The First Few Sessions by Dione Grillo

My first few sessions back, we began September 21^st, have been an education-for me! I can’t believe how much there is for me to learn, and I am again humbled by the thousands of volunteer catechists who bless our parishes across the United States…and beyond.

First things first…The first day. Our first day together was eventful. My assistant, Linda, and I have eleven beautiful saints in training who are all in second grade with one third grader. Believe me, if you don’t know by looking you will know by the end any given session. I have to remember to address that with our wonderful DRE.

Of the eleven children-seven girls and four boys-I only have one, true discipline problem and his issue is pretty understandable. He just needs attention…constantly! J Don’t we all?

I took pictures the first day to insert into the binders I mentioned we bought at Wal-Mart. They turned out really nice.

Those name tents I bought at Target, however, aren’t worth the paper they’re written on. They stopped doing the whole "tent thing" the first day! We’ve taken to just letting them hang off the side of the tables the children sit at.

We also decided to keep the children’s book and send home "Fun Work" ‘cause we don’t do "homework." Basically, they are the same thing but "Fun Work" is entirely optional and earns you a trip to our Inspirational Treasure Chest from Oriental Trading Company. Be warned, it’s seemingly sturdy cardboard but I’ve had issues with the thing staying together-the sticky tabs de-stick all the time. The prizes, considering what you pay, should be better quality and variety. The fastenings on three of the little Bibles (Protestant) broke during normal use. I’m just saying.

It’s shameless bribing, but I don’t do it every week and do let the children and parents know that it’s entirely optional. Oh, I put together a Fun Work Tracking System in Excel. I know. I know. My OCPD is showing.

That’s it for now. I needed to write something. I am hard at work on the next few articles as we go into Advent. Also, I have some updates on our learning of the Act of Contrition and would welcome your ideas on making prayer memorization Fun and Faith-filled.