Homeschooling
Educating a Child: The Art of Arts
The Goal of Education, the Family and Authority
by Fr Joseph Duhr, S.J.
A must-read for all parents and educators who want to understand the role they must play as God’s co-operators in the education of children.
In this first volume (of two), Fr Duhr begins by laying out the goal of education, which is to gradually form the child physically, intellectually and morally, teaching him to master his instincts and passions, so that he will one day be capable of leading himself. Ultimately, it is to establish God as Master and King in this soul which was created by Him for His Greater Glory and destined to find its happiness and perfection in possessing Him.
Having laid the foundations, Father then describes the family atmosphere which is favorable to the blossoming of the child. Finally, he looks at authority, its origin and purpose, and how to use it in order to bring the child to what God wants him to be.
Like every good teacher, Fr Duhr knows how to make his subject matter palatable, while not watering it down in any way. He constantly illustrates his points with beautiful and entertaining stories from the real lives of parents and children, some famous (like Saint Augustine, George Washington, Daniel O’Connell, Frédéric Ozanam, Louis Pasteur and Anne de Guigné) and others not so famous.
This book is an indispensable tool for all parents and educators and is destined to become a classic in the English language.
Paperback, size 8.2" x 5.8", 328 pages
by John O'Brien
Around the Boree Log is a delightful book of verse written by the Irish-Australian Father Patrick Joseph Hartigan (under the penname “John O’Brien”). Hartigan writes in simple, accessible language about his own people, the profoundly Catholic community of Irish settlers in Australia. His love for them and their adopted country shines through in every line.
In this book, we rediscover a lost way of life – a way of life that was simple, human, full of fun and merriment and never far from the thought of God. Hartigan stresses the central role of the “little Irish mother” who had such a deep influence on her family and children and through them on society at large. Although his humorous pen doesn’t shy away from shining a light on some of the faults of his people, he always does so in a gentle, respectful way, and we sense that his sympathy is in no way tarnished by it.
This edition of the collection contains a poetic introduction in the style of Father Hartigan and includes the following much-loved poems, among others:
- Around the Boree Log
- The Trimmin’s of the Rosary
- Said Hanrahan
- Tangmalangaloo
- Down at Casey’s after Mass
- Vale, Father Pat
- The Church upon the Hill
- The Old Mass Shandrydan
- A Stranger in the Church
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 184 pages
How to Think Like Aquinas
The Sure Way to Perfect Your Mental Powers
by Kevin Vost
About St. Thomas Aquinas, Pope John XXII said, “A man can derive more profit in a year from his books than from pondering all his life the teaching of others.”
And Pope Pius XI added: “We now say to all who are desirous of the truth:
‘Go to St. Thomas.’ ”
But when we do go to Thomas – when we open his massive Summa Theologica or another of his works – we’re quickly overwhelmed, even lost.
If we find him hard to read, how can we even begin to “think like Aquinas?”
Now comes Kevin Vost — the best-selling author of The One-Minute Aquinas — armed with a recently rediscovered letter St. Thomas himself wrote – a brief letter to young novice monk giving practical, sage advice about how to study, how to think, and even how to live.
In this letter written almost 800 years ago, St. Thomas reveals his unique powers of intellect and will, and explains how anyone can fathom and explain even the loftiest truths.
Vost and St. Thomas will teach you how to dissect logical fallacies, heresies, and half-truths that continue to pollute our world with muddy thinking. Best of all, you’ll find a fully-illustrated set of exercises to improve your intellectual powers of memory, understanding, logical reasoning, shrewdness, foresight, circumspection, and practical wisdom.
You’ll also learn:
- The four steps to training your memory.
- How to know your mental powers – and their limits.
- Why critical thinking alone is insufficient for reaching the truth.
- Twenty common fallacies – and how to spot them.
- The key to effectively reading any book.
- How to set your intellect free by avoiding worldly entanglements.
- How to commit key truths to memory.
Pius XI called St. Thomas Aquinas the “model” for those who want to “pursue their studies to the best advantage and with the greatest profit to themselves.” Leo XIII urged us all to “follow the example of St. Thomas.” Over the centuries, dozens of other popes have praised him.
Surely it is time to listen to these good men, time to “go to Thomas,” to learn to think like him, and, yes, even to live like him.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 256 pages
Imagine going back in time and asking a group of the best Catholic Teachers for some of their most successful methods for teaching the Faith to little ones...This is just what the authors of this book have in effect done!
In the late 1920’s, Father Felix Kirsch was among the leaders of a renewal in Catholic education, prompted by new pedagogical methods such as those pioneered by Maria Montessori. He and Sister Mary Aurelia sent questionnaires to many of the most successful teachers in the Catholic world, asking “what methods or devices work best for you?” They then compiled the answers they received into the present volume.
