With so many curriculum options available, how do you decide what’s best for your homeschool—especially when it comes to Catholic vs. non-Catholic materials? It can quickly become overwhelming.

In this episode, Ginny and Mary Ellen offer clear, practical guidance to help you choose wisely and confidently for your family.

Show Notes:

Choosing curriculum is one of the most important decisions you’ll make as a homeschooling parent. With countless opinions online, it’s easy to feel pulled in every direction. This episode brings clarity and peace to that decision by helping you understand where Catholic materials matter most—and where flexibility is okay.

1. PROTECT WHAT MATTERS MOST

Some subjects require absolute clarity and consistency.

* Religion is non-negotiable—use Catholic materials

* Ensure accurate teaching of Scripture and Tradition

* Preserve devotion to Our Lord and Our Blessed Mother

This is key: your child’s faith formation must be clear and uncompromised.

2. BE DISCERNING WITH HISTORY

History shapes how your child sees the world—and the Church.

* Secular or Protestant texts may distort Church history

* Catholic contributions are often minimized or omitted

* Anti-Catholic bias can be subtle but influential

Choose materials that present truth with fairness and depth.

3. RECOGNIZE THE CATHOLIC ROOTS OF SCIENCE

A Catholic worldview enriches scientific understanding.

- Many foundational scientists were Catholic:

* Gregor Mendel (genetics)

* Louis Pasteur (bacteriology)

* Nicolaus Copernicus (astronomy)

* Georges Lemaître (Big Bang theory)

This is key: your child should see faith and reason working together.

4. SUPPLEMENT WHEN NEEDED

Not all good materials are Catholic—but gaps must be filled.

* Literature programs may lack Catholic voices

* Add saint stories or Catholic works as needed

* Be intentional about what is missing

Hint: supplementation can preserve both quality and identity.

5. KNOW WHERE FLEXIBILITY IS FINE

Some subjects are less dependent on worldview.

* Phonics, spelling, and vocabulary

* Studio art and skill-based subjects

* Math approaches (choose what works best)

Use what helps your child learn effectively.

6. DON’T GET LOST IN ONLINE OPINIONS

Curriculum debates can quickly overwhelm.

* Social media offers too many conflicting suggestions

* What works for one child may not work for another

* Focus on your child’s needs, not trends

This is key: clarity comes from discernment, not noise.

7. SUPPORT CATHOLIC PUBLISHERS WHEN YOU CAN

Your choices shape the future of Catholic education.

* Catholic publishers serve a smaller audience

* Your support helps them grow and improve

* Strong Catholic materials benefit all families

Finally: when in doubt, supporting Catholic resources is a meaningful investment.

A Final Encouragement

You don’t have to navigate curriculum decisions with fear or confusion. With thoughtful choices and a clear sense of priorities, you can build a homeschool that is both academically strong and deeply rooted in the Faith. Trust your judgment—and trust that God is guiding your efforts.

Homeschooling Resources

Seton Catalog - Free

Seton Home Study School

Seton Testing Services

When homeschooling feels overwhelming, discouraging, or just plain exhausting, it’s easy to wonder if you’re failing.

Be assured, you are not failing! Join Ginny and Mary Ellen as they discuss the moments every homeschool parent faces and offer practical, faith-filled ways to regain perspective, reconnect with your children, and rediscover your purpose.

Show Notes:

