Reflections on Relationship: Enriching Relationship with God

This is the second part in my planning series, Reflections on  Relationship.  You can read the introduction to the series here.

 

Today, let's talk about how we can help enrich our children's relationship with God.   In Volume 6, Charlotte Mason tells us this: "Of the three sorts of knowledge proper to a child, the knowledge of God, of man, and of the universe,––the knowledge of God ranks first in importance, is indispensable, and most happy-making…. their relation to God is one of those 'first-born affinities' which it is our part to help them make good." (p.158-159)   This sentiment is echoed throughout Charlotte's writings – her whole philosophy is built on the premise that children are born 'persons' created in the image of God.  Ultimately all of education should help us to know Him and love Him better so that we can glorify Him and reflect His Truth, Goodness, and Beauty to the world around us.

There are many ways that we can help our children to cultivate a relationship with God.  Here are a few of the ideas that I have been thinking about.

 

Prayer

This is perhaps the most essential, because ultimately I can't force my children to grow in their relationship with God.  I can introduce them to Him and point them in the right direction, but ultimately the Holy Spirit must work in their lives for them to grow.  Anything else I do must be rooted in prayer and done in cooperation with Him.  (This point was underscored in a big way by all of the speakers at this past weekend's Ambleside Online At Home retreat.  More on that coming soon.)

 

Attend to my own Spiritual Vitality

It has been said that "Faith can be caught, not taught."   Besides prayer, one of the most important things I can do for my children and students is cultivate my own relationship with God.  As my own love for Him increases, it will spill over to those around me.   I have let attending to my own relationship with God slide in the craziness of recent years, so I am trying to remedy that.   Some of the ways that I am doing this:

• Corporate Worship: We recently started attending an Anglican church.   Among other things about the structure of the liturgy,  I really appreciate that Communion is served weekly as an essential part of the service.  It is a weekly reminder to me of the glorious work of grace that Jesus has and is working in my life which helps me to reorient myself away from me and back towards Him.  I don't know about you, but I need that reminder often!   The teaching is also very good in this church – this series on 'Releasing the Grace and Power of the Vine' has been particularly helpful to me as I have considered this idea of enriching my relationship with God.  
• Counseling: We returned from Africa very weary, and in my case that has been largely because I have gotten far too good at putting on my 'I'm okay' face while pushing issues that I need to deal with out of the way.  This only works for so long, however, and now has caught up with me.  So I am working toward sorting all these neglected issues out - unpacking my baggage if you will - so that I can move forward as a healthier person.
• Renewed Commitment to Daily Prayer, Scripture Reading, and other Spiritual Reading: I have typically tried to do this in the early hours of the morning, but as any mother probably knows, it doesn't always work out that tidily and all too often gets skipped.  I am purposing this year to attend to this time of reading and prayer before any other reading I do.  If it gets missed in the morning, I will do it later in the day,  before reaching for a novel or book discussion title.   

 

Daily Liturgy

Cindy Rollins talks about morning time as a liturgy of sorts.  She is not the only person who has written or spoken about this idea over the past couple of years.  So I have been considering how to apply this idea in our home.   We have typically closed our day with a family time of hymns, Scripture reading, and prayer.   However, it has been awhile since we opened our day in the Word. We used to do this at breakfast, but as my children have gotten older their rising times have changed and this routine no longer works well for us. I have floundered around trying to figure out where to make it fit.  This year I am going to make a point to start our school day with Morning Time (we've done it as a mid-morning break in the past), and start our Morning Time with a time of Bible reading, Psalm singing, and prayer.  We will continue to close the day with our evening family devotional, hymn singing, and prayer as we always have in an effort to develop the kind of rhythm that Cindy and others speak of.

