Religion Elementary

Cultivating a devotion to the Blessed Sacrament through Eucharistic Adoration is an excellent way to keep children Catholic. Those who love Jesus in the Sacrament are less likely to leave Him and will have a lifelong joy in His presence. But, from my own experience taking my children to Adoration, it does take planning and preparation. What is a young child to think, say, and do while sitting in front of the Blessed Sacrament for a whole hour? This book gives some practical suggestions in the form of planned outlines for three different Adoration hours.

Each of the 3 outlines has a theme for meditation: We Adore Jesus Who Promises Living Water; We Adore Jesus with His First Followers; We Adore Jesus Who Give Us What is Good. Each outline is divided into 3 parts: Jesus the Way, Jesus the Truth, and Jesus the Life. The hour begins with an opening prayer. In the section “Jesus the Way” there is a scripture reading followed by a quiet time. In “Jesus the Truth,” there is a prayer of repentance and another quiet time. In “Jesus the Life,” there is a litany of praise and prayers of intercession followed by quiet time. Near the end the children are instructed to pray a prayer of spiritual communion.

Intended for groups, this could be adapted for use by a family. The instructions to speak out loud while the children are in quiet time could be modified so as not to be so intrusive. Also, in the “Practical Recommendations for Using this Book with Groups” section at the back of the book, there are explanations of some gestures that the children could use that may not be those in accepted use by individual families, for example, raising hands during intercessory prayer. But the suggestions for a method to move through a holy hour could help a family who wants to start this devotion, but doesn’t know where to begin. It also might be useful for homeschool cooperative groups who want to make a holy hour. For some families, there may not be enough for a whole hour with each outline. We like to add praying the Rosary to our Adoration time. And each child brings his own devotional reading material.

Other resources for encouraging Eucharistic devotion in children include the following:

the website of Father Antoine and his book Praying in the Presence of the Lord for Children;

Eucharistic Texts and Prayers throughout Church History by Daniel Guernsey;

Eucharistic Adoration Coloring Book by Katherine Sotnik;

I THE LORD AM WITH YOU ALWAYS: Prayers and Meditations for Eucharistic Adoration compiled by Christine McCarthy

the Real Presence website.

A gorgeous presentation of the Easter story! Fiona French tells the story in twelve stained glass tableaux: the entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the betrayal in the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus judged before Pilate, the scourging at the pillar, the carrying of the cross, the crucifixion, taking him from the cross and laying him in the tomb, the resurrection, meeting with doubting Thomas, the loaves and fishes by the Sea of Tiberius, the Ascension into heaven. The images are inspired by stained glass in the English cathedrals of Ely, Lincoln, York,and Canterbury and are rich in traditional details.

The effect is rather more like guiding a child on a tour of a church, examining the artwork and explicating it than reading a story of Jesus' life. Which is a plus for me as I love the didactic art in old churches. I especially adore stained glass and love the way French uses its conventions.

The text is taken from the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament, though I think it is edited some. This isn't the full text of the Gospel, just short passages of a paragraph or two that caption the picture. I like that it doesn't water down the Biblical language with too-simple paraphrases and yet doesn't overwhelm with too much text either. My three-year old is quite captivated by this book asking for it to be read again and again and pointing to the pictures and requesting further explanations of the images.

Faith Quest, The Basics is an interactive computer program that covers the fundamentals of the Catholic faith. The package includes a CD-Rom and a Facilitator Resource Guide. It has both a Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur.

The Facilitator Guide includes an overview of the materials, Lesson Worksheets, Quizzes, Crossword Puzzles, Unit Practice Test, Unit Test, and Answer Keys.

When you turn on the program, you hear pleasant contemporary music as the title and other basic information comes on the screen. In fact, music is interspersed throughout the program. The instructions are easy to follow. Other than a computer, the only other requirement is that the student should be able to read. Because of the index menu, the student is able to leave off in the middle of a lesson and return to it later.

