A Blues Kind of a Family

Can you guess the Wittmann's favorite team?

Pray for Thanksgiving Travelers

I was planning on leaving with 4 of the kids (Rob and the rest joining us later) at 6 this morning for St. Louis but alas the weather and the roads are not cooperating. We got a couple of inches of snow but our new county has not plowed or put down any salt. The dirt roads surrounding us are especially treacherous. So, we'll wait a few hours before taking off. Once we get to Indianapolis we should be out of the bad weather.

Christian will be joining us on Wednesday as my brother-in-law, the over-the-road truck driver, is picking Christian up in the 18-wheeler on his way home from picking up a load in Pennsylvania. Should be a fun and new experience for Christian.

This is the busiest weekend of the year for travelers. Please pray for all those on the road and in the air as well as for sunny skies across the nation. Any extra prayers for my family's safe travel would be extra appreciated.

St. Justin's Treatise on the Resurrection

I'm swamped and too busy to blog as I'm getting ready for a Thanksgiving trip. So, I'll leave you with an email Rob sent to me and a few friends yesterday:

Here we have below in the Commentary from perhaps the greatest of early Church theologians incontrovertible evidence that Luther's and Calvin's dualism regarding the flesh and spirit (derived in part from some of Paul's and perhaps even Augustine's borderline dualism) is far removed from essential and orthodox Christianity. God created us flesh and bone in HIS image, then breathed life (spirit) into our material being, then reincarnated His Son in our very flesh and bones, how could Luther and Calvin view the body as utterly irredeemable? In point of Christian orthodox teaching, as Justin makes clear, the body and soul are inseparable in our redemption and as Christ attested in His resurrection. One of my professors in first year theology in the seminary took this so far as to argue that Luther and Calvin were actually "not Christian" in that their doctrine that the body is irredeemable essentially denied the true meaning of the Incarnation. It is possible to see in this dualism the seeds of Christianity's rejection in the broader secular culture as causing a pernicious misunderstanding of orthodox Christian teaching on the balance between material and spiritual life when their interconnectedness is properly understood. One can also see in this great theological error underlying Protestantism a rejection of the belief that pagan culture itself can be redeemed and in this the deepening chasm between the secular and Christian life. Life is meant to be a celebration of God's unceasing and boundless love for us and that celebration includes our material well-being shared with others rather than hoarded or exploited. Subject to the Law, and in moderation as Aristotle would say, let us celebrate and Give Thanks.

Now this misunderstanding and resultant chasm has spread into the field of biomedicine such that more and more people equate Christianity with a belief that suffering is to be preferred over medical advancement. Christ's Resurrection showed that redemption of our being did not eliminate all suffering but redeemed it for the Resurrection of the Body and Soul. There can be no complete elimination of suffering, only its redemption in Christ. But grounded in a proper understanding of the body's redemptive nature, Christians do believe in ethical scientific advancement in medicine to relieve and mitigate human suffering. That is using our talents in God's image.

Let us pray for our spiritual leaders that they have the fortitude to continue to teach the historic Truth of the Church and that our people's eyes be opened to that Truth. Let us also pray for the conversion of our Protestant brethren as Unity is essential if we hope to redeem our pagan culture.


Commentary of the day:

Saint Justin (c.100-160), philosopher, martyr
Treatise on the Resurrection, 8 (Migne 1994, p.354 rev.)

"He is not God of the dead, but of the living"

The flesh is precious in God's sight; of all his works it is the one he prefers and so it is natural that he would save it...Don't you think it would be ridiculous if something that was created with so much care, that which the Creator considers to be more precious than anything else, were to fall back into nothingness?

When a sculptor or painter wants the images they have fashioned to remain to testify to their glory, they restore them once they have deteriorated. And would God see his property, his work, fall back into nothingness and exist no more? We would call a «laborer of uselessness» anyone who built a house to destroy it or who allowed it to fall into ruins when he might have kept it standing. In the same way, would we not be accusing God of creating the flesh without purpose? But no, the Immortal one is not like that; he who is by nature the Spirit of the universe cannot be a fool!... The truth is that God has called the flesh to be born again and has promised it eternal life.

Because wherever the good news of man's salvation is proclaimed, it is proclaimed also for the flesh. For what, indeed, is man if not a living being endowed with intelligence, formed of soul and body? Does the soul alone make a man? No, for it is the soul of a man. Are we to call «man» the body? No, we say that it is the body of a man. So if neither of these two elements makes up man by itself alone, it is the union of the two that we call «man». However, it is man that God has called to life and resurrection: not part of him but the whole man, namely soul and body. So wouldn't it be absurd if, while both exist according to and within the same reality, one of them should be saved and the other not?

