Training Children-Some Things We Did

My husband and I just returned home tonight from a quick trip to Albuquerque. Our son is the Worship Pastor at a church there and they were recording a live worship concert Friday night, so we went for the concert. Often when we meet friends of our children, they complement us on what fine kids we have and tell us what a good job we did. That's always great to hear as a parent even though I know that our kids are not perfect nor were we perfect parents (just ask our kids). But, I am very grateful that we have a good relationship with all 3 of our children, and that they all 3 love the Lord. These 2 things were my top priorities in raising them. As I rode in the car today, I began to think about some of the things we did that were part of our childrens training.

Every morning, they came to the table for breakfast, and before we ate, we bowed our heads and thanked God for the night of rest, for the food, for another day, and anything else we wanted to talk to Him about.

During the day, we often had christian music playing.

The majority of the books they had were either Bible stories or had a Biblical moral to them.

When a situation came up that needed urgent prayer, I would gather all the kids together, and we would all join in prayer for the need.

The kids and I often went to the nursing homes sometimes to sing, sometimes just to visit and pray with the elderly. (The kids did not interfere with ministry, they were a part of it.)

We often brought neighbor kids with us to church.

At lunch we once again thanked God for His blessings and again at supper.

While washing dishes in the evening we usually listened to Adventures in Odyssey on the radio (christian drama) or sang songs about God.

On Saturday mornings we didn't watch Sat. morn cartoons, we listened to kids radio (Childrens Bible Hour, Adventures in Odyssey, The Donut Man).

When we lived in apartments we had Saturday morning kids Bible club at our home for the neighbor kids.

At bedtime we talked to God again.

At bedtime we would either read a Bible story, listen to a Bible story on tape, listen to praise music, scripture songs, or other christian music.

When riding in the car we were often either listening to gospel music on the radio/tape or we were singing (or both),( sometimes very loudly through our nose seeing how good we were at singing blue grass, lots of fun).

We almost never missed Sunday School or church Sunday morning, Sunday night, Wed. night, or any other time we got a chance to go. This was not because we had to, but because we loved to go. (This was a great opportunity to show our kids how important God and His house are.)

We went to a lot of gospel singings/concerts, revivals.

We prayed about everything: lost shoes, lost car keys, broken washing machine, you name it.

This list by no means includes everything, but you can see, serving God was a way of life for us. Biblical training was not a boring exercise that took place in trying to ingrain the Word of God into our kids, it happened naturally. As a matter of fact, it was fun! It was the way we lived. As they grow up, they each have trials and tests that they must face, but there should not be any doubt in their minds where to turn for help.

Let me say, if you have not lived life in this way, start today. It's never too late to let your children know how important God is to you. Even if they are grown, begin to live your life in such a way that they can see that you cannot live without Him, and see if it doesn't make an impact on them.

Deuteronomy 6:5-7, "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shoult teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

Proverbs 22:6, "Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. "

Homeschool Successes

One of the favorite things we did while homeschooling, was the Prairie Primer Unit Study. It uses the Little House on the Prairie Books as a base for this study. My kids loved it (and I). Every day we would read from a book in the series and do one of the activities. We made a straw tick(bed), a leather gun holster and belt, knife cases, took a gun safety course, made butter, buckwheat pancakes, and many other fun activities. That winter we read how the Ingalls children received a tin cup, stick of peppermint, and a coin for Christmas. On Christmas morning the first gift we gave our kids was a tin cup, stick of peppermint, and a silver dollar. If we would have known how excited they were going to be over this gift, we wouldn't have bothered to buy them anything else, and I think it would have been okay with them. To this day, they will tell you that was their most memorable Christmas and gift. This unit study was definately a learning experience that stuck with them.