 

The Christ-Centered Curriculum

Ultimately, the knowledge of God is the leading edge of the curriculum as a whole, not just the parts that are specifically focused on the Bible or hymn singing or prayer.  Jack Beckman explains it this way in When Children Love to Learn:

 

"Therefore Miss Mason places the knowledge of God on the leading edge of her curriculum, with the knowledge of man and the universe following in order.  God has revealed Himself, His being and purposes, through the pages of living Scripture, which has its focus and meaning in the life and work of Jesus Christ.  Because of this starting point, we must infer that all of life has a theological or religious base.  A purpose of education begins to emerge, that of developing an understanding of God and His created reality and to use that understanding in exercising a creative-redemptive dominion over the creation in which we live. The child is not passive in His education; he experiences, understands, and acts upon that understanding in ways that show the image of God in him – creating, exploring, making choices, building relationships." (p.118)

 

Andrew Kern explores this idea in detail as well in his lecture on the Christ-Centered Curriculum.   Ultimately all topics we study and skills we learn can point us back towards Him and help us better understand who He is and reflect Him to the world around us.  (I wrote about this before here and here.)

 

How do you hope to enrich your and your students' relationship with God in the coming year?

 

 

Wednesday Commonplace: On Being the Bride of Christ

In my devotional time, I have been reading through the book of Matthew alongside a devotional commentary by JC Ryle.  I thought I'd share a little taste of that with you today.   Here is a snippet from his comments on Matthew 9:14-26:

 

"Let us mark in this passage, the gracious name by which the Lord Jesus speaks of Himself.  He calls Himself 'the bridegroom.'  What the bridegroom is to the bride, the Lord Jesus is to the souls of all who believe in Him.  He loves them with a deep and everlasting love.  He takes them into union with Himself.  They are 'one with Christ and Christ in them.'  He pays all their debts to God.  He supplies all their daily need.  He sympathizes with them in all their troubles.  He bears with all their infirmities, and does not reject them for a few weaknesses.  He regards them as part of Himself.  Those that persecute and injure them are persecuting Him.  The glory that He has received from His Father they will one day share with Him, and where He is, there shall they be.  Such are the privileges of all true Christians.  They are the Lamb's wife (Rev. 19:7).  Such is the portion to which faith admits us.  By it God joins our poor sinful souls to one precious Husband; and those who God thus joins together, shall never be put asunder.  Blessed indeed are those who believe!"

~JC Ryle, Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew

 

Amen and Amen.

How We...Celebrate the Season of Easter

In the comments to this post, I said I would write a post to share some of our traditions for the seasons of Lent and Easter.  That post turned out to be rather long.  You can find Part One – things we do in the weeks leading up to Easter – here.  This is part 2 – what we do for Easter Sunday and beyond.

 

On Easter Sunday morning, we re-light all the candles and read the final Lenten Lights devotional about how Jesus has risen from the dead.  We don’t do Easter baskets or candy or egg hunts, but we do present the children with one of RC Sproul’s allegorical picture books.  Have you seen these?  We really like them.  They explain complex theological concepts, like the atonement, in the form of a story.  We already have The Lightlings and The Prince’s Poison Cup and this year gave them The Donkey who Carried a King.   

 

 

Our food traditions are still a bit of a work in progress.  This year I made Hot Cross Buns for breakfast (although I had some icing issues which is why you can’t see the crosses in this picture!)  We usually eat some of our Easter Eggs too.   For dinner, I make a big meal-salad with chicken and hard-boiled eggs and we have some kind of fruit pie or crumble for dessert.

 

 

This year, for the first time, we’re extending the special Sunday devotionals through the season of Easter until Pentecost.  We will keep a similar format to the Lenten Lights devotional series by lighting the candles each week, reading a Scripture passage related to the theme for the week, and placing a corresponding art print on the easel.  I took the Scripture readings and themes from Bobby Gross’ book Living the Christian Year. 

 

First Sunday after Easter

Doubting Thomas - John 20:19-31

 

Second Sunday after Easter

Emmaus Road - Luke 24:13-23

 

Third Sunday after Easter

The Good Shepherd - John 10:1-30

 

Fourth Sunday after Easter

I Am the Vine - John 15:1-17

 

Fifth Sunday after Easter

Ascension - Luke 24:36-49

Ascension Day itself falls 40 days after Easter, this year it is Thursday, May 29.  That night we will read Acts 1:1-11.

