The MP guides for Mills were not out in time to do them with my oldest, and my middle dd was not ready for the amount of work or detail for them, so I really have not used them to their fullest. I may with my youngest, but she has not started Mills yet. There is plenty to Mills without the MP guides, and the guides are probably better used at the ages MP uses the Mills books (so 7th or 8th grade, maybe), unless you are picking and choosing from them or doing a lot orallly. I like MP, but their guides can br dry and make things overly complicated, depending on how and when you use them. I guess what I am saying is that I am a better Mills' resource than MP, for this. :) Hope this helps!

I think the book would be fine to do in 5th grade, if the child is a strong reader or the mom is prepared to help. The guide may be more advanced than that though. I personally would pick and choose from it or do some of it orally. I would not expect a 5th grader to complete the whole thing, especially if you are want independent work from it. I scheduled Mills as follows: Year 1: Ancient World. A semester of Egypt (with resources) and a semester focusing on Ancient Near East. I spread the one book out to have us be able to explore the content better and accomodate ourselves to Mills. I added in a history encyclopedia for world content and some historical fiction and fun stuff to fill in. Year Two: A semester of Greece and a semester of Rome, with the history encyclopedia, Famous Men books, historical fiction, D'Aulaire's Myths and Augustus Caesar's World thrown in. Year 3: A semster of The Middle Ages and a semester of Renaissance and Reformation Times, with Famous Men of Middle Ages (I don't recommend the FM Renaissance) and all the other goodies. If I had more time, I might take a year each on Greece and Rome. But what I did worked. ;)

I used all of them except for the one on the Hebrews. We did them from 4-6 with a gifted dd, and we really enjoyed them. I bought the guide from MP for the Ancient World, but we never used it. It was good, but it was too detailed for my middle dd. I like having it for the questions, but I would not want to fill it all in. It would be too much. Mills is still my favorite. :)

We learn by doing, so we learn to trust by trusting, especially when it seems impossible to trust. I think St. Therese, St. Faustina, and St. Teresa of Avila all give us good advice here. It is just so hard to follow it. We all want the suffering to end. But suffering is part of life, and it is part of being Christian. We can't "faith" our way around that.

Fear is the enemy of faith. It gets in the way of everything, and love is what casts it out. I also struggle with this. It is a carry over (even after almost 20 years) of believing that God blesses those who love him so suffering is a sign of not enough faith. Either God does not love me enough, or I don't love him enough. I know that is not true. Just look at how the saints suffer. I think we get over it by walking through it, which, like salvation, is a lifelong processs. We practice suffering, like St. Therese talks about in her little way. We walk by faith through whatever we face, and we use it to grow stronger instead of weaker. We let God use our suffering. We yield to it and to Him.

The Catechism is a good reference guide for the Church. It is free online at www.usccb.org, which is the U.S. Bishops' web site. It can be complicated for beginners though. My favorite site is www.catholic.com, which is Catholic Answers. They have lots of free info and MP3s to listen to. If you have an opportunity to get books, Fr. Trigilio's Catholicism for Dummies is very good (hate the name, but love the book). Anything by Scott Hahn is very good, and he has free Bible studies at www.salvationhistory.com. I also like Frank Sheed Theology for Beginners. On WTM, we have a Social Group called Crossing the Tiber (when the SGs come back). For now, we are doing it in thread form. It is set up for people to discuss the Church, especially for getting questuons answered. You are also welcome to PM me, if I can help.

Mine is St. Teresa of Avila. dH chose St. Gregory the Great. DD 13 will choose St. Rose of Lima. Not sure yet about the other two.

Hugs to your dd! Hope it goes well. I have never had issues with those kinds of things in my parish or when we were at Catholic school, but I have seen it among Catholic homeschoolers, who tend to be more conservative than the community at large. You may find Latin-Mass only, skirts-only, strict no TV or popular books/media, etc. It is out there. It just is not as prevalent as I have found it to be in the general Christian homeschooling groups. Even with that, we have always been able to find other Catholic homeschooling families that we fit in with, and it has been much easier to fit in than it was in the non-Catholic Christian groups we have been part of.

http://rosary.virtualave.net/ I found this online rosary today. I liked clicking on the boxes instead of beads, just as something different.

