Catholic Homeschool Support

Testing requirements vary from state to state. Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) allows you to select your state and read a general statement of what is required to homeschool including the testing requirements. I would also suggest you read your own state’s laws for yourself to ensure that you have all the details.

If you are required to have your children take some type of standardized testing, you need to know what is available but also be sure to check with your state’s laws about who is permitted to administer the test. The Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) and the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS) are often times taken in a group setting. Check with your state’s local homeschooling groups to see if there are test dates set up. Possessing a college degree may be a requirement to administer some tests.

While this is not an exhaustive list of standardized tests that may meet your state’s requirements or your needs, hopefully it will give you a place to begin researching:

• California Achievement Test
• Comprehensive Testing Program (CTPIII)
• Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills
• Iowa Test of Basic Skills
• Metropolitan Achievement Test
• Peabody Individual Test
• Personalized Achievement Summary Setting (newer homeschool developed testing – may not be acceptable in all states)
• Stanford Achievement Test
• Tera Nova
• Wide Range Achievement Test
• Woodcock Johnson Revised Tests of Achievement

GHEA has an overview of several of the tests listed above.
Several Catholic curriculum providers supply standardized tests to not only their enrolled families but to the general homeschooling community including:

• Seton offers a $25 CAT-E Survey test (this is the short test featuring 4 or 5 items per section) (parent administered)
• Kolbe offers a $50 CAT/5 Complete Battery test (available until June, 2008) (parent administered)
• Our Lady of Victory (scroll about halfway down the page) offers the Iowa Basic Skills Test (older version) – I am not sure if the service is offered to non registered families, but you can email.

Following the advice and suggestions of other homeschoolers, you may find that one of these businesses provides the testing that you need:

• Family Learning Organization offers the CAT/5 and Wide Range Achievement Test (WRAT) *both are parents administered)
• Bayside School Services offers the CAT/5 – TerraNova is no longer available to homeschoolers
• Piedmont Educational Services offers the ITBS – please note that the test administrator must possess a Bachelor Degree. This test is often offered in a group setting.

I am using this post as a way to keep track of the recipes that I’ve tried and my family actually enjoys. With eight children, that is no small feat! Please note that the recipes are approximates, I don’t really measure much except when I bake. And, once again, self disclosing, there are assorted children who will not eat certain meals. So, I let them opt for peanut butter and jelly. I know other families do this differently, I just do not have the energy to fight the battle over more than a single bite of everything. I have seen the tastebuds of my family mature as they get older, even with the boys who are particularly picky. So, we will see in about ten years if I have a family that will eat a wide variety of food.

Chicken Parmigiana ~
Chicken Enchiladas in Cheese Sauce ~
Mediterranean Chicken ~
Super Bowl Nachos ~
Beer Brats

02/14/08 – Chicken Parmigiana – Tonight’s meal was another hit. I dirtied up a few too many pots and pans – but the extra cleaning involved was worth it. I used a pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into cubes. I tossed them with a cup of flour in a plastic bag, poured them in hot oil and panned fried until they were crispy. In the mean time, I made a simple tomato sauce – large can of sauce with a can of stewed tomatoes and assorted seasonings including onions and garlic – just typical sauce. I prepared a half a package of angel hair pasta and got out some mozarella cheese and we were ready to assemble. Throw the pasta in the bottom of a 9X13 pan, top with tomato sauce, add chicken and then finish it off with a layer of cheese. Bake in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes until the cheese is bubbly. If you want to stretch the meal since chicken – well – really any kind of meat – can become expensive, you can cube the chicken up a bit smaller and cook more pasta and divide over two 9X13 inch pans. Still tastes great.

02/13/08 – Chicken Enchiladas – My most picky eater actually asks for this dish. I think it is the sour cream in the cheese sauce that makes it a hit for all eight kids – plus us grownups. Start with a pound of skinless, boneless chicken breasts – you can either poach the chicken in water or fry in a pan, but let it cook and then shred the meat. Return to the pan and add a can of Rotele – yes – my favorite, name brand condiment and cook until the liquid has evaporated. In the meantime, add 1 1/2 cups of cheese – a blend of mozarella and cheddar is fine – or even just cheddar along with a few tablespoons of flour and 8 ounces of sour cream, slowly heat until the cheese has complete melted. Warm up a pile of torillas (my family prefers flour instead of corn) so they are soft and easy to roll up. Place a generous spoonful of chicken in the middle of the tortilla, roll up and place seam side down in a 9X13 inch pan that has been sprayed lightly with oil. I can squeeze about 16 tortillas in the pan. Then simply pour the cheese sauce over the tortillas and pop in a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

