An at a glance, side by side comparison of Catholic homeschool programs for those just beginning their homeschool journey or those considering enrolling.

salt and light scope & sequence catholic homeschool curricula Updates on October 16th, 2020 : to the Scope & Sequence of Salt and Light Homeschool Before scrolling down to see the changes, I need to explain how this will work, so that there won't be any confusion. For simplicity, I won't get into the several reasons why I'm changing the scope & sequence here [it will be on this FAQ page instead], but instead focus on how to use Salt and Light Homeschool going forward. Don't freak out. This is not an emergency : ) We are changing from a 6 year cycle to a 4 year cycle. If you are new after the date above, you will never know differently. So the old sequence had you go through years 1 through 6 and then repeat them once more through [max if you were starting with an approx. first grade child.] Now there will be 4 years that you repeat 3 times max for a total of 12 years [again if you began with a first grader.] Obviously if you have an older child, you could end up doing the cycle once or twice instead of three times. We aren't losing much! What I'm doing for each year and each cycle will be shown below. ** IF YOU ALREADY PURCHASED ** the first editions of Year 1 or Year 2, you do not need to buy an updated Year 1 or Year 2. Any changes/options for your second or third round through the 4 year cycle will be in the guide that you will already have. The guide is digital now and contains all S+L years within it to save room in the printed curriculum pages for the actual lessons. So, you won't be required to repurchase it, you have all you need to continue along in the new 4 year cycle. Year I 1st Cycle Faith : Catholic Faith, Prayers, Scriptures, & Family Rosary English : Copywork, Dictations, Poetry Teatime, Essays, Latin & Greek Root Words, Family Read Alouds, Joy & Wisdom Journaling, Additional Optional Literature Picks History : Catholic Church History and Catholic Heroes of the Faith/Saints Ancient up to Renaissance Science : Herbal Study OR Nature Study I [both already in the printed guide] Personal Development : Cooking Healthy Recipes & Personal Fitness 2nd Cycle- After you finish Year 4 of the first cycle, you come back to Year 1. If you want to repeat what you did in Year 1, Cycle 1, that's fine! If you want a little change, do the following. All subjects not listed below are the same as cycle 1 but with your student older, the workload and/or assignments will be different. History : Story of Civilization Vol. 1 : The Ancient World Science : Herbal Study OR Nature Study 1 [if you didn't do them both in cycle 1] 3rd Cycle- If you get to a third cycle, you have a high school aged student, History : You may repeat either of the History courses from either cycle 1 or cycle 2 [above] OR you may assign the biographies and historical fiction novels that will last the school year that are in the guide for Ancient History. This would be a fully Charlotte Mason approach. You could also use this as your option in any cycle if you would like. The books will be a teen reading level, so keep that in mind. Science : You may repeat either of the sciences : Herbal Study or Nature Study with your high schooler, or select any of our solo science guides. Year II 1st Cycle Faith : Raising a Prayer Warrior & Scriptures, & Family Rosary English : Copywork, Dictations, Poetry Teatime, Essays, Latin & Greek Root Words, Family Read Alouds, Joy & Wisdom Journaling, Additional Optional Literature Picks History : Catholic Church History and Catholic Heroes of the Faith/Saints Renaissance through Modern Times Science : Ocean & Marine Science Personal Development : Etiquette - Raising Ladies & Gentlemen & Theology of the Body 2nd Cycle- This comes after Year 1 in the second cycle. Again, all other subjects not listed below, repeat as normal. History : Story of Civilization Vol. 2 : The Medieval World Science : You may repeat Ocean & Marine Science or purchase a solo science guide for Weather & Astronomy. 3rd Cycle- If you get to a third cycle, you have a high school aged student, History : You may repeat either of the History courses from either cycle 1 or cycle 2 [above] OR you may assign the biographies and historical fiction novels that will last the school year that are in the guide for Medieval History. This would be a fully Charlotte Mason approach. You could also use this as your option in any cycle if you would like. The books will be a teen reading level, so keep that in mind. Science : You may repeat either of the sciences : Ocean/Marine Science or Weather/Astronomy with your high schooler, or select any of our other solo science guides. Year III 1st Cycle Faith : Raising Saints & Character Studies, Lectio Divina & Family Rosary English : Copywork, Dictations, Poetry Teatime, Essays, Latin & Greek Root Words, Family Read Alouds, Joy & Wisdom Journaling, Additional Optional Literature Picks History : World Cultures, Religions & World Geography Science : Nature Study II Personal Development : Personal Finance & Starting a Business 2nd Cycle- This comes after Year 2 in the second cycle. Again, all other subjects not listed below, repeat as normal. History : Story of Civilization Vol. 3 : The Making of the Modern World [this is a Modern World History] Science : You may repeat Nature Study II or purchase a solo science guide for Zoology 3rd Cycle- If you get to a third cycle, you have a high school aged student, History : You may repeat either of the History courses from either cycle 1 or cycle 2 [above] OR you may assign the biographies and historical fiction novels that will last the school year that are in the guide for Modern History. This would be a fully Charlotte Mason approach. You could also use this as your option in any cycle if you would like. The books will be a teen reading level, so keep that in mind. Science : You may repeat either of the sciences : Nature Study II or Zoology with your high schooler, or select any of our other solo science guides. Year IV 1st Cycle Faith : Defending the Faith, Divine Mercy, Novenas & Family Rosary English : Copywork, Dictations, Poetry Teatime, Essays, Latin & Greek Root Words, Family Read Alouds, Joy & Wisdom Journaling, Additional Optional Literature Picks History : Story of Civilization : The History of The United States [If you live in another country you can sub this out for the history of your country] Science : Geology : Gems, Rocks, Minerals and Fossils Personal Development : Outdoor Survival Skills, Clay Pottery & Wood Carving 2nd Cycle- This comes after Year 3 in the second cycle. Again, all other subjects not listed below, repeat as normal. History : The Story of the Church : From Pentecost to Modern Times [also by TAN Books as SOC series] Science : You may repeat Geology with your student or purchase a solo guide for Botany & Flora 3rd Cycle- If you get to a third cycle, you have a high school aged student, History : You may repeat either of the History courses from either cycle 1 or cycle 2 [above] OR you may assign the biographies and historical fiction novels that will last the school year that are in the guide for American History. This would be a fully Charlotte Mason approach. You could also use this as your option in any cycle if you would like. The books will be a teen reading level, so keep that in mind. Science : You may repeat either of the sciences : Geology or Botany/Flora with your high schooler, or select any of our other solo science guides. ** While you will need to add a math curriculum, we recommend flashcards : addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to practice at least 3 days per week with all school aged children. Keeping these math basics fresh is a basic life skill. Salt + Light Year I [December 2019 Release] Purchase Digital PDF of Year I Purchase Print/Digital Bundle Year I Salt + Light Year II [September 2020 Release] Purchase Digital PDF of Year II Purchase Print/Digital Bundle Year II Salt + Light Year III [April 2021 Release] Salt + Light Year IV [also April 2021 Release - This could change!]

