A Living Catechism: St. Patrick's Summer

St. Patrick's Summer: A Children's Adventure Catechism 

by Marigold Hunt

I bought this book years ago to read aloud to the kids, but they ended up listening to it at Children's Adoration at our parish instead. The moderators of Mater Amabilis have recently suggested it as an alternative catechism book for fifth grade (Level 2 Year 2). Second Son, my youngest, was just starting Level 2 Year 1, but I thought this would be a good year to schedule catechism because I didn't know how it would go in a Covid year at our parish. They ended up meeting every Sunday in person, just as planned, but Second Son read through the book as well. 

In St. Patrick's Summer, two young children are prepared for First Communion by miraculous visits from St. Patrick in the answer to prayers from their faithful (but tired) catechist. He teaches them about the beginnings of the Catholic faith and the meaning of the Eucharist in a way that makes the faith not only alive to them, but relevant to their daily lives.

The explanations are excellent. Very often they give a basic idea but encourage the reader to learn more as they grow; they leave lots of room for nuance and a deeper understanding as children mature.

This is a great book for kids to read independently in Level 2. Second Son read and narrated about half a chapter once a week. Some chapters are longer and were divided into three readings. It would also be a good book for First Communion preparation, but parents may want to read it aloud.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon and Bookshop are affiliate links. I purchased this book.

Level 4 Catechism: Introduction to Catholicism

Introduction to Catholicism: A Complete Course

General Editor: Rev. James Socias

The Didache Series

(We have the revised first edition. Here's the second edition.)

This book is recommended for Catechism in Level 4 (eighth grade) of Mater Amabilis™. It's also on the list for additional or alternate texts for Level 5 (beta plans available in the Mater Amabilis™ for High School Facebook group).

The suggested schedule is three times a week, reading and narrating each day. After a few weeks, I needed to shift our schedule a little and decreased it to twice a week. First Son read about half of the chapter each week, including the supplementary reading, which most of the time shared the life of a saint relevant to the theme of the chapter. The sections at the end of each chapter include study questions (which I intended to use in addition to narrations but eliminated when we dropped to scheduling only twice a week), some application suggestions, and a list of Catechism references on the chapter's theme. Some of these were more useful than others.

The very first page of every chapter attempted to provide a real-life example of the chapter's theme in a real-life situation, but most just seemed contrived.

The book touches on just about every aspect of the Catholic faith. Here's the table of contents (again, this is for the first edition; the second edition has at least one entirely new chapter):

1. The Call to Holiness
2. Prayer
3. The Trinity
4. The Church
5. The Blessed Virgin Mary
6. Revelation
7. The Old Testament - This mainly covers the first five books. The remainder are summed up in one or two sentences at the end of the chapter.
8. The New Testament
9. The Sacraments
10. Baptism
11. Confirmation
12. The Eucharist
13. Penance
14. Anointing of the Sick
15. Matrimony
16. Holy Orders
17. Freedom
18. The Moral Virtues
19. The First Commandment
20. The Second Commandment
21. The Third Commandment
22. The Fourth Commandment
23. The Fifth Commandment
24. The Sixth and Ninth Commandments
25. The Seventh and Tenth Commandments
26. The Eighth Commandment
27. The Beatitudes

There are a few small mistakes and times when I thought to myself...."not quite right." For example, in the third chapter, the book describes adoptionsim and wrongly calls it Arianism. Kansas Dad noticed it right away when he overheard First Son's narration. Later, in chapter thirteen on Penance, within a discussion of the Prodigal Son, this paragraph appears:

God often permits man to sink deeper into sin like this, forcing man to face up to his dismal condition. Some people only return to God when they are faced with tragedy caused by repeated serious sin in their lives. An example would be a person who regularly abuses alcohol: One night he drives while drunk and kills an innocent person. The shock of having killed another person forces him to come to terms with the sin of getting drunk. 

I'm not an expert on carefully explaining what God permits in contrast to what we do against his desires, but I would never suggest that God "allows" the death of an innocent person to "shock" someone "to come to terms with...sin." If someone dies because I have sinned, that is very much against His will.

In the last chapter (chapter 27) on the Beatitudes, I read this weird sentence:

Those who are poor in spirit desire only the goods necessary to ensure a healthy standard of living in accordance with their particular state of life. 

