Catholic Lesson Planner for homeschooling – Free!

I like the lesson planner that some of the Catholic Homeschools offer for sale. However, I alway forget to purchase my planner with my order. I also run into the problem with erasing a few times before I get my planning right for the year. This year I am trying something new and thought I would pass it along to anyone else with the same lesson plans problems I have. I also wanted my planner to look and feel Catholic. So I made my own “My Catholic Planner” for homeschooling.

Here are the 3 free pdf files. The title cover, which sides in a notebook quite easily. Then pages 1 and two of the actual lesson plan pages can be found either follwing link page 1 or page 2. Feel free to download them for your personal use. (that mean don’t go selling them unless you talk to me.)

My Catholic Homeschool Lesson Plans are set up so you can enter the Week # and the date at the top of each week. Two page spans the course of a week and there is room at the end of the week to enter extra books your child has read or, what key information they learned that week. This will make it easier to reference during assessment time. Download here “My Catholic Lesson Planner”

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Free & Affordable Notebooking Pages (& More!)

What’s the Difference??

30 Second Mysteries Board Game $18.48

Comparing Catholic, Non-Catholic Christian, and Secular Cirricula.

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If you’re new to homeschooling you may not understand that there is a difference in curriculum. When deciding to choose Catholic or non-Catholic Christian based educational materials you may wonder what’s the difference their learning about God. After all, it’s pretty obvious to tell the differences between secular and Christian based educational materials. It’s really not as cut and dried as all that.

Yes, Secular material publishers are trying very hard to keep the “religion element” out of the picture. However, you still run into your occasional wizard, troll, witch, evolution theory etc.. you can expect and work around them if you choose this type of curriculum for your homeschool class.

Using Non-Catholic Christian curriculum such as ABEKA, Bob Jones, and a few others; this material is what I call a slippery slope! There is subtle and sometimes not so subtle anti Catholic material splattered throughout their curriculum. Unless you are very aware of your Catholic faith, history, and education, these misconceptions can easily slip past your child and yourself. In the end, your child may be confused and left with a weak Catholic formation.

Using Catholic Curriculum, nearly every part of the curriculum incorporates a Catholic teaching, saints, background of the church, a prayer something that actively involves the Catholic faith and it’s teachings.

For some people using all Catholic materials is just too much. For example, I just want to teach them math or read my child a funny story. That is when you should judge between the secular and non-catholic educational material. There are several good resources available you just need to review the material, read reviews on the materials to find what is right for your family and raising strong faith filled Catholic kids.

Catholic Book Fair and JClub Great Catholic Kids Website by Pauline Sisters

Pauline Kids, the children’s imprint of Pauline Books & Media, has recently launched a new book fair program for Catholic schools called JClub. The JClub program provides students, teachers, and parents with quality Catholic reading material meant to nourish and enrich the faith of young readers.

The JClub book fair program includes a book fair list filled with supplemental Catholic material—stories, saint biographies, comics, games, activities, a chat with Jesus, and more. Along with this engaging and educational book fair list, Pauline Kids has included a companion website called JClub: A Catholic Place for Kids. The website is filled with video prayers and meditations, saint-a-day biographies, stories, polls, quizzes, games, and information for parents and teachers, along with printable teaching resources.

The JClub program includes the option of utilizing media literacy workshops in order to learn how to reach children through the media they are bombarded with every day. Sr. Rose Pacatte, Director of Pauline Center for Media Studies, provides articles for parents and teachers on the topic of media literacy, also known as “media mindfulness,” and how to utilize media as an educational tool on the JClub website.

JClub offers the book fair in several program formats, which can be found online at http://www.jclubcatholic.org under the “Bring Us to Your School” section. If you are interested in learning more about JClub or hosting a book fair, please contact Pauline Kids via email at jclub@paulinemedia.com.

