Catholic Classical Education

[carriede]

I go through phases in attempting to add Catholic elements to our homeschool and homelife. At the moment, we're learning a new hymn every two weeks or so, and I developed a short, family morning prayer adapted from Magnificat's morning prayer. (We have always gone to Mass on Sundays and Holy Days, and DS6 is in his 1st year of our parish's 2 year First Communion program.)

 

But whatever I do, it fades out. Then I notice we've stopped and feel like I have to reinvent the wheel all over again.

 

Some resources I'm interested in are Classically Catholic Memory, Education in Virtue, and the saints packs from Equipping Catholic Families blog. But they seem so all-or-nothing AND expensive relative to most curriculum we use.

 

Maybe it's because my kids are so young? I can't seem to keep this engine moving, but definitely feel that it needs to take a higher priority.

 

And as for a basic classical education, I can't seem to get basic art or music appreciation done either. And I'm falling behind my read aloud lit list quickly.

 

I try to look for inspiration from Catholic homeschool academy places like the curriculum lists at Angelicum Academy or Mater Amabilis. But I'm never as impressed or inspired as I expect to be.

 

Now I'm babbling. :/

 

Then there's the discouragement of major change after the baby is born in late winter.

 

Anyway. How do YOU make YOUR classical homeschool more Catholic?

[Syllieann]

We use classically Catholic memory. I don't buy the student book; we just use the Tm, so that saves a bit. For history we use connecting with history, which has the faith integrated. Those two are probably where they get the most religious education in terms of curriculum. If you're doing sotw or some other history rotation you could still add in some of the suggestions from connecting with history. The once upon a time saints books and the footsteps of the saints series are good. My kids have enjoyed the ccc movies too. https://www.catholicvideo.com/dvd/98288D/ccc-of-america-set-of-nine We also made a set of the peg dolls from Catholic icing to join in with our paper dolls from the famous figures of ...times series. The peg doll PDFs is here. http://www.catholicicing.com/peg-dolls/

 

My older is in faith formation at our parish, but I consider it a fun social experience. The pedagogy is much like a public school with all the associated problems so I don't rely on it to actually impart any knowledge. In our homeschool, each morning we do a devotion from a Catholic children's book. Then we do a song from we choose virtues, which is a Christian resource in the general sense of the word, not specifically evangelical. The songs and coloring pages available as cheap downloads for we choose virtues have been greatly enjoyed by all my kids.

 

I don't feel like I'm doing a particularly good job with art or music right now. My kids are the same age as yours, btw, so I don't think it's especially critical at this point. I do want to do better in the future though. I'm thinking of using the art book from Catholic school house for next year. It can used with their full program or as a stand alone. In the past we did making music, praying twice for music but my oldest is starting to age out of it and I am kind of tired of using it a couple years in a row. I might get it back out when my youngest is 3-4.

[mamiof5]

We have the "Saints for young readers for everyday" books (there's 2 volumes), we really enjoy them. We also get some books from Seton (not necessarily pay for enrollment, just get the books), we do Religion, Science and other books from them.

ETA: as we were praying our rosary this morning I realized how much I forgot to include in my response. As somebody else said, the best way is to live your faith. We try to pray the rosary every morning (not successful on the weekends though), we pray morning and night (not only for our friends and family, but for more specific intentions...when we hear someone is sick, someone died etc, we also recently started praying for the souls in purgatory and we spiritually adopted babies so we pray for the end of abortion), we try to go to Adoration and confession once a month, and we pray for the intercession of a few Saints, like Saint Therese (we named our homeschool after her), Saint John Paul II, Saint Michael the archangel. We also try to read the bible often (at least a few days a week), and do bible study through My Father's World. Because MFW is Christian I have invested in Catholic history books (from Catholic Heritage Curriculum) to incorporate our faith. The kids also do Catequism and Sacrament preparation through our church.

[SevenDaisies]

The best thing we've done is to start memorizing questions from the Baltimore Catechism. MP is working on a Catholic supplement and their plan is to use Faith and Life as the spine and assign related questions from the BC to memorize. The supplement isn't ready but I just find questions in the BC similar to those at the end of the chapters in F&L. I wasn't crazy about the idea at first and my youngest two children thought it was terrible, but they both love it now.

 

Another idea is Children's Daily Prayer by Liturgy Training Publications.

http://www.ltp.org/p-2743-childrens-daily-prayer-2015-2016.aspx

[Holly]

I'm not Catholic, but I was wondering if you've read this book:  http://www.amazon.com/Designing-Your-Own-Classical-Curriculum/dp/0898706602/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1446647763&sr=8-1&keywords=catholic+classical+homeschool

 

It is sort of like WTM, but a Catholic version.  

