A New Year - Seton Home Study School
Transcription
A New Year - Seton Home Study School
Seton Home Study School Volume XXVII, Number 9 “under the Magisterium of the Catholic Church” September 2010 Mother Most Faithful On September 8, we celebrate the birthday of Mary, the Blessed Virgin Mother, who was given the special gift of choosing to be the mother of the Son of God. The Church teaches that she herself was conceived without Original Sin so that she would be the perfect sinless Mother of Jesus. Though born without any kind of sin, she nevertheless had free will. She was asked by the Angel at the time of the Annunciation if she would agree to be the Mother of God, and she responded: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to thy word.” Mary proclaimed that she recognized herself as a “handmaid,” a serving lady, a maid who serves another. Therefore, in her capacity as a loving handmaid of God, she says that in whatever way God wishes for her to serve Him, she wants it to be “done to her.” Mary was Faithful to her role, the role we all have in relation to our Creator, which is to serve Him in whatever way He asks. Before the angel Gabriel appeared to her, Mary had different plans for her life. She intended to serve at the Temple, where she had lived for several years. But when Gabriel appeared, she realized that God was calling her to be faithful to His will, not to her own will, as holy and admirable as that was. Instead of her own choice to serve in the Temple, she now obeyed the request of her Master and Creator, to be the Mother of the Son of God. Mary was faithful not only to God but also to man. She trusted St. Joseph, her betrothed, though he momentarily doubted her. She was faithful to him as he made the decision to make the difficult trip to Bethlehem. She followed St. Joseph faithfully when he made the decision, guided by an angel, to flee to Egypt when Herod was seeking the Christ Child. The Blessed Mother was faithful in teaching her Son as St. Anne had taught her years before. Mary knew, of course, that she need not teach Him, rather that He could teach her. However, Jesus wanted her to fulfill the role of a mother to give good example to those who would follow. God the Father willed that His Son be an example to all mankind of how to live. The Bible and the Church teach that Jesus grew in experiential knowledge and wisdom and grace, before God and man. When Jesus grew to adulthood and left her home, the Blessed Mother was no less faithful. As she had followed him about when he was a little boy just beginning to walk, now the Blessed Mother followed his footsteps to Calvary. The Blessed Mother was faithful by standing at the foot of the Cross, faithful to the sufferings she was asked to bear as a mother at the foot of the Cross. After the crucifixion, the Blessed Mother was faithful to the apostles and disciples, remaining with them in prayer as they waited for the Holy Spirit to appear on Pentecost Sunday. The Blessed Mother continued to remain faithful to them as she resided in a house near the location of the upper room where the Holy Spirit came upon them. For two thousand years, Mary has remained faithful, appearing many times to children and adults, priests and laypeople, monks and nuns, soldiers and mothers. Blessed Mother Most Faithful, help us to be faithful to Jesus and to the graces we received from the Sacrament of Matrimony. Help us to be faithful to our duty to teach our children the Catholic Faith. Help us to be faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church. We know from the Bible that God is faithful to His promises. At the end of our journey, let us and our children hear His words, “Well done, good and faithful servant, because you have been faithful over a few things, I will place you over many things. Enter thou into the joy of the Lord.” Virgin and Mother Most Faithful, pray for us. - MKC Inside . . . Questions............................ 2 Your My Seton Page........... 4 A New Year.......................... 6 Receiving Email.................. 7 Visit to Sulmona, Italy........ 8 2 - Seton Home Study School September 2010 Questions We Are Asked by Dr. Mary Kay Clark Director, Seton Home Study School I am not sure in which grade level my son should be enrolled for the reading class. You might want to contact one of our elementary counselors and discuss your concerns. Sometimes students hit a plateau and need to spend more time reviewing phonics concepts. However, sometimes it is a maturity issue; about fourth grade level, some students are not quite mature enough to go into the fifth grade level. It is better for these students to repeat fourth grade level material, though not necessarily using the same textbooks. Some students can move ahead in math, but should be using different readers at the fourth grade level. Different textbooks at the same level could also be used in history and science. Consider choosing biographies or good fiction at the lower level. Don’t worry too much about your child not progressing as rapidly as you would like. Children can and do learn to read and to understand what they are reading. If your child is not progressing after a second year at the same level, phone our Special Services Department and talk with our certified special needs counselor. Frequently-asked questions for this department can be found on our website at