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This new two-book set on United States Geography provides everything you need for a homeschool Geography Bee or an interesting U.S. Geography supplement for a wide age range.

The Participant/Student Book (softcover - stapled), is a study book for learning facts and figures in preparation for a Geography Bee. Three summary charts provide a quick reference on Name Derivations, Famous Natives, Mottos , Landmarks, Catholic Facts, Historical Facts, Industry, Admission Dates, Capitals, Flowers, Birds, Nicknames and Trees for each state. The bulk of the text consists of Study Sheets on: Capitals, State Flowers, State Birds, Nicknames, State Trees, Famous Natives, Landmarks, Catholic Facts, Historical Facts, Name Derivations, Mottos and Industry. In addition to a simple chart for each category, the Study Sheets provide a "To Learn More" segment which provides detailed information about each item. For example, the State Flower section includes a description of each type of flower and the Famous Natives section provides a brief biography of a famous native from each state as well as an extensive list of other famous natives. Of special interest is the "State Catholic Fact" section which provides Catholic connections for each State and which should provide a starting point for studying more about Catholic influences in the United States. The last half of the book offers various worksheets and other masters to photocopy - State Profile (can be used to record or test information for each state), State Flowers to color and learn, State Birds to color and learn, simple outline maps of each state, and a full outline map of the whole United States. Also are included are a partial listing of Catholic-named Cities of the U.S., a Bibliography, Sources for Further Study and Internet Sites for Further Study.

The Coordinator/Parent Book offers master category cards and a certificate of honor to copy and color for an official-looking Geography Bee, a spreadsheet of basic facts, and extensive sets of questions on three different difficulty levels for each category of study in the Participant Book (State Capital, State Flower, State Bird, State Nickname, State Tree, State Landmark, Famous Natives, and State Catholic Fact). The third difficulty level also offers questions regarding State Historical Facts. Because questions for each category are listed separately (rather than being intermixed), families could choose to focus on just a few category or difficulty levels at a time if they wish. Each question in this book provides the answer directly after the question in boldface type for ease of use.

I'm very, very impressed with the scope and quality of this Geography program. In the past, Catholic Homeschoolers have had limited resources available for State History and Geography (particularly from a Catholic perspective). These materials provide a welcome solution to this need as well as a wonderful project to be undertaken by a Catholic homeschool group or just a few families getting together. Highly recommended.

The supplements are carefully woven into the third grade lesson assignments, but for those who prefer not to use the lesson plans the supplements alone could easily be used for enrichment and would make purchasing the plans worthwhile. For example the book report supplements contain clear guidelines for helping young students write book reports, a checklist to help the student in their efforts, creative ideas for written reports or oral reports and hands-on project reporting. There are over 20 beautifully illustrated forms to be used for writing the reports or keeping track of books that have been read. These are not the normal squares and circle forms on the market, but are ruled pages containing illustrated borders depicting Victorian, Catholic and nature scene which would appeal to the eyes of both children and adults. Book report books comparable in length sell for about $6.99.

In addition to the book report supplement, the plans include a series of reading comprehension pages. Once again the pages are visually attractive to the student and they focus on questions designed to encourage beginning literary analysis as well as the usual comprehension type questions. These pages are based on three outstanding books: Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls, More Catholic Tales for Boys and Girls, The Little Apostle on Crutches. Almost 50 pages in length, this supplement is comparable to workbooks that sell for about $8.99 with the added feature that they are Catholic and clever in their design.

"At the Feet of Mary: Holy Rosary Project." is the most beautiful introduction to the rosary that I have seen. It is designed as a hands-on project to bring the faith to life. Each week the child focuses on a different mystery through discussion, readings from a lovely description of a child's trip to shrines, the coloring of gorgeous illustrations that form part of a prayer book and meditations that are clearly explained. The prayer book that the child makes includes illustrations that will touch the heart of a child because they depict the Mysteries as seen through the eyes of a child. At the end of this 5 week project the child has produced a gorgeous prayer book. This supplement is 65 pages long and nothing on the market even remotely compares to the depth and beauty found in this project, but books on meditating, understanding the rosary and illustrations on the rosary combined would stand at about $15.95.

The fourth supplement focuses on geography and is entitled "Tour a Country." It includes both a general plan for the study of any country, as well as nine sets of four week plans for studying specific countries. (i.e., 36 week course covering nine specific countries.) The instructions are easy to follow and have a Catholic world view. The pages themselves are beautifully illustrated and the activity pages are sure to please the children. We have been using a "Countries of the World" activity book that cost $15.99, but will be switching to the "Tour a Country" supplement as the activities are more interesting and the study approach is more focused and logical as well as Catholic.

