Are you ready to create a peaceful environment with children in your home? Learn three ways to prepare your home, mind, and heart to receive the peace of Christ this season.
Preparing for Christmas is supposed to be a joyful time, but it can be stressful for parents with young children.
Here are three ways you can prepare your home, mind, and heart to receive the peace of Christ this season:
Your family can work together to create a child-friendly space to pray.
Set aside a space that children can see and touch! Gather the following materials:
*Use LED candle if desired for safety
You may have all this at home already. If not, our artisan team is excited to support your family's walk with God!
These are all the original work of artisans in Ashtabula County, Ohio. Pre-order by October 15, 2020 to receive in time for Advent!
Holy Days remind us to mark our days by God's time. Every year we set aside special times to remember the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.
During Advent and Christmas, when you gather at your family prayer area, read a scripture verse about the birth of the Messiah.
Here are some prophecies that predicted the King who was to come:
One verse, even one word, is often enough for very young children. Older children can listen to or read longer Bible verses. End this simple prayer time by repeating, chanting, or singing.
After reading the verse at the prayer table, offer some ways for your child to respond to God's Word.
Our theme for Advent 2020 is "O Come, Emmanuel." Pre-order by October 30 to receive by the end of November.
"If you love me," Jesus told Peter, "feed my lambs."
Learn more about meeting the developmental and spiritual needs of your child!
Mustard Seed Training promotes the love of God and neighbor. We seek to aid families in creating a more loving home and a peaceful society. Families (and their supporters) can join us this season in three ways:
Join parents Meagen Farrell, MA and Evan Howe, MD, MPH, PhD for an hour of insights, stories, and scripture to help you discover:
Register for Online Course in November/December 2020
All of our Family Prayer Sets include access to an online course offering guidance on praying with your child. The course includes printable downloads for making materials, along with practical guidance for creating a peaceful home through prayer.
If you are gathering or creating your own materials at home, you can still register to join us online.
Schedule a Free Consult at your Convenience
Looking to design sets of materials with guidance for families to practice their faith at home?
Whether your children are learning in person, hybrid, or completely at home, we can help!
Let's schedule a 20 minute phone call or Zoom meeting to discuss what sensory materials and faith formation you could be providing for families at home. If our artisan team can't provide what you need, we will refer you to someone who can!
Long before this global pandemic, many churches and schools have found it difficult to offer high quality materials for praying with children.
Mustard Seed Training does our best to offer materials at cost while paying our artisans a living wage. We have a few new offerings to make our atrium materials more accessible to all:
Share this link with members of your community: https://mustseed.org/products/gift-card-2
Tell them to set the Shipping Address for the individual or congregation you would like to place your order. We will send them a unique discount code for the amount of your gift card.
Another option is to contact Meagen at learn@mustseed.org to apply for atrium materials assistance. I will let you know if someone has donated a general gift card, and give you a unique discount code.
You can pay it forward by donating an atrium gift card and using your own Shipping Address. We will ask you if you would like us to pair you with a individual catechist or congregation who has applied for Atrium Materials Assistance. The recipient will be given a unique discount code for the amount of your donation.
These discount items would be functional with a little extra sanding, painting, or wood putty. Or they are just a little "off" in some way. Figures are 1/8" wide and come with a 1/4" base.
Prices are either 35% or 50% off to make sure we can still pay the artisan who made it.
These atrium materials have been donated, and are available FREE. We simply ask that you cover the cost of shipping plus $5 handling fee per purchase.
As donated items, we will not accept returns and cannot guarantee their durability.
If you would like to donate atrium materials for this exchange, please contact Meagen at learn@mustseed.org for approval. Do NOT send us donated materials without approval as our shipping and inventory space is limited. (It's in my house!)
Our small rural parish partners with Monks' Bread at Genesee Abbey to offer a wholesale fundraiser including a pilgrimage retreat. So far we have used our funds to purchase furniture for our CGS atria.
I HIGHLY RECOMMEND running a wholesale fundraiser to support your atrium!
Not everyone is a woodworker, painter, or seamstress, but I was surprised by how many people would purchase an item or make a donation for this specific campaign. It also sends an important message to the kids: THIS COMMUNITY SUPPORTS YOU!
This past spring, during statewide lockdown, we ran our third successful Monks' Bread campaign to raise $600 for a parish family in crisis. I used a Google Forms/Spreadsheets to collect orders and track donations, and invited people to participate on social media, by email, and on the phone.
