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 Homeschooling

Art plans and assemblage project

Our unschooling friend Theresa has some pretty cool art history plans and projects for this homeschool year for her daughter.  They have been fun to follow and are hugely inspiring.  Do follow this link to see how the first project turned out....it is pretty cool.

Here is the list of artists that they are planning to study this year:

• Louise Nevelson
• Marc Chagall
• Pablo Picasso
• Alexander Calder
• August Rodin
• F. Hundertwasser
• Rene Magritte
• Alberto Giacometti
• Vincent Van Gogh
• Leonardo DaVinci

Folk Art

• Jean Debuffet*
• Jerome Couelle*
• Alexandro Farto*
• Lisa Kokin*
• Slinkachu*
• Huichol Nierikas* (not an artist, a style of Mexican folk art)

Her second assemblage project is pretty cool....check it out!

See her Marc Chagall bulletin board here.  Clever idea, that board.

See her Rene Mangritte study ideas here.......I wonder how they turned out? Theresa?



Year End Pictures and Interviews

Wow!  What a great idea!  I wish I had seen this about 15 years ago. 

I am not sure how I ended up at Amber's blog.......but I really like it.  In this post, she shares how she takes photos, makes a list of what her kids accomplished in the past year, and "interviews" them, placing their responses on the pictures themselves.  Looks fabulous!  Do go see this.....and plan to be inspired.  :)

Apparently she gives credit to Sarah, who is often linked from TUAR, for this idea. See Sarah's End of Year blog post and prepare to be even more inspired........


Health & Fitness

Chocolate craving comes from total sensory pleasure

Yeah. We already know that chocolate is a necessary food group.  Right?

An excerpt from the article:


"It's difficult to tease apart which chemicals may be contributing to which psychological functions. There are over 500 chemicals in consumer chocolate products, so there's a lifetime of chemical analysis still to be done," says Prof Wilson.

His hunch is that the "almost seductive" texture of chocolate is as important as its ingredients.

Dr Barry Smith, director of the Centre for the Study of the Senses at Birkbeck University of London, agrees.

He says the combination of the smoothness and creaminess of chocolate in the mouth, the sweetness of the taste - boosted by vanilla flavouring - and the smell of it before it even hits the taste buds make chocolate-eating a hugely pleasurable experience."


My Catholic Faith

Our Easter Mantel

Something to think about for next Easter.  I really like the idea of using chalkboard paint on that silver tray........and those cute little eggs.

Doctor keeps medical practice in line with Catholic teaching

This is so uplifting.  I am so glad to know about a Catholic doctor out there in the world, doing the right things.


You Were Not Made for Comfort…

This is a wonderful little nugget of a post reminding us:

“The world offers you comfort. But you were not made for comfort. You were made for greatness.” 

These are words of wisdom from Pope Benedict XVI. 

Take them to heart. 

Share them with your children and friends. 

Remember them during the big and especially, the little  sufferings.


And offer those sufferings up to God as a gift!

Parenting

 

14 Ways for Dads to be Engaged with their Breastfed Babes


As a childbirth educator and obstetrics RN, for the last twenty-some years, I cannot tell you how many times I have been told that dad will feel left out if he doesn't get to feed the baby.

And this absolutely drives me crazy........if dad's were meant to feed the baby......well, he would be able to breastfeed.  But his body does not do that.  God, in His wisdom, has determined that the mother will be the primary source of nutrition for the baby.

Sometimes it's just the mom who is feeling guilty because she gets to hold the baby all of the time.....the dad isn't even interested.  And sometimes, the fathers, especially the young ones, are putting pressure on the mother to teach the baby to take a bottle as soon as possible so dad can have some of the fun. 

I teach over and over:  dads have many other ways that they can bond with baby....and to help make the wee one smarter simply by bonding in the unique ways that a dad has.

I tell them to avoid using the small baby tub that makes babies cry because they are cold and wet.......and put dad into a bathtub, submerge baby to neck.....baby who is usually happy to be floating in the womb-like warmth.......and now mom has four hands to bathe the slippery baby.  And after baby has been cleaned, dad and babe can stay longer in tub for bonding while mom gets a few well-earned moments to herself, even if it is just doing dishes.  :)

I love the advice on this blog post.......just might print it up for my clients to read.

Food

Recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

These cookie bars look really yummy.  And easy.  Let's try them!!!  Willa, I bet Aidan would love to help you.....make them and eat them! 


Tips---Ingredient Substitutions



A Happy Home Life


10 Simple Things to Make You Happier at Home

 

On Literature Based Education

As we approach the mid-summer mark (yikes, really?) I am pondering literature-based education.     After all, the idea is embedded in our blog statement of purpose.     Chari has written about the literature based life, and I have written about literature based learning:  Literature Themes, more on literature theme approach, some questions about literary learning.

I just recently rediscovered that almost any aspect of life goes way better if there is a book involved.    What KIND of book, depends on what aspect of life and how I am approaching it.

Though as I mentioned our homeschool is moving along fairly well right now, I feel like we're skimping a bit on the literature part of it.   There is no doubt that Paddy reads a lot --  there is a pile of books wherever he habitually spends quiet time -- but it's separate from our regular homeschooling time, and that makes our lifestyle feel less literature-based to me.

The problem is with priorities and the fact that I have more than one set of them : ).    I want Paddy to have the basics down well enough so that he isn't dragged backwards by lack of them.     This means mostly math and formal English and the like.   I want him to have general cultural literacy -- a sense of the flow of history and the basic topics of science.    This means non-fiction books and some reviewing and follow-up type activities to make sure it stays in his mind.

Perhaps above all,  I want him to love reading and remember his childhood as literature-soaked.   When I was a child, I practically lived in literature-land (as much as I could, at least).  Though sometimes I wish I had developed more practical skills and paid more attention to formal academics,  I wouldn't trade this early ticket into our cultural heritage for anything.    It was also an early gateway into religious devotion (though I didn't realize it at the time), a lifelong sense of wonder and curiosity, and an appetite for the good.    And paradoxically, literature gives you a sense of reality, of balance in complexity, of the ring of the genuine, that you can't easily get anywhere else.

Literature, just because it has this potential, is like life -- it can't easily be packaged into compartments.    It takes leisure time, an attitude of openness and freedom.     A study guide can be helpful, but it can also close doors before you even know they could have been open.    Narration is better.  The best of all, in our family, is discussion and  spin-off creations -- a homemade form of what Jesuit educators called "imitation" or "synthesis".      But great discussions and creativity don't just come when they are called, though they are more likely to show up if you have already showed up -- that is, if I have made room for them in our homeschool day, and provided lots of literary soil for them to grow in.

So I think I am going to be touring our shelves during these mid-summer days.
Also, since a book is the road to almost everything to me, including positive habit changes, I am going to be scanning my shelves for books that focus on the importance of literature in a child's formation.

