Homeschooling Advice Part 12 Religion and the Child VII

The main point in the formation of the child is realizing that the child is geared by the graces of baptism to be formed.

Religion is not one more course among many. Although there is a discipline of the study of religion, the religious atmosphere should permeate home schooling.

If a parent is teaching music, the child can learn Marian hymns, even Latin hymns.

If a parent is teaching colour, as I showed in the photos in the last posts, the child can learn the liturgical year.

When I was home schooling, yearly, I bought the large circular liturgical year calendar. We followed the year in the house alongside the secular calendar.These are for sale on line.

To be a Catholic is a way of life, like saying grace before meals, stopping for the Angelus and so on.

Small church structures even made out of legos can include a lectern, altar, pulpit, confessional, baptismal font and so on.  I did a history of architecture with my son when he was 4-5, walking around the village, learning the basics of medieval, Renaissance, and the subsequent forms and he also recognized those styles, such as Romanesque and Gothic in church architecture. I found post cards and photos from magazines for him to paste and write about in a little blue book.

None of this is expensive.

Instead of merely making lego scenes of pirates, one can act out the Crusades, or the English Civil War in specific battles for teaching. Look at this magnificent Seige of Zara from an online source. Fantastic.

Having an altar for Mary in May and October was a fun thing to do, as well as the usual Advent and Lenten children's activities.

In Advent, we made a little manger for a Christ Child and if my son was good, he could put in a piece of straw to make Baby Jesus's bed comfortable and, is he did something naughty, the straw would come out.

My mother did this with us. We enacted the night of the Nativity in the family, having costumes and props. and going from door to door in the house, with one of us standing behind saying no room at the inn and so on. Then baby Jesus was "born" and put into the hopefully snug straw filled manger, with quilt added.

We had a holy water font in the child's room, as I did as a child. And a crucifix in each room of the house, or an icon. We especially had fun on the feast of St. Nicholas, who always came secretly with candy, fruit and little toys. By the way, growing up in Iowa, with snow on the ground on the night of December 6th, we all looked for his footprints. He always came when the entire family was at supper, and it was not until I was in my forties that my mother told me that the Lutheran man next door would bring the things wearing his snowshoes so that there would be no prints. My mom brought stuff over to their house for years earlier in the day.

Of course, we have a magnificent Jesse tree wall hanging made by a non-religious woman who loved the boy and it was used all Advent, day by day. We used straight pins and said a prayer with each symbol, from a book I had bought in Minneapolis when I was about 25 and I have put these types of symbols on my blog in the past. I can do so again. If the children are old enough, they can draw these themselves. From there to Sherborne....(I wish I had my photos of these things, as I kept of record of most things). This photo from another family on line shows the same book symbol.

At the feast of January 6th, we had a house procession of the Three Kings with candles, as the Epiphany means Christ showing forth into the world. We also had made candles out of toilet paper rolls and cotton with the names of the Apostles on each one to remind the child that the Apostles brought the light of Christ to the nations.

These are just a few things we did, and more like making St Lucy Kat which you can find here
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2012/12/st-lucy-kats.html

I shall write about Lenten practices tomorrow.

Home Schooling Advice Part 11 Religion VI Reflection and Meditation 101

This topic will surprise many parents.

A very young child can learn reflection and basic meditation.

Now, a warning, from Dr. Montessori, with which I agree 100%.

A CHILD BEFORE SIX SHOULD NOT BE INTRODUCED TO FANTASY.

That is a shock to those who think little ones need Walt Disney.

No. No. No.

Fantasy must be held off until the child is grounded in reality or the mind will not be properly formed.

Fantasy follows nature studies, learning that when a glass falls it breaks and one has to sweep it up, that birds build nests and some baby birds die, that the pet dog needs feeding and watering and walking daily, that pouring juice without spilling is possible for a three year old and so on. Reality is making Popsicles and watching them melt in the hot sun. Reality is .....

When fantasy is introduced too early, the child will be confused about reality and fiction. Many young people today cannot tell the difference.

Of course, for the Catholic, the Bible is true, real and not mythological. Therefore, Bible studies can be introduced as early as two and a half or earlier with those adorable hard religious books for toddlers.

I knew a four year old, not my son, who was memorizing Scripture passages like I make popcorn, and he understood the passages his parents chose. He was using his own God-given drive to be a saint.

Some children at three get the long years in the desert of the Hebrews if a mom uses bead counting chains.

So, too, anything can be used to explain the Sacraments or sacramentals. What five year old girl would not love dressing up as a little bride, or a little nun instead of a Disney princess?

But, meditation and reflection must be based on reality, and a child is quite capable of both.