Latin~ We are still singing along with the monks. They kids are working on the Salve Regina Latin prayer puzzle. They are working on putting the prayer in order and matching the Latin verse up with the English verse. I think it's very important for kids to understand what they are saying. You can find it here. Religion~ "All power is given to me in heaven and in earth. Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world" Matthew 28:18-20 For our lesson on the infallibility of the Catholic Church, we read from the Baltimore Catechism. We discussed what this means. I found a great article online that helped me explain this to my kids. It had bible verses to help prove this belief. It may be a little too advanced for younger kids. I know when my kids were younger, I always explained it as....Jesus picked the apostles and Jesus appointed Peter the first Pope. When he did this he was saying that Peter speaks for Him or He speaks through him. With each new Pope, that promise is being passed on. It might be a a little too simple to get the real meaning behind it, but it worked for them when they were little. Geography~ We're still learning the provinces of Canada. Enchanted Learning has a wonderful map kids can label. I saw this fun Canadian Windsock that kids can create. We checked out a few books from the library about Canada. After gaining some information about our neighbor to the north, we read a few more books that took place in Canada. A great book to read that brings in our Catholic faith is Blessed Marie of New France. It's the story about the first missionary sisters in Canada. We also reread Paddle to the Sea. One of our favorite books. This is a fantastic story about a young Indian boy that sets sail a little canoe. It starts off in Canada and travels through the Great Lakes region until it reaches the Atlantic ocean. This is a wonderful book filled with geography from Canada and the northern regions of the United States. Some other fun activities that can be done to help learn about the Canadian regions are... Coloring the Canadian Flag. Create a lap book about various animals you would find in Canada. Source~ Wikipedia You can print a coloring book for early readers from Enchanted Learning about Canadian animals. Check out DLTK for a lot of cute fun crafts to do with kids. There are so many cute ideas....too many to list! Math~ Counting by 5's. A great way to reinforce the multiplies of 5 are counting nickels. Source~United States Mint So we emptied out dad's coin jar, collected all the nickels, counted them, and rolled them up! History~ This week we learned about about the famous explorers Cartier, Champlain, Marquette, Joliet, and LaSalle. Of course will filled in our explorer worksheets. If you would like to use them, you can find them at the following links. Cartier Champlain Father Marquette Joliet LaSalle We checked out a few books about the explorers from the library and read up on their journeys. Lego Man read Father Marquette and the Great Rivers. I created a journaling page for him to write a brief summary of the book. We read Saint Kateri Tekawitha: Mohawk Maiden together. It was our nightly read aloud. We traced the explorers journeys onto maps...sorry no pics of them since the dog knocked over water while chasing a cat through the school room and ruined them....actually it may have been the cat that knocked over the water trying to flee from the dog. Either way the papers got wet, ink ran, and so they were tossed. One of the problems of having so many animals. Science~ Chemical Reactions!!!! This week we talked about 2 different ways to classify chemical reactions. I found a worksheet to help reinforce this at Education.Com. It deals with chemical reactions and physical reactions. It's a great reference for kids! We did a penny experiment. I'm sure you've heard of cleaning pennies with all types of stuff. If you google it,you most likely get 100 different links. Education.Com has a simple experiment with a worksheet for kids to record their findings on. Super easy! Great Words~ Christopher Columbus. Source~ Wikipedia Same poem.....different verse. So here is how we learn the stanzas...... Each day we read the new section for the week. I read it once out loud then we read it 2-3 times together. After that we read the entire poem sections we have learned from the beginning to the current weeks section. We do this again for 2-3 times. Once we have done that, I ask each kid to practice the poem by themselves. They recite it from memory. I help out here and there if they forget a word or line. It seems to work for us! Till next time, ~Monique Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

