We've developed some helpful resources in the following areas:
Our spiritual walk with God is the most significant part of our
lives
as Christians and should naturally be a significant part of
our homeschool lives.
Much of what our children know and believe about God is learned by
observation of our lives, behaviors and attitudes. Our personal
walk with God is the single most important influence on the success of
our homeschool.
The greatest need of those around me is my personal holiness
-Robert Murray McCheyne
More than a hearty breakfast and a well-organized curriculum, my children need me to be in tune with God and His will.
RESOURCES
FOR MOM
This is for those who have had a hard time getting a regular quiet time “off the ground” or in making it a regular part of their day.
FOR THE WHOLE FAMILY
I developed this reading plan at a time that I felt a “read through the Bible in a year” plan was too cumbersome for me. It allows a person to fully read Psalms, Proverbs, the New Testament and one third of the Old Testament each year- amounting to just two chapters of reading per day- a pretty manageable amount for most people.
This is one of the best quiet time tools I’ve ever come across. Here are the instructions on how to set up an index card box with a rotation of scriptures and prayer requests that you can use on a daily basis.
FOR THE KIDS
Print this page onto a piece of cardstock and then cut it into two colorful bookmarks- one for the Old Testament books and the other for the New Testament. If you tuck it in your Bible or another book you’re reading on a regular basis, you’ll have an easy reminder and way to practice the books of the Bible with your children.
I encouraged my oldest son to use this tool during his quiet time in his early elementary years.
This is an acronym tool I developed to use with our oldest son in helping him think about the different aspects of prayer as he was developing a personal prayer life.
All time is Yours, Lord.
It’s silly of me to think it’s mine,
for every minute I have has been allowed by You,
to be used to Your glory.
So I shouldn’t be protective of 'my time'
or get angry, irritated or upset when something
appears to 'waste' 'my time'.
You’ve divinely allowed each interruption
or 'distraction' as part of Your best will for me.
I thoroughly enjoy organizing, planning and scheduling.
But I always want to be sure my plans are in submission to the Lord's. Utilizing scripture reminders and prayer are the
best way to ensure this.
Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that will prevail.
Proverbs 19:21
Show me your ways, O Lord;
Teach me your paths.
Lead me in your truth and teach me,
For you are the God of my salvation;
On you I wait all the day.
Psalm 25:4-5
Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:3
Trust in the Lord with all your heart,
Lean not on your own
understanding. In all your ways
acknowledge Him and He will make
your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6
I wait for the Lord, my soul waits,
and in His word I put my hope.
Psalm 130:5
Print out a copy of this cute prayer a friend gave my mom and I have posted on my refrigerator.
A great reminder every day.
Teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are; help us to spend them as we should.
Paraphrase of Psalm 90:12
Making a choice- declaring what is essential-
creates a framework for a life that eliminates many choices
but gives meaning to the things that remain.
Goal Setting Tools
This resource is based on Luke 2:52, which describes how Jesus grew and matured in all aspects of his life. We use this four point framework to think about and set goals for each new school year. We used to just list out “academic, physical, spiritual, relational”, but we jazzed it up a bit for junior high with the terms from the Luke 2:52 devotional series and some fun clip art.
I love this tool and we use it at the start and end of each school year. We prayerfully go through the list of the fruit of the spirit, marking where we currently see ourselves on our own personal copy. We discuss with each other in what areas God may be encouraging us to grow. We then add these areas of possible growth to our scripture/prayer box as a point of prayer for ourselves and our fellow family members.
Planners
To be added!
This is a menu plan I developed for a special I promoted in the Homeschool Enrichment magazine. It includes suggestions for breakfast, lunch and dinner for every day of the month.
This is a menu plan I developed for our family utilizing the recipes from my cookbook, Everyday Wholesome Eating. Even if the full plan doesn’t personally appeal to you, it may stimulate some thoughts in developing your own plan.
This explains step-by-step one way to go about developing your own one month menu plan.
Developing a Workable Housework Plan
Here I share some encouragement in how to set up a housework plan for your family.
Example of our family's monthly housework table
I share this just as an example of how a monthly housework plan can be set up. You'll need to
custom-make one for your own family's needs
Training our Children in Household Tasks
This shares some of the why's and how's of getting our children involved in home maintenance.
I developed this handout for a class I teach called "Healthy Body, Healthy Home". It covers some of the concerns with common cleaners and shares some alternatives and simple recipes for your own cleaners.
This table lists concerns with common cleaners, gives store-bought alternatives plus simple home-made versions.
|
We regret the quality of the image isn't better
|
We are very excited to offer our
instructional coloring pages for sale.
Visit our products page to order it in a
looseleaf or bound format.
$7.00
$9.00
Suggestions for use of the “In Our Family . . .” coloring pages:
There are 32 individual pages, which makes it the perfect number to use in the course of a school year. You could do one page per week with your children for eight weeks of each term, and then spend the last week in review.
The children can color the pictures while you discuss with them the instruction, the scripture, and real-life situations they might find themselves in that this instruction would apply to. The children can collect the pages in their own book or binder, or the pictures can be posted on the refrigerator, on the dining room table or near the bathroom mirror, so there’s frequent opportunity to review the instruction and the supporting scriptures.
You can go through the pages in any sequence you’d like. You may want to order them by what you feel your children can understand developmentally (for instance, start with one like “We ask permission before doing or taking something” and progress from there) or select ones that seem most relevant to your family’s current needs.
Why we created the “In Our Family. . .” coloring pages:
All families have their own “unspoken” rules and guidelines. Because our family is involved with foster care and adoption, we realized that these unspoken rules need to be clearly presented to new children in our home. We also recognized that having clearly laid out expectations and instructions even for children who have grown up in our home can reduce the stress and strain in day-to-day living. We pray that you’ll find these instructions, scriptures and the resulting discussions immensely beneficial in your home.
The first few pages of the book offer some practical encouragements for moms and dads in the area of child training. The book is available in two formats for versatility of use. Choose the loose leaf version if you want to be able to sequence the pages according to your family's needs or be able to post them in the home as reminders. The bound book allows the pages to remain neatly collected in one place.
We are very interested in our children having learning hearts
My son and I came up with this great acronym for LEARN that shows a learner's attitude
when being given an instruction or reprimand
L- listen
E- eye contact
A- accept instruction humbly
R- respond respectfully
N- no rebuttal, defense or argument