Recitation and Question Time

I had been interested in the idea of Recitation for a long time.   It comes up often in older textbooks, the kind you find in Google Books, and it was apparently a key element in the old-fashioned schoolroom, probably at least partly because paper and books were relatively scarce and when dealing with a one-room schoolhouse or a large number of students it is easier to evaluate their understanding by oral means (plus having the older or more advanced students recite is a learning factor for the younger or less learned students-- call it the Trickle Down or Peer Learning Effect).

Robert Harris, One Room Schoolhouse

Memoria Press is one modern curriculum that makes extensive use of Recitations.   Almost every resource they sell has a recitation set attached to it, and I just recently found that they sell their grade-level recitation plans as individual sets (you can get PDF download versions too)

You can also find a thread on Simply Charlotte Mason forum talking about recitation and memorization.  

Here is a post on Recitation from a Charlotte Mason perspective. 
Here's another one.

Memorization programs like Classical Conversations and Classically Catholic Memory depend heavily on oral recitation.  

I have been depending more and more on this method as a way to avoid busywork and make sure the kids remember what I taught them and revisit it again and again.    It's very simple to do.  All you need is a page of questions and answers.   It's helpful to vary between some you know your kid is comfortable with and some that are newer and more unfamiliar.   The proportion probably varies according to the child's temperament.    I usually make a checkmark by the ones the child has an easy time with and we only recite those occasionally for reinforcement.

One Room Schoolhouse

Almost any Quizlet quiz can be used as the base for a recitation.     Basically, just search for whatever you think your kid should learn.  Quizlet allows you to study it, spell it, copy it over to your own account (so you can edit for typos or add/remove questions), and print it out as flashcards, tables, or tests.

In the past few weeks I have been going through the 1st grade Memoria Press recitation with Paddy.   Some of the questions are easy, but others aren't.   Asking him the questions is a quick way to see if he has any knowledge gaps (for instance, somehow he never learned that the English alphabet has 26 letters, though he knows that the Latin alphabet has 24).

The Happy Family by Ferdinand Georg Waldmuller

I don't call this Recitation in his weekly checklist -- rather, I call it Question Time.    Memoria Press recommends doing this in a formal manner, to teach elocution and public speaking etiquette, but I haven't really done it this way, though I probably eventually will start up a Public Speaking mini-course and do a few of our recitations in this format.  

Yesterday our group Meeting Time wasn't going particularly well, because the older boys wanted to talk and were going off topic, so I decided to ask the first grade questions to all of them -- 21 year old son who still lives at home, senior, and 5th grader.    I thought that whether they were bored or not, it would give me a chance to pick up the momentum and move on to the next part of the day. 

Instead, all three of the boys LOVED the question series.   They kept asking me to come up with more questions, and they started making up their own.   We did this for nearly an hour all told. 

Their relish for this game reminded me of when I was growing up and my Dad started a game he called Quiz at the dinner table.   He started by making up his own questions, then got some quiz books.   We had a great time, doing something together as a family that we could all participate in together.   But what I remember most is getting the approval of my Dad (who was type A and a perfectionist who rarely praised anything) when I got one right that he didn't expect anyone to know.    The quiz format gave him a way to show us approval and focused attention, which I know he wanted to be able to do.    He would tailor some questions towards the individual (my littlest brother got questions that he could answer, for instance) and some to the family in general.

I am sure that in some settings, this Q and A style would be intimidating, but in the home, it seems to be a good way to approach a topic interactively.     

A Liberating Education

I wrote this a couple of years ago at the request of Sue Elvis for the blog  Australian Catholic Families.  I forgot I had written it until I was reading the latest section of Desiring the Kingdom and realized this had a bit to do with the subject of liturgical education.   So I am reposting it here. 

A little while ago, my friend-from-the-other-side-of-the-world Sue Elvis asked me to write about the Catholic college my daughter is attending. I had described bits of it in a comment on her blog -- how in the classes the young men and women wear collared shirts and nice slacks, not jeans (if young men) and dresses or skirts (if young women), how they address each other as Mr and Miss during class time, and how I thought that contributed to a culture of respect and seriousness as they read great books of the Catholic tradition and discuss them in seminar format.

Besides that, I wasn’t sure what else to say! What would interest Australian Catholic readers in hearing about a small Great Books college in California? (Well, Cardinal Pell did come to this same college to deliver a commencement address, but besides that too?) Could I say anything that wasn’t already over there on the college’s site?

While I was thinking about it, I could hear strains of music floating up from the kitchen where my daughter was enjoying her summer break by cooking something. The music was a CD of a concert that one of her tutors had performed on campus during the school year. He has a beautiful low tenor or baritone and was singing a wide variety of songs, including a rendition of On the Road to Mandalay, a Victorian song based on the poem by Kipling, which keeps running through my head as I type! The college schedules a series of concerts every year and often draws on the talent within its own bounds, since many of the students and faculty are musically gifted.

From many things my daughter has said to me, one of the best parts of college to her is getting to know adults (and some fellow students, too) who are not only intelligent and devout in the practice of their faith, but also interesting human beings. And more than that, lifelong learners. This particular tutor is taking voice lessons. Other tutors raise tarantulas or climb mountains during their holiday breaks. The school psychologist and his wife have raised a large family who are all talented Irish dancers, singers and violinists who have toured professionally. .

Some of the tutors are college alumni, and some of the students attending the college are the children or siblings of alumni. Many of the graduates from the college have gone on to do noteworthy things -- some went on to further scholarly work in different fields, some are writers, some founded Catholic elementary or secondary schools, a significant number took religious vows or entered the priesthood, and many others are mothers or fathers of families. The influence of the learning environment ripples outward just the way I now have some old songs running through my head even though I do not know Clare’s musical tutor personally and was not there to hear him sing.

This made me think about what learning is about and what we hope for when we send our children to college. Surely we hope that while there, they will be supported in their faith, that they will be treated with dignity, that they will learn how the parts (the subjects) fits in with the whole, and that they will move closer to being the people that God wants them to become. Class time is only a part of this project of emerging from childhood into adult life. There are many ways, of course, for this to happen, and not everyone needs to go to college, particularly not to a particular tiny college in the California foothills. Yet the fact that there is an option like this is encouraging to those who are interested in Catholic formation.

To some, having a dress code for classes and meals, and a requirement of addressing each other by honorific prefixes, might seem restrictive and old-fashioned, especially in informal places like southern California. Yet you can see it another way. Dressing well and speaking with courtesy is what adults do to show respect for each other and to themselves.

And to some, learning ends when you graduate from school, whenever that might be; learning ends when you have your “ticket” out into the job market. Maybe you might take some classes to keep up in your profession or industry, but many will give up any thought of continuing to read seriously outside of their field, or learn a new skill, or develop a latent talent.

