So I thought I was comitted to the CM approach to education but looks like I'm ecclectic through and through. Yes, there are aspects of the method that I still love and intend to incorporate into our homeschool. (I'm thinking here of the history timeline and book of centuries, nature walks with nature journal, copywork - and later dictation - for practice of spelling and handwriting in particular, picture study, classical music appreciation, living books in lieu of textbooks, handicrafts - especially knitting, and an emphasis on character formation.)
So what's preventing me from just calling myself a Charlotte Mason homeschooler, considering the rather long list of CM features I am embracing? First and foremost, while I do agree with the ideal of hours of outside time, ever since I gave up on trying to incorporate mandatory daily outdoor time, my stress levels have lowered! I was feeling guilty for not spending the recommended 4-6 (!) hours outside with the kids when it was too hot and humid for my liking, followed by mosquito infestations at dusk, during the summer. In the winter months, I likewise didn't spend the time outside because bundling up took longer than anyone wanted to actually be outside. Perhaps this year, since we won't have a newborn to worry about, we may be able to spend more time outside once the humidity of summer subsides. But it certainly won't be more than an hour at most daily. We just don't have the desire to spend that much time slugging around trying to find something to do! Sorry, I know nature is fascinating, but 4-6 hours?! That time has to be taken from somewhere - if not chores, then sleep.
Also, while I do love the idea of living books instead of strictly textbooks, I do intend to use textbooks as spines for history and science. I want that list of possible topics at our fingertips to use as a starting point for gauging my kids' interest. There will be lots of reading of living books, but not without first referring to the textbooks.
And while this may not be a "con" per se, serious science study seems to be absent from the CM methodology, and mathematics are not addressed at all. I understand that most CM educators simply supplement for these subjects, but considering that I'd be tinkering with other aspects as well, might as well call myself ecclectic.
Thursday, July 27, 2017
Tuesday, July 4, 2017
Reality versus Idealism in Multilingual Parenting
On the one hand, I knew that once we started to homeschool our eldest, we would be depending on more English and that keeping up with exposure in Polish and Spanish would be more and more challenging. On the other hand, I had naively hoped that homeschooling (verus delegating our kids' education to a school system) would allow us to use our native languages as part of the instruction.
Yeah, that sounded nice in theory. In reality, it would take serious effort to gather materials in our native languages, not to mention added expense. Especially as we depend a lot on our library, 95% of the materials we get are in English, the other five are ASL dvds and Spanish language books. Zero Polish. But even when we do find a book or video in the target language, I do not know sufficient vocabulary to explain concepts other than the very basic ones.
I'm better able to express myself in English. Even though Polish still has an emotional effect on me, it is not my primary language. I cannot fully be myself in Polish. When speaking with my mom, it is usually 75% Polish and 25% English.
What concerns me is that we are starting to use more English than Polish or Spanish just in everyday conversation. It's easier and faster not to have to translate for the other parent to grasp the gist of our interactions.
That's not to say that we're abandoning the goal of raising our kids multilingual. But I do think it's important to keep our rather modest purpose in mind. It's not to send our kids to university abroad, where they can study in Polish or Spanish. Or to find employment abroad.
We just want our kids to be able to understand the equivalent of the news in each language, to make themselves understood in the respecive communities, and to have basic literacy that they can build on if they so choose when they are older. Also, just the mere exposure and use of the languages, however limited it may become, does wonders for brain development, creativity, perspective, musicality.... So I have to remember that fluency is not the goal, and that's ok.
Yeah, that sounded nice in theory. In reality, it would take serious effort to gather materials in our native languages, not to mention added expense. Especially as we depend a lot on our library, 95% of the materials we get are in English, the other five are ASL dvds and Spanish language books. Zero Polish. But even when we do find a book or video in the target language, I do not know sufficient vocabulary to explain concepts other than the very basic ones.
I'm better able to express myself in English. Even though Polish still has an emotional effect on me, it is not my primary language. I cannot fully be myself in Polish. When speaking with my mom, it is usually 75% Polish and 25% English.
What concerns me is that we are starting to use more English than Polish or Spanish just in everyday conversation. It's easier and faster not to have to translate for the other parent to grasp the gist of our interactions.
That's not to say that we're abandoning the goal of raising our kids multilingual. But I do think it's important to keep our rather modest purpose in mind. It's not to send our kids to university abroad, where they can study in Polish or Spanish. Or to find employment abroad.
