A Heavenly Lesson

Heaven. Lately my family has been talking a lot about heaven. My sweet daughter really wants to know what heaven is like. The questions hit me out of no where, too. Often times I just don’t know what to tell her. I bought her a book, What about Heaven? She loves the book, so we read it often. I love that the book has the Bible references in the back of it for me. Finding this particular book was an answer to my little one’s prayers; she actually prayed asking God to tell her more about heaven. That very same day I found this book! God answers prayers! This book has been a great tool to teach my daughter about heaven, but she keeps on asking me about it. I have been thinking about what God wants me to learn from talking about heaven so much.

Heaven is a difficult topic for me to discuss. Besides the fact that I have never actually been to heaven so describing it is a little challenging, I also don’t really want to talk about it. My mother died suddenly of a heart attack five years, which, of course, is why we talk about heaven so much. My sweet little girl never had the chance to meet my mother and wants to know more about her. When we talk about relationships in families, she always wants to know about my mom - understandably. I just don’t have all of the answers. I wish I did because maybe I would have a little bit of comfort myself.

I have not done a Bible study on the end times or Revelation, so my knowledge is pretty limited in this area. So this little book that God gave me for my daughter has actually been a comfort for me. The Bible references in the back of the book really bless my heart. One of my favorites is:

but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:31

I love knowing that my mother is no longer in pain as she was when she was on this earth. She was full of energy and life, but her earthly body didn’t let her do everything that she wanted to do. I know that in heaven that potential is realized! My mother is in a better place and in a better body. She is not sick, and she is joyful. What good news!

What is God teaching me and my children as a result? Since He is taking care of my mom, I can trust that He is taking care of me and my family. He has opened a window of opportunity for me to talk about Him with my children (and with lots of other people) since my mother’s death is an integral part of my testimony. He is holding my hand as I deal with day-to-day mothering without my own mother. I am starting to feel at peace with the idea that my mother is not with me here on earth.

So what do I tell me daughter? I want to encourage her that God loves us so much that He wants to be with us always and forever in a beautiful place called heaven. In heaven He makes us all well, including my mother. I also need to share the good news with her that Jesus told us ‘…I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’ John 14:6 I think singing and talking about the song, You Can’t Get to Heaven on Rollerskates is a way to share the good news with her, too. When we die we go to heaven, a truly glorious place, if we believe that Jesus is our best friend forever. Hearing her say that she wants Jesus to be her best friend forever would be a taste of heaven for me!

Thinking by Playing

A simple man believes anything, but a prudent man gives thought to his steps. Proverbs 14:15

God created our intricate minds. He wants us to think, so it makes sense that we should develop our children’s thinking skills. We often think that providing challenging school work for our children is the way to get them to think, but that is not true. Pretend play is actually a great way to develop those thinking skills. Research shows that pretend play promotes language development, problem solving skills, and social skills. There is evidence that suggests that pretend play also promotes literacy and may even help children develop mathematical thinking. These are pretty compelling reasons to think about the pretend play in your home. Is it part of your school day? Have you thought about the role that pretend play has in your curriculum?

Since home education is so individualized and flexible, you can incorporate pretend play into your day even more so than it already is. It can play a prominent role in the day if you make time for it. You can facilitate your children’s play time as well. By making a few adjustments and thinking differently about pretending, you can change the quality of how your children pretend. Try to offer toys that will encourage different kinds of play. For example, offering literacy materials actually encourages children to incorporate literacy in their play. Also some research suggests that intricate block play in the early years helps with more complex mathematical thinking as children grow older. Type-A Mom also has a great article about how to encourage pretending.

Not only does pretend play develop thinking skills, but it also allows you a window into your child’s thoughts and emotions. You will gain a better understanding of your child if you observe during pretend play scenarios both in independent pretend play and play with friends. Take note of role playing, props used, the complexity of the scenario, and how problems are negotiated. You can use this information as you think about rotating of toys, using analogies from their play to explain concepts, and developing future school work ideas. It will help you to see how much your children understand different concepts that are included in the play scenarios, too.

Pretend play also gives you the opportunity to bond with your child. I love playing with my children. I try to add to the scenario, or change things in order to encourage negotiation skills. I insist that I am able to take turns or decide what I want to do instead of letting the children orchestrate all of the play. Sometimes I do follow along with the play to see where the scenario is going. I ask lots of questions and expect thorough explanations even when I can put together what they are trying to communicate. This all happens while I am sitting on the floor at their eye level. There is just something special about playing with the children down at their level that makes a difference in the way that they play with me.

Try giving pretend play a more prominent role in your school day. You will see a difference in your children and in your own understanding of them. Most of all have fun with your kids!

The Power of Prayer

Prayer. The Bible is filled with prayer. In fact, the Bible instructs us to pray.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Philippians 4:6

At the Women of Faith Conference many of the speakers talked about how their prayers were answered. Often the answers were different than what they expected. Many times God’s answers came much later for them. In our culture we expect everything right now, but God doesn’t work like that. (Just remember how long it took Abraham and Sarah to receive their promise of a son!) These women prayed and waited for the answer.