How do we know what is excess? It goes on:

For the rest of us, the phrase indicates that there are different levels of need for goods. For example, those whose professions require that they present themselves as successful, such as lawyers or stockbrokers, have a greater need to show off personal wealth than those whose job doesn't have such an emphasis.

I'm not really sure what they mean here. It would make more sense to me to say that people need to be able to perform their jobs well and for some, that requires dressing in a particular professional way, whether that be suits or work boots and overalls. I was recently reading a papal encyclical that talked about the necessity of providing insurance for times of old age, illness, and unemployment, so some savings are appropriate, more if you are providing for a family. This statement makes it seem like lawyers and stockbrokers need to buy expensive homes and cars, but I can't tell if they mean it ironically. I think the phrase "show off" was ill chosen.

There were, however, some excellent parts where the book drew clear lines between the theoretical virtue or commandment in the chapter and the actions we are called to perform. It even described how to behave in particular circumstances that might be awkward or difficult. For example, the chapter on Anointing of the Sick included visiting the sick.

Some of us may find it difficult or depressing to visit those who are sick. We should remind ourselves, though, that caring for the suffering is not an option but a requirement. We may often feel awkward when trying to make conversation, yet we must keep in mind that our presence alone is a sign of support to someone who is ill. The best rule for conversation is to permit the sick person to lead the way. If he wishes to discuss his illness, then be willing to follow that lead. Many sick persons find it makes things easier if they are able to discuss their problem and their feelings during this time. Sometimes, the sick person may wish to say nothing, in which case we have to accept that our presence is all the support that is wanted.

Chapters 23 and 24 cover sensitive but important topics such as abortion, euthanasia, suicide, war, chastity, purity, and modesty. For the most part, I thought these were handled well, but if you were only going to pre-read a few chapters, these are probably the most important ones.

There is a list of sins against chastity in chapter 24. While none of these are incorrectly listed as sins, I would encourage families to expand on these limited definitions. For example, divorce is listed as a sin against chastity, but there are occasions in which a woman (or a man, I suppose) needs to separate herself and her children from a dangerous situation. In those instances, the sin is not one of divorce. These kinds of discussions are difficult and probably work best as natural conversations as instances are encountered in life or in the news. In my own family, I try to cultivate an environment of charity that presents the truth of the Gospel and the Church as how God has designed humans to live the most fulfilling life, but that sometimes people fail to follow his laws and then we must turn always to compassion and the sacrament of Reconciliation.

The saint for this chapter is St. Maria Goretti. At first I was concerned because she isn't a saint due to her fight for purity (no girl who is unable to fight off her attacker is a sinner), but because of her forgiveness of her attacker. The description does a good job of telling the story and including his story of redemption by her prayers and actions.

The virtue of chastity requires a delicate balance between those who many struggle more with scrupulosity and those who are more attuned to the culture. The chapter seems to be written more for the latter, but some homeschooled children may fall more into the former. It may be a good idea to arrange for a private and quiet discussion of this chapter rather than a straightforward narration.

As a side note, our parish eighth grade PSR class, using the new Sophia Institute books, covers many of these sensitive topics near the end of the year. It was comforting to know they were being addressed by someone other than us, so First Son would realize these are essential topics and that our parish is reiterating what he's heard from us, but at the same time, it was important to me that he heard them from us first. This book gave us the opportunity we needed to frame those discussions.

The list of sins against the seventh commandment (in chapter 25) could be updated to include both plagiarism and using or downloading electronic programs, games, movies, music, or resources without paying for them, both sins that are probably likely to be encountered by teenagers in our contemporary culture. I talked about these issues with First Son to explain why these are immoral and it led to a good discussion. (These issues may be addressed in the second edition.)

I appreciated how the book handled the application of the these commandments (the seventh and the tenth) in business.

Man has been made by God to be the author, center, and goal of all economic life. Business is not to have profit as its highest goal. Though profit must be a consideration if the business is to survive, the main goals of economic activity should be the support and development of individuals through work and service of human beings[.]

It also complemented nicely what First Son is learning about communism in his history readings.

True development of society concerns not just a more efficient economic system but the whole person. Societies should strive to increase each person's ability to respond to the call of God to save his soul. If a person is reduced to nothing but his "productivity," this call is being ignored. 

