Connecting with their Learning Styles

February 12, 2013 By

A few years ago, during one of my more challenging homeschooling days with my kids, the Lord showed me a scripture verse that has stuck with me.

“Then the Lord looked over all he had made and he saw that it was excellent in every way.” Genesis 1:31 

I wondered, does this mean that my kids are excellent?  I have to be honest here, I really had not thought of my kids as excellent.  After all, they were making my day very difficult.  I looked at the scripture again and knew it was true, my kids were excellent.  I just wasn’t looking for their excellence; I was focusing on their faults.  I soon realized that seeing my kids as excellent also meant accepting their differences, strengths and weaknesses.  A big part of my frustration during school was that I was not teaching to their learning styles.  I was teaching to my learning style.  I taught them the way I learn and since God gave me such unique children that meant that they didn’t all learn the same way, especially not like me.  We were all a mess!  In her book, Cherishing and Challenging your Children, Jodi Capehart said this,

“We are able to cherish our children more when we can embrace these differences and acknowledge our Creator’s sovereign purpose in making our child the way he did.” 

When I took a step back and saw my kids as God’s creation in which he has a specific plan and purpose, I better appreciated their differences.           

            I soon began digging into books written about learning styles to see if I could find the perfect formula to help me teach my children.  The books have become great tools, but I soon realized that there is no perfect formula.  How disappointing!  I did find some helpful suggestions that helped ease some of the frustration.  Here are some suggestions by Cynthia Tobias from her book, The Way They Learn, that I hope will help you know your child’s learning style better.

  1. Observe patterns of behavior.  What excites your child, what frustrates them?
  2. Listen to the way your child communicates.  Listening carefully can teach you how you need to talk to them.
  3. Experiment  with what works and what doesn’t.  Remember that even if an approach to learning doesn’t make sense to you it may work for your children.
  4. Focus on natural strengths, not weaknesses.  You can’t build much on weaknesses, but strengths provide a much better foundation.
  5. Learn  more about learning styles in general.  Find out what your own style is and how you can relate to your child’s learning style.

 

teaching-child

So many times we think our kids either have learning disabilities or they are being trouble makers.  By discovering and teaching to their learning style we are able to resolve much of our own frustration and theirs too.  We discover that there may be no disability or delay at all, only a difference in learning.  Even if a disability is there, knowing their learning style can only bring ease to the learning process.

Our children are excellent in every way, even in those ways that we don’t understand at times.  Knowing our child will only strengthen the relationship that we all desire to have.  God knows what your child needs and he has chosen you as their parent for a very important reason.  He knows that you have what you child needs.  The hard part is relying on God for the wisdom we need to supply our children’s needs.  Seek him for the answers you need & he will supply.

Cherish your child

                 Know your child

                                 Enjoy your child.

  

Sources:

Cherishing and Challenging your Children,Jodi Capehart, Copyright 1991.  Page 10

The Way They Learn, Cynthia Ulrich Tobias, Copyright 1994, page 7 & 8

 

Helpful resources:

Different Children, Different Needs, Charles F. Boyd

Learning Styles test:  http://www.ldpride.net/

 

By:Dana Bailey

You can find Dana at her new website Joy Moms or on her personal blog, www.danabailey.blogspot.com

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Mentoring thru the School Year

September 25, 2012 By

         Subscribe today for your FREE copy of…

FACING YOUR FEARS – 31 STORIES FROM M.O.M.

 

 

By now many schooling families have written or received their first progress reports. Areas of weakness emerge, the lunch menu sounds dull, and new pencils have broken tips. Moms who have a mentoring mindset will succeed, even when school year challenges stack up against us. How can mentoring give you a Grade A school year?

Teacher to Student

Whether the parent wears the hat of “academic teacher” or shares it with another adult, teachers have the potential to mentor their students.  While the obvious subjects are academics, a teacher adds more to the building blocks of a child’s foundation than just reading, writing, and arithmetic. Solid academic skills rely on solid instruction, but a teacher with a mentor’s mind passes on life lessons while building up the character of her students.

