Catholic Father Wondering About Homeschooling

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Hello all,

Looking for some good advice. I am a devout Catholic and my wife is Evangelical Protestant. We both have a desire to homeschool our children, but I know the issue we are going to hit is do we go with a Catholic, Protestant, or Secular homeschool curriculum. I looked at Ann Seton Homeschooling and I can tell it is going to be too much for my wife. Every book has Mary on the cover and unfortunately to Evangelicals that just causes unnecessary triggering. I want my children to get a good education and I want to try to avoid Protestant homeschooling that will teach them erroneous theology. Any ideas in this area or suggestions?
 
First, I’d go here: What’s Your Homeschool Style?. The quiz will give you some ideas for searching out materials, etc.

Next, I’d find your state and local homeschool associations. They often sponsor curriculum fairs and/or curriculum swaps/sales. This would give you a chance to take a closer look at some options, and perhaps to speak to families who’ve used those materials.

Finally, I’d look for homeschool groups in your area - they often have FB pages or mailing lists. You can ask questions about local opportunities, as well as post questions about materials.

I would encourage you to think beyond “school in a box”, since it seems like a Protestant school won’t work for you, a Catholic school won’t work for her. There are many, many options beyond those “boxed sets”. This does not have to be the hill to die on! Best wishes!
 
I myself am homeschooled and do Seton

I’ve heard of a homeschooling service called homeschooler connections which I believe is Christian

Seton is a lot of work and very Catholic

I hope my little knowledge on the matter helps
 
Hello all,

Looking for some good advice. I am a devout Catholic and my wife is Evangelical Protestant. We both have a desire to homeschool our children, but I know the issue we are going to hit is do we go with a Catholic, Protestant, or Secular homeschool curriculum. I looked at Ann Seton Homeschooling and I can tell it is going to be too much for my wife. Every book has Mary on the cover and unfortunately to Evangelicals that just causes unnecessary triggering. I want my children to get a good education and I want to try to avoid Protestant homeschooling that will teach them erroneous theology. Any ideas in this area or suggestions?
Because you are Catholic did you not have to promise to raise your children Catholic before you and your wife were married and went to see the priest? It used to have to be on paper, but now it is a verbal understanding. Am I correct?
 
I would encourage you to think beyond “school in a box”,
Me, too. Too many people do “school at home” rather than home education. I’ve also heard the complaint that Seton is very difficult.

I was pretty loose with my kids. We did belong to a Catholic homeschooling group for a few years - until they took to spelling God G-O-P. Wasn’t thrilled with that. Tried a Protestant group - same problem but with weird religious stuff added. Best group was formed with friends & we kept it completely secular, as we had different beliefs. One of the benefits was group rates at museums & such.

I never bought a set of any one brand of teaching supplies - we just went with what didn’t bore us. I figured if the kids learned to read, do math, and think, they would be OK. And it worked for us. Daughter did Running Start, a program to do the last 2 years of HS & the first 2 years at the community college at the same time & now has her own business. Son chose not to do that, but is now in his 3rd year at a university studying computer science. (Yes - I’m bragging! :D)
 
Because you are Catholic did you not have to promise to raise your children Catholic before you and your wife were married and went to see the priest? It used to have to be on paper, but now it is a verbal understanding. Am I correct?
There are so many situations in which this might not have happened; for example, if he converted after his marriage, if they married out of the church and he’s now in the process of convalidation, if they did not receive solid pre-marriage, prep, etc, etc. In any case, it’s tangential to the question and not very helpful to the OP. The situation is what it is and even if he did promise to do his best to raise the kids Catholic, it still leaves him in the situation where his wife will be uncomfortable teaching her children using materials that she feels are sacrilegious.
 
There are so many situations in which this might not have happened; for example, if he converted after his marriage, if they married out of the church and he’s now in the process of convalidation, if they did not receive solid pre-marriage, prep, etc, etc. In any case, it’s tangential to the question and not very helpful to the OP. The situation is what it is and even if he did promise to do his best to raise the kids Catholic, it still leaves him in the situation where his wife will be uncomfortable teaching her children using materials that she feels are sacrilegious.
You made valid points.

I am not aware of the circumstances.
 
Are your children Catholic?

This are many, many, many secular resources out there; perhaps your wife could use mostly secular or very generic Christian resources for most of the homeschooling, and you could be responsible for their religious studies, and maybe (at least some) History.

TBH, the Protestants have some very good Bible materials which you and your wife could possibly compromise on, and then she might not feel entirely overridden. I wish I had been able to do more Bible work with my children.
 
Frankly, if she’s put off by the covers of textbooks…:o

I’ll say a prayer for you. Seton is a fantastic and VERY rigorous program.
There are others…I’m sure someone will give you a list soon.
God bless you. It’s a big job.
 
I homeschool my children. I am Catholic and my husband is CoC. I understand your dilemma.

For Math I have always used Saxon. It is secular and I really like it. I use Rod and Staff English which is from the Mennonites. So far I’ve gone through the eighth grade and it hasn’t been too controversial. Very few anti-Catholic things, and I just skip over those. It’s mostly in writing examples. I used Christian Light for their reading until grade 6. Then I bought it to use for grade 7, but that grade level had too many anti-Catholic stories and I stopped using it. Now I just have them read books I think are good. I really like historical fiction, that way the also get some history. Most of the history and science they get is from my husband talking to them about things and watching history and science documentaries. My son also loves reading history and science books. He knows much more than I do. In fact he explained to me this morning about what happens when it lightnings to cause the thunder. I jokingly said to him that he has an incredible science teacher. (Haha). They also use Rosetta Stone to learn some Spanish.
We also use the USCCB website to read the daily readings. I’m sure your wife would love it if in the evenings you all spent a few minutes reading the Bible together.

