Ginny’s Gems

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 ...

What are the porcupine and hedgehog talking about? Why is he shrugging? Caption this image! What could be more fun than coloring a picture? Sharing it with someone! Why not encourage your child to send it to their grandmother? Or parish priest? Or someone they appreciate? Each week, connect with a loved one through your children’s art, and then share with us where it went! We’d love to know!

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 ...

Your books have arrived, the kids are eager to begin, the family energy level is high and prayers for the help of all the educator saints have been fervently said. Ready, set…hold on just a minute! Take a deep breath and remember one word: ORGANIZATION!

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 ...

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.

Whether you are just starting to homeschool for the very first time, or are an old hand at it, a new year gives a chance for a fresh start. Although every family is different, and each family must find its own unique way of homeschooling, there are certain preparations which will help almost every family to be more successful.

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.

Who was Adam and Eve’s good son, who offered a lamb as a sacrifice to God? On the third day, God separated this from the dry land. Answer these questions and more in this Crossword!

What are the squirrel and bird talking about? Why is the turtle surprised? What is the loudmouth frog saying? Caption this image! What could be more fun than coloring a picture? Sharing it with someone! Why not encourage your child to send it to their grandmother? Or parish priest? Or someone they appreciate? Each week, connect with a loved one through your children’s art, and then share with us where it went! We’d love to know!

September 1st marks the beginning of the liturgical year for Byzantine Christians. This important day is celebrated as the feast day for Saint Symeon the Stylite, who lived atop a ...

It’s often lamented that babies don’t come with manuals.  Of course, this isn’t true—babies do come with manuals.  They are called “parenting books.” There are books that tell you how ...

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.

by Pius XI | The proper and immediate aim of Christian education is to cooperate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect Christian… For the true Christian must live a supernatural life in Christ and display it in all his actions. For precisely this reason, Christian education takes in the whole of human life, physical and spiritual, intellectual and moral, individual, domestic, and social.

The ancient Greeks identified the sign of fruitfulness as proof of the art of living well, as the true mark of civilization. On the shield of Achilles in the Iliad ...

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).

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...

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.

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.

Caption this image! Why did the lamb climb the ladder? What are the sheep and lion saying? Share your child’s comment below! What could be more fun than coloring a ...