Catholic Homeschool Support

I have a week long free trial to GoTrybe. It costs $30 / year and you could have a membership for each child, but the rep. said one per family is enough.

Now, I have to say on one of the banners last week, they talked about STDs - not graphic, but it was

Anyway, what is so unique is you get to build a workout - you have a 3 minute warm up section and 38 different video clips to choose from, then you have 3 cardio sections to fill for 10 minutes total, then there is a strength section (8-12 minutes), and finally a flexibility section (3 minutes). The warm up and cardio video clips include just basic cardio, cardio groove, hiphop, kickboxing, and sports drills. The strength training section has some videos that include basic weight training, and finally the flexibility has basic flexibility and about 10 yoga clips - none seem inappropriate or spiritual.

When you complete the workout, you get points that are redeemable for online javascript games (kind of a funny connection) but you have to have loads of points before you can “buy” a game. There are also motivation videos (some baseball team members give short talks about eating and training), nutrition tips with a one or two question quiz, and wellness video clips.

The people on the video range from young adults who lead the moves, to gawky teens that don’t do the moves perfectly - so my guys all fit.

Downside - the video clips don’t have any information about what the workout is other than the title such as Cardio Groove- so you don’t know if the strength training clip needs weights until you start it. I am just keeping a log of what clips we like. Next downside, you can’t “save” your preferred workout - so every day you have to go rebuild it again.

How to make it work better? Well, my laptop has an S-Video out plug, so I was able to route the video out to the TV screen. There was  a bit of a learning curve to figure out how to make the TV display the laptop screen’s content. Basically, for my graphic card, I had to make a clone, but each card’s software is a bit different. That enabled us to do the videos in the living room with enough room for everyone to have a spot. I also connected up a set of USB speakers to the laptop to have the sound louder since my laptop does not have a sound out to 5.1 audio. I do not know if there is a cable to take the headphones out jack to the sound input for my TV.

You should see my crew in the morning doing kickboxing - my 4th grade loves the aggressive nature and I think it moves out some of the pent up energy. We do one workout as a family, but as long as you don’t care who gets the points, each child could design and do their own workout.

So, I am swamped with getting kids back in the routine of school. We are completing our third week using Mother of Divine Grace and we even enrolled this year. I am still waiting to see how that will all work out. But, I did want to give you a heads up of what items I am in the process of reviewing.

First up is a high school economics program - Reclaiming Social Justice: Teaching the Catholic Way of Economic Thinking. I apologize, but I do not have the website link at this moment.

Next up is a review of www.faithdatabase.com. I heard a commercial about the database on EWTN and was intrigued by the idea, so I am thrilled to actually get to review it. I think this will be a great resource for apologetics, bible studies and to enhance our catechetical programs.

Finally, I am working on a review of the catechetical materials from The Apostolate for Family Consecration (also refered to as Catholic Familyland). I am very impressed with the chapters I have done so far with my school age children. The authors use visual imagery that makes the discussions very accessible and tangible to children. I am not sure I can use the program totally as designed, but the discussions we have had so far are deep. It definitely is not a program that you can send your child off to work on. In fact, I returned the student texts because they were merely worksheets to complete after a teacher presented the lesson. A fantastic, economical feature is that you can download and burn a DVD of Cardinal Arinze discussing each of the catechism questions and answers and that is keyed to the catechetical material. And, you can also download the 2 volume, “Apostolate’s Family Catechism” for free too.

At mass this evening, the Gospel reading was Mt 14:13-21:

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me, ”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
They all ate and were satisfied,
and they picked up the fragments left over—
twelve wicker baskets full.
Those who ate were about five thousand men,
not counting women and children.

During our pastor’s homily, he began discussing how God can take our efforts and multiply the effects through grace. Now, I have to say it was quite amazing that I even heard that line and even more amazing that I was able to remember it!

I was struck by the fact that as a homeschooling parent, I want very much to believe that God will take my desire and my hard work to educate and catechize my children and greatly multiply the effect. Often at the end of the day as I reflect, I realize that I let a ball or two drop - not realizing it at the time.

Sometimes, if I am being quite honest, we do not get through all the religion lessons, and we are sorely behind in Baltimore Catechism memorization. I wonder what they can possibly get from Mass when what they see is a stressed and harried mother shepherding her gaggle of children and paying more attention to a little one who is nearly tearing pages out of the missal or climbing under the pew.

But, I am somewhat reassured - not complacent though - that God must be filling in some of the more gaping holes that I leave behind. I have children that say their prayers each evening even when I am not with them (and that is most evenings). They seem to have a close relationship with Mary and their guardian angels - not because I have been a stellar teacher or example, but - perhaps because God has multiplied my meager efforts. I can only hope that He does the same with grammar lessons and math.