01/28/08 – Mediterranean Chicken with risotto - In an attempt to lose weight this summer, I tried the Sonoma diet. Well, it was not an effective weight loss diet for me – mostly because the food was soooo good. But, I did learn how to put together some nice tastes and use my bucket loads of tomatoes. Now, in the winter tomatoes are pricey and generally flavorless, but I did happen upon an nicely priced container of grape tomatoes at Trader Joes – ok, another asides, they have some of the nicest speciality items and organic products at prices I can afford once in a while. I chopped up a whole chicken into pieces along with an onion and four cloves of garlic and half a container of the grape tomatoes, and tossed the whole mixture with 1/4 of a cup of olive oil, some sea salt, freshly ground pepper and a bit of fresh rosemary. After placing the chicken in a 9X13 pan, I took about 2 ounces of feta cheese and crumbled it over the chicken, threw it in a 400 degree oven and backed for about 45 minutes to one hour. The only thing I wished I could have added was about 1/4 of a cup of an olive tamponade that I found at our local Trader Joes. The price is better than buying a jar of kalamata olives and it is so much easier to use and keeps for a long time in the refrigerator. I had about 8 ounces of risotto left, so I cooked it according to the directions on the package with two chicken boullion cubes, some garlic powder (hey I ran out of time), Italian seasonings and a tablespoon of butter. It is only the second time I have prepared risotto and I found I had to constantly stir it to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

o1/27/08 – Superbowl Nachos - This meal was inspired by Rachel Ray – yes – the girls and I watch a lot of the cooking channel. Again, it was a Superbowl show. She had made a healthy chicken chili, but I opted for the handy ground beef. So, I fried up a pound of ground beef (ours if grass fed, very lean) with a half an onion and 2 small chorizo sausages removed from the casing. Once it was cooked, I added a package of taco mix and a can of Mild Rotel – not to get too off track, but this nifty little item has really jazzed up a number of my dishes including chili. I let that cook down, and then a put a thin layer of shredded cheese in the bottom of 9X13 pan. I threw the meat mixture on top of that and then added about 1/2 of an 8 ounce container of sour cream in dollops over the top of the meat. Semi-crushed corn chips were added as the next layer. Finally, another layer of shredded cheese was added to the top. I baked it in a 400 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes – basically, until the cheese was a bit browned and melted. Everyone truly enjoyed this dish – it was such an easy way of making nachos and by putting the meat on the bottom, the chips stayed nice and crisp through the entire meal.

01/26/08 - Brats cooked in beer w/ grilled onions and green peppers – oh my gosh, we’ve had grilled brats before, but this was simply the best. I watched Paula Dean’s Superbowl program for the idea. I took a package of brats, simmered them gently in one can of beer. As they were simmering, I sliced up one large sweet onion and a large green pepper and cooked them on my large griddle w/ a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Once they were softened, I threw them in with the brats and cooked down the whole mixture for about 15 minutes – the liquid had disappeared. Then, I took the entire pan and dropped it back on the griddle to crisp all of it up. I grilled the hotdog buns and threw it all together with a big bag of chips. Not an especially healthy dinner, but fun!

I must first preface this entry with a bit of self disclosure. I am not an “audio” type person. When material is presented to me in an audio format, I do not attend well to the details. Generally, I find that I need to read information in order to process it. But, I understand that other people take in information in different manners, so I want to offer both audio and text materials found on the internet to assist us in growing spiritually.

First of all, many of us have Ipod’s and other MP3 type devices. So, how we can use these devices as well as our wi-fi connected computers and laptops to grow deeper in our faith … and do it on the run many times? Well, audio material often times will be the medium that fits our busy lifestyles.

Podcasts are generally audio programs that generally can be downloaded to your laptop or Ipod to listen to while you are “offline” (i.e. driving in the car or walking on the treadmill). Itunes from Apple has a number of programs that you can download quite easily even if you do not use an IPod device. Once you download and install Itunes, you can navigate to the podcast section by clicking on the Itune Store and then in the Itune Store box, click on Podcasts – there should be a category box below now and you can navigate your way through Religion & Spirituality to the box below that should allow you to select Christianity.

You will have to try out the channels to see what programs fit your need – of course you’ll want orthodox programs.

• Rosary Army – look on the right side of the page for top
• Catholic Answers Live
• Disciples with a Microphone – large network of “podcasts”
• CatholicRadioInternational – a new comer into the world of Catholic audio content, you will find a rich assortment of materials from reflections, to current news, to poetry, to books offered chapter by chapter including “Left to Tell” and “Swimming with Scapulars”
• The Catholic Hack! – collection of podcasts including apologetics, interviews with Steve Ray and Marcus Grod

Now for those of you who need text based material (yes that includes me), please consider the following:

• Virtual Rosary -You can download a small application that helps you to say the rosary every day. The software is available for Windows, Mac, Palm and Pocket PC platforms.
• Universalis – Do you want to pray the Divine Office? Well, this site assists you in that endeavor. Universalis is based on the 1985 edition of the Latin Breviary. You can either visit the website daily, or download it to your pc, or to you WAP enabled phone or you PDA via Avantgo (AvantGo is a service that allows you to download pages from the Web for use with Palm, Windows Mobile (Pocket PC), and Symbian handhelds.)
• Mass Readings – Have you seen websites and blogs with that little nifty box that has the Daily Mass readings? Well, this site provides the HTML code for you to place it on your very own site – how encouraging for people who visit your blog to remember to take in the Word of God.
• More Mass Readings – The USCCB provides a site for the Daily Readings on on the same page, you can sign up for the daily podcast of readings.

Now, if you want to kick your technology up a notch and enjoy audio programs – you can think about adding a Bluetooth adapter to your PC (your PDA may already have builtin Bluetooth) and a set of Bluetooth headphones. If your machine runs Vista as mine does, you have to find a USB adapter that actually has Vista drivers for Bluetooth. I finally found this:

But if you have an XP machine or Mac, you can find Bluetooth USB adapters in the $5 – $10 range. Insure that the adapter has the A2DP protocol – this is what gives you stereo sound.

I use this set of Bluetooth Stereo Headphones:

I had another pair that broke when I accidentally threw a book on them (I had picked them up used so not a huge loss):

What makes the BT adapter and headphones so useful, is that you are no longer tethered to you computer in order to listen to audio material. While your computer is in the school room, you can be in the kitchen preparing supper and listening to an audio program.

Ok, on all the general homeschool lists I belong to, laundry is a common topic that comes up often. So, I am going to share the system that works for my family. First of all, I have confess that I am not a laundry zealot. I do not fold underwear nor can I remember the last time I ironed anything (hey, isn’t that what the wrinkle release spray is for?). Furthermore, most of my children’s clothing is well loved (i.e. hand me downs), so I do not have “issues” with colors bleeding onto whites.

After having one to many mountains of laundry, I had to find a different way to cope. I enlisted all the children in the sorting of laundry, but since I found it such a distasteful job and overwhelming to boot, I postponed doing the laundry until I had several loads of whites to do, multiple loads of colors and then of course towels and sheets added in.

The kids all tried to be helpful to begin with, but the mountains of laundry invariably led them to decide (well it was mostly the little boys) that it needed to conquered. So, as socks were flying to each child’s pile, someone would take the initiative to climb the mountain of clothes and then the true bedlam began.

At this time, I had been “flying” ala my modified FlyLady – so I decided that the kids were old enough to be responsible for their own laundry. So, I found a set of plastic shelving and 7 laundry baskets (the 2 youngest boys where the same size) that would fit on the shelves and we began.

Dirty clothes had to be put in each of their individual baskets – this eliminated the need to sort laundry. I experienced, a major epiphany (a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience)

When the basket is full, the child places laundry soap and color safe whitener and washes their clothes and then places them in the dryer. If someone complains about not having clothes to wear – the short answer is “do your laundry”.

In addition, I pair up the older children with the younger ones and they assist in measuring the laundry detergent and moving the wet clothes to the dryer. They also lend assistance in getting the clothes in the drawers.

Ok, this is the next thing I have to ‘fess up over. I have given them folding lessons, but their drawers do not look perfect … it’s ok for me. It might not work for you, but it does for me.

The final key to the laundry solution was offered on one of my favorite homeschool lists. She uses the same system and suggested that when they do their basket of laundry, have them throw their towel and sheets in at the same time.

