Category Archives: Articles on Children and Family

Strange Lyre: Nothing But Feelings

Strange Lyre: Nothing But Feelings

This entry is part 5 of 7 in the series Strange Lyre: The Pentecostalization of Christian Worship You can read more posts from the series by using the Contents in the right sidebar.

Pentecostal worship places great emphasis on intensity. By intensity, they mean a strongly felt experience of emotion, intimacy, joy, wonder, or happiness. Indeed, this is a close cousin of the ecstasy in ecstatic utterances. The experience sought is one where active seeking gives way to a passive experience of overwhelming pleasure or emotion. Critically examining… Continue Reading

Our Homeschool Curriculum (I Bought a Whole Program!)

Our Homeschool Curriculum (I Bought a Whole Program!)

I know a lot of you are thinking about next year’s curricula for your homeschool and some of you may be thinking about homeschooling for the first time. I’ve received numerous emails asking what we are currently using. I haven’t posted our plans in awhile because we’ve been trying something, and I wanted to give… Continue Reading

Summer Picture Book Recommendations

Summer Picture Book Recommendations

I have vivid memories of spending long summer mornings at the library picking out piles of books to read. My very first trip to the library was the summer after my kindergarten graduation. The elderly librarian handed me a vintage hardback of Betsy’s Busy Summer by Carolyn Haywood–a little treasure in a sweet series of… Continue Reading

Use this time to develop healthy family worship habits

Use this time to develop healthy family worship habits

If you’re like most people right now, you’re finding yourself at home a whole more these days! There are certainly lots of challenges involved with this time, but more time at home with family can create many blessings as well. Don’t waste this time! One of the great blessings you can enjoy while your family… Continue Reading

Manhood Ceremony for a Boy Becoming a Man

Manhood Ceremony for a Boy Becoming a Man

From the time our eldest child, Caleb, was just an infant (and possibly even before), I knew that I wanted to do something significant to mark the point when our children would come of age. I reject the whole notion of a “teenager,” a modern construct invented by pop culture, and instead wanted to reinforce… Continue Reading

A New Children’s Book: The Mirror Who Wanted To Be Someone

A New Children’s Book: The Mirror Who Wanted To Be Someone

I’m pleased to announce the release of a children’s book, The Mirror Who Wanted To Be Someone. Lovingly illustrated by Diane Shearer with hand-drawn illustrations, this is a fairy tale of the Christian story of creation, fall, redemption and restoration. A happy Mirror becomes confused when a Dragon tempts him to stop reflecting others, and… Continue Reading

Why We Let the Little Ones Come to the Service

Why We Let the Little Ones Come to the Service

I remember the Sunday driving home from church when Becky said, “Wow, I think I was able to listen to the whole sermon today.” Our kids had finally reached the age where they were able to sit still in our church’s service without needing attention. Now we’ve “started over” with two more children. There is… Continue Reading

Mothers, Make Time for Yourselves…Read a Book

Mothers, Make Time for Yourselves…Read a Book

Consider this: Parents are called by God to disciple their children. Luke’s gospel tells us,  “A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher” (Luke 6:40). This is true of character, but this is also true of habits and loves. Consider this: Mothers bear the image… Continue Reading

Two brief arguments for the baptism of children

Two brief arguments for the baptism of children

In this brief essay, I’m making several assumptions. The first is that baptism is rightly administered only to professing believers. I don’t intend to engage here with arguments for paedobaptism. The second is that baptism is a strongly ecclesiastical ordinance. Baptism is not a mere personal devotional experience; it is a public profession of faith,… Continue Reading

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 5th and 7th Grades

Homeschool Curriculum Choices for 5th and 7th Grades

We started back to school this week! Here is what we’re using this year in our homeschool to foster a joyful search for wisdom and beauty and the formation of habits of Christlikeness. Read to the end to find out what new things my kids are loving so far. Language Arts Spelling Wisdom from Simply… Continue Reading

The importance of cultural discernment in Christian education

The importance of cultural discernment in Christian education

If Christian educators are intent upon educating their students with truth, both its factual content and the way the truth is imagined, then they must commit to utilize the best of our classical tradition. We have at our fingertips a rich heritage of cultural forms that have grown within value systems that are fully consistent with what it… Continue Reading

A plea for singing hymns in family worship

A plea for singing hymns in family worship

It’s no secret that people sing much less than they used to. Generally, as a culture, we listen to a lot of music, but make very little. We leave music making to professionals. And this is to our loss as a society. In Wiser than Despair, Quentin Faulkner asks us to “Consider … the disappearance of community singing (whether… Continue Reading

5 Day Bible Stories Reading Plan and Catechism

5 Day Bible Stories Reading Plan and Catechism

Last year I created a 5 Day Bible Narratives Reading Plan that each member of our family used (except the one year old!) through 2017. You can read more about the structure of the plan here. We really enjoyed using it, and we plan to use it again in 2018. For those who would like… Continue Reading

What is a Living Book?

What is a Living Book?

I have used the term “living book” here a number of times when discussing the books we choose for our homeschool education. In some educational circles this term is widely used, but I realize that others may wonder just what I mean when I say that we use “living books.” What a Living Book is… Continue Reading

Beautiful Poetry Anthologies for Children

Beautiful Poetry Anthologies for Children

In honor of national poetry month, here is a list of my favorite poetry anthologies to use with children. A Child’s Garden of Verses by Robert Louis Stevenson (My favorite illustrated versions are by Tasha Tudor and Jessie Willcox Smith.) A Child’s Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa A Child’s Treasury of Poems by Mark… Continue Reading

A Homeschool Mom Reads: February and March 2017

A Homeschool Mom Reads: February and March 2017

Here are my noteworthy reads from the last couple of months:           Augustine’s Confessions, translated by Maria Boulding–Our church ladies’ book group finished this in February. I really enjoyed this very readable modern translation. Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis, read by Nadia May [audiobook]–Love, love, loved this! Great narration also. A Handbook to Morning Time by… Continue Reading