Religion Elementary

CHC Lesson Plan Guide: Middle School Years

Book cover: 'CHC Lesson Plan Guide: Middle School Years'
Number of pages: 
308 pages
Copyright: 
2005
Publisher: 
Catholic Heritage Curricula
Binding: 
Spiralbound
Subject(s): 
History
Science
Geography
Lesson Plans
Virtues
Grade / Age level: 
Fifth Grade
Grades 6-8
Review: 

I have just finished planning the school year for my 5th and 8th graders using the new CHC Lesson Plan Guide for the Middle School Years, and I have never had such a productive and enjoyable time of it! Normally, I like to plan, but there never seemed to be enough time or information in one place to do it effectively or efficiently. I prefer a customized curriculum for each of my students, emphasizing their particular interests while shoring up their weaker subjects. With six students alongside little ones, planning the school year's curriculum is a very time-consuming process. CHC has made all the difference for me this year.

The Lesson Plan Guide is just that–-a complete guide to designing your student's studies for each of the middle school (grades 5-8) years. There is structure within flexibility, and many options to appeal to a diversity of students with different gifts and talents. This is not a "school-in-a-box" that you can open and immediately put to work. You will need to spend a few hours for each grade level, looking over the courses that are detailed for you, and considering your student. But, this investment of a few hours will provide you, as the teacher, with a firm overview of the path you will take to meet the goals at the other end of the school year. Having that "big picture" helps tremendously when motivation lags. Using the CHC Lesson Planner (reviewed elsewhere) will simplify this customization further as they were designed to be used together.

Each of the four years is laid out with a plan for core subjects, non-core and elective subjects, enrichment materials, and parent resources. Sample schedules for each grade level are provided as an example of a balanced workload for a typical student. Unique to CHC are the Independent Study Charts that show the student which material he should be able to work on without direct teaching. Six detailed hands-on student courses are provided for up-to-date, beautiful Catholic textbooks in the areas of history, virtues, and Church history. As if that weren't enough value for the money, the Guide also offers wonderful teacher resources that provide the "what-you-need-to-know-to-teach" writing, science, and world history at these grade levels. Several authors contributed these resources, and the different approaches to these subjects are refreshing in their variety.

CHC has managed to produce a wonderful plan for middle-grade students that features the best characteristics that we have come to expect from them:

  • do-able projects that the children both anticipate and cheerfully complete;
  • a unique hands-on approach to most subjects that truly engage the student on several levels;
  • an underlying structure that the teaching parent becomes familiar with as the year goes on;
  • a progression in critical thinking, the ability to work independently for longer periods, and solid academics at a comfortable pace as the years pass.

All in all, this book is one of the best investments available for a Catholic homeschooling family who prefers to individualize their student's curriculum, within limits, while providing a thoroughly Catholic education utilizing multiple methods of learning

This book contains:

Planning Guides:

  • Fifth Grade: (18 pages)
  • Sixth Grade: (18 pages)
  • Seventh Grade: (18 pages)
  • Eighth Grade: (20 pages)

Hands-On Student Courses:

  • 5th Grade From Sea to Shining Sea Hands-On Study Guide (9 pages)
  • 6th Grade All Ye Lands Hands-On Study Guide (9 pages)
  • 7th Grade "The Virtue Tree" Student Course (44 pages)
  • 7th Grade "Timeline of the Republic" Guide (19 pages)
  • 8th Grade: 2000 Years of Christian History Study Guide (12 pages)
  • 8th Grade: "Timeline of the Ages" (19 pages)

Teacher Resources:

  • "Jump Start Your Writing" (26 pages)
  • "Science in a Nutshell" (24 pages)
  • "World History Timeline" (46 pages)
Perspective: 
Catholic
Additional notes: 

Later update: This combined "planning guide" for 5th-8th grades appears to have been discontinued. Instead, currently there are "daily lesson plan" books for each individual grade, similar to those for the earlier grades, available on the CHC website. The data for these CHC lesson plan books are:

  • ISBN 9781946207609 (5th grade; 130 pages)
  • ISBN 9781946207616 (6th grade; 132 pages)
  • ISBN 9781946207548 (7th grade; 122 pages)
  • ISBN not listed (8th grade; 135 pages)
Reviewed by: 
Susan Kalis
First reviewed: 
8-23-05

Francis and Clare

Saints of Assisi
Book cover: Francis and Clare
Author(s): 
Helen Walker Homan
Number of pages: 
187 pages
Copyright: 
1956
ISBN / ID: 
9780898705171
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
High Middle Ages
Grade / Age level: 
Elementary
Review: 

I've been reading a number of the Vision Books aloud to my five year old daughter and she seems to like each one more than the last. The story of Saint Francis is both uplifting and enjoyable, due to the many humorous events captured in the story. The book is also informative enough to be interesting to older children and even adults (I had never read a full-length book about St. Francis).

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
1998-99

Saint Anthony and the Christ Child

Book cover: Saint Anthony and the Christ Child
Author(s): 
Helen Walker Homan
Number of pages: 
174 pages
Copyright: 
1958
ISBN / ID: 
9780898705980
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
High Middle Ages
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Review: 

In the tradition of the Vision Series, this book is a very readable and even enjoyable story of one of the most popular saints whom no one seems to know very much about. Although he is commonly known as Saint Anthony of Padua (Italy) and Finder of Lost Things, Saint Anthony actually hails from Portugal. The beginning of the story, the author admits, is somewhat fictional as very little is known about Saint Anthony's early life. An extremely gifted, orator, Saint Anthony traveled throughout Europe as a humble Franciscan (during the lifetime of Saint Francis of Assisi), preaching the faith, performing miracles, and spreading his devotion to the Christ Child. You'll also learn why Saint Anthony is the patron of the Lost – but I don't want to spoil that for you!