Also, for those wondering about a Catholic marrying a non-Catholic Christian; I had to sign a paper agreeing to do all in my power to raise our children Catholic, but my husband (fiancé at the time) did not have to agree to raise our children Catholic. When it comes to raising our children we have to take into consideration our spouses beliefs as well as our own.
 
Hello all,

Looking for some good advice. I am a devout Catholic and my wife is Evangelical Protestant. We both have a desire to homeschool our children, but I know the issue we are going to hit is do we go with a Catholic, Protestant, or Secular homeschool curriculum. I looked at Ann Seton Homeschooling and I can tell it is going to be too much for my wife. Every book has Mary on the cover and unfortunately to Evangelicals that just causes unnecessary triggering. I want my children to get a good education and I want to try to avoid Protestant homeschooling that will teach them erroneous theology. Any ideas in this area or suggestions?
We use seton. We love it. I homeschool the kids and my wife works. Honestly I’m. Not sure what you want is possible. You want a Catholic education your Protestant wife will teach that avoids pictures of Our Lady? I’m not sure that exists!!!
 
Given the differences between you and your wife, I’d recommend either creating your own curriculum (picking and choosing depending on the subject), or choosing one that allows you the flexibility to substitute subjects out as you please.

Every Catholic homeschool program will have a strong faith component. I understand your hesitance with Seton. It is an excellent program, but even as a Catholic, I have been a little put off by the titles of the history texts not sounding very comprehensive and the “…for young Catholics” in the title of all of their texts (I actually use several of the texts, so I’m really just complaining about the titles). Not for the same reasons as your wife probably, but I do agree that their style will probably not appeal to many non-Catholics, at least not those who are sensitive about religious differences.

I have used Kolbe Academy, which is just as faithful theologically, but which probably doesn’t give off the same in-your-face-Catholic first impression that Seton might to a non-Catholic person. For one thing, they use a lot of secular texts, in many of their subjects. Much of their literature is not specifically Catholic, but just good Classic literature. They use secular materials when those are the materials they think teach the subjects the best (such as their math programs). But they don’t include anti-Catholic secular materials and their lesson plans enable you to add the Catholic perspective. One thing Kolbe does really well is science - they use secular science texts and insert the religious perspective only where needed. Now depending on your wife’s views, those perspectives may or may not be acceptable to her. Kolbe does not teach “young earth” science as many evangelical texts do. In their lesson plans, they direct the parent to resources and explain that while there are certain factors that MUST be true about the origins of human life (such has all humans having the common ancestors of Adam and Eve, and God giving them their human soul), the Church has not proclaimed whether the earth was created in a literal 6 day timeframe or whether God gave us the process of evolution by which the earth and its creatures progressed. In other words, what the Church officially teaches about evolution.

The other plug I’ll make for Kolbe is their flexibility. If you decide to homeschool with them, they will give you all of the lesson plans for the courses they suggest, but they are totally ok with you using different curriculum for any (or even all) subjects. So if you like much of what they use, but want to substitute a different history text, you are free to do so.

I would suggest looking at the Kolbe Curriculum as well as that of Mother of Divine Grace and Angelicum Academy, and just see what materials appeal to you. Interestingly, if your wife is of the evangelical style that prefers the young-earth philosophy, she might actually like Seton for science, as Seton uses Apologia for at least some of their science (Apologia is protestant).

Memoria Press is a wonderful Christian publisher. I hear that they are not any one denomination, but that they are Catholic Friendly. They started out as mostly a Latin curriculum provider, but I believe the offer a more comprehensive curriculum now. I would also recommend looking at their materials.
 
Sounds like secular is the route.
Without erroneous theology? Good luck…

But it may be the compromise they need. I would love for the op to outline the theological instruction these kids will recieve, from whom and how. To me that is the MOST important education one can have. And our duty as parents.
 
First, I’d go here: What’s Your Homeschool Style?. The quiz will give you some ideas for searching out materials, etc.
Thanks for sharing that! 🙂

To the OP–if your wife is going to be the one who primarily homeschools the children, I suggest she have the larger say in what educational materials to use and that you have “veto power”. Use your “veto” to ensure the material is not anti-Catholic. If you are going to be the teacher of any subject, then I suggest doing the reverse and give your wife veto power over any material you select.

If a publisher has been known to be anti-Catholic in the past, you might simply wish to avoid it. Personally, I never even bother to consider anything from Bob Jones Press. On the other hand, I’ve never used Seton either. There are a variety of homeschooling materials available so you’ll probably find something that meets your family’s needs.
 
But there is no need for religion to be shoehorned into math, science, history (with some exceptions), literature, & so on.
History is definitely relgious in nature.

No complete education can be separated from speaking of faith. Faith and science are linked through history.

A faithless education is no education at all. Which is why people don’t understand the level of false faith in secular education.

Shoehorned. What a sad image that conjours up.
Religion is as much a part of Math and teaching Math as the Eucharist is God.
 
A faithless education is no education at all. Which is why people don’t understand the level of false faith in secular education.

Shoehorned. What a sad image that conjours up.
Religion is as much a part of Math and teaching Math as the Eucharist is God.
I have some old Catholic school books that have illustrations of nuns teaching the children. I simply don’t think that’s required to teach any subject. I am still learning so much, and I’m not at all bothered by secular histories. I am bothered when I read what I think is a secular history (or any non-fiction book) & the author inserts his own religious beliefs. Often I will quit reading at that point because I don’t know if he will be rigorously honest in his writing.

When I was teaching my kids it was easier to teach the subjects as they were. Our religion was a part of our entire life & didn’t have to be in every book they read.
 
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