Organizing Your Homeschool Classroom Update

Walter has opened up the online conference, Organizing Your Classroom 101, to 15 more participates. So, if you were on the waiting list you are now enrolled. Plus there 6 newly opened spaces if you'd like to still join us.

If for some reason you can't make the virtual conference after you enrolled, please make sure to go back and cancel your registration. That way, someone else can take your place if there ends up being a waiting list again.

Walter and I did some testing the other night. One thing I found was that the conferencing software didn't work on my Firefox browser system. I had to get switch over to Explorer.

Make sure to show up a little bit early as there is some software you may have to download -- it only takes a couple of minutes.

There is one other bug we're trying to work out. My internet is not exactly stable way out here in the boondocks. It has a tendency to go completely down now and then and it probably wouldn't be a good thing if my connection went out right in the middle of my presentation! So I'm looking for another location. Maybe I can drive into town and give the conference from my car in the parking lot of Starbucks. Hey, wouldn't that be fun watching me on video as I sit in my car! There are a few other options so not to worry -- I'll get it figured out before next month.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all on December 17th!

Addendum: The conference went great and you can now download the recorded event for free. Just click on the link the post and then click on Recorded Events. I suggest fast forwarding through the first 15 minutes where we were just getting logistics out of the way.

Helping Those in Need

The "Helping Those in Need" is a new project from Margot Davidson at Hillside Education. Margot's goal is to help our fellow homeschoolers who run into financial trouble and need a little help. She is currently helping a family whose dad recently had his pay severely cut along with the family's health insurance. And just when two of the young children were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes.

Margot is accepting donations of new and gently used books to sell. She'll then send the proceeds to families in need.

Stop by to see what's for sale on the donation page here!

Or, you can click on the "Donate" page, to simply donate a dollar amount.

The History of Homeschooling: Documentary

This is an advertisement for a documentary on the history of the modern homeschooling movement: The Rock From Which We Were Hewn.



I remember back in the late '70's a family that was on the news several days running because they refused to put their children in school. The parents were arrested for the truency of their children. At the time I found it odd that a parent wouldn't allow their child an education. I hadn't yet heard the word homeschooling.

Then in the 80's I came to know a homeschooler in college. I immediately fell in love with the concept and made the decision then and there to home educate my children even though it would be nine more years before my first child was born.

When I first began homeschooling it was not uncommon to meet other homeschool families who were persecuted by the state for their educational choice. Michigan was one of the hardest states to homeschool in before the state Supreme Court overruled Michigan law. Yet, today our Democratically controlled house would like nothing better than put restrictions on homeschooling in the name of the State's interest.

The ad above looks to incite fear, at least to me, with it's music and dramatization. But then maybe a little fear isn't an altogether bad thing. I certainly don't want to go back to the days where I would have to black out my basement windows and keep my children locked inside during school hours.

We should never forget the homeschoolers who went before us and fought for our parental rights.

TV and Internet Parental Controls

I received an email from a fellow Catholic author on an article he's writing:

As a Catholic mother, however, I was wondering if maybe you can help me with the next story I am working on for OSV. I am looking at parental controls for the internet and television that help parents keep track of what their kids are doing online or are watching on TV. I'm hoping to talk to Catholic parents who use these types of tools to prevent their kids from accessing or viewing inappropriate material. Is this something that you've tried in your family?

My response?

This is something I've been thinking about myself lately.

The control on TV has always been easy as we didn't do TV. Period. However, my husband recently (as in two weeks ago) installed a satellite so he can watch hockey. Hockey does rule in this house, but . . . sigh. Okay, we now get EWTN but we also get all those dreaded Nick stations and sell-you-stuff stations and so on. Though we do have the basic (so-called family friendly) package. So, I'm thinking about parental controls at this moment.

On the computer, I have a friend who has some kind of parent spyware attached so they know exactly what the kids are doing -- right down to the content of emails and IM'ing. Their kids are unaware that the parents are watching. I don't know if I want to do that or not -- but you can bet that I'm seriously considering it. Right now, my computer parental control consists of the computer being set in the middle of our living space. Kind of hard to sneak onto inappropriate sites when Mom is walking by every other second carrying laundry or helping a little with homework.

I'm going to post your question to my blog and let's see what other parents have to say.

So my dear readers, what do you have to say on this topic? I'd love to see lots of detailed comments for this writer as well as for us parents who are looking for help in monitoring television and computer usage.

Welcome Abigeál Rose!

Congratulations to the Fry Family!

Catholic Daily Planner

Michele over at Family-Centered Press has the January to December 2009 planners available now. They are quite lovely and totally worth the price! The teens and I all use them, though I learned long ago to order them early. They're very popular so can go fast.

Hey, they'd make great Christmas presents too! Michele sells planners designed specifically for women or men. Plus you can add menu and/or homeschool planning pages. You couldn't ask for more!

