The Gospel Story

Today's Gospel reminder is the story of the bible using classic art...

The Gospel Project is a new Gospel Centered Sunday School curriculum for adults, youth and children.

 You can find out more here: The Gospel Project

Gospel Powered Parenting Book Club {Chapter Four}

A Holy Father

Chapter three taught us that God blesses parents who fear the Lord and that the fear of the Lord is taught best not in the Old Testament but through the Gospel in the New Testament.  This chapter fleshes out what is meant by that statement. 

In an effort to be brief and summarize Farley's arguments, here are some bullet points of what he argues in this chapter:

• How we parent is not about techniques, but it is a "by-product" of how we think - specifically, how we think about God.
• There are two important fundamentals in how we think about God, both are illustrated best in the cross:  his holiness and his grace.  (This chapter will explore the first- God is Holy.)
• Holiness is God's fundamental attribute.  It means he is fundamentally different than us in his perfection, and purity.  It is difficult to understand how completely "other" he is.
• The cross illustrates how completely God separates himself from sin and sinners.  "Here is the stunning truth:  Such is the holiness of the Father that when his Son bore our sin and transgressions, God separated himself from him. (Matt. 27:46)" (pg. 75)
• Part of God's holiness is also his justice.  "He is just, and his justice is holy.  It is not like this world's justice.  It cannot be suspended, compromised, or ignored.  It must be executed with perfection.  It must be satisfied.  In other words, it woud be sin for God to compromise justice." (pg. 76-77)
• Because God is holy and God is just, we next need to understand his holy wrath.  Farley quotes Jerry Bridges, [His wrath] "is the tangible expression of His inflexible determination to punish it [sin].  We might say God's wrath is His justice in action, rendering to everyone his just due, which because of our sin is always judgement."
• Another great quote:  "The real question is not: 'How can God be loving and wrathful at the same time?' Rather, ther real question is: 'How could God be good - infinitely good in the way the Bible describes him-and not feel intense anger at sin and evil?'" (pg. 79)
• God poured out his wrath on his son, who bore our sins, at the cross.  Which leads us to this conclusion:  "There are only two types of people.  There are those who put their faith in Jesus and let him bear God's wrath in their place.  And there are those who try to earn salvation on their own terms.  They will bear this wrath themselves, in hell, for eternity." (pg. 81)

Farley then draws 5 conclusions for parents:

1. The cross and it's implications teaches us to fear God.
2. The cross teaches parents to pursue their own holiness.  It causes us to take our sin seriously.
3. The cross gives us an eternal perspective.  We will one day stand before this holy God, either on our own merits, or on the merits of Christ.
4. The cross teaches us not to presume upon grace, but to take decisive action.
5. The cross makes us needy - we cannot earn salvation, we must find it in Christ alone.
  

My thoughts

For me, I would say that it is very difficult to understand the depth of God's holiness.  I too often think that he is like me.  I get angry at sin, but my anger is biased to certain kinds of sin.  It is disproportionate in it's response.  It is blind to my own failings, but harsh on others.  I see sins primarily as actions and not as attitudes.  If I (or my children) can manage our actions to socially acceptable behaviors, I feel like we are much closer to holiness - we are doing pretty well.  This is not a correct definition of holiness.  God's holiness helps me to understand that God looks upon the heart, that even the cleanest, most moral individuals still required the sacrifice of his son to atone for their sin!  I want my kids to understand just how bad sin is.  Not just lying and stealing and disobeying, but the heart attitudes that cause us to prefer a host of other things to God, that cause us to rebel against his good authority in our lives.  These things are in ALL of us, no matter how clean we look on the outside.

The most sobering quote in this chapter for me was this one:

In their book How People Change, Lane and Tripp insightfully write, "One of the reasons teenagers are not excited by the gospel is that they do not think they need it.  Many parents have successfully raised self-righteous little Pharisees.  When they look at themselves, they do not see a sinner in desperate need, so they are not grateful for a Savior."  Children raised by diligent parents immersed in the holiness of God are not apt to share this problem.  (pg. 83)

What quote stood out to you the most?

