What are we teaching our pre-teens & teens about SEX??

This picture says it all, I had never really thought of it this way. What have you used to teach your children about abstinence? In our home we have talked about it since the very beginning. With our son being adopted, his birthparents were college students and that helped with explaining a lot of things. Our son had a pretty good understanding of single parenting and just how difficult life is for single parents and their children. We have used God's word in the book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. We have also talked about King David and his sin. 

Another of my favorites is called A Chickens Guide To Talking Turkey With Your Kids About Sex. I heard an interview on Focus On The Family with the authors and liked. Got it free from the library...check it out!

What have use used in your home regarding this topic?

He is RISEN!

Thinking about Easter and how Jesus died this week can make us somber.
Jesus died a horrible death.
Jesus died as our sacrifice.
Jesus took on all our sins.
Jesus took on the sins of the world as He hung on the cross. Today is Good Friday, ask yourself, why would we call this Good Friday, when in real life it was such a difficult day to endure for so many as they stood at the foot of the cross as Jesus hung there to die.
Read about it here, it won't take you too long...
John 19:1-42
Here is an easy to understand version, or you can change to your preferred version. You can also listen to it by clicking the sound icon in the link. Bible Gateway.

Moe

Your First FREEBIE of 2015 Just For You!

Come and get your Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner 2015-16 just click on the link and you will be able to download the planner to your computer.

"CHOOSE THE DIGITAL OPTION TO GET IT FREE THIS WEEK! This planner is full of calendars, lists, and charts – all to help you keep your family on schedule. Don’t miss your chance to own our downloadable 2015-16 Hey Mama Planner! Or, purchase the CD instead! 175 pages."
How are the Schoolhouse Planners different from All the “Other” Homeschool Planners?

• Each of our planners is interactive, allowing you to enter your children’s information – daily lessons, monthly agendas, curriculum choices, semester goals, etc.
• No need to print every single page. Print what you need when you need it.
• Flexibility to change your homeschooling plan on the fly. Customize the planner to fit your needs. Print it and use in a binder, changing out pages as needed, or print individual pages for your children to use and follow for the week. Or, send the whole thing to a local printer and let them bind it for you.

I have been using their planners for several years and I LOVE them!!

Enjoy!

Remember my Facebook post?

I came across this article and found it very interesting, what do you think? Facebook Takes Place Of Bible.

Remember my Facebook Fast post? Well I made it to about last weekend. I did sneak on a few times for about 5 min or less, I had to PM a few people that I don't have RL (real life) info for.

I actually found it pretty hard to not use FB, because it's really become a part of our lifestyles. I needed to reach someone, I needed info about our homeschool group, I needed to check on some FB freebies from a homeschooling site.

Now what I did get away from was the mindless hitting of the page down button to see what all my 'friends' were doing. That seems to be a real time eater.

Today I popped on to find that a college buddy of mine was down about something. So I put a smile face on his post and picked up the phone and put feet to my Christianity and spent some real phone time with him.

My friend that did the FB fast with me ran into a trouble spot too. Her father became ill and she needed to let several family members know and ask friends to pray, but no time to call everyone. What is the quickest way to get the word out (advertisers know it!) FACEBOOK!

One thing that has made FB faster for me is that I get email updates and if it's something that I need to see, I click on it, if not I delete it. This way I am not trying to page down through all the game requests, video's, and junk that I don't need/want to see.

Then I look at the media foot print that our kids are suppose to have for college interviews and workplace tech. How on earth do we do that and monitor all of it?

Facebook is starting to become like cell phones, how did we EVER live without it?

Moe

Will you stay in your comfort zone in 2014??

Will you be staying in your comfort zone in 2014? Why not stretch yourself and work on getting organized in the coming New Year!!! Join me as I work through different areas that need attention in the home. I got this idea from a Facebook post from Homeschool Mamma Lori (well she is now a homeschool mamma at heart, she has graduated her 3 girls already).

As I look into 2014 I think of the following verse as it relates to my family.