www.setonhome.org. Click on Curriculum and scroll down to Special Services. Any time you’re not sure which book is right, you can print out a sample page from one of our reading books and see how your student does with it. To do this, go on the Seton website, click on Curriculum, then click on Grade School Booklist. Scroll down to the grade level you want to see a list of all the books. When you click on a book, you will be able to see the Table of Contents and several pages inside. How long is my child enrolled in the course? Can he go through next summer if he does not finish up? Students are enrolled for one full calendar year. In practice, the time allowed is often longer than this. For any student who enrolls in June through August each year, we set the start date as September 1. That way, families can order the books early without worrying about running out of time. We do charge extension fees if a student goes more than a month or two beyond the enrollment year. How do I find out which tests are available online for my student? How do I find out which courses have lectures? You can find out all the tests, lectures, supplements, and other resources by simply going to your My Seton page. Notice the box in the upper right-hand corner. That is where your current student’s name is listed, along with any other children enrolled from your family. Click on the down arrow to find the name of the student you want. Then click on Courses. All the courses for the current student will be listed. Notice the several icons on the right; as you run your cursor over the icons, a message will pop up telling you what that icon is. You can find Upload Work, Take Online Tests, View Electronically-submitted work, Resources (such as Chapter Notes, Answer Keys, Practice Sheets), View Online Course, and Listen to Audio Lectures. To get to the online test area, click on the course name. This will take you to another page listing all the assignments for that course. To the right of each assignment that can be done online, you wll find this icon: Before you leave the site, take the opportunity to click on everything you see on the two bars. You might find something else useful! Some parents in my area start their school day rather late, such as 10 o’clock. Is that a good idea? Home schooling can be adjusted to meet the needs and lifestyle of the individual family. However, from my experience, most families find it best to start early. The morning seems to be the optimal learning time for many If you’re not sure which book is right, you can print out a sample page from one of our reading books and see how your student does with it. children. As the day goes on, most people tend to drag a bit. The important thing is finding a schedule that works for your family, and sticking to it. Almost any schedule is better than no schedule. May my son omit the history course in Grade 6? He seems to have enough to do. Although history is not as important as religion, math, English, and reading, it is still an important course, especially in our current society when many schools are not teaching history. Could your husband help your son maybe two evenings a week and on Saturday or Sunday afternoon? Your husband might take your son to the library and find picture books of Egypt or whatever is the subject of the chapter. There is an abundance of historical information on the internet; September 2010 your husband might check images and help your son find relevant pictures and even print them out. If your husband is not available, perhaps someone else in the family, a college-age older brother or an uncle or grandfather or an interested college student might visit a couple of times a week to discuss the chapter. My son likes reading, but he does not like writing book reports. Can’t he skip those this year? Wr i t i n g b o o k r e p o r t s i s a s important as math, reading, and English. Writing develops thinking skills and analytical skills. When a child writes a paragraph, with a topic Students who spend years with Seton Home Study School develop higher level thinking and writing skills. sentence, logical middle sentences, and a concluding sentence, especially one expressing his own opinion of the topic, that child has reached a level of thinking that surpasses even many adults in our society. Students who spend years at Seton and develop higher level thinking and writing skills can, if they wish, go on to graduate school, become professors or doctors or lawyers, hopefully good Catholic pro-life professionals. Those who don’t wish to be professionals can, nevertheless, exert influence in their community by writing letters to the editor, being a good baseball coach where values can be taught on the field, opening a thriving business on Main Street, running for town council, and/or influencing the community in so many different ways. Reading is fundamental, but so is writing! Seton Home Study School - 3 Is there any advantage to submitting the tests online? I have always mailed in the paper tests. The biggest advantage of online grading is the time saved. The online test arrives almost immediately, and is graded immediately by the computer, or within a few days by a human grader. Graders who work with paper copies need to come in once or twice a week and pick up the paper copies. The papers need to be checked in on the computer; they need to be processed, put