 

In what practical ways should the knowledge of God's holiness motivate Christians to parent their children differently?

If you are reading along with us, I would love to hear your thoughts on any of the chapters you have read so far.  You can comment here, or on the posts from any of the previous chapters.  You can find all of the posts on the new Book Club page.

 

Linking up today with:  Faithful Parenting Fridays

How Do You Make Learning Fun? {The Answers!}

Last week I asked all my blog, Facebook and email friends to help me with ideas for making learning fun.  I had several people share their ideas with me and so I wanted to make them available to you!  I have grouped them in categories based on school subject or type of learning activity:

• General Ideas,
• Math,
• Memorization,
• Reading, 
• Educational Games, Apps or Websites

General Ideas

• Always be a little goofy and surprise the kids. If they never know what you will do, they stay interested. I would stand on a chair, talk in silly voices now and then, sometimes not talk at all and just use hand motions.  (HC)  This especially works for me when we have long read-alouds! (JG)
• Try and make it as "real-life" as possible. Act out the stories or songs, when we study coins, I set up a "shop" full of their toys and they "buy" them, I have recently turned out basement into the desert for our science unit, we have acted out segments of history. The physical nature of all this also seems to help kids retain the learning a bit more too.  (HC)

Heather's Science Biome Activity!

•  Working with a partner. Sometimes it is just more fun to work with a partner on a task. Whether it be something creative or even something "dry" such as measuring items around the house.  (HC)  Sometimes I am their partner - we "figure it out together" especially if it is working through a tough math problem or brainstorming ideas for pre-writing.  There is always less stress if Mom joins the ranks of learner with the kids!  (JG) 
• Occasionally, when least expected, we "work" for treats. Usually I did this after a day when the class was just being blah and didn't seem to have their brains turned on. (HC)
•  Have a guest teacher or co-teacher. Even letting a kids teach can often add a new dimension of fun to the classroom. (HC)  We had Grandpa in for a lesson one day, since he is a former NASA project manager!  (JG)
• Change the learning environment - whether a field trip, just going outside, or just redecorating / moving furniture.  This can often inspire new ideas.  (HC)
• Videos - I judiciously use video, since boys especially are captivated by images.  I don't let them watch the movie version of a book until they have read the book (or had it read to them.)  I don't substitute the video learning for the book, but after we have learned some about a concept, I will then reinforce what they've learned with a video (Discovery channel, BBC Earth, Bill Nye the Science Guy, History videos from www.havefunwithhistory.com).  Sometimes the videos enhance their interest and cause them to go back to the books to learn more! (JG)
• Family Vacation- We always make sure we hit an educational stop on our family vacation.  We love national parks and national monuments - the boys are accomplished Junior Rangers at quite a few destinations. (JG)
• Kinesthetic Learners - Letting them bounce on an exercise ball while doing their work or reading or memorizing really helps.  Chewing gum is also a good thing to help those kids who hae to move, to focus (LH).

Math

• Facts practice:  Turn it into a game of around the world, or something of the sort.  A game where the more facts you know, the more moves or chances you get.  When we were introducing simple addition within 10, I put plates on the floor 0-10 and had my kids hop on them like frogs.  (i.e. - I told them to stand on 2 and asked how many till 10, they would hop 9 plates - we then said 2 + 8 = 10).  (HC) I have been teaching multiplication by making rows of little cars on the floor.  Ex:  3 rows of 4 cars each is 12.  I also have my son add up the scores to board games and card games (especially UNO) to teach math.  (PB)
• Fractions:  Food!  Cookies, pizza, pie, amount of M&Ms etc.  Begin with the whole... what if we each get half, etc.  You can also use cardboard boxes (or carpet squares) as houses and divide up the "house: into frations according to "rooms".  (HC)
• Measurement:  I have the kids measure things around the house  You can also do a scavenger hunt.  "Find the item in this room that weighs 2 pounds or is 3 inches long".  Cooking is great for measurement as well (cook something yummy they will want to eat).  If they are older, you can have them build something - build a birdouse that is 5 inches high and 6 inches long etc.  Obviously they will need help cutting etc.  But what a great example of what an actual builder does.  You can even introduce blueprints, CAD etc off this.  You can have them predict which is longer, weigs more etc.  or how many inches or pounds it is.  Closest prediction gets a prize.  (HC)
• Word Problems:  I think if they can be acted out (at least some of them) it helps kids nderstand that word problems are real life math - not just something in a book that they hve to do.  Many times kinesthetic learners (like me) get lost in all the words.  The chance to act or draw out the problem not only makes it more fun but also makes it understandable for them. (HC)

