For three years now I have intended to design a curriculum for parents that follows the Church Year, its seasons, feasts, festivals and commemorations. I can not think of a better way to teach and impress on our children God's Work for us--that is, the atonement for our sins by Jesus Christ's perfect life, death and resurrection--than through celebrating Biblical and Church history, the lives of all God's saints, and of course, the Gospel story itself. This is the Church Year in a nutshell.
The theology herein will reflect those expressed in the Book of Concord. All visitors are welcome to contribute and make suggestions, regardless of their own confession, but please know I reserve the right to evaluate suggested resources against the BoC (and include disclaimers or "heads up" warnings). And parents, it's ultimately your responsibility to determine what is appropriate for your family. I will try mightily to assess materials theologically (and for historic accuracy...and maybe aesthetics, too), but something may slip through the cracks.
This is a supplement to--not a replacement of-- your family's reading the Word of God and praying daily. Please visit the General Resource part of my blog for general devotional and catechetical aids.
Finally, help me out!!! Tell us what your family does to celebrate the days and seasons of the Church! My own children are under 4, so a lot of what I will post may reflect that fact. However, I want this site ultimately to be a resource for any age.
So.. .what art, children's books, biographies or fiction, hymns, coloring pages, meals and treats, fun games or activities, poems and folk songs, Bible memory verses do you like?
Great start!
ReplyDeleteI really like what you've started here. I have three children and one on the way (2 and under) but we've already started incorporating the Church year into our daily lives, in very simple ways. Something that is very important to me. In my research for ideas I've mostly only come across E. Orthodox and Catholic resources which though I'm Lutheran I have found to be helpful, using only what applies to our calendar and beliefs.
ReplyDeleteSome things we do in our family to teach the Seasons and Feast days is wearing the color of the paraments for that day to church, using it on the table for meals either through the food, table cloth, with candles or flowers (for example a Three Berry Pie for Trinity Sunday, red strawberries for Pentecost, Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday, King Cake for Epiphany). I've found more food ideas here; http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/. I'm all for eating my way through the Catechism!
We also will do special crafts or coloring pages with the theme being the Season and we sing hymns of the season during our evening devotional time. Lacy at http://catholicicing.blogspot.com/ provides tons of suggestions for crafts (Catholic) that I've used.
As for books, we use some of Julie Stiegemeyer's series on Things I See, Things I Hear in Church as well as Joni Walker's Follow and Do series available through cph.org. I wish I had more suggestions for you but since my babies are so young I'm just starting out. I look forward to reading more ideas here though! Thanks a lot!
Aubri, it sounds like you might be more qualified to run this blog than I am! So far, besides seasonal themes, coloring pages, and Bible stories, all my liturgical year projects have been hypothetical. (And I have absolutely no excuse, since my oldest is 3:) I'm hoping this blog will motivate me, and I will learn what other families do. Thanks for the links; I'm working on a "resources" list, and might include your suggestions!
ReplyDeleteI love your idea for this blog. I used to do this kind of thing for my son when he was young. Now he is a teenage musician who practically lives at church and probably doesn't need reminders of the church year at home. I will try to contribute from time to time.
ReplyDeleteThanks for doing this.
Thank, Julie. Do chime in!
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