I set up a book basket in a cozy corner by the window. As I was making breakfast, I looked across the living to see my little guy intently looking at a library book.

Passing on the love of reading to my children has always been so important to me. Why? Because when you love to read, there is no limit to what you can learn.

Sometimes in this parenting journey, you catch little glimpses of the harvest you will reap after sowing for many years. And that is always a finer thing.

I love the age when children begin to ask questions about God, wanting to know more of this wonderful Savior we serve. My youngest is 7 and lately has been throwing out questions here and there. Even though he has been taught these truths since birth, it is exciting for me to see him begin to make connections in his little heart and mind. The other day we were riding in the car and had this conversation:

Son: “Mommy, are you born again?”

Me: “Yes honey, mommy is born again”

Son: “How did you become born again?”

Me: “Well honey, mommy realized that I wanted to live with Jesus in heaven forever, but I couldn’t because I was sinful. So I asked Him to come into my heart and forgive me of my sins.”

Son: “Oh, I did that the other night before I went to bed. So I am born again now too, right?”

Me: “Yes honey, if you did that you are born again too.”

Son (with much relief): “Oh Good because I want to live with Jesus forever too!”

My heart about leapt from my chest. Thank you Lord, for the finest thing in life, that of gently bringing my children into the knowledge of You.

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth. 3 John 1:4

I love Notebooking Pages and use many of them in my home schooling. I recently purchased the  Character Study notebooking pages and have really enjoyed them!.  We will be using them while studying the  49 Character Qualities this year and then I plan on making these into laminated, bound booklets for my children to keep, re read, and hopefully share with my future grandchildren.

Today Notebooking Pages has partnered up with with the Homeschol Freebie of The Day and is giving away a copy of their Character Study Notebook Pages.  You can get your copy here, and you will also receive 25%  off any item  you order in their store through July 31 when  you use the coupon code: hsfree25off.

Besides the Character pages,  my  other favorites are the Bird Notebooking Pages ,the Famous Composers Notebooking Pages and the American Presidents Notebooking Pages. Told you I liked them

Also, the Classic Prayers for Children sale ends today. I am planning on using this his little book with the the copywork notebooking pages for my two elementary aged children this year!

If character training is something you are looking to do more of this year, I  recommend the Character Journal website for loads of free ideas. I also like this site for lots of lap book  and minit book ideas. Notebooking pages also has many free resources for building character habits here.

What do you use for character training? I am always looking for more quality resources so please share your ideas!

We made it our goal this month to read a Proverb a day. Since there are 31 Proverbs, we will be able to get through the entire book by the end of the month (Lord willing!)

After reading all of the wisdom and instruction in just one chapter of Proverbs, I was trying to think of a way to make some of it stick. I want my children to not only be hearers of the Word, but doers also! Our devotional that goes along with our reading encouraged us to write down one verse and keep it in our pockets as a reminder throughout the day. Great idea! I decided to keep it going with every verse, helping my children develop a Pocketful of Proverbs!

Here is what we are doing:

1. We read aloud and discuss the daily Proverb

2. Then I have the children read it themselves and choose a verse to apply for the day. I try to encourage them to choose a verse that will challenge them in an area throughout the day.

3. I have them write out the verse on a small piece of paper and put it in their pockets. I don’t let have them have a new piece of paper everyday, but rather keep writing the verse of the day beneath the one the day before it. This is how they get the “pocketful”.

4. At the end of the day during our family devotions, each child takes out their Proverb of the day, reads it and shares how they applied it to their lives that day.

5. We have a great time discussing if we succeeded or failed in that area, and spend time praying about it.

This has worked out well for us this month, and has been a fun and simple way to have morning and evening time in God’s Word!

Every now and then it is good to evaluate that question: why do we home school our children?

Is it to give our children an excellent education, far superior to public schools? Is it so that we can shelter them from outside influences? Is it so that we can teach them at their own pace, and individualize their curriculum to suit their learning styles?

While all these do have there place in our reasons for homeschooling, they are really minuscule in the grand scheme of things.

Having a clear answer to this question helps us to evaluate curriculum in light of my goals for my children. It helps me to stay on path to achieve the purpose we had when we began this journey. It helps me to regain my focus when I have lost it. And it helps me to remain calm when I become overwhelmed.

For the most part, my husband and I are first generation Christians. As children, we attended church sporadically and were taught some basics, but being a Christian didn’t influence how we thought, what we did, or who we were. It was just something that we did on Sunday. The little strings of faith that we had then certainly helped us to get where we are today. and we are grateful for the faith that was given to us. But we have a much larger vision for our own family.

