A Kid Post - Scripture Reading
Sometime in mid-January - I think while Clara and I were away visiting family - David noticed that we were coming to the end of our current Bible story book and looking for inspiration for something to do afterward. He came across this post on this blog.
When I returned home and while we were waiting for details on my mother's funeral, he suggested that we do something like this with our kids. So we are (only not quite as long a passage). Every night this month we are reading Matthew 5: 1-16 to our kids.
Here's how it works. Peter (soon to be 6) and Lucy (newly 4) do their bedtime routine together. They each get to pick a book or story to read at bedtime. Between their book choices we read the passage from Matthew. This was the spot where we had been reading the Bible story book - we just subbed in actual scripture.
We also include the Matthew reading in Clara's bedtime routine. When I'm on for getting Clara (nearly 2) to bed, I read three little books sitting up on her bed and then we lie down to read Matthew.
There was just a little protesting at first (there are no pictures!), but they have totally accepted that this is what we are going to do this month.
And it is astonishing how much they know. I mean, there's not even dialogue or a story in this passage, just vastly important teaching. Tonight, after reading, when I was lying down with Peter (and then Lucy) for a couple of minutes, we tried to see how much we could remember. It's neat to see how their brains work at this. Peter tends to generalize, but Lucy is very specific. I was having trouble remembering the eighth "Blessed are...", but Lucy knew it exactly. Exactly exactly. Astonishing.
When I returned home and while we were waiting for details on my mother's funeral, he suggested that we do something like this with our kids. So we are (only not quite as long a passage). Every night this month we are reading Matthew 5: 1-16 to our kids.
Here's how it works. Peter (soon to be 6) and Lucy (newly 4) do their bedtime routine together. They each get to pick a book or story to read at bedtime. Between their book choices we read the passage from Matthew. This was the spot where we had been reading the Bible story book - we just subbed in actual scripture.
We also include the Matthew reading in Clara's bedtime routine. When I'm on for getting Clara (nearly 2) to bed, I read three little books sitting up on her bed and then we lie down to read Matthew.
There was just a little protesting at first (there are no pictures!), but they have totally accepted that this is what we are going to do this month.
And it is astonishing how much they know. I mean, there's not even dialogue or a story in this passage, just vastly important teaching. Tonight, after reading, when I was lying down with Peter (and then Lucy) for a couple of minutes, we tried to see how much we could remember. It's neat to see how their brains work at this. Peter tends to generalize, but Lucy is very specific. I was having trouble remembering the eighth "Blessed are...", but Lucy knew it exactly. Exactly exactly. Astonishing.
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