Faith and Life Series and Other Resources

This week's recommendation:

The Faith and Life Series happens to be one of my favorite religion resources. It is thorough and it relies on the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Holy Bible. They have taught me so much as an adult and I always look forward to learning along with our children. The price is reasonable and so worth it! So for our upcoming 5th and 8th graders thumbs up on this series. Also, I will purchase the first grade book for our Kindergartener and take it slowly.

Religion is one of our core classes so I don't hesitate on spending on this first. I consider these books "living books". They are well made, full of paintings from the masters, and they make our faith come alive along with the Bible and Baltimore Catechism.

What do we have handy for our religion studies?

-Holy Bible

-Baltimore Catechism No.1 and No.2

-Faith and Life Series

-biographies of saints (Mary Fabyan Windeatt or Ignatius Press)

-Under Her Starry Mantle (Anne's blog)

High School Reflections

Let me start by saying that after reading Elizabeth Foss's post at her blog, I feel really hesitant to blog about high school curriculum or our experiences during these three years of high school home schooling. So make sure you stop by there to read her thoughts before continuing to read mine.

We have been on this home schooling journey for 13 years. Every year seems to be a little different from the one before. What is most strikingly different for me about home schooling high school is the very independent nature that the boys seem to work at. We have two high schoolers at this point, both have finished or basically finished 9th and 11th grade. When I say basically I mean that our 9th grader is finished and our 11th grader is finishing up. We have two accomplished high schoolers with two very different learning and working styles. I think the lesson here is that the learning style of the high school student will not miraculously change once 9th grade hits. So the same rule of thumb should apply to the high schooler. Fit the curriculum to the child!

Our two boys have very similar interests but there are definitely different strengths and weaknesses. One loves literature and if that was all he had to do, he would sail right through it. One loves math and science and if you gave him just Latin for the summer and nothing else he would sail right through that!

Both of these children have struggles and both have strengths. It is important to realize that they do not have to be good at everything. It is more about learning how to learn that is most important for the high schooler (and all children for that matter). It is my hope that our children will take away with them a passion to learn and to not hesitate to approach something they would like to learn!

Yes, I am hesitant to post our curriculum because every child is so different! We used a full fledged home schooling program at first and by quarter 2 I was tweaking and by quarter 4, there was almost nothing left of the curriculum we purchased! I don't think this is an uncommon occurrence with home schooling mothers. What ever you choose, know that it will all work out in the end. I have chosen things for our 11th grader in the past that I was not happy with and he is just fine. It has not effected his learning ability. He is not even traumatized! :)

This is our final list from 9th grade and in the next post I will reflect on what we will do for 10th grade (probably using a lot of what I used with our previous 10th grader). Again, this is just a list not something to be adhered to but just a little guide. I have linked some of the books we used for your convenience.

Grade 9:

Religion:

Introduction to the Bible- Fr. Laux

Catechism of the Catholic Church

Holy Bible

Math-

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 2 by Sabouri (We love this and all of our boys use this.)

Science-

Apologia Biology (with lots of sketching and outdoor exploration. I'm not big on lots of tests.)

Geography-

Used "World of Where" computer geography game. We concentrated one continent at a time.

Ultimate Geography Timeline Guide

Time Magazine

Latin 2-

online Latin class with Lone Pine Classical (This is his strength. My 13 and 9 year old will probably not take this path but continue French and use Latin Christiana very lightly for Latin and grammar.)

Composition-

Composition Workshop level blue by Sadlier- Oxford --- Not thrilled with this. The only thing I like and you can get this from any program is a focus on a paper in each catagory; a persuasion paper, a narrative (which we've done lots of) , an essay, a news article, and a research paper.

He wrote lots of poetry and lyrics. I also loved his religion papers and reflections. One certainly could take writing from Religion, History or Science.

In the future, I will probably drop the composition course above and combine it with literature, history or science!

Literature-

Lots of Ancient Greek Literature then moved on to C.S. Lewis and Dumas

Calling this course Literature 9. I combined this with our 11th grader for book discussions. We used some of the questions from Novel Inquiries Volume 3 by Margot Davidson.

