On Fridays, I attempt to plan a simple object lesson to go along with Bible study.  Since we have been studying knights of the Middle Ages lately, I thought a lesson on the Armor of God made a nice tie-in.

The lesson is quick, but powerful.

Materials:

• two oranges
• a glass bowl large enough for two oranges to be completely submerged
• water
• Bible

Read Ephesians 6:10-17

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.  Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Talk about what each piece of armor stands for and how it helps us stand against the devil.

Ask your children to pretend to put on each piece of armor as you discuss how that particular piece might help them throughout their day.

Place both oranges in the bowl with their “armor” on.  (In other words, keep the skin on both oranges.)  Talk about how the oranges are floating, or “standing firm” in the water.

Little by little, begin peeling away some of the “armor” (skin) of one of the oranges.  You might peel off a chunk and say something like, “Uh oh, this orange forgot to put on his belt of truth.  When someone says something ugly about him today, he might believe it.  If he believes that lie, instead of the truth that he’s wonderfully made, he might not stand as firm in the water.”  Place the orange back in the water and notice that, although it doesn’t sink completely, it begins dipping further in the water than the orange still wearing all its armor.

Continue on this way, peeling back a little at a time, talking about a new piece of armor the orange forgot to put on, talking about how that might affect his day, and then placing the orange in the water to see it sink more and more each time.

By the time you remove all of the armor, the orange will completely sink.  It is not able to “stand” at all.

Challenge your children to think purposefully each day about putting on each piece of armor.  Maybe you could even pretend to put on each piece together every morning.  When I purposefully try to put on my own armor, I know I’m able to stand more firmly against the devil’s wily schemes.  I bet kids can, too!

Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be taking part in the Heart of the Matter’s 10 Days of… Blog Hop.  My posts will focus on creative ways to teach values (or character training) to your children.  My prayer is that you and I will both be inspired (or re-inspired) to train our precious children in the way they should go with methods that reach deep to encourage and motivate their souls.

I hope you’ll stop in every day over the next two weeks (weekdays only) to not only get fresh ideas, but to encourage me with your comments and fresh ideas as well.

First, just in case you’re new to my blog, I’ll take just a minute to introduce myself. I’m Cindy West, wife to Steve and mom to Mahayla (14), Caleb (11) and Eli (4). We live on a cattle farm in Central KY which is an awesome setting for tons of homeschooling opportunities and rambunctious students! I own Shining Dawn Books where you can find my NaturExplorers studies and other “living” curricula. I love encouraging homeschooling moms to embrace every moment with their children by making their time together meaningful and enjoyable.

More About My Family

More About Me

On to today’s inspiration!

Fruit of the Spirit Trees

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

Galatians 5:22-23

The Fruit of the Spirit is our “go-to” list of virtues as Christians.  We should strive to exuded each of these traits in everything we do!  Do we mess up?  Sure!  That’s part of the learning process – and thank God for His sweet mercy day in and day out as we fail!

One tried and true method I’ve used with each of my three children to help them understand and begin to display these values is a Fruit of the Spirit tree.  As early as the age of three or four, whenever I notice that the “fruits” need a little, ahem, fine tuning around the house, we stick a branch in a jar and have great fun catching each other being kind, peaceful, gentle and so on.

Beforehand, I’ve prepared little fruits tied to strings that get hung on the branches when someone has been caught.  There’s never a competition between kids to see who can gather the most fruit, but instead it’s a cooperative effort to see the good in one another, be good to one another and watch our family tree hang heavy with fruits as a result.

When one child needs a little more encouragement (like the four year old recently), the tree will be all about him.  In this instance, as often as we were able, we made a big deal about the values he was displaying and let him put his fruits on the tree.  At the end of the day, we counted the fruits together.  His goal the next day was to see if he could gather even more fruits than the day before.  After about a week, he had begun a pleasant habit which replaced a not-so-pleasant habit and we not longer needed the tree.

Old or young, every time I’ve pulled out the Fruit of the Spirit tree in our home, positive character has resulted.  It’s so easy, too!