 

Sixth Sunday after Easter

Ascension - Revelation 22

 

Seventh Sunday after Easter (Pentecost)

Pentecost - Acts 2:1-42

 

And there you have it.  Our traditions are always a work in progress, and I always have ideas that I would like to do and yet they haven’t happened yet for one reason or another.  Some of those things include:

 

- Extending our devotional readings to daily, rather than just weekly.  I just haven’t found anything prepared that I like yet and time always slips away from me to organize something myself.

- I’d really love to select some hymns and songs to be sung particularly during this time of year, just as we have Christmas carols in December.  (Anyone have a favorite?)

- My husband would really like to do a Messianic Passover Seder during Holy Week as well.  We did this once with friends a number of years ago and it was a really neat experience.

- I’ve always loved the idea of building an Easter garden like this too, but is one of those things that slips away from me year after year.

 

What traditions does your family have for this Season?

 

How We...Prepare for Easter

In the comments to this post, I promised I would share a few of our family’s traditions for the seasons of Lent and Easter.  I realize that it’s a bit too late for this year, but hey, it gives you plenty of time to think and consider how you may want to approach this in your home for next year. J

 

A couple of caveats: Our goal during Lent is mostly to help our children (and ourselves) understand that this is a special season set aside to reflect on Christ’s coming and work on the cross on our behalf – something that is as significant and important in our family life as our observance of Christmas.  So what I share here are some of the traditions we have adopted as we have endeavored to do that, and therefore don’t necessarily include all of the practices observed in more liturgical churches during the season of Lent.   You will also see that we like to keep things fairly simple.  You aren’t going to see lots of cute crafts or events that are heavy on preparation.   I’m not a crafty-mama in the first place.   We’ve moved a lot in the second place (this year is the first time since 2009 that we have spent two consecutive Easters on the same continent!).  And in our missionary community, March/April tends to be one of the busiest times of the year for community events of all sorts – unfortunate but true.  So our traditions reflect that – simple things that I can still pull off without adding extra stress during a move or an otherwise busy season.   Just so you know where I’m coming from.

 

The mantle on Good Friday

On each Sunday of Lent, we use John Piper’s Lenten Lights devotional.  I like that this is designed sort of as the ‘reverse’ of an advent wreath – rather than lighting a new candle for each Sunday, one is extinguished.  The last candle is extinguished on Good Friday, and then one awakes to all of the candles re-lit to celebrate the resurrection on Easter Sunday.  To go along with each reading of the devotional, I searched for a painting that would illustrate the story.  (I wish I had a nice printable to share with you, but alas I don’t.  This is a useful site for searching for artwork with Biblical themes, however, if you wanted to put together something similar for your family.) 

 

During Holy Week, we use a set of plastic Easter eggs to retell the story of Passion Week.  Each egg is filled with a symbol that represents a part of the story.   You can buy sets of these commercially, but I made ours myself.  Currently, I have each day/symbol keyed to a reading from Catherine Vos’ The Child’s Story Bible, but am thinking that for next year I will key them to the actual Scripture passages.

 

 

Here is my list of symbols and readings from The Child’s Story Bible:

Palm Sunday

Egg #1: Palm Branch (in our case, it’s a foam palm tree sticker)

Reading: Ch. 41 “The King Comes” p.311

 

Monday

Egg #2: Cracker

Reading: Ch. 44 “In the Upper Room” p.314

 

Tuesday

Egg #3: Silver Coins (mine has 3 dimes in it)

Reading: Ch. 46 “The Kiss of Judas” p.317 (In this story Bible, it doesn’t actually mention the 30 pieces of silver that Judas was paid to betray Jesus, so I just add this in at an appropriate part in the story.)

 

Wednesday

Egg #4: Feathers

Reading: Ch. 47 “Why Peter Wept” p.318

 

Maundy Thursday

Egg #5: Whip (mine is made of some strings tied to a toothpick)

Egg #6: Purple Robe

Egg #7: Thorns

Reading: Ch. 50 “Carrying the Cross” p.322

 

Good Friday

Egg #8: Cross and Nails (my cross is made of twigs lashed together)

Egg #9: Vinegar and Sponge (I actually have a cotton ball in ours that I soak in a bit of vinegar so they can smell it)

Reading: Ch. 51 “The Sun Becomes Dark” p. 323

 

Saturday

Egg #10: Burial Cloth and Spices (a scrap of white fabric and some cloves)

Egg #11: Rock

Reading: Ch. 52 “The Stone is Rolled Away” p.325

 

Easter Sunday

Egg #12: Empty!

Reading: Ch.53 “Visitors to the Tomb” p. 326

 

 

On Easter Saturday, we usually dye Easter eggs.  We usually talk about how they can be a symbol of new life.   My 4-year-old asked me as I was preparing the dye this year: "So, first we dye the eggs, and then they come alive again?"  Well, not quite sweetheart....  At least something about the significance of this season is getting into her head, though. :)

 

Brown eggs come out really pretty when you dye them, don't they?  I love how they look.

 

This post is getting kind of long, so I’ll share our traditions that carry us into Easter Sunday and beyond next time.

 

DTK Chapter 5, Part 4, Post 2: The Story of Scripture

(I shouldn't have said anything about the power and internet being functional when I said I'd post this back on Thursday.  I think I jinxed myself or something.  This is apparently the week for things not to work as we've been without water, internet, AND power at various times.  I think all three are functional at the moment...so I'm posting this now before I am prevented again...HA!)

 

In my last post on this section, I explored a little bit the role of the mind in our formation.  Today, I want to talk a little bit about engaging with the Scripture not only as a manual for doctrine and practice (which it is, of course), but also engaging with it as a Story.  

 

Smith makes the point that Scripture has greater shaping power when we are able to grasp the story of it – to engage our imagination and sense of wonder in the way that we interact with it, rather than interacting with it as a series of dos-and-don’ts:  “Over time, when worship confronts us with the canonical range of Scripture, coupled with its proclamation and elucidation in the sermon, we begin to absorb the story as a moral or ethical compass – not because it discloses to us abstract, ahistorical axioms, but because it narrates the telos of creation, the shape of the kingdom we’re looking for, thus filling in the telos of our own action.  We begin to absorb the plots of the story, begin to see ourselves as characters within it; the habits and practices of its heroes function as exemplars, providing guidance as we are trained in virtue, becoming a people with a disposition ‘to the good’ as it’s envisioned in the story.  Because we are story-telling animals, imbibing the story of Scripture is the primary way that our desire gets aimed at the kingdom.”

 

I had also suggested this way of approaching Scripture in my post on Chapter 4 (in that post there are also several other links discussing this idea – it seems to keep popping up!).  Interestingly enough, this point was brought to my mind yet again through the messages we heard from the devotional speaker (a visiting pastor from the UK) at our conference last week.  Now that I think about it some more, I would say that he made a point to preach in this manner.  After reading the Scripture passage, he narrated the story in such a way that helped us to imagine that we were there.  He described the response of the people to the reading of the Word of God in Nehemiah chapter 8 – their submission to its authority, their enthusiasm and commitment, their understanding, their brokenness over their sin, their joyful celebration.   He challenged us with the question: “Does God’s Word still excite and invigorate you?” And then he left us with the reminder that Scripture study doesn’t have to be dry and abstract because when we immerse ourselves in it with are “entering into the story of God’s Great Rescue.”  Only then, after he had helped us to enter in to the story, did he bring it around to his points for practical application.  I know his teaching had an impact on me, and my husband said he felt like the speaker was speaking right to him.  I can’t help but think that his pattern of preaching – of bringing us along with him in the story – had something to do with that.

