When I think about the future of my kids, one thing that consistently comes up is training them up during the years I have them in my home. Their biblical, moral and intellectual education. I want them to fall in love with learning. I want them to grasp the stunning beauty of nature and get excited about creating. Since our Creator did so much well in setting up the universe, laying out the celestial schedules, patterning biology to flourish, then I want them to reflect that understanding in their creative life journeys.

Below is a guest post by mightymoms.net giving ideas to supplement your kid’s education so that they can understand challenging school subjects. We hope you enjoy it!

Today, school teachers often teach uniformly and have dozens of students to keep tabs on. Problem children in schools can drain teachers and staff such that learning the wonder of our world is lessened. Parents who send their kids to school, and even homeschool parents, have the opportunity to help their kids understand difficult subjects outside the classroom. They can take the reins and help their kids learn in ways that are best suited to them, whether that’s visual learning, hands-on approaches, or practical application. Here are a few ways to enhance your child’s learning in different subjects.

Managing Math

According to Scholastic, mathematics can be a tricky subject for many people, but there are ways to teach practical math skills outside the classroom that can make school work less arduous. For example, kids can learn math skills by gardening, calculating space needed for the growth of different plants and flowers; a chore chart and corresponding allowance can help strengthen money management and budgeting skills, especially when implemented with a savings strategy or commitment to tithing. Kids can also learn basic math concepts through educational video games, thus, using a creative way to disguise learning as fun!

Promoting Scientific Discovery

There are numerous ways for kids to harness their scientific curiosity outside the classroom. Mommy Poppins recommends kitchen table science experiments, like building a potato clock, designing a volcano, or looking at mold spores under a microscope. Kids can learn about the natural world by identifying local flora and fauna on a nature walk, taking pictures of birds and learning about their habitats, or going to a natural history museum and not only exploring exhibits, but reading the placards that offer compelling insights. Caring for pets can also teach solid science skills.

Reading And Writing

Help your kids develop a love of reading by helping them select books that pique their unique interests. Read as a family, incorporate spiritual literature if you like, and have discussions after the fact to encourage critical thinking and analysis. Encourage kids to write stories, to interview older relatives and record their conversations, or explore a subject of interest by conducting research. Reading to others in a volunteer capacity – whether visiting people in assisted living or reading to younger siblings – can foster a sense of connection.

Encourage Creativity

You can encourage development of the creative side of your child’s brain by promoting a love of music, art, and creative pursuits. Enroll in a local art class, invest in crafting supplies, or support playing a musical instrument. Perhaps you can help your child make something with their hands, like a chessboard, and then teach them how to play the game as a way to promote strategic thinking. If cooking is a family event, learning new recipes, shopping for ingredients, measuring and following a recipe can all be learning experiences.

Embrace Immersive Learning

Sometimes the best path to learning is via total immersion in a subject. Maybe that involves attending a language camp or participating in a mission trip to a foreign land. Kids can be sponges when it comes to learning, and can often pick things up just by being involved. Make a point to travel to new places, try new foods, listen to unfamiliar music, and meet people from all different backgrounds. Not only does this help provide a broad education, it also leads to well-rounded kids who are respectful of the differences in the world around them. 

Model Lifelong Learning

Kids often emulate the adults around them, and as such, modeling a commitment to lifelong learning can have a positive impact, as well as encourage kids to embrace learning along the life spectrum. Consider continuing your own education, whether that involves ongoing training and professional development, or even returning to higher education for an advanced degree. Pursuing a degree in education, for example, can provide you with new marketable skill sets while also modeling good learning behaviors for your kids.

Learning is a great way to celebrate the Lord. As Luke 2:40 states, “The Child continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.”

Why Be Merely Human offers tips and insights into living, learning, loving, and worshiping together as a family. With powerful articles and access to resources, the blog serves as an inspiration to those looking to empower their families.

Emily Graham is the creator of Mighty Moms. She believes being a mom is one of the hardest jobs around and wanted to create a support system for moms from all walks of life. On her site, she offers a wide range of info tailored for busy moms —from how to reduce stress to creative ways to spend time together as a family.

Thank you, Emily from mightymoms.net for your guest article on supplemental learning for our children!

The post Helping Kids Learn, Inside and Outside the Classroom appeared first on Why Be Merely Human.

I am a young mother of a few small children. I write this letter from my heart and hope that it speaks to yours.

