CVBS 2013

It is finished.  It was great and I can't believe how much fun it was!

On Saturday,  April 13th, after obtaining the blessing of my husband, I approached our priest about Catholic Vacation Bible School. You see, Catholic Vacation Bible School is a big deal at our house.  My kids think it's cool to go to "school" at the Catholic school building for a week.  And, what's not to love about our Catholic Vacation Bible School?  Ours is so beautifully Catholic.  For as long as we've been parishioners, CVBS was run by a truly beautiful woman.  Jean became ill last year and went on permanent disability, much to everyone's sadness.  She.was.AMAZING!  A beautiful woman filled in for her managing the Religious Education program at church, but when I asked her, "What about CVBS?"  She said they would need to find someone else.  She wouldn't be able to do it...then she asked, "What about you?"

She said this within earshot of someone who knew I loved the program and she chimed in, "Yeah, Cathie, what about you?"  I said my husband would never let me...So, I went home.  I didn't ask. I simply said, "They have no one to run CVBS this year!"  His reply, "Why don't you do it?" 

I was floored.  I did not expect him to authorize it, let alone suggest it!  So, I asked Father if they had anyone to run it.  He said they did not and asked me to call the parish office and let them know and someone would be getting back to me.  Without Jean there was a big, big hole there, not just for CVBS, but for Religious Ed, Sacraments and Special Events. 

So, I called.  And I waited.  And waited. And waited.  Finally, I got a call back on April 25th from the principal of the Catholic school.  She had offered to manage the CVBS position, whomever filled it.  I went in for an interview on May 1st and on May 8th, I became a temporary employee of the church. 

That is when the ball got rolling.  I had 6 1/2 weeks to put together a curriculum (using a curriculum that really didn't have a workbook or full teacher's manual), plan art, music, snacks, and well, the entire program based on the fact that Father had arranged for a traveling relics exposition to be shown to the children at 1pm on the last day of CVBS.  Someone else had decorations, which was a blessing, considering I'm not a highly visual person.  However, I had details Jean had never had to deal with before, like serving lunch and going past noon on Friday.  So, I picked a curriculum that was based on the martyrs and persecution in the early Church (I had two from which to choose).  It seemed fitting, considering what our country is doing right now and how our religious freedoms are being taken away left and right.

So, fast forward five weeks...the curriculum and workbook are done, the teacher's manual is done, all the supplies for art had arrived.  However, my decorating person wasn't able to help, so I ended up taking that, too, but in the end it ended alright.  We managed to make it look festive, but not too campy.  I did teacher training, I had no less than 50 people help me set up classrooms, stuff confirmation letters, assemble manuals, put together art kits, assemble teacher's supplies and decorate.  Did I mention I have the very best friends in the whole wide world????  One of them blogged about CVBS the week it happened because I was a little busy.

This is Margaret's beautiful bunch of kids in front of our "Communion of Saints."  She ran my nursery, which meant she took care of my beloved 4 year old who wasn't quite ready for the 4 year old class.  By the way, her eldest two took on the 4 year old class and lived to tell about it!  See, they are even smiling? And this was toward the end!

I had the time of my life.  It was truly a wonderful experience, filled with graces I never expected and some difficulties I never expected.  But the blessings and graces outweighed the difficulties easily 2 to 1...

I may post more details as the week goes on, but I wanted to let you all know I survived and loved to tell about it!!! (Spelling error totally intended there...)

Why Boys Need Scouts and Other "Boy Only" Groups

This just in on boys...

"Boys also need to imagine themselves in heroic situations. When girls are asked about Vimy Ridge, they say, “Whew, it must have been horrific.” When boys are asked, they imagine what they would have done if they’d been there. “Our most powerful assembly is on Remembrance Day,” says Mr. Power. “Every boy is thinking to himself: How would I have measured up?”

Boys long to be part of something bigger than themselves. And the bigger and more challenging the task, the happier they are. “If you tell 10 boys you need volunteers to go downtown and work all night on a big, dirty, tough job, and you still expect them to show up at school the next day, they’ll all jump up and volunteer,” says Ms. Gauthier.

Boys love rituals, trophies and tradition. Those also make them feel part of something bigger than themselves.

But, in the modern world, boys are often treated as a problem. The dominant narrative around difficult boys – at least in the public school system – is that they’re unteachable, unreachable, disruptive and threatening. Many commentators – men as well as women – blame male culture itself for the problems with boys. In their view, what we need to do is destroy the death star of masculinity and all the evil that goes with it. What we need to do is put boys in touch with their emotions and teach them to behave more like girls."

This is one of the reasons boys need organizations like the Boy Scouts of America.  Where else do they get the opportunity to challenge their boyness?  I'm sure you can imagine how worried I was when my boy (then 12) and my husband slept outside in -12 degree weather.  They survived and he came back a different, better kid.  How about the Order of the Arrow ordeal?  I have not idea what it entails, but I'm sure it's tougher than roasting marshmallows over a campfire.  The Boy Scouts of America continue to give boys a chance to be a part of something bigger than themselves, enjoy rituals, trophies and traditions.  They also push the boys to step outside their comfort zone.  They also are constantly in service to others.

My Eagle Scout husband continues to amaze me in that he still does "a good turn daily".  Last night at dinner time, he thought he'd dash out quickly to put our garbage to the curb for pickup today.  A truck pulled up in front of our house on our cul de sac street.  An older gentleman, probably in his eighties, was lost and disoriented and asked for help.  My husband skipped dinner and led the man to his destination (in his own car).  He's my hero and that is what Scouts does to a boy.  He makes a man that is willing to skip his dinner and help someone in need.

The Boy Scouts are under fire, as usual.  But here's what I think is beautiful.  Outside normal society (the messed up one that includes many schools that are failing our boys), there are still men that feel this is important.  Eddie, who is 83 this year, realized that is true.  While his boys were in Scouts in the 60's, he realized that what the Boy Scouts offered to boys is something important and he stuck with it for 50 years.  My husband is drawn to it, too, because he sees the war on boys.  Luckily, because of homeschooling, my son is not affected (as much) as his schooled peers.  I say as much, because I had no brothers and this whole "boy" business is so foreign to me.  Thank you, God, for making us different!  However, what has happened?  Why is it that we now cater to women and not men.

Go read the article and go find a way to challenge your boy.  He'll thank you for it.  Society (and his future wife) will, too.

Long ago in a galaxy far, far away...

I started to write a post about my Star Wars-themed writing program in January.  However, I'm finally just posting it now.  This project has been in the works for six months and I just finished my second weekly class (of six) with a group of ten middle-school aged young men.  We'll finish the pilot of this class mid-July.

Those who have read my other posts here and at my other blog know we're a geeky lot at my house.  I have my stepfather and husband to thank for that.  I grew up watching Star Trek re-runs.  My stepfather hauled us all to Star Wars when it came to our local theater in a tiny town in central Wisconsin.  My husband and I have spent "quality time" watching all generations of Star Trek since our dating days.  We even stream episodes of Next Generation from our early married years and fondly recall snuggling on the couch together.

And it was my husband who introduced me to Joseph Campbell.  When we first met, we talked and talked about what we liked.  Before we even started dating, we met for lunch during a work day (no, it was not a date) and he handed me the book The Power of Myth.   I loved it.  And we talked more about Star Wars and how Campbell greatly influenced George Lucas.  And, Campbell held a place at our wedding.  A poem from The Power of Myth was on the back of our wedding program.

As we had kids and have homeschooled them, the Star Wars and Star Trek sagas have played out in our lives in different ways. For example, we have no less than sixteen reference guides to the Star Wars world, not including the Star Wars Lego guide books.  We have Star Wars Risk.  We, of course, own the movies, but at our house it is a rite of passage when you turn eight years old that you get to watch Episode 4.  The month after you turn eight, you get to watch Episode 5 (Dad's favorite) and then a month later, Episode 6.  This goes on for two more months.  We've determined that Episode 3 is just too dark for kids.  My husband considers the new Star Trek movie one of the best he's seen and the kids have seen snippets of that, too.  We inherited about thirty Star Trek novels from my stepfather.  Like I said, we're geeks.

So, I'm running a writing class for boys.  Here are the rules. They write six pages of story a week.  No grammar or spelling grades.  It's volume.  Have you ever heard boys play "Star Wars?"  This process is all about getting what they play together out of their head and down onto paper.  No interrupting to ask, "Are you sure you spelled that correctly?" or "Are you sure that's the right tense?"  This is about letting the creative process work and to let these boys see they ARE capable of quality writing, and volumes of it.  They are creating their own stories and producing up to ten pages per story a week.  These are boys who don't like to write.  And the stories are good!  The other boys are cheering, laughing, groaning and faking pain while listening to their comrade's stories.  While they are listening, they are getting ideas about what to do with their stories. 

The boys' stories use Joseph Campbell's model for myth in The Hero With a Thousand Faces, also know as the "monomyth".  If you haven't read the book, I suggest you do because in it you will find the archetypes and model of every good story ever told.  Once you have read it, you will be able to find the holes in bad stories and realize what it was in the stories you loved that worked for you.  The book is often the text for college mythology classes, but I have found it to be a valuable resource for those who want to write a good story.  And the class follows many of the exercises of the"progymnasmata" protocol, but don't tell the boys that.

Special Thanks!

I wanted to thanks the members of TEAM for having me over to give the Technology in the Homeschool talk.  It was not only my pleasure but my privilege to share that which my husband and I have a passion - technology!

If you have any questions, feel free to post them here and I will try to post answers for you!

School Room Tour

Dorian is having a Show-n-Tell Your Homeschool Contest.  Here are my submissions with descriptions.  I will be mailing the photos to Dorian as I don't have a Flickr account.
Our Homeschool Room doubles as a Family Room.  I have a sweet set-up, thanks to my dear hubby who loves all things techie.  Here are some things you should know before I post the pictures:

• We have a 40" TV that can display the output of my laptop.  We also have the TV connected to a Web-connected Blu-Ray DVD player, TiVO and a surround sound.  I also have the web cam rigged up there, too, so we can Skype on the big-screen.  Many, but not all, our CDs and DVDs, both school and leisure, are stored in this room because this is also the Family Room.
• I'm embarrassed to say that this room is FULL of books, but there are many, many more around the house.  This room holds kid's books and school books.
• This room also needs to accommodate a preschooler and a toddler.  Hidden in the cabinets under the books and printer are all our Little People, assorted Little People accessories and assorted animals. We're considering a play mat with roads to entertain my Little People during school, but I'm not sure if we have the space!
• While I only have six children, four of which are "doing" school, my school tables seat eight in total; two at each table. With the tables and the inside seating, we have spots for fifteen to sit in this room. That allows us to do book club here or in the living room.  The tables are kept in place by the connectors from bulk apple juice purchased at Sam's Club and there is painters tape on the floor to indicate where the furniture belongs. I know that sounds kind of weird, but I have a rambunctious crew that moves furniture around more than I like. So, our agreement is that they can move it, but they have to move it back when they are finished.  
• Each school table has two chairs and a three drawer storage unit.  The top drawer is for pens, pencils, etc.  The middle drawer is for notebooks, papers and folders and the bottom drawer is for text books, literature books, etc.  I can sit next to any of the kids if I need to work with them individually.  Something not terribly evident in the picture are the two chairs sitting next to my desk.  That's our "recitation bench," so to speak.  If I am working with two kids (which I often do), they can come to me.
• We need to have a place to accommodate some toys. The stacking unit with toys next to the book shelf is used for storing toys picked up during the day.  They do go down to the toy room regularly.  The Blue Bins are my favorite item from Ikea.  I think we own about 50 of them.
• While I am not completely set up for the new school year, our schedule is posted between the white board and world map.  I also do not have my books organized for the school year, either.  So much to do, so little time!
• The brown chair and couch do fold open to a bed.  While it's not possible to open them both at the same time in the given configuration, they do open up for fort building and fun during read a-louds.
• The green chair is "Daddy's Chair."  It used to be "Mommy's Chair," but since the brown furniture is "kid sized", Daddy has claimed it.
• We have an interesting project on going.  My older daughters are putting colored electrical tape in different combinations on the bindings of our books.  This allows the littlest people to help put away books where they belong, even when they can't read.  I just ordered a CueCat bar code scanner.  The next project is to scan each of the books into Librarything so I have access to my list books from anywhere, like Barnes and Noble, via a smart phone AND when I recommend books, I can send people right to my bookshelf on Librarything.
• Games and puzzles are put WAY UP high so that permission must be asked to use them.  I just got tired of losing pieces or having games pieces turned into toys and then lost.  I decided they would be put up - HIGH.
• The Kitchen is off the West side (behind the white board).  The bathroom is off the South side (behind the shorter dark brown book case).  This makes it very convenient for quick coffee refills and potty breaks.

So, here's the tour:

The top is a shot of the North East side of the room and the bottom shot is of the South East.  Along the East side I have a white board, schedule and 72" world map on the wall.  Below I have a book case of little kid books, an Ikea book shelf unit turned on its side for my manipulatives, teacher's manuals and current reading materials.  I also have two small Ikea computer desks in an "L" shape for my desk and storage.  I have drawer units and a file cabinet tucked underneath.  I have a three unit stacker next to my desk that holds three Blue Bins (Ikea) for little kid activities, Opening Time activities and miscellaneous stuff, like periodicals I'm reading.

