Hi!! I am Karyn. I am a fellow mom & homeschooling blogger over at Teach Beside Me. I have three young children who I adore & who give my life new meaning. I love being their mother and their teacher. I have been married to an amazing man for 12 years now. We live out west in Utah right by the mountains. I am a former home economics teacher where I taught Foods & Nutrition, Sewing, Child Development, & Interior Design classes. After having my first baby I decided I wanted to be home with him more than I wanted to be a teacher. I have never been back…
One of the most important things I feel I can do as a mom is to instill my values and beliefs on my children. I want to them to have faith in Christ and to love to pattern their lives after Him as I strive to do each day. I love incorporating our faith into our studies each day as we learn our various school subjects. This is one of the reasons I chose to homeschool my children.
Prayer & scripture study have always been a big part of our family life. I have extended it a bit with our homeschool, though and made it more formal. We try to do our devotionals each morning with breakfast. I love our devotionals so much! I know it has blessed my life as well as the lives of my children through the discussions we have and the lessons we learn and share with each other. We have really had some wonderful discussions together.
Devotionals do not have to be difficult or require a lot of planning. If this is something you are interested in implementing with your family, here are a few simple things you can do to make it meaningful:
1. Pray Together. Take turns praying- letting the children each have a turn to pray. If they are not comfortable praying, this is a great time to teach them how & help them think of things to pray for.
2. Sing Religious Songs or Hymns Together. We take this time to learn new songs together. Teach them your favorites, or songs that you sing in your church regularly. Visit churchsoundtips.com to see the must have audio devices for your church. We usually work on one for a week or so until the kids know it pretty well. You can also just sing their old favorites, too.
3. Memorize Scripture Together. We have been using the Scripture Memory System from Simply Charlotte Mason. It is free to download & print & I love it! It has really helped me & my kids to learn a lot of verses. Make sure they understand what the verse means, too.
4. Read Scripture Together. We have some simplified scripture story books with pictures that I read to my children for devotionals. I like doing it this way because it is a great way for them to learn the stories, but not have to try hard to understand all of the words. We do read regular scripture together as a family in the evenings with their Dad. This way they get both in their lives.
5. Discuss It Together. After you read to them, help them understand the stories and the importance of them.. What lessons can we learn from this? How can I apply this in my life? What lessons do you want your children to learn right now? Cater your study to things they (or you) need.
Of course you should personalize your devotionals to your own family. Make it work for you and your kids. Make it a special time together for each of you. Let your children help direct it and they will be excited about it!