Finally, there are: monthly planners and certificates which could be used for any grade or program; thirty pages devoted to the teaching of third grade which answers home schooling questions as well as teaching independence; a dozen pages of memory gems and how to use them; illustrated chore and virtue charts Similar books covering home schooling helps, charts and poetry together would cost at least $12.99 If one were to buy books that covered the material contained in each of the four supplements the cost would be over $50.00 but the books wouldn't be Catholic in approach or presented in a way that allows the home school mother to efficiently teach the subject. For the family that home schools using material other then those published by CHC it is clear that the supplements alone make the plans well worth the price. You won't be disappointed. (365 pages of lesson plans and supplements cost $38.95 from CHC)

Note: This review is based on the 1993/1998 editions of this book. The book was rewritten in 2006 and that edition has not yet been reviewed.

Mary Kay Clark, who is the director of Seton Home Study has recently revised what was the first book published on Cathholic Homeschooling. It has quite a different flavor from Catholic Education: Homeward Bound and make a strong case for homeschooling from the perspective of Catholic teaching and Church documents. The author includes many practical ideas for running a busy household while homeschooling and finding creative ways of making a structured homeschool program flexible enough for your needs. Chapters include "How to Begin Catholic Home Schooling", "Home Schooling in the Large Family", "The Sacramental Life" and special chapters by other authors on topics such as "The Father's Role in Homeschooling", "Home Management in the Catholic Home Schooling Family" and "Home Schooling the Catholic LD Child." I particularly enjoyed the stories of the author's own homeschooling experiences with her seven boys and her practical ideas of making homeschooling work in the here and now by not expecting to be able to do everything perfectly (e.g. using paper plates and clearing out a lot of unnecessary clutter in the house).

Catholic Homeschooling fills and has filled an important role in the homeschool movement (particularly because it was simply the first book published on Catholic homeschooling) but, like all "advice" on homeschooling (including this website), should be used insofar as it is helpful to your family's needs rather than solely dictate how your family does everything (this, I believe, would be keeping with the author's intentions, particularly as she explains the role of Seton Home Study).

Out-of-date material:
"The only other comprehensive home study program for children which has accreditation is Home Study International, which is run by Seventh-Day Adventists." (p. 103) A number of Catholic homeschool programs as well as Protestant ones are now accredited if that's an important issue to you.

"If you want Catholic textbooks, you need to enroll in a Catholic home study school." (p. 100) This seems rather shockingly out-of-date even for the revision date of 1998. Many Catholic textbooks have been available from numerous sources (including TAN, Neumann Press, Seton Educational Media, Catholic Heritage Curricula, Emmanuel Books, Kolbe Academy, etc.) for a number of years without being enrolled in any school at all.

The title clearly explains what this book is all about: Gibson took the twelve months of the year, wove in the liturgical celebrations and linked these to marvelous picture books – creating a mosaic of Catholic culture and beautiful literature.

But this book is much more than an annotated book list, although that is included too. Gibson gives suggested questions for you to discuss with your children. She gives suggested copywork – that is, quotes that children memorize or use for handwriting practice. She gives ideas for activities that will reinforce the meaning of the particular book. She helps families to truly live and embrace the wondrous Catholic traditions connected to feast days, liturgical celebrations and other things Catholic.

Some of the books described and linked in this book are Catholic illustrated classics – books like Weight of a Mass by Josephine Nobisso, Song of the Swallows by Leo Politi and St. George and the Dragon by Margaret Hodges are extremely popular with many Catholic parents and children. But Gibson goes beyond the “Catholic classics” and mentions books like The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen (illustrated by Rachel Isadora) and The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein and how you can apply Catholic teachings to these books, giving your children a rich and lasting understanding of our Catholic culture.

In total, Gibson integrates FIFTY-TWO illustrated children’s books with the Catholic calendar and Catholic living. Books that cover the Mass, First Communion, various saints and important liturgical seasons are included. In addition, she suggests other books which may also work (but omits questions and activities linked to these “second-string” books some of which unfortunately are out-of-print or hard-to-find).

All the primary books are easily attainable from booksellers; in addition, books by popular authors like Tomie dePaola are usually available at public libraries so as not to strain your book budget too much. However, after seeing these books, you might want to have good copies for your home library. Gibson has selected books not only for the meaning in their words, but also for the beauty of their illustrations. These books could easily be used as an art study in conjunction with the literature, religion and other subjects covered in these books.

Further resources that Gibson gives the reader are suggestions for creating and maintaining a “Liturgical Notebook” throughout the year – a memory scrapbook of this literature-based journey – as well as incorporating some of the traditional Catholic homeschool resources (for example, CHC’s A Year with God or Seton’s Art 1).

Run, don’t walk, to get a copy of this book. I know I sound effusive, but this book is remarkable in its ambitious objective which is stunningly successful. This is one of those homeschooling volumes that needs to be on every Catholic resource shelf – that is, when it’s not being used!