Instead of just displaying a daily schedule or modeling the use of a classwork planner, a mentor-teacher models the truth that, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps” (Prov. 16:9).

Parent to Student

The learning of sounds and suffixes, sentences and subtraction, synonyms and sharing, has a way of peeling back character flaws and exposing life challenges. If all we ever teach our children is how to read well and count accurately, we have missed our window of opportunity. A mother’s task stretches beyond filling her child’s heart with knowledge to filling her child’s heart with wisdom.

It’s a temptation to let the work of school consume and even control us and our days, but a mentor-mom helps her student-child desire to, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established” (Prov. 16:3).

Mom to Mom

In our passion for teaching our children and helping them reach their potential, we may allow them to dominate all of the space in our hearts, minds, and schedules. The school year and all that comes with it brings an opportunity for moms to mentor other moms. We’re skilled at knowing the sound of our own child’s cry, knowing if it’s legitimate or contrived, knowing if it’s urgent or playful.

A mom with a mentor’s heart tunes her ear to recognize when someone cries out for encouragement, guidance, friendship, understanding, or prayer. The classroom of life provides a chance for moms to mentor one another as school makes us scratch our heads or wipe our eyes, longing for practical wisdom.  A mom with a mentor’s mind can be the answer to another mother’s prayer.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him” (James 1:5).

 

Once we tune our hearts to influence those around us, God may ask us to use what we learn in the lives of others who long for a mentor and have no one. Consider how you might mentor:  a child struggling in school, a teenage mom, a child learning English, a young mother, a woman at risk & separated from her children?   As you grow your mentor’s heart, ask God to show you who is in your sphere of influence.

So if you received a progress report for “School Year Mentoring” how would you do?

  • Are you making the most of your role as a teacher, formal or informal?
  • Are you mentoring the minds and hearts of the children in your life?
  • Are you mentoring other moms around you?

Like every school year before, it will go fast and be gone before we know it. Let’s leave the mark of a mentor’s heart on this school year!

By Julie Sanders at Come Have a Peace

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To Homeschool or Not to Homeschool in the Summer

June 15, 2012 By

homeschool summerThe theme song to a popular kids’ television show sings, “There’s a hundred and four days of summer vacation and school comes along just to end it.” That may or may not hold true for us homeschoolers. Since we have freedom to work with a much more flexible schedule than those in traditional school systems, we have a choice: to homeschool or not to homeschool during the summer months.

I have been homeschooling since 2000. Over the years, we have worked our calendar a variety of ways. In the beginning, I worked an office job, so our dedicated school days were only two to three days a week. To make sure everything was covered, we continued through the summer. However, as the years have passed and things have changed, we’ve discovered that a six-week-on/two-week-off schedule works pretty well. It allows us to have several terms and frequent breaks. It prevents burnout (for the most part!) and includes extended holiday and vacation time. It does mean, of course, that school goes on even during those hundred and four days.

Homeschooling during the summer can be a challenge, especially if, like mine, your kids have friends in the public school system—kids who are outside playing, swimming, riding bikes—while your kids are stuck inside doing math and phonics and spelling. I have found some proven ways to prevent distraction and keep my kids focused on their work, even when the warm summer sun is beckoning.

1)      Heed the sun’s summon. Take the classroom outdoors. Younger kids especially enjoy this. Many science projects can be performed outside, like the Mentos-in-cola fountain and up-close insect inspection. You can even turn a day of weeding the garden into a lesson on photosynthesis.
2)      Get an early start. My younger kids are up with the sun. If we get our work started and completed early, they’ll have the rest of the day to play with friends. That’s good incentive to get to work.
3)      Have night school. Pitch a tent in the backyard. Rent or borrow a telescope if you don’t already own one and study the constellations. Remind kids God made those pictures in the sky and has counted all the stars. Listen for nocturnal creatures. See “Hooo” is out in the dark.
4)      Include summer snacks in your curriculum. Make icepops with a variety of juice drinks and experiment with freezing points of various liquids. Make fresh lemonade. Discuss fractions while preparing ingredients. Add baking soda for a bubbly effect. Grind watermelon seeds finely, place in a tea strainer, and steep in boiling water to make tea. Research health benefits of drinking tea as opposed to drinking sodas.
5)      Get out of town! Take a vacation. Now, I don’t mean for you to sit your kids down for textbook work while the rest of you see the sights, but there’s lots to learn wherever you go. Visit a historical landmark. Examine sealife at the beach. Study fossils in a cavern. Believe it or not, kids can even gain understanding of aviation, pyrotechnics, animation, foreign language, and much, much more at Walt Disney World Resort! Be sure to take lots of pictures (as if you wouldn’t) to incorporate into lapbooks and unit studies later on and collect brochures and postcards for research resources.

