Recent Posts

Friday 30 August 2013

One Word for This-Depravity

http://cnsnews.com/news/article/obama-sex-ed-kindergartners-right-thing-do

Wow, shades of evil

http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/08/conversion_therapy_law_threatens_christians.html#.UiCgLuM32RE.twitter

Friday's Home Schooling Posts Listed Here


http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/home-schooling-and-religion-parts-17.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/spirituality-methodology-and-older-home.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/homeschooling-advice-insert-part-18.html

http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/home-schooling-series-part-19-character.html

One of My Professors Who Is A Priest Worked Hard Here

The Cargo Cult people have objected to Christianity for a long time. One of my old teachers, a Marist missionary, had to flee for his life in the 1980s from these people. Paganism has been hard to counteract. We have a missionary shortage in the Church and such groups will be lost. God have mercy on all involved. Sadly, with the priest and sister shortage, so many people in the world go without new missionary efforts.

Christ told us to go out and teach all nations. How can we do this, now?


http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/articles/502566/20130830/black-jesus-cannibal-cult-leader-steven-tari.htm

Dark Night Series Update



From today's NO Mass: 

1 Thessalonians 4:1-8 DR

For this is the will of God, your sanctification

Dark Night series is on hold for a few days.....

Persecuted Priest To Be Beatified

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2013/08/30/priest-who-died-of-hunger-in-communist-prison-to-be-beatified/

Told you so....

http://www.infowars.com/rebels-admit-responsibility-for-chemical-weapons-attack/

Impressive-I Shall Follow This New College

http://www.benedictus.org.uk/page.php?nav=staff

Seamus Heaney Died-We Are Losing A Great Generation of Poets-RIP

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23898890

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamus_Heaney

Home Schooling Series Part 19-Character And The Virtues I



Justice and Mercy One

I do not have my book which I wrote on character building and the formation of the life of virtues in the child, but I shall do my best from memory. I have not looked at those notes since 2008, when I organized a little home schooling mini-conference, which was attended by a small group of about 100 people. I wrote the book ten years ago in 2003 and used it in teacher training at a few NAPCIS schools. I shall do my best from memory.

However, I can start with the very basic moral principle for teaching the pre-schooler and all children consequences. For an understanding both of mercy and justice, this step provides a natural basis for growth.

If a child spills juice, let him help you wipe it up, even at age two. If she breaks a glass, have her help sweep up the pieces, being careful, of course. Every small thing which has a consequence teaches the process of cause and effect, which in turn informs the moral consciousness. Morality involves both justice and mercy, and that is learned first, naturally and then supernaturally. If you are a regular reader, you will remember the posts on St. Bernard and also the Benedictines, when I wrote of super-naturalizing the natural and naturalizing the supernatural. This is what Bernard spoke about to his monks, and what we understand through the Rule, and also through Aquinas. Interestingly enough, although I did not realize it until I read yesterday the translation of the book on the child and the Church, Dr. Montessori uses similar language. The entire environment can be supernaturalized.

But, back to consequences. Without a natural understanding of consequences, such as some baby birds die, some kittens are larger than others, some plants need light and some shade, the child does not have a natural link with everyday life which then moves quickly into the supernatural life of the growth of the soul.

Those of us who lost siblings early saw this in illness, death, funerals, burials, and children should attend such. Death is a natural consequence of Original Sin and the child who has fresh antennae for spiritual realities can be taught much at these times of sorrow.

Too many modern parents are faulty in these areas of child-rearing:

One, parents want to spare the child all pain; this is a false construct. Too many parents shield their children from unpleasant natural consequences which come up in the family. The human psyche needs this grounding.

Two, they do everything for the child. I was astounded a few years ago by a mother who complained at how tired she was doing housework. She has several children and none of them did any chores. Doing chores creates not only a good and necessary work ethic, but teaches consequences. My mother had chore charts on the wall to remind us of our daily duties. I did this with my son when he was little. Gold stars for perfect completion of chores, silver for second best, blue for third, red for fourth and so on, were placed for all to see. My mom was doing this in the 1950s. (One of my brothers was woeful at chores, so I would cheat now and then and add stars, as later, at about age nine, we could put our own on after Mom examined the done chore. I was smart enough not to give him gold or silver, as she would have noticed that. But, I am sure she had a laugh at the string of blue stars under his name and list. Happy days.)


If a child cleans the bedroom, she can sleep better and have order in her life, and so on.

