In his latest book, Dr. Ray Guarendi offers more of his time-tested advice (Discipline That Lasts a Lifetime 2003, You're a Better Parent Than You Think 1985, DVD 2006) on raising children, but this time with a focus entirely on the teenage years. In question and answer format, Dr. Ray discusses teens and jobs, driving, dating, disrespect, sibling struggles and more.
5 volume set
As stated on their website, these are actual talks given by a priest in the 1940s. The topic, or themes, of each "talk" was directed to the season/liturgical theme, so a chapter may begin with references to the need to change clocks to daylight savings time or to a certain specific Sunday, such as Christ the King. Some will, of course, be more relevant than others for the readers. With some preparation time (looking over an appropriate theme beforehand), these should work very well for family read-aloud.
First copyrighted in 1955, this cute booklet tells the story of St. Marguerite d'Youville, of Canada, founder of the Grey Nuns. The chapters portray brief vignettes of her childhood and growing ups years brushing through the many, many sorrows and crosses of her life. This will serve as a delightful read-aloud as the language is very suitable for young children.
This is a very straight-forward preschool workbook, with one letter on each double page: on the left the capital letters and on the right its corresponding lower case, with multiple lines provided for both tracing and copying. On the bottom of each page there is a simple picture and two sentences with a word in bold starting with that letter, and one line provided for the child to copy the word. I should note here that the lower case letters consistently reach well above the dotted middle line--I do not know if this was the way lettering was taught before 1950.
Comes with a high quality china marker that works quite well. Children can mark all of their good deeds for each day of the week, as well as affix earned flowers stickers (2 sheets with 100 stickers each included). They can also "lose roses" if they sin ("fight, lie, are unkind, disobedient, lazy", etc) which is something I hadn't seen in a chart like this before. The back of the chart lists rules for using it and how many flowers children should attempt to win daily. Suggestions of "holy rewards" are given, as well as more examples of sinful behavior that will cause one to lose roses.
Content of material written for marriage preparation programs is, of course, of paramount importance. Marriage is the building block of society, and Christian marriage, under so much attack in today's society, needs to be properly understood.
I just love it when people we have just met compliment the children and report on their good, polite behavior. We have received compliments at restaurants, family homes and church. (Of course, I am purposely disregarding here those other times... .) I believe most homeschool families find it a priority to teach the children good manners from their tenderest years. I too have enjoyed purchasing the preschool books on manners from catalogs, as well as finding picture books on this subject from the local library. Alas, they are usually a disappointment.
Today, Ash Wednesday, the kids and I began a beautiful Lenten craft project: a Stations of the Cross Grotto kit from Illuminated Ink.
The kit contains all the materials needed to make all fourteen Stations, including full color artwork, colorful semi-precious stones (white Magnesite, purple Amethyst Quartz, pink Coral Quartz, and black Obsidian), wooden craft sticks, 3-D sticky dots, chenille pipe cleaners for hangers, station name plates and numbers, and Mod Podge and brushes. All that you need to provide is a scissors and regular craft glue, such as Elmer’s or Aleene’s.
Full title: From Slave to Priest: A Biography of the Reverend Augustine Tolton (1854-1897) The First Black Priest of the United State
This is a beautiful and helpful little book that explains and elucidates on the Cardinal Virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance) and Theological Virtues (faith, hope and charity) in a helpful and accessible way. The idea is to examine and understand the idea of trying to live a virtuous life in a day and age in which "virtuous" is practically an insult.