Family-based parish programs include the whole family in each session and may even be intergenerational. Family-based catechesis is not limited to the time constraints of classroom instruction. And it is holistic, integrated with the rest of life, work, play, and social activities, offering a style that fits with adult life as well. Judith Dunlap, a strong advocate of the family-based approach, combines two approaches. Usually dioceses have charts giving such categories.
Menus are even more important at the diocesan level, composed of many ethnic and language groups.
And while the textbooks are much improved today, parents still need to see how 'holiness' plays out in their own homes. A variety of approaches helps them. Finally, parishes around the country are finding that, whatever their preferred approach, religious education is enhanced by celebrating the Liturgy of the Word with children. Together they hear a reading and the gospel from the Children' s Lectionary. Then catechists ask the children to express what they have heard and to think about it at their own level.