Every Point Counts

I just learned that the top-3 high school Science Olympiad teams were only 1 point apart:

Holt had 169 for 1st place
CSI (that's us) had 168 for 2nd place
Stockbridge had 167 for 3rd place

4th place had 162

I find that amazing.

PopeStNick5: God's Plan for You

To read past library recommendations, or to join the email list, visit: Pope Saint Nicholas V.

Check to see if this title is already in your library's catalog. If it is, put a hold on it and check it out. If not, fill out a patron request form right away. This can usually be done online at your library's website.

Title: God's Plan for You: Life, Love, Marriage & Sex
Author: David Hajduk
Publisher: Pauline Books and Media
Date Published: June 2006
ISBN: 0819845175
Price: Softcover $16.95
Comments: Theology of the Body for Young People

Eating Veggies for Lent

Rob and I started a ten-day fast (juice only) on Ash Wednesday and plan to eat vegetarian once we come off of it until the end of Lent. This has me going through all my vegetarian cookbooks looking for new and exciting meals to cook once this fast is over.

In case anyone else is looking for good veggie meals for Lent (or anytime), I plan on posting a tried and true recipe over at the Thrifty blog each day, starting tonight. (Hey, even if I'm not eating, I can think about it!)

In the meantime, here is a cool and easy vegetarian recipe website I found at Kim's blog.

PopeStNick5: Little Elephant

To read past library recommendations, or to join the email list, visit: Pope Saint Nicholas V.

Check to see if this title is already in your library's catalog. If it is, put a hold on it and check it out. If not, fill out a patron request form right away. This can usually be done online at your library's website.

Title: Little Elephant: A Story about Being Loved
Author: Catherine House, illustrated by Olwyn Whelan
Publisher: The Word Among Us Press
Date Published: January 2007
ISBN: 1593250932
Price: Hardcover 10.95
Comments: Children's picture book

From the publisher:
In this delightful picture book, Little Elephant discovers that God loves snakes, whales, leopards—even termites! But most important, Little Elephant discovers that God loves him. This story reassures children that God loves them uniquely and that his love will be with them always—no matter who they are or where they go. Beautiful illustrations accompany this tender story. Sure to become a family favorite!

Science Olympiad: Homeschoolers Rock!

Yesterday was our regional competion for Science Olympiad and the kids did great. Our middle school team placed 5th overall and our high school team placed 2nd overall. In fact, the high school team qualified for the state competion in April. These are incredibly awesome results. We're the only homeschool team in the entire state and this is our first year competing. Our main goal was to have fun while learning science at the same time. Who would've thought we'd actually place in the top-5?

The kids' finish is especially awesome when you consider our competion. The public school teams receive government money. We relied on donations and our own pocketbooks. They've been competing for many years, some for decades. We're the new kids on the block. They can modify past designs for their build-it entries. Our build-its (robots, towers, boomilever, etc.) were built from the bottom up. We beat one team which hires coaches from the university to tutor team members. All we have are parents working with their children. They're together in school all day, meeting regularly. We live all over the tri-county area so our team members communicate via email, phone, and periodic meetings.

It was interesting yesterday as I walked from event to event and I overheard snippets of people's conversations. Our little homeschool team, Creative Science Investigators (CSI), was the big topic of the day. I overheard things such as, "Where did CSI come from?" "Did you see CSI's Scrambler competition?" "CSI's boomilever design was really unique. Impressive!" Of course, I also overheard comments such as, "They shouldn't allow homeschoolers in Science Olympiad." But, I took those comments as compliments. They wouldn't complain about homeschoolers if we didn't do well.