I am in a conflicted place right now - excited about the upcoming year - new books, new subjects - and - fearful with high school one year off. I see the deficits in their education - some because I a few children have some issues with dyslexia, but most of the deficits are due to my inability to juggle all the balls. So, my prayer this year is that God takes my sincere desire and my intent to work hard and helps me educate them, multiplying my efforts like Jesus did with the loaves of bread and fish.

God bless you and keep you as you begin this new school year.

I was so thrilled when I received these two books from Mary’s Books. They are reprints of Dujarie Press Saints and Famous Catholics Biographies by Brother Ernest and Brother Roberto from the 1960’s. The books are the size of typical early reader books with a light blue cover and a simple black lined picture both on the cover and then black lined drawings in the text.

Not knowing what to expect, I opened the first book, “A Story of the Infant Jesus of Prague” by Brother Ernest, C.S.C. (32 pages) and was entranced. I have a number of Catholic saint books from several series; one is a very old set in hardback (what a find on a used Catholic books list) and of course the Mary Fabian Windeatt along with lots of books that are collections of saint stories. But, none of these were really appropriate for my beginning readers. The level 1 book opens with the following text:

Many years ago, no one knows just when, an artist in Spain made a very lovely statue of the Infant Jesus out of wax. We do not know who the artist was, and we do not know for whom he made the beautiful statue.

Isn’t that all very strange?

But I am very glad that the statue was made. I think you will be, too, when you read about it. Its story is a very interesting one. Tell all of your friends about it.

The book continues on to describe the first miracle attributed to the devotion and how the statue lost it’s hands and how they were recovered. Finally, children are introduced to all the miracles that a devotion to the Infant Jesus of Prague are attributed.

Ten books are available in the Level One series and retail for $6.95 each or $62.55 for all ten books:

• A Story of St. Therese
• A Story of St. Anthony
• A Story of the Infant of Prague
• A Story of Saint Bernadette
• A Story of Saint Joan of Arc
• A Story of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
• A Story of Saint Charles
• A Story of Saint Margaret of Scotland
• A Story of Saint Agatha
• A Story of Saint Cecilia

For level 2 readers, I had the privilege to read a book from the series, “In the Footprints of Saints” by Brother Roberto, C.S.C. Again, the book is the size of the typical early reader book with a blue cover and a black and white image on the front. I began to read “Stairway to the Stars, A story of St. Germaine Cousin”. The book was 94 pages long so more advanced readers have time to really get to know the saint in language that is appropriate to their reading level. The story begins:

This is the strange and wonderful story of a girl, deformed, ugly, unloved and unwanted, who became one of the great saints of the Catholic Church and who works many miracles today for the sake of suffering people. The girl is Germaine Cousin. Her of of twenty-two years on earth was filled with pain and loneliness and suffering, and now that she is at rest, she does her best to relieve the pain and lonliness and suffering of all who come to know her. For, to know her is to admire her, and in admiring her, we come to love her.

The book simply invites the reader to learn more. You learn about her life, unwanted and mistreated and how she turns to God for comfort and “to help her bear patiently all the bitterness and anguish that lay ahead” and how she attends mass on her own daily and even encourages her care giver to do the same in spite of a busy life. For sensitive children, some of the unwarranted abuse she suffered at the hands of the wife might be a bit disturbing, “the terrible woman raised her fist high above the girl’s head and brought it down with all her strength on Germaine’s head”. But, for my children the scenes were not too disturbing and truly give the reader an image of the suffering that she patiently endured.

And, in spite of the suffering, Germaine is able to take joy in her work of tending sheep and instructing other children in the faith through stories of the saints, her devotion to the rosary and sharing her meager food. Children are also introduced to the miracles attributed to St. Germaine including the wolves not attacking her household’s sheep and even the conversion of her primary tormentor.

Even as an adult, I was moved by the story and my 10 year old daughter, a reluctant reader, who has never voluntarily read a saint book inhaled it! I have fallen in love with a saint about whom I would have never known. These books cost $9.95 each and more titles will be added to the following list:

• Stairway To The Stars-A Story of St. Germaine Cousin
• No Tears For The Bride-A Story of St. Perpetua
• Bring Me An Ax-A Story of St. Boniface
• The Girl Who Laughed At Satan-St. Rose of Lima
• Music From The Hunger Pit-A Story of St. Maximilian Kolbe

I love the fact that children can read for themselves such beautiful stories about our beloved saints for themselves. The books can be used both as an introduction to the saints, and as a way to learn about history and geography and of course our faith. These books would be lovely gifts for First Communion or as a gift to a god child for Easter or Christmas. You can purchase the books at www.marys-books.com.