Inside you will find these gems divided into two sections: Morning Exercises, with stories, talks and suggestions for how to help children practice the virtues; and Classroom Projects, which include classroom calendars for keeping track of the Feasts of the Church, Sand Table Projects, Sections on Dramatizations and Music, and various crafts to keep little hands busy.
8.5" x 11" softcover 324 pages
by Fr Bennet Kelly, C.P.
The catechism that you might have grown up with, that taught you about Jesus Christ and the doctrines of the Church in question and answer format with beautiful illustrations and wise simple teachings.
Especially designed for children, this catechism is as indispensible today as it was in all those years ago when it formed children to follow Our Lord Jesus Christ. Also suitable for adults who seek to know more of the Church or those who want a fine refresher course.
Written for Grades 3, 4, and 5.
Also available
No. 0 The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism
No. 2 The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism
Paperback, size 8.2" x 5.5", 192 pages
by Fr Bennet Kelly, C.P.
The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2 contains the revised text of the Official Baltimore Catechism No. 2 in a user-friendly format and design.
Written for Grades 6, 7, and 8, this Baltimore Catechism explains Catholic doctrine with the aid of many exclusive features, including a large number of pictures to help children understand each lesson. Extensive use of Sacred Scripture demonstrates the basis of Catholic doctrine and brings it to life. The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism No. 2 combines a contemporary viewpoint and language with a solid time-tested exposition of Catholic Church teachings.
Also available
No. 0 The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism
No. 1 The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism
Paperback, size 8.2" x 5.5, 264 pages
Catholic Family Celebrations for Every Season
by Mary Reed Newland
Celebrate the Faith with your kids all year round! For over half a century, Catholic families have treasured the practical piety and homespun wisdom of Mary Reed Newland's classic of domestic spirituality, The Year and Our Children. With this new edition, no longer will you have to search for worn, dusty copies to enjoy Newland's faithful insights, gentle lessons, and delightful stories. They're all here, and ready to be shared with your family or homeschooling group. Here, too, you'll find all the prayers, crafts, family activities, litanies, and recipes that will help make your children ever-mindful of the beautiful rhythm of the Church calendar.
Learn how to make an Advent wreath and how to make it more than just a pretty ornament. Teach your children about the real Santa (the one who was a bishop) and how to celebrate all twelve days of Christmas, giving them a holy wonder that will continue long after all the presents have been opened and the wrapping thrown away.
When Lent comes, read Newland's simple secrets to helping your kids embrace their sacrifices with enthusiasm. Then, let her show you how to make your home a place where Holy Week and Easter are duly treated as the highest, holiest days of all the year.
She'll teach you ways to reclaim All Souls' and All Saints' from the popular occultism of modern Halloween. She'll also show you why Church tradition accords special meaning to certain foods, colors, and symbols, and how these add to the incarnational character of Catholic spirituality allowing children to experience the Faith through sight, smell, touch, and taste.
Mary Reed Newland wrote numerous beloved books for Catholic families, but The Year and Our Children is her undisputed masterpiece. Read it, cherish it, share it, put it into practice and give your kids the gift of a fully lived faith, every day and in every season.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 328 pages
Educating a Child: The Art of Arts
The Stages of Education
by Fr Joseph Duhr S.J.
A must-read for all parents and educators who want to understand the essential role they must play as God’s co-operators in the education of children.
In this second volume (of two), Fr Duhr successively examines each stage of the child’s education from before birth to the point when he or she is finally ready to leave the family home. The author distinguishes four main stages in this educational journey: the awakening of the senses (1-4 years), the awakening of the mind (4-7 years), the awakening of the will (7-12 years) and the awakening of the heart (12-18 years). He insists that “the best way of preparing the child for his or her life as the man or woman of tomorrow is to allow him or her to live out as perfectly as possible these distinct lives which correspond to the different stages of their development”.
Paperback, size 8.2" x 5.8", 264 pages
by Jean Henri Fabre
Great French entomologist Jean Henri Fabre (1823–1915) devoted hours of rapt attention to insects while they hunted, built nests, and fed their families. Working in Provence, in barren, sun-scorched fields inhabited by countless wasps and bees, he observed their intricate and fascinating world, recounting their activities in simple, beautifully written essays.
This volume, based on translations of Fabre's Souvenirs Entomologiques, blends folklore and mythology with factual explanation. Fabre's absorbing account of the scarab beetle's existence, for example, begins with the ancient Egyptians' symbolic view of this busy creature, eventually leading to a careful discussion of its characteristic method of rolling a carefully sculpted ball of food to its den. Elsewhere, he discusses with infectious enthusiasm the physiologic secrets behind the luminosity of fireflies, the musical talents of the locust, the comfortable home of the field cricket, and the cannibalism of the pious-looking praying mantis, among other topics.
