Sunday School Memoirs: What I Didn't Do

There are a couple of things that, for whatever reason, I never did this year in my Sunday school class. They are singing and memorization.

Last year, I did both of these. I don't remember how much or how often...only that we did them one more than one occasion. Every now and then, I would come to class with a craft prepared for the children to do, and I'd get so engrossed in having them work on that that I would totally forget to sing and do a memory verse. I believe as time went by last year, I forgot to do those two things more often, and by the end, it didn't even cross my mind.

I don't know why it worked out this way for my class. There's absolutely nothing wrong with singing or memorizing verses in Sunday school (unless you are one who's opposed to the whole concept of Sunday school). In fact, I would say it's important to do so at some point. I suppose I found myself wanting to emphasize strongly the learning of the lesson.

In retrospect, praying and singing probably would've helped spend some time waiting for the later-comers. What usually happens is that the kids stream in and I have a period of free time until I decide it's time to start. At that point, we start in on the lesson, which means starting on the craft, as I try to have the two integrated. Usually someone (who I thought wouldn't be there) will come in later, while the others are halfway done with their activities. This usually results in me either doing the craft for him/her (it's usually a specific her).

Now, if I were the only source of Christian education for the children in my class, I would probably place more emphasis on things like singing and memorization. But the majority of my students come from families with good parents and where everyone comes to church. There's only one boy in my class who comes from a less-than-ideal situation (I don't even know what it is, only that it's usually his grandmother bringing him and his siblings to church). Now that I think of it, during my next tour of duty, I should probably modify my approach depending on the least-ideal family situation in the class.