Homeschooling can feel like a long, discouraging journey. Some days everything clicks—but other days feel flat, frustrating, and unproductive. In this episode, Ginny and Mary Ellen remind us that failure is not what it feels like—and offer simple ways to reset your mindset and restore joy in your homeschool.1. YOU ARE NOT FAILINGIf you are listening to this, you are not failing.If you love your children, you are not failing.If you are trying your best, you are not failing.Homeschooling is hard, and the stakes feel high—but a few difficult days or weeks do not define your journey.2. REMEMBER YOUR PURPOSEThis is the foundation of everything.· You are not homeschooling to impress others· You are homeschooling to lead your children toward heaven· This is a long, eternal journey—don’t judge it by a rough season3. RECONNECT BEFORE YOU CORRECTWhen things feel off, step back and rebuild connection.· Play a board game· Go for a walk· Bake something togetherSometimes the best thing you can do for your homeschool is simply enjoy your children again.4. TAKE A BREAK—ON PURPOSEThe long journey includes rest.· Spend a week focused on enrichment: art, music, reading aloud· Go outside—hike, explore, observe· Visit a friend or take a short tripHomeschooling is not confined to a rigid schedule. The books will still be there.5. SHARE THE LOADHint: You don’t have to do this alone.· Ask your husband for guidance and support· Use a tutor or online class for a difficult subjectRelieving pressure in one area can restore peace everywhere else.6. SEEK CLARITY, NOT ASSUMPTIONSIt’s easy to feel behind—but feelings aren’t facts.· Use a standardized test to see where your children really are· You may find you are doing just fine7. KEEP THINGS IN PERSPECTIVEFinally, remember this:Our modern school system struggles in many ways. You would have to try very hard to do worse than simply loving, guiding, and teaching your children at home.A Final EncouragementThe homeschool journey is not measured in perfect days—it is measured in faithfulness. Stay the course, trust the process, and remember why you began.

Homeschooling Resources

Seton Catalog - Free

Seton Home Study School

Seton Testing Services

Kathryn struggles with meal planning, house cleaning, and having a chore system. She wants to be more organized. Where does she start?

Today, Ginny and Mary Ellen address Kathryn’s issues and how their simple solutions for her can help you build good housekeeping habits.

Show Notes:

First, forgive yourself.

You were not really trained for this job.

Today’s young moms were raised to:

• Get good grades
• Practice the piano
• Score a goal in soccer.

Don’t make the same mistake with your own children.

• Assign age-appropriate chores to each child.
• Teach them every aspect of running a house.
• Give them confidence in their abilities.

Hint: Share some of the workload with them. It’s a win-win-win!

The long journey begins with one step.

Moms with infants, if you don’t have a reliable bedtime or wake-up time, try this:

Try heading to bed at 10 with 30 minutes to:

• Wash up
• Say your prayers
• Hopefully, you’ll be asleep by 10:30.

Set an alarm for 6:30. If you have a coffee pot with a timer, set it for 6:45.

This is key: get up, say your prayers, and pour your first cup before waking the kids at 7:00.

This may solve more problems than bedtime ever will. If you start school at 9 am, you have two hours to get everyone fed, beds made, dishwasher unloaded, a load of wash started, and the kitchen cleaned up before school.

Set regular tidy times! Use the timer on your phone if necessary.

Take a full hour for lunch.

• If you start at noon, set tidy-up for 12:45.
• Dishes done, move the laundry to the dryer.
• Clean up the toddlers’ toys, and then put them down for naps/quiet time.

Set 30 minutes after school for chores.

• If kids finish their assigned jobs, they can be free earlier.
• Same with after dinner – another 30-minute tidy-up.
• Get the littles ready for bed.

Finally, run the dishwasher – even if it is not full. Sweep, run the vacuum, take out trash.

Save the big jobs – a thorough clean-up for Saturday morning. If the house is generally neat, it is a whole lot easier to mop and dust if everything is already put away.

Here’s a tip: Don’t have time to clean the bathroom? Keep Clorox wipes under the sink. Wipe down the toilet and vanity, and stow the brushes in the drawers.

Remember, in another age, kids were caring for gardens and farm animals at very young ages.

HOMESCHOOL ASSIGNMENT! Among the best of American children’s literature are the "Little House” books by Laura Ingalls Wilder. You can meet Laura, the little girl who would grow up to write the Little House books, here. Our kids need to know what they are capable of. Sacrificing for the family should not be limited to historical fiction.

Homeschooling Resources

Seton Catalog - Free

Seton Home Study School

Seton Testing Services

Ginny started homeschooling 40 years ago to protect her children’s innocence. Sadly, the world has only gotten worse, and kids are exposed to minefields of inappropriate stuff.

Over the years, Ginny has learned volumes. With those lessons learned, today, she and Mary Ellen discuss seven rules on how to navigate through it all.

They start with what younger kids can handle.

1. YOU, the parent, are the best judge of your child’s maturity level

• Not your friends and neighbors
• Not relatives who only see your children on holidays
• Not total strangers on social media
• You can, and should, tailor information based on maturity level.

