No name

Level 1 (1st and 2nd grade) includes 93 songs
130 pg. spiral-bound manual and two CDs - one learning CD and one sing-along (instrumental)
Level 2 (3rd-6th grade) includes 91 songs
142 pg. spiral-bound manual and 3 CDs. Includes music instruction and basic theory lessons
We've had a lot of frustration with finding a good music program for our family. We were unable to use the songbook that came with our package curriculum because I did not know most of the songs and we don't have a piano or the ability to properly play them if we did. When I tried to find recordings of the songs from the songbook, I was told it was out of print. I looked for other songbooks with tapes or CDs to go along with it but I was not happy with the ones I bought. They either did not have the traditional Catholic songs for children or when I was able to find some of the music for the songs I wanted my children to learn, there was no words for it to help them follow along. Also, it was very difficult to teach them when there was other children singing on the tape. I had a hard time getting them to put forth any effort and participation in music class and felt they were not learning much about music.

Finally, we purchased Our Musical Year at a homeschool conference. Since we have started using the book and music in this program, our children have increased their participation so much because they enjoy it and I feel they are really learning. Now they want to use it not only for music class, but also for fun. They are already singing some of the songs around the house and we have only used it a few times. I feel it is well worth the money because I can use it for more than one year and for more than one student. Also I think of all the money I wasted on other things to try to help me teach music class. I really like how the book is set up to go along with the liturgical year and the fun and patriotic songs are great too. I feel these are the kind of songs I want my children singing instead of what they hear on the radio. They are not just learning songs to sing either. They are learning about how music works with the notes going up and down. The learning CD is slow enough and clear so they can really hear the notes and they can understand the musical terms I teach them. This is my first year home schooling my 7 year old and 4 year old. We also have a 1 1/2 year old and a baby due this summer. This is just what I have been looking for all year long. Now I will feel better prepared for next year.

Sample lessons may be downloaded from the publisher's website.

I was introduced to the series as a high school freshman. I enjoyed the text very much at that time (even though I was working with a photocopy). I was equally impressed with the Sophomore text when I taught with it nearly ten years later. The first book, Our Goal and Our Guides, focuses on understanding our goal in life - attaining Heaven - and spiritual and doctrinal issues that are related to that goal (such as the roles of faith and reason, the liturgical year, the Blessed Trinity, the Fall, and Salvation through Christ). The second book, Through Christ Our Lord, studies the life of Our Lord in great detail - covering the Old Testament time of waiting for Christ, the basic events of Christ's life, a detailed study of Christ's Death and Resurrection, the Eucharist and the Mass, the Sacraments and following Christ today. The Ark and the Dove (Book Three) covers the Catholic Church and the Holy Spirit. Towards the Eternal Commencement. is designed especially to prepare graduating seniors as they go out into the world. It covers Our Lady, considerations about death and the afterlife (best reflected upon earlier in life!), vocations, those commandments, virtues and teachings important for "building a better world" and a segment on Apologetics.

This is a fantastic reference book for a wide variety of reasons - especially for those who don't have Internet access or who don't want their children to do searches on the Internet.

Our Sunday Visitor has been publishing an annual Catholic Almanac for over one hundred years. Teachers, educators, parents and many others will find a great deal of useful and well-organized information at their finger-tips.

The text is divided into four main sections with numerous sub categories beneath each one. Here's a quick overview:

Part One: News and Events:

The Year in Review and News in Depth(includes segments on Pope Benedict XVI, Papal Documents and Announcements, Special Reports on International News, Special Reports on National News, Life Issues and Meetings of U.S. Bishops)

Part Two: The Teachings of the Catholic Church

Doctrine of the Catholic Church, Glossary, The Church Calendar, Liturgical Life of the Church, The Sacraments of the Church and The Communion of Saints.

Part Three: The Church Universal

Dates and Events in Catholic History, The Papacy and the Holy See, The Roman Curia, Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, The Universal Church, Eastern Catholic Churches, The Catholic Church in the U.S., United States Hierarchy, Biographies of American Bishops, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Minority Catholics in the U.S., Statistics of the Church in the U.S., The Catholic Church in Canada, The Catholic Church in Mexico.