Yet surely one of the most important things we can teach our young people is how rich life is -- how life is about more than just making money and passing time; it is about learning to be a human, and that learning is lifelong and deeply related to Christian themes of seeking for wisdom and sharing it with others. We all benefit when someone near us gets passionately interested in something and shares this interest with us. It broadens our world. It is like a seed planted, or a gift given.

At my daughter’s college, the tutors, and the grown alumni, and other adults, are inviting the students to see that learning is not just about assimilating what the “experts” pass down, until you can become an expert yourself. It’s about engaging in real things, things of lasting value, and acknowledging that you bachelor of arts degree is just a beginning, not an end, to lifelong learning.

Taking the Little Way

I haven't been blogging as much recently because I've been homeschool-planning, which takes up basically the same part of my brain that blogging does.  

I thought I would just mention that Cathy Duffy recently wrote a review of The Little Way of Homeschooling (a book to which I contributed a chapter).   

St Therese of the "Little Way" as a very little girl

(St Therese was declared a Doctor of the Church in the apostolic letter Divini Amoris Scientia by Pope John Paul II)

The book might be a good one  to read this season if you are getting burned out and are looking for a broader view of what you are doing in educating your children.  I am actually rereading it myself even as I plan ;-) (my chapter is in the section where people combine unschooling with other methods).   

Chari blogged about it once.... 

Some other reviews of the book I have seen recently (there are probably way more)

• Mystie's review
• Meredith's review
• Mary Gildersleeve's review
• Patrice Fagnant-MacArthur's review
• Becky Mohun's review for TAC
• Stratford Caldecott's review
• Melanie's review
• Sue Elvis's review
• Amazon reviews 
• An interview of Suzie Andres by Lisa Hendey

There was an interesting thread on Well Trained Mind which was partly about the book and included some slightly more negative opinions.

I'll probably use this post as an index to put new links as I come across them, so I may update it occasionally.  

Favorite Homeschooling Book(s) and Ignatian Education

I have a few favorite homeschooling or education-related books.

• Little Way of Homeschooling  (I have a chapter in this book!)
• Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum (one of the first homeschool books I got)
• Real Learning:  Education in the Heart of My Home (my friend Elizabeth, and the book is very much bound up with a particular key period of my life, plus being filled with helpful ideas and encouragement)
• Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education  (everyone has heard of this one)
• Poetic Knowledge:  The Recovery of Education  (ditto -- and I participated in a study on it -- index here)
• and more recently,
• Beauty in the Word by Stratford Caldecott (though I'm going to have to read it again to feel I have any kind of handle on it.)

I've also read Charlotte Mason's series several times, at least the first and sixth volume.
Recently I read Leigh Bortin's The Core and Cheryl Swope's Simply Classical, both of which I liked and may discuss sometime on here, though they haven't ascended to my Favorites shelf yet, at least.

But my favorite go-to is sort of a weird one.   It's a booklet published by Kolbe Academy called:

Implementation of Ignatian Education in the Home

Catchy title, huh?  And the physical book itself is just as much of a grabber.

It's short and condensed, more like an expanded outline than a book.  But for some reason, as soon as my husband ordered it from Kolbe just a couple of years after we started homeschooling, nearly 2 decades ago, I was hooked.   I actually ended up buying three copies of the book because the earlier, comb bound versions simply fell apart on me.

St Ignatius of Loyola founded the Jesuit system of education which sort of revived Catholic learning and ushered it into the early modern era.   The Jesuit model of education has had a disproportionate effect on Catholic intellectual life since.  The Order was suppressed for a bit in the 17th century which obviously had a dampening effect but there was a revival.  Scratch a modern day martyr, and you will very often find a Jesuit.  The Jesuits seemed to lose their way a bit in the 60's through the 90's, particularly in the American continents, but there are hopeful signs their day of awesomeness is not yet over.

Cardinal Newman wrote:

Now, St. Benedict has had the training of the ancient intellect, St. Dominic of the medieval; and St. Ignatius of the modern. And in saying this, I am in no degree disrespectful to the Augustinians, Carmelites, Franciscans, and other great religious families, which might be named, or to the holy Patriarchs who founded them.

Newman, to whom I seem to be surrendering this post,  assigns Ignatius the Practical sphere:

To St. Benedict, then, who may fairly be taken to represent the various families of monks before his time and those which sprang from him (for they are all pretty much of one school), to this great Saint let me assign, for his discriminating badge, the element of Poetry; to St. Dominic, the Scientific element; and to St. Ignatius, the Practical.

Maybe that is why I am so attracted to Ignatius, because I am in need of practicality.  I HEART St Benedict and the Rule,as well, I think because I'm basically more poetical than practical by nature, but Cardinal Newman nicely provides for that when he says (at the same link):

what the Catholic Church once has had, she never has lost. She has never wept over, or been angry with, time gone and over. Instead of passing from one stage of life to another, she has carried her youth and middle age along with her, on to her latest time. She has not changed possessions, but accumulated them, and has brought out of her treasure-house, according to the occasion, things new and old. She did not lose Benedict by finding Dominic; and she has still both Benedict and Dominic at home, though she  has become the mother of Ignatius. Imagination, Science, Prudence, all are good, and she has them all. Things incompatible in nature, cöexist in her; her prose is poetical on the one hand, and philosophical on the other.

So in other words, like little St Therese of Lisieux says, "I CHOOSE ALL."  I get to love and be influenced by all the saints I want to, and the Church gets that too.

So St Ignatius was very practical.  Newman also uses the word Prudent. He thought carefully about the HOWs of things and distilled them down to the essentials, which allowed for true focus on the better way because it swept everything else out.   Before I got sick, I had just finished going through the Spiritual Exercises, and they are like a little workout manual.  Every word counts.  It is all directed towards some activity or contemplation on the part of the "exercitant."  Practical and terse, and targeted like an an arrow at one thing:  The Greater Glory of God.

The Ratio Studiorum, which was the teaching prospectus of the early Jesuits, is the same way, all procedure, but all thought through and targeted very carefully towards particular ends.  Practical, and targeted like an arrow at forming students for any kind of distinguished service for the greater glory of God.

The Implementation of Ignatian Education in the Home seems to model itself after this approach -- it's not flowery or elaborate.   But I still like it, because of that Practical and Targeted like an Arrow thing.  It always clears my head and makes me rethink what is important and how to get there.

I hope to blog bits of it during this fall and winter.   I'll try to keep it down to earth and close to my own life so I don't get too theoretical, which I do if I'm not careful.

One more thing.  I used to get confused by the difference between "Jesuit" and "Ignatian" education.    The order founded by Ignatius was called the Society of Jesus and they were known as Jesuits.  The priests founded schools among other endeavors.   That would be Jesuit education.

