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MarilynW
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| Posted: June 06 2007 at 8:45pm | IP Logged
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For religion next year we are living the Liturgical year - celebrating feast days and saint days and seasons with many of the wonderful ideas and crafts from all of you. We will add to our Liturgical year notebooks. We will continue Catholic Mosaic, read lots of saint books, and also work on our Blessed Mother notebooks. I will do some of the CGS presentations. And of course mass, rosaries and daily prayers/readings.
My question - do I need to do some official "catechism" - the kids did a lot of Catechism memorization and copywork this year. Is it enough to "live the liturgical year" ?? We have no sacraments next year.
Thanks for any opinions/ideas.
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Marilyn
Blessed with 6 gifts from God
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JennGM
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I'm no expert, but I've been trying to sort this out for myself. Not everyone here does the catechism memorization..."textbooky" and "filling the bucket" in some opinions.
I personally like having those answers in the back of my mind, knee jerk reactions when I have religion questions...then I break them down, research and put them into my own words. But that's as an adult. I didn't like learning them. 
Inos Biffi books are great for "catechism" without being too textbooky.
Some quotes from Mary Reed Newland comes to mind. She incorporated some of the basic catechism questions into daily conversation. "Who made you?" with discussions.
In short, for me, I think you are doing enough.
Perhaps memorization shouldn't be the goal, but if you have a section of the Q&A you want to cover, incorporate that into the notebook. Make it come alive. And afterwards they can write the Q&A down and illustrate it in the notebook.
Of course, consider your source of all the above opinion. Others may have wiser and more experienced answers....
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Mackfam
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| Posted: June 07 2007 at 9:26am | IP Logged
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Marilyn,
I struggle with this. I agree with Jenn, it is good to have the memorized answer to a catechism question at the ready in your brain. I think that is valuable. I'm not doing good at enforcing that though. We do so much better when we just "live it" like you're talking about. I use Faith and Life and Image of God to supplement, but these seem dryish. Is that bad to say? Because I love these texts - I think the theology and artwork in F&L is beautiful. I was thinking of just using the St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism as a sort of backbone or skeleton for the year, and then doing most of my religious ed. the living way. I am going to be watching this thread closely to see how others are handling this.
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Jen Mackintosh
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: June 08 2007 at 10:59am | IP Logged
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I think the question is sort of like the age-old math question: should we focus on memorizing math facts or understanding the concepts? Well, it is easy to see the value of both.
I tend to lean on the "understanding the concepts" side, in both math and religion, but that is just my style and also fits the learning style of my children. Not being raised Catholic I never got the catechism memorization thing, and I honestly can't say it hurts me now as a Catholic adult. Though it may be nice to be able to reel off a memorized answer to a specific question, I find it much more useful in everyday life and conversation to have an understanding of the theology behind the answers. Seldom is my child satisfied with a simple answer, anyway, and memorization is very frustrating for ds.So discussion is our main means of catechism. That and the wonderful story-like St. Patricks's Summer.
I know this is purely anecdotal, but my oldest daughter had the Baltimore catechism memorized. It means nothing to her now and she has turned from the church. The other children did no memorization work at all, but did plenty of reading and living the liturgical year, and much, much discussion. Their faith, and their understanding and enthusiasm for that faith is strong and inspiring.
So I feel that memorization of catechism, like memorization of math facts, is a useful tool. But is not the only road to a strong theological (or mathematical) foundation.
Obviously from what you have planned, you are not going the "drill and kill" route, which , IMHO can be just as deadly for religion as for math (unless of course you have a child that thrives on that style). I think what you have planned sounds just lovely, especially considering you have done some memory work already.Your children likely have a very solid foundation from which to work.
Oh, but I know so little. I often think I should not contribute much to this board. I have so much to learn myself, yet. So if you feel like disregarding my little opinion, please, please do.
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Theresa
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JennyMaine
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I think there are so many different and wonderful ways to present the truths of our faith and Scripture to our children. Sometimes I admit to feeling overwhelmed by how much there is to know and teach in this area - Scriptures and 2,000 years of church history alone, not to mention the liturgical year, catechism, etc. (I think I feel my knees giving out!  )
It seems logical to me that, as you've just done a solid year of catechism memorization, you can relax and spend a year doing just as you suggest. This helps round things out and connects the head knowledge to their hearts. You may want to review the catechism every now and then, especially through a game format which is low stress.
What will you do the following year?
I love to use Seton for religion, but we do take breaks for lapbooks, notebooks, other projects, read-alouds, etc. I try to alternate these things so we don't get burned out by only studying religion as a subject, KWIM?
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--JennyMaine, Mom to Catherine (17) and Sam (15) "The countenance is a reflection of the soul. You should always have a calm and serene countenance." -- Therese of Lisieux
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Religion plan - question