Additional donors from the church added $750 in cash to our campaign, helping this family navigate a difficult time.
Mustard Seed Training is thrilled to partner with you to proclaim the Kingdom of God, which must be approached through the eyes of a child. Whether or not you partner with us for your atrium materials, please be assured of our prayers for your ministry and the children you serve.
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but are not strictly necessary before using your materials.
1. Create a prayerful work space, thanking God for this opportunity to be a co-creator in the Kingdom.
2. Make sure you have glued and painted or stained the atrium materials to your liking before finishing. You can find additional directions on finishing specific materials in the CGS USA Materials Manual, available online to members in formation. Let the glue and paint dry at least overnight, or longer depending on the manufacturer's instructions.
3. Assemble your finishing materials. For more detailed instructions and brands, see our Free Download: Suggested Finishing Instructions. You will need:
4. Use fine grit sandpaper to get a very smooth surface. Materials you order from Mustard Seed Training have been rough sanded.
5. Seal your wooden materials with shellac, or other child-safe finish. Bob Villa explains how to shellac wood. After drying, you may repeat steps 4 & 5 depending on how many layers of finish you want.
6. Another option to avoid furniture scratches & noise in the atrium is to glue felt on the bottom of your figures and dioramas.
7. Take some time to see your work through the eyes of a child. Celebrate and enjoy your work. Psalm 90:17 is a suitable prayer for this moment:
Enjoy using this time to reflect on God's plan, since the beginning of time, to bring all of creation to the fullness of life.
Have you ordered or built a
The Parousia symbols ship with the bases & stand in place, but the circle (Creation) and cross (Redemption) separate. This gives you a chance to finish them before final assembly.
The Bible & Parousia Box should include: hinged box with two compartments, 4" wooden circle, and 4" wooden cross.
1. Create a prayerful work space, thanking God for this opportunity to be a co-creator in the Kingdom.
2. Assemble your materials. You will need:
3. Paint the cross yellow to represent Redemption.
4. Paint the Earth on the circle to represent Creation, or print this image of the Earth from space as a 4"x6" print. Source: NASA
5. Let paint dry overnight. Glue the circle and cross to the top of the box or to the stands using wood glue.
The last steps #6 & 7 will reduce stains and splinters over time, but are not strictly necessary before using your materials. Also seven is the number of perfection or completion!
6. Optional: Use fine grit sandpaper to get a very smooth surface.
7. Optional: Seal your wooden materials with shellac, or other child-safe finish. Bob Villa explains how to shellac wood.
You can find directions to make the cards for this work in the CGS USA Materials Manual, available online to members in formation.
Enjoy using the Parousia symbols, and the Bible & Parousia Box to reflect on God's plan, since the beginning of time, to bring all of creation to the fullness of life.
May we respond with joy!
]]>As a catechist for both adults and children, this is one of my absolute favorite works. It helps us visualize that God's time is not our time. The church year gives a glimpse of time through God's eyes as a continuous cycle of life, death and rebirth.
WOODEN
The Catechesis of the Good Shepherd wooden liturgical calendar can be one of the trickiest materials both to build and present. It is also one of the most rewarding. I've used it for RCIA, parent meetings, and teen groups.
Here is a sample painted for CGS Level I:
Mike Kwitowski, founder of Atrium Woodworks, only built a couple of these because they were so time consuming. Unless you specialize or make these in batches, he found it difficult to make just one set to order at an affordable price.
I recommend purchasing an unfinished wooden liturgical calendar from Shades of Oak or another approved CGS source. My experience is that Shades of Oak ships quickly and offers high quality materials.
PAPER
For adults and older children, a more affordable and absolutely lovely option is a "Year of Grace" Liturgical Calendar available from Liturgical Training Publications.
They offer new artwork every year, and I catch myself stopping to just enjoy and ponder the details. You can get a set of small paper copies for individual student work, or a wall calendar in plain paper or laminated. In the past I have ordered a large laminated Spanish edition for our home.
DIY
Want to bring the liturgical calendar to life in a sensory way, but can't pay for production and shipping? Don't despair!
In The Child in the Church, Maria Montessori mentioned a very simple circular liturgical calendar with sections of the four colors. This was an idea to teach the liturgical colors to very young children.
I saw another catechist make paper plate versions with the kids inspired by the book "Praise God with Paper Plates" by Anita Reith Stohs.
You can make a more complicated "puzzle" version with all the weeks cut out of cardstock. Once I did this work with a group of 5th graders who drew and cut out their own circular liturgical calendars from scratch. It helps to have an accurate compass and ruler to make the circles.
