Equipping Catholic Families

A Letter to Frankie about the All for Jesus Lent Challenge

February 7, 2013 by Monica McConkey 1 Comment

Hi Frankie,

Nice to hear about your plans for Lent. I like your =&0=&(wow, do you get to hold a candle?!?) and I think the counting to 40 after Grace before Meals is a simple, but pretty effective idea. I’ve been insisting on leading Grace for my family these days, but I think that they suspect that I don’t really know all the words. I don’t think I can quite count to 40 (maybe 11, with a couple jumbled numbers?) but I bet one of my older sisters or brother could lead that.

Well, I showed you in my last letter some of the things my family has done for Lent in the past. I like how your family does so many different things and you try to make them a habit for the rest of the year. I suspect that our family will try to do one or two things…maybe even a different focus for each week in Lent.

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters, Lent

Adam’s got mail! Frankie’s Guide for Lent

February 5, 2013 by Monica McConkey Leave a Comment

=&0=& here’s Frankie’s latest letter over at Catholic All Year:=&1=& read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters, Lent

Hey Frankie! Meet Boppa!

January 31, 2013 by Monica McConkey 3 Comments

…another letter from Adam to Frankie in the Catholic Toddler Letters

Hi Frankie,

Well, I’m not sure if you remember in my last letter how I asked

“Hey Frankie, what’s the deal with the other people (without little kids) insisting on sitting at the end of the pew so that it’s really hard for parents to leave the pew with a screaming kid?”

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters, Lent

Hey, Adam’s got mail! Another Catholic Toddler Letter from Frankie!

January 29, 2013 by Monica McConkey Leave a Comment

=&0=& Hey, before you check it out… would you consider voting for my Mom’s blog over at A Knotted Life? =&1=& =&2=&=&3=& =&4=& =&5=& read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters

Happy Saints Bingo + Happy Saints Tutorial Directory

January 28, 2013 by Monica McConkey 2 Comments

I love the=&0=&Victor graciously allows printing of his awesome =&1=& and I have made four different projects with them. My most recent =&2=&project has been one I have wanted to tackle for a while…with LIDS from frozen-juice-from-concentrate containers. I’m assuming that these containers are available in the US… With our five kids, we open up about 2 of these containers a day! Hence, the vast collection! …You’ll see! I had templates (that I made of Victor’s =&1=&) printed at Staples, with larger images for the “calling-out” disks and 4-to-a-page bingo card templates with a different selection of saints on each layout. The colors are nice and bright and the images are crisp. Sorry…I can’t give you my templates…please go check out the Happy Saints website for yourself! I used a 2 1/2″ hole punch to get the right-sized circle for the frozen juice lids. I used rubber cement to glue the printed circles to the lids, using the side of the lid that has a lip. These little Happy Saints won’t be removed too easily from the lids! They stack nicely and are fun to play with…all by themselves! I bought a little package of decorative pebbles at the dollar store for counters, but you could use pennies, holy medals or tiddlywinks! My bingo cards are a touch too small to use my =&6=&, but they would be fun to use (and match) as well in any Saint Bingo game…like the 30-card Saint Bingo set at Shower of Roses! They may not have exactly the same selection of saints, but it would be fun to compare the images! Happy BINGO with the Happy Saints!

How about HAPPY SAINT Valentine’s this year?
These are adorable…and I think can refocus this fun day, learning from and admiring the Saints!
Maybe just one little card will entice a child to learn more about the Communion of Saints!
…better than Angry Birds, don’t you think?

Filed Under: converted 2 Catholic, Saints

A Letter to Frankie about Mom’s Mass Survival Tips

January 24, 2013 by Monica McConkey 4 Comments

If you are not familiar with the Catholic Toddler Letters of Frankie and Adam, please check out
An Open Letter to the Church Lady
The Catholic Toddler Letters: Adam’s Letter to Frankie (2)
Frankie Gets A Penpal (3)

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters

The Catholic Toddler Letters of Frankie and Adam

January 18, 2013 by Monica McConkey 2 Comments

This is an excerpt of a letter from a wonderful little boy named Frankie, graciously transcribed by his Mom at=&0=& to the Lady who yelled at his Mom at Church. I love how eloquent this letter is and how Frankie clearly rises above uncharitable reactions. He has clearly grasped the lessons of St Therese, converting experiences with cranky people to opportunities for growing in virtue. Please check out An Open Letter to the Church Lady Who Yelled at My Mom for the full letter in its wisdom-filled entirety!