 

A couple of days later in my devotional reading – currently Matthew alongside JC Ryle’s commentary – a similar point was brought home to me again.  In contrasting the Magi, who saw the star and believed, with the priests and Pharisees who refused to believe that Jesus was the Messiah, Ryle points out that head knowledge (which the priests and Pharisees had in spades) matters very little if it makes no difference in our hearts, and that “familiarity with sacred things has a dreadful tendency to make men despise them.”   I got to thinking that perhaps approaching the Word with wonder, intentionally engaging our imaginations, helps to avoid that ‘familiarity that breeds resentment’, that familiarity the keeps the Word from moving past our heads and into our hearts.   I know that I have been guilty of this - having been raised in the church and well-versed in all the stories from the time I was little, it is so easy for me to gloss over the Scripture with the thought that there is nothing new to take away from it.   That’s not true of course – there’s always something new to learn because I haven’t ‘arrived’ yet, and won’t until He takes me home.  But it has occurred to me that perhaps I do need an attitude shift in the way I approach Scripture.  (Shoot, I’ve encountered this idea from so many different angles lately, how can I ignore it?)

 

So I’ve been trying this out a bit – this idea of approaching  in my personal Bible reading with wonder, engaging myself not only in the truths to be applied, but also the Story of it – both in my personal Bible reading as well as in our family Bible reading.  When we do our family Bible stories in the evening, I’ve been asking the children to try to imagine as if they are there in the story, or to “make a movie in your mind” as I read.  (We are currently reading through Catherine Vos’ The Child’s Story Bible, and the tone with which she writes lends itself quite well to doing this).  I have been trying to do likewise in my personal Bible reading.  It’s too soon to tell, really, just what kind of impact this might be making.    I just know that I long to be invigorated by the Word, and I long for my children to not only know the Word, but to love it too.  (If anyone else has thoughts or ideas on this topic, I’d love to hear them!)

 

Click Here for more posts on this section!

 

 

Something New To Us This Year: Sunday Reading

Not too long ago, I did a series about how we are approaching Bible teaching in our home.  (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).  For the most part the ideas I described here haven’t changed much – we’ve found a good groove and good routines that are working for us.  The notable exception to this would be that while we are still memorizing the Children’s Catechism, I have reverted back to memorizing longer Scripture passages rather than a proof-text for each catechism question - so we do a catechism question or 2 each week along with a longer Scripture passage, currently Romans 8:31-39.  The other addition has been Sunday Reading.

 

I don’t talk about our ministry-life much on this blog, but I think most of you know that our family moved to Cameroon, in Francophone Africa, back in January after having spent all of last year in language school in France.  While we lived cross-culturally in Papua New Guinea for many years before that, it was primarily in an English-speaking context.  Attending worship services in a foreign language (especially one that you are still in the process of learning!) is one of those things that we are still struggling to get used to.   Going to church has become important for language and culture learning and relationship building, but it is no longer the primary place where our spiritual needs are met.   And if this is true for my husband and I, this is even more true for our children (whose French is even more limited than ours).     We have been grappling with ways to continue to ensure we – and our children - are fed spiritually via other means.   One of the answers to that has been a special Sunday evening reading time.

 

Instead of our normal evening family read-aloud from a Bible storybook, we take a little extra time to sing some praise and worship songs together (my husband plays the guitar) and do some special readings – one from a devotional resource of some kind and one from a missionary/Christian hero biography.  Right now our devotional resource is Sally Michael’s book God’s Names which is EXCELLENT.  I’m not a fan of children’s devotionals, but this one is really well done.   The kids are enjoying it as well – Michelle asks me several times a week when we will read another section out of it.   I was happy to see that she’s done a couple of others as well  (God’s Promises and God’s Providence), so we may look into using those later.  Leading Little Ones to God is another book I have on my shelf that we may consider when we are finished with this one.   For our biography at the moment we are finishing up Missionary Stories with the Millers.   When we are done with that, we have several of the Simonetta Carr picture book biographies as well as several volumes from the “Missionary Adventure” series to choose from.  We were given the BBC Planet Earth DVDs for Christmas last year, and when we finish up early enough that the littlest ones don’t need to be sent off to bed yet, we enjoy watching one of these together.   I think that sitting in awe of God’s creation is a suitable addition to a time of family worship, don’t you?  (For what it's worth, these DVDs do have an occasional evolutionary reference, but it isn't a dominant theme and has either gone completely over their heads, or has given us opportunity to talk about it.)

