Whimsy-Whimsy: Catholic Homeschool

For Dietrich and Il Postino

2009-03-26T21:40:00.002-05:00

At rest above it all.

2009-03-22T16:01:00.002-05:00

The key to a successful kite launch is to unspool the string as fast as possible so the kite can avoid all of the gusting activity near the ground.

In a manner of speaking, the kite achieves peace once it is able to rise above it all!

Orders of Magnitude

2009-03-20T23:54:00.001-05:00

Nano Journeys is a neat website for seeing orders of magnitude if you have high speed internet. Click on the suitcase.

Mary Daly of Hedge School organizes her science data into orders of magnitude much like a history student would organize events by a timeline.

Letter to a Mom with a smallish library.

2009-03-17T14:53:00.004-05:00

You may want to inquire about your library's collection of Caldecott winners. Our library has many of them for checkout, but has a special collection that you can only read at the library. I would be scandalized if your library didn't carry them, even if it is a small library.

Also; I know what you mean about not having read anything until kids. I rather enjoy discovering all these books that I'd either never read or had forgotten.

My homeschool philosophy is this: I'm not protesting against any school or teacher; I'm creating a culture in our home where I can best impart my values. I've probably read the books we own a hundred times each, and year after year, though we always find new titles to check out from the library, I try to include the tried and true titles. The books are like old friends. There are many times when a child will sigh over a familiar book cover and say, "Oh, I love this book!"

So, it's not the worst thing that your library doesn't have an ample collection, and a small price to pay for living in a rural area.

List of Caldecott winners.

Here are some of my favorites. I enjoy the works of most of these illustrators. In some cases, I enjoy other titles by the same illustrator more than the title that won him/her the Caldecott medal.

2005 Kevin Henkes. Kitten's First Full Moon.

1996 Peggy Rathmann. Officer Buckle and Gloria.

1994 Allen Say. Grandfather's Journey.

1993 Emily Arnold McCully. Mirette on the High Wire.

1988 John Schoenherr (illus.) Owl Moon. written by Jane Yolen.

1985 Trina Schart Hyman. Saint George and the Dragon: A Golden Legend.

1981 Arnold Lobel. Fables.

1980 Barbara Cooney (illus.) Ox-Cart Man. written by Donald Hall.

1976 Leo & Diane Dillon (Illus.) Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People's Ears: A West African Tale.

1975 Gerald McDermott. Arrow to the Sun. Viking Press.

1969 Uri Shulevitz (Illus.) The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship. retold by Arthur Ransome.

1968 Ed Emberley (Illus.) Drummer Hoff. adapted by Barbara Emberley. Prentice-Hall.

1965 Beni Montresor (Illus.) May I Bring a Friend? written by Beatrice Schenk de Regniers.

1964 Maurice Sendak. Where the Wild Things Are.

1963 Ezra Jack Keats. The Snowy Day. Viking Press.

1959 Barbara Cooney (Illus.) Chanticleer and the Fox; adapted from the Canterbury Tales of Chaucer. written by Thomas Y. Crowell.

1958 Robert McCloskey. Time of Wonder.

1957 Marc Simont (Illus.) A Tree Is Nice. written by Janice Udry.

1956 Feodor Rojankovsky (Illus.) Frog Went a-Courtin'. written by John Langstaff.

1955 Marcia Brown. Cinderella; written by Charles Perrault. trans. & illus. by Marcia Brown.

1954 Ludwig Bemelmans. Madeline's Rescue. .

1953 Lynd Ward. The Biggest Bear.

1950 Leo Politi. Song of the Swallows.

1949 Berta & Elmer Hader. The Big Snow.

1948 Roger Duvoisin (Illus.) White Snow, Bright Snow. written by Alvin Tresselt.

1945 Elizabeth Orton Jones (Illus.) A Prayer for a Child. written by Rachel Lyman Field.

1944 Louis Slobodkin (Illus.) Many Moons. written by James Thurber.

1943 Virginia Lee Burton. The Little House.

1942 Robert McCloskey. Make Way for Ducklings.

1941 Robert Lawson. They Were Strong and Good.

1940 Ingri & Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. Abraham Lincoln.

1938 Dorothy Lathrop. Animals of the Bible.

Hope this helps!

Wombs of Life

2009-03-15T07:39:00.002-05:00

Wombs of Life has a new post!

It is on the beatitudes. I reproduce it here because I thought it was very thoughtful!

Womb of the Beatitudes: Solidarity

In reading the beatitudes in Matthew's Gospel, I have often come away puzzled as to how these actually fit into my everyday life. What does it mean to be meek or be poor in spirit or to be pure of heart? What do these things on a practical level mean for my life: my relationships with God, others, and myself? Lately I have thought on this more often. After remembering a way of reading the Scriptures that I learned at a retreat once, I have gleaned the beginning of understanding the beatitudes.

For example, in chapter 13 of 1st Corinthians where it says, "Love is patient, love is kind...", substitute the name of Jesus every time the word love occurs. You get, "Jesus is patient, Jesus is kind... ." It gives new meaning to the passage of Scripture. In doing the same thing with the Beatitudes, it helps get to the deeper meaning.

Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is poor in spirit. He was born in a stable surrounded by the beasts lodged their. He had no covetous desire for wealth and he lived simply. He had nowhere to lay his head and made himself poorer than the foxes and birds. When we identify with our brothers and sisters who have very little in the ways of money, possessions, education, or importance in society, then we identify ourselves with Jesus.

From all Eternity Jesus as God the Son is loved by and begotten by God the Father. In the internal life of the Trinity, God the Son completely impoverishes Himself in order to be filled and overflowed with every good thing from God the Father. In freely pouring Himself out in complete love and obedience to the Father he is given every bit of His Father's Kingdom and
Wealth of Love. The Holy Spirit is their way of relating and their exchange of Infinite Love. When the Holy Spirit is poured out upon the Church, He is called the first down payment or installment by Paul. ( Eph 1: 13-14). Jesus tells us if we who are part of an evil generation know how to give what is good to our children, how much more the Father will give us the Holy Spirit when we ask Him (Lk. 11:13).

Blessed are the meek: for they shall possess the land.

Jesus was meek. He told us, "Come to me all you who labor and find life burdensome for I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon your shoulders and learn of me for I am meek and humble of heart" (Mt. 11:29). Jesus was silent before those who condemned him.
"He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth" (Is 53:7). When he died he was cut off from the land of the living and he freely gave himself as a sin offering for our offenses. Because of this, God raised Him up and gave Him his portion with the great and gave Him the Name above every other name.

In our afflictions God expands us and prepares us for the good things He wishes to give us. In Isaiah 54 the barren woman is told to expand her tents. "Enlarge the place of your tent;Stretch out the curtains of your dwellings, spare not;Lengthen your cords and strengthen your pegs. For you will spread abroad to the right and to the left.And your descendants will possess nations and will resettle the desolate cities." Through her sufferings she is preparing and is prepared for the coming fulfillment of the Lord's promises. She has hope. "Blessed is she who believed that the promises of the Lord to her would be fulfilled" (Luke 1:45). The wombs of our hearts are expanded so we can give birth to a larger portion of the "land" Jesus, our inheritance.
(also see Pope Benedict XVI's Saved in Hope #33)

Blessed are they who mourn: for they shall be comforted.

Jesus wept. Jesus mourned Lazarus. He had great anguish over the death of his friend. He gave comfort to Martha even as he challenged her to have faith. "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (Lk. 11:25-26). Do we believe this? Do I believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God who is to come into the world? If I do believe, then through faith, I allow Jesus to move back the mountain of a stone that keeps me trapped in the death and decay of my sins. If I believe then he can command to sin and evil "Unbind him! Let him go!." If I believe... I shall be comforted. Out of this comfort, I can minister to the needs of others and give them the same solace as I have found in Jesus.

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after justice: for they shall have their fill.

Jesus said that his food was to do the will of the Father who sent Him.
In John 6, Jesus says "I am the bread of life. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will never die." After the fall of humanity from grace, injustice came into the world and God chose to end it by transforming the greatest injustice deicide, into the greatest blessing. God sent His only begotten Son into the world to restore Justice. Through Jesus' Life, Death, and Resurrection we are reconciled to God and made righteous before Him. Jesus shares with us the Bread of Life made out of the bread of his sorrows. The Sacrifice of Calvary is one and the same with the Sacrifice of the Mass. Through Jesus' Body and Blood we are nourished as we grow in the womb of the Church our earthly mother. We are born from death into new life through our celebration of the Holy Sacraments.

Even though we are wounded by the effects of original sin, we still have a hunger and thirst for God who is our Justice and righteousness. We seek to do His will because it is Just and it feeds us. We still know when we suffer injustice, and we hunger and thirst for the restoral of our righteousness. Jesus says when we visit those in prison, that we do that unto him. We help to restore to them their dignity as a child of God that they have lost through committing crimes or by being unjustly imprisoned.

If we have to be purified in the after life in purgatory, it will be our penultimate destination before heaven. When we pray for the poor souls, we help them get closer to what they ultimately hunger and thirst for: union with God. In offering the Mass for the dead, we share with them the heavenly banquet of the Eucharist and we are one with them at the Lord's table. One day we will be finally born to eternal life and have our fill.

Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

"The merciful man does himself good, But the cruel man does himself harm" (Prov. 11:17).
Jesus told the parable of the the unmerciful servant where a man who was forgiven a great debt by his master was unmerciful to his fellow servant who owed a considerably less debt. The master hears of this and has the first servant handed over to the torturers in prison until he should pay back the entire debt. He tells us that that is how the Heavenly Father will deal with us unless we are merciful.

When you pray say: Our Father... forgives our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. God is good and demands our goodness in response to His. If you have hate in your heart against your brother or sister you are to go to them and settle the matter before making your offering at the altar (Mt. 5:24). This is why we have the penitential rite at Mass and we say the Lamb of God before receiving Holy Communion.

Jesus is the Divine Mercy. If we are merciful to one another then truly He lives in us and we live in Him and in turn we live in each other. We have solidarity with each other knowing that we too were once slaves in the land of Egypt.

Blessed are the pure of heart: for they shall see God.

Jesus was always in dialogue with His Father and always beheld the Beatific Vision. When sin separates us from God and when we can no longer see by faith Him whose image we are created in, we are blind to the will of God and cannot hear what he wants for us.

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. And everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness. You know that He appeared in order to take away sins; and in Him there is no sin. No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen Him or knows Him" (1 Jn. 3:2-6).

Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.

Jesus is our Peace with God. "Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation" (2 Cor. 5:18). Through Jesus the Son , God the Father has reconciled all things in Heaven and on Earth to Himself, making peace through the blood of the cross (Col. 1:19). Through water and the Holy Spirit in baptism we are now children of God and we are given the vocation to be peacemakers. It is not our call to condemn people but to call them in charity to the truth of God's ways. Our hearts must always be big enough to forgive and we must always let the peace of Christ reign in our hearts.

Blessed are they that suffer persecution for justice' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus suffered for our sake and gave his life that we might live. For us men and our salvation he came down from heaven. When we are reviled for Jesus' sake and when we identify with those who are persecuted, we are in solidarity with Jesus and His Body the Church. "When one member of the body suffers, the entire body suffers" (1 Cor. 12:26). I can't summarize this any better than Jesus does in Matthew 10:16-21.