Lesson 1, Step 1 is vocabulary. A lovely picture is in the background, reflecting the beauty of God's creation, as the first vocabulary comes on the screen with a short, simple, and accurate definition. Throughout the program, there are various sound effects to catch the student's attention with the changes of the information, while the picture may remain the same. In step one, the sound effects accompany each new word. The picture only changes when moving from one step to the next. A pleasant woman's voice reads the word and the definition. At this point, the student should write down the definition he has just heard and read on his worksheet. This incorporates three senses. The student is listening, reading, and writing. When the student is ready, he clicks on the move ahead button.

In step two, a new background picture appears on the screen as the question on the worksheet with the answer come on the screen. Again, sound effects accompany the change of text, while keeping the picture the same. After the word and definition are given, the text changes (after the student clicks on the move ahead button) to a scriptural reference and/or a reference to the CCC. Because of the length of the text, there is no voice to accompany the reading of the text in this step.

After completing these steps, the screen changes again to the "Challenge" portion. In Lesson one, the student is asked to recite the Apostles Creed and explains the significance of knowing the Apostles Creed in defending our faith to others. For those who don't know it, the next section displays the Apostles creed on the screen along with music. In Lesson one, it closes with a Question and Answer. Not all lessons close with a final question.

At the end of the four lessons, there is a Unit 1 Practice Test on the computer, covering all four lessons. The first 20 are multiple choice questions. Questions 21-30 are true/false. Questions 31-40 are statements with two words highlighted as choices for answers. The student must click on the correct choice. A cymbal clashes with the correct answer. The final Unit test is only in the Facilitator's Guide.

In the Facilitator's Guide, after the overview of materials, the following sections are included.

Lesson 1 is "You Are a Special Creation of God." Step one is "Building Your Faith Vocabulary": Apostles, Creature, Creed, Crucified, etc. There are sixteen vocabulary words in lesson 1. In Step Two, the student answers fundamental questions such as "Who created the world?" There are references to the CCC or scripture throughout all the questions. The next section of Lesson 1 is a crossword puzzle on paper, reviewing the vocabulary in Step One. The next section is a Quiz that includes matching and fill in the blank.

The next three lessons cover: The Nature and Mystery of God; Creation, Angels, and Original Sin; and Understanding the Meaning and Nature of Sin (all with a similar format to the first lesson). Although the format may not seem like much material, the student should have a through grounding in these topics when he is finished.

I think this program is ideally suited for the student who is used to a lot of media stimuli. It concentrates on "sound bite" messages with a grounding in the basics with scriptural references and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Because the program incorporates all the senses and the student can go at his or her own pace and go back and review at any time, I can also see this program as ideal for the special needs student who has difficulty reading or processing information or retaining large chunks of information, Since the student sees the words on the screen as well as hears them spoken, and then writes the definition down, retaining information should be easier. For a student who has English as a second language, this would also be a good program provided the student has at least minimal reading skills. A mentor could also read the longer sections and explain them as needed. This program would also be ideally suited to the student who needs foundational knowledge or who needs a basic review.

The program is visually appealing as well as well presented and gives a through grounding in the faith. Another advantage to the program is that the student is able to work at his or her own pace. Because of the crossword puzzles, quizzes, and tests, the teacher can easily determine whether or not the student is grasping the material.

Since the program has the student working primarily independently, the teacher should set aside some additional time to discuss and apply what the student has learned to real life situations.

Comes with a high quality china marker that works quite well. Children can mark all of their good deeds for each day of the week, as well as affix earned flowers stickers (2 sheets with 100 stickers each included). They can also "lose roses" if they sin ("fight, lie, are unkind, disobedient, lazy", etc) which is something I hadn't seen in a chart like this before. The back of the chart lists rules for using it and how many flowers children should attempt to win daily. Suggestions of "holy rewards" are given, as well as more examples of sinful behavior that will cause one to lose roses.