Now, if you need, you can have two baskets for each child, one for colors and one for whites. As I stated ealier, I have no concerns over colors bleeding into whites. Once in a while I may run a load of white soaks to get the last traces of Georgia red clay out. But for the most part, the detergent and color-safe whitener seems sufficient. And, since we run the clothes on hot (remember nothing is new or shrinkable – hey we live in the south and have no sweaters!), I feel like all the germs are washed / killed.

Love2Learn has had a long-term, very well esteemed internet presence, in fact, according to the site, it has been in existence for 10 years! Alicia Van Hecke has worked incredibly hard to make this a site that Catholic Homeschoolers should have on their Favorite’s List. What makes this site stand out? What makes it such a valuable resource? Well, it is the “place” to find reviews of all that pertains to Catholic homeschooling resources.

Have you heard about a new book? Want to know if it is worth purchasing? Well, take a moment and search through the website to see reviews on the product.

So, take a moment to visit – enjoy their “facelift” and they are revamping their site and making it an even more valuable internet resource for Catholic homeschoolers.

I have to say as a computer science major in college, that writing was never my favorite subject. Fortunately or perhaps that should read, unfortunately, most of my college level writing was technically oriented. User manual, installation directions, FAQ – yes, I feel comfortable with those styles.

When I began homeschooling, especially as my children got a bit older, I realized that I was not comfortable teaching nor evaluating writing. How could I break the steps down into manageable chunks? Even more importantly, how do I evaluate the finished product? The questions were so difficult for me that I became “paralyzed” and thus taught / required no writing until my oldest children were in fifth grade!

Well, like some other homeschoolers I have spoken too, I am not alone. Thankfully, one year at a local homeschool conference, I stumbled into the Institute for Excellence in Writing booth. After joining the fabulous online yahoo group and a number of questions later, I purchased the Teaching Writing: Structure and Style.

First of all, while the DVD set is very expensive, it is not consumable, and if you find that it is not the program for you, there is a 100% buy back guarantee. The next huge plus for me was that I could fit the program into my existing curriculum. I happen to use Mother of Divine Grace syllabi (I am not enrolled in the program).

I watched most of the DVD’s in the afternoon after school was finished – it was a bit more enjoyable because I invited three other mothers to view them with me. We worked the demonstrations as Andrew Padewa suggested. We were introduced to the concept and reasonings behind the program and to the KWO (key word outline) and then on to the 6 dressups and sentence openers and the various writing models. Finally, I taught a short writing program to the children of these moms using another IEW program, U.S. Based History Lessons, Volume One.

At the time, this volume was quite a bit cheaper, so it was an easy way to introduce the dress ups and sentence openers and KWO concept and writing models to the students using a scripted program. Once we completed about half the program, I felt comfortable simply making our syllabi writing assigments follow the IEW method. If I had to do it again, I would probably skip the U.S. program and just introduce the concepts, one or two at a time per week and work on one writing model a week.

My suggestion with the program is that you focus on it being a “spiral” program. We did not aim for “mastery” (as opposed to my favorite math program, MathUSee). Instead, I wanted to expose my children to the entire program and then come back and refine the various elements.

This program was a true blessing for my oldest child, a writing phobic, poor speller. It provided him a method to separate the gathering of facts (key word outlines) and organization (writing modules including essays, book reports and reports) from the actual writing process (dress ups, sentence openers and avoiding banned words).

For me, the program was a blessing because not only did I find a way to teach writing, I had a more objective manner to evaluate writing. Each assignment comes with a small checksheet and their writing manuals include the models to detail how the assigment should be structured.

I could go on and on about the program, but I’ll end with one other item of note. In an informal poll on a homeschooling list I particpated in several years ago. We came to the conclusion that IEW was especially appealing to more “technical” type mothers. Finally, for additional support, please consider joining the IEWFamilies yahoo email list. While the volume is quite high, all questions are answered and many years of experience are available to guide you.

A program that takes a much different approach to writing, BraveWriter, seemed to appeal to other families. So, IEW is definitely not the solution for everyone. Julia Bogart, from BraveWriter and author of “The Writer’s Jungle” has a beautiful approach to writing that you should definitely look into. In fact, she even offers online writing courses that have received rave reviews. I would love to have someone else offer a post about this program.

2/9/08 – Not too late to do this lovely Lenten Calendar – thanks Nissa – be sure to check out all the posts on the blog!

One more idea -thanks to Michelle H – she does not take credit for it, but did allow me to pass it on:

Stations of the Cross Box to help keep toddlers and small children’s interest while praying the Stations. This is a simple shoe box with small objects that symbolize each station in the box. The children pull out the appropriate object to hold during that station.