in folders, and put in the graders’ pick-up boxes. The graders take a stack of test papers with them, so the papers are out for a few days. When the graded papers come back, the grades need to be recorded on the computer, then sent down to the mail room. Our mail department needs to get the mail in envelopes and run it through a postage machine. The mail then waits until the mail truck arrives. As you can see, no one part of the process takes very long, but with several processes necessary, tests could be more quickly graded and sent back to parents if the internet is used. Another advantage, especially for high school work, is that work submitted online is easily available for future reference. When a student phones and asks an English or History or Math counselor about a previouslysubmitted test, the counselor can find the test on our computer and easily and quickly discuss it with the student. If there is ever a question about a grade, the tests and assignments can quickly be retrieved. Is it required that my children take the standardized test? S e t o n d o e s n o t re q u i re t h e standardized test, but many states require them as a way to make sure that educational progress is being made and that students are meeting certain levels of achievement. Some school districts like to include the home schoolers’ achievement scores in their district averages! We l i k e t o h a v e i n c o m i n g students take the standardized test. (We sometimes also ask sutdents to take subject-specific tests, such as an Algebra I Placement test.) This gives our enrollment counselors and parents confidence in the ability of a student to be successful in a certain grade level. Other schools and colleges want to see standardized test scores. Colleges consider standardized tests more reliable than report cards because they are totally objective. Does it cost more to add an extra course for my high school student? The answer is: maybe. It depends on the total number of courses and total number of credits. In general, you may take up to six credits before incurring any further cost. If you would like to add an extra course for a student, it is best to phone an academic counselor first to discuss the advantages and disadvantages for a student to take an extra course. Some high school students do like to take courses over the summer to get a head-start on the school year. Also, some high school students like to graduate with more than the usual courses. Some high school students take only two courses at a time, and find they can do them more quickly. These students often add a third year foreign language, or an economics or Shakespeare course. My student is taking an art course locally. Can he obtain a Seton grade if I send in some samples? If your student is in high school, you should contact Gene McGuirk, our high school academic counselor. If your student is in 12th grade, please contact Bob Weisner, our senior academic counselor. If your student is in an elementary grade, ask the art teacher to give your student a “report card” and send it in with the grade recorded on the quarter report form. For high school, there will be more requirements to receive course credit. If you go on our website and click on About Us, then scroll down to Staff, you can find the staff members and their extension numbers. 4 - Seton Home Study School September 2010 Using Your My Seton Page My Seton is a part of the Seton Home Study School website which is customized for your family. A wide range of information and services are available online. Almost any information you could receive by calling Seton—grades, papers received, payments, etc.—can be found on your My Seton page. Many services, such as audio pronunciation guides and lectures, are available only on My Seton. Logging in to My Seton In order to log in to My Seton, you first need to go to the My Seton web address of www.setonhome.org/myseton. You can either type this address in your browser or use the link from Seton’s home page. The first time you log in to My Seton, you will be asked to supply your family number and password. The password and family number are found in bold print at the top right on the packing list that you received with your books. After your first visit, you may not ever have to log in again. There is a check mark on the login page that says “Keep me logged in on this computer”. If you check “Keep me logged in” then you will not have to login with your password on subsequent visits. If you are accessing My Seton from your home computer, you probably will want to have that checked. If you are accessing My Seton from a public computer, such as a library, you should be sure not to have that checked. If you do not know your password or family number, click on the link that says “Retrieve Password”. If Seton has your email address on file, you can receive login information immediately. You enter your email address, and if the address you enter matches, the login information will be emailed to you. If we don’t have your email address, then you will need to either fill out the help form online or call Seton. Course Resources One of the most important features of your My Seton page is the supplemental course resources that are offered. The New Resources tab will show you the new resources that have been uploaded for a student in the last month, based upon the courses in which the