How often do we look for a novena? Chances are, if your family is like ours, you will love this little resource. It may be small, but it's packed full with novenas! More than 20 novenas, classified in categories such as Novenas to Christ and the Holy Spirit, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and to the Relatives of Jesus. Also to particular saints, American Saints, Holy Souls, and even a quick Novena by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.
This is a rather unique resource for Lent. It's a quiz book written at three levels of difficulty with all sorts of questions and answers about the Catholic Church's celebration of Lent and Easter. It primarily focuses on Church liturgy, with a very significant focus on the process of Christian initiation, culminating with the Sacraments of Initiation at the Easter Vigil.
There is nothing quite like reading the lives of the saints to give us hope and inspiration. Saints for Sinners from Sophia Institute Press brings many of these inspiring and holy lives to the reader drawing both from well-known and obscure saints' lives. Archbishop Alban Goodier selected these saints because in many ways their lives seemed like failures. In the eyes of the world, they amounted to very little--or so it seemed in their own time. In the eyes of God, however, their lives remain as heavenly models for us today!
How many Asian saints can you name? Saint Andrew Kim? Saint Paul Miki? Not bad.
We don't tend to learn much about Asian history today, much less about Catholic history in Asia. Did you know that the Catholic faith survived in India from the time of St. Thomas the Apostle? A number of saints in this collection were descended from families who were catechized by St. Thomas!
Here are two great resources for Catholic bookshelves everywhere. Written by a homeschooling dad named Paul E. Nowak, Guerilla Apologetics for Catholics and Guerilla Apologetics for Life Issues are wonderful resources for educated debates on Catholicism and pro-life concerns.
I first heard about these books because my brother, Paul A. Nowak, did the cartoons in the Life Issues book. So, I do have a bit of bias on these books. But I really like the clean, direct apologetics contained in both of these slim volumes.
Recently revised by the Seton staff, this 5th grade handwriting worktext has already become a favorite in our homeschool. The book begins with a review of both capital and lower-case letters in a traditional cursive font, then continues with a state-by-state journey across America. Using a copywork style of presentation, the text includes a blend of American history, US geography, and the study of famous Americans and holy persons and places. Each model line of text is immediately followed by a blank line on which the text is to be written.
Blokus is more than just the most awarded game in recent history; it has almost become a phenomenon. A visit to the company website will quickly convince you how popular this game has become; international tournaments, online demonstrations, interactive Internet-based games, and even a free lost-part replacement service are just some of the features. After playing the game for several months, we are convinced that these awards are well-deserved!
My son began this school year with Saxon's Math 76. It was his third year of using Saxon, and while the first year had helped a lot with his accuracy and consistency, he was starting to burn out on it. Math 76 wasn't working so well for him (perhaps just his learning style) so I began looking around for something else. Then I heard that Teaching Textbooks had just come out with Math 7. After some investigation, we got the CDs (the book wasn't yet available, but TT offered free PDF downloads to customers) and my son started on it.
My Books of Prayers is a nice booklet to keep handy, too. The prayers are the standard ones -- although for some reason the "Guardian Angel prayer" is a bit of an insipid version and the traditional "Morning Offering" is not included. Otherwise, I think this is a great little prayer book.
The book is divided into two major components -- prayers and the liturgical year. The prayers section includes:
The My First Missal is a wonderful, purse- or pocket-sized missal to carry with you to Church. And don't be fooled by the title. Whenever I see "my first", I think of little children and lots of pictures. This missal has lots going for it and would be suitable for children who have already received their First Communion and First Reconciliation. The text is not babyish or overly simplified.