Little Frankie writes:

…you took that opportunity to tell my mom a lot of stuff including that she is “a big distraction in Mass” and “everyone thinks so”. Ouch.
Now, my mom and I both know you are wrong. I’ve been coming to this Mass with my mom since before I was born. These people are crazy about me. “EVERYONE” seems to me to really like seeing young families at Mass.
…Well, here’s what I have to say about that: Who says you get to have peace and serenity at Mass? Either of you? You can be hair shirts for each other. And maybe it will make you both better people.
All right Church Lady, that’s all for now. Those block towers aren’t going to smash themselves. But I’ll see you tomorrow morning. And pretending you don’t see me just makes me try harder to get your attention. love Frankie
The truth is, Frankie sounds a lot like my little guy Adam. Adam likes to be busy and he has been known to bang things around and shriek a little at Mass. OK, a lot. Frankie’s Mom and I have decided to let Frankie and Adam be pen-pals and explore the world of Mass, cranky people, Catholic traditions, being the youngest of 5 or 6 kids and how they are doing on their daunting task of training their Moms, Dads and siblings in their Catholic vocations.

Here is Adam’s first response to Frankie (graciously transcribed by Adam’s Mom):

Hi Frankie,

I know just what you mean. My mom gets uptight about cranky old people who glare at her just because I like to stay busy at Mass. Sometimes I want to sort the hymn books or just flip through them, pretending I can read music. Sometimes the kneeler isn’t down and someone has their foot on it and it makes it hard to have it ready for kneeling time. Sometimes I just want to make a dash for the aisle and see how many pews I can cross before someone grabs me.
read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!

Filed Under: Catholic Toddler Letters

Kitchen Table Felt Castle

January 17, 2013 by Monica McConkey 22 Comments

I’ve seen so many cool DIY forts made to fit the kitchen table that I just had to make one for my own kids. This is a project I actually tackled a couple years ago, but my kids still play with it. We’ve also been able to breathe new life into it, by adding IKEA felt tools…
read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!
Filed Under: DIY Crafts, Family crafts, family traditions Tagged With: family fun

Review: 100 Activities Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church

January 10, 2013 by Monica McConkey 3 Comments
This book contains over 100 self-contained activities, reproducible for the classroom, categorized as primary, intermediate and advanced levels of difficulty. The activities include fill in the blanks, letter puzzles and codes, chronological events, yes or no quizzes, true/false, word scrambles, drawing exercises, picture identification, scriptural reflection prompts, hymn and prayer composition and small research projects. The book offers excellent supplemental materials to teach Scripture, Commandments, Sacraments, the Life of Jesus, the Mass, Morality and Prayer.

The book includes plenty of directions, and sometimes even a script for the teacher, as needed. Answers are included in the back of the book for easy reference.

A few of the activities that got my attention were “the Attributes of God” as described in Scripture and how the first letter of the names of the Apostles…almost spell Baptism!

I like the suggested research projects, encouraging study and reference to Scripture, the dictionary and the Catechism. Simple answers are given in the back, while more descriptive definitions may require research to check.

I generally shy away from word searches, letter coded messages and letter puzzles, but these easier activities seem to be appropriately aimed at the younger primary kids, to help familiarize them with the proper terms.
read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!
Filed Under: catechism activities, Reviews

Classic Games: Converted 2 Catholic!

January 5, 2013 by Monica McConkey 3 Comments
One of my favorite ways to integrate our Catholic Faith into regular family life is to find activities and games that our kids like to do anyway…and infuse Catholic Catechism and Saints into them. So far, we have showcased the Saints in =&0=&, used Catechism facts to add meaning to coveted card combinations in=&1=& and used our Painted Saints as player pieces in =&2=&and =&3=&Our latest awesome favorite game…converted to Catholic with Saints… is=&4=& We have made =&5=& for the =&6=& like the =&7=& read more...for Equipping Catholic Families!
Filed Under: converted 2 Catholic