My goal is to get them to Heaven, not Harvard

This should be my mantra. I need to constantly remind myself that just because I home school and overall my kids are smart, they can be average, and there is nothing wrong with that. I've been stressing myself out that I am not teaching them a thing. This has been a rough year, we haven't been as diligent in getting all of our school done. I've been beating myself up, my kids will be failures because in third grade I spent too much time teaching the 20th century, and not enough on handwriting.

My oldest is in Jr. High, which is more stressful. People expect her to go to school in 2 years. She is not going. She wants to stay home. I'm happy to oblige. I'm feeling pressure to make sure she can get into the best High School, even if she will not attend. She, like me, stinks at math. Obviously, I taught her her wrong, right?

It is so easy as mom to blame myself, but the reality is God will work in spite of me.

ILCHC

The ILCHC is 3 days away. If you are going, stop by and see me at the CHC table, I'll have chocolate :-) . If when you come I have a beard, that means you came when I was gone, and you got Chris, my husband, say hi to him, please, HS conferences are foreign land for him, he's a bit nervous about talking to HS moms, in his experience, we are all a bit mental. He likes Chesterton, and will happily talk about that though.

The reading gap

Livescience has an article about the gap in reading ability between boys and girls in schools. Very interesting. The most fascinating part of the article in at the bottom.


"Here's a fascinating fact," she said. "There is no literacy gap in home-schooled boys and girls."
"Why? In school, teachers emphasize reading literature and talking about character and feelings," she said. "This way of teaching reading does not turn boys on. Boys prefer reading nonfiction, such as history and adventure books. When they are taught at home, parents are more likely to let them follow their interests"


Fascinating indeed, letting our kids read what they are interested in, to encourage them to read. Home schooled kids are not immune from the gap, though in my opinion. My 7 year old is a bit "behind" in reading, so he is just learning how to read. ( I'm not concerned, if you cannot tell). I recently took him to the local bookshop to get some early readers, seeing the princess early readers his sister had were not to his liking. I would have to say 75% of the books in the early readers section were geared toward girls. No wonder boys do not read as much as girls, they do not have the selection of books to read. In addition to the lack of books for boys, many of the ones that were not girly, were twaddle. My son asked me how many times he would have to read a book about a cat on a mat or a lad with a cap. Point taken, he wants substance. Lucky boy, Mom found a new series of early readers based on the classics. We picked up The Treasure Map based on a chapter of Treasure Island. It is not dumbed down, just written in simplified language. My son loves it, we have four books to complete, and we move on to Tom Sawyer. I hope good literature will put him on the road to be a good reader, especially one who wants to continue to read good books.

Great new Blog

I recently came across First Heralds, a blog dedicated to helping toddler and pre-schoolers learn about their Catholic Faith. I am very impressed by what I have seen so far. This particular are of religious education is of great interest to me, not just because I have a 3 year old, but people too often assume that this age group needs no religious education. I beg to differ. These are the most tender years, the ground for planting seeds is so fertile.

We have been blessed to use Catechesis of the Good Shepherd off and on. We are even more blessed because my husband's Aunt Tina wrote many of the materials and is a great encouragement to us. We are very fortunate to have been put on a good path for our children's religious education early on, many others are not. I see sites like First Heralds helping with the situation. Best of luck to them in all of their efforts!

Learning for the sake of Learning

I'll admit very quickly that I am one of those people who love to learn new things. I taught myself to knit, I've taught myself to cook (my mom never cooked from scratch), I've taken many books out on subjects I "just wanted to know more about". This month I started a new learning endeavor, Latin. Not just Latin but Ecclesiastical Latin. I've been trying to take a class for years, and finally am able to do it. I like to think I know stuff about things (my husband uses this phrase to describe me!), but I did not grow up with Latin in church. Most of the Latin I learned was in music lessons in public school, so I can tell you all about the many loves described in Catuli Carmina by Orff, well, this is a clean crowd, so I probably shouldn't. In Church growing up, we never sang, let alone prayed, a single word in Latin, we pretty much relied on those wacky guys, the St. Louis Jesuits.

Do I need Latin now? Maybe, I really have no great desire to start attending Latin Mass, but I do sing in Latin weekly, and often our priest does Benediction in Latin. My favorite prayer book is in both English and Latin, so it will be nice to have the ability to read the original Latin. My nephew is on his way to becoming a Latin Scholar, I can try to impress him, but 16 year old geniuses are not easily impressed my their "old" aunts(I'm the 5th oldest for the record). My desire to learn Latin is simply because I can. I love to learn, I am excited by homework, and the thought that I can abandon dishes one morning a week to do it. My kids (and husband) think I'm a bit silly, I've taken all the Latin CD's we've amassed as Homeschoolers and put them on my husband's I-pod (mine is being fixed).

I used to be embarrassed my this love of learning, until I met Opus Dei. I am constantly being encouraged to learn new things, not just of the faith, but for my vocation, as a homemaker. Last year After a talk about learning new recipes, I tried making tarts, and my family loved them, I am so glad I tried, anything can be put into a tart. "An hour of study, for a modern apostle, is an hour of prayer." -The Way, Point 335. I love this quote by St. Josemaria, I remind myself of it very often, as I am about to let a question go unanswered, or as I do not do something due to lack of knowledge on the subject. My Latin skills may not help my primary vocation, but I'm sure somewhere along the way it will be useful. Until then, I will tuck that knowledge in my brain and maybe get $.10 off my coffee for the trivia question of the day. Odds seems to be against a question regrading which case you use sine with, but you never know.

Looking for more Books

I desperately need a history book that will look at European and early American history from a Catholic point of view. The new history books arrived for my children, and this year we get to sing the Guy Fawkes song. Yippee. I bet it makes the French Revolution a great thing, too. Those bad Catholics oppressing people again. I wish that the books were not this way, because they are good in most regards, but I do have to "supplement" anytime they mention the Catholic Church, popular ignorance prevails.

I did not learn, in my bad public education, anything that was from a Catholic point of view, and if I did I was not listening. I call my late high school and early college years my "bad Catholic" phase. Short, thankfully, but I am still trying to make up for it in my education. In particular I would appreciate recommendations that pertain to the French Revolution, British history after Elizabeth I, and the founding of the United States. If I can get it from the library, even better, because the book budget (and shelf space) has been exhausted for the time being.