On the North wall is the 40" TV, all the electronics to go with it, a multi-purpose printer and cabinets full of DVD's as well as manipulatives or currently-unused school materials.  The picture you see on the display is Google Earth, which we frequently use for geography.

The fireplace is covered with bookshelves full of periodicals and textbooks.  The magazine boxes are $1.99 for five at Ikea.  We have lots of them.  We've only used the fireplace two or three times since we moved here ten years ago.  So, I took the space.  On the other side of the fireplace is more bookshelf space full of curriculum, a duplex laser printer, the toys I mentioned for the toddler and preschooler and extra paper supplies.  What you can't see on the floor in front of the cabinets are the two wicker laundry baskets used for library books.  We keep them there so they don't get mixed up with our books.

  

  

This is the view to the South East.  In the foreground is the "inside seating."  We sit there to watch TV and do read alouds.  Outside the desk area, I have two more large book cases which hold more books, games and periodicals and the toy storage area for lost toys.  The bathroom is right behind the shorter bookcase.

  

Here' s our tape labeling project.  The books are color coded by shelf with electrical tape so everyone can help put away the books. 

Here's a shot of the school tables.  The tables and chairs are from Ikea, of course.  The white things on the tables are timers (yes, Ikea, too).  My right-brained kids have NO sense of time, so setting a timer for them makes life easier for all of us.  You can see the drawer units underneath the table (Ikea, again). Okay, this is beginning to sound like an Ikea commercial.  We slide them under the legs to make it harder for the toddler to empty them.  We also have these nifty chair covers that the kids keep their various arts-n-crafts projects in to keep them out of the desk (NOT Ikea!).  Our arts-n-crafts cabinet (Ikea) is in the kitchen, though, because I want the mess on a tile floor, if there's a mess to be made.  Also, it's easier to justify putting the markers and crayons away RIGHT away when the kitchen table (Ikea) needs to be clear for breakfast, lunch and bed time snack.

Lastly, the door to the basement is on the South Side.  On one side it has a duty roster and on the other side I have storage (Ikea) for flashcards and dry erase supplies so the little people can't get into trouble messing with Mommy's stuff.   

  

 

Thanks for stopping by and visiting!

Alternatives to Wikipedia

Those that attended our workshop on Technology in the Homeschool know we don't recommend Wikipedia for use by kids.  If you didn't attend, perhaps you are wondering why.  Let me give you a "lite" example. 

Let's say your child hears the word "fetish" and puts it into Wikipedia.  We must first remember that Wikipedia is maintained by the world, so it is therefore, worldly.  I don't know about you, but I don't feel comfortable with my kid reading the world's perception of fetish.  What is more dangerous than that, though, is where the information will lead them.  As you know, you can keep clicking and clicking to delve deeper into subjects as you go along.  Do you really want your child to dig deeper into what that means?  I don't. Period.  The End.  They can do what I did with words like that when I was a kid...sneak the dictionary and look it up themselves.  At least there aren't hyperlinks at the end that SHOW what a fetish might be about and look like.  Yikes!

Now, a parent mentioned to my husband that he uses Wikipedia at the table during dinner discussions.  He had no idea.  That practice would be okay to me, if the parent was driving and sharing the information rather than the child driving the computer and following link after link.  So, when Wikipedia is used by a parent for the purpose of sharing information, that is a different story.  Kids shouldn't be using it by themselves.


So, when asked if I could give alternatives to Wikipedia, I suggested Encyclopedia Britannica Online.   We jokingly suggested we needed a Catholicpedia, but something close does exist.  I decided to look up alternatives. Here they are:

1. Conservapedia
   Conservapedia is a conservative, Christian-influenced wiki encyclopedia that was created as a response to Wikipedia's worldview. The information found on this site is free of foul language, sexual topics and anything else deemed offensive by the site's editorial staff. If you feel that Wikipedia shows a strong bias toward liberal views, then this site may suit your needs. All Conservapedia users are asked to follow the site's seven Commandments.
2. Scholarpedia
   Scholarpedia is a site made from the same software as Wikipedia. It almost appears like a mirror site, but there are some significant differences. Scholarpedia is written by scholars. Experts must be either invited or elected before they are assigned certain topics.  The site is still editable by anyone like a wiki but updates must first be approved before they are made final.
3. Encyclopedia Britannica Online
   This is my "for pay" recommendation.  When it comes to trusted and unbiased facts, this site is your best option. Every volume of the Encyclopedia Brittanica has been transferred to Web format. All updates to the site's entries are made by professionals.  This is not a wiki community. Unfortunately, it's also not free. A subscription fee of $69.95 a year will give you full access and is cheaper and easier to store than a set of book encyclopedias. Major universities will accept the site as a reliable source when citing information in a research paper, something unlike Wikipedia.
4. MSN Encarta
   MSN Encarta is another online encyclopedia. All entries have been written and fact-checked by professionals. It, too, requires users to pay a subscription fee. For $29.95 a year, you can access MSN Encarta in its entirety, including the site's accompanying thesaurus, world atlas and other research tools for students.
5. Infoplease
   Infoplease is a free online encyclopedia that is a part of Pearson Education, the largest educational book distributor in the world. All of the information found on the site is gathered from trusted sources. Although entries may be limited in size when compared to Wikipedia, you can be sure that all the information is accurate and incapable of being influenced by outside users. Also, Infoplease has many multimedia features that assist researchers, particularly students who are attending distance education courses.

