Objective: Review the meaning of purity of heart and pray a short Lenten prayer.
Recall yesterday's lesson: the 6th and 9th Commandments protect the goodness of love and call us to purity of heart. Lent is a season to ask God to make our hearts clean. Pray together, slowly: 'Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me' (Psalm 51:10). This verse comes from the great penitential psalm King David prayed after his sin — a fitting Lenten cry for a clean and undivided (integral) heart.
'Create in me a clean heart, O God.' — Psalm 51:10
Memory Work
Keep to 5 minutes; this is a gentle anchor before the skills work.
Grammar20 min
Common Usage Errors I: Homophones and Confusables
Objective: Correctly use commonly confused word pairs: their/there/they're, your/you're, its/it's, and to/too/two.
Homophones are words that sound the same but are spelled differently and mean different things. They are the most common errors in real writing — and they slip past spell-check. Master these high-frequency pairs:
THEIR / THERE / THEY'RE. 'Their' shows possession ('their books'). 'There' points to a place ('over there'). 'They're' is the contraction of 'they are' ('they're late').
YOUR / YOU'RE. 'Your' shows possession ('your turn'). 'You're' means 'you are' ('you're right').
ITS / IT'S. This one is tricky because the rule reverses. 'Its' (no apostrophe) shows possession ('the dog wagged its tail'). 'It's' (apostrophe) means 'it is' or 'it has' ('it's raining'). Test: if you can say 'it is,' use the apostrophe.
TO / TOO / TWO. 'To' is a preposition or part of an infinitive ('to Rome,' 'to run'). 'Too' means 'also' or 'excessively' ('me too,' 'too hot'). 'Two' is the number 2.
Worked examples: 'They're going to put their banners over there.' / 'It's clear that the dog hurt its paw.' / 'You're sure your essay is two pages, too?' The trick for every contraction is to expand it: if 'they are' / 'you are' / 'it is' fits, use the apostrophe form.
2What single test fixes its/it's and your/you're every time?
Activity
Practice — correct the errors in these 5 sentences in your notebook: (1) Their going to there favorite church. (2) The Church lost some of it's unity. (3) Your right that they're are two sides. (4) Luther nailed his theses to the door, to. (5) Its hard to no there reasons.
Vocabulary
homophone
a word that sounds like another but differs in meaning and spelling
contraction
a shortened form joining two words with an apostrophe (it's = it is)
If you can say 'it is,' write 'it's'; otherwise write 'its.'
Memory Work
ANSWER KEY for the 5 practice items: (1) 'They're going to their favorite church.' (2) 'The Church lost some of its unity.' (3) "You're right that there are two sides." (4) 'Luther nailed his theses to the door, too.' (5) "It's hard to know their reasons." Note item 5 also fixes 'no'->'know.' Give partial credit per correction; there are 8 total corrections across the 5 sentences.
Geography30 min
Religious Europe After the Reformation (c. 1600)
Objective: Map the Catholic/Protestant divide of Europe around 1600 and explain the pattern of who stayed Catholic and who turned Protestant.
By 1600 the religious map of Europe had hardened into a pattern that still echoes today. Broadly: the south stayed Catholic, and the north and parts of the center turned Protestant. Spain, Portugal, Italy, Ireland, southern Germany (Bavaria), Austria, Poland, and France (after its wars of religion) remained Catholic. The Protestant lands divided into traditions: Lutheran in northern Germany and Scandinavia (Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland); Reformed/Calvinist in Switzerland, the Dutch Netherlands, and Scotland; and Anglican in England. Germany itself was a patchwork, governed by the principle cuius regio, eius religio ('whose realm, his religion') — set at the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 — meaning each prince chose the faith of his territory. Today you draw and label this divide.
Drawing task: On a blank outline map of Europe, (1) shade Catholic regions one color and Protestant regions another; (2) label and color-code: Spain, Italy, France, Ireland (Catholic); England (Anglican); Scotland and the Dutch Netherlands (Calvinist); Scandinavia and northern Germany (Lutheran); (3) mark Geneva (Calvin), Wittenberg (Luther), and Rome. Add a small key.
1What geographic pattern do you see between Catholic and Protestant Europe?
2What did 'cuius regio, eius religio' mean for an ordinary person whose prince changed religion?
3Why might Ireland have stayed Catholic even though it was ruled by Protestant England?
Activity
Complete the shaded, labeled, color-keyed map of religious Europe c. 1600 as described in the content.
Vocabulary
cuius regio, eius religio
Latin, 'whose realm, his religion' — the ruler set his territory's faith
Peace of Augsburg (1555)
the treaty letting German princes choose Lutheranism or Catholicism for their lands
Pattern: Catholic south, Protestant north; Germany a patchwork after 1555.
Memory Work
Prep: print the blank Europe map ahead of time, or have the student draw freehand. Provide two colored pencils plus a third for Anglican/Calvinist distinction if desired. ANSWER/KEY for shading: Catholic — Spain, Portugal, Italy, France, Ireland, Austria, Poland, Bavaria; Lutheran — N. Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden; Calvinist — Scotland, Dutch Netherlands, Geneva; Anglican — England. Allow the full 30 minutes for careful map work.
Wrap-Up5 min
Notebook Wrap
Objective: Lock in the geographic pattern and grammar rule.
Beneath your map, write one sentence summarizing the north/south religious pattern of Europe. On your grammar page, write the memory line: 'If you can say it is, write it's.'
Activity
Write the map summary sentence and the grammar memory line.