Family Ministries Resources

Week 4 Resources

One Month. One Month of not meeting together in person. I am thankful that we live in a time that we can still get together, even digitally, to worship, pray, give, and fellowship. This is a hard time for all of us. I think I am going on day 23 of not leaving the house other than to go on walks and play with my kids… Rachel already homeschooled our daughter who is in first grade so things aren’t much different for her and the kids. I am getting a bit stir crazy and ready to just go somewhere, anywhere, but I am considered “high risk” so I am just staying in. We’ll see how long that lasts…

Devotions for Easter

One of the pages that I follow, Childrensministry.com, has a daily devotion for families for the week of Easter. Here I have included the link for that: https://childrensministry.com/holy-week-family-devotions/

KidLevel Resources

PreK:

• https://drive.google.com/open?id=17NgCR-goFOZwQ1gO42nS0ON74nzoEHx8

K-2:

• https://drive.google.com/open?id=1SiuCXZn4ZVx-Mhiuw9lMqHfNQf0c_KQJ

Some Tips for Teaching

I don’t know if you have ever done something like this, but here are some helps.

1: Print off the pages

For both PreK and K-2, click the links and print the pages that come up.

2: Go over and use the pages

Go through the instructional page with your kids and have them color the coloring page.

3: Prepare your heart to teach

I encourage everyone that is teaching to anyone, to read through the lesson ahead of time. You should “struggle” with the passage as you get ready to teach it so that you are prepared. Pray about the passage and how best to teach it. As Noel Piper says “ When the story is told, it should always be told in light of the following question: ‘What does this passage say about God?’ The Bible reveals the character of God, and the central figure in Biblical history is God. The Bible story should be told as a revelation of the character and work of God.”

Noel Piper's Tips

Here are some tips from Noel that I would echo to help you in your teaching:

• Use visual aids when appropriate in order to illustrate the story and to focus attention.
• Speak at a moderate pace most of the time. Speaking too fast makes the story unintelligible; speaking too slowly bores the audience.
• Vary the pace according to the action of the story and to create a mood. For example, Moses standing before Pharaoh with the message from God could be spoken slowly and authoritatively, “Let...my...people...go.” On the other hand, in the story of Jesus calming the sea, you may want to speak rapidly and dramatically when speaking of the wind howling and the waves crashing against the boat.
• Speak loudly enough to be easily understood.
• Vary the volume according to the story line.
• When using visual aids, organize your materials so your story can flow smoothly.
• Repeat key themes often so they are firmly grasped by the children.
• When possible and appropriate, use words which describe the sounds in a story (e.g., “clip clop” for a walking donkey). o Use sound effects if you can do them well.
• When possible, appeal to the five senses (e.g., When telling the story of Babel, listen to a tape recording of someone speaking a foreign language).
• Encourage the children to participate with you in telling the story. This can mean clapping in response to something God did, making sound effects, repeating a key theme, helping with a demonstration, etc. For example: Ask at various times during a story showing God’s power, “Is God weak?” Teach the children to respond, “God is strong!. God can do anything!”

An Example

For example, this week, the story for K-2 is about Palm Sunday, the Last Supper, Crucifixion and Resurrection. Maybe let your kids crucify you…just kidding. Maybe tell the story while you are eating breakfast together to make the Last Supper element real to your kids. Whatever you chose to do, make the story come alive for your kids and it will be memorable!

Note: I did Kidlevel with our kids on Sunday after Pastor David finished preaching. We have done the K-2 curriculum with Lexi and Landon the past few weeks. This week we are planning on doing the PreK material so that Landon learns what he is used to.

Prayer Idea

Here is a way to teach and encourage your kids to pray using their hands:

Students

For Students, I have included the Sunday School material that I am using right now. I am using Bible Studies for Life. What I have included are the daily guide for students and the family connection sheet. These can be accessed through here or can be printed at home.

The helps for kids can be used for students also (make them age appropriate).

The daily guide is meant to be used by the students 6 days during the week, starting on Sunday. It has day 1-5 guides after the students do the first study on Sunday.

The Family Connection sheet has questions for different age groups. This sheet is just for students, so disregard the other age groups.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1q71agfw37y4JJ_MgjMNJU0kTBWJMOYKj

Contact

Email me at marshall@greenlevel.com to let me know how things are going for you at home with the kids or just for some encouragement during this time. I would love to encourage families! You got this. Don’t let what other people are posting affect the way you are parenting.