Will you be homeschooling this summer? If so, just keep it light and fun, and your kids won’t even realize they are learning while they play!

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How Parents Support (and Sabotage) Student Success (Part III)

June 4, 2012 By

As parents, we want to help our children succeed in school.

In my twenty-two years as a classroom teacher (twenty-one as a parent), I’ve seen parent strategies that pay big dividends.

I’ve also seen well-intentioned efforts that actually cost the kids.

Today is Part 3 of a series in which we explore one support strategy and one form of sabotage.

(Here are links to Part 1 and Part 2.)

 

Support #3: Help Your Child Develop Organizational and Planning Systems

One day, I came home from 4th grade in tears.

I’d been assigned a “research report” on the Yokut Indians, and I had no clue how to do it.

My mother used this report as an opportunity to teach me some much-needed organizational and planning skills. Here’s what she did:

1.  She made sure I understood the assignment by having me explain it to her. I pulled out the assignment handout and read it aloud to her.  She then read the handout aloud to me and had me hand-write a checklist based on the information.

2. As we talked, we realized that we both had questions not answered by the handout. I wrote them down on a separate piece of paper, leaving room for the answers. The next day, I set an appointment with the teacher and, when the time came, asked her my questions, writing down her answers in the space I’d left.

3. She bought me a large wipe-off calendar and colored wipe-off pens. Using the checklist, I set “due dates” for each step of the project. Since I’d need to do my research in the library (the Internet hadn’t yet been invented!), we scheduled several days when she would drop me off for an hour at a time.

4. My mother gave me a small plastic storage tote in which I stored everything related to the research project: the original handout, my list of questions (with answers), xerox copies of important materials I’d read at the library, 3×5 cards, etc.. She also gave me a stack of large envelopes in which to store my note cards. She encouraged me to divide my cards into categories as I did my reading and note-taking; I then labeled each envelope with the category name.

5. She suggested that I finish my research project a week before it was due so that I could ask the teacher to look it over and let me know anything that needed to be changed. I’ll never forget the look of amazement on my teacher’s face when I handed her my binder, telling her it was still a first draft. Now, of course, I recognize her joy at being able to give me input while I could use it (rather than a poor grade when it was too late to make changes!)

Each of these steps has become a life skill for which I am grateful.

As an adult, I know how to clarify an assignment immediately and ask questions before starting; how to break a large project down into “baby steps”, create a checklist, and use a calendar to track my progress; how to develop a quick organizational system for keeping the components of a project together; how to finish early enough to seek input and give added polish.

 

Sabotage #3:  Rescue Your Child from Hard Work

Notice what my mother did not do?

  • She did not call the teacher to ask the questions herself.
  • She did not write the checklist for me.
  • She did not create the calendar or fill in the due dates for me.
  • She did not do my research for me–she actually introduced me to the reference librarian and left me to do the work on my own!
  • She did not label my envelopes for me or even tell me what categories to put on them.
  • And she certainly did not write any portion of my report for me.

In other words, my mother did not do for me what I could do for myself.

Which means that she did not rob me of the sense of satisfaction I felt when I received a well-earned A on my research project.

She did not teach me to try to get out of hard work by whining, begging, crying, procrastinating, feigning ignorance, faking illness, or any of the other strategies I’ve seen students use – often “successfully”, I’m sad to say – to get their parents to “rescue” them.

“Rescue” from what?