Since we have become parents, suddenly imparting our faith and values took on a whole new meaning. Having children gave us an urgency to train them up in righteousness, holiness, faith and love and to pass that onto the generations after us. It opened our eyes and hearts to see that training our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord can not only affect their souls for eternity, it can impact this sin darkened world far beyond the four walls of our home.

Our reasons for homeschooling extend far beyond academics. Homeschooling goes far beyond their “educational” years. It isn’t about getting through high school, passing a test, or having a good career. It is about building their foundation on the Rock, brick by brick, stone by stone (Matthew 7:24-27). In our little corner of homeschooling, we are training warriors for His army, disciples, future voters and leaders, men and woman who will impact this world for years to come. We believe we can steer the course of a nation through the diligent, Godly training of our children, and their children, and the children after them. God’s vision for family has always been multi-generational (Deut 6:2) and ours should be as well. We may not reap the harvest right away, but we are sowing into that harvest as we work to teach, guide, and love our children as God has called us.(Deut. 6:7)

The actions of my children will be based on what they believe as they grow into adults. How they view marriage, careers, money, God, creation, law and theology, to name a few, will be a reflection of what they believe. If they are not trained in truth according to God’s word, then they will be “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming” (Eph. 4:14) Instead may our children love God with all their heart and mind, from infancy know the holy Scriptures, grow in wisdom, stature and favor with God, take every thought captive to Christ, dwell on whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable so that they can be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

So why do we home school? Because if we are not teaching our children doctrine, someone else will. If we are not shaping their beliefs, someone else is. If we don’t have their hearts, someone else does. Homeschooling is a lot of work, it is hard, it has caused us to sacrifice many things in this life. No matter the difficulties, whatever the sacrifice, there is no other choice for us.

Every family has a reason as to why they do (or do not) home school. Whatever the choice is for your family,  having clarity as to why you are choosing the path you are on is so important. You will always have naysayers, those who agree or disagree with your choices. Having vision for our family has given us peace and assurance that we are doing what we believe we are called to do.  And I am so thankful that with all the uncertainties this world has to offer, we have a solid place to stand!

Joy at fivej’s.com has begun a new Thirsty Thursday meme which will focus on homeschooling topics and encouragement. She has an excellent article up today about choosing curriculum. I have been excited to join in and read others posts and encourage you to read them and link up if you have the chance!

Michelle emailed me this question :

I just recently came across your blog a couple of weeks ago and have been enjoying it. You mentioned that Friday’s were your outreach days. May I ask what kind of outreach you do with your children?

Perhaps some tips on how to begin if a person hasn’t yet started one? I have been wanting to do one for a while but I do have an A.D.D. boy, a pretty energetic, bouncy 7 year old girl and one teen girl. I have been trying to figure out what to do with them, but with the boy who has a hard time with interacting with others at times it is difficult to know what kinds of things we could do that would be a blessing and not trying for both him and the people involved that would be receiving ministry.

What a great question and I am honored to try to answer it! It has always been one of my goals as a parent to develop in my children a heart for ministry. All too often we think of ministry as being a missionary in a faraway land or participating in a church crusade or something of that nature. When we view the life of Christ though, we see that He reached out to the people He met throughout the course of His day whereever He was staying.  This is the model I want to represent for my children. I also want to train them to have their “spiritual radar” honed so that they can be sensitive to those in need, whether it is a smile, a prayer or a friendly letter in the mail or something much bigger. I believe the only way I can train them to hone that radar and grow in compassion for others is by actually doing it.

I also realize that if we don’t purpose to put others first on a regular basis, our days, weeks and months can easily fill up with things to do. So I decided quite a while ago that part of our home school education would be to set apart a ministry day. It made sense in our schedule to do this on Fridays.

We have done various things on these days as the Lord has lead us. Once we began to pray and seek who He would have us reach out to, there was no shortage of people and ideas He brought to our hearts!