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues; and you will even be brought before governors and kings for My sake, as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles. But when they hand you over, do not worry about how or what you are to say; for it will be given you in that hour what you are to say. For it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and children will rise up against parents and cause them to be put to death. You will be hated by all because of My name, but it is the one who has endured to the end who will be saved."

I humbly submit this exposition on the Beatitudes in hopes that it will help you find solidarity with Our Lord and therefore with your brothers and sisters.

Boxes

2009-03-07T00:15:00.003-06:00

I went to an "Evening of Rest" at a Baptist Church this evening. (I was invited by a member.) There were many homeschoolers there, and I really felt a "sisterhood" on that front.

When I first arrived, a meal was served, and I had very huge potato (that's the only size they had :-)) and some green been salad and a fruit cup -- not really a "small" meal. The woman sitting next to me said, "oh, I see you're not eating much." I said, "well, I'm not eating meat today."

Though the ladies at the table were polite, I sensed that it was noticed.

Then there were people who shared their testimonies, and one of them said that as her father lay dying from ALS (Lou Gerhig's disease) they were all listening to Scripture on a cassette tape -- a devotional that her parents had kept their whole lives. They would listen to Scripture in order, but in no set time limit -- so in that sense there was a "randomness" to it.

The morning before her father died, Psalm 116 came on. She said, "does anyone here know Psalm 116" I piped up and said, "Precious in the sight of the Lord. . ." She finished, "is the death of his Saints." That was exactly what she needed at that time. It was very moving.

I noticed after that, though, the ladies at the table opened up and took a little more interest in me -- like "oh, she's one of us."

I admit I find that appealing to the part of me that doesn't like being put in a box. But, putting pride aside, Bishop Chaput once said that the Scriptures are so powerful that they can change lives even without the benefit of the context of the Sacraments.

That was just a little gift from God! I felt like St. Josph Cupertino, who knew only one Scripture thoroughly (he wasn't very bright) and when it came to be tested on Scripture, that was the one he was asked about -- and he aced the test!

I should say a quick little prayer for Penn that he may read the Psalms he was given. Psalm 116 is quoted at the beginning of the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ.

¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD
is the death of his saints.

¹⁶ O LORD, truly I am your servant;
I am your servant, the son of your maidservant;
you have freed me from my chains.

SAT prep for grade school

2009-02-28T22:36:00.002-06:00

source

Friday, February 20, 2009

Preparing for the SAT and ACT in Grade School

I know that sounds funny, but what can you do to prepare your children for a high school standardized test in grade school?

Here's what I've learned:

1. The SAT and ACT are *not* the be all and end all tests to show what your child can or can't do. However, they are almost universally accepted by colleges and universities and they will rate your children based on these tests.

2. Both tests require a LOT of reading. Preparing your children to be good readers in grade school will, indeed, help them in high school, and of course, college.

3. Both tests really test Language Arts heavily. Reading, writing, comprehension, mechanics. Where do the commas go? How to correctly punctuate. Careful reading and understand of a passage they've never seen before. If things have to slide in grade school for whatever reason, don't ever let Language Arts slide. Always do it. And always do...

4. Math is also tested heavily. In fact, for the SAT, only Language Arts and Math are tested. So, in grade school, the two subjects that should be done every day, regardless, are Language Arts and Math.

The ACT tests Science, and naturally, science is important, too. However, they will test general knowledge and abstracting facts from the provided information much more than actual memorized scientific data. So again, reading comprehension is important for science, too.

Both tests last over 3 hours, and that's 3 hours of solid reading. So being a strong reader is really most of the battle for these standardized tests.

So, here is my grade school plan for you:
•Read to your child every day.
•Have you child read to you every day.
•Do language arts stuff every day: grammar, mechanics, comprehension, writing, etc.
•Do math every day.

That's it. If you have as a goal to make your child a strong reader, they will most likely do very well on both the ACT or SAT.

The Long Lent (of 2002)

2009-02-25T09:07:00.003-06:00

I read George Weigel's Courage to be Catholic yesterday, written to help Catholics cope with the sexual abuse crisis in 2002.

It was good review after the Legion of Christ news.

I was struck especially by a line in the afterword section of the paperback edition:

If Catholics retreat into the parishes, renewal movements, or retreat centers that they know and trust, effectively cutting themselves off from the life of the diocese or universal Church, the cause of authentic Catholic reform is likely to be further impeded.

I realize there is a lot to be said for community support; I'm not denying that. But the temptation to use your clique as an excuse to avoid "crappy Catholics" is a real one.

Fr. Barron, in this videoclip, says that he tells his seminarians [at Mundelein] that they need to have a love for the sinner, while at the same time have no desire for the sin. I think that could apply to all of us.

You might be a homeschooler. . .

2009-02-06T13:20:00.003-06:00

h/t Waiting for Charlie

I can't tell which is my favorite. Ah, heck. They're all my favorites!

And, an oldie but goodie!

SSS

2009-02-02T09:01:00.004-06:00

Sorry So Scarce!

We've been Painting, Painting, Painting around here.

Quite the learning experience!

I'll try to be around on Fridays.

Painting gives me plenty of time to ponder life. . . but I'm so exhausted by the end of the day any useful ideas just melt into my pillow!

~ Whimsy

Do the Bird

2009-01-19T19:15:00.001-06:00

People of all ages are invited to go outside and look for Birds in Art/Art in Birds for a contest sponsored by the Celebrate Urban Birds project at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Celebrate Urban Birds is a free, year-round citizen-science project focused on birds in neighborhood settings.

For the Birds in Art/Art in Birds challenge you can take photos, do some painting, write a story, create a sculpture. What do you see in a bird that is beautiful, stirring, or inspirational? It could be a broken-down nest in winter, a song recording, video of a bird perching on your window, something that makes you stop, look twice, laugh, cry.

Prizes include bird sound recordings, books, gift certificates, "green" products, and more. We’ll send the first 50 entrants a copy of our "Doves and Pigeons" poster by Julie Zickefoose. Selected images will be posted on the Celebrate Urban Birds website.

How to enter:

1. Email your photo, art, or video entry to urbanbirds@cornell.edu. Links are acceptable for videos.

2. Write "Art in Birds/Birds in Art contest" in the subject line.

3. Include your name and mailing address

4. Tell us why you submitted your entry to the Art in Birds/Birds in Art contest.

Deadline for entries is February 28, 2009

Visit the Celebrate Urban Birds web site for more information.

Homeschool Humor

2009-01-19T19:06:00.003-06:00

h/t Homeschool Goodies, from Politickles

Drawbacks to Homeschooling*

No snow days
You can’t miss the bus
You can’t be suspended and sent home
You can’t hide the vegetables you don’t like in a milk carton
Mom always sides with the teacher
Dad always sides with the principal
You can’t intercept your report card and “fix” it before your parents see it
You can’t transfer to another school
The nightmare of showing up at school in your pyjamas is a daily reality
The good-looking boy/girl in the desk next to you is your brother/sister (gross!)

*from a kid’s perspective

Benefits to Homeschooling

The teacher never threatens to tell your mom
Your parents never get called in for a “conference”
You can’t be expelled
You don’t care what your classmates think of you
You don’t have to worry about forgetting your lunch/lunch money
You don’t have to change clothes after school
You don’t have to sell raffle tickets, cookies, or chocolate bars
The dog is always nearby and ready to eat your homework
If the teacher grades on the curve, you’re guaranteed an A
Unless you have a twin, you’re bound to be the valedictorian

Another Reason to Homeschool

2009-01-19T19:00:00.004-06:00

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been,

an ex-t-c d-nc-r.
I work at Home Depot and I told my daughter how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had, and then I found one more in the back room, and that several people were fighting over who would get it. Her picture doesn't show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot.
From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Smith

2009-01-16T21:12:00.002-06:00

March for Life: Next Thursday, January 22, 2009.

Wish I were there!

Quick Takes Friday: St. Fursey Edition

2009-01-16T08:38:00.003-06:00

Happy St. Fursey's Day! Go to Jen's blog, Conversion Diary, for more Quick Fridays.

St. Fursey was an Irish monastic founder, the brother of Sts. Foillan and Ulan, praised by St. Bede. Fursey was born on the island of Inisguia en Lough Carri, Ire land, as a noble. He founded Rathmat Abbey, now probably Killursa. In 630 Fursey and his friends went to East Anglia, England, where he founded a monastery near Ugremouth on land donated by King Sigebert. In his later years, Fursey went toFrance to build a monastery at Lagny, near Paris, France. He was buried in Picardy. St.Bede and others wrote about Fursey’s intense ecstasies.

I learned this winter that there is good snowman snow -- soft and heavy

And there is good ice sledding snow -- dry and crunchy; preferably after a freezing rain

The jury is still out on snow that is fun to shovel.

For Vitamin T.

The EZBake Oven Scratch Recipes.

Overheard: "I'm surprised no one in my 4 H club knew what Camera Obscura meant in Latin."

It takes a certain, child-like humility to assume that everyone with more birthdays than you knows everything that you do.

Adopt a Catholic Blog! I adopt Waiting For Charlie and Wombs of Life.

Two St. Rose of Lima (Aug 23) quotes from the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Apart from the cross there is no other ladder by which we may get to
heaven. (CCC 618)

When her mother reproached her for caring for the poor and the sick at
home, St. Rose of Lima said to her: "When we serve the poor and the sick, we
serve Jesus. We must not fail to help our neighbors, because in them we serve
Jesus. (CCC 2449)

Already!

2009-01-14T21:23:00.002-06:00

The January 13th edition of Catholic Carnival (#207) is up -- and has been up for a couple of days, already!

Check out Evann's whimsical format, with a "Carnival" theme (the season before Mardi Gras, which began on January 6).

You can alway look on my sidebar for the latest and greatest of the Catholic Carnivals, too.

Pretty sweet. Kinda tart!

2009-01-14T20:32:00.003-06:00

My husband and Evann of Homeschool Goodies agree -- Thank you, Evann, for the Lemonade Award!

With the Lemonade award,you are supposed to give it to 10 others who showattitude (the good kind!) or gratitude.

I'd like to pass on the award to:

Magellamom of Waiting for Charlie
Dietrich of Wombs of Life
MB of Mater Caritas
and The Old Broad

OK, it's not ten. But what they lack in number they make up for in attitude.
Take that in any way you want. :-)

Baptism and Temptations

2009-01-12T10:42:00.003-06:00

This Sunday was the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. We heard the Gospel of Mark 1:7-11. Hence, I was expecting next week to be about the temptation of Christ in the desert.

After all, the stories are paired together in Mark 1:7-13 and Matthew 3:13 - 4:11.

They are found together in Luke as well, though Luke inserts the geneology of Christ between the Baptism and Temptation accounts. (Luke 3:21-22 / geneology / 4:1-13)

Also, knowing that we are in Year B, I thought we might hear Mark 1:12-13 -- two quick verses about the temptation! -- "Well," I thought, "maybe we'll hear John's version." He also has an account of the Baptism, in a round-about way, through the witness of John the Baptist:

And John bore witness: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove,
and it remained on him. I myself did not know him, but he who sent me
to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and
remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ And I have seen
and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

But, John omits the Temptation story! Instead, on the testimony of John, two of his disciples leave him and follow Jesus, and segues into the Call of the Apostles.