-Perelandra by Lewis

-Mythology by Hamilton

-Till We Have Faces by Lewis

-The Tragedy of Julius Caesar by Shakespeare

-The Odyssey - by Homer

-The Three Musketeers by Dumas

-The Count of Monte Cristo by Dumas

NOTE: The above list may seem like it was a lot. Our home schooling style is very "unschooly", so it was very doable. The homeschooling style is also a very important consideration when figuring out what your 9th grade booklist will look like. If you tend to follow everything by the book then this list above would or could have the possibility of being very taxing on the mother and child.

And if you need to keep track of any of these things, for example a paper trail, (our state requires this) then writing narratives and sketching are a perfect way to keep track of these courses.

Again, this is our outline, and when our 13 year old hits 9th grade it will change for him. Our family truly believes in adjusting the "curriculum" to fit each child. My hope is that this will help you and not confuse you. My rule of thumb is to choose what you, the mother or father and child would like to learn together!

Blessings,

Marianne

Mother Teresa

A dear friend of mine let me borrow a documentary on Mother Teresa, Mother Teresa by Ann and Jeanette Petrie. Actually, I never asked for it but she brought it to me one day and it sat on my shelf for a couple of months. This dear friend is a strong, beautiful, Catholic mother of 5 and I have always asked her to pray for our family. I have for many years asked for her thoughts on many spiritual and worldly matters and she has always come back with such great insight. It is as if the Holy Spirit had whispered the words into her very ear. It is no surprise that she brought this particular film to our family.

I know now that it was supposed to sit on our shelf for two months because timing as many of us know in this life is everything. Our family had a big week last week with various matters and so when our boys arrived home from NYC it was again no mistake that the very next morning we were all watching this film. I watched it first at 6 o'clock in the morning and you must know that I'm not much of a T.V. watcher and I NEVER watch T.V. in the early morning hours. I sat there riveted to the film. I did not even move to get another cup of coffee.

Same with the boys. It was a bit difficult for our 13 year old son as he has such a heart for the poor and unfortunate. When he passes by anyone on the streets of New York I notice that he makes the sign of the cross and prays silently. It is not uncommon to see him give money from his very own pocket to those he feels need it.

As we make this journey in life, I want our children to know about all of the corporal and spiritual needs of the people on this earth. Our society is so much about "self". It is so easy to let that attitude slip into even the very devout Catholic households.

Our family has taken away something very special from this film. The next day I ran to the library to find a biography to read about Mother Teresa. I see now why people were so touched by her very presence for her presence still remains.

Everyday for the past week I have woken up thinking about her faith and love in action and now I ask the Lord what can we do today for you? The most notable thing for me about her life was how she focused on the very "littlest" of things she was doing and did it with great love. It makes it so doable for us to touch each other's lives just by doing little things...that it does not have to be "great"...that every little drop counts.

Yes, our family has taken away something very special from this film and in God's great plan the timing could not be better.

Quotes from Mother Teresa:

"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies."

"Jesus said love one another. He didn't say love the whole world. "

"Spread love everywhere you go. Let no one ever come to you
without leaving happier. "

"If you can't feed a hundred people, then feed just one. "

SAT Admission Ticket Frustration

O.K. This may be my mistake, an oversight, a lack of focus on standardized testing but I got to tell you, "Why does this have to be so difficult?" Our oldest son is scheduled to take two SAT subject tests( Latin and Literature) for this upcoming Saturday. I got an email of the admission ticket information yesterday and was dismayed to see his "nickname" on the ticket. Yes...not legal name but nickname! We went in to change it and you cannot change your name online but have to call the College Board. So I did. She said it would take 5 to 7 days to change his name to the legal name on the admission ticket. I explained that the testing is in three days! She said I could fax two forms of i.d. one being a photo i.d. to them and maybe they could make the change. I begged for help but she was unmoved. I told her this was really the only chance to take the Latin Subject Test...still unmoved:(

Frustration: He may not be able to take these tests because his photo i.d. name does not match the admission ticket or roster!

You may be thinking I should have checked the admission ticket long ago. And you are right, I should have. Our son has had this online account since 7th grade and he is 11th now. He set it up not thinking that he had to put his legal name in there...thinking it was more like a username. It is a sight that is supposed to help you on the road to college. If we would have bought the tests by mail we would have used his legal name as always. He has taken the PSAT and SAT in the past with no problem and has always used his legal name.

Why am I posting this? Well, maybe to vent but mostly to let others know out there to check the SAT admission tickets way ahead of time. Testing in Latin later in the year is not an option due to the fact that he won't be taking Latin this upcoming year. He just finished the course and this is the optimum time to take the test. I will post on this subject again to let you know the outcome.

