This past summer I wrote a series called Early Grammar Stage Focus. In it, I took a close look at the article 10 Things To Do With Your Child Before Age 10 from Trivium Pursuit and challenged myself to do better in the areas that they highlight. It is been a few months, and school is in full swing, so I want to check back in and see how I have done in each of the areas. Each week I will re-visit one of the 10 topics, so come back next week for more!
You can get this "10 things..." article plus SO much more information in the book Teaching the Trivium from the good people at Trivium Pursuit.
This week I am re-visiting the subject of family worship. The first time we talked about this we discussed what family worship is and some ideas for how it should be done. If you missed it or want a refresher, take a quick look at my first post on Family Worship.
At the end of our last discussion I set some goals for myself in this area. This is what I wanted to work on...
Goals
- Be there! Stop being lazy and go sit at the table with daddy and Trevor.
- Include Mackenzie (this requires that I do goal #1 first =)
- Include singing?
- Include responsive prayer
I am please with how we have done since I set these goals. First and foremost, I am thankful that we have been consistent with these times. Each night before bed we gather (usually on the floor in the family room) and read the Bible together. Daddy reads, asks questions, and reviews with us. 99% of the time I participate now and Mackenzie is fully engaged too! She is able to answer simple questions and remember which book of the Bible we are reading from.
We have not added singing or 'responsive' prayer to this time of family worship, but the kids and I memorize songs during our morning circle time and I am happy with that. We do pray together as a family and it is really neat to see my 4 year old picking up phrases from listening to my husband pray. He says that he is going to be a pastor...also a fireman...and a 'worker' man (that's what him and Mackenzie can pretty much anyone who does a physical job).
We have also been studying through Genesis for our ancient history studies for school, so we have been getting lots of Bible time in.
How have you been these past few months with coming together as a family to worship God? Have you tried anything new this year? Are you struggling in this area? Do you not think it is a priority? Do you have a good pattern that works well? I'd love to hear about it!
Thanks for this post! It refreshed my memory and I definitely want to learn more about the early grammar stage & 10 things article. Thanks! I also will be blogging about how we do devotions/family worship with a very active 18 month year old!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed the post, Jessica! I look forward to reading what you guys have been doing!
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