Thoughts on habits and catechesis

We have really been enjoying using Neumann Press' "Our Holy Faith" series and I'm thankful for the opportunity to use it.
It dawned on me the other day, though, that unlike the Bible, a catechism series takes a little prep-work. I have to have a direction I'm going with it and not just read it aloud. There is a teacher's manual, but it wasn't helping me with what I was looking for. I wanted to get more out of those books-- to squeeze them for all the life they contained.

I have had, written in the margins of my notebooks, the words CM habits training under the "Catechesis" section of my kids curriculum from the beginning. And we do study habits. But it dawned on me the other day that we could do a better job of making them stick.

This led me to think about a defining moment in our family, some several years ago.
I was watching the Duggars when it first came out, and thinking what strong moral character all of their children seem to have. Pondering this I did some research and discovered their doctrinal connections to Bill Gothard and his Bible teachings. The Duggars study Bill's teachings on character quality and the 49 commands of Christ.
They also apply these principles as the foundation of their homeschool, using an elite Gothard-created curriculum called Advanced training institute. Now I don't know anything about Bill, and this isn't a statement for or against him, but I do think he has a knack for making principles--- biblical principles--- easy to understand. And so does Charlotte Mason.
The Catholic Church, however, has a very academic language in her documents, and therefore her teachings on practical life are not as easily accessible to ordinary people.They are also rare, because she is concerned with expressing the intricacies of theology and doctrine, but leaves practical life very open and free.

Often, lay people have turned to the saints or monastics for ideas about practical life. But practical life is really only explored in the context of discipleship-- and a celibate person cannot often offer to a married person with children the type of discipleship required for truly nurturing the systems of daily family life...So this is an area that is sorely lacking.
Now, we can turn many places for this information, and should! Wherever good, practical information about homemaking is to be found, information that is in line with Church teachings on doctrinal matters, we should be exploring it.

At the time, I studied how the Duggars taught these character qualities. They went through one each month, each day looking for opportunities to use them. They discussed them in family meetings and family devotional times. They discussed them in the context of lessons and historical characters they were meeting. They did service projects for each other relating to these.

Because we are a Charlotte Mason family, we naturally turn to Charlotte Mason herself for ideas about practical life. Her advice here is sound, and useful. And we know that she lived it herself, and was the better for it. "Habit is ten natures," she said... and she is absolutely correct!

When children are young, a complex study is not what they need. They have shortened attention spans and quickly evolving ideas. What we should be giving them are short, delightful snippets of practical information that assists them in laying foundations. Habits!

I am exploring some resources to help do this or help me do this better or more intentionally. In the meantime, I will keep plowing through Laying Down the Rails, a Charlotte Mason habits handbook, and working on character quality per month in conjunction with our catechism lessons, remembering that Charlotte taught three habits which must be paramount over all the others in our children: Obedience, Attention, and Truthfulness.

This is the work of catechesis, though, isn't it? That our lives be transformed.