Lord Jesus Christ, the children’s friend,
To each of them Your presence send;
Call them by name and keep them true
In loving faith, dear Lord, to You.
I explained in another post that Phil and I don’t plan on homeschooling our kids, but that doesn’t mean we’ll be leaving all of their education in the hands of their public school teachers. We feel that we have much to teach them at home and in many ways can do more than their school teachers are able to do. I thought this post from Simple Mom had a lot of good things to say about educating your publicly schooled children at home.
At this stage in our family life I’m just beginning to lay a foundation of habits that I want in our home. I know that each new stage will require changes to what we do now of course but I think by trial and error now I’ll get to know what works and what won’t for us.
With kiddos ages 4, 3, 2 and 12 months old I have a simple approach to their learning, keeping things at a very basic level and just aim to expose them to a lot of things that as they grow, we will begin to take on at a deeper level.
That caring parents, gracious Lord,
And faithful teachers find reward
In leading these, to whom You call,
To find in Christ their all in all.
I want our home to be a place of continual learning. One of the qualities I love so much about Phil is his constant curiosity and drive to teach himself new things. I’m thankful that this seems to come naturally to him and hope that because of this our babies will benefit and inherit a knowledge of a diversity of subjects.
This post to be a list of resources and tools that I’m using now for teaching my kiddos at home, maybe this will be helpful for some of you.
I’m mainly teaching Bible stories, Catechesis (at a preschool level) and saints right now, but I’m also incorporating the alphabet, art and music appreciation, reading and a little cooking into our daily lessons.
For by Your Word we clearly see
That we have sinned continually;
But show us too, forgiving Lord,
Your saving Gospel’s great reward.
Here are some of the sites I refer to:
(Note: While I get pretty testy when it comes to craft time with the babies I still think it can be a good way to get them excited about something I’m teaching them and they (most of the time) have fun doing them, so I use crafts, very simple crafts.)
Crafts:
http://www.reocities.com/Heartland/Valley/8004/preschool.html
http://catholicicing.com/
http://catholicblogger1.blogspot.com/p/to-z-pre-k-k-bible-stories.html
http://sunday-school-fun-zone.com/freelessons/biblecharacters.html#Jobbiblestory
That all of us, Your children dear,
By Christ redeemed, may Christ revere;
Lead us in joy that all we do
Willl witness to our love for You.
In addition to crafts we do a lot of coloring and painting. It’s fun, it’s easy (unless you’ve got a crayon/marker eater..grrr) and they love it.
Coloring Pages:
http://www.sjtb.org/releducolor.html
http://www.bible-printables.com/Coloring-Pages/Old-Testament/
http://freechristimages.org/bible_coloring_pages.htm
And for Catechesis and teaching the Church Year I like these sites:
Misc:
http://churchyearinthehome.blogspot.com/
http://www.sanctussimplicitus.com/liturgical-year.html
http://showerofroses.blogspot.com/
http://catholiccuisine.blogspot.com/
http://www.lapbooklessons.com/PrayerLapbook.html
http://www.faith-at-home.com/index.html
http://familyatthefootofthecross.blogspot.com/2010/05/come-spirit-come.html
And my Pinterest Board on Bible Lessons HERE is something I’m adding to from time to time if you want to look there.
Then guard and keep us to the end,
Secure in You, our gracious friend,
That in Your heav’nly family
We sing Your praise eternally.
Lord Jesus Christ, The Children’s Friend LSB #866