I am not a priest obviously so no Jesuit education here.  There are laypeople who are inspired by the Ignatian way of doing things and there is even a lay apostolic community called the Ignatian Associates.  "Ignatian", I heard in a podcast that I can't remember the name of, means "inspired or influenced by the spirituality and methods of St Ignatius".   So it's a looser term.    I don't have to be a priest formed for 15 years to teach in an Ignatian-influenced way.   I just have to be trying to follow the pirnciples and methods in my own circumstances (one of the Ignatian principles is that things are adapted to the circumstances they are in -- Practical, see?).  That's my understanding of the difference between Ignatian and Jesuit.    In the educational sphere it might be like the difference between having a Charlotte Mason homeschool, and being enrolled in the PNEU schools.  Something like that.

Until next time, blessings!

Perfected in Weakness

I thought of a bit more to say about my topic of yesterday.   I was focusing on one side of it... the side where I have grown kids who are doing fine and why it is not to my credit but to God's.

But last night I was awake thinking of the other side of it.   When all my kids were young I would  worrry about failing them.  I would worry about some of the things I was NOT doing that might hurt them later.  And guess what? Some of my worries came true.     There are a few areas where I can look at my five grown and almost-grown kids and think, Yep, in another house this might have been addressed better but in MY house it never happened or never happened very well, and my grown kid might suffer for it.

This is scalding to my heart, because whereas I can cheerfully hand the credit for the successes over to God, the failures I can't hand off so much, only feel Very Very Sad and Sorry about them.   This is a trial, because I would want to here the words, "Well Done, Good and Faithful Servant" someday and that spoils my chances, PLUS, I would want to have done everything good for my children and nothing bad because they are my kids and every parent, Jesus says, want to give bread and eggs to their children rather than stones and scorpions.

I suppose this is why humility is considered the foundation of the virtues.  It feels like having your face rubbed in the ground, but really you are the ground being tilled up and aerated and prepared to bear real fruit, not just do things that are good in a worldly way.

There is another case, where the child who has been loved and prayed for and cared for goes off the tracks or gets out into the world and has many, many struggles.   Most of the moms who have had this happen that I know are way, way holier than I am, which makes me think that God has entrusted them with one of His special lambs because He knows these mothers are the staunchest warriors down here, capable of  cooperating with God in one of the greatest roles in the Gospels, the role of the Prodigal Son's Father.  But it's very hard for them.  Very, very hard and painful.

So I was thinking about this last night and have no real revelation except that we all have to pray more for each other and for each other's children,  but I do think in general when you wake up in the morning the solution is exactly the same as before.  You ask for bread for that day, and He will give it to you.

"My strength is made perfect in weakness."

 I used to think that when my children went off into the world my job would be done, signed, sealed and stamped.  I should have known better, and I figured it out when Aidan was desperately sick and my parents and my husband's came to help, and stayed at home to keep vigils.  I am a mother indelibly.  The stamp and seal is on me.   It is my unique privilege to be tied by love to that child even when he has grey hairs of his own, though of course with my grown child I  no longer manage his life for him.

Well, I hope now I've considered every angle of the whole thing!

I was going sort of crazy with a photo editing app I found for free -- that's why the pictures look so odd.  Fun though!

Our Daily Bread

When I was in my first crazy years of homeschooling, I pretty much knew that I was not naturally fitted for it, and that if we had any success at all, it would be either my kids succeeding in spite of me, or the grace of God, or both.

Mostly I counted on the latter, but I think now that this was one of the reasons I was drawn to the kinds of methods that don't come any more than necessary between the child and the learning.   Like unschooling, and Charlotte Mason, and a modified kind of classical.    I figured my childrens' best chance to succeed, besides being beloved children of His Majesty, was in being able to pull their own learning out of their own environment.  Books, nature, time to ponder, time to make things and try things out, time spent with those who love them unconditionally, seemed like the best ways to make that happen.   And so it has been.

Back then, if you had told me that I would someday have 3 kids out in the world succeeding in various ways -- job, marriage, and continuing education -- and living lives of integrity, following their faith, I would probably have thought that this future hypothetical me, their mother, would be quite wise, together and successful.

It did not happen that way.   I don't feel any wiser or more competent than that much younger homeschooling mom a couple of decades ago.  I genuinely don't think I am.   If I laid claim to any kind of wisdom it would be Socrates':    "If I am wise it is because I know I am not wise."  

But less paradoxically, I think the heart of it is that I was exactly right two decades ago, when I first earnestly dedicated my homeschool to the Holy Mother of Our Lord and asked her to fill the gaps in my mothering.   I was NOT naturally or by character equipped for homeschooling.   Every day, God would give me exactly the graces I needed for that day and that circumstance, to accomplish what He wanted me to accomplish.  Perhaps I didn't always access them as fully as I could have, indeed I am very sure I fell down on that multiple times, but those graces were there.  ... carefully and lovingly handed out just to me, like the manna to the wandering Israelites. 

That would explain why I can't do some of the things I could do ten years ago, why what works for us now with homeschooling isn't exactly the same as what worked for the older ones ten years ago.  It explains why having some successes doesn't make me somehow into a different person who now knows the answer to all kinds of things.    I can't hoard yesterday's manna.  I have to look up to heaven for today's supply.  

 "Give us this day our daily bread...."

I started this off feeling a little melancholy, but I think the Holy Spirit must have come in and given me a hand, because I feel like now I understand my situation better than I did half an hour ago.    All in all, given my choice, I'd rather have God's providence to depend on than my own resources.     My own resources will fail and fast.  God's will not.  

 Thank You, dear Counsellor.    I hope thinking about how God provides graces as we need them will help someone who reads this.  

The Heart of Education

While I'm still sick, I've been reading a lot more online, and last night I chanced upon The Thread, as it's been called by people I know, also titled "How Does One Provide a Classical Education?"   (HT:  Crossing the Brandywine:  These Are a Few of My Favorite Things, where you can also find some other links to great, inspirational articles.)

Too bad I didn't find it until it was already late, because I stayed up way later than I should have, reading.  Even then I only skimmed lots of it because it's an immense thread, probably equivalent to a short book, and if you follow all the links you will have enough reading and listening for the whole winter, I think.

Though Chari and I are very different and our homeschools look very different, I think what we both have always had in common in our homeschooling, and one of the reasons we are such good friends, is exactly at the heart of what this thread brings out.  

Both of us tried to give ourselves this kind of education when we were growing up, even though the public school system of the 70's was by no means compatible with it.    Both of us, as we embarked on the homeschooling venture, found ourselves discarding things that didn't fit our half-understood vision and doing more of the things that seemed to "work" with our children, though "what worked" wasn't entirely clear except when it happened.

Chari has told me about her years of "Tree Schooling" where she and her young children would go outside and simply pick up one book after another and LIVE through them.  Her children were late readers, but when I met them they were some of the most thoughtful and intellectually engaged youngsters I had ever met.   Their eyes would glow as they talked in great detail about some book that they obviously comprehended better than many a college student (I am allowed to brag about Chari's kids : )). 

My grown kids, when they talk about their homeschooled years, often refer in one way or another to the "Poetic Knowledge" element of our homeschooling years.   They don't necessarily use that language, but they are talking about something I remember too --- a kind of mystery and wonder at the heart of things that pierced into them and which they carry with them now.

I am not writing about this to brag in the least, at least not about my set of youngsters : ).   Chari and I both struggled hard during those years, and made our share of missteps.   I actually sort of think this comes with that territory.   When you venture off the smooth track, sometimes you get a bit scratched and maybe sometimes lost for a little bit.   We were looking for something that is hard to pin down --- in fact, I think it's safe to say that when you pin it down entirely, you have lost it.

 

Part of the sheer magnificence of this kind of literary learning is that it is magnificent.  It is immense.  You can spend your life in one part and never exhaust its treasure trove.  The flip side of that is that you are going to be in over your head.  You will be humbled and confused sometimes.   But that's not bad.   That's what makes life more than just going through the hoops and doing what's expected.  And children, Chesterton points out, are more suited to this kind of humbling and mystery than adults are, because adults have often lost their wonder and delight in the face of the huge and mysterious.  Adults don't want things to be huge and mysterious and unexpected, because they have grown tired and fearful.  But this kind of education, embarked on with your children, can refresh some of your weariness and restore some of the lost delight.  

I know that when one reads things like that one immediately feels a bit lost and like one doesn't know where to start.   That is how I felt anyway part of the time I was reading The Thread.  But I think this is why Andrew Kern, when he commented, said that it matters less WHAT you are reading than HOW.    There is an approach of the heart -- I think most of us sense it is there, but it gets cluttered by fear.  That, I think, is why he said it is so important to teach from a place of rest, to slow down, to just look for a different kind of thing.    And I would say to remember to "look" is a very big step.  

 

I probably will write more about this some other time, because it's been on my mind a lot recently, even before I read The Thread.  But now, I have to turn to other things.   Have a good homeschooling day!

Planning for my 2012 5th Grader: Theme...Must.Read.Aloud

Nope.  That is NOT a typo........I mean for it to say 2012 in that title...because I wrote it last summer.........but I might as well adapt it for 2013-14.........since most of it was a bust. :/


The post below was originally written in late August 2012.  I was planning my youngest's school year 2012-13......and these were the plans which arose.......

I never did post these.  I still had more fine tuning to do.......and then I just never got back to do that.  But, I did get all of the resources into their respective baskets.....so we trodded (did you know that is not really a word????  trotted, then) ahead.  I am posting these here today.......because I have another blog post to publish......and it will make more sense and be more useful if these plans go public. (....though after fine-tuning this post and adding the purple italics may cause me to change the focus of the other post......)

In parenthesis, and in this color, are the up-to-date comments about how the year went in each subject.....and how I expect to utilize them for this upcoming school year.

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     I love my little man.  He is only ten now (eleven now) .....but I know my time with him is going to go fast.  According to my predictions, I only have eight more years left to homeschool him......which sadly translates to only eight years of homeschooling for my home-education career.  Unless, he decides he only needs three years of high school........in which case that number gets reduced to a brief seven years. As I recently posted on Facebook:  Hear that sound?  It is the sound of my heart breaking.  So sad that there is an actual end in sight........(....and if he follows in his older brother's footsteps and attends the Independent Study Program at the local high school to play sports......I only have three years left.  Hopefully, he will stay home for his schooling......)

     But, it is not yet here.  And I need to make the next 7-8 years good for him.  Last year really did feel like a bust.  Oh, we got some math done.....but not as much as he was capable of.  We learned a lot about WWI and WWII.......but not as far as we should have got.  We never reached the Korean or Vietnam Wars.  The art study was brief.  He finally read his first chapter book.....but the fluency still has not clicked.  And, there were not enough read-alouds.  Thanks to his sister adding him to an IEW writing workshop she was leading, we found that he is a prolific and capable writer, in spite of his slow fluency in the reading department.  He probably has a gift of putting pen to paper.  I suppose if I add in to this list his sports accomplishments last year (we call that education, of course)....he improved and excelled in basketball, learned excellent team leadership skills with soccer, and had an amazing year pitching in his baseball league and the All-Stars.



     As I go through the school resources left out and about on the shelves on the boys' rooms for last year's Great School Plan, I will use this space to write my thoughts related to planning for this boy for this new school year. That starts, like, next week, right?  Supposedly.  ;)

     I am also trying to keep in mind that one of the reasons last year was a bit of a bust was because I was working more hours in order to make up for the decrease in income after my husband was laid off.  Since I will definitely be working at least the same amount of hours this year, I must find a way to plan for him to work independently on the days when I cannot be there or when I feel ill.

Keep in mind that most of this is done in a Charlotte Mason style.......or in a strewing kind of unschooly way.......whatever that means.  :)  This is just a guide.  It gives me a place to start.....but most rabbit trails are followed.  The resources are rich enough to give him a well-rounded year.....even if we only do about half of it.  Of course, all of it is literature-based.  Because that is my style. :)



Religion:

A major goal is to give him the resources to complete his First Holy Communion Notebook or scrapbook.  I made a comprehensive plan for him, but never followed through and now his FHC is many years past.  But........he loves scrapbooking, and now that he is older, he will be more independent doing it. So that part will make it easier for me to leave him to his own devices........

I plan to give him the lessons I had planned to go with it......with lots of picture books.  He will grow closer to his faith and create memories and connections while doing a hands-on project......something he thrives on.  I am excited about this.  It will also include using the New Catholic Picture Bible as well.  Nice thing about this project?  It is already gathered in one box with all of the supplies......and the lesson plans.  Please pray this finally works out. (Pleeeeease pray!) He will be too old for it, eventually. 

I might have him read through the appropriate book of Living My Religion series........but we should have enough if the above works out.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST. 

For this next year, I will try yet again.  I looked at the Living My Religion series and picked out Book 6 for him.  He will need to be preparing for his Confirmation and it looks like a good fit for that. I will also use the booklet Preparation for Confirmation According to the Baltimore Catechism because it is what our priest would like him to have memorized for the sacrament. I think that putting the Notebook together will help him to spiritually prepare for confirmation.  I may have to call it a Confirmation Notebook now. :) )


History:

     When I viewed my stack of wonderful picture books on the Revolutionary War time period, I realized that I had never read them to Malachy. In looking back at his homeschooling, I came to see that this kid has had two seasons of ancient history and two seasons of medieval history and two seasons of WWI & WWII.  Yikes.  That is what happens when we follow the high schoolers in their history.

