Thursday 11 August 2011

St Gianna Molla

The last few weeks we have been reading, studying and looking into various aspects of St Gianna Molla.
She is quite an amazing women.
Dermot read her book early in the year, so when our unit study arrived from CHC, I was quite excited. Brid was excited at first but then came all the questions that follows 'a bought unit study'. We culled them, and this freed Brid up to look at the questions she didn't really want to answer. Go figure- but it worked !
So this project has taken us all over the place.
We have looked at where Gianna lived, her travels around Milan and parts of Italy. It saw us look at WWII, Italys involvement in WWII, We looked different orders of our Faith -Franciscans, The medal of Our Lady of Good Counsel, St Francis, St Elizabeth of Hunguary.
It saw Brid start a week by week diary of an unborn baby. This took us on a journey of what a baby looks like at various gestational ages. I was able to explain lots of questions that arose. Such as, medical terms and the sizes of babies, and more.
We touched on conception, pregnancy and the use of Ultrasounds. We looked at photos of her as a baby.
It led us to looking and researching contraception and its misuse. It took us down the Planned parenting road, It took us to look at Abortion and the evils of these areas. We looked at the devaluing of family and married life with these issues. I did balance this out with teaching from Humanae Vitae, Our Pope, The warnings they gave and The gift of children, and pro-life. We used a wonderful book called Following Christ in the World- well written and I chose the small chapters  needing to be read aloud. Brid was so interested in this research, she actually graphed different statistics, with help from her Dad.
She gooed and gaaed over lots of gorgeous baby photos and we looked at Giannas Sainthood. Its date and her husband being present at the canonisation.

I couldn't have bought this time we had discussing this book. It was timely. It had so many sensitive issues to discuss. I wasn't sure when we would have a chat about them. As a Mum and a midwife I felt quite qualified to discuss all these issues raised. Was all this too young? No.
I know there will be more questions but its been a great journey.
It is coming to an end. Brid is sorting out her lapbook and how she will present it. Nevertheless, I think this unit study will be one she remembers for a while to come.
If you haven't read St Gianna Mollas Biography, buy a copy. Its inspiring reading.

8 comments:

  1. Thanks Erin, We really enjoyed & learnt so much. God Bless

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  2. It's good how these sensitive issues lead to a natural and comfortable mother-daughter discussion when the time is right, isn't it? I've been surprised at the fact that my daughter's schooled friends don't talk to their mothers about these things and, because of this, most of them have reached the age of twenty with little knowledge of the most basic issues and practically no spiritual awareness to guide them.

    I agree with Erin - it's an inspiring post, Leanne:)

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  3. Vicki, I agree, Those times we spend with our daughters just chattingcan really lead to some wonderful enriching discussion. This unit study has been one of those times. It was just so comfortable. Thanks so much for your encourgement.

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  4. What a learning journey you and Brid have been sharing, Leanne!

    I was thinking about youngest children and how they don't grow up experiencing pregnancy and babies as a natural part of family life. They are the babies themselves. Unless there are babies in the extended family or friends have babies, youngest children don't get to observe all the stages of pregnancy and then breastfeeding etc. It's sad they miss out on all the delights of having baby siblings. There are some things that don't come up naturally but need to be talked about in mother daughter chats. I love how you have done this with Brid.

    God bless.

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  5. I found you.

    Your post is just another confirmation that God can lead us to the right thing at the right time especially when we are asking the Holy Spirit to direct us.
    Praise God that He can write our curriculum.
    Smiles
    Michelle
    PS.Thanks for the curtain tip. You must tell others.

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  6. Hi Sue, yes it is true, the youngest doesn't have the same experiences, not seeing there Mum pregnant or breastfeeding, sttling little ones, because they are the little one. thank you so much for your Comment, it means so much. God Bless.

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  7. Hi Michelle, yes you have found me, thats great, this is my school blog.
    you are right, totally and utterly Holy Spirit inspired. Yes HE did write the curriculum, didn't HE!!.
    And yes hang your curtains up wet after washing them...its my tip..and on a schooling blog. God Bless Michelle and thanks for stopping by.

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