Homeschool Success Story/Tips

Let me introduce you to my youngest child, Ryan. Though never diagnosed as such, I'm sure he's ADD. Trying to do school work with him was loads of fun (a little sarcasm). His attention span was very short. He did not like to read books. Textbook work was torture. The unschool method worked best for him although I did require some curriculum work. He loved reading fishing and hunting magazines and I never knew so much biology could be learned from a magazine. He loved doing carpenter work with his grandpa and come to find out there is lots of math to be learned from building a house. He did love learning about history whether it was from videos, books(not textbooks), museums, or however we could learn it. Most people (especially me, since we spent very little time learning history) are amazed at his knowledge of history. We never actually finished a high school curriculum, it was too torturous for us both. He wanted a job, so he took the GED and passed it with above average scores. He has since then joined the army, and all the tests required to be accepted, he passed with really good scores. He told me that the thing that helped him the most with all of his testing was a book I bought at Hastings for $2.99 on the clearance table. Is is "2 Real LSAT's Explained". This is a book published by KPLAN, a test prep company, for law school exams. I purchased this to help him with his thinking and problem solving skills. The book explains every answer and the concepts and strategies for every question. We used this as part of his curriculum. Well worth the money. Ryan is now a medic in the army serving in Baghdad. In his free time he loves to read, believe it or not, and usually books much thicker and deeper than I would choose to read. There is hope! Keep it up!

Teaching With God's Heart

I wanted to tell you a little more about the curriculum I mentioned yesterday. It is called "Teaching with God's Heart for the World". It is a Unit-Study for all ages, incorporating God's heart for world missions into nearly every subject. Each week it emphasises a different part of the world. On Friday it gives you a menu or recipe for an international meal from the country you are studying, and a movie from there. We probably would have never watched Fiddler on the Roof and made livivot(potato pancakes) while studying Israel if we had not used this unit-study. It was a lot of fun. If you are a missions minded family you might want to check it out.

...As A Little Child

Mark 10:15 ...Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.

Even though I am not homeschooling any longer, this week I took out one of my favorite homeschool unit studies to read for myself, as a devotional. The first week of this unit study has been so refreshing spiritually to me. It is teaching the basics of what Christianity is all about, which is: having a personal, living, and vital relationship with Jesus Christ. It is a week to renew your personal and family commitment to Christ, and a time to establish the discipline of daily prayer. As I read the scriptures and pray the very basic prayers focused on this week, I have been so blessed. As an adult we make things so complicated sometimes. Even prayer. I must admit, I have had so many things on my mind and so many things to do lately that it has been difficult to have a meaningful prayer time, if one at all. When I woke up this morning, I was not in the best of moods, I'll admit. A scripture from yesterday about praise came to my mind and I was just not feeling it. Todays prayer focus was: Pray that the Lord will help you grow spiritually in your christian walk. Pray specifically for help in establishing daily disciplines of prayer and time in the Word of God. Pray for your neighbors. Even though I've been a christian many years I really felt a need to pray these prayers. Just remembering my need of a closer walk, of the importance of this prayer time and time in the Word, and even remembering the needs of my neighbors and the responsibility I have to them, ignited something in me and in my prayer time that I needed today. Don't feel silly praying childlike prayers, for unless you become as a child, you cannot enter the kingdom of God.

Homeschool Success Story

Please note that these posts are not meant to boast or brag on our accomplishments, but to give encouragement to you moms who are presently homeschooling. I know from experience how intimidating and discouraging it can be at times. Now, for todays topic. Do you moms who have children who have finished homeschooling ever have people asking what your kids do now? If you google "homeschool success stories" you'll find sites wanting to find out what these young people are accomplishing in life now that they've graduated. Let me introduce you to my daughter, Kara. Today she is married to a great, christian young man, and they have a son(who I showed you a couple of days ago). Kara is a stay at home mom/wife and loving it. I could not be happier. She is already leaps and bounds ahead of where I was at that time in my life, both as a mom and as a wife. Maybe that's because she has been at home with me watching and helping all of her life. I'm sure she learned from the good and the not so good examples(what not to do). She is a great cook, housekeeper, bookkeeper, mom. All the things necessary to run a home. Yes, I do know she's not perfect, but I am happy with the way her life has turned out and I give God the glory!

Homeschool Success Story

Do writing assignments strike terror in your children? I'm often asked about this problem by mothers who find that I homeschooled my children. What I tell them is, "Don't stress over it, when your child finds something that interests them to write about, thus, a reason to write, they'll start enjoying it". My oldest son, Jonathan, hated to write. When I would give him a writing assignment his mind froze. We had many a battle, with us both nearly in tears. It was very hard for me to make him do the assignment I gave him, because, I had the same problem in school. I finally quit trying, it wasn't worth the battle. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to do much writing in life. Well, was I ever surprised when, one day (as a teen) he shows me a letter he wrote a friend (as a joke) posing as her secret admirer. It was hilarious and so creative. From that point on he went on writing songs, sermons, stories, etc. And I can't take the credit for it. To see an example of some of his writings check out his blog: http://www.jfloblog.com/