Organizing Tips and Pics

I have good news and bad news.

The bad news is that the Organizing Your Classroom 101 online conference is all filled up. But you can still get on the waiting list in case someone drops off.

The good news is that you can still take part in the online conference even if not live. First, you can download it the next day. Second, we can have our own little blog conference right here.

Here's what I'm thinking. Send your classroom organizing tips and ideas to me either in the comments here or via email. I would really, really, really like some pictures too. Say if you have a white board your husband made to stand on your kitchen table, take a picture. Or if you have baskets dedicated to each child's books, take a picture. Or if you have your workbooks lined up on the book shelf in those plastic magazine holders, take a picture.

Then, I'll share your tips here. I'll feature a different tip each day, starting the day after the online conference. And it would be really cool to have your pictures with your tips. Additionally, I'll share your tips and pictures with the conference attendees on December 17th.

Here are the topics I'd like to cover:

Organizing a classroom (workspace and books)
Planning (schedules and itineraries)
Record keeping (proof of education)
Computer files (Student papers, records, planning, etc.)

It'll be fun, so join me and get those tips to me within the next week or so.

UPDATE: The tips and pictures will be up at The Thrifty Homeschooler blog starting January 1st, 2009. I'll be running a series of posts on the topic of Organizing Your Classroom 101 over a couple of weeks or so.

Book Suggestions Needed for 6 to 12 Year Olds

From time to time, I get letters from moms desperately searching for good fiction for their children. It's a pretty common problem among us Catholic homeschooling moms with veracious readers on our hands. They go through books like water and we're kept on our toes searching out acceptable literature. Books that are well written, fun to read, and raise up their hearts. Is it really so much to ask?

Here are a couple recent letters:

I am hoping you can help me by offering some specific suggestions for authors that I could allow my 12 year old daughter to read. I currently dread library time because the books that I look over are so full of "stuff" that I have to say no. She reads very quickly and is looking for more books similar to [Regina Doman's]. We have read all of [Regina Doman's] books and the first JPII book (and anything else I can find). Do you have any suggestions of authors who write in modern times that I can give to her? "I can't stand not being able to read--you're soooooo mean!" can only be heard so many times. I completely understand her need--I am like that also. Unfortunately, as a child, I had no monitoring and I was well-versed in all things Harlequin (to my true misfortune). Thank you for any help you may be able to offer.

And also

I have tried to find a guide in Catholic homeschooling sites about this question I have but not finding much. I thought of asking you.

My daughter is 6 yo. She is reading so well right now that I am worried I can't keep up with providing good literature ... I know it sounds silly but last night I brought home the James Harriot Treasury for Children and she read one hour before bed and one hour in the morning and she finished it! Her reading comprehension is really good but I am still surprised and unsure. We read a lot at home and have bookshelves full of books. I also grew up like that, but I wasn't reading the Little House in the Prairie series by myself at 6 years old! This morning she just asked me if she could start Charlotte's Web. Last night I brought home all the books for this year's curriculum, but I think she'll be done with them in a couple of months ... What do I do?

Let's help these two moms out. What are your suggestions?

Online Homeschool Conferences

I have some really exciting news to share. Catholic homeschool dad Walter Crawford has decided to take his knowledge of webcasting and create online seminars for other Catholic homeschoolers.

This is all brand new and you can be a part of it! The first online seminar will feature Dr. Mary Kay Clark of Seton Home Study. It'll be taking place Wednesday so you'll need to sign up right away. The cool part is that it's FREE!

In the future there will be a fee in order to cover Walter's time and costs, but for now he's offering this service at no charge. Thank you Walter!

I'll be the featured speaker in December I sure hope that you'll join me in this new venture. I've never done anything like this so I'm pretty excited about it. I guess I better get to work ASAP on preparing my talk! I promise to write more in the upcoming days about what to expect. I may even be asking for your help in putting together a Power Point Presentation for my talk.

Vote Now: 2008 Homeschool Blog Awards

Voting has begun for the 2008 Homeschool Blog Awards. Go check out all of the nominees. Of course, I hope you'll vote for The Thrifty Homeschooler and Unity of Truth while you're there. Thank you to those who made the nominations -- it's an honor.

Amazon Purchases and Children's Literature Book

I could use my readers' help. If you're planning on making any purchases at Amazon.com you could help me out by clicking on the Amazon ad in the sidebar (or any of the book cover graphics). Amazon will then give me a small commission to be used on future purchases.

Here's why:
When I wrote For the Love of Literature, my library was a huge help. There is no way I could have afforded to purchase the 900 books listed in For the Love of Literature but I could borrow them from the library. My former library in Lansing is part of a huge library district. What I couldn't find through inner-library loan I could borrow through their inter-library system. They had the gold standard when it came to library systems. Then I moved.