And, yet! In Matthew 17:2-23, Jesus rebukes Peter:

Get behind me, Satan!

(This is a response to Peter's fear of Jesus' death in Jerusalem.)

At this point, I search for "Borromeo CCC" and find something like this:

BAPTISM AND TEMPTATION (535-540)

“Can you be baptized in the way I must be baptized?”

Mark 10:38, referring to the Cross

“Because Jesus himself is without sin and has no old life to bury, his acceptance of baptism is an anticipation of the Cross.”

Pope Benedict XVI, On the Way to Jesus Christ

Details of Christ's Baptism:

1.Jesus allows himself to be counted among sinners (Mark 3:7)

2.Jesus is identified by John the Baptist as the “Lamb of God”

3.The Father's voice delights in the obedience of His Son

4.The Spirit rests on Jesus

5.The heavens, closed by Adam's sin, are opened

Jesus is the new Adam who remained faithful just where the first Adam had given in to temptation.

Satan in Genesis 3

"Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?"
"You will not surely die.”“

“You will be like God."

Satan in Matthew 4

“Command these stones to become loaves of bread."

"Throw yourself down, [so the angels will catch you.]”

"I will give you] the kingdoms of the world!”

Jesus' reply

"'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

''You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

"Be gone, Satan! 'You shall worship the Lord your God"

From BXVI:

“To consider ourselves, the needs and desires of the moment to be more important than God is – that is the temptation that always besets us.”

Pope Benedict XVI, On the Way to Jesus Christ

The Holy Name of Jesus

2009-01-11T21:50:00.003-06:00

The month of January is dedicated to the Holy Name of Jesus.
I was reminded of this when I read Evann's post on Homeschool Goodies.
You may find various prayers here.

Of course you can learn about His Most Holy Name at "Borromeo CCC" in paragraphs 430-455.

You may find this summary helpful:

HOLY NAME OF JESUS (430-440)
“God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus Whom you crucified.”

Acts 2:36, Peter's First Sermon

At the heart of catechesis we find a Person . . . everything is taught with reference to Him. We proclaim Jesus Christ in order to lead others to faith in Him.

The Holy Name of Jesus:

means “God Saves”the Divine Name that alone brings salvation (John 3:18)
Jesus' Resurrection glorifies his name
the evil spirits fear this name

Christ:

Messiah in Hebrew, khristos in Greek
means “anointed”Jesus perfectly accomplished the Divine mission

The Messianic ConsecrationAccording to the Old Law, priests (Exodus 29:29), kings (1 Samuel 10:1), and prophets (Isaiah 61:1) were supposed to be anointed for their respective offices; now, the Christ, or the Messiah, combined this threefold dignity in His Person.

The Father anoints, the Son is anointed, and he was anointed with the Spirit who is the anointing.

CHRIST THE KING: The true meaning of kingship is revealed only when he is raised on high on the cross: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45)

HOLY NAME OF JESUS (441-455)

No one can say, "Jesus is Lord," except by the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:3

Son of God

In the Old Testament, a title given to anyone who has a strong relationship with God. Not necessarily implied that the person is Divine.
Peter's profession of Faith, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:16) acknowledges Christ's Divine Sonship.
The Baptism and Transfiguration episodes recall the voice of the Father designating Jesus as His “beloved Son.”

Lord

Since pronouncing YHWH is avoided out of reverence for the holiness of the name, Jews use Adonai instead in prayers. In the Greek Septuagint, YHWH is rendered as Kyrios -- Lord.
At the prompting of the Holy Spirit, “Lord” transcends the the title of respect and becomes adoration, and takes on a connotation of love: “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:28)
Do not submit your freedom in an absolute manner to any earthly power, but only to God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christian prayer is characterized by the title "Lord"

invitation: "The Lord be with you"
conclusion "through Christ our Lord"
the exclamation full of trust and hope: - “Come Lord Jesus!”

Quick Takes Friday

2009-01-02T14:11:00.003-06:00

1.

Crappy Catholics. We all know of 'em. Probably we're related to quite a few. I know I see one in the mirror more often than I care to admit. On the 4th Sunday of Advent, my town was FREEZING. And yet, there we all were. Shivering and praying. Shivering and praying.

You know God must love Crappy Catholics because he made so many of them. And they must love Him, too, to show up at church in such, ahem, Crappy Weather.

2.

It happens. Sometimes the homily is lacking a little something at Mass. With all charity, let me direct you to Fr. Tom Cook. His Sunday homilies in October are always dedicated to Pro-Life topics, and this Advent, he's been meditating on the readings of St. Paul that we've been hearing at Mass.

3.

Chesterton's Christmas Poem (excerpt)

A child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where He was homeless
Are you and I at home;

More of Chesterton's Christmas Meditations:

4.

Christmas Everywhere by Phillips Brooks

Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!
Christmas in lands of the fir-tree and pine,
Christmas in lands of the palm-tree and vine,
Christmas where snow peaks stand solemn and white,
Christmas where cornfields stand sunny and bright.
Christmas where children are hopeful and gay,
Christmas where old men are patient and gray,
Christmas where peace, like a dove in his flight,
Broods o're brave men in the thick of the fight;
Everywhere, everywhere, Christmas tonight!
For the Christ-child who comes is the Master of all;
No palace too great, no cottage too small.

5.

Yes, I agree with Fr. Dwight that we should all learn Chant, because it is "home-grown" worship. However, in English, singing the Psalms to the beat of that "old time Protestant religion" can't be beat. You can open up your King James Bible and look at the lyrics to many of the songs set to a Psalm, and it is amazing how well they match up. That isn't often the case with many of the Psalm settings you might hear at Mass.

Now, our crew is learning some of the most famous Chant prayers -- Pater Noster, Salve Regina and others -- but that is because they know the words in English already, and that makes it a lot easier to do vocabulary work with the Chants.

In our morning prayer routine, the "imports" are the milquetoast, and the "homegrowns" are the meat.

6.

Did you know that Interstate Highway 80 is very windy? We call it the Wy-aska-wa Wind, after the three contiguous states that blow the hardest.

7.

Happy New Year!

See Jen for more Quick Takes!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-26T11:10:00.001-06:00

Psalm 98 is the tradional "Christmas Psalm". "Joy to the World" may be its most famous rendition, but this is beautiful, too:

Enjoy!

The Psalms: Reading for a Sane Man

2008-12-22T12:03:00.003-06:00

Curt Jester has a video clip of Penn -- of Penn and Teller -- recounting a puzzling, moving experience of receiving the book of Psalms from a Christian man. Penn is amazed at how sane the man is.

I hope Penn cracks the Book. The First Psalm starts with a ringing choice: good or evil.

The traditional Psalm for Advent is the 25th, and the traditional Psalm for Christmas is the 98th.

Since September is the Month of the Sorrowful Mother, our family sang Psalm 10: Why Doth the Lord Stand Off So Far, and Why Conceal His Face?

Well, we had some reason to recall these words a couple of months later. If you need words to express your grief, frustration and defeat -- look to the Psalms, like Jesus did on the Cross in uttering the first words of Psalm 22: My God, My God I cry to Thee.

The end of 22 is a segue into Psalm 23, the most famous Psalm. This song was sung at Princess Diana's funeral.

In the Psalms you'll find Praise. All People That on Earth Do Dwell is such a famous hymn that the tune is actually named "The Old Hundredth" because it is the 100 th Psalm.

Many of the Psalms are attributed to King David, but Psalm 136 -- set here to a Disco beat -- is attributed to the community who was sent into exile by Nebuchadnezzar.

Penn's life will be enriched if he cracks the Book.

4 Quick Takes Friday

2008-12-19T14:45:00.004-06:00

Today was the perfect winter day.

5 am - 7 am -- Shovel snow. (6 -7 with hubby) (OK, that wasn't the perfect part. Our lot isn't that big, but the snow was that heavy.)

7 am - noon -- School. (That was pretty good.)

noon - 1:30 pm -- Sledding! I found out that the precipitation that makes for back-breaking shovelling makes the most excellent sledding!

2 pm - 3 pm -- Bake shortbread cookies. Recipe: 4 cups white flour, 1 cup brown sugar and 1 stick of softened butter. That's not enough oil for the recipe, so add canola oil until the consistency is right. It's really easy to work with if you don't add any whole wheat flour. Bake at 400 for 5 minutes.

This really is the perfect recipe if you are expecting your little elves to consume a significant part of the dough while cutting the shapes out.

--

No matter how small the job, draw pictures for the electrician. No matter how much his company is charging per hour for his services, he may not take the necessary notes to remember just exactly what it is he's supposed to do!

--

We celebrate Advent until we light the pink candle. Bring on the Christmas carols! I never really knew that the rollicking, fox-chase song "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" middle five stanzas of the song gave a verse-by-verse retelling of the first 10 verses of Luke 2. It lacks the self-conscious piety of "Silent Night" but is actually more technically Scriptural than the latter.

--

"Quick" -- as in "the quick and the dead" and "quicksilver" (an archaic term for mercury) means "Living" (Get it? Mercury is "living silver".)

I find this second meaning totally appropriate to the spirit of "Quick Takes Friday" in that we get a glimpse of life lived.

Thanks, Jen!

INTP

2008-11-26T18:47:00.002-06:00

I bit, and had my blog analyzed. My blog is the "logical and analytical type".

Analyze your blog here: http://www.typealyzer.com/

h/t http://ironiccatholic.blogspot.com/

I wonder what my blog's astrological sign is?

CCC

2008-11-25T23:55:00.007-06:00

Did you know the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) is online? http://www.scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

It is sponsored by a church by the name of St. Charles Borromeo, so if you ever want to search for it, type in “borromeo ccc” and it should come right up.

The CCC has something for everybody.
If you are interested in apologetics – challenges to the Catholic faith, and their refutations, are in there.
If you love the Saints – the CCC is chock-full of their quotes, from the Early Fathers to the Little Flower. References to our Blessed Mother are sprinkled throughout the text.
If you are interested in the unique perspective from the Eastern traditions that are in communion with the Holy Father – the CCC quotes liberally from their magestic liturgies.

Though the Compendium is useful for “just the facts, ma'am” it lacks the literary texture of the original. So, if you don't have the CCC, get it! But the search engine on St. Borromeo's website can't be beat.

If you haven't seen it yet, here is a little bit of the CCC (edited) for your meditation this Holy Season. I put ¶ 533 in bold, as I think you may find it most interesting.

December 8:
Immaculate Conception
¶ 487-511
What the Catholic faith believes about Mary is based on what it believes about Christ, and what it teaches about Mary illumines in turn its faith in Christ.

Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, "full of grace" through God,134 was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

The "splendor of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son".

The early Fathers gladly assert. . .: "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith."
People are sometimes troubled by the silence of St. Mark's Gospel and the New Testament Epistles about Jesus' virginal conception. Some might wonder if we were merely dealing with legends or theological constructs not claiming to be history. To this we must respond: Faith in the virginal conception of Jesus met with the lively opposition, mockery or incomprehension of non-believers, Jews and pagans alike; so it could hardly have been motivated by pagan mythology or by some adaptation to the ideas of the age.

Mary's virginity manifests God's absolute initiative in the Incarnation. Jesus has only God as Father. "He was never estranged from the Father because of the human nature which he assumed. . . He is naturally Son of the Father as to his divinity and naturally son of his mother as to his humanity, but properly Son of the Father in both natures."
The spousal character of the human vocation in relation to God is fulfilled perfectly in Mary's virginal motherhood.