Here's how the competion works. There are 20 different events to compete in for each team. We had 15 kids on the middle school team and 14 on the high school team. Two to three students compete in each event. This works out so that each student competes in 3 or 4 events. Teen Daughter 2 earned 3rd place in Solar System, 5th in Simple Machines, and 2nd in Metric Mastery. Teen Son and Teen Daughter 1 earned 1st place for their Boomilever design (it's hard to explain -- basically half boom and half lever). Teen Son also earned 1st place in Remote Sensing (the mapping of other planets), 5th in Oceanography, and 7th for Designer Genes. Teen Daughter 1 also placed 3rd in Forensics and 6th for Health Science.

The award ceremony was an incredible experience. The kids were so full of joy, you couldn't help but be touched by it. When the CSI high school team took second overall, earning a place in the state competition, they all went nuts. I had to fight back the tears, but managed to take a few pictures (HERE and HERE)

We planned a little get together after the awards ceremony at our home as we only live minutes from downtown where the competition took place. Just a few families had RSVP'ed. But after that big win, no one could bring themselves to just go home. So, my house was filled to the brim with students and parents. After wolfing down pizza, pop, and chips, the kids went outside to play Capture the Flag in the snow and ice (yes, even the high schoolers). When they finally came in after a couple of hours, the middle schoolers settled down to play cards (well, they didn't quite settle down -- it was a pretty wild game) and the high schoolers hung out with the moms helping us map out our strategy for the state competition. Yes, the party was big and a bit long, but it was so worth it. The kids needed to celebrate and the moms (aka the coaches) needed to figure out how we were going to help the kids compete at the next level.

Now, I've got to get my kids studying . . . only two months until State!

How I Spent My Homeschooled Years

DarwinCatholic, contributor to The Catholic Homeschool Companion, shares his homeschool experience HERE. It's nice to hear the stories of adults who were homeschooled. Mrs. Darwin also tells her story HERE.

UPDATE

Homeschool Teen Blog

There's a brand new blog in town: Unrecognized Talent.

This is a blog written for homeschooled teens by homeschooled teens. It was started by the students in our Teen Wednesday group. The kids submit articles, reviews, and short stories to me. I then post them to the blog.

If you have a homeschooled teen who likes to write, they may also make submissions. They should choose a pseudonym and include their age.

CE: A Journey into the World of Dyslexia

This week's homeschool column is up at Catholic Exchange.

Many years ago, when my oldest son began school, I assumed that he would be reading in no time. I could not have been more wrong.

Ash Wednesday

Mark Shea has a nice Lenten article over at Catholic Exchange.

Many of my Protestant friends are uncomfortable with Lent. "It's all about mortification and self-discipline when we know that the Risen Jesus is joyful and alive!" they say. "We don't need to mortify ourselves to please God. That's why Jesus died for us, so we don't have be 'good enough'. Moreover, Catholics call it a 'holy season' and Paul says in Colossians 2:16-17 that we shouldn't observe any day as special. So hasn't the Church disobeyed the Bible by doing the Lenten thing?"

My friend Linda sends this webpage: Lent: Frequently Asked Questions.

If you're wondering if you can have lizard or snails on Friday, go HERE.

Prayer Request

Please pray for my friend Valerie. Val had a bone marrow transplant 13 years ago due to leukemia. She has won many battles throughout the course of her disease. Today, she has a new battle. She is currently fighting graft-versus-host disease. This is very serious and prayers are much appreciated.

O great St. Peregrine, you have been called "The Mighty," "The Wonder-Worker," because of the numerous miracles which you have obtained from God for those who have had recourse to you. For so many years you bore in your own flesh this cancerous disease that destroys the very fiber of our being, and who had recourse to the source of all grace when the power of man could do no more. You were favored with the vision of Jesus coming down from His Cross to heal your affliction. Ask of God and Our Lady, the cure of the sick whom we entrust to you. (Pause here and silently recall the names of the sick for whom you are praying)

Aided in this way by your powerful intercession, we shall sing to God, now and for all eternity, a song of gratitude for His great goodness and mercy. Amen.

PopeStNick5: Son of Dust

To read past library recommendations, or to join the email list, visit: Pope Saint Nicholas V.