Confessions of a former Apple Hater...

My technical background is in Unix.  In case you don't know what Unix is, it is an operating system.  It is one of the most configurable, useful, versatile, multi-processing, multi-threaded operating systems around and there are as many flavors of Unix as there are ice cream.  I'm a certifed, card-carrying Unix System Administrator and Network Administrator.  I taught Unix and Network Administration for 10 years or so.  I was even a system administrator on a Cray supercomputer once.  Part of what comes with being a Unix geek is a, well, ummmm, rather bigoted opinion about operating systems and hardware platforms.  Really, I had almost convinced my husband to install Linux on our home PC, but he rightfully reminded me there were no apps to run on it (this was back pre-Java and OpenOffice.) 

I've since been talked off the ledge and brought into the Windows world (albeit kicking and screaming.)  And then there was that time between baby number two and baby number three where I got to develop and teach a post secondary degree program on Unix System and Network administration.  I got to work with a real operating system again.  Those were the days...

But, since baby number three came along more than eight years ago, my use of Unix has been limited to a short summer job helping configure and specify Unix equipment for a local reseller and the Linux running on our old EEE PC.  It's a shame, too.  Because I feel like I've lost something. 

Here's my confession.  After the announcement of the iPad 2, we made a joint decision (the boss and I) to buy an iPad 1 (refurbished.)  We had many, many reasons for doing so, but I was expecting to be very disappointed.  It was an apple, after all.  Much lower down there than a Windows device.  I.WAS.SO.WRONG.  The iPad is a game changer.  Really it is.  What I have to clarify, though, is that it is a consumption device, not a production device.  What does that mean?  If you are taking in data (video, playing an app, music, browsing, etc.) the iPad is the most intuitive, approachable, well thought-out device I've ever seen.  It is not, however, a device to do wordprocessing or spreadsheets.  My 22 month old daughter could use it without instruction.  What is up with that?  My kids have to earn screen time, which they share with the now almost two year old.  But, really?  She gets it?  I am amazed at the draw it has for all of us in our house, this Unix geek included.

I'll close with one last thought on the iPad.  One of our many reasons for buying it was for testing out whether the iPad was a viable device for home education.  It's so much more than that.  When my kids are FIGHTING to have 10 minutes of time to do math drills, I think we are on to something (especially when similar drills are available on the PC.)

How are NETS, CBL and PBL related?

I wanted to put out a little preview about what our Technology in the Homeschool talk will cover for those checking in from the Minnesota Catholic Home Educators Conference happening on June 3-4. 

We'll be talking about using the National Education Technology Standards (NETS)to put technology into your core classes, and preparing your middle through high schoolers for real-world, 21st Century problems using Challenge Based Learning (CBL) and its close cousin, Problem Based Learning (PBL).  Within those concepts, we will also explore technology platforms, on-line safety, and social networking.  All of those items are addressed within NETS*S. 

I'm guessing you all have an idea about our State Education Standards.  NETS follows the same concept.  However, those who are familiar with TJEd, will really get CBL and PBL.  Think about Scholar phase. On what does a scholar work?  They are working on a specific topic of interest, reading and writing about it more like an MBA student than a high school student.  It is depth.  The belief is that by studying a topic deeply, developing an expert level of understanding, naturally draws the scholar into deeper study of other core subjects.  CBL and PBL do that as well as tying in technology.

What does this all mean to the homeschooler?  I will be talking about how to incorporated technology into your core classes and even take it a step further, showing how CBL/PBL naturally incorporated core classes into technology.

Hope to see you there!

Book recommendation

I was appalled when I read a Washington Times article written by Amy Chua as a teaser for her new book Battle Hymn of a Tiger Mother.  I won't even link to the book, it's so bothersome.  You can read my blog post on it at my other blog. 

