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Help with Bible Time
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I am so embarrassed to post this, please be gentle with me. I’m having such a hard time doing Bible time with our children. I have a 12, 10,10 and 4 yr old. My mornings are pretty busy. I’ve had a real hard time with my health lately (I’m in the process of getting a celiac diagnosis) so I’m not doing good with waking up at 6am like I want! I get up a little later than that and have my quiet time (which isn’t very quiet by then) and then I exercise. If I don’t do it then, it doesn’t happen and it is helping me with my fatigue during the day. During this time, the children are doing their individual chores and Bible time and breakfast and independent schoolwork. Each one is on his own time frame. We try to meet for table time close to lunch for table time. I find that if our time at the table gets too long they really zone out and I get very tired. Sometimes my dh does devotions with them in the a.m. but it’s not consistent because of his changing hours.
So, what ends up happening is that I just rush right in during table time and try to do dictation, Latin vocab review, TruthQuest History (which leads us into lots of Biblical discussions), and literature. But there’s too much to cover and not enough time or energy. On really stressed days, all do is TruthQuest History. I find that the age difference between my older three children and my youngest seems to be so wide that I lose my little one during the Bible time. So, I find that I don’t get to it hoping that my dh will get to it after dinner. But lots of times that doesn’t happen. So, I’m so ashamed to say, that although we are conversing about the Lord during the day and praying, we don’t read the Bible with our children consistently. Any suggestions? How do you fit everything in your day?
My next month is going to be filled with lots of doctor appointments as I’m trying to test for celiac in all four children. I’m still not feeling well. I just don’t know where or how to start. We start one Bible reading method then go to the Vos Story Bible, then we go to 24 Family Ways, then we go back to reading Proverbs. I just haven’t found something that I feel we can stick to either.
Any suggestions?
Many Blessings,
Betty
Oh, Betty! My daughter was diagnosed with celiac’s and she struggled for about a year until the Lord healed her. All that to say, I can understand this must be very challenging for you; trying to teach four children when all you really want to do is go back to bed.
Student teaching may be a big help right now. Can one of your oldest read the Bible with the others? It may take some discipline at first (if yours are like mine), but you can get there. You may be able to get each of your three oldest to teach at least one subject. They will really have to pray with you and together about this. Your husband can help them get the vision of your home working to serve Mom right now in thanksgiving.
I would not worry about the reading level of the books right now (I’ve learned most of my history right off the Easy shelf at the library). Just make the assignments and, if you are perhaps able to have discussions, hear narrations, or read what they write, you can see that they stay on track. It may also help you conserve your energy to meet their emotional needs. Just a couple of thoughts.
I will pray for you!
Blessings,
Cindy
{{{Betty}}}
You’ve got your plate full! I have had times where my plate is just too full. Please let some things go for now. I have 9 dc from 21 to 17 months, have graduated two, and I will assure you they WILL catch up, they will get whatever they need in the long haul (well, unless you just sit around twiddling your thumbs all day!). I have had struggles getting a routine going after a few rough years, and I make Bible time THE thing we do–if it’s all we do, so be it! They work on their individual things, too.
I also need to keep Bible time shorter for the “littles”. Here’s what we do:
Pray
Sing–we pick a “hymn for the month”, one for the week, then whoever has their laundry day gets to pick one. Yes, we spend 10 minutes singing! It’s really good for us–and sometimes I use the hymns for copywork, vocab,etc.
Read a chapter of Psalms (or Proverbs)–maybe you could get something they could color–although sometimes we get “where’s my red?” “That black’s mine!” so maybe that wouldn’t be so helpful! We might share a few things that stood out to us.
Scripture Memory–we’re using the system shared here at SCM and love it
That’s it unless we do our Grapevine study. I just started doing this and like it–the dc do, too. You “stick-figure” the information and they copy it into their books. But right now you don’t need one more thing! If “all” you do is pray, sing, read a chapter (or even a few verses!) and do some memorizing, you will be farther ahead than you think!
Blessings to you! I pray the Lord will give you wisdom to know what to put aside for now. Again–trust me, they WILL get it! God gave me one of my favorite “homeschool” verses at the end of a rough year when I had 3 miscarriages in 9 months:
“And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” Isaiah 54:13
When you are doing what you can, God makes up the lack that you can’t help because of things beyond your control. I’ve had the year I just told you about, I’ve had a year with head injuries in one of my dds and my dh (his was much more serious), I’ve had my dad slowly get worse (over 2 years time) and needed to help my mom after his death–I haven’t been able to do all *I* wanted to do. But God made sure we did what *He* thought was important! Sometimes in spite of me!
And hey! Maybe right now your dc are supposed to learn about gluten, history of bread, the science of bread, anatomy (what the gluten is doing to your body)….when one of my dds had an autoimmune disorder, our “curriculum” for that time was all about the blood and platelets! 😉
Hope that helps!
Trisch
Thank you for your kind words and for relating! Sometimes I think I’m the only one. The Lord is getting us through this month, little by little. I am trying to do the best I can (there’s always room for improvement). I do so want my use of time to reflect how important the Lord is to me. I know that passing this message on to my children requires more than devotion times but I really want to at least get to the place that we are being more consistent. One step at a time…
Many Blessings to you all,
Betty
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