- The temptation with this lesson may be to think, “Hey, we already covered this topic at church. Guess we’ll take a week off!” DON’T DO IT! We did cover the basics at the October classroom meeting, but this Home Lesson is your chance to bring the topic into your family life and make it personal!
- You’ll still spend time discussing the colors and vestments and meaning of each season, but you call also talk about ways your family celebrates. (“Remember how we all gave up television last year at Lent?” “Advent is coming up soon. What should our family do to prepare for Christmas?”)
- Church of Saint Paul families: If you haven’t already done so, be sure to introduce your family to the new Father Tim paper doll. You can prepare his vestments while you’re going through the text of the Home Lesson, then look at your Liturgical Calendar to see what color he will wear next Sunday.
- If your K, 1, or 3rd grader brought a Liturgical Year beanie home from their class time, this would be your chance to use it again. Do they remember something about each of the colors?
- This would also be a good time to fill out the Liturgical Year Family Worksheet. We gave it to Church of Saint Paul parents in October, but it’s a good exercise for everyone. While it’s not officially part of the lesson, knowing these days and adding them to whatever calendars you use is a really great way to insert your family’s personal Catholic celebrations into the Liturgical Year.
- And finally, there are so many activities with this lesson!:
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Your littlest ones will appreciate the coloring book – I would suggest doing it with the text part of the lesson. (As they’re coloring each page, you can be reading the details from the lesson.)
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The whole family should be able to play Liturgical Pursuit. You can add a more active element to the game by giving each player a piece from each of the liturgical color pages (red, white, purple, green). Instead of shouting out the answer to each question, they scramble to be the first to hold up the correct color.
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The Church Year Flashcard game covers the gamut of players from beginner to expert. Manipulating the flashcards adds a tactile element to the activity and is good for kids working alone or in a group. Teens and adults in your family should also play to see how far they can get up through the levels!
Family Formation 
Love the ideas here can you send me a link or more information on #1 -3 in the boxes?
Dear Connie,
The ideas come from the Family Formation home lessons packets. If you are at all interested in the packets, please sign up and become a Family Formation family. Visit http://www.familyformation.net to find out more.
Yours in Christ,
Matthew Brounstein