How to Make:

• Place a tree-shaped stick in a jar/bucket of beans/rice/rocks.
• Cut out fruit shapes from construction paper, card stock, foam sheets or anything else you like. (The fruit shapes in my photo were prepared shapes I found several years ago at a dollar store.)
• Punch a hole at the top of each fruit and loop a ribbon, yarn or string through it to become a hanger.
• For very young children, I don’t write anything on the fruits.  We simply talk about each value as its displayed and the child hangs any fruit of his choosing.  For young readers, write one value on each of the fruits so that you have at least one per Fruit of the Spirit.  When a particular value is displayed, they find the correct fruit to hang on the tree.  For older children, place a list of the Fruits of the Spirit near the tree along with the blank fruits and a marker to create their own as a fruit is displayed.

That’s it!  What are you waiting for?  You could have new, wonderful habits started tomorrow!

While not necessary, I know many of you like to find fun extras to reinforce your lessons, or actual lessons to help you specifically teach the Fruits of the Spirit.  I have included some of both in the widget below for your convenience.

Be sure to visit these wonderful ladies during our 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th!

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

Welcome to Week 2, Day 6 of my Heart of the Matter 10 Days of… Series on Teaching Values in your homeschool!  Today I’d like to share my very favorite resource for supporting me in the teaching of Biblical values – For Instruction in Righteousness : A Topical Reference Guide for Biblical Child-Training by Pam Forster (published by Doorposts.)

Why do I like this book so much?  I use it all the time!  In the previous five days of this series I’ve already mentioned it twice – as a resource to help me turn living literature into character training lessons and as my go-to help when trying to discipline in a way that reaches the heart.  Today, I’d like give you a brief overview of the book then show you how I’ve used it.

A Peek into the Book

Pam Forster has packed this reference full-to-the-brim, covering more than 50 undesirable character traits.  Undesirable character traits?  Yes, which is why it’s such a great resource!  When you find your child caught up in a lie or battling with anger, you can easily use the table of contents to find the problem area and be led to a world of helps!

Within each section, you find:

• Bible verses and Bible stories that speak about the sin (bad character trait)
• References to Bible verses and stories that illustrate the results of the sin
• Simple ideas for creative discipline
• Bible verses that speak of the blessings from “doing the opposite”
• References to Bible stories that illustrate the blessings that result from “doing the opposite”
• A few Bible verses appropriate for memorization on the topic

Let’s go through one chapter as an example.  In the chapter called “Complaining/Ingratitude” you will find several Bible references showing people who have grumbled against God, who are lovers of themselves, and who forget God’s blessings.  These verses are followed by references to what happens to people in the Bible who live in this sin – like the children of Israel dying in the wilderness and not having the privilege of entering the Promised Land.  Upon reading about the children of Israel, the author suggests that you might remind your child of his complaining/ingratitude by giving him more work if he continues to grumble about tasks set before him.

After what I like to call the chastising for poor character qualities, there are always answers from the Word that bring hope!  In this chapter, the focus turns to verses and stories that show the blessings people receive when they are thankful – the opposite of a complainer or ungrateful person.  In this instance, you are directed such stories as Ruth and Naomi or Rahab.  And the chapter always ends with pertinent, often uplifting verses to hide in your heart.

And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Col. 3:17

Think of it.  For just about any character issue your child is struggling with (or you for that matter), this guide will get you started on Biblical advice against the issue and what to replace the behavior with!

How do I use it?

As a Bible Study Guide

There have been times, we have simply gone through the book with our Bibles in hand and studied together on a topic for a day, a week or longer.  It doesn’t get any easier.  We look up verses and have discussions.  Everything is there for you.  These discussion times have been really good.

With Literature Character Lessons

As mentioned on day 2 of this series, we will often read picture books or chapter books and turn them into a character lesson.  When discussing the flaws of a certain character, it’s nice to have For Instruction in Righteousness nearby.  We’ll often talk about what God has to say about the flaw and this book is invaluable for finding His thoughts.

Using it in Discipline

Again, as I mentioned on day 5 of this series, I try (my darnedest) to discipline in a way that gets to the heart of the issues.  That often involves bringing God’s Word into our discipline discussions.  If my children don’t understand why we do or don’t act a certain way, then discipline is fairly worthless.  So, in trying to help them learn our values, which are God’s values, I am constantly pulling out For Instruction in Righteousness to lead me to those heart-grabbing verses that deal specifically with the issue at hand.  It’s a topical Bible reference that speaks directly to discipline issues!

