Religious Formation

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boppaid

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How do they do it at your church? My church has it right after school (4-5). I have to withdraw my children as I began working full time, don’t get home until 5. They are letting me homeschool, which is a blessing to me. They will test them prior to sacraments. I’m relieved.

But I’m curious…when do your religious formation classes take place? 4-5 seems like such a strange time to me, especially with all the working parents out there. How do you handle it?
 
Ours is on Sunday morning: 9-10AM for grades 1-5 (between the 7:30AM and 10:15AM Masses), and 11:15AM-12:30PM for grades 6 and 7 (we don’t have enough space to have all the classes at once).
 
boppaid said:
But I’m curious…when do your religious formation classes take place? 4-5 seems like such a strange time to me, especially with all the working parents out there. How do you handle it?
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this parish has elementary RE classes on Saturday morning, 2 sessions, Junior high on Tuesday evening, HS and Confirmatin on Wed. evening, adults fo rRCIA and confirmation on Sunday morning. these are the only times the school is available to us

there are two other Catholic parishes in town. one has after school CCD two sessions, one at 4:30, one at 6:30, 4 days a week, because that is what the parents wanted, and when their volunteers are available

the other has CCD on Sunday morning for grades K-6, Sunday afternoon for grades 7-12, because that is how the families want it, and when their volunteers are available.

if you want other time options, why not gather a like minded group of parents and volunteer as catechists for evenings or weekends?
 
puzzleannie said:
this parish has elementary RE classes on Saturday morning, 2 sessions, Junior high on Tuesday evening, HS and Confirmatin on Wed. evening, adults fo rRCIA and confirmation on Sunday morning. these are the only times the school is available to us

there are two other Catholic parishes in town. one has after school CCD two sessions, one at 4:30, one at 6:30, 4 days a week, because that is what the parents wanted, and when their volunteers are available

the other has CCD on Sunday morning for grades K-6, Sunday afternoon for grades 7-12, because that is how the families want it, and when their volunteers are available.

if you want other time options, why not gather a like minded group of parents and volunteer as catechists for evenings or weekends?
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Homeschooling was our best option. According to the RE Director, most families at our church preferred it this way, and with my internship, job, and homework, there’s no way I could commit to teach CCD at a certain time every week (my schedule is constantly changing).

So, maybe the 4-5 thing is a regional thing. Every church I called has about the same time here.
 
if you are homeschooling a child for sacramental prep, make sure the DRE and pastor sign off on the program you are using, and find out what other requirements there are like parent meetings, retreats etc. find out when you start homeschooling, not shortly before your child is scheduled to receive (see other threads on this topic for families who have run into problems, and know that your child MAY NOT be denied the sacraments by the DRE, although his reception may be DELAYED by the pastor while the child’s readiness is ascertained).
 
5th grade through HS meet on Monday nights from 7-8

Grades 1-5 meet either on Tuesday or Thursday afternoons from 4:30 -5:30
 
boppaid said:
How do working parents do this?
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Probably the same way they do Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, gymnastics, dance, sports, homework, etc. — by juggling schedules, relying on after-school care providers, friends and neighbors, etc. — whatever needs to be done to provide for the well-being of their children, they manage to the best of their ability. Hats off to them!
 
boppaid said:
How do working parents do this?
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The same way they do soccer practice, dance lessons, piano recitals, play practice, and all the other activities in which children are involved . . . there’s a whole lot of logistical juggling and organization involved. It’s tough. And most of them are doing a pretty good job, so I take my hat off to you. 👍
 
IrishAm said:
The same way they do soccer practice, dance lessons, piano recitals, play practice, and all the other activities in which children are involved . . . there’s a whole lot of logistical juggling and organization involved. It’s tough. And most of them are doing a pretty good job, so I take my hat off to you. 👍
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Most of those things are in the evenings, though. I had such a tough time trying to figure out the logistics for my kids to go to ccd. My kids are in latch key at their school every day until 5-5:15. The only way I could get someone to pick them up would be to add them to the school list of “people whom the children would be released to” and we only want grandparents & ourselves on it for safety reasons. (I am not super close with any of the parents in the program.)

Also, someone mentioned that in their church there weren’t any working parents. There must be SOME, I would imagine. Obviously they aren’t turned away. Are they allowed to homeschool too?

I’m only asking all these questions because this is the first year I’d been faced with this, having to get a full time job outside the home. Ugh, it’s hard! Churches w/ classes before evening hours make it extremely difficult for parents who work. My church was an exception, but my friend’s children are not making their sacraments now, because the church in community offered no alternative for working parents. 😦

I’m rambling. Sorry.
 
most of the parents here work
most have children involved in various after school activities and have no problem getting them there, they make soccer practice, football games, and karate class, they only seem to have a conflict when it is CCD. Interesting.

our biggest scheduling difficulty (besides our lack of parking which makes Sunday class impossible) is tutoring. Because of the TACKS test (sp?) which so many kids flunk here–God help our public schools–most 3rd graders need after school or Saturday tutoring, right in the most critical stage of 1st communion preparation, and it is also the most common reason we lose older children. Many parishes have early evening CCD for this reason, which makes an incredibly long day for the children and IMO imposes an undue burden.

Many parishes have CCD on Sunday before or after Mass, but it makes for huge groups, needing 100s of catechists and huge facilities. also kids and parents tend to make CCD, but skip Mass–bad, bad idea.
 
boppaid said:
Churches w/ classes before evening hours make it extremely difficult for parents who work. My church was an exception, but my friend’s children are not making their sacraments now, because the church in community offered no alternative for working parents.
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One of the scheduling challenges is that “after school” is when volunteers are most likely available to teach. I would suggest that the parish be approached by a full contingency of working parents willing to volunteer to teach religious education in an evening or weekend time slot. May be a “win / win” situation.
 
We have classes at 5 different times during the week. Once on Sunday afternoon (before the Sunday evening Mass), then on Mondays and Tuesdays either after school or later in the evening. Times seem to work out for everyone, but we do need about 120 volunteers to staff the program. We also have a fair number of parents who homeschool CCD.
 
puzzleannie said:
most of the parents here work
most have children involved in various after school activities and have no problem getting them there, they make soccer practice, football games, and karate class, they only seem to have a conflict when it is CCD. Interesting.
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Actually, I find it interesting that soccer practice, football games, etc. all start at around 4 or 4:30 where you live. Around here, it’s all in the evening…not in the afternoon. (Except, of course high school. But then, they don’t usually need their parents to get them there.) Again, maybe it’s a regional thing.

I do like the idea of weekend formation.
 
IrishAm said:
One of the scheduling challenges is that “after school” is when volunteers are most likely available to teach. I would suggest that the parish be approached by a full contingency of working parents willing to volunteer to teach religious education in an evening or weekend time slot. May be a “win / win” situation.
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That would be nice! I would be able to do that! (Provided they offer free childcare for my younger ones.) Maybe I might suggest that!
 
Sr_Sally said:
We have classes at 5 different times during the week. Once on Sunday afternoon (before the Sunday evening Mass), then on Mondays and Tuesdays either after school or later in the evening. Times seem to work out for everyone, but we do need about 120 volunteers to staff the program. We also have a fair number of parents who homeschool CCD.
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That’s a great program! I love it.
 
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