Three, parents miss small opportunities in which to teach consequences through their own failures to follow-though. I am sure all parents reading this post understand this problem. It takes time and purpose to follow-through on events and omissions. One example in another house was a mom who complained to me about her teen son's library fines, which were exorbitant, such as $30 USD. Yet, she did not help him keep track of his books, CDs. DVDs, nor did she teach him that if he was late in returning these, he had to pay the fines.  This is a natural consequence which builds into a spiritual consequence of good stewardship. One learns justice, which is the natural and supernatural process leading to punishment or reward through such everyday happenings.

Another mom let her children graze, which is an abomination in my book for many reasons. Then, when she had company, as her husband had a prominent position, her children did not know how to act when people came for dinner and were rude and in the way. She knew it was a bad situation, but she did not have the moral strength herself to change their eating habits, which she had allowed. She was embarrassed, but the fault was her own lack of discipline and not teaching children appropriateness of eating and drinking.

Justice demands order, and the child cannot interiorize what are not first external rules and order.

Which leads to point four. If one expects a child to internally have a moral sense of right and wrong, there must be discipline, and consistency in discipline externally. One cannot let something go which was not allowed before and so on. Children thrive in a consistent, ordered environment.

Examples will follow according to the virtues emphasized.

For each virtue, there are corresponding processes for formation of that virtue. I shall share some of these in posts this next week.

To be continued...






Homeschooling Advice Insert Part 18 High School Science and HSLDA plus notes on Iowa and Europe



I shall get back to the promised character building posts later today, but a reader asked me about science curriculum for high schoolers, and I know not all read comments.

I used the Glencoe Science for high school. If the parent has trained the child in Catholic morality and ethics regarding science, then there is no reason not to use secular books of the highest level.

I also used NFP materials, but then I taught that. Again, dads should do sex ed with the male children and girls with the moms. But, one must give sex ed at some point. I just did my own. A parent can decide what age is best. Either immediately pre-pubescence or pubescence seem appropriate ages. Do NOT let girls be caught off-guard, as they can be terrified with the onset of puberty without guidance from mom.

Here are some links. http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078802849/

http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078807239/

http://glencoe.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0078807220/

I am sure there are updates on these texts. Also, do not forget the Great Books series for science and science history.

As to Maths, I used Addison-Wesley and Pearson Prentice Hall series and there are lesson plans on line. Pearson has an entire home school section on line http://www.pearsonhomeschool.com  UPDATE ON MATH...I forgot about the Singapore Math Series which some people have used. I can recommend it for some children.

Thankfully, we left Iowa which has one of the two most stringent set of laws for home schoolers. Here is the page below, however, from Pearson's for guidelines, and other states are listed as well. Make sure you join the http://www.hslda.org/ Home Schooling Legal Defense Association. There is an international one as well http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/

I cannot encourage parents enough to join that group. The biggest problem is not state rules, but neighbors! In some areas, people are mean and rude enough to phone school districts if they see kids playing at two in the afternoon outside. They assume truancy. If one has joined this group, one can just mention that and it stops unlearned critics. The dues are worth it.

Here is the state link for Pearson.

http://www.pearsonhomeschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PS1r8e&elementType=news&elementId=217541

And, here is the sad update on Sweden, which does not support parents' rights to teach.

Homeschooling Family Fined $15,000 by Swedish Supreme Court
August 19, 2013: The highest Swedish court has ruled against Jonas Himmelstrand and his family and fined them an exorbitant sum, even though they are currently in exile in Finland and are no longer living or homeschooling in Sweden. from http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/
Also,
International Homeschooling—Watch Video from a Dozen Countries
January 2, 2012: Homeschoolers from across Europe gathered for a meaningful time of sharing experiences and learning about the homeschool laws in other countries.
Compulsory Attendance Ages: 5-16
Legal Status: Homeschooling is legal in England and Wales under the 1944 Education Act, which was consolidated in 1996. Section 7, Education Act 1996 states, "…[E]fficient full-time education, suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special education needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise." Under the "or otherwise" phrase in the law, families can legally homeschool.
There are no requirements to inform the authorities when one is home educating, unless the student was previously enrolled in the government school system. At that time, the parent must let the school official know they are withdrawing their student to home educate him. No other requirements for home education exist.
Number of Homeschoolers: Between 20,000 and 100,000 children.
I think it is tragic the low numbers of home schoolers in the UK. I started home schooling in Dorset in 1991 and had nothing but encouragement from the local authorities. Catholics owe their children the best Catholic education and it is not to be found in the school system. 
By the way, if you are homeschooling in Iowa, visit the Iowa Space Science Center, run by one of my brothers. He is the one who looks like me. http://www.iowaspacescience.org/index.html

