The Catholic Homeschool -- October 2001

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Editor’s note: The following explanation of Missouri core hours and logging is one of the best I’ve read. It was written in re-sponse to a recent e-mail request from a new homeschooler asking for clarification on what constitutes “core” hours.

New homeschoolers can read the Missouri laws regarding homeschooling for themselves by going to the nearest branch of the St. Louis County Library, and looking in the Reference room for the Missouri Statutes. The librarian can assist you if you cannot find them. Look up Chapter 167, which deals with Pupils and Special Services, for the laws on homeschooling.

The law states that “the parent shall offer at least one thousand hours of instruction, at least 600 hours of which will be in reading, language arts, mathematics, social studies, and science, or academic courses that are related to the aforementioned subject areas and consonant with the pupil’s age and ability.” Key words here are “instruction,” meaning the parent has to impart knowledge to the student, and “academic,” meaning courses involving book learning.

From the perspective of a certified teacher, language arts means English grammar, writing, spelling, and penmanship. Social studies means history, geography, economics, anthropology, and psychology. Science includes general science in the lower grades and earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, botany, astronomy, etc. in the upper grades. Foreign language counts as language arts.

Religion is generally con-sidered a non-core subject. Music, a non-core subject, would include piano, or instrumental lessons, choir, and studying works by great musicians. Fine arts, a non-core subject, would include such things as craft projects, painting, sketching, etc. Physical education, a non-core subject, would in-clude organized sports or games, skating, bowling, tennis lessons, etc. Household skills typically taught to girls – such as cooking, sewing, embroidery, etc. – are considered home economics, and would be non-core. Skills typically taught to boys – such as woodworking, auto mechanics, household repairs, etc. – are considered “shop” or “practical arts” and would be non-core. Learning computer keyboarding or useful programs can be considered instruction in computer science and would be non-core.

Be careful, though, when logging hours – there must be “instruction” for the time to count. For example, some hours in garden-

ing or animal care may qualify for science, but only log those hours in which your child was learning something. The first few times he holds a baby chick, observes its appearance and behavior, and feeds and waters it, he is learning about birds. How-ever, when it becomes a routine chore or recreation, it is not really “instruction” and should not be counted as school hours. Playing computer games does not count as “instruction” (it is primarily recreation, even if the child uses the keyboard a little). The same applies to other subjects. If you have just studied Mozart in class and have your children listen to some of his symphonies, it counts as “instruction.” If your children listen to music on the radio, it does not count because no instruction is taking place.

Regarding field trips, a good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if a public school would be likely to go there as a learning experience. If yes, than you can too. Log field trip hours in the subject area most applicable. A visit to Missouri Botanical Gardens is science, the Art Museum is fine arts, the local fire station is social studies, and so forth. A visit to a different church could be considered a religion field trip if you spend a little time walking around the church and “instructing” your child about the saints or stained glass images. Watching a National Geographic special about the ancient ruins of the Aztecs counts as social studies; watching “Raiders of the Lost Ark” doesn’t count.

Linda Bromeier, mother of seven, is a 13-year veteran homeschooler and a Missouri Certified Teacher.

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Homeschoolers have come a long way in the last 10 years. Once greeted with surprise, suspicion, or outright indignation when they revealed their guilty secret, to-day they may encounter a friendly curiosity, a certain nonchalance even. Instead of “Is that legal?” or “Can you do that?” they’re now at least as likely to hear, “Oh, I have a neighbor who homeschools. Her children are so smart, and so well-mannered!” The pariahs have become para-gons. That’s because everyone in America now knows at least one family that homeschools, and has seen the results.

In her recent book The Homeschooling Revolution, homeschooling advocate Isabel Lyman asserts that “the modern homeschooling story is fundamentally one of a grassroots movement of maverick parent-educators . . . who are teaching their children how to read and write at kitchen tables. . . . Dedicated parents have succeeded in making a countercultural idea acceptable, and they have achieved their goals without much applause and without a dime of government funding,” she remarks. “They have also advanced the role of parental rights in education, as well as offered an exciting model of reform for future generations.”

