Habits.

We know that you have to do something over and over, without fail, for it to become a habit. I have a lot of things I do that fall into this category:

Showering. Cleaning my house. Grocery shopping. Putting the dogs outside. Organizing my house. Checking Instagram. Scrolling aimlessly on Pinterest. Rolling my eyes at Facebook. Watching TV. Ordering off Amazon. Listening to music while I work. Pouring a glass of wine to enjoy each night.

Where’s my time reading the Bible? I’m starting in Genesis with the kids this year for our homeschool plan, and we’ll do that Monday – Thursday. But what about my own personal roots in the word? A daily habit to be in the Bible reading it word for word, praying for discernment and understanding.

I stumbled upon a series on YouTube of Amish families and teenagers meeting British teenagers and families. It was really interesting to see how these people lived, to see their daily devotion (MULTIPLE times thru the day- imagine that), and to see them use that single book as the basis for literally everything. Even one scene where the Amish kids were in England and the issue of dancing came up. The girls spent the night reading all they could where the Bible referenced dancing and what it truly said vs. what they had been taught to believe. They read, questioned, prayed. But the basis of reading was the center to everything. It’s a really cool series!

 

Click HERE for the series of the Amish kids visiting England.

Do you make it a daily habit to be in your Bible reading each and every day without fail? Is it as second nature to be reading your Bible as it is to brush your teeth or have a cup of coffee? It isn’t for me, and I really don’t think it is for the majority of us. What if we made it a habit?

I suppose in this world of social media marketing I should have some really cool video with me looking very perfectly put together but playing it off as ‘casual me’ with a perfectly white background, a polished messy bun and stylized table or desk next to me. Sorry folks, what about a gathering using the internet as a gift to share each day a passage of scripture- no fuss. No fancy. No frill. Just the words. And we can read through the Bible together. We can make being in the word a DAILY habit. No excuses.

I’m in. I have other things I’m sure the world says I “should” be doing, that should be my priority. But God had me up all night (I hardly slept- which is NOT like me) thinking about this. And I’m going to do it- read through the Bible, hopefully with others out there that find this, and plant that habit to grow stronger than my need for morning coffee (and evening wine).

Amen.

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K.I.S.S.

Do you ever think that Jesus is the O.G. for the KISS saying?

Keep It Simple Stupid.

Well, he’s Jesus. So maybe in Hebrew that last s was for silly or something not as ‘harsh’ as stupid.

Most people of any level of faith would probably agree that the Bible is important. Heck, it’s a world long best seller. But, we’d also all probably agree that it’s not read as often as it probably should be.

I think we have a few things to blame- ourselves, modern life, busy schedules, laziness, Netflix… seriously- we can binge watch all seasons of Peaky Blinders (and then maybe re watch it for anything you may have missed) but when was the last time you binge read the New Testament? Ya… me either.

But I think part of it is that we’ve over complicated studying the Bible. Follow me and moment if you will….

God gave the gift of his word, the story he wanted to be told to every corner of the world. Something for every man, woman and child to learn of his love and grace, to learn of Jesus and to live a life for Him. Do you think it’s something too complicated for the average Joe to understand? No way!

We’ve made it SO complicated! You have to go to church for a pastor to explain and break it down. You have to get into some kind of theological tangent to even understand. You have to research oodles and oodles of historic documents to know how anything applied and if it still does. You have to have a specific reading plan, with a devotional study book and questions to answer, prayers to recite… it goes on and on. Oh ya, and then we argue and bicker about all of those points just mentioned.

What if you just KISS? What if you just kept it simple stupid? (Or silly, if you think me saying stupid is mean.)

I don’t think many church attending Christians REALLY know what it says and how God directly tells us to live our lives for him. Hint: it’s NOT the way mainstream church culture behaves. (This statement based off of growing up in a church going Christian home, attending Christian school, and hearing time and time again things that are just flat out NOT there.)

But how could we? How could we know without a doubt that we’re on that track when we never root ourselves in it? Can you sing along to more songs on the radio or tv jingles than you can Bible verses? I think something’s off. I know I can’t.