We just want our kids to be able to understand the equivalent of the news in each language, to make themselves understood in the respecive communities, and to have basic literacy that they can build on if they so choose when they are older. Also, just the mere exposure and use of the languages, however limited it may become, does wonders for brain development, creativity, perspective, musicality.... So I have to remember that fluency is not the goal, and that's ok.
Catholic Ecclectic Unschooling?!
I recently have had two realizations about our approach to homeschooling. I'm slowly starting to take ownership of it and finding what works and what doesn't. I'm glad that I'm using these preschool years to do this trial and error, so that once we start to report for kindergarten, we can hit the ground running.
Here is a list of subject areas that I am currently working with when planning out lessons for our preschool.
1. practical life skills
2. sensorial
3. literacy
4. numeracy
5. nature/science
6. culture/geography
7. health
8. physical education
9. music & music appreciation
10. art & art appreciation
11. languages (ASL, Polish, Spanish)
12. literature & poetry
13. religion (faith, morals, liturgy, prayer)
I come back to the way I utilize lesson plans after first discussing the first big overhaul of our approach to homeschooling, faith.
At last Sunday's homily, our pastor drove home the point that Christ needs to be at the center of our lives, and that religion cannot be merely one of the areas of our life, something I've been guilty of for sure. The first thing that popped into my mind was that we needed to rethink our homeschooling approach. I pulled out the book on Catholic homeschooling that I got at the Catholic homeschool curriculum fair we attended and started reading.
We always said that we decided to homeschool for various reasons, none of which were religious. But that doesn't mean that we are stuck with a secular homeschool for life! One of the things that really struck me so far from the book was relating how children sent to secular schools to learn "real subjects" and only hearing about God's presence in their lives on the periphery come to think that God has nothing to do with what they're learning in school! Science and History in particular have a way of pretending that God doesn't exist that is detrimental to a person's world view.
As catholic Christians, we believe that God created the universe and everything in it. There is nothing science can discover that doesn't directly point to the glory of God! Evolution (a theory, by the way, not fact) can nonetheless point to the fact that God's days are not limited to our 24-hour-periods, and perhaps the creation story is not something that happened thousands (or millions) of years ago, but rather something that is ongoing. Just like God forms us in our mothers' wombs, but He doesn't stop working on us after birth! To study science without acknowledging God's hand in it is to betray our Christian world-view.
Likewise with history. To look at the events of human history without addressing the role of sin, virtue, and the human longing for something greater than itself is to again miss entirely how God is present in our daily circumstances. Not that He orchestrates what happens, but that He is there with us. That people turn to Him, and He listens. That people turn away from Him, and He forgives (though not without meting out justice). Eliminating God from a history curriculum is pretending that humans don't need God. Again, this is a total contradiction of our Christian world-view.
Other subjects also can either serve to build up the spirit of a young Chrisitan or not. What we read penetrates our imaginations. Are we reading about what is true, good, and beautiful? Or are we reading merely what has always been taught? Just because certain works of literature are famous doesn't make them crucial to read. Likewise for art and music. I agree that there is an element of cultural competency that needs to be addressed, meaning that a person's education ought to prepare them to at least be aware of the existence of things that have shaped our society in meaningful ways - for better or worse. After all, we study wars rather than ignoring them because of the violence, death, and evil it portrays.
But if presented without any commentary from the perspective of the catholic Christian parent, the child is left to possibly conclude that anything famous in the secular world is "good", or "true", or "beautiful". I don't know if I completely agree with the adage, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Some things are just plain ugly. The same applies to what is good and true. We live in a relativist society. I am certainly a victim of this mentality. There is no objective truth, therefore there's no objective goodness. Virtue is whatever best suits me, the individual.
***
I'm returning now to the idea of lesson planning. I tried unschooling for several months when Antonio was born, and I was amazed how Natalia continued to learn in various areas without my so much as lifting a finger. Yet after those few months, I decided that we couldn't unschool long term because one of the motivating factors for me to educate my children at home is that I get to teach them!
So I make lesson plans. I try to make sure certain subject areas are covered. I attempt to figure out the best schedule to implement. And over and over I realize that everything always looks perfect on paper, but never works out in real life. Finally it occurred to me that while I love to plan and organize, I also love to stay with a natural flow of learning, following whatever sparks Natalia's curiosity. I tried to sit down with her and do X for a set amount of time one time, and it immediately felt artificial and not at all educational! Perhaps this will change as she gets older. But for now, for preschool, I'm starting to understand what my homeschooling method really is, and it's not any of the official methods out there. I've said we're ecclectic before, but I think I fially understand what that means to me.
Ecclectic homeschooling to me means several things. 1) I make plans and goals so I know what to look out for in terms of library materials, outings, etc. I plan and organize because I enjoy the very process of planning and organizing. I do not intend to meticulously implement any of my plans, and I expect them to be altered and updated periodically. 2) I observe the natural interests and inclinations of Natalia. I answer her questions and find resources for subjects she shows an interest in. I do not interrupt her indpendent play unless absolutely necessary (say, it's time to leave for church). 3) I return to my plans periodically and take note of what has already been learned. I then can move on to the next set of goals in a given subject as I reimagine the lesson plans.
So there is definitely a strong component of unschooling that remains. I think the only thing that isn't "pure unschooling" with us is that I do have subjects in mind for Natalia to be exposed to, and certain skills and knowledge that I do intend for her to learn. Nothing we do is done against her desires, though. She is loving memorizing various things, so why wouldn't I take advantage of this stage of her development and try to surround her with things I think are good for every person to know by heart? (Basic geography comes to mind. She knows her contients and oceans, and we're slowly moving into the concepts of countries. I'm not sure that she would've become interested in geography if I hadn't brought it up and if I wouldn't continue to bring in resources to build on this interest.)
I like labels, and perhaps that's what this is for me - a labeling of what was all along. Ecclectic unschooling with a hint of classical? Because I am drawn to some of the features of the classical approach/Charlotte Mason. What finally did it for me and forced me to cut my emotional ties with CM is the feeling of guilt over not spending hours outside. It just isn't for us, not where we live. I couldn't shake the guilt, so I shook the label instead!
I also think that unit studies may be making an appearance. As I think about incorporating God into our subjects and not just keeping Him in "religion", I instantly think of making unit studies around the liturgical year. I see unit studies as supplemental to a core curriculum, though. I don't want to tie myself to the idea of forcing ever subject into every unit study. History and science may need to unfold along separate timelines!
I'm probably overthinking the whole preschool homeschooling thing, but it's for a good cause - the whole education of both my kids. I think Antonio will benefit from this time, as I will hopefully have an idea of what crucial elements to include in his preschool in a couple of years. I also think Natalia will benefit because by the time we have to officially report her home education in two years, we will have ironed out the details and can hit the ground running without having to second guess ourselves.
Speaking of state reporting, I had to finagle the terminology a little to get from the list of mandatory subjects to the list of our home school subjects above. The mandatory subjects in our state are as follows:
1. language arts (literacy, literature/poetry)
2. math (numeracy)
3. science (nature/science)
4. social studies (culture/geography/history)
5. health (nutrition, safety, hygiene/disease control, exercise, rest, stress avoidance)
6. physical education (gross motor skills)
7. art (& art appreciation)
8. music (& music appreciation)
Confession time - the title to this post just occurred to me, so I think I will address the nuances of this "methodology" in a future post.
Here is a list of subject areas that I am currently working with when planning out lessons for our preschool.
1. practical life skills
2. sensorial
3. literacy
4. numeracy
5. nature/science
6. culture/geography
7. health
8. physical education
9. music & music appreciation
10. art & art appreciation
11. languages (ASL, Polish, Spanish)
12. literature & poetry
13. religion (faith, morals, liturgy, prayer)
I come back to the way I utilize lesson plans after first discussing the first big overhaul of our approach to homeschooling, faith.
At last Sunday's homily, our pastor drove home the point that Christ needs to be at the center of our lives, and that religion cannot be merely one of the areas of our life, something I've been guilty of for sure. The first thing that popped into my mind was that we needed to rethink our homeschooling approach. I pulled out the book on Catholic homeschooling that I got at the Catholic homeschool curriculum fair we attended and started reading.
We always said that we decided to homeschool for various reasons, none of which were religious. But that doesn't mean that we are stuck with a secular homeschool for life! One of the things that really struck me so far from the book was relating how children sent to secular schools to learn "real subjects" and only hearing about God's presence in their lives on the periphery come to think that God has nothing to do with what they're learning in school! Science and History in particular have a way of pretending that God doesn't exist that is detrimental to a person's world view.
As catholic Christians, we believe that God created the universe and everything in it. There is nothing science can discover that doesn't directly point to the glory of God! Evolution (a theory, by the way, not fact) can nonetheless point to the fact that God's days are not limited to our 24-hour-periods, and perhaps the creation story is not something that happened thousands (or millions) of years ago, but rather something that is ongoing. Just like God forms us in our mothers' wombs, but He doesn't stop working on us after birth! To study science without acknowledging God's hand in it is to betray our Christian world-view.
