guest post

Add Board Games to Your Homeschool Routine

March 16, 2019 By Annette1 2 Comments

I love having people guest post on my blog. Today I want to thank Tyler for visiting with us. I hope you enjoy Tyler’s post.

Add Board Games to Your Homeschool Routine

One of our goals in homeschooling since the start has been to find a way to make it fun. My wife and I both went to public school and we knew we didn’t want homeschooling to be ‘public school at home’. However, we weren’t sure what we DID want it to look like. Starting out we were planning fun activities each day. The kids loved it and we could see they were having fun while learning, but we quickly realized we would be burnt out on creating this fun learning environment long before they learned everything they needed to know. So we started looking for something fun (and easy!) to supplement our homeschooling activities. Enter gameschooling.

What is GameSchooling?

Put simply, gameschooling is homeschooling using games to teach. For us, gameschooling is primarily board games, but also includes some outdoors games. Adding board games to our homeschool routine has been an amazing change for our house. For the kids, board games have kept learning fun and engaging. As parents, gameschooling has taken a lot of the stress out of homeschool planning, because we know board games are there to help us teach or reinforce our homeschooling efforts.

How to Add (or Increase) Games to Your Homeschool Routine?

Fitting board games into an already full day of homeschooling can be a challenge. Here are our top five ways to fit games into our homeschool schedule:

1. Pick a Subject and Find a Board Game A great way to get started using board games in your homeschool activities is to simply pick a subject you are working on and find a board game to reinforce it. Looking for some inspiration? Check out this article on 100 things kids learn from board games, with game recommendations for each!

2. Add a Daily Game Time

Another option to consider if you’re looking to add some gameschooling to your days is to set aside a certain time each day for board games. A lot of modern board games can be played in fifteen to forty five minutes. This makes them a perfect activity when the kids need a break. We love to play board games right before lunch when the kid’s focus starts to be more concerned with what is in the fridge then the topic at hand.

3. Start a Family Game Night

Rather than cram board games into your school day, try out a family board game night. One of my favorite memories growing up was playing board games as a family. Board game night was the one time all the hecticness of work, school, and other activities seemed to fall away and we were able to enjoy family time playing board games. Little did I know I was learning at the same time! If you have a family with a large age range, check out this list of the 10 best games that preschoolers through adults will all love.

4. Use board Games to Wind Down for Bed

I know I can’t be the only one who has kids who seem to get more and more awake the closer bedtime gets. Board games are a great tool to burn some of that excess brain energy off and help your kids wind down for bed. We try to avoid silly games, or active games right before bed, and instead target something like sleeping queens or robot turtles. These games hit the right balance of challenging without being too complex for them to focus on right before bed in our house.

5. Travel with Board Games

Traveling is a great time to try out gameschooling. Regular homeschool activities are difficult when your away from home. The combination of not having your regular homeschool tools at your disposal and kids being excited about traveling is not ideal. If you pick the right board games, they’re easy to play in a car, on a plane, or where ever you might be traveling and they won’t take up much space in your luggage! To get you started, here’s a list of our favorite kids board games to travel with.

Start your Gameschooling Journey!

I hope these tips can help you start (or expand) your gameschooling and see what a powerful homeschool tool it can be. I’d love to hear from you in the comments! If you already gameschool, what is your favorite way to fit board games in your day? If you haven’t started yet, which of these tips will you try?

Tyler blogs at kidsloveboardgames.com. Kids Love Board Games focuses on the benefits of playing family board games, gameschooling, as well as board game recommendations and reviews. Sign up for Kids Love Board Games newsletter and follow Kids Love Board Games on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.

Four Essentials of Child-Led Learning

February 8, 2019 By Annette1 24 Comments

Guess what! Amanda agreed to guest post for me today. Isn’t that great? Welcome her with me to my blog today. 🙂 She’ll be talking about Four Essentials of Child-led learning. Student led learning has taken us through world war 1 this year.

“Mommy, what’s this?” Sicily questioned as she pulled out her kids’ meal toy.

“It’s an arctic fox.” I replied.

“Oh! I like him.”

“Would you like to see if we can find a YouTube video about an arctic fox?”

We headed to the tablet to look up videos on the arctic fox to learn a bit more about this little stuffed animal she got.