These charmingly related stories of insect life are a rare combination of scientific study and literary classic that will delight entomologists, naturalists, and nature lovers alike.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 168 pages
by Janet Erskine Stuart
"We insist on the teaching of handicrafts, training of the senses in observation, development of knowledge, taste, and skills which are useful for life, and for girls especially on things which make the home."
A century after its first publication, Mother Janet Erskine Stuart's classic The Education of Catholic Girls is back, and it is as relevant and useful as ever! Practical as it is pious, witty as it is wise, this collection of counsels not only helps educators in school or at home meet Catholic girls' special intellectual needs, it offers sage strategies for whole-person formation, showing us how to help our girls grow into virtuous Catholic women.Catholic girls among other girls, writes Mother Stuart, and Catholic women among other women, have the privilege as well as the duty of upholding what is highest.
The Education of Catholic Girls will help you teach your girls, whether through math and science, needlework, Catholic philosophy, or good manners, to uphold what is highest; it will help you train them to live a perfectly honorable and fearless life.
This centenary edition of The Education of Catholic Girls features English translations of the original's foreign phrases and quoted sources (Mother Stuart's presumption about her readers' knowledge of Latin, French, and German points to something education has lost over the years), as well as a new preface by Catholic homeschooling author and speaker Susie Lloyd.
Chapters on: Religion, Character, Realities of Life, Lessons and Play, Mathematics, Natural Science and Nature Study, English, Modern Language, History, Art, Manners, Higher Education.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 266 pages
Using the Methods of the Great Catholic Medieval Memory Masters
by Kevin Vost
"They laughed when I said I could name all 27 books of the New Testament . . . but after I named them all in order, plus the 46 books of the Old Testament, they begged me to show them how I did it."
Yes, I know that memorizing the Faith is no substitute for living a holy life, but even devout people can't live by truths and precepts they don't remember.
That's why, over 700 years ago, St. Thomas Aquinas perfected an easy method for his students to memorize most any information, but especially the truths taught by Christ and His Church.
As the years passed, our need for this ancient art of memorization grew, yet somehow our culture largely forgot it . . . which is why today, when you and I try to remember a list of things, we have to repeat their names over and over. Or, to remember to call the dentist, we tie a string on our finger. And we clutch at any means whatsoever to recall our passwords for ATMs, credit cards, and voicemail, our login names for Yahoo, eBay, and Amazon, and the host of other names and numbers that clog our minds and clutter our days.
Now, thanks to the delightful pages of Memorize the Faith!, you can easily keep all these in mind - and learn the Faith! - by tapping into the power of the classical memory system that helped St. Thomas become the Church's preeminent theologian, and made it easier for him to become one of its greatest saints.
Here, Catholic scholar Kevin Vost makes available again Aquinas's easy-to-learn method - the method Dr. Vost himself has used for decades to recall names, dates, phone numbers, the first dozen digits of pi (3.141592653589) and even whether, when his wife called him at work today, she asked him to bring home ice cream and toffee . . . or was it truffles and coffee?
Indeed, Dr. Vost will teach you to remember virtually anything, but he devotes most of his book to showing you how to improve your memory of Catholic truths so you can live the Faith better.
By the time you finish this book, you will have memorized dozens of key teachings of the Church, along with hundreds of precepts, traditions, theological terms, Scripture verses, and other elements of the Faith that every good Catholic needs to know by heart.
Memory is the foundation of wisdom. It makes holiness easier. To grow wiser in the Faith . . . and holier . . . turn to Memorize the Faith! today.
Note: Memorize the Faith! will teach you and your children how to remember anything, but it's particularly useful to those involved in religious education: catechists and converts, CCD teachers, RCIA members, and homeschoolers of all ages.
Here, Dr. Vost and St. Thomas Aquinas show you easy ways to memorize the following truths and precepts of our Faith, plus many more:
- The 9 Beatitudes
- The 12 Apostles
- The 7 Virtues
- The 7 Sacraments
- The 4 Last Things
- The 7 Capital Sins
- The 10 Commandments
- The 4 Marks of the Church
- The 14 Stations of the Cross
- The 5 Precepts of the Church
- The 7 Gifts of the Holy Spirit
- The 12 Fruits of the Holy Spirit
- The 7 Spiritual Works of Mercy
- The 20 Mysteries of the Rosary
- The 7 Corporal Works of Mercy
- The 10 Holy Days of Obligation
- The 6 Sins Against the Holy Spirit
- The 5 Proofs for the Existence of God
- The 27 Books of the New Testament
- The 46 Books of the Old Testament
And anything else you want to remember, from the 14 items on your grocery list to the birthdays of your 7 nephews and nieces!
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 250 pages
Thirty-Five Lessons That Will Build Your Reasoning Skills
by Nathaniel Bluedorn, Hans Bluedorn
The Thinking Toolbox has been the best selling text for teaching critical thinking skills and introduction to logic for over 15 years.
"The Bluedorns have certainly achieved their goal of creating a logic textbook that is neither boring nor distant, but rather informative, approachable, enjoyable, and valuable." - Jordan J. Ballor at the Acton Institute --Acton Institute web site
"I think the best part of The Thinking Toolbox would be the examples because they are hilarious. . . . I would highly recommend this book. It's useful and great comedy at the same time." Sarah (age 11) --student
This book is like a toolbox, full of different kinds of tools you can use for different thinking tasks. Just as you use the wrench in a regular tool box to fix the sink, so you can use the tools we give you in this book to solve thinking problems.
- When it is dumb to argue
- Using the scientific method
- Five rules of brainstorming
- Who has a reason to lie?
- How to analyze opposing viewpoints
- How to analyze evidence and sources
- How to list reasons why you believe something
- And much more
We wrote this book for children and adults who want to learn logic and critical thinking skills. The Thinking Toolbox follows the same style as The Fallacy Detective with lessons and exercises and an answer key in the back. Parents and teachers, as well as anybody who wants to learn logic, will find The Thinking Toolbox easy to use and practical.
Features:
- Fun to use not dry like a math textbook
- Can be used after The Fallacy Detective
- Introductory teaches skills you can use right away
- Self-teaching format
- For ages thirteen and older
- Over 60 cartoon illustrations by Richard LaPierre
Paperback, size 9" x 6.5", 292 pages
A Guide to Catholic Home Education
by Laura M. Berquist
Home educator Laura Berquist presents a modern curriculum based on the time-tested philosophy of the classical Trivium?grammar, logic and rhetoric. She has given homeschoolers a valuable tool for putting together a liberal arts curriculum that feeds the soul, as well as the intellect. Her approach, covering grades K - 12, is detailed and practical, and it is adaptable by parents and teachers to any situation.
This third revised edition includes a much expanded section for a high school curriculum, and an updated list of resources for all grades.
Paperback, size 9" x 6.1", 269 pages
The Battle for Your Child's Mind
by Michael D. O'Brien
The Harry Potter series of books and movies are wildly popular. Many Christians see the books as largely if not entirely harmless. Others regard them as dangerous and misleading. In his book A Landscape with Dragons, Harry Potter critic Michael O'Brien examines contemporary children's literature and finds it spiritually and morally wanting. His analysis, written before the rise of the popular Potter books and films, anticipates many of the problems Harry Potter critics point to. A Landscape with Dragons is a controversial, yet thoughtful study of what millions of young people are reading and the possible impact such reading may have on them.
In this study of the pagan invasion of children's culture, O'Brien, the father of six, describes his own coming to terms with the effect it has had on his family and on most families in Western society. His analysis of the degeneration of books, films, and videos for the young is incisive and detailed. Yet his approach is not simply critical, for he suggests a number of remedies, including several tools of discernment for parents and teachers in assessing the moral content and spiritual impact of this insidious revolution. In doing so, he points the way to rediscovery of time-tested sources, and to new developments in Christian culture.
If you have ever wondered why a certain children's book or film made you feel uneasy, but you couldn't figure out why, this book is just what you need. This completely revised, much expanded second edition also includes a very substantial recommended reading list of over 1,000 books for kindergarten through highschool.
Paperback, size 8" x 5", 261 pages
Instructional Stories in Religion
by Rev. Wilfrid J. Diamond
Preaching to children is not easy. It is indeed one of the finest of fine arts. The difficulties experienced in the preparation of the instruction for the children’s Mass will be less onerous for those who use Father Diamond’s sermons. How often busy priests go in search of just such a book as this one. We shall have no excuse now if we fail to give our children an interesting and inspiring instruction at their Sunday Mass.
It seems unnecessary to add that this volume will also be useful to religious and lay catechists in parochial schools and other centers of religious instruction.
God will use this little volume for His glory as little children learn to love our Lord from it.
May we suggest the use of this book be strengthened by the frequent repetition of the powerful prayer of St. Therese of the Child Jesus. “O Jesus, I beseech Thee to cast Thy glance upon a vast number of little souls: I entreat Thee to choose in this world a legion of little victims, worthy of Thy love.”
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 112 pages, Impr 1941
More Stories from Chesterton
by G. K. Chesterton
adapted by Nancy Carpentier Brown
Sequel to the popular Father Brown Reader: Stories from Chesterton.
Includes adaptations for young readers of four of Chesterton's Father Brown murder mysteries:
- The Invisible Man,
- The Mirror of the Magistrate,
- The Eye of Apollo, and
- The Perishing Pendragons.
In these stories, the notorious criminal Flambeau has reformed and is now a great detective. He is often aided by his friend and confidant Father Brown.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 174 pages