Who does God call us to reach out to? In Scripture we are told to care for the widows, the orphans, the elderly, and the poor.  So begin by asking yourself: do you have any of these people around you? In your family, in your neighborhood, in your church? You will likely be able to think of many people. If not, there are organizations such as nursing homes and food pantries that you can volunteer your time or donate to. Here are a few things we have done for our ministry days:

::Visit widowed family members or the elderly

This has been one thing that we do the most and that my children enjoy the most! We have a few aunts that have lost their husbands in recent years, and really look forward to our visits.  Often times you can ask around your church if you cannot think of anyone yourself. There is also a home care facility near us that has an adopt an elderly person program that we will participate in this summer. If you visit an elderly person, perhaps you can take them outside to get some fresh air while your younger child plays. The elderly love to watch little children play and have fun. If you are visiting in someones home, invite them to come outside and walk with you if possible, and let your son run around and burn off some energy! I have a wiggly seven year old boy as well, so I have had to get creative in this area!

::Write letters

We began a few years ago having my children write random letters to family, church members and those who are lonely. It started out as a way to get some extra writing into our school schedule and has taken off into a ministry on its own! I have been amazed at how much this means to people. My daughter currently writes to a 102 year old woman in a nursing home a few towns away that she has never even met.  I have a letter writing box that contains paper, cards, stamps, envelopes, and addresses all in one place. Each week I encourage them to choose a person to write to and then we mail it out. We have even had people send along stamps to us so we could keep the letters coming!

::Donate to a local food pantry

Each week we try to purchase a few extra items that we can donate to a food pantry. Usually by the end of the month we have a nice sized box of items to give.  I use coupons and watch for deals for non perishable items that we can stockpile. It is an excellent way for your children to learn math and shopping as well as giving. Have them set a budget, clip the coupons, purchase the items and then deliver them with you. Many food pantries also need some help stocking their shelves or organizing etc. Ask them if  you could volunteer a period of time helping them. If you get your younger ones involved like this they are more likely to want to participate and feel a great sense of purposefulness.

::Donate clothing or toys

Many times  I will  have my children clean out their drawers and toys and we will pile them up and donate them to a local thrift shop that serves those in need.  You can also participate in Toys For Tots or a Coats for Kids program, involving your child as much as you can in choosing a toy or coat, and delivering it.

::Volunteer at Church Suppers or Soup Kitchens

My ten year old loves to serve, so she goes with my parents a lot to their monthly Spaghetti supper and helps out with serving and cleaning up.

Those are just a few ideas to get you started.  I think the most important thing is to pray about where God would use you and allow Him to lead.I am sure that He will guide you into just the right thing for your family

A few other thoughts for ministering with younger children:

::If you are visiting, it doesn’t have to be long.  Even a short visit is a blessing.

::Explain what you are doing and what you expect from them while you are doing it. Its a great time to practice obedience training!

::Get them involved as much as possible in what you are doing. This will hold their interest and keep their attention longer. If you are visiting, have them help you draw a picture or bake some cookies to bring along. If you are donating items, have them help you pack them and deliver them. I have found that my younger children have a natural heart towards service and love to feel as though they are being big helpers for God.

For your teen, a whole slew of opportunities are available and it is a great time for them to put feet to their faith. What does she like to do? Can she play an instrument? If so, perhaps she could teach a younger child whose family would not be able to afford professional lessons, or she could go to a nursing home and play for the elderly. Can she write? Encourage her to start up a family newsletter, a blog or a newsletter encouraging other girls in their faith. Can she lead? Encourage her to start a Bible study with some neighborhood children. Can she sew? Perhaps she can donate some goods to a fund raiser, or sell them herself and donate the funds to an organization. Can she bake (or learn to bake this summer)? Maybe she can make a meal for a family in need. Perhaps she can spend a day helping a mother with her chidlren, cleaning for someone who is sick or recovering from a surgery or illness etc.  Help her find her natural God given gifts and abilities and begin using them for the Lords purposes. She will be a blessing and be blessed!

I hope I answered your question, although I am sure I just scratched the surface of what can be done to minister to to others. ! I would love to hear back from you on any ideas you have implemented with your children in ministering and serving!

Do you have any outreach ideas that you do with your children? If so, I’d love it if you would share them in the comments with us so we can be encouraged and inspired!

Or should I say “How I Get My House Cleaned By Noon”

For more WW, go here!

Each end of the school year brings us to those glorious warm, long, sunny days where we can’t wait to get dressed and run outside to play.

My schedule is much looser in the summer months, but I still find it is worthwhile to have some kind of guide to get us through the days. Or my kids I become lazy. And not much gets done. And it is much harder to get on a schedule again when school starts. So this week I have set out to tackle a summer schedule that works for me.

When making up a schedule, I find it is easier to map out a few goals first. This helps me actually determine what to do with our time and have a purpose for our days.I have a tendency to have a lot of goals.  More than I will probably ever accomplish in a life time. I LOVE to set goals.  But this year I decided to take the MIT approach.