[RootAnn]

I've found the easiest thing to do - especially when the kids are small is to visibly be on my own spiritual journey. That means trying to make it to Mass during the week sometimes. (Some heroic moms make it daily. Others make it once per week. Strive for once per month - perhaps on a first Friday - to start with. If you don't make it that day, try going the next week.) That means saying the Rosary when you can. (My littles have always tried to join in for a short time. They don't usually make it all the way through, but they see me praying.) That means reading your Bible yourself and getting in other religious reading into your schedule, too. (Ours have daily Catechism or Religion time in school, too, but showing them that this is something that continues for LIFE and isn't just a school subject is important.)

 

DH & I talk about what's going on in the Church, discuss the readings on Sunday, debate the points made in the sermon, etc. 

 

We have a bunch of saint stories (books, Glory Stories, & several CDs worth of Fr Fox stories) that the kids have listened to over the years. It is easy to do those when the kids are young. 

 

Model - live - immerse.

 

The 'extras' like learning prayers (in English & Latin) or hymns are added into their subjects in school as we go. At the ages your kids are, they need to see you BEING Catholic.

[wapiti]

My perspective would be to focus on teaching/exemplifying living as a Catholic and on choosing resources for religious education and later, theology.  However, IMO there is no need to use specifically-Catholic materials for regular academic subjects.

 

Also be aware that the term "classical" seems to mean different things to different people.  What many here refer to as "classical" (e.g. the trivium, memory work, etc.) I might call neoclassical but not classical.  Debating use of this term is a can of worms and has provoked long threads in this forum in the past.  Your kids are young now, but for the longer term/big picture, my advice would be to consider the Jesuit philosophy of classical education.

[SevenDaisies]

Another simple idea is the Dominican Sisters Virtues in Practice program. It is a free resource available here:

http://nashvilledominican.org/Apostolate/Evangelization_and_Catechesis

[barnwife]

Have you looked at the Virtues in Practice program? 

Our kids are young (5 and under) and it's perfect for now. And free! It's basically a virtue and saint of the month. I add a memory verse or two, a related bible story or two and call it good. In the interest of full disclosure, we have so far only talked about the virtue and a Bible verse to go with it.

But I have a list of related Bible stories and info. about the saint. 


We are always at Mass on Sundays/holy days. We have a variety of Bible storybooks, children's Bibles, books about saints, etc...in our library.

 

With all of that, morning prayer (which around here is sometimes "Jesus, help us all be kind to each other today), and bedtime prayer/Bible story, I think we are doing okay so far. 

[Terabith]

Is there a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program near you? It's amazing.

[AimeeM]

I really can't recommend Catholic Schoolhouse enough. We only dropped it this year because we're in the middle of a move - we plan on picking it back up next year. 

There is a blog, special resources for those using it at home instead of in a co-op, and a SUPER helpful facebook page specifically for those using it at home. 

Honestly, though - your kids ARE young. I'm not sure I would worry about doing anything with anyone who isn't technically school-age. My 3 year old tags along... but nothing specific is geared toward him other than some basic phonics review.

[Syllieann]

I really can't recommend Catholic Schoolhouse enough. We only dropped it this year because we're in the middle of a move - we plan on picking it back up next year.

There is a blog, special resources for those using it at home instead of in a co-op, and a SUPER helpful facebook page specifically for those using it at home.

Honestly, though - your kids ARE young. I'm not sure I would worry about doing anything with anyone who isn't technically school-age. My 3 year old tags along... but nothing specific is geared toward him other than some basic phonics review.

Is your first grader doing the CSH art? What do you think is the ideal age range? They say elementary and middle school on the site, but would it be a lot for kindy and first?

[AimeeM]

Is your first grader doing the CSH art? What do you think is the ideal age range? They say elementary and middle school on the site, but would it be a lot for kindy and first?

He was going to do it (like I said - we dropped it).

It would have been too much for HIM, but he is the size of a three year old and has fine motor skill problems, as well as general strength and muscle tone issues (related to other medical). However, when I originally looked at it and planned with it, the only concessions I anticipated needed to make for him was that I would do any necessary cutting and that I would plan on more time for him to work with to do the projects.

I wouldn't hesitate to use it for a typical 5-6 year old. I planned to include even my 3 year old in many of the projects.

[carriede]

Thank you all for your suggestions! I do like that Virtues in Practice - even better that it's free!

Lots to chew on. I think maybe I need to just give myself a break. ;) I do have the 1st grade book from the Faith and Life series, so I'll start reading out of that too.

 

Yes, they're young. Many years left. Must remember that.