Nothing like a little Pink Floyd for your morning.
Actually, we’re going to talk about Preschool… in particular, Sunday Preschool. If you were hanging around on the FB page or on my Twitter account, you know that I somehow ended up on a Preschool committee. Really, I know how… I was one of the 4 who showed up. I thought that they were looking for input on starting a Catholic Preschool (think 2 days a week) during the school year. Plus, I wanted to meet other moms of littles!
(FYI: Preschool is huge and hugely competitive here in CA. It’s really kind of crazy and intimidating. People worry about getting their kids in the “right” preschool and having them all prepped for kindergarten (called “Kinder” out here,) as Kindergarten is more like 1st grade. Paste eating is so not allowed. And to top it off, preschools are crazy expensive, unless you go for the co-op route in which you volunteer for a few hours a month in the classroom. From those who have done it, they love it, but you need to find childcare for younger kids, etc. Great if you have family/ friends around to watch your littles, poor if you… don’t. And even then, you go from crazy expensive to marginally-disturbed expensive. We kept DD1 out of preschool this year, so it will be interesting to see how she fares in kindergarten in a few weeks. I have faith she’ll be fine, after all, she can read, do rudimentary math (mostly addition) and plays well with others. Anyway…)
Rather than looking to start a Catholic preschool, the topic was starting a Preschool to be held during the Mass for children aged 3-5. It would run parallel to the school year, comprising about 40 Sundays (no lessons on major Feast days/ holidays.) During our Family Mass (9:15a) the school aged children (5-9/10) are dismissed during the Liturgy of the Word, for the Children’s Liturgy of the Word, and return right around the Presentation of the Gifts. While they are away, they hear the Mass Readings, but in a more “kid-friendly” way, plus they get a little talk on the lesson that the reading are teaching. Then the family is reunited for the Liturgy of the Eucharist. Parents are looking for something similar for their littles: aged 3-5.
I’m going to stop here and pause. I know I have some non-Catholic readers out there, so let me give you a quick rundown of the Mass if you have never been to one or it’s been a long time:
(Introductory Rites)
-Greeting
-Penitenital Rite
-Kyrie
-Gloria
-Opening Prayer
(Liturgy of the Word)
-First Reading
-Responsorial Psalm
-Second Reading (on Sundays)
-Gospel Acclamation
-Gospel Reading
-Homily
-Profession of Faith
-General Intersessions (Prayers of the Faithful)
(Liturgy of the Eucharist)
-Preparation of Gifts
- Prayers over the Gifts
-Eucharistic Prayer
-Our Father
-Sign of Peace
-Agnus Dei
-Communion
-Prayer after Communion
(Concluding Rite)
-Blessing
-Dismissal
I grew up Baptist, and we would have Sunday School before the service. It would last about 45 minutes and then we’d head to service and would be expected to sit and listen the entire time. And it was a l-o-o-o-n-g time… 2 hours or so? While we were in Missouri, we did have a Sunday Preschool that DD1 attended when she was 3. They colored, listened to readings, learned a lesson, and sometimes had a craft. This was done during the Mass and I was a little bummed out because we like having the family together during the Mass. Whether they know it or not, by being there, the kids are learning about the sacrifice of the Mass. They learn the prayers and because the Order of Mass is fixed they come to learn how it all flows together.
On the other hand, there are families where maybe both parents do not attend Mass together. Maybe it’s because one spouse is away, or because there is only one parent. For parents like this, Mass (with kids) may not give them the graces that they are looking for, and Mass is more stressful than graceful. Maybe their children are high-needs and find it hard to sit during the hour long service. Maybe they (the parent) was given the stink-eye from someone because their toddler asked a question during the consecration, using her “outside” voice. (and you know it’s true: some of us are pretty poor examples of Christian Charity.) Maybe they just want to go to Mass and not have to parent for an hour. We were not asked to decide if a Sunday Preschool was needed, there was a need as parishioners asked for it. (But it really isn’t clear if the parishioners are looking for childcare or structured school. Right now we are planning structured school to which the children must be registered,) Our task is to figure out how to do it and how much to charge (the teacher in mind has either requested or been offered a stipend.)
I’ve been hearing lots of great things about the Catechist of the Good Shepherd program, and ideally, I (personally) would love to see that as a Saturday school option for the kids, (especially because the CGS teaches about the Mass and then the kids can apply that knowledge at Mass,) and even better would be to have an Adult Catechesis as well during the same time. Another idea that was thrown out on the FB page was to have the age range for Children’s Liturgy of the Word to go from 4-7/8 (once your child received their first communion, it would be expected that they would stay for the whole Mass,) another idea would be to have the preschool during the Mass but only to offer it the 1st and 3rd Sunday, so only running about 20 weeks and then the littles learn and experience the Mass more often.
So, honestly, I am stuck. Would the CCM family use a Sunday Preschool? Probably not, just like we don’t use a cry room (for the record, both of my girls have pretty calm temperaments,) but should that stop me from helping to create one? Does your Catholic Church offer a Preschool? Is it during the Mass or outside? Do you pay? How much?