The wise men of the Bible tell us there that we must be in His word constantly! That if we’re reading, praying and listening for God’s direction that we will be on the right path.

Let’s keep it simple. Let’s cut EVERYTHING out and just read the words in front of us. I volunteer to make a super simple, daily scripture plan that you can watch/listen to/read. You need nothing more than you have right now. If you’re reading this it’s because you get on Facebook/Instagram daily, so clicking one more link won’t kill ya. And Netflix will still be there in 15 minutes.

Let’s put away everything we’ve been told, we’ve been hurt by, we’ve viewed as hypocritical, and just read each and every word, take it for what it says, and let that sink into our hearts like a seed ready to sprout. 🌱

You in?

Gotta go back… back… back to schoooool…. AGAIN.

Is it just me that breaks into song thinking the words “back to school”?

Probably… but that’s ok. You should have seen it when Grease went to theater’s– best sing-a-long performance! Man… 😅 😅 😅

Homeschool, much different than Rydell High, for us this year is set. Good to go. It took me one afternoon to prepare. This is a record folks!

Kids being schooled: a 6th grader (age 12 next month), a 1st grader (age 6 here soon) and a tag-a-long 3 1/2 year old

Curriculum: a Bible. This one in fact: ESV Bible on Amazon

Back to school shopping list: 2 Bibles (one for 12 year old, one for mom/dad), 4 notebooks (each kid & mom), pack of highlighters, pack of pencils (to be kept up in a closet, in a box, guarded. Otherwise… they all disappear! 😤)

Total Back to School/Homeschool bill: Less than $25. 💪 Yes please.

Plan:

By 10 AM -ish (we wake up slow), Spend 15 minutes in silence. Pray, listen for God, listen to the birds, whatever. 15 minutes of silence. Added bonus: daily practice of self control. 👍

Read the Bible, starting in Genesis. No set time, until we’ve reached a good spot or kids seats are too wiggly. We will watch What’s in the Bible to correlate with our reading.

Journal any special verses that stood out, thoughts we may have or questions of things we don’t understand. A few moments for mom & the oldest to write some thoughts and I’m thinking I’ll provide one of the verses for the 6 year old to copy write.

We will have a page in our journal that we can all add prayer requests to. People we know, people/things we’re thinking about, and we’ll close out time with a family prayer for these things.

The rest of our ‘school’ day? Service.

Taking the wise council of things like Dr. Raymond Moore, the ways of the Amish, books like Cleaning House & that ol’ Bible- the rest of the day will be spent enjoying the gift of the present and serving those around us.

We started this month with the importance of clean rooms & good hygiene. Setting a morning and evening room check for tidyness and keeping the kids in routine of actually getting dressed, brushing teeth, etc… (even on lazy days 🙈).

Next month, and with the start of our school routine, we’re adding cooking for your family & cleaning the kitchen. Each week all three kids will be responsible for picking out one meal they want to make, creating the list of needed items, and then shopping for said items. On Monday we will all prepare & serve the meal together, then each kid has a set day that they will get to provide dinner (with some help of course), serve their family (8 of us total), and properly clean the kitchen after. I think we’re all pretty excited for it!

Each month an additional area of service will be added in to what we’re already focusing on, with the morning routine of silence, Bible, journaling and prayer to remain the same. I am super excited for this year! 😍 No, my kids may not know the things that most 6th graders are learning… my 1st grader may be a little off… but that’s ok. I’ll take a lack of fact reciting to a year we spent growing closer to God and serving all we come in contact with. We can always work on fractions next year. 😉 Here goes nothing- September, we’re ready!

 

P.S., Thanks for being so easy on my pocket book! 😘

1 book homeschool?

We all want the best for our kids. Every parent would agree on that. (Well, dear lord I hope so at least) But sometimes shouldn’t we stop and question what THE best really is? It’s not a one size fits all, of course. But some things we do make me wonder… I won’t go in to all of those things (that’s too many posts to count) but I have a discussion about one- Homeschool. Specifically for believers of God.

We homeschool. Our oldest went to public school for Kindergarten and 1/2 of First Grade. He had AMAZING teachers (who we still connect with and love) and went to a wonderful, American suburb, picture perfect school.

