Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Biblical Geography

Making 2D and 3D Maps of the Holy Land

In the Level 1 Atrium (for ages 3-6), Simple Geography

Hands-On Lessons in Two and Three Dimensions

When we teach the young child about the Holy Land--where Jesus's coming was announced, where He was born, and where He died and rose--we keep things simple and hands-on.  We use a raised surface map of Israel to show the important cities in Jesus's life (the 3D map) and a puzzle map of Israel with the names of the regions and waterways.  Both are doable at home, especially these days where you can use the internet to pull up maps of the area.

To make the 3D map I started with a wooden tray (any Montessori classroom has several of these!) and some papier mache.  You could make your own papier mache pretty easily, but I used some CelluClay I already had on hand.  Simplify so that the child can focus on basic impressions--where the bodies of water are, where the land is hilly, etc.  You will make three holes in your sculpted creation so that you can insert skewers identifying Nazareth (where the Holy Spirit is symbolized by a white dove and which marks where the Annunciation took place), Bethlehem (where a yellow star symbolizes where Jesus was born), and Jerusalem (where a brown cross symbolizes His crucifixion and resurrection). 

I used cheap acrylic paints to color the land and water.  I suppose it would be smart to finish with a clear coat spray for durability.  The cross, star, and dove were made of Sculpey (you could use any polymer clay) and then affixed with Gorilla Wood Glue.

I snipped off the pointy bits for safety's sake.

To see my post on making the 2D map, click here.

As a member of Catechesis of the Good Shepherd USA I had access to their simplified map of the Holy Land, but it wouldn't be hard to draw your own using online maps of the area.  Just focus on a few basic regions and bodies of water, provide labels and a control map. 

If you've read this far, you may also be interested in the Parent Pages created by CGSUSA regarding Biblical Geography.   In addition, they have created Parent Pages for teaching elementary aged children.

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Homeschooling, Mixing It Up, and Montessori Enrichment

A Little of This, A Little of That.....

The Tree of Life work from Waseca is pretty to look at and is a good way for "Peel" to visualize the plant, animal and fungus kingdoms.

With my older kids in school and just one fifth grader and one Pre-K child home three days per week I feel like I'm finally getting into a good rhythm this school year.  Both homeschooled kids are out of the house two mornings per week, and I'm using a mixture of "canned" curriculum and Montessori for both.  It finally feels right, and I wanted to share our mixture in the hopes that it could help others out there struggling.

Whether you are struggling to balance your children's school work with their social life, or balance the time you wear your "teacher hat" with the time you wear all of your other hats, the perfect combination isn't easy to find.

I love it when siblings can share an activity!

Mixed Ages

Montessori classrooms are always comprised of children of mixed ages.  This works well for families who homeschool children of various ages, and it's very convenient when you must chauffeur your kids to outside activities.  For us, Tae Kwan Do and piano are "one stop shopping" for both girls, and many Montessori works we do at home can be done together.

5th Grade--"Peel"

Canned Curriculum:  Kolbe
Montessori Enrichment:  Animal and Plant Kingdom works, some Level 2 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd works, Math review and Grammar review
Co-op:  Math and English are done twice per week in the mornings
Music:  Weekly Suzuki violin and weekly piano
Physical Education:  Tae Kwan Do three times per week
Art:  Online, live art class for homeschoolers
Religion:  Weekly CCD class at our parish
Extracurriculars:  Weekly Jr. Legion of Mary group with children from local Catholic school and with homeschoolers
Other:  When our computer is working, a little Spanish (which is review for her) on CDs.  We dropped some Saturday classes for gifted students.  Though several were very good, our last was a total dud.

"Peel" can work very hard on her own, but after a few hours wants to do something different, whether it be go to the creek, play cards with kids her age, or do Mad Libs with a friend.  Staying home all day every day is not an option for her!  She also gets "blah" and sleepy if she's not moving.  In addition, she benefits from learning things in different ways, like through videos, songs or board games.

The co-op has a great teacher, nice kids and animals!

