Search
-
Dear PSR families,
We are ready to share the plans for the 2020-2021 PSR school year and we would like to thank you for your patience and prayers during these past few months. We have been praying and working hard to redefine religious education at ICC during the Covid-19 era. After gathering information from the Diocese, curriculum programs, and your surveys, Schedule. We will begin the school year on Monday September 21, 2020. We will have classes for nine straight weeks and end the first semester the week of November 16-20, which is the week before Thanksgiving. We will begin the second semester the week of January 25-29 2021 and have classes through the week of March 22-26 with a break for Mardi Gras the week of February 15-19. This will give us eighteen weeks of classes. We will send out a calendar with all important dates in the near future.
Structure. First, eleventh grade confirmation candidates will remain with the Tuesday night Mass and classroom structure. For grades 1-10, we have gathered all the answers from our parent surveys. The data we received showed the following:
About 65% favor a structure of alternating weeks on campus at ICC and doing work at home
About 25% favor a structure of all distance learning with everything online
About 10% favor a structure of traditional homeschool
To serve our families as much as possible, we will be offering all three of these options. To make sure everyone is fully informed, we want to define each option for you:
1. Alternating Weeks: Youth will be divided into two groups. For example, we can call one group Amazing and one group Brilliant. The Amazing group will attend class week one and have an assignment to complete during week two at home to be turned in before they return on week three. The Brilliant group will have an assignment to complete at home on week one to turn in before they attend class on week two. The Brilliant group will attend class in person on week two and will be given an assignment for home for week three and so on. Each group will attend 9 classes in person and do 9 assignments at home. There will be a syllabus given to each youth with all assignments and deadlines.
2. All Distance Learning Online. The youth that will be doing all distance learning will use a digital eBook to be accessed online. They will be using the same curriculum as well as following the same time frame and sequence as the youth that are alternating weeks. They will be required to complete weekly eAssessments online so that they will be completing work at the same pace as their friends that are alternating weeks.
3. Traditional Homeschool. The youth that are participating in home school will be using the same curriculum as all the other youth. Home school students will have the option of using the online eBook or using a textbook. These youth will also follow the same time frame and sequence as the other youth. If a home school family has problems with time frames, they can contact the PSR office and speak with their grade coordinator to work out an alternative.
*After reading this, if you have registered and wish to move your student from the group you chose in the survey to another group, you have until Friday August 14 to call the PSR office or email Jane Stahl and switch. After Friday, there will be no changes. Due to safety and Covid-19 regulations, there can be no switching between structures or groups during the school year.
*We will follow this structure the entire school year. The only change to the structure will be if we have to move to all distance learning because of spike in Covid-19 cases. We will not be returning to a normal or “pre-Covid” structure for this school year.
Curriculum. To best serve our families and have as much continuity as possible, we have decided to make some changes to our curriculum. All 1-8 grade youth (except for 2nd grade) will be using the Our Sunday Visitor curriculum, Alive in Christ. Our second graders will continue to use the Blessed curriculum for First Eucharist and First Reconciliation. Our 9th and 10th grade youth will be using the Encountering Jesus curriculum from Ave Maria Press. Ninth grade will study Jesus and the Church and tenth grade will study Foundations of Catholic Morality. Our Eleventh grade Confirmation candidates will be using the YOUCAT confirmation curriculum by the YOUCAT Foundation. These changes were necessary to make in order to adhere to safety protocols and Covid-19 phase restrictions. We will not be able to have any large gatherings, extracurricular activities, or student masses this school year.
Again, we thank you for your patience as we all adjust to a new normal at least for this year. We will be sending out additional information in the coming weeks. If you have any questions or need any assistance please call the PSR office. May we all enjoy a safe and meaningful school year working together for the growth and formation of our youths’ faith!
We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God;
Despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers,
O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Scholastica, patrons of students, pray for us!
St. Don Bosco, patron of schoolchildren, pray for us!
St. Gregory the Great, patron of teachers, pray for us!
Sincerely,
Gwen Richard, DRE, Confirmation Coordinator (gcrichard@icc-msh.org)
Jane Stahl, PSR Registration (jstahl@icc-msh.org)
Kevin Acord, 6-10 Grade Coordinator (kacord@icc-msh.org)
Barbara Normand, 1-5 Grade Coordinator (bnormand@icc-msh.org)