Homeschool Families formed

PATERSON  Families in and around the Diocese that homeschool their children using Catholic curricula are invited to join the Diocese of Paterson Homeschool Families. This new organization was formed to help these families raise their children as “saints” by enabling them to come together as the local Church to support each other through their joys and challenges, share teaching strategies and collaborate on larger joint education programs.

Launched earlier this month, Homeschool Families already has secured the support of Bishop Kevin Sweeney and created a private group on Facebook where families can sign up to start working together. The organization will hold its first live event with a graduation Mass for homeschooled grammar school and high school students with Bishop Sweeney and priests from their home parishes at 3 p.m., Sunday, June 13 in the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here, the mother church of the Diocese. It will be a first for the Church of Paterson, said Jennifer Nelson of Sacred Heart Parish in Rockaway, one of the mothers from a homeschool co-op in Rockaway, who founded the diocesan group.

“Diocese of Paterson Homeschool Families will bring together homeschool families so we can give each other moral support and help each other in homeschooling our children, which is our life and our calling,” said Nelson, a married mother of five children, who range in age from 20 months to 14 years old. “We appreciate that the Diocese wants to give support to the needs of our homeschool families,” she said.

The group hopes that the Diocese finds space in one of its properties for homeschoolers to hold an annual retreat day for families or its weekly “meet-up days,” during which students come together to engage in different types of activities together, such as playing, conducting science projects, reading aloud, and learning various aspects of their subjects and faith. Currently, the Rockaway co-op, which consists of families in the Paterson Diocese and Archdiocese of Newark, has difficulty finding such a space for their larger activities, Nelson said.

Nelson emphasized that homeschool families or other co-ops that join the group will continue to remain independent and not subject to oversight by the diocesan School Office or another diocesan department. These families, which use a variety of Catholic curricula that are available, will not be asked to switch to any other program. Even families who are considering homeschooling can join the group, Nelson said.

Last summer, Bishop Sweeney participated in a Zoom teleconference with members of Homeschool Families. In an interview with The Beacon afterward, he said that he did not have much experience with homeschool families, during his years as a priest and pastor in his native Brooklyn Diocese, before he was ordained and installed as the eighth bishop of Paterson last July 1. But he did say that he witnessed some homeschooling in action, when a friend and his wife chose that approach to educating their children.

“Parents are the first catechists of their children. People homeschool their children for different reasons. They are taking on a big responsibility for the education of their children on every level. They also are taking seriously their responsibility to share their faith with them,” said Bishop Sweeney, adding that he was happy to hear that these homeschool families were active in their home parishes. “With the new group, these families can come together in prayer. The Diocese can help them in their vocation as homeschool parents,” he said.

For the graduation Mass on June 13, Bishop Sweeney will sign the certificates of completion for the grammar school and high school graduates, as he will do for students from diocesan, parish, and private Catholic schools in the Diocese. He will hand out certificates to the high school graduates, while pastors from the home parishes of the grammar school graduates will be invited to concelebrate the liturgy and hand out certificates to their respective graduating students. All graduates will wear caps and gowns. Participants will follow the COVID-19 mandates for social distancing and limits on the cathedral’s capacity at that time, Nelson said.

Recently, Faith Rose, a married mother of six children, who range in age from 20 months to 12 years old, and who also serves as the director of religious education at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Boonton, told The Beacon that the homeschool work day “gives them extra time to discover what subjects and activities they love and pursue them.

“They also get to learn in the different ways that are best for them,” Rose said. “Our No. 1 goal is to raise saints. [In the co-op], it’s a blessing to have a community of moms who nurture each other and lift each other up in prayer,” she said.

The co-op from Rockaway uses the Aquinas Academy curriculum, which offers its more than 20 students a “classically Catholic” approach to education — the way culture, tradition, and truths have been transmitted down through the generations by great minds, such as Aristotle, St. Paul, and William Shakespeare. They also learn about faith: the liturgical year, the saints, the Catechism and Catholic values. The co-op has held weekly “meet-up days,” so students can learn in a classroom setting about various subjects, play games together and socialize. They also attend Masses and field trips together, Rose said.

Nelson said she schedules religious activities with her children into the school day, such as saying the rosary or attending noon Mass at Sacred Heart. These practices help keep the day “centered on the Eucharist” and help “foster our family’s prayer life.” Her children also volunteer in social justice ministries to help them form a “service-oriented heart,” Nelson said.

One co-op that plans to participate in the June 13 graduation Mass is Regina Pacis at Our Lady Queen of Peace Parish (OLMC) in Branchville.

“Homeschooled students work just as hard as other kids. The graduation with Bishop Sweeney helps them maintain their Catholic identity, united to the Bishop and in full communion with the Diocese,” said Father Philip-Michael Tangorra, OLMC’s pastor.