Favorite Resource - Vision Books

This resource is probably something that every Catholic homeschooler already knows about. Vision books have been around for a long time.  I actually remember reading Vision books when I was young.  I clearly remember reading the one about Father Isaac as a child in hard cover.  I just looked it up and it was first printed in 1956.  I remember being completed captivated by the idea of the Canadian wilderness and trying to teach the Indians about Christ.  And how frightening the idea of torture was to me and how holy and willing to give himself up for Christ and his Native American children Father Isaac was.


  While I read many of these out loud over the years, we didn't get to all of them.  The only one that I recall that fell flat was the one on Edmund Campion.  For some reason we just couldn't get through that one.  We loved the ones about St. Therese and St. Elizabeth of the Three Crowns, St. John Vianney, known as the Cure of Ars, and St. Isaac of course.  I also remember the kids really enjoying the ones on St. John Bosco and St. Philip of the Joyous Heart.

My middle son chose the confirmation saint name Benedict, not because of Pope Benedict, but because he had just finished reading the Vision book on St. Benedict.  In fact, I have a funny story.  In our parish they strongly encourage you to enroll for sacramental years.  Confirmation takes place at the end of 8th grade for our parish, so you are supposed to sign your child up for both 7th and 8th grade, as they consider it a two year program.  My middle son got into trouble because instead of paying attention in class he was caught hiding this book on St. Benedict behind his workbook and reading instead of listening.  He probably got more out of the St. Benedict book than the wishy-washy workbook/volunteer teacher, but the poor state of catechesis in the present day Church is another subject!

I was just watching a video from Simply Charlotte Mason, by Sonya Shafer.  I really like her gentle common sense approach to using Charlotte Mason in the home.  In the video she shows four books she recommends to learn about the Middle Ages.  And while they were all good books, we hadn't read one of them out loud.  A lot of our understanding of that time period came from our study of  the saints.  And in fact, learning about the saints is learning Church history, history, geography and theology all at once.  I think Protestants can't quite get the same depth of understanding of the Middle Ages because they sort of have to protect themselves from the religious part, which was so interwoven with all life then.  But of course the foundation of their own take on Christianity is based on a rejection and condemnation of many of the teachings that permeated that time.