Examples: one can take a passage in Scripture and let the young child act it out. Like the finding of the lost lamb with a toy lamb, or even with the farm set on the floor. Like the parable boxes, acting out reinforces truth.

The child can dress up like Bible personages. Kids love this, and if one has a large family, the plays could be highly involved. Some home schooling families put on pageants for others or for other family members as entertainment. I had a dress-up box when I was a child. One should have one in the home school with old elaborate clothes for such use. Children can enact manners.

Having a picture of a saint and asking the child how the saint might think or feel in the picture-like one of St. Lucy, or St. Gemma Galgani. Let the child imitate, enact the saint by a mime. Montessori has exercises in the book I put on a post yesterday and here again. Interpretation of emotions and activities may be applied to religious themes.

Giving the child silence is absolutely essential for spiritual formation. The normal time a three to four year old can concentrate on one thing is 45 minutes. If the child's natural ability for concentration has been ruined by television or ceaseless activities, this is a tragic development. I know parents who say the entire rosary with the children in the car instead of other parents, who have to put in the latest Disney in the car DVD player.

There is no reason why a normalized child cannot be quiet for up to a half-hour thinking about Jesus on the Cross, or the Birth of Christ. Just holding the Crucifix and asking the child  How do you think Jesus felt? is a beginning of meditation and reflection. A child might say, scared, or cold, or lonely.

Every Good Friday, when my brothers and I were very young, from 1-3, we had to go to our rooms and be quiet. Now, we did not pray the entire time, of course. We could play quietly, but my mother said that first we must sit down for a few minutes and think of Jesus on the Cross. The entire house was quiet. At three, we went to church.

We managed.

From early on, I made my son have quiet time in his room. He was encouraged to read and look at saints' lives. I was fortunate that he began reading at four. But, his quiet time was the beginning of reflection, daily. Then, we would talk about his saint, or Moses, or the Blessed Mother.

By five, I was teaching a basic examination of conscience. Did you do anything today which would displease God, or make mum or dad sad? I would encourage this in just the evening, but not everyday. My son made his First Confession at five and knew what to look for making his mental list of little sins. He made his First Communion at six. His dad and I did all the prep, including a book of sacraments, which the son made, starting with his baptism-and he did all the coloring and writing and pasting. I just provided pictures from old bulletins, or cards he got on that day, or photos. He wrote about baptism and confession, and his upcoming First Communion in the album.

Reflection leads to meditation, a practice we all do on the way to holiness. Meditation is based usually on Scripture, but one can, with the child, meditate on the words of a song, or a prayer, like the Hail Mary. One can teach the child to reflect on his patron saint. Very young children love repetition and we learned lots of songs.

Pictures can help and imagining the scene. One can say to the child, for example, Let us think of walking with Jesus to Lake Galilee. What sounds might you hear, or smells or what would you see and so on?

A quiet environment in the home takes planning and time. It means the home schooling parent has priorities. It means no radio or tv, but times for music. It means scheduling.

What the child can do is amazing if we let them do it and provide them with the means, especially the environment.

One of the most successful things I did was make an Icon Corner. This changed according to the liturgical season or saint's day, and even as a teenager, up until college when son went away, that was a little locus of prayer.

One can do this in the children's room as it is safe.

At night, after a mini examen, we said the Angel of God prayer, the prayer of  Venerable Fulton J. Sheen for the adoption of the baby in danger of abortion, the St. Michael prayer and a litany of family saints-which changed as one was confirmed and so on.

The rosary we mostly said in church with others, or on our own, after the child learned it. It is important for a child to pray both with people and on his own. I had a set of pictures of the meditations on the rosary which one can still buy. To this day, my son prefers saying his rosary alone-now an "old" habit.

All these things can be started as early as your child is aware,  and everything I have mentioned can be done with pre-schoolers on up.

Especially in these days, parents need to help their children be saints.

To be continued...and another on line book. And, here is an Orthodox mom's website of home schooling ideas, including an icon corner, similar to what I had. And, for the fun of it, here is St. Therese, at a later age, acting out a play of St. Joan of Arc. And. one more blog on children dressed up for All Saint\s Day. Cute.

Just Because-Eye Candy a la Francis Bedford

http://vintagephotosjohnson.com/2012/05/30/francis-bedford-1816-1894-bibliography/

Duh!

http://www.newsmaxworld.com/GlobalTalk/syria-russia-intervention-catastrophic/2013/08/28/id/522579?s=al&promo_code=14AC9-1

Dark Night of The Soul And Patience: Part 44

I wrote here about the theological virtues and the Dark Night.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/consumerism-materialism-pride-and.html

There are many other posts on the life of the virtues, which is the most misunderstood area of our Catholic lives and rarely taught correctly. Just put the title virtues in the search bar, or use the tags.