We pulled him out, and have struggled with figuring out the “right” homeschool groove ever since. He starts 6th Grade this upcoming September. And from any time spent reading homeschool blogs, Pinterest searches, etc… the struggle for the “right” homeschool plan is a common struggle.

With years of struggling, changing, growing, success and failure- I have a new thought. (New to me, I do not claim creation of this way too basic idea.) What’s the point of our current ‘view’ of children’s education? What is it? To educate our children so they can grow up to be successful adults, good citizens and to find good jobs/get into a good college. Something along those lines, right?

As followers of Christ and believers of God (be it Christian or whatever label you prefer), isn’t our #1 concern  to be sure that we are focused and center on the word of God and constantly striving to follow the footsteps of Jesus? I think we can all agree if we are honest with ourselves, we know that to truly be one with God and following as best as we can, we need more than just a weekly church service. A 10 minute devotional. A memorized prayer before dinner time. What do our children need then?

What if our children’s education consisted of just one book? What if the Bible was TRULY the center of your child’s (and your) day? Week? Life? Imagine no stress over curriculum, over worksheets, over quizzes and non stop feeding information that could or could not ever be needed in their future life. (How much of your 13 years of schooling do you ACTUALLY use in your day to day life? Come on… it’s a small percentage.) What if that time was dedicated to something that we as believers know is a HUGE part of the core we all want to see more of? I’m not going for crazy, sheltered brainwashing of children across the world. But a focus on building a solid foundation based on the Biblical knowledge vs the “normal” school curriculum.

With this one book, you kids will learn to read, learn to spell, learn history, critical thinking, math is everywhere. Morals, character, the list goes on! The best way to learn and understand more about what you’re reading- honestly? For the kids AND adults– What’s In The Bible by Phil Vischer! Not kidding- this series is AMAZING! We buy them digitally on Amazon, can watch on our TV and the kids have them all on their Amazon tablets! The hubby and I can sing you most all of their songs. And we have learned more from those videos than a lifetime of church services and private Christian schools. I’m not kidding.

For those of you thinking that discarding our current view of curriculum and schooling, I strongly recommend you pick up some books by The Moore’s and read thru them! You can get used copies for pennies on Amazon, they’re sure to open that path to transform your thinking.  I’ll have to go more in depth on just those books alone one day, we’ll wait for now though. (Your welcome)

So, abandon everything you’ve thought you need to do to homeschool your child. Everything. Instead, read the Bible together. Ask questions, pray, meditate, teach your child to spend silent time thinking over what you’ve learned or just keeping your heart and mind open to hear the Lord (even if it’s just by way of hearing the birds sing) and watch What’s In The Bible together. (You can even watch the creator of the show’s podcast to give you more insight to faith & culture- such an amazing podcast!)

What do you do for the rest of the day? If you spend 30 minutes- 1 hour in the Bible, another 30 minutes – 1 hour watching What’s In The Bible, a bit in meditation… well- that leaves a TON of the day to play outside, pull out the board games, bake, garden together, cook a homemade meal, have a multi course lunch, nap, catch fireflies, paint your nails, blog (haha) and force your husband to do podcasts… you know. Stuff like that.

Maybe this will be the first time that YOU actually read the word of God from start to finish? Maybe this will open your heart to see what the Bible ACTUALLY says vs what we’re kind of blanket taught to believe. Imagine that… imagine all that could come by ACTUALLY putting the Bible as your core- in theory AND practice.

Worse comes to worse, your kid isn’t so hot at multiplication drills or fractions and the periodic table of elements but they can quote the Bible and pull examples from the lessons from the Lord to reference their day to day life. I’m not the hottest on all math or periodic elements but I created and run a 6 figure business while keeping a full home- I think we can manage without those tidbits.

We’re taking the summer off, we’re enjoying other things right now. Come September 1st- our only plan for curriculum is the Bible. That’s it. And I’ve never looked forward to a school year as much as I am right now! Thoughts? Been there/done that? Standing up to tell me how ridiculous this is and I’m going to ruin my children’s futures? One way to find out… 😜