Wednesday, April 06, 2011

HOW We Teach Our Children, Pt. 2 of 3

So now that you know WHY we do all these things, we come to the part that you all have been dying to read…I know…HOW do we do all these things.  I think that one of the reasons I wrote before about finding out what you love and what you are good at, is because how we teach our children should reflect who we are.  What works for me might not work/appeal to someone else.  Cool, figure out something different.  I would love to hear other ideas.  But we cannot neglect this responsibility, even if we don’t enjoy it…kinda like I cannot neglect my bathroom.  And unlike the bathroom (in theory I can hire someone else to clean it), I have sole responsibility to train my children.  It cannot be left to Sunday school teachers, or youth group counselors.  I really tried to make this co-herent, but I really think I lost my brain when True was born, so most attempts these days seem to fail.  Take this for what it is worth.

Circle Time.  
Most mornings, right after breakfast we have "circle time".  CT can last anywhere from 15 minutes to 45 depending on the day and the mood of the girls.  We talk about what is going to happen during the day, eg. ballet or playgroup, and then we move into reading our children's Bible, doing our catechism questions, memory verse and then we end with singing and praying.  I have gotten really good at doing all this fast, because I have an antsy 3 year old.  I make everyone sit still during the Bible story, and then I let Annelise loose and work with HC on the questions and verses.  Annelise will still be int he room with us, but I do not make her sit still, she just runs around and plays.  And then she will come and sit down for our singing time and our prayer time.  I try to be really flexible with this time, sometimes the girls are really into all of it and we will sit here a long time, and other times they are squirmy and we read the story and sing and are off.  Even with doing all this, we are usually onto the rest of our day by 8.15.  I think this is also where my personality comes out, because I do this a number of different ways, and am always trying new ideas.

Catechism.
I have had to remind myself that the purpose of this time is really to introduce my children to God.  It is not for them to master the subject (like that is possible).  Sometimes I will get frustrated if HC has a hard time remembering the answer to a question about God...like we have been going over this for 3 weeks, why is this still hard?  But, wow, she has a life time to learn all these things, and truly they can never really be mastered, so at this point I am encouraging her to memorize and remember, but if she has a hard time getting it that is OK.  I have also realized that the catechism can be a great resource, or it can be drudgery.  I am trying to use it as a resource.  We are memorizing the questions and answers, but I will also spend time talking to them about it.  We have spent countless hours talking about the Holy Spirit and how he regenerates our hearts/washes our hearts all clean.  We do use the real word, regeneration, but then also make it understandable for the little ones.  It is fun, and the girls like talking about these things.  It gives them a language of faith, and something for us to talk about at other times of the day.

A couple days ago HC was talking about the mean lady in "Tangled".  "She was not a nice lady, Mama," she said, "her heart is dirty, she needs the Holy Spirit to wash her heart all clean."  Or we were talking about our friend, Jess, who is going to Ethiopia to "tell people about Jesus, so that the Holy Spirit can come and wash their hearts all clean."  

Memorizing.  
I am a big memorizer.  I think it is very important, and a great way to get information into their little brains.  The nice thing is at this age it is super easy for them to memorize.  I hope by memorizing I am giving them something to draw on later in life, and I am giving them a working knowledge of the Bible.  Sometimes we do solitary verses, but often times we will do passages or chapters of scripture.  We often do this in our "circle time" in the mornings, but I have also done it in the car, and at the table during a meal.  Sometimes I will pray the verse.  Sometimes I will just repeat it a couple of times a day, and sometimes I will have them repeat it with me.  I have picked passages a number of diferent ways.  I like using the call to worship from my church's worship service, or I'll use the verse that goes along with a particular catechism question we are learning, or a passage I have found and enjoyed.

Random Ideas.
Sometimes I pick a theme.  Recently we worked on Psalm 23, so I worked with the girls on memorizing the passage.  We read a little story book that talked about Psalm 23.  And then I taught them a song that had parts of Psalm 23 in it.

Last fall we read through the Psalms, so every morning at breakfast I would read to them a couple of Psalms.  

Sometimes after we read the BIble story in the children's Bible, I will read the REAL story in the REAL Bible.  Call me crazy, but it is fun, and the girls really enjoy hearing it read again.  I think there is something powerful about the real, written word of God.  Call me crazy, but doesn't it say something about it being living and active?

Singing.
We sing a lot in our house.  Dave is very musical, and I can carry a tune and I remember songs very easily, so we sing a lot.  We sing in the car, we sing in the house, we sing outside on a walk.  Dave sings with them every evening while he puts them to bed, and I sing every morning with them in our Circle Time.  Dave is great about teaching them all the fun songs with the fun motions, and I am really good about teaching them hymns.  They know numerous songs, and if we teach them a hymn we teach them all the verses.  I personally think that hymns are a great way to teach them/me about God.  Do I need to convince anyone about that?  DOn't get me wrong, there are some crap hymns out there, but there are also some awesome, wonderful amazing hymns written by John Newton, Issac Watts, William Cowper, etc.  We also love a lot of songs written by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty.

Confession of Sin.
I'll refer to my previous post on this subject.  The girls are getting better at doing this, and it is very interesting to watch.

Worship.
Dave and I have a lot of new thoughts about this topic, and I could probably go on and on for a while about it.  Our children need to be attending worship with us!!!  And we need to help teach them what worship is all about, and how to participate in worship.  Thankfully our church does not keep children and parents segregated, and at 4th grade the children are in the worship service for the whole time, sermon and all.  But Dave and I are getting a little crazy, and we are starting to bring HC with us for the whole service.  There is a lot of thought and prayer that has gone into this decision, but for our family we have decided it is the best decision for now.  We might change our minds at some point, but it is sticking for now.  HC and Annelise come to sing for the beginning part of the service, and then HC has the privilege of worshiping with us through the sermon and the sacraments.  And Dave and I are working hard to help her understand and participate in what is happening in the sermon and the sacraments.  It has been cool, and I am thankful that we are doing it.  There is a little teaser, and I should probably write a whole post with all my thoughts...one day.  Bottom line, worship is a means of grace.  Sometimes it is "boring" and sometimes it is "exciting" but either way it is necessary and important and it is a way to experience God.  There is something powerful about the proclamation of the word...not because our pastor is so awesome...but because God has made it powerful.  To me learning to worship is a discipline, just like learning to read, spell, and add.  It is hard work, but it is necessary work, and we felt that HC was ready to begin to learn how to worship with us.  I'll keep you posted on how it goes, but the other day she was telling one of our friends how much she enjoys attending worship.  She is also super anxious to have a chance to eat the "crackers and grape juice", and asked if when she was 6 she could take communion.  I haven't broken the news that she will likely have to wait until 10 or 11, or whatever age she is when she makes a public profession of faith and joins the church (but around here, it is usually around 10).  

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