Spine For Catholic Religion Curriculum- Teaching Multiple Ages

My kids are ages 2, 4, 6, and 8. I currently homeschool everyone, and that includes our Religious Education. (Even when we do attend Religious Ed at our church, which we’re not doing this year, I still teach Religion at home.) This year, we have been using Tell Me About The Catholic Faith (which I shorten to TMACF) as the spine for our Religion curriculum, joined with my pack of notebooking pages that go with each lesson. 

tell me about the catholic faith- fun religious ed for kids

I don’t want you to think I’m telling you that this is a Religious curriculum, or a text book- it’s not. But I like to think out of the box, and I am adding daily notebooking pages to it, and as always, we live the Liturgical year in our home as much as possible.

I’ve written a review of this book before. It lends itself well for individual lessons because each topic is covered in one 2-page spread. This layout means it has very definite topics, and good starting and stopping places.

book for small catholic children

Features of using this book as a Religious Ed Curriculum Spine:

  • Can be used for a spread of ages (I’d say 10 and younger, but this would be also good for even older kids that didn’t have a base knowledge of the Catholic faith.)
  • Colorful, easy to understand
  • Each topic is covered in one 2-page spread
  • The pages include different styles and different artists, so it doesn’t get stale. (For example, some pages are laid out like fun maps, others are comic book style, and all are beautifully illustrated)
  • Laid out in a chronological order that makes since (Hey, after years of reading children’s books, I know this isn’t something to be taken for granted- lol!)
  • Covers some hard topics that are best learned about when delivered by a parent, such as atheism, sin, etc. I was very pleased with the way these harder topics were delivered, and I can be pretty particular about this stuff.
  • Covers the things moms like kids to know to save them from embarrassing moments “Honey, I’m SURE you know who Elijah is, REALLY, remember??!” *blush blush*

tell me about the catholic faith book curriculum

Earlier this week, I wrote about doing Religious notebooking with my kids- well, this is a big part of it!

religious notebooking with kids

I’m creating notebooking pages to go along with each page spread of this book as we read, and I’m going to be sharing them with you for free! 🙂 I am working with a variety of ages, so these pages are going to have slightly different versions for younger and older kiddos.

The Pack Is Now Ready For Download!!!

Edited to say- the whole pack of these notebooking pages is now complete, and you can get your set here!

Post continues after this brief information about the Catholic Icing Monthly Membership


Monthly Liturgical Membership

Catholic Liturgical Monthly Membership

Perfect for families! Each month you gain access to printable activity pages, crafts, home altar pieces, and more.
 
Never has living the liturgical year been so easy and affordable!
 

You can read more about how we do Religious notebooking at our house here.

religious notebooking with catholic kids small

Lessons In Tell Me About The Catholic Faith (TMACF), and links to the notebooking pages: (I am adding the links here as I post the notebooking pages for each page spread.)