Memorizing

• Use music!  You can set almost anything to a familiar tune.  (We sing the presidents to the tune of Yankee Doodle.)  Lots of resources are available that set different facts to songs, from math facts to geography facts to bible verses.  (Check out my post on Seeds Family Worship for more on verse memorization.) (JG)
• Rewards!  When we have pancakes, waffles, crepes or French toast for breakfast, I let our kids put whipped cream on top (out of the spray can).  If theycan recite a Bible verse (any verse, including the reference)  they can have a "dollop" directly in their mouths.  They LOVE it, and the small amount of sugar content is worth hearing them BEG to recite verses many mornings, sometimes several verses at a time! (SE)
• Motions!  We like to make up motions to anything we are tryng to memorize.  (SP)

Reading

• I motivate my boys to read by reading aloud to them to stir their interest in a new author or series or subject.  I wrote more on this here.  (JG)
• Mine are too young to read on their own.  I have seen people do sticker charts for each book and then get a reward after so many books read.  Theme units can be fun too.  Find books on a topic the kids may be interested in (country, aimal, sport, time period etc) and study it - nothing intense.  You can add any related art, music, dress, games, food or other projects (paper mache etc. ) to it to help make it fun.  Sometimes even "sharing" reading.  You read a page to them, they read a page to you under a tree, tent or in a hammock can be fun. (HC)
• I have recently decided that it's completely okay for some of their reading time to be books tat are WAY too easy for them.  Sometimes letting them just revisit the easy stuff below their level gives them a boost of confidence and not everything has to be a challenge every time.  So, my idea here is just to simply back off and let them take a few steps back every once in a while!  (Can you imagine?)  (SE)

Educational Games, Apps or Websites

• Jeopardy - Our kids LOVE to watch Jeopardy on TV.  Seriously.  I have to create this game myself but I like to write out questions to review content we have learned during the year, or during a particular unit.  We did a World War II jeopardy game and I was really surprised at how much they remembered.  We also did one as an end of the year wrap-up and celebration.  It was fun to see everything we had covered!  (JG)
• Math - www.fun4thebrain.com
• Spelling- ipad app called "Spelling Test".  We load each girls spelling list into the app.  It speaks the word to them and they have to spell it corretly.  It keeps track for me too. (SP)
• Geography - iPad app called "Stack the States", www.yourchildlearns.com has interactive maps and interactive stories. 
• Reading - www.starfall.com
• Vocabulary - www.dynamo.dictionary.com - You can input your word list and play games.
• General - www.purposegames.com
• Board Games -  The Scrambled States of America, Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Cash Flow, Set (card game), GeoPuzzles... 

What other ideas do you have to add to our list?  Add your ideas to the comments section!  I'm hoping this will be great inspiration for adding creativity to the upcoming school year!

**Thanks to Heather (HC), Sarah (SP), Sue (SE), Patty (PB), and Lara (LH) for sending ideas for this post. 

This is what summer is for!

A favorite picture of my two oldest when they were 3 and 1!

I hope everyone is having a great Fourth of July (minus fireworks for those of us in Colorado!)  My family and I are enjoying a great mountain town this week and we are just about to start a more extended camping vacation.  I've scheduled a few posts while we are gone, through the magic of blogger!   While you are enjoying a bit of summer festivites, I thought you might also enjoy this great article too....

