Wednesday, January 19, 2011

School or homeschool or both

We homeschooled our son for all of gradeschool. This is his first year  in high school. He is attending a Catholic school so needless to say it is costing. I have picked up extra hours at work to pay for the school. I don't mind, though, because I want him to have a very good education. It is a very good school. I would have to say it is harder for me because I am not there every moment to oversee what he is being taught. I can't hear what the teachers and other children are saying. I believe the Lord has led us here and he will always be with us. I am very grateful that I have a son who will sit and talk and tell us about his day. I am also grateful I have a husband who partners with me in sending our son to a Catholic school. I feel if he is to attend school, looking around it is the best place for him to be outside of homeschooling.
With homeschooling in mind, I realize, also that once a homeschool mom, always a homeschool mom. When our son comes home with homework, we want to see it. We want to be sure he is doing the work correctly. We want to make sure he understands the teacher. We question him. We hold him accountable to listen to the teachers, to be sure he knows what is going on. It has been a challenge for him, his first year in a school setting but it is good. It is a learning process for all of us as we have transitioned to a school setting instead of homeschooling.
There are so many ways to continue to be involved in your children's education even though you are not homeschooling. As it says below, we parents are the first and foremost educators of our children. Teachers are just hired out by us. The kitchen table and the couch are still are school friend in the evenings when homework or studying abounds.
One thing is for sure, in order to succeed we need prayer in our lives.
I found a few prayers regarding education I thought I would share.
They will also be posted under prayers. In these prayers we will ask Our Lord to help us, lead us and guide us in educating our children and we will ask his mother, who is our mother, along with our friends the saints to pray for us so we can raise our little ones for His glory.


St. Thomas, patron saint of students:

A Student's Prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas
Creator of all things,

true source of light and wisdom,
origin of all being,graciously let a ray of your light penetrate
the darkness of my understanding.
Take from me the double darkness
in which I have been born,
an obscurity of sin and ignorance.
Give me a keen understanding,
a retentive memory, and
the ability to grasp things
correctly and fundamentally.
Grant me the talent
of being exact in my explanations
and the ability to express myself
with thoroughness and charm.
Point out the beginning,
direct the progress,
and help in the completion.
I ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.


A Prayer by St. Thomas Aquinas
Virgin full of goodness, Mother of mercy, I entrust to you my body and my

soul, my thoughts and my actions, my life and my death. O my Queen, come to
my aid and deliver me from the snares of the devil. Obtain for me the grace
of loving my Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, with a true and perfect love, and
after Him, O Mary, of loving you with all my heart and above all things.
Amen.

A Prayer to St. Thomas Aquinas
Wonderful Theologian and Doctor of the Church, you learned more from the Crucifix than from books. Combining both sources, you left us the marvelous Summa of theology, broadcasting most glorious enlightenment to all.You always sought for true light and studied for God's honor and glory.
Help us all to study our religion as well as all other subjects needed for life,
without ambition and pride in imitation of you. Amen.





Prayer to St. Joseph of Cupertino for Students

O humble St. Joseph of Cupertino, singularly favored by God in the difficulties of study and the worries of examinations, implore the Holy Spirit to enlighten my mind and aid my memory in the search of His truth and wisdom. Help me especially in the decisive moments of examination, protecting me from that forgetfulness and disturbing anxiety which often accompany them, so that I may grow in knowledge, love, and service of God from Whom flows that wisdom which leads to eternal life. Amen.






In this Prayer for Students, we ask Saint Catherine of Alexandria to intercede for us so that we always pursue our studies with eternal life in mind. Saint Catherine, is a  patron saint of  students and teachers.


A Prayer for Students to St. Catherine of Alexandria:
O glorious Saint Catherine, wise and prudent virgin, thou who didst set the knowledge of Jesus Christ above all other knowledge, obtain for us the grace to remain inviolably attached to the Catholic faith, and to seek in our studies and in our teaching only the extension of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ our Lord and of His Holy Church both in ourselves and in the souls of others. Amen.














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2 comments:

Elizabeth said...

I really enjoyed reading this post. I homeschooled for a under of years and then put my children into a really good school that is in our neighborhood. Nevertheless, I was at that school all the time, volunteering and doing whatever I could to be very involved with my children's education.

Now they are both in Middle School and I still volunteer but there are not as many opportunities to do so. However, I am still up on what they are doing.

I also still love to read to my children.

So, I know what you mean. Once you are a committed homeschooler, your heart and mind continue on in that direction.

I really enjoyed reading the beautiful prayers.

Have a great Sabbath!
Elizabeth

Diane said...

Thank you so much for your comments. I know what you mean, it does seem as the grades get higher, the fewer the opportunities there are to be involved. I guess that's letting go a little at a time, even though a mom never ever really lets go.

Dear Lord help us to educate our family for your glory.

"Since parents have conferred life on their children, they have a most solemn obligation to educate their offspring. Hence, parents must be acknowledged as the first and foremost educators of their children. Their role as educators is so decisive that scarcely anything can compensate for their failure in it. For it devolves on parents to create a family atmosphere so animated with love and reverence for God and others that a well-rounded personal and social development will be fostered among children. Hence, the family is the first school of those social virtues which every society needs."--Gravissimum Educationis (one of the documents of the Second Vatican Council)

Helping and Loving Our Neighbor

Corporal works of Mercy
Feed the hungry

Give drink to the thirsty

Clothe the naked

Shelter the homeless

Visit the sick

Visit the imprisoned

Bury the dead



The Spiritual Works of Mercy
Admonish the sinner

Instruct the ignorant

Counsel the doubtful

Comfort the sorrowful
Bear wrongs patiently

Forgive all injuries

Pray for the living and the dead


Good Samaritain