Enhancing Spiritual Growth Through Books

Ugh! I'm deep into selling and buying curriculum (less buying than selling at this point). Looks like the income from selling goes to smog repairs on the van, much to my frustration.

Anyhow, at our house school doesn't start until the end of September. The milder, beautiful September weather calls us to parks for hiking and exploring....this being one of my favorite months. Hints of fall color only enhance our joy!

Though there's little writing time in this curriculum-planning season, I did want to share a little from Gladys Hunt's Honey For A Child's Heart: The Imaginative Use of Books in Family Life.





Chapter 22, Nourishing your Child's Spiritual Life, gives us some gems to enjoy with our children. First, she suggests well-known and well-loved Bible Storybooks, but there's also a longer list of books to enhance Christian understanding. Let's look at the Bible Storybooks first, though I won't cover her entire list (she gives six suggestions).

Well-Known and Well-Loved Bible Storybooks: 

All book suggestions and text below taken from Honey For A Child's Heart, 2002, pg. 216.

1.  Mary Batchelor, The Children's Bible in 365 Stories
The stories are accurate, brief, and written in excellent prose. It's just right for ages 4 -12. A good book to establish family Bible reading.

2.  Karyn Henley, The Beginner's Bible, il. Dennas Davis
Written at second-grade level for kids to read on their own.

Following her six Bible Storybook suggestions, Gladys gives us 30 more book suggestions to enhance Christian understanding.  I'll list several here:

More Books For Christian Understanding: 

All text and book suggestions below taken from Honey For A Child's Heart, 2002, pgs. 217, 218.

1.  Nan Gurley, Twice Yours, A Parable of God's Gift, il. Bill Farnsworth
A gentle story of a grandfather telling his grandson the story of a boat he once made for himself. When he lost the boat, he bought it back again. The grandfather applies this to what God has done for us. Ages 4 -10

2. Dave and Neta Jackson, Hero Tales
Fifteen stories of Christian heroes. Ages 6 -10

3.  Paul Little, Know Why You Believe
Thoughtful answers to some difficult questions. Books for a thinking young person. Young adult.
By the same author: Know What You Believe


4. Helen L. Taylor, Little Pilgrim's Progress
Simplified version of the famous Bunyan classic that captures the essence of its spiritual truths without writing "down" to children. Ages 8 -12

That's all for today!  To start, we are definitely obtaining Little Pilgrim's Progress, Hero's Tales, and The Children's Bible in 365 Stories.

Weekend Wonder

Psalm 34:1

I will extol the LORD at all times; his praise will always be on my lips

My Gratitude List

~ sisterly love

~ lots of yard to delight them

 ~ toothless smiles

~ eyes like the sky, and a heart just as big

~ His little boy face, here to stay.

~ Shin guards found at first garage sale we stopped at, along with a doll cradle for the girls, and jeans and pajamas.......all were on our list.....daily manna testimony.

~ Two- and four-year-old wonder....even at tomatoes they see in their own garden every year

~ The year of the matching pink hats.....they always make me smile
~ Littlest one watching big sister's every move.

A thunderstorm brewing, we had the whole farm to ourselves.

~ Little girls running back and forth between Mommy's and Daddy's berry baskets
~ Beth picking fruit like a champ this year, while last year she was stuck in a stroller.

~ A daddy who spends time teaching and loving his family
~ Kids eager to soak up Daddy's lessons

Raspberry pickin'

~ Green, green, green. I'm not in the desert anymore! 
~ August weather infinitely better than July's.

 ~ Pictures reminding me how fast the years pass.....encouraging me to say thanks for this moment, today.....and live in it.

 ~ Their smiles, telling me thank you for this day...meaning more than the words. 

 ~ Two year olds in Dora nighties, shucking local corn

~ The Lord's earth, blessing us with wonder, joy, peace and flavor.


~ The joy of cooking together.....Momma the cobbler......Daddy the meat and squash.....children the corn and potatoes......the Lord providing the bounty.

~ Sharing the most brilliant rainbow I've ever seen with amazed children, and hearing them give credit to Him. At one point this was a double rainbow. Magnificent way to end a weekend!