The Virgin Mary "cooperated through free faith and obedience in human salvation". She uttered her yes "in the name of all human nature". By her obedience she became the new Eve, mother of the living.

Advent
¶ 522-524

The coming of God's Son to earth is an event of such immensity that God willed to prepare for it over centuries. He makes everything converge on Christ: all the rituals and sacrifices, figures and symbols of the "First Covenant".He announces him through the mouths of the prophets who succeeded one another in Israel. Moreover, he awakens in the hearts of the pagans a dim expectation of this coming.

St. John the Baptist is the Lord's immediate precursor or forerunner, sent to prepare his way. "Prophet of the Most High", John surpasses all the prophets, of whom he is the last. He inaugurates the Gospel, already from his mother's womb welcomes the coming of Christ, and rejoices in being "the friend of the bridegroom", whom he points out as "the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world". Going before Jesus "in the spirit and power of Elijah", John bears witness to Christ in his preaching, by his Baptism of conversion, and through his martyrdom.

When the Church celebrates the liturgy of Advent each year, she makes present this ancient expectancy of the Messiah, for by sharing in the long preparation for the Savior's first coming, the faithful renew their ardent desire for his second coming. By celebrating the precursor's birth and martyrdom, the Church unites herself to his desire: "He must increase, but I must decrease."

December 25:
Christmas
¶ 525-534

The Church never tires of singing the glory of this night:

The Virgin today brings into the world the Eternal
And the earth offers a cave to the Inaccessible.
The angels and shepherds praise him
And the magi advance with the star,
For you are born for us,
Little Child, God eternal!

To become a child in relation to God is the condition for entering the kingdom. For this, we must humble ourselves and become little.

O marvelous exchange! Man's Creator has become man, born of the Virgin. We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity.

During the greater part of his life Jesus shared the condition of the vast majority of human beings: a daily life spent without evident greatness, a life of manual labor. His religious life was that of a Jew obedient to the law of God, a life in the community. From this whole period it is revealed to us that Jesus was "obedient" to his parents and that he "increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favor with God and man."

Jesus' obedience to his mother and legal father fulfills the fourth commandment perfectly and was the temporal image of his filial obedience to his Father in heaven. The everyday obedience of Jesus to Joseph and Mary both announced and anticipated the obedience of Holy Thursday: "Not my will. . ." The obedience of Christ in the daily routine of his hidden life was already inaugurating his work of restoring what the disobedience of Adam had destroyed.

533 The hidden life at Nazareth allows everyone to enter into fellowship with Jesus by the most ordinary events of daily life:

The home of Nazareth is the school where we begin to understand the life of Jesus - the school of the Gospel.

First, then, a lesson of silence. May esteem for silence, that admirable and indispensable condition of mind, revive in us. . .

A lesson on family life. May Nazareth teach us what family life is, its communion of love, its austere and simple beauty, and its sacred and inviolable character. . .

A lesson of work. Nazareth, home of the "Carpenter's Son", in you I would choose to understand and proclaim the severe and redeeming law of human work. . .

To conclude, I want to greet all the workers of the world, holding up to them their great pattern their brother who is God.

FIGHT FOCA

2008-11-11T07:09:00.001-06:00

See the link on the right? This link is your chance to sign a petition against FOCA.

Fight FOCA Petition
I oppose the Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA), because:
FOCA is a radical attempt to enshrine abortion-on-demand into American law;
FOCA seeks to sweep aside existing, protective laws that I and the majority of Americans support;
FOCA will prevent states from enacting protective measures in the future.
The FightFOCA petition will be sent to key Members of Congress upon the re-introduction of the Freedom of Choice Act in the 111th Congress.

NO FOCA

2008-11-04T16:58:00.000-06:00

Change of Pace

2008-11-01T07:22:00.002-05:00

I've always done tutoring with the kids one at a time -- when they were younger, they needed so much one on one, anyway -- and to shake things up, we would do "backwards school" where the order (youngest to oldest) would reverse (oldest to youngest).

This week we're going to try something different. Instead of doing all of these with one child at a time, we're going to try to get more work at the table done, together, and tackle school by subject instead of student.

Religion
Math
Reading
Lunch, listen to "music of the month"
Writing

Though writing may not be the the easiest to do in the early-afternoon doldrums, hopefully it will be easier with a full tummy.

The Destruction of Sennacherib

2008-10-28T23:18:00.000-05:00

The Destruction of Sennacherib is a poem by Lord Byron first published in 1815

Here is Gustave Dore's rendition in illustration.

The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,

And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold;

And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,

When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.

Like the leaves of the forest when Summer is green,

That host with their banners at sunset were seen:

Like the leaves of the forest when Autumn hath blown,

That host on the morrow lay withered and strown.

II

For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,

And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd,

And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,

And their hearts but once heaved, and for ever grew still!

And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,

But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride;

And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,

And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.

III

And there lay the rider distorted and pale,

With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail:

And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,

The lances unlifted, the trumpets unblown.

And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,

And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal;

And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,

Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!

Blessed Among Women

2008-10-28T23:07:00.003-05:00

Judith is hailed as "Blessed among women." And, maybe even Deborah and Jael were hailed as "blessed among women" -- Jael also assasinated another pagan general -- during the time of the Judges. Her story is in the Golden Bible, too. Look for Deborah right after Joshua dies (you'll find Joshua in charge after Moses dies).

Apparently, in the OT, you get to be named "Blessed among women" if you smash the head of your enemy. Jael stabbed her enemy with a tent spike through the temples, and Judith beheaded Holofernes.

Look closely at these pics and tell me which is which.

The Peasant woman who looks as if she's just taking care of chickens or

The aristocratic woman who is cringing at the task ?

Here is the Queen of Peace.

It must be that the Queen of Peace is the queen of peace precisely because she smashes the head of our enemy with the blade of humility. The enemy must think she's the most devious of all! (Gen 3:15)

Judith said: Praise ye the Lord our God, who hath not forsaken them that hope in him. And by me his handmaid he hath fulfilled his mercy, which he promised to the house of Israel: and he hath killed the enemy of his people by my hand this night.

Low Tech

2008-10-27T08:27:00.002-05:00

Last summer, there was an article in the paper about how many of the suburban schools had purchased interactive screens for use in the classroom. Each student would have a hand-held device to answer questions as they appear on screen.

I was struck about how the article seemed to reinforce the notion of "look, folks, don't try this at home" when it comes to education.

--

The power went out yesterday at my home. We did our work by sunlight, and continued, uninterrupted by the outage.

For lack of a hot meal at home, Dad took everyone out to eat, too.

Servant of God from Omaha Nebraska

2008-09-24T12:49:00.003-05:00

This priest from the Omaha area went to Africa as a missionary. While there, he became a bishop. For a century, white missionaries were chosen as bishops in Africa. Thanks in part to Bishop McCauley, African bishops are now very often. . .Africans.

Most Reverend Vincent McCauley, CSC

Vincent Joseph McCauley was born in 1906. In 1924, a Holy Cross mission team came to Council Bluffs, changing McCauley’s direction in life. He entered the University of Notre Dame in 1926 after one year of candidacy and the novitiate, graduating in 1930. He was ordained on June 24, 1934. In 1936, McCauley joined the Holy Cross apostolate in Bengal (now Bangladesh).

He worked with the apostolate to the Garos at Bandhura, serving for several years as the rector of Little lower minor seminary. In 1944, after becoming sick, McCauley was evacuated by U.S. military transport. After his recovery, he was assigned as Superior of the Foreign Mission Seminary and guided its operations for six years.

Completing his tenure, he traveled and preached about the Holy Cross mission in Bengal, raising money for this apostolate. In early 1958, after being asked to investigate expansion of Holy Cross’ Venerable Father Basil Moreau, CSC Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC Servant of God Most Rev. Theotonius Ganguly, CSC Most Reverend Vincent McCauley, CSC missionary effort, McCauley and Father Arnold Fell determined that East Africa and Uganda held possibilities for the Congregation. In November 1958, McCauley journeyed to western Uganda to initiate
the Congregation’s mission.

In 1961, the Holy See established the Diocese of Fort Portal and named McCauley as bishop. McCauley served the Diocese for 10 years, resigning as Bishop in 1972 to allow an African, Serapio Magambo, to take his place. In early 1973, McCauley moved to Nairobi as Secretary General of the Association of Members of Episcopal Conferences in Eastern Africa, a group he had chaired from 1964 to 1973. He oversaw an expansion from five countries to even and undertook significant projects for religious education, outreach to nomads and refugees, and other initiatives to promote ecumenism, laity and women religious.

McCauley served as Secretary General until 1979, when he turned over the reins of the Episcopal conference to Joseph Mukwaya. Bishop McCauley uffered severe health problems for much of his adult life but continued to work actively as a priest. Beginning in 1956 until his death, he underwent more than 55 surgeries for a variety of illnesses, including cancer, which left his face badly disfigured.

Vitamins

2008-08-18T09:55:00.003-05:00

In our house, good morning kisses are called "vitamins". So, if I ask for a kiss from the oldest, I tell him I need to take my daily dose of "Vitamin G."

This is a little ditty, set to an original tune, by the oldest daughter:

Oh, Vitamin L
and Vitamin F
Vitamin I
and Vitamin G
How could they do
without me?
Their sister, Vitamin T.

Vitamin L
I can really tell
She's so lovely.

Vitamin F
She's one of the best
And she is Vitamin F.

Vitamin I
Loves pumpkin pie
And Vitamin I
Loves other pie.

Vitamin G
Is so funny
And cute
And full of glee.

But the best the best that can ever be. . .
Oh, How could they do without me?
Vitamin T!

How could they do
Without Vitamin T???

In response to a question by a mom with 2 kids under 3.

2008-08-09T10:33:00.006-05:00

I noticed in one of your posts that you were wondering how that homeschool thing works. Since your kids are so young, you probably don't have to do much more, academically speaking, than nursery rhymes and reading.

My theory is that homeschooling is very much like (or even is) entrepreneurship: it requires self discipline on the part of the teacher. Without that self-discipline (and the obedience of the children) any discussion of curriculum choice is irrelevant. Any curriculum you choose will probably work if you do it consistently. Even the best curriculum will not save your school if you leave it on the shelf all year.

I'll give you an example from my own little school. Since I have a 3 yo, I'll give an example of what I did with her last year, and then this year.

1st, I decided that I wanted to do tutoring 176 days of the year. (Originally I'd planned on 192, but found that I was consistently not meeting that goal, so I made a more realistic goal. The min for our state is less than 150, so I am well within the legal requirement.)

2nd, I decided what subjects I want to cover. When she was 2, I wanted her to: l

learn nursery rhymes (right now my 1 year old is only talking a very little, but she can vocalize the tunes to several nursery rhymes from listening to Frances' lessons).(T for tutoring)

have stories read to her (L for literature)

participate on a limited basis in family prayer. We do a rosary as a family, but the family prayer I'm talking about right here is actually a family catechism lesson that is taught as its own subject during the day. (P for prayer). I've actually designed my own religious curriculum. . .

So, I print off a calendar with 13 weeks on it from http://www.pdfcalendar.com/ and put down T/L/P on 48 days for the first three quarters, and then 32 days for the last quarter. (48+48+48+32 = 176 schooldays per year).

