No name

Catholic Heritage Handwriting

Author(s): 
Nancy Nicholson
Publisher: 
AMDG For Little Folks
Binding: 
Spiralbound
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Resource Type: 
Review: 
It’s often the little things that make a resource stand out from the myriad of great products out there. Maybe it’s color pictures instead of black and white; or maybe it’s the typeface used; or maybe it’s the weight of the paper. There are many reasons why I like the Catholic Heritage Handwriting series more than the many other options available for practicing writing, spelling, even grammar and punctuation. For this review, I’ll be referring to Level 2 (about a 6 or 7 year old level – basically 2nd grade). With the revised handwriting series written by Nancy Nicholson, a big plus is the spiral at the top. I’m left-handed, my husband is left-handed and two of my children are left-handed. The one who will be using the Catholic Heritage Handwriting Series – Level 2: Finding the Way is one of my lefties. Being a boy, he already has to work so hard on his manual dexterity without also having the encumbrance of the spiral always in his way! Believe me, it makes for stress that can be easily avoided by placing the spiral at the top. THANK you, Nancy Nicholson! The organization of this handwriting series is great for a multi-aged home learning family. Each lesson is titled with the week and the lesson number – making it extremely easy to schedule the handwriting practice into a four-times-a-week time slot. Additionally, the lessons are short – maybe taking a total of 15-20 minutes (which is about the concentration span of a very active 6 or 7 year old). I like too that Nicholson has woven in Catholicism in the practice sentences and phrases. If this book was used during First Sacraments preparation, the words could be incorporated into spelling practice while the phrases could be memorized for recitation practice. Another cool thing is the subtle shrinking of the lines as the student progresses, from 3/4-inch uppercase to 1/2-inch uppercase! The lessons build bit by bit until, by the end of the year, the student will be copying out full prayers, poems and thoughts. These are all geared toward receiving the sacraments of Reconciliation and First Communion; however, even if your student is not yet ready to receive (or has already started receiving), these sentiments are still worthwhile for learning. The one down side is that for these longer copywork exercises, the author turned the page to allow more writing space. I’m sure though, that by the time my son gets to those longer lessons, he’ll be confident enough and his manual dexterity will have improved enough to avoid the despair the spiral unnecessarily engenders.
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
6-22-2009

The Story of Saint Perpetua

Author(s): 
Mike Aquilina (script consultant)
Copyright: 
2009
Publisher: 
Christian History Institute
Setting: 
Grade / Age level: 
Resource Type: 
Review: 
This short animated film (32 minutes) tells the story of Saint Perpetua and her companions, who were martyred in Carthage, in North Africa, in the year 203. The animation is good, the best of any Catholic animated films I've seen, though not reaching the quality of The Prince of Egypt. The storyline, however, is quite rich and historically detailed and skillfully brings to life the sorrows and fears, hopes and joys, present in the life and struggles of these martyrs, and the early Church in general. In particular, the concept that those awaiting martyrdom might fear pain, but do not fear death, is very helpful and hopeful! The story is quite dramatic and might be difficult for more sensitive children, though the producers have skillfully avoided gore or some details that are unnecessary for children. In fact, for many children it might be a good introduction to the idea of martyrdom. The comic relief, provided by the devout pagan jailer (a real-life character who ends up converting and tells Perpetua's story to others!) and his attempts to communicate with his "gods", helps draw children into the story as well. My younger children (ages 5-11) have been entranced by this story and have consequently developed a real devotion to Saints Felicity and Perpetua thanks to this film. I do recommend previewing the movie first before sharing it with younger or more sensitive children. Mike Aquilina, a pre-eminent Catholic author and speaker on the Fathers of the Church (and a homeschool dad of six!) served as script consultant for this video. The same company has also produced a 55 minute documentary entitled The Passion of Saint Perpetua: Martyr of the Faith which is also quite good and includes detailed commentary from Mike Aquilina. Although it has some content that is a little more mature than that found in the video, on the whole it's surprisingly family-friendly and is quite moving!
Perspective: 
Catholic
Additional notes: 
Available from www.catholicheroesofthefaith.com
This animated DVD was donated for review by Catholic Heroes of the Faith. We were able to rent "The Passion of Saint Perpetua: Martyr of the Faith" through Amazon.com for a very reasonable fee.
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
10-29-2009