The video we found was a snippet from a documentary with an arctic fox searching for food. These little guys hop up and nose dive into the snow to catch small prey.

Sicily giggled non-stop while watching the fox catch mice in the snow.

From there we read books, did a few process art creations, and even pretend we were arctic foxes hunting for mice in the snow.

This love of arctic foxes extended into more arctic animals, so we started to study the polar bear, penguins, and orca.We learned about blubber, ice, and how penguins stay dry.

All this learning from a single fast food kids’ meal toy.

That’s the beauty of child-led learning. One small experience can spark months of learning and many different avenues to travel down.

What is Child-Led Learning?

In our house we follow a child-led approach to learning. That means I follow my kiddos interests for topics of study. Then I follow their lead with academic skills as well. I wait until they are 100% motivated and ready to learn each specific skill.

But it wasn’t always so smooth. I had many failures in our quest to learning at home. But through all those failures and over 11 years of teaching experience, I’ve discovered the 4 essentials to child-led learning.

4 Essentials to Child-Led Learning

Child-led learning doesn’t mean you have to give up all control. You are responsible for the 4 essentials.

When you get these 4 essentials to child-led learning correct, your days become peaceful and your child begins to learn quickly.

Child-Led Essential # 1: Encouraging Environment

You’ve probably heard from a Reggio approach to learning that the environment is the third teacher.

Well I’ve always been an overachiever. I strongly believe that your environment is the first teacher.

Your environment is more than just your homeschool room. It’s your whole life style.

Child-led learning is more of a lifestyle than a learning approach.

This also includes the experiences you give your child, and most importantly your everyday experiences. Have your kiddo help you do household chores, including help pay the bills, cook dinner, and fold the laundry.

The environment in which you provide your child and the experiences you give them, is what ultimately decides their unique learning timeline.

You control the environment. The environment controls what your child learns.

Your child controls WHEN and HOW they learn.

Child-Led Essential #2: Relaxed Routine

Having an environment that supports your child’s interests and the skills you want them to learn isn’t enough.

You need a relaxed routine that gives them plenty of time to explore in the environment you created.

On a typical day, we plan to have 2-3 hours in our homeschool room with no structure except our morning meeting.

During this time, my kiddos explore whatever I’ve place in the environment. There are always open ended toys, learning games for specific skills they are working on, and invitations to play, create, and explore.

I have a table with materials/books from our current theme for them to explore at any moment.

We try to follow the Montessori 3 hour work period. During the first hour, my kiddos explore and choose freely what they want to play/learn.

The second hour, called false fatigue, usually ends up with them dancing, playing music, or chasing each other around in a circle. This is the hardest part, but according to Montessori it’s needed to reach maximum concentration.

This second hour is sort of like their coffee break. I tend to leave a snack on the table once they hit this time that they can choose to eat if they want. Most of the time, we cut back on a lot of the chaos of this hour because they almost always choose to sit and eat a snack.

About 45 minutes later it starts to get quiet again. The kiddos are entering the third hour where deep concentration happens. Their brains are ready to learn new and more challenging skills.

This is the time I will invite them to do the works I want them to do. Sometimes I will ask them to join me in an activity whereas other times I will sit down and start working on the activity myself. Most of the time they will join me, but not always. It’s their choice.

Child-Led Essential #3: Simple, Child-Led Activities

Learning doesn’t require a huge storage of materials or complicated activities. I rarely go out and buy new materials. We use what is available around the house or out in nature. Many of our activities are done with rocks and sticks.

Have you ever heard the saying “Less is More?”

It’s so true when it comes to educating our kiddos. The simplest of activities will be the ones that attract them the most and will have the most learning.

Why?

Because with simple activities and materials, the brain only has one thing to concentrate on.

When you have a bunch of moving parts their brains will most likely focus on the skill you don’t want them to learn.

Take for example, the ever popular preschool activity of tracing letters on a line.

It seems simple, but is it really?

In order for the child to trace on the line, they need to first have the development and strength in their eyes to focus on the lines.

Then they need the hand strength and hand-eye coordination to be able to stay in between the lines.

On top of that, they need good fine motor skills in order to hold the pencil correctly, so they have the pencil control to stand in between the lines.

And last, which is the main goal of this activity…

They need to form the letter correctly.

In order to do this activity perfectly, your child needs to be developmentally ready in all those areas which doesn’t happen until around 5, sometimes even 6, years old.

