Keeping It Catholic - Review of Seton Home Study School

Catholic Homeschool Review

Seton Home Study

For review purposes, very effort has been made to find families who are completely familiar with the Catholic home study program of their choice.

If you have experience with this Catholic homeschool program or another other, or have extra information from which other homeschooling families would benefit, please email keepitcatholic@usa.net

+Seton Home Study School
1350 Progress Rd.

Front Royal, VA 22630

Phone: 540-636-9990

Fax: 540-636-1602

Email: info@setonhome.org

Website: http://www.setonhome.org

Financial Aid: Available to families who qualify.

Special Needs Services: Yes, with special needs counselors on staff.

Payment Plan Available: Yes

Seton is recognized as a Catholic school by the diocese of Arlington, Va. Offering curriculum for grades K-12, full enrollment includes books, detailed day-by-day lesson plans, a mini study skills course, grading and testing services (including quarterly exams), counseling services for every subject, a subscription to the monthly Seton Newsletter (currently going out to almost 20,000 families worldwide) and, if not previously enrolled, a free copy of Catholic Home Schooling: A Handbook for Parents (with over 400 pages).

Parents grade daily and weekly work and submit it, along with tests, at 9 week intervals. Submission of work is not required unless parents desire a formal transcript. Seton's high school courses are excellent for college preparation. A high school diploma is awarded upon fulfillment of requirements; however, it must be noted that high school students (grades 9-12) must submit all required work to receive Seton's diploma.

Courses - Families may enroll with Seton for any one course or more. Those enrolled receive texts, lesson plans, teacher assistance, and counseling.

Online Services - Enrolled families can privately access report cards online at the Seton website. Others can view information like How to Organize an Essay, Morality of a Character, Footnote and Bibliography Techniques, How to Redo a Test , Transcripts and Common Errors (relating to grammar). The program also initiated online course supplements (available to those enrolled) with high school level American History and World History. Additional online services are planned for the future.

Seton Educational Media (SEM) Catalog is an outstanding resource, including many of Seton's own designed texts and workbooks also found in their curriculum. They also carry papal documents, Catholic games, Saint Trading Cards, Teacher Plan books, the E-Z grader, dictionaries and thesauruses (secular), study skill helps, Test Ready, How to Prepare for the SAT, Homeschooling and the New Code of Canon Law, and more.

Most of the following books are supplied when enrolling in the Seton curriculum. They are also available in the SEM catalog. Seton is continually developing their "Young Catholic" series for various subjects. Titles include Religion For Young Catholics (grades k, 1, 2, 3, and 12 currently available, grades 3 and 4 soon to be released), Art for Young Catholics (grades 1 and 4 currently available, with 7 and 8 in process), Phonics for Young Catholics (grades k, 4, 5 currently available), History for Young Catholics (grades 1 , 2 ,3, 7, 8, 10 and 11 currently available ), Spelling for Young Catholics (grades 1-8), Art for Young Catholics (grades 1, 4 and 8 currently available), English for Young Catholics (grades 1, 2, and 6 currently available, with grades 3 and 4 in process), Handwriting for Young Catholics (grades 1-6 now available) and Science for Young Catholics (grades 1, 2, 4 and 7 currently available). They also have a Kindergarten Activities Book. Seton has recently republished the Faith and Freedom Literary Readers. (Seton Educational Media is a division of Seton School and can be reached by calling (540) 636-9996, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Voice mail is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and Seton displays prompt turn-around responses to requests.)

Testing services (CAT-E Survey Tests) are also available to those not enrolled with Seton. Spanning grades K-12 (with a complete battery available for kindergarten), each test must be purchased separately. They are inexpensive ($20 each for testing and scoring), come with full instructions, and can be administered in the privacy of the home year-round. The results are scored and returned quickly - usually in a week.

Seton's enrollment materials include the following:

Religion across the curriculum includes Kindergarten Catechism (by Seton Press), My Jesus and I, Leading Little Ones to Mary, Our Lady of Fatima, Our Lady of Lourdes, the Holy Rosary, Saint Frances of Assisi, the Living My Religion series and the Baltimore Catechism (grades 1-8), Religion for Young Catholics (a Seton Press series), Child's Bible History, Bible History (grades 3-7), Living by God's Law (an exclusive Seton text), and Story of the Church.

Art includes coloring books like Angel Coloring Book, Holy Spirit, Miracles of Jesus,Mary My Mother, Kindergarten Activities Book (Catholic), Art for Young Catholics (Grades 1 , 4 and 7 currently available), Art Through Faith (a beautiful text at the 8th grade level) and other texts or lesson plan ideas.

