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Fitting Montessori-Based Religious Education into Your Home

Written on July 26, 2011 by Deb Chitwood in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play, Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials, Montessori-Based Religious Education

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Montessori-Based Religious Education Shelves in our Homeschool, 1994.

I’ve written a number of posts about two beautiful religious education programs that are Montessori based: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) and Godly Play. I truly believe they can make religion come alive for children.

I also wrote about How to Add Godly Play to Your Homeschool. Even so, I think it can be intimidating to think of preparing a Montessori-based religious education program at home when you consider how expensive the materials can be and how beautiful many of the wooden materials are. While I love the beauty of well-crafted wooden materials, they often just aren’t practical for a homeschool unless you have access to a helpful woodworker.

Interestingly, as I was searching for creative ways to prepare CGS and Godly Play materials, I found this post published today at Wonderful in an Easter Kind of Way – The Materials Aren’t the Key. I love this quote:

When Jerome Berryman began his teaching, he used shelving made from boards and cinder blocks, and only one presentation material: figures for the parable of the Good Shepherd, cut from construction paper and placed in a shoe box he had spray-painted gold.

And I love this quote from the article “Store not your treasure here below”:

One of my Godly Play trainers told us that the best presentation she’d ever seen was done with clothes pegs and pine cones!

My Family’s Montessori-Based Religious Education at Home

When my children were little, I started an atrium and was the catechist in a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program in an Episcopal church. There, we had beautiful wooden materials. I also used some CGS lessons and ideas at home with my children.

But our home “atrium” was much different from the one at church. Our home “atrium” consisted of one shelving unit in our homeschool classroom with prayer materials, a candle snuffer polishing activity, and a number of materials that were simply purchased (often on sale) at our local religious supply store (photo at top of post). The figures were plastic, which wasn’t ideal, but they still gave my children a hands-on religious-education experience.

In CGS, the scripture is read as part of the lesson, whereas Godly Play uses storytelling without the actual scripture reading. Often, I would read the Bible scripture while my son or daughter moved the figures, or my son read the scripture while my daughter moved the figures. We were able to use this for a number of Bible stories that weren’t actually part of the CGS curriculum but that worked well with our current unit study.

Ideas from Other Bloggers and Sites

A number of bloggers give wonderful inspiration with creative ideas for using Montessori-based religious education at home. Often, wool felt is used instead of wood, or Bible figures are created inexpensively with other materials such as wooden peg dolls. Wooden peg dolls are a great option for many of the figures.

Here are some posts I think are especially helpful in providing ideas that work well at home:

Godly Play: Part 1, Godly Play: Part 2, The New Godly Play Space and other Godly Play posts from Watkins Every Flavor Beans

Godly Play information and scripts from Church of the Holy Spirit

Adapting Godly Play for the Inclusive Classroom (pdf with helpful ideas) from Stranmillis University College

Wooden Peg Doll Good Shepherd and Polymer Clay Sheep (Photo from Explore and Express)

Godly Play posts from Explore and Express (Photo from Sneak Preview)

Godly Play materials posts from Wonderful in an Easter Kind of Way

Godly Play posts from All Play on Sunday

Godly Play posts from Our Country Road

Godly Play - Adam and Eve (Photo by Julie at The Adventures of Bear)

Godly Play posts from The Adventures of Bear (Photo from Godly Play – Adam and Eve)

Godly Play sets on Flickr by judy_jowers

School: Opportunities for Reflection and Prayer from Spiritual Child Network

The Atrium Environment from Thoughts from the Sheepfold

Catholic Montessori Album/Manual Update from Montessori Candy

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Home Altar Work (Photo from Training Happy Hearts)

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd at home from Training Happy Hearts.

Good Shepherd and Sheep (Photo from Discovery Days and Montessori Moments)

UPDATE: On 8/17/11, Discovery Days and Montessori Moments published a lovely example of a good shepherd and sheep for at-home use with Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

Have you created any materials for Montessori-based religious education at home?

Tags: Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play, Godly Play materials, homeschool, Jerome Berryman, Montessori-based religious education

How to Use Godly Play at Home during Advent

Written on November 30, 2010 by Deb Chitwood in Godly Play, Holidays and Celebrations, Montessori-Based Religious Education

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Godly Play Advent Materials from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland,Oregon

I wrote before about the Montessori-based religious education program called Godly Play. (I have links to my other posts at the bottom of this post.) Advent is a time when children can truly experience the mystery of Christmas through Godly Play. The spirit of Advent encourages you to slow down, take time, and experience the mystery with your child. Take time to wonder…

This is the first week of Advent, and there’s much you can do at home with Godly Play to help Advent come alive:

1. If your church has a Godly Play program, you can reinforce the lessons at home.

Even if you don’t have Godly Play materials, you can help your child by having an Advent wreath and lighting the candles once each week during Advent or every evening at the dinner table. The following emphases would coordinate with the Godly Play lessons each week:

Week 1: The Prophets
Week 2: The Holy Family
Week 3: The Shepherds
Week 4: The Wise Men and Christmas
Christmas Eve: The Nativity Story
Christmas Day: The Mystery of Christmas (The Incarnation based on the book The Glorious Impossible by Madeleine L’Engle – a book you’ll probably want to get through your public library)

For more ideas on using Advent wreaths, I have links to resources in December Family and Homeschool Activities.