Pauline Books and Media is the publishing house of the Daughters of St. Paul, an international Congregation of women religious whose mission is evangelization through the means of social communication. They operate fifteen retail book centers in North America and a publishing and distribution operation in Boston, Massachusetts. Arriving from Italy in 1932, the Daughters of St. Paul have been in America for over seventy-five years.

Contact:
Pauline Books & Media
http://www.jclubcatholic.org MA, 02130 US
Sally Feller - Marketing Associate, 617-522-8911

Here is a blogspot for their childrens books

How to Educate yourself about Homeschooling

As Pope John Paul II says: Do Not Be Afraid

Everyone who begins homeschooling has some type of phobia. Either afraid they won’t socialize their child or fear that they don’t have the brains to do it.

I had those same fears just as most do. What’s the old saying, the more you know the more you know that you don’t know! Get yourself some support friends, either through Catholic Homeschooling yahoo groups, websites, or your church. I can’t believe what a difference it has made in my families life.

Still don’t think your educated enough? If you can read and you like to learn, your educated enough. Seek assistance from those with positive homeschool experiences to help you.

Take a Grammar Refresher or Keyboarding online course from Ed2go they have a wide selection of Online Courses.Even though I have a bachelors degree, I have taken continuing education courses through this establishment. They are very reasonably priced. The experience was great. I never had to leave my home. Maybe you have a child in high school that may benefit from one of these courses or one that is college age but, not ready for college. In our area the price of a course runs approximately $99 – 105.00 and run every 6 weeks. You work at your own pace as it fits your schedule. There are message boards that share class discussions, emails, and other ways to communicate. Hold on to this motto: You are never too old to learn something new! It’s life changing!

Find the key to making through your first year without spending a mint.

Find out about a Catholic Home Study Program.

Learn about Scope and Sequence for each grade and where to find them.

Go to the library and read books like

Charlotte Mason Education is not a Catholic Curriculum however her vision for education was not one to be overlooked. So a number of women came up with a totally free Catholic Version of the Charlotte Mason Curriculum. You can find it at Mater Amabilis.

You can join their Yahoo Group, Mater Amabilis (which means Mother Most Amiable) to find out more about their style of homeschooling.

Another well known author in Catholic homeschool circles is Maureen Wittmann. She has written a number of books one of which is on my recommended book list, Catholic Homeschooling Companion, and another book called For the Love of Literature. She has also started Webinars help homeschooling families. You can visit her blogspot maureenwittmann

The best advice I received from a friend when I was investigating homeschooling was that I was already homeschooling my daughter; with all the schoolwork/homework she was bringing home because she wasn’t doing it in school, what difference would a few more hours on my time schedule make. That comment opened up a whole new world for us. I can’t say there aren’t days that my daughter wishes she were with the kids at school or I wish I had a bit more time to myself however, overall it’s changed our lives for the better - Especially with our Catholic Education.

Homeschooling With Gentleness: Catholic Discovers Unschooling

Editors Note: I have had personal experience with Fast Web, it really works. It’s not a gimick.

Telling Time

PharmaOmega Learn is designed for school-aged children who need omega-3 to help them focus and do their best in school.

Ambleweb has got lots of wonderful teaching aids. The link to their site is found on amblesideprimary.com

A teaching tool I like to use is their analog clock. It tells time from 5 minutes, 15 minutes and hour increments. It’s a fun way to explain time and for your child to learn with or without your assistance.

Showing kids Science

Even if you don’t live near a science museum you can still show your kids the wonders of life.

Video from the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago, Illinois. Chick hatchery, see baby baby chicks being hatched from their eggs.

More from the Museum of Science and Industry:

Click here to learn how to construct a worm farm

2009 Free Day Schedule for Museum of Science and Industry General admission is free on the following dates*:
June	1 2 3 4 5 19
October	8 9 12 13 14 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 26 27 28 29 30
November	11

2009 Free Day Schedule for

Museum of Science and Industry

General admission is free on the following dates*:

June

1 2 3 4 5 19

October

8 9 12 13 14 15 16 19 20 21 22 23 26 27 28 29 30

November

* there is still a charge for parking and omnimax on Free days check the Museum of Science and Industry Website for full details.

