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Natalia
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for religion?
We have been using Faith and Life for my ds 8 and my dd12. They don't like their textbook. Ds doesn't like it but tolarates but my 12 yo complains loudly. She says it is sooo boring. Frankly, I also find them dry.
I was glad when MA suggested the Prove it series for my dd but she didn't like the Prove it God one.  I was disappointed . I think the book was a little above her head. Maybe if I had read it with her and discussed it instead of having her read them and narrate, she would've like it better.
Anyhow, do you use the living books approach in your homes? What living books would you recommend for a 12 yog?
Natalia
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Angela F
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Oh, Natalia this is so timely for me!  I think I could have written your post! I also have a 12 yodd, but my other is a 10 yodd. My 12 yo could barely get through the Prove it books as well. And she just finished the F&L book we had been working through. So I'm also very interested to hear what others might suggest!
We had decided to study some saint(s) now. She has some Vision books she hasn't read yet and MA has some suggestions for Lent and Easter Mater Amabilis Level 3 We hadn't come to a conclusion yet.
Also, for what it's worth, I switched my 10 yodd to St. Patrick's Summer by Marigold Hunt for catechism and she seems to enjoy it. Sophia Inst. Press puts it out.
So...I'm looking forward to hear what others have done with this age group!
God bless,
Angela
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lapazfarm
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I would just like to say that, no, it is not necessary to use a textbook for religion. We don't. But then again, we don't typically use textbooks for anything. We use a unit-study (sort of) approach and integrate the faith into the units. For example during our Christmas study we learned about St Nicholas and St Joseph, among other things. We typically use web resources for info, along with some saints books, etc. I recently spoke to our priest about it because ds has expressed an interest in a vocation to the priesthood. I wanted to make sure not to mess that up! He said that he approves of our approach, and he emphasized that the most important thing is to teach about the BEAUTY of the Catholic faith. This is why I hesitate to use materials that seem dry. I don't want to make learning about our faith into a chore. KWIM?
I am looking into A Year With God from CHC as a resource for fun activities that coincide with the liturgical year.
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Natalia
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Angela F wrote:
| We had decided to study some saint(s) now. She has some Vision books she hasn't read yet and MA has some suggestions for Lent and Easter Mater Amabilis Level 3 We hadn't come to a conclusion yet. |
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Last year we took a year off F&L and we did Vision books using the study guide. It was a good year. Right now we are reading the Vision book on St Isaac Jogues to complement our history. Saints is just one aspect of our faith and I think they do need the doctrine...
Angela F wrote:
| Also, for what it's worth, I switched my 10 yodd to St. Patrick's Summer by Marigold Hunt for catechism and she seems to enjoy it. Sophia Inst. Press puts it out. |
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Can you tell me more about this? We read her book The First Christians last year and it was very good.
thanks,
Natalia
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Natalia
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lapazfarm wrote:
| We use a unit-study (sort of) approach |
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I was thinking in doing some thematic unit studies. For example I was thinking we could follow the sections of the catechism; or we could take the three persons of the Trinity and do separate studies or some biblical themes like the gift of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit. The possibilities are endless, but I don't know where to start to pull resources for studies of this nature. Ideas anyone?
Natalia
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lapazfarm
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I also had thought about following the Catecism for a spine. Has anyone seen or used the book "100 Activities Based on the Catechism"? It has some pretty mixed reviews on Amazon.
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Theresa
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ALmom
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Can you get your daughter to tell you specifically what is boring her. We have found this often helps clue us in to the real problem. Sometimes its the textbook, sometimes not and sometimes it is just how we use the textbook. In F&L the old Tm have lots more meat and suggestions than the text - I don't know if that has changed since the new edition. We found film suggestions, and were spurred to ideas for other sources by the TM.
We try to take some breaks in Faith and Life so that it isn't endlessly the same in religion. We don't necessarily do workbook or other things. Mostly we read and discuss together and then find living books on the concept addressed. So, for instance, when we are studying about the church and hierarchy, we may take a break for a while and read lives of the apostles.
Other times we found that dc just got tired because F&L can get repetitive. So we took a break one year and did a Bible study from a different series. If the year is Church history, then use living books.
We intersperse with the church year, etc.
If you are just looking for a succinct outline of the faith - either Balt Catech (St Joseph is written for children) or CCC can provide an outline. I haven't seen anywhere that lines up other resources for each topic - so we use F&L as a spine so to speak and add from there.
I'm probably not the best to answer this as we tend to be textbook dependent in our house - but I have lots of experience tweaking what isn't working and finding out why.
Janet
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Leonie
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We don't use a textbook for religion - just think, for many eyars there were no religion texts, jut real texts and living books and actual writings!
I do own some texts for handy reference and for some memorization.