Easy Peach Cobbler (print recipe here)

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup flour
2 cups sugar, divided
1 tablespoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup milk
4 cups fresh peach slices
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Ground cinnamon or nutmeg (optional)

Preparation

Melt butter in a 13 x 9 inch baking dish

Combine flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt; add milk, stirring just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour batter over butter (do not stir).

Bring remaining 1 cup sugar, peach slices, and lemon juice to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly, pour over batter (do not stir). Sprinkle with cinnamon, if desired.

Bake at 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until golden brown. Serve cobbler warm or cool.

What did you enjoy this weekend?

A Testimony of Daily Manna

A couple days ago Peter was reading an Animal Ark chapter book and came upon a just-thrown-in-there sentence about dolphins once living on land; it had nothing to do with the story. He brought the book to me, read the sentence to me, and asked if it was part of evolution. Sadly, I confirmed yes, it was. He'd read four other Animal Arks in the previous couple weeks, finding nothing offensive. While I was proud of him for recognizing an ungodly idea, I knew that him finding this flaw wasn't good.

Angry, scared, he threw the book on the floor, saying he wasn't going to read anymore of them. "That author's not Christian! I'll go back to Boxcar Children."

Boxcar Children, while nice books, have become a crutch for his OCD. He spent his entire third grade year reading mysteries, and spent at least four months on Boxcar Children. He still grew leaps and bounds as a reader, so I let it go. He read an hour a day toward the end of the year, but much more than that earlier in the year, by choice.

I have a friend whose daughter has OCD and one of her fears is that she will vomit in public. My Peter's greatest fear has to do with spiritual corruption. His mind tells him that if he reads about an ungodly idea, he will shirk his Christian roots and become a pagan.

Just today we were garage sale hunting for a couple things the boys need for a homeschool soccer class. We passed a yard sale outside a small business, and the boys asked me to stop.

"No, that's a palm reader store.  No thanks on that. We'll look somewhere else."

"Is that like a fortune teller?" Peter asked. Then for several hours his mind drove him nuts, telling him he would bow to palm readers and say goodbye to Christianity. Martin Luther, I mentioned before, had this same religious-distortion OCD and ending up starting the Protestant Reformation, with its emphasis on grace versus works. Luther's mind drove him to dark places, and grace saved him, in more ways than one.

Our fallen world is full of pain, but God uses it for good--redeeming it for His glory. Every Christian parent dealing with disorder clings to this truth.

Putting Peter on medication for OCD may become necessary in a couple years, according to the doctor, but clinging to me in stores and refusing to read anything but Boxcar Children shouldn't be one of the reasons, since neither is debilitating. Doctor agreed, and said if Peter gets to a point of refusing to leave the house, we have to go with medication. If you ask me, the clinging in stores is not OCD but agoraphobia, which my grandfather had to a debilitating extent. It's the fear of crowds and not having an escape from them. When we go anywhere crowded, Peter is extremely nervous, refusing to leave my side or let go of my arm. The medication is the same, according to the doctor, for both OCD and agoraphobia, so whether a patient has one or both of them is irrelevant, in terms of seeking relief.

When your child has a dysfunction you want to scream and cry about the tragedy of it all. But the day to day dealing with issues renders you so busy, there's no time to cry.  I suppose that's a good thing.

One thing I'm sure of.....I can't in good conscience go another year giving in to his fears, as they relate to his education. From our most intimate conversations I know Peter to be an introspective person in love with the larger meaner of life. His mind craves ideas. Knowing this, and staring down at the chapter book thrown on the floor, I began to panic about preparing for another school year.

What in the world am I supposed to give this kid to read, God? Help!

What God seemed to say is that I must build Peter's trust in my choice of literature. Well, Peter trusts Christian material, hoping that in it he won't find evolution, witches, magic, sorcery or any other dark idea just waiting to steal his mind away from Christ. All these things scare him.

There isn't enough Christian material out there! I believe strongly that reading for an hour a day exposes children to the amount of language they need to become fluent writers and able speakers. You can teach mechanics all you want, but the ability to deftly combine words into flowing language comes only from books. A lot of them! Not the amount most kids get from commercial curriculums, which are too packed with time-consuming extras......stealing away precious reading time.

Okay.....I guess that was a soapbox? Sorry.