     So, I am going to start with the French and Indian War....and go to the Revolutionary War.....along with anything in between and around.......and that will probably be all we get to.....if we have the same experience my other kids did......loving this time period so much and enjoying all of the rich resources that we could never stop.  :) Know anyone else who has spent a year on the French and Indian War?  Three years on the Revolutionary War period??  Yeah, we really did.  Those are some of my kids favorite years of homeschooling.

I am still trying to decide if there is going to be a spine.....maybe a Genevieve Foster book....or perhaps Father Furlong's sweet little text.

     For the French and Indian War, I am definitely going to use Albert Marrin's book, Struggle for a Continent:  The French and Indian Wars.  This was the first book of his that we had ever read.  And we loved it.  All of us have read several other of his history books.....and we are never disappointed.  He takes his historical research and turns them into great stories, pleasing both this mom and her kids.

     I will also have him listen to the audio version of Madeleine Takes Command, another family favorite read aloud.

     In addition to me reading most of his history aloud to him, I will have him read simple biographies of Americans of those time.......starting with Dan Morgan: Boy of the Wilderness, I think........and also see what American Saints of that time I can throw in as well.  I am thinking Father Marquette, Father Jogues, St. Kateri......

I have a nice "My State Book"......I could have him work on that independently with some books on California so he can have some easy practice doing research.  Not sure yet about this......might be too much.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST........I tried the Foster Book...but it sort of made me crazy....too little info and too many pieces of little info.  We only read about 25 pages of Marrin book. History is a hard subject for a full-time working mama who wants it literature-based for someone who cannot read a lot on his own.  This issue is the inspiration for that other post I am working on.  I need some ideas and help.......

Oh!  Another partial-success was that I realized I could give him his American history through Great Courses Lectures.  I then just wrote little quizzes for him from the info in the booklet.  I would have liked to have had more discussion with him.....but he has a good memory, so I am sure he got something out of them. So, that could be an option for this school year.......


As for this next year, I am not sure what to do.  I could just continue down the path I set above.......And now I think he is old enough to do the My State Book research on his own......I was tempted by my excellent library on Lewis and Clark history.....maybe I should just pick out a few BIG historical things that occurred and give a big focus on those, rather than an huge overview?  I hope to get his Book of Centuries updated and ready for him to use independently.)

Geography:

He loves this kind of stuff......so I should try to find something that he can do that is somewhat independent.  I will probably do something similar to what Simply Charlotte Mason recommends....  We did it a bit this last year (oh!  another pro for last year!) and it went well when we did it.  I will begin with Canada and the United States so it goes with his history.

I will read this book to him:  Maps:  Getting From Here to There by Harvey Weiss.

We had started the Holling C. Holling geography unit a couple of years ago, starting with Paddle-to-the-sea.....the Beautiful Feet Unit.  I might delve into that, too.......I have some of their beautiful maps to use.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  mostly BUST........we did do the Simply CM geography drill for a few weeks....and I utilized another workbook as well, that was mildly successful. 

 For this year, I should just plan to do the same.........)

Maths:

He will move forward to finish up all of the Math-U-See books he has left:  A few lessons of Delta, and then Epsilon and Zeta.  We might not finish all of them.....but it will be our aim. I think he might get to meet with my older kids' math tutor once in a while for some inspiration.  He likes her. 
I hope it will keep him on track more this year.

Since he will finish with the MUS books before he will probably be ready for Jacob's Algebra, after talking with my math tutor friend, I have decided to just have him work through the MUS pre-algebra book...to keep him in practice.....but that is for next year...and I am concentrating on this year......

I found a copy of G is for Googol:  A Math Alphabet Book by David M. Schwartz.....so I will read through that slowly.....over a few weeks or months.

And any other math literature that comes along....like our favorites such as Sir Cumference and the Knights of the Round Table......and the others in that series.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST.......he could, but wasn't motivated to move fast without some prodding.  I finally gave in to try Teaching Textbooks 6........that worked well for about 6 weeks in the spring till we went out of town....and he has not touched it since. I never did read anything math lit. 

For this year, I will resume with the Teaching Textbooks 6.....since he is so independent with it.....and he likes it well enough.  Our Educational Facilitator with our charter school was thinking of having a Math Workshop with some kids his age, working with "real life" math.  She is a Math Major.  I sure hope she follows through with that idea.  I just sent her a text.....to remind and  encourage her.)

Science:

     I am a little unsure about what I want to do.......

    I took a look at some of those Creation Science books by Apologia.....but they did not feel right for right now.  Maybe next year......

     I think I am too tired and busy to create unit studies........like in the old days.....

     So....at this moment, I think I will take a look at doing the Beautiful Feet's A History of Science.  Not sure I will have enough time to do all of the read aloud required......but I might give it a try.

     Nature study is simply a given in this family.  Hopefully the smoke that has choked up all of the month of August will finally pass away so we can get back to the  out of doors.  We have been housebound for entirely too long.

      I hope to set him up with a nature sketchbook.......he loves to draw......and perhaps when I am unable to be with him, he can reproduce those drawings for me.

Take a look at.......
Zingy Science
Khan Academy

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST........mostly.  Finally in the spring, I began reading the Beautiful Feet books to him.....which he enjoyed.  And here it is, August 2013 now.....and it is smoky yet  again. It has been so long since we have had a summer without smoke......that I cannot even remember when that last summer was......maybe 2007?  While I never inspired him to use a Nature Notebook or draw from nature, he certainly got lots of quality time in nature.  That is one area I can usually keep alive around here. ;)

The other way that I was able to salvage some science was to have him go one day a week to my friend's home to do organized chemistry with her daughter.  That was definitely NOT a bust!

I looked at the Khan Academy......and I cannot figure out how I am supposed to utilize it.  Anyone have any advice???

For this year, my friend has agreed to take him again this year.  I think I will continue with the Beautiful Feet science as best I can.......and keep on hanging out in Nature, of course.  And I have like 20 science experiment kits that someone ought to be using..... :/ )

Language Arts:

Reading: 

This kid will be such a lover of literature.....if I can just get him fluent.  He had all of those early reading signs at age four.......and yet still has not fallen in love with reading at age ten (eleven).  It makes no sense.  So, this year, I want to read to him like crazy.....and keep him reading something......till he takes off.  He will, right????

I might make a shelf for him of easy chapter books.

Encyclopedia Brown.....have him read these aloud to me.......till he just wants to dive in on his own.

