Our day in Pictures
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People began arriving early. In the last 2 weeks over 50 people emailed that they hoped to attend making things busy– but fun!
9:15 AM Opening Prayer
We opened with the Sign of the Cross and offered our day to the Sacred Heart of Jesus and His Mother in her Immaculate Heart with true gratitude!
Then a little information and direction and everyone chose either the Vendor room, New Homeschoolers work shop or Leadership Workshop.
- Karen on left, Patrice on right.
Jeannette introduced Traditions of Roman Catholic Homes as a resource for homeschool leaders.NH, Ct, RI and Mass leaders listen in the workshop/Art History Classroom.
9:30 AM TORCHLeaders from Traditions of Roman Catholic Homes will facilitate a discussion among support group leaders throughout New England covering topics such as organization, communication, pitfalls and of course how membership in TORCH can help. We had Carmen Ana Klosterman, Regional Director for the East Coast and Jeanette Cohen, Associate Directors of the National organization.
Their Bios are available at http://www.torchhomeschooling.org/about_torch.php?page=board
NH, Ct, RI and Mass leaders listen in the workshop/Art History Classroom.
Our own Teri Breguet was MC. She is a homeschool mom and works for our Diocesan newspaper The Observer, and its television magazine show Real to Reel.
“Family Life and the Love of Learning”
Presented at 10 AM by
Dr. William Edmund Fahey, Persident of Thomas More College
Dr Fahey waiting for 10AM
"Should I pose?" Everyone was excited and nervous and yet good humor filled the day! Dr. Fahey was warm, humble and spoke from the heart as a homeschool father and a college professor.
Some serious grenades were launched at us: 1- Homeschooling is hard and stressful, especcially on the mothers because it is not natural. We are political creatures (in the Socratic sense), and not all have the vocation of teacher. The fact that we had an empty Catholic school available for rent is evidence of the implosion of the Catholic Education system and vocations. 2- Husbands must make the time to be involved in the homeschool and seen by their children as readers and learners or they have divorced themselves from that part of their family.
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Mary Brazeau announces Door Prizes will be after Cindy's talk and introduces Catherine O'Keefe, long time friend of Cindy, music teacher, and wife of Tim O'Keefe of Fullness of Truth Apostolate Radio program.
Catherine O'Keefe introduced her friend Cynthia Montanaro as one deeply commited to her family and her church; one willing to tackle the toughest discussion yet who never has uttered an uncharitable word.
- Cynthia Montanaro: The Homeschooling Family and the Church Militant
- Cindy discussed her boys, her vocation Andrew and the sudden loss of her youngest son Tim which ended her homeschool experience.
Those of us who met her son can't imagine her strength! Thank you for taking time to tell us about him the day before the 4th anniversary of his death. We are honored to have known Tim.
Speaker: Jean Golden-Tevald, D. O., FCP, CFCMC Accepting God’s Call with Grace
Jean’s life includes Medical school, private practice and missionary work, marriage, children, adoption, and homeschooling. She tells us, “I took a sabbatical from practice in 1997 to homeschool our daughter (then 11 and in 6th grade), middle son (then 8 and in 2nd grade) and youngest son (then 6 and in 1st grade). In September 1999, we went to Russia and brought home two daughters (10 ½ and 9) and a son (7). I homeschooled all of them for the first year, then we started the round robins of trying to meet the educational needs of them all. We went back to Russia for one more girl (at age 10) in 2003. The 4 Russian children are full siblings. I homeschooled through 2005, by that September, everyone had returned to school in one form or another. Our biggest challenges were meeting the special needs of the children, from very gifted to severely learning disabled (not to mention learning a new language!). I learned a lot!” She runs MorningStar Family Health Center where she is a certified FertiltyCare practitioner offering Family care, Creighton NFP and NaPro Technology.
Dr. Jean Golden-Tevald
- Jean getting ready.
Making a point.
Isabelle, MaryKate, Dr. Jean and Sr Marie Therese
Typical Golden sisters
Karen and Mary. Jean is the one I most wanted to hear and the first asked to speak at the conference.
We were given 6 Door Prizes.
- Fr. Marek wins the mater et magistra magazine subscription.
- Making Music Praying Twice is a Catholic Preschool Music enrichment program. Kate Dunelak presented her program and your Welcome Bag contains her sample CD.
Cindy's mother with Scott of Magdalen College.
Near lunch we tried to schedule networking time. Because the talks ran long this was not as successful as we hoped. However we are setting up a Yahoo groups email loop and website called New England catholic Homeschoolers which will act as a clearing house for information on all Catholic homeschool support groups in the region. Watch for an email invitation! Ave Maria apologises for not making it from Florida but Scott Nelson of Magdalen College was a wonderful resource as were our other college reps.
2PM Nick Morganelli, Meteorologist and homeschool dad, will present ideas for making science fun at home and in the co-op classroom.
- He made it! Hope your son’s game went well!
Teri safely introduces the Science talk and Nick Morganelli.
Nick Morganelli, realizing his boyhood dream of becoming a meteorologist, graduated from Lyndon State College, VT with a B.S. Degree in Meteorology in 1991. A member of the American Meteorological Society, Nick holds their Seal of approval for broadcasting excellence. His love of science stems from his middle school science teachers: turning bookwork into hands-on fun and excitement!
His science teaching starts at home but has taken him into countless schools as well. As a meteorologist he amazes classrooms with his weather presentations. He taught an introductory course in Meteorology as an adjunct professor at Holyoke Community College and since 2004 has been a secondary science teacher supporting home-school families at Community Christian School in Westfield ( www.ccsfamily.org ) where he teaches physical science, chemistry and physics and where his children take formal classes.
He now owns his own marketing business and is currently free-lancing for CBS3 Springfield and NECN-TV, Boston. Residing in Westfield Nick was elected as a City Councilor in 2007.
Married in ‘98, Nick and his wife Jeanne, have 4 children, and are committed to home-schooling. They believe strongly that they have been blessed because of their investment in their children’s education. ‘The Morganelli 6’, members of St. Peter & St. Casimir Parish in Westfield, are active in the Family Life Commission and Children’s Ministry where Nick also serves on the Pastoral Council.
A kid at heart, Nick says this about the youngest of our community: “I believe youth have an incredible potential to glorify God in dynamic ways.” Since 1986, Nick and Jeanne bring the whole family and dedicate a week in August each year bringing youth to a personal relationship with our Savior by staffing a high school camping retreat for 250 high-schoolers (www.campsministry.com) He was a camper when the program began in 1984.
If you ask Nick why home-schooling is so vital, he’d say: “Parental rights continue to be compromised as children become ‘educated’ in areas that should be the responsibility of parents. As Christians, we are doing something pro-active and positive to confront this. We are raising an incredible young army of Christian soldiers by focusing on solid education with strong Christian moral and family values. God will amaze us with a harvest that will come from the seeds we plant today through investing in our children’s education at home and I am humbled to be called to His purpose in this way”
Nick's safety assistant
Nick's handouts. Did you get one? Send us an email if you need one at wmch@crossfire.org
A volunteer for an eggs-periment.
Adoration with the Daughters of St Paul. For other wonderful Adoration Prayers use Life for the World: A Way of Eucharistic Adoration for Today by Marie Paul Curley, FSP; Pauline Books and Media
Stopping to reflect.
Let me show you some of our special volunteers:
My eldest, Jeff studying Theater: Lighting Design track with a Fine arts minor at Westfield State College.
My mother, Dianne Murphy and my parish DRE, L. Dorothea MacNeil. Your support of my homeschooling and our conference mean the world to me!
- Mary with Fr. Marek Stybor who runs San Damiano Youth which opened its doors to our homeschoolers.
- John Ouimette, dear friend, sound expert.
- Somewhere in this Challenge booth is my dear friend Mary Ouimette, John’s wife. Mary has never homeschooled but loves my family and grew up in a commercial kitchen. She knew just how to help and how to hide from the camera!