Then, as I do an activity with the kids (Tutoring, Literature or Prayer) I cross it off on the calendar. I make a big deal with Frances that I it is time for school with her so she can feel like a big kid.

Now that she is three and a half, last year's goals for her have remained largely the same, only instead of all nursery rhymes all the time, we can build on last year and substitute phonics work or counting for singing songs.

When she is five, she will continue with phonics work ("Reading") tracing letters and numbers ("Writing") and dot to dots ("Arithmatic") and will be expected to participate more in Prayer ("Religion").

These categories will be built upon as she acquires more skills until she is 7, and then I will include spelling as an additional subject to the first four.
Then, at 8 1/2 - 9 1/2 she will be doing third grade work, but essentially these categories will remain unchanged.
Age 9 1/2 will start 4th grade, and only then will additional subjects be introduced.

But the routine, the habit, will be a solid part of family life, and that I think is the difference between a successful and unsuccessful homeschool experience.

There is a lot that your boys aren't ready for, right now, even though their brains are growing like crazy!

But, establishing a routine for yourself without placing too many expectations on your students, will really pay off in the future.

I hope this unsolicited advice makes sense, and I hope that at least some of it will be of some use for you!

God Bless You!

Whimsy

Excercising those Muscles

2008-08-07T09:06:00.002-05:00

St. Paul makes the analogy between the Spiritual Life and running a race.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. 1 Corinthians 9

I was thinking in Mass today how good the kids were. There have been so, so many times when they've not been as calm as I'd like them to be.

So, if you are wondering how to get the kids to behave better in Mass on Sunday, the "cure" is to take them to Mass during the week.

Run in such a way as to get the prize!

Fine Arts

2008-08-04T23:06:00.002-05:00

We are currently listening to Beethoven's Wig. It's a stitch!

I got to thinking about music appreciation. We're pretty informal about it around here, but I thought I would designate certain months to a certain type of music. Painting/visual arts have a rough correspondence to the music classifications, but I am such an amateur I can't say for sure.

Jan. Gregorian Chant
Feb. Medieval(inc. St. Hildegard of Bingen) (careful that music sources aren't new agey)
Mar. Renaissance (Palestrina)
Apr. Baroque (Bach)
May American (antebellum)(Music of the American colonies is delightful)
Jun. Classical (Mozart)
Jul. Romantic (Beethoven)
Aug. American (post Civil War)
Sep. Post Romantic
Oct. 20th Century
Nov. World Music

Any suggestions?

Prince of the Heavenly Host

2008-07-24T12:18:00.002-05:00

In the opening lines of Job, we witness this exchange:

The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?" Satan answered the LORD, "From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it."

He didn't say,
"I was in the public school."
"I was in the poor part of town."
"I was in the church of a religion I don't like."

He said words equivalent to what we find in the Prayer to St. Michael:

"I was prowling about the world, seeking the ruin of souls."

In other words, he said:
"I was prowling at your door, like wolf, waiting for someone to let me in."

Once you recognize this, there are some things you can do:
1. Ask our Lord and all His buddies (especially His Mom) to help you. They're like Pedro's cousins, only with a better ride. (Ezekiel 10:1-5)

"He is before all things, and in him all things hold together." Colossians 1:17

2. Practice self-donation. That's a fancy, JPII way of saying "As I have loved you, so you must love one another." (John 13:34)

Please do this, lest your homeschool ends in disaster. St. Philip Neri, upon seeing a person suffering from sin, said, "There, but for the grace of God, go I."

Fairtime

2008-07-20T23:47:00.002-05:00

Overheard at the fair:

(9 yo son, talking to three, teen-aged girls at the cat show): "We have a cat. My mom didn't want a cat, but when she found a mouse on the bed -- we got a cat. He's a good mouser. Just this weekend he caught a live chipmunk and brought it into the house. Yeah, the chipmunk is still in our house -- somewhere -- or maybe he found a way out. My dad called him "fatass" because he pushed our screen out to get outside to catch the chipmunk. (While Son is soaking in the attention of these girls, who are giggling quite profusely by this time, I'm telling him that storytime is over.) (Please understand that DH was quite annoyed by the whole "wildlife in the house" situation.)

Speaking of the 9 yo --
On the way home from the cat show, he asked if it is easier to shake a good habit or a bad habit. I said that it is easier to shake a bad habit if you have a good habit to replace it.

Of couse, he asks for an example. Hmm. Well, his great-grandfather wanted to quit smoking, so he carried candies in his shirt pocket all the time, presumably to suck on a candy when he wanted to reach for a smoke. This prompted a major tangent on all the kinds of candies that G'pa had and didn't have in his pocket. I was sure to include that said grandfather also lost all his teeth. I remember when he had them pulled -- when he got out from the dentist's office, he opened his car door and spit out a bunch of blood. Don't eat candy all day! But it's better than smoking.

Son brought the conversation back around by asking why G'pa wanted to quit smoking to begin with. Thinking of my mother and her foot-in-mouth disease, I quoted her as best as I could by saying that the doctor gave him a choice: quit smoking or die and leave the family business to his sons. Well, he couldn't very well leave the family business to his idiot sons because they would run it into the ground.

Next question, after some thought: "Is G'pa (my father, Son's grandfather) still an idiot?"

How do you answer a question like that??? I told Son that his grandpa learned a lot between the time that my grandpa stopped smoking and the time my grandpa died.

So there you go. Life lessons: Don't smoke. Don't eat candy all day. Open the windows from the top instead of the bottom when you own a cat. Beware of quoting people with known foot-in-mouth disease. Flirting with older women at the fair, while a time-honored tradition, is best done when Mom is not sitting right beside you.

Class over!

Quirks Number 1 and 2

2008-07-20T23:11:00.006-05:00

Quote from Waiting for Charlie:

Quirk 5: Related to Quirk 3, I tend to mouth-breathe fairly often. This also runs in the family; in fact, Whimsy's mom once offended a group of "blood" family (as opposed to the "married-into's") by joking around about how we all stand around with our mouths hanging open.

Just this very morning in Mass I saw a woman with her mouth open. I rarely notice other people in Mass because usually I'm so preoccupied with the kids (and I don't want to make eye contact with anybody, lest I get a "can't you settle those kids down?" look -- I think I just unintentionally listed a quirk), but I actually caught myself staring.

So I'm glad MaD (Magella Dad) pointed out that people with sinus problems tend to hang their mouths open. That explains it!

So tonight I was lying in bed, pinching my nose to see how it feels to just hang out with my mouth open (which was very difficult to do because of all of the giggling involved) -- And I'm pretty sure that I just listed quirk #2 -- I love hearing stories about Mom, and that is one that I'd never heard before. But, I can totally picture that. I bet a book could be written about Mom's foot-in-mouth disease!

The thing about Mom's in-laws is that they tend to take themselves a little too seriously, and when the healthy reaction is "yeah, I do that . . .I bet it does look pretty funny when a roomful of us do that" you can pertinear be sure that they'll get huffy.

(Thank you, MaD! I'm sure your use is the first time that the word "pertinear" has been in pixel! It's like when the words "raccoon" or "skunk" were transliterated from Algonquian.)

I remember hearing the story of how concerned that the "baby" of the family of my grandfather had married "down" (maybe in the 1920's?). They. were. dirt. farmers. How do you marry down from that? But I don't think that particular branch hung their mouths open all day. I think that's from the non-German side.

Dragon Slayer

2008-05-22T17:30:00.003-05:00

Overheard:

"Stay away from the oven! There's a dragon in there!

When I met your mother, she was in danger of being devoured by a fierce dragon. I came and defeated the dragon in battle -- when the dragon asked for mercy, I allowed him to live, on the condition that he work for me, cooking my food. He's been in the oven ever since.

Stay away from the oven! There's a dragon in there!"

Dear Husband, My Hero!

Online Homilies

2008-05-18T14:16:00.003-05:00

Great homilies. Almost always less than 10 minutes. This week's homily clocks in under 6 -- a long time for a homily titled "The Feast of Silence"!

Fr. Tom Cook

Homeschooling in Will Penny

2008-05-09T18:21:00.007-05:00

Since Charlton Heston has died, my husband and I have taken an interest in his movies. Yesterday we watched Will Penny. Will Penny (Heston) is a cowboy who is almost fifty, never married. Catherine (Joan Hackett) is trying to get to California to meet her husband at their farm. She and her son, H. G., are abandoned by their guide in the Flatirons (Colorado) and they end up "squatting" in a shack used by a cowboy during the winter. Of course, that cowboy is Will Penny.

Will Penny first tells Catherine that she has a week to leave, but soon after this warning, he is beaten by the villian and makes his way back to the shack, where Catherine reluctantly nurses him back to health. By Christmas, they have a chaste, but deep, friendship. In fact, he tells Catherine that she "really knows how to make a man feel like a man" -- simply by her kindness and loving voice.

This movie was made in 1968, the same year that Humanae Vitae created a firestorm, and yet here is Will Penny, showing simple domestic life, where the title character learns for the first time how beautiful friendship in a domestic setting can be. (set aside for the moment that they are just "playing house")

One of the tasks in this domestic setting is homeschooling. As H. G. reads out of his McGuffey reader, his mother looks on as if it were the most natural thing in the world (of course you know it is). The movie also makes a point that Catherine is not a former schoolteacher; she is emphatic that she is a farmer. Catherine's keeping up on H. G.'s schooling is regarded very favorably, as it is a poignant contrast to Penny's own illiteracy, of which he is deeply ashamed.

Will Penny is a great movie, but you should watch it first to decide if it is appropriate for your kids because the villian is a really bad guy.

I found this helpful when I first started h/sing.

2008-04-25T00:19:00.000-05:00

http://catholichomeschooling.yuku.com/directory

Catholic Virtual Homeschool Conference

2008-04-22T19:54:00.002-05:00

http://maureenwittmann.blogspot.com/2008/04/virtual-homeschool-conferences.html

Holy See National Anthem

2008-04-16T10:28:00.002-05:00

We watched the Pope speak this morning. We heard, among other lovely things American, the National Anthem of the Holy See. I thought you may be interested in the lyrics, translated from the Latin. I think I understand that the lyrics are rarely sung anymore. Too bad.

Happy Birthday! Viva Il Papa!

"Hymn and Pontifical March" (Inno e Marcia Pontificale)
English Translation of Latin Words

O happy Rome - O noble Rome
You are the seat of Peter, whose blood was shed in Rome,
Peter, to whom the keys of the kingdom of heaven were given.
Pontiff, You are the successor of Peter;
Pontiff, You are the teacher, you confirm your brethren;
Pontiff, You who are the Servant of the servants of God,
and fisher of men, are the shepherd of the flock,
linking heaven and earth.
Pontiff, You are the vicar of Christ on earth,
a harbor amidst the waves, You are a beacon in the darkness;
You are the defender of peace, You are the guardian of unity,
watchful defender of liberty; in You is the authority.
You Pontiff, you are the unshakable rock, and on this rock
was built the Church of God.
O happy Rome - O noble Rome."

Still Easter

2008-04-16T07:11:00.002-05:00

In God's Mercy, He has given us 50 days of Eastertide. Yesterday the kids painted eggs and took turns hiding them outside. Yesterday was at least 20 degrees warmer than Easter day.

Go paint some eggs!

