places on the web. this website lists the nine big ones. You can find others by googling Mary apparations.
In the Appendix of Mosaic there is a list of feast days of Mary, including the feast days of the main apparitions.
Illuminated Ink has a set of cards of Marian Apparitions to color. I would have included this link in Mosaic if I had seen them before we went to print. They go perfectly with the idea (in the Gift of Gracias guide) to begin a collection of Marian Apparition cards for the year.
I think that Gift of Gracias is one of my favorites in all of the Mosaic!
Margot
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MichelleW
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We tried Maddie's Mandarin Orange Muffins from a thread here awhile back. They are so delicious! Search on "Mandarin Muffins."
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Michelle
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Dawn
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margot helene wrote:
Illuminated Ink has a set of cards of Marian Apparitions to color. I would have included this link in Mosaic if I had seen them before we went to print. They go perfectly with the idea (in the Gift of Gracias guide) to begin a collection of Marian Apparition cards for the year.
I think that Gift of Gracias is one of my favorites in all of the Mosaic!
Margot |
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Margot, thanks for this link! It would be fun to make either a lapbook or a small photo album display with these cards ... I am perusing this site right now!
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Michaela
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MaryM wrote:
| Anyone have great recipes using oranges? |
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Umm, can't say it's great because I haven't tried it.  
Several illustrations of the family in the kitchen have orange peel. While searching for orange recipes, I noticed recipes for Candied Orange Peel.
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Michaela
Momma to Nicholas 16, Nathan 13, Olivia 13, Teresa 6, & Anthony 3
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Dawn
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I haven't tried it, but this sounds yummy and healthy: Ambrosia Salad.
Orange-cranberry bread or muffins would be nice on the side.
Duncan Hines makes an Orange Supreme cake mix. My 7yo *loves* it. He requested it for after his First Penance coming up later this month. I thought I would make up an orange punch with orange-pineapple juice, ginger ale and orange sherbert to float on top.
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Michaela
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Dawn
(I hope it's ok to post here about your blog entry)
I enjoyed reading about your day with this book.
It looks simple yet so special.
What wonderful memories you create for your children.
You're a creative momma.
BTW, I love the ambrosia salad recipe you shared.
It looks like a keeper! We're planning to make it this weekend.
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Michaela
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Natalia
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I wanted to share a story about La Virgen de La Altagracia. If you remember I am from the Dominican Republic. La Altagracia is our patroness and people are very devoted to her. My own grandfather who was a good man but didn't care for church went to mass once a year: for her feast day. When he was late into his 80s la Virgen came to him in a dream. I don't remember the dream -I think he was sick and was healed after the dream. After the dream he made his first communion. I remember being invited to it. It took place in his library. A priest came to his house (he couldn't walk at the time) and he was surrounded by a lot of his grandchildren. It was a glorious moment. He died well at 91 or 92 a faithful communicant. Our Lady of la Altagracia did what she does best:point to her son.
I just thought I'd shared,
Natalia
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Dawn
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Natalia wrote:
| I wanted to share a story about La Virgen de La Altagracia. |
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Oh, Natalia, this is beautiful. Thank you so very much for sharing it. I will be reading this to my sons later today.
Michaela wrote:
Dawn
(I hope it's ok to post here about your blog entry) |
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Michaela, I am so pleased and flattered that you did! Thank you so much for your kind words!! 
(I happen to be snacking on one of those orange snowballs right now - and yes, it is not yet noon, but oh, they're good with coffee, too! )
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MaryM
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For more information on this devotion, Ann Ball's book, The Other Faces of Mary has a chapter on The Virgin of Altagracia.
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Mary M. in Denver
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margot helene
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At this website, there is a black line drawing of the painting of the Virgin of Altagracia that can be enlarged and used as a coloring page.
At this website, there is an explanation of the image.
I think it's really cool that the cloak she wears as Altagracia has stars on it . . . great lead in to Brigid's Cloak.
Margot
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Gift of Gracias