Station 1 Jesus is Condemned to Death — a string to represent the rope used to tie Jesus’ hands

Station 2 Jesus Carries His Cross — a small cross

Station 3 Jesus Falls the First Time — a band-aid

Station 4 Jesus Meets His Mother Mary — a plastic rosary

Station 5 Simon Helps Jesus — small plastic figure

Station 6 Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus — small piece of white
fabric with the face of Jesus sketched on it

Station 7 Jesus Falls the Second Time — a band-aid

Station 8 Jesus Comforts the Women of Jerusalem — a tissue

Station 9 Jesus Falls the Third Time — a band-aid

Station 10 Jesus is Stripped of His Garments — a small square of purple felt

Station 11 Jesus is Nailed to the Cross — a large nail

Station 12 Jesus Dies on the Cross — a crucifix

Station 13 Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross — a laminated holy card depicting Michelangelo’s Pieta

Station 14 Jesus is Buried — a stone
02/02/08 -

• Another lovely Lenten activity – a Lenten Cross – with lots of great pictures.
• I have been looking for the link to this calendar!
• Create a Jesus Tree modeled after the Jesse Tree – you can order a kit here.
• Activities that can be order from the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis including a Lent Calendar with windows to open for each day of Lent

Thanks to the posters on all the wonderful yahoo email lists I belong to – I would not have been able to find all these resources.
01/29/2008 – Catholic Culture sent a wonderful set of links including one to their site. Please check out the Lenten Activities they list.
Let’s build a nice list of Lenten Resources. Leave your suggestions in the comment section. Thanks!

I am beginning the list right now:

• I am getting ready to order this poster right now to assemble in my hall way for the weeks when we are unable to attend our church’s Stations of the Cross
• http://www.love2learn.net/calendar/lent.htm – a small but I am sure growing lists of books and resources with direct links to buy
• Lenten Calendar – fantastic printable online calendar beginning with the first Sunday of Lent and finishing with Holy Saturday with a suggestion for each day of Lent including things to give up, acts of Mercy and spiritual reading.
• Ash Wednesday from CatholicCulture.org – explanation, devotions
• Lenten Activities from CatholicCulture.org – another small list of activities
• Lenten Activities from Domestic-Church.org – activities are organized by family and age of children, so you are sure to find something appropriate
• Stations of the Cross Kit from IlluminatedInk – I know it is expensive, but the review I read about it stated that it was a beautiful project. The only thing to note is that you probably will not be able to complete all the stations in one sitting
• Site Reviews offered by “Resources for Catholic Educators” – many of the links at the top of the page are dated, but scroll to the bottom to find coloring sheets with related Lenten themes
• Stations of the Cross Reflections from Mother Angelica and EWTN – the pictures are beautiful and the reflections are worth the trip to the site
• Create a Paschal Candle – directions from CatholicCulture.org
• Stations of the Cross Coloring Book (pdf) from CatholicMom.com – a lovely printable coloring book so each of your children can have their own Stations of the Cross book to bring to church or to use at home
• Online Stations of the Cross (English and Spanish text) – the pictures were drawn by the students of St. Patrick’s Catholic School in WI.
• A Christian Seder Meal for Holy Thursday
• One More Seder Meal plan from Domestic-Church.com

It’s that time of year – post-Christmas – pre-Lent – burnout. What do you do to deal with it? Leave your suggestions in the comment section.

I did a quick “google” search for Catholic homeschool blogs that had articles on burnout and am compiling a list of suggestions. I hope that you might find some inspiration and hope for dealing with this season.

Articles about Burnout

• Michele Quigley speaks about “Burning up, not out“
• Elizabeth Floss also writes about “C is for Children“
• Links to Homeschool Burnout Articles from About.com

Suggestions for Dealing with Burnout

• Make plans to attend a Catholic Homeschool Conference – be surrounded by like-minded families, receive encouragement and see all the wonderful resources available (even just planning to attend can give you a shot in the arm).
• Add a new resource to your homeschool program – you can plan to do a lapbook, or add a Trip around the World geography unit study
• Plan a fieldtrip with your family or with a few other homeschoolers
• Go to adoration and bring it to the Lord
• Remind yourself that this is just a “feeling” – it may be a strong “feeling” but we don’t have to act on everything we feel.
•  and the corollary – “this too shall pass” – feelings are generally transient and as the weather improves and we near the goal of the end of our school years or as we approach a nice break, many times our attitudes will improve as will our children’s attitudes
• Plan a Mother’s Night Out with some like-minded moms
• Take up a new hobby – learn a new skill like pottery or beading or knitting
• Sew baby clothes for a local NICU
• Read an inspiring book either about homeschooling like: to see how other families approach homeschooling.

