July 21, 2003
FSM 164 / FN 273
By Sara D.
Perhaps you as a childcare worker or parent have found yourself in one of the following common situations:
You're in a witnessing Home where usually the adults most gifted at outreach take the teens or preteens & older children out witnessing daily while you stay home with the several younger children & babies. You may have someone else's assistance in housecare & an older child or teen's help in the care of the children. Because the most important push & priority in your Home is witnessing & outreach, you don't really have to do more than make sure the kids are well taken care of, fed, clothed & having daily naps, & this you're able to do. But are you fulfilled in your ministry? Do you feel you are doing all you can to pour into the kids? Do you wish you could be doing more? Do you feel unchallenged & unproductive & just the "what a weariness" routine of daily childcare duties?
Or perhaps you are a parent who has a variety of responsibilities & duties to take care of daily, whether it be witnessing, housework, provisioning or business. As a father you may feel that the care of the children is the wife's duty, & that you have more pressing obligations. As a mother you may feel the majority of your time is taken with your youngest & you don't have the energy or inspiration to do much more with the kids than the bare minimum. You thank God for Family Videos & Lego & time to plop in bed at night once all the kids are asleep—but at the same time you are concerned about their spiritual growth & progress in the Lord, about their abilities to read & write, about their personal NWO's that seem to need attention, & more challenge, victory & inspiration. Who's going to teach & train your children as young disciples in the Lord?
Or maybe you're in a School working as a teen or adult helper in childcare. All that's really required of you is to take care of a group of kids as an 8 to 5 job. It seems your day of toddler care consists mostly of getting them in & out of bed, taking them back & forth to the potty, giving them baths or bottom washes & taking them for daily Get-Out. Apart from that, the toddlers are happy to play with toys or keep each other occupied, while perhaps your heart is set on some other ministry or desire, or you're wishing to be more used of the Lord.
Do you sometimes wonder what that huge assortment of Family pubs on your shelf really has to say, & how the people who wrote them could ever imagine that you could do more than you're already doing with your hands full of so many children to care for daily? Do you see books & pubs that you've never fully read before? How to you react when someone enters your situation with some new idea or suggestion of giving more to the children, or teaching them to read or follow the sample in the Childcare pubs, or give them any kind of education when you feel you're already doing all you possibly can? Do you question whether it's even true that young children can be taught when they're so rambunctious, misbehaved, undisciplined & difficult to control? Are you pretty sure new methods won't work even though you've never tried them? Your day is spent fulltime with just the physical routine of things, right? Anyone who's taken care of children knows the hardships & the physical strength & patience that's involved!
There Is a Solution!
But have you realized that in any of the above situations, in answer to all of your questions & problems & heart's desires, the Lord has answered before you've even called, & more than you realize? His answer is in the wealth of Family pubs & the Word that He's provided for our use for years! Not only do the MO Letters & Bible offer us answers to our spiritual problems & give us the faith for the Childcare Ministry, but volumes of envisioning, challenging & inspiring Childcare counsel are right at our fingertips if we'll just be willing to give it a try!
If we are open & receptive to new ideas & suggestions, we can find tried-&-proven methods that can totally revolutionize our whole day & routine! It can have a life-changing effect in our childcare group so that the kids will no longer be so unruly, unfulfilled, whiney, fussy & difficult to control. What may have become a lazy, routine, unfulfilling babysitting job in a nursery or childcare situation can easily & quickly be transformed into a productive, inspired, Word-based learning program! All this, just by having the vision, faith, initiative & courage to try it—to open those Childcare Books, Activity Books, Heavenly Helpers 2&5, & Childcare FSMs to put the Word into practice!
We all feel incapable, we all feel burdened & that we have our hands full—in every ministry in fact. But if the Folks weren't constantly pouring out new ideas, materials, challenges, visions & tools, if we weren't constantly revolutionizing our methods & ideas & routines, we would have died out a long time ago just like the churches!—And this certainly applies to the Childcare Ministry! Perhaps one reason why so many people are either uninterested or unchallenged about the Childcare Ministry is because they consider it more of a babysitting service or women's work, rather than the very challenging, fulfilling job that it is; to be constantly pouring out everything we can with the Lord's Spirit & Word to tiny little absorbent children who do nothing but improve with every bit of good Godly input we pour into them!
It's not until someone dares to be different & actually makes a study of the Childcare Pubs or gets behind the different Word & teaching revolutions that people begin to see what good fruit that spark of faith & enthusiasm can yield in the children! It takes very little effort on the adult's part to turn the children into happier & more fulfilled little trained soldiers & disciples & disciples of the Lord rather than bored & unchallenged Lego-lovers.
The Challenge!
If you're one of those people who knows the Childcare Pubs, & has tried & proven the methods—or if in seeing the Golden Age Production (GAP) Video series you feel a calling of the Lord to do something about it—we'd like to encourage you to step out by faith & turn others on to the vision! We need to do all we can to recruit new teachers & Shepherds for children of all ages. Do you have the faith to simply read the Word & act upon it? (See GAP Video Series "What Is That In Thine Hand?"; "Home Schooling How-To's"; "The School Vision Parts 1-7"; "Teach Me Time"; "School Days" & other samples of teaching done for various age groups.) And don't just watch it but try to apply it!—And you may find that you're much more gