As this is my first review, and we were about to start our home school year, I started small and selected a small magazine/pamphlet type of item to review. This is entitled Catholic Parent Know-How: Faith Filled Summer Activities. Truly when I received it and saw that it was only eight pages long, I thought it was just a skim of activities you could do in the summer and then add religion. Boy was I wrong! Those eight pages were packed with ideas all based on celebrating the beauty of our faith during the hot summer months.

This soft-cover booklet, is designed and written much in the style of any magazine. Begining with a letter from the author, Ken Ogorek, with an introduction to this booklet. The eight pages are packed with ideas on how to incorporate prayer life into the fun activities you will do during the summer months with your children. It discusses topics like vacations, family reunions, and trips, as well as quiet time at home. It truly gives you a different perspective of how Catholics should relax in the hot summer months but not in their active faith life.

I was extremely impressed when I came to page five entitled, “How Smart Am I?” Here the author discusses Dr. Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences (M. I.). This takes me back to the years I taught Kindergarten at a local public school in Florida. The school had adopted the usage of the M. I. in lesson plans and in the classroom. In a nutshell it exlains how everyone is gifted or smart in one or more things. For example, some people are Mathematical, while others are more linguistic. For more info on this, Google it since it is really interesting. When you include this in your lesson plans, you target every type of child in the classroom. The author was targeting these multiple intelligences and designed eight faith filled summer activities, one for each! I was impressed!!!! To say the least.

Yet, my favorite article is found on page seven, entitled “What Will the Neighbors Think?” This article was directed at celebrating August 15th, the Feast of the Assumption of the Virgen Mary into Heaven as a family! The author gives bold suggestions such as blue decoratios, wearing blue, and praying a family rosary in honor of our Blessed Mother! It was great!

This is the type of booklet that you would find as you are exiting out the door of your Church. If you see “Catholic Parent Know-How” don’t pass it up, there are a couple more written by this same author. If you click on the picture of this booklet, it will take you to the Catholic Company page. You may also order them there, but they come in packs of 10 (so you could share with your family and friends).

This review was written as part of the Catholic book Reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Catholic Parent -Faith-Filled Summer -Pkg 10.