Want to take your kid's knowledge to the next level in your homeschool? 16 old-fashioned or vintage skills to boost your homeschool experience.

You may have noticed during your homeschooling journey that a lot of your homeschooling friends are Protestant. The big conferences, the co-ops – all geared toward the Protestant homeschooling family. It’s likely a lot of your homeschooling friends are also Protestant. If you’ve converted to the Catholic Faith during your homeschooling years, there’s an additional ... Read More about Homeschooling for the Catholic Convert- 5 Tips to Ease the Transition

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St. Padre Pio said "Serve the Lord with laughter." These 15 Catholic memes will help you do just that! Enjoy these memes, then share!

It’s hard to imagine Christianity without Greek. It’s the language of the New Testament and our earliest creeds and doctrines. The very terms we use to describe God—three persons, one in being—have their roots in ancient Greek words and concepts. Needless to say, the language of Homer and Plato has profoundly shaped our faith. Not […]

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Making the decision to take control of your children’s education can be overwhelming. More & more families are choosing to homeschool. Today more than three million children are homeschooled.

As a potential homeschooling parent you no doubt have plenty of questions. Or maybe you know someone who homeschools and you are curious. Each of these are real questions that most of us have been or will be asked at some point. 1. Is homeschooling legal? The short answer, yes it is legal. The long answer is, well, long. Some states regulate homeschooling quite a bit, some states a small bit, and some have no regulation at all. The best place to find the most current homeschooling law is http://www.hslda.org/hs/default.asp Just click on your state’s picture, and the laws and current legislation (if there is any) will be shown to you. 2. Is your day like “regular school?” Well, first we have to define “regular.” In my house what we do is normal and “regular.” But, if you are referring to the standard eight hour day, with multiple times of standing in line, getting permission to go to the bathroom, waiting in line 25 minutes to go to lunch and then only getting 20 to eat that lunch, then the answer is no. But, this is different for every home schooling family. Some people may want to school for eight hours, I personally only do three. Some people may want their kids to stand quietly in line for 25 minutes for lunch. We just try to do this at the checkout at Kroger. 3. Don’t you have to have a degree to be a teacher? Well, if you are teaching in a public school the answer is yes. But, since we are answering questions about home school, I will refer you back to question number one. It depends on the state you are in. Some states have different opinions on this. 4. How do you handle all their classes when you have children in multiple grades? Again, the answer depends. If you take a unit study approach you may school all the children together – you know like they did waaayyyy back when public schools were started. Everyone sits together and hears the lessons for the day, and then will break apart to work independently in areas like reading and math. If you take a work book or text book approach, then each child will have their own set of materials, and you would work with each child separately, at different times. See how the answer to this is dependent on the individual homeschooling family? 5. How do you differentiate being a teacher from being a parent? Being a parent is no different from being a teacher in that, we are both responsible for the instruction and encouragement of the children we are responsible for, however, as a parent, we have a bigger responsibility to our children, for we see immediately the results of the children learning and unlike a teacher who manages a classroom of 20-30 children, that changes every year. As parents, we have both the time and emotional investment to understand and learn how our children best learn and are able to more easily adapt to each of our child's needs without having to sacrifice the needs of the individual over the whole. 6. Don’t you think they need to be in “real” school? Ahem. I will try my personal best to not to be offended. After, all my kids are learning “real” phonics and “real” math. I am not really sure what answer to give here, as the question is not asking anything specific. It is more like a derogatory statement about homeschooling in general. Ask a real question, get a real answer. 7. How could you possibly homeschool if ____________? (Fill in blank with whatever circumstance you can think of.) If someone wants to homeschool, they can generally figure out a way. This question is typically referring to different circumstances like single parenting, special needs children, gifted children, etc… I have a special needs child. I have a friend with an extraordinarily gifted child. Our homeschools look different. Some people may need to school when they are not at work, so their school may be in the evening. I school during the day most days and during the late afternoons when I have morning appointments. So, you really learn how to work it out according to the needs of your family. Got something to add? Be sure to let me know and I will keep this updated (serious and snarky questions allowed hehe)!