I found it rather disappointing to learn at the end of the story that almost the entire childhood portion of the story is fictitious.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
3-17-2000

Saint Dominic and the Rosary

Book cover: Saint Dominic and the Rosary
Author(s): 
Catherine Beebe
Number of pages: 
161 pages
Copyright: 
1956
ISBN / ID: 
9780898705188
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
High Middle Ages
12th century
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Review: 

It is the late twelfth century and Christendom is threatened from within by the Albigensian heresy – a belief that the world is so evil that it must have been created by the devil. The consequences of this are more serious than one might at first think. Although they believe the man's soul was created by God (and therefore good), the Albigensians (who presumably "started out" as Catholics) reject the doctrine of the Real Presence because they believed the bread and wine were made by the devil, they didn't believe in marriage and having children and even went so far as justifying murder and suicide.

Enter Dominic de Guzman. Dominic decided to be a priest when he was very young. He understood the importance of all of his studies as preparation for his vocation. "A priest, or in fact any well-educated person, must learn all that he possibly can about all subjects He must learn not only those that are especially necessary for his chosen work." The story contains an excellent explanation of a good education and its purpose. "You must perfect yourself in arithmetic, algebra, geometry – the exact sciences, which will teach you to think clearly. You must learn to read with understanding...And, of course, logic. That will teach you to reason in a sound and exact way."

The story follows the life of St. Dominic as becomes a great preacher, continually arguing against the Albigensian heresy. He has limited success, however, until Our Lady appears to him and entrusts him with one of the greatest heavenly gifts – the Rosary.

This is an excellent story, well written and understandable, and filled with many important insights for us today.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
11-16-99

Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart

Book cover: Saint Philip of the Joyous Heart
Author(s): 
Francis X. Connolly
Number of pages: 
168 pages
Copyright: 
1957
ISBN / ID: 
9780898704310
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
16th century
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Review: 

The lovely story of the 16th century priest and saint of Rome whose joy brought many away from the evils of the day. He patiently bore a great deal of emotional persecution from some fellow priests, but eventually won his tormentors over to the love of Christ. Many insights into the meaning of a vocation and how to spread the joy of Christ.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
4-26-01

Saints of the Church

Book cover: Saints of the Church
Author(s): 
Michael G. Allen
Number of pages: 
184 pages
Copyright: 
2000
ISBN / ID: 
9780898707830
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Softcover
Subject(s): 
Saints
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Resource Type: 
General Resource
Review: 

This book is a companion to the Vision series of saint's biographies (also published by Ignatius Press). It is a wonderful help to extending the biographies into a full-blown unit study, if you wish, or just to help enrich the reading. For each of the 17 books covered in Saints of the Church , the author includes:

  • an overview of the book
  • vocabulary lists broken out by chapter
  • quotations from the books called "Language in Context" that develop comprehension and illustrate various literary devices
  • Time Line information
  • Outline Map information
  • Numerous topics for written reports on various levels
  • Biographical sketches of other famous people in the book
  • "Turning to Scripture and Catechism" which requires looking up various verses or topics in the Bible and the Catechism; this is done to "make connections between the saint's life and the living tradition of the Catholic Church."
  • Discussion questions
This is a wonderful, well-organized, and thorough guide to really getting the most out of the Vision books...likely just the kind of thing we would do on our own if we had the time.
Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Susan Kalis
First reviewed: 
1998-99

St. Therese and the Roses

Book cover: St. Therese and the Roses
Author(s): 
Helen Walker Homan
Number of pages: 
149 pages
Copyright: 
1955
ISBN / ID: 
9780898705201
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Sample Pages
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
19th century
Grade / Age level: 
Grades 3-5
Grades 6-8
Review: 

Therese Martin (1873 – 1897) was the youngest of five girls growing up in a devout Catholic family in France in the late nineteenth century. We all know how, in just over one hundred years she has become one of the most beloved Saints in the Church and has recently been named "Doctor of the Church" by Pope John Paul II. This is the delightful and moving story of a little girl who became a great saint; of five sisters who were all called to religious vocations. The story focuses on her family life and the little details that make an interesting story and when added together make sense out of who she was. Although the Vision Series was intended for ages nine to fifteen, this story is one of my six year old daughter's favorites (we've had to read it aloud twice so far). It is an excellent read-aloud book for the whole family, which allows moms (and dads too) to benefit from the story and become more acquainted with Saint Therese's Little Way.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
11-16-99

The Cure of Ars

The Priest Who Outtalked the Devil
Book cover: The Cure of Ars
Author(s): 
Milton Lomask
Number of pages: 
190 pages
Copyright: 
1958
ISBN / ID: 
9780898706000
Publisher: 
Ignatius Press
Binding: 
Sewn Softcover
Sample Pages
Subject(s): 
Biographies
Saints
Setting: 
19th century
Grade / Age level: 
Elementary
Grades 6-8
Review: 

This is a quicker and slightly easier read than the title by Mary Fabyan Windeatt. It lacks the richness of explanations about the priesthood, but I thought that it portrayed St. John Vianney's humility and simplicity a little more clearly. It's also clearly written to be interesting even to those who are not accustomed to reading saint stories, so there is more emphasis on exciting events, such as when John Vianney, as a young boy, helped to hide a hunted priest from the authorities.

Perspective: 
Catholic
Reviewed by: 
Alicia Van Hecke
First reviewed: 
3-7-01

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