Postscripts From The Catholic Spitfire Grill

So after being up almost 24 hours yesterday, I struggled out of bed this morning…then…Workout. Clean the kitchen. Holler at the children to quit bickering at each other and do their schoolwork. Workout. Holler at children. Eat breakfast….although at 11 am it is questionable whether or not one could call it breakfast. Do scripture study and catechesis with the children. Make them eat lunch. Get the children to clean up the kitchen. Start dinner. Sit down at the computer. Send child assigned to errands for the week to get the mail. Open the school tax bill. Open the check that was supposed to be direct deposited and realize you have to go to the bank. Answer phone call by best friend who wants to know why I am not at my computer in the schoolroom. Assure best friend that you are just going to the bank and will be right back. Go to bank. Talk to actual grown-up. Remember that you promised your husband that you would Rain-X the wind shield and make a mental note to do that when you get home. Rain-X the wind shield. Spot fertilizer on shelf in garage and realize that it needs to be spread on the plants. Fertilize plants. Pull weeds whilst fertilizing. Look at the shaggy bushes that need to be pruned. Go get pruning shears and prune them. 

Sigh, the youngest child who clearly wants to die is saying “Mommy it’s been 22 minutes.” 

Dying to self would be so much easier if it didn’t look so ordinary. 

This year we are adding an Advent wreath to our lawn. I found a place that was willing to substitute purple and pink lights into a lighted candle shaped lawn ornament for me. I’ll use garland to make a lawn-sized wreath with the Advent candles. Just in case you were looking for ideas…

The inspiration came from the challenge of keeping our little girls occupied and behaving at Mass. We tried the glass children’s room in our church, but that was more like a day-care center than Mass. I saw parents in the pews supplying the kids with baggies of Cheerios and coloring books, and though we resorted to that once or twice, that didn’t sit right with me. I saw some parents supply their kids with bible story books or children’s prayer books: a step in the right direction, but this still left the child disconnected from the Mass. Then it occurred to me to look for children’s bible stories synchronized with the lectionary cycle. Finding none, I wrote this book, the first in a series of three.

Is he singing the song of my frustration with bringing all three of my children into full participation in the Mass or what!? Except for the part about looking for bible stories connected to the lectionary…and then of course solving the problem by writing the solution….I could have written the above paragraph.

The intent of this book is to help parents and educators bring Jesus’ message to children in a way that will include them more fully in the weekly Mass. This book does not try to change the gospel stories to be stylish or impose the latest slang onto them. It is a children’s English translation, for our children to understand and hear Jesus’ voice more clearly as He speaks to them in the pages of the Gospel.

The gospel reading fom each Sunday’s Mass is represented in clear, simple, and sometimes expanded text that speaks to our children without speaking down to them. The text does not soften the demands of a life of faith, or water down the sadness or joy expressed in this great story.

I really like the idea behind this book. I would have loved to be able to have a quiet gospel time with my children before Mass so that they had already “met” the gospel for the week when they heard it at Mass. The gospel for each week of the entire cycle B of the lectionary (or November 30, 2008 to November 22, 2009) is printed in adult-sized type with the simplified version of the gospel written in large child-friendly print with engaging illustrations. There is absolutely nothing about this book that I didn’t like. I enthusiastically recommend it to every parent who is trying to walk with their children as they bring them into full participation at weekly Mass.

I have finished the bulk of my homeschool planning for the coming year. [Deep contented sigh.] For those of you who are interested in what I use, here are the general details.

We have used Sonlight Curriculum from the very beginning of our homeschooling. I like that I can re-use each year’s curriculum with my younger children with a minimal purchase of consumable materials. I like that we are building a library of real books. I like that it’s an extremely adaptable curriculum. It is a Protestant curriculum but it has been an easy matter to adapt the curriculum to our family’s needs.

Aleks math….may I just say what a godsend Aleks math has been for us?

We will continue using Magnificat for our daily prayer/Sacred Scripture times. We do morning prayers together, Angelus & Mass readings just before lunch, and when things are going well a family rosary before read-aloud time in the afternoon.