Mixing It Up

I recently bought some episodes of Horrible Histories on iTunes and spent $5 for all 40 episodes of Liberty's Kids on DVD, since they pertain to the history she's been studying this year (we already have the awesome Horrible Histories book set and my kids love it!).  This seems to improve the mood around here.  I also am trying the Kindle Free Time app on the new Kindle that Santa brought me.  While I hadn't ever heard of this child-friendly app, I'm so glad I decided to try it!  It's dramatically increased the amount of good, outside reading that Peel does.  I set her daily goal to 75 minutes of reading, and she's hit that goal almost every day since.  And these are not just junky books--these are good books, mostly classics, that I have wanted her to read.  For some reason the classics don't seem as boring and hum drum when they are on the Kindle!  Here's an article about that app.

Don't worry--the nerdy charts are only on the refrigerator temporarily.  We're not THAT nerdy!

In addition to these small changes, I've also ordered some expensive Montessori materials I've been wanting for a long time.  Waseca makes the yummiest products, and since Peel has had an enduring interest in animals, plants, fungi and dinosaurs/geology, I splurged on the Tree of Life, Plant Kingdom chart, and the Fungus Kingdom chart.  We've used them already and I hope to go back to them from time to time.

Finally, my husband has dusted off some of his board games that correspond to the subjects Peel is studying.  For instance, her study of the Civil War is coming up, so they've been playing Battle Cry.  There are 15 different battle scenarios that the players can work through.

As far as hobbies go, Peel got a book about sewing felt animals for her birthday, and she's doing that in her spare time.   She is also cooking dinner once per week or so, and has recently discovered a TV show called "Master Chef Jr." that has her even more excited about learning to cook.

As far as life skills go, Peel and her older sister are learning the fine art of cleaning the bathroom every Saturday morning.  Hurray for bushy-tailed New Year's Resolutions!

Pre-K--"Alleluia"

Canned Curriculum:  Pre-K two days per week at a Catholic parochial school
Montessori Enrichment:  Two to three days per week of Primary work and Level 1 Catechesis of the Good Shepherd
Music:  Weekly piano lessons and one music class per week in the Pre-K program
Physical Education:  Weekly Tae Kwan Do
Art:  Once per week in the Pre-K program
Religion:  Weekly afterschool Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program at a local Catholic school
Extracurriculars:  Weekly Jr. Legion of Mary group

Even though I run a small mother-child Atrium in my home each Friday, it's nice to get out and join another Atrium with school kids at an after school program once per week.  I learn a lot, too!

Alleluia's life is more streamlined and simple, with plenty of sleeping in and playing and just hanging out.  While there doesn't seem to be as much "mixing it up" with her schooling, she is still adjusting to being away from Mom two days per week and ever-so-slowly becoming more independent.

Alleluia still does 2-3 days of Montessori basics at home with me.

It's taken me a year and a half of homeschooling these two--with a lot of trial and error!--to find a good balance.  I hope some of you will find helpful ideas here.  Do you have any additional thoughts?  Things that have helped you find a good homeschooling balance?  Please share!

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The Atrium from A to Z

The chunky Mary is from this set.

"A is for Altar, B is for Bible," ...

... is a book you'll see in many atria across the country, including ours.  We don't use it much, though, so I recently created a new "Fetch" work (similar to other classic Montessori fetching games) with this book, some letters my daughter had made out of Perler beads, and the items in the Atrium.  It was a hit!

You could use the Moveable Alphabet, too--we just wanted to put these recently-made letters to use.

We just laid out a long mat, arranged the letters from left to right (saying the letter sound as we did so) and began to find things in the Atrium that were in the book and started with the letter.  After we were done with each letter, we returned the items to their proper place.  The whole work took about 45 minutes.  (It doesn't matter what style of letters you use--even those plastic magnetic letters would be fine for this.)  It was a GREAT way to work some movement into our cold, gray morning!  Also, it could easily be done with a friend or two.

"G" is for the Good Shepherd!  "Alleluia" liked to compare
the illustrations in the book with what we have in our Atrium.

 It was a great way for "Alleluia" to incorporate all that she has learned in the Atrium so far!  We had to look for things from early works, later works, and really think hard to guess what would be on the next page (we tried to guess what would represent each letter before turning the page).

"I" is for Isaiah, so we got brought the prophet statue out...

... and "n" is for Nazareth....

... and "t" is for Temple.

Were you wondering what the "x" word would be?  It's "crucifix."  

Note:  My daughter "Peel," who is in 5th grade, made the letters when she was bored one day and had a lot of time on her hands.  She used this pattern book, but you could use any sort of template you'd like, including one like the cursive Sandpaper Letters.  If you have enough of each color, you could also stick with just red and blue, to match your vowels and consonants.  Also, we had to tweak the design of the letter "a" to match what we use in the classroom.