MIT stands for Most Important Tasks. Basically it is a few things that are most important to you that need to get done before anything else. These things become your focus for the day. And if nothing else gets done but these few things, it is perfectly ok. For an over achiever like myself, this is a great way to keep it simple.

The goal of setting MIT’s is that you limit yourself to a list of 3-5 things. Some people set new tasks everyday, but I decided that I will set some MIT’s for the summer that are a daily focus. My schedule will revolve around these things. Here are my summer MIT’s:

::Read God’s Word in the morning and evening each day followed by prayer time

::Bible/Hymn/Scripture memorization daily with children

::Exercise- walk each day with children, weights 3x a week

::Stay on cleaning schedule

::Plan a weekly outreach as a family

It was little difficult limiting myself to just five things. I have so many things I want to get done! But I kept asking myself, does it matter if I get this one thing done over the other? I have a book list I’d like to get through with my children, a bird study I’d like to do, some sewing, and many little projects that come to mind.Those things may or may not get done, but at least the important things will remain in focus for us. When I look back on our summer, I will be happy to see that we stuck to what was most important, like time in God’s Word, reaching out to others, maintaining a clean and orderly home, and staying healthy even if not much else gets done.

So with that in mind,  here is a rough draft of our summer schedule:

6:00 Awake, make husband’s lunch

6:30 Moms prayer/Bible time

7:00 Get ready for the day,

7:30 Children up, Breakfast

8:00 Am cleanup/kids chores

9:00 Family Bible/prayer/hymn/scripture

9:30 Walk

10:00 Snack/Free time

12:00 Lunch

12:30-3:00 Free time

3:00 Snack

4:00 Dinnner Prep

4:30 Dinner

5:00 Family Time

7:00 Baths/cleanup

7:30 Family Devotions

8:00 Children to bed

8:30 Scott and I study together*

9:00 Mom read Bible/prayer

Bed time

We have set Fridays as our weekly outreach day. During our free time, I’d like to fit in a few projects throughout the summer as we are able, but only after the MIT’s and IF it fits into our day without disturbing those things.

Also you will notice our children have an early bed time.They are not required to go to sleep at that time, just be in bed. My husband and I have set a goal to become more unified in our marriage and after discussing what this looks like, we decided that we needed to have some time to study and discuss things together without interruption (aka children!)! I am not sure if this evening schedule will work out, since he is so tired after a long day so we may have to adjust it. This month we are reading a book together, and in July we are participating in a Bible study together. I am very excited for it!

Do you have a summer schedule or set goals for the summer months? I’d love to hear about it! Share about your schedule/goals in the comments and if you have one posted, leave a link so we can all visit and be inspired!

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17

It is my sincere desire to raise my children to love the Lord with all their hearts, minds and souls. I would go to the ends of the earth and back just to ensure that they are following Him.

I long ago realized that I will never be a perfect parent (it was a hard realization). Thank goodness I have the Lord to not only train me up and correct my ways, but also fill in those gaping holes in my parenting that I am unable to fill in myself.

Have you ever heard the saying that children didn’t come with an instruction manual? I beg to differ. They came with a very detailed instruction manual called God’s Word.

Children learn what they live. Thankfully God gave children lots of grace that they extend to us.  Often times they get over our mistakes faster than we do! However habitual, continual and lingering sin on the part of the parents will affect your children. Godliness, love, humility, grace and gentleness will affect your children as well. If children learn what they live, it leads me to ask what are they living? What kind of home am I raising my children in?

God gives us a pattern for home life all through out Scripture. In the book The Heart of Anger by Lou Priolo, he breaks this home life down as the child centered home versus the God centered home. You could call it the secular home or the Christ like home. What ever you call it, there is much wisdom in evaluating what your home life is like. Here is what children learn in each home:

Child Centered Home	God Centered Home
Interrupts adults when they are talking	Doesn’t interrupt parents who are speaking to each other
Uses manipulation and rebellion to get their way	Cheerfully obeys parents the first time
Dictates the family schedule (including meal times, bed times etc)	To work their schedule around their parents other responsibilities in addition to meeting their needs
Takes precedence over the needs of the spouse	Joyfully serves others
Have an equal or overriding vote in all decision making matters	Understands that they will no always get their own way
Demands excessive time and attention from parents to the detriment of the other biblical responsibilities of the parents	To not be more intimate with either parent than the parents are with each other
Escapes the consequences of their sinful and irresponsible behavior	To suffer the natural consequences of their sinful and irresponsible behavior
Speaks to parents as through they were peers	To not speak to parents as though they were peers but to honor them as spiritual authorities
Are dominant in the influence of their home	To esteem others as more important than themselves
Are entertained and coddled, rather than disciplined out of a bad mood	To protect themselves from certain bad influences
	To fulfill various household responsibilities (chores)
	To not divide the parents over disciplinary issues

If you are anything like me, you could probably dip to either side of this chart depending on the day you are having. Thank goodness for repentance and grace, eh?

