Vida Winter Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 I belong to a very small Episcopal church where I have been teaching Sunday School this past year. We have only two families with children, my three daughters and another family with two daughters. The ages are: 3,4,8,10, and 13. I know, the age span is crazy and if I meet the needs of the younger kids my teen is just a helper and not getting what out of it what I would like for her to be getting. In addition we have been conducting classes in a not-so nice atmosphere, a basement that has been *freezing* most of the winter (no heat) with a semi-functioning fireplace and an inadequate space heater. Twice this winter I had to evacuate the kids from the basement due to smoke backing up from the fireplace. Forgive me for the length of the post, I am trying to get it all down so I can sort it out myself. I am very burned out from conducting class under these conditions. Obviously, the meeting place has to be addressed before fall. It is tolerable now but still cold (ladies, it snowed here yesterday if you can believe it). Either we need to fix up the entire basement, a part of the basement, or meet in the sanctuary during off hours. Aside from the meeting place there is the question of age ranges. I need helpers. I need more older kids. I need to do so much I am not sure where to start. Maybe I should just forget about Sunday school and try to get a children's choir started, at least until I get more kids involved. By the way, we have about 16-20 regular church members, mostly elderly. Funding for the Sunday school is very limited; most of it is a donation from my family. I need to make some curriculum decisions but most of all I need to pray about it and get out of this funk. On the edge of my consciousness I am envisioning work parties with a bunch of teenagers who would eventually form the core of a future youth group. I guess what I need is encouragement and maybe some positive advice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris in VA Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Have you ever seen the Godly Play curriculum? It can be used with a wide range of ages--you could probably make a lot of it yourself, and I'll bet you could find some large parish willing to donate some time to help you--or maybe even donate some materials. You can see some of it online--pm me for more ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Well, I'm thinking this is not the time to have Sunday school. Your 3 & 4yos need to have their own class, 8 & 10yos ditto, 13yo...well, 13yo can go to Sunday school with the adults. I think combining ages is a good thing, but the age span you have is just way too big. The children will not die spiritually without Sunday school. They will be fine until there are more children. And more teachers. When there are more children, if there are not enough adults to divide the dc into age groups, then it *still* isn't time for Sunday school. I wouldn't do a children's choir, either. You only have 3 who are old enough, and that's not a choir. This is my positive advice: Do not be willing to take it all on yourself. If it's important to others, there will be more involvement; one person doing evrything is a recipe for disaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tami Posted June 7, 2008 Share Posted June 7, 2008 Blessings on your work! Have you ever seen Godprints by David C Cook? It is written for multiple ages. I also think that Gospel Light curriculum is very flexible and can be used for multiple ages. Gospel Light 3/4 might work for you. Wait a minute -- I just saw your budget is tight. Well, then I would get a Gospel Light Manual, since they are only $5. There are some hands-on ideas, and they are not expensive. The summer Gospel Light curriculum is particularly good. May the Lord strengthen you and give you wisdom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Another Lynn Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 Well, I know this isn't a mainstream view, but I've never been a big fan of age segregated Sunday School anyway. Why not have the kids stay with their parents for Sunday School (may take some training for the 3 yo) and if things go over their heads parents and children can discuss these issues afterwards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Have you ever seen the Godly Play curriculum? It can be used with a wide range of ages--you could probably make a lot of it yourself, and I'll bet you could find some large parish willing to donate some time to help you--or maybe even donate some materials. You can see some of it online--pm me for more ideas. Chris, I am investigating Godly Play as it has been recommended by several Episcopal priests. I will PM you a bit later - thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Blessings on your work! Have you ever seen Godprints by David C Cook? It is written for multiple ages. I also think that Gospel Light curriculum is very flexible and can be used for multiple ages. Gospel Light 3/4 might work for you. Wait a minute -- I just saw your budget is tight. Well, then I would get a Gospel Light Manual, since they are only $5. There are some hands-on ideas, and they are not expensive. The summer Gospel Light curriculum is particularly good. May the Lord strengthen you and give you wisdom! Tami, thanks for the recommendations - I will definitely check them out, both of them. A summer program and/or muliple age program would have advantages. I appreciate your uplifting message! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Well, I know this isn't a mainstream view, but I've never been a big fan of age segregated Sunday School anyway. Why not have the kids stay with their parents for Sunday School (may take some training for the 3 yo) and if things go over their heads parents and children can discuss these issues afterwards. Well the kids end up missing just the first part of the service. When the sermon is over we have a helper call us upstairs to join in for the rest of the service and communion (that is if we have a communion service; we do not have a regular priest so once or twice a month we have a visiting priest). The liturgy of our morning prayer service (non-communion service) is quite long and hard for the kids to sit entirely through, and having some activities for them makes it much easier and I hope more meaningful for them. For what it's worth, we have been only doing a Sunday school activity about once every 2 or 3 weeks due to the freezing temps in the basement. Nothing like freezing the poor kids to get them to want to sit upstairs for the entire service! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted June 8, 2008 Author Share Posted June 8, 2008 Well, I'm thinking this is not the time to have Sunday school. Your 3 & 4yos need to have their own class, 8 & 10yos ditto, 13yo...well, 13yo can go to Sunday school with the adults. I think combining ages is a good thing, but the age span you have is just way too big. The children will not die spiritually without Sunday school. They will be fine until there are more children. And more teachers. When there are more children, if there are not enough adults to divide the dc into age groups, then it *still* isn't time for Sunday school. I wouldn't do a children's choir, either. You only have 3 who are old enough, and that's not a choir. This is my positive advice: Do not be willing to take it all on yourself. If it's important to others, there will be more involvement; one person doing evrything is a recipe for disaster. I can completely see your point. I have struggled this year trying to keep things together and it has not been easy. We did have a wonderful Christmas program which featured readings and solo vocalists. One idea that we have been batting around is to have the children involved each week in the beginning part of the Sunday service. That would allow the kids to have some extra involvement yet remain upstairs in the sanctuary for the entire service. Thus, we would not freeze to death! Another idea is to have some special programs outside of the regular church service, say a "Saturday School" once a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 What a great thing you are doing, and how crucial. After all, we who attend liturgical churches understand church services as God coming to us in worship through Word and sacrament, and so we bring our children there. Then, for age appropriate Christian training we have home, and Sunday school. You're fulfilling a real need! Having said that, it is really hard to cover that entire age range. I have a couple of thoughts about it. One is to start by picking a Bible story or passage and reading it to the whole group. Then they do age-appropriate work with it--the Preschool through K'ers color a printed out picture, the lower elementary kids illustrate aspects of the story, and the oldest kids write an application-oriented short essay about it. All come together for memory work. Obviously this is not ideal, but it is one way to pull the group together. The Concordia Publishing house Sunday School curriculum works a little bit like this--all ages cover more or less the same material each week, but in more depth and complexity with age. During the school year I compose and lead all of the Sunday school openings for children ages 3 through 8th grade. Because they go off to age appropriate classes after the opening, I don't cover their Bible stories at all. Instead, I focus on bringing them into the adult life of the church through awareness and instruction and prayer. I usually teach them about what time of the church year we are in, and why that is worth celebrating/focussing on. I teach them seasonal hymns, teach them to pray, and challenge them to walk in faith. I don't have a curriculum for this, I just make it up. Although I don't think that that material would be right for Sunday school all of the time, I do think that you could do a series on the church year and that all of the kids would get a lot out of it. If I were setting up one, I would do: Advent 2 Sundays -- prophecy, and hopeful, repentance, faithful waiting Christmas Epiphany Sermon on the Mount (it's not a church year item, but it really would fit well here.) Transfiguration Lent Palm Sunday Holy M-W stories Maudy Thursday Good Friday Easter The Road to Emmeous (sp) Ascension Pentecost Trinity Time of the Church Reformation Day (I am Lutheran; can you tell?) All Saints' Day Thanksgiving/Harvest Christ the King/End Times Right there you have a lot of material. This approach generally has the advantage that the material is all pretty accessible, but it is unusual enough that most kids are not familiar with it unless they hear it from you, so even the older kids can be engaged. The other thing I wanted to share with you is that our Sunday school breaks for the summer. I am organizing Sunday school in a box for adults to coordinate but not really lead. I bought a bunch of comic book style Bibles, and older kids will read them, middle kids will follow the words, and the youngest will look at the pictures. Then we will have an easy snack, like granola bars, and then leftover VBS crafts from years past (coloring pages for the littles). We will see how this works out. I view this as a chance to get other adults involved, since all they will need to do is take things out and put them back, and keep general safety and order. We will probably have different adults each week. I was really impressed with these Bibles that I found, and I think that this will work out well, but have not tried it yet. But, no matter what you do, realize that it's really, really valuable. Good for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amy g. Posted June 8, 2008 Share Posted June 8, 2008 I taught Godly Play and had my special needs oldest as my helper. She really got a lot out of it, and still insists it was the best Sunday school class ever. When she was little, we went to the Cathedral in New Orleans. She had a wonderful class using Catechists of the Good Shepard. That class has had a life long impact on her Christian development. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carol in Cal. Posted June 9, 2008 Share Posted June 9, 2008 Teach what you love and what is natural to you. The kids will know that this is so, and you will do a better job and enjoy it much more. I taught VBS one year, and I really disliked it. The crowd control, the mom who insisted on being in the room (I didn't mind her, but the really.big.stroller. in the really.little.room. was a huge problem.), the need to stay exactly on a minute by minute schedule, the hokey but very messy crafts--this was a very bad fit for me. But, when I do the Sunday school openings, I'm in my element--in church, not in a little cramped classroom. I love hymns, and I know a lot of them by heart, so I teach them. I really know the church year. I love the Bible. I love seeing a new idea light up a kid's eye. I love being transparent to kids to make them see that we all struggle in our Christian walk. (Today I taught them a verse from a hymn that starts "Weary am I, and heavy laden...with sin my soul is sore oppressed." And I asked them why they thought this was my favorite verse in this hymn. They couldn't guess, so I told them--"Hey, it's because a lot of the time when I get to church my soul is tired and needs rest and nourishment. And because I know that I sin." They are always surprised when a grownup is willing to say that they are wrong sometimes.) I love it when they have really learned all of the Christmas story and present it in a worship service. I love it when I look around at Easter, and even the kids who can't read all know "Jesus Christ is Risen Today" well enough to sing all 4 verses by heart with the congregation. I teach what I know and love. I am so blessed. If I knew and loved environmental science, I would probably teach it but in a way that pointed to the Bible and to God's awesomeness. If I knew and loved something else, I would try to figure out a way to use it for lifting up the church. May it be so for you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vida Winter Posted June 9, 2008 Author Share Posted June 9, 2008 We had a vestry meeting today after church. Foremost was a plan to alleviate the long term problems with the basement. It's not just a problem for Sunday School; it's a problem for the church as we cannot hold any event down there. We are going to hold the next vestry meeting *in* the basement next month to raise awareness of the issues. I am suspending Sunday school for the time being pending resolution of some of the basement issues. I'd love to have some changes by the end of the summer. In the meantime I am getting help with exploring the options of ecumenical Sunday school in conjunction with other small churches in our area. And I'm going to use this opportunity to figure out exactly what I want to do and achieve and how much help I'll need to pull it off. On a very positive note we had two new couples attend services today. No additional children but it was wonderful to see some new faces. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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