Lyman reports that homeschooled students have graduated from prestigious colleges, served in the armed forces, managed small businesses, run for public office, written books, played competitive sports, and sold millions of CDs.” She sees no “shortage of homeschoolers whose quality of life far exceeds that of conventionally-schooled students.”

Lyman argues that homeschooling parents are “using their liberties well and wisely by teaching what they want, when they want, and they are not harming other families’ children in the process. The American can-do spirit is evident in the homeschools and households which parents manage simultaneously,” she declares. “Homeschoolers have offered many Americans hope – hope that a good education can still be obtained. . . .”

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Ask yourself these questions:

When was the last time I encouraged a religious vocation for my child?

When was the last time my family discussed how much the nuns, priests, and brothers of this diocese serve us?

Do I need to pray more for the priests, brothers, and nuns and the vocations they already have?

If you have been a part of the Traveling Vocation Prayer Chalice Program, you know the value of conversing with your children and extended family on these important issues. If you have not yet signed up for an opportunity to have the chalice in your home, now is a good time to plan to participate.

The Traveling Vocation Prayer Chalice Program is a concrete way for your family to enter into both prayer and discussion about religious, married, and single life. The chalice, serving as a symbol for all vocations, is placed in a prominent location within the home and is used as a spring -board for discussions about how one discerns a future vocation and how vocations differ. A booklet of prayers and materials for discussion accompany the chalice and can be used in whatever way is most appropriate for the individual family. One family who recently had the chalice in their home did not use any of the prayers in the program, but rather the mother placed the chalice in the center of the mantel and waited for each child to ask about it. She was able to spend individual time with each child discussing what vocation God may have for him or her. This mother benefited most from the program by forcing herself to take time to talk to each child about his or her future and to pray for our seminarians, nuns, and priests.

While there is limited material in the program on the vocations of single, consecrated, and married life, the program does acknowledge these important vocations. However, the main objective of the program is to introduce to your family the idea of a religious or priestly vocation and to encourage us to pray for all seminarians and those who are serving us in religious and priestly life. Because our culture does not often address the need for more religious vocations, the home is the ideal place to cover this subject with our children.

The Traveling Vocations Prayer Chalice Program, endorsed by Fr. Michael Butler of the Vocations Office, uses a chalice from Kenrick Seminary. Since the start of this program last spring, about 20 families have hosted the chalice in their homes. It has traveled throughout the city this summer and is now available to spend a week in your home. With the start of a new school year, the Traveling Vocations Prayer Chalice Program presents a perfect opportunity to converse with your children about their future vocation. This no-stress program is open to all who wish to be part of it. Please contact Sherry Hartz to be added to the list of families who will host the chalice this year.

Sherry Hartz, mother of four, is homeschooling her youngest, and serves on the steering committee of the St. Louis Catholic Homeschool Association.

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“May faith and readiness never be lacking in your hearts, if the Lord should bless you by calling a son or a daughter to missionary service. May you give thanks to God! Indeed, see that this call is prepared through family prayer, through education rich in spirit and enthusiasm, through participation in parochial and diocesan activities, through involvement in associations and volunteer work.
“The family that cultivates a missionary spirit in its lifestyle and in education itself prepares good soil for the seed of the divine call and, at the same time, strengthens the loving ties and Christian virtues of its members.”

– Pope John Paul II
To Parents: Facing up to the Vocations of Their Children, 1994

“What is the role of parents in encouraging vocations? The primary role is to provide an authentic witness to the importance of faith, prayer, and service to others. This includes teaching their children that all that one is and has comes from God, and that if we truly want to be happy, we will discover how God wants us to use the gifts we have received. Making their children aware of the nature of vocation, a ‘calling’ from God, is a crucial first step. After that, it is a matter of inviting, raising the question with their children whether God might be calling them to be a priest, sister, or brother. Indirectly, attitudes and comments regarding the Church, priests, religious women and men, either foster or weaken the image of such a life of service.”

– United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Secretariat for Vocations and Priestly Formation

“Young people will respond generously to a call to heroic virtue, prayer and the pursuit of perfection. And among those that do will come our future priests. . . .We need to lose our fear of calling young people to be saints.”

– Msgr. Timothy M. Dolan, Auxiliary Bishop of St. Louis
Vocation talk to Archdiocesan priests, St. Louis, 2001

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