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Showing posts with the label Homeschool

Math can be poetic

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 I was good at arithmetic in school (adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing), but I never had a mathematical mind. I struggled through algebra. I don't retain dates or phone numbers well, despite my good memory. When a friend decided to major in math, I didn't understand it. How boring, dry, difficult, cold! I've changed my opinion since homeschooling. D and M have the Rossini affinity for numbers. They're interest ignites mine. But beyond that, I've learned that math can be beautiful! I first heard the term poetic math in this article from Mater at Magistra . Author Lesley Payne says that math, like literature, can " instill in our children awe toward the beautiful, poetic aspects of creation."  Scientists use math to discover laws of nature. So shouldn't lovers of beauty appreciate math as well?   Math, poetry and patterns   One thing that transformed my view on math was thinking about it in terms of patterns, no

If God is willing...

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" Come now, you who say, 'Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and get gain'; whereas you do not know about tomorrow. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, 'If the Lord wills, we shall live and we shall do this or that'" (James 4:13-15). This passage from James the Apostle can almost seem silly. Should we really preface every statement of intent with "God willing?" I used to ask myself this question. That changed in the summer of 2002.  I was a new mom, struggling to adjust to sleepless nights and no time to myself, when it became clear that I would have to return to work. Never in my life had I considered being a working mother. In fact, I'd had many discussions in which I had said, "There is absolutely no way I would work when I had small kids." But circumstances were against me. I had no other choice,

Jacob and Esau contemplative homeschool unit

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I have been blogging lately about my method of contemplative homeschooling. Here is an example of a unit I did a few years ago with my boys on Jacob and Esau. The best way to start these units is for you (the parent) to meditate on the Scripture passage you will study with your kids. In this case, prayerfully read Genesis 25:29-24, 27:1-40. Since this passage is long, you could spread your meditation over 2-3 days or choose a smaller portion of the text to meditate on.  Identify the main elements or themes of the story that speak to you and use them as part of your studies. The themes I chose for this unit were twins, telling the truth, and comparing and contrasting. (I created this before I began starting each unit with my prayer time.) Narration: Read "Esau and Jacob" from The Golden Children's Bible aloud. If you have a different Bible, use only the parts of the story that correspond to the sections of Genesis noted above. Have your kids narr

Why use a homily--not a sermon--format for homeschooling?

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  A couple of weeks ago, I wrote briefly about my faith-based method of homeschooling . To recap: I see methods such as Catholic Heritage Curricula, which bring the faith to individual subjects, as using a sermon format. In contrast, our Contemplative Homeschool starts with a Bible passage. I look for the themes in that passage, and add as many subjects as I can into the discussion of those themes. As my kids get older, I hope to make writings of the Church Fathers and official documents and creeds a starting place for our curriculum as well. Here are some advantages to using the homily format. 1. Homilies promote meditation on Sacred Scripture.   The Contemplative Homeschool is all about teaching our children to put prayer at the top of their priorities. It encourages a prayerful attitude and teaches methods of prayer, especially Christian meditation. As one blog commenter said, meditating on Scripture is like preaching a homily to oneself. My boys are form

3 reasons I love Catholicism: Truth, goodness, and beauty

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 Micaela at California to Korea is hosting a link-up called "3 Reasons I love Catholicism." You can submit your link all month. There are lots of good submissions, so check them out and join up. My reasons (in this post, anyway) are the triumvirate of truth, goodness, and beauty. I will show you how truth, goodness, and beauty are essential to the Contemplative Homeschool and to seeking God. Fr. Benedict Groeschel, in Spiritual Passages: The Psychology of Spiritual Development "for those who seek" , uses the categories of truth, beauty, goodness, and oneness in a similar way to learning styles or temperaments. They signify to him four ways of relating to God. We can use these categories to help ourselves and our students/children grow spiritually. Truth satisfies the intellect     The Catholic Church speaks the truth, no matter how few listen. She does not shy away from controversy. Countless Catholics have been martyrs for the truth. Unlike our relati

Is your homeschool faith-based?

