What made me smile today: Seeing all the recent posts on living "The Benedict Option", which I first saw Rod Dreher...
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Family
My Selfish Reasons for Staying Catholic
[In response to Elizabeth's question.] Why am I still Catholic? First and foremost reason before any other is the...
Living Spiritually in a Material World
One of the biggest challenges for families today is how to pursue happiness while at the same time develop the virtue of holy detachment. It’s the job of a lifetime for us, as individuals and as parents. With such easy access to one-click ordering and other conveniences, it can get difficult to maintain a spirit of simplicity and poverty. The ability to go without doesn’t get much press these days.
Sex Education in the Homeschool
A homeschooling mom friend asked how we do sex ed in our homeschool, so I'm listing some suggestions: Until age 10 or...
Where Dandelions Grow
Formal landscaping has never been quite my cup of tea, though I enjoy seeing them in period movies -- those pristine...
Shepherding Our Domestic Church
Through homeschooling we’ve embraced a lifestyle that allows us to spend time with our children. Since we don’t operate on “quality time” mentality, we don’t have to cram “the perfect” into a few choice moments – time together can be spontaneous and organic even when there’s stress involved.
As the kids grew up, we developed our own disciplining style and found a good balance between rewards for good behavior, and punishment via curtailing of privileges. Heart-to-heart talks are priceless life-savers for us. Because we try hard to be in tune with the Holy Spirit, we are able to identify when we are beset with spiritual attacks and other distractions from our mission. We often remind each other to go back to the basics: kindness, silence, Eucharistic adoration, Confession, Mass.
Anthony Esolen’s Life Under Compulsion
This is my favorite time of year: it's curriculum planning time! And Anthony Esolen's new book came just in time as my...
Life-Making, A Story
Great love stories often involve tremendous conflict and heroic resolution. By that standard, the story of my husband and me is pretty run-of-the-mill. I hesitate to write this column because our marriage has been so stress free, and people may think I’m smoothing over the rough parts. But our story is real, and maybe it needs to be heard, because our world doesn’t have enough happy marriage stories.
Consecration to Jesus Through Mary: A Rite of Passage
My mom has been a Marian devotee since she was a little girl. She would stand in front of the Mary statue at Church...