I am sorry no one has posted somegal and welcome, by the way. If you post this in parenting, I know people will chat.

Sunday School scares me.   I only teach one Sunday a year and blow the kids' minds with biblical exegesis and intertext which clearly states that we are reading stories and that the meaning is metaphorical.  We go over the meaning of metaphor and then go into the concept of parables.  We end the class with a Buddhist meditation.  Because, I only do this once a year. they let me.

Hi somegal - we also use the Whole People of God curriculum - I help out occasionally now, but did much more when my kids were young.  I found the WPoG session outlines to be really helpful, and I learned stuff myself, which was good.  I think maybe sometimes people are reluctant to volunteer because they think they don't know enough to "teach" - so having a good curriculum helps with that, in my view.  

We have one paid person who organizes our Sunday school activities, and volunteers from the congregation assist.  At present we just have one grouping I think - it's from age 4 to grade 6 - which personally I think is too wide a span.  Our numbers are growing, so hopefully we'll be able to recruit enough volunteers to split the group soon. 

Hi, good for you to take on the joys and responsibilities of Sunday School.  I did it for over thirty years - and it was one of the most fulfilling things I have done.  I have adults come up to me in the mall and ask "Do you remember me?  You were my Sunday School teacher.  I still remember how you encouraged me to read in church, and now I get up and speak at busines conferences."  When I needed a lawyer to draw up a Power of Attorney, I found one of my former Sunday School children.  The fee was right - he wouldn't charge me.   I started on my journey in religious studies doing background study for my classes.

And I'm glad to hear that you are working with a multi-aged group.  I introduced this to my last Sunday School and we used it for several years.  Then the minister wanted us to go back to small classes - all the teachers and helpers quit on me.  Within a couple of years we were back to the multi-aged group.   So many advantages - so unlike school where children are put together with others their own age with no consideration of their interests or abilities, or the opportunity of working with someone older or younger.

Good luck and God bless.

Please post as time goes around.  Tell us about your good experiences, about insights that your children share, creative ideas that they come up with.  Share what works well with you.  Share funny stories.  And unload your frustrations - those of us have been around the block a few times will understand. 

Today was my first class of the year. I have been leading the program at my churcToh for several years, so not much fazes me any more - LOL! Today I had 13 little rambunctious souls in my care - fortunately I had an excellent assistant to help me out. I am lucky in that all I have to do is plan the activities - we do a circle time with our minister where the story is shared. The art activities I had planned worked great - for about 5 minutes. I had to push the kids to see them through because we needed the artwork for an after church event - otherwise I might well have cut the exercise short and headed to another room where we could toss a ball around or play tag. My one complaint about WPoG is that they rarely have any suggestions for being active/playing games.

I like the idea of the Buddhist meditation JLin - tell me more!

I totally know what you mean about fulfillment Seeler! One of the joys of teaching a multi-age group is that you get to see what they remember from years past. I've had some of my Grade 5s in my group since they were in Grade 1.

Carolla - ages 4 to 11 - now that's an age gap! I don't envy that leader! We would love to get another teacher so that we could split our groups into kindergarten to Grade 2 and Grades 3-5.

For me, being a Sunday School teacher is very rewarding. For one thing, like Carolla, I find myself learning more about the Bible stories. I also think more about the stories, because I am planning my lessons several days in advance. Then there's the more personal rewards - for example last week one little girl sadly asked me why I wasn't teaching anymore. I explained to her that I had taken a break for the summer and would be coming back this week. Her face just lit up as she gave me a great big hug! This week, she chose to come sit with me in church.

Thought I'd post an update here. This morning I got to church early - only to have the minister tell me that since there was going to be a baptism today, we would be straying from the curriculum. Fortunately I had already planned to stray from the suggested activities was able to adapt my plans accordingly! The kids were awesome, as always - I am blessed to have some of the best behaved children anywhere. They are energetic, enthusiastic and tons of fun!