2. Ask a question before you answer one to determine the maturity level

You may not entirely understand what your child wants to know.

Asking a question helps you give age-appropriate answers.

3. Strictly limit internet access

• More and more kids need phones, but they don’t need smartphones.
• Nip the habit of sitting behind a screen.
• Let them go outside and play.
• There’s just too much information, bad and good.
• Don’t let the online world substitute for you.

4. Encourage prayer

• When kids are too young to understand, an answer can always be, “Let’s pray for them.”
• If you say family prayers together, remember to include these intentions.

5. Don’t kid yourself!

Be prepared, there comes a time when they are simply going to be exposed, from scouts, sports teams, or cousins, to events that are complex and difficult to explain.

6. Start the habit of daily dinner time conversation

Younger years are when to start with some prompts:

• Three things you are grateful for.
• A person you helped today.
• What would you change about…

As they enter their teen years, your children will have developed the habit of discussing things with you and within the family. So how do we address a world we sometimes struggle to understand?

7. Faith First

The most important thing we can do when dealing with events and ideas is to apply Scripture and Church teaching to them. “This is wrong because Our Lord said….” or “Catholics have always supported this…”

Finally, Teach the Faith Everyday

This podcast is sponsored by Seton Home Study, a program that both Ginny and Mary Ellen have used with great success. If you aren’t using Seton, may we urge you to prayerfully reconsider using this thoroughly Catholic program –one where the Faith is integrated into literature, history and science. Your children need strong Faith formation to understand and navigate this crazy world.

Homeschooling Resources

Seton Catalog - Free

Seton Home Study School - website

Seton Testing Services - website

Many public schools offer open enrollment, allowing kids to attend charter, magnet, and schools outside their local district.

But what about homeschools? Can School Choice help homeschoolers get financial relief? Today, Ginny and Mary Ellen discuss state funding options on their podcast.

Show Notes:

Today, we are talking about School Choice and what it means for homeschoolers.

Remember - these options vary from state to state. Check your state’s status before you make any presumptions.

Private and homeschool options:

Vouchers are state-funded scholarships to pay tuition at private or homeschools.

• They may be targeted at students from low-income families.
• Or with special needs
• Or are currently attending a failing public school.

Vouchers are available in at least 10 states and the District of Columbia.

Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs)

ESA programs create personal accounts that store a child’s state Education Dollars, making a child’s education truly customizable.

Education dollars pay for:

• School tuition, textbooks, and fees
• Tutoring and special therapies
• Other approved expenses

ESAs are available in at least 18 states.

Scholarship Tax Credit Programs

Corporations and individuals make private donations to nonprofit organizations that provide scholarships to eligible children. In return, the corporations and individuals receive a state income tax credit.

There are at least 21 scholarship tax credit programs operating across the country,

Individual tuition tax credits

Individual tuition tax credits give parents a state income tax credit for their child’s approved educational expenses.

They are available in about half a dozen states.

Drawbacks

Many homeschoolers oppose ANY government contributions to their homeschool. Their concern is that "with government shekels come government shackles". A valid concern—let’s address it.

Remember, Shackles can be imposed even without subsidies. States with education choice policies tend to respect homeschooling autonomy more than those without, but homeschoolers still have to stay awake and aware. We Catholics need to partner with Christian homeschoolers and let our state reps know we are watching them.

States without school choice policies— including Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island—are among the worst for burdensome regulations on homeschool families. They tend to be ruled by teachers’ unions.

States with school choice policies—including Iowa, Indiana, and Oklahoma — have few homeschool regulations and liberal education-choice policies. Note: In 2023, Ohio lawmakers passed both universal school choice and a reduction in homeschool regulations.

There is no school choice policy that requires a family or a private school to participate. All are free to reject the government goodies, but many families could really use the help. All families and schools can evaluate the costs versus the benefits and then decide.

❤️ Homeschooling Resources

• Seton Home Study School
• Seton Testing Services

Homeschoolers are uniquely positioned to keep Advent in the way the Church encourages, bringing back traditions to deepen our faith as we prepare for the coming of Our Savior.

