Homeschooling is “do-it-yourself” education. It requires parents with vision and skill who can manage the essential duties of life and manage the education of their children in addition to those duties.  Very few in history have ever attempted this work, and far fewer have succeeded.  Homeschooling is a modern phenomenon made possible by modern technology. One great problem with homeschooling is that many parents who undertake this work are not interested in the “do-it-yourself” work that’s required for success.  Many imagine that the decision to homeschooling is the great obstacle to education and once they’ve made that decision, pulled the … Continue

To provide for the memorization of the useful modes of syllogisms, the “Schoolmen” (i.e., Scholastic Catholic philosophers of the middle ages) created a system of names.  In his translation of Aristotle’s Prior Analytics, Thomas Taylor provides a helpful explanation of this system, which is provided below. The quantity of a proposition, so far as pertains to syllogism is twofold, universal and particular. And it must be observed, that a universal affirming proposition has the symbol A; a universal denying proposition E; a particular affirming proposition has the symbol I; and a particular denying proposition, the symbol O. The distinct modes.of … Continue

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary.  I’d like to share our guide to praying the Rosary, which can be conveniently used on a smartphone or table.  There are also printable guides available on the page in English and Spanish. How to Pray the Rosary Our guide provides all of the content needed to pray as directed by St. Louis de Montfort, a Dominican saint known for his teaching on devlotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Rosary. It’s important to note that the Rosary is not merely a run of Our Father’s and … Continue

One problem that I notice among homeschooling families is that they often do make the progress they expect to make and then, in an attempt to avoid leaving any gaps, they decide that they will “start over” in the previous level. This is an example of the delusion of “perfectionism”. Of course, perfectionism is not actually the habit of doing this perfectly; quite the opposite.  Perfectionism is the habit of imagining that one will do something he is not actually capable of doing.  The perfectionist is always talking about plans, work to be done, schedules, goals, etc., but never completed … Continue

The leaders of the Catholic Church, responsible for the spiritual formation of the children baptized into the Church should be ashamed to see parents turning to homeschooling. Good news: The problem can be fixed.

In the Intercessions at Morning Prayer today, we read: Show us your goodness, present in every creature, — that we may contemplate your glory everywhere. As I read these words, my thoughts were drawn to the Act of Contrition: …because Thou are all good and worthy of all my love. and the Act of Love: O my God, I love you above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because You are all-good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbor as myself for love of You. We love God for one very simple reason:  He is … Continue