So There You Have It

Just in case you’re wondering, no, I don’t have any relationship with Doorposts or the author, Pam Forster.  (LOL)  I just REALLY use this book and can’t say enough about what a help it’s been in our home!

Do you own For Instruction in Righteousness?  How do you use it? 

Be sure to visit these brilliant women during the 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th!

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

Welcome back to Day 8 of my Heart of the Matter 10 Days of… series on teaching values in your homeschool!  Today’s topic is about one of my favorite allegories of all time – The Pilgrim’s Progress.

An allegory is a story with a hidden meaning.  In The Pilgrim’s Progress, each of the characters in the book represents a different type of person you might meet in this world as you travel through life trying to stay on the path that leads to eternity.

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Matthew 7:14

One man, Christian, has been urged to leave his town – the City of Destruction – to find the city of salvation, known as Mt. Zion.  On his journey, Christian meets many, many people.  Some seem to be friends,while others seem to be enemies – many of them wittingly or unwittingly trying to lead Christian off the path that leads to his final destination.

From beginning to end, the book offers a fantastic study of “character qualities” through the many varied “characters” you meet. For instance:

• Pliable – who starts on the journey with Christian only to get discouraged and go home
• Worldly Wiseman – who encourages Christian to give up his silly fascination with religion and stray from his journey
• Demas – who tries to tempt Christian away from his journey with worldly wealth
• Evangelist – who first brings the Gospel message to Christian and urges him on his journey to Mt. Zion
• Shining Ones – who are guardians to Christian throughout his journey
• Faithful – a companion of Christian’s during the journey

As you can tell, each person’s character traits “fits” his or her name.  And each character (there are many more) holds a very important place in values training discussions.  The wealth of Biblical and character symbolism in The Pilgrim’s Progress is unmatched, in my opinion!

I will admit that the original version written by John Bunyan in 1678 is difficult to read in its Old English writing style.  However, there are many other versions on the market.  In many cases, full-texts that have been edited to more modern language.  You can also find abridged, illustrated versions for younger children.  Some of your choices include:

If you’re interested in completing a very in-depth study of The Pilgrim’s Progress, I would suggest the curriculum below.  It’s very workbook-like with questions for each chapter of the book, but also unit-study-like as it ties in Bible, history and more.

I’m a huge fan of Christian allegories and there are many wonderful children’s allegories I highly recommend.  (Don’t think picture books are just for younger children!  I read these with middle and high school kids at church all the time as part of fantastic Sunday school lessons!)

Now it’s your turn! What Biblical allegories have you read and recommend?

Be sure to visit these great ladies during the 10 days adventure between November 7th-18th!

10 days of Character Studies | Confessions of a Homeschooler
10 days of Christmas Countdown Ideas | Milk & Cookies
10 days of Creative Writing | Chocolate on My Cranium
10 days of Crockpot Meals | The Happy Housewife
10 Days to a Godly Marriage | Women Living Well
10 Days of Growing Leaders | Mom’s Mustard Seeds
10 Days of Homeschooling High School | Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
10 days of I Wish I Had Known | Fruit in Season
10 days of Keeping Your Marbles | The Tie That Binds Us
10 days of Kid-friendly Food | Planner Perfect
10 Days of Language Arts Lesson Planning | Jimmie’s Collage
10 Days of Learning Apps | Daze of Adventure
10 Days of a Mason Jar Christmas | Cajun Joie de Vivre
10 Days of More JESUS in Christmas | Preschoolers and Peace
10 Days to a Peaceful Home | Raising Arrows
10 Days of Raising a Life-Long-Learner | Bright Ideas Press
10 days of Science with Math | Blog, She Wrote
10 days of Teaching Values | Our Journey Westward
10 days of Winning your Child’s Heart | I Take Joy

In transferring posts from her old blog to her new blog, she found the following article she originally wrote in September of 2007. Not only is it a wonderful post, but in case you don’t know, Jimmie lives in an urban area of China where nature study can be quite challenging. We hope her thoughts encourage you to work hard at nature study no matter where you might live! Thank you, Jimmie, for allowing us to repost your article here!