current student is enrolled. The All Resources tab will show you all resources that are available for the courses in which the current student is enrolled. Click on the underlined link to view any of the items. Items which are in Acrobat Reader format have the designation “pdf” after them. (PDF stands for “portable document format”.) Grades Tab Your children’s grades are always available for review online. The Grades tab displays the courses and grades for your children in a grid. The left side shows the courses, the grades are in the middle, and a series of icons is on the right. The icons relate to different actions that are available for a particular course. You will notice that each of the grades and courses listed is actually a link. If you click on one of these links, it will take you to a more detailed page for that course. Each course has specific items for each quarter that are either required or optional in order to receive a grade for the course. The items are grouped first by quarter, and then by whether they are parent-graded or Seton-graded items. The parent-graded items are shown first for each quarter, and have either a yellow background or a box around them. You can record your parent grades for assignments here. To enter parent grades, click the button at the top of the page that says “Enter Parent Grades”. The grades you enter here are grades that you give for assignments, and you can determine those grades in whatever way you wish. After you enter parent grades, click the button that says “Submit Parent Grades”. Clicking this button saves the grades you have entered. Online Tests Online tests are tests that you can take through your My Seton site, rather than on paper. Online tests are available for many of the tests from high school down through the fourth grade. Almost all tests that are fill-in-the-blank, short answer, etc., are available online. Some tests, which are either entirely or almost entirely essay questions, are not available online. These items would need to be uploaded (see next section). When a test consists entirely of objective questions, the computer can check all answers and give an immediate grade. When a test contains both objective and subjective parts, the computer will check the parts that are objective, and a human grader will grade the subjective parts. This means that a grade for the test is not immediately available, but may take a few days. Uploading Work to Seton “Uploading” is the process of sending assignments or tests from your computer to Seton. Work that is uploaded to Seton is generally one September 2010 Seton Home Study School - 5 of two things. It is either a file created in a word processor, such as Microsoft Word, or it is a workbook page or other non-computer file that has been scanned into an image. Uploading work to Seton will generally result in your student receiving a grade more quickly than if the same work were sent by mail. Printing Lesson Plans Your My Seton page includes a fullfeatured web application that lets you customize and print lesson plans for your children. The Lesson Plan Creator comes in two somewhat different versions—the Weekly Creator and the Daily Creator. The Weekly Creator creates a week’s worth of lesson plans, while the Daily Creator creates lesson plans for one day at a time. The Weekly Creator will print out weeks as listed in the Lesson Plans. You can pick a different week for each subject, but the weeks are fixed according to what is printed in the lesson plans. This is great if you are keeping up pretty well on the weekly schedule. The Daily Creator offers more flexibility because you can choose exact days (or lessons) that you want. You can choose a different week and day for each course. After you create your lesson plans, you can load them into your word processor, and modify them as you like. Some families like to turn the daily lesson plans into a comprehensive daily calendar by adding such things as chores or outside classes. Checking Your Account You can use your My Seton page to check your account with Seton. If you are on the payment plan, you can check to see if payments were received, or make credit card payments online. If you move to another address, change your email, get a new cell phone, etc., you can enter the new information here. This information is then checked at Seton for consistency and imported into our master list. When our master list has been updated, you will receive an email confirmation. Message Boards Seton maintains a large number of online message boards that can be used by students and parents alike. As of this writing, the available message boards are: • • • • • • • • • • • Parents Elementary Subject Counseling Special Services Spanish, Latin, French Science High School Math High School History High School English American Government Biology Computer Courses Each of the subject message boards is moderated either by a Seton counselor or by an expert in the subject who can help with answers to questions posted. In addition, students and parents can post messages to each other. Weekly Lectures For many high school courses, such as English, history, and foreign languages, Seton offers weekly audio lectures online. The lectures are offered in several different audio formats. These lectures are great supplements to the course, giving more information on concepts studied, or touching on topics of interest not covered in the text. For Spanish and Latin, we offer audio pronunciation guides online. For complete information about the services available on your My Seton page, please consult the Parent Home School Handbook, which comes with all new family enrollments. 