In all of my long years, I have only heard one sermon from the pulpit, and Fr. Chad Ripperger's talks in which a priest actually delineated the need for purification BEFORE the life of the virtues is being exemplified. This is indicated in Garrigou-Lagrange and in St. John of the Cross. Why priests do not share this information can only mean that they do not know it, or are dumbing down the process of living in the virtues.

We are given the theological and cardinal virtues as gifts in baptism. Every time we receive the Eucharist or go to Confession, we allow God to stir up those virtues as it were.

However, to live in the holiness of the life of the virtues, a person must go through purification, must.

Why?

Several reasons. The first is that most adults have sins and tendencies which clog up the heart, mind, soul and will like slug in mechanical works. Years of bad habits, turning away from grace, the lack of penances and the avoidance, or hatred of suffering create obstacles to the free flowing of the virtues.

Purification is like putting Drano in the drains so that the river of grace can enter into every part of one's being. Sadly, some of us need more than the liquid or gel; we need the drain snakes.

A second reason is pride, the basic sin of all of us. Without humility, the opposite of pride, one is not free enough to use the virtues for God alone, instead of for one's own ego.

Now, one of the greatest blockages is the sin of impatience, which St. John of the Cross notes is an impediment to holiness.

One becomes impatient with others, and one's self; impatience with events; and worse, with suffering.

The value of getting older is that impatience becomes less a burden. The older person is forced by nature, by the slowing down of the body's ability to do everything extremely well and in a timely fashion, to become patience.

If an old or older person is impatience, this is a huge sign that he is not cooperating with the suffering of the Dark Night. I have written several posts using the lunge line in horse training as a metaphor for the discipline which comes in the Dark Night. Aging is a lunge line.









Suffering, because of our fallen state, is a necessity for this
purification. Sadly, many of us run away from suffering,
especially Americans, who frequently strive after the cult
of comfort.

If one fights this discipline and dies outside the life of the virtues, one will go to purgatory.

Virtues are not emotions, but effect the life of the emotions. Patience is the acceptance of imperfection, not a feeling. It is the acceptance of one's sinful nature and the limitations of the soul, the mind, the will.

When I was a child, some of my favourite books were the horse series by Marguerite Henry. How does a horse become a champion? Training, discipline, love, hard work...

This all takes time and effort. Ask yourself whether becoming holy and living the life of virtue are priorities in your life.

And, the worst part, in my mind, of Catholics not cooperating with the purification needed for the living of the life of the virtues, which, in another phrase, could be called living in the Indwelling of the Trinity as fully as possible while on earth, is that without persons exhibiting the virtues, the Church remains weak and ineffective in the world.

Can you imagine a Church full of power, changing the world, because of every individual member cooperating with grace and living in the life of the virtues? A Church of thoroughbreds?

Cultivate the life of virtue in your children. In coming posts, I shall give some concrete advice on how to do this.

To be continued...

Home Schooling Advice Ten Religion V: Called By Name

Some things I just know by instinct and by intellectual training. As one who has studied Aristotle, Aquinas and Montessori, I am steep in the real, the necessity for experience as well as working on the intellectual.

In May of 1927, Dr. Montessori was interviewed about religion and the child. If I had a scanner, I would scan the entire interview. However, I shall highlight some main points.

The first is connected to Aristotle, Aquinas and how we all learn. I knew this point she made, which is coming after this long introduction, instinctively. This is it.

The Protestants spoiled religion, of course, in many ways, but one of the biggest ways was destroying Tradition including the Sacramental life of the Church. By only emphasizing the Bible, as people who only believed in private interpretation, they ruined the concept that religion is mostly learned by doing.

Learning about Baptism with water, candle and shell

Montessori uses this truth by stating in the interview that millions of people who never learned how to read were good, even holy, Catholics.  This is because of the Liturgy, primarily, and the Sacraments, as well as sacramentals.

She makes the point that the child learns by making the sign of the Cross, putting his finger in holy water, kneeling down at Mass, following all the actions in the Mass.

Jesus and Apostle figures for the Last Supper

She notes that what she is teaching in her method, things such as the silent game, which I played with my son, and proper deportment, carrying glass objects (real Montessori rooms have NO plastic) and so on.

The natural development of both small and large motor movements aid the child in doing the lay rubrics of the Mass and children should be made to do these.

Just yesterday, I was appalled at a grandmother letting a child old enough to sit, stand, kneel, run around the aisles and in the back of the Church. This is not necessary. Children KNOW appropriateness in certain places if they are encouraged to do so.  As Dr. Montessori notes, the child's daily activities in learning "are lifted to a higher plane to acquire a new and deeper meaning".

