Homeschooling for Confirmation?

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DavidFilmer

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My 14-year old son is ready to begin Confirmation classes. The problem is that we are members of a small (and predominately elderly) Parish, and my son is the only person ready for Confirmation classes (and the first such person in several years), and our Parish has no program set-up for this purpose (sad, but true).

Our son could attend the programs offered at neighboring parishes, which, frankly, are of dubious theological and educational quality.

Our son is homeschooled, and my wife and I believe we could (and should) be the ones to educate him in preparation for Confirmation (and he is, probably, already better prepared than many students who have completed this education at many parishes; he was bored senseless by his First Holy Communion classes which were insultingly basic and shallow).

We wish to propose to our Pastor that, lacking an available Parish program, we be permitted to homeschool our son for Confirmation. But our Pastor will want to know the specifics of our plan. And, at this point, we don’t have one.

As a Homeschooling family, we use an established educational curriculum (we use Kolbe Academy) as the foundation for our lesson plans.

Can someone recommend a curriculum for Confirmation that we can use to develop a lesson plan to propose to our Pastor? We are looking for something which is absolutely faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium and which is of sufficient theological depth as to further the instruction of someone already conversant with the Catholic Faith.

Thanks!
 
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Tonks40:
You may want to try Catechism Class. com…
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Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, but, unfortunatley, their Confirmation Program won’t be available until “Fall, 2005.” Who knows what that means? (deadlnes can be slippery things). We were hoping for something we could present to our Pastor now, because Confirmation classes at other Parishes are beginning to enroll now.
 
Might he have something to gain from the classes at another parish, even though they probably are of dubious theological and educational quality?
I mean, might he gain something from learning and sharing his faith with others of his age as he prepares for confirmation?
He probably already does know everything that they might try to teach him at another parish, but it might lead to some good discussions with you when he gets home, and I’m sure he has a lot to offer the other students with his presence. What would he think of this idea?
Of course I’m not saying you couldn’t still educate him in the manner you describe, I just wanted to throw this out there, because sharing his faith is important and this might give him the opportunity to develop this more as he prepares for confirmation.

My other suggestion would be for you and your wife to volunteer to help with the confirmation class at another parish. Certainly it wouldn’t be a lot more effort that just teaching your son, and think of all the young people that would benefit!

Food for thought, that’s all.
 
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annb:
Might he have something to gain from the classes at another parish, even though they probably are of dubious theological and educational quality? I mean, might he gain something from learning and sharing his faith with others of his age as he prepares for confirmation?
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It must be nice to live… wherever you live. When I (as a resident of Portland, Oregon) say “dubious theological qualtiy,” I’m trying to politely say the neighboring parishes teach outright heresy to their Confirmation students. I think it’s a bit too much to ask a 14-year old to sit in classes for a year and a half only to be subjected to the most innane drivel (“Jesus loves you” a million times) interspersed with outright heresy (someday women will be able to be priests).
My other suggestion would be for you and your wife to volunteer to help with the confirmation class at another parish.
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They wouldn’t want us. We don’t teach drivel or heresy, and that is the local currency at these parishes (and I know from experience - I was once involved with a youth program (not religious ed) at our nearest neighboring parish).
 
(Backstory: Hubby and I wandered away from the RCC, went to Protestant churches for many years, younger two children were baptised in the Protestant church. Recently returned to RCC.)

We are currently having our son use Seton’s 7th grade Religion course (it’s sort of an extended summer school program for him that we started in May). It is their Confirmation prep, as well as Religious history and Catechism. It uses Baltimore Catechism, Seton’s Religion book, and a Confirmation book. There is also a Bible History book that is really good. He likes it well enough.

We are considering using Seton as our homeschool curriculum this October when we start our new school year, and I wanted him to be up to speed on the Religion.

Actually, we are meeting with the priest this Wednesday about our family attending RCIA (hubby and I were raised Catholic, but will go to be with our kids, and we both could use a refresher!). Our kids are teens, and although our son could join the confirmation class, he hasn’t had Confession or First Communion, so the priest is thinking it might be best to have them both go to RCIA.

Anyway, back to the point - I think Seton’s 7th grade religion is a good program. You get the lesson plan if you enroll (as opposed to just purchasing the books and doing it on your own). The lesson plan tells you everything to do each day.
 
Yes Seton is very good. You might also request from your diocese the materials they use (not that they will be the best, or even very good), and the testing they do for confirmation.

Most homeschoolers score MUCH higher on the diocese test than other groups.

Additionally, an interview with pastor (probably a Q & A session) will satisfiy the diocese that the candidate is ready. The pastor may confirm (with bishop’s permission) at a regular Sunday Mass, or you may be asked/required to join in with another confirmation class.
 
Seek out some Confirmation retreats to send him to. I believe that you and your wife are perfectly capable of preparing him for Confirmation. I am also a Homeschool mom. We prepared our daughter for her First Communion,through Seton, but also sent her to CCD. The Seton Curriculum was much more in depth, but I wanted her to be a part of her Catholic community.