Summers are for Gospel Reminders



Watch Out for Myths, Half-Truths and Propaganda!

Today's post is inspired by the 10 in 10 link up from iHomechool Network and hosted at Many Little Blessings. The topic is: Top 10 Pieces of Advice for a New Homeschooler.

Homeschoolers LOVE to talk about the benefits of homeschooling.  Really, there are a lot of benefits!  After my first 5 years of homeschooling, however, I have found that some of these benefits can be a bit... um... overstated?  In fact, because I like to be somewhat sarcastic occasionally, I am going to give you my...

Top 10 Homeschooling Myths, Half-Truths and Propaganda. 

Well, I will give you 5 today and 5 next week.  This week are the silly ones, next week I'll try the more serious ones.

Just to make sure I don't offend anyone TOO much, I give you these definitions (cherry picked from the internet to fit my purpose):

Myth-  idealized conception: a set of often idealized or glamorized ideas and stories surrounding a particular phenomenon, concept, or famous person

Half-Truth- A deceptive statement, especially one that is only partly true, incomplete, or misrepresents reality.

Propaganda- a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position.

*To be sure, I don't think anyone told me these things in an attempt to deceive - we homeschoolers  just sometimes get a little over-zealous in our attempts to convey our enthusiasm about homeschooling!* 

Here we go!

1.        We can do school in our PJ’s!

Half-Truth. 

This is a bonus when you have toddlers, are sick or on snowy days, but let’s face it-  It would just be lazy and weird if we did this every day.  I need to get dressed so I don’t feel like a slug, if you know what I mean.

2.        Homeschool takes less time than public school!

Propaganda. 

We can complete our basic school subjects before lunch, but there are some days we don’t even BEGIN our subjects until after lunch.  There have been years when we finished our school year WAY earlier than our public school neighbors, and the year that we did school half way through the summer because of family circumstances that stopped school  altogether in the winter.  Then there is the fact that homeschooling isn’t just doing school at home, it becomes a lifestyle.  Sometimes we watch educational videos for family movie night, take vacations that are primarily educational and let’s face it, if Mom and Dad are doing the teaching, you NEVER leave school.  So, although it is technically true that we are outside playing way before the public school neighbors get home, there is plenty of school going on at lots of other times as well.

3.       They will probably be ahead of the public school kids no matter what you do!

Half-Truth. 

I hear this one a lot when I am discouraged and wonder if we are doing all the things that we should be doing, or if I feel we are getting behind.  A fellow homeschooler may encourage me with, “They are probably still ahead of the public school kids.”  This is partly true.  In general, studies say that homeschoolers are ahead of their public school counterparts in standardized test scores and other indicators. (See this info graphic.)  However, just because the average homeschooler is generally ahead, doesn’t mean that if I neglect certain aspects of my child’s education that they will still be ahead, or even at the place they should be.  There are plenty of times when my kids are ahead of “the curve”, but plenty of times when they are behind “the curve” either from my own neglect of a subject area or simply because my kid's ability is not as strong in that area.  I need to be diligent to give my kids the skills they need and I also need to not have to compare them to public school kids as a measure of my effectiveness.

4.       We don’t know what grade they are in!

Myth. 

OK, so the child has a 12^th grade reading level a 6^th grade math level, a 2^nd grade spelling level, knows Latin verb conjugations but has atrocious handwriting.  Homeschooling allows for kids to work at their own pace, which is fantastic.  But really, I think we all know what “grade level” our kids are in.  It is really just another way to state age, really.  The fourth year of school = fourth grade.  If I am saying, “But my child started school when they were 2 years old”, maybe I just need to ask myself if my child’s performance is a matter of pride or self-righteousness and then, is that the message I want my kids to receive and send to others when someone asks them, “What grade are you in?” 

5.       Even going to the grocery store can be a field trip!

Myth.

People told me when I started homeschooling that everyday chores could be counted as school – I was so excited!  It is true that our learning should consist of practical learning as well as the academic subjects and that is a benefit of homeschooling.  But after dragging three boys on countless grocery store trips over the years… grocery shopping is not educational it is just survival!