 

This has been a wonderful habit for us to establish.   It has helped fit in some of the “extra” things (such as the Christian hero readings that I’ve had good intentions to do for a while).   It has given us an intentional family night together too, something that we have been inconsistent about at best.   It takes the place of the “Sunday School” teaching that our children aren’t getting, and the English-language worship singing that my husband dearly misses.  While I think that family spiritual input is important for everybody - even for those who are able to attend a Biblically solid church with services conducted in their mother tongue - being outside of our comfort zone in that arena has been the nudge we needed to take that one step further.

 

Do you do any kind of special reading or family time on Sunday (or any other evenings)?   I’d love to know how others do it, and if you have any favorite resources to share!

 

How we are Celebrating Advent This Year

There's been lots of discussions and posts online these days about how people are celebrating Advent.  I thought I'd throw mine into the mix too. =)

For several years now, we've been working towards making our celebrations of Christmas and Easter more Christ-focused.  We did an advent wreath for the first time the year Michelle was 14 months at Christmas time.  This year we don't have an actual wreath, but we still do have 5 candles, lighting one each week.  (Gotta make do with what you can find when you move as much as we do).  We've tried a variety of different devotionals, but until this year hadn't done anything that I particularly LIKED (at least, not well enough to repeat). 

(Side note on our 'display' - I got the cards on the easel online somewhere several years ago...sadly can't remember where now.  They are lovely, though, and small/lightweight enough to move around with us.  The nativity scene is from Peru - a gift from a friend, as I've never been there.  The cards on the wall were done by a Papua New Guinean artist.  Baby Jesus in a bilum - traditional, Papua New Guinean woven string bag, used for carrying anything, including babies!- makes me smile everytime I look at it.)

This year, we are using the symbols from Ann Voskamp's Jesse Tree devotional, but not the devotions that go with them.  The devotional thoughts would be over my kids' heads (and as lovely as they are I sometimes have a hard time with her writing style as well, for what it's worth).   We are simply reading the Scripture reference to go with each symbol - tracing God's plan of salvation from the creation, through the fall, through the promises made to Noah and Abraham and David, the prophecies, arriving finally at the birth of Christ. 

Typically, our family time each evening looks like this:
- We light the candle(s) - depending on the week.
- We use the previous symbols to recount the story so far.
- One child opens the day's envelope that has the new symbol inside (and sometimes a special activity card like 'family movie night' or 'bake cookies together'), and they look at it.  They try to guess what the next part of the story might be.
- We read the story from the Bible (I've written the reference on the back).  We revisit the symbol and explain how the story relates.  Dan or I might add a sentence or 2 about how it points us forward to Jesus (very, very briefly).
- We sing a hymn or carol together (I've chosen one for each week of advent).
And that's it.  Simple.  Sweet.  Meaningful.

I was kind of nervous about using "just the Scripture" and not having some kind of devotional guide to go along with it.  But in actuality, the simplicity has been beautiful.  I never planned that we'd retell the story from the beginning each night...that just sort of happened.  But I think maybe they are starting to see the big picture of redemptive history.  I didn't learn that the Old Testament really had much to do with the New until I was in college, so any glimmer of understanding on their part puts them way ahead of me. =)

And, really, should I have been so surprised that Scripture is enough?  I'm not trying to bash the use of devotionals or anything, but I don't think we've ever finished any of the 'family devotionals' we've tried.  Even if I like them at the beginning (and I'm picky - so much of what is out there for this age group is just silly), we usually end up being disenchanted with them once we get into them.  Scripture - or a well-written Bible storybook for the littlest ones - is enough.  It can speak for itself.