Nature Study – the Duty of Christian Homeschoolers

By Jimmie – http://jimmiescollage.com

My daughter is learning a catechism. We’ve been reviewing these for about thirty weeks now and something new just hit me!

Very early in the question/answer series are these:

Q: How do we learn about God?
A: God reveals Himself.

Q: Where does God reveal Himself?
A: In His word and in nature.

God reveals himself through His word; therefore, we must study His word. Every Christian knows that. Christian homeschooling families put a high importance on the Bible.

But this is my eye-opener — God reveals Himself through nature; therefore, we must study nature! There is actually a theological reason to study nature! God reveals Himself (His character, law and wrath) through the natural world that He created.

Romans 1:20 “For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead. . . “

If we neglect to study nature, we will probably miss some truths about Him. I don’t want to miss it! I want to learn all I can. And more importantly, I want my daughter to see God through nature. I would never dream of omitting the Bible from our curriculum. Likewise I should not omit the study and enjoyment of nature.

Psalm 19:1-3 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork. Day unto day utters speech, And night unto night reveals knowledge. There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.”

I am so excited by this discovery. And now as part of our working on the nature journal the next day at home, I’m going to add this question, “Since God reveals His character, law, and wrath through nature, did you sense any of that on our nature walk yesterday? Did God reveal any of Himself to you during that time?”

DD’s answer this week was, “He’s amazing! He made those insects so beautiful!” Yes! God revealed His Divine Creator character to her through nature.

I’m not talking about worshiping nature here. We understand what animism is, and we don’t fit the bill. I’m talking about seeing up the beam of light all the way to God (as C.S. Lewis said).

You know, I blogged about the nature walks mostly because I knew that if I did, I’d be accountable to my readers to DO it. But now I see that I’m actually accountable to God to lead my daughter in the study and enjoyment of nature!

Tens of workshop choices and hundreds of missions booths left us both filled up and worn out at the same time.  We were filled up with such a passion, vision and resolve, yet worn out by the fact of our continual fight against the devil in this world.  The two workshops I chose to attend were about our battles with eastern religion quietly finding its way into Christianity, and the fight against the huge and devastating pornography/s*x trafficking business.

One thing was so evident  – in each workshop, at every booth and in every face – everyone knew without a doubt that God is on our side and we will not lose in the end!  Praise God!

We had such an amazing time Friday that we took my husband back on Sunday for their closing worship service.  An awe-inspiring message by Barry Cameron and wonderful concert by the Martin’s were only topped as we witnessed over a hundred people come before God to dedicate their lives to the mission field!

Even if God never calls me to go into what most people would consider the mission field, I know He can (and does) still use me mightily here in my own community and in my own family.  Join with me in praying for ourselves as missionaries  – either at home or abroad.  Pray for missionaries who are in areas of our world where they might be in danger.  Pray that God will raise up an army of missionaries to take His Word into the world to “make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

Downtown Lexington with Rupp Arena in the background

A view from one of the very busy vendor halls

A missionary to Native Americans sharing the culture with us

One of many booths from missions our family or our church have supported

The coolest find - waterproof Bibles!

The Martin's singing at the Sunday worship service

You’re gonna think I’ve gone widget crazy!!!! However, this was the simplest and easiest way to put together a post with photos rather than just writing a long and boring list.

I would love to hear about some of your favorite games!  We’re always up for something new!

We’re already several lessons in and I just couldn’t wait to give this product the thumbs up!

Anyone who knows my teaching style knows that I appreciate historical sequence.  It makes sense to me that Bible history and world history are taught in chronological order so that connections can be made and mental pictures drawn.  I’ve completed many varied Bible curricula and historical fiction books that teach Genesis through Moses fairly well, but I have yet to find something really good for the times following Israel entering the Promised Land.

Up until now, the main product we used was The Child’s Story Bible by Catherine Vos along with The Victor Journey Through the Bible.  Both are awesome, by the way!  But, God’s Great Covenant: Old Testament 2 has given me the workbook study feel that I was looking for.

