Association Of Catholic Bloggers

When I first began to realize that I had ADHD, I came across an invaluable list of  50 tips for managing Attention Deficit  from Drs. Ed Hallowell and John Ratey.  I still have my original copy of the list printed off from AOL! In today's blog, I am sharing not only their life-changing advice on managing your tasks but also  my personal experience with Attention Deficit with Hyperactivity disorder  and how I used these suggestions to transform my life.   Set up your Environment to Reward Rather than Deflate. " To understand what a deflating environment is, all most adult ADD'ers need do is think back to school. Now that you have the freedom of adulthood, try to set things up so that you will not constantly be reminded of your limitations." During the last 3 decades since graduating from High School, I have dabbled in many different professions with the best fits being the careers with task versatility and work from home capabilities. Not coi...

As I have been struggling to draw the fine line between mercy and truthful compány when adressing an homosexual person I want to share with you the best balanced advice I have found yet and it comes from the recent words of Pope Francis in this regard. Very clear and useful. taken entirely from CNA Catholic News Agency site:   Aboard the papal plane, Oct 2, 2016 / 03:55 pm ( CNA/EWTN News ) .- On his way back from Georgia and Azerbaijan Pope Francis criticized what he called the “wicked” push of gender theory in schools, but stressed that individuals who struggle with their sexual identity ought to be treated with mercy, as Jesus would do.

I recently concluded my "blogging break"/family vacation. We had a wonderful month visiting friends and family in the U.S. and, as always, wish we'd had time to see more! Now we're back in Erbil, Kurdistan. Many of you have no doubt been hearing about Iraq and Kurdistan a lot on the news recently, so I thought I'd give a brief update and ask for prayers. Here (Erbil) is currently still safe, and we are all praying it stays so. Erbil has received many of the refugees that have fled from other regions. Most people here are trying to more or less continue normal life, while also helping the refugees as much as possible. The Church is very focused on helping people continue going forward. Erbil and the Kurdistan region has been developing very quickly and succeeding at maintaining a peaceful and stable region. We are working very hard to continue trying to foster that peace and stability, in spite of all that's going on in the surrounding regions.A lot of inte...

I cannot remember how long ago Melanie asked that we introduce or reintroduce ourselves, but at last I have put something together.  This is a reintroduction. Some Things about Me that You Might Like to Know Lifelong Catholic Married 35 years and still going strong Mother of one Mother-in-law of one Retired since 2008 Professed Lay Carmelite Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois, but now living in Northern California, after having lived in a few other places as well Educated at Palmer School, St. Edward School, Sacred Heart Academy, Resurrection High School, DePaul University, Northeastern Illinois University, Franciscan School of Theology Employment history: waitress, lab tech, school teacher, U.S.A.F sergeant, Chicago police officer, director of religious education, and more Learning guitar and Spanish You can find more, if you like, at my blog, From the Pulpit of My Life, on the " Meet Ruth Ann " page.  I would enjoy hearing from you!

Ready to celebrate the rest of Lent as a family? Here are several activities you can do together, whether or not you homeschool. p=suitable for grades 1-3 m=suitable for grades 4-6 j=suitable for grades 7-9 s=suitable for grades 10-12  Books Besides reading the Gospel accounts of Holy Week, try reading and discussing the following books that deal with sacrifice, martyrdom, or resurrection: The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams (p). The Tale of Three Trees by Angela Elwell Hunt (p+). The Queen and the Cross: The Story of St. Helen by Cornelia Mary Bilinsky (p, m) The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (p+ for reading aloud; m+ for independent reading). Continue reading at Contemplative Homeschool.

Advent activities for your family December 3, 2013 By Connie Rossini Leave a Comment (Edit) D lights the first Advent candle a few years ago. Advent is here and with it our six-week break from homeschooling. Instead of doing school work, we do an activity each day preparing for Christmas. Some are distinctly religious. Others are not. Here are some ideas for activities you can do with your family. Learn and sing Advent hymns   Sunday at Mass, D was amazed that I knew many of the verses of O Come, O Come, Emanuel by heart. Well, that was the only Advent hymn I learned in Catholic school, and I don’t recall singing any other one at Mass in the 70s and 80s. It wasn’t until I started praying the Divine Office as an adult that I learned some of the beautiful hymns I had been missing. Here are some you will want to learn along with your kids, if you don’t know them already: People, Look East . This song by poet Eleanor Farjeon helps you to see all the pr...

The Seven Virtues by Anton Francesco dello Scheggia (photo credit: Google Art Project). Through prayer and study, I’ve created a list of the elements of an education that I think best starts children on this road. Divine union comes through living a life of prayer and virtue. So, generally speaking, we want to teach about prayer and virtue, model them, and practice them with our children . But we also want a home and a school environment that is conducive to prayer and virtuous living. Prayer requires leisure   The Greek work schole, from which “school” comes, means “not-at-work time.” In classical society, school was a leisure activity, a pursuit of wisdom that had little to do with the workaday world. The truest education is free or liberal. It is not “useful” in a utilitarian sense. It is not servile. It is learning about things that are valuable in themselves , rather than means to obtain what we desire. I wrote about leisure’s importance several mon...

  I’m going to start critiquing some of the homeschool methodology/philosophy books I’ve read. Oliver Van DeMille (along with his wife Rachel) created the Leadership Education method, also know by the title of Oliver’s first book on the subject A Thomas Jefferson Education . I have garnered much from this philosophy. However, there are several points that I question from my perspective of a Contemplative Homeschool. I will discuss one such issue here: whether we should “push” our children to learn or wait “until they are ready.” The DeMilles take up the question on pages 20-23 of Leadership Education: The Phases of Learning. They are criticizing the work of Lev Vygotsky. Vygotsky “taught that teachers should observe students playing and intervene at a sign of interest to push them beyond their comfort level.” The Demilles argue that this works with adults, but not small children. They say that pushing kids teaches these lessons, among others: “Learning is...

Pilar Tilos (right) with Emma Pabera and Gloria Canama This morning I celebrated the Mass in honor of La Virgen del Pilar , the Virgin of the Pillar, a major feast in Spanish-speaking countries and in two areas in the Philippines where Chavacano , the only Spanish-based creole language in Asia, is spoken. However, Chavacano isn't spoken in Hinobaan, in the very south of Negros Occidental, where PIlar was from. Hiligaynon, a visayan language, is spoken there. She was born on 12 October and, like many a Filipino, 'brought her own name with her', as we say in Ireland. Her parents named her 'Pilar' because of the feast of Our Lady. Pilar was a public school teacher there but in 1990 headed for Pakistan with Gloria Canama from Tangub City, Misamis Occidental, and Emma Pabera, a public school prinicapl from Candoni, also in Negros Occidental. These were 'RP1' [Republic of the Philippines 1], the first team of Columban lay missionaries fro...