Quiet time for Audrey and Emma

First I have to say thank you for your emails and comments and prayers and tweets and Facebook comments the other day. I appreciate you more than you could know. And I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who blows it BIG TIME as a mama.

In God's perfect ways, he's used it to clear the air and Audrey and I are connecting and talking better than we have in a long time. He is good!

***

The girls worked so hard at school yesterday. They really buckled down and persevered and were diligent--and I'm so proud of them. And told them so a lot. 

(Here's that Spiritual Mothering thing coming into play--It's not enough to THINK it, we've gotta SAY it when it comes to encouragement!)

When we started school back in August, our Bible curriculum started us reading through the book of John together. And instead of just reading it, we've really been studying it together.

(blurry--sorry!)

The girls have done a couple of things with John: 

• They've kept an outline, summarizing the sections we've read in their own words (and learning about outline form along the way). 
• They've kept a list of all the names of Jesus found in the Gospel of John--there are a bunch! 
• They've followed all the action on a map of Israel and learned to read the text carefully for clues about when and where things happen.
• They've learned to pay attention to repeated phrases and ideas in the text. ("I tell you the truth" is a big one in John, along with the phrase "his time had not yet come." When the girls saw "his time had come" they knew immediately something big was about to happen.)

And all the while, they've been reading out loud, working on tone and inflection and pronunciation and all that good stuff.

Well, we finished John last week. The lesson plans have us starting 1 Samuel now.

So yesterday, I taught them a little bit about the book--the context, its place in Israel's history, the kinds of stories it includes. And instead of outlining the book, we're going to do something a little bit different.

Instead of reading each small section together each day, the girls will be using the day's section for their quiet time and making notes in their journals.

I'm so excited about this!

At the beginning of each week, I'll list each day's reading so they can find it quickly and easily. And I listed the kinds of things they should be noting. 

We're going with answering WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY, and HOW. They'll note any questions they have about the text, and write out any verse that stands out to them that they want to remember.

They know that because 1 Samuel is a narrative, they may have more than one WHO in a story. (Hello, chapter 1: Elkanah, Hannah, Penninah, Eli, Samuel!) They can pick one or more than one. I left it up to them so it doesn't get overwhelming.

This is all familiar to them from the time I spoke at their chapel last year about being Bible detectives. But no mustache yesterday! Confused? Go check out this post.

Then during our Bible lesson, they'll ask their questions and we'll search for the answers together. (Why did Elkanah have more than one wife? What does it mean to be weaned?) 

Before they know it, they'll be experts at inductive Bible study method!

They started yesterday and did a great job. It was fun to see that they chose different WHOs for chapter 1 and so they were great listeners when it came time for them to share with each other what they'd written down.

Comments

[KristinF]

Beautiful Joanne! Love to see how God used your weakness yesterday to make things in your life stronger! Thanks for continuing to share your life. I miss you so much but I feel like you are not so far when I read your blog. Love you!
Kristin

[Yvette]

We are studying John in BSF so it's pretty cool that they studied it too, and you are right, there are a ton of names for Jesus!

[graywolfie]

Wow...! Really encouraged by u...seeing u spend so much time & effort to read God's Word with ur girls.
I just started 'doing' a daily devotion with my toddler (she's 2 1/2)...using "The One Year Devotions for Preschoolers"...it's got beautiful pictures & the story is quite simple for her to understand.

[Melissa @ Breath of Life]

Wow...I wanna' be a student in the Heim Home School!

[Marla Taviano]

LOVE this!!

[Allison Talamantez]

Joanne, you have such a knack for this. Your girls are so blessed!

[Susan]

Just finishing up John. Pulling out my Advent devotionals and readings now. Thanks to my BFF, Joanne who (probably unbeknownst to her) made me much more aware of the liturgical seasons and wetted my appetite to learn more of them.

Hugs and smooches.

Me

[Lisa @ The PW]

I've read through your last few posts and just wanted to say:

I love you.

You are real and I need real people in my life. That's why I stalk you. :)

And I'm so proud of your girls. We've been reading through John as a family but nothing this intenional at all. You've challenged me to step up my game, girlfriend.

[Karen]

What a great idea for the quiet time. I may try that with my older daughter. Right now, my older daughter and I are doing a Bible study together a few nights a week. But what you're doing with your girls is a great idea and I think it would work really well for my daughter to do on her own in addition to our devotional time together.

Hope you're having a great week!
Karen

[rhonda]

So made me want to teach it to my boys this way. And study it this way myself! Love it:)

[Tammy]

We just got done reading through John in our homeschool. We're in the OT now too, but we're back a few books in Exodus. My little one likes hearing the Bible stories. She even asks me to read more to her during her bath time at night:) I hope her desire to hear God's Word never dies out!

I like your journal idea...I would like to include something like that into our homeschool time. Thanks for sharing so many of your great ideas!

[Holly @ Crownlaiddown]

3 Things...
1. You are an awesome homeschool mom! I love that they're learning to study the Word!
2. Janna's blog link is broken...where oh, where is Janna?
3. My blog link is new, if you have a chance to change it.

[Aurora]

Joanne, this is so impressive! The girls are learning how to study the Word for themselves, a tool that will carry them through their entire spiritual lives. They will always be able to feed themselves -- it's like you've taught them to cook so they don't starve! Blessings and high fives to you!!

Aurora

[Kimberly]

That is awsome. We are still working on learning to read...can't wait to do that with my boys. Sounds like you were born to homeschool.

[Tia]

My sons(tween/teen) and I study together by theme, but I love the group notebook idea. We have our separate journals, but the single notebook is a good reference for the future, and the outlining is how I try to encourage them to study along with flash cards.

Wow...flash cards I just had an idea. :-)

[Kim Feth]

Ok, I'm adopting some of this. Trying to think through how to deploy it in a practical manner. Thanks for the ideas. Any ideas on Advent Bible study?

[Angie]

Joanne, I just wanted to tell you that I'm thankful for friends like you who are a few steps ahead of me. Thanks for paving the way and inspiring me to be a better mom to my kids. I love your ideas, and this is no exception. Love you, friend!