In addition to doing the MFW 1st Grade: Learning God's Story, my husband and I are really wanting to focus on biblical character training. This led us to adopt a verse for the year. Since our kids are still so young, we wanted to start them out with a good foundation on how we should act.
So I sat down, bible opened before me, and prayed that God would lead me to the perfect verse for our coming school year. As I began reading, I was drawn to Galatians 5. I immediately knew that this was a wonderful verse for our family for the upcoming year. With all of us trying to become more structured with our schooling, we are bound to have hard days where the tears flow and the frustration levels rise. What better thing to cling to than our Savior's provision to handle all these things?!
With everything that I am wanting to include in our day--from the math facts and phonics lessons to the science experiments and cooking lessons--I don't want to forget to focus on what's truly important. One of the most important reasons we decided to homeschool was so that we could "train our children in the way they should go" (Proverbs 22:6).
If in my zeal to check off my lesson plans and cram as much fun, interesting instruction I can into their little brains I forget the weightier matters such as love and mercy, then it is all for naught. God gave me these three little blessings to raise into people that love and praise Him with every fiber of their being. How will they know unless I point them to the One who did it all?
Above all, if my children learn nothing else this year, I want them to learn to rely on God and know that in Him we can be victorious in all things. Through Him we are able to truly love, have pure joy, a peace that surpasses understanding, patience in all things, show kindness at all times, goodness in all circumstances, faithfulness in following Him, a gentle spirit, and self-control.
To help the kids memorize the verse, I got the bible verse printout as well as the fruit basket printouts from Christian Preschool Printables. I laminated the verse and hung it in our living room so that we would see it often throughout the day. I also laminated the fruit basket pieces and used some Velcro to make a game for the kids to practice our verse. We've played many variations with it, and already Squirrely Girl has memorized our verse. Bear in well on her way to having it memorized as well.
Does your family have a verse for the homeschool year? I'd love to hear your story in the comments.