I find that we can approach the Faith through biographies, and rabbit trails and the many good books available about the Faith or that integrate the Faith into their stories.
By following the liturgical year.
Elizabeth has some good ideas in Real Learning - studying the Faith alongside the study of history or geography and science.
We are making lapbooks for Confirmation right now and they are like any lapbook project - we read and get ideas from several books and from websites and we go off on tangents. 
HTH - some!
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Angela F
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Oh Natalia,
Sorry it's taken me so long to get back on this.  I do agree with you on the doctrine area. I guess I'll be thinking on that, too. Like you, I think it would be great to do some sections from the catechism, but I also feel a bit at a loss as to how to pull together some resources.
As to St. Patrick's Summer - subtitled A Children's Adventure Catechism...My 10 yodd, who really doesn't just enjoy reading is doing one chapter per week divided into two sessions. She says that is just right, and she is enjoying it. I haven't read it, but for the first chapter and decided to go ahead based on having read A Life of Our Lord and The First Christians, also by Marigold Hunt. Following is a blurb from the Sophia site. Here's the link. I really like the last paragraph...
"I am Eve, the first woman God made.
I have come to tell you about
the creation of the world
and what happened in Eden.”
So begins one of the many exciting lessons in this surprising adventure catechism -- lessons taught by Abraham, St. Patrick, St. Cecilia, and, of course, Eve, the mother of all mankind.
Eve tells young Cecilia and Michael how the world was made and how the Devil deceived her. She describes the sorrowful events that followed. Abraham picks up the story, speaking of his own life, of Moses, and of the savior God promised the Jews.
But this is an adventure catechism, so in these pages there’s more than talk: Abraham takes the children back in time to watch Moses save the Israelites by parting the Red Sea. St. Patrick lets them see the Druids try to kill him for his Catholic faith. And he takes Michael and Cecilia to Bethlehem, where they stand with the shepherds in adoration of the newborn King.
Between catechism lessons taught by saints, the children travel back in time to witness persecuted Catholics risking their lives to attend furtive Masses in Roman days, in Reformation England, and in the Soviet Union just a few decades ago.
Through words and witnessing, deeds and doctrine, adventurous Michael and Cecilia learn the central truths of our Catholic Faith and discover how important they are, even today.
God bless,
Angela
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St. Josemaria Escriva
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lapazfarm
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Angela,
About what age would you say St. Patrick Summer is written towards? I am wondering if it would be appropriate for 10yo ds? It's hard to tell from the short excerpt on the website.
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Angela F
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lapazfarm wrote:
Angela,
About what age would you say St. Patrick Summer is written towards? I am wondering if it would be appropriate for 10yo ds? |
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That is an excellent question, of which, I am sorry to say, I am not sure!  I can't find anything on the book itself, and I checked on Amazon and B&N, but they don't have it up yet. And I did put in an email to Linda at Sacred Heart Books and Gifts. She says they will have the site updated soon; they may have the book already.
So I'll give you my take on it in our family. I switched over to this for my 10 yodd as she was getting burned out on the text book. Now, she is not my best reader. You will not find her curled up with a chapter book in the afternoon like you would my 12 you dd. (Who by the way seems very interested in reading this book ) She's my outside girl - she'd rather be up a tree!
That being said, she is really enjoying this book. I give her half a chapter twice a week. I haven't received any long narrations, but she can answer any questions I ask reasonably well. And she says she is liking it.
Here's an excerpt from Chapter One. Maybe that will give you an idea...
"Michael and Cecilia were two children who lived in the country in the west of England, so far out in the country, in fact, that there was no school near enough for them to go to. Instead, they went every day to do lessons with a particularly nice old lady called Miss Murphy. She had been a schoolmistress when she was younger, but now she was retired and lived in a little house about half a mile from Michael's father's farm and a little further from Cecilia's grandmother's cottage. This cottage was at a place called the Smithies, because there once was a blacksmith's forge there.
Neither of them had a mother that they could remember, and although they were very well contented with things as they were, both of them used to think it would be rather lovely to belong to a large family and have two parents each instead of one father and one grandmother between them.
Both of them liked old Miss Murphy, although they found her very tiresome at times, as people who make us learn things usually are. As for Miss Murphy, she thought Michael and Cecilia the two brightest and best children in the world, but she took care not to let them know she thought so."
Anyhow, hope that helps.
God bless,
Angela
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"‘Great’ holiness consists in carrying out the ‘little’ duties of each moment."
St. Josemaria Escriva
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lapazfarm
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Thanks, Angela, that was very helpful. It sounds like it would be a lovely addition to our religion studies. I can envision it as an independant read for ds and as a great jumping off point for more in-depth study. I can't wait to order it!
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Angela F
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Theresa,
Glad that was some help! Like I said, you can order it directly from Sophia and Sacred Heart Gifts and Books will have it at a discount. Hope you enjoy it!