I need to try to remember to offer him some of the sports stories written by Matt Christopher.  I had a few already....and just picked up three more for free at the library.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  mostly BUST.....he is still not picking up books on his own.......but his fluency has improved, thanks be to God!  I did read aloud to him......just not enough.  We never tried the Encyclopedia brown books......I still might. I did get him to read a few Gary Paulsen books....but I really want him to get lost in books....sheesh.  Oh!  I was able to get a Kindle for him to use.......just to see if that would help.  Not much.

For this year, just keep on reading.....I will have him read aloud to me as I can remember.......and to keep him reading something, always.)

Literature:

     I am going to start the year with Amazons and Swallows by Arthur Ransome.....one of those great classics I missed as a child.  My oldest did not care for it....but two of  my others loved them. Thanks to the generosity of a friend (Hi, there, Helen!), I have the entire series.  I am hoping that we do fall in love with them.......that series should keep us busy the whole year.  This will be only the second time I have read a book just with him as an audience.  I realized this summer that I have to do that now.......I do not have all of the kids available at the same time for our family reads anymore......maybe because they went and grew up on me???  :(

      I will have one family read aloud.....with the three youngest kids (10, 15, 17).  We started The Hobbit this summer.  My two youngest have never heard it read aloud nor have they read it. I want them to have the family-read-aloud memory of  Tolkien's books. And the oldest of the youngest, the 17 year old, says she wants to sit in as well.  We all want to be ready for the movie that is coming out in December......and now I see it will be three whole movies!  How cool is that!?  They cannot leave much out with three movies!

     I will continue to expose him to Shakespeare through the two books: 

            

(August 2, 2013 comment:  This was not a total BUST........we are over halfway through both books, a year later.......sigh.  As for the movie........I am quite angry with them for messing so much of it up. Grrrrrr.  We ended up with an amazing and unexpected World-Class Shakespeare experience last spring.  There will hopefully be more plays for us to see through the end of October.

For this year, the two books mentioned will be our read-alouds. And we will squeeze some Shakespeare stories in there.  We must!)

Writing: 

     This is pretty easy to plan.  IEW, or Institute for Excellence in Writing, is our preferred method of teaching writing.......the one homeschool program I have tweaked the least for our use.  The best part:  my oldest daughter is a very fine writing teacher and will continue to teach Malachy in one of her writing workshops.  I am so blessed. Bonus:  she teaches lots of poetry and grammar and lots of other LA stuff, as well.

(August 2, 2013 comment:  NOT a BUST at all.  Anne was wonderful and Malachy progressed so very well.  I just went through his writings from last year......a very prolific little writer.  And he thrived on the poetry she shared.

For this year, we will continue with the same plan.  My daughter will be able to continue teaching at least one more year......while she works on her graduate degree and teaching certification. More poetry and continue to work through the Continuation Program B.  Did I mention that I was blessed???? So is Malachy.  :) )

Picture Books:  Willa and I are creating a challenge for this......

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST?  We were consistent for a few months........we meant to be stay consistent.  Maybe we need a sign on our bathroom mirrors to remind us? :)

For this year.......Willa and I will have to discuss this possibility.)

Latin:

Phooey!  I had forgotten that I was going to start him in the Latina Primera? this year......but Vicki over at Creating With Wisdom reminded me.....

(August 2, 2013 comment:  partial BUST.  We did get through five lessons.  It was easy for him.

For this year, we should review and get going.  I can give him lessons and he can use the workbook the rest of the week.)


Art:

      Malachy has natural artistic talent.  I always try to keep him exposed to all art stuffs, just in case he makes it a permanent part of his life in some way. Not sure where it will go...but I want him to have a chance to practice all of the skills.......he is generally good at drawing, creating, crafts, painting........etc.

     Having been a lover of art from way back when I was young, I have collected many resources for all-things-art-related.  I just need to decide what to use for him...and then follow through.  For once.

His artsy sister has recently returned home from her year away in Austria....so while she is studying art at the local Junior College, I am hoping there will be some trickle-down teaching from her, to him.

I have an old set of six videos from Calvert School, Discovering Art. I will probably use this until they are done.  I like that they model skills and share art history as well in an ongoing story.....even if they are a bit goofy and over-acted.  The information is sound.

I also have a book I want to read through with him called:  How to Be an Artist:  the Fun of Drawing.......it is just a quick self-published book that I came across.  I like how it seems to give the perspective of what an artist sees when he or she looks at things.

I will provide a blank sketch diary and just assign him to use it on those days when I am not home...in any way he wants.  Some of my kids would be intimidated or put off by this....but not Malachy.  Or his artsy sister.  :)

I just came across my copy of Storybook Art:  Hands-on Art For Children in the Styles of 100 Great Picture Book Illustrators by MaryAnn F. Kohl & Jean Potter.  I may combine this with our Picture Book Challenge. 


Hailstones and Halibut Bones for sure.  Ah.  turns out I will not have to do this one myself.....my oldest daughter Anne, who is teaching his IEW Writing Workshop, wants to do this for his class......off the hook!  This is good...but I am a bit sad........I was looking forward to sharing it with him.  This book needs its own post.  Perhaps I can wait till Anne teaches with it and create the post then.  I love this book and I want all to enjoy it as well.  Excellent poetry and art possibilities!


 (August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST.  Yep. Like all of it.  I did create a Pinterest board for online art lessons and loaded it with watercolor lessons so that he and I could work together.  We got as far as watching a lesson late one night....inspired. Of course he did do art on his own.  Oh!  We did get to take him to an awesome Art Walk in the town south on his 11th birthday.  Very cool.  Loads of fun.

For this year, I would like try to accomplish the above, plus watercolor lessons together, local Art Walks when we can make it......at least one in Ashland, Oregon......and some artist studies.  I have TONS of art and art history resources.  I really need to tap into those for this kid.  My four older kids got lots of artist study.......I want him to get the chance. )


Cooking:

     He has a great interest in food preparation.  Thinks he might want to be a chef someday.......so, I think I will encourage him to choose one recipe a week to try.  I wonder if he will do mostly desserts.  He is quite partial to making pies.  :)

(August 2, 2013 comment:  This was only NOT a BUST.....because he loves to cook.  He made at least five or more different kinds of pies........and some of them up to five different times. Of course, I never did tell him to try something once a week......maybe I will this year.

Once a week may be too much between all his sports, etc.......and I want him to find cooking relaxing and enjoyable.......so I will aim for 1-4 times a month, at his preference.  I think he cooks more in the fall and winter anyway.......)

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      Not sure what subjects will get covered, but I have made arrangements that once a week he will go to my friend's home to "do school" with her daughter who is about 18 months younger.  They are good playmates and she could use a peer for some schooly stuff, like doing science labs.

((August 2, 2013 comment:  NOT a BUST.  But only because I was not responsible for it.  Sigh.  Like I said above, under science, they did chemistry lessons and experiments.

For this year, we will repeat this......)


