Hope Chest Home School News #48 part 2: "What Do You Think?"

#1 · March 20, 2002, 12:11 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on March 20, 2002, 12:11 pm
Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

Ideas and Inspiration for Home Education

Issue #48 part 2: "What Do You Think?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2: Our Readers Write

• QUIET TIMES FOR CHILDREN by Barbara Campbell

• READING COMPREHENSION TIPS by Pam Thompson

• COMING HOME TO THINKING SKILLS by Jodi in North Carolina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUIET TIMES FOR CHILDREN

by Barbara Campbell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At our last home school group meeting, we had a wonderful discussion about character training. One of the young mothers was asking how we did this. A wonderful mom replied that she found a large part of character training is having your child spend time alone with God each day.

This mom has 3 girls -- ages 14, 11, and 7. They must spend time in prayer and reading the Word daily -- she requires it. She has taught them that this time is not just a time to say a quick prayer, read a verse and be done. It is time alone each day with God. Time to sing, praise, tell Him anything, thank Him, pray for yourself and others.... you get the idea. And she holds them accountable. Each morning she asks them "Have you had your time with God?" If the answer is no, off they go to do so. She does not oversee what they do or how long, but she finds out when they gather around for their table time. This is not what we call table time in our house --- which is math, handwriting etc. This is a time of sharing what God is doing in each person's life. Even mom shares! They share a verse (or more) they read that day and tell what it means to them and their life.

She laughed because her 7 year old recently shared a verse that was something like "And they went on to Capernaum". She asked her what that verse meant in her life and the child said "Well, I'm not really sure, but I thought you would like it." She did not make her go back and find another verse, she just thanked her. The key of course is to make this a serious time, but not a dreaded chore.

Another mom shared that her kids have Quiet Time from around 2 and up (she has 5 precious children and 1 on the way). She explains it similar to what the other mom does -- a time with God to sing, pray, read the Bible. As she said, who knows what her 2 1/2 year old does during that time! Ü She also shared the sweetest story -- her just turned 5 year old was having her Quiet Time. Mom walked by and saw her reading in her Bible -- she cannot read yet -- she had her Bible open as if she was reading and she was quoting verses she had memorized! Too precious.

Someone then mentioned that they had always heard you should not make a child do Quiet Time, etc., it would turn them off to it... make them not want to do it. I agree if you make QT a chore -- something to do or be punished, but these moms are training their children in a Christian discipline. It is truly a habit to these children and I believe they will be less likely to drop it along the way as those of us who started this as adults often do.

Remember Proverbs 22:6 tells us "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." -- That is a promise!

Besides, as one mom shared, we make our kids do lots of things that are for their own good - we make them brush their teeth, wash their bodies, pick up their rooms, etc. Why not make them spend time with God? Isn't that more important than all the other things we make them do?

Again - I think it is important to teach them how special this time is -- to make sure it is not just something marked off a to-do list.

I also think devotional books are fine, but I really believe teaching them to read the Word is the best thing. My daughter, Katherine (14) amazes me with what she reads -- simply because I would never have done so at her age. She likes to read Psalms each day to get her going - Ps. 9 is her current favorite. Right now she is studying Ecclesiates on her own. She is also reading a great book called For Such a Time as This by Lisa Ryan. It is based on Esther.

Luke (9) uses a devotional. I have encouraged him to read his Bible, but he asked for a devotional book. He is currently reading "Seven Ducks in Dirty Water" from Tyndale (Isn't that a wild name!) My one fault with it is that the scripture is printed out for you in the book, so he does not have to open his Bible. It is not a year long book -- in fact he should finish it by the end of March. I want to find something that gets him into the Word more.

I have encouraged my kids to have Quiet Times for years and Katherine is so diligent. She keeps her Bible and journal, etc., right by her bed and each morning I hear her lamp click on and then she picks up her Bible, etc., puts on her glasses and dives in. She loves the Word! I have not been as diligent in training Luke until this year. He has been doing better, but some days he just does not get around to it. SO this week we have adopted our friends' time of sharing. Yesterday when we came together for our Bible time, we sang and prayed and then shared something from each of our Quiet Times and then read our Bible together. It was awesome to see what God was showing the kids. We have done this before spontaneously when someone just wants to share something, but I think doing it on a regular basis will be good -- keeps us all accountable!

I confess this is easy since we home school - we have time in the a.m., but I think non-HSed kids can (and should) do this also. Time with God should be built into their morning routine. If there is no time to share before leaving for school, you could do so after they get home over after school snacks or even that evening as a family. Just make it work for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

READING COMPREHENSION TIPS

by Pam Thompson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You asked for tips on thinking skills, so I thought I would send you a tip that has helped my son (8) with reading comprehension. In his geography book, I read the lesson ahead of time and highlight the main ideas and main facts to remember. Then he can read it with the intention of stressing those highlights and keeping them in mind. I've been doing this just this year (since September) and he is almost able to do this on his own now. It has really helped him with picking out the main ideas. ~~Pam (NC)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COMING HOME TO THINKING SKILLS

by Jodi in North Carolina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to tell you about our experience with thinking skills. My son went to a public school for kindergarten, then to Christian traditional school for the next 5 years. Then, when they could no longer afford to pay me to teach the computer classes, we came home for school. That was last year. I have to tell you that I was appalled at my son's lack of thinking skills. He could regurgitate (sorry for the descriptive word, but it is the best for this) what he had been told in the classroom, but if you asked him: "What do you think about this?", he would give you a blank stare. We have been working diligently on this weakness, and are making great progress, but still have a long way to go. I find that it is quite typical among students in the public school environment. I'm so very glad we came home for school.