At the end of the year, I asked First Son what he thought of the book as a whole. He liked the chapters on the sacraments, saying they explained exactly what the sacraments were well. He also appreciated the lists of sins in some of the chapters because they helped him understand how the commandments and doctrines translated into real life.

It's not a particularly exciting book, but First Son found it to be clear and was able to narrate well the main concepts in the chapters. For us, I think it's a good general book that covers a lot of material in preparation for more in-depth explorations of the faith in the high school years. I think it could certainly be used in high school if it is not read in Level 4.

There were a few instances, pretty much all mentioned above, where I felt qualification was necessary. To be honest, I'm not sure a book other than the actual Catechism (which the beta Mater Amabilis™plans, available in the Facebook group, recommend for high school) would completely satisfy me. Between my own compunction for non-generalized truth and accuracy and Kansas Dad's theological knowledge (because he's a theology professor), we're annoyingly particular. I don't have plans to seek out anything different for the other kids because I think this is a good option.


I bought this book used from a mom in our local homeschool group. Links to Amazon above are affiliate links. These opinions are my own.

School Week Highlights: Week 2

The highlights of our second week of school, because we're trying to focus on the positive, the learning that's happening instead of the book-reading that might not be happening...

1. First Daughter had her first band class last week! She's learning the saxophone, because my aunt had one we could use and First Daughter is a good sport about that. I should really have a picture of her with it, She's practiced diligently every day despite her siblings' groans.

2. Second Daughter created a paper dog for a project in her art book (Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book One). She gifted it to Second Son and the proceeded to create a menagerie (and accessories like a Santa hat for the puppy shown below) by cutting up all our construction paper and leaving bits of paper all over the living room floor. They did eventually pick all the mess up.

3. First Daughter had her first meeting with a family from our parish for whom she will be a mother's helper this year. She loves children and helping around the house and I love being able to share her with those who have more children than hands and need a bit of breathing space. They seem like a lovely family and hopefully they will find joy in being together.

4. First Son has his first PSR class. They meet on Wednesday nights, beginning with dinner together. We also have dinner as a family before he goes, so he has "second dinner" there. Sometimes "third dinner," too, if any of his friends isn't particularly hungry. He loves this time with his friends each week.

5. All the children joined me for my dentist visit this week. First Son stayed in the waiting room and focused on some lessons he brought. No cavities for me! Yay! Then we went to the zoo for nature study. First Daughter and Second Daughter are both studying Africa this term, so we visited lions and meerkats and gorillas. We were able to see the lion close-up and both daughters sketched wonderful pictures. (First Son sketched a lion, but he's more interested in finishing than artistic flourishes.)

6. Second Daughter wrote an amazing narration of her catechism reading this week. She's reading The Mass Explained to Children by Maria Montessori because I have a lovely copy I picked up at a library sale. (We used to read Faith and Life but our parish did that with them, so I dropped it. Now they've just started using the new Sophia program but I sold all our books so...not going back.) Second Daughter has no assigned written narrations, but she often decides she prefers to write a narration than wait for me to have a minute to listen to her orally narrate. I have never had a child do this before, but I like it!

It's probably hard to read, so I'll type it here, just as she's written it:

When you go to mas you go inside a bilding. the bilding is called the church. once you are inside the church you will see lots and lots of benches. the benches are called puoes. you walk down a alise and kneel down on one knee and make the sign of the cross. this is called genuflecting and you do it to show respet to God. after you genuflect you go into a puoe. then you kneel down on a cushon. the cushon is called a kneeler. it is there so your knees will not hurt after you kneel becuse God dose not whant you to be uncomfertible. and you look at the alter. the alter is a table at the Front of the church. but it is not a ordinary table it is speshal becuse Jesus is on that table after every mas.

7. First Daughter made a delicious chocolate angel food cake for the Feast of the Nativity of Mary on Friday. (recipe from Marian Devotions in the Domestic Church)

8. We ate the delicious angel food cake as we settled at the park to watch a free outdoor production of Twelfth Night, from which the children have memorized many passages with How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare. We couldn't always hear everything and it's a shame there aren't more men in our area interested in performing Shakespeare (necessitating casting women in important male roles), but live Shakespeare is always a treat. Sir Toby was magnificently played.