6 - Seton Home Study School A New Year by John Clark As I sat down to write this article, I kept wondering what I should write about to inspire home schooling fathers for yet another school year. Let’s face it, I don’t care how much you believe in home schooling, you never look forward to Labor Day. When trips to the beach or to amusement parks give way to math books, pencil sharpeners, writing tablets, and flash cards, there’s a note of sadness. So whenever I’m tempted to dread the thought of home schooling, I try to remember why I’m doing it in the first place and what I like about it. I like that on work days when I go home for lunch, all my children have lunch with me. I like watching Demetrius help Dominica with her reading. I like following the ups and downs of the continuing saga of Lisa helping Veronica with her math. I like giving Athanasius articles from Sports Illustrated to correct stylistically. I like watching Bonaventure trying to trace the letters A, B, and C for the first time with those enormous children’s pencils. I like the fact that home schooling makes me want to be a better man. When you are a home schooling father, you are a significant influence on your children’s lives. If you react well to that fact, it influences the words you use, the movies you watch, and the music you hear. When Lisa announced that she was pregnant with our first baby, I put away The Beatles, Journey, and the rest of the rock groups that I’d rather not mention in print. I didn’t want my children to listen to rock music, and I knew that if I did, they would too. I wanted them to like classical music, so I trained myself to like classical music. Now I go to classical music concerts, and I love them. (I still listen to jazz, one of America’s two great contributions to the arts—the other being baseball.) But music is only one area of our lives. There are many areas that have been quietly affected. After having children, I go to confession more, I say the Rosary more, I think I have grown closer in my relationships with Jesus, Mary, and St. Joseph. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not delusional. I know I’m a sinner like everyone else. In fact, I have recently considered designing an “examination of conscience” app for the iPhone as a way of expediting my penitential process. But the desire to be better is there, and my children, along with the choice to home school them, are largely responsible. A story may illustrate my point. We Byzantine Catholics have always been fond of icons. These little representations of Jesus and the saints adorn our homes as constant reminders of heaven. We believe that the icons on the walls help us to fight temptation because we don’t want to commit sins which these icons will “see.” At the liturgy, the parishioners are blessed with incense along with the icons, because we Catholics should be icons to the world, and should be a witness to others. Lisa and I are fortunate, because we have nine little icons running around the house all the time. I also like home schooling because it seems to slow down the “growing-up” process. It seems like students at brick and mortar schools are always coming or going. I don’t know about other fathers, but I feel like someone keeps pressing the Fast Forward button on my life. I guess it’s better than pressing Stop. And just to continue the “my life can be summed up with a VCR” analogy, September August 2010 2007 what I really want is Pause. I’m almost forty, which either seems really old (if you’re a teenager of mine), or really young (if your name and face has been superimposed lately on a Smuckers Jar on the Today Show). This morning, after saying a Spiritual Communion with my children, I walked over to make the sign of the cross on Mary Katherine’s little forehead, and she looked up at me and giggled. I remember how much she looked like Veronica, now 15, at that age. It’s been fourteen years but it seems like last week. Time has moved quickly, but the consolation is that I’ve been a big part of her life, and a big part of all the children’s lives, not just in quality of time, but in quantity of time—an underestimated factor in child-raising. I believe that time matters, and I think it has made me a better father. It is said that if a parent does his job properly, he becomes obsolete. As time goes by, I think the opposite is true. As a parent does his job better, he becomes more needed, and the more the children recognize the value of friendship with a parent who loves them. What would my relationship be like with my parents if I had never home schooled? I can’t imagine we would be closer. It is said that no one, on his deathbed, regrets not spending more time at the office. Does any child regret not spending more time in the classroom? I doubt it. Home schooling may be defined in many ways, but the simplest definition might be this: home schooling is time spent with parents. So instead of looking at this as just another year of home schooling, let’s look at it as a “new year.” Let’s recognize the opportunity of the prayers, works, joys, and sufferings that this year