The talks given at the NECHC are now online!  You can watch and listen here.

I was reading comments on this post at catholicvote.org when I came across a comment that stated, "I completely understand why the anti abortion crowds concerns with tax money going to Planed Parenthood, (last time I checked they do allot more than just abortion)..."
Gee, I wonder what he or she "checked."  I know they do pregnancy tests and push "contraceptives" which are usually really abortifacients.  If that is what he means, then maybe he needs to realize that abortifacient drugs cause the termination of pregnancy, or abortion.  The euphemism "women's health" that is used by the NARAL, NOW, Planned Parenthood folks really means the unhindered ability to murder an unborn child at any stage of pregnancy. 
I am continually appalled by the refusal of otherwise intelligent people to look at the scientific facts.  I am not talking about religion here, although my religion does state that human life is sacred from conception to natural death, I am talking SCIENCE.  The unborn child has a different genetic makeup than the mother.  By the time that most people realize they are pregnant, there is a beating heart.  This video on Youtube demonstrates fetal development from conception to birth.  It is compeeling eveidence that the "blob of tissue" that so many women are told will be removed during elective abortion is much more than a "blob."

I guess you can tell I am passionate about this issue.  I chose life, and not always in "easy" circumstances.  I had one of my children as a divorced woman with 2 young children.  It was not easy, but as far as I was concerned, it was the only thing to do.  I even had other "Catholics" ask me why I had not had an abortion.  One said to me, "You could have had an abortion.  No on e would have known."

Hmmm...really?  I would have known, and GOD would have known.  I think that means someone would have known.

Dear Lord,
Please convert the hearts of those who would lie and call unborn children "blobs of tissue."  Please change their hearts from hearts of stone to hearts of flesh.  Bless all those children who have been ripped from their mother's wombs in the name of "choice."
Amen.

I am still processing all the end of the school year stuff.  You know what I mean.  The essays and papers that still need to be corrected, the portfolio that still needs to be assembled.  I am also waiting for the standardized test results for my 3 children who are at home.  We are also thinking about next year and planning for curriculum.  We are venturing back into a co-op for many of our classes next year after staying home for all of our classes this past year.  I love the co-op as far as opportunity to be with other families goes, however, I am afraid my children see only the social opportunity, and do not understand that this is a wonderful learning opportunity.

I am wondering about how to balance the co-op with the rest of the week.  I am also trying to determine if I will continue to attend the Ladies Bible Study that has been a part of my life for so many years.  I am not sure if I can justify another day out of the house with 2 co-op days.

In the mean time, one of my dear homeschooling friends is taking classes and talking about becoming a public school teacher.    I will miss her if and when she starts teaching in brick and mortar schools.

Dear Lord,
Thank You for opportunities and changes.  May we follow Your will for us.  Please help us to discern the way You would have us follow.

Amen.

Well, we survived the First Annual(hopefully)NECHC.
If you had asked me a month ago if I thought this conference would be successful, I would have scratched my head and and mumbled "ummmmm...." as a vague kind of "I really don't think so, and I think we have been absolutely crazy to undertake this!" After yesterday, though, I am pleased to say that the conference was a success. We had a beautiful day, a great turnout, and happy vendors.
Our lovely Challenge Club girls (with a lot of help from Mrs. Seaver and Mrs. Hill) put together and manned a "food court" to raise money to help defray the costs of the Challenge Summer Convention for the girls who would like to attend this year. Attendees raved about the food.
Dr. William Fahey, President of Thomas More College in NH presented a talk about homeschool fathers. He was very well received by the mixed audience of moms, dads, grandparents and religious who attended. He was at turns witty and serious, and touched on the disconnect that can occur if fathers are "divorced" from the homeschool situation.

Cynthia Montanaro spoke of her years as a homeschool mom and all the lessons she learned along the way. Dr. Jean Golden-Tevald shared her faith journey as a doctor, wife and mother of natural born and adopted children.

There was a music workshop done by Making Music, Praying Twice which seemed geared toward younger children and the importance of surrounding our children with all different types of music from an early age. Nick Morganelli rounded out the afternoon with some fun science experiments that can be done at home. He also demonstrated a "here comes the rain" rhythm with clapping, snapping, stomping that he has used in co-op classes. I am certain that children in a class would love this so much we might have a hard time returning to quiet.

The Daughters of St. Paul presented a lovely hour of Eucharistic Adoration for the hour before Mass. The readings and music brought great peace to the room and very nicely helped to lead everyone into the close of the day. The two sisters also manned a table for Pauline Books and Media.