Romans 14:13 "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Is my method of being a keeper at home causing my homeschooled young man to stumble? To learn messy ways? To try to take the easy way out? Am I teaching my homeschooled young man to be a Godly husband to my future daughter in law? Am I teaching my homeschooled young man what a Godly wife and mother is like?

Let us get organized in 2014...here are some great ways to get there! Just click on the links. These are some of my FREE printables This one is totally my style.
printable goal list, planners-goals-calendars-church-and-ministry, Love this one! Check it out.

To get healthy in the New Year try this how to succeed with your new years.

If you are a label person, I'm not, but there are some pretty COOL things to print out on Avery type labels on this site.

FREE return address label templates, VERY CUTE! I even made me some  :)

Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

Ok, Homeschool Mamma's (and non homeschool mamma too, I know several that read my blog) out there how many of us can relate to the second half of this verse? LOL...yeah, most of us are ready to faint at any moment! But we need to look at the first part of the verse, obviously the Lord knew that we would be weary and ready to drop over in doing well (His idea of well and not the world's idea of well! REMEMBER THAT!)

Share your own favorite ways to get organized in the new year.

FREE Bible download just for you!

Our family loves Rose-Publishing! They are a favorite stopping point during homeschool conventions. They offer a free Rose Bible eChart each week, so sign up to get yours. This week is on end times.

Click here for your FREE download. Rose Bible eCharts End Times
These eCharts are great for use in your homeschool.
Please Note: Our weekly eCharts are provided as a free service, but it does cost us time and money to create and send these emails. Any order from Rose-Publishing.com is appreciated!

Moe
p.s. I did not get anything for posting this  ;-)

Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible Review

This review was so timely for me, because every new school year I like to treat myself to a new devotional book for homeschooling Moms. The TOS Review Crew was blessed to review Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible, I got the hardcover King James Version with the dust jacket that retails for $34.99, there is also an Ebook version Ebook version for $14.99 and a cornflower blue Italian Duo-Tone™ that retails for $49.99. The NIV version that can be found by clicking here NIV.

I have never found a homeschool mom's devotional that included the Bible in the text, so this was pretty neat, I could take it anywhere and not have to drag 2 books with me, my Bible & my devotional, it was nice to just bring along my KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible!! Actually I left this Bible in my car a lot, the devotionals were a quick read while waiting on my son at the library, mall, piano practice and other places.

Normally I would not spend $34.99 on a devotional book, but what a bargain the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible is, you get a Bible too. The Foreword of the book is written by Vickie Farris who is an author and wife of HSLDA's Founder Dr. Michael Farris, I've read several of Mike & Vickie's books over the years so I knew if she endorsed the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible it was going to be a good read! Vickie's opening lines say it all..."You and I share something incredible. We're called to the very challenging, yet very fulfilling life of a homeschool mom." Just reading those first few lines reminds me of the high calling of motherhood and of a homeschooling mom. WOW, that is so easy to forget when we are bogged down in our daily grind.

    The author of KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible Janet Tatman has homeschooled for more than 25 years with her four children. She has been a copywriter for Alpha Omega Publications in the homeschool division. She also spent 6 years writing the daily Focus, a devotional that comes by email each day. So I am thinking she has it going on, when it comes to knowing just what we homeschool mom's need for encouragement.

  

 

KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible is chock full of daily devotion to choose from, there are 365 in all. That is one devotion for each day of the year to help us busy homeschool moms on a daily basis. The book can be used in two different ways, depending on how you like to study the Bible, and if you have never studied the Bible, the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible makes it simple for you. You can follow a daily format, (devotions are dated starting on page 3.) or you can use the topical index that you find in the back of the book starting on page 1489. I'm a topical kinda gal, because I don't like to go by the dates since if I get behind, it bums me out :O)

I only had one dislike about the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible and it's really more of a personal preference. The devotions have nothing to do with the book of the Bible or the chapter of the Bible that they are printed in. For example devotion number 1 is "The Passion of Homeschooling" it's located in the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible between Genesis 3:1-3:2. However, the verses in that days devotion are Ps 139:3, Rev 3:15-16, 1 Jn 1:9 and John 14:21. My personal preference in daily devotions is to read a passage of scripture and then have a devotional that goes along with the current Bible reading; there again this dislike is personal preference.

