When I first began homeschooling, we made some goals for the end of the school year. Being a Christian, one of my most important goals was to educate my children in the Bible and help them to develop a growing relationship with the Lord.
Great goal, not the best follow through. I realized quickly that I was going to struggle with this task just as much as I struggled with keeping my own relationship fresh and growing.
I got bogged down with the curriculum and academic learning that I often put God aside.
Every year in August I reevaluate my goals. Every year, I decide THIS is going to be the year that I put family devotions, character qualities and learning more about our Lord before anything else. Every year, I start off that way and then I allow that to fade away. My head tells, "they don't get tested on that!". So, I lose focus.
This year, I had a new excuse... I don't have a good devotional book to read with my kids. I mean, I am not a scholar or anything. So, I just kept putting it off and putting it off. I looked at devotional books online. I thought they all looked way too expensive.
Well, it only took the first semester for God to hit me over the head hard enough for me to give in. He reminded me that my kids aren't stupid. Interesting, huh? What I mean is that I don't have to use (although I still think it would be helpful) a "devotional book". My kids can understand His word and learn straight from the source.
So, we started to read through Proverbs last week. It has been very cool to see the way they understand things beyond their years and are figuring out ways to apply what they read to their own lives.
I hope I remember this in weeks to come when the temptation to just "get school done" comes over me. I don't want to look back on this school year with regret.
7 comments:
We don't home school but I too am finding it important to read the Word to and with the children. We've been doing our best to read one Proverb each day. We are also reading the Bible through in one year. It's a bit tough on my 5 year old but my 8 and 10 year old enjoy it. I'm finding it difficult to explain things that they aren't aware of yet. We read about Lot a few days back and how his daughters got him drunk with wine so they could "be" with him to produce a child. Any ideas on how to explain some of the sexual passages to younger children? Boy oh boy is Song of Solomon gonna be fun ;-)
Yes, I too have needed that reminder. My Father's World has helped me so much with keep reading God's Word a priority in our homeschool.
Great post!
http://kingdomacademyhomeschool.blogspot.com/
I wanted to tell you about this free resource you can get. Visit www.KeysforKids.org. You can request a free devotional book. The one they just sent is for January/February. They will send another for March/April and so on. They have daily devotionals geared towards kids. I've been looking for mine and I finally found it today. We will begin these today. Hopefully this will be something you can use :-)
Sounds like you are doing it right! After discussing different devotional methods with others that were homeschooled, the key is to teach them to love the Lord's word. Don't stress about "family devotions". Instilling a love for the word goes a lot farther, just like instilling a love for learning results in smarter kids. Sounds like your doing a great job of not keeping it too rigid. =)
~liz
thx for this reminder....it's so hard to find the balance i'm sure!
Thanks so much for your blog - I really appreciate it. I would highly recommend The Jesus Storybook Bible. I have read it with my kids a couple times, and we all learn stuff every time. Each story reminds you how it points to Jesus, and God's love for us. It'll be totally worth every cent you spend on it.
Really enjoy your blog. We have a lot in common..homeschooling 4, saving money on groceries, and the Lord!!
Julie @ KingdomKlipper & Proverbs 22 Homeschool
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