I think my favorite part of the day, however, was the attendees. People came from as far away as Quebec, Canada, and as near as right here in Chicopee, MA. We had a large turnout of Catholic homeschoolers from CT, RI, and NH. One family came in from Boston very close to the end of the day, having only just heard about the conference on Friday June 5th.

There were several Catholic support groups represented from different areas including this one and this one. It was wonderful to meet so many people dedicated to teaching their children at home. Many people seemed excited about having a Catholic Homeschooling conference.
I know that the Holy Spirit led those of us involved in planning this conference. He laid on our hearts an ache for something that we miss at other homeschool conferences. Our Catholic identity makes us yearn for the presence of the Lord in a way that only Catholics truly appreciate: Our Lord in the Eucharist.

Having both Adoration and the Holy Mass available fulfills in us something that other forms of prayer simply don't give us. It brings the Lord more fully into our hearts and souls.

Dear Lord,
Thank you for Your guiding hand in the NECHC. I am truly awed by the spirit of joy that surrounded all who volunteered and attended the conference. You have blessed us with children who not only help out when "forced," but who also cheerfully offer their assistance where ever they see a need. Please help us to continue to lead them to have servant's hearts. Thank you, Lord, for all those who volunteered at the conference. There were so many who arrived and pitched in. I am humbled by their generous spirits, Lord.

Amen.

The tower of boxes shown below arrived today for the NECHC. I will be manning a table for HSLDA. It is hard to believe that 2 years of planning have gone by and the day has nearly arrived!

We have added a new member to our menagerie. His name is Fitzie. He is soft and white and weighs in at 6 pounds. Can you guess what he is?

If you guessed a small dog, possibly part Bichon, you are correct. We adopted this 11 year old last Friday. I didn't think I would like a small dog, but I was wrong. He plays fetch. He tries to climb on the bed, but I make him get down. He follows me around and sleeps near me where ever I am.
I also added something else to our home. My brother sent me "an old friend." I had one of these when I was a little girl:

Her name is Mrs. Beasley. She was the doll that "Buffy" of the "Family Affair" TV program that ran from 1967-1971 had. I watched that show when I was little and I had a Mrs. Beasley doll. She was the only doll I ever wore out. My brother sent me this one. She is actually an original, and she still has her pull string and talks.
I was really surprised to receive her, and I am thankful to my brother for thinking of me. He sent her without any sort of special occasion....just because he thought of me and Mrs. Beasley.
I am enjoying having her. I had recently been reminiscing about her, so it was that much more of a surprise that my brother sent her. He lives in Ireland and I am in the U.S. and he was not the person I was reminiscing to......

• A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
• Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
• Review Questions
• Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
• Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
• An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
• Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
• A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.

Botany: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=128

and

Astronomy: https://apologia.securesites.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=1&products_id=127

Jeannie is giving away four Astronomy Notebooking Journals and four Botany Notebooking Journals to bloggers who post about this on their site. Visit her blog to learn more about this contest: www.jeanniesjournal.com

A Review of Five Minutes with the Child Jesus

Five Minutes with the Child Jesus A Christmas Story by Alvaro Correa, LC
Illustrations by Gloria Lorenzo
While this story has been called A Christmas Story, I believe it is really a story about the corporal works of mercy and the faith of a child that happens to take place at Christmas.
The main character is Michael, a ten year old boy who knows to be respectful in church, and who truly speaks to Jesus as his friend. School has just let out for Christmas break and Michael has stopped in at Our Lady of the Snow Catholic Church with his friend Andrew, whose father is a sacristan there. While Andrew speaks to his father in the sacristy, Michael sits in a pew and speaks to Jesus.
Jesus not only speaks back to Michael, He brings Michael on a series of visits to the lonely, the impoverished, the sick, and the hard of heart. Michael listens to the instructions of Jesus for each of these visits, and we see people being helped and healed throughout the "five minutes."

This book is written as a children's book, however, it is really a story from which anyone who seeks to do the Lord's will can learn. Jesus said, "Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it." (Mark 10:14b-15 NAB) This book demonstrates what our Lord meant about the faith of a child.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Five Minutes with the Child Jesus.

Rosetta Stone is the fastest way to learn a language and has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while — and you can WIN the *all new* version 3 Rosetta Stone Homeschool LATIN program… FOR FREE! This is the first year you can get Latin in the brand new Version III update.

