Concerned that ignoring Common Core will negatively impact your homeschool child's chances at a selective four-year university? Get the answer.
Read More »God’s Little Flower Cactus: A Harder Path to Holiness
Unlike lovely flowers in gardens, which require constant tending, “gentle dew,” and “spring breezes,” the cactus has a much stronger constitution, for it does not need these things in order to survive and thrive. Because of the toughness of the cactus, it is able to take root and flourish in an environment where nothing can grow without a struggle.
Read More »In God We Trust: The 2nd Principle of The Simple Life
The second principle in living the simple life is: Trusting in God’s providential love. But why is it so difficult for us to trust in Divine Providence? Why is it so easy to surrender all the areas of our lives to God except for the area of finances? Because trusting in the Lord requires the understanding that His divine plan is so much larger than our own.
Read More »4 Ways to Stop Blaming Yourself as a Parent
First, stop insisting that you “went wrong” with your kids. I don’t know exactly how Jesus felt when He was betrayed by Judas. But I do know this: I know that Jesus did not wonder where He went wrong with Judas. Jesus didn’t “go wrong.”
Read More »“Why My Child?” – Dealing with a Handicapped Child
It wasn’t until she was almost two, and I was expecting our second child that the first symptoms appeared. Night terrors would wake her, screaming and crying. At first we thought she was unsettled because a new sibling would be arriving soon and that because her father would be going on a remote assignment without us for a year
Read More »Teaching Tenth and Eleventh Grade
Students should accomplish a substantial amount of academic work in the 10th and 11th grades. They have over-come the adjustment problems they may have encountered in 9th, and have not ...
Read More »Courage, Compassion and Correction: St Alphonsus Liguori on Raising Godly Children
Excerpts from Sermon XXXVI from The Sermons of St. Alphonsus Liguori, TAN Books and Publishing Children are More than Presents God gives children to parents not that they may assist ...
Read More »New Beginnings: The Reflections of One Homeschooling Mother
by Kerry Costanzo | Homeschooling is not easy. It can be really hard. For me, it is often really, really hard. Yet, it is the right things to do in life that can sometimes be the hardest. Homeschooling can be a cross, yet as we Catholics know, it is only in picking up and carrying our crosses that we can hope to follow Our Lord to Heaven.
Read More »Stewardship of Treasure: The 1st Principle of The Simple Life
Ten years ago, our family embarked on a journey which entailed leaving our comfortable life in Northern Virginia to live a life of simplicity in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley. And ...
Read More »5 Catholic Homeschooling Keys to Success
We recently asked our readers to share homeschooling advice that they have found helpful or that they often share with others. Here are five of the most popular Catholic homeschooling ...
Read More »Balance – An Alternating Rhythm
In Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s classic Gift from the Sea the author, using the leisure and recollection of a summer vacation at the ocean, reflects on the art of living a ...
Read More »Helping Children Make Better Confessions
by Fr. Robert Lange | After hearing literally thousands of confessions of grade-school children, I must admit that many young people are poorly trained in understanding the nature of sin and of being aware of their own sinfulness. The lessons must come from committed parents.
Read More »How Much Time Should I be Teaching Each Child Each Day?
Would it be possible for me to combine my children in some of the same academic subjects, such as science, history, and religion? Yes, many parents do that for children in adjacent grades. You need to be careful about there being too much of a difference in comprehension. In religion, you can certainly discuss the same subject, such as a particular sacrament, but when it comes to memory work or testing, unless they are close in abilities, you should use the test appropriate for each child’s grade level. For instance, you may teach two students with the same religion book if they are both in Baltimore Catechism No. 2, but you may have the younger child take the tests for the No. 1 book.
Read More »Happy Labor Day!
Labor Day is right around the corner. On this special occasion, many of us are given a long weekend to celebrate. We have barbeques, picnics, parties or maybe a family vacation at the beach or some other enjoyable place.
Read More »A Straight and Narrow Path
For our family, the decision to homeschool our soon-to-be seven children includes ALL of the aforementioned reasoning. We believe homeschooling is truly the straight-and-narrow path to the arms of Our Heavenly Father. For our family, homeschooling is, “The way, the TRUTH, and the life” (John 14:6).
Read More »Bad Boys Gone Good
A recent Seton graduate informed us that he had chosen Moses for his Confirmation patron. No, not THAT Moses! There was, in fact, another Moses from the same Egyptian locality who was as colorful a character as the great Patriarch. August 28th could well be termed the feast day for bad boys gone good...
Read More »Home Schooling and the Beatitudes
The Beatitudes are worthy of our study. The first Beatitude, from the Sermon on the Mount by Jesus, encourages us to be poor in spirit. To be poor in spirit, we must empty ourselves of anything and everything that tends to displace Jesus Christ in our lives. Jesus must be first in our lives. He can’t be in second place. He must always be front and center.
Read More »Our Lady of La Salette
On September 19, the Catholic Church celebrates the apparition of the Blessed Mother when she appeared to two children in La Salette, France, in 1846. This apparition and the message are practically unknown in our country, likely because of the amazing miracles in relation to the apparitions of Fatima in Portugal and of Lourdes in France.
Read More »The Key to a Joyful Homeschool
by Jennifer Tutwiler | Homeschoolers tend to be an optimistic group. No matter what trials we faced in the previous school year, we look forward to the next with all the anticipation of a child awaiting Christmas. For some families, though, this optimism can fade as each year becomes a worsening repetition of the previous year’s challenges. Nothing works. Nothing improves. Survival is the only thing left. This was our own experience for three very long years.
Read More »Obedience: The Bedrock for Harmony and Order in the Home
by Fr Frank Papa | We all are commanded to obey the Ten Commandments because they were given by God the Father to Moses for all of us to obey. Jesus, the Son of God, repeated the Ten Commandments and the requirement for all to obey them. We all are required to be obedient to God’s commandments. Sin is disobedience to the laws of God.
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