Probably done to death thread...how do you ...

[ukok]

How do you raise your children to know and love and respect God and his written word ?. What do you do each day that brings your children closer to the LORD and in acceptance of the LORD. Do you pray as a family, if so, have you always done so. If you became a Christian later in life, how accepting were your children of the new things that you wished to incorporate in to your family life ?

Do you read the Bible together or do Bible studies ?, Do you talk naturally of God and your Christian beliefs (i'm assuming most of us here have Christian beliefs- if past posts and responses are anything to go by).

Or are you more formal in your prayers and have set times to discuss the Bible and study scripture ?

I apologise if this topic has indeed been "done to death", but i would be very interested to know how others include God in their family lives each day and what special/ family things you all do, to attempt to raise your kids in Christ.

 

[lucypevensie]

Deut 6:7-8

Talk about God's commandments
-when you sit at home
-when you walk along the road (or drive)
-when you lie down
-when you get up
Tie them on your hands and forehead
Write them on the doorfames and gates of your houses.

As is evidenced by the above scripture God wants us to think about Him a lot.

There are so many ways we can teach our kids about God. God has to be on MY mind before I can teach my kids anything about God. It starts with me being in constant fellowship and communication with God.

What do we do specifically? I talk about God several times in the day. I bring up scripture that is relevant to whatever is going on. When the kids misbehave I often let scripture speak for me because they are ultimately disobeying God, not me. We go to church, pray at bedtime, thank God for our food. Lots of stuff.

 

[Beckijhn]

We're a little non-traditional since I homeschool, but this is what we do, for the most part.

I do my devotions in the morning and when I'm done we get together on the couch and pray over our day and whatever is specifically going on. Then the kids do theirs. I have a non-reader (meaning she would prefer to DO not READ ) 12yod and a 10yo son that spend about 15 minutes reading the next little section (I believe they are in Luke and Mark right now). My oldest will disappear for an hour or so and just study and pray (15yod) unless we have an early job and then she'll read to me on the way.

At night we pray about specific things (unsaved friends, family situations, finances, whatever - my son prays for Jeff Corwin and the Crocidile Hunter because they believe in evolution - so any concern is addressed at that time).

In addition they have Bible class that is a subject they study. The younger ones have used curriculum from Christian Liberty Press and I've done The Priceless Woman (Titus 2), Beautiful Girlhood, and The life of Jesus with my oldest. She's now studying Rooted and Grounded (missions).

Also God is the first and foremost and in a lot of our conversations throughout the day

HTH

 

[ukok]

Beckijhn,

The studies that you and your children have done, were they available through your church or are they available online or for purchase ? They sound very interesting and i would like to be able to incorporate something like that in my own family. We do study the Bible scriptures, but the children would benefit even more by having study guides etc, The Christian Liberty Press, could you please explain a little more about it please ?

By the way, your family sounds really great!

 

[Beckijhn]

Thanks ukok!

Go to http://www.christianbook.com and click on the homeschool tab up top. Then put "Studying God's Word" in the search field. That's what we did through 6th grade. For my older daughter (jr in high school) we did "God's Priceless Treasure" (or God's Priceless Woman - I don't have it in front of me) it's a Titus 2 study. We also did "The Life of Christ". Now she's doing Rooted and Grounded - It's about missions and they have a website. They are called Rooted and Grounded but I don't remember the site off hand.

I hope this helps a bit!

 

[ukok]

thanks Beckijhn, i'm going to check out that link right now - thanks for posting it !

 

[stargazer]

My son is still young so we pray with him, go to church and read bible stories. I want to find a good childrens bible with lots of pictures. I saw one at Barnes & Noble that I really like. Thanks for the link. Even though my son is too young to understand devotions (he couldn't even sit through one), it's good for future reference.

 

[ukok]

Another thing that i like for the children to do is to read from two books that i recently bought.

I purchased two books, one has 365 prayers in it and the other is a Bible that depicts in easy to understand format the majority of the adult version, only in 365 pages, one page for each day.

I find that the children are enthusiastic to read scripture each day if they know that there is an order to it and that i'm not going to bore them silly with my long winded explanations!

just another idea for you all.