I have started a new swap list, CHSSwap. It will be a slow start, but I hope the list will be a service to the homeschooling community. This move is not to undermine the new cath swap board, but merely to fill a need for families that are familiar with and desire to stay with an email based swap list. I will be asking for co-moderators to help manage new members.

I joined Faith and Family Flix several months ago. We have a Blockbuster online DVD account, but I found the movie selections for FFF much easier to navigate, so now we have both. On to the point of this post, one of my best discoveries was the series, “The Footprints of God“. I watched the first DVD I received, “Mary, Mother of God”. What is so unique about the series, is that they are filmed on site. As Steve Ray talks, you get to see the sites - the actual house of the Dormition of Mary and many other treasured locations. You travel with Steve as he visits all these sites. You have a sense of the scope of the travels that Holy Family made. You see the river Jordon where Jesus was baptized. You are there where Jesus walked on water. You watch as modern fishermen bring in their catches just as the apostles did.

When Steve discussed, “Peter, The Keeper of the Keys”, you see the rock where Jesus proclaimed,

“And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it.”

Upon seeing the rock, you understand exactly what Jesus meant.

Steve is passionate about his subject - his love for the Holy Mother, for the Church and for Our Lord is quite evident. My family was enthralled to watch the DVD’s and we came away with a much deeper understanding and appreciation for the history of the Church.

I received two books in the mail last week and found them to be delightful. Cynthia Reeg is a a former Catholic School librarian.

The first book is entitled “Gifts from God”. It is a soft cover, 31 page book that has beautiful photographs for the art work. The book offers:

“a celebration of God’s love as seen through the eyes of children”

On one page is a blurred image of a rainbow with the text from Genesis 9:13:

I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth.

On the opposite page is a picture of a little girl smiling.

Another page depicts a beautiful golf course that is set against mountains with two children on an Easter egg hunt. The Biblical text on the left is from Leviticus 26:12:

I will walk among you and be your God.

And the text on the opposite page says “God walks beside me”.

I enjoyed the pictures and the text. My little guys pointed and talked about the pictures. With the older children, we were able to discuss the Biblical passages and the meaning as tied to the picture.

The second book was loads of fun: “Kitty Kerplunking” - what a wonderful way to discuss prepositions! Cynthia uses her cats to teach about prepositions. Each page features a picture of a cat doing something and a sentence using a preposition (it is in capital bold letters). On one page, you see a picture of a cat under a chair and the sentence says: “Preppy the kitty… chased a mouse UNDER the chair.”

At the beginning of the books, the author gives a brief description of prepositions and then proceeds to show how prepositions are used by depicting the adventures of a kitty. Following the adventures of the cat are several pages of activities including a crossword puzzle, word search, fill in the blank and scrambled prepositions all aimed at giving children another opportunity to work with prepositions. Answer keys to all the exercises are provided at end of the book.

The book is not exactly geared towards older children - but - this is a great way to introduce prepositions to the middle elementary school kids using great visuals. Thank you for a great resource.

I had an opportunity to listen to a CD, “Soul” by W. Keith Moore after receiving a message from him:

Hey folks, my name is Keith Moore. I am a convert/musician who has been in the music business for years and I have a new album about my journey Home. I am looking for a way to reach and encourage young Catholics in their journey.

Whenever I find another Catholic artist to add to my playlist, I am thrilled. I would not classify the music as distinctly “Catholic” in that there are no mentions of Saints or the Eucharist, but faith abounds in the lyrics of his songs.

The style has a country, rock, blues feel. The lyrics are easy to understand and sing along with (my kids tell me to be quiet all the time) and I enjoyed listening to the album. I would love to hear his conversion story! On the album, he gives credit to two priests, Jeff Cavin (for pointing him home - love the phrase!), St. Augustine, his patron saint, St. John of the Cross and St. Francis and St. Terese. What a great lineup to give honor to.

Myspace for Keith Moore
Wesmanmusic.com

(parents - read the lyrics before passing on - particularly, “Unto Me” - I liked the song - just a warning so I do not get blasted:

I saw Christ last evening, a needle in His hand
His eyes withdrawn and empty, a thin and withered man
I saw Christ last evening, She was picking up some guy
Now She’s trembling in the darkness with a far away look in Her eyes

There is another song called “Grace and Mercy” - just read the lyrics so you know what it’s about.