From what was once considered a character-builder, but now seems to be considered a fate worse than death: sustained hard work.

Encourage. Support. But don’t rescue your kids from meaningful hard work.

 (Note: I’m not talking about waste-of-time worksheets…that’s a whole ‘nother blog post! I’m talking about well-crafted, worth-while project-based learning on a topic for which the student has a passion.)

How have you helped your child develop organizational and planning systems that work for him/her?

How have you avoided rescuing your child from “hard work”?

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Help!

April 2, 2012 By

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Do you have a nagging feeling that your child’s development is not quite right?  Does your doctor see areas of concern?  You may know you want help, but have no idea where to turn.  Today my goal is to give you some information to help you get started!

The very first place to begin is with Child Find, www.childfindidea.org.  This website will help you obtain the contact information for your specific state. By law, each state is required to locate and evaluate every child between birth and age 21 who may need special education or early intervention services.  This evaluation will let you know which services your child qualifies for, and help you set up any appointments you may need.

After meeting with Child Find, you will discover how many unique services there are available. All of these professionals have the goal of helping your child reach their highest potential. I will try and give you a small snap-shot of all the wonderful services at your fingertips:

  • Physical Therapy✄  This wonderful person helps your child with increasing  strength and stretching tight muscles.  The therapist may come to your home, work in a hospital or clinic, or be part of the school system.
  • Occupational Therapy✄  I will always remember my daughter’s first OT therapist! She came to our home in Arizona, and helped our daughter for hours to learn to walk. Their job is focused on visual, fine motor and self help skills.
  • Speech Therapy✄  For the youngest kids, this therapist works with the muscles of the mouth by using fun exercises like blowing bubbles or sucking through straws. In the later years the therapist helps the child form sounds, or in some cases helps train the child and family with a special computer which allows the non-verbal child communicate.

Your child may need all of these services, or just one depending on their specific needs.

Also, if you home school your children, you have the same rights and services as traditionally schooled children.

God knows your unique situation.  There are many loving professionals who will help your child become all she can be!

“The Lord my God holds my right hand; He is the Lord, Who says to me, Fear not; I will Help You!” Isaiah 41:13

❁What services have helped your child the most?  How did you get started on the road of special education?  Was it hard to reach out and ask for help?We would love to hear from you! ❁

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Raising a Reader

March 26, 2012 By

3 steps to foster a love of books starting from birth!

“What can I do now to prepare my children to succeed in school?” I’m often asked when I speak to MOPS groups.

In this age of computerized everything, my low-tech answer raises eyebrows. “Books and reading…followed by more books and more reading…and after that, even more books and even more reading!” is my standard reply.

Thanks to Jim Trelease’s Read Aloud Handbook (http://www.trelease-on-reading.com/), Daniel and I became fanatical about Family Reading Time when our kids were just 2 and 4. We quit watching TV and spent 1-2 hours per night cuddled under blankets together on the couch, reading and reading and reading.

Now 18 and 20, Jonathon and Annemarie have both received substantial college scholarships for their strong SAT scores (Jonathon scored a perfect 800 in Reading, in fact!) Neither spent time practicing or attending special review classes; Family Reading Time provided them both with 18 years of “SAT Prep”!

And both of our children remember Family Reading Time as the best part of the day. We recently brainstormed a list of the hundreds of books we’ve read together over the years; as the kids shouted out titles, they added commentary like “Oh, I loved the James Harriott books!” and “Dad’s Screwtape voice was scary!” Both are very vocal about their plans to raise their own children low-tech with lots and lots of books and reading.

Step 1: Read Aloud as a Family

WHY?

1) to condition your child’s brain to associate reading with enjoyment

2) to build your child’s “listening vocabulary”

WHEN?

If it matters, we’ll make it happen. By the Personalities, Family Reading Time matters for a Sanguine because it’s FUN, for a Melancholy because it’s MEANINGFUL, for a Choleric because it promotes ACHIEVEMENT, and for a Phlegmatic because it involves CONNECTION.

WHAT?

Birth – Teething Soft books & board books

Toddler – Preschool Identifying books & short story books

As soon as there’s interest Early Chapter books

HOW?