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The Kingdom of Heaven is Like.....

The Kingdom of Heaven is like the yeast a woman took and mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through....

The Kingdom Parables

In the Atrium we present the parables Jesus gave us to describe the kingdom of heaven.  One of those is the simple illustration given in Matthew 13: 33.  After a very short reading from Scripture we mix 3 T flour, 1/4 t. quick rise yeast and 2 T warm water in one bowl and in another bowl mix just the flour and water.  If you set these aside for 30 - 45 minutes the children will be able to see a difference in the two.

You could spend time discussing with the children important points like:

• the kingdom Jesus talked about was very different from any other kingdom
• when you mix the flour and yeast together you can't separate them
• something so small (the yeast) can make a huge difference in the dough

      .... or you could just launch right in, which is what we did!

I used clear glass bowls so that each child could have his or her own and so that we could see the air pockets more easily later.

Not for eating!  But feel free to smell :)

The children can practice patience and some self control, resisting the urge to keep stirring or touching the dough until the time is up.  Once it's time to investigate your dough again, you can always call the students back together to talk about what happened.  I intend to re-present this work the next time we meet or after we've discussed some of the other parables.  It slowly becomes clear that something small can become big!

Wowza!

There are some good resources on this work, including:

• a mention of this work in a Level II Atrium
• some photos of this presentation at what looks like an awesome Christian Montessori!

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The Trickle Up Effect

Atrium Mommies + Their Children + A New Friend

It seems like, based on the "hits" for each of my blog posts, the posts that describe our co-op have been some of the most interesting to our readers.  So I wanted to just say one thing about having a co-op Atrium:  the mommies are learning just as much--if not more--than the children!

Since the moms are here when lessons are presented, they absorb the same catechesis as the children.  For some of us, who were raised on the "Glitter Jesus" curriculum of the seventies, these simple, profound lessons are timely.  We are SO ready to listen to God's Word!  We are hungry for the essential lessons of our faith.  We are grateful to meet other mommies seeking the same.

I noticed early on in my training as a catechist that the same transformation I was hoping to see in my young students was taking place in myself and in my fellow classmates.  I saw the same joy and wonder on our wrinkled faces that the children have on their fresh, innocent faces!  I saw it when we realized the Good Shepherd calls us EACH by NAME, when lighting those small candles from the Pascal Candle and proclaiming, "Emily, receive the light of Christ," and, "Joseph, receive the light of Christ," and so on, and then I noticed that the light is spreading, just like the light of faith is spreading, and when I pondered the Annunciation, when Mary's troubled heart quickly became an open, trusting, receptive heart (which makes all the difference).

There are many goosebump moments in the Atrium, despite some occasional crying or spilling, despite the general hubbub, passing grumpiness and the messy humanity of it all.... I recommend THIS kind of co-op because it will benefit you, your children, your families and your faith.  The lessons will trickle up!  And that will make all the difference.

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The Liturgical Calendar (or the Church's Year)

"Purple and Green, Red and White....."

With the Liturgical Calendar the children see the importance of preparing for the 3 big feasts of the church:  Christmas, Easter, and Pentecost.  They also see how important the "growing time" (i.e. Ordinary Time) is!

Today we unveiled one of the the most impressive works of the Level 1 Atrium:  the Liturgical Calendar, which teaches that Christ is the center of our year and that there are cycles and patterns to our worship.  This particular calendar (made from a sort of masonite material that was just leftover packing stuff from a furniture shipment) is MUCH bigger than I've ever seen.  These are usually the size of a large dinner plate and are usually made of wood.  This just goes to show:  you can make these works with whatever you have handy and modify to suit your group.  The gentleman who made this is a seasoned grandpa, so he made chunkier pieces that are safe both because they are too big to choke on and because there are no pointy pieces.

For single use with just a few children you could make this with construction paper or make necklaces with colored pony beads (thanks to Dominican Sister Mary Charles for the necklace idea!).

Your liturgical calendar needs to have 3 concentric circles.  The outer ring separates the year into the Cycle of Easter and the Cycle of Christmas (the largest rings seen above).  The medium-sized ring should be made of 52 equal-sized wedges (in our design the 3 feasts of the year--Easter, Christmas and Pentecost--become rays that take the place of 3 of those wedges).  The smallest ring defines the seasons:  Advent, the Christmas Season, Ordinary Time, Lent, and the Paschal Season.