Keep it simple…

Hand them a blank piece of paper and a pencil.

Their only focus then will be on letter formation.

With enough practice, your child will begin to write smaller and smaller as their muscles develop. There is no need to ever introduce lines until about first or second grade.

Child-Led Essential #4: Trust the Process

This essential to child-led learning is the most important, but the hardest of them all.

You must trust the process, trust yourself, and most importantly trust your child and their unique learning timeline.

Remember…

You control the environment.

Your environment controls what your child learns.

Your child decides when and how they will learn it.

Set up your environment for success by providing materials/books for learning about their interests and the skills they are ready to learn then trust that your child will learn what needs to be learned on their own timeline.

Ready to get started with child-led learning? Click here to download our getting started guide.

To learn more about how we implement child-led learning into our homeschool preschool, click here for our Ultimate Guide to Homeschool Preschool.

About the Author

Amanda is the owner of Learning Through Experiences where she helps beautiful mama’s homeschool their kiddos using a child-led approach without spending a lot of time planning & prepping. She is a former elementary and preschool teacher with over 11 years experience. Amanda has 2 kiddos of her own, Sicily & Kade, who follow this exact child-led approach that she advocates. Amanda is the creator of Learning Through Experiences: A Child-Led Curriculum. In her spare time, she likes to read, garden, and relax in a bubble bath.

My Three Favourite Homeschooling Methods and Why I like them

January 18, 2019 By Annette1 2 Comments

YAY! I just love having people guest post on my blog and today Miss Rebecca is guest posting. As you can see, she’ll be addressing homeschooling methods.

Out of all the different homeschooling methods, I like three the most, and I’d like to share them with you. In particular, I like these methods because they seem to bring out the potential in our children and teach them about the world around them without burning them out or making learning seem like a chore.

And these three homeschooling methods are:

The Classical Method
The Charlotte Mason Method and
The Eclectic Method

Let’s get started!

My Third Favourite Method: The Classical Approach

Classical education has been around for hundreds of years. It was in its zenith around the time that Charles Dickens wrote his best-selling books. The Classical approach is a vigorous education that teaches children in three stages – the grammar, logic and then rhetoric stages.

It values things like:

Latin – because it’s the root of all the romantic languages
Debate – because it helps children think critically, speak clearly and organize their thoughts consistently and
Memorization – because it helps children remember important concepts that will help them immensely throughout their lives

Why I like The Classical Approach

While the Classical way of homeschooling is a vigorous education that expects a lot of children, it pushes them and gives them a good work ethic. It expects more of children than public schools might, and in that way, it helps children take on plenty of concepts and values that will benefit them in the future.

In short, we’ve lost a lot of rigor in our education today and I think Classical education will help us get this back.

Shortcomings of The Classical Approach

The biggest shortcoming of The Classical Approach is its inflexibility and rigidity. Picture a flogging for a poor Dickens boy who hasn’t reached his schoolmasters expectations. If not paced correctly, can it expect too much of some children.

But this is why Charlotte Mason invented her educational approach…

My Second Favourite Method: The Charlotte Mason Approach

The Charlotte Mason method was invented when Mason saw the strictness of the Classical approach and thought things should be gentler. As such, the Mason method has a lot of similarities to the Classical approach because Mason was trained as a Classical educator herself. (Indeed, many people who choose either the Charlotte Mason or Classical homeschooling methods tend to also enjoy teaching with elements of the other method).

While there are similarities, the Mason method is particularly known for:

Testing children with narration – this is when children are tested by parents asking them what they learned, and children narrate back their answers. This can be done orally, in writing, drama, interpretive dance or even STEM building!
Nature walks – Charlotte Mason was the founder of Scouts! She thought children should spend more time outdoors discovering nature
Habit training – All education should train us in good habits, so we benefit society as well-rounded individuals. Mason was a Christian and rooted her beliefs in Christ’s death on the cross and his resurrection for our sins and benefit

Both Classical and Charlotte Mason homeschooling methods value lots of reading by children separately, and in a group with parents. Homeschooling parents who adopt either of these methods can be found reading tomes to their children for many hours each week. As such, children learn through exciting and challenging texts, instead of texts which are boring or given to children so they can pass an exam.

