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 ...

On September 19, the Catholic Church celebrates the apparition of the Blessed Mother when she appeared to two children in La Salette, France, in 1846. This apparition and the message are practically unknown in our country, likely because of the amazing miracles in relation to the apparitions of Fatima in Portugal and of Lourdes in France.

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; ...

This is primarily written toward teenagers who are currently working on high school, but will—before they know it—be going on to college or the working world. As you grow up, ...

I was home schooled for the last three years of high school, grades 10 through 12. I feel that I learned much more being home schooled for those three years ...

The Assumption, which we celebrate on August 15, is certainly one of the happiest and most glorious feast days in the Church. The Blessed Mother is raised, body and soul, ...

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 ...

I recall once going to my aunt’s house to baby sit for her three daughters. While in the kitchen, I was amused to see that she had a picture of a swimsuit model on her refrigerator. Before pulling anything out of the refrigerator to eat, my aunt had to look at the picture. This was clearly meant to dissuade her from eating, in hopes of having a figure like the woman in the picture. While the idea was amusing to me, it made some sense. Although my aunt had a general intention to lose weight, the picture gave her direct motivation at the time it was most needed.

We celebrate the feast of the Blessed Mother as the Queen of Heaven on August 22. The Visitation by Mary to Elizabeth recorded in the first chapter of the Gospel of Luke, hints at or foreshadows the future Queenship of Mary.

Almost everyone knows about and has seen pictures of the Grand Canyon, but did you know that the Grand Canyon is just one of the many national and state parks ...

After Our Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead on that glorious first Easter Sunday morning, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, one of the disciples. Only the twelve apostles were the first official witnesses to Jesus’ Resurrection and His appearances (Acts 10:39-42), but she was the first to tell the apostles that Jesus had risen.

A couple of weeks ago I attended the annual conference of the National Stuttering Association in Scottsdale, Arizona. Why anyone schedules a conference in Scottsdale in July is beyond me ...

“But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you.” Matthew 5:44 Those who would say ...

“Love, and do what you will.” St. Augustine of Hippo There are many virtues that we might name: honesty, modesty, magnanimity, prudence, and temperance, for example. Suppose that we were ...

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 ...

Visiting the cemetery of Mother Seton’s Sisters of Charity in Emmitsburg, Maryland, one experiences both the sadness and the hope of death. Seeing the row of graves marking the burial ...

When I was perhaps eleven or twelve years old, I happened upon a piece of music called Once Upon a Time. It was from a Broadway play that I had ...

by Ken Clark Over the years, people have asked us to bind our books in different ways. 1. Perfect Binding There are two main ways that textbook publishers bind books. ...

The old phrase “hate the sin, but love the sinner” reveals a deeply Christian sentiment. Yes, we see sin as the greatest offense against God, but we don’t consider the ...