Still Homeschooling

I am still at this crazy game and the more time I have spent doing it the more I feel I need to learn.  We have three graduated from our T Homeschool Academy with one more graduating this January.  All of those three are in college and doing well in classes in spite of the various learning issues each on has had.  Don't give up, not matter what.  Don't let what others say about you change what you in your heart know to be true.  Don't give up. I have watched too many people back track later and then ask what they did wrong.  I could see all along that they did not stay the course.  Hey it isn't easy out there.  It can get messy.  Laws of the legal system and in-laws of the family system can try to force you to change.  Stay the course, you won't regret it.

Morning Out

Dad works from home.  This has been great at times and a real pain at other times.  J had a very important conference call scheduled.  He needed to give the call his absolute attention.   It was much easier for us to vacate the home for the morning.   After morning Mass I took the crowd to a fun McDonalds (has a play place) for breakfast.

Beautiful - Adorable

It ended up being a fun morning.  The twins are just days from turning one and they had a blast.  Adorable and Beautiful preferred to be together in the tubes. 

I post this to remind us all to enjoy time to have fun.  I know too many homeschoolers that are so super focused on school work that the kids are stressed out.  One dangerous trap is that too often these over focused families loose site of the goal of heaven.  I have seen so many families use an intense programs, then not have time to take breaks and enjoy each other's company.  Some of these families end up with kids that are college drop outs.  Once the kids have a little freedom, they rebel completely.  We all look into the eyes of our little one year old and see the world.  I still see those endless possibilities in my adult children.  They are open to life, all of it - including the learning, the fun, the worship, the joy.  The well rounded person sees the world for that it has to offer not what it can for you.  To my dear fellow homeschooling moms, remember to enjoy your time with the children.  Teach them to seek Heaven in all that they do. In the end it is the only thing that is important.

A Great Investment for the Catholic Homeschool

Over the years I have tried different things to teach the younger ones about the Mass.  My hope has been that the more engaged they were at a young age, the more they would grow to appreciate it as they got older.  I also hoped that understanding would improve behavior during Mass. 

 

 

Years ago I purchased the Mini Mass Kit from Our Father's House listed below and at a Catholic Homeschool Convention I found the vestments.  These were quit pricey.  I probably invested a little over $300 in a few years creating the Mass Box that the kids could only play with respectfully and properly.  This means that we only allowed the boys the play priest and wear the vestments. 

Jumba grew up with the Mini Mass Kit in the house and was not interested.  When shopping for Confirmation gifts a month ago I found this cloth version called My Mass Kit.  It was only $70.  I liked it because it was very portable and self contained.  It was also quiet making it just the trick I needed to engage my "very bored" 5 year old at church.  He brought the kit to the car the entire first week but not into daily Mass.  He would get to the car after Mass and then pull the pieces out and try to remember how the priests had used them.  The second week he took it inside two times and only one time did we take it into the cry room and actually get the pieces out.  We were alone for daily Mass and I let him set it up and then watch the priest to compare the real items to his kit versions.  This is not a toy that I think should be brought to church all the time.  I think of it as a tool that works wonderfully at teaching a young one about the Mass. 

The learning book that came with the kit is pretty good.  If you only have girls I would still get this version.  They don't really play Mass with  this version, it isn't real enough.  I still think it is a fabulous teaching tool.
Wee Believers My Mass Kit
I was even more thrilled when I got home and examined the packaging.  My favorite Cardinal is quoted on the box!

" . . . will capture the imagination of little children with regard to the most sacred realities of life." 

~Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke, D.D., J.C.D., Prefect, Supreme Tribunal of the Apostoic Signatura

Now it is time to go old school.  I ordered this kit years and years ago, probably to help with teaching Pooker for her first Holy Communion.  I know it is well used but I could not find old pictures.

Our Father's House Mini Mass Kit
The goal was never to try to convince the boys that they needed to be priests but to make the option real.  Just like having a doll and pretending to be mom and dad, the kids have also played Mass over the years.  In our play they don't have two girls get married and in the same way they only have a boy as a priests.  This isn't political it is just the way it is. 

 

Bear is actively looking onto several different seminaries and trying to decide which one is the better fit for him.  I don't know that he will be a priest for certain but I do know that today he thinks that is what his vocation truly is.  Pickle declared a few weeks ago that he also would like to become a priest.  His true desire is to be an NFL star but a good back up option is the priesthood.  I thought J was going to panic about the family name living on when Jumba announced the other night that he too wants to be a priest.  I am not sure about any of them but most of all doubting the current dreams of this loving 5 year old.  I say all that to let you know that even if none of them end up as priests I still think that the these investments were money well spent!  (Oh and in your spare time, Please offer up a prayer for my boys and their vocations, whatever those vocations might turn out to be.)