Once the wood is cut and primed, you're ready to paint!  

 It's a confusing puzzle to create and to put together, so just keep singing the song to yourself as you go:

"Purple and green, red and white
Are the colors of the year..........
Purple for preparation,
White is for celebration,
Green is the growing time,
Red is for Pentecost."

Paint the Pentecost wedge with red.  Later you can add the dove as the symbol for the Holy Spirit.  Note:  some atria use flames as the symbol for the Holy Spirit.  You just need to be consistent across the works in your room.

I wanted the lettering to look nice, so I used a compass to create a guideline.

I found a pretty font, printed out the words I needed for labeling, wrote them onto my calendar pieces and then went over that with a Sharpie.  These steps took a LONG time of careful concentration!

I also made a control chart by tracing all of the calendar pieces onto an old piece of foam core,  labeling everything and coloring it in.  That way the children can move everything from the puzzle to the control chart and back again. 

So far, the only complaint I've had is that the symbol I painted for Pentecost looks like an airplane instead of a dove!

Lots of focus!

One important thing to point out:  while a clock goes around clockwise, we use this calendar counter-clockwise to remind us that "God's time is not our time."

Many thanks!

Thanks very much to this friend of the Legion of Mary for creating this work!

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Two Things to Know About the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

The artwork, the music, and the colorful vestments appeal to our senses and draw us in.

Soon after Maria Montessori opened her first children's house, Pope Pius X suggested that she apply her methods to religious education.  Many teachers and aides in Montessori classrooms aren't aware that Dr. Maria said her method found its fullest expression when it was applied to the teaching of the Catholic faith!

St. Louis Cathedral

If you've ever been to a Catholic Mass you know that all of the senses and much of our bodies are involved in worship:

• our ears hear the music and the Word of God
• our eyes see beautiful art all around us, the decorative flowers, the colorful chasuble of the priest 
• our noses smell the incense
• we genuflect before the tabernacle and kneel, stand and sit at various times

Lots of music!

Everywhere we look we are inspired.

The bells!

 And on special feast days we may even have a procession or the priest may sprinkle us with holy water (cold!) or we may get to hold a lit candle (making mom nervous!) or a blessed palm (but don't poke your brother with it)--all of these things are terribly exciting to small children!

I've always known in my gut that the Catholic liturgy and the Montessori approach in the classroom had a lot in common, but I never knew that Montessori herself considered religious education the highest example--the pinnacle and summit--of her unique method.  She also said that true respect for the child is only possible when we have respect for God in the baptized child.  So that's the first thing to know about the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

Texture, the play of light, the smell of pine--a true Montessori smorgasbord!

The second thing:  the teacher must attend to her own soul before she can guide the child.  I need to examine my own conscience regularly and, through works of humility, try to become more and more Christlike.  I wrote about that here, but I also remember Montessori specifically mentioning anger and pride as the primary stumbling blocks we teachers face.

More on our new atrium, Our Lady Queen of Hope Atrium, coming soon!  To see photos from a presentation we did last year during a Montessori Morning, click here.

References:
"Montessori Catechesis" by Margaret Wickware, The Sower, July 2007
The Church and the Child by Maria Montessori and Others, by E. M. Standing

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The Birthday of Montessori's First School: An "Epiphany"

In the Atrium today we celebrate the Epiphany,
when the three wise men followed the star and found Jesus.

If you are a Montessorian, today is a special day:  on Epiphany 1907 Maria Montessori opened her first Casa dei Bambini (Children's House) in Rome.  About 50 to 60 children, between the ages of 2 to 7,  from low-income families were enrolled.

I was taught that Dr. Montessori, who was Catholic, read aloud the Epiphany's first reading, which began:

 “Arise, shine, for your light has come,
    and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
² See, darkness covers the earth
    and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
    and his glory appears over you.
³ Nations will come to your light,
    and kings to the brightness of your dawn."

What an exciting way to begin her work with children!  And if you work with children--whether your own or with students at your school or parish--you already know that in each child God's image is made manifest in a unique way.  And you already know that, somewhere along the way, you have learned so much more from the children than you've ever imparted.

I read about how the things we behold can change us and vice versa from Fr. Z's blog today:
Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He is the Father’s Beauty. He is Truth and Beauty and Glory itself.