The goal, of course, is to move your home life from the left side to the right. To have more of a God centered home than a child centered home can be the difference between peace, harmony, hope or chaos, frustration and despair.

Raising my children in a home that reflects God’s model is going to require more time, more sacrifice, and more diligence on my part. But bringing up our children in the training and instruction of the Lord is one of the greatest, most sacred, highest and most noble responsibilities He has given me.

The time invested in developing a God centered home will have a huge return.  Obedient and cheerful children who think of others and understand their roles are much easier to raise than those who demand their way, have fits and tantrums, and manipulate you. You can see that most often in the grocery store. Which mother is getting her groceries done faster? The one with the screaming child who refuses to sit in the cart and ransacks the store? Or the one who contentedly sits in the cart smiling, while mommy does her shopping?

For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 1 Timothy 4:8

The degree to which we are investing in our children to produce Godly character is the degree to which treasures are being laid up in heaven. You are stomping on the kingdom of darkness with your Godly home. You are changing the world with your Godly arrows. What could be a more important investment of your time than that?

This chart has caused me to examine where my time is being invested, and it is obvious some things need to change. Maybe you can see that as well. (If not, call me, I need your guidance!). The great thing about our Lord is that He is a redeemer of time, and if we faithfully and diligently seek to bring Him glory and honor in raising our children, He will take what is wrong and help us make it right!

“In the end, though, what my children and husband need most from me is not a perfect home or perfect training or a perfectly spiritual role model or a wife without faults – but a mother and wife who is committed to doing whatever it takes to love them and make a home for them.” Sally Clarkson The Mission of Motherhood

Suggested Reading:

Your Family, God’s Way: Developing and Sustaining Relationships in the Home

The Heart of Anger (don’t wait until your child is angry to read this..good stuff!)

Hints on Child Training

Biblical Parenting

The Mission of Motherhood: Touching Your Child’s Heart for Eternity

This post is linked to Blissfully Domestic and Talk About Tuesday and Tuesdays Tip For Mom

There are a lot of mistakes I have made as a parent. But one thing I am determined NOT to fail at is training my daughters in the area of homemaking.

Considering that I got married not even knowing that you had to drain the macaroni when making mac n cheese (Yes the blue box kind. Yes, I know it had directions on the back. But I knew it all then. Ok!?), or that freezing a family pack of hamburger wasn’t a good idea, or that if I put melted candle wax down the drain it will harden and clog it…well you get the picture.My husband was a far better home maker than me, and that was really embarrassing. I had to learn the hard and fast way. And learn I did, but it was a tough few years (sorry honey!).

I want better beginnings for my girls. And just a note, it wasn’t my moms fault I wasn’t trained. She was an excellent homemaker, and she tried. But I decided at the tender age of, oh 10, that house work was not for me. I was going to be rich and hire a maid. And I honestly believed that. Then I fell in love, got married, and we had no money for a maid.

Thankfully my girls are much more teachable than I was. So one of my goals is for them to be flourishing, accomplished homemakers when they fly the nest. And homemaking is one of those things you just have to learn by doing.

So one day out of the week, I assign my oldest daughter (14) to cook our dinner, from start to finish. She has to choose the ingredients, see what we have on hand, make sure it is thrifty, tasty, and healthy, and prepare it, serve it and clean it up. She also is responsible for one breakfast each week.  I knew I would have  a maid someday, except this one is free. Just kidding, just kidding.

Lest you think I am a mean mom forcing my lovely daughter to a miserable evening of kitchen duty, think again. She loves it. And the teachable moments that have arisen that I never would have thought to teach have been invaluable. I can honestly say it has been one of the best things I have ever done!

What’s on the menu tonight? Yummy Ritzy Chicken. See it cooking up all pretty?

And now she is making breakfast: Banana Muffins! Yum!

Its a win win situation. She learns all the cooking skills, we have a yummy meal, and I get a night off from the kitchen! It works for me!