[Tax-chick]

I taught 9th graders (pre-confirmation) about 3 years ago. I was amazed at how little they knew. They weren't even familiar with the Gospel stories (and most of them couldn't read worth a darn, either!)

However, they were teachable. They were fascinated by the church history material I brought in, how the early Church were literally killing one another over the definitions in the Nicene Creed, and the loved they modern persecution stories from Voice of the Martyrs (especially when we sat on the floor in the dark to read about it), and they participated in prayer exercises with enthusiasm.

Today's teenagers aren't a loss by any means, but they need teachers who are passionate about the Faith and materials with some blood-and-guts and life-and-death emphasis.

[xsmommy]

i think it is hard to get enough info across in CCD classes to any age group. My kids are in Catholic school and they know an incredible amount because of it, much more than i do, actually. my youngest has a learning disability and we had to take her out of catholic school and she now attends a private Christian LD school and attends CCD. Luckily she was in catholic school for her first communion year. you can't possibly get out of one hour of CCD per week, what you get in a day in and day out Catholic education where Catholic history and doctrine is assimilated into the other subjects.

i was baptized Greek Catholic, which meant i was confirmed simultaneously, so in 6th grade i had to sit out Confirmation, other than doing all the study prep stuff, in my Catholic grade school.