9. Not a school highlight, exactly, but Second Son and I went on his outing on Saturday. This was an outing I'd promised we'd do as soon as the play ended...(cough) on April 1st. We had lunch, frozen custard, visited the science museum, saw a movie there (which we never do with all the kids), got something at the snack bar (which we never do), played at the park, and I let him pick a book at the used book store. He focused his energy at the park on the funky monkey bars (set at odd angles) and succeeded! An afternoon well-spent!

Solid, Dependable, and Never Needing Qualifying: Following Christ, Faith and Life book 6

Following Christ (Faith and Life book 6) from Ignatius Press

We've been using the Faith and Life series for years and I continue to find it solid and dependable. We don't use the activity book. First Son would read one chapter about once a week then narrate it to me. We have the second edition, without the changes due to the Missal's revision. The helpful people at Ignatius provided a document listing all the changes to I could adjust the text myself.

This book has 31 chapters plus two additional chapters devoted to Advent and Christmas to schedule at the appropriate time (found at the end of the book). There's also an appendix on liturgical colors and vestments.

The first sixteen chapters focus on The Ten Commandments. They include examples of saints appropriate for each commandment. There are also examples of sins against each of the commandments that might be committed by a late elementary or early middle school aged child. Chapter 13 covers adultery and coveting. Though there is nothing explicit in the chapter, it won't make much sense or will lead to questions if the subject of marital intimacy and conception have not been discussed or explained. St. Maria Goretti is mentioned in this chapter, which frustrates me a little. I prefer her example as one of forgiveness rather than purity as I worry a young girl who is overpowered and attacked may erroneously blame herself.

There is also a small paragraph on secrets in chapter 15 that's not exactly bad, but I wish it had specified not keeping secrets about someone being hurt or hurting someone else. It might also have mentioned that discussing something uncomfortable or distressing with a priest can be helpful. The Confessional is protected by a vow of silence and the priest can help discern if someone else should be told.

The remaining chapters address the Mass, walking the student through each part of the liturgy. The Mass is placed in relationship to the Old Testament sacrifices.

The lamb was slaughtered to offer it up. But this was not all. To complete the religious ritual or celebration of the sacrifice, the people would eat the lamb. The gift that they offered was received back as a gift.

Mass is even greater sacrifice, but the ritual is not complete without receiving the Eucharist.

We join the priest in offering Jesus to the Father; the Father accepts our gift and gives it back to us to eat....Holy Communion is normally meant to be received in the communal religious service which is the Mass. We are to go forward as God's family--not alone but in company.

Later, in chapter 20, the discussion of the Mass continues.

Those who feed on his Body and Blood have life in him--Christ's life, which does not destroy our personality, but perfects, enriches, and preserves it to life everlasting.

First Son reads well but not particularly quickly and he was usually able to read a chapter in ten to fifteen minutes followed by a few minutes of narration. We participate in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and CCD classes at our parish, but I believe the  Faith and Life books complement those classes with excellent material presented clearly in a small amount of time. Every time I consider dropping them, I decide to continue.

The italic print: I received this book for free from our parish when they purchased the third edition for each of the classes. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. As an affiliate with Amazon, I receive a small commission if you follow one of my links, add something to your cart, and complete the purchase (in that order). Every little bit helps - thanks!

Homeschool Review: Our Life with Jesus (Faith and Life 3)

 

Our Life With Jesus

Book 3 in the Faith and Life Series, Revised Edition

In third grade, we continued with the Faith and Life series for catechism. I find this series to be a solid Catholic source of basic information on the faith. I did not use the teacher's manual or the activity book in third grade. I would have liked the teacher's manual, but did not want to spend the money on it. As for the activity book, I knew First Daughter would want one as well and did not want to buy two, especially since she could not read much at all at the beginning of the year.

There is a new edition of this book, the third edition, that was recently published to address changes in the liturgy introduced a year ago. I was able to use the revised edition without any problem with the downloads Ignatius Press provides on their website. Used copies of the Faith and Life series seem to be widely available. I've gotten most of mine used from local families. If you are buying new, I recommend making sure you buy the third edition.

I asked First Son to read one chapter a week (on one day) and narrate it. He was able to read the content without any problems, though there is more text, printed smaller, than in Faith and Life 2. Each chapter includes catechism questions and sometimes quotations from the Mass or Scripture. I liked to use the catechism questions as discussion prompts after First Son's narrations, but we did not try to memorize them. Our catechism lessons usually took fifteen to twenty minutes, including First Son's reading, narration, and discussion.

