Tuesday, November 20, 2012

An interactive Rosary Decade in English and Latin


I'm a bit late in posting this, but I wanted to share an activity we did during October, which is the month dedicated to the Most Holy Rosary.

I was looking for a hands-on, interactive way to teach my daughter the rosary.  She knows it in a rote sort of way, just by praying the rosary with our rosary group before Friday Mass.  But I wanted her to better understand the various mysteries.  We are also learning to say the Doxology (Glory Be) and Hail Mary in Latin, so I wanted to give us another chance to practice saying them.

I did a bit of online research and discovered that Kimberlee, of Pondered in My Heart, taught her girls to pray the Rosary using crocheted red and white roses to count the Our Fathers and Hail Marys. What a marvelous idea!  However, I don't crochet, so I had to adapt her idea a bit.  Instead, I used high quality silk red and white flowers purchased from Michaels.  (I used high quality silk flowers because I subtly wanted to emphasize the importance and beauty of praying the rosary.  These are realistic looking silk flowers with drops of "dew" on them.)

Then I gathered together a few other things, including Father Lovasik's Scriptural Rosary for Children, 
two rosaries, a small vase, a prayer card with the words of the Hail Mary in Latin, and a statute of the Blessed Mother.  I put them all in a basket and stored them near our kitchen table where we do our schoolwork.  Here's a photo:
 



Each morning we begin our school day with a decade of the Rosary.  I read one of the Mysteries from the Scriptural Rosary book.  We then pray the Our Father and my daughter puts the white rose in the vase. We then pray a Hail Mary in English, and my daughter puts a red rose in the vase.  The next Hail Mary is in Latin, and she puts another red rose in the vase. We continue, alternately saying the Hail Mary in English or Latin, until all 10 Hail Marys are completed.  My daughter also likes to count the beads on the rosary at the same time. Here's what it looks like when all 11 prayers are finished:



After we've finished the decade, we'll say the Doxology in Latin and the Fatima Prayer, then do the Sign of the Cross (also in Latin, since we learned that a couple of months ago.) We finish our morning prayer by taking a few moments to discuss and ponder the day's mystery.

She's really enjoyed learning to pray the Rosary this way, and I've noticed how much more confidently she says the Hail Mary in Latin!   I look forward to using this method periodically throughout the year, especially when we are learning the Our Father and other rosary prayers in Latin.


Do you have an interactive way to teach the Rosary to your children?  I would love to hear about it.

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