Hillside Education and Catholic Homeschooling

Hillside Education has very generously donated several books to The Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway. Margot Davidson, owner and publisher, has been a blessing to the Catholic homeschoolers for many years, providing a variety of books, study guides, and magazines. Please visit Hillside's website to see if and how their selection can enhance your homeschool.

Here are the books being offered in the giveaway:

Fenestrae Fidei Coloring Book by Sean Fitzpatrick

The Kings Gambit by John McNichol

Great Yarns by Mary Gildersleeve

Mondays with Mary by Meredith Henning

In His Image by Mary Gildersleeve

Thank your Hillside Education and authors for your donation to The Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway!

Race with the Devil by Joseph Pearce

NOTE: Professor Pearce's (autographed!) book is part of THE Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway!
 
We are very, very excited here at Homeschool Connections about Joseph Pearce's newest book, Race with the Devil. It's different from anything he's written in the past. It's his autobiography.

He was a racist. He was a jailed revolutionary. Then something happened. Truth found its way into his cell. Truth found its way into his heart.

In the early 1980s, Professor Pearce was a leader of Britain’s racist National Front. He edited its newspaper, Bulldog. He consorted with terror organizations in Northern Ireland and neo-Nazi punk rockers in London.

And, before he was twenty-five, he was sentenced to prison. Twice.

Then, in the confines of a jail cell, Pearce discovered the great Christian and conservative writers of the 20th Century. Men like Chesterton, Solzhenitsyn, Lewis, Belloc, and Tolkien.

His life would never be the same.

In this exhilarating memoir, Joseph Pearce shares his amazing journey from racist revolutionary to champion of Christendom.

An author of almost twenty books, editor of St. Austin Review, a frequent speaker, and a teacher, Joseph Pearce is one of the foremost literary biographers today. He has chronicled, among others, the life and works of Shakespeare, Chesterton, Belloc, Solzhenitsyn, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien.

It's been an honor to have Professor Pearce teach for Homeschool Connections. We hope you'll check out his book and join Pearce as he recounts his personal race with the devil. It can be ordered here: Race with the Devil: My Journey from Racial Hatred to Rational Love. It'll be released on September 5, 2013. 

“. . . a heart-pounding book, a thing of beauty that kicks the mind with spur after spur.”
— Michael Novak
American Enterprise Institute

Thank you Joseph for donating a signed copy of your new book to The Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway!

Mary Gildersleeve's Books for Creative Families

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NOTE: Mary's (autographed!) books are part of THE Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway!

Mary C. Gildersleeve is married, has 5 children (almost 11- to 24-years old) and keeps busy homeschooling, working on the computer, free-lancing articles, writing reviews on a myriad of subjects, and knitting … knitting … knitting just west of Fredericksburg, Virginia.  She is also the author of two books published by Hillside Education: 

1.     Mary wrote Great Yarns for the Close-Knit Family: over two dozen hand-knit designs inspired by a dozen fantastic family read-alouds as a way to link two of her favorite subjects:  reading great books to the family and knitting.  Packed with over two dozen unique designs that were each inspired by the dozen great family read-alouds covered in this book.  Great Yarns is a wonderful link between classic literature and creative pursuits.

2.     Her second book, also published by Hillside Education focuses on how best to nurture creativity in your own family.  In His Image: Nurturing Creativity in the Heart of Your Home (a book which received the Catholic Writers’ Guild Seal of Approval) gives the why you would want to spend valuable time encouraging creative pursuits within your own home.  Further, Gildersleeve packs her book with tips and techniques and ideas for getting creative … something the whole family can enjoy together. 

Mary earned an MBA with a concentration in Marketing from the College of William and Mary (Williamsburg, VA) and a BA in Print Journalism from Gonzaga University (Spokane, Washington).    

Thank you Mary for donating your books to The Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway!

A Picture Perfect Childhood by Cay Gibson

It is amazing how much a child learns by simply having a parent who reads to him for 15 minutes each and every day. A few months ago, Cay Gibson presented a free parent webinar Educating Your Child in 15 Minutes. This webinar is now available in recording and you can watch it free by clicking on the title.

Cay also shares this strategy in her self-published book A Picture Perfect Childhood. She goes into detail on how to include beautifully iluustrated picture books into your family life. Additionally, she includes reading lists that you can take with you to the library or bookstore.

To read reviews, please visit Amazon here: Picture Perfect Childhood: Enhancing your child's imagination and education in 15 minutes a day.

Thank you Cay for donating a copy of your book for The Ultimate Catholic Homeschool Giveaway!

Homeschooling with Real Books

Here are links to free webinars from our series: For the Love of Literature:

Bringing Joy to Your Homeschool Science and Math Lessons
Bringing an Appreciation of Art and Music to Your Homeschool
How to Teach History with Real Books

These webinars are loaded with lots of book ideas & practical advice for implementing living books into your classroom.

As with all Homeschool Connections recorded webinars, make sure to click on the video and chat icons in the top right corner after the recording starts to get the full effect.

Review: Art and Music Appreciation with Living Books

Mary G. at the St. Athanasius Academy blog wrote a terrific review of the Art and Music Appreciation webinar. Thank you Mary!

Did you make it to the Wittman webinar on Wednesday evening (try saying that 5 times really fast)? What a GREAT time was had by all.

This is the first on-line conference I've attended and, although I'm a tech-head, I was a bit wary of the whole concept. I mean, c'mon, I love sitting in front of the computer like most folks but an hour and a half of just sitting (albeit, I'd be knitting), listening and watching ... sounded a bit over the top.

