Seton Magazine Catholic Homeschool Articles, Advice & Resources

As we parents sit down to help our children with their homeschooling, I think we would have to admit that some of the biggest distractions are often the ones inside ourselves—the ones that keep popping into our minds as we attempt to teach.

Some think that a chaotic home means you can't homeschool. John Clark disagrees, and encourages you to focus on establishing something more important first.

Clichés tend to become clichés for their accuracy. “Life goes too fast” is one. A few weeks ago, a longtime family friend of ours visited us with her nine-month-old daughter.

When a person complains, his creative abilities break free. But it’s also proof to me that we fallen humans don’t commend people well; we don’t thank them enough; and we pat each other on the back far too little.

There has been a lot of worry lately among homeschooling parents regarding the “common core” curriculum. Judging by the amount of views by readers of this journal, it is the biggest issue of the day. But the problem is not so much in merely having a common core—it is in what that common core consists. Some cores are good and some are rotten.

After you finish the last page, there are books that you forget about right away. But then there are those rare ones that remain with you forever. Cynthia Montanaro’s Diary of a Country Mother is one of those. This book is a biography of her mentally-challenged son, Timothy, whose life was cut short in an accident as a teenager. Montanaro, a homeschooling veteran, says that she wrote it as a celebration of Tim’s life, but most of all as a “thanksgiving journal to God.”

First, stop insisting that you “went wrong” with your kids. I don’t know exactly how Jesus felt when He was betrayed by Judas. But I do know this: I know that Jesus did not wonder where He went wrong with Judas. Jesus didn’t “go wrong.”

I was asked to write an essay about the book that had most changed my life. This book was my answer. Relating the account of Denton’s ordeal as a prisoner of war in Vietnam for nearly eight years, it is clear that his struggle to practice his faith and keep his sanity during this time were beyond heroic.

My father, an accomplished carpenter, always seemed to be building “one more bookcase” to meet the literary demands of his wife. For all the things that our large Catholic family did not have, we had a treasury of books. My mother’s consummate genius in homeschooling pedagogy reached its zenith with a simple rule for her children: you can stay up as late as you want as long as you are reading.

It’s often lamented that babies don’t come with manuals.  Of course, this isn’t true—babies do come with manuals.  They are called “parenting books.” There are books that tell you how ...

When I was growing up in the 1970’s, many Catholic parents took turns going to Mass: Mom might go to an early Mass while Dad stayed home with the kids; ...

At the beginning of every school year, I make a little personal checklist as to how I can improve homeschooling in the upcoming year.  I don’t always stick to the ...

When I was about five or six years old, I remember that my maternal grandmother had a beautiful garden in her backyard that she spent many hours cultivating. Among her ...

Certain things in life seem common to all men.  The physical things are the most obvious: we all need to eat and to sleep, and we all need shelter.  But ...

John Clark shares his 5 favorite uses for advancing education with modern media, and how invaluable a tablet will be to a homeschooling family.

Thanks to some good friends generously giving us tickets and inviting us to go along with them, Veronica and I recently went to see an NHL hockey game. I have ...

Men in our society are often criticized for being perpetual adolescents. Yeah, maybe— but it’s not all our fault. I recently did a little research into the medical facts about ...

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 ...

A number of studies have confirmed that speaking in public is the biggest fear that Americans possess; in fact, the fear of public speaking surpasses the fear of death for ...

Most of us probably don’t think about it much, but a father’s work can have a big impact on the lives of his children. I hadn’t thought about this much ...