Fourth Grade

2008-03-29T22:33:00.003-05:00

I've been apprehensive about 4th grade, but now I am having a little more confidence after having finally put my energies toward it.

The deal is this:
1. Get the oldest started on his schoolwork.
2. Tutor the K-3 crowd.
3. Eat lunch.
4. 1 hour family cleaning break.
5. Review 4th grader's daily tasks.
6. Morning prayer and/or literature. Or not. Save those for another day sometimes.
7. Dinner
8. Homework for BoyWonder if he spent all morning avoiding schoolwork.

I am designing a daily list for my 4th grader, to check off his tasks as he goes.
This is a rough draft of how the year is shaping up for him:

1. Science -- http://www.noeoscience.com/ Biology II
We received the materials this week, and they splashy and well organized. If this company put this effort into 4-6 American History -- if this goes well -- I would be all over that.

2. Math -- http://www.mathusee.com/ We are a happy mus ("moose") family.

3. Intermediate Language Lessons -- After discovering how Mother of Divine Grace handles this, I proceeded to look for the MODG 3rd grade lessons for Primary LL. I think MODG probably handles it better than I did, this year.

4 and 5. Geography Through Literature (www.bfbooks.com)-- along with a thorough study of States/Capitals/Mountains/Rivers/Population/Area ala MODG -- I think this will provide a solid groundwork for 5th grade History (http://www.catholictextbookproject.com/)

6. Spelling -- Well, not all of my materials have arrived, so this is still in the air, but I am thinking of a two week phonics, one week word root study, one week off schedule. I heartily agree that phonics is very important, but ALL PHONICS ALL THE TIME -- I don't want to do that to the kid.

7. I have added "Saints" to the workload, but my Vision Book Study Guide has not yet arrived and since we already do morning prayer, the status of this is still up in the air. 8. Fine Arts -- using MODG for an outline, tentatively. MODG starts music lessons in 2nd grade (I don't; it doesn't start with R) so some tweaking there.

I'm not saying a list will somehow keep me from having to tutor this child, but I see the potential for this helping us to stay on task and develop independent learning skills.

I grouped 4/5 and 7/8 together because they are sometimes listed as separate subjects. We have an 11-month schoolyear so we aren't doing everything everyday.

Easter Eggs

2008-03-22T22:23:00.003-05:00

Here are some fun things we tried today, or will be trying throughout these forty days of Easter:

CRAFT MATERIALS:
Eggs
Stickers
Dye

Time needed: About 1 Hour
1. You can use letters, as we did here, stickers in other shapes, or even custom shapes cut from self-adhesive label paper (available at office supply stores).

2. Fix the sticker to the egg, then place the egg in a container of dye. Remove the egg from the dye and let it dry before removing the sticker.

---

Use undiluted food coloring and a cotton swab to paint on hard boiled eggs. Let the eggs sit in egg cups until dry.

---

These eggs are really simple to make. The basic principle is, you drizzle rubber cement over the egg, let it dry, then color the egg. Naturally, the egg dye won't stick to the parts that are painted with the glue. After the egg is colored to the desired shade, let it dry completely, then carefully peel off the rubber cement.

You can paint the rubber cement on plain white eggs, like we did with the blue and white or green and white eggs above. Another option is to dye the egg with a base color, then apply the rubber cement and re-dip in a contrasting color. The most important tip is to dry the eggs completely between colors and or coats of rubber cement.

---

Wrap a piece of cheesecloth tightly around a dry egg, bundling the edges together and fastening them at the top with a rubber band or twist ties. Dip your paint brush or cotton swab and dip it into the egg dye, then dab this onto the cloth covered eggs. Repeat, painting the eggs with various shades in various places, use your imgaination. Overlap some colors for special effects, or keep it monchrome. When you're finished painting, set the egg aside to dry.

The more patient you are and the more the egg dries, the better. When you unwrap the egg, you'll be left with a design that resembles armadillo skin. You can use this technique over plain white eggs, over a base base coat of color or even over marble colored eggs.

---

Once you're ready to start marbelizing, stir 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon of oil into a cup of egg dye. Quickly dip your egg in and out of the dye. The dye will adhere, the oil will repel, creating the marble design. Keep dipping for more intense colors. You can also let the egg dry and re-dip in a second color. Repeat as many times as you feel will make a gorgeous egg. When finished and egg is dry, take a paper towel to get the excess oil of the surface of the egg. Different amounts of oil will result in more or less marbeling. Experiemnt to find the mixture that you like best. Remember you can always add more, so start conservatively.

---

In a coffee cup, mix about 20 drops of food coloring with 1 teaspoon of vinegar. Add 1/2 cup hot water. Before you color your eggs let the water cool to room temperature. If necessary you can add a bit more water.

---

Draw pictures or designs with wax crayon. Even white wax crayon will be useful for this project. Dip in dye. Let dry.
The dye won't soak through the crayon! I find cheap crayons work best for this project (crayolas don't have quite enough wax in them though they do work ok).
An adult may need to help hold the egg while the child draws their pictures on it... at least the first time until they get the hang of it.

Morning Prayer

2008-03-17T23:09:00.002-05:00

We study our faith as a family around here. This is what we've done for March:

1. The story of OT Joseph.
2. Psalm 22
3. Jesus in Jerusalem -- something I liked a lot more than I expected.
4. Stabat Mater -- the first verse, sung and memorized in English and Latin, with vocab study.
5. O Blessed St. Joseph
6. Two Poems: The Cow and Old Ironsides with a history study of Old Ironsides.
7. The Pledge.

OK, the last two aren't prayers. That said, if I want to do something regularly as a family that doesn't involve eating, it's gotta get tacked on to morning prayer.

The bio of Joseph and the hymn to Joseph is a happy coincidence; we started the Bible in January and it took three months to finish Genesis.

Red Alert

2008-02-27T15:33:00.001-06:00

We are happy to play John the Baptist to your Herod.

From Obama's Book:

The first time a group of [prolife] protesters showed up, my advance team went on red alert; five minutes before my arrival at the meeting hall, they called the car I was in and suggested that I slip in through the rear entrance to avoid a confrontation.

The Trifecta of Home Education

2008-02-27T15:16:00.003-06:00

Main Entry: tri·fec·ta
Pronunciation: \trī-ˈfek-tə, ˈtrī-ˌ\
Function: noun
Etymology: tri- + perfecta
Date: 1974
1 : a variation of the perfecta in which a bettor wins by selecting the first three finishers of a race in the correct order of finish
2 : triple

--

1. Peer Group
Awayschool: Peers come from all sorts of unpredictable home environments.
Homeschool: Peers more likely to come from more stable home environments.

2. World View (the framework of ideas and beliefs through which an individual interprets the world and interacts in it.)
Awayschool: Blatantly Aggressively Secular World View in the materials used, even if a teacher does not personally subscribe to an ASW. Many teachers are themselves trained in upper level classes that reflect an ASW, and bring that into even a parochial classroom.
Homeschool: The materials used can reflect the parents' world view.

3. Pedagogy (a style of instruction)
Awayschool: Current methods of instruction are often based on fads.
Homeschool: Popular methods in homeschools are often based on traditional, proven methods.

Essay forthcoming??

Shop Worn Election Rhetoric

2008-02-26T15:56:00.002-06:00

I've made a new label. I feel like I am going through 2004 again. I first noticed this sharply when some Republicans were waxing about the miracle of technology to reduce our dependence on oil. It sounded worn and hollow when Bush said it (again)in 2003 and even more worn and hollow when McCain says it:

"Energy efficiency by using improved technology and practicing sensible habits in our homes, businesses and automobiles is a big part of the answer, and is something we can achieve right now."

That is tired, but not nearly so tired as this quote from Obama's book:

"I explained my belief that few women made the decision to terminate a pregnancy casually;. . . I suggested that perhaps we could agree on ways to reduce the number of women who felt the need to have abortions in the first place."

That tired lie is much more tragic than oil problems.

Blessed are they that mourn

2008-02-26T15:42:00.002-06:00

I suppose there was a time when people who opposed abortion thought, "if only people understood that abortion is murder! Then people would repent of supporting Roe v. Wade."

How astonishing it is that no one bothers to claim "it is just a bunch of cells", but rather, "Yeah, it is murder, but who cares?"

I found expression today:

But I value an adult human life more than an unborn child's, rather than less.

This brings into focus why those who mourn should be blessed. But for the Grace of God that I should be so callous during this Lenten season.

The Sky is Falling!

2008-02-26T14:38:00.002-06:00

We are going to get "the sky is falling" type economic news like this until the election. I recall during the election cycle we had dire economic news every day until the election; then, in the days following, everything was hunky-dory.

That alone makes me hope that Obama doesn't get elected. Because of course, everything will be blue skies and sunshine in our economic reports.

Really; I'd rather be ignorant than lied to.

I am sure that the nation is in a precarious financial situation, but that is because thrift is countercultural.

Hobby or Profession?

2008-02-22T08:30:00.002-06:00

What I might say to a husband who is concerned about his children's education at home -- after telling him that free advice is often worthless --

This is not an endorsement for mandatory state regulations of homeschoolers. Rather, this is a friendly reminder to always view your efforts at school with humility.

--

Perhaps in the next break in school -- Easter or summer -- you can use examples from your own life how accountability is a part of life. And, the point of accountability is not to tear the teacher down, but rather to encourage the teacher and give some fresh ideas. If at all possible try to draw comparisons to your own professional life.

Homeschooling is your wife's professional life. (Repeat three times.) Don't say anything else until she is convinced that you understand this. Draw the distinction between a "hobbiest" and a "professional." Hobbiests do not need accountability. Professionals do. (Repeat three times.)

First, reassure your wife that you are by no means an expert in education, and that you don't pretend to be.

Second, admit that "paper and pen" testing is a clumsy instrument for feedback. So, "accountability does not [have to] equal testing"

I am deeply sympathetic to your wife's apprehension of having you "nose" into "her business". But the children's school is not her hobby. It is her profession.

Brave the Cold

2008-02-15T13:17:00.002-06:00

If you are Rh negative, now would be a good time to donate blood.

The White Ram

2008-02-15T11:17:00.004-06:00

The White Ram is a book we checked out from the library. This is the synopsis from School Library Journal, via Amazon:

This stunningly illustrated picture book is based on a Midrash about a white ram that is made by God on the sixth day of creation for a single purpose–to sacrifice himself on the altar in exchange for Abrahams son.

The first time I read this, Daughter was breathless: "This is a book about Jesus! This is a book about Jesus!"

I wonder if the author, Mordicai Gerstein, would be surprised by that reaction.

Romans 11:11-17

Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles. . . consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.

P. S. The text reads "In the twilight of the first Sabbath" -- that doesn't sound like "the sixth day of creation" -- that sounds to me like the vigil of the eighth day of creation -- the day Christians celebrate the Resurrection.

Awayschool

2008-02-15T11:01:00.003-06:00

I told the kids they are awayschoolers now.

Daughter wrinkled her nose and said, "Well, only homeschoolers can go to this awayschool."

She's right. I've got them in enrichment classes.

Thanks to the art class, we now have a menagerie of handpuppets: bugs, birds, frogs, reptiles and snakes made out of construction paper, with all sorts of sundry items for eyes, and all kinds of beaks and curly tongues and forked tongues, and even one critter who appears to have rabies, with all of the glue that was used on the tongue!