I love the topical index, because some days I am just in need of a certain thing, idea, fact or Scripture and I can glance through the index and find just what my soul needs that day. For example, there are listing of things like (some of which I had never come across in a homeschool mom's devotional) birth order, bitterness, deadlines, discouragement, food, freedom, hiding, material possessions, romance, seeds of faith, spiritual warfare and tragedy. Those were just a sampling of the topics; there are many more topics to choose from. It's so exciting to have a troubling day and just glance through the topical index to find the perfect devotional, it soothes the soul.

I also liked the questions in the text of the devotions in the KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible, they are there for you to meditate and think on. They were very revealing to me as I read, a reminder of things that I need to work on in my own life.

I highly recommend Zondervan's KJV Homeschool Mom's Bible for the new homeschooler as well as the veteran homeschool mom. Click here to read more reviews of the book from other TOS Review Crew members or if you enjoy the NIV version of the Bible, you can read the TOS reviews of that book too.

 







Doorposts Bible Study Review

We were so excited to get to be a part of this review! My son had such an awesome learning experience while participating in the review for Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster. The softcover book retails for $14.00 but is currently on sale on the Doorposts website for $12.00. It's a steal even at the full price!
WOW!! What an awesome devotional book. I almost hesitate to call it a devotional. When I think of a devotional book, I tend to think of, oh maybe 2 or 3 paragraphs, a few thought provoking questions to ponder and a one sentence Bible verse that ties it all in. This is so not what Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men is all about.

Doorposts is a name that our family has come to trust over the years. We have lots of their items that we have used over the years with great success and let me be the first to tell you (before you read what the other TOS Reviewers had to say.) this devotional for young men is
unbelievable, it's full of meat and potatoes and not just milk and honey. It digs down deep and makes the boys think and contemplate on what is being taught. Don't get me wrong, your son does NOT have to be a seminary student to understand the material presented in the Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men, it's all done in an easy to read and understandable format.

On a side note the author of the book Daniel Forster is a homeschool graduate and also manager of Doorposts. Forster is married and has three children. My son thought that was pretty cool.

What this Homeschool Momma liked about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.

1) Well for one thing I can tell that this was written by a former homeschool boy in that there is ample room for writing. LOL...you know how our homeschool boys like to write? lol...lots of room to write, cross out, write some more. Love that. Usually there is like 1 tiny little line to write on smooshed in between sentences and the boys write in there and we can't read it! LOVE THIS!

2) I liked how this study was full of meat and potatoes and not just a few lines to read, a question and a single Bible verse like many devotion books of today, but thinking of the quality of Doorposts I knew it would be good.

3) I liked how this held my sons attention, I did not have to get after him to have his daily devotions. Which for a Christian homeschool momma that is a blessing.

4) The Bible study tools were incredible; we now have a desktop full of great Bible study tools at the click of a mouse.

5) I teach Sunday School to 1-3 graders at church and have shared many of the Bible websites with the kids as many of them like to play online. I thought these would be great for them to have some wholesome websites to play around on and learn about God's word.

6) Easy to use for boys ages 12 and up.

7) I enjoyed the History of the Strong's Concordance, I had no idea that there was any real history behind that book! So the old homeschool Momma learned something new!

8) Math skills! You all know that I like to pull in all areas of schooling when we are working on something. Well I see math skills in this book! They have some graphing activities...YIPPE!!!

9) Teaches Bible study methods which is a skill our young men will use for the rest of their lives and pass on to the next generation (our Grandchildren).

10) The book goes over literary style in the Bible, I am lacking in knowledged in this area and gleaned a lot from this. Teaches about context, cross referencing, biographical sketches, summary and application of the materials.

What this Homeschool Momma did not like about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.

1) I honestly could not come up with a single thing, well with the exception of there are no pictures in the book or cartoon images. Which that is not a dislike exactly, it's a personal preference on my part. I like to see pictures or cute cartoons.

What this Homeschool young man liked about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.