I need you.

Did you know that?

Myself and many of my fellow young mothers found ourselves getting married, buying our first homes, and having our first babies without enough practical preparation. As a whole, we are a generation of confused and overwhelmed mamas, desperate for mentors and teachers, desperate for vision, desperate for hope.

Many of our own mothers worked outside of the home full or part time.

Many of our own mothers may have been present physically – but not available emotionally.

Many of our own mothers bought into the lies that the Enemy and our culture propagated that told them that housework and childrearing are disposable jobs that could easily be offloaded to maids or daycares while they pursue their “true” life’s work. 

Many of our own mothers weren’t taught by their own mothers.

And perhaps you weren’t, either.

Glory be to God Almighty that there is hope for you, there is hope for me, there is hope for each one of us!

Because truly, families without hope equals a world without hope.

God had a plan for avoiding this breakdown of the sanctity of motherhood. But now that we’re experiencing it firsthand, the same plan now has a different purpose – to undo the damage that’s been done. The plan is written simply, to us, in Titus 2:

³ Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, ⁴ and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, ⁵ to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled.

Vision for parenting and childrearing is to be passed on from generation to generation. Not only in books and blogs and homemaking seminars, but in the daily nitty-gritty of life. In woman to woman talks, in my living room, in your kitchen.

Practical tips for parenting and childrearing are to be passed on from generation
to generation. Why should every generation of new mothers have to wade through massive amounts of information and articles and “how-to’s” to figure out the most simple things in life?

A heart for home, husband and youngsters is to be passed on from generation to generation. No more of this affair with apathy and flirting with falsities – it’s time to proclaim that our work on the homefront is among the most important work known to mankind – and that it can and does and WILL impact eternity. 

And indeed, every one of us is an “older woman”. We are ALL Older in one way or another, whether it be spiritually or literally, than other women in our lives. I’m calling you out. It is time to take responsibility.

Therefore, it starts with you. And it starts with me. And together, we can change the direction we’re headed. We can actually offer hope to our own daughters, to our own neighbors, to the very world!

And so – I strongly plead with you to prayerfully consider Titus 2:3-5.

Ask God to show us, all of us, what it might mean to become Titus 2 women. Ask Him to open our eyes to see the implications our choices have had, as well as what changes we must make to see this dream become reality.

For all women, everywhere, and “that the word of God may not be reviled”.

Stacey Joy

The post Dear Older Woman appeared first on Why Be Merely Human.

I don’t know about  you, but there are days when I feel like there’s no way I can go on. Thankfully, I know where to turn on days like that to get a healthy dose of perspective and truth!

“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.”

Why doesn’t it feel like it’s true sometimes? Our culture has almost entirely lost sight of this fundamental truth. Daycare centers on every corner, promotions for abortion and birth control left and right, moms complaining to one another in the supermarket and the coffee shop and the gym about their kids’ outlandish behaviors… and now families with 3 or more kids are considered “large”! Let us choose to remember that each one of them is not an interruption, distraction, or a frustration – but a gift and a reward and a blessing.

“Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.”

Why on Earth did I have kids?! Time for a little perspective refresh. We parents are world-changers – one diaper, one time-out, one runny nose at a time. Our ultimate goal is working to present these little ones mature in Christ – and this takes time and perseverance. The key to success here – we are working with Christ’s energy, not our own. Ours = limited. Christs = limitless!

^“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Rah, rah, mamas and papas! You were MADE for this job and you were chosen as THEIR parents for a very special purpose. We may not see it yet, but that’s what faith is for! Hope for what we cannot see just yet.

“See that you fulfill the ministry that you have received in the Lord.”

Parenthood is a high calling, a ministry directly from the hand of the Lord. Let’s make it our aim to treat it as such.

“One gives freely, yet grows all the richer;
    another withholds what he should give, and only suffers want.
Whoever brings blessing will be enriched,
     and one who waters will himself be watered.”

It’s beautiful how generosity works! God’s math isn’t our math. 1 hour spent on teaching kids how to be kind to their siblings does NOT mean that you have 1 hour less. Each ounce of energy, each minute, each correction will all reap exponential benefits in our children’s lives. Give, give, give and give, and wait and see how the Lord uses it to not only bless your children, but you as well.

