Whew! Welcome to Day 7 of our Homeschooling Enrichment series. So far we’ve been getting our own hearts right before the Lord. Today we’re going to talk about getting our kids in the Word so that they can understand why we do what we do!
Do your kids see you reading your bible?
One of the things I try to do is have my own ‘quiet’ time with God. Considering we have 4 kids this is very difficult to do, and if it doesn’t happen first thing in the morning, the next chance I’ll have is late at night.
A friend once asked me why I don’t do it in the middle of the day? I immediately replied “Because my kids would distract me!” And while this is entirely true, I think my perspective was all wrong. It is important for my kids to see me spending time with God. Otherwise all the babbling I’ve been doing thus far about how it’s important to follow God’s rules is just invalidated by my actions.
It is my heart to teach my kids that God comes first. I also want them to understand what it means to give Him our first fruits.
I want to make it a priority to start our school day spending time in prayer and His Word. How can I do this if I myself am not following my own example? I think in legal terms that’s called being a hypocrite.
Now start each day with prayer followed by whatever bible study we are doing for the week. This doesn’t need to be overly complicated and I encourage you to let the Holy Spirit work in your homeschooling. We do lessons from a Bible curriculum (Right now we use Nest Learning DVD’s, and Abeka Bible Series), sometimes we take a week to focus on some character training, and sometimes it can be as simple as reading from the Word.
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” Isaiah 55:11
I recently added the Tommy Nelson Read and Share Bible into my preschool workboxes. I find it so interesting how God’s Word appeals to children. This is by FAR my daughter’s favorite workbox of each day. She sits in my lap and we read through as many stories as we have time for. Without fail, the older kids and even the Teeny Tot start gathering around as I read. Slowly, one by one, they appear on one side or the other until all 4 of my children are snuggled up around me listening to the stories.
At first my schedule told me, “get those kids back to work!”, but my heart (and I believe God’s heart) said “let them stay.” Now I do my best to avoid my fleshly desire to finish school at a specified time and instead allow my children to gather around for some quality time together as I share God’s sweet Word.
Today’s Challenge:
Take some time out during your homeschooling day for quite time with God. Have your older children do their own Bible time, while you read to the younger ones.
Also, start to pay attention to your time. There will almost always be 1 moment during the day when you have a small breather, even if it is only 5 minutes. Why not spend this time in the Word?
Here are some great bible teaching resources that you can use to enrich your child’s heart and fill them up to over flowing!
- Character Studies by Confessions
- Nest Family Bible and Hero Series DVD’s
- Hands On Bible
- Tommy Nelson Read and Share Bible
- Kay Arthur Bible Studies for Kids
- Adventure Bible for Young Readers
And God is able to bless you abundantly, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Stick around tomorrow for Day 8 of Homeschooling Enrichment where we’ll be talking about Homeschool Curriculum!
Be sure to visit these brilliant women in this 10 days adventure between February 7th-18th! We love these ladies and we know you do too.
Erica,What you say is so true. We want our children to speak to God and hear him, but we tend to do this ourselves out of their presence. For only the reason of distraction. We do Bible everuday, but it seems like we all do it seperatly. Why? I am not sure. I know God would want us to share His love together. I love reading to the kids and what better to read together than God's word. Thank you for sharing. Also, I love your character training units. I have just printed those out and can't wait to get started.Blessings,Kimberly
Such a timely post. Thank you, Erica! I have been struggling with bible study lately. It's easy to get so distracted with little ones around. But when I do it, it's true that I have a different approach to how I deal with every day issues. One thing that has really helped was joining a group bible study that keeps me accountable as well as reading the bible with my hubby 🙂
Thanks Erica for your post. I'm in total agreement. As a new homeschooling mom of two 7th graders I was so excited that I could incorporate Bible teaching into our lessons. It is always first in our schedule. Even if I'm ecstatic about what's in store and can't wait I do because time with God is so important. We almost always do our lesson together but sometimes I bring my own lessons out (if I haven't done them yet) while they do theirs. We have done your lessons on character and the Bible Study Guide curriculum so far.
Thank you for the Bible study ideas!
Thank you for your commitment and perseverance to this website. I fell upon it searching for homeschool ideas and planning: and it has been such a blessing to read your insight as well all the other wonderful things on the site. I have skimmed around all the headings and decided to follow the 10 day enrichment; and am so happy I did. It truely is a blessing to me. Each day I think what am I getting myself in to and realize that this decision is something more than myself. This is what The Lord asks of us !
Thank you again for sharing your day to day, your experiences, and your family with us. You have been a blessing and are providing a great ministry.