How to Teach Westminster Shorter Catechism... or Not?

[mommysanders]

A recent post about catechism reminded me that I have been wanting to teach the Westminster Shorter Catechism to my kids. Does anyone have recommendations on how/when to start? I have DS 5 and DD 3. Is that too young? What should I buy to get started?

 

I have also stumbled across Bible Road Trip and it looks amazing! But now I'm wondering if doing BRT and Catechism would be too much at this age? Does anyone have advice on this?

 

Up until now, we have simply been reading through various children's bibles and memorizing verses from Awana Homeschool. But we just finished Awana, and we are working through The Gospel Story Bible. So I'm wanting something for once we are done with The Gospel Story Bible.

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Sarah

[marbel]

For the WSC, we used Starr Meade's book Training Hearts, Teaching Minds.  It worked well for us, though we didn't use her rephrasings of the questions and answers for memorization.  But then we ended up not memorizing the whole thing anyway.

 

ETA: We used the "original" (I think) wording for memorization:  http://opc.org/sc.html

 

I don't remember when we started with our kids.  I do remember a pastor saying that he didn't bother teaching little ones the Children's Catechism, but went straight to the Shorter, at about kindy age, as kids can start memorizing when they are very young. He believed the full understanding would come later, but getting the words in their heads was important.  I'm probably not explaining that well... 

 

Edited February 23, 2016 by marbel

[SilverMoon]

.

Edited September 6, 2023 by SilverMoon

[ReadingMama1214]

We've memorized them just by going over questions. I googled "Westminster shorter catechism for kids" and found a good pdf to print off. We also have Songs For Saplings Questions with Answers CDs which discuss the same questions.

 

We haven't used a devotion for it, but I have heard great things about Starr Meades book. I have other books by her and love them

[My4arrows]

I think what you are doing is great! Personally for me I have looked into catechism and my understanding is that it's memorizing answers. For me when it comes to faith, I don't want my kids to memorize but rather to understand what we believe and why and make it their own. So we did a lot of Bible reading at those ages (we loved the Jesus storybook Bible along with what my kids call the real Bible ;) )and a lot of talking. You can use the catechism questions as guidance. We also began using Apologias work I series (beginning with Who is God) when my oldest was 6. We've slowly gone through that and will begin the second which also leads to a better understanding as well as good questions. The series is meant for an older audience but when taken slowly it has worked well for us. That's just my opinion. Door posts sells little books that have the catechism questions and answers in them that are fairly inexpensive. They aren't anything fancy, but have a little picture to color here and there in them. It's a good resource for a parent to grab that's inexpensive to have on hand with the questions.

[Ms.Ivy]

My kids memorize half the WS catechism in 4th grade and half in 5th grade. By then they are old enough to understand what the answers mean. They have a 30 minute Sunday school lesson on the meaning of the catechism piece they are memorizing that week, and then we discuss the meaning again at home on Monday. Each week, I also have them memorize a proof text (Bible verse) that goes with the catechism question.

 

I use the catechism for copywork, also. Every day, the kids copy the Q&A they're memorizing that week. Seems to be working pretty well.

[marbel]

My kids memorize half the WS catechism in 4th grade and half in 5th grade. By then they are old enough to understand what the answers mean. They have a 30 minute Sunday school lesson on the meaning of the catechism piece they are memorizing that week, and then we discuss the meaning again at home on Monday. Each week, I also have them memorize a proof text (Bible verse) that goes with the catechism question.

 

I use the catechism for copywork, also. Every day, the kids copy the Q&A they're memorizing that week. Seems to be working pretty well.

 

I wish I had done that when my kids were younger! 

[mommysanders]

My little ones have easily memorized some basic catechism. We use Training Hearts Teaching Minds by Starr Meade, which has a week's worth of simple five minute lessons for each question/answer. We say the question and answer aloud together a few times daily, and even though I've aimed this at my older kids, the younger ones absorb it like sponges.

 

Sound Words for Kids from the Proverbial Homemaker is meant for younger kids. I have one saved to my computer but I don't have any experience using it yet.

 

Songs for Saplings would also help littles. (free to download)

 

 

We really like Bible Road Trip too, but depending on how deep you go with catechism it could be too much for one year. Try to choose a focus for the year and stick to it. Catechism this year, better Bible familiarity, life of Christ, and so on. My kids who are old enough to read a portion of straight Bible daily, then do something for whatever their focus is.

 

Thanks for all the ideas. Are all of these rephrased or are they the regular WSC? I'm not sure I want to teach one version now and another version when they're older.

 

And I am leaning toward doing either catechism or BRT, like you said. I don't want to do too much at once.

[dragonflyer]

Our church uses the GCP First Catechism at the young ages.  Then the WSC is used starting for 4th grade and up.

This first catechism is a good one because the answers are very similar to WSC, but more broken down for kids not used to the richer vocab and longer answers in WSC, the First Catechism has built beautifully to make the WSC easier to memorize.

[Ms.Ivy]

Our church uses the GCP First Catechism at the young ages.  Then the WSC is used starting for 4th grade and up.

This first catechism is a good one because the answers are very similar to WSC, but more broken down for kids not used to the richer vocab and longer answers in WSC, the First Catechism has built beautifully to make the WSC easier to memorize.

 

Our church uses the GCP First Catechism for the young ones, also.  We don't have them memorize it, but use it as a guide for lessons and such. The kids do like to quiz each other from it for fun sometimes.

[calihil]

ETA: Oops, I meant this for that other post, I guess. lol

 

Anyways, I was memorizing the WSC with my 1st grader and we got up to question 15 or so until the answers just started to get really archaic and she didn't understand it anymore so I think I might hold off on it for a couple years and then go through the Starr Meade book mentioned above. Right now we are doing the Children's First Catechism that was mentioned above and we use the Ask Me Whooo songs that go along with it. (They are free with Prime on Amazon or they are also on Spotify) We've already learned 15 question and answers in 2 weeks. The Westminster Shorter Catechism workbooks on Amazon are also very helpful.

Edited February 24, 2016 by calihil

[ScoutTN]

We have our kids memorize the First Catechism using the Ask Me Whooo? CDs. It is taught at our church on Wed nights and goes quickly. Dd had it down by the end of 2nd grade. Ds will take a bit longer, mostly because I have not been as consistent with him. I love that my kids are learning systematic theology from the beginning. 

 

5th grade SS at our church studies the WSC and memorizes 20 Q/A. They also have a devotional guide for each week based on their studies.

We call it good and don't require that they memorize the whole WSC. 

 

The memorizing is so easy in younger years and as someone has said, the First Catechism really does capture the essence of the WSC answers,

if not the powerful language.