Why I like The Charlotte Mason Approach

Many Charlotte Mason homeschools are warm places of learning where families bond together as they learn together. For instance, if we look at narration we find harsh exams are replaced with parents simply asking their children what they’ve learned.

A lot of learning is face-to-face, and children and parents learn things together. I love that about the Charlotte Mason approach!

Shortcomings of The Charlotte Mason Approach

The Charlotte Mason approach expects a lot of parents. For example, reading for so many hours is lovely, but it can become a burden if the curriculum isn’t flexible.

I heard of one mom who turned back to use traditional homeschooling (school-at-home) methods because they lost their voice due to reading aloud so much.

And this leads me to the benefits of eclectic homeschooling…

My Favourite Method: The Eclectic Approach

Eclectic homeschooling is picking and choosing parts of different homeschooling methods and curricula that you like and using them in your homeschool. Eclectic homeschooling is like a buffet, you choose what you like.

Why I like The Eclectic Approach

Out of all the different educational methods, my favourite method is the eclectic homeschooling method. I like it simply because you can take the best parts from every educational theory and leave the bits of rubbish.

The eclectic method also lets you individualize your way of homeschooling to fit your child. This means that while one homeschooling method might work best for one child, it may not work for another.

And this makes sense as we’re all individuals and we all like or dislike certain things. It’s no surprise our learning preferences, strengths and weaknesses also work this way.

Shortcomings of The Eclectic Approach

Maybe the biggest thing you need to be aware of when you choose the eclectic homeschooling method is its ability to lead you everywhere if you don’t have a plan. For this reason, I advise you to write down your homeschooling plan so you don’t go down a rabbit hole as you discover all these other amazing ways to homeschool.

Conclusion: My Three Favourite Homeschooling Methods and Why I’m in love with them

Being able to our own way of homeschooling is a huge blessing. We have a smorgasbord of excellent homeschooling methods and resources at our fingertips. And this means we can choose the best ways of homeschooling to suit our own families. Among other educational theories, I believe the Classical and Charlotte Mason approaches are worthy of great consideration if you’re considering homeschooling. Hopefully, you’ll be able to join them all together to form a wonderful eclectic homeschool!

Rebbecca Devitt is the author of Why on Earth Homeschool: The Case for Christian Homeschooling. She’s the wife of a husband who is her best friend and makes her laugh and a son who is too cute for words. She’s dabbled in Nursing, Medical Science, Medicine and Law before settling down to her dream job—being a full-time mother! The family live in Wollongong and actively participate in their wonderful church, Wollongong Baptist Church. Rebbecca has written for various blogs including Homeschooling with Heart, Why on Earth Homeschool and her own Christian homeschooling website, How Do I Homeschool. As you can guess, her passion lies in helping people to homeschool well.

Five Tips for Teaching Yourself Art

January 9, 2019 By Annette1 15 Comments

I would love for you to welcome my neice to my blog today! WOOT WOOT! 🙂 Nicole writes over at Inkwyrm about book reviews and writing. I think she does a fantastic job at both. Anyways, she’s looking at selling some of her art work (as a gal’s gotta make a living right?) and I thought, how nice it would be if I could support her efforts! To that end…. Here’s Nicole.

Hello everyone! My name is Nicole K., and Annette asked me to be a guest blogger for today’s post to talk a bit about what I do, so here I am!

I am an artist and writer in Alberta, Canada, and I’ve been doing art all my life. Starting around eight, I began to take my art more seriously. Ever since then I’ve been doing it steadily. I currently do a range of art styles, with my background mostly being pencil and leaning toward realism. My usual is style based off of anime and manga, mostly using ink and alcohol-based markers, with a few other mediums thrown in.

Aside from a stint of lessons when in elementary school (a short stint), and the public school art classes, I am an entirely self-taught artist. Every art skill I have because I sought out the information myself, whether it be through people I knew who were better artists than me, looking up tips online, or through stubborn experimentation.

Today I want to talk about that, and give five tips on teaching yourself art.

Tip #1: The internet is your best friend

You can find just about anything on the internet, and art tips and skills are no exception. Using the powers of google and YouTube have saved me MANY times as I’ve struggled through a piece, from looking for references to looking for ways to keep watercolour paper from wrinkling. Not sure about how to use an art supply? Look it up. Want to know how to do a different type of texture? Look it up.

The internet is your best friend, and there’s no shame in using it.