2. For a homeschool, you can prepare and present the Godly Play Advent lessons.

This will take much more preparation, and you may want to wait until next year if you don’t already have the Godly Play materials. Even if you wait until next year, you will find it helpful to read and begin absorbing the Godly Play lessons.

The Godly Play materials and lessons help your child truly experience the language of Advent and the mystery of Christmas. The current Godly Play Advent lessons are in The Complete Guide to Godly Play: An Imaginative Method for Presenting Scripture Stories to Children (Volume 3: 20 Presentations for Winter) by Jerome W. Berryman.

You can purchase the Godly Play Advent materials through links in my post on How to Add Godly Play to Your Homeschool. But to make the materials financially feasible for home use, you will probably want to make the materials yourself unless you have someone who can make them for you. Until the new book of patterns is published, you will need to purchase Young Children and Worship by Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman. The book has patterns and presentations for the Advent lessons, although the presentations aren’t the latest versions.

3. You can create a Godly Play table or shelf for your home.

This is a lovely and practical alternative for many homes.

I love the posts from Watkins Every Flavor Beans on Godly Play. I’ll update this post each week until Christmas with links on using Godly Play at home throughout Advent.

Here are some wonderful links about using Godly Play at home:

Advent, In Advent, Godly Play: Advent in Felt, and Playing in Advent from Watkins Every Flavor Beans

Godly Play Advent and Godly Play Holy Family Story from Life in the Pink Tower

Advent Club – Week 1, Advent Club – Week 2, Advent Club – Week 3, Advent Club - Week 4, and Creating Spiritual Space for Children from Explore and Express (this isn’t about using Godly Play at home but has great ideas that would be applicable – for art and religious language, for example – especially with elementary-aged children)

Advent – At My House, Advent – The Focal Shelf, Advent – My Story Materials, Advent – A Third Child, and Advent IV from Wonderful in an Easter Kind of Way

Ten Godly Play at Home Tips for Parents from Faith at Home

Here are my Previous Posts about Godly Play:

Making Religion Come Alive for Children

Godly Play Isn’t Just for Children

How to Add Godly Play to Your Homeschool

Tags: Advent, Christmas, Godly Play, homeschool, Jerome Berryman, Montessori, Montessori-based religious education

How to Add Godly Play to Your Homeschool

Written on August 10, 2010 by Deb Chitwood in Godly Play, Montessori Homeschool Classroom and Materials, Montessori-Based Religious Education

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The Ten Best Ways from Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, Portland.

Montessori-based Godly Play can deepen the religious-education programs in churches of any Christian denomination. Godly Play can also deepen the religious education you provide in your homeschool.

Here are some suggestions for adding Godly Play to your homeschool. These suggestions are also appropriate for new church-school Godly Play programs.

Take Godly Play training if possible.

I talked about Godly Play training last week. It’s a deeply moving spiritual formation experience as well as a way to understand the Godly Play storytelling methods and language.

Buy (or have access to) the essential Godly Play books.

Those books are:

Teaching Godly Play: How to Mentor the Spiritual Development of Children by Jerome Berryman. This is the most important Godly Play book to have, since it gives a good introduction and goes through a Godly Play session.

The Complete Guide to Godly Play: An Imaginative Method for Presenting Scripture Stories to Children (Volume 2: 14 Presentations for Fall)

The Complete Guide to Godly Play: An Imaginative Method for Presenting Scripture Stories to Children (Volume 3: 20 Presentations for Winter)

The Complete Guide to Godly Play: An Imaginative Method for Presenting Scripture Stories to Children (Volume 4: 20 Presentations for Spring)

A new book of patterns for making Godly Play materials is planned. Until the book is published, it’s very helpful to have the patterns in Young Children and Worship by Sonja Stewart and Jerome Berryman. A word of caution, though: Godly Play has evolved since Young Children and Worship was written. Be sure to follow the presentations as they’re given in volumes 2-4 of The Complete Guide to Godly Play.

To learn more about the Godly Play philosophy, it’s also helpful to read Godly Play, An Imaginative Approach to Religious Education by Jerome Berryman.

Follow the directions in the books to set up your Godly Play room or space and learn the storytelling scripts.

There are also some helpful YouTube videos on Godly Play that show how a few of the sacred stories are presented.

There are even ready-made materials that can be purchased, although it’s less expensive to make the materials yourself. Here are a number of helpful websites for materials and other resources.

Godly Play Foundation

Godly Play Resources

Godly Play Finland

Godly Play UK

Start small. If you have a room, do your focal shelf (central organizing point of your room) first.

Introduce the sacred stories in the fall – Creation, The Flood and the Ark, The Great Family, The Exodus, The 10 Best Ways, Exile and Return. Then introduce Advent, the Mystery of Christmas, Parables, and the Mystery of Easter. Of course, it’s fine to start as small as you want in your homeschool. You can even introduce just one or two stories.