It will benefit your son to be with a community of people who are going through Confirmation preparation, so a good retreat might be an option for you in addition to your preparation as a family.
 
I am a Confirmation class teacher this year (11th grade). The program our parish uses is the “Faith First” series. I taught these kids last year with the same program (geared, of course, to 10th graders) and I liked the program pretty well. It was more comprehensive than the previous years.

Anyway, I am at work right now but I’ll try to get you the email address for this program. You might could put in the keywords, “Faith First” in the address bar to see what you would get. They have teachers to answer questions concerning the cirriculaum. If I can get the phone #, I’ll include that as well.

For the class this year, we will have regular class till the December Christmas break. The class topics are, of course Sacraments in general, then a class on each of the 7 Sacraments, Social Justice, Morality, etc. and then in January, we will begin with speakers for the remainder of the time. Topics will be on Scripture, Chruch history, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit, the Call (vocations), Prayer, a class on JPII’s Theology of the Body taught by a parish priest who is well versed on it and teaches it at his parish, and other topics, I just can’t remember them all. The kids are also responsible for doing a service project on their own. Each CCD class has to do a service project to get the kids used to giving back to the parish/community. Oh, and a confirmation retreat is mandatory! They do not get confirmed without it!

I would love to have taught my kids at home. We have a pretty good CCD school and the Director and teachers are very involved, trying to make it as orthodox and interesting to the kids and parents as possible, so I feel sort of fortunate, especially listening to others here. We also have a very active youth ministry.

Could you talk to your diocesan office to see what they recommend or are they way out in left field, too?
I’ll get you what I can on the Faith First program and you can check into it.
 
As a retired confirmation class teacher I think with your experience you could develop your own lesson plan based on Catholicism for Dummies(available from Amazon.com and theologically reliable). My sense in looking back on the past in our parish is that many canned programs that are available either don’t cover the ground or are weak theologically. We were able for a while after Vatican II too prepare our own children for first confession and communion. The pastor would interview each child before reception of the sacrament. It was in my mind a good program, but many parents did not like having the responsibilty.
 
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DavidFilmer:
My 14-year old son is ready to begin Confirmation classes. The problem is that we are members of a small (and predominately elderly) Parish, and my son is the only person ready for Confirmation classes (and the first such person in several years), and our Parish has no program set-up for this purpose (sad, but true).

Our son could attend the programs offered at neighboring parishes, which, frankly, are of dubious theological and educational quality.

Our son is homeschooled, and my wife and I believe we could (and should) be the ones to educate him in preparation for Confirmation (and he is, probably, already better prepared than many students who have completed this education at many parishes; he was bored senseless by his First Holy Communion classes which were insultingly basic and shallow).

We wish to propose to our Pastor that, lacking an available Parish program, we be permitted to homeschool our son for Confirmation. But our Pastor will want to know the specifics of our plan. And, at this point, we don’t have one.

As a Homeschooling family, we use an established educational curriculum (we use Kolbe Academy) as the foundation for our lesson plans.

Can someone recommend a curriculum for Confirmation that we can use to develop a lesson plan to propose to our Pastor? We are looking for something which is absolutely faithful to the teachings of the Magisterium and which is of sufficient theological depth as to further the instruction of someone already conversant with the Catholic Faith.

Thanks!
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“We wish to propose to our Pastor that, lacking an available Parish program, we be permitted to homeschool our son for Confirmation.”

And the Catholic Church agrees with you. Remember that Confirmation is the completion of Baptism. Go back to your Baptism Rite and the promises you made. Start there.

There was a package used by a parish here a few years ago. I want to say it was by a Fr. Shamon or something like that? The material was available for order online.

Look here cmjbooks.com/index.html
under Books of Wisdom / “Firepower through Confirmation”
 
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DavidFilmer:
…We wish to propose to our Pastor that, lacking an available Parish program, we be permitted to homeschool our son for Confirmation. But our Pastor will want to know the specifics of our plan. And, at this point, we don’t have one…
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I suggest that you tell your Pastor up front that you do not yet have a plan, but ask him what his expectations of your program would be. Then, put together a program that addresses his expectations as well as your own.
 
I told you, in an earlier post, that I would get you the name of a program that is used in our parish, so, here it is:

www.RCLweb.com or the phone # is 877-ASK-4-RCL

Check into and see what you think. Hope it helps. Good Luck!
 
DavidFilmer said:
Hmmm, thanks for the suggestion, but, unfortunatley, their Confirmation Program won’t be available until “Fall, 2005.” Who knows what that means? (deadlnes can be slippery things). We were hoping for something we could present to our Pastor now, because Confirmation classes at other Parishes are beginning to enroll now.
Click to expand...
Our Confirmation Preparation Program is now located here: catechismclass.com/lesson/84

We also have some individual lessons on Confirmation as well: catechismclass.com/search/lessons?q=Confirmation&commit=search+lessons

Let me know if I can be of any further assistance to you. God bless!
 
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