Tip #2: IT’S OK TO COPY

Speaking of the internet, references are one of the BEST things you could ever use. I’ve heard from people time and again ‘I’m not an artist, I can only copy’, but I say NO to that. Where copying someone’s art and calling it your own is one of the worst things an artist can do, it’s perfectly fine to copy a piece for practice. During my high school years, where I developed most of my current style, all my time was spent copying other people’s work. It’s how I learned proportion, expressions, body language, linework, and SO MANY other things that I apply to every piece I do now.

Don’t know what something looks like? Find a reference online and draw it. Then draw it again from a different reference. The more you copy, the more you understand what you’re drawing, and the better you can do when trying to draw it from memory.

Tip #3: Mistakes are OK

Make mistakes. If you’re not making mistakes, it means you aren’t learning. Mess up, see what went wrong, and use that knowledge for future improvement. Try new things, and don’t be afraid of messing it up. That’s what sketchbooks and scrap papers are for.

Tip #4: Learn to take advice

Understanding that there is always something that can be improved upon is a huge part of learning. You don’t have to follow every piece of advice you get, and you don’t have to listen to every criticism you get. Be willing to listen if somebody points out an issue with your art. Having a critical eye for your own work can be hard when it’s a picture you’re really proud of. Remember that most people who give honest advice aren’t out to get you, they just want to give you a hand and help you improve.

Again, you don’t have to follow all advice you get, and some advice won’t be good, but hear them out anyway. You never know what you might learn.

Tip #5: NEVER tell yourself that you will never be good enough or have no ability.

A couple years ago, I taught an art class at a kid’s summer camp that my church held, and this was the first thing I told my students.

There are few things I hate hearing more than “I’ll never be that good”, or “I’ll never be able to do it”, or “my art sucks and I hate it.”

Guess what? ALL ARTISTS HAVE FELT THAT WAY BEFORE.

Your favourite artist? They’ve felt that. The most successful artists? They’ve felt that.

ALL OF THEM HAVE FELT LIKE THEY CAN’T DO IT.

But you know what they did? They refused to give up. They looked at their art, and instead of saying “I’ll never be able to do it”, they said “I can’t do it yet, but someday I will”.

DON’T. GIVE. UP.

Getting down on your art does nothing. We all have good days and bad days for art, but what matters is getting past the bad days and pushing onward, moving forward even when it’s hard. If you have to, leave a piece for a while and come back with fresh eyes. Relax. Art is supposed to be fun, so have fun with it and stay positive. We’re all in this together.

In Closing

If you are trying to teach yourself art I hope these five tips gave you ideas or a hand up. If you like what you’ve read and seen here, you can find me on my instagram where I post most of my art (@inkwyrm), my facebook page Inkwyrm Art, or check out my own blog Inkwyrm, where I post book reviews and talk about writing.

Thanks Annette for having me as a guest! I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Me adding this information. My neice is selling Commission pieces of art. She’s not selling stuff she’s already done (it’s too dear to her heart) BUT if you have something you’d like her to do (like dragons! or your favourite game character or whatever).. give her a shout via her facebook account or her Instagram (above) and she’ll be happy to work with you.

The pricing is $50 for an original and custom 5×7 piece, of any character you like. This includes drawings of yourself or loved ones. Larger pictures and more characters are available at a higher price.

How to Get Your Homeschooled Child Socialized?

June 8, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Please welcome with me, James to my blog today. He wrote asking if he could put a piece together for my blog and I said “Sure” and here it is. 🙂

I occasionally get emails from parents asking for the opportunities to socialize their homeschooled kid. It is significant for parents to know that they take a complete responsibility for their kid’s development at the time they start homeschooling.

They take not just their kid’s learning but also their kid’s socialization into their hands.

Making sure that your kid gets the group interaction he/she requires while being tutored at home might need some thinking and work, but it surely can be done. Here I am including some tips that will ease the process of socialization.

Join Homeschool Groups:

There can be found a variety of homeschool support groups online. These groups particularly give opportunities for your kid to mix with other kids, get socialized, and make friends. Some groups are also active on Facebook.

One thing you should look for while searching the homeschooling groups is the location. You should also check out following questions while selecting a particular group.

• Is it operated in your state/province or nearby area?

• What kind of activities do they arrange for your child?

• What are the fees?