Plan: To fax information needed to College Board

Call the high school where the tests are being administered and tell them our dilemma

And...pray for help!

UPDATE:

"All's well that ends well." I always love it when Ma says that in The Little House Series!

I called the high school where the test is being administered and they were so helpful. The teacher that is heading up the testing on Saturday said it wasn't a problem that his middle name was on the admission ticket as long as his legal middle name matched his nickname, which it does. He recommended changing our son's name on the College Board site. Yesterday, I faxed over to the College Board two forms of i.d. (one being a photo) requesting that his name be changed to his legal name. The name change will occur within the next 3 to 5 business days which falls within the time limit of having two weeks after the test date to change the name at the College Board site.

He will fill out his SAT Subject Tests on Saturday with his legal name (which he always has done in the past). The teacher at the high school said this sort of scenario in name matching usually isn't a problem at the testing but it can pose a problem at college application time and if the two names don't match up the college may not accept the SAT test.

Just wanted to post this for anyone who is trying to avoid this type of dilemma. I know that the less challenges in preparing for college the better!

At Work...

There are times when we school like this....but there are many times we do not. There are days when I work with each child one on one and some days the children work very independently. I am a list maker but we do not hold ourselves to it. It is just our guideline so that I know we are accomplishing something. Some days we may only do literature and some days we may only do science and history. When we school there are subjects we always do cover...religion, math, and some sort of language arts exercise...mostly dictation along with spelling because they both go hand in hand for us. Our family's style of learning has changed over the years.

We have five children and for our 15 and 17 year olds I felt strongly that they should have at least two years of latin in high school. For our 9 and 13 year old I feel differently. My gut feeling is for them to have French for their core language (They had nine months of tutoring with a French teacher) with Latin included as a tool to teach grammar and writing. I think that it is key for a home schooling mother or father to really be sensitive to each child's interests and strengths.

In the above clip our five year old does some painting while the two older children copy and conjugate Latin verbs. I love when the children copy and make notes because they are learning spelling, writing, and grammar all in one fell swoop. That particular day we memorized some dates in Roman History along with reading a story about Romulus and Remus. This may appear very classical to you, but it is not. I still hold to the idea that our family is more on a Charlotte Mason path due to the free time in the afternoon and their passion for natural sciences and an eclectic selection of literature studied. We have lots of books laid out that we consider "real books". We do not only study ancient history in a given year but American and European history. We have workbooks but I do not have them do every page.

But if they wake up and are excited about working in their workbooks then we go with the flow.

With our 9 year old we do math equations at the dry erase board. She finds math overwhelming due to how quickly the workbooks we used in the past moved. I am amazed at her growth in math this year and feel strongly that she is at her grade level at this point. Her language and literature skills are with her 7th grade brother who is working at a 7th grade level, which is why I have them working together.

"At work" here at times looks like at play. But I know that the children are constantly learning no matter what time of the day.

Plan for today?

Lots of poetry and literature. We will play a math game "Equate" with the 13 and 9 year old. Then myself and our 9 and 13 year old will help the 5 year old with reading, counting, and memorizing a simple poem by Robert Louis Stevenson.

Our high schoolers are finishing up their online Latin II course and one is writing a history paper on the medieval time period. And our 9th grader is really finished with all of his work for this year. He is very self motivated:)

AND MUSIC....always, always music!

I look forward to sharing with you some of the materials we use for each child in future posts.

Blessings,

Marianne

Mom Time...(for vid click here)

I know you mothers are so awesome. Mothers put so much time and effort into their children. In both Elizabeth Foss's book Real Learning and Karen Andreola's book Charlotte Mason Companion they both dedicate chapters to mom time calling it "mother nurture" and "mother culture". Mom time for me is many things...stealing a quiet moment, a walk, a good book, creating a new song. But for me it is also going outside the comfort of my home and doing the thing I love the most! SINGING. The other evening I had the opportunity to sing at a lovely recital a song that I have not sung in 25 years, "Se Tu M'ami" by Pergolesi. It was truly mother nurture for me...a moment that I will truly treasure for the tables were turned. One of our sons filmed ME performing (usually it is the other way around). They were full of hugs and compliments and it felt so good. If you have the opportunity, you are welcome to stop by and give a listen here.

Blessings,

Marianne

May Feelings II

I love this! Thanks, Jenny!!!