  • Check off pages– use these printable pages to track your progress through the lessons and keep up with where you are.
  • 10-11~ The Bible *Typo alert- there are 73 books in the Bible, not 63!* *Updated to Say* I got an email telling me that this typo is fixed in the new books that are shipping- yay!
  • 12-13~ Creation
  • 14-15~ Noah
  • 16-17~ Abraham
  • 18-19~ Moses
  • 20-21~ Moses Continued
  • 22-23~ The Promised Land (map page)
  • 24-25~ David
  • 26-27~ Psalms
  • 28-29~ At The City Gates (map page)
  • 30-31~ Elijah
  • 32-33~ Jonah (comic book page)
  • 34-35~ The Destruction Of Jerusalem
  • 36-37~ God’s Faithfulness (a timeline recap overview page)
  • 38-39~ John The Baptist
  • 40-41~ The Holy Land (map page)
  • 42-43~ Jesus, The First Christmas
  • 44-45~ Jesus, Calling The Apostles
  • 46-47~ Jesus, Encounters The Changed Everything
  • 48-49~ Jesus, Parables
  • 50-51~ The Prodigal Son
  • 52-53~ Jesus Speaks About The Father
  • 54-55~ The “Our Father” Prayer
  • 56-57~ The Last Supper
  • 58-59~ The Crucifixion
  • 60-61~ The Resurrection
  • 62-63~ Pentecost
  • 64-65~ The Apostles Continue Jesus’ Work
  • 66-67~ Paul The Apostles Travels (map page)
  • 68-69~ Witnesses of Christ
  • 72-73~ Christians In Danger, The Martyrdom of Blandina
  • 74-75~ Europe Is Christianized (map page)
  • 76-77~ Hugh, A Boy In The Middle Ages
  • 78-79~ The Monastery (a layout)
  • 80-81~ Byzantium, The Great Schism
  • 82-83~ Saint Louis
  • 84-85~ St. Francis Of Assisi
  • 86-87~ The Renaissance
  • 88-89~ The Protestant Reformation
  • 90-91~ The Catholic Reformation
  • 92-93~ Missionaries (map style)
  • 94-95~ St. Kateri
  • 96-97~ Sister Rosalie
  • 98-99~ Lourdes, The Story Of St. Bernadette
  • 100-101~ Science And Technology, Atheism
  • 102-103~ St. Maximilian Kolbe
  •  104-105~ Christians For Peace
  • 106-107~ Mother Teresa
  • 108-109~ A Trip To The Vatican (map style)
  • 110-111~ The Pope
  • 112-113~ Parish Life
  • 114-115~ The Church (map style)
  • 116-117~ Following The Risen Christ (a timeline overview page)
  • 120-121~ The Big Questions
  • 122-123~ To Believe
  • 124-125~ There Are Many Religions
  • 126-127~ Billions Of Christians (map style)
  • 128-129~ An Invitation
  • 130-131~ God The Father
  • 132-133~ God The Son
  • 134-135~ God The Holy Spirit
  • 136-137~ The Catholic Church
  • 138-139~ The Creed
  • 140-141~ God Gives Us Life Everlasting
  • 142-143~ Evil And Sin
  • 144-145~ Life Like Jesus
  • 146-147~ Mary
  • 148-149~ The Saints
  • 150-151~ Prayer
  • 152-153~ I Am Growing
  • 154-155~ Choices
  • 156-157~ Forgiving
  • 158-159~ Sharing
  • 160-161~ A Time To Play
  • 162-163~ The Sacraments
  • 164-165~ Baptism
  • 166-167~ Communion
  • 168-169~ Mass
  • 170-171~ Vocation
  • 172-173~ Marriage
  • 174-175~ Liturgical Year

*Edited To Say*

I never finished going through and posting these individually, but I did eventually finish them as a pack! You can now download your complete pack here. I am going to leave the list above so you can see all the topics covered in the book.

 

The only touches briefly on each topic, so this really is great for giving kids a broad umbrella of knowledge about the Catholic faith. My kids have been loving these so far, and I can’t wait to share more with you!

notebooking religion with kids

Some things in this book are worded differently than I would have worded them, but overall I like it very much. Any concerns I have about how something is worded in the book I am putting in the post with that page’s notebooking page.

This company did originally provide this book to me for free in exchange for the original review, but I was not paid to promote this book, nor use it in this way. I’m really enjoying the book and I wanted to use it with my family, and share it with you. As always, all the opinions here are my own, and I never recommend anything to you that I don’t recommend to my friends. 🙂 The link to the book I shared is an affiliate link, which means that I earn a small commission if you order. 

Comments

  1. Thank you so much for providing these notebook pages. I purchased the book in the fall, based on your review, and my kids have really enjoyed it. My daughter received her first Penance and Holy Communion in the fall, so I was looking for extra things to add in for the duration of the school year. My younger kids will really enjoy these activities too. Thank you!

  2. wendy krug says

    Thank you for your detailed review. It seems we have similar sensibilities and I’m grateful for this recommendation. We also have children of the same ages so I’m glad to hear this is feasible with that age range.

  3. We did the bible bookmarks recently. I just ordered this book. I had been eyeing it for a while anyway, so this was just the thing I needed to push me to order. We have a 7.5, 4.5, and 2.5 year olds. This will help streamline our religion class!

  4. Cindy Coleman says

    I am a parish catechist, 2nd grade. We only use 2 books during the year, a Reconciliation textbook and a Eucharist textbook. While they do cover some topics beyond strictly sacrament preparation (e.g., sacraments of initiation) I fill in quite a bit. I am wondering if this book who give me checklist of sorts to make sure I am selecting the best extras for my class. What do you think?

    • I think this could be a GREAT suppliment for a program that’s strictly Sacrament prep. In fact, I found myself wishing that I had this book before I began First Communion prep with Lydia.