Also, there is homework for the writing class.

I am not exactly a poster child for routine (that wouldn't be whimsical, I s'pose)but I am glad tutoring has been the bedrock of "readin' 'ritin' n' 'rithmatic" for a couple of years; the kids just accept that the awayschool writing assignments are in addition to "real school" at home.

Delicious, isn't it? "Real school" is at home, and "other school" is at school.

This, in the face of having to buy backpacks for "other school" because there was never a need for them in "real school."

Welcome to St. Peter's School of Fish, turning the world's assumptions upside down, one cliche at a time.

Where's My Check??

2008-02-15T10:58:00.001-06:00

This Page
For Keywords

read, child, student

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Lets101 - Free Online Dating

I've been tagged!

2008-02-15T10:13:00.002-06:00

That Book Meme

I was tagged by Magellamom over at Waiting for Charlie....

Here are the rules:

1)Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages.)
2)Open the book to page 123.
3)Find the fifth sentence.
4)Post the next three sentences.
5)Tag 5 people.

1. Well, sitting right next to the monitor is a 2000 ASTRO owner's manual. (Why??) Let me see if it has 123 pages; if not, I'll use the Catechism of the Catholic Church (DH has been wrestling with Original Sin. Well, he was baptized decades ago, and yes, I suppose he still struggles with concupiscence, but actually he's struggling with refuting the statement: "Augustine invented Original Sin")

I digress. . .

Well, it looks like Ixnay on the Troasay. . . the highest number I found in there was "9-11" (Really. That wouldn't bode well for our vehicle, except that we've had it already for -- well, I guess almost 8 years!) (I'm learning subtraction right along with my second student.)

Having the CCC lying about nearly lacks the creativity of having an NFP book lying about in reach. If I hadn't kept strictly to the rules, I'd go out and find somethig spicier, like the Bible. . .

2. On this, I am torn; Paragraph number or page number?? I'll stick to the rules -- this is out of the paperback edition that DH found -- new -- for $3.

3/4. "In effect, in Israel those consecrated to God for a mission that he gave were anointed in his name. This was the case for kings, for priests and, in rare instances, for prophets. This had to be the case all the more so for the Messiah whom God would send to inaugurate his kingdom definitively."

I will inform you that this meme missed by hair the third sentence on page 123, which stands alone much better: "Many Christians, such as St. Joan of Arc, have died with the one word "Jesus" on their lips."

See how the book itself refutes the assumption that the CCC "lacks creativity"? Well, it may not take much license with the Faith, but it has its own, unexpected kind of poetry, doesn't it?

5. I am in the middle of reconstucting my "favorites" which McAfee kindly erased a couple of weeks ago. . .

Christmas Carols

2008-01-01T09:55:00.000-06:00

Our Domestic Church has posted references to books based on Christmas Carols. We still have 51/2 days of Christmas left!

http://skimac.wordpress.com/2006/12/28/christmas-carol-unit-study-with-picture-books/

http://skimac.wordpress.com/2007/12/14/christmas-carol-unit-updates/

2007-12-29T16:28:00.000-06:00

Martha Washington's shortbread recipe.

I want to try this for Christmas cookies! (We do baking around here during the 12 days of Christmas . . .)

As if I needed another reason.

2007-12-26T14:14:00.000-06:00

A whole BuildABear Store to ourselves after the awayschool kids are done with winter break.

Catholic Carnival 151

2007-12-18T10:56:00.000-06:00

Thank You, Therese, for adding me to the carnival!

http://aussiecoffeeshop.blogspot.com/2007/12/catholic-carnival-151.html

I've taught three kids to read this way

2007-12-18T08:05:00.000-06:00

Supplies: Time

More than anything else, I try to work with the child about 180 times per year, in bite-sized pieces per day. None of these assignments should take much more than ten minutes. Bite-sized pieces make it easier on everybody.

This method could be useful for the mom who has a tight budget. This method has worked with my three older kids in a literature-rich environment (read: lots of storytimes).

Age 4

Supplies: Upper Case and Lower Case Letter Puzzles

The puzzles are school supplies, not toys. I've managed to hang on to mine for nearly a decade because I keep them up, and only bring them out for class. (And, I am not a tidy mother!) In a literature-rich environment, there's no harm in doing this.

Puzzles are fun! Put the tray on one side of the room and put the pieces on the other. When the child brings the letter/s to you, say the sound it makes while the child is putting it in the tray. It may seem like they are not paying attention, but repetition, repetition, repetition is the name of the game.
Let the child choose which puzzle -- upper case or lower case -- s/he wants to work on that day. I haven't noticed any confusion from my students. If mom takes it for granted that different looking letters make the same sound, then that just must be how the world is.

I only require that the student knows the primary sound each letter makes. (At First)

Supplies: Alphabet Picture Books, such as Curious George's ABCs, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Alphabears and Dr. Suess ABCs.

Alphabet picture books are for those days that you want to do something with the child, but no one is really interested in doing phonics work.

My experience is that after the children become confident about the sounds that the letters make, word exploration will come naturally to the children. If you work and work on the sounds the letters make, the student's "AHA" moments will come naturally! Help your child learn notice the beginning sounds of names to facilitate this process.

Eventually, there will come a day when you think, "self, this student is very familiar with the letters and the primary sounds they make."

This is a nice time to also go over "matching" upper case letters to lower case letters in a more formal way, and a time to introduce the secondary sounds the vowels make (the vowels say their names).

Age 5:
Supplies: How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons
Matching -- words to pictures

Then, you can look to the next big event in the child's life -- a birthday, perhaps, or maybe a holiday -- and think, "self, we are going to start 100 EZ Lessons after this next big event in the student's life." This could be after a big holiday, or on a birthday. A fifth birthday is an excellent time for this.

I do not know anyone who uses the penmanship portion of the program. The first dozen lessons are pretty boring, and it is hard to see the point of them, but hang in there! The satisfaction you get from reading your first story in lesson 13 is fun.

Then proceed to lessons 14 through 22. Shelve the book for awhile. It moves fast, and its better to give the student time to gain confidence with a new skill -- reading CVC (consonant-vowel-consonant) words.

Supplies: Frank Schaffer's Easy Consonants and Easy Vowels Flash Cards

I love these cards. This is what they look like: on the front, there is a picture and the name of the picture (like "dog") and then the word is again printed in back. I ignore the word on the back side. I snip the card right down the middle, between the picture and the word. Then, I assemble the pictures into one pile and the words into another pile. Taking a dozen matching cards at a time, we play the "crazy mix-up game" and mis-match the pictures and their words.

It is up to the student to match them correctly. This is a classic Montessori method. Look up "Montessori Pink Cards" in a search engine and you'll see what I mean.

Frank Schaffer has lots of these kinds of cards to introduce your child to new phonograms (sounds that letters and letter combinations make). Sound Beginnings Phonograms Cards are a great way to educate yourself about the various kinds of phonograms.

Then, I use a list of Common Words to go over with the student. Every time the student reads the word properly, s/he can circle an f next to it.

Age 6:

Then, we start reading an easy Bible. I just help along with the words that the student stumbles on. For the reader who is reluctant to sound out words, I let it slide for a few months, and then when the reading is starting to flow more easily, I give the student an option: either make an effort to sound out the words, or do two lessons per schoolday instead of one. That motivates the reluctant sounder-outer! But, two of my children have had sounding out come naturally.

Early Reader's Bible By Gilbert Beers. Recommended as part of the Sound Beginnings Program, this is a very good beginning reader. (If you click the link, scroll down to view title.)

"Keeping It Catholic" has made this book unnecessarily controversial, because the premise of KIC's claims appears to be that you may use this book as the primary text of your student's religious formation. That's not the intent of the book, and if that premise is incorrect, KIC's claims about it fall flat.

While I cannot say your student will be able to "read anything" after being able to read this book, your child should be able to read many of the books in your library's "early reader" sections.

Bitty Batter's Gingerbread

2007-12-17T10:24:00.000-06:00

Bitty Batter bought some butter.
“But,” said she, “this butter’s bitter.
If I put it in my batter,It will make my batter bitter.”
So she bought some better butter,
And she put the better butter in the bitter batter,
And made the bitter batter better.

The nice thing about baking gingerbread is that you know "for sure" in a little while how the batter turned out. What if the gingerbread you are baking are not men, but little men and little women?

Like Bitty Batter, any good cook tastes a little along the way, to see how the batter is going. Teachers are not unlike cooks; I suppose that is why we test -- to see how the batter tastes.

Alas, we must wait a little longer than a couple hours to know "for sure" how the final product turns out.

Of course, there are a thousand differences between gingerbread and children, but I'm sure that I could learn something from Bitty Batter if I listen.

But it's nearly Christmas, and gingerbread and children are calling!

Merry Christmas!

HOMESCHOOL AS BEATITUDE

2007-12-15T23:11:00.000-06:00

Three features of a successful homeschool experience include self-discipline, family discipline, and curriculum, in that order. The homeschooling family has the advantage of practicing discipline all day long, every single day. So, you can see from the very beginning the beatitude of homeschooling – the very thing many families try to avoid, that is being together so much – is in fact, a blessing from God.

Let us first consider the heart of the homeschool – the teacher. We first turn to St. Jane Frances de Chantal. Like St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, she founded a religious order as a widow, after having provided for her four children. The following anecdote is from her days as a Mother in religious life, but we can easily imagine her saying this to her little children at home:

Saint Jane Frances de Chantal was heading to the convent chapel one day topray.
Encountering a young novice in the hallway, she said:
why don't you join me in the chapel for prayer?
The young nun answered: Sister, I reallydon't feel like praying right now.
Whereupon Saint Jane retorted in her no-nonsense way:
Sister, I haven't felt like praying in years! Now, let's go to the chapel and pray!

Because the Eucharist is the source and summit of the Christian life (CCC 1324), it is most strenuously urged to attend Mass every Sunday, and perhaps consider going to Mass in addition to the Sunday Obligation (CCC 2192). If you don't feel very holy by the end of Mass, take heart; the true measure of an increase in holiness is not how you feel, but an increase in virtue. If Mass is too much for the little ones, perhaps stopping by Church to adore Christ in the Eucharist may be an option.

Though you cannot set up a Tabernacle at home, you can familiarize yourself and your students with Scripture: “the Church has always venerated the Scriptures as she venerates the Lord's Body” (CCC 103). “In Sacred Scripture, the Church constantly finds her nourishment and her strength” (CCC 104); you can, too. This can be done in a variety of ways. If your children are young, simply start reading out of a children's Bible to them. You can choose to pray with the Church, and use the daily readings from the mass. The Catholic Source Book by Fr. Peter Klein lists significant events in both Testaments. If you wish to acquaint yourself with both Christ and His Church together, a “Daily Scripture and Catechism Devotional” pamphlet can be found at this url:

http://www.chnetwork.org/journals/readguide04.pdf

Knowing Our Faith does require learning a certain amount of data; but really, knowing the data serves to help us primarily Love a Person, or rather, Three Divine Persons. We don't want to be merely acquainted with the Lord; we want to Love Him. Jesus tells us “the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom new treasures as well as old” (Matthew 13:52). The Church provides devotions as old as the Rosary and as new as Divine Mercy. Pick your favorite and do it!