The problems are not in the child but in the parents who think children are not capable of sublime religious experiences.

Part of her interview reveals the basis of her method, that memorizing the Catechism, which she totally thinks is necessary, comes after the child has experienced the Mass, hymns, sacramentals and so on.

Dr. Montessori is very aware of modernism and states that the child should memorize the Catechism EXACTLY, as exact definitions are important.

The use of "didactic material" followed by formal Catechism memorization would create a powerful little Catholic.

If you have not visited the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd site do so.

I learned most of this on my own, obviously not realizing that the Holy Spirit was inspiring me. How exciting when I learned that the Good Shepherd materials were what I had made spontaneously.

Experience and words, according to the ability and age of the child...not just words...

There should be, as Montessori notes in the interview, no BREAK between daily life and religion. But, the religious teaching materials should be kept separate out of respect and the sense of the spiritual. Also, as she notes, the special shelves are like a little prayer corner, which I also had for my son-with small icons. If one has a large house, one should have one room devoted to prayer and the religious materials for teaching-a little chapel for the entire family. The house I had did not allow for this, but a section of the school room sufficed. Maria Montessori developed her idea of the Atrium from medieval  architecture. That is why in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, the name of the special room is called the Atrium. And, years and years ago, one of the most beautiful ones I saw next to an Episcopalian Church, purpose built for the children, had a large sunroof in the shape of a cathedral tower in the middle, leaving light in through the glass as in a church. It was almost perfect....

This would make an ideal Atrium

My son on the religion shelves, starting at age three, had boxes of the parables with little clothes peg characters we made together. The Lost Coin, the Lost Sheep, the Good Shepherd, the Prodigal Son complete with pigs, the Good Samaritan and so on were made out of pegs, pipe cleaners, glue and felt. The Bible was kept on the same shelf.

One day, when he was about four, and could read by that time, he was working on the timeline of the Old Testament. We decided to do the Exodus. For a week, we used about 99 clothes pegs to make an angry Pharaoh in gold lame with a crown, Moses, Miriam, Aaron, Caleb, Joshua and many, many Israelites and soldiers. Then we had to figure out how to do the Red Sea. Happy Days...Now the Exodus is a real event and the parables are stories, but my son was savvy enough to know the difference.

Now the key to these things, besides making them together, is that mom must read the real passages out of the Bible, not out of a paraphrased version, but the real deal.

The child listens to the passage, the parable and then acts it out with the clothes peg people, and what fun...

I spent years on my hands and knees on the floor teaching the Old and New Testament. Timelines are made with ribbons and circles with the main events of the two Testaments. I chose twenty of each Testament, made circles with my cookie cutter shapes tracing around those on white heavy paper, writing the event and NOT the date (I did draw symbols, however, connected to the events) and had my son learn to put them in order after I showed him. As soon as the child can read, one can do this, and then, read the appropriate passages with the 40 events.

Great fun....Here is another example of the Twelve Apostles and Jesus for the Last Supper part of pre-Communion training like the one above.

Here are some quotations from an Orthodox CGS site which partially summarizes this post:

In the Children's Room the child  is honored, nurtured,  and given a place for experiential activity,  reflection, and expression of their religious instincts. 

The prepared environment is one that supports the child's natural inclination to be in relationship with God and the child's way of being.

The Children's Room supports the child’s natural rhythm of movement as the children are free to move in a purposeful way.

I highly recommend parents to read, Sofia Cavalletti, The Religious Potential of the Child 

To be continued...silence and meditation for children comes next.....................

Home Schooling Part 9 Religion IV First Communion Prep in 1923

I cannot copy these photos but take a look at children in the 1920s on First Communion Day and May Crowning in England. http://www.addiewellheritage.org.uk/page_id__57.aspx

Now, many parents think that children cannot be silent or reflect. This is simply not true. When I was working in Montessori schools in the 1970s and early 1980s, and I do not mean day care centers, but proper schools. silence was the norm.

Silence is crucial for the nurturing of the spiritual life in a child.

And, children respond to silence.  In taking children to church, for example, parents should not bring toys or food. The child begins to understand by watching, and then, slowly comprehending the depth of what is happening at Mass.

As Montessori writes, the child of four knows the difference between the water in the holy water stoup and that of the sink where he washes his hands.

Here are her words, "...intellectual labour which the little creature initiates when he begins to realize that he is a child of God, lovingly received into the house of the great Heavenly Father..." follows the senses of absorbing what is around him in the church.

I made my First Communion in 1957, and my dress and veil were very like the second girl in line, just after the break in the line.

