A Question for the Mothers and Teachers

[Mornac]

Well I'm not a mother but I am a dad and I've been the sole person responsible for my children's catechesis. I found that they are very good at rote learning at that age so it's a perfect time to have them learn prayers. Mine knew how to recite the Hail Mary, Our Father, Glory be, and grace before meals in English, French, and Latin by age seven. I found that as they got older they had a harder time with memorization (The Apostles Creed comes to mind). The things they learned early on are stuck in there for life whether they like it or not – which is a great thing when you think about it. If they ever go astray, their "prayer baggage" is going to follow them just waiting to be brought back into use.

[Rosamund]

So do you try to help them understand the prayers, or just make sure they learn them?

[introibo]

I think going over the meaning of the prayers is important.  They are pretty simple - of course you will have to explain what "fruit of thy womb" is, and "trepasses".  But other than that, it's pretty basic 1st grade stuff.

 

Christina

[Mornac]

 

So do you try to help them understand the prayers, or just make sure they learn them?

I try to help them understand them to the extant that they are capable of at a given age. Some prayers they started learning during infancy – the Guardian Angel prayer comes to mind. They certainly learned the prayer before meals well before they could even distinguish between the individual words (Blessuso lordenese eye gifts…) but as they became more cognizant they began asking questions ("What gifts? Like presents?"). Those are the moments you seize to explain a little about the prayer. I taught them the Hail Mary alongside the story of the Annunciation which they didn't fully grasp, but it was no small surprise when I noticed my daughter staring at a stained glass window throughout Mass one Sunday. Afterward she said, "Dad, did you know there's a Hail Mary window in church?"

 

If you teach them the prayers the rest will come. I'm almost fifty years old and I still surprise myself by discovering new things in prayers that I've known all of my life. I say an Act of Contrition every night and there are various parts of it that seem more relevant at certain times than others.

 

 

[Monica]

Rosamnund, good luck. An hour is not much time.  I learned about this from a nun who spent years effectively teaching first and second graders.  She said to focus on getting the children to identify with the subject matter so it would hold their interest longer.  Kids like hearing about themselves as babies, and even first graders can tell you a family story about their own infancy.  The Baby Jesus and the Holy Family are concepts they can grasp, and there's your point of departure.  If they start praying to the Baby Jesus and in their own minds/hearts form a relationship with him, that will make it personal to them and hopefully sustain their interest even beyond the class. And they'll want to know more.  Saying prayers together out loud is good, too.  I hope this helps, and please share with us what you learn.

[dailyrosary]

I homeschool my granddaughter and I found that the only way to have her learn anything is repetition, repetition, repetition.....And she's smart.  Someone remarked above that she felt her kids had minds like collanders, I agree. 

 

Whenever my granddaughter gives any answer, unless we're pressed for time, I have her reason out whether it's correct or not.  She gives the answer and I say, "OK, if that's true, then this would be true--is it?"  I want to teach her the process of checking out her own thinking.  If her answer is incorrect, eventually she sees the mistake on her own.

 

Poop, farts and boogers--the bane of my existence.  I'll put up with a couple, (I think these things are funny because they represent a loss of control of our own bodies?) but after a while I give her a long cold stare like she is a booger and say, "Can we stay on task, please?"

 

Everyday I drill her spelling which is miserable, her math facts which are not much better, hoping that someday...believe it or not, what gives me hope is that she learns her catechism rather easily.  So go figure.

[maryskey]

"Blessuso lordenese eye gifts…"

OH ROTFL!!!!!!!!!!! I am constantly at my olders to ANNUNCIATE each word. One thing I am strict about is making sure they say a PROPER Sign of the Cross instead of just "Father, Son, Holy Ghost, Amen" 

Back to the topic at hand... have to agree with the others and just repeat, repeat, repeat. My 4 yr old knows the Act of Contrition simply out of repetition. We always include it in our evening prayers. Of course, the 4 yr old says it in a similar vein as above, LOLOL.