Check to see if this title is already in your library's catalog. If it is, put a hold on it and check it out. If not, fill out a patron request form right away. This can usually be done online at your library's website.

Title: Son of Dust (Loyola Classic)
Author: H. F. M. Prescott, Introduction by Mike Aquilina
Publisher: Loyola Press
Date Published: January 2007
ISBN: 0829423524
Price: $13.95 Paperback

Book Description:
Fulcun Geroy, the Catholic lord of a fief on the borders of 11th-century Normandy, falls in love with the wife of a rival at the court of William the Conqueror and becomes entangled in an adulterous affair. The liaison has fateful political, religious, and romantic consequences, as the amlet-like Fulcun struggles with his love for God and his passion for his lover. Hilda Prescott's riveting historical novel is an artful and morally serious tale of the ultimate redemption of a forbidden love.

About the Author:
H. F. M. Prescott (1896-1972) studied history at Oxford and embarked on a successful writing career in the mid-1920s. She is best known for her historical novels, including Son of Dust and The Man on a Donkey, and for her biography of Mary Tudor.

Catholic Blog Award Results

The votes have been tallied and here are the results:

Best Apologetic Blog: Jimmy Akin
Runner-Up: The Cafeteria is Closed

Best Blog by Clergy/Religious/Seminarian: What Does Prayer Really Say?
Runner-Up: Pontifications

Best Designed Catholic Blog: The New Liturgical Movement
Runner-Up: Open Book

Best Group Blog: The Shrine of the Holy Whapping
Runner-Up: The New Liturgical Movement

Best Individual Blog: Open Book
Runner-Up: The Cafeteria is Closed

Best Insider News Catholic Blog: Whispers in the Loggia
Runner-Up: Open Book

Best New Catholic Blog: Rorate Caeli
Runner-Up: Cardinal Sean's Blog

Best Overall Catholic Blog: Open Book
Runner-Up: Jimmy Akin

Best Political/Social Commentary: The Anchoress
Runner-Up: Catholic and Enjoying It

Best Written Catholic Blog: Open Book
Runner-Up: Daily Danielle

Funniest Catholic Blog: The Curt Jester
Runner-Up: Daily Danielle

Most Spiritual Blog: Pontifications
Runner-Up: The New Liturgical Movement

Smartest Catholic Blog: Jimmy Akin
Runner-Up: Pontifications

The full award results are here.

Thank you to everyone who voted!

Google Ads

Chris pointed out in the combox that a Google ad appeared on this blog for Planned Parenthood.

There are two approaches I can take to fix this problem. One, I could encourage you all to click on the PP ads, forcing them to dole out $$ for each click. However, that wouldn't be honest.

The better solution is to let me know when you see an ad that doesn't belong on a family blog. If you leave the URL in the combox, I can then go to Google and ask them to block that particular advertisement.

This problem started because I've blogged so much on the March for Life in the past month that I'm getting tons of ads related to adoption and abortion. My guess is that soon enough Google will be back to nice little homeschool ads. But, if I'm wrong, and this keeps up, I'll have Google remove the ads all together.

Thanks everyone.

Suggesting Catholic Homeschool Resources

Today, in searching for something completely different, I stumbled upon this review at the Keeping It Catholic website.

I was surprised because this is a review the web master pulled some years ago. The reason it was pulled was that it contains completely erroneous information.

Not exactly the specifically "Catholic" treasure expected, the book's resource section should be read and used with prudential discernment as it recommends many anti-Catholic publishers and Protestant homeschool catalogs.

Rachel Mackson and I took great strides to keep the resource section of A Catholic Homeschool Treasury Catholic. You will not find a single Protestant catalog company or anti-Catholic publisher anywhere in the resource section. Not one.

A Catholic Homeschool Treasury is no longer in print, but I still think it important to set the record straight.

Addendum: I did a little searching and found Keeping It Catholic's current page with the corrected review. It must be a cyber glitch that the erroneous review is still available online.

