Corey and I have never been great about family scripture study (Let's be honest...we are not great in many areas), BUT I decided that enough was enough. Our daughter Carlie turns 8 this year and is very excited to be baptized into our church: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints (aka The Mormons). But, I am afraid she doesn't really know what that means.....we have not done our jobs as her parents. I decided that the best way for her to be ready to be baptized was for us to finally get serious about reading the Book of Mormon as a family - DAILY. I have always had a million excuses; i.e.: my kids will not listen, they can't read, I hate mornings, we are too busy at night, blah.... blah...blah.
So here is our plan (thank you pinterest and sugardoodle.net)
We are using this reward system: (rewards are great for kids AND parents too!)
http://mymixofsix.blogspot.com/2011/01/bookmark.html
We are also using the Reading Chart below to track our progress towards each of the smaller goals outlined above.
http://c586449.r49.cf2.rackcdn.com/BOM%20Chart%20Full%20Page.pdf
I introduced this at Family Home Evening this past Monday and my kids are so excited. I have even agreed to getting up a little earlier so we can read every morning. We have only done this two days in a row, but I already notice a better spirit in my home and my kids are really cute with it. We have these simplified Book of Mormon books with great pictures for every few verses. So Corey and Carlie read from the Book of Mormon and I show the pictures to Carlie and Berkeley as we read. Good thing I inherited these books from my parents ( I loved them as a kid)....Berkeley stares at the pictures the whole time.
Here is what one of the books looks like....anyone remember these from their childhood. They were written in the 1960's by a BYU professor and illustrated by a guy that was a former Disney illustrator.
So......wish us luck creating this new worthy habit.
"If you don't have time to pray and read your scriptures, you are busier than God ever intended you to be."
I have been meaning for weeks now to send you and your mom the best site! After discovering Ella believed in the trinity (her best friend is Catholic)ande go to Palmyra the year the kids turn 8 during Spring Break and I kept thinking Spencer knew more at that age. The song "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus" kept running through my mind a couple months ago so I am doing the New Testament stories with the girls as part of homeschool every day. There is a site I will send you tonight that has journal prompts for kids that you can print for free onto labels. There is a picture and simple question. She has them for the Book of Mormon as well. We use a composite notebook that we covered that has blank space for a picture and then space for writing. I ask her the question after she reads and she tells me what she thinks about it. I also always ask what the main idea was to check for comprehension. We are working on narration in our language arts program (grammar, spelling, reading, writing). She has a hard time remembering to answer in complete sentences so this reinforces a lot of areas of need. ALSO, she is making connections all the time in life and school. We just finished ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia and she was able to see where Jesus was born and was happy when she found out they went to Egypt. Not NT related but when we talked about mummies (and almost made a chicken mummy) but chose to make the Nile River with grass seeds and pyramids instead, I was able to tell her about where we got the Pearl of Great Price
ReplyDeleteOne more GREAT free resource - I have started a serious course of personal scripture study. This lady has free printables for everything you can imagine for the scriptures - even family proclamation stickers that you can put next to a scripture that reflects that, she has the YW values, mutual theme, etc. But the best, best, best thing I learned is how to keep a topics journal and scripture journal while I study or read the Ensign (etc). The first week I did it I was able to see almost the same message in every church related thing I read and had the most spiritual experience realizing that God really is here every minute and knows us personally. I would not have seen that message had I not been writing these different things down (I don't watch TV at all anymore so I have a lot of time). I seriously keep thinking about the Easter pageant when Carlie yelled either "I LOVE YOU JESUS or I LOVE GOD" I can't remember exactly what she said but that memory hit me with my scripture journals and so now I think of those as "Carlie" moments in my mind b/c I seriously wanted to yell that from the rooftops.
Okay this is long and crazy, last thing - she has a ton of YW/YM resources and seminary - she was a seminary teacher and the most amazing talks from CES that I had never read before. And she has a two week walk with your scripture hero that we are all doing and it is just amazing. I will send all links tonight. I have to run to the store for dinner and my laptop is not letting my type links right now. Weird. I will just e-mail you. I want to see that BOM book you have, I'm going to have to look it up.
Wow...now that is one LONG comment Amy!!! I think I found the kid scripture thingy on pinterest. It is super cool.
ReplyDeleteI had TOTALLY forgotten about when Carlie yelled out - I love you Jesus. That was so cute.
I would love to know the other ladies' website - that would be great.
It sounds like you are kicking butt at being a home school momma. That is incredible how much you are dedicating to Ella's education. You are my hero...love ya!!!
I needed to read that post - I keep putting off family scripture study and have been trying to figure out how to do it. I need to stop figuring out and just do it. Gina/Amy, will you send me the links as well? I need all the help I can get!
ReplyDeleteJust do it Michelle!!! The links are in the post.
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