She quoted an aunt who stated that her nephew wanted to go to Mass daily because he was allowed to put out the candles, which captured his imagination. Just as the great cathedrals and abbeys captured the imagination of adults in days past, so too, the child responds to beauty and symbolic gestures.

The Sacraments are understood because the child pays attention to the things, the physical objects which are the matter of the Sacraments: water, oil, and so on.  Little by little, as Montessori points out, the child begins to understand the realities behind the actions and matter.

In fact, Montessori noted that some of the little ones were explaining the Sacraments or Mass to their parents in profound terms  in which the parents had not thought....in much the same way that St. Joseph Cupertino, who was severely mentally challenged, could explain the Trinity to a bishop.

Maria Montessori way back in the early part of the 20th century warned against the watering down, the broadness of religious teaching to children.

Specifics teach. The little school she started on Barcelona, after the ones, she set up in Italy, England and other places,  planted wheat and grapes in a small garden so that children could understand "I am the Vine, you are the branches", plus the matter of the bread and wine which becomes the Body and Blood of Christ. The children did all the work, with help, but what an excellent way to teach, through one's hands and senses, which is the basis for the Montessori Method.

I did this in my little home school and I made most of the materials myself, out of egg cartons, baby wipe boxes, which I saved, and odds and ends. My son did gardening with me from the age of two, watering my plants and his little part of the garden with his little toddler watering can. We watched the changes in plants and animals so that my son would see the Grandeur of God and come to know the Creator through nature. This is part of Sacramental prep, as nature provides the matter for the Sacraments. But, the child is also, through watching caterpillars, or flowers, or rabbits, learning about God the Creator and His love for His Creatures, including the child himself. A child naturally takes joy in these things, and learns both mutability and beauty through nature.

So, the child learns about God through his eyes, nose, hands, mouth.

Montessori had the children pick the wheat and harvest it. They has machines for making hosts, all without electricity,  and all of these things wheat and hosts were part of the Bishop's procession on Corpus Christi.

The grapes were crushed and the juice put in an amphora as these had been made into wine with help.

Can one imagine this being part of First Holy Communion training?  We need to cultivate this type of daily awareness of the sacred. These children were younger than seven, as the next year was their First Holy Communion at that age, and this was shortly before 1924!

By the way, Montessori invented the idea of having the children's names on cards on the walls of the school so all could pray for the ones coming up for that Sacrament.

Also, preparation was always in the Church with the priest, candles, prayers. And the children had
to learn the Creed, the Ten Commandments and basic of the Faith, which they had to recite to the priest before receiving.

Here was the curriuculum in 1923 for First Communion prep: Faith, the dogmas, The Creed; Love, charity, the Commandments; Prayer, in Latin, of course, the Ave, Gloria, Pater; The Sacraments, including Confession first; the Mass, the Eucharist.

Then before the day of Holy Communion, the children went on a retreat, and let me descibe this--The were apart from their families and companions (remember, they were seven\) and dined in the school alone in recollection.

During the retreat, they spent a lot of time in the garden looking after plants and little animals.

They also made their own silver rosaries for their Communion day and they made their own little five page books for the day.

They learned on the retreat and in the sessions in the church to kneel, stand, sit quietly.
They were trained not to turn their head at distractions or noises, but to concentrate on loving and praising God

They were given lantern slides, which could be power-points today, on the lives of the saints, and learned little hymns, as well as washing their own dishes after meals and cleaning up. The humility of Christ's Birth and His Hidden Life of Nazareth would have been part of this.

Pasrt of your home schooling prep should be a little altar as in the photo earlier, with candles, missal, little paten, chalice as a start. See the Catecheis of the Good Shepherd for this presentation.

Also, the reference to the Last Supper with little characters of Jesus and the Twelve can be part of this.

If little peasant children in 1923 could learn, why not our children, unless they have been raised like weeds by careless parents.

The retreat, by the way, lasted five days.  Here is Montessori's comment. on the results.

Not only do the principles of human justice interest them (at this age), but a simple love of Jesus is born in theirs hearts and with it a great desire of purifications.

Parents, do not underestimate the holiness which your little ones can achieve at a very young age. Do not spoil what aspirations God has put in these little ones.

To be continued....

Drums

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-23845800

St. Augustine of Hippo, Pray for Us

If you have not read the Confessions or the City of God, do.

I actually, years ago, was asked to teach the City of God at a small Catholic college.

What a phenomenal book! I had already taught the Confessions, which was as treat.

St. Augustine, imo, is the saint for our times.

I would want to be this little dog, just sitting in Augustine's presence.