Catholic National Readers

Book cover: 'Catholic National Readers'
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

The Catholic National Readers were originally published in the 1890s by Benziger Brothers Publishing. They have been reprinted by Savio Books and Neumann Press in 1997 in hardcover editions. They are frequently compared to the McGuffey's Readers and are illustrated with charming pictures of the sort you'd expect to see in "antique" books. Because of the sometimes archaic language and vocabulary, some homeschoolers (particularly those with more reluctant readers who want stories that are a little easier and a little more fun) prefer the American Cardinal Readers or the Faith and Freedom Readers. The Catholic National Readers are used by Kolbe Academy, Our Lady of Victory School and St. Thomas Aquinas Academy. Kolbe Academy sells some study guides that accompany the books.

First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: New Primer and Book One

Number of pages: 
130 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

I found this volume very useful for early reading practice with my first-grade daughter. We were able to move into this after she finished the Bob Books. The advantage I saw to this particular primer in contrast with the later series (Cardinal or Faith and Freedom) was that it was much harder for her to guess the words because of either the pictures or the heavy repetition so common in other early readers. The passages are very short, although not particularly story like. Some of the phraseology was rather archaic, such as "Has a boy the jug? A boy has not the jug." (p. 15) We didn't find this to be a big problem. There were also some stories where the perspective is so different that it's almost shocking to our modern ears. For example, a story about seals on pg. 60 indicates that children of that time might have been more familiar with seals from their skin used as clothing than being "acquainted" with the animals themselves.

Since we used this volume just for reading practice, we skipped the segments on vocabulary, word recognition and introductory cursive.

Additional review: This is actually two books in one binding - the Primer and Book One. My daughter dove into the Primer right away and is working her way through it. Each lesson begins with the new words listed with phonetic notations. Most of the lessons have some of the text reproduced in cursive writing. The pictures are beautiful and the stories are wonderful and steeped in Catholic culture. The stories in these two are very short and not really full stories. (N.H., 1999)

Perspective: 
Catholic
Additional notes: 

Primer: 32 pages + Book One: 98 pages

Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: Book 2

Number of pages: 
168 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

Some of the stories in this one I have seen in the "Rare Catholic Stories and Poem" book from Catholic Heritage Curricula. They are delightful. Not all of the lessons in this book have the new words listed, but almost all have a language lesson after the story. It is like reading comprehension or teaching parts of speech.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: Book 3

Number of pages: 
260 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

This one contains stories like "St Elizabeth" and "Our Lady's Flower Society". This book contains dictation exercises with some of the lessons, as well as vocabulary, and comprehension.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: Book 4

Number of pages: 
286 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

This one contains stories like "St Agnes" by Cardinal Wiseman and "Pope Leo XIII". Besides dictation, vocabulary, and comprehension, this book contains also contains pronunciation and vocabulary lessons.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: Book 5

Number of pages: 
386 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

This one contains stories like "The Power of the Blessed Sacrament" and "Rip Van Wynkle". It also contains pronunciation, dictation, vocabulary, and comprehension with the lessons.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: Book 6

Number of pages: 
482 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

This one contains stories like "King Solomn and the Bees", "Joan of Arc", and "Paul Revere's Ride" by Longfellow. This book does not seem to contain as many additional lessons like vocabulary.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Catholic National Readers: New Speller and Word Book

Number of pages: 
148 pages
Copyright: 
1890
Publisher: 
Lepanto Press
Binding: 
Sewn Hardcover
Subject(s): 
Grade / Age level: 
Review: 

I am honestly not sure how to use this particular book. It does have spelling words and vocabulary. There are also lessons on Latin Roots, dictation, parts of speech (like synonyms) and abbreviations.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
First reviewed: 
Feb 21, 2001

Pages