The Pious Homeschool
If you are homeschooling as a Catholic, integrating the Catholic faith into your homeschooling education is probably high on your list of priorities. This can take on many forms: incorporating catechism or theological studies into your curriculum, studying Catholic literature, learning about Church history, or studying the saints throughout the ages. But doing Catholic homeschooling is about more than injecting Catholic content into your curriculum; it’s about living the Catholic faith in your homeschool. How can we integrate the Catholic faith into our homeschool in a way that nourishes the heart, not just the head?
Weekday Mass
One of the best ways to ensure your homeschooling is seasoned with the Catholic faith is to begin each day with morning Mass. By beginning the day celebrating the liturgy of the Church, you are grounding your efforts for that day in the grace of the Lord. Schedules might not always permit a daily morning Mass; if this is so, try to at least work one in with you and the kids every now and then. If you are not the only homeschooled family at your parish, consider asking your priest to offer a monthly Mass for homeschoolers of the parish.
Morning Prayers
If daily Mass is not an option, you can always begin with Morning Prayers. Morning Prayers together before school starts is an excellent way to get everybody focused and implore the Lord’s help to start your day right. You can use the official morning prayers from the Liturgy of the Hours, use one of the Church’s other traditional morning prayers, or just utter some simple prayers from the heart asking God to be with you in your homeschool that day. It also builds a habit in your children of going to God before they undertake anything, which is a tremendously valuable lesson.
Angelus
The Angelus is a prayer traditionally said at noon. It is a short prayer that recalls the angelic salutation to the Virgin Mary when she conceived our Lord. If you are not familiar with the prayer, you can review it here at the USCCB website. Because it is traditionally said at noon, it is easy to incorporate into your schedule. In my homeschool, we generally assembled for Angelus right before sitting down to eat lunch.
Weekly Holy Hour
One of the great things about homeschooling is you get to be the master of your own schedule. Why not use that leeway to plan a weekly holy hour? In my homeschool, we used to have a time set aside every Friday where we’d go up to the Church and spend an hour in front of the Blessed Sacrament. Besides being a most wholesome spiritual practice, you’ll find it refreshing to sit in silence with your kids before the Lord. It will feel like a recharge!
Monk Meal
Monk meal is something we picked up from our pastor years ago. In a monk meal, you eat dinner silently as the Benedictine monks do. Everyone must eat in silence; if they need something, they have to point to it. One person is designated to read some sort of spiritual reading—Bible passages, lives of the saints, or some other pious reading (the reader has to eat dinner later after everyone else is done). The monk meal is relaxing, edifying, and it teaches children to be attentive to other peoples’ needs, because they have to pay attention to each other in case someone points to something they need.
These are just a few basic ideas, but I am sure there are more. What do you think? How have you incorporated Catholic piety into your homeschooling day? Let us know in the comments.