Natalia wrote:
lapazfarm wrote:
| We use a unit-study (sort of) approach |
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I was thinking in doing some thematic unit studies. For example I was thinking we could follow the sections of the catechism; or we could take the three persons of the Trinity and do separate studies or some biblical themes like the gift of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit. The possibilities are endless, but I don't know where to start to pull resources for studies of this nature. Ideas anyone?
Natalia |
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Anybody have any thoughts yet? 
God bless,
Angela
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Mom to 7 blessings - welcome to Hanna Clare 1/19/10
"‘Great’ holiness consists in carrying out the ‘little’ duties of each moment."
St. Josemaria Escriva
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Erin
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Natalia wrote:
for religion?
We have been using Faith and Life for my ds 8 and my dd12. They don't like their textbook. Ds doesn't like it but tolarates but my 12 yo complains loudly. She says it is sooo boring. Frankly, I also find them dry. |
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Well Natalia I'd have to say we also find them dry. In fact we haven't found any text for religion that wasn't. So we;ve never used one. Their Faith was really something that I didn't want to 'turn them off'
Natalia wrote:
| Anyhow, do you use the living books approach in your homes? What living books would you recommend for a 12 yog? |
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Well my dd is alos 12. I'd recommend any of the Vision books really any saints stories.
At present we are reading Marigold Hunt's book of Angels and that's opening lots of discussion. We do this twice a week. Another day we are reading Maria Montessori's book about the Mass. All the children listen and discuss this togther. One day a week we read the Baltimore Catechism and another day we learn a Friendly Defender card.
Basically our Faith has been lots of saints and Bible stories and any tales that enhance any virtues. Lately we've been making a bit of any effort to learn some Catechism. And we LIVE the liturgical year, traditions and explanations make all the difference.
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Bookswithtea
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OK, so how many Marigold Hunt books are there that I don't even know about? I only knew of The Acts of the Apostles and A Life of Our Lord (both of which I really like). Now here are two more...I love the sound of the adventure catechism.
Natalia, we really dislike F and L here too. I use them sporadically...like once every 3 years, just to make sure they know the basic doctrines. I have my children read progressively more difficult children's bibles each year, so the vast majority of the bible stories covered in F and L are not new information. I've been known to pull out the BC once a year and ask a few pointed questions to make sure they are learning what they need to know.
As for unit study ideas, I think the notebook projects listed in the Living Faith forum would be the best resource out there. A Year With God is neat, but its not really intended for children 12 yrs old, imho.
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Natalia
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Thanks all of you for your ideas. I have used The First Christians and we have The Life of Our Lord for Children. The other two books by Marigold Hunt sound great.
That is the kind of thing I am looking for. I love the biographies of the Saints but I was looking for living books other that saints. I like to emphasize the saints as witnesses of our faith but there is the doctrine to be taught so I was looking for ideas for living books that teach or reinforce doctrine. If you think of anything else let me know... And what about conversion stories for a 12 yog to read. I mean something like Rome Sweet Home but more at her level. Is there such a thing?
Natalia
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Erin
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Natalia wrote:
| That is the kind of thing I am looking for. I love the biographies of the Saints but I was looking for living books other that saints. I like to emphasize the saints as witnesses of our faith but there is the doctrine to be taught so I was looking for ideas for living books that teach or reinforce doctrine. |
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Isn't St Patrick's Summer by Marigold Hunt a doctrine type book? Anyone know?
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Natalia
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Erin,
I think you are right about Hunt's books.(Not that I know for sure) But I was looking for more ideas.
Natalia
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Karen E.
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lapazfarm wrote:
| Has anyone seen or used the book "100 Activities Based on the Catechism"? It has some pretty mixed reviews on Amazon. |
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Dry and dull. I'm sorry I bought it.
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Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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Karen E.
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Natalia wrote:
I was thinking in doing some thematic unit studies. For example I was thinking we could follow the sections of the catechism; or we could take the three persons of the Trinity and do separate studies or some biblical themes like the gift of the Spirit or the fruit of the Spirit. The possibilities are endless, but I don't know where to start to pull resources for studies of this nature. Ideas anyone? |
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How about Alice's beautiful notebook ideas for the Easter Vigil, from Lent last year? You can find them on this thread.
It's a living study, it's lovely, and it leads up to the most beautiful night of the year.
I've been meaning to get a unit of some kind together (or notebooks, if nothing else) on our beloved JPII, but haven't accomplished that yet. You could really pull in a lot of things just by reading and learning about him or by doing one on Pope Benedict.
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Karen E.
mom to three on earth, and several souls in God's care
Visit my blog, with its shockingly clever title, "Karen Edmisten."
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4Real Forums : Domestic Church
Topic: Is it really necessary to use a textbook
