New To Being A Catechist

[Aseret]

Hello, I am new to being a catechist.

I am helping out my sister as a teacher assistant, but we are both very new to it. I was wondering if you all had any suggestions for us. Our students are OCIA, from 1st - 5th grade, and we feel that we are not doing enough to teach them the most. We really do need help since we want to make our class very interesting and interactive while not boring them with just reading. My sister and I are really trying with assignments and activities but its really hard to have an organized study plan as we are both teenagers ourselves in school with extracurriculars, my sister is freshman in college and I'm in junior year of high-school.

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated, thanks for reading my post. Have a blessed netizen day/night

Also this is my first time in a forum tbh idrk what i am doing much love

[Shin]

Welcome to the Saints' Discussion Forums!

You might be able to find some material on the Saints' Books website, though it is mainly aimed for adults you should be able to find some reading that can be reworked to be more suitably for children as well as finding some inspiration from the many good posts on the forums here I hope! I also think if you do a search for traditional Catholic family childrens' books and family education you should find some material online for sale like children's catechisms and saints and Bible storybooks. I'm not a childrens' catechist myself so I'm sorry I really don't know specific books to recommend offhand, but I will look around and see if I can find something more to suggest that might be helpful.

I hope we hear more from you here and you enjoy your stay!

[eschator83]

I am very sorry to have been slow in seeing this post, and in addition it has been a long time since I was involved in catechism. I'm thinking your classes are probably finished for the year, but I wanted to congratulate you both for your efforts and hope you feel very proud of your work.  Teaching can be very rewarding and sometimes fun, but it also can be very difficult even with great experience and materials.  In our parish our classes were on Saturday mornings and for three years I led a class/social hour for parents of kids who were in their own class at the same time.  I believe getting students to read, ask questions, and give answers is the best instruction, regardless of materials, whether the students are parents or kids.  I hope you found a good bookstore and got help.  I also hope you will be encouraged to do it again.  Thank you for your work.