Using this platform, of blogging, as I sit here and plan, has been so helpful in exciting me about the new school year.  Finally some positive school spirit.  :)

(August 2, 2013 comment:  TOTAL BUST......I was only excited for a moment.  But rereading this post and reevaluating the ideas...is almost inspiring.  And it is only the fourth day in August!!! Yay, me!)


I have told my boy that based on our current crazy and hectic schedule, that he will need to be flexible enough to do schooly stuff whenever I call him to it:  day or not, weekday or weeknight.

(Definitely will need to do that again.....but better this year.)

WOW.  This is quite a project.  Hope I can get at least half of it done!  So, I am now off to get started!

(August 2, 2013 comment:  BUST.  Yep.  TOTAL.  I doubt we even got 25% of it done.)

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And so, all of that above, not in purple italics, was written about this time last year.  I guess I will probably just keep the same general plan because it was a pretty good one in the first place.  ;)  Definitely ambitious.

I am wondering if it will help if I put his subjects in their own bins instead just one for all subjects......to help me not feel so overwhelmed.

Wow, I am actually going to post my plans for the school year.......before it even starts.  Haha.....only because I had written my plans last year, but never posted.


Smoky Summer Blessings,

                                           Chari

Edited to Add, on August 23rd, 2013:  Really?  I forgot Music!  We have weekly piano lessons with a Classically-trained teacher........he is our sixth homeschool student to take lessons.......and she thinks he may well be our most musical.  It is his 5th or 6th year.....I can't remember. We also need composer studies......

Keyboarding.  He needs it.  Especially with all of the writing he does for his writing workshop.

Our Catechism Notebook (in progress)

Since I've been doing lots of homeschool notebooking recently I thought I would share what I'm doing.   In this post I'll show our religion pages so far.  This is a work in progress.

One of the things I like about lapbooks/notebooks is that you can build them slowly.  You can have an overview of the basic material on the first page, and then put details on later pages.  OR you can start with a detail and then build up to the overview.  There are so many ways to go!

I tried making a couple of regular file-folder type lapbooks and was quite happy with how they turned out.  (here is one).  However, while I was researching online and thinking about it, I decided that I preferred the notebook binder format to the file folder format. 

You can easily put any mini-book (or file folder game, or mini-office) on a card-stock page in a binder and this (to me) allows for a lot of flexibility and yet continuity.   You can rearrange the papers in the order that seems best.  You can migrate just one or two into a smaller binder.     You can use them as dividers for regular notebooking pages.  The possibilities again are endless. 

You can even use the cardstock pages as extensions in a future lapbook, if you decide you prefer that format.  

And they are compatible with regular notebooking pages. 

 So that's what this post shows.

Materials I Used:

• Cardstock
• Fiskar Paper Cutter (I love this thing, wow, and it is affordable too)
• Scrapbooking paper I had around the house. 
• Glue Sticks I had around the house.  
• Colored and white printing paper I had around the house.  
• Our printer (I don't have a colored printer so I go for black and white images for printables)

This is another thing I like about this craft.  You can use almost everything that comes into the house that has a visual element.  I totally am going to cut up church bulletins and wrapping paper now. 

My goal with the religious notebooking is to build pages which supplement the catechetical resources we are using.  We use a variety of resources depending on what I want my child to learn.

Some core resources:

• Faith and Life (Ignatius PRess).   There are some downloadable scopes and sequences at this site which are useful. 
• Living My Religion.  
• St Joseph Baltimore Catechism.   These are probably my most-used catechisms by a long shot.  
• ThatResourceSite  has a lot of free foldable/lapbook type resources for Catholics (they call them F3 Folders).   They also have all kinds of interesting printables.  Unless otherwise noted, the resources I link to in this post are from that site.  

What I love about notebooks is that they can be homemade customized reference books.  So even if you are using several different things, you don't have to get confused. 


I.  Liturgical Calendar Page

Materials Used:

• Michele Quigley's Liturgical Wheel graphic (HT Valerie Malott's blog)
• Color the Seasons Liturgical Wheel (PDF)
• Learn about the Chasuble and Liturgical Seasons

(We printed the vestments out in small -form, then glued them to little cross booklets which I made of cardstock so we can put more information inside)

2.   Liturgical Dedication of the Months

I have always wanted to follow the dedication of the months of the year.  I found this post More on dedication of the months of the year which showed a way to do this in a lapbook format.

So here is my version.

The page I linked to has printable color pictures to put inside the little booklets.   I don't have access to a color printer, so I collected some black and white pictures (I did my best to choose public domain images but if you notice a copyrighted picture, let me know).
Dedication of the Months
Smaller Dedication of the Months

It took two pages of the notebook as you can see.   I haven't labelled the front of the booklets yet.

I made match-book style booklets.
This page shows you how to make matchbooks. 

Here's a picture showing the inside of a couple of the matchbooks.

On the back of the second page, I am planning to do something similar with the dedication of the days of the week.   But I haven't done this yet. 

3.  Perfections of God

For this page, I simply downloaded the F3 Folder Lesson on the Perfections of GOd.  I printed it out half-size so I could get more on a page. 

4.   The Blessed Trinity

I am not finished with this page yet.
Unfortunately, the lighting wasn't good here.   It looks better in real life.

The stained glass picture comes from this site:  Color the Bible.    You can find memory verses about the Trinity there.  I am probably going to print out the verses for a different notebook page.

You can find images of the Shield of the Trinity here. 
More Trinity symbols here. 
There is also a Holy Trinity Poster at Thatresourcesite. 

See the three little folded things in the picture above?  I used a T-fold which I just cut out myself, but you can see the form here at HomeschoolHelper.     I had some religious scrapbooking cardstock which turned out to be perfect (though the picture is lousy).

Here's another picture from later on.  

Inside you can see cards which I made using this Know and Go Trinity game.   You can see below how the little wallets fold out into a cross shape, and I glued the "Person of the Trinity" cards inside, but left the other ones free. 

5.  Future Plans

Salvation History.  There are lots and lots of Bible lapbooks on display online.   Just go to Pinterest!   I didn't get around to doing a Jesse Tree with my kids this year.   But all my key catechetical resources bring in the Old Testament stories and I thought that if we worked on those between Christmas and Lent, we would have notebook pages ready to review easily for next Advent.  Then in Lent, we can study the life of our Savior leading up to the events of Holy Week. 

Prayer pages.  I am going to display the prayers that my boys already know on the first pages, and then add prayers I want them to learn.

Catholic Lists.  I am fascinated by lists of things Christians should know.    When I first converted, I used to pore over these, but they are challenging to present to kids, because, you know, they are just lists of things.  But they look like great material for foldables and notebook pages. 

Since I wrote this I have made several more pages for the Catechism Notebook.   You can find them under the Catholic Notebooking label.