Canon law is an hour before the Eucharist. I go to several different Masses, and the timing is always slightly different. I am just not always able to predict what an hour before communion is. So we fast an hour before Mass, just so I don't have to worry about it. It is probably scrupulous on my part, but it is how we have always done it.

That sounds like it would be great. I personally love going to Mass at the Cathedral. The Mass should basically be the same. Same readings. Sometimes the Saturday Mass is less formal in style of music and such. Sometimes the Sunday Mass has more altar servers and incense. It really depends on the parish. Just an FYI for later down the road: as a Catholic, I would have to abstain from food and drink (except water) for an hour before Mass. So eventually, if you do decide down the road to cross the Tiber, you will end up doing what the rest of us do and go to dinner after Mass. ;)

The first link is a full book. The last three are free downloads from Catholic Answers. I would start there, and move to the book, if need be. Patrick Madrid's book: http://www.amazon.com/Any-Friend-Gods-Mine-Explanation/dp/096426109X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355459984&sr=8-1&keywords=Patrick+madrid+any+friend http://www.catholic.com/tracts/praying-to-the-saints http://www.catholic.com/tracts/saint-worship http://www.catholic.com/tracts/the-intercession-of-the-saints

Welcome! And sorry this is in two posts. The ipad is not cooperating with me. Vistors are always welcome. We ask that non-Catholics do not receive communion, as that is a sign of unity of faith and belief. We believe in the Real Prescence of Christ in the Eucharist (John 6). When everyone goes up for communion, you can either remain in your seat or go up with your arms crossed in front of your for a blessing. The service will be very structured, with standing, sitting and kneeling. Just follow along and do what you feel comfortable with. The first part of Mass is centered around readings from Scripture. The second is centered around the Eucharist. There is usually a Missal in the pew (a little book that has the order of service and the readings and prayers in it). This will help you follow along. You can also read ahead for the Mass you attend. Go to www.usccb.org, click on the Bible section and the calendar date for Mass. Saturday evening Mass will use the Sunday readings. You don't have to prepare ahead, but sometimes it helps to know what is coming. Please feel free to ask anything you want!

Sorry, the ipad won't let me finish my post for some reason! The only caveat that I have is that where ever you are choosing as a home parish, make sure you will belong to it as home. Make sure that, even if you do attend another parish for Bible study, etc., you still have opportunities to participate in the life of your home parish. You need to meet people and get involved in the community where you attend Mass, if at all possible. It makes a huge difference, IMO, especially for people transitioning from another Christian tradition. You need that sense of community and supoort and opportunities for growth and service. If none of that is at your closest parish, then you need to find another one. I just know that for me, I am a lot more likely to actively participate at a closer parish than one I have to drive to. So you have to know yourself and weigh that carefully also.

If you are talking about RCIA, I think it depends on the parish. I have seen some very small parishes offer great RCIA programs. If you go, and the fit feels wrong, there is nothing wrong with trying another parish. We are not limited to the parish most local to us any more. Usually, the cathedrals and larger parishes have more resources and can offer bigger programs. And they are a great place to start, if you have one close to you. But don't automatically rule out a parish RCIA just based on size. For adult faith formation, the cathedral and larger parishes usually have more opportunities. But not always. And you don't have to limit your participation in these just to your home parish. If your parish does not have the adult opportunities you need, it is fine to attend those programs at another parish.

I understand that. There is always a need for beginning level adult faith formation. But I think we underestimate people when we never progress beyond that. We have offered the exact same Bible study for 12 years. The parish has had three cycles of it, with a lot of the same people participating. The people who really need the catechesis don't come, no matter what we offer. I would just like to see an opportunity for growth and not just recycling of the same materials and topics. We are certainly a big enough parish for that, and it seems a shame to have Why Catholic as the only thing offered to the faithful, catechized Catholics we do have.