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  I’ve read at least a dozen books on homeschool philosophy and gleaned something from every one. But none exactly met my vision of what I wanted our homeschool to be. Some were literature-based (Charlotte Mason/ Real Learning ). Others were history-based (Neo-Classical/ The Well-Trained Mind ). Others were classics-based ( The Latin-Centered Curriculum ). The faith-based methods fell into two general categories of Protestant, Bible-based ( Ruth Beechick ) and either Protestant or Catholic textbooks that incorporated the faith into each subject (Seton Homeschool and Catholic Heritage Curricula). I decided to create a Catholic Bible-based homeschool method. Teaching with homilies, not sermons   One way in which the Contemplative Homeschool is different from other faith-based methods is that I spread religion across the curriculum in a homily, not sermon, format. A sermon, common in Protestant churches, starts with an idea. The preacher finds Bible passages to sup

Yertle in Babylon

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This post is part of an occasional series called Finding God in Children's Liter ature , in which I look at children's books in light of the Bible and Sacred Tradition. All correlations between these books and the Christian faith are my own insights, unless otherwise noted. You may quote me or link to these posts, but please do not re-blog them or use these ideas as though they were your own. Thank you. Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss is the story of a proud and power-hungry reptile. He starts out as king of a pond of turtles. Unsatisfied with that, he commands his subjects to stand on one another's' shells in a stack, while he climbs to the top. The stack of turtles keeps growing, despite the protests of the turtle on the bottom, named Mack. Yertle believes he is king of all he can see, so the higher his throne of turtles goes, the more powerful he becomes. Eventually, he over steps and the stack of turtles collapses. At last, Yertle is only King of t

Teaching typology with Joseph and his brothers

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In past posts, I have written on Peter Rabbit and the Fall of Man, Benjamin Bunny and the narrow gate , and the Epiphany in My Side of the Mountain . I am making this into a series called Finding God in children's literature . Before posting more on fiction, I want to examine how to find Jesus in the Old Testament. Let's look at typology with the story of Joseph in Genesis. Typology finds the things, people, or events in the Bible that prefigure more significant things, people, or events in salvation history. Most types are in the Old Testament. Most anti-types (what the types prefigure) are in the New Testament. Fisheaters.com has a fuller explanation of typology . Learn more about Joseph and Jesus.

Meet Pope Francis (for kids and their parents)

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Parents: I have written a short biography of Pope Francis for children. Find definitions of vocabulary words, links, downloads, and other teaching ideas at the end of this post.  " Habemus Papam !" the protodeacon announced to the waiting crowd in St. Peter's Square on March 13, 2013. "We have a pope! The most eminent and most reverend Lord, Lord Jorge Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church Bergoglio, Who takes for himself the name of Francis." The people cheered when they heard the new pope would be Pope Francis . But they also asked themselves , Who is Cardinal Bergoglio? Where is he from? What kind of pope will he be? Continue reading .

10 Ways to keep your kids Catholic

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Watching the events of the last few weeks unfold, I have been struck anew by how many former Catholics there are in the news media. None of them have a clue about what it means to be Catholic. That, coupled with this post at 8 Kids and a Business, got me thinking about how to keep our kids Catholic. I decided to create a list. Please note: my children are still preteens, so I cannot say, "It worked for us." But I have done some research on the matter, and observed other Catholic families. I've often wondered how my husband and his siblings all remained good Catholics, while some of my siblings did not. I almost left the Church myself in my 20s. I also know that a parent can do everything right, and his children can still choose to leave the Church. We have freewill. This list is not meant for pointing fingers or accusing other parents of failing. It's meant to help those who are raising their kids now and want to do the best they can. View the

Matthew 16 and the papal conclave for kids

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Since Sacred Scripture is at the center of our homeschool, I decided to begin our studies on the papal conclave with a look at the origins of the papacy in Matthew 16. We have been reading The Golden Children's Bible chronologically. We are just finishing the Sermon on the Mount with a unit on the parable of the wise and foolish builders. Reading Matthew 16 at this point provides a good bridge to studies of the pope. For the best start to this unit, you (the parent) should prayerfully read Matthew 7:24-27 and 16:14-20 ahead of time. Make it the subject of your daily meditation. (If you don't know how to do Christian meditation, read my recent post on mental prayer , or see this sample meditation .) You may want to share your insights or resolutions with your kids in the course of your studies. Then use as many of the following activities as you see fit. View the whole lesson plan.