Today, Mary Ellen and Ginny bring home the message that, despite what the big-box store says, Christmas does not begin when Halloween ends. Here’s what your family can do.

Show Notes:

In recent years, the practice of observing Advent has grown lukewarm.

Many forget that the Christmas season begins on December 24th with the Vigil of the Solemnity of the Nativity.

Homeschoolers are uniquely positioned to lead the way and keep Advent, one of the richest and most beautiful of liturgical seasons, in the way the Church encourages.

If you are called to bring back traditions that deepen our faith as we prepare for the coming of Our Savior, here’s how:

An easy observance: The Advent wreath

· Three purple and one rose-colored candle

· Light the candles, adding one each week, at dinner time.

· You can find lots of Advent wreath prayers online.

How to Make Observing “Little Lent” Fun

This is a penitential season, often called “Little Lent.”

Children are very visual - explain the meaning of the season's colors.

• Purple for the Penitential season
• Rose colored Gaudete Sunday.
• Christmas is gold and white.

Ask them to notice:

• The Gloria is removed from Mass, just as it is in Lent.
• But the Alleluia is kept because we are anticipating a joyful birth.

Use an Advent calendar or a paper chain to count down the days.

If you make a paper chain:

• Use purple paper
• One pink chain link for Guadete Sunday

Celebrate Catholic New Year’s

• The Saturday night before the first Sunday in Advent
• This year – 12/29/25
• Make a special dinner.
• Have party hats and noisemakers
• Sparkling apple juice to toast the new liturgical year

Put out a Nativity set.

• Leave out the infant Jesus for now.
• Keep a jar or basket of straw nearby.
• When the children make a sacrifice or penance, have them place a straw in the manger to make a soft bed for Baby Jesus.
• Enthrone Baby Jesus after midnight on December 24

Celebrate the Saints

Because Advent contains both penance and joy, we can celebrate the many feast days throughout the season.

• December 4th, the feast of St. Barbara, patroness of architects, you might build a graham cracker house.
• December 9th, for St. Juan Diego’s feast, make a brown paper tilma and serve tacos.
• December 12th, to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe, create paper roses and enjoy Mexican hot cocoa.

Observe Ember Days and O Antiphons. These lesser-known liturgical observances of the Church are beautiful.

2025 Advent Activities for Catholic Homeschoolers has over 200 activities, crafts, and recipes for Advent.

2025 Advent Activities for Catholic Homeschoolers are Available for purchase.

2025 Advent Activities for Catholic Homeschoolers

Free Download

Homeschooling Resources

Seton Home Study School

Seton Testing Services

So many problems that homeschool moms face can be solved by developing the habit of consistency. Lack of consistency has derailed many a homeschool.

Today, Ginny and Mary Ellen distill their years of experience into ten simple and practical tips to bring harmony of practice, firmness of character, and lasting success to your homeschool.

Show Notes:

Consistency can be hard in every season of homeschool life. It’s hard for everyone. Mostly it’s about developing good habits, and each year presents a new set of circumstances, so new habits and routines must be developed.

These Ten Tips Will Help Get You in the New Groove.

• Have weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly goals.
• Start the day with what is most important and difficult to get done.
• Keep to a daily rhythm: do the same things at around the same time every day. Children, especially small children, do much better with routines.
• Set clear expectations.
• Habit stack. The excellent book Habit Stacking by S.J. Scott recommends linking a new habit to an already existing one. For example, you brush your teeth every morning, so while you are doing that, you can say your morning offering.
• Treat your homeschool hours as sacrosanct. Do not look at your phone, turn on the TV, or answer the door. You are at work, and only emergencies should distract you.
• Be miserly with your time outside of homeschool. Carefully and prayerfully discern outside activities.
• Have a “set in concrete” check-in time for each child to keep them accountable and to make sure they are keeping up with the work.
• Don’t schedule too much work in a day.
• a. Start with too little and gradually increase to the sweet spot.
• b. Do some subjects like history and science every other day.
• c. Make a schedule that works for each child. Overwhelm is death to consistency.
• Once in a while, be inconsistent. Stepping out of the box helps keep you on track when you need to be.

Habit Stacking by S.J. Scott

Homeschooling Resources

Seton Home Study School

Seton Testing Services