With the exceptions of the first section (State Information) and the last section (Local Aiken Resources), all links given below are sites that provide Catholic materials. There are many other companies that have materials home schooling families may want to use. The purpose of this page, however, is to help Catholic families find Catholic materials. Other sites can be found easily on the web. If you are looking for specific information not included here, contact the address at the bottom of the page.

State Information

For information about SC state laws regarding home schooling, visit SC Home Educator's Association

For more information regarding laws, visit Home Schooling Legal Defense Association.

Schools

The following schools provide all the family needs to home school: books, teacher manuals, syllabi, and help from experienced teachers. Many also provide standardized testing. Most (or all) of these schools will sell products without being registered as a student; I encourage you to contact all these schools to receive their catalogues. Families do not have to use such schools; many families use a variety of products from various sources.

Kolbe Academy Address: 2501 Oak Street, Napa, CA 94559 (707) 255-6499

Mother of Divine Grace Address: PO Box 1440, Ojai, CA 93024, (608) 348-6976. This school was begun and is run by Laura Berquist, author of Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum (see: Books) and uses the curriculum suggested in the book.

Our Lady of the Rosary Address: 116 1/2 N Third St., Bardstown, KY 40004, (502) 348-1338 Our Lady of the Rosary publishes a quarterly newsletter

Regina Coeli Address: 9755 E McAndrew Ct., Tucson, AZ 85748 (520) 751-1942. Regina Coeli is an online school. Students are in constant correspondence via the internet, and there are many conferences in which students get online at the same time to participate.

Seton School Address: PO Box 396, 1350 Progress Dr., Front Royal, VA 22630, (540) 636-1633 Seton publishes a monthly newsletter. Seton was begun and is run by Mary Kay Clark, author of Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents.(see: Books)

National Catholic Home Schooling Association

CHSNA (Catholic Home Study Network of America)

NACHE (National Association of Catholic Home Education)

TORCH (Traditions of Roman Catholic Homes)

Catholic Home Schooling Bookstores

Most of the schools above (see: Schools) sell their products; contact the schools to receive their catalogues.

Emmanuel Books This bookstore began as a supplier of books recommended by Laura Berquist. It has a large selection of books, not only school books, but also novels for youth, fine arts products, and other materials of interest to families.

Catholic Heritage Curricula (CHC) This company has many books unavailable elsewhere published by CHC. It has many books emphasizing the faith while teaching other subjects (ie, science) and many books on celebrating the faith in the home (ie, celebrating feast days).

Aquinas Home School Books bookstore run in association with amazon.com This is a bookstore that was set up by a home schooling group and is run in association with Amazon.com

Catholic Children's Clubs:

Little Flowers Girls' Club
Blue Knight's Boys' Club
Pilgrims of the Holy Family family Club
For manuals for these three clubs and other information visit: Catholic Heritage Curricula (CHC). These clubs are similar in structure to Scouts.

Catholic Kids Net (for younger children)

Conquest Clubs (for boys)

Challenge Clubs (for girls)

St. Joseph Messenger PO Box 751143, Dayton, OH, 45475, or (1-800-242-9954). This is not a club; it is a monthly magazine. This 18 page magazine is a great addition to the middle-school classroom. The topics covered include lives of the saints, fine arts, history, and more. It has beautiful color pictures and two pages of puzzles based on the material covered in the issue.

Links of Interest:

http://www.stpaulspub.com This publishing company publishes books of interest to home schoolers. It has a smaller selection than some of the other sites listed here. It emphasized Latin, History, and Science. It also carries a literary magazine

http://www.geocities.com/athens/academy/6823/mercy.html This website has many articles of interest to home schoolers, dealing not only with curricula choices, but also with such topics as preventing boredom and scheduling.

http://www.rchistory.com This website has many resources that help in the study of history from a Catholic perspective. It also has many links to other sites of interest, including Catholic news outlets.

http://www.bywayofthefamily.com This website has many home school products of interest to Catholic home schooling families. It describes itself as the 'complete resource for homeschooling materials.'

http://www.lffa-ollmpc.com The Little Flowers Family Apostolate. This website carries many products related to family life and the raising of children; material on purity, and lives of the saints, and more.

http://www.catholicrubberstamps.com This company carries rubber stamps, rosary making kits, and other Catholic craft products.

http://www.catholicity.com This website does not carry specifically home school items, but has many resources of interest to Catholic families. Its products may be of particular interest to families with teens.

http://www.osv.com/teachingcatholicyouth Our Sunday Visitor. This Catholic publishing house publishes a national Catholic newspaper as well as many books of interest to Catholic home schooling families.