There are thirty chapters in the book. I chose to put our catechism aside during Advent, so the number of chapters was perfect. It loosely follows salvation history, beginning with creation and moving through the Old Testament with Abraham and Moses, then into the New Testament with Jesus' birth, childhood, and Passion. Following Moses, there are a few chapters that expound on the Ten Commandments. In a similar way, there are a few chapters that delve more into the Mass after the chapter on the Last Supper. The chapters following Pentecost focus on the Church, Mary, and the Communion of Saints.

Unlike Faith and Life 2 (and more in line with the other Faith and Life books), Our Life with Jesus uses real paintings for most of the illustrations along with some photographs for many of the chapters on the Mass. The real art is a great benefit of this book.

I am satisfied with our catechism with the Faith and Life series. It seems to present the same information each year but slightly more in-depth, but I like that how clearly it teaches the faith and have decided I don't mind the review. We supplement our catechism with PSR, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, celebrations of the liturgical year, daily prayer, and many other activities. I therefore look to our catechism books to cover the basics so I am sure we aren't missing anything.

I have also posted reviews of the first Faith and Life book, Our Heavenly Father, and the second Faith and Life book, Jesus Our Life.

The Catholic Company Book Review: Seeds of Faith for Children

Seeds of Faith for Children

by Rosemarie Gortler and Donna Piscitelli

illustrated by Mimi Sternhagen

Over and over again, I am pleased with the little books for children written by Rosemarie Gortler and Donna Piscitelli. I own all but one, I think (Living the 10 Commandments for Children) and even reviewed Little Acts of Grace 2 for The Catholic Company a few years ago.

I have used all of these books as our catechism books for my preschoolers and kindergarteners, but I think Seeds of Faith for Children will quickly become one of my favorite first books to use in our homeschool (along with Little Acts of Grace and The Mass Book for Children).

In this book, children learn how the gifts of God through the Church help our faith to grow just like a seed well tended grows into a beautiful plant. These precious gifts are prayers, the Creed, the Ten Commandments, the sacraments, sacramentals, and even the opportunities to do acts of charity. The explanations are perfect for little ones like preschoolers and kindergarteners, encouraging them to make connections with the prayers they hear at Mass and the statues or other sacramentals they may see at home.

Throughout, there are quotes from Scripture (the RSV translation, not modified) and from the Youth Catechism of the Catholic Church. The end of the book includes prayers, a list of the sacraments, and the Ten Commandments. (The Commandments are also listed within the text, but in language more accessible for young children. I thought it was very well done.)

The illustrations by Mimi Sternhagen include the little mouse my children have learned to find on each page. I appreciated that, though the mouse is shown going to confession, he does not take Communion. I love how Jesus himself appears in the confessional and with the priest in the illustration of First Communion (which has such a beautiful young girl!). I can tell there has been a real effort to make the illustrations an additional source of information on the faith for children.

Another wonderful book from Rosemarie Gortler and Donna Piscitelli.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an objective review.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Seeds of Faith for Children. The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Second Grade Memory Work: Bible Verses and Poetry

After morning prayers, we pull out the memory book. (Now we have two, as First Daughter was so disruptive during First Son's memory work, I invited her to begin her own at the end of March. She was thrilled and slightly less bothersome when First Son recited.) Here's a record of First Son's memory work for second grade.

Bible Verses

All of our Bible verses are from the NRSV. I went through and copied many I liked onto index cards (which are stored separately from the binder linked above). We had plenty left from the ones I coped before first grade from which to choose.

• John 15:10
• Gen 1:1-2
• Phil 4:13
• 1 John 1:8-9
• Matthew 18:21-22
• John 15:16
• Joshua 1:9
• Phil 2:3-4
• Hebrews 11:6

For those wondering, First Daughter's Bible verses were:

• Psalm 118:105
• Matt 18:20

After the first one, I realized I should arrange the order differently than First Son learned them in kindergarten so they will not be reciting the same verses on the same days when the verses are moved back to the once-a-month category. You can find a list of the Bible verses First Son memorized in kindergarten here. First Son's first grade memory verses are here.

Poetry

We begin by reading the poem aloud each day. As First Son becomes more familiar, I ask him to fill in words and phrases until he's ready to attempt the entire poem on his own.