Director

Charlie Miller photo
The founding director of Rediscover Science (formerly the Iowa Space Science Center Initiative) is Charles Miller. Born in Davenport, he received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (University of Iowa) and worked for 3 years as an engineer at Motorola, Inc (Schaumberg, IL). He returned to academics to receive a doctoral degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders from the University of Iowa, with specialization in Auditory Physiology. He later conducted post-doctoral research at the University of Michigan prior to returning to Iowa City.
Over a 20-year career, he worked in the field of systems physiology of the mammalian auditory nerve, determining how the nerve bundle and individual nerve fibers respond to the various types of electric stimuli delivered by cochlear implants. This work required skills in surgery, evoked-potential recordings, and large-scale data analyses. He taught at the University, authored or co-authored over 40 peer-reviewed publications, was an invited speaker at international meetings, and an investigator or principle investigator on several NIH grants. Available here is a downloadable PDF copy of his curriculum vitae.
Dr. Miller is now devoting one-quarter to one-half of his time to the ISSC project, with almost all of that time volunteered. He lives in Iowa City with his wife and daughter.

The Center also has a store. Coohttp://www.iowaspacescience.org/Store.html



Serious from Buchanan

http://buchanan.org/blog/will-boehner-stop-rogue-president-5815

"Why this rush to war? Why the hysteria? Why the panic?"

"Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad."

Spirituality, Methodology And Older Home Schooling Posts-One

09 Aug 2013
O Divine Child Jesus, only-begotten Son of the Father, You are the true light that enlightens everyone coming into this world. It is through You that I am, it is through You that all things have been made, and without You nothing ...
29 May 2013
St. Madeline Sophie Barat, whose feast it is today, had a great love of Classical Education, as I do. I suggest home schooling mums and dads pray to her for all their needs and the needs of their children. She loved the Sacred ...
27 Jan 2012
Did many notice Obama's stand against homeschooling in his address this week? When I home schooled, I belonged to the Home School Legal Defense Association for most of the 14 years or so I home schooled. Thankfully ...
23 Feb 2012
I've been homeschooling my daughter for 3 years now - and we love it. Arizona has some of the easiest homeschooling laws in the US. But, who knows how long it will last if Pres. Obama wins another term? Another mandate ...

14 Feb 2012
Homeschooling is illegal in Sweden, and if you are a Catholic, this could be a matter of religious freedom. For over a hundred years, Popes have declared the parents as the primary teachers of their children, with the necessity ...
17 Jun 2012
June 15, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Swedish homseschooling couple may shortly be reunited with their son after a prolonged separation, after a Swedish court has judged that the couple did not act irresponsibly by ...

23 Aug 2013
Are you home schooling? Dedicated to St. Etheldreda: Abbess of Ely. Dedicated to St. Etheldreda: Abbess of Ely a blog since early 2007. Recent Tags. Our Lady of Carafa. Our Lady of Carafa Pray for us. Search This Blog.
21 Aug 2013
Labels: Catholic education, dominicans, nuns, vocations. No comments: Post a Comment · Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Are you home schooling? Dedicated to St. Etheldreda: Abbess of ...
23 Aug 2013
No comments: Post a Comment · Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Are you home schooling? Dedicated to St. Etheldreda: Abbess of Ely. Dedicated to St. Etheldreda: Abbess of Ely
22 Aug 2013
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19 Jun 2012
If Catholics in the pew in any country of the West do not start working to save their own rights regarding religious freedom, they have only themselves to blame if they find themselves under totalitarian democracies. de ...

14 Aug 2013
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http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/


18 Jan 2013
Two characteristics of this type of learning is competition and modelling, or emulation. Positive feedback for work well-done is part of this method. Sadly, most Ignatian institutions no longer follow the strict regime of the Ratio ...
18 Jan 2013
St. Ignatius Tomorrow, I shall post the Salesian Preventive System and then look at my favourite, the Benedictine system. St. John Bosco's ideals were written in his The Preventive System in the Education of the Young.


18 Jan 2013
The development of the student's intellectual capacity is the school's most characteristic part. However, this development will be defective and even dangerous unless it is strengthened and completed by the training of the will ...