Not Wanting to Face Evil-Choosing Comfort Over Truth

Today, I ran into two people who revealed an evil in their characters.  They did not want to do this, but it happened.

I was trying to explain to someone about the heresies and false prophecies of The Warning, which many of you who follow this blog have read about here.

More and more supposedly good Catholics are getting trapped in this web of lies, which has been condemned by a bishop's conference and two other bishops. One can look here.

One woman told me that the bishops who have condemned this false seer are from Satan.

Oh, my goodness.

She does not have the ability to listen or look at the discrepancies between this site and Church doctrine.

Two other people chimed in to say that I should let this drop, as arguing, which I was not doing, merely pointing out error, was not a good, and that all of this was a matter of opinion.

Wow! The evil of not wanting to acknowledge evil leads to complicity.

Because these other two people do not like conflict of any kind, they did not want the discussion to continue.

I was shut down.

People who are afraid of conflict may find themselves compromising truth.

To not deal with heresy is to allow it to continue, fester, grow.

The world has seen this type of silent complicity before-in the Protestant Revolt,

To not want to face difficulties or conflict means that one does not really care about Truth, but only Comfort.

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/musings-on-treachery.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/by-whose-authority-will-we-be-judged-on.html

http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.ie/2013/08/by-press-divided.html

http://guildofblessedtitus.blogspot.ie/2013/02/a-time-machine-back-to-1581-death-of.html

Dark Night Clarification Two

Some have been wondering if all people need to go through the Dark Night. The answer is yes, except...

Some people have been spared lives of sin and internal corruption. Many of the child saints, whom I have noted on this blog, were perfected early on in childhood and reached the Illuminative State early on.

Some people who are martyrs were unified with Christ in His Passion through their martyrdom.

That would be a quick, but painful way, to perfection.

I shall return to the Dark Night discussion on Thursday.

This new war is crazy. What is America doing?

http://www.wnd.com/2013/08/congress-should-veto-obamas-war/

or

http://buchanan.org/blog/congress-veto-obamas-war-5773

quote

Who made Barack Obama the Wyatt Earp of the Global Village?

Check Out Archbishop Chaput's Keynote Address

"The abortion rate among Latinas is actually higher than the national average," he continued. "And nothing illustrates the power of relentless mass media pressure and special interest lobbying than this fact: In just six years, between 2006 and 2012, Hispanic support for same-sex 'marriage' rose from 31% to 52%."

http://www.zenit.org/en/articles/archbishop-chaput-american-culture-digesting-latino-values

Home Schooling Part Eight-Religion and the Parent

I am merely in this post going to list the qualities necessary for the parents of a child.

I wish I had been more aware of my lack of holiness when training my own child.

Now, these comments are a combination of me and Maria Montessori. Her comments first:

And I summarize--direct quotations in purple....

the mistress, or in this case, the home schooling parents need:

humility

patience,

the superior value of deeds over words

the sensorial environment as the beginning of life of the soul

the silence and recollection obtained from the children

the liberty left to the child soul in striving after perfection

the minute care in preventing and correcting all that is evil

the control of error by means within the very material for development

the respect shown for the interior life of the child

Because I was aware of these things before I started home schooling, I could implement these in the day.

I began to develop means to do this, step by step.

Think on these and if you need to ask questions, I shall cover these points in posts to come.

Now, my comments. How do parents ruin these steps?

Insisting that the child DO too many activities. One or two activities, such a one sport and one musical instrument is enough. Too many parents think their children have to be doing and going, when in reality, the child needs silence for reflection.

By not paying attention to details-the working mother is death to a family, as details cannot be seen by teachers who do not have the graces given to the parents for the raising of their children-parents who are too busy or too keen on status miss details.

Parents do not seem to realize that the child is seeking God from day one of his birth. This is innate.
Respect for that process is essential.

Knowledge of things and self in reflection leads to knowledge of God, which is why so many Benedictine monasteries supported Montesorri early on. These abbots and abbesses could see the connection of work and prayer, reflection in silence and character formation even for the very young.

I use to give talks to parents in the Midwest and in Alaska on these points. And, the response was magical.  Once a parent realizes that the children have their own call to find a personal relationship with God, things in the home change. In each house, as in each truly Catholic school, a chapel, which should be the most beautiful place, or a quiet corner, must be made.

Last point on this post for parents. Know that you will learn about God from your children, as they, as Montessori notes, have souls more open to divine intuitions than that of the adult.  That is simply because they have sinned less and because the grace of baptism is alive and working.

To be continued...and this will not be a mini-series as first thought, but a maxi-one. Enjoy!

