Fostering Stewardship At Home with Stillwater Catholic Homeschoolers

The seeds of faith, hope, and charity are most firmly planted in a child’s heart in their own home, and that is why homeschooling is a wonderful setup for learning.

“Homeschooling is a life choice for us,” says Catie Hanson, who serves as a coordinator for Stillwater Catholic Homeschoolers, along with Rose Cabeen. “Although homeschooling is academically challenging, that aspect is not as important to us as the relationship and faith aspects. Homeschooling gives our children the freedom to build relationships with their siblings, other homeschooled children, and Jesus all day long.”

The homeschooling lifestyle provides families with unique flexibility so that they can foster their children’s spiritual lives and nurture their talents in extraordinary ways.

“This morning, I took my boys to adoration with me at 8 a.m. because they weren’t required to be anywhere else at that time,” Catie says. “Homeschooling gives us the ability to plan our daily schedule around our life of faith. We have extra time to pray, go to daily Mass, and celebrate the liturgical seasons.”

However, homeschooling isn’t for the fainthearted. Homeschooling parents need to make great sacrifices to provide an excellent, well-rounded education for their children at home — bringing them close to the Heart of Christ, in the heart of their domestic churches. Thanks to groups like the Stillwater Catholic Homeschoolers, homeschooling families can find the support they need to carry on their apostolate of Catholic home education in the midst of the world.

“Our primary mission is to be a support group for Catholic homeschooling families, and especially for homeschooling mothers, because they are doing the teaching,” Catie says. “Over the years, we have held monthly get-togethers for homeschooling moms, during which we talk about homeschooling topics, such as how to incorporate Catholic traditions into your homeschooling day. We started these meetings because we wanted to provide a way for homeschooling moms to meet each other, share ideas, and support each other as teachers.”

Furthermore, Stillwater Catholic Homeschoolers organizes a rich variety of social, educational, and faith-based activities for homeschooling children as well.

“After we began meeting as moms, we started to think it would be important for our children to come together and get to know each other better, so Rose started coordinating some field trips,” Catie says.

The group once toured the Fashion Department at Oklahoma State University, where they visited labs for testing fabrics, and saw machines that make and cut patterns. They have also visited museums, and hope to visit a bald eagle sanctuary soon.

Lastly, the group has also been working on hosting events that enrich the liturgical seasons, such as an All Saints’ Day party.

“The kids went to Mass dressed up in their saints’ costumes, and people asked them afterward about their saint,” Catie says. “It was great!”

Overall, the Stillwater Catholic Homeschoolers group serves as an inspiring means of evangelization within our parish family and beyond.

“We should try to reach out to individuals who may not go to our parish but are homeschooling, and give them support and advice,” Catie says. “We can tell them how homeschooling allows us to develop our relationship with Jesus, and explain to them the attractiveness of homeschooling. We can also share these things with the people in our parish.”

If you would like more information, please contact Catie Hanson at 405-612-8153 or Catherine.R.Hanson@gmail.com, or visit the Stillwater Catholic Homeschoolers Facebook page.

The All Saints’ Day celebration on Nov. 1, 2019

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