My husband knew this article bothered me.  He knew I blogged about it (thank you for reading my blog, honey!)  So, when this article entitled Roar of the Lion Father appeared in the Washington Times yesterday written by Toad Zywicki, I was ecstatic.  Hooray!  The article contrasts Anthony Esolen's boo, release in November 2010 called Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination to Chua's Battle Hymn.

Anthony Esolen is a professor of Renaissance English Literature and the Development of Western Civilization at Providence College. A senior editor for Touchstone: A Journal of Mere Christianity, he writes regularly for Touchstone, First Things, Catholic World Report, Magnificat, This Rock, and Latin Mass. His most recent books are The Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization (Regnery Press, 2008) and Ironies of Faith (ISI Press, 2007); he is working on his next title, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child (ISI Press, forthcoming 2010). Professor Esolen is the translator of Dante’s Divine Comedy (3 volumes, Random House), Tasso’s Jerusalem Delivered (Johns Hopkins University Press), and Lucretius’ On the Nature of Things (Johns Hopkins University Press).  How can I NOT like this guy?

If you don't have time to read the article, please know Esolen's book and philosophy sounds very TJEd.  So, if your methodologies for homeschooling your children include 3 hours of mandatory instrument practice, required rote memorization of everything and no social outside interested, you won't like this book.  You should read Amy Chua's book.  Here's a snippet of an interview with Anthony Esolen.  Pay particular attention to the last answer.

What is wrong with “rote memorization”?
Nothing at all, so long as what you are memorizing is immediately useful (multiplication tables), or beautiful (poetry, ballads, songs in general).
What is the place of technology in education?
That depends. Are we talking about the tool known as a book, that offers a whole world to the young reader, or are we talking about the jitters of the Internet, that offers a lot of sludge?
What does sex have to do with imagination?
Ask the great artists and love poets. Much indeed; but little of it has anything to do with “sex education”, which I believe is destructive.
What difference does it make whether the child is a girl or a boy?
If we have to ask that, then already we have missed the wonder that is girlhood and boyhood.
What do heroes have to do with the imagination?
They are its lifeblood; children need heroes; it is a miserable thing, to destroy in children their natural longing to look up to greatness.
What role does faith play in the development of the imagination?
It is essential, not just for understanding the great art of the west, but for that drive in human beings to look always for what is more, gratuitous, exuberant, and mysterious.
Why do schools set out to ruin the imagination?
They do so because imaginative children are by nature difficult to herd. Schools are built for a certain kind of efficiency and anonymity; they look like factories, and serve many of the same functions.

 My hubby bought me the book. I'll write a book report when I finish!

Shout out for new game website

Here's a website of free printable games. The feature new ones each week, so you might want to get on their email list or check back regularly.

We're doing Apologetics at the dinner table.  Lately, it has been bothering me how I seem to not be able to find the words to defend my faith.  My husband has been reading Nuts and Bolts: A Practical Guide for Explaining and Defending the Catholic Faith by Tim Staples during Eucharistic Adoration.  He wants us to help the kids to better understand our Faith and be able to counter anti-Catholic remarks both charitably and correctly.  My husband informs me that Tim Staples kids are homeschooled, so he will be looking in the book for further ideas of how to introduce Apologetics to the kids.

So how to you turn Apologetics into a game?  Remember, they don't HAVE to know the answer to the questions to play.  If you've ever played a game like Trivial Pursuit, you know that.  So, we'll be either facing off girls against the boys OR South Side of the Table -vs- North Side of the Table with Dad giving the questions from the Friendly Defenders cards.

When the kids get older, I will be working on a debate style program for my kids and others.  I took debate in high school and LOVED it.  My partner and I won several matches at the local level.  Once my kids have started Logic (2011-2012 school year), we may start.  I intend to do this like a book club, only we will be working on finding the arguments most Catholics face against the Faith and find Biblical responses to those.  We will most likely approach it by doing a Lincoln Douglas Debate Case.  I look forward to this exercise and think it will be beneficial for all of us.

Catholic Apologetics can simply be taught with the Catechism of the Catholic Church and the Bible.  But that can be fairly dry.  You could also use the Baltimore Catechism.  However, I recommend books like those by Tim Staples.  Dr. Ray Guarendi now has a DVD course available called "What Catholics Believe."  If it's half as good as the keynote he gave at the 2010 Minnesota Catholic Home Educators Conference, it's worth the money.   If you have a preteen or teen child that likes to read, you might want to consider having them read the book  A Philadelphia Catholic in King James' Court.  It was a fun read!