I stumbled on to flylady.net when I was pregnant with my fourth child. My house was in a shambles – I had 3 babies 3 and under and expecting my 4th. I really wasn’t homeschooling as the kids were still very young, but I knew we were going to homeschool.

One morning, things came to head – I had been nursing a baby, my oldest son was playing with a friend outside and the doorbell rang. Rushing to the door, I threw it open expecting to find my son. Well, it wasn’t my son, but a neighbor who stopped by – and I was not in a state of dress appropriate for answering the door – and it was nearly noon. I was mortified.

I knew things had to change. A friend had mentioned FlyLady and that led me to an internet quest and six years later, I have a house that while not picture perfect is acceptable for company that might want to drop in. And, I am always dressed as soon as I get up – well except for the week I give myself after having a baby. I have permission to laze around in a nightgown and robe and focus on establishing the newborn nursing relationship.

So, what did FlyLady do for me? Well, she broke up household management into tiny steps – one of the first being to get dressed and put on shoes in the morning. Another important step is to go to bed leaving the kitchen sink clean and sparkling.

I have to say, that there seems to be something magical that happened when I started clearing the kitchen sink. The clean seemed to expand in a circle from the kitchen. The reality is that I simply started to develop house cleaning routines. I was able to face my problem head on. Prior to FlyLady, I did not clean until I realized something was dirty. And, when I started to clean, I didn’t want to stop until the entire house / job was complete – hours and hours later generally. Then the vicious circle kicked in. The next time I finally realized that the bathroom was dirty – I was nearly paralyzed with the fact that it was going to take hours to finish and therefore did not want to even begin.

FlyLady helped me to break up housekeeping into “zones” and small steps – generally 5 – 15 minutes at a time. And, I had permission to stop at the end of the time period. And, since we worked on a zone a week and there was a weekly “houseblessing” there was never a huge crisis cleaning awaiting me.

Last year, I took FlyLady to the next step – I assigned my older children their own zone in the downstairs. The zones rotate each week – the living room being the least favorite since it is the area that the babies drag out all their toys. They are responsible for dusting and windows and floor cleaning and the daily toy / trash pickup for that zone. In the kitchen, the zone person will unload the dishes and ensure that the table is cleaned off after each meal. I have no arguments over who is responsible for cleaning up or having heated discussions over whose turn it is to do the dishes or clear the table. And, the zone only lasts a week!

Finally, one of the most important lessons FlyLady taught me was to tackle my clutter. Clutter is a killer to my home. Clutter and the need to hold on to “things” with the idea that I might use them at a later date interferes with my peace. I have pared down clothing and towels and books and papers. I have places in my house were there are not “things” on the walls and on the floor so that my eyes my find a place to “rest” … to not be stimulated.

My system isn’t perfect and I know so many other lovely mothers whose house are in much better shape. But, I finally have peace … and the ability to have company drop in unexpectedly!

     Mother’s Rule of Life author, Holly Pierlot suggestions that our first priority (first P) is prayer and God seems to bless me when I give Him this time. I kind of think it’s like offering God my first fruits of the day. You can order the book through my Amazon link, A Mother’s Rule of Life.

Our day now starts with the daily Bible readings from the USCCB. Then we proceed on to our daily prayers – I have a first grader who is working on the prayers needed for First Holy Communion. Older children are working on memorizing the “Anima Christi” and of course we recite the “Act of Contrition” and “Morning Offering”.

When I offer God the first part of my day, it seems as though He blesses me with the ability to get all the rest of our work accomplished. But on the days when I am running behind and we skip this part, we seem to experience more strife, fussing and in general we just have very long school days.

We also may read a short selection on the saint of the day if I receive an email in time as well as a meditation on the mass readings. Finally, on Friday’s, I try to make a point of visiting “Open Wednesday” to preview the readings for the upcoming Sunday mass.

My next goal is to find a family catechism / religious education program that I can add right after the daily Bible readings, but I’m still searching for one that works.

Tags: faith, homeschool