Give it all you’ve got!

Appeal to all three primary learning modalities: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic.

Become a “Drama Queen” and ham it up with special voices, dramatic pacing and

pauses, and crazy facial expressions.

What about times when you have nothing left to give?

Audiobooks! You can relax on the couch with your child, turn the pages, and enjoy a book read wonderfully by a professional. Making your own audiobooks is also a fabulous family activity (and they make marvelous gifts!)

 

2. Model Reading for Your Child

WHY?

1) You are a living commercial for reading. Your child wants to imitate being “all grown up.” So being “all grown up” needs to include enjoyment of reading!

2) You need to feed your mind and heart consistently as a woman, a wife, a mother, a friend, a daughter, etc. Authors make wonderful mentors for your many roles!

WHEN?

Establish Mom’s Reading Spot & Time…you deserve it!

Also, keep books in the car, in your purse, in the kitchen, on your nightstand.

Don’t just read behind closed (bathroom!) doors; your kids need to see you reading!

WHAT?

Read what you need! Parenting advice…the Bible…humor…children’s books…poetry…

HOW?

One chapter…or page…or line at a time. (Remember the days of staying up all night to finish a gripping novel? Those days are gone…long gone!)

 

3. Make Reading Materials Available (lots & lots!)

WHY?

Research is clearly demonstrates that children with the most books at home have

1) the greatest interest in reading, and

2) the highest reading scores once they learn to read.

WHEN?

Use your judgment as a parent. I am not advocating spoiling your child or conditioning him/her that you will buy books whenever (s)he demands them! Use your discretion. I found it best to shop for books without my children and keep them tucked away.

WHAT?

Aim for a wide variety! Books…magazines…letters/e-mails from friends and

relatives…audiobooks…”books” your child has made…photo albums with journaling…

HOW?

Bookstores

Amazon.com (with a Prime membership you get free 2-day delivery!)

used book stores

half.com (my favorite used book site)

Moms’ book exchange

Ask for books & specific magazine subscriptions as gifts (in lieu of more “stuff”!)

THE LIBRARY

 

Q4U:  What are your family’s favorite books to read aloud together?

By Cheri Gregory

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Stop. Breathe.

March 15, 2012 By

pink clouds sunsetA misty drizzle spritzes the window while I relax in the recliner and listen to my children’s laughter. When what to my wandering eye should appear, but a miniature sleigh and…Oops! I guess I got too relaxed for a moment.

It’s a rare occurrence these days to have time to daydream. I’m a freelance writer and editor, but I also homeschool my children. School’s in full session, as is all the busy-ness that accompanies this season of life. We have classes, gymnastics, Taekwondo, baseball games, church events and sleepovers. Not to mention deadlines, doctor appointments, Bible studies and holidays. Complicate matters with each family member’s unique frustration level and nerves can quickly fry.

My daughter tends to be overly dramatic. Why, just today she threw a fit at Academy Sports & Outdoors because she did not get a soccer ball like the one her brother has. Even with Mom and Dad’s assurance of, “Maybe you’ll get one for your birthday,” she insisted she never gets anything she wants and whined and moaned all the way home.

My husband was tempted to react. He sternly reprimanded her a couple times, but then remembered to stop and breathe. Acknowledging her tantrum rewarded her and encouraged her to continue, whereas stopping to breathe allowed Daddy to maintain self-control and assert his authority more effectively.

First Peter 5:8 (NIV) advises, “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” The enemy prides himself on the inevitable disasters that loom over the most carefully organized schedules and the conflicts that lurk on every page of the calendar.

And so each day, when you set to task and havoc threatens peaceful productivity: Stop. Breathe. Such restraint improves discipline, both the discipline of our labor and the discipline of daily structure. It curbs anxiety and allows God to order our days. By practicing self-control, we resist our enemy the devil and he flees from us, freeing us to go about our busy-ness in a civilized manner.

The clouds have given way to the setting sun, weaving hues of lavender and azure amid soft pink billows…A Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night! Sorry, I’m getting ahead of myself.