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What our parish had is a nursery for kids aged 1-4–it was staffed by volunteers–and the children’s liturgy was for ages 4+. (Okay, technically the Maiden started going when she was three. Sssshhhh!) The kids in the nursery were there the whole Mass time, which is why we moved her to the kids’ liturgy early–we wanted her to come with us but her ADHD meant that an hour in the pew would make her and us and everyone around us intensely miserable. So yes, I guess that answers your question–we would have been all over a Sunday preschool!
Our parish offers a “share the word” type of event, similar to your elementary grades, where they leave before the 1st reading and return around the presentation of the gifts, but it’s for children from the age of 4 to 6. Once they turn 7 and have participated in First Communion, they simply attend Mass.
We don’t have a cry room, though we do have a very nice atrium (when the AC is turned on) that parents can take screaming children to, if necessary, though they don’t pump the sound in unless it’s a REALLY special Mass.
Our Parish School offers a full day, 5 day/wk preschool for 3′s and 4′s (to the tune of $3700/year, though that does include the cost of lunch every day). In reality it’s not a bad price given the cost of daycare/preschool, but way to rich for our family. But we started homeschooling anyway, so it doesn’t matter.
So I guess I’m not really any help at all.
Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a great program. It is designed to have the children come before Mass then join families at Eucharistic Prayer. We are starting it at Sunday school for St. Joe this fall. However, children will be coming to us for the entire Mass. Our campus is not suitable to travel with 20 3-4 year olds and find families during Eucharistic prayer.
Anyway, we charge $50, children learn parts of Mass & begin a relationship with Jesus. There is no craft, no snack, just a lot of time re-enacting parts of Mass, learning important Bible stories – mainly about Jesus the Good Shepherd, and deepening thier faith.
That said, I used to not be a fan of bringing my very active 3 year olds to Mass and loved an opportunity for them to learn SOMETHING about our faith. Now that i have been trained under CGS I’m thinking a little differently. IF you have the time to re-enact the parts of the Mass & provide opportunity at home for your child to understand what is happening, he/she will understand what is goingon during Mass. IF you just make it routine, expect them to sit quietly in the back of church for at least an hour you will be dissappointed. Talking about the Mass before Mass is important for our little ones to grasp what is happening on the altar. IF we can slow it down for them at home, less talk, more showing & them doing then they might recognize what is happening since we have shown them at home.
I do think it is a family decision if your child goes to Mass or not. I have used the Sunday school program and brought my little ones to daily Mass. It is much more intimate, I can talk things through with them, etc. Good luck with your new adventure Kari! Would love to talk more with you about CGS!
In the parish I am at presently we do not have a preschool nor do we offer preschool in our religious ed program. However we moved to Floorida a year ago. In the parish where I was the Catechatical Leader we had both a preschool which was 2 days a week. both Catholics and Non Catholics attended…We charged for it…. they met 2 days a week
On Sunday we offered Breaking open the word which was open to 4 year olds. We used Pflaum’s Breaking open the work material.. I want to say the leader guides were 27 dollars and then they had student handouts which we did not get..We did not charge for this program…… Hope this answers your questions. If you need more info please email me directily at lifelong formation101@gmail.com
I’m not Catholic (but you already knew that
yet we also have a very unique type of church service where I attend. All together it’s 3 hours but that is split up into different parts such as the breaking of bread/rememberance service, fellowship time, Family Bible hour and sunday school.
It’s the first 1.5 hours that I have my 2 year old in the nursery. It’s staffed by volunteers and they mostly just play with him, give him snacks and keep him from killing himself. I do agree with you that it is nice to sit together as a family to teach your children about the order and reasons for what you do in a church servie. But until prpbably age 4 my VERY energetic little man will probably remain in the nursery so mommy and daddy (not to mention the other believers) can try and focus on worshipping the Lord.
But I think your question is more about your bandwidth. Do YOU need to be involved in a ministry of the church that you don’t really plan on using? Not for me to decide. I know you are a busy woman so I would say if the Lord is giving you a passion for other ministries right now then focus on those. Don’t feel obligated to be involved in every ministry.
“For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not have all the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.”
Romans 12:4-6
Hi
Love your website title–I’m a Roman Catholic mommy…newer blogger… 
fellow coffee addict… 
Our parish offers preschool for 3 and 4 yr olds…was always 2-3 days a week, now it’s going to 3 or 5 days a week. (as public schools just went to full day K, I think this is prep.) Pay over $1000 a year for 3 yr old 3day program from what I’ve heard. Parishioners get first dibs for their kids. For our little ones, I co-coordinate a mother’s ministry for toddlers…so we plan religious craft, song & mommy faith centered discussion…
Good luck to you!
PS-I host Faithfully Parenting Fridays Linky party if you’d like to come by!
Blessings!