As moms, we always want the best for our kiddoes. As Catholic moms, we want even more for our children when it comes to our faith. It’s an uphill battle sometimes, with today’s culture being what it is. But we are also living in a time teeming with resources just at our fingertips. Today, I want to share just a few of my favorites.
Podcasts: As a homeschooling mom to many, sometimes I just want a passive way to get the lessons into my kids little brains. We are a busy family, so we do spend a nice chunk of time in the car each day. When we moved our family from the center of town out to the country a few years ago, people told us that we’d be sorry for all the driving we’d be doing. Instead, I try to harness that time for chit chats, deep discussions, and some podcast listening {and of course, music. Or my favorite, silence!}
We LOVE the sweet little podcast Catholic Sprouts. Nancy kindly teaches the children a different lesson each day. She takes weighty topics and deep theology and, without watering it down, presents it to the kids in a way they can understand. It takes talent to teach kids well, and Nancy has that talent. Each episode is long enough to have great information, but short enough to keep the fleeting attention of a bunch of little kids. With a new podcast each day, this can be a nice little piece to your daily faith formation.
Books: Marigold Hunt is another person with an amazing ability to take the complexities of the Catholic Church and present them in an easy to understand format for children. We have read through both Life of Our Lord for Children and The First Christians. We tend to hop back and forth between them, depending on where we are in the liturgical year. Life of Our Lord is an excellent Advent and Lent companion.
Toys: Play is a child’s work and it’s the absolute best way he can learn and really internalize the world and the lessons presented to him. Heidi, from Work and Play, Day by Day has a whole host of Catholic Montessori resources to guide parents in teaching the faith to their children. Her advent collection looks excellent! When children can work with their hands and create while they learn, they hold onto that information much more readily. Heidi’s thoughtfully created, hands on resources are invaluable tools.
My Catholic Kids: Here are a few more fun card games and books to help the kids learn the saints. Saints are the Church in heaven, so these cards give the kids a chance to get to know and befriend these Catholics who have gone before us. What better way to learn to want to emulate these holy people, than through a fun little game of cards.
There are so many high quality tools today to help us pass on our faith to our children. These are really just a few of the ones we love.
What tools to you use and love with your kids?