• Bed in Summer by Robert Louis Stevenson found in A Child's Garden of Verses
• Pirate Story by Robert Louis Stevenson found in A Child's Garden of Verses (I wouldn't have chosen another Stevenson poem so soon; First Son requested it.)
• Something Told the Wild Geese by Rachel Field found in Poetry By Heart
• Daddy Fell Into the Pond by Alfred Noyes found in Favorite Poems Old and New (Oh, how the children love this poem! They laugh and laugh.)
• Who Has Seen the Wind? by Christina Rossetti found in Favorite Poems Old and New
• The Woodpecker by Elizabeth Madox Roberts found in Favorite Poems Old and New
• Dragonfly by Florence Page-Jaques found in Read-Aloud Rhymes for the Very Young (First Son selected this poem as well, mainly for its length or lack thereof.)
• Daffodowndilly by A. A. Milne found in When We Were Very Young
• Open Range by Kathryn and Bryon Jackson found in Favorite Poems Old and New (First Son didn't quite have this poem memorized at the end of the year, so we'll start with it again in the fall.)

First Daughter started at the end of March:

• Singing Time by Rose Fyleman which I think I found in Poems and Prayers for the Very Young (See a video of her performing it.)
• Flowers at Night by Aileen Fisher found in Tomie dePaola's Book of Poems (still in progress)

First Son's first grade poetry is listed in this post. I read poetry in kindergarten with him, but we didn't try to memorize any. We still read poetry together at least once a week (everyone listens!) but I consider that separate from our memory work.

Whenever I see a poem I think might be a good one to memorize, I add it to a Word document (one poem per page). Once a year, I print it out (and will do so twice now that we have two binders) and put it at the back of the memory binder. As the child masters a poem, I select one from my options based on the child's interests and the time of year. I have pulled poems from a great many books of poetry and the one I would most highly recommend for young children who want to memorize a poem or two is Poems and Prayers for the Very Young. This little book alone is enough for any preschool or kindergarten poetry memory work you'd like to do. It is a shame it's out of print, but I was able to request a copy from PaperBackSwap.com.

Other Stuff

We're always working on some other memory work, too. First Daughter finished the year learning to spell her full name. She's still working on it, but her middle and last names are hard! In second grade, First Son memorized:

• the Act of Contrition
• the Rite of Reconciliation
• Dad's cell phone number
• Mom's cell phone number
• St. Gertrude's prayer for souls in purgatory
• Grammy's cell phone number
• the Parable of the Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:12-13)
• how to spell all the months of the year
• an excerpt from St. Patrick's Breastplate (which has turned out to be really difficult; we worked on this the last couple months of the year and he still hasn't quite gotten it)

Catechism Questions (and Answers)
 
I also have room in our memory binder for catechism questions. In the past, I copied them from the Faith and Life book for the year. Next year, First Son will begin the questions from The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism (No. 1) which we'll continue using through fifth grade. First Daughter will be memorizing the questions and answers from The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism (No. 0) which she'll continue through second grade.

Our memory work would go much easier in the fall if we continued it over the summer, but we don't. We just spend the first month or so reviewing it all at the beginning of the year.

Homeschool Review: Jesus Our Life (Faith and Life 2)

Jesus Our Life (Faith and Life 2) from Ignatius Press

I used the Revised Edition. Last year, the Third Edition was published to incorporate the changes to the liturgy of the new Roman Missal. The changes can be downloaded in an Adobe file from the Ignatius website here.

We used Our Heavenly Father (Faith and Life 1) in first grade. You can read my review of it here.

Jesus Our Life has 34 chapters. The early chapters begin with the most basic concepts and incorporate Bible stories to show salvation history. In many ways, it repeats concepts introduced in the first book. Personally, I like this cyclical approach in catechism as much as I like it in math. First Son hears slightly more complicated information each year, building on his knowledge and understanding.

Later chapters focus more on the sacrament of Reconciliation and the Eucharist, appropriate for a second grade text. (Most Catholic children will receive these sacraments for the first time in second grade, as we do at our parish.) I liked the chapters on Reconciliation especially, though I think they come a little late in the year. Children should be practicing the actual steps of Reconciliation for at least a few weeks before their first confession, so it would probably need to be introduced before these chapters are read. Similarly, by the time we reached the chapters on the Eucharist, we'd already covered all the information in great depth in our sacrament preparation. We ended up skipping the chapters that explained the parts of the Mass, the articles of the Mass and the words of the Mass.