Education Related Books

Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum by Laura Berquist (Ignatius Press, 1998)
This book describes in detail the curriculum that Mrs. Berquist designed teaching her own children for many years. It emphasizes such skills as poetry memorization, Latin, and music and art appreciation. It explains different methods associated with different ages, and includes suggested schedules and lengths of school day for various ages. It includes reading lists and other lists of information children should know at each grade level. Mrs. Berquist began and runs Mother of Divine Grace School (see: Schools).

Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents by Mary Kay Clark (Seton Home Study Press, 1993)
This book contains essays by various authors on topics dealing with home schooling. The author runs Seton Home School (see: Schools).

Catholic Home Education- Homeward Bound by Kimberly Hahn and Mary Hasson (Ignatius Press, 1996)
This book addresses many issues regarding home education. It also has valuable appendices, one of which is a list of materials used by the authors.

A Catholic Home School Treasury by Rachel Mackson and Maureen Wittmann (Ignatius Press, 1999)
This book includes essays contributed by over twenty home school experts and teachers.

The Harp and Laurel Wreath by Laura M. Berquist. (Ignatius Press 1999)
This book is a collection of poetry and dictation selections as suggested by Mrs. Berquist in Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum. It is compiled by age group and includes questions and answers for some topics for the older grades.

Family Life Books

Advent and Christmas for the Christian Family by Teresa Zepeda and Laurie Gill
The Forty Days of Lent for the Christian Family by Teresa Zepeda and Laurie Gill
The Fifty Days of Easter for the Christian Family by Teresa Zepeda and Laurie Gill
Lent and Easter in the Christian Kitchen by Teresa Zepeda and Laurie Gill
This set of books is a great resource for the domestic church - the Christian family. They include craft ideas (with copy pages included), prayers, decorating ideas (pictures often included), meal suggestions, historical information, and much more regarding celebrating the Church year in the home.

My Nameday Come for Dessert by Helen McLaughlin
This is a book originally printed in 1962. It contains all sorts of ideas for saint day related decorations and desserts. It gives the symbols traditionally used for each saint as well as other interesting information. For many days prayers and songs are given. Unfortunately, much of the information is out of date, such as prices and stores. It has been reprinted by FireFly Press; perhaps it has been revised.

The Saints and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland (Tan, 1958)
This is a delightful book that tells the stories of saints with each one focusing on a particular virtue. For example, Paul the Hermit and Anthony of the desert teach "How God Provides."

The Year and Our Children by Mary Reed Newland (The Firefly Press, 1956)
This book gives ideas about celebrating the church year in the home. Mrs. Newland includes many catechetical lessons in her celebration ideas.

Celebrating Advent and Christmas: a Source book for Families (Women for Faith and Family)
These books are similar to but much less comprehensive than the Zepeda and Gill books. One noteworthy difference is that these books include music with Latin verses and more prayers.

A Continual Feast by Evelyn Birge Vitz (Ignatius Press, 1985)
This book has a wealth of information about traditional and/or appropriate food for the feasts and seasons of the Church year, including most of the 'popular' saints' days. It includes recipes from many ethnicities.

A Book of Feasts and Seasons by Joanna Bogle (Fowler Wrights Books, 1988)
This book is similar to A Continual Feast but is from Great Britain. This adds interest by having many customs with which Americans are less familiar (ie, Boxing day) and not having others that Americans love (ie, Thanksgiving). There is also mild confusion because the recipes are written in 'British,' ie, measurements are given in ounces rather than cups, etc.

Local Aiken Resources

Ruth Patrick Science Center This is the science center associated with USCA. It has programs for school-aged children as well as kits available to do science projects in the classroom.

Aiken Area Home Educators (AAHE), call 803-642-6362 or write to sidesd2@bww.com. AAHE is the local Christian home schooling group. It mails out a monthly newsletter; the organization does not have a website. It organizes field trips and has parent support meetings as well as other activities. Please note that the required 'statement of faith' has several points that are not compatible with Catholic Church teaching. However, the 'statement of faith' can be changed by crossing out and inserting words and signed; this has been accepted from Catholic parents in the past. (This is perhaps one way to educate others about the true faith!)

The Palmetto Independent Educators This is one of the compliance associations available to homeschooling families under the SC state laws; it is based in Aiken.

To request more information, ask questions, or comment on the above information, please write to maryjackson8@bellsouth.net.

Note: To the best of our knowledge, the information contained on this page is appropriate for Catholic HomeSchoolers. However personal discretion is advised. Question anything that does not seem to be within orthodox Catholic Teaching.

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