Where we left off in Part I was that I had just been hired as the Assistant Principal for St. Pius X Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio back in 1997.  The previous year they had ended the school year with the three out of the four teachers fired and with only seven students left.  Any normal priest would have given up and closed down the school but, God bless him, Fr. Scott just wouldn't say, "Die". 

My first job over the summer of 1997 was to rebuild the curriculum.  Since I was out of work, I was offered a "gas" stipend to come down to the school, rebuild the entire curriculum, order books, and re-organize the whole mess.  Besides my wife, Benita, and myself, we had two other teachers under contract.  The first grade teacher was a Filipino woman named Fatima (RIP).  She was scheduled to teach only the first grade and had only one student.  She approached me on the last Monday before school started and told me that she just couldn't do it.  She moved out of the rectory and I never saw her again.  Wonderful.  The other teacher was also a man, Mr. Raymond Macias from Azusa, California.  He was a man of slight build and very quiet demeanor.  Over the four years that we taught, I was able to rely on him to do simple tasks faithfully.  He had a humble spirituality and rarely spoke except about two subjects: the crisis in the Church and history.  We shared the same hardships in teaching in a Society school for four years, and just like soldiers, we came to depend upon one another.  I do miss him. 

Between Mr. Macias (no one ever called him "Raymond"), Benita, and myself we would handle virtually everything associated with the school over the entire four years.  Mr. Macias taught grades 1, 2, 3, and 4 at different times.  Benita always taught the Pre-Kindergarten and the Kindergarten.  I taught every other grade.  In all honesty, we had some part-time help at various times.  Mr. Mike McNay taught High School Latin and Middle/High School Gregorian Chant for the first two years.  Mrs. Cathy Nienaber taught High School French in the first year but her family moved to Kansas City .  Their moving was a tremendous loss, both to the school and to us personally.  Their integral Catholicism has been desperately missed by us in Cincinnati.  During the four years we had to hire an additional teacher to take care of the increasing enrollment.  My daughter Jennifer came back to teach grades 1 & 2 in the third year and Miss Betsy Berkel took over for Jennifer for the fourth year. 

Everything else was taught by us.  The first year I taught grades 4, 6, 9, and 11.  All in the same room and all at the same time.  Take about busy!  The next year I taught 4, 5, 7, 10, and 12.  The third year I taught 5,6,7,8, and 11.  It was too much.  Fortunately, we were able to re-organize during the year.  The last year I taught 5, 6, 7, 9, and 12.  I suggest that any mother who says that she can't do more than two grades at a time contact me at postmaster@blessedmargaret.org for pointers on how to organize yourself.  

Due to some very strong arm twisting on the part of Fr. Scott, the enrollment was increased to twelve.  We would see that number increase to a peak of 28 students during our last year.  Over that time we lost one family to a move, 1 student who dropped out, 1 student who was boarded at Post Falls, and 1 student pulled but charity forbids me to say why the family did this.  We went from 7 students to 28, or a four-fold increase in our enrollment.  What do I attribute this to?

We ran an integrally Catholic school.  The Faith permeated every subject all day long (to the disgust of the lax parents).  Every day was begun with the Rosary, the Stations of the Cross, or the Mass (when we could get it).  The discipline system was firm but impartial, based upon St. John Bosco's "Reason, Religion, and Kindness".  The lunches were silent except on 1st and 2nd class feasts.  I was in charge.  It was well ordered and well structured.  The curriculum was based upon a classical Catholic curriculum from Kolbe Academy in California with modifications due to what we had on hand.  We faced challenges that we weren't professionally prepared for but with humble reliance on God and His Blessed Mother, we had the confidence that God would not fail us and that everything would work out in His good time and in His way.  He never failed us.

This experience is what we offer to you.  We are preparing to offer the curriculum for use by home schooling families (traditional Catholic or not) as well as practical advice on how to make home schooling work.  If interest warrants, we will offer grading services and textbooks for sale.  It all depends on God's Will.

Please feel free contact us at postmaster@blessedmargaret.org.  As it takes working capital to invest in the materials necessary to make any non-profit corporation work, please visit our giftshop. 

For curious as to why we finally quit, it was because God didn't want us to teach any more.  He had something else for us to do.  We graduated our children who were in the school and we were essentially financially ruined by "the hardest job I ever loved".  God saw that our job there was finished and moved us on to bigger and better things, as they say. 

God bless and we hope to hear from you.