The Mom Job is great but even the most perfect vocation has its difficult aspects. For the mom who is at home all day with her beloved children, the biggest down side is loneliness resulting from isolation from other adults. It may be hard to believe that a woman who cannot even use the restroom without a train of toddlers joining her in the room could ever be lonely, but indeed, it does happen. Some of us turn on our favorite television to have the sound of adult voices. I particularly enjoyed EWTN and a smattering of cooking programs. I … Continue reading
Category Archives: Parenthood
Several friends were discussing the the changes in our education system which even the parochial schools are embracing. We discussed a book assigned to middle school children written in first person from the perspective of a pedophile and everyone felt that it was not appropriate reading material for a child who is barely entering puberty. They were wondering what the agenda was that caused the writers of this program to select a book about sexual deviancy for children who do not yet have their own healthy sexuality set solidly. We agreed that the pornographic sex education was just wrong and … Continue reading
Hi, I am the mother of two difficult, energetic children, whom I bring to Mass so they can learn to be good Christians; we sit on a bench, not in a pew, that faces a tall glass window between us and the sanctuary where the privileged Christians get to sit. Today, my view through the window was of the back sides of several college aged young persons, in shorts– plaid shorts in one case, boat shoes, flip-flops and sneakers, hairy legs and their asses at my face level FOR THE ENTIRE MASS. Now, it is a LARGE church, with a … Continue reading
Teaching History in a Home School setting can be a challenge, especially when we are faced with teaching ages 11 and up through High School. Most of us learned what little history we know from textbooks that sucked the life out of the stories and bored us nearly to death. A few of us were fortunate enough to run across writers of histories who are anything BUT boring. Historians like Dr. Warren Carroll whose books (like the very short 1917, Isabella, and Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest of Darkness, and the heavy duty Christendom series) challenged and delighted … Continue reading
Oh my home school book loving friends I have run across a new to me author who is MARVELOUS! Henry Melton writes books with teen age protagonists who face real science fiction scenarios in the modern world. The writing is fast paced, the characters well developed, and there is none of that anti-parent propaganda so popular in most modern youth books. Themes in his books encourage communication between the generations, respectful relationships, learning about the sciences, and becoming active rather than passive in living. Breaking Anchor is the first of his books I read. I found in this book a … Continue reading
I enjoy The History Blog and thought it might be useful for home school. I could see that reading it could help students select topics for papers, and learn about what is out there in general. All sorts of history comes up on this blog: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/ For example, an item stolen at the end of WWII, returned by the auction house: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/24059 There is a post with the picture of a cradle from around 79AD: http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/24035 This is a varied and fascinating blog and just reading it could make a person better educated. Dear Lord, thank You for marvelous blogs … Continue reading
Beginning to home school preschool/pre-K and selected some materials for a classical curriculum and some materials from Catholic Heritage Curricula, I have purchased a home copy of the music program Making Music Praying Twice. This is a really well done early music education program. First, it is fun and can be done very informally. Mom sings and dances and enjoys the music while supplying shakers and other small instruments and scarves of light flow-y material, and the children join in as they please. It is aimed at demonstrating the DOING of music and not passive enjoyment. Second, there is a … Continue reading
The very BEST writing curriculum is designed in the family with good reading and child-interest directed writing assignments. It has two stages. STAGE ONE: Read lots to your children. Read good quality writing from every genre that you want to teach your child to write. Journalism? Read great journalism to the children. Speeches? Read the great speeches to your children. Mysteries? Adventure? Drama? Science Fiction? Fantasy? All of the written word, provided it is quality, is the right material to read to your children. Also part of reading is allowing your children access to lots of good quality writing. Encourage … Continue reading
THE WAY, “Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, THE WAY was filmed entirely in France and Spain along The Way of St. James, also known as “El Camino de Santiago.” ” [from the back of the DVD case], stars Martin Sheen, father of the director/writer Emelio Estevez. Its a family affiar of a film including cameos of several members of Martin Sheen’s family. I LOVED this movie about a grieving father, a fallen away Catholic, who walks the Way for his son. The movie included some interesting people, each struggling with their own pain, who join the main character along … Continue reading
Yeah, my title is crude. I’m at my desk unable to work because the Little Tiger, who is almost three, is throwing a temper tantrum over being forbidden to bring the outside slide into the house. I should get a prize for patience this afternoon. I ought to get a prize for parenting too! What a loud tantrum the Little Tiger throws. It began with a small rebellion. I told my child “No, the outside slide must stay out here.” The child did not like this and said so. Daddy said he could watch while he worked nearby. I repeated, … Continue reading