I can remember being a young teenager and dreaming of the day I would have a husband and kids – my own family. I had beautiful dreams of what my life would be like. What my kids would look like, act like and how our family would just be perfect. HA!! That was never going to happen. At least not the perfect part!
Until Mister Bull was in Pre-K (enrolled at our church preschool), I never gave much thought to homeschooling or teaching my own kids. I always felt God called me to be a teacher, I just didn’t know it would be to my own kids; at least not for their schooling. I know as parents, we’re called to teach our kids, so today I wanted to share with you some practical ways we have chosen to teach our children about our Faith. As they grow we will challenge them to have their own faith, but we’re still working with youngen’s so this is where we are for now.
1. LIVE IT!!! Many “Christian” children grow up in a home where they learn about faith, but never see it lived out. This becomes a hindrance to them developing true faith or only creates a Pharisee. They grow up not knowing simply “about” Jesus, but not truly knowing Him. They see this “fake faith” as simply a religion.
2. Read the Bible with them – DAILY!!!! The Hubster usually does this in the evenings. Right now he is reading through the Psalms with them. It doesn’t matter what you read or how much. Just read with them and talk about it.
3. PRAY with them!! This doesn’t have to be just at bedtime or mealtimes. Pray with them about everything. They need to understand that no problem or issue is too small to take before the throne of the Almighty…something we adults often forget. I have found myself humbled many times by this very act with my kids. Nothing is ever too small for our Almighty Father.
4. TEACH them. Don’t just read the typical Bible stories to your kids. Really teach them what those stories are about and how faith played a role. Yes, Noah built a HUGE boat out of obedience. But do we ever talk about how much Faith that really took? He’d never seen rain, the people – some who he even called friends – called him a fool; yet he continued building. That’s FAITH!!
5. Since the Hubster and I attended Bible college, we have many friends who are missionaries. Some we know their exact locations and see tons of pictures. Others…we simply know a general area. And still others have to use fake names on facebook to keep people posted. We want our kids to know the sacrifice and FAITH these friends have. A faith that took many of them around the world from their families, modern conveniences and all they knew. We have a weekly calendar that we use to pray for our friends. We pray for them on a specific day of the week. Since I’ve been sick we’ve been out of this habit, but it is coming back!! We also have a HUGE wall-size map of the world that I hope to hang up someday soon. And when its hung up we’ll have a push-pin on each location we have friends we pray for. This will be very visual for the kids (and us too).
6. The curriculum I use for Mister Bull is wonderful. We use Apologia’s “What We Believe” series. It promotes a Biblical worldview and a personal faith. Not a faith of our parents, Sunday School Teacher, family members, etc. I love how it breaks each lesson down so that it is taught thoroughly and clearly. As we go along in this series Mister Bull is being pushed to think for himself and create his own faith and identity in Christ.
In what ways do you teach or instill a genuine FAITH in your children? Please leave a comment to share or a link to your own post on this subject!!
Join me next week as I talk about Teaching Your Kids: About Money
Blessings,
Annette
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