• Is it suitable for you, your child, and your homeschooling style?

Look for the School Extracurricular:

You are homeschooling your kid, but this doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t look through nearby public schools for events and opportunities!

Try to find teaching aids that are intended to help your kid learn significant social skills. Some states expect public schools to permit a homeschooled child to engage in extracurriculars and events at the school.

Contact the nearby public school and ask if they permit a homeschooled child to join their extracurricular activities. You can also ask for a schedule of activities or list of open clubs. The best way to start this process is to check out the school’s website.

Use Social Networking Sites:

By the time, social networking sites have become helpful in all fields. Using these sites is an excellent way to enhance your kid’s offline interactions.

It can also help you discover different homeschooling families in your region. You can use social sites to find parents who keep the similar interest as you. You can even create a separate group to plan social activities, field trips, and much more.

Become a Role Model:

Whether you are shopping at the mall or requesting a librarian to assist you to research a particular topic, you should use these communications to show your kid how to behave and work with other people.

Sometimes, a homeschooled child with attention and learning issues usually needs very precise guidance. If it is the case, then it means that you may need to indicate particulars such as how to start a communication and how to close it.

Encourage Independence:

As your kid starts growing, they must get both more help in their projects and more equal time to act independently. If you are helping your child in difficult tasks then you have to keep aside direct parental involvement during easy tasks.

The adolescent years particularly are a time of development for a kid as he/she grows towards higher independence.

That’s all about socializing your homeschooled child. Although a homeschooled kid can be properly socialized, don’t expect it to happen overnight. It will take time depending on the learning ability of your child.

What methods do you follow to arrange social activities for your child? Do let me know in the comment section.

Author Bio:

James is a home tutor and professional child development consultant at Singapore tuition. He helps parents who take their kid’s career and socialization seriously.

Everything is Theological

May 25, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

May and June are going to be rather crazy busy around here, so I asked my friends in the Five Minute Friday community if they might lend a hand and write me a post or two, just to take the load off. Ruth took up my plea and gave me this LOVELY post you’ll read below. I love the thinking behind this post. 🙂 She blogs here.

I first heard the phrase, “everything is theological” in 1998. To say I did not like it or the professor who tacked the quote to his office door would be an understatement.

I’d believed up to that point that there is indeed sacred and secular. The one must be separate from the other for good Christians to live in this world – in it not of it. I believed this wholeheartedly. Checkboxes, black and white thinking (never any gray), and a shallow understanding of grace made for an easy way to live.

For months that professor kept at us, as a good teacher does, with many different examples of how “everything is theological”. As students often do, we ignored him, all of us future teachers. Until someone had an ‘aha’ moment in class. “You mean everything we believe about God matters in the rubber-meeting-road of life??” The rest of us sat back and our prof was blinded by all the proverbial lightbulbs going off.

My philosophy of teaching began to change that day. I no longer thought of teaching as a “me standing above you telling you things” idea but rather “how can I open your eyes to see who God is, even in the dull parts of math”. (One
plus one will always equal two because God never changes.)

I’m now the mom of 3 kids who love to read! The 13 year old girl and her 11 and 9 year old brothers all have extremely different tastes in books. I could see this morphing into an unnecessary battleground. So when they were young, I did my best to whet their appetites for great stories and deep characters whether good or evil, and help them learn how to observe and discuss as they read. I bought up every Great Illustrated Classic book I found at thrift stores and garage sales. They offer the great stories of redemption and justice like: The Count of Monte Cristo, Frankenstein, and Jane Eyre at a level my children can embrace.

As we read, it became a habit to ask these questions:

Who are the characters and do they remind you of anyone?

Why did Harry Potter choose not to ask for help from an adult?
What does the author believe about people?
Are they basically good or evil?
Are adults treated as imbeciles and the kids save the day?
Is the story dark and scary? How? Why?
Are you surprised by what you feel about the story?
Is there an unlikely character who becomes the hero?
Is there a character you really don’t like? Why?
Does the story remind you of any other stories?

Even Dr. Seuss can contribute to amazing discussions about the most surprising things. It’s not simply books, either.
Movies are books we see through someone else’s eyes, and we need to help our children develop habits of thinking as they watch.