LOL...Where do I begin? There was so much going on in daily each lesson that I'm not sure where to begin so I will just start firing things off.

1) The Bible Study websites, I had so much fun digging around in those and I learned a lot by looking at the different maps and commentaries. We have a commentary in paperback, but it was neat to have one online that I could look at and cross reference as I worked through the book.

2) I looked forward to each day to find out what new thing I was going to learn.

3) I liked how I could do more than 1 study per day, seems like the every day ordinary old devotional you are suppose to stop and then start on the next day with a new devotional. Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men continued from day to day for several days. So everything ties in together.

4) My favorite chapters of the book were A Topical Study on the Omnipotence of God and A Character Study of Sampson.

5) LOVED the Bible programs and Mobile Apps. I'm still having fun with these even after the review.

6) I liked the word studies and the "For additional study" sections of the book. They helped me to get a better understanding of the topics I was studying.

What this Homeschool young man did not like about Doorposts "Because You Are Strong" A study of Godly Strength for Young Men by Daniel Forster.

1) NOTHING!

I think a few things you might want to have on hand (you can get these for FREE online if you GOOGLE them.
Because You Are Strong: A Study of Godly Strength for Young Men author recommends using a Nave's Topical Bible and Strong's Exhaustive Concordance.
I would add the following items.
2 Bibles with different translations
Study Bible
dictionary
topical Bible
Bible dictionary
commentary (the book recommends Matthew Henry's, but we were fine using one we had on hand already)
thesaurus

So all in all we are saying this one is a KEEPER!! We would expect nothing less from Doorposts!!

Bible FREEBIE!! Come and get it before 7/29

FREE Bible Writer curriculum
Bible Based Homeschooling-On a Budget is offering a very nice freebie for you! We are going to start using it this week. Check it out.

Moe

NICE Homeschool FREEBIE

http://www.homeschoolcreations.net/2013/07/printable-prayer-cards-free-download/

Lots of really cool goodies over at WWW.homeschoolcreations.net Check them out!

Progeny Press Review of The Hobbit & Treasure Island Interactive PDF Study Guides.

As members of The Old Schoolhouse Magazines Review Crew we have been privileged to receive The Hobbit Interactive Study Guide instant download for grades 8th-12th as well as the Treasure Island Study Guide grades 7th-10th from Progeny Press.

 Prices: $21.99 Printed Booklet, $18.99 CD, $18.99 Instant Download The book The Hobbit can be purchased from Progeny Press for just $8.99 for paperback. There are a few extras that are needed to do a complete study, but they are items that most of us already have on hand on our bookshelves such as: a good dictionary, Bible, topical Bible, concordance, encyclopedias, Internet access and a thesaurus.

The Hobbit Interactive Study Guide is for 8th-12th grade students, our 7th grade student was able to use this product from Progeny Press with no problems.

I will be the first to admit that I have always been under the impression that The Hobbit was not a book for Christians to read, well grab a snack & drink and come join me in finding out just how wrong this assumption was on my part.

 

"Looking for more than activity sheets or a who-did-what series of questions? Want to dig into the essence of the novel? This study guide provides easy-to-use, reproducible lessons on literary terms, comprehension and analysis, critical thinking, related scriptural principles, vocabulary, and activities, plus a complete answer key." From the Progeny Press Website.

 

What the student liked about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

 

1) I liked how the study guide gave background information about the author, I always like to know more about who wrote the book.

2) It made literature and language fun.

3) I was able to save my answers in the PDF files.

4) I can't wait to go over this study guide with some friends who have also read The Hobbit.

5) I did not have to hand write my answers. YEAH for me!

 

What the student did not like about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

 

1) I wish that I had more time to complete the review, we had a short amount of time to use this product and I can't wait to complete the projects that are included in the study guide.

 

 What this homeschool Momma liked about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

1) I loved how it used the Bible to explain things.