Posted by: homenews <homenews@...>

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HOPE CHEST

Ideas and Inspiration for Home Education

Issue #48 part 2: "What Do You Think?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Part 2: Our Readers Write

• QUIET TIMES FOR CHILDREN by Barbara Campbell

• READING COMPREHENSION TIPS by Pam Thompson

• COMING HOME TO THINKING SKILLS by Jodi in North Carolina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUIET TIMES FOR CHILDREN

by Barbara Campbell

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At our last home school group meeting, we had a wonderful discussion about character training. One of the young mothers was asking how we did this. A wonderful mom replied that she found a large part of character training is having your child spend time alone with God each day.

This mom has 3 girls -- ages 14, 11, and 7. They must spend time in prayer and reading the Word daily -- she requires it. She has taught them that this time is not just a time to say a quick prayer, read a verse and be done. It is time alone each day with God. Time to sing, praise, tell Him anything, thank Him, pray for yourself and others.... you get the idea. And she holds them accountable. Each morning she asks them "Have you had your time with God?" If the answer is no, off they go to do so. She does not oversee what they do or how long, but she finds out when they gather around for their table time. This is not what we call table time in our house --- which is math, handwriting etc. This is a time of sharing what God is doing in each person's life. Even mom shares! They share a verse (or more) they read that day and tell what it means to them and their life.

She laughed because her 7 year old recently shared a verse that was something like "And they went on to Capernaum". She asked her what that verse meant in her life and the child said "Well, I'm not really sure, but I thought you would like it." She did not make her go back and find another verse, she just thanked her. The key of course is to make this a serious time, but not a dreaded chore.

Another mom shared that her kids have Quiet Time from around 2 and up (she has 5 precious children and 1 on the way). She explains it similar to what the other mom does -- a time with God to sing, pray, read the Bible. As she said, who knows what her 2 1/2 year old does during that time! Ü She also shared the sweetest story -- her just turned 5 year old was having her Quiet Time. Mom walked by and saw her reading in her Bible -- she cannot read yet -- she had her Bible open as if she was reading and she was quoting verses she had memorized! Too precious.

Someone then mentioned that they had always heard you should not make a child do Quiet Time, etc., it would turn them off to it... make them not want to do it. I agree if you make QT a chore -- something to do or be punished, but these moms are training their children in a Christian discipline. It is truly a habit to these children and I believe they will be less likely to drop it along the way as those of us who started this as adults often do.

Remember Proverbs 22:6 tells us "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not turn from it." -- That is a promise!

Besides, as one mom shared, we make our kids do lots of things that are for their own good - we make them brush their teeth, wash their bodies, pick up their rooms, etc. Why not make them spend time with God? Isn't that more important than all the other things we make them do?

Again - I think it is important to teach them how special this time is -- to make sure it is not just something marked off a to-do list.

I also think devotional books are fine, but I really believe teaching them to read the Word is the best thing. My daughter, Katherine (14) amazes me with what she reads -- simply because I would never have done so at her age. She likes to read Psalms each day to get her going - Ps. 9 is her current favorite. Right now she is studying Ecclesiates on her own. She is also reading a great book called For Such a Time as This by Lisa Ryan. It is based on Esther.

Luke (9) uses a devotional. I have encouraged him to read his Bible, but he asked for a devotional book. He is currently reading "Seven Ducks in Dirty Water" from Tyndale (Isn't that a wild name!) My one fault with it is that the scripture is printed out for you in the book, so he does not have to open his Bible. It is not a year long book -- in fact he should finish it by the end of March. I want to find something that gets him into the Word more.

I have encouraged my kids to have Quiet Times for years and Katherine is so diligent. She keeps her Bible and journal, etc., right by her bed and each morning I hear her lamp click on and then she picks up her Bible, etc., puts on her glasses and dives in. She loves the Word! I have not been as diligent in training Luke until this year. He has been doing better, but some days he just does not get around to it. SO this week we have adopted our friends' time of sharing. Yesterday when we came together for our Bible time, we sang and prayed and then shared something from each of our Quiet Times and then read our Bible together. It was awesome to see what God was showing the kids. We have done this before spontaneously when someone just wants to share something, but I think doing it on a regular basis will be good -- keeps us all accountable!

I confess this is easy since we home school - we have time in the a.m., but I think non-HSed kids can (and should) do this also. Time with God should be built into their morning routine. If there is no time to share before leaving for school, you could do so after they get home over after school snacks or even that evening as a family. Just make it work for you!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

READING COMPREHENSION TIPS

by Pam Thompson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You asked for tips on thinking skills, so I thought I would send you a tip that has helped my son (8) with reading comprehension. In his geography book, I read the lesson ahead of time and highlight the main ideas and main facts to remember. Then he can read it with the intention of stressing those highlights and keeping them in mind. I've been doing this just this year (since September) and he is almost able to do this on his own now. It has really helped him with picking out the main ideas. ~~Pam (NC)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

COMING HOME TO THINKING SKILLS

by Jodi in North Carolina

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I would like to tell you about our experience with thinking skills. My son went to a public school for kindergarten, then to Christian traditional school for the next 5 years. Then, when they could no longer afford to pay me to teach the computer classes, we came home for school. That was last year. I have to tell you that I was appalled at my son's lack of thinking skills. He could regurgitate (sorry for the descriptive word, but it is the best for this) what he had been told in the classroom, but if you asked him: "What do you think about this?", he would give you a blank stare. We have been working diligently on this weakness, and are making great progress, but still have a long way to go. I find that it is quite typical among students in the public school environment. I'm so very glad we came home for school.