18 Jan 2013
When I did home schooling, and when I taught Socratic Method and the Classics, I used a paradigm based on Benedictine educational paradigms, which I shall save to last. The primary reason for presenting these ideals is to ...
25 Aug 2012
Maybe living in the Midwest of America, where there are stay-at-home moms, and moving in the home schooling, stay-at-home mom community, I just did not hear it. I was a happy housewife and that stay-at-home period of my ...
20 Jun 2012
I home schooled 7 of my 8 living children for over 25 years and now I spend my time either mucking horse stalls or babysitting 2 of my 15 grandchildren. Some days I do both:) I like your blog because it is the same "brand" of ...


18 Jan 2013
Home schooling parents benefit from using what has already been developed by these inspired men. Ignatius John Bosco Benedict and others. If I have time, I shall write about the Ursulines and Dominicans. But, sadly, few of ...
06 Dec 2012
If you are Catholic parents and Christian parents, you cannot teach your children at home except in the Philippines which has excellent home schooling groups. There is an estimated 4,0000 children being home schooled in ...
07 Jun 2013
Home school and get involved in home schooling communities or create one yourself. These groups usually include good conservative Evangelicals and Catholic mums. 2) Find the closest TLM and go to it. Most TLMs have ...

26 Jun 2013
I suggest home schooling parents consider it. http://www.slu.edu/colleges/AS/languages/classical/latin/tchmat/pedagogy/rs/rs1.html. Both methods stress thinking skills. Both explore. So does Montessori, 

18 Jan 2013
St. John Bosco's ideals were written in his The Preventive System in the Education of the Young. There is no right or wrong or even a hierarchy of preferences for these methods. Only, parents involved in home education, ...
18 Jan 2013
The primary reason for presenting these ideals is to show that a home schooling family needs to choose a way which suits them both practically and spiritually. A religious or philosophical approach to education must be ...
19 Jan 2013
The entire idea of work and prayer, labore et orare is also part of the day for education of the monks as well as their lay students. The beauty of the ... Share to TwitterShare to Facebook. Labels: Benedictines, home education ...

20 Jan 2013
... day and age. I would think some home schooling parents could use this method, or as I did, incorporate some of the disciplines into the other types. Email ThisBlogThis! ... to Facebook. Labels: dominicans, home education ...

20 Jan 2013
The purpose of education is to produce women of faith and of reason, to prepare for the ... Such was the vision of Ursuline education presented by Mother Marie de Saint-Jean Martin. ... Labels: home education, ursulines ...

07 Apr 2013
But, if I had to choose one book dealing with classical education to take to a desert island, it would be the Doctor of the Church St. Isidore of Seville's Etymologie. This work is a compilation of knowledge and definitions from the classical ... However, I have helped set up such in some schools in the States and in Canada, and my home school was based on this and the Montessori Method. What does all this have to do with perfection? God has given us brains to use to ...
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.com/


19 Jan 2013
In the beginning of the Constitutions of the Salesian Order, St. John Bosco writes of the purpose of his method of education: "the Christian perfection of its associates obtained by the exercise of spiritual and corporal works of charity .... every faithful Christian should receive holy communion whenever he hears Mass, and that this communion should not only be spiritual but also sacramental, so that greater fruit may be reaped from this august and divine sacrifice (Conc.
21 Aug 2013
Share to TwitterShare to Facebook. Labels: Catholic education, dominicans, nuns, vocations. No comments: Post a Comment · Newer Post Older Post Home. Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom). Are you home schooling?
19 Aug 2013
Now, the upper classes, according to archaeologists, enjoyed meals with these ingredients (and this site is great for home schoolers, btw): triangular .... to Facebook. Labels: Catholic education, Dark Night, home education ...


I am not going to repeat the methodologies of the Benedictines, Jesuits, Dominicans, Ursulines or Salesians, as I did that in January....you can find those here.

Not being a linguist...

Do any of my readers know what language St. Patrick would have spoken besides Latin? His only authenticated writings are in Latin. I am interested in what his spoken language would have been, remembering that he was from Britain. I take the 493 A. D. date for his death at this point.

Historical linguists?


SS. Daniel, Gabriel and Michael, and some things never seem to change....