  5. I bought this book last year when I read your review; it’s a great book, along with the Illustrated Gospel book. The bible bookmarks are so creative, I’m excited to see the other note booking pages. Thank you for this, and all the wonderful things you do on this site! My children’s (and mine too actually) catechesis is better because of you.

  6. Bernadette says

    Thanks for sharing. I’m going to purchase the book and use your note booking pages to go along with it. I’ve tried other religious Ed. products, but I like that I can do this with all the kids at once. ;-))

  7. It is sold out on amazon and one seller is ever trying to charge $2500 for it. Wow! Do you know if it can purchased some where else besides through amazon?

  8. Do you have the other pages available on your website somewhere?

    • I am updating this page with the links as I post the pages. I just posted the creation ones today, and added the link. 🙂

  9. Your website has been a blessing for my first grade religion class! Introducing “fun things”
    (our church uses the bible based Pflaum series) keeps the kids interested. Your
    ABC saints were a hit!! Using alphabet tiles, each student picked a tile out of a box and then colored that saint. I printed up a brief story about each saint and then the children started with “A” brought their saint in front of the class and read the story. By the time “Z” was done, the excitement was unbelievable. The kids continued to tell their parents all about their saints after class. Thank for such wonderful and inspiring ideas!

  10. I homeschool our religion classes and this will be a lifesaver for us! Easy to understand and implement! Thank you!!!

  11. Hello Lacy

    I am sooooo delighted to have found your site. I have been homeschooling for a year now and have been trawling through the many mountains of resources available. While there is a large saturation of Christian material, a lot of it is not in keeping with Catholic doctrine.

    Your site is a God-send.

    Thank you very much

  12. Your website has been a blessing for my too, but I speak Spanish and my program at church is in Spanish. I’ve been follow you for a while know, but I always have to translate everything. Have you ever thought of doing the material in Spanish too?
    That will a blessing for a lot of people I’m sure, because I know I’m not the only one that follows you that speak Spanish.

  13. Samantha Lehmann says

    L,
    Thank you so much for all of your sharing and the time you take to share both your love of our Faith and your wonderful ideas! I am hoping to find the funds to order your Mass book for my 3 little one’s for Easter morn! I am making them scapulars… Under Her Starry Mantle – but with MUCH cheaper materials ;)… Her directions are lovely and easy to follow.

    I needed a few little medals yesterday. We went to Paschal Lamb – this lovely man bought my girls a Gregorian chant CD! What Almsgiving and corporal works of charity! OK… so while I was there… they had several copies of this book. We are have it and are using it with my kids… BUT THEY HAVE A VERSION FOR YOUNGER KIDS! I was cute and very accessible – and they took out the Bathsheba and King David shower scene 😉 …. I skipped that in “The Bible” movie, 2. “Teach Me About the Catholic Faith for Younger Children.” Wanted to share!

  14. I just wanted to say thank you for these resources! I had ordered this book at the beginning of this school year and then I saw you were doing these notebooking pages to go with it! I plan to print them and use them next year for Rel Ed for all of my kiddos! It is a blessing to have a resource like this for our family, Thank you!

  15. Marguerite Cail says

    THANK YOU SO MUCH! The fact that you homeschool your kids and provide these resources is such a huge blessing for my family and in my mind, a miracle of creative and organizational skills!!! Thank you so much. I used Catholic ABCs with my kids, LOVE your Mass booklets and will be purchasing the Holy Week hand paintings. Just got the TMTCF and am printing out the notebook pages. My kids go to public school and they need more than just CCD!! God bless you and thank you again!!!

    • This makes me so happy! I would love for more parents to recognize the importance of going beyond CCD. I have loved the TMACF book and my kids have gotten a lot out of the notebooking pages. I hope they’re a blessing for your family as well. 🙂

  16. When will the next page downloads be available?

  17. Do you start at the beginning of the book and work your way through? If so about when do you start to make sure you end up on the Christmas pages at the right time same with the Holy week?

    • No, we’re actually way ahead of what I’ve been posting and we did these pages weeks ago. I don’t worry about where it falls.

  18. Thank you!

  19. I’m trying to find the link for the Holy Week notebooking pages. Maybe it’s right there and my eyes just can’t find it. Any help? I would like to download/purchase them for this week. Thanks!

    • You know what- I forgot to link to them from this page. Adding the links now! 🙂

      • I’m sorry, but I still don’t see the links and I updated the page. Is there another page to get to the Holy Week notebooking pages? Thanks for all you do!

