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LeeAnn
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 11:21pm | IP Logged
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Hi, I'm hoping somebody else has gone through this before! I'm a volunteer coordinator of Religious Education for my parish. I also am the lead teacher for the First Communion class.
I have a family preparing three of their children for First Communion together this year. They are in grades 4, 6 and 8. The grade 4 kiddo I'm not worried about. Our Sacrament Class regularly has children in grades 3-5 in it. The older two I haven't dealt with before.
Obviously the grade 2 level book written for First Communion (and First Penance prep) is going to be too childish for these boys. Are there any resources out there for older children preparing for First Communion?
To add to the equation: the older two have already been Confirmed (I don't know at what age--the family is from a Spanish-speaking country), so they don't really fit into the RCIC program mold either. And our parish is small and doesn't have RCIC anyway.
For the rest of the class, grades 2-5, I am using Loyola's biligual Sacrament prep program "God's Gift." I'm also supplementing (for basic catechesis) with my personal copy of Faith & Life 2.
Could I get these kids F&L 6 or 8? Considering the challenging reading level of the F&L books, I'm afraid the 8th grade text might put them off and might not address receiving Communion at all anyway.
Any suggestions?
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 04 2008 at 11:32pm | IP Logged
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what about something like Scott Hahn's books (not sure what level they're written at? or conversion stories(some emphasise different things so finding one that focuses on the Eucharist shouldn't be too hard)? or other newer stand alone books that explain more.. but aren't written at a too adult level? Even if you just had them read excerpts rather than the whole book?
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All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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LeeAnn
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| Posted: Sept 06 2008 at 7:28pm | IP Logged
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Jodie, I'm afraid that might be too "out there" for our program. They'd probably be happiest if I could find some kind of textbook.
I was wondering if Faith & Life 6 might work for both the 6th and 8th grader? I only have F&L gr. 1-5 (because my oldest is in 5th)--maybe someone has an opinion on this volume? I know each year has a different emphasis and really the gr. 2 book is perfectly adequate even for most adults as basic catechesis.
But I feel like I should offer something "more" for these older kids. Or if there was some way I could stretch the grade 2 book for them--by journaling? or research?--I don't know.
I'm torn between the fact that there is actually a very basic amount of information they need to know and the reality that they'll be bored to tears (likely) by the simplicity of it and the necessarily slower speed the rest of the class will be working.
Still stumped.
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my four children are 17, 15, 11 & 8 - all now attend public school - we read many 4Real recommended books at home
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JodieLyn
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| Posted: Sept 06 2008 at 8:01pm | IP Logged
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could you have things they could do to help the others? then they could finish up theirs and then help with the "teaching".. surest way to know you know something is to have to teach it to someone else.
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Jodie, wife to Dave
G-18, B-17, G-15, G-14, B-13, B-11, G-9, B-7, B-5, B-4
All men who have turned out worth anything have had the chief hand in their own education.
-Sir Walter Scott
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CatholicMommy
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| Posted: Sept 06 2008 at 8:03pm | IP Logged
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I'll have to give this some thought... my initial reaction though is to pull the 6th and 8th grader to their "own class" - they could then use the same book, but you'll be better able to gauge how quickly or how in depth they can go with the material - perhaps joining the others for special components.
I am grateful that all of the children in our program this year have had their sacraments already so that I only need to focus on the current children (2nd for Reconciliation/Communion and 10th for Confirmation) - we don't have any older new members, but if we did, the priest would be working with them himself. I just started as the full time director of religious ed for not one, but two, parishes. Challenging but fun.
I'll think/pray more about this one.
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: First Communion prep for 10-13 year olds?
