Our Lenten Plans 2016

This year we are trying to keep our Lenten plans as simple as possible.  I tend to suffer from do-it-all-itis when it comes to liturgical living, often to the detriment of my poor family!

Lenten Board

Years ago, I made and Advent board to help us more easily incorporate various traditions in our day to day family life.  I decided to do the same thing this year.  I simply purchased a trifold display board from the dollar store and used some printables to make it.

Left
1. A list of pray, fast, give ideas and a chart of all the people to pray for each day.
2. Laminated pray, fast, give cards to write what we are doing each day.
3. Our daily countdown from Catholic Icing, laminated so that we can cross off days with a dry erase marker as we go.

Middle
Our Cross of Mercy.  Each time the kids perform a work of mercy, we will tape a seed to the tree.  On Easter morning, the seeds will have transformed to beautiful flowers.

Right
Jesus Tree.  During Advent, we use a Jesse Tree to read all of the Old Testament leading up to Jesus' birth.  Our Jesus Tree is the same idea, except that we read all of the New Testament leading up to Jesus' resurrection.  We use the plan from Shower of Roses.

Daily Reflections

We use Lent for Children and Welcome Risen Jesus each day.  We read the short reflection, and if I am really motivated, I will use the daily rhyme in Lent for Children as copywork.

Lent Activity Folder

I have printed out a ton of coloring pages, worksheets, copywork, etc. and placed them in a folder for each kid.  As we travel through lent, they can continue to learn and reflect on lent through the activities in the book.

Family Practices

Pray
We are returning to our practice of praying a decade of the rosary every night and stations of the cross on Fridays.

Fast
As a family, we are also reducing our TV consumption (other than the occasional religious movie), eating out (other than for the two birthdays we have during Lent), and putting a freeze on any frivolous spending.

Give
We will be trying to eat out of our pantry and freezer as much as possible, and donating the extra money saved at the end of Lent.  The kids will also choose a few non-perishable items every time we go shopping.  By the end of Lent we should have a nice big box to donate to our local food pantry.  The kids are also doing this cute almsgiving activity thanks to my dear friend who prepared them for us!

Personal

Pray
I joined 2 lenten bible studies, and have made a commitment to start each morning with prayer.

Fast
I am trying my hardest to leave my phone charging most of the day and limit my social media.  My goodness, we are one day in and it is already hard!  I'm also doing 40 bags in 40 days again to clear my house of all the junk that keeps me from a simpler, more intentionally lived day-to-day life.

Give
I am focusing on the Works of Mercy this year, both in and out of my family.  Bearing Wrongs Patiently looks like the one I'll struggle with the most with these kiddos of mine!

What do you do during lent?  Thanks for reading!