Rembrandt on Daniel 8:17




Daniel 10

Douay-Rheims 
10 In the third year of Cyrus king of the Persians, a word was revealed to Daniel surnamed Baltassar, and a true word, and great strength: and he understood the word: for there is need of understanding in a vision.
In those days I Daniel mourned the days of three weeks.
I ate no desirable bread, and neither flesh, nor wine entered into my mouth, neither was I anointed with ointment: till the days of three weeks were accomplished.
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month I was by the great river which is the Tigris.
And I lifted up my eyes, and I saw: and behold a man clothed in linen, and his loins were girded with the finest gold:
And his body was like the chrysolite, and his face as the appearance of lightning, and his eyes as a burning lamp: and his arms, and all downward even to the feet, like in appearance to glittering brass: and the voice of his word like the voice of a multitude.
And I Daniel alone saw the vision: for the men that were with me saw it not: but an exceeding great terror fell upon them, and they fled away, and hid themselves.
And I being left alone saw this great vision: and there remained no strength in me, and the appearance of my countenance was changed in me, and I fainted away, and retained no strength.
And I heard the voice of his words: and when I heard, I lay in a consternation, upon my face, and my face was close to the ground.
10 And behold a hand touched me, and lifted me up upon my knees, and upon the joints of my hands.
11 And he said to me: Daniel, thou man of desires, understand the words that I speak to thee, and stand upright: for I am sent now to thee. And when he had said this word to me, I stood trembling.
12 And he said to me: Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thy heart to understand, to afflict thyself in the sight of thy God, thy words have been heard: and I am come for thy words.
13 But the prince of the kingdom of the Persians resisted me one and twenty days: and behold Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, and I remained there by the king of the Persians.
14 But I am come to teach thee what things shall befall thy people in the latter days, for as yet the vision is for days.
15 And when he was speaking such words to me, I cast down my countenance to the ground, and held my peace.

A Hello 9,000 Miles Away

Hello to my eleven readers in French Polynesia. Would love to visit you there!



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:French_Polynesia_on_the_globe_(French_Polynesia_centered).svg

God Saved Me by Failures

Sometimes, we do not understand why things which seem hard or even tragic happen to us.
In my life, I was not successful in staying in positions of power. I do not need to go into detail, but I was saved from becoming part of the establishment, either a government, for which I worked at a fairly high level, or other.

Now, a professional by nature, talent, training, wants to be part of the establishment. However, if the Catholic Church is the establishment, it is almost impossible not to fall to the siren song of cooperation, compromise, weakening of conscience. Thankfully, partly grace, partly my temperament, which prefers truth to all else, I was a complete failure at securing or keeping the diocesan posts as well as the government post I thought I would be chosen to do. Thank God for failure.

Now, I see that if one is going to pursue holiness, one must choose humility, the lowest place, the place where one can maintain orthodoxy. All roses need a walled garden in which to thrive, not a highway.

Love of God and His Ways demands that "moral squint" decried by Cardinal Wolsey in the great play, A Man for All Seasons.

Thank you, Jesus, for failures.

Hey, financial punishment like in the Reformation in England

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/u.s.-bishops-agency-ended-major-contract-with-printer-over-ties-to-pro-life

No comment

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-29/gay-spouses-in-all-states-can-file-joint-taxes.html

Multiple Post Days!

Because I shall not have access to some of the books I am reading now, in the near future, as I shall be on the move again, I want to finish the growing series on home schooling as well as some other themes. I had twenty posts just yesterday in one day.

Time goes so quickly. I cannot believe it is almost September. So, make sure you do not miss any of the posts, either by clicking on the date to the right, or on the list of tags.



Home Schooling and Religion, Parts 17 and XI The Mass


The highest form of worship we have in the Catholic Church is the Mass. This great gift is accessible to those who are intellectuals, non-intellectuals, and of all age groups.

Those who do not bring their babies to Mass miss the point of this great gift, as one, even in the Tridentine Mass, has never needed to know how to read to appreciate and understand it.

Those who say they do not like the TLM because they cannot understand Latin also miss the point, which Montessori makes over and over. We learn not merely by the word, but by action, symbols, music, rubrics.

The Mass is foremost a spiritual experience. Those who deny this to children are denying them the highest form of man's reaching up to God and God's reaching down to man.

Take all the children to Mass, no matter how old. Get them missals and not other books. This is important. And, no Cheerios, as millions managed for centuries without these.


My next post in this series will begin the sections on character building. The previous 16 are listed here, in case you missed these.
http://supertradmum-etheldredasplace.blogspot.ie/2013/08/new-home-schooling-series-not-yet.html

To be continued...