My family prays together every day, many times a day. I have encouraged my little ones to pray on their own. I have taught them the Lord’s prayer. They know what prayer is, but I want to take it further. I want them to see and FEEL something when they pray to now that their prayers make a difference.

And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective. James 5:15-16

I just want to share with my children the power of prayer - the power of calling on Jesus. I was reminded that God can and will bring prayer alive for my children when I heard Nicole C. Mullen sing her song, “Call on Jesus”. She is an amazing singer and this song is a good reminder and it talks about the power of prayer. With ’tweens or teens sharing this song with would mean a lot to their understanding of the power of prayer.

I need to simply pray for my children to experience the power of prayer and wait.

But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD,
I wait for God my Savior;
my God will hear me. Micah 7:7

Homeschooling Woman of Faith

Homeschoolers can feel isolated from time to time especially when the children have gotten into a rhythm and routine. You often forget to look up and take a break. I was able to take a refreshing break that I truly needed this weekend. I went to the Women of Faith conference. I have been thinking about what Sheila Walsh, one of the speakers, talked about. She is a funny and inspirational speaker, singer, and author. Today she spoke about what Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane before he was betrayed by Judas. She was struck by the fact that although Jesus asked God to take away His fate if it was at all possible, He wanted to follow God’s will instead of His own.

Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39

Seeking God’s will is such a difficult thing. I know that I often start out trying to seek His will, but instead I seek my own. Do you find that you do that, too? I don’t want to let go of my agenda, and I secretly hope that God will go along with what I want. My prayers often sound like demands. I want my God to do what I think is best. In this passage Jesus is showing us that it is all right to ask of God, but to expect that His will is done - not yours.

It is easy for homeschoolers to feel obligated, pressured, and unsure of what to do next about their children’s education. Sometimes you are not sure if what you are doing is right. You compare your home school to another. Have you asked God what He wants for you? God has a plan for you and your children.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

God’s answers to your prayers may surprise you, but you don’t know the whole story like He does. He is the author. His plan is better than any plan that you could come up with. Draw closer to Him during your quiet time in order to discern what His will is for you, your family, and your home school. Spend time reading the Bible, listening to God. Listening to God will give you wisdom about how to proceed, which may not make sense to you in the context of our world, but will make sense in God’s greater plan.

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:2

Try following Jesus’ example and pray. Ask God for what you hope for, but ready to hear what His will is.

Survey of Homeschoolers

We are performing a survey of homeschooling families in order to fine tune how best to serve this community with our services.  If you could please take 5 minutes and fill out the survey attached in this post it would be immensely appreciated.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=a7FFoPj_2fkXqXh0aKAv3DLA_3d_3d

Phonemic Awareness

Phonemic awareness, the ability to hear and distinguish between sounds in spoken language, is important to the process of reading. There are many fun ways to give your children opportunities to practice this skill.

This week we are studying “p”.  We created a box of things with the sound/letter of the week. We searched through our toys and found things to fill our box up. The kids need a lot of guidance and some direction in order to think of items that start with the focus sound. Our box was filled with people, pigs, pajamas, a princess, a puzzle, a purse, a pony, peas, a pot, and a policeman. The next day we went through our box carefully saying the names of the items and focusing on the initial sound, /p/. I wrote a list with the names of the toys. We read the list together focusing again on the initial sound.

In addition to the “sound” box we made a collage for /p/. We leafed through some of those catalogs that keep piling up in my house to find pictures of things that start with /p/. Catalogs are nice because they don’t have any inappropriate ads in them, and the pictures are organized. We cut the pictures out and glued them to pink paper (another “p” word). This is some great fine motor practice.

We combined phonemic awareness with handwriting practice as well. We made the letter “p” using die cut paper shapes (scrapbooking paper). I wrote the capital and lower case “p” onto a piece of construction paper. We glued the paper shapes along the outline of the letters. Then we traced over the outline with our fingers. Since the paper has a texture to it, it provides a nice tactile component to the activity. We also made the letter “p” out of play dough. Again, this is tacticle and kinesthetic.

Grace

My God has shown me plenty of grace and mercy. He gave his son, Jesus, to die for my sins. He forgives me time and again even though I am not worthy. I am righteous, right with God, because of the sacrifice of Jesus. God gave us this gift because He loves us so much.

[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:23-24

I have my Pharisee days from time to time. Even though I have been shown grace by my awesome God, I have trouble showing grace to my family. I read in The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism by Timothy Keller that a Pharisee is a person who is “trusting in your own goodness rather than in Jesus for your standing with God.” (Keller, p. 177) Instead of being humble knowing that I am saved by grace alone, I try doing works thinking that it is going to earn me points with God. I want to save myself by following Jesus’ example rather than being saved by Jesus. I’ve got it backwards in my head thinking that the law is what saves me not that being saved causes me to follow the law

Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin. Romans 3:20

The law only points out that I am truly a sinner. Seeing my sin should motivate me to follow the law and remind me that the gift of Jesus is incredible. As I ponder all of this, I can’t help but think about the lyrics to a Veggie Tales song - Stop! And Go with Mercy. Listening to the song with my kids reminds me that seeing my sin should help me to forgive others and give them another chance - basically show everyone, especially my family, a little grace and ultimately show them how much I truly love them.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:30-31

It’s my job to teach my children to love God and their neighbor. I need to lead by example to show them how to love others. One way to express your love is to show others some grace since we all fall short of the glory of God. My life and relationship with my children gives them a tiny glimpse of what to expect from their awesome God. He shows grace and mercy to us all who accept it, and He loves them more than they will ever know.