Just as we give our children three meals a day, we can feed their souls in three ways: frequently receiving the Sacraments (including the Sacrament of Reconciliation); frequently reading Scripture; and practicing those daily devotions that help us to Love Him.
Just as time should be set aside for God, the homeschool parent needs to determine how much time to set aside for school. This does not necessarily mean that you are separating “school” from “real life.” Rather, it means “including school in the rhythm of life.” If you anticipate a major life event coming up, like moving or having a new baby, expect it to have an effect on how much time you can put toward school. There are seasonal considerations, also: you may not get as much in during the holidays, or at the beginning of Spring. Perhaps the family can look forward to doing extra during February, when no one wants to go out, anyway.
Another way to evaluate the time requirements of your school is to determine what priority each academic subject has in your school.

We are created as finite beings with bodies,
but yet we have a desire in our
souls to know the infinite.
This can be a source of vexation in the homeschool!

Where to start? The basics -- Readin', 'ritin', and 'Rithmetic – is a great place to start. As you are your own Superintendent and School Board, you have the burden of determining what is a core subject and what is an extracurricular subject. You also have, to a lesser extent, the burden of choosing at what age your students start school. Younger siblings may associate “school” with “attention given to the older ones,” so you may consider starting each schoolday with some time with the youngest so that she feels included. Be sure that your expectations of each student are age-appropriate.

So far, we have discussed the primary agent of your homeschool – you. Now, we briefly turn our gaze to the reason for it all: the students. To put it bluntly, if the kids don't mind you, school isn't going to happen. Thus, you share the burden of all teachers: you must advocate for your students as well as discipline them. Happily, this is exactly the burden of all parents, and the shelves are full of parenting advice. Of course, all authors have their own views, and even among Catholic authors there is significant diversity of opinion. That said, it does seem that the most popular books share the same general philosophy: do not tolerate disrespect, and give lots and lots of love.

Perhaps by now you are wondering of what use this session is – when are we going to talk about curriculum? Certainly, curriculum affects the homeschool; but curriculum, in and of itself, cannot do much to fix the teacher's problems if the issues of self-discipline and family discipline are neglected.
Keep in mind that curricula are like husbands:
there is no perfect one;
they all require work, but all of the best ones share some things in common;
and, your best friend's may be totally unsuitable for you.
Curricula are also very unlike husbands: no lifelong commitment.

Love God, love each other, and love learning!

Advocate

2007-12-15T22:03:00.000-06:00

I have just finished reading The Teacher Who Couldn't Read by John Corcoran. Like Mark Judge in his book, God and Man at Georgetown Prep, I put down the book dismayed that neither student had an advocate. Consequently, Corcoran left parochial school illiterate and Mark graduated from parochial school without his Catholic faith.

The theme that runs through both books is "I was cheated by the system, and the teachers who were a part of it." Their parents, in both cases, were exonerated from any responsibility to secure a quality education for their sons.

Perhaps it is reasonable for a parent to think: "I know how to read, and I am a good Catholic, and I send my kid to parochial school: therefore, my child will learn how to read and learn his Faith. No more effort on my part is required.

That can no longer be taken for granted. And, by the testimony of these books, apparently it never could be taken for granted.

In this sense, parents who send their children to away schools are in the same position as their homeschooling counterparts.

No matter who is doing the teaching, the buck still stops with Mom and Dad.

Teachers Love (and Hate) Flex Days

2007-11-28T11:49:00.000-06:00

This is a reprint from a comment to http://beofish.blogspot.com/2007/11/im-still-not-used-to-it.html .

However, I've been kicking around these ideas for a long time, and in fact, spoke to this very issue at a roundtable discussion at the local homeschool conference:

I think the homeschool movement's fear of government oversight keeps homeschoolers from speaking frankly about the struggle to provide a quality education without much accountability.

I homeschool year-round to allow for ample flex days throughout the year. And, I aim for 200 school days so that if we "only" get in 180 schooldays we are still doing okay. And, that way we can do bite-sized pieces of school per day, too.

One can be easily misled into thinking that "the perfect curriculum" will solve all of life's troubles. I think that Self-Discipline and Family Discipline are the keys to successful homeschooling.

And, toss in Curriculum insofar as a bad curriculum/student match will have a negative impact on the homeschool, but a even the best curriculum/student match cannot save a homeschool where self-discipline and family discipline are lacking.

A Milestone

2007-11-24T22:16:00.001-06:00

Out of the blue my five year old daughter declared that she is ready for chapter books for her literature -- I can save the picture books for her little sisters. (Of course I fully expect her to be right there for the little girls' literature sessions with picture books.)

The two older ones dropped everything, pulled her up into our home's library, and came down with a stack of books that included Treasure Island, Charlotte's Web, and the Boxcar Children. The nine year old pulled the last book out of the stack and promptly started reading the first chapter to her.

Welcome to the Club!

School Lunch Program

2007-11-24T22:02:00.000-06:00

I like the idea of Unit Studies. I am currently implementing a Unit Study - influenced approach to religious instruction, and will soon be getting in the mail a history book that is Unit Study - influenced.

I have actually done Unit Studies with Math, of all things. Though for the most part we do a math program that is highly tutored, once in a while for a break we pull out materials for "time" or "measurement" or some other such thing that gives everyone a chance to participate to their ability. It may be tutored in that I work individually with each child, but it is pretty cool that everyone can be on the same page in their studies.

I think the same could be said for Language Arts, which is definitely more of my forte. For example, the two year old can be taught "The Itsy Bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout." The five year old can trace it, the seven year old can use it for spelling instruction (copywork/dictation) and the nine year old can diagram it.

Like at the dinner table. For a large-ish family, and for a family with a mom whose motto is "keep it simple," for the most part everyone eats the same thing for meals. Because the infant is breast-fed, you really can say that everyone eats at the same table.

If I ever design a homeschool program I'm going to call it the Homeschool Lunch Program, where everyone learns at the same table.

Excellence in Writing Interview

2007-11-24T21:59:00.000-06:00

A commenter has kindly shared a link to her interview with Andrew Pudewa:

http://classicalscholar.com/2007/10/23/andrew-pudewa-interview/

Thanks, Diane!

Crafts

2007-11-22T08:49:00.000-06:00

Dear Husband can't be home for Thanksgiving, so we are getting a head start on making ornaments for the season. I don't hold a candle to Our Domestic Church for crafts, but these are more in my league (major craft wimps). So far, here are some favorites.

Son's favorite:

Candy Train Craft
Glue dots
A roll of hard candy (I used Mentos)
4 wrapped peppermint candies
A wrapped caramel
A wrapped chocolate kiss
Look at the picture for assembly. I don't add the ribbon.

Melt the rest of the caramels for apples.

One daughter's favorite:
Life Saver Wreath --

Shoestring licorice
Regular or Gummi green Life Savers
Use scissors to cut a piece of shoestring licorice 12 to 15 inches in length. Next, carefully string on about 15 Life Savers. Gather the ends of the licorice together and tie them into a bow to form a wreath. I added a ribbon because I didn't trust that much weight to a licorice rope.

My favorite:

What you'll need:
Glue Dots

Ribbons or yarn for hanging
1 wrapped candy cane (this has to be wrapped around the candy, not a 'bagged' candy cane)
1 tiny pom-pom for the nose
2 little wiggle eyes (or paper eyes drawn and cut out)
Brown pipe cleaners for the antlers

How to make it:
Look at the illustration.

Literature

2007-11-15T20:34:00.000-06:00

This is the last of my three-legged stool: I briefly alluded to it in the last post. In addition to tutoring the three Rs + teaching Religion as a family, I also read aloud to the children. I used to read in the evenings. However, I find that the older I get that I just want to hang out with my husband in the evenings. So I read to the kids during the schoolday.

Since I do school 16 days a month (usually), if there is a day that I can't get all three parts to school done in one day, I break it up. So I may tutor on Monday and then do morning prayer and literature on Tuesday. Both days are a kind of flex day without giving up school entirely, and without falling behind too much.

I don't know how Abe Lincoln did it.

2007-11-15T19:26:00.001-06:00

This question was asked on a message board I subscribe to:

Does anyone else have info. for teaching thekids quality subjects for FREE or very inexpensively and ideally w/out alot of planning ahead?

Since I am a crazy person, this is what I wrote back:

I read to each of my children 20 min. per school day. For the little ones, of course, this means picture books; for the older ones it usually means a chapter out of a longer book. This is a tip from Andrew Pudewa; he says that hearing the English language spoken properly really helps the child write intuitively. For example, the child knows that "cats leap" but "one cat leaps" -- not from a grammar lesson, but from hearing it that way over and over again. There are texts galore for free online, although the Baldwin Project and Gutenberg.org are the two that immediately come to my mind.

Also, I have the children do a little bit of copywork each day. For a kindergartener and first grader, this means tracing (k) and tracing and copying (1). I use nursery rhymes of k and 1. This is a nice nursery rhyme site for singing families: http://www.smart-central.com/ I don't worry about spelling until second grade. This is a time to really get letter formation down pat. For the second grader, it means copying (a nursery rhyme or first line of a favorite poem) from one piece of paper onto another (in a notebook purchased for a dime each in July) until all of the words are spelled properly. That's a good time for phonics review, which takes on new meaning for the speller once phonics becomes second nature for the reader.

For the third grader it means introducing cursive. Just a couple months of lots of tracing, so the child can see how much faster cursive is than printing. Then getting a science book (Janice VanCleave's 101 easy chemistry experiments) at the library and having the child write down what s/he did for the experiment. Consider it a period of three months where the child gets used to writing down 50 words at a time. Lots of verbs! If the child is resistant, then suggest that s/he copy Janice's notes instead. I'm sure your child can sum up the experiment in less than half the words! Though it sounds like putting the cart before the horse, the child is then ready to do Emma Serle's Primary Language Lessons. For the really short lessons in that book, I diagram one sentence and have the child diagram another one. Of course, diagramming is considered archaic, but Mary Daly publishes a really cool book to help you with that. I don't recommend doing copywork during the three-month Science Journal time, but copywork can be picked up again to supplement the Emma Serle activities.

For reading, although I have a system for teaching phonics for the littles, with experience I've come to suspect that if you yourself acquaint yourself with some phonics rules and help your child along with reading Beers' Easy Reader Bible, your first grader will become familiar with both sight words and sounding out words. There is quite a jump from Beers' book to William Bennett's Treasury of Virtues, but this time can be bridged by readers from the library, if you have access to one. Bennett's book is unique in that it is lavishly illustrated, but has stories that appeal to the big-kid second or third grader. I made a list of the stories in the Bennett book that is sorted by length of story. The key to reading in these younger grades is "short length of time at frequent intervals." Once the child is done with Bennett's book, you can have the child read the Andrew Lang stories at Gutenberg.org. I have a list of story length for many of the Lang books.

For math, I think the cost of MathUSee can't be beat.

This doesn't really require too much planning; just make a list of the stories you want the child to read and star the title as it is completed. Then, write down what you want the child to copy. For the child who finds the blank page intimidating, put on the appropriate number of lines for the child to fill in with letters.

Hope this helps,Kelly

Maximizing Your Community

2007-10-04T22:07:00.000-05:00

Religious Ed can be taught in the home the way it was taught before the advent of workbooks -- through praying and studying together.

I implement "morning prayer" in my home for religious instruction. It includes hymns, Scripture, Catechism and Spirituality.