will bring. And embrace it. March 2008 September 2010 Seton Home Study School - 7 Be Sure You Receive Email From Seton Several families have reported lately that they did not receive email notifications from Seton after they enrolled, or uploaded work to be graded, etc. If you don’t receive these emails, chances are they are being sent automatically to your junk mail or spam folders and being deleted without ever being seen. You can tell your email program to send items from Seton directly to your inbox rather than to your junk mail. The way to do this varies from program to program, but basically you need to list Seton as a trusted sender of mail. To receive email notifications, you need to list “setonhome.org” as a trusted sender. To receive notices of discounts from Seton Educational Media, you need to list “setonbooks.com” as a trusted sender. Instructions for Hotmail and GMail are shown below. Other services should have similar functions. Hotmail 1. Go to your inbox. 2. Click the Options button, which is on the far right toward the top. 3. Under options, click More Options. 4. Click on Safe and Blocked Senders. 5. Click on Safe Senders. 6. In the box “Sender or Domain to mark as safe”, type setonhome.org and then click the button Add to List. 7. If you want to receive email from Seton Educational Media, repeat step 6 with the entry setonbooks.com. GMail 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. The Seton Home Study Newsletter is published monthly by Seton Home Study School 1350 Progress Dr. Front Royal, VA 22630 Phone: (540) 636-9990 Fax Machine: (540) 636-1602 Internet: www.setonhome.org E-Mail: [email protected] Subscription price for non-enrolled families is $15 per year. Free online at www.setonhome.org/archive Executive Editor: Dr. Mary Kay Clark Editor: Kevin Clark Go to your inbox. Click Settings, which is toward the top right. Click on Filters, then on Create New Filter. In the From box, type setonhome.org and click Next Step. Click the checkbox “Never Send it to Spam”. If you want to receive email from Seton Educational Media, repeat steps 4 and 5 with setonbooks.com. Seton Phone Numbers (Seton main line: 540-636-9990, all numbers 540 area code) Admissions, Enrollment, Re-Enrollment: 636-2039 Elementary Counselors: 636-1429 Grading: Rhonda Way, 622-5525 High School Course Approval: Gene McGuirk, 635-4728 High School English: Walker Solis, 636-1755; Christine Collins, 636-1633 High School Math: Tom Herlihy, 636-1846 High School Math/Science: Don Valaike, 636-1396 History: Bruce Clark, 636-1199 Homeschooling Father: Gene McGuirk , 635-4728 Independent Studies : Bob Wiesner, 636-2238 Religion/Sacraments: Fr. Constantine, 636-1527 Senior Guidance & Enrollment: Bob Wiesner, 636-2238 Special Needs: Stephen Costanzo, 622-5546 or Sharon Hines, 622-5542 Testing (CAT): Clare Schmitt, 636-1324 Seton Email Addresses www.setonhome.org [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Seton Home Study School Non-Profit Organization U.S. Postage 1350 Progress Drive Front Royal, VA 22630 Paid Permit No. 19 Elizabethtown, PA Change Service Requested Benedict XVI, Pastoral Visit to Sulmona, Italy July 4, 2010 Dear Friends, faith and prayer do not solve problems but rather enable us to face them with fresh enlightenment and strength, in a way that is worthy of the human being and also more serenely and effectively. If we look at the history of the Church we see that it is peopled by a wealth of Saints and Blesseds who, precisely by starting from an intense and constant dialogue with God, illumined by faith, were able to find creative, ever new solutions to respond to practical human needs in all the centuries: health, education, work, etc. Their entrepreneurial character was motivated by the Holy Spirit and by a strong and generous love for their brethren, especially for the weakest and most underprivileged. Dear young people, let yourselves be totally won over by Christ! And start out with determination yourselves too, on the path to holiness, that is by being in contact, in conformity with God a path that is open to all because this will also enable you to become more creative in seeking solutions to the problems you encounter, and in seeking them together! Here is another badge (distinctive sign) of the Christian: he is never an individualist. Perhaps you will say to me: but if we look, for example, at St Peter Celestine, in his choice of the heremitical life might there not have been individualism or an escape from responsibility? This temptation does of course exist. But in the experiences approved by the Church, the solitary life of prayer and penance is always at the service of the community, open to others, it is never in opposition to the community’s needs. Hermits and monasteries are oases and sources of spiritual life from which all may draw. The monk does not live for himself but for others and it is for the good of the Church and of society that he cultivates the contemplative life, so that the Church and society may always be irrigated by new energies, by the Lord’s action. Dear young people, love our Christian communities, do not be afraid to commit yourselves to live together the experience of faith! Love the Church: she has given you faith, she has introduced you to Christ! And love your Bishop and your priests: in spite of all our weaknesses, priests are precious presences in your life!