How We Do...Bible, Part 3 - Personal Bible Study

In Part 1, I shared some of my general thoughts and background to how we are approaching Bible teaching in our family.  In Part 2, I shared about the things we do together as a family.   In this post, I'd like to talk about how I am starting to guide Michelle gently towards studying the Bible on her own.   Michelle is reading quite well, and likes to read for herself from her Bible, so I felt like this was a good time to start encouraging her to get into the Bible on her own on a regular basis.

In her schools, Charlotte Mason had her students reading concurrently from the Old and New Testaments.   She had her students read and narrate the Bible passages.  She would divide the readings up into short sections that included a complete thought.  Then she might read an appropriate section from a commentary to highlight the background or bring up interesting points for discussion.  She tried not to force personal applications.   There is a good summary of her methods in these two blog posts: here and here.   You can see a sample of the actual reading schedule used in her schools here.  I opted not to use the Year 1 selections since it is just selected Bible stories, most of which she is already familiar with, but I will probably pick up with the reading schedule described here in Year 2.

Because we've spent a large portion of this year in our Family Bible Reading on the Old Testament, I decided to start Michelle on an overview of the Life of Christ.  We will use the New Testament reading schedule laid out by Penny Gardner, although I am breaking some of the passages down into even smaller chunks to keep things reasonable for her.   We've been doing this for the past month or so, and it is going well so far.   This is the basic idea:

- Michelle reads the selection on her own.  (I'm trying to keep each section under 10 verses while at the same time breaking at natural points in each story.)
- She copies the title of the story into her "Bible Journal" and draws a picture to show what has happened in the story. 
- Later, when we get a chance to sit down together, I have her use her picture to narrate to me what happened.  If she has questions, we'll talk.  If I think of something interesting to add, I may, while being sensitive to not being too preachy.  I've been mulling over trying to work in a weekly mother-daughter tea-time, and this might be a good time to look at her journal together and discuss what she is learning. 
- We'll add major events and characters to our history timeline.  I want to emphasize the idea that the Bible stories are real, historical events just as much as the people and events we study for "history".  I also want her to be able to make connections with how other world events at the time helped shape the culture of the people we meet in the Bible.

And that's all.  As she gets older we may add in the use of commentaries, Bible background material, Bible Study methods, theology and apologetics, and so on.  It's exciting to think about the possibilities.  But if there's one thing I've learned in these first couple of years of homeschooling it's to keep things simple to begin with and build from there.   The idea is to develop a life-time habit of studying the Word.  No need to overwhelm her all at once!

Hope that these musings are helpful to someone!

How We Do...Bible, Part 2 - Family Devotions

In Part 1, I gave some of the background to how we approach Bible in our family and homeschool.  Today, I want to tell you about how we are approaching Family Devotions.  Keep in mind that this is merely descriptive of what our family is doing at the moment.  This isn't some prescription for every family.  And it could change...and probably will...as our children grow and change.  But hopefully, this will give you some ideas to think about. =)  Our children are currently age 7, 4, and 2-1/2 years old.

Hymns
We started learning hymns together as a family several years ago - I think Michelle was around 4-1/2.  While we enjoy singing modern worship songs as well, I don't want my kids to miss out on the rich thought and spiritual heritage contained in the old hymns just because many churches don't sing them often (or because we live overseas and sing French songs at church!)  We approach hymn singing pretty simply.  I have an old hymnal and we have gone through and chosen hymns we'd like the kids to learn.  We sing one together as a family at the breakfast table, all of the verses, until we all know it pretty well.  This usually takes us 3-4 weeks.  Then we choose a new one.  Occasionally we go back and review one of the old ones.  And that's it.  Don't underestimate what even very young children can learn.  My 2 year old learns these songs right along with us.   She may not sing along at the table, but has been known to spontaneously burst into the chorus of "On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand" for no apparent reason.  =)   We also have various hymn albums loaded onto the MP3 players the kids have in their rooms to listen to at rest and bedtime.  Their favorite is Michael Card's Hymns album.