No More Tears Spelling

Having trouble with spelling words?

Here is a website homeschool should never be without. Whether you have a spelling curriculum or just want your child to learn some words that they struggle with, I recommend using a free online program called Spelling City. It’s really free no catch and no trial offer.

Your children will learn their spelling words without realizing it. The site give you three options. Practice, Play games, Test. You add your own word list, and you add by groups of 5 words at a time. You can add all 20 (or more) spelling words at one time. I have a friend who adds five words per day the harder ones first. Her daughter can practice and play different games all week. She adds a few more words each day. Then on Friday she runs through the test. You can actually test sooner if your child feels comfortable with the new words. The best part is you use your own words and you decide how many and how long to practice before testing.

Great site, great fun, especially for those kids who struggle with spelling. Again the link is http://www.spellingcity.com

Latin, Greek, Root Words

PharmaOmega Learn is designed for school-aged children who need omega-3 to help them focus and do their best in school.

Trying to decide on a homeschool curriculum for learning Latin can be difficult. Maybe you just want your child to learn what the root words mean.

I have discovered English from the Roots Up It’s a very easy conscept for children to pick up. It’s set up by using a 3X5 card system. Red borders around the cards mean Latin based word, green borders around the card be Greek based word. On the back of the card you write words that are associated with your root word. It seems easy and fun for even the most finicky child.

Memorare website also offers free interactive educational flashcards and lists associated with English from the Roots Up.

English from the roots up interactive activities

Don’t give up looking for great deals; search for used books on catholic swap group too. I was able to find my book for $5.00.

Also try Sacred Heart books for English from the Roots up.

School House Rock 3′s and Zero still lots of Fun.

PharmaOmega Learn is designed for school-aged children who need omega-3 to help them focus and do their best in school.

Music is such a fun way to learn math! Learn anything…

Did you know you can find old and newer school house rock videos on Youtube? It’s not the same as having your own collection but it sure makes you reminisce back to the days of singing these tunes. I am sure once you see some of these, like so many of us you will be hooked and want the whole collection. But if your strapped for fund at least you can be safe viewing these videos from this website.

I don’t recommend you sending your kids to youtube unattended by a parent. Parents should always search first and view first. That’s why I post good videos on my site. Don’t get me wrong, I love Youtube it’s got some awesome videos on it, anything you could possibly want. Yet therein lies the problem. You don’t have to worry about clicking the a video here and having it turn out to have inappropriate content.

School House Rock, Magic number 3:

Learn how to multiply and count by 3′s through songs.

This video is unofficially claimed as the first Schoolhouse rock video.

School house Rocks, My Hero Zero: Learn about multiplying by zero through music.

Find Catholic Curriculum with Free shipping

Looking at Catholic Curriculum for next year. I would like to recommend a company called Sacred Heart Books and Gifts.[singlepic id=17 w=320 h=240 mode=web20 float=right]

I found this company last year when I was looking for Saxon Math 2. I really like them, maybe it was because I have a devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus that drew me to the Sacred Heart Books website or maybe it was where they are located, having come from the Midwest. I recently discovered that they are now carrying materials for Catholic Charlotte Mason users. They also have curriculum supplies available for Mother of Divine Grace and many others. There website is dedicated to families and especially one single income families; they keep their prices low! You can find discount prices on Catholic Curriculum from their website all year long. They offer FREE SHIPPING on orders over $25.00 and less than $5.00 on all orders under $25.00. That is a pretty awesome deal for those concerned with purchasing books yet still having funds enough to cover the sometime high cost of shipping.

Before going to Amazon to buy your books check Sacred Heart Books and Gifts out. Their prices are very reasonable. You know the books are new and the best part is FREE SHIPPING with orders over $25.00. You are also helping a fellow Catholic Servant who is to helping Catholic home schoolers.

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