"Are you Saint Anthony? Because you found my heart."

This year we will be learning 3 different prayers in Latin. The first prayer we will be learning is O Salutaris, then we will learn the Gloria, and the last prayer we will learn this year is the Tantum Ergo. To learn these prayers will be using the Chant Cd kit again this year. This is a wonderful resource. The kit includes a song booklet and 2 discs. The is a wonderful way to introduce children to Gregorian chant. The book includes a brief introduction to Gregorian chant and has the words and music for all the songs included on the Cd's. We love listening to the monks sing. The songs are so peaceful and bring back the beauty of Latin hymns. How we work through Latin...... Each day we listen to the hymn and sing along. By the end of the week, we have the section down. At least, we hope to have it. If not that's O.K. since we will continue to sing it the following weeks. Having older children write out the prayer is a great way to help them memorize the words. We have a Latin notebook. In the notebook, the kids each have a copy of the prayer to read over daily on their own. They add their loose leaf pages of the written parts of the prayer. By the end of the prayer, they will have copied the prayer down in full. So for the O Salutaris.... Week 1~ copy the lines being learned for that week Week 2~ copy the previous section, as well as, the new section being learned Week 3~ copy the first 2 sections learned and add the section being learned for the week Week 4~ copy the first 3 section and add the final section for a completed prayer Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner

Why should you go to all the trouble to learn Latin? Here are 7 reasons from Maureen Wittmann.

The seven sacraments of the Catholic church are baptism, confirmation, Eucharist, penance, anointing of the sick, marriage and holy orders.

We were recently able to attend this exhibit of 150 Catholic relics and were so amazed by the experience! Learn more with see the travel schedule for the exhibit!

iIt's written in a conversational tone to the child, and the lessons are short and sweet. Lessons do not take us longer than 15-20 minutes per day!

As we explored the different styles of homeschooling, we decided on a classical approach. One of the cornerstones of the classical curriculum is learning Latin. I've never taken a Latin class, so I was a bit worried about how I was going to teach a subject without any experience! How We Teach Latin in

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Unschooling can pose particular challenges for state record-keeping requirements. Here are some easy-to-implement strategies. Make sure to click on the unschooling tag to read more on unschooling topics!

Teach your children critical thinking from a Biblical worldview with engaging courses, writing exercises, and more.

In the comments of a kind of random post about some Latin quizzes I made, Tamar and Caitlin asked me how I manage a homeschool day with four different grades, a preschooler, a toddler, and one in the oven. I guess the real answer is: Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Some days our school […]

If you’ve been hanging around here for any length of time, you know by now, it’s no secret that I’m a big fan of books. Books led me to the Catholic Church, keep me in rooted in faith, and nourish my mother’s heart. They also happen to be my favorite way of celebrating the liturgical […]

Here is my printable latin noun declension chart to go along with my verb conjugations chart I have done in a previous post.

This week's question for Fr. Barron comes from Mike Hayes of BustedHalo.com. And you're going to get a great list of the great books throughout history that...

The history books will tell you that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by the pilgrims in 1621. Not true. An interesting bit of trivia is that the first American Thanksgiving was actually celebrated on September 8, 1565 in St. Augustine, Florida. The Native Americans and Spanish settlers held a feast and the Holy Mass was […]