I frequently avoid reading book introductions because they have all-too-often caused me to "stall" in the book. This one shouldn't be missed - it makes you more eager to read the "meat" of the book and makes it more meaningful at the same time. We are introduced to the Parisi family (a little background can be a wonderful thing) and the origin of the inspirational notes that dad, Al, wrote on his daughter's lunch bags during high school.
Newbery Medal runner-up 1935
This beautiful new edition of Hilda Van Stockum's little masterpiece was an exciting development in our household. You see, we missed the original Bethlehem Books run of this favorite title and ended up with an old copy from eBay with cracked and brittle pages. We still loved it of course.
This is a really nifty overview of the faith organized into 16 segments over 6 pages:
The Transmission of Divine Revelation
The Blessed Trinity
God the Father
God the Son, Jesus Christ
God the Holy Spirit
Creation and the Fall, Redemption
The Holy Catholic Church
The Four Marks of the Church
The Blessed Virgin and the Saints
The Seven Sacraments
Grace, Justification and Virtue
Catholic Moral Teaching
Sin
The Commandments
The Last Things
This book is a collection of thirty-six "journal entries" (one for each week of the school-year) - stories about the author's family life and homeschooling intertwined with scripture, recipes and her own reflections about life and God's love. (Neat, huh?) The stories are touching, funny, encouraging, sad, uplifting - just like life in this imperfect world (particularly with a family) really is.
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.
I haven't been able to read this entire book yet because (although I've had the book less than two weeks) I've already lent it out to a friend. At first it didn't look like much, but after reading a number of the essays, I've come to see why this book can be considered a real treasure. This is a collection of essays written by real homeschooling moms who share some of their experiences and the stories of how homeschooling has worked for their families.
I know a number of people who decided to homeschool based on the information provided in this book. The authors have done a very impressive job of outlining the positive benefits of homeschooling, in a non-threatening fashion. Because many of the reasons they give for homeschooling focus on practical and "natural law" reasoning they can be easier for some people to handle than arguments that focus on Church teaching (after all, you have to start somewhere =).
This is by far the most useful (and easy to understand) resource on clearing up the confusion, myths and down-right lies associated with Galileo and the Catholic Church. Mrs. Meyerhofer sorts through the myths. She is fair to the Catholic Church, but also willing to put blame where blame is due.
This book provides loads of information regarding homeschool admissions to college. Although not written specifically for Catholics, the author did solicit survey responses from Catholics (the webmaster was one of the respondents and has several quotes in the book under the pseudonym "Alexa") and there is a great deal of valuable information for any homeschoolers applying for college. It will be especially helpful for those beginning the admissions process with some trepidation and those wanting to attend colleges that are not especially known to be homeschool friendly.
My husband and I finally went to see the Passion just last night (Monday of Holy Week). It was a very powerful and thought-provoking movie. There are a few things in particular that I think make it stand out from other movies I've seen about the Life of Christ.