Works of Mercy

Lesley Rice, editor of Heart and Mind, has the lead article at Catholic Exchange today.

At 41, 17 years after my last pregnancy, I was five months pregnant and just two days prior, on the Feast of St. Nicholas, an ultrasound revealed that I was expecting a son and that, in spite of my age, there were no obvious abnormalities. The reading seemed to be custom-made for us and, when my husband ran into a former acquaintance in the vestibule after Mass, we shared our joyful story with her.

This begins Lesley's story of how her family found themselves helping an unwed mother, opening up their home to her. It is a story of not only providing material things to those in need, but the spiritual.

What I Really Meant

Someone emailed me about my post yesterday on embarrassing my children. I figure if she needs clarification, there are several other readers in the same situation.

No, I didn't mean I go out of my way to humiliate my children in order to form their character or anything so sinister.

What I simply meant was, older children are naturally embarrassed by their parents and I'm not one to go against nature. Teen children are embarrassed by the mere fact they have parents and I'm not going to go out of my way to disappear.

I remember reading an item some years ago about how Billy Joel's daughter was embarrassed her dad was going to sing at a party they were attending. If Billy Joel's children are embarrassed by their dad singing in public, imagine my children's fate when I start singing along to the radio with all of their friends in the car.

Recently, I asked a dad to cover a Teen Wednesday for me and his son was mortified. How could his father betray him like that? When I asked Teen Daughter 1 about this, she said, "Oh Mom, how embarrassing to have your dad there in front of all your friends." I pointed out I'm there every week leading the group. She responded, rolling her eyes, "Yeah, but we're used to you embarrassing us."

Now, my friends aren't' embarrassed by me. I don't think so at least (Linda?). They find me interesting and even witty sometimes. They love me all the more when I tell a corny joke, share anecdotes about my children, dance to the radio, laugh out loud, or even cry at a sentimental story. Someday, my children will grow into adults and love me for these reasons too. They may even appreciate the fact that I do actually exist.

Last Day to Vote

Voting at the Catholic Blog Awards ends today at noon, Central Time.

My goal was to visit all the nominated blogs, but I still have the dinosaur dial up and it just takes too long to load some blogs. However, I did check out quite a few and have some new favorites.

Voting will be easy in some categories, such as Best New Blog which goes hands down to Mike Aquilina's The Way of the Fathers. Others will be more difficult, such as Funniest Catholic Blog. Initially, I was going to go with my old favorite, The Curt Jester. However, I've discovered some others that are equally funny. I 'll decide when I get to the ballot I suppose.

One disappointment for me was the Best Designed Blog. Many are just variations of Blogger templates. There are a few though that are quite unique. I think I'm going to go with Coffee and Diapers, the homeschooling mom blog designed by Regina Domain.

I'm off to vote!

Catholic Exchange: Classical Education

The new column is up at Catholic Exchange. This week's topic is on The Lost Tools of Learning and how it applies to the Rhetoric Stage (high school).

The "lost tools" Miss Sayers spoke of in her speech were the tools of a classical education. A classical education is based on the Trivium, which is made up of three stages.

The Grammar Stage (ages eight to eleven) builds a foundation by memorizing facts. The Dialectic, sometimes referred to as the Logic Stage (ages twelve to fourteen) develops analytical skills in students. Finally, the Rhetoric Stage (ages fourteen to sixteen) pulls the first two stages together and teaches students the art of articulation.

Mom, You're Embarrassing Me!

Some parents try hard not to embarrass their children in front of their friends. I take another approach.

I figure if I'm not embarrassing my children on a daily basis, I'm not doing my job as a mother.

Healing Handkerchiefs and Scripture

I meant to share this Scripture with the post about Buster's miraculous healing:

Acts 19:11-12.

God did extraordinary miracles through Paul, so that even handkerchiefs and aprons that had touched him were taken to the sick, and their illnesses were cured and the evil spirits left them.