Home Schooling Part Seven Elementary Materials

I shall get back to the discussion on religious and character training later, but here is an exciting thing for home schooling parents. The entire 1917 book on materials for Montessori elementary education, including Grammar, Maths, Music, Reading, and Drawing are here FREE. I used this book in the training of teachers from Kindergarten to Six Grade when I was doing consultancy work. Fantastic. The child is interpreting the painting here at the Guttenberg Project. http://www.gutenberg.org/files/42869/42869-h/42869-h.htm

Home Schooling Part Six Religion II-The Life of The Child Within The Church

God is good. Here I am over 4,000 miles from my papers and by chance, a rare set of essays I did not know existed until a short while ago falls into my hands from a friend's book shelf. And a begging note, if any readers could please see it in their hearts to help me get my small shipment of things over to Europe from the Quad Cities in Illinois, I would be very grateful. Please pray about helping.

Not an accident. The title is The Child in the Church: Essays on the Religious Education of Children and the Training of Character by Maria Montessori, London: Sands & Co,.  1929

I wrote a book on character training over ten years ago and did not even know this book existed.

I shall share some bits from it for home schooling and other parents. In the beginning is an Apostolic Blessing from\Pope Benedict XV. Father W. Roche, who wrote the introduction states that this book is for anyone who cares about the souls of children.

I note the points rather slowly as these are new for many of you.

The first is that God has planted in every child and, therefore, in every human being, the desire for Him.  This desire is more obvious in the unspoiled child, who has been allowed freedom to maintain wonder and awe in his soul. Sadly, most parents, pushing their child in front of computers and televisions, have already disturbed that natural thrust.

The second point is that a parent of educator must be sympathetic, sensitive, to this growth of religious feelings and beliefs in the young child. Paying attention and knowing what to look for are essential for the parent. Parents who are busy, like Martha (this is my metaphor) and not reflective like Mary, will miss the signs of religious sensitivity in the child.

The third point Maria Montessori makes, and I shall go into more detail in posts to come, is the the Liturgy, and that would be the TLM, the EF,  is not only the magnificent expression of our faith, but "the pedagogical method"of the Church, the door to religion in the life of the child.

I hope you are as excited as I am about these words. Here is the passage on the Mass.

"The Liturgy, magnificent expression of the content of the Faith, may well be called,'the pedagogical method' of the Catholic Church which, not satisfied with teaching by means fo the word preached to the faithful, makes the various acts of religion real, makes them, as it were, live and allows the people to take part in them each day. And to find life=giving food for his soul the child has but to open these portals resplendent with divine light, portals resplendent with all the solemnity given to them through the ages, by the lives of the saints, who found in the Liturgy a means of fructifying the virgin soil of their souls, open to the sweet influence of divine grace."

May I add as a comment that the biggest problem is that parents are spoiling this fertile ground by several means.

Television, computers, too many toys, not enough silence in the day, too many activities, and so on.

I am grateful for poverty, as I had to maintain simplicity in the home, which saved my son. But, I knew this before hand because of the Montessori training.

As I learned and as I am reminded in this text, and as you know from the perfection series, the growth of  the spiritual life is a process.

I shall close this post with a quotation from Pope Benedict XV from the book.

"...I implore the dear and all-powerful little ones, to stretch out to me their helping hands from the altar." We must realize that the Church is, as Montessori states, "the true place for the education for the child "and that includes home schooling parents most of all, plus our Guardian Angels.

Later on, after the theory, I shall talk about the Atrium, found in this book, but for those who like photos, here is one in a Protestant church. Amazing. The Episcopalians picked up the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, but I introduced it into at least one Catholic school years ago with success. I chose this photo because parents can set this up so easily in the home.

To be continued...

Home Schooling Part Five Religion I

So far, the poll indicates more readers who home school than I anticipated, so I shall continue this mini-series.

Catholic home schoolers can incorporate the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd into their curriculum. http://www.cgsusa.org/

Interestingly, I had Montessori training but did not come across CGS until much later. I actually developed some of the same things as in CGS merely by applying Montessori ideas to religious education.

I need to finish a paper I have here on Montessori and the Catholic child. Then, I shall continue these thoughts, most likely in two days. Stay tuned!

However, the teaching of religion should happen even before baby is born. Saying the rosary out loud while baby is in the womb prepares the child for his relationship with Mary, the Mother of God.

Bible reading can happen immediately as well, One can read Scripture out loud in front of the smallest child to good effect.

I suggest an altar which changes with the liturgical year. I did this, in a little prayer corner, changing the color of the liturgical day and time and setting up special symbols for saint's days.

Of course, a May altar for Mary is an old and wonderful tradition. The more physical and symbolic representations of our faith one has at hand, the better for the child.