This is a $259 program (and believe me it’s worth every penny!)
This is a computer based curriculum and Rosetta Stone will also include a headset with microphone, and a supplementary “Audio Companion” CD so you can practice lessons in the car, on the go, or where-ever! Students participate in life-like conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone incorporates listening, reading, grammar, vocabulary and writing along with speaking and pronunciation lessons. For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program to allow parents to easily enroll up to ten students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, grade completed work (the program grades the work automatically as the students progress- I love that!), and you can view and print reports for transcripts. Homeschooling a lot of kids at your house? This program is designed to enroll and track up to ten students (five users on two computers) and will work for nearly all ages — from beginning readers up to college students.

To win this most excellent Latin program copy these paragraphs and post them in (or as) your next blog post, and/OR link to the contest from your facebook page and/OR email the information to your homeschool support group – Then go to the original page http://Jeneralities.com and leave a comment saying that you’ve posted about, or have linked to, the contest. Please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post. And good luck!

These photos are from YDS' first baseball game of the season. They still don't keep score and they get 6 pitches, but the kids know which team really won the game. If you get tagged out, you are out. I am not sure if they are counting outs. It would appear they are not. They go through the entire batting order (9 batters). It is coach pitch.
My little guy made a couple of really great plays and got a couple of outs. This is physical education in my homeschool world. This and jumping on the trampoline!Playing first base
Running to first base
He swings and connects!
First up to bat.

NotebookingPages.com 3rd Birthday Celebration Sale - Save 50%

3rd Birthday Celebration Sale

Mary Ann Glendon, who had been chosen as the recipient of the Laetare Medal at Notre Dame, has decided against accepting the award. You can read the article here. I know I am applauding Ms. Glendon in this decision. It is sometimes difficult to stand by your convictions, but Ms. Glendon is doing so. Catholics should be thanking her.

We signed up for an online video science class by that title through Currclick.com. Here are some photos from some of the experiments we have done. This one is an air pressure experiment. We learned that 1 atmosphere is 14.6 pounds of pressure per square inch and that the air pressure will keep the water in a submerged glass and even push more water into it. The second photo is also the air pressure experiment.
We made a water clock last week. This photo shows the finished product held by YDS.
This photo shows the lines within the bottom cup. It took 90 seconds for water to reach the first line, another 60 seconds to reach the second line, another 105 seconds to reach the third. The total time it took for water to reach the third line was 4 minutes, 15 seconds.
We did an ice cutting experiment using dental floss and an ice cube. Unfortunately, the cut in the ice from the floss did not show up in the photos we took. It was fun to see the ice being cut by dental floss, though. We are looking forward to more experiments in the weeks to come.

Christ is Risen! He Is Risen Indeed!

One of your children lies to you? We are struggling with this on a couple of levels right now, and it is frustrating. We expect the best effort our children can give, and we expect honesty. I don't think that is too much. We are getting neither of these things right now. Some of it I attribute to spring fever. In the youngest, some of it relates to his vision and the huge amount of growing he has been doing. In the oldest one at home, I don't know what to attribute it to. I know he is struggling through his first year in college. I also know he is having a difficult time prioritizing. He is unsure what he wants to do with his life, but then, how many of us at 18 or 19 (or even my age...44) know what we want to "be when we grow up?"

My frustration lies in the dishonesty. If they are truly having a hard time, I want to know it. I can't assist if I don't have a clue.

What have you done in this type of situation?

Dear Lord,
Please be with all our children as they go through the "growing pains" of life. You know their needs, Lord. Please help DH and I, as parents, to guide them when necessary, and to set them straight when needed.

Amen.

Today is Passion or Palm Sunday. The gospel reading is from the Gospel of Mark and is quite long. I recall being a teen and attending the Passion of the Lord on Good Friday. As on Passion Sunday, at the Passion on Good Friday, the congregants are to read the parts of the gospel when the crowd is yelling for the crucifixion. I had great difficulty with this. I didn't want to shout "Crucify Him!" I did not recognize my own part in the horror of Christ's suffering. I loved Jesus. I did not want to participate in his crucifixion. It took me many more years to realize that my sinfulness contributed to Christ's death, and that He died for my sins as well as for those who shouted "Crucify Him." I may not have been there yelling, but every time I have sinned, my actions have shouted those words. I can only hope that my repentance is pleasing to Him.

Dear Lord,
Please forgive my blindness to my own sin and to my part in Your suffering and crucifixion. Help me to turn my heart toward You and to live the life You would have me live. Please help me to be an example of Christian love for my children so that their lives will be less sinful than mine and their hearts will turn toward You in all they do.
Amen.