St. Hilary of Poitiers (d 367) conceived God’s divine attribute of glory as a transforming power which divinizes us by our contact with it.  After Moses talked with God in the tent of the Ark, he wore a veil over his face, which became too bright to look at.  We pray today, literally, to be brought “all the way to the beauty of glory (species celsitudinis)” of God “which is to be contemplated”.  His beauty will act on us, increase our knowledge of Him and, therefore, our love for Him … for all eternity.   We will be, all the more, the images He intended.

So Happy Solemnity of the Epiphany, Ya'll!

"O God, who on this day revealed your Only Begotten Son to the nations by the guidance of a star, grant in your mercy, that we, who know you already by faith, may be brought to behold the beauty of your sublime glory."

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Why I Didn't Put Our Christmas Lights Out This Year

After many, many years and a few moves, our St. Joseph light needed to retire.

In the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Atrium (the Montessori space devoted to helping children fall in love with God) the children learn about when Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the Temple, where they meet Simeon and Anna.   Normally I display lit figures of the Holy Family at this time of year, but this year was different..

I didn't put our nativity scene out on the front lawn this year because St. Joseph was just too cracked.  Over the years the plastic has become brittle, so he's missing the top of his head (which we covered last year with a Santa hat) and he's missing his right hand, which held a lantern.  When it rains the light bulb shorts out, so it's time to retire this St. Joseph figure.

 

I thought about still setting out the Mary, baby Jesus and the ox part of our creche, but it didn't seem right.  Without St. Joseph, who would have protected Mary and the unborn baby in her womb?  Without St. Joseph, who would have taken them to Eqypt to flee Herod's soldiers?  Without St. Joseph, how would Jesus learn a living in the carpenter's shop?  Without St. Joseph who would have introduced Jesus to the scriptures, to His father's house?

 

All of these thoughts have been swirling in my mind as I have watched fathers this Advent:  as I watched young dads bounce boisterous babies during Mass; as I watched a father lead his two children to give up their seats to an elderly lady and her escort at the Christmas Vigil tonight; as I watched fathers here on vacation in Florida play catch on the beach; as I met some fathers (and noticed the absence of some) at a luncheon recently held for moms and their babies who had considered--and then rejected--abortion.

 

There are so many ways the "St. Joseph" in our lives watch out for us.  He checks the tires before a long car trip.  He fills out the paperwork so the new baby is insured.  He gets the kids out of Mom's hair long enough for her to catch her breath, or grab a nap.  He's more than the helpful neighbor or the favorite uncle--he's put his life on the line, he's committed his future to his bride and child.  He puts their welfare and well-being before his own. 

 

What a wonderful model of a man who was willing to die to self, who could hear the voice of God and obey, who was provider and protector!  Pope Francis recently said at his Angelus address that the Gospel “shows us St. Joseph’s greatness of soul. Joseph was a man who always listened to the voice of God, was deeply sensitive to his secret will -- a man attentive to the messages that came from the heart and from above.”

 

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Montessori St. Nicholas Day

A Christmas tree made of Long Red Rods and Knobless Cylinders

I hadn't planned anything special for our Montessori Morning today, even though it's the Feast of St. Nicholas.  Still, looking back, we did a decent job celebrating the man.  We made a Christmas tree out of the Long Red Rods and the Knobless Cylinders (3 people can do this work together).

A procession on the line

We talked about the Advent season, sang the "Liturgical Colors" song, and had a simple procession on the line.  Each child carried one thing to be placed on our prayer table (purple prayer table tablecloth, candle,  icon of Mary, angel and cross).  We sang "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" and sat down for a short book together.  (Note:  I should have made sure I knew all of the words before we started!  Ooops...)

Reading from the Bible

As a group we read "A is for Altar, B is for Bible," and I re-introduced a unique work written about here (with all of the talk this season about "gifts" I thought the little presents would be a good tie-in).  Afterwards it was really nice--the children were calm and tended to choose works related to the Atrium materials.  "Fuego" wanted to sit with her mom and read from The Golden Children's Bible, which has great illustrations.  Another girl chose the Altar I work and said a short prayer with her mom.  Our newest member, a two-and-one-half-year-old boy, chose Flower Arranging.

Altar I work

 All in all, a great morning!  I think St. Nicholas would have approved.

Flower Arranging

Any ideas for next year?  I think maybe next year I'll print out a coloring page.

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