LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW: We are never far from the demonic!

LINEN ON THE HEDGEROW: We are never far from the demonic!: "Much as in the same way it is said that in big cities one is never more than 12 feet from a rat, so it is with the demonic. The devil and hi..."

Catholic clergy clash over home schooling {Article link}

Have you seen Matt C. Abbott's most recent column from May 28, 2011?  It's entitled: Catholic clergy clash over home schooling...really, really good stuff.

Here's how it starts:

"Although I wasn't home-schooled, I fully support parents who are in a position to do so. Thus, I'm perplexed and disappointed in remarks made by Catholic author Father Peter M.J. Stravinskas in a recently-posted article on the website of Our Sunday Visitor . . . [Click for more]

Thank God for priests like Msgr. Barreiro-Carambula and Father Farfaglia!

                    

Tell me your thoughts on this and please keep these two priests and the one that wasn't so charitable in your prayers!
Blessings,
Mama Erika



     



Counting Your Blessings

DJ, our 13-month-old

As we finish this school year and feel totally burned out and ready for a break...You know the time when my children are getting my my nerves the most and I have the least amount of energy?  Then they amaze me!  Remember my post about feeling scared that I wasn't doing a good job homeschooling?  and what a priest told me? You know the one about our kids being HB?  Well, my 13 month old just confirmed this!

How?  Well, we live less than 3 miles away from our parish, we can hear the bells ringing when it's time for Mass or at Noon for the Angelus...so we go out of our way most days to pass by the church as we go run around doing errands.  Why?  Because we like to pass by and say "hi to Jesus!"  Yesterday in the evening, we drove away from our home almost opposite direction to the Church.  As we passed by the street were our Parish is located {no, you couldn't see the Church}, our 13-month-old, says {in his best beginning speaker talk BUT clear as day}:  " Bye, bye Jesus!"

You know I started crying!  Thank you Jesus for the gift of home educating my babies from birth!  I guess I am doing a good job and I'm certain that so are you dear friends!!  So don't forget to count your blessings as you finish another year of home educating!  ;)

Blessings,
Mama Erika




       

Third Year Here We Come!

Isn't our new logo beautiful?

Yesterday was our last day of homeschool for this school year.  We are super excited to start our summer vacation!!!  Anyone else finished (or about to) already?

Next year Cor Iesu Academy (Sacred Heart of Jesus in Latin) will have an 8th grader, a 1st grader, a kindergartner, a preschooler, and a tot-schooler!  Congratulations to my kiddos and thanks to my beloved, our principal, for making this all possible & for the beautiful logo you designed for our school this year!  :)  Love you honey!

Now my mind can go on Curriculum Selection ONLY mode.  YAY!  Someone contacted me via our FB page that she is interested in homeschooling.  So I will take the next couple of weeks to post on steps to get to get your homeschool started.  This is the way we went along and "set up shop" and would love to hear how others did differently. 

If you look closely at our logo, we've included the name of our homeschool and the three virtuse we focus on...these aren't the only ones we try to achive/attain but they are the main ones we would like our school to focus on.  We wanted our logo to reflect our reasons for homeschooling.  In the middle is the Sacred Heart since the name of our school is Cor Iesu.  We chose it in Latin over the vernacular since we are Latin Mass goers (when available and possible, but our parish doesn't offer it).  In addition, it is the traditional language of the Church so we chose to go with it since we are more traditional than not.  Also, we've included the Papal Keys on each side because we follow and obey the Magisterium.  We selected our school colors to be red, black and white...red for sacrifice, white for purity, and black for surety. 

So we get to start Year Three with a new logo...we might just have to get uniforms =D
Blessings,
Erika




       

The End leads to the Beginning

I don't think there is anything more exciting than the end of the school year!  It means summer is just around the corner and that calls for LOTS of outdoor time, beach, sun, and lots of fun!  As I looked through my digital pictures {we store them by year and then quarterly by season} I realized that the season we take most pictures is the summer! 

Maybe it's because we have more time or just because it's so pretty outside, I'm not sure but we have so many wonderful shots of our five little (and not so little) blessings!  I think the one that is most excited this year is my seventh grader.  He gets to go to Miami, FL for the entire summer this year and I'm certain he misses the beach as much as his Mama does ;)

I find this time of year particularly stressful though.  Why?  Because I'm already thinking about next year!  My beloved says I stress myself out unnessarily but I have to be frank, if I don't start early (and I think I'm running late) I get more stressed than not. 

Another reason I want to finish my textbook selection early this year is that I want to try something that a friend does.  She plans during the summer and just prints the lessons out during the year.  I've been planning a month at a time these past two years but I think this is burning me out.  So what's the first item to purchase on my list?  Actually, there are two:

1.  Homeschool Tracker
2.  Family-Centered Press's Liturgical Calendar & Planner

I've been using the free edition of the Homeschool Tracker all these years but we are now ready for the real deal....so we've been playing with the full version the past couple of months.  {IF you decide to buy, please give them my referral code: HQHGB.  Thank you!}

I also got a great deal on the the Liturgical Calendar in January.  The one I got lasts until next January.  I don't know how I survived without this, oh wait I do, I use to get a regular planner and then go through all the months and write in all the Feast Days...it was super time consumming.  Time is something I do not have, so I'm feeling very blessed {and spoiled} with this new Liturgical Calendar & Planner!  Definitely something I want for Christmas {hint, hint for my Beloved}.

These are two items that I wouldn't want to start year three without!
Blessings,
Mama Erika








       

Immaculate Heart of Mary Homeschool Conference Coming Up

Anyone going to the IHM Conference?  I wish I could go this year but won't be able to.  If you don't know what I'm talking about, see below.  From their website:

The largest Catholic homeschooling conference in the country has now entered its 10th year, and has returned to the place where it all began!