“We were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her own children.“

Clearly, Paul thought it was common sense that a nursing mother is gentle while caring for her children. But let’s take it a little beyond the surface. The proverbial “mother” in this verse is a nursing mother, meaning she has a very young baby, most likely under the age of 1. On top of that, she has other mentioned children, plural. I was in this stage of life just recently, although now my littlest is weaned. And it is tough.

Sometimes, the last word I would use to describe myself was “gentle”. The so-called little years are incredibly challenging – from the sleep deprivation to the countless poopy diapers to the 10 spills each day to the spit up on your shirt to the battles of will with your toddler(s)…

But perhaps we need to adjust our focus while in these little years. Focus on the snuggles. The incredible smell of newborn baby hair. The nearly endless giggles. The joy of hearing your toddler learning new words. The look of wonder on her face as she discovers new things in the world around her each day. The trips to the park, and the zoo, and the fire station! The chubby thighs (ahem… I mean, the baby’s). The countless ways that they make your life brighter, livelier, and so much more fun.

“¹⁵ The rod and reproof give wisdom,
    but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother.
¹⁷ Discipline your son, and he will give you rest;
     he will give delight to your heart.
¹⁹ By mere words a servant is not disciplined,
    for though he understands, he will not respond.”

Enough said? I encourage you to not be one of those parents who yell and threaten and warn their kids and never follow through. All you’re teaching the child is that they have control over you and over the situation – because they know you won’t really do anything. Set clear expectations with consequences, follow through, and you will enjoy rest.

“Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you.”

I take this verse to help remind me that there’s never a “one size fits all” way to interact with our children. Sometimes we truly must command obedience from them – especially in times when their safety is on the line. Other times our children need gentle, thoughtful and patient explanations as to why we’re asking them to do something. Thankfully, we have the Holy Spirit living inside of us, and following His lead, we can know every time which approach is best to use.

“All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. “

Every minute spent in the Bible will yield fruit. The more we plant God’s word in our heart, the more readily available it is for our children when they need it. Truly, until they are old enough to have their own relationship with the Lord and to read their Bible on their own, and be accountable for their own souls, the responsibility is on us to bathe them in the Word. Help them make God an integral part of their lives now.

“And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

It’s so beautiful to think of a home that is so filled with the Word that it would literally be written on the walls and doorposts, while the moms and dads speak it to their children day in and day out, and even the children are learning to speak it to one another! What steps can we take to make our homes look like this?

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up.”

Too often as parents do our interactions with our children center mainly around what they’re doing wrong. Don’t hit your sister. Don’t slam the door. Don’t leave your underwear on the floor… let’s make it a point to use our words much more often to build them up, to tell them what they’re doing right! Great job speaking in kind words! Thank you for hanging up your jacket where it belongs! Wow, I’m impressed that you worked so hard on your homework today!

“Masters, treat your slaves justly and fairly, knowing that you also have a Master in Heaven.”

Talk about sobering. Like a master and a slave, we have been placed in a position of authority over our children. An unkind master lords it over his slaves – a kind master maintains control and authority while being inclusive, tender-hearted and understanding. An unkind master makes demands without any explanation. An unkind master is harsh and unfeeling – a kind master is gentle. An unkind master punishes – a kind master puts forth and enforces clear consequences for your benefit. An unkind master makes demands – a kind master helps set realistic goals. May our children look back on their childhood and view us as a kind master, a fair and wise parent.

“And so… we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to Him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy!”

Let’s not forget to pray for them. Life can get so busy that we forget this most basic ingredient for success.

“Where am I to get meat to give to all this people?… I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.”

Oh, Moses. I sympathize!

Moses and I have made a big mistake – we have forgotten that the Israelites (and my children) are ultimately entirely the Lord’s responsibility. Yes, we have been put in a role of leadership and stewardship over them, but the outcome is in the Lord’s hands. All the Lord requires of us is the things that we are capable of, that we have some control over – training, correcting, consistency, PRAYER, encouragement, setting a good example, establishing relationship… and then He delights in accomplishing what we could never accomplish on our own!

When Moses cried out to the Lord for help, the Lord answered right away and sent in reinforcements (Numbers 11:16-17). And the Lord delights in doing the same for us.

And last but not least, a passage that’s pretty self-explanatory, yet oh-so important for us parents to keep before us at all times:

“Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, ¹³ bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴ And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. ¹⁵ And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. ¹⁷ And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

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