History texts feature the color paperback texts American History for Young Catholics (currently available only for grades 1 and 7 but more are being develped), Great Saints in World History, The Catholic Faith Comes to the Americas, Fr. Furlong's series (How America Began, How America Grew, Before America, and Old World and America), Catholic World Culture (full color), Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (a full biography for the upper grade levels), Fr. Laux's high school religion series (Catholic Morality, Mass and the Sacraments, Introduction to the Bible, and Catholic Apologetics), Anne Carroll's Christ in the America's and Christ the King, Lord of History.

Math spans arithmetic through geometry. Seton uses Modern Curriculum Press arithmetic (grades k-3), and by grade 3 parents can choose between MCP or Rod and Staff (a Mennonite publisher). The Saxon series, starting at grade 5 with Saxon 54, continues through 9th grade. The 10th grade geometry text is Houghton-Mifflin's Geometry. Incidentally, there are other materials in Seton's inventory which can be exchanged for those students who find algebra a challenge.

Music spans levels K - 8 with We Sing Bible Songs (cassette from a Christian company) with the remaining years featuring Catholic texts including Catholic Songs for Children, We Sing and Listen, We Sing and Dance, We Sing and Chant, We Sing and Blend, We Sing and Harmonize, We Sing of Our Land, and We Sing of Our World.

For phonic study, Seton includes Phonics for Young Catholics in kindergarten and a few other grade levels, as well as Modern Curriculum Press. (Seton plans to eventually replace MCP with their Phonics for Young Catholics at each grade level). They also use Loyola's Voyages in English (secular version), English for Young Catholics (with Exercises in English at grade levels where the Young Catholics series is not yet completed) and Warriner's English (secular).

Literature selections (with texts included for those enrolled) features the lives of the saints, Black Beauty, Little House in the Big Woods, Heidi, Robin Hood, Swiss Family Robinson, Adam of the Road, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Johny Tremain, The Yearling, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Lilies of the Field, Merchant of Venice, Animal Farm, Tale of Two Cities, Ballad of the White Horse, Bridge of San Luis Rey, Screwtape Letters, A Man for All Seasons, The Scarlet Letter, Prose and Poetry of England, Pride and Prejudice, Murder in the Cathedral, Robinson Crusoe, and Macbeth.

Science texts include Science for Young Catholics (grades 1, 2, 4, and 7 currently available), with grades 3, 5, and 6 from either Christian publishers Abeka (as a publisher, Abeka is on our Top Tip Off List) or Rod and Staff. The Christian titles include Helping Your Child Learn Science (level K), Manners and Health Habits (Rod and Staff), Exploring God's Creation (Abeka) and God's Marvelous Works (Books 1 and 2).

Spelling texts in grades K-8 are Spelling for Young Catholics, with the kindergarten level supplemented with Everywhere We Go (Christian text). Spelling for Young Catholics is currently being updated to include a workbook. Seton also uses the secular Worldly Wise series for Vocabulary, but eventually plans to replace them with Vocabulary for Young Catholics. Penmanship is based on the Zaner-Bloser method; texts include the Art of Writing for Young Catholics (grades 1 through 5 currently available).

Please Note: Seton instituted some changes beginning in 2000. These changes do not apply to high school level texts. For a small, additional fee, most (not all) books sent to those enrolled in grades 1-8 can be kept at the end of the school year. Lesson plans must be returned.

For grades 1-3, the "retaining book" fee is $10.00 and for grades 4-8, the fee is $15.00.

Those books that still must be returned are the following:

Grade 4- Living By God's Law

Grade 5- Living in God's Grace and Voyages in English 5

Grade 6 - Living in God's Glory and Voyages in English 6

Grade 7 - Living in God's Holiness and Voyages in English 7

Math books starting at grade level 4 are charged separately. This new policy came about as increasing numbers of families have already purchased these books for long time use.

Saxon Math 54, 65, 76, 87 and Algebra 1/2 are an additional $20.00 each.

The Algebra 1/2 Solution Manual is also $20.00

Current Tuition Costs - Advanced Payment Plan (includes all materials and lesson plans. Seton also offers a monthly payment plan).

Kindergarten (per child fee): $150

Grades 1 - 12

1 Child $470

2 Children $905

3 Children $1300

4 Children $1670

5 Children $1970

New Family Application Fee: $25

High School Fee (per high school student per year) $50

Single Courses Available (inquire about costs)

Special Note: In addition to the main office in Virginia, Seton has opened a California branch in the Los Angeles area. Records will be kept for students enrolling through the California branch. However, families will still send papers to be graded to Seton's office in VA. (Counseling questions and SEM orders should also be directed to the main office in VA.) Parents enrolling will be able to pick up pre-packed grade level curriculum materials for grades K through 8. A display of curriculum materials will be available for perusing and for purchase.

California residents interested in Seton should contact:

Seton Home Study School--California

44751 Date Street

Suite 8

Lancaster CA, 93534

Phone:(661) 948-8881

Fax:(661) 948-7006

Email:setonca@iol7.com