2) The Note to Instructor section was great! Extra teaching helps are always appreciated.
3) By using the Progeny Press Interactive Study Guides you can award 1/4 credit hour on your students high school transcripts. I really like knowing this because it can sometimes be hard to figure out just how much a course is worth.
3) This study guide it full of thought provoking questions.
4) WONDERFUL answer key! Sometimes having a GREAT answer key can make the world of difference in teaching. It helps me to explain concepts better as well as takes the guessing game out of, "Do they really understand this material?"
5) The Interactive PDF was great, I did not have to hear any complaining about having to write...lol. What homeschool Momma of a 7th grade boy loves to NOT have to hear that? lol
6) I liked the features like Parallelism, Dig Deeper Activities and Character Sketches.
7) It incorporates music too.
8) Teaches riddles and proverbs for critical thinking.
9) This was not an overwhelming study, we did a section per week.

What this homeschool Momma did not like about the The Hobbit Interactive PDF Study Guide.

1) NOTHING! Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner, we have another great product here!


 We were also give a copy of the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide which retails for  Price: $18.99 Printed Booklet, $16.99 CD, $16.99 Instant Download. Again we were given the instant download version. The Treasure Island paperback book can be purchased from Progeny Press for $8.00. This is for grade 7th-10th. There are a few extras that are needed to do a complete study, but they are items that most of us already have on hand on our bookshelves such as: a good dictionary, Bible, topical Bible, concordance, encyclopedias, Internet access and a thesaurus.  

What the student liked about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

 

1) FUN FUN FUN!! I liked how the PDF study guide brought the book to life.

2) The pre-reading activities were fun too, I liked researching the different types of ships.

3) I learned some new words that I did not know before and I really liked how I could place my mouse over a word & right click, then click on "look up" to find the meaning of words.

 

What the student did not like about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

 

1) Nothing!

   

 

What this homeschool Momma liked about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

1) Pretty much the same as above for The Hobbit study guide.

2) I really like how the questions made the student use thinking skills and did not just have yes and no answers. It made the learning experience richer.

3) Opened up dialog that I did not have to lead.

4) This engaged my husband as he loves literature, so it opened up some chatter between father and son.

 

What this homeschool Momma did not like about the Progeny Press Treasure Island Study Guide

 

1) Again nothing! I had read this book as a child and never did I get this much thought provoking information from that time.

 

I highly recommend the Interactive PDF Study Guides from Progeny Press.

 

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Christmas & Only Children part 1

In the coming days before Christmas you will see some posts on things that our family does to help in raising our only child to be a caring individual and ward off the evil selfish behavior that is so prevalent in our world today. This would fall under Character Training and is taught on a daily basis in our homeschool.

I came across this article from Family Life Today's blog 20 Ideas For Serving Others as a Family This Christmas.

Let us know how your family serves others.

Moe

Just some thoughts...........

With the passing of the election I've come to have a hymn playing in my mind, my heart and my soul and I am comforted..........

"Our God Reigns"
How lovely on the mountains are the feet of Him
Who brings good news, good news;
Announcing peace, proclaiming news of happiness:
Our God reigns, our God reigns!

Our God reigns!
Our God reigns!
Our God reigns!
Our God reigns!

 

 

Moe

SALE over at my favorite website!!

SALE over at my favorite website!! TheLearningParent.com is offering

25% Off all Scripture Memory Resources 

Use Promo Code: MEMORIZE

 

https://www.thelearningparent.com/products.asp?cat=43

That is a link to the Scripture memory items that are 25% off at the checkout. I've have personally bought the Daily Wisdom Cards, James Cards (with the CD of the book of James), and a bunch more.

 

 

  

We have been so blessed by the resources offered at Thelearningparent.com. I've seen both of the authors Rick Boyer & Marilyn Boyer speak in person, they are such an encouragement to our family.

 

Moe

(I receive NOTHING for this post, just wanted to let you know about this deal from a great family owned company.)

 

 

Praying in the new homeschool year

I plan on printing out & laminating this very nice prayer reminder that was sent to me by another homeschooling mom. You will find it here  on the keeping it personal website you can print out an 11x17 or 8.5x11 size 31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your children chart.

Check it out, it's super nice!!

Have a great weekend.
Moe

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas!!!
Oh, wait it's only Christmas at my house......lol. UPS delivered our homeschooling books today. You would think it was Christmas morning around here. Our son is just begging to get into the box. I think I will wait for a rainy day before I let him open it. hehehehe.