By Jodi Whisenhunt

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Putting Out the Home Education Fires

March 6, 2012 By

 

For those that home educate, the subject of avoiding burnout presents itself a lot. Often times it comes at the end of a school term. For me, it can come when I’m planning curriculum for my six children! Decisions, decisions!

Aggravation comes in the middle of the day when I’m being overwhelmed by having to choosing to repeat myself several times to one child; even when I’m sitting next to them and calmly explaining what the lesson is all about. I’ve learned to walk away.

Simply…walk away.

There are different temperaments in each home, that of the mom’s, dad’s and children.

If I see something as not being a “big deal” to me, one of my children may be the most frustrated with the same situation; and vice-versa. I have to learn and recognize that about them.

First thing’s first. I’ve gotta know myself.

Do you “know yourself”?…

What gets you flustered? Is it incomplete assignments, a messy work area, a kid that’s slacking for no good reason, not enough time in the day, you looking at your own short-comings (that, dang it, you’re gonna conquer them today)?

Come up with a game plan BEFORE you have a moment of meltdown.

Determine to maintain peace.

In all honesty, that one thing that’s getting to you probably wont make a difference in a month when weighed with the eternal things.

“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

The things that your children will remember far past a “homeschool fire” is not what they should have learned by doing that assignment, but how you either blew up at them or showed them a little grace.

Hey, I’ve done both. I’m not saying anything to you that I haven’t experienced myself.

I’ve learned a thing or two and I’ve found some things in God’s Word that totally apply to every area of my life and home:

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

Romans 12:17-18 

Okay, I’ll give you that we wouldn’t think our children are evil, but boy, some of their actions seem to be evil (and sometimes we are positive that they’re out to get us). What I want to focus on in the above Scripture is, “If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men.”

Oh friend, it’s possible to live peaceably. God wouldn’t have told us to if He didn’t equip us to be able to.

Your child is one of those “all men”. Just as you’d straighten up with a neighbor, we should be just as much so with our children.

Our children do require accountability and we, as their parents, are charged with that. There are times to dive head long into something that certainly needs correction and there are times to choose your battles. Sometimes there are ways that our children do things the way that we wouldn’t prefer, but they get the same results that we would have. Let it go. Acknowledge what is done right.

So, let us keep our cool. Walk away if need be. Maintain composure. Show grace.

I don’t pretend to know it all, so I heavily rely, first of all on the Holy Spirit’s leading through prayer and then sitting quietly to listen to God. I also seek the help of my home educating girlfriends.

I’ll share ways that a few friends have found helpful in handling being overwhelmed and putting out homeschool fires.

(disclosure: I am a writer at The Homeschool Village, but the links below are not my work).

Dear Mom,
You may feel overwhelmed, a little defeated or inadequate during your time of educating your children. Be encouraged in knowing that God knows everything; every emotion, every stumble, every ending. He will not leave you. Allow Him to love on you. Allow YOU to love on yourself. In turn, your children will thank you for it.


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10 Scripture Memory Tips

January 25, 2012 By

Have you’ve ever wanted to memorize Scripture but didn’t think you had the time? Have you ever wished you could come up with an easy way to help your kids memorize Scripture. Memorizing the Word doesn’t have to be hard.

Using the ideas below, you and your family can make Scripture memory fun as hide God’s Word in your hearts together!

1. Take your weekly memory verse with you wherever you go.  Review it at every stoplight.

You’ll be surprised how much you retain! If the family is in the car together, take turns saying your memory verse at each stop sign.

2. Tape your memory verse card to your bathroom mirror and review it while you’re getting ready. Be sure to put the verse in your kid’s bathroom too.

3. Put your memory verse on the back of your cereal box and study it while you are eating breakfast or having a nighttime snack.

4. Choose a family member or friend who may need encouragement and ask them if you can practice saying your memory verse out loud to them. You’ll be amazed at the power of God’s Word to encourage them! It will also teach your children to encourage others with the Word and they’ll be memorizing it in the process.