Likewise with history. To look at the events of human history without addressing the role of sin, virtue, and the human longing for something greater than itself is to again miss entirely how God is present in our daily circumstances. Not that He orchestrates what happens, but that He is there with us. That people turn to Him, and He listens. That people turn away from Him, and He forgives (though not without meting out justice). Eliminating God from a history curriculum is pretending that humans don't need God. Again, this is a total contradiction of our Christian world-view.
Other subjects also can either serve to build up the spirit of a young Chrisitan or not. What we read penetrates our imaginations. Are we reading about what is true, good, and beautiful? Or are we reading merely what has always been taught? Just because certain works of literature are famous doesn't make them crucial to read. Likewise for art and music. I agree that there is an element of cultural competency that needs to be addressed, meaning that a person's education ought to prepare them to at least be aware of the existence of things that have shaped our society in meaningful ways - for better or worse. After all, we study wars rather than ignoring them because of the violence, death, and evil it portrays.
But if presented without any commentary from the perspective of the catholic Christian parent, the child is left to possibly conclude that anything famous in the secular world is "good", or "true", or "beautiful". I don't know if I completely agree with the adage, "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". Some things are just plain ugly. The same applies to what is good and true. We live in a relativist society. I am certainly a victim of this mentality. There is no objective truth, therefore there's no objective goodness. Virtue is whatever best suits me, the individual.
***
I'm returning now to the idea of lesson planning. I tried unschooling for several months when Antonio was born, and I was amazed how Natalia continued to learn in various areas without my so much as lifting a finger. Yet after those few months, I decided that we couldn't unschool long term because one of the motivating factors for me to educate my children at home is that I get to teach them!
So I make lesson plans. I try to make sure certain subject areas are covered. I attempt to figure out the best schedule to implement. And over and over I realize that everything always looks perfect on paper, but never works out in real life. Finally it occurred to me that while I love to plan and organize, I also love to stay with a natural flow of learning, following whatever sparks Natalia's curiosity. I tried to sit down with her and do X for a set amount of time one time, and it immediately felt artificial and not at all educational! Perhaps this will change as she gets older. But for now, for preschool, I'm starting to understand what my homeschooling method really is, and it's not any of the official methods out there. I've said we're ecclectic before, but I think I fially understand what that means to me.
Ecclectic homeschooling to me means several things. 1) I make plans and goals so I know what to look out for in terms of library materials, outings, etc. I plan and organize because I enjoy the very process of planning and organizing. I do not intend to meticulously implement any of my plans, and I expect them to be altered and updated periodically. 2) I observe the natural interests and inclinations of Natalia. I answer her questions and find resources for subjects she shows an interest in. I do not interrupt her indpendent play unless absolutely necessary (say, it's time to leave for church). 3) I return to my plans periodically and take note of what has already been learned. I then can move on to the next set of goals in a given subject as I reimagine the lesson plans.
So there is definitely a strong component of unschooling that remains. I think the only thing that isn't "pure unschooling" with us is that I do have subjects in mind for Natalia to be exposed to, and certain skills and knowledge that I do intend for her to learn. Nothing we do is done against her desires, though. She is loving memorizing various things, so why wouldn't I take advantage of this stage of her development and try to surround her with things I think are good for every person to know by heart? (Basic geography comes to mind. She knows her contients and oceans, and we're slowly moving into the concepts of countries. I'm not sure that she would've become interested in geography if I hadn't brought it up and if I wouldn't continue to bring in resources to build on this interest.)
I like labels, and perhaps that's what this is for me - a labeling of what was all along. Ecclectic unschooling with a hint of classical? Because I am drawn to some of the features of the classical approach/Charlotte Mason. What finally did it for me and forced me to cut my emotional ties with CM is the feeling of guilt over not spending hours outside. It just isn't for us, not where we live. I couldn't shake the guilt, so I shook the label instead!
I also think that unit studies may be making an appearance. As I think about incorporating God into our subjects and not just keeping Him in "religion", I instantly think of making unit studies around the liturgical year. I see unit studies as supplemental to a core curriculum, though. I don't want to tie myself to the idea of forcing ever subject into every unit study. History and science may need to unfold along separate timelines!
