We are looking for a catechism for our family to follow and would enjoy recommendations.
I was thinking of going with the Covenental Catechism as it looks pretty good. Are there any good alternatives out there?
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I love the Heidelberg Catechism . I have had the privilege of teaching a class at church using it this past year, and my appreciation has only grown.
If you are unfamiliar with it, it covers the basics of the faith, including the Apostles Creed, the Lord’s Prayer, the 10 Commandments, and God’s plan of salvation.
A good resource, especially when teaching it to children, is Kevin DeYoung’s book.
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Are you looking for memorization?
What ages are we talking?
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Ages 0 - 7. Focus on Bible, beyond that I’m not sure. Open to options.
We developed one here at Trinity a few years ago:
TRC Children’s Catechism.pdf (174.2 KB)
It says at the front that it was “Adapted from the Catechism for Young Children: An Introduction to the Shorter Catechism”, but I don’t know what that is. Maybe @acmcneilly knows?
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Looks very similar to what GCP puts out.
https://www.gcp.org/ProductDetail.aspx?Item=020030
Our four older children have memorized all of it, and our six year old is currently around Q. 100.
GCP also sells CDs with the questions and answers put to music. Helps the kids learn when they are in the car with mom doing errands.
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We use the GCP one. There are some albums called Ask Me Whooo that we’ve enjoyed using to learn it as well. I didn’t grow up Reformed, so I’ve enjoyed learning it along with the kids.
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I believe the Catechism for Young Children. Being an Introduction to the Shorter Catechism. was originally published by the Presbyterian Board of Publication and Sabbath-School Work in 1840. Here’s a PDF version that seems authentic. Most sources attribute the authorship to Joseph P. Engels, who wrote the introduction to the original version.
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Our favorite is the GCP one. Most of our kids have memorized quite a bit of it. It’s discouraging how quickly they lose it though, since we’re not still homeschooling and reviewing it frequently.
I believe the GCP one is a modification of the 1840 one. There’s a very detailed breakdown of variations here.
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Yes, it is. We compared the two years ago and chose the great commission one. It has caused complications for us since Trinity came up with their own version when we had already started memorizing the other 
but we really like it.
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Frequently as part of our daily family worship I ask catechism questions of one or more children, and several of them have cycled through all questions multiple times. And for those kids not answering questions, it’s good review to hear a sibling do so.
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Thanks everyone!
Here’s a new question. Why was the children’s catechism written? I was surprised to just look at the Westminster shorter catechism and see that it doesn’t seem much longer than the children’s catechism. Does anyone know if there is general version of the Westminster confession that has been updated from king James language? Basically the equivalent of a new king James?
There are modern language versions of the Westminster standards out there.
I assume the children’s catechism was written because it is easier to memorize than the Westminster shorter catechism and thus more likely to be attempted.