Am I mean?

I just praise my Lord and Savior for the blessing that homeschooling has been and is to our family. Just seeing the love of learning that our son has now it's incredible.  There are not many "I don't want to go to school days" anymore. Life of course is no where near perfection, but God's word in the Bible does not promise perfection in our earthly lives.

We have more "What are we learning today" days and that is a blessing. Another one I like to hear is, "Can we do another Bible lesson?" I also take on questions such as "Why do we have to learn story problems?" You will have to tune in next time to hear the answer that I gave to that one.

We are spending some time this week packaging up personal hygiene bags for needy school children and then another day we will be passing those out, along with backpacks full of school supplies to needy children in our community.

Have a wonderful weekend!
Moe

Organized bookshelves? Clutter? HELP ME!!

Moody Radio's In The Market Place with Janet Parshall Hour 2 today was entitled "Too Much Stuff"

It made me do some thinking and I even had my son listen to it. I plan to get the book. You can listen by going to Moody Radio. Here is a snapshot of Kathryn Porter talking with Janet Parshall today.

"Clutter expert Kathryn Porter joins us to clean up
our houses, and our hearts. Her popular book,
Too Much Stuff, now has a second edition.
She’ll share how God loves us amongst our messes"

Kathryn also has a website Clutter Wise check her out and see how you can conquer what is cluttering your life and it may not just be stuff that is cluttering it up.

So this brings me to my blog post for today:

I'm in need of some ideas on how to get our bookshelves more organized. I really think that we would use more of our materials if we could find them! lol.  Our son has been bored (we don't use that term, but for lack of another word I will  :-)  this past week and so he started digging through the bookshelves and found some science experiment books. He asked if he could do some and I told him that was fine, but to make sure that he marked the pages so that I could count the hours for the up coming school year ~YEAH for the teacher who has a Thinking Cap on!~ 

I also reminded him what science is all about: (Did I say that I just love this homeschool thing!?)
 *thinking ahead (what is going to happen),
 *thinking about why it's going to happen (cause/effect)
 *thinking about how it happened (process)
 *thinking about the outcome (was I correct in my assessment).

Got to love homeschooling and how kids love to learn. The teacher even told him that he could write in the book. GASP! In the past I have said "Don't write in that! I'll resell it." Well, I'm changing my tune on that one as of today, why not use it if you bought it. So write away! lol

Ok, now that I have taken us down that little rabbit trail (friends  you know how I am with rabbit trails, I've never met one that I won't follow!).

So on to organizing the books. I'm just not sure how to do it. I've got several different grades of materials and also many subject areas. One of my main areas that drives me CRAZY is the second shelf from the top on the right side. It's all the CD's DVD's, VHS's that are school stuff. What on earth can I do with those to get them orderly? It's just a mess and I try to hide it with my cute little shelf sitters. I have 2 snowman (ya know I can't pass up a snowman.) and a cute little scarecrow girl that falls off the shelf all the time. GGRR!  There is clutter on those shelves too, I have some recipe books and such that has made there way and other misc. items that need homes.

So send me some ideas on how I can get our school year off to an organized venture!  Feel free to post your areas that need some help and we can put our heads together.


Hugs,
Moe

Rainy Daze Activity Sticks

I just found a really cool idea for the new school year! It's called rainy daze activity sticks. I can't wait to make these!! I saw them over at How To Next For Less blog. Erin has a list of ideas to put on the rainy daze activity sticks on the blog along with full detailed instructions on how to make them. I think with having an older child I will make different activities than she has. Here is a finished project from her site.

So head on over and make one of these for your homeshool!! I'm thinking of some nice fall colors to use on my sticks. Post a picture of yours. I will do the same when I get mine finished.

Take time to think through some fun ways to spend time with your child this school year. What are you looking forward to when school starts? I'm looking forward to campfire school!!  My husband made me a very nice fire pit for our campfire school. We love to sit around the fire and do school.

Have a wonderful week!
Moe

Deuteronomy 6:7
"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."

