Sundays

 I'm reading through the Charlotte Mason book School Education. I read it a few years ago and am re-reading it. Yesterday I came across a passage about Sundays. I love her ideas of Sundays- to have a break, to do something different. "Sunday stories, Sunday hymns, Sunday walks, Sunday talks, Sunday painting, Sunday knitting even, Sunday card games, should all be special to the day– quiet, glad, serene. The people who clamor for a Sunday that shall be as other days little know how healing to the jaded brain is the change of thought and occupation the seventh day brings with it." (Page 144). She also talked about kids in church during her time. "...in church, when they are old enough to attend" (Page 144). Churches were different in her time. Babies, toddlers, and young kids stayed home with their moms, a servant, or a governess during church and didn't go. Today, most churches have kids programs and Sunday Schools...from babies to toddlers and on down up. It's very different today. She continued: "In connection with children's behavior in church, the sentiment and forms of reference cannot be expected if they are taken to church too young, or to too long services, or are expected to maintain their attention throughout. If children must be taken to long services, they should be allowed the resources of a Sunday picture book, and told that the hymns and the "Our Father", for example, are the parts of the service for them." (Pages 141-142). On Page 143 she mentions that sometimes for children to look up where they are in the prayer book..."but perhaps it would be well to tell children, of even ten or eleven, that during the litany, for example, they might occupy themselves by saying over silently hymns that they know." (Pages 143-144)

Last fall I worked on putting together something for Sunday Schools for kids. It includes famous, old paintings from the Bible stories, cultural and historical backgrounds, nature study, poetry, and some hymns. One week is in the New Testament and the next in the old and it switches back and forth. It uses the Bible to tell back the story, instead of a re-telling...and includes a memory verse (or verses) that are meant to be learned over a whole month or longer so they really learn it and learn to recite it well. One of my goals is to make Sunday School interesting, alive, and something different than they have a school during the week. Instead of the take-home-throw-away coloring page, they have nature drawings, and other pages in a book that's kept at church and taken home as a keepsake at the end of the year. It also includes maps and ideas to inspire the children and know that these stories really did take place- they really happened. Looking up the stories in the Bible is also something included every few weeks. If you want to take a look at it, it's available at lulu.com (Look for "Through The Bible For Sunday Schools"). There are also free summer series and lessons for the holidays.