I'm probably overthinking the whole preschool homeschooling thing, but it's for a good cause - the whole education of both my kids. I think Antonio will benefit from this time, as I will hopefully have an idea of what crucial elements to include in his preschool in a couple of years. I also think Natalia will benefit because by the time we have to officially report her home education in two years, we will have ironed out the details and can hit the ground running without having to second guess ourselves.
Speaking of state reporting, I had to finagle the terminology a little to get from the list of mandatory subjects to the list of our home school subjects above. The mandatory subjects in our state are as follows:
1. language arts (literacy, literature/poetry)
2. math (numeracy)
3. science (nature/science)
4. social studies (culture/geography/history)
5. health (nutrition, safety, hygiene/disease control, exercise, rest, stress avoidance)
6. physical education (gross motor skills)
7. art (& art appreciation)
8. music (& music appreciation)
Confession time - the title to this post just occurred to me, so I think I will address the nuances of this "methodology" in a future post.
Catholic Preschooler "Curriculum"
I've been pleased with the progress of Natalia's growth in terms of spirituality, but I've noticed that she is now old enough to really benefit from some direct teaching. The idea hit me when she asked who God was. (Picture me with a blank stare and mouth on ground.) What do you mean? We pray every day! We participate in Mass every week! We sing hymns, we talk about Jesus, right and wrong, say/sing grace.... It occurred to me that this is all great stuff, but it doesn't answer the basic question - who is God?
Now, without getting all philosophical, as I know that's not the point of her question, I started to think of where to start in teaching her our faith. She is too young for the religious ed at our church - another year to go, it seems! So here's what I've come up with as a starting point.
Basic Tenets of Catholicism
Basic Beliefs (faith, based on the Apostle's Creed)
God exists, God is Triune, God is creator of everything (us included), God desires to live with us in eternal happiness, God brings us to Himself upoon our death thanks to Jesus. We can call God our Father because He made us and loves us and takes care of us.
Jesus opened the gates of heaven by dying on the cross and resurrecting, we will receive resurrected bodies also after we die, Jesus taught us how to live to please God and therefore get along with people both here and especially in Heaven, not everyone listens to Jesus or wants to do the hard work of getting along with others, Jesus continues to make Himself available to us in the Eucharist
God is also present to us as the Holy Spirit (not limited to the material manifestation of the Eucharist - no, I won't be using these big words with a three year old ;) ), we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us make difficult decisions, or to give us strength or courage to do something that is right but difficult to do, the Holy Spirit inspired various people to write down truths about God and His plan in a big book called the Bible
The Bible tells the story of how God made us and loves us even when we make mistakes, how we should live our lives in order to please Him, and why it's important to do so. The Catholic Church helps us undersand the Bible and allows us to meet Jesus "face to face" in the Eucharist.
Saints are people who are very close friends of Jesus, and we should all want to become saints. We can talk to the Saints in heaven just like we talk to people still on Earth, asking them to talk to God for us and helping us with our lives.
When we make a mistake, God still loves us. When we make a mistake, it is important to try apologize and try to make it right. When we get older, we start going to Confession so that the priest can help us try to do better next time.
How to Live (morality)
The first gift God gave us is life. The second is free will. We must choose to love and obey God.
10 Commandments
1. love God more than anything else,
2. respect God's name
3. visit God weekly on Sundays at Mass
4. honor and obey parents and respect all your elders
5. never hurt anyone through your actions or words
6. respect yourself and others
7. don't take what isn't yours without permission
8. tell the truth
9. be happy with the relationships you have and don't be jealous of other people
10. be happy with the things you have and don't be jealous of what other people have
7 virtues
1. chastity/purity
2. temperance/self-restraint
3. charity/giving
4. diligence/integrity
5. patience
6. kindness
7. humility
precepts of the Church (minimum requirements)
1. attend Mass weekly
2. Confession annually
3. receive Communion during Easter
4. fast/abstain on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
5. support the church financially)
How Catholics Worship (liturgy)
We celebrate how great God is by visiting Him and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. We learn about God's will for our lives by listening to the readings, we pray together as a family of children of God, we sing, we demonstrate how important God is by kneeling and bowing at key moments during the celebration.
