Catholic catechism suggestions for FHC prep...so many new options

[Jweishaar]

I had been planning to use Faith and Life alongside the Baltimore catechism but now I’m not sure. I like F&L alright, but it’s not my favorite and it seems harder to coordinate it with the BC. TAN just released the updated Our Holy Faith series and now there’s also the Didache FHC book.

[Nikkirxd]

I might have tried TAN's Our Holy Faith series if it had been available when my kids were younger. Some other homeschoolers in our area still use the really old OHF books and love them. However, we only have one more year before high school, so we plan to keep doing what we are doing and use the Kolbe plan (based off the Fr. Laux spine) for high school. (At least that's the plan for now. It keeps changing.) I never found an elementary / middle school religion program that I liked. Ended up just doing catechismclass.com, which guided us through the Baltimore Catechism, then adding short readings about the saint of the day or the feast day, and having them read at least a couple of the Vision saint books each year. I figured that it really doesn't have to be that difficult in the younger years. Just "live the faith" and have discussions around the dinner table and in the car.

[momgineer]

There is also the Sophia Spirit and Truth series. I also have a rising 2nd grader and no clue what we will be doing! I own BC and Faith and Life so it makes the most sense to do that, but I am intrigued by the others. We will probably do the CHC hands on prep too. Our co-op has a cathechisis of the Good Shepherd program twice a month that she will do too.
I am hoping to hear from others what they plan to do.

[Mrs Bee]

My older two did Faith and Life with a parish class, and we supplemented at home with the Baltimore Catechism for First Communion and also a very interesting little book, called Little Catechism on the Eucharist. Back then I saw it in our parish bookstore, but it's on Amazon, too, and maybe somewhere else as well. With my youngest we are preparing at home exclusively, and for now I am only using the BC and this Little Catechism. I bought a book on First Confession, but I don't know how I want to use it - not all of it feels appropriate in my opinion, at least not with my boy. Beside books, a huge part is also understanding faith as it is lived daily in the Church and at home - it's the "soft" side of preparation, but it's fundamental. I always try to remember that generations of Catholics (including many saints!) learned and lived the faith without being able to read books, so I should not entrust everything to books.

I highly recommend the Little Catechism on the Eucharist - half of it is a Q & A format on the major truths of our faith and on the Eucharist, delving into the details of the mystery of the Transubstantiation: it explains very well what we see, what we taste, what it really is, how it happens, etc. I find this part invaluable for young children, who are full of questions and want to really understand why what they see doesn't match what the Host is. The other half of the book tells the stories of several Eucharistic miracles.
One very big drawback for me is that the drawings in this book are abysmal. I'm not talking about style (though I have my quibbles there too, with men often not looking like men), but substance: in most drawings depicting parts of the Mass the priest is not vested properly, but only wears the alb and stole. Sometimes he's not looking up during the Elevation, which is downright weird. Altars are often depicted with no cloths on them. At this age, children still learn a lot through pictures, and in this respect the book fails miserably. We are Latin Mass goers, so these drawings have become the occasion to discuss what is wrong and what is merely different from what we see at Mass.
As for the content, I think a better job could have been done in the part that details how to receive Holy Communion: it could have clearly stated that the norm is to receive on the tongue, and receiving in the hand is a permitted solution when there are reasons for doing so. Instead, the text sounds as if it was all a matter of preference. I know very well that this is how most people these days perceive the issue - as a matter of choice, with no stated norm on the Church's part. Not that I want to open this can of worms here, I only say that the book, though calling itself a catechism, is not precise on this point. But overall I am happy to have this book, answering so many questions quite clearly.

[Anita]

We used the St Joseph’s Baltimore First Holy Communion Catechism with all my kids. I supplemented my younger son (who just received FHC two weeks ago) with Seton’s Religion 3 textbook. Worked great. Simple.