North American Saints

We did a soft start to our school year today, and it was wonderful to get back into the rhythm of teaching and learning alongside my kiddos. G is ready for a full on curriculum, so this year we are starting with history and geography, in addition to math, reading, and religion. We’ll be learning about each continent in turn, and I’ve been so excited about creating a curriculum that fits her. One of my favorite parts I’ve added is a study of some of my favorite North American Saints.

When I sat down with our continent boxes, and looked at all I had made, I felt like there was something missing- I hadn’t tied in our faith, which is something I try to bring into every facet of our lives. As I thought more about how- it dawned on me: each continent has it’s own rich history of faith, and one of the best ways to delve into that is to look at the saints each continent has produced. Saints are an important way that G in particular connects with Catholicism, and I try to take every opportunity I can get to introduce her to new friends in Heaven.

Choosing North American Saints

Obviously there are more than 10 saints from North America, so I needed to winnow down the list a bit. When thinking through which saints to feature, I knew that I wanted a few from the U.S. because that’s where we’re from and they will geographically hit home to her (especially as we are studying early US history this year). I knew I wanted to find a saint from Central America, and to showcase Mexico and Canada as well.

I also wanted to take the opportunity to teach G about the process by which someone becomes a saint recognized by the Church, so when choosing our North American Saints, I chose people at each stage of the process: Servant of God, Venerable, Blessed, and Saint.

What’s Included

In the North American Saints PDF I’ve included bordered images of each saint (or blessed, or venerable, or servant of God) so that your child can learn to recognize them by sight, a handwriting page for your child to practice writing their names, and a quote card from each saint, hopefully to help both parents and children to get to know them better through their own words.

This work is meant to be a jumping off point for your family to learn about these amazing people, and it’s designed to be multi-faceted and open-ended. With it you can:

• spark interest in a new saint and start reading biographies
• add new patron saints to your family’s liturgical calendar
• discuss with your child how these saints affected the places and times in which they lived and the impact they had on their country
• memorize quotes (with older children) and talk about how they are applicable to life in your own family
• learn about the process by which someone becomes a saint
• and so much more!!

More Resources You’ll Love

Jen over at Faith and Fabric Designs, has some amazing sew-a-saints, including Saint Kateri and Saint Katherine Drexel.

Rebecca has included Fulton Sheen in her Modern Saints coloring collection (along with some other favorites around here).

Andrea at Stella Marigold Art has a collection of 6 North American Saint coloring pages that are just beautiful.

You can also check out my other continent-based resources over at Teachers Pay Teachers. More will be coming as I make them!