Anyone who reads this blog knows that I believe God positively wills many things that happen in our lives (others, discomforts, He permits - weaving them into His plan to draw us even closer to Him). So when I was called for Jury Duty, I took it in stride. I had no idea how long I would be asked to serve ... and there are always deadlines looming at work, but I trusted that the the Lord had His reasons for allowing my name to be drawn. My hope was that He might have an appointment in mind - someone He wanted me to meet and converse with. (Sorry, couldn't think of an unencumbered way to end that sentence other than in a preposition.)
Now most of my day was simply sitting in the jury selection room, finishing up two books I was in the midst of reading. One of them was Dr. Scott Hahn's Consuming the Word: The New Testament and The Eucharist in the Early Church. I changed my seat a couple of times, giving me a chance to stretch my legs and get a change of scenery. Around 1:30 though I moved back to the row in which I started and began working on an article in the journal I had brought.
About ten minutes into my writing the young lady a couple of seats to my right said, "Excuse me, are you reading that book?" She was referring to the book by Dr. Hahn. "Yes, I just finished it as a matter of fact. Have you read other books by Scott Hahn?" She had - The Lamb's Supper. (Alright, any conversation that begins with a mention of Hahn's Lamb's Supper within the first minute is going to be an awesome one!) She went on to say that she had just been thinking she needed a new book about the Faith to read and when she saw my book sitting on the chair thought, "That could be it!" We ended up talking for almost the next two hours straight - Pope Francis, our children, the Sacrament of Marriage, Humanae Vitae, the sanctity of the family, the insanity of trying to draw up "Five Year Plans," etc.
For a almost two hours I got to bask in the faith and witness of a young, working, thoroughly Catholic mom. At the end of the day we were both excused from returning tomorrow. I am just very grateful to the Lord for letting my faith be built up by a sister - a sister that until today, I didn't know I had! (Isn't Heaven going to be great?!)
I've never shared how I homeschool my two kids in PSR. For the kids to receive "credit" I have to return the books given me by my parish, completed, at the end of the year. Last year was our first year doing this. The books from the parish were good. They were modeled after the four sections of the Catechism and handed on solid information. My son, who was in fifth grade, had only one complaint - having to regularly complete assignments such as "Draw a banner demonstrating how you feel about . . ." He felt it was just busy work.
This year I am doing things differently. My daughter is now in second grade and in preparation for First Reconciliation and First Communion, we will have to complete the book sanctioned by our parish. And that works for my daughter - she loves the coloring and banners, etc., etc. My son's next Sacrament of Initiation is of course Confirmation, three years from now. It is a two year program, so we have one year when, instead of being required to complete the materials from the parish we can do our own study. He won't receive "credit" for it, but he and I are excited nonetheless.
Here is our plan:
1) The first few pages of George Martin's Reading God's Word Today: A Practical and Faith-filled Approach to Scripture
to introduce him Catholic principles of reading Scripture and the need to develop a regular reading schedule
2) We start our study of Scripture with Jesus, the Word Made Flesh. We want to read the Gospel of Matthew while making use of Dr. Edward Sri's commentary Mystery of the Kingdom (Kingdom Studies)
3) After getting an initial grasp on the ministry of Jesus, we're going to turn back to the OT; and try to take in the "big picture" of salvation history by reading Dr. Scott Hahn's A Father Who Keeps His Promises: God's Covenant Love in Scripture
4) After looking at the OT in the light of Jesus we want to return to the NT and look at Jesus' life again, in light of the OT. We're going to read Luke's Gospel, making use of the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible: New Testament
5) Then we're continuing with Luke's story of the early Church, Acts of the Apostles. For commentary I plan to use Stephen Pimentel's Witnesses of the Messiah (Kingdom Studies)
So that's the plan. I'm curious what you think. Have you started doing Bible study with your kids and have some tips you can pass along?