5. Write your memory verse on a 3×5 card and repeat it three times out loud. Have your children do it too.

6. Make your memory verse the new lyrics of one of your favorite songs or make up your own tune. Then sing it over and over again by yourself or with your children.

7.  If the verse is long or you’re memorizing more than one verse, spend Monday through Wednesday learning the first half of your memory verse and the rest of the week learning the last part.

8. Write your memory verse on a 3×5 card and tape it by your kitchen sink. Study it while you’re doing the dishes. Great way to get your children’s minds off of doing the dishes and on the Word when it’s their turn.

9. At dinnertime, write your verse on a 3×5 card and pass it around the table once. Have each person read it out loud. Then go around the table and see who can say it without looking at the card. Everyone will bememorizing God’s Word!

10. Set goals to memorize complete chapters, such as Romans 8, Psalms 139, ect…

Choose 2 or 3 verses a week until you have the entire chapter memorized.

Use some of the above tips to help you along the way. You and your children will be amazed at just how much Scripture you know!

What are some other ways you can help your children memorize Scripture?

By: Stephanie Shott

 

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Passing on Prayer

January 8, 2012 By

How do we go from bedtime prayers to personal prayer with our children? Giving kids a head start in talking to God is a mother’s goal. In our own prayers we hope our little ones will learn to turn to their Heavenly Father on their own. A mom with a heart for personal prayer can pass it on to her children.

Since we know our children need to live healthy lives, we teach them to eat and exercise. Since we know they need to study and work, we teach them to read and write. Since we know they need to care for themselves, we teach them to tie their shoes. Since we know life brings waves of challenges, we need to teach our little ones how to call out to God. We can show our children that prayer is personal, spontaneous, and effective.

All children experience fears, including darkness, strangers, or separation. These are opportunities to show children prayer is a personal way to answer fear. By using scripture to answer uncertainty, children learn that, “When I am afraid, I put my trust in you” (Psalm 56:3). 

Making it personal:

Take sequential pictures of your child with a frightened face, a thoughtful expression, a bowed head, and a smiling peaceful face. Use pictures to make a wordless book together. This is your text book to read together, training your child to trust God and pray when they experience fear. Show them that trusting God brings comfort.

Instead of making prayer a discipline reserved for adults and special buildings, help children learn prayer is for any time or place. Prayer can be spontaneous. Life with little ones provides endless opportunities to stop and “Pray now” about events of your days:  a hurt friend at play group, a decision at a toy store, a passing ambulance, a lost kitten. Model spontaneous prayer in response to circumstances, then guide your child to stop and “Pray now.”  Show them that at the very moment of need, you can talk to God and ask for His help. Your example will train them to be comfortable with immediate prayer.

Making it spontaneous:

Find a park bench to sit down, pull into a parking lot, or pause in a grocery aisle to pray when prompted. Show your child God is always ready to hear you call. After your child is comfortable with impromptu prayer, ask if they would pray. Hold their hand as a physical reinforcement.

You can show your children prayer is effective by training yourself to point out and give credit to God’s answers to prayers. Don’t let opportunities pass when God meets a need, gives wisdom, or provides comfort. Rejoice with your child and be specific about God hearing and answering. Your praise will reinforce your child’s confidence in the effectiveness of prayer.

Showing it’s effective:

Draw a picture together of answers to prayer you experienced together. Call Daddy or a relative to share the praise. Stop and give thanks to God for hearing and answering. Get a “recipe style” book, so you can draw pictures on 3×5 cards and slip them in as your little one sees answers. You will have a praise book personal to your family.

Before I started elementary school, my newly believing mother taught me to pray. Months later I was caught in an Atlantic rip current. My fearful mother watched from shore, as rescuers risked their lives for mine, but I was not alone. I was calling out to God with my own voice and from my own heart, because I knew He would hear the prayers of little ones like me. Many waves will wash over our children as they grow, but we can give them the gift of knowing prayer is personal, spontaneous, and effective. They must learn to turn all on their own. A mother can equip her children for whatever they’ll face when she passes on personal prayer.

What are you doing to pass on prayer to your children?

By: Julie Sanders 

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