Saint Emmelia Ministries is blessed to have a board of wise, loving Spiritual Advisors who help run our regional conferences and online events, provide guidance to local homeschoolers, and guide the vision & work of the ministry. Alongside them are their wives, who work tirelessly to support their husbands’ work, on top of educating their children. In this series, we are honored to introduce you to these exceptional women.
by Mat. Melissa Naasko
1. Please introduce yourself briefly.
Father and I have eleven children, six girls and five boys. It has been an interesting journey since we met in at the University of Colorado. We met in the student government office and had friends who just happened to be cousins. We hit it off immediately and here we are!
2. What did the discernment process for the priesthood look like for your family?
My husband was a philosophy instructor and worked with Catholic seminarians. One day, while the bishop was visiting, he asked my husband to come into the altar after liturgy. He asked him to consider the diaconate. We decided together that this would be a way for him to help serve our community. Later, when we lost our priest, the bishop called and asked him to consider the priesthood. At first, he was hesitant. He loved being a deacon. I am so glad that he decided to say yes because he loves being a priest even more.
3. How did you decide to homeschool? How did you decide what methods/curriculum/pedagogical approaches to use?
Our oldest was fascinated by reading and was reading early chapter books at four. I had started teaching him phonics in a haphazard way but it worked for him. There was an article on why some people were homeschooling in Parents Magazine and we started considering it. My mother bought us the books "What Your (blank) Grader Needs to Know" and we dove in. A mother in my local support group was graduating her youngest and gave me her well loved set of Charlotte Mason books and just started.
4. What are some practical ways that you balance ministry, homeschooling, homemaking, etc.?
We really believe that we are a tag-team. We have the same goals and we tag each other in and out to get everything done. There have been times when we had to divide and conquer and some of us will miss some services to be able to deliver lambs or calves or study for an exam and other times when we set everything aside so we can all be at Church. The best way for us to decide how to manage all the various demands is to consider what has the most consequences if not met and do this first down in importance to the thing of the least consequence. Sometimes we do it well and sometimes we don't but we try to do it together.
5. How do you recharge yourself to be a better person for those around you? How much time do you spend?
Now that my kids are older and not early risers, I get up before them and I knit with some coffee. I just enjoy the morning this way so much. When they were little, everyone had "Afternoon Nap". I did not care if they slept but they had to be quiet. I played the same classical music CD (it was about 50 minutes long) and when it was over, they could get up. I sometimes napped and sometimes read and often knitted but it was a critical time for me.
6. Not counting the Bible, what book has impacted you the most as a mother/teacher?
There are lots of parts of me and each has their own book. I would say that for my homeschooling journey, it would be "Designing Your Own Classical Curriculum" by Laura Berquest. I still use it. For my spiritual journey, it would be my Jordanville Prayer Book. It is so well used and looks like it is barely holding together but the worse it looks, the better I do. I could replace it but I have no plans to. Then there is Robert Louis Stevensen's "A Child's Garden of Verses" which I memorized, on my own, when I was little. I started reading every poetry book I could and collected them from thrift stores and just memorized enormous swaths of poetry. All my children started out in this book.
7. If there’s one thing you could tell your just-starting-out-homeschooling-self, what would it be?
Firstly, you don't have to be perfect but you do have to be consistent. Stick at it every day. Just keep going. Secondly, cultivate a culture of reading by always reading. Carry a book with you. Let your children see you read. Read aloud every day. If they can read and comprehend, they can learn anything they want.
8. What would is the most crucial subject homeschool beginners should focus on?
The three Rs, in fact, get Ruth Beechick's "The Three Rs" and just do that. You can make your own curriculum for young children. Just start and be consistent. You really don't have to be perfect or have the most fun curriculum. What you need to is to be consistent.