Celebrating name days is important and I used  My Nameday: Come For Dessert by Helen McLoughlin
which one can still find. 

Of course, the most important thing home schooling moms can do is take their children to daily Mass. I highly recommend Maria Montessori's Mass Explained to Children which one can order from amazon.com.

Timelines on both Old and New Testament events are excellent for having in the school room. Here are some links. Do not get Protestant ones, as there are discrepancies.

I recommend this as an introduction to the saints, for early grade school with the ones below for pre-schoolers.

Picture Book of Saints: Illustrated Lives of the Saints for Young and Old, Saint Joseph Edition

by Lawrence G. Lovasik.

The Vision series on saints is good. Found here. 

 http://www.catholiccompany.com/vision-books-series-saints-c719/?numonpage=0

I also recommend these favourites of mine. Six O'Clock Saints, New Six O'Clock Saints and More Six O'Clock Saints by Joan Windham. She also wrote Sixty Saints for Girls, and Sixty Saints for Boys, which are great for the very young.

To be continued....

Many Catholics Will Fall Away in Persecution

Examples of subjective and objective thinking in three minutes in this video.

I am convinced, and in great grief, at the realization that many Catholics will fall away and join those against the good orthodox Catholics for one reason.

Too many Catholics cannot think objectively. Now, I have written on this before, but want to make the point clearer in the context of persecution.

First, objectivity is a sign of holiness. In the time of purification, one learns to step back and see one's self and others objectively. Real holiness is antithetical to subjective thinking, which judges everything from one's own viewpoint, instead of from the outside, the external, eternal Truth.

Second, the past two generations, unless they had rare teachers, like myself, who taught logic, debate, apologetics, have not learned how to think objectively. Now, we have two generations who refuse to judge anyone's actions or events as good or bad, worthy or crass, because they have not learned to judge by objective criteria. They cannot see the difference between judging a person and judging good or evil.

Third, this objectivity can be taught to children and should be part of a child's formation. Montessori helps children be objective, as the basis for this method is Aristotelian and Thomistic. Scholastic methodology in education can happen at home, if parents are aware that it is their duty to raise objective thinkers. Daily examination of conscience is one way of training a child to be objective; that it, looking at one's daily sins and failings. This can be started in training for the sacrament of Confession as early as age six.

Fourth, subjectivity reveals two serious sins; one is self-centeredness, even narcissism, and the second is pride, the lack of love.

Fifth, objective love is the only love which matters-that which is in the will and not in the emotions.

I am increasingly concerned that we shall lose many Catholics and that they will join the ranks of the persecutors because of subjectivism. This is what happened in the English Reformation, or Revolt, as I prefer to call it. When one judges only according to one's immediate needs or safety, one compromises. One loses sight of eternity and only thinks of the now.

Subjective thinking people compromise.

To be continued...and there are many posts on this topic.

Feast of St. Monica

Today, let us pray for all Catholic mothers who are mourning the loss of children to agnosticism, atheism, serious sin. Let us ask dear St. Monica to bring back to the Catholic Faith, all who have lapsed.

A Prayer to St. Monica, for Mothers 

Exemplary Mother of the great Augustine, you perseveringly pursued your wayward son not with wild threats but with prayerful cries to heaven. Intercede for all mothers in our day so that they may learn to draw their children to God. Teach them how to remain close to their children, even the prodigal sons and daughters who have sadly gone astray. Amen.

A Prayer to St. Monica, for Children 

Great St. Monica, patroness of fathers and mothers, please take our children, especially those who have turned from the ways of God and His Church, under your protection. Let them always remain faithful to their baptismal vows. Give them strength to walk always in the ways of the Lord, despite the temptations and false values they find in the world today. Grant that they may share with you n the joys of eternal life in God. Amen.

At Mass today, I prayed for all the moms who read my blogs and tweets.

The Time Is Short

 

English: A Converted British Family Sheltering a Christian Missionary from the Persecution of the Druids, a scene of persecution by druids in ancient Britain painted by William Holman Hunt, 1850. Oil on canvas. Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, UK.

Русский: Английское семейство, обращённое в христианство  http://www.bg-blog.ru/comments.php?id=604

Wikimedia Commons.

I have written this before.

Please listen.

Be orthodox in all things.

Get into an orthodox Catholic community now. You do not have much time to move.

Move if you have to do so. If possible.

The time is coming when people will not be able to move freely.

The time is coming when Catholics will betray Catholics. The time is coming when other religions will betray Catholics. We irritate those in sin, because we represent the light.

It has all happened before in history. There will be Penal Laws again.

Please pray and act. Do not make excuses which are only fear of change or fear of losing status.