Join us as we celebrate our 10th anniversary with special new speakers including Sr. Rosalind Moss, Mr. Andrew Pudewa, and Mr. Steve Wood!
We are especially pleased to have the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Virginia, The Hon. Ken Cuccinelli, scheduled for Saturday.
Not only has he gained the national spotlight by filing a lawsuit which resulted in having the universal healthcare mandate of Obamacare ruled unconstitutional,
but he is a Catholic homeschooling father. Please visit our Speakers page for a full listing of confirmed speakers.

FREE ADMISSION!

Although we love children, attendence is restricted to adults, teens accompanied by an adult, and nursing babies.
This policy will be more heavily enforced than it has been in recent years.

Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel

13869 Park Center Road
Herndon, Virginia 20171
(703) 478-2900
Free Parking!

Friday June 10th, 2011 @ 9:00am to 9:00pm

Saturday June 11th, 2011 @ 9:30am to 4:00pm

Got this from the Catholic Charlotte Mason Yahoo Group:

National Conference in Virginia - http://www.ihmconference.org/national/

List of Speakers...wow! http://www.ihmconference.org/national/speakers/

Daily Schedules including NEW Beginners sessions!
http://www.ihmconference.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/IHM-National-Schedule-2011.pdf

See site for info on new College Fair presentations and Teen programs.

For those on TWITTER, let's use the hashtag of #ihmVA11 for tweeting about this.

In +JMJ+,

Allison

www.TotusTuusFamily.blogspot.com

To join the Catholic Charlotte Mason Yahoo Group: Blesssings,

CatholicCMason-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

Mama Erika





       

Susie Lloyd - UNEDITED: JOKE - Poopy Doopy Pee Poo!

Susie Lloyd - UNEDITED: JOKE - Poopy Doopy Pee Poo!: "If there IS anything hard about writing humor it is that people sometimes take you seriously. For instance, - Somebody wanted to know ..."


LOVE Susie Lloyd!  On the hardest days of homeschooling, I survive off of her books!  Go check her blog out!


       

Goodbye Old Navy!

My stomach turns when I read this stuff...as a former teacher, I cannot imagine the idea that this is what is being feed to our youth!

First, I found this blog post: Old Navy Debuts Gay Pride T-Shirts For It Gets Better.  The author of that blog is all giddy about this idea.  Promoting Gay Pride.  Then, I clicked on the links out of curiosity, and found that Old Navy will donate 10% of the proceeds to the It Gets Better Project

The It Gets Better Project is benefiting two organizations:
1. The Trevor Project
2. GLSEN: Gay, Lesbian, & Straight Education Network

The Trevor Project's National Corporate Partners are: Google, C2B (same company as Crate &; Barrel, The Land of Nod), and Levi Strauss & Co.

GLSEN's National Corporate Partners are: CitiFinancial, Cisco, AT&T, UBS Bank, Merck, HP, Barclays Capital, American Express, Disney/ABC Television Group, Wells Fargo, IBM, & KPMG

While all this may not be shocking news it just amazes me how this agenda is being force fed to our children (look arond on both these sites they have books, pamphletes and book marks that are being given away across the country in the public schools).

I am not a gay hater, I know two that I love dearly.  But I am NOT going to accept that lifestyle.  As a great priest I know says, "sorry but the parts don't fit!" I have TWO gay cousins, one male one female, and I love them but they KNOW I don't like nor approve of their lifestyle. I don't bully them nor treat them bad but I also don't select them as godparents to my children NOR do I allow them to bad mouth my faith (which I've had problems in the past with my male cousin)! I just can't imagine why this is allowed in the schools????

What I don't understand about most of these corporate sponsors is that they won't support religious organizations but it's okay to support sexual orientation organizations?  Someone help me understand this please. 

I leave you with just one last thought, thank God for the freedom to homeschool and for private schools!

Praying hard for the non-closing of Catholic schools and the continued freedom to home educate.
Blessings,
Mama Erika




       

Curriculum: What to do?

There are so many programs or texts to choose from out there: Secular, Christian, Catholic, which to choose? I read an article, when I first started homeschooling, that stated that if you are Catholic and homeschooling, you should NOT use Christian material as they sometimes have text that directly attacks the Catholic Church and it's history.

I've seen it first hand in a History book for 6th grade published by A Beka (a Christian publisher). The problem with secular books (of which MANY Catholic Parochial schools use these days) is that they bring in too many outside world views. Many times VERY contradictory to the teachings of the Bible and Jesus Christ as well as the Catholic Church (one in the same). The BEST route is to use a Catholic text. Unfortunately, it is my personally belief that there are slim pickings when it comes to this because of the decline in Catholic Publishers for children.

The author of this article (of which I cannot remember where I read this, if I do and find the link, I'll update this post) suggests that if you can't find Catholic publishers/books to use, you should use Christian books and then supplement the Catholic perspective/component instead of using a secular ones.

I'm not too convinced about this.  For example, we use secular books (for my 7th grader) in all subjects except Social Studies, Science, and Religion.  The only book we've had a little "trouble" with is our English Composition book (content...something about fashion and another one about dating-in middle school, really?).  But bumping into these subjects gave us a good opportunity to chat about these things and realities of life.  The only Christian (non-Catholic) text we use is Science.  It does not have anything contradictory to Catholic teaching so we haven't had a problem with it at all.  But I guess bumping into something Protestant would also spark good converstaions.  With as much as I'd love to live in a bubble and not expose my kids to this world, it's not realistic nor safe to do so. 

What are your views on this? Do you think it is safe to use secular books? Do you think it is better to go secular than to go Christian or vice versa? Also, do you recommend a Catholic Publisher which you have had a good experience with (price, quality, etc.). Give us your two cents!

In Christ,

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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