The EIC Track is designed to form and train any adult seeking to use the Educating in Christ approach with children of any age, from infancy to the end of adolescence.

• The track has four levels:  Foundation and Keystones 1-3.  These levels do not correspond to the ages of children you are being trained to work with, but instead provide the fundamentals for all ages, and then a deepening in each key area of ability for the adult using this approach.
• Completion of the Foundation level will enable a teacher or parent to use this approach in the classroom or home setting.  The Foundation level has workshops that address the basics of understanding the EIC approach's vision, characteristics, pedagogy, and methodology, the ways children learn and grow spiritually at each plane of development (sensitive period), how faith formation achieves its goals in the understanding of the Church, and how the truths of the faith are unfolded successfully to young souls, through the lens of the Catechism's organization of those truths.
• Each Keystone is designed to deepen areas necessary for true mastery in fostering the Holy Spirit's work in a child's soul.  An adult formator who engages the EIC Track in the right heart attitude will not be looking for a minimum of what is necessary, but yearning to be developed towards true excellence - the privileged labor of personal growth for those seeking to serve God's own.
• You should expect to commit to approximately 50 contact hours to complete the Foundation level's 14 workshops.  For each of the three Keystone levels, you should expect to commit about 35 hours. Each workshop in the track has about one hour’s worth of filmed content, divided into segments by engaging tasks which can vary in their time commitment (from simply writing “Complete” to prayerfully describing how you intend to apply what you have learned in your own life and ministry).  Normally it takes a learner between 2-3 hours to do the various tasks in a given workshop, often over a period of days or weeks, depending on your preferred pace, and on whether a group is going through the workshops together or individual mentoring is engaged instead.  Learners can progress faster or slower if desired, unless your diocese, school, or other organization has determined a pace for you.
• The certifying entity for the EIC Track is the Catechetical Institute (CI) of Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.  Unlike our many other ministry formation tracks, the EIC Track is required to be used in the manner designed and presented here, and cannot be modified or customized.  Though the EIC Track's workshops may be used singly for personal enrichment or supplemental formation, to attain certification in the EIC approach through CI, you need to engage in one of the following forms of accountability:

1. If your diocese, school, or other organization (parish, religious order, apostolate) has a partnership or institutional subscription with CI, then we work with that entity to arrange for forms of one-to-one mentoring and/or group use under the guidance of a qualified EIC trainer.  Check with your organization about the way forward.
2. If you are desiring certification as an individual outside of any institutional arrangement (which will often be the case for parents), then you will need to join a CI Guild circle or engage a CI Guild mentor, once you have created your individual account on our platform.  Information on join a Guild circle or gaining a mentor for this purpose can be found at this link.

Five Steps You Can Take towards Us

Step 1:  Visit and read through the basic sections of EIC’s main site: EducatingInChrist.com

• This site provides access to purchasable and downloadable sets of 2D and 3D materials, sourced to be inexpensive.
• This site hosts demonstration videos, how-to tutorials, answers to common questions, as well as links to other supportive sources of help.
• This site offers access to downloadable guidebooks for each lesson for each grade, and other associated elements such as learning journals.

Step 2:  Visit our flagship site and consider what type of subscription you’ll be needing to gain access to the EIC Track formation/training workshops: FranciscanAtHome.com

• If you are an individual parent or a teacher seeking formation and training in the EIC approach outside of a diocesan partnership, you can enter here.
• If you are an institutional leader (parish, school, religious order, or apostolate), you can sign up your organization and give access to all those under your leadership by clicking on the “Institutional Subscriptions” button here.
• If you are a diocesan leader or superintendent, you can contact the regional liaison for your location by clicking on the “Diocesan Partnerships” button here.

Step 3:  Look over the structure of the EIC Track to understand what is needed to be trained in this approach

• The track is divided into four sections or courses of study.  The Foundation level is designed to give any teacher or parent the fundamentals needed to begin using the EIC approach with children of any age and any setting.  Upon completion of this set of workshops, successful use of this approach can begin in a school or home.
• The trio of Keystone sections are not electives, but instead provide the needed deepening in spirituality, doctrine, and methodology needed to wield the EIC approach with a strong sense of ownership of the approach and impact upon a child’s faith life.  These Keystone sets of workshops can be done by teachers or parents concurrently with use of EIC guidebooks and lessons with children.
• These workshops are best when experienced relationally: in groups of teachers, within a married couple, or among several parents.  The pace of movement through these workshops is up to the individuals taking them or local institutional leadership.  Each workshop typically takes 3-4 hours to complete, usually spread over the course of 2-4 weeks.

Step 4:  Decide how to acquire what is needed in terms of purchasing or creating materials

• Some needed elements can be downloaded from our EIC website or purchased through this site.
• Other elements can be purchased from sites recommended in our materials inventory or found elsewhere via your own searching.
• There is always the option to create your own materials in part or entirely, and we provide tutorial videos and links to other sites that help in that effort.

Step 5:  Decide how to designate and train local mentors and schedule with us one or more launch events or trainings

• We have workshops specifically to train local mentors as needed, at no extra cost, and we can work with any number of people at whatever pace is desired.  The best-case scenario is for at least one EIC-attuned local mentor to be able to accompany others (teachers and/or parents) through the EIC Track, at a locally determined pace, either individually or in groups.
• We offer launch events for free either on-site or via Zoom, as well as follow-up training if desired (no speaker fees; only expenses are any travel costs).
• EIC is an adaptation for home and school settings of Dr. Maria Montessori, Dr. Sofia Cavalletti, and Gianna Gobbi’s pedagogical insights.  Catechesis of the Good Shepherd (CGS) is the definitive expression of their superlative approach to forming children.  For dioceses (or school systems within a diocese) that adopt the EIC approach in an all-on-board manner, we strongly encourage that mentor figures be trained in Level One, Two, and/or Three through a qualified CGS trainer, and we offer a scholarship option that can help enable this invaluable training.

1. Catechetical subsidiarity in a spirit of solidarity – respecting the primacy of the family and the need to support, not supplant, local sources of formation.

2. Spiritual primacy within an integrated formation – ensuring that formation for ministry emphasizes personal spiritual growth and witness of life, and does not give the impression that human skill and knowledge attainment alone can sufficiently prepare a person to pass on the faith.

3. Faithful creativity – seeking new ways forward in ministry in a collaborative not competitive manner, obedient to the graced channels of the Church’s hierarchy, and to the guidance of the Spirit’s voice in the Magisterium and ministry of Peter. Working for the Church and with the Church.

4. Sacrificial accompaniment within structures of continuity of care – fostering and deepening the vocation to others in situ, knowing that the faith is most effectively passed on through pathways of familial trust, personal witness, vulnerable friendship, genuine sharing and reciprocal sacrifice, within the strength of a community.

5. Radical affordability to support sustainable patterns of ministry – forming others for ministry in a fiscally non-exclusive manner, with a spirit of generosity so that the very best resources can be provided for all, including the poorest institutions and individuals.

6. Under mercy – depending at all times upon the grace that can elevate our nature for the work of ministry, and therefore fostering sacramental encounters with the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit in order to find authentic peace of soul, joy in trusting, and familial belonging.