Sharing the Gospel with Drama

A drama of the song Everything by Lifehouse

Have you wondered how to share the Gospel better with your children in your home school? Do you struggle with how to make really big ideas more meaningful and understandable for your kids? Many Christian homeschoolers want to do a better job with this very thing. I know that I do. Then I saw this drama done to the song Everything by Lifehouse, and it struck me that I can use this kind of tool with my children.

This drama brought me to tears! It completely encapsulates the whole of the good news. It embodies the struggle that I know that I have between wanting worldly things and needing spiritual things. I forget that Jesus us my savior sometimes, and this is such an amazing way of showing what that really means. I love the part where Jesus is shielding the girl from sin and bearing the burden for her. What an amazing visual!

As a homeschooling mom, I have struggled with how to share some of the big concepts in the Bible. Ideas like salvation and sin are really difficult for young kids to grasp, and my kids ask questions that get at the heart of these concepts. My sweet child sounded just like Paul when she described her struggle with sin. She told me that God wants her to what is right, but sometimes she can’t do it even though she wants to do it. Paul tells us:

For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing. Romans 7:19

The idea is right there for her. Since she is already thinking about these ideas, I want to give her something concrete to make sense of it all, and a drama similar to this in a more age-appropriate format would be helpful. The lyrics to the song are simple, but truly amazing, and I would definitely use it with the drama. You can find the lyrics at MetroLyrics. Maybe a multisensory approach to sharing the Gospel will bring my daughter closer to accepting Christ! That is truly awesome to me!

Read Alouds are Motivating

Reading is such a pleasureable experience, and homeschoolers want to capitalize on the benefits of reading. But what if your child is not interested in reading or struggling to read? How do you motivate children to read?

One of the best ways to build interest in reading is to read aloud to your children. I know that you’ve heard it a million times, but there really is something special about the time that you spend reading to your child. It would be great if we could expect our kids to read the best books on their own, but sometimes they need to hear the book read in order to see the beauty of the language, the excitement in the plot, and to get connected to the characters.

• Reading aloud is a time for you and your child to engage in meaningful discussions, to snuggle, and to even learn something new together. Having that time with you means a lot to kids.
• In our home school have been trying out different genres than we usually read to change our read alouds a little. My children might not choose to read a nonfiction book about kangaroos on their own, but reading it to them helps them see a new genre in a different light. Maybe they will choose a nonfiction book to read in the future.
• The book you read aloud can be a more challenging book than your child can read independently. Knowing the story line of a more challenging book can be exciting and help your child talk to other kids about great books.
• Listening to a book gives your child a break from doing all of the work. It allows your child to focus on the meaning of the text instead of also thinking about how to decode the words.
• Your child learns about reading behaviors that s/he can use in the future. You use inflection, ask questions, use pictures, and make connections to your life when you read. You show your child how to do that when you read aloud. Seeing those skills in action help your child read independently, which builds confidence. Being confident in reading means you are more willing to read.

Why not read that great book to your child? There are some other great tips for reading aloud to your child at Mustard Seeds. Maybe you and your child can try something new! It might motivate you and your child. Happy reading!

Home School Gardening Project Tips

As a homeschooler, I find that preparing materials for great work that I want to do is sometimes hard. Some things just take a lot of preparation.  One way you can limit curriculum planning for your home school is by setting up ongoing projects. There is always something to do when you have a project, and you can add a lot of learning that is fun and interactive. Projects often take on a life of their own.

One great project is a garden. Gardening incorporates layers of skills, and it is great for kinesthetic and tactile learners. Obviously it is a science project, but there is so much more that you can do with it. My family has started a garden this summer, and we are having fun with it! The kids are really excited about watering the plants and making observations. We are trying to make more detailed observations about the shape and colors that we see in the garden. Here are some tips to add learning to your gardening experience.

• Do some research together about what plants grow in different kinds of light, and allow your children some choice about what to plant in the garden.
• Lookat the seeds before you plant them. Observe the shape, color, and texture.
• Use your science journals to make observations about the garden. Remember to make careful observations about the plants.
• The scientific drawings should be accurate - down to the colors. Remember to include written observations.
• Measure the plants as they grow and chart it. Make predictions about how much each plant will grow.
• Use new vocabulary when you talk about the garden. Talk about tilling the soil and fertilizing the plants. Name the tools. Find more information about gardening vocabulary at Katina’s Little Gardeners.

Your gardening experience should be a fun family project. Enjoy!