Catholic homeschoolers?

[moonshoes]

Hi all,

DD and DS have been in public school for two years, we homeschooled a bit before that. It has been a disaster in terms of academics and social interactions. So, next year DS (grade 2) is going to a traditional private Catholic school (run by an order of nuns and monks), but grade 4 for DD is full.

We have decided to homeschool her until space becomes available. So far I haven't found any other Catholic homeschoolers around here, so I thought I would come and see what others are doing.

so, what curriculum do you use? Are you in a Catholic group? What do you think makes Catholic homeschooling unique?

I'd love to hear from you!

[AllyRae]

Hmmm...we're Catholic Homeschoolers but use an all secular curriculum (there just aren't any really good hands on curricula that is Catholic, and my DS needs a hands on one).  But I am also a PSR teacher and they get a lot of Catholic religious instruction as well.  I'm not sure what makes it unique...with the exception of teaching them the Hail Mary our homeschool looks a lot like other people's. LOL!

[PNCTink]

We'll be using Ambleside Online for their curriculum, but I have been using Mater Amabilis for some Catholic Charlotte Mason resources.

[jest]

We are Catholic homeschoolers.  My ds is 6 and I also have a 3 year old so we are still pretty new at it.  I use an eclectic mix of curriculum but this year I'm planning to use Catholic Heritage Curricula for language arts (2nd grade - my ds is an advanced reader) and I'll be using it in a Charlotte Mason-ish way.  I'll also be using CHC's First Communion Prep plans and for catechism I'll use Faith & Life and the St. Joseph Catechism.  I'm using Sonlight for literature and history BUT I'm eliminating the missionary stories and replacing them with Saint stories.  We use RightStart for math and I'm going with Noeo science this year (Biology 1) which is a cross between classical and Charlotte Mason style. I use lots of other resources, including many Seton books here and there.

We do belong to a very large Catholic homeschooling group.   There are over 100 families and we cover several counties, so of course I haven't met everyone. 

We also belong to a smaller homeschooling group that broke off from a larger, general moms group.  Most of us in this group have children no older than 6 and a lot of the moms haven't even technically started yet (because their kids are so young).  All but 1 or 2 of the families in this group just happen to be Christian, including 4 of us who are Catholic.

[moonshoes]

HI everyone! Thanks for your replies!

I really want to incorporate the faith into all of our learning. I did use CHC in the past and liked it, but I am thinking of trying Seton next year. With a little one in the house I really want something that is already "packaged" together for me.

[yitlan]

CHC is packaged together.  I mean, they tell you exactly what to get and the lesson plans lay it all out.  We use CHC materials.  I think Seton is good, too. Most of my friends that use it do so so they can be enrolled and get the transcript. I don't worry about that. And in general I'm a pretty relaxed homeschooler.  You can also look into Mother of Divine Grace.

I started a Catholic Co-op. I was a part of a bigger one, but it was BIG and I felt like I just got lost in it all. It also met weekly which was too much for my relaxed homeschoolin' self.  Mine meets every 2 weeks, the age range is pretty close and we have only one set of classes instead of class options.  Space can be hard to come by. One of our parishes pretty much refused. Thankfully mine welcomed us with open arms.  There is almost no cost though we just chose to have a mandatory donation to the church in gratitude for the space.  Otherwise parents do all the teaching. 

What makes it unique is how the Faith is incorporated into each class matter of factly. Music, art, science all do, just as life does!

[KimPM]

I use Sonlight, and I edit materials that don't suit us. There is a yahoo group just for Catholic Sonlighters. I like that Sonlight is real books-based and is not so much like school-at-home. They have a schedule that's all laid out for you - just edit to suit your needs. Of course, if you want her to go to a more formal school later on, you probably want something more like school-at-home, so she won't start liking the relaxed format and be all disappointed when she gets into the rigid, formal environment of a regular school.