(Yes, I know, most of the time you hear me say I DON’T want a workbook!  Remember that I find value in all sorts of education – even workbooks within reason.  And we have never completed anything “workbook-like” with this section of the Bible, so it was time.  )

Student Key Facts Page

Here’s a quick overview of of God’s Great Covenant: Old Testament 2

• It’s written for children 3rd grade or older.
• It comes with a Student Notebook and a Teacher’s Guide.  The Teacher’s Guide includes everything just the same as the Student Notebook with additional teaching notes and answer keys.  The additional notes are very helpful and there are plenty of places for you to keep your own notes, too.
• Lessons move along chronologically.
• Each lesson includes a nice-sized synopsis of the Bible text (2-3 pages), or you can choose to read directly from the Bible – the references are included.
• Each lesson includes a key Bible verse, key facts & vocabulary that you will need to know about the lesson, and a key question to consider about the lesson.
• After reading through the lesson and the things mentioned in the bullet above, 2-4 worksheets follow that help your child review the material learned.  From the Bible reference and the key facts/vocabulary page, several small sections of questions and fun games are derived.  Your child will complete fill-in-the-blank activities, matching, multiple choice, mazes and word games.  The worksheets always end with a short activity for your child to look up additional verses in the Bible that relate somehow to the Bible lesson.

Student Workbook Page

The back of the book provides lots of wonderful helps and charts for you and your child.  You’ll find:

• A Memory Verse Summary for each of the five units, which you can choose to copy and post if you like.
• A Pictures of Jesus in the Old Testament guide that makes connections about how the Old Testament was continually pointing to the need for and the coming of Jesus as our Savior.
• Two charts that help you understand the Psalms and Proverbs.
• Charts showing the Kings and Prophets.
• A brief summary about the time period between the Old and New Testaments.
• A thorough glossary.
• Four very clear and helpful gray-scale maps.
• Two additional pages of review worksheets for each lesson should you choose to use them.

Teacher's Guide Page

Five units each have 6-7 lessons.  The lessons are meant to take one week each to complete, but we were able to complete most in 1-2 days.  If you take your time with the book, it can last an entire school year.  (I don’t meander around with much.  )  Lesson units include:

1. The Early Kingdom…The God Who Anoints
2. The Glorious Kingdom…The God Who Blesses
3. The Divided Kingdom…The God Who Reigns
4. The Remnant Kingdom…The God Who Judges
5. The Exiled Nation…The God Who Rescues

You will need one workbook per child since there are no rights given to copy the pages within your homeschool.  Oh, and I’m still using The Victor Journey Through the Bible alongside this study.  It goes along perfectly with the lessons and gives an extra visual understanding that I feel is important for cementing the information.  Quite simply, we read the God’s Great Covenant lesson then open The Victor Journey Through the Bible book to see if there is anything we might like to see or read.  It only adds a couple of extra minutes to the lessons.

My children have enjoyed our Bible time as they look forward to the “fun pages”.  See what can happen when you limit workbook time?  Your children start to call them fun pages!

The problem – they aren’t quite ready for all this independence yet…

This is the start of a review I wrote at The Curriculum Choice.  Click here to read the entire review.

On Sunday nights at church, I teach a Kidz Group class for children in 1-5th grades.  Right now, I have only little boys in the class.  What better way to catch their attention than to talk about dinosaurs!  Dinosaurs and church??  Of course!  Dinosaurs are a great topic for teaching the authority of the Bible as compared to evolutionary teaching.  And for children, dinosaurs are one of the biggest “hooks” public schools use to disprove Biblical authority.

Just how do you educate yourself on the truth of the Bible vs. what the evolutionary world believes?  It’s really as simple as children’s books!  There are so many wonderful children’s books available now that teach Creation vs. evolution.  And not only do they educate your children, they educate you as well!  I’ll include just a few dinosaur themed books here and if you’re interested in me posting more wonderful creation-based children’s books, just let me know.

Some of these are more in-depth than others.  If you’re hoping for a simpler book, I would suggest What Ever Happened To Dinosaurs or D is for Dinosaurs.  The others are more detailed and best suited for upper elementary and above.