I'd love to share some of my favorite resources with you.
Perhaps God would have you implement something now that summer is here.
1. Secret Keeper Girl!!
Secret Keeper Girl is geared for girls ages 8-12 and their moms, with resources to encourage modesty, true beauty & friendship.
The girls and I went through a total of 16 dates during 2 summers, shaped by SKG's "Great Dates for You & Your Daughters" resources. Noelle & I also attended a SKG event for their Pajama Party tour, in Buffalo, NY.
I give SKG a score of 10 out of 10. Not only is the material excellent, it is very easy to implement. In fact, if anyone would like to borrow the SKG books I have, you are more than welcome to.
Besides 1 book of dates about friendship & 1 book about dates about modesty, I have the mother-daughter devotional book, 4 fiction books for tweens, plus...
2. Dannah Gresh's books:
Six Ways to Keep the "Little" in Your Girl and
Six Ways to Keep the "Good" in Your Boy.
These books are EASY & QUICK to read. I would suggest if you have a boy or a girl from toddler up through even age 10-12, these books would be a great choice. They are one of my TOP choices for parenting books. The infamous "period party" (!!) I had for the girls came from this book, but don't let that scare you!! (Yes, I took them to a hotel for an overnight & gave them "supplies" so they would be ready & talked about how we are fearfully & wonderfully made & how our cycles are not at ALL curses, but are, Lord willing, preparing us for motherhood someday.)
3. Passport to Purity.
Passport to Purity is a resource put out by Family Life Today & Dennis Rainey. It's intended to use for a weekend away with your teen or preteen. The theme verse is Colossians 1:18:
"He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead,
so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything."
I should add that as a pre-cursor to this weekend, the kids have been reading books from the "God's Design for Sex" series by Stan & Brenna Jones, since they were little. So this information on sexual purity was not new to them. Micah is the only left to do this & he will have his special weekend in the summer of 2014.
This is a bit of a heavy weekend, because there is a lot of material to go over. It's kind-of like being at a conference. But it's a special weekend & the material is excellent with fun & engaging object lessons to go with it. The weekend ends with the children having a chance, if they want to, to sign a type of contract saying that they will date when their parents feel they are mature enough to. We also chose to give the girls significant presents on these weekends. They each received their first, "nice" Bible from us, one that should last them a long time. So, Noelle was 11 when she did this weekend & Denali was 11 as well. I think in today's society this is a good time to do this. However, if your child is already 14 or 15, I would still do it, rather than not bother.
4. Jennie Bishop's The Squire & the Scroll &
The Princess & the Kiss
Our "journey" of special events is rooted in these books and the corresponding devotionals/"Life lessons" books that come with them.
The theme verse for the squire/boy book is:
"How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to Your word."
-Psalm 119:9
The theme verse for the princess/girl book is:
"Love... comes from a pure heart & a good conscience & a sincere faith."
-1 Timothy 1:5
These books are for younger kids & focus on purity & a pure heart. We ended up having a blessing ceremony, (I have no pictures of Micah's, b/c it was a "guy" thing, but there was a sword & ice fishing & some other men there!). This inspired a yearly event for the girls called the "Wise Women" event. It is small & seemingly insignificant, but the goal is to let the girls know that they are surrounded by godly women who love them & who they can look to for support & advice, beyond me as their mom. The same intention is for Micah. He just began last year, and will continue this fall with a hunting-themed event. At each event the kids receive a meaningful gift which we believe will further their spiritual training.
5. The National Bible Bee
This resource can be a little overwhelming. However, if you give yourself some grace & cut yourself some slack, we think it is an excellent resource for Bible memory & inductive Bible study. We have only competed 2 times, but this is our 4th time getting the materials and Noelle & Micah are planning on competing this year. I should add a quick plug for the school-year program 6. AWANA, which is the best Scripture-memory resource I know!
7. Thriving Family Summer Calendar
It can be overwhelming to think about doing ALL of these things, but these are SIMPLE, simple ideas that are easy to implement. Even doing one a week makes a difference. Thriving Family also puts out an advent calendar. We've done the suggested activities & lessons for the past 2 Decembers and have found them informative & helpful.
This summer the theme is "Around the World in 60 Days."
check out Thriving Family online to get the info.
8. Adventures in Odyssey
An oldie but a goodies is Adventures in Odyssey. I have mentioned it 1,000 times, but check it out! Listen online, buy the CDs, borrow them, listen on a local radio station. I would say that from age 7 or so on, they are interesting. Our family especially liked the mystery & intrigue in the "Green Ring Conspiracy" set as well as the "Novacom" set.
9. books for preteens/teens:
My FAVORITE "becoming a teen" book is So You're About to be a Teenager by Dennis & Barbara Rainey. An easy read, both of the girls have read it and learned a lot.
We also have done some of Preparing for Adolescence by Dr. James Dobson and corresponding CDs and workbooks. To be honest, we got sort of bogged down with it as it's a bit textbook-y compared the Dennis Rainey one.
For older kids & teens, although Noelle is currently reading it, Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris. This is an inspiring book about a teenage rebellion against low expectations.
Also Don't Check Your Brains at the Door by Josh McDowell. Both girls have read that as well.
10. Church
Getting plugged in to a youth group and/or a Sunday School class is particularly important as they get older.
I will close with the idea of just having "Bible time", "devotions", "quite time", whatever you want to call it - with your kids! This does NOT have to be fancy or perfect, (I think we've covered being perfect in another post!). We started with reading books like Jonah & Ruth & Esther & Genesis together. We often read a Proverb or a Psalm together. We take advantage of little devotionals that we've been given, like Keys for Kids or Wonder Book ones. Just ten mintues, TEN mintues, can make a difference! Pray together, sing together, if you want, read together & discuss.
I would love to hear of some resources that YOU use. I'm so thankful that I've been blessed with an abundance of resources. Again, don't get bogged down. Choose ONE thing that seems like it might work for you & go for it!
I believe your post is really awesum and helpful
ReplyDeletei enjoyed Angelguard and also with spiritual development
Thanks for the tips. spiritual development