Do you have any homeschooling myths, half-truths or propaganda that you would like to dispel for us?  I would love to hear them in the comments!

Come back  next Tuesday for the rest of my Top 10 Homeschooling Myths, Half-Truths and Propaganda.  And don't forget to check out the other lists at Many Little Blessings today!

Do You Fear God?

Time to start our week with a gospel reminder.  Continuing Friday's book club theme of "Gospel Fear" I have a quote for you from counselor and author Ed Welch...

Do you ever think that your sins are too bad, and that forgiveness for those sins requires you to get your act together first? If so, you don’t fear God. You are minimizing his forgiveness. You are acting as though his forgiveness is ordinary, just like that of any person or make-believe god. In contrast, the fear of the Lord leads us to believe that when God makes promises too good to be true, they are indeed true.

— Ed Welch
Running Scared
(Greensboro, NC: New Growth Press, 2007), 195

Gospel Powered Parenting Book Club {Chapter 3}

"Gospel Fear"

In chapter one we learned about important assumptions about parenting that we need to identify.  The primary assumption that stood out was the realization that the goal of our parenting should be the transformed hearts of our children through what the bible calls "new birth", or regeneration.  Chapter two explains that the gospel is the power for parenting and for producing the transformation of the new birth in our children.  In both chapters we have learned that our children need the new birth, but we cannot give it to them!

Chapter three begins with the bold assertion that the fear of God is "the most important thing that parents can possess to move God to regenerate their children." (pg. 55) Farley explains that while this is not a guarantee of salvation, it is a "general principle" that has a strong biblical basis to it.  He follows this assertion with many biblical examples that tie the parents' fear of God to blessing for their children as well.  It is important to understand that Farley is not expressing moralism (God blessing us because we are good.)  He says, "God blesses faith, and a key expression of faith is the fear of God."  (pg. 55) 


I had never thought of the fear of God as an expression of faith before, and yet he shared example after example of the fear of God preceding and motivating obedience.  Because of their fear, they obeyed.  Fear was an expression of faith, not fearing was an expression of unbelief.  This was a new way for me to see faith in the Old Testament.


Farley then begins a helpful explanation of the fear of God.  He shows that this fear has two expressions:  one attracts us to God; the other repels us from God.  One is son-fear, the other is slave-dread.

Slave-dread, the wrong type of fear, does not motivate obedience.  It causes us to run away from God.... Those with slave-dread draw back from God.  They have no conviction that he is good, that he rewards those who seek him, or that he has their best interests at heart.  All they see is his holiness, his severity, and his hatred of sin, and they run the other way.

But son-fear, the fear that comes with new birth, attracts us to God.  It motivates us to pursue God.  As we have seen the people of Israel drew back from Mount Sinai, but Moses went right up the mountain into the fiery cloud to be near God.  Why?  Like Israel, Moses saw the holiness of God.  But he also saw that the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and mercy and that he does not give us what our sins deserve but removes our transgressions from his presence... 

Moses' fear was more like the fear that attracts us to the edge of the Grand Canyon.  We are afraid, but the incredible beauty and vastness of the great gulf irresistibly compels us. (pg. 62-63)

 I love that image of the fear that attracts us, and irresistibly compels us!  What other images or experiences come to mind when you think of that kind of fear?


Understanding the fear of God will be important as we learn how we are to be obedient to our calling as parents.  Farley stated that this fear of God motivates, attracts, inspires, "rivets our eyes on eternal realities" and "makes parents humble, teachable and approachable".  All these things are critical elements in bringing the gospel to our children.


How did this chapter change your understanding of the fear of God?


What can a parent do to grow in the fear of the Lord?


I would love to hear your thoughts, please share them with me and the others reading along in the comments section!  (If you are reading this by email, you will need to click through to the website to comment.)


The next chapter will help us to see how the fear of the Lord culminates in the gospel, specifically in the cross.

Other posts in this series:

Join the Club!  Book club, that is.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2