Liturgical Year -- September

Liturgical Overview for September (taken from Catholic Culture)

trying to work with liturgical year

I am trying to start planning how to approach the liturgical calendar this year.

There is a beautiful liturgical planning form by Jenn Miller here, in pdf.

Here's an online list of resources I hadn't seen before.
Catholic Mosaic Book List (PDF)

Sixteen Precepts for Advancing Knowledge

These are Thomas Aquinas's Sixteen Precepts for Advancing Knowledge which are the basis of Sertilllanges' book The Intellectual Life -- via Catholic Bible Student.

"My Very Dear Brother,
Since you have asked me how you ought to study in order to amass the treasures of knowledge, listen to the advice which I am going to give you.
As a mere stripling,

1. Advance up the streams, and do not all at once plunge into the deep: such is my caution, and your lesson. I bid you to

2. Be chary of speech,

3. Slower still in frequenting places of talk:

4. Embrace purity of conscience,

5. Pray unceasingly,

6. Love to keep to your cell if you wish to be admitted into the mystic wine-cellar.

7. Show yourself genial to all:

8. Pay no heed to other folk's affairs:

9. Be not over-familiar with any person, because over-much familiarity breeds contempt, and gives occasion to distraction from study.

10. On no account mix yourself up with the sayings and the doings of persons in the outside world.

11. Most of all, avoid all useless visits, but try rather to walk constantly in the footsteps of good and holy men.

12. Never mind from whom the lesson drops, but

13. Commit to memory whatever useful advice may be uttered.

14. Give an account to yourself of your every word and action:

15. See that you understand what you hear, and never leave a doubt unsolved:

16. Lay up all you can in the storehouse of memory, as he does who wants to fill a vase. 'Seek not the things which are beyond thee'.

Following these ways, you will your whole life long put forth and bear both branches and fruit in the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth. If you take these words to heart, you will attain your desire."

-Sixteen Precepts for Acquiring the Treasure of Knowledge by St. Thomas Aquinas

All Ye Heavenly Hosts, pray for us!

I like the way Faith processes her goals for the week in writing. Also, her Waldorf conference notes gave me a clearer picture of what Waldorf is about. Both of her blogs are quite inspiring to me since we tend to pick the same types of resources. ... but she is more creative and spontaneous than I am.

Also, last night I was exploring Leslie at Knotty Pine's Teacher's Room and I love her learning centers and the orderly way she approaches unit studies.... how neat!

Finally, last night when I was staying up way too late, I mean having a cyber-teacher's -inservice evening, I found a few more Classical blogs to add to my smallish classical blogroll. They are on the sidebar of my Spacious Place blog. If you know of any more, please let me know.

Every year, I informally dedicate the school year to a saint. Thinking back:

• 2004 was dedicated to St Thomas Aquinas (my oldest son was in his senior year and applying to TAC)
• 2005 was dedicated to St Therese of Lisieux (I read Homeschooling with Gentleness and went on an "unschooling sabbatical", trying to find a littler, more humble and personal way to homeschool).
• 2006 was dedicated to St John of Bosco and his "discipline of the heart" -- I was trying to find a blend between unschooling and some kind of direction and focus in the homeschool.

I'm thinking of dedicating this year to St Ignatius -- or perhaps St Francis de Sales. My computer is named De Sales : ).

I think 2000 was St Ignatius, and 2001 was the Archangels.

As for Our Lady, I dedicated our whole homeschool to her way back in 1994 when we first started homeschooling and I knew, knew, KNEW that I couldn't do this without divine intervention.