Preparation - review of appropriate behavior, proper dress
Blessing self with holy water - facing altar
Genuflecting before entering pew (and when leaving pew, except when going to Communion)
Facing altar at all times, most especially during the Liturgy of the Eucharist
Paying attention and not distracting others from paying attention
Singing with others
Kneeling/standing/sitting with others
Communal Our Father
Sign of Peace
Donation basket
Jesus entering the physical realm in the consecrated host
Communion line to greet Jesus (before 1st Communion)
silent prayer/watching how others reverence Jesus in the Eucharist
Genuflecting, Sign of Cross when leaving
Prayer
Prayer is talking to God and/or the Saints.
Sign of the Cross - how, why (to remind us to think about God, love God, and do God's will), when (before and after prayer, when entering and leaving church)
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
Grace
Angel of God
Angelus
Spontaneous prayer from the heart
Examination of Conscience (thank you, I'm sorry, please)
Apostle's Creed (next step, not yet)
Now, without getting all philosophical, as I know that's not the point of her question, I started to think of where to start in teaching her our faith. She is too young for the religious ed at our church - another year to go, it seems! So here's what I've come up with as a starting point.
Basic Tenets of Catholicism
Basic Beliefs (faith, based on the Apostle's Creed)
God exists, God is Triune, God is creator of everything (us included), God desires to live with us in eternal happiness, God brings us to Himself upoon our death thanks to Jesus. We can call God our Father because He made us and loves us and takes care of us.
Jesus opened the gates of heaven by dying on the cross and resurrecting, we will receive resurrected bodies also after we die, Jesus taught us how to live to please God and therefore get along with people both here and especially in Heaven, not everyone listens to Jesus or wants to do the hard work of getting along with others, Jesus continues to make Himself available to us in the Eucharist
God is also present to us as the Holy Spirit (not limited to the material manifestation of the Eucharist - no, I won't be using these big words with a three year old ;) ), we can ask the Holy Spirit to help us make difficult decisions, or to give us strength or courage to do something that is right but difficult to do, the Holy Spirit inspired various people to write down truths about God and His plan in a big book called the Bible
The Bible tells the story of how God made us and loves us even when we make mistakes, how we should live our lives in order to please Him, and why it's important to do so. The Catholic Church helps us undersand the Bible and allows us to meet Jesus "face to face" in the Eucharist.
Saints are people who are very close friends of Jesus, and we should all want to become saints. We can talk to the Saints in heaven just like we talk to people still on Earth, asking them to talk to God for us and helping us with our lives.
When we make a mistake, God still loves us. When we make a mistake, it is important to try apologize and try to make it right. When we get older, we start going to Confession so that the priest can help us try to do better next time.
How to Live (morality)
The first gift God gave us is life. The second is free will. We must choose to love and obey God.
10 Commandments
1. love God more than anything else,
2. respect God's name
3. visit God weekly on Sundays at Mass
4. honor and obey parents and respect all your elders
5. never hurt anyone through your actions or words
6. respect yourself and others
7. don't take what isn't yours without permission
8. tell the truth
9. be happy with the relationships you have and don't be jealous of other people
10. be happy with the things you have and don't be jealous of what other people have
7 virtues
1. chastity/purity
2. temperance/self-restraint
3. charity/giving
4. diligence/integrity
5. patience
6. kindness
7. humility
precepts of the Church (minimum requirements)
1. attend Mass weekly
2. Confession annually
3. receive Communion during Easter
4. fast/abstain on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday
5. support the church financially)
How Catholics Worship (liturgy)
We celebrate how great God is by visiting Him and receiving Jesus in the Eucharist. We learn about God's will for our lives by listening to the readings, we pray together as a family of children of God, we sing, we demonstrate how important God is by kneeling and bowing at key moments during the celebration.
Preparation - review of appropriate behavior, proper dress
Blessing self with holy water - facing altar
Genuflecting before entering pew (and when leaving pew, except when going to Communion)
Facing altar at all times, most especially during the Liturgy of the Eucharist
Paying attention and not distracting others from paying attention
Singing with others
Kneeling/standing/sitting with others
Communal Our Father
Sign of Peace
Donation basket
Jesus entering the physical realm in the consecrated host
Communion line to greet Jesus (before 1st Communion)
silent prayer/watching how others reverence Jesus in the Eucharist
Genuflecting, Sign of Cross when leaving
Prayer
Prayer is talking to God and/or the Saints.
Sign of the Cross - how, why (to remind us to think about God, love God, and do God's will), when (before and after prayer, when entering and leaving church)
Our Father
Hail Mary
Glory Be
Grace
Angel of God
Angelus
Spontaneous prayer from the heart
Examination of Conscience (thank you, I'm sorry, please)
Apostle's Creed (next step, not yet)
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