Saint John Paul II taught that “the family is the primary and most excellent seed-bed of vocations to a life of consecration to the Kingdom of God,”* and that philosophy is a major reason why we covered this topic of vocations in both the Classroom and Home Lessons this month.

Continuing a theme from the first two Home Lessons, we’re going to learn more about the idea of listening for God’s voice.  This time though, there will be a little twist as we label that “listening” as “discerning.” (Which, in this usage, includes things like asking God about His plan for your life, being open to His answer, learning more about vocational options, listening to the advice of others who know and love you, etc.)

So often that process is beginning for your kids right now, while they’re living at home, so this is a good opportunity to open up that conversation.  We’ll talk about the differences and similarities between the different vocations, but this time with an eye to picturing themselves in these roles.  To help them do that, we have lots of new activities!

 My Vocation Friends Coloring Book offers a good chance for your younger kids to realize that everyone they know has a vocation and it’s interesting to start to sort all of that out.

The Vocations Saint Search is an easy research project for your older kids which will teach that Saints come from all sorts of vocational backgrounds.  Simply choose two saints from the list and use the worksheet on the back to write what you know, what you want to know, and after doing your research, what you learned.  You may have Saint books at your house to help with this research, but we’d also recommend  SQPN (Star Quest Production Network) which offers information on almost 11,000 Saints that can be sorted by name, feast day, vocation, patronage, country, etc.  There are no unexpected ads or pop-ups here, but we still recommend your children’s time on the internet be supervised.

And for your hand’s on learners, be sure to make the Wheel of Vocations.  You’ll need a little photo of your child and an exacto knife or sharp scissors to cut out a few small circles.  There is a version for boys and one for girls, and as your child turns the wheel, he/she can picture themselves in a variety of vocational choices.

*Familiaris Consortio, 53