Don’t worry about being perfect with your Godly Play room or space within a room. Just do the best you can. God will be there to take care of the rest.

Tags: Advent, Godly Play, Godly Play Foundation, homeschool, Jerome Berryman, Montessori, Montessori-based, Mystery of Christmas, Mystery of Easter, parables, religious education, sacred stories, Sonja Stewart, storytelling, Teaching Godly Play, Young Children and Worship

Godly Play Isn’t Just for Children

Written on August 3, 2010 by Deb Chitwood in Godly Play, Montessori-Based Religious Education

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Focal Shelf in theTrinity Episcopal Cathedral Godly Play Room, Portland, Oregon

On July 29-31, I attended the Godly Play Core Training at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland. Those of us participating all learned a great deal about helping children with their religious formation. At the same time, the training was a spiritual retreat and an opportunity for everyone involved to grow in faith and personal insight.

Caryl Menkhus, Godly Play Director of Training, was the trainer for our course. She did an amazing job of teaching the Godly Play techniques … and helping create a deep religious experience for the participants.

Godly Play

Based on Montessori principles, Godly Play reflects the same deep respect for children that Maria Montessori encouraged. One of my favorite statements about children was when Caryl said:

Children are our models for authentic and genuine spirituality.

Godly Play, developed by Jerome Berryman, is about helping children learn the “art of using Christian language – parable, sacred story, silence and liturgical action – helping them become more fully aware of the mystery of God’s presence in their lives.”

This use of Christian language is helpful for adults as well as children. Caryl said that Godly Play

gives us a language to talk about our deepest longings and those existential issues that we all face in life.

Godly Play Training/Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Training

I spoke a bit about the differences between Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, which is also based on Montessori principles, and Godly Play in an earlier post. While I think both programs are wonderful, Godly Play training has a number of advantages, especially for individuals with restrictions on the time and money available for training.

1. Godly Play Core Training is 18-21 hours over 3 days rather than taking approximately 100 hours like the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd training.

2. Godly Play Core Training, adaptable for a wide age range, is only $295 if paid at least two weeks before the training event. The fee is $360 if paid less than two weeks before. I believe Catechesis of the Good Shepherd Training for ages 3-6 is about $700.

3. Godly Play lessons are available for purchase in books written by Jerome Berryman, which work well for home or church school. Albums are hand made in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd.

4. Godly Play can be adapted for any Christian denomination. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is very liturgically and sacramentally based and works best in Catholic and Episcopal churches.

Information on Godly Play Training

If you are interested in Godly Play and can take the Core Training, please do. You won’t regret it. It teaches the language and practice of Godly Play, developing Godly Play teachers “through an extended spiritual growth experience.” If you can’t take a 3-day Core Training, there is a 3-6 hour Introduction to Godly Play Workshop or 12-hour (Friday evening and all-day Saturday) Introductory Training.

The Godly Play website is at http://www.godlyplayfoundation.org/newsite/Main.php.

There’s more information on Godly Play Training at http://www.godlyplayfoundation.org/newsite/Training.html.

There’s also a Godly Play Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/GodlyPlay and a Godly Play Twitter http://twitter.com/GodlyPlay.

Please check out the online resources. Next Tuesday, I’ll be talking about the resources needed to use Godly Play in your homeschool.

Tags: Caryl Menkhus, Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Core Training, Godly Play, godlyplayfoundation.org, Jerome Berryman, spiritual retreat

Making Religion Come Alive for Children

Written on June 15, 2010 by Deb Chitwood in Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play, Montessori-Based Religious Education

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Christina at 2 1/2 using Catechesis of the Good Shepherd materials, 1993

I was excited when I discovered a unique way you as a parent can gain spiritual nourishment while helping your child listen to God. Montessori education is known for helping children develop concentration and self-discipline. Montessori principles have been applied to religious formation that you can use at home.

Maria Montessori believed that young children are capable of contemplation and reverence. Montessori education has influenced two programs which help immerse children into faith. Those programs are the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and Godly Play.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd

I have both training and experience in the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, developed by Sofia Cavalletti. When my children were young, I started a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd program in the Episcopal church where I was the Christian Education Director.

Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is a wonderful program, although it typically requires 100 hours of training, with most of the information given orally and in handmade albums. Catechesis of the Good Shepherd is very sacramentally and liturgically based, which makes it especially meaningful in Roman Catholic and Episcopal churches.

Godly Play

Godly Play, developed by Jerome Berryman, is also based on Montessori education and has been used in many religious denominations. Godly Play could be used in a homeschool. The trainings are typically 1-3 day workshops, and much of the information is available through books.

Godly play has many of the same elements as Catechesis of the Good Shepherd and uses three-dimensional materials to invite children into worship and into the stories of the Bible. Like Catechesis of the Good Shepherd, Godly Play uses silence as a way for God to speak to the child.

Here’s a link to tips for parents who want to use Godly Play at home. I’ll talk more about ways to use Montessori principles for religious formation at home in future posts.

Here’s a video on Godly Play that gives a feel for the program and a brief overview.