So, what do you do for your kids?  Are they learning Apologetics via the Catechism or are you doing something else?  I'd love ideas, if you are willing to share.

Yes, in truth, there is beauty.

In season three of the original Star Trek series, there is an episode  called Is There in Truth no Beauty?  My husband thinks otherwise. 

To say my husband has no hand in educating my children would be lying.  He brings a tremendous amount of resources to the table.  He's more educated and better read than I am.  Here is an example.  He uses Star Trek to educate our children and introduce them to important pieces of Classic Literature and important periods in history.  Or perhaps he just wanted to have an excuse to watch Star Tek with the kids.  You decide.

Ed. Note:  He started this project in 2009 and it is still a work in progress.  

References

http://trekguide.com/tos1.htm

http://www.treknation.com/episodes/tos/

http://www.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/shakespeare/star.trek.html

www.wikipedia.org

Season One, 1966-67

#	Title	Description	Analysis
101	The Cage (pilot)	After being tricked by an illusionary distress signal, captain Pike escapes from his captors who wanted to use him and his crew to rebuild their world."	Note that some components of this, such as referring to the second in command as “Number One” were used later in The Next Generation The actress who played Number One was recast as Nurse Chapel, and also as Gene Roddenberry’s real-life wife!
102	Where No Man Has Gone Before'	"When the Enterprise nears the galactic barrier, two crewmembers develop telepathic powers which threaten the ship."	Explores a common theme within Star Trek and other science fiction:  what if our abilities advance faster than our ability to control them?
103	The Corbomite Maneuver'	An alien ship threatens the Enterprise with destruction, causing Kirk to use a ruse to trick the opponent.	Essentially a lesson in the merits of playing poker rather than chess.  This is a common theme across all Star Trek iterations. It establishes for the first time that, all things being equal, intuition is more valuable than logic or intellect.
104	Mudd's Women	Kirk rescues Harry Mudd, a pirate, and the three beautiful women who are his cargo, en route to a lithium mining colony.	Parental Warning:  ultimately scores points for advocating “the beauty within”, but not before showcasing the objectification of women.
105	The Enemy Within	A transporter malfunction splits the captain into a good Kirk, who can't command very well, and an evil Kirk, who makes passes at Janice Rand and manipulates the crew	Pure Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide, Robert Louis Stevenson
106	The Man Trap	A shape-shifting "salt vampire" which seduces its victims by appearing as someone attractive to them comes on board.	Parental Warning:  the creature is pretty scary for younger ones.
107	The Naked Time	The crew contracts a disease which brings their repressed emotions to surface, causing a young lieutenant to shut down the engines and leading Kirk to fear he can't command the ship.	This story line is revisited in “The Naked Now” episode in ST: TNG Shows what happens when one loses their moral compass; their inhibitions
108	Charlie X	When the Enterprise transports Charlie, an adolescent human with powerful telekinetic abilities, back to the Federation, he makes crewmembers vanish and takes frightening steps to make Yeoman Rand fall in love with him.	Parental Warning:  one brief image really frightens younger ones, when one crew woman’s face is completely blanked out and she can’t speak or breathe Good lesson on proper etiquette for treating women
109	Balance of Terror	The Romulans destroy an outpost and Kirk pursues their commander, whose cloaking device enables his ship to vanish from sensors.	Retelling of the classic WWII movie “Run Silent, Run Deep”.
110	What are Little Girls Made of?	Kirk pursues the missing fiance of Nurse Chapel, who has survived underground with the help of androids from a vanished civilization.
111	Dagger of the Mind	While delivering supplies to a facility for the criminally insane, Kirk is taken hostage by a power-hungry doctor who uses a neural neutralizer to control the minds of his patients.	Title is a reference to MacBeth, William Shakespeare See “Animal Farm”, George Orwell See the Zimbardo Prison Study:  http://www.prisonexp.org/
112	Miri	On a planet of decades-old children, one of whom develops a crush on Captain Kirk, the away team becomes infected with a genetically engineered disease that prolongs youth but kills adolescents.	Lord of the Flies Parental Warning:  creepy make-up effects showing lesions
113	The Conscience of the King'	When the leader of a traveling theatrical troupe is suspected of being a genocidal governor, the suspicious deaths of people who could identify him concerns Kirk - especially since he's one of the survivors.	The title is a reference to Hamlet. There is more in this episode as the main plot concerns a traveling troupe of Shakespearean actors
114	The Galileo Seven	An away mission led by Spock falls victim to a disastrous crash on a hostile planet, where Spock and McCoy fight over the ineffectuality of his strictly logical approach to the situation.	Rather lame, actually