Scripture and Catechsim Memory
We started memorizing Scripture as a family when Michelle was around 3.   We started with really short, simple, selections and have proceeded from there.   We may do short passages (1-2 verses) for awhile, and then we'll switch gears and tackle something longer like a Psalm.  (We've done Psalms 100, 23, and 139:1-18).   Currently we are learning the Catechism for Young Children with a short passage to go with each question/answer.   We use a very slightly modified version of the Simply Charlotte Mason Scripture Memory System to keep everything organized.  I can't say enough good things about this system - it makes regular review of previous passages learned very, very simple.  Bonus: because of the regular review, my 4 year old has picked up on many of the verses that Michelle learned way back when he was an infant without really trying.

Bible Reading
We've tried a variety of things over the years, but with very young ones like ours the thing we come back to over and over again is just reading the old familiar Bible stories over and over again.  Currently, we are reading The Children's Bible in 365 Stories.   In the past, we have also read and enjoyed (and will probably read and enjoy again for the sake of the the littlest one) The Jesus Storybook Bible and The Child's Story Bible.   Michelle is ready for something more than this, but we'll be addressing that as part of her schoolwork.  But that's Part 3.

Other Bits and Pieces
We take a break from our regular Bible reading and do special devotions in the weeks leading up to Christmas and Easter.    Additionally, I also like to read missionary/Christian hero biographies with the kids.  I personally find these stories very inspirational and encouraging in my own Christian walk.  This year, I have read Missionary Stories with the Millers with Michelle.  We are also slowly collecting the picture books in this series which all three of ours are enjoying. 

Last but Not Least
Probably most important of all is remaining sensitive to the teachable moments that present themselves, and being sensitive to the prompting of the Holy Spirit.  I blogged previously about this topic here. 

Next time: How Michelle and I will be approaching personal Bible Study.

How We Do...Bible, Part 1 - A Little Background

For some time now, I've viewed Bible more as something we do devotionally as a family more than a school subject.  And honestly, I was a little bit afraid of including Bible as a school subject for fear that the kids would start viewing it as just that - school rather than something that should permeate their whole lives.  So, up until now, we'd done Bible primarly as "family devotions".   However...as time went on, it was becoming more and more difficult to make this family devotional time work.  I  realized that our children are all at different places in their spiritual understanding and needs. Trying to do Bible reading and 'family devotions' at a level to engage our 7 year old meant that the 2 and 4 year olds were missing out on the foundation that Michelle got in the basic Bible stories as a preschooler. Our family Bible times were quickly disintigrating since it was impossible to engage the little ones in the devotional we had selected for use with Michelle. I was also becoming more and more concerned that the devotional we were using was doing too much "connect the dots" and forcing connections rather than letting Michelle make her own connections with the Bible text or making space for the Holy Spirit to speak to her where she is. Allowing a child to make her own connections with the text, rather than always telling the child what to think, is another hallmark of a Charlotte Mason education.  Something needed to change.

My reading of Charlotte Mason's ideas, along with some helpful discussion over on the Ambleside Online forum, led me to the conclusion that there is a difference between Bible as a school subject - which is more Bible Study - and Bible as 'family devotions' which is less formal and more woven into the fabric of our family life.  Both are necessary, and I would say both complement each other as well.  Here and here is a two part blog series that summarizes well what Charlotte had to say about Bible as a school subject.  This section (scroll down to XIV. Bible Lessons) from  Home Education describes her ideas about how to approach Bible as a school subject for younger children (between ages 6 and 9).  And here (scroll down to point III) are her own words about the Divine Life of the Child, which concerns the natural teaching of the Bible in the family context.  This isn't an exhaustive list of everything that CM had to say about Bible teaching, but they are the bits that I found most helpful and instructive as I thought through the best way to approach this in our family.

It made sense to me (and Dan too, when I discussed it with him) to separate Bible into two different things - one done as a family and designed to engage all and a study appropriate to the age of the child as part of their "school".  In Part 2, I will share with you what we are doing in our studies as a family.   In Part 3, I will share how I am incorporating Bible Study as a school subject for Michelle.