Using FORMED in Religious Ed and Schools
Teach Parents how to access FORMED
The beginning of the school or Religious Ed year is a great time to teach parents how to access and use FORMED.
- Use a FORMED Parent Letter similar to this with written instructions how to register on the parish’s FORMED subscription and also how to download the FORMED app. Spanish letter, here.
- Invite techy teens to assist during the parish meeting for service hours.
- Give parents 2-3 FORMED content suggestions to add to ‘My List’ for easy access later.
Use FORMED in the Classroom
Supplement your curriculum with FORMED.
Access Children’s FORMED Content Index, here.
Use the search engine on FORMED to find content by subject. FORMED has a powerful search engine, put in any topic, key word, speaker, or author. Some search words could be:
- Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, Mary, The Saints
- Apologetics, The Bible
- Conversion Stories
- Divine Mercy, Easter, Christmas
- Sacraments, Eucharist, Baptism, Confession, Confirmation
- Chastity, Pro Life
- Parenting, Prayer
Bring in the Bible and Prayers
Bring the Bible into the classroom or home.
- Download the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament
- Listen to our Truth and Life Bible audio-dramatization – kids love this!
- Read aloud Bible Stories for Little Children
- Make bible stories come to life with animated videos
- Encourage families to read together at home with ebooks for kids and teens
Pray together for our church and for the world.
- Devotionals including Rosary, Divine Mercy Chaplet, Way of the Cross
- Presence focus on the Eucharist since many Masses are cancelled
- Lectio: Prayer, using the discipline of Lectio Divina to show you how to make prayer an effective effort of love and intimacy.
- Opening the Word, short videos offering prayer and insights for the Sunday Readings.
- FORMED Daily Reflections – short daily videos, subscribe to a daily email at https://formed.org/daily
The School at Home stripe on FORMED includes:
- Why Believe?, an excellent high school apologetics course
- Videos and discussion sheets by YDisciple for parents and teens
- Short introductory Signs of Grace videos for children which can be used as a fun way to start the class
Enhance First Holy Communion Preparation
- First Communion & First Reconciliation Curriculum Supplement Ideas for Children and Parents
- For Parents: Presence: The Mystery of the Eucharist– 3 sessions and pdf guides.
Ideas to Enhance Catholic Culture –
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Ask the staff to do a study together – watch a session at home and discuss at the beginning of staff meetings
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Add FORMED Pick of the Week to your parish and school website here.
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Offer ready-to-go Monthly recommendations in your Newsletter, on FB, in the bulletin. Find them here.
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Encourage all staff and families to listen to 1 Lighthouse Talk per month to continue growing in faith (this is great for busy people!)
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Encourage family movie night: Invite parents of teens to replace every 3rd secular movie with a movie on FORME
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FORMED Daily Reflections (https://formed.org/daily)– short daily videos, subscribe to a daily email here
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Point students and parents to our many resources on prayer
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Divine Mercy Chaplet here. Pray at 3pm daily
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Way of the Cross here. Pray especially on Fridays
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Rosary here.
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Listen to Praying the Rosary Like Never Before by Dr. Edward Sri here.
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Offer small-group discipleship for teens using YDisciple
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Offer small group opportunities for parish and school families using our AI Studies.
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Need catechist certification? The Augustine Institute offers Short Courses here.
More Ideas on our Webinar Recording
To learn more about how to use FORMED in the classroom, view our Using FORMED for Religious Ed and Schools webinar recording, here.