We usually ditch most of the SL Bible portion of the core, and I susbstitute read-alouds from biographies of Saints, and other inspirational people of faith. I believe strongly that the best interpretation of Sacred Scripture is read in the lives of the Saints so how the Saints lived their faith is the backbone of our catechism time. Books by Mary Fabyan Windeatt are a good starting place for the younger elementary kids with the exception of the book she did on Blessed Imelda Lambertini and everyone needs to read that one. The Vision series of books (here’s one) is also good those listenee’s that are a little older. The books by Louis de Wohl are similar to the Henty books in that there’s a lot of history in them but they tend to be dry to read-aloud and they are similarly biased like the Henty books. I highly recommend The Shadow of His Wings for anyone who will be covering WWII with jr high and up children. It’s a very exciting book and drives home the point that not all Germans were bad guys as well as the power of prayer! At times I will also work in books like The How-to Book of the Mass 

Some other resources that we have used in the past that you might want to look at:

Mass Explained to Children (this is an explanation of the pre-Vatican II mass but without too much difficulty can be used to discuss Novus Ordo)

Also pre-Vatican II but very helpful Know Your Mass

Another pre-Vatican II re-print My Catholic Faith ….some of the rules have changed from then to now but it’s broken up into very digestible, systematic chunks, which makes it easy to discuss with children.

New to our catechism time this year will be An Introduction to Catholicism from the Didache series. I know my high schooler could benefit, my jr. higher is up to is, what remains to be seen is if my youngest (9 yodd) will be totally swamped by it. I am also hoping to spend some time with my two oldest on the Theology of the Body for Teens sometime during the year. I have just started viewing the DVD’s that go with this program and I am very impressed. I think that teaching our children the Theology of the Body is essential and am enthusiastically recommending this as a way of incorporating it into your youth groups, and homeschools. Please check out what others have to say as well.

Nobattleplansurvivescontactwiththeenemy. Nobattleplansurvivescontactwiththeenemy. Nobattleplan……

No battleplan survives contact with the enemy.

In early third millennium America, heroic Catholic families generally don’t send their kids to public schools if they have any conceivable alternative. Nor do they take advantage of parochial or diocesan schools if their staffs are still riddled with cafeteria Catholics (or worse). If a sound Catholic school is not available, heroic Catholic families pull up roots and move, or they found independent schools, or they home school. Even if outstanding schools are available, they may still home school. I use the word “generally” in the first sentence, because there are exceptions to every parenting rule, and it isn’t anybody’s job but yours to make the best decision for your own children.

It is axiomatic that God will always supply the most when we can do the least, but we must also expect Him to supply less when we are simply unwilling to do more. And so heroic Catholic families must do their very best to keep tight control over their children’s educational environment at least through high school, and many will do so through college as well, depending on the child and the feasibility of using an outstanding Catholic college. Moreover, in heroic Catholic families, schools are never chosen because of their outstanding secular reputations, the material value of their credentials, or their brilliant extra-curricular possibilities. Heroic parents don’t sacrifice their children’s moral and intellectual formation so that they will have the opportunity to make more money or excel at sports, drama or music.

In heroic Catholic families, mothers work outside the home as little as possible, and fathers make themselves available to their children regardless of the pressures of work or their desire for rest and relaxation. Heroic fathers are very much involved in raising their children. Parental closeness to each child is maintained throughout the teen years; it is not abandoned during the difficulties of adolescence. In this context of ongoing involvement and availability, heroic Catholic families also pray together every day, forming a habit and expectation of family prayer from early childhood, preferably including the daily Rosary—which has a proven track record.

Heroic households not only bar the door to intruders but regulate the airwaves, as well as broadband and phone connections. They restrict their children’s computer time, cell phone features, television and movie watching, and (perhaps above all) Internet use. They educate themselves concerning the moral dangers of these media, and they make a point of not allowing into their homes media that represents people acting in ways that may lead their children into sin—ways in which they would never allow real guests to act. Heroic parents are constantly vigilant. If they are ignorant about certain technological issues, they get help from those who understand them.

Thank you kindly, Leticia at Causa Nostrae Laetitiae for pointing me to this article.

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