And, to make the post a bit more of general use, did you know there were some sites dedicated to Catholic music -  you can listen to songs online and search for artists to add to your playlist:

• http://www.catholicmusicnetwork.com/
• http://www.catholicjukebox.com/
• http://www.catholicplanet.com/mp3/index.htm
• http://www.mycatholicvoice.com

I do not have an official label of dyslexia for any of my children. But, with my first, we spent many hours and went through many programs trying to find one that could teach my son how to read. I finally went through the training to become a certified Reading Reflex tutor and we used the program successfully. But, I had many difficulties - the primary problems included pacing. I never quite knew when to move him along or how fast to push. Fluency was another issue. Reading Reflex was clear that children need to read to develop fluency and strongly encourage picking material a bit below reading level to work on fluency. No other guidelines were offered. Thankfully I stumbled upon a fluency program that was very easy to implement in a homeschool setting and was very affordable compared to school based programs (plus they almost all required an outside trained tutor to administer) and it is called Great Leaps. I will come back to the program in a subsequent post and describe why students need to work on fluency and why Great Leaps does such a good job.

Back to the topic of this post - reading. So, I was able to successfully teach my next three children. In fact, my fourth required very little instruction from me. As a tangent, I believe that most children are hard wired to learn how to read - so whatever program you use, they will make their way through and end up successful readers (perhaps not great spellers though). For a smaller percentage of children, a more detailed program is required to teach phonics. You can go the Orton Gillingham route - it is tried and true and very thorough. But, it is not a program you can just walk into and use. And, it is very expensive. Most parents opt to hire a tutor to implement it with their child.

Programs like Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Alphaphonics, Pathways and all the rest present phonics in a sequential method. The problem is that they do not offer strategies for children that simply cannot blend the sounds together or do not hear the difference in sounds. So, I have another child, my fifth, who when he encountered the word “cat”, deftly produced the sounds “ccccc” “aaaaa” “ttttt” - and never could say the word cat.

Reading Reflex addressed this issue by teaching activities for phonemic awareness. Unfortunately, it was not easy to find a flow through the program. I stumbled back upon AeBeCeDarian a month ago. I had looked into it five years ago, and chose to go with another program that I had sold several years ago believing that somehow I must be a much better teacher

What makes AeBeCeDarian so much more user friendly is that the entire program is basically scripted out for you. It is reasonably priced at around $55 / level (level A does have 2 parts), and the student book is affordable for subsequent students. The company provides a PDF file that has the placement test.

You can use this method to teach all of your readers - the ones that get it will move quickly through the program, the ones that need the extra help will receive it. Fluency and handwriting instructions are included. It is multi sensory using letter tiles to build words. Turtle talk and People talk are used for sounding out words. Phonemic awareness exercises are scripted into the program.

We have only used the program for two weeks and I am quite pleased with how it is laid out. I can see using this with the rest of my children because it is not burdensome or difficult to understand. You do not need to read a manual to start.

The first set of words include sat, top and map. The child has the three letter tiles for sat and a blank page with three lines. The teacher reads from the left page as she moves her finger under each of the blank lines using the script provided. The student moves the tiles to the correct space saying the sound as he moves them. Then the teacher demonstrates the tap and say method where she taps each sound and says the sound, and then says the word in “people talk” as she drags her finger under the word. These are called sound puzzles in Reading Reflex.

The fluency exercises are in the student book. A page of letters that the student has been working on are presented, along with a grid at the bottom to record the date and number correct. Clear goals are given as to when to move on and the student is timed for 20 seconds. Another page has the words and follows the same directions. You do not move on until the child has a sufficient fluency to indicate that automaticity has been achieved. In order to read and actually understand the content, a child needs to be fluent - he needs to not think about what each letter represents. By the time a non-fluent child has finished decoding a passage as opposed to reading a passage, most often he will not remember what he has read. That is why he can encounter the word “cat”, sound it out and say it, and then a sentence later, encounter the same word and again must decode it.

By the end of A1, a child will have word cards for zip, jet, fib, yes, pen, wet, bet and will, spill, flag, drum and fell as well as chin, chop, rich, duck, cash, and black. 79 words all together are presented.

Please visit this post at a later date as I share how my son has progressed.

I had the pleasure of meeting Tony Barone at our recent Catholic homeschool conference. He’s a parishioner at a local church, the father of 5 children, a Major in the United States Air Force and has worked as a prosecutor and defense attorny. Tony write Christian adventures stories that have received positive reviews and now he has book 2 out. Please take a moment to visit his website and view the video.