115	Court Martial	Kirk is put on trial for negligence when the computer records contradict his logs about the death of a crewmember during a shipboard crisis.	Mediocre
116	The Menagerie, Part One	Spock takes over the Enterprise and faces the death penalty to take his former Captain, who has been horribly disfigured in an accident, to a planet where an alien race has learned to turn thoughts into reality.	Contains footage from the pilot episode, called “The Cage”, featuring a bellowing Spock.
117	The Menagerie, Part Two	During Spock's court martial, Kirk learns of his predecessor Captain Pike's encounter with the illusions created by a race desperate for breeding stock to help them rebuild their planet.
118	Shore Leave	The crew takes shore leave on an idyllic planet, but when people's fantasies begin to come true - deadly as well as benign - Kirk must evade his own demons to solve the mystery.	Alice in Wonderland Don Juan This one is really fun
119	The Squire of Gothos	A powerful alien named Trelane abducts crewmembers for his amusement, but when Kirk refuses to play his games, Trelane puts him on trial and prepares to execute him.	Lesson in Einstein’s theory of relativity
120	Arena	When the Enterprise encroaches on alien space in pursuit of a ship that apparently helped to destroy a Federation outpost, Kirk finds himself and the leader of the alien vessel, the Gorn, stranded on a planet where they are forced to fight for supremacy.	Contains an overt chemistry lesson Many ancient wars were averted in this same manner; Prince Caspian is the latest example.
121	The Alternative Factor	The crew meets two nearly-identical men named Lazarus, one from their universe and one from an antimatter universe with the potential to destroy both universes should they come together. Kirk must work with the Lazarus not of his own universe to trap the other, a madman, in a void between the universes with his twin, thus keeping everyone else safe.	The name Lazarus was not an accident, as one can arguably refer to the Gospel account of Lazarus for a deeper understanding of this episode. Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde Discussion of parallel universes
122	Tomorrow is Yesterday	When a black hole sends the Enterprise back in time to the 20th century, an air force pilot who spots the "U.F.O." is beamed aboard when the Enterprise must destroy his ship and its weapons. Kirk must return the pilot to his own century, yet find a way not to disrupt the timeline, before he can try to return to his own era.	Time travel paradox
123	The Return of the Archons	The Enterprise pursues a missing starship's crew on a planet ruled by a being named Landru, which takes over their minds to make them part of a passive, complacent society	Frankly, a dig at organized religion
124	A Taste of Armageddon	An arrogant ambassador places the Enterprise in the midst of a civil war between two planets fought entirely by computer, which reports the casualties so that people can voluntarily report to disintegration chambers without their societies risking physical destruction.	Another heavy-handed anti-war message
125	Space Seed	Kirk and his crew find a "sleeper ship" of genetically bred superhumans, led by the ruthless 20th century dictator Khan Noonian Singh, who tries to take over the ship with the help of a 23rd century archaeologist who falls in love with him.	KHAAAAAN! Refers to despots in the past and future history of civilization, including Napoleon and Hitler Milton’s “Paradise Lost” is referenced at the end.
126	This Side of Paradise	Humans are kept safe on a planet bombarded with deadly radiation by a spore which has the side effect of making people blissfully content. Spock is reunited with an old friend who uses the spores to make him fall in love with her, but when Kirk realizes that the price for paradise is an end to exploration, he determines to recover his crew from the spores.	A smiling, laughing Spock; weird Moral:  seeking only contentment squelches innovation and progress
127	The Devil in the Dark	A creature that can eat its way through solid rock is killing miners on a distant outpost.	“No Kill I” Important biology lesson, distinguishing between carbon-based versus silicon-based life forms
128	Errand of Mercy	Sent to establish an alliance with the peaceful, unsophisticated planet Organia which is located strategically between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, Kirk is disgusted to find the inhabitants apathetic to the presence of Klingons on their world.	Lesson in the tyranny of Mutually Assured Destruction (MAD) concept
129	The City on the Edge of Forever	An accidental drug overdose sends Dr. McCoy on a disastrous trip through a time portal, where he changes the course of Earth's history. Kirk and Spock pursue him into the past, where Kirk falls in love with a social worker whose life plays a pivotal role in the events McCoy will affect."	The one with Joan Collins Time travel One of the best
130	Operation: Annihilate!'	Kirk's brother's family is devastated by an interplanetary crisis of mass insanity and Spock is attacked by one of the creatures which caused the crisis. McCoy must find a way to kill the aliens without destroying their hosts before the creatures can take over the galaxy	We think of this as the flying pizza’s episode Biology / neurology lesson