Tag: confession

A FREE Confession Book for Children with Down Syndrome

Published on by Mary Cooney2 Comments

Here’s an adapted confession booklet I made for my son and his friends in our Special Needs Atrium. When it was time to prepare my son for First Confession, I knew he would need a lot of visual aids in order to understand what the sacrament was about and in order to communicate his sins and his contrition to the priest. So I designed this especially for children who are non-verbal or whose speech is limited and still emerging.

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Painting Kitchen Cabinets, Conscience, and Confession in the Rain

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Recently, the kids and I undertook a huge project: we painted the kitchen cabinets. That is, we scrubbed the cabinets, dismantled them, sanded them, primed them, painted them, and painted them again and again. We also boiled, scrubbed, and spray painted the old hinges so we could reuse them.

Truth be told, we didn’t know what we were getting ourselves into when we started.

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St. Don Bosco’s Secret to Discipline

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One of my favorite saints is Don Bosco. Whenever my boys are particularly unruly, I think of him who dedicated his life to the care and education of the street boys of Turin. Beloved by his pupils, he transformed the lives of countless youth, giving them a Christian education and helping them to grow in holiness. For me, St. Don Bosco is a powerful intercessor. After all, if he was able to work wonders for the derelict raggamuffins of 18th c. Turin, surely he can do something for my well-meaning, but rambunctious boys.

Furthermore, St. Don Bosco is a shining example to parents and teachers. Researching his writings, I came upon this wonderful anecdote, which he himself wrote. I just had to share with you — St. Don Bosco’s Secret to Discipline:

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A Free Confession Prayer Book

Published on by Mary Cooney4 Comments

A few years ago, I made this little booklet to help my daughter prepare for her first confession. I thought it would be beneficial if she had all the prayers she needed and an examination of conscience all in one little booklet — with beautiful art work, of course.

Here are some sample pages:

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The 7 Strands of a Great Religion Curriculum

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Let everything take second place to our care of our children, our bringing them up to the discipline and instruction of the Lord. If from the beginning we teach them to love true wisdom, they will have greater wealth and glory than riches can provide – St. John Chrysostom

Sometimes in the busy-ness of a homeschool day, I am tempted to procrastinate teaching religion or to hurry it along. Afterall, from a wordly point of view, it does not matter how much or how little religion you cover. There are no state standards for religion, and memorizing the Baltimore Catechism  will not matter on a college application.  So when we are in a crunch, it is easy for me to shove religion to the side and make math or writing more important.

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The No. 1 Solution to Your Homeschooling Problems

Published on by Mary Cooney3 Comments

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After ten years of homeschooling, I have slowly but finally found the solution to all of my homeschooling problems, and probably yours, too. This solution is so powerful that it can transform your homeschool into something far greater than you ever dreamed, and yet it is exquisitely simple.

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