My first thought was to order chapter books recommended by a Christian curriculum company, knowing that a company with a Christian label would give Peter some comfort up front.

Well, I checked Amazon's used section and ordered and paid $56 dollars for 13 chapter books recommended by Sonlight--a popular but pricey, literature-based Christian curriculum company (though the book lists aren't necessarily Christian). Problem is, with friend Jessica's help, I realized that I'd inadvertently ordered from a grade 4/5 list that included books for ages 7 - 9. I was looking at the grade level and didn't notice the ages (Peter will be ten in January). Publisher websites drive me insane...especially with four young'uns at my elbows!

I checked the levels on five of them and found them to be between the 4th and 6th grade reading levels, but the age specification is more for Paul's maturity level, so these 13 books will go to Paul, who is eight in November. He prefers to teach himself and doesn't need me or my curriculum plans, thank you very much. Peter is such a handful that Paul is my grace gift from the Lord, in terms of homeschooling. The best thing I can do is leave him alone academically and concentrate on his heart learning.

After my buying frenzy on Amazon--where, by the way, you can get paperback books for one cent plus $3.99 shipping--I was still at square one for Peter.

And since this is getting so long, I'll tell you the good parts another time.

But here is a resource hint. The Lord drew me to this resource today, which I purchased several months ago. And yes, I did blog about this book previously, but not in a very helpful way.

The Lord drawing me to it today was a reminder of the daily manna always waiting for me. He'll put a holistic school year together for me. I need only obey!

Journaling Notes on Matthew 7

How is the Matthew reading going?

What struck me tonight was this passage:

Matthew 7:7-8
Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

Let me give a little background before going specifically into why this verse stands out.

I'm going a little nuts here lately with the kids. In one sense, I'm so proud of them....they're getting complements on their behavior in public, and that's been a real blessing for Momma, especially, who runs most of the errands with them in tow.

My least favorite? The post office! Lines, lines, lines.

However, as I busy myself with selling and buying homeschool materials, and working through storage boxes of fall clothes to assess what the needs are, all without help........well, the precious kiddos are getting under my skin. (Mind you, this doesn't make them any less a blessing.)

For one thing, the endless hats, shoes, jewels, and Legos I pick up, are causing much blood to boil....sometimes spilling over into short yelling fits (mine, not theirs).

One thing has become clear: I must be consistent in having them come back and pick up their own items.  Being called back every ten minutes to pick up a shoe or a piece of paper or a crayon, causes their blood to boil.....leading to strife between us.

I remember a Catherine Marshall journal entry in which she spoke about the uncompromising, non-coddling nature of Jesus Christ.  Knowing this aspect of Christ's character helped her deal better with strife in her home. When you're working toward godly goals, there will be strife. She learned to deal with it better internally, so it didn't undermine her determination to raise godly children.

We must be kind in our dealings with children and apologize when we're not.  Our Bible/prayer devotions serve to point out our own iniquities so we can pray about them....thank goodness. But in raising our children--whether we're perfect in our parenting delivery or not--we can't back down on the principles.  This is especially true when we're sure a child is developmentally ready for what we're asking.

Five-minute pick-ups every hour have been instituted to help with tidiness, but I still call them back for items that might cause someone to trip.

Then there's this: I'm still getting used to the differences between girls and boys. Namely, that girls are whiny or tend toward this. (Adult women can be whiners too, evidenced by my own whining here on this blog right now. :)

My 2-year-old still suffers from allergies and perhaps that's most of it; she's been whiny for at least two months. Her sister, 4.5, can be similar, but it's more due to her stubborn nature.

Their whining takes a lot out of me! I'm still learning how to deal with it. Ignoring is best when they're not sick, but it's not always easy to determine the source of the whining. For example, is Momma busy on a project and failing to cherish them, or are they just sour about not getting their own way?

Some things must be done, and since parenting support is pretty much non-existent here, we plug away at necessary life tasks on our own. My aunt watches the kids once a year for a short date night, but other than that we're running solo....especially since she began spending winters in Florida two years ago. She has four children of her own to whom she lends her support.