Book review: Children In Church

I have had the privilege of receiving a pre-publication review copy of Children In Church Nurturing hearts of worship by Curt and Sandra Lovelace. This is a quick read for parents and even our 11 year old has read and gleaned from the pages of this book. You will be left with lots to ponder and prayerfully consider after reading Children In Church.

I highly recommend this book for couples before deciding to have children so that they can get on the same page, but it’s not too late to read the book with children already in the home. The scripture used throughout the book is immensely encouraging and backs up the authors views: a great reminder of how faithful our God is to His children, the Lord sees us through to the end when we follow His leading and direction.

The Lovelaces share the truth of how “others” may see us and how we may be viewed for having our children in church with us. The authors are very adept at using scripture, they do not rely on opinions or feelings, but on the inerrant word of God.

It’s REFRESHING to read a parenting book that is not full of emotional and self-esteem fluff, spiritual parenting is hard work in today‘s world. When we parent our children using God‘s Word, it may bring discomfort through conviction and the authors address how to handle this with prayer and discussion.

The Lovelaces provide advice on bring your children into church services, they share practical, tried and true tips to guide your family in enjoying worship together.

Must read pages..........

Page 29
“Are those without children beside them willing to grant charity to parents who are in the process of training their children? Are parents with children willing to grant compassion to those who need quieter surroundings?” Something to really ponder in the scope of this topic of children in the church.

Page 35 “Parents who are serious before the Lord about worshipping together in the corporate setting must understand that moving toward that goal will entail commitment, diligence, wisdom, strength, courage, determination, discipline, effort, energy, and so much more.” The authors emulate the essence of the challenges you may face stay the course and you reap the harvest.

Page 49 “Their primary goal was to present the character of Christ in this new setting…..” How to prepare kids for different social situations.

Page 61 Chapter on preparations, I’m not even going to share a quote from this chapter because you need to get the book and read it for yourself! WOW! I found that I was very lacking in this area and was very convicted of things that I do in my own life that are keeping me from being prepared for worship on Sunday mornings. An example from my own life is that we tend to stay up late on Saturday night as a family and then we are tired and grumpy on Sunday mornings as we get ready for church. If you could only read a single chapter in Children in Church, it should be chapter 5, it will transform your entire families view of worship.

Page 73
The chapter on supplies is invaluable!!

Page 113The chapter on conflicts has wonderful encouragement for when the going gets tough, we have to remember that Satan does not want our kids to grow spiritually and he will fight us tooth and nail in raising our children for the Lord. Once again Lovelace points us to God’s word for answers and guidance. Praise the Lord for an author of a modern day parenting book that uses scripture to enlighten us in our parenting journey.

Page 120 “Thus, parents who are making their way along this journey will do well to go before the Lord to see what He might reveal to them about their own attitudes, actions, expectations, and judgments.”

Children in Church
has it all folks, guidance for every step of the way in bring your children together with you as a family to worship. I highly recommend reading through the book with a highlighter and marking up the pages, because you will want to refer back to the timeless biblical truths contained within its pages.

I know from personal experience that prayer is the number one need in the area of Children in Church. We began praying about this several years ago, just my husband and I, never once mentioned it to our child. One day a few years ago our son told us that he wanted to come to worship service to hear pastor preach, we told him to pray about it and we would revisit the topic again. He came to us again and said he was ready, we reminded him that there would be no going back and forth to children’s church for the fun stuff: parties, outings, etc. He said that he was ready. We survived the looks, comments, the whispers and phone calls that we and our son received regarding our not following the rules. We are a couple of years out now and have never looked back. The conversations that we have after church regarding pastors preaching are so enlightening, before we would ask, “What did you do in class today?” We would get a one or two word answer, now we get a commentary. Needless to say having our child in church has blessed us beyond measure.

This book is a must read for lay people as well as pastors and church workers. All I can say is WOW! Children in Church has a powerful question for parents, “Why are we separating out the children from the main worship service?” Is this separation hindering spiritual growth in our families?

Head on over to http://childreninchurch.com/order/ and order a copy, get one for your pastor and your best friend at church. This is a must read.