Unfortunately, my new city's library system doesn't even begin to compare in services. We have one country library. The books are old and tattered. There is no inner- or inter-library lending. None. Nada. Zero. Zip. They tell me they are working on implementing an inter-library loan system but it's at least six months down the road.

I've already put my new book, 100 Books for Kids Who Love to Read on hold for the past several months. This book is taking a lot of research and a lot of reading. I've purchased a good number books that I can't get at my library but I've already wiped out the school budget for the next few years doing so. Now I'm stalled.

This is why I am coming to you. If you're going to make a purchase through Amazon.com anyway (and it doesn't have to be books -- it can be software, video games, appliances or anything), you can click there through my blog and help me purchase books for my research.

Vote Now for the American Papist

If you're discouraged about the recent presidential election, here's your opportunity to place a vote to make you feel better. You can help a nice Catholic young man pay off a few student loans.

Go vote for Thomas Peters at the 2008 Student Blogging Awards. Go vote now, I'll wait here for you.

Are you back? If you're not familiar with Thomas thanks for trusting me and going to vote. You really ought to check out his blog American Papist. It's one of my very favorites. Hey, the Papal Picture of the Day alone is worth a daily visit.

Now go tell all your friends to vote for Thomas.

Where She Becomes the Mother of Four Teens

Tomorrow my 12-year old becomes a 13-year old and I become the mother of four teenagers.

I know I should be scared, very scared, but I'm excited. He's turning into such a fine young man. He always has a kind word and a hug for his mom. As he's grown older, he's actually grown helpful around the house. Gosh, the day may even come soon when he does schoolwork without endless prodding. Hey, it could happen!

Happy birthday Buster!!!! I love you!!!!

(Buster picked out the picture. Sparky says to tell you he took it.)

PS Happy birthday wishes for tomorrow also go to Mike Aquilina, Patrick Madrid, and Jeff Cavins. As Buster would say, "All the cool people are born on November 8th."

Addendum -- Dorothy Day also shares a birthday with Buster. Both future saints I'm sure. I hope.

Pray for Barak Obama

Today is a super busy day for us and not much time for the Internet. I just want to pop in here and say that all our prayers were not for naught. We do not know God's plan nor do we know what great thing will rise from the ashes.

Instead we are called to greater prayer and more fasting. Pray for President-elect Obama and his future administration. Pray for conversion. Pauline-style conversion.

And, while we're at it, let's pray for the good health of the Supreme Court justices.

Oh, one more quick thing before I load up the kids in the van. I talked with our Right to Life lobbyist friend yesterday morning. I thought perhaps he'd be on vacation after the long, hard battle against Proposition 2. No, he was already hard at work with 12 bills in his head to fight the coming embryonic stem cell research. If he's not giving up, I'm not giving up. The unborn are counting on us.

Marshall Fritz May He Rest in Peace

Yesterday at 2:45 PM, awaiting the Hour of Mercy, our dear friend Marshall Fritz was called home after a hard fought battle with pancreatic cancer. Marshall was a great defender of freedom and of the Catholic faith. It seems so fitting that Nov. 4, 2008 would be his last day with us. Please pray for his soul and for his family.

We'll miss you Marshall.

Message of Hope

This is an absolutely amazing video. Don't miss it but make sure to have a Kleenex handy.

Novena for Election: Day Nine

A Prayer for our Nation as we Prepare to Elect our Leaders

O God, we acknowledge you today as Lord,
Not only of individuals, but of nations and governments.

We thank you for the privilege
Of being able to organize ourselves politically
And of knowing that political loyalty
Does not have to mean disloyalty to you.

We thank you for your law,
Which our Founding Fathers acknowledged
And recognized as higher than any human law.

We thank you for the opportunity that this election year puts before us,
To exercise our solemn duty not only to vote,
But to influence countless others to vote,
And to vote correctly.

Lord, we pray that your people may be awakened.
Let them realize that while politics is not their salvation,
Their response to you requires that they be politically active.

Awaken your people to know that they are not called to be a sect fleeing the world
But rather a community of faith renewing the world.

Awaken them that the same hands lifted up to you in prayer
Are the hands that pull the lever in the voting booth;
That the same eyes that read your Word
Are the eyes that read the names on the ballot,
And that they do not cease to be Christians
When they enter the voting booth.

Awaken your people to a commitment to justice
To the sanctity of marriage and the family,
To the dignity of each individual human life,
And to the truth that human rights begin when human lives begin,
And not one moment later.

Lord, we rejoice today
That we are citizens of your kingdom.

May that make us all the more committed
To being faithful citizens on earth.

We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.