Hello everyone :)Brandon and I have been doing 'Family Bible Time' with Lily for a little while now...and just about a 1.5 weeks ago, we adopted a firm routine with it. We were talking about how well it's going, and decided maybe we could help some other families with toddlers establish a regular family devotion time. I'm sure many of you already have a nice routine going, I just wanted to share what we're doing, and maybe we can get some feedback on what you all are up to :) I hope this post helps/blesses your family!!
I am going to post 1) some ideas we had, 2) the routine itself 3) the first week's lesson we used 4) some wonderful resources....
1) Ideas
** We decided to use just one story from the Bible per week...Lily is only 22 months old, the more repetition, the more she loves it!
** Because we have a busy, busy schedule, there are some nights Brandon doesn't make it home from church in time to do our Bible time. On those nights, I lead the devo. On the nights that Brandon is home, he leads. (in other words, we always do Family Bible Time. And also, it's just a little way she sees that Daddy is the leader)
** Once a week, Brandon reads the actual account from the Bible. And on the nights we read the story from a more toddler-friendly book (resources below), we still have the Bible and talk about what the Bible is ("God's own words!") and how the story we are reading is found in the Bible.
** We sing together out of the hymnal itself for many reasons. First because the songs are all scripturally based. Second, because they are very repetitive. And third, we follow the notes and words with our pointer fingers and it keeps her attention really well, she seems to really enjoy that.
* And one more little thing: we call it family Bible time because Bible is easier for Lily to say than Devotion ;) (also, her saying it is SO cute:)
2) The Routine
We fashion our routine after a 'Family Worship Routine' we found on Shepherd Press Blog (link below). It is as follows:
1.Bible Reading
2. Bible Interpretation
3. Songs/Hymns
4. Pray
5. The Gospel
6. Scripture Memory
3) Our first week's lesson (I will post subsequent lessons later)
Week One:
1. Bible Reading: Story of Creation
2. Bible Interpretation:
Catechism Questions 1 & 2 (resource below).
We did the following chant with actions: "God made _____!"
God (point to the sky)
made (two fists on top of each other, like a potter making something)
__________ (me!, Mommy!, Daddy! Sadie! (For the Beauty of the Earth, This is My Father's World
4. Pray, thanking God for making all things (naming different things)
5. The Gospel: Now, this can be a difficult with little ones...I have listed some resources below for sharing the Gospel with little ones, but here's a really basic idea of what we do...."Lily, sometimes we do bad things, don't we? Mommy, Daddy, and Lily all mess up and do bad things sometimes. Well, Jesus (God!) never did anything bad, ever! And he can forgive us for all the bad things that we do...isn't that good news??" (that's not exactly how it goes every night...but it's tough, you know?!)
6. Scripture memory: Here is where Mommy and Daddy recite our scripture for the week for Lily to hear, and we sing Lily's scripture song with her. (again, resources below). Lily's scripture song for this week was:
Psalm 19:1 (tune: The Mulberry Bush)
The heavens tell the glory of God
Glory of God, Glory of God
The heavens tell the glory of God,
Psalm nineteen, verse one!
The skies tell what God's hands have made
Hands have made, hands have made
The skies tell what God's hands have made
Psalm nineteen, verse one!
4) RESOURCES!!
Books:
Read~Aloud Bible Stories by Ella K. Lindvall -- all four volumes, GREAT for Toddlers..perfect really! (more than 40 weeks of Bible stories in all, with some interp at the end)
Pray & Play Bible by Group Publishing -- stories more for preschool, activities for all ages. (there are two volumes)
The Big Picture Story Bible by David Helm -- highly recommended for Preschoolers
The Jesus Storybook Bible by Susan Hunt -- WOW! this is amazing, and I can't wait until Lily is old enough for it. This Bible tells each Bible story, and shows how it points toward Jesus.
For Parents: I highly recommend Shepherding a Child's Heart by Tedd Tripp, and Don't Make Me Count to Three by Ginger Plowman (how to share The Gospel With Children is in the back of this book). I am getting ready to read Gospel Powered Parenting by William P. Farley...Brandon got this for me, and it looks really good.
Good Website/Blog Suggestions:
http://www.shepherdpress.com/blog/ -- this is where I found 'Family Worship Guide'
http://www.dltk-kids.com/ -- I have NOT read this site...I just know they have good crafts and songs...
http://www.christianpreschoolprintables.com/index.html -- again, I have not read much on here, but they have great craft ideas, lapbooks, and you can find a lot for any age group.
http://ministry-to-children.com/ -- a wonderful resource for all kinds of children's ministry.
And lastly, here are links to the shorter catechism for boys and girls...check it out. We are doing this with our kiddos at church on Sunday nights:
http://sojournchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/pdf/a-catechism-for-boys-and-girls.pdf
http://sojournkids.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/fwg-age-by-age-revision.pdf
and ONE more thing! :) Here is some good scripture memory resources:
http://sojournchurch.com/wp-content/uploads/docs/pdf/romans-scripture-memory.pdf
http://shepherding.typepad.com/my_weblog/files/family_worship_guide.pdf (this is the family worship guide, scripture memory is at the bottom)
For you mommies, I am really loving www.girltalkhome.com blog. And I LOVED the book 'Shopping for Time' by these ladies.
I hope you actually made it through this post...I know it's L-O-N-G!! But I pray it helps! Please, if you can, share with me what you're doing at home with your little ones. OR if you haven't begun anything, let me encourage you to do what you can, however much or little that may be. I know some of you are like "Do I need ONE MORE THING in my day?!" Just focus on the eternal rewards ;) Us mom's have to stick together, and share our ideas!
God bless all of you!!
love,
Heather T.
