“The UPS truck just dropped off our school books!” My sisters, Emily and Mary, my brother John, and I race to the door hoping to arrive first at the four brown boxes that hold our new curriculum. Mine is the easiest to find since it is the biggest and heaviest of them all. There is an advantage of being the oldest: I get all the new books! Boxes are sorted, scissors are found, and packing peanuts start to fly as the boxes are opened. Soon, fresh books emerge which captivate our attention. Thus, our family’s thirteenth year of Seton Homeschooling begins and we all eagerly anticipate the new year’s adventures…

2013 may well be the most important year in the history of Catholic homeschooling conferences due to a new national campaign focused on getting 10,000 people to attend conferences across the country. Before the season begins with the first few conferences in March, it seems fitting to try to answer the question, “Why does Seton care so much about conferences?”…

Many home schooling teachers wonder how much parental help with schoolwork is too much. Some would like to sit with each individual student, but simply do not have the time. A number of us have children who seem not to do anything on their own, while other students seem to fly through assignments with little teacher input. While we all know about — and love — the individual attention that home education affords, we wonder just how much is too much, or too little. Each home schooling parent must make up his or her own mind, but here are a few ideas to consider for some basic subjects in the early elementary grades…

TN, Nashville—March 8, 2013 (Fri.)
IHM Tennessee Homeschool & Parent Conference
Nashville Expo Center – Wilson Hall
625 Smith Avenue, Nashville, TN 37203
2 pm – 8 pm
Info: 540-636-1946
www.ihmconference.org…

The United States Military Academies offer an outstanding education for applicants interested in a military career. Students accepted to the Academies pay no tuition and minimal fees in exchange for a four-year commitment to the armed forces. Many Seton students have attended the Academies, with great success. One of our graduates, Jonathan Bate, graduated first in his class at West Point in 2006! Gaining the appointment to an Academy does require a bit of extra work, however…

Some homeschooling parents believe that unless they can do a great job, then homeschooling is not for them. That must be a tremendous cross for these Moms and Dads to carry. Thankfully, it is one that I do not shoulder. If you are burdened by this “great-or-nothing” form of what I call academic scrupulosity, let me suggest something to you: stop trying to do a great job; do a good job instead…

The Blessed Mother appeared to St. Bernadette in 1858 in Lourdes, France, a little over 150 years ago. Her message was to encourage prayer, especially saying the daily Rosary. However, her appearance at Lourdes had another purpose, to confirm in a supernatural way the new dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This dogma was proclaimed four years earlier by Pope Pius IX, but was a traditional belief of the Catholic faithful…

Because of illness, we are not as far along in our studies as I would like. What tips do you have for us to catch up?

For some subjects, you can use a few shortcuts. For instance, to catch up in Spelling or Vocabulary, you could assign your student two chapters in one week, with the student doing only the essential work. If your student is very good in math, perhaps he could do two chapters in one week by working out only every other problem. You need to be careful that shortcuts should be used only for subjects for which you know your child will not be missing something for which he needs to take the regular length of time…

One of the most memorable aspects of my Pastoral Visit to the United States was the opportunity it afforded me to reflect on America’s historical experience of religious freedom, and specifically the relationship between religion and culture. At the heart of every culture, whether perceived or not, is a consensus about the nature of reality and the moral good, and thus about the conditions for human flourishing. In America, that consensus, as enshrined in your nation’s founding documents, was grounded in a worldview shaped not only by faith but a commitment to certain ethical principles deriving from nature and nature’s God. Today that consensus has eroded significantly in the face of powerful new cultural currents which are not only directly opposed to core moral teachings of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but increasingly hostile to Christianity as such.

Jacksonville, FL. March 16 (Fri.). Immaculate Heart of Mary Jacksonville Homeschool and Parent Conference, Embassy Suites Jacksonville-Baymeadows, 9300 Baymeadows Rd, Jacksonville, FL. 2:00 PM — 8:00 PM. Info: 540-636-1946 or info@ihmconference.org or www.ihmconference.org.