“When You Rise Up”: Faith in the Mornings Part I of Many (!)

“You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” Deuteronomy 6:7


In keeping with a potential model in II Peter 1:5 as a basis for our how days would flow: “But also for this reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue, knowledge,” we started our kids’ days out with faith. This included private devotions, family devotions, read alouds, etc. through the years. Over the next couple of days I will give some ideas for this.

One of the things that I consider to have been successful in our home over the past twenty-eight years is the fact that, for the most part, we have had the same basic schedule during the first two hours of every week day, year round, our entire lives. When I say basic schedule, I am not talking about time schedules (i.e. 7:00-7:20 personal devotions; 7:20-7:45 family devotions; etc.) but rather I am describing a lifestyle of starting each day with faith and character—whether it is November, April, or July. I think we do kids a disservice (whether homeschooled or not) by allowing them to stay up until the wee hours of the night and sleep in til noon all summer. That is not real life at all—and promotes bad habits.


So, what is “faith teaching” in the morning?

It could mean, and has meant, many things for us, including, but not limited to:

1. Bible reading together

2. Praise music playing

3. Bible audios playing

4. Reading from a devotional or other book together

5. Reading from character books together

6. Each child reading his or her own devotional or Bible

7. Discussions, of course, discussions…



More on ideas for some of these later. Be sure to teach at the key times listed in Deuteronomy 6---um…all the time, that is! 

“When You Rise Up”: Ordering Your Day Around Spiritual and Character Teaching

“You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” Deuteronomy 6:7




One of the ways that we tried to show the children the importance of spiritual and character training in our home throughout our twenty-eight years of parenting was to put spiritual training and character training first in our day.


We used the model in II Peter 1:5 as a basis for our how days would flow: “But also for this reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, and to your virtue, knowledge.”


From this verse, we taught our children and tried to manage our home in a way that reflected this—that we should put “faith” first in your life—spiritual training in our homes in the case of a family. And we should put virtue second—character training in the Christian home. Then we should put knowledge—or education.


Now, we are dedicated homeschoolers (we began twenty-eight years ago this fall by teaching my younger sister at home each day)—and we followed this pattern for our daily schedule and our prioritizing all of our school years—with tremendous success. Education (knowledge) was never considered low—but it simply came after faith and virtue. And our children’s amazing academic success has proven that this strategy did not hurt them one bit. (Our oldest son tested out of his entire college degree except for two classes for which there were no exams available. Our next child, a daughter (with severe dyslexia and dysgraphia) who is now a missionary nurse, received perfect verbal ACT scores two times and received full ride academic scholarships for all three colleges she attended. All of our kids have taken college classes during their junior and/or senior years of high school. Yep, this approach benefits academics too!)


What exactly does this “faith first; virtue next; knowledge next” approach look like in a family’s daily life? Join us tomorrow for the answer to that question! 

How's of Character Training--Teaching All the Time Intro

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words, which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” Deuteronomy 6:5-7


Okay, so I’ve used this verse like a half dozen times over the past fourteen months of the Positive Parenting blog. And I am using it again! This time, however, I am going to use it over the next few weeks to share with you many of the ways that we have implemented character training/spiritual teaching.

I will be breaking the time frames/teaching opportunities down to chronological orders, giving ideas for teaching during those times. We have had deep learning times, many life lessons, intimate relationships, and, most of the time, wonderful fruit, from our times with our children over the past twenty-eight years. I hope you will join us as we share dozens of these over the coming weeks!


                                         Sneak Preview


WHEN YOU RISE UP

-Character building chore times

-Family devotions

-“Morning read aloud”

-schedule/daily disciplines

-Snuggle, rock, and read

-Schedules that put God first



WHEN YOU SIT IN YOUR HOUSE

-Story time

-Organization/upkeep

-Discussion

-Questions

-Listening together

-Daily fruitfulness

-Parenthetical Parenting

-Expectation Explanation

-Teaching like Jesus

-Reading together

-Games

-Prioritizing it—making the time to “sit in your house”

-“Good report” time

-Songs/sayings to build relationships

-Family worship








WHEN YOU WALK BY THE WAY

-“Who has shoes on?”

-As you drive down the road

-Who had good character?

-Daddy talks

-Meal times

-Car talks

-Twalks

-Terrific Tuesdays and Wonderful Wednesdays

-Movie and book talks

-Teachable moments

-“Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks”

-Listen more than you talk

-Phrasing your teen talk

-Appearance is reality

-Singing together







WHEN YOU LIE DOWN

-Malachi time

-Bible talks

-Bedtime stories

-Tying heartstrings

-“Get this teenager out of my room!”

-The eyes are the windows to the soul



Thanks for joining us! We love helping families! 