My middle child told me he checked out Les Miserables (the full version) from school. While I was very impressed with him for wanting to take on this amazing story, and not being swayed by his school librarian’s doubt of his abilities, I also didn’t let him read it. My 11 year old is not ready to discuss the idea of prostitution. In his disappointment, I began to tell him the story. The familiar story of a thief receiving grace and what it cost the giver blew him away. It was one of those very satisfying mom moments.

You won’t have these moments each and every time you read aloud.

Some days it’s slogging through a chapter while certain individuals repeatedly cannot keep their hands to themselves. Some days they beg for more chapters. It’s the journey.

Remember you’re giving them tools to sift through what the world tosses at them. They need to know that everything is truly theological.

Ruth Verkaik is a teacher turned writer. She’s also wife to an engineer who
loves to ask “why??” to most things in life as do their 3 children. Her favorite
place is her bright windowed space where she loves to create and write. Often,
she can be found with a cup of tea and a good book while ignoring the laundry.
Sometimes her 50lb puppy joins her. Sometimes her book-loving kids. Her digital
space can be found at
www.ruthlverkaik.wordpress.com
.

Three Ways to Combat Worry

May 18, 2018 By Annette1 Leave a Comment

Please welcome with me Diana Rockwell to my blog today. With my son’s ear surgery this month and life being a bit hairy lately, she was ever so gracious to help me out with my blog.

Thank you Diana so very, very much. 🙂

My heart was racing, chest pain developing, an EKG changing. Off to the hospital in an ambulance I went, filled with fear and worry while waiting for answers from doctors, answers which did not come quickly enough.

Fear is an unpleasant emotion caused by the belief that someone or something is dangerous, likely to cause pain, or is a threat. What are the things that cause us to fear? I put this question out in a Facebook post and the answers were revealing. Profound fears were expressed, such as loved ones not knowing Jesus, not knowing of God’s faithfulness or receiving the desires of one’s heart such as marriage and children. The fear of poor health, death, not having enough money, and loss of a job were also expressed. All of these fears lead to worry.

Worry is a state of anxiety and uncertainty over actual or potential problems. As I asked what my Facebook friends were worrying about, more truth was told. Many are worrying about financial concerns, about their health, something happening to them, leaving their husband alone due to their death, children that are rejecting Christ, hurting families, and the state of the world. All of this worry makes me think of a promise in Matthew 6.

“For this reason I say to you, do not be worried about your life, as to what you will eat or what you will drink; nor for your body, as to what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” – Matthew 6:25

So what do you do when the storms of life hit you? There are three ways to combat worry.

Prayer
Check your thoughts
Let Go and Let God.

It is hard not to worry, but Matthew 6:26 reminds us that God takes care of the birds, so He will take care of us. Matthew 6:33 tells us that when we seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, all these things will be added unto you. By going to God in prayer we invite Him into our storm.

[Tweet “By going to God in prayer, we invite Him into our storm.”]

We need to take our thoughts captive. (2 Corinthians 10:5) Psalm 139: 23 says, “Search me O God and see if there is any anxious way in me,” imploring us to give our worries to God. Once we do, we need to let go and let God have our problems, Matthew 6:34 says, “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will care for itself, each day has enough trouble of its own.”

I am still in God’s waiting room, but God holds my tomorrows. He knows my heart better than my cardiologist. I am combating worry daily by prayer. I check my thoughts by reading God’s word and I let go by trusting God for complete healing.

[Tweet “I am still in God’s waiting room, but God holds my tomorrows.”]

Father God, I ask that fear and worry not rule our lives. You did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love and a sound mind according to 2 Timothy 1:7. I ask that you bless us and answer our prayers and remove all fear and worry, helping us walk through the storms of life knowing you are in complete control.In Jesus I pray, Amen.

What worry or fear do you need to give to Jesus?

Diana Rockwell lives in Ramona, California. She is a daughter of the King of Kings, a wife, mother, grandmother, and a retired nurse. She serves on a Freedom in Christ ministry team as a trained encourager and prays for people who are struggling with lies that are keeping them in bondage. She has taught women’s bible studies and shared her testimony in Nazareth on a mission trip to Israel where several people came to know Christ as a result. Her personal weight loss journey is published in Tracie Miles book “Your Life Still Counts” released in October, 2014. Diana loves to share the message of freedom and redemption in Christ on her blog. You can find Diana at her blog, Facebook and on Twitter.