Quotable Quotes from Popin' Ain't Easy

As so as i typed that label, I realised that I had not, of course, invented the phrase, and wondered where in the world I had heard or read it.

So, activate the Google Machine.

Don't think I knew this before, but I'm losing my memory, so who knows -- anyway, there's an eponymous blog dedicated to the difficulty of being the Vicar of Christ.

I am rethinking my approach to CCD.

The vocabulary list is long, the chapters and lessons numerous, the concepts many, the arrangement of information and activities on the page very modern, (that is, geared to our society's ADHD,) making nay kind of linear teaching impossible, add to this that there is NO foundation one which to build, (when fourth graders aren't sure if they have made their first communion, or if they are cannot remember if they ever received again?) and many parents seem to be well-meaning and baptized, but, as someone accused most modern Christians, functional pagans....
(And we will not even bother with attendance, since a family that does not see Mass as an obligation should certainly not be made to feel that Sunday School is one.)

Well, initially, I thought there were many points/words/phrases that I wanted to iterate, re-iterate and re-re-iterate, getting them to appreciate connections between basic truths; and even if they didn't quite at all understand  the concepts, the words would be engrained and internalized, and as they grew in intelligence and wisdom and experience they would grow in their understanding.

I have decided it has to be a very few points/words/phrases that we must return to again and again, all the lessons must be related to as many of them as possible.

Haven't entirely formulated the list, but am making headway, and it seems to be paying off in that they are seeing connections even before I make them, sometimes.

Children LIKE bullet points, buzzwords and slogans the like. Can't beat'em, join'em.
(That reminds me - bullet points are nothing more than a rudimentary outline, but outlining seems to be a completely obscure concept - is it not taught at ALL anymore? I digress.)

Anyway, two gems from Popin' Ain't Easy, that may figure into future classes:

We [Most] laud the Magi for presenting Our Blessed Lord with expensive gifts like gold, frankincense, and myrrh. We [Many ]belittle, scorn, and excoriate churches, art, and the official trappings of Our Lord's anointed as pretentious and wasteful.

And

If you ever find yourself wondering how much God loves us, try to recall the last time you didn't do something because you thought it was beneath you, or that you might get yourself dirty, or that it might cause you some kind of other discomfort.