Or try a Liturgical Colander (source unknown, but thank you anonymous meme maker!).
]]>Our logo contest had an interesting result, with the web poll rating one 4.7/5 and Instagram unanimously voting for another.
So we have two winners!
I selected a color theme to reconcile the two that also includes #663399 RebeccaPurple in memory of our friend Rebecca Meyer.
When I first visited a Catechesis of the Good Shpherd atrium, Laura Perran of Holy Rosary Parish in Cleveland, Ohio said being a nurse motivated her to get involved with the ministry. Working with children who had life threatening diseases opened her eyes to the spiritual lives of children, and the deep insight even the youngest can offer to those they meet.
Children as much as adults hunger for a spiritual vocabulary: gestures, words, stories that help both express and shape our deepest human yearnings--love, grief, community, justice, and wonder. Of all the treasures and symbols offered to young children, Sofia Cavaletti and Gianna Gobbi found that they responded most to the Good Shepherd who leads the sheep, calls each by name, finds them if they are lost, and is ultimately willing to lay down His life for them.
It is this desire for a more loving and just society that motivates our ministry at Mustard Seed Training. And it is fitting that the image of the listening sheep and contemplative child shepherd are the logos that best express our vision. We hope readers find items here that aid you on your spiritual journey with our youngest, listening to God together.
]]>Bonus for adults at the end of the list!
And most importantly for adults working with kids...
You just can't beat Aldi prices, so stock up on Wednesdays when those weekly specials come in.
]]>You learn so much about people by experiencing important places in their lives. When falling in love with Jesus, we can better understand His life by learning more about his family's origin in Nazareth, their journey to Bethlehem, and His death and resurrection in Jerusalem.
How far apart were these places?
What was the terrain like?
How would they have traveled?
Children as young as three years old can absorb the journeys of Jesus, Mary and Joseph by tracing their fingers along the mountains and valleys of Galilee, Samaria, and Judea. Elementary-age children become fascinated by pinning flags to name the cities Jesus visited, and learning what happened in each.
Short of booking a trip to the Holy Land, how can you bring this experience to the children you serve?
We have two raised surface maps of Israel in our atrium. Here's how we got them!
#1: Wood, Clay, and Paint!
This lovely DIY map is heavy! It has a permanent home on top of a low bookshelf, so the kids can access it easily without having to lift it.
CGS USA provides complete directions in their Level 1 Materials Manual to make your own Raised Surface Map of Israel. You can access these instructions by 1) participating in a level 1 formation program, and 2) becoming an annual member. The materials manual provides several options for materials.
This map in our atrium was lovingly made at home by Mia Roncone and Max Ruane using materials they found or sourced locally. Here are some suggestions for where you can find similar materials to what they used:
#2: Raised Relief Map for 3 Cities
I asked our families for help finding materials for Biblical Geography. The generous Otero family found this gem online!
When it arrived, the 15.5."x9" 3D map looked a bit smaller than we expected. It started off as a wall-hanging, just like the website states.
But of course the kids longed to touch it! When brought to the table for presentations, our 3-6 year olds really enjoy tracing their fingers along the route from Nazareth to Bethlehem. They got some practice taking turns because everyone wanted to touch at once! Even though there is less to "do" with this smaller raised relief map, it does provide some greater detail and still delivers a satisfying sensory experience.
Over the summer I had a brainstorm for how to move this from the wall to a usable table material:
I used a combination of Google Maps, a Bible atlas, and other sources to stick a label for Nazareth near Mount Tabor, overlooking the Plain of Jezreel.
It really drives home the point that Nazareth was such a small little town, it literally wasn't even on the map in Biblical times! Jesus might have grown up with an amazing sunset view of the Plain of Jazreel. The Nazareth Ridge would be a dizzying height to be thrown from.
#3: Painting the Raised Relief Map
As we are considering building a level 2 program for 6-9 year olds, I am planning ahead for how to use and expand our Biblical Geography materials.
The first two options above are materials we currently use in our level 1 atrium with 3-6 year old children. #1 & #2 are kid-tested and catechist approved! #3 are just some additional ideas for how to further adapt these maps:
I look forward to testing out some of these ideas to share with you. Please feel free to email me (Meagen Farrell) at learn@mustseed.org with photos and descriptions of how you made a raised surface map for Biblical Geography. You can also discuss this and other projects in our Catechists' Corner Facebook Group.
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