After I had observed how the catechists were frequently not using the book and creating their own activities to our first grade students, I decided that we would move to a Catechesis of the Good Shepherd based program for both Kindergarten and first grade the next year, despite the fact that I had yet to see the method in action! Sometimes bold action is called for and if I had know where this decision would lead me I sometimes wonder if I would have continued!
After some research I found the Home Catechesis Manual by Moira Farrell (scroll down to the bottom of the page) which is designed for homeschooling moms who don't necessarily have a background in Montessori. I also found a nice blog called Wildflowers and Marbles that had some good suggestions and further resources to check out. Finally, I found some great books through a friend (though they're not Montessori) that teach children about the Mass and about making little acts of love for Jesus. So, I began slowly trying to pull all these pieces together into something that my untrained catechists could teach comfortably, that the children would enjoy, and most importantly that would build devotion in the children.
This program worked to a certain extent, but since the catechists didn't readily grasp the idea of letting the children work on their own with the materials, they still continued to create their own curriculum additions for each lesson. I knew that I needed to get trained if I was going to better guide my catechists.
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