Part Four: The Life of the Church in the World

Consecrated Life, Apostolates and Ministries, Catholic Social Services, Education, Catholic Communications, Ecumenism and Interreligous Dialogue, Separated Eastern Churches, Reformation Churches, Interreligious Dialogue.

Although this is a complete list of main categories and general topics, it doesn't give a sense of the detail and usefulness of the overall content. I'll try to give a few examples that might be particular useful to Catholic homeschool families, to give a sense of the content:

In the section on "The Papacy and the Holy See" from Part Three, you'll find (among other things) a complete lists of popes as well as a more detailed overview of the Popes of the 20th Century. Here's a one of the segments (entitled "Peace Efforts") of the mini-biography of Pope Pius XII, who was Pope during World War II. I think this gives a good sense of the important facts which have been carefully chose and supported in the text:

Before the start of World War II, he tried unsuccessfully to get the contending nations - Germany and Poland, France and Italy- to settle their differences peaceably. During the war, he offered his services to mediate the widened conflict, spoke out against the horrors of war and the suffering it caused, mobilized relief work for its victims, proposed a five-point program for peace in Christmas messages from 1939 to 1942, and secured a generally open status for the city of Rome. He has been criticized in some quarters for not doing enough to oppose the Holocaust. This is a matter of historical debate, but it is a fact that through his direct intercession many thousands of Jews in Rome and Italy were saved from certain death, and he resisted wherever possible the threat of Nazism to human rights. Such were his contributions to assisting Jews that the rabbi of Rome, Dr. Abraham Zolli, was converted to Catholicism, and upon his death, Pius was praised by Golda Meir for his efforts. After the war, he endorsed the principles and intent of the U.N. and continued efforts for peace.

Also, in the same overall section is a 36 page country-by-country overview of Catholic statistics (number of religious, Catholic population, percent of the total population that is Catholic and things like that) and a paragraph briefly explaining the history of the faith in each country. It's a wonderful supplement to geographical studies and a place to find interesting information on current missionary efforts of the Church. I could readily imagine homeschool families choosing countries with small minorities of Catholics (such as Turkmenistan, which has only two priests to serve a population of approximately 1000 Catholics).

Here is a list of some of the other resources contained in this Almanac that may be of interest (there are many, many more besides these):

• Books of the Bible (including information on books that are rejected by Protestant denominations and overviews of each book)
• A mini Old Testament Bible timeline
• A list of Apostolic Fathers, Fathers of the Church and Doctors of the Church with a brief biography of each
• A 32 page Catholic Glossary
• A detailed liturgical calendar
• An overview of major Holy Days and other Observances
• Extensive listing of saints, including a list of traditional Patrons and Intercessors and recent Canonizations
• A ten page timeline of Catholic History
• A listing of all Papal Encyclicals from 1740 to the present day (The most recent encyclical included here is Deus Caritas Est)
• A Chronology of U.S. Catholic History
• A list of missionaries (with very brief biographies) to the Americas
• Lists of Cathedrals, Basilicas and Shrines in the United States
• An extensive listing of Catholic Colleges and Universities, including website and phone number, and current enrollment.

Because of the nature of this resource, I have not done a thorough read-through, but everything I've seen (and I've spent a number of hours poring through this) has been very solid. The book does contain some material that may not be suitable for young children, including a mention on the front cover of "An Update on the Sexual Abuse Scandal".

Paddle-to-the-Sea is a one-of-a-kind story about a little carving of an Indian in a canoe that is sent off from North of Lake Superior in Canada for a four-year trek through each of the Great Lakes, through the St. Laurence River and finally into the Atlantic Ocean.

Beautifully written and fabulously illustrated, the story takes readers on an in-depth (and rather lengthy!) story of the Great Lakes region told through the "eyes" of an inanimate wooden toy as it encounters all kinds of weather, wild animals, helpful people, a forest fire, and much more. It may sound like a strange premise, but it works, and all of my children have been enchanted with the story, though it may help that, living in the Great Lakes region, a number of the places are quite familiar to us.

In addition to colorful illustrations of various locations from the story, the text is often surrounded with smaller maps and technical illustrations of locks and various geographical features of the region. We've found this to work best as a read-aloud as the sheer length tends to be intimidating to the younger set. It's probably a good hour of reading.