If I were using only Jesus Our Life, I would be tempted to begin with Reconciliation (chapter 17) and work through the end of the book, then return to the beginning for the remainder of the year.  Personally, though, I would not consider Jesus Our Life as sufficient for sacrament preparation (First Reconciliation and First Holy Communion). It does a solid job of imparting knowledge of concepts like the soul, the Trinity, and original sin (just from the first few chapters), but it's not very good at developing a great love for the sacraments. Hopefully I'll have a chance to post about our sacrament preparation later.

One of the aspects I loved best about Our Heavenly Father was the beautiful artwork included in each chapter. Other than a few photographs of the Mass, the pictures were all reproductions of famous paintings depicting appropriate Bible stories and they were lovely. Sadly, Jesus Our Life is instead illustrated with cheesy watercolors. At their worst, they are bad, but even at their best they are entirely forgettable. I'm not an expert of art history, but I cannot imagine there were not paintings that would have fit the themes. I happen to have the third and fourth books already, both of which revert to the paintings as illustrations.

I used the teacher's manual extensively in first grade. We had catechism two to four days a week and I incorporated many of the recommended activities. Because we focused two days a week on sacrament preparation in second grade, I did not have additional time for supplemental activities and we just read through the chapter and (usually) narrated it in one setting.

I also did not use the activity book this year, mainly because I didn't want to buy two copies and I didn't want to discuss every week why First Daughter did not also receive any activity sheets.

In first and second grade, we used the catechism questions provided in each chapter. I typed them up and printed them one chapter to a sheet of paper, placing them in our memory binder. When First Son memorized a chapter's questions, we moved it to our review tabs (first every other day, then once a week, then once a month or so). I liked the method, but was a little frustrated that the questions and answers were nearly the same every year, but not quite. Next year, both First Son and First Daughter will be memorizing questions and answers from the new Baltimore Catechisms. We'll stick with the same questions for a number of years. We will still read and discuss the questions and answers in our Faith and Life books.

You can learn more about the entire Faith and Life series on their website. The Faith and Life series is also available online through My Catholic Faith Delivered. I have heard good things about the online courses, but have decided against them myself, mainly for cost reasons. I can purchase the student textbooks for around $10 new or less used (two of them have been free from other homeschool parents) and use them for all of my children. The online subscription only covers one child for one year.


Ignatius Press has provided nothing in exchange for this review. I receive nothing if you follow any of these links, make a purchase, or subscribe to the online courses.

Homeschool Review: Faith and Life 1, Our Heavenly Father

Faith and Life Series 1: Our Heavenly Father from Ignatius Press, Revised

Last year, for first grade, we used Our Heavenly Father for our catechism. Mater Amabilis recommends it for Level 1B. They suggest reading and narrating one chapter a week. You certainly could. The chapters are quite short, usually five or six paragraphs. Even early in the year, First Son could read the text himself. We would often share it, taking turns reading paragraphs.

Honestly, though, we did not really narrate the catechism. While the text is thorough, clear and theologically sound, sometimes it was a little dry on its own. Luckily, I had purchased a teacher's manual. While not strictly necessary for the catechism course, I found the teacher's manual indispensable. It contained great explanations, suggested questions for incorporating the beautiful artwork shown in each chapter, and additional activities, books or movies that could be used in each lesson. I learned so much myself from the teacher's manual that it was more than worth the cost. (I have the old version, revised but not updated. I think the updated one would be even better.)

First Son enjoyed the student activity book as well. I was pleased to see that many of the activities were quite open-ended such as "Draw a picture of yourself kneeling before Jesus in the Eucharist." By the end of the year we had stopped using the activity pages only because First Daughter would so often be disappointed there were no pages for her.

For second grade, we'll be continuing with the Faith and Life series. I have the revised editions of the student book, the activity book and the teachers manual which I received free from moms who were done with them. (Love the home school group!) We'll have to make a few adjustments later in the year to incorporate the new Mass translations, but Ignatius Press has kindly provided a detailed list of the changes they've made for their third edition, due out any day now. We'll be supplementing this with CHC's second grade lesson plans which I purchased for the sacramental preparation supplement.

As if that weren't enough, First Son, First Daughter and Second Daughter will be enrolled in our parish's new Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program. If all goes as planned, this fall I will be beginning the training program to become a teacher for our atrium.