  20. Thank you! You have so many neat things for my age group! Can’t wait to use some of the ideas this week!

  21. When will the next workbook links be active?

  22. Where are the rest of the notebooking pages available? I assume you’ve likely finished them now, but have them somewhere else.

  23. Patricia Young says

    I love the idea of a Religion notebook to record the children’s thoughts and reflections on these topics. I noted there are not links to all the pages from you. Will you be providing them in time?

  24. Laureen O'Connor says

    Hi there, I am teaching the catholic faith to my 9 year old for the first time this year from home. I have heard great things about this website and just discovered the “Tell me about the Catholic faith” book. My concern is that at 9 years old, is this book too young for her? She just made her First Holy Communion and Reconciliation this past year. I just want to continue to reinforce the teachings at home. Is there any recommendations or feedback that you may have for me on my quest, all is gratefully appreciated!

  25. Hi – I’m wondering if you have any more notebooking links available for the TMACF book?

    Thanks!

  26. Hi Lacy! Thank you so much for the Teach Me About the Catholic Faith notebooking pages! I’m writing to check if you have the remainder pages completed available to download or purchase. These are wonderful!!

  27. I am also anxiously awaiting more notebooking pages! Please post soon! 🙂

  28. Veronica & Matt Krause says

    Lacy,
    We enjoy your website so much! We have lots of activities from here. Wondering when the other links will be available for the notebooking pages for the Tell me about my Catholic Faith. When is the best time of year to start this book with the pages so it goes with the Liturgical year?

  29. Tamara Rae Cox says

    Your website has saved me in so many ways. I just moved home and started taking my niece to CCD. She’s never been to mass, she’s never heard of God, and now I’m trying to teach her limited attention span age appropriate lessons. To boot, I offered to volunteer and was unknowingly signed up as a catechist to teach the third grade class! I’m a single woman with no children… I have no idea what I’m doing. But God does not call on the equipped, he equips the called. The projects, printouts, and lessons on your site have been priceless.

  30. Hi I am wondering if you have the rest of the links to the notebooking pages. The ones we have done so far have been fantastic. Thanks you and God bless.

    • I get asked for these all the time! Hoping to finish them soon. Glad you have enjoyed what is available. 🙂

  31. Do you plan to make and offer the notebooking pages for the remainder of this book “Teach Me About the Catholic Faith”-Part 2 and Part 3? We have completed all the pages you have made available for section 1.

    • Yes… it’s in the works but I can’t promise a deadline… If only there were 5 of me! lol

      • penny Tocheri says

        Oh! Wonderful! I am so thankful there is one of you! Our family has been very blessed by the resources you offer. Thank you!

        • So sweet! Thank you so much! Hope you continue to find the resources here helpful. God bless! 🙂

  32. Erin Decker says

    Hi, Lacy! Do you know approximately when you will provide links for the remaining notebook pages for this? Thank you so much for providing these! They are wonderful!!

  33. Stephanie says

    Hello, Lacy! I’m just here to tell you that I am excited about all the pages posted so far and am waiting with great anticipation for the remainder to be posted! Thanks for all you do!

  34. Karianne Brown says

    These pages are amazing! Thank you so much for providing such a great resource to use with the book. We are using it for Religion at home and I was just wondering if you think the other pages would be available soon? Any way I can help? Thanks!

  35. Jessica Sherby says

    We’re going to be adding this to our homeschool this year! Excited to get started! Can’t wait to get them all!

  36. This is awesome. I’m excited for the rest of the notebooking pages! Can’t wait! I wish I could help! God Bless.

  37. Laura King says

    Thank you so much for this and all of the resources you provide! I am adding a religious course to our homeschooling during the COVID crisis, and I would love to be able to complete the series. Do you have any further pages complete? Love your work!

    • Lacy is hoping to finish more of them, but she doesn’t have a date for that. What she has available now is everything she has at this time.

      Angie, Catholic Icing Project Manager

  38. I love these. Will you be finishing the notebook pages?

  39. Alexandrea Gray says

    OH! I bought the book and started planning before I realized this wasn’t completed! I enjoyed the simpleness of the note booking pages! I’m not at great with adding the clip-art/coloring but maybe I can figure that part out to finish up the curriculum for my kids! Thank you for what you’ve done so far!