Husband is home in the evenings now and that's been a major adjustment for me. No longer do I have time to unwind from my day with the children....either through nightly writing or quietly working on chores. His work day has him leaving at 7:00 AM and returning about 7:10 PM. Saturday he works 7:30 AM to 12:30 PM, and then he's off until Monday morning, which allows us to have family outings every weekend again (parks, orchards, nature centers, lake beach, etc.)  That part is a blessing!

But, husband is a people person who never desires alone time. Though I love him dearly and appreciate him, I needed that alone time. I have to give up sleep to get it now, which never works when you mother four children on your own. .

Now getting back to the Matthew Scripture.....

This Scripture about asking, seeking, and knocking reminds me that no aspect of my life is too small to speak to my Father about. I can pray about the whining or the untidiness or about the curriculum or the fall/winter attire......all of it. And not just once. I already pray about most things once, but what's wrong with continuing to pursue an issue with the Lord? Nothing! I can release it from my shoulders as often as I need to.

So, after all that whining (sorry!), I come to the heart of what Jesus is saying to me, personally, in Matthew 7: 7-8:

Keep pursing the Father about difficult areas! His answers will come completely, suddenly, or they'll come piecemeal....as we're ready to process them. Many of his answers are about change in our own hearts, and that requires a readiness on our part. God, alone, knows when we're ripe for growth.

So, what is the Book of Matthew saying to you these last few days?

Bible Reading HW (Giveaway)

Just a reminder that as part of our Catherine Marshall study we are reading through the Gospels consecutively to discover more about the person of Jesus.

This week read Matthew 1 through Matthew 14 (due Wednesday, Aug. 24) and make notes on what new things stand out about Jesus. Or, take notes on what He is saying to you, directly, through the week's verses.

If you do your homework faithfully every week between now and October 12 (8 weeks), I will send you this 3-piece Thanksgiving book set. The first person to comment on October 12, stating that they did all the homework by the Wednesday deadlines, will get the books. You can e-mail me with your mailing address after I post the winner.

Side Note:  You know I'm desperate to get you studying your Bible when I go and offer a giveaway. Me, who abhors giveaways and never clicks on any giveaway post of any author, no matter how much I love them. I prefer blog posts without advertisements; my reading time is precious and short.

But really, these are wonderful books!  I just happen to own two copies of all three of them......and I really think this was the Holy Spirit's idea. At first I thought....how ridiculous! No way! But the next thing I know, I'm pulling these books off the shelf.

Tonight I read Matthew 1 through Matthew 5 and what stood out for me personally was the suffering Jesus endured as he fasted for forty days in the desert. For some reason this never gripped me so much before....I guess because Jesus is God and I figured he was stronger than us and better able to endure. But he did this as a man! His body functioned just as ours does. 

I'm a person who falls apart when hungry (lack of concentration, short-tempered, headaches), which is something that happens far too often because the kids' needs keep me so busy. I make the mistake of trying to do one more thing before eating. I can't imagine skipping even two meals. Jesus skipped 120 meals!

What also stood out is this verse:  "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" Matthew 4:4

Jesus is telling us here that we can't truly live without our Bible reading. So let's not try!  Let's not push it aside with other, less important things. Or rush through it, for that matter. Jesus wants us to have life abundant. Without our Bible reading, we have life heavy-laden.

Which do you choose?  Life abundant, or life heavy-laden?

Tips for busy moms:

~ Just open your Bible!

~ Read while in the same room with your children. They are less likely to ask for things and interrupt you if you read in their presence. (Plus, you leave them a legacy of devotion to Jesus. Not a bad thing to be remembered for, eh?) Often they interrupt our activities because they want our physical presence. Let's give that to them, and see how much reading we get done.

~ If you have a baby and toddler to care for, aim for ten verses at a sitting. It will add up by the end of the day. Using a highlighter will help you remember what stood out and why.

~ Tell your husband what your reading goal is and ask him to take over with the kids for twenty minutes, so you can go in a room by yourself. Even a tired husband should be willing to give you twenty minutes.

~ Try not to save it for the last half hour of your day, when you're exceptionally tired. You won't concentrate as well and it will seem more like an obligation.

~ Leave your Bible open in a prominent place, as a reminder. (Just don't forget to hide the highlighter marker from your toddler. Been there, done that.)