Everything We Used for Our National Parks Unit Study We are not campers by any means, and our version of hiking usually includes a stroller. However, we aspire to become people of the outdoors, and as such, we have made it a goal to visit all 63 National Parks as a family. Never one to pass up an opportunity for travel or to educate my kids by doing, I designed a National Parks Unit Study that we can dip in and out of as our visits to the Parks occur. This can also be used as a stand-alone unit study. I am ever-inspired by Charlotte Mason’s description of education as an atmosphere, a discip ..read more

 When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been ill for a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be well?” The sick man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; while I am on my way, someone else gets down there before me.” Jesus said to him, “Rise, take up your mat, and walk.” Immediately the man became well, took up his mat, and walked. — John 5:6-9 Several months ago, I was enveloped in the deep blackness of my autoimmune disorder. I had lived for several years with minimal symptoms following my diagnosis, but this past fall ..read more

This is the story of how I struggle to hold still and be present and peaceful in the midst of the chaos and demands of motherhood. I invite you to join me in reflecting on the wisdom and grace of God, who invites us to be still and know that he is God. … Don’t forget to SUBSCRIBE, REVIEW, and SHARE this episode with another mom who’s pursuing holiness! CONNECT: Substack NewsletterInstagram FacebookEmail: samantha @ mamaprays.com BOOKS: Mama Prays DevotionalReclaiming Motherhood from a Culture Gone Mad ..read more

Living books for all seasons Building a robust homeschool library is both a dream come true (you mean it’s my responsibility to buy a lot of books??) and a never ending project, akin to a garden which must be consistently weeded, watered, and fertilized according to changing needs and seasons. And while I hope this list can be helpful for you, it has been borne mostly out of my own need to obsessively curate an environment of living books to entice, attract, and enrich my children throughout their years of schooling. A few disclaimers: Some of these will be read-alouds and others can be inde ..read more

Cooking is one of my love languages (second only to books, which explains why I keep buying my husband books I know he’ll never read). I love to be creative in the kitchen, to try new delicious recipes, and use spices and techniques I’ve never heard of before. This is not that season. I have been in an autoimmune-induced haze for months (if not years), where I end the day clawing my way of a pit of utter exhaustion and despair at 4 pm each day, scrambling to get something, anything, on the table. Enter the Summa Domestica, a beautiful and prized collection of wisdom I received this Christmas ..read more

At a recent panel on the Dobbs decision, Professor Roberto Dell’Oro, director of Loyola Marymount University’s Bioethics Institute, defended legalized abortion through the first trimester, identifying the ability to feel pain as the “threshold beyond which freedom to choose cannot legally go.” In his online talk, Dell’Oro offers an “outline of his personal position on abortion,” while failing to clarify that his opinion represents a dramatic departure from the teachings of the Catholic Church.  As a former student of the professor in question, a Catholic, and a woman to whom abortion is ..read more

I’ve been dreading winter, but as my kids press their noses against the cool glass to watch the first snowflakes fall, their anticipation is catching. The frigid rush of air whooshing in through the back door announces to our cozy kitchen the arrival of something new and exciting. My kids scramble to greet it like a long lost friend, hobbling half-dressed through the threshold, returning for the forgotten scarves and fallen gloves littering the hall in their wake.  The snow charms me as well, in spite of myself. Maybe it’s the slow silence of the way it drifts in, blanketing everything ..read more

The last few Christmases have been kind of a train wreck. I’m not just talking about the disaster of a wrecked living room or a difficult Mass with overtired, sugared-up toddlers that I wrote about last year. For two out of the last three years, I have been waylaid by crippling prenatal depression. The year in between those? Covid. This is the first year I’ve been able to really revel in the joy of the season in quite some time. Unlike last year, the gray of winter doesn’t seem like a metaphor for the blandness of my soul. Instead, I’m enchanted by the soft flutter of snowflakes and grateful ..read more

My voice comes out in a low hiss, dripping with venom. My daughter’s defiant stare is a dagger that pierces my heart. The somber tones of the “Sanctus” beckon us to prayer, but I am paralyzed. I’m done. In my third trimester, wrangling three kids under 6 at Mass is what it must feel like to be one of the roly-poly bugs my children flip onto their backs. My limbs are in constant motion, but it does no good. I wish I could just curl into a ball until the threat goes away. Alas, today it is me and not the bug who falls victim to my children’s poking and prodding. But instead of testing with a lon ..read more

It’s Pride Month, and controversies over gender ideology are raging. The release of the documentary “What Is a Woman?” by Catholic political commentator Matt Walsh is causing a stir, revealing deeply disturbing facts about the dangers of pediatric gender transitions. These dangers are the reasons states such as Arkansas, Ohio and Florida are moving toward bans of pediatric “gender affirming” care, with Texas even attempting to prosecute some cases as child abuse. Meanwhile, respected professors argue that these moves to protect children are an “affront to science and medical ethics.” Canadian ..read more