Well, let me tell you -- this is pretty slick. I got to sit and listen to Maureen and her presentation about teaching art and music using living books. AT THE SAME TIME, I could ask questions, chat with others or generally cut-up through the chat feature (just typing, no mike needed). Maureen, pro that she is, was keeping one eye on her presentation and one eye on the chat window so she could add her two bits too! VERY COOL.

Maureen's presentation was, as usual, excellent. Many of the books mentioned are in her classic, living teaching book, For the Love of Literature: Teaching Core Subjects with Literature. As a matter of fact, on of the participants had the forethought to have the book available so she could stick post-its as fast as Maureen commented on one book after another. But more than just repeating what she has in her book, Maureen did a great job of "playing to her audience" by keeping the flow going, by responding to questions or comments lobbed in the chat window, by generally giving us her "full monty" from the comforts of our own homes. I was surprised how quickly the technology took backstage to the presentation and it was almost as if she were in my living room giving the talk!

Walter Crawford, the brains behind the Homeschool Connection idea has partnered with Maureen to increase the number of webinars, making them all free. Additionally, the team is devising on-line classes for high school and middle school students. The first course will be a government course taught by the head of the Michigan pro-life committee! Check out the Homeschool Connection website for further information ....

All the webinars are now free, thanks to some amazing homeschool resource suppliers. For instance, the webinar on Wednesday was sponsored by Love2Learn.net and Margot at Hillside Education gave away THREE one-year subscriptions to her amazing Catholic homeschool quarterly, mater et magistra. I'm proud to say that I write the handcrafts column for this beautifully edited one-of-a-kind magazine!

In addition, you can actually download past webinars (including the one I attended), and you can replay it at your leisure. You'll get not only the presentation but you'll also have the actual "chat room" text that occured at the same time. You can save the webinar to your computer and replay it whenever you feel the need to spunk up your home-education adventure.

I love this stuff!

To view this recorded event: Bringing an Appreciation of Art and Music to Your Homeschool

Review: Math and Science Webianr

Thank you Mary Ellen for the lovely review of the recent Math and Science webinar.

Webinars

Do you know what these are? They are like mini-conferences or seminars that you can participate in right on your computer. Live. It is totally cool.

The first webinar I listened to was the lovely and talented Danielle Bean. It was an evening thing and I sat in bed with my cuppa tea and my laptop and joined Danielle's live presentation which included a bit of discussion among the participants. It was easy and fun.

On Monday of this week I listened to Maureen Wittman's Bringing Joy to Math and Science (that's two separate links). It was wonderful. Maureen is an engaging speaker, interesting and knowledgeable, and the subject matter is one that often baffles the homeschool mom. She gave tons of suggestions for living books to make math and science less intimidating. Chris and I were both listening with the Amazon window open and we both made several purchases. We were IM'ing each other through the webinar as well.

Ahhh technology.

Check out the Bringing Joy link above, the webinar is still available to listen to for free and there are others both archived and coming up. Check it out and join us all next time.

To view the recorded event: Bringing Joy to Your Homeschool Math and Science Lessons

Homeschooling Art and Music Appreciation

Free Recorded Webinar: Bringing an Appreciation of Art and Music to Your Homeschool

Literature isn't just for reading! You can teach math, science, language arts, and more using living books. This is the second in a series of three talks on the topic of teaching through real books. Do you have a love for beautiful art and music? Would you like to share that love with your children? Would you like to learn about all of the beautiful books available for children and young adults? Do you yearn for uplifting books that not only teach but help to create a joy for learning? If so, this is the talk for you. Maureen will bring lots of books with her for show and tell. You'll leave this online seminar loaded with book titles, fresh ideas, and practical tips. You won't want to miss it!

Maureen is the author of published by For the Love of Literature: Teaching Core Subjects with LiteratureEcce Homo Press, available from your favorite bookseller or www.maureenwittmann.com.

A very special thank you goes to our sponsors Love2Learn and mater et magistra. Without them, we would not be able to bring these webinars to you free.

Homeschooling Math and Science

Bringing Joy to Your Homeschool Math and Science Lessons

This is a remake of the original webinar with the same name. Since we experienced some audio and visual challenges with the first one we wanted to improve your experience by trying it all over again. It worked! Enjoy!

Literature isn't just for reading! You can teach math, science, language arts, and more using living books. This is the third in a series of three talks on the topic of teaching through real books.

Have you ever said out loud, "I hate math!" Or, "Math was my worst subject!" Was science always a tough subject for you? Do you struggle wondering how you can bring the fullness of the subject to your children? If so, you've come to the right place.

In this talk Maureen Wittmann shows you how to let go of your math and science phobia and keep from passing it onto your children. Math can be fun and interesting. Really. You just need to look at it in a new light. Science can go beyond the kitchen experiments and come alive in a child's imagination. Really.

Maureen brings lots of books with her for show and tell. You'll leave this online seminar loaded with book titles, fresh ideas, and practical tips. You won't want to miss it!

Maureen is the author of For the Love of Literature: Teaching Core Subjects Through Literature published by Ecce Homo Press, available from your favorite bookseller or maureenwittmann.com.

To sign up for other live webinars from Homeschool Connections, please visit https://homeschoolconnections.webex.com.

To view recordings of past webinars, please visit http://tinyurl.com/pasthomeschoolwebinars.

Thank you to our sponsors who make it possible to bring these webinars to you for free:
Living Math
Ecce Homo Press