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In Praise of Private Schooling


It's Catholic Schools week this week.  I never attended Catholic schools as a girl.  In fact, I was a teacher for several years in both public and private schools but never a Catholic school. It never occurred to me that some day I would send my children to Catholic schools.  If I am being honest, I resisted the idea of it. That was before my conversion at age 26.  Before I had children of my own.


We began in a Franciscan preschool/kindergarten.  It was the most well-run, gentle, loving, efficient school I had ever witnessed.  It was run by two older nuns.  Their whole lives were dedicated to teaching very young children to be independent, imaginative, orderly, caring, kind and prayerful.  They laid the foundation for my children in school and we have thanked God for their influence many times since.  Our boys then moved on to parish schools and we have been blessed to have wonderful teachers there as well.


 I love that my children begin their day in prayer, write JMJ and a cross at the tops of their papers, walk past statues of Mary and baby Jesus on their way in and out of school.
I love that they go to Mass every week and sit with their older prayer partners and are fed by a priest who is gifted in his preaching and personality.
I love that they are surrounded by other students of faith, that they witness their teachers and principals with heads bowed in reverence for God.
They are learning to be charitable, faithful, Biblical and they are treated as the most important thing that they are ~ children of the Most High God.


In today's world, it is simply a comfort to send my children into an environment such as this. It is not easy, financially, for us to send them to these schools.  For years we had no cable TV, Internet or cell phones in order to save money.  It is not the best choice for every family but for us, for now, we feel blessed and grateful for the presence of Catholic schools in our family!
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Comments

  1. JennFebruary 3, 2011 at 8:55 AM

    What wonderful experiences your boys have had. And, we get to see their faces! Such adorable pictures! H2U

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2011 at 10:34 AM

    Awesome post, Misty! The experiences those boys have each day are priceless.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Amy S. =)February 3, 2011 at 10:13 PM

    Amen, sister! I miss seeing the boys around SMI! Our budget is so tight these days with one in Kindergarten and the other in second, but I, like you, would not have it any other way. My main goal is to give my children a strong Catholic faith foundation. During this Catholic Schools Week, I feel blessed that God has given us the resources to allow them to attend SMI for another year and I feel blessed that my children have such wonderful teachers who sacrifice a lot to share their faith with my children everyday.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Momof4June 28, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    I send my kids to catholic school as well. I love the prayer, I love they see statues of Mary and a cross in every room, I love that there are uniforms and LOVE daily religion!! It's instilling them with our faith and hopefully grabbing them at their young age to pursue it on their own.

    I taught in a catholic school and altho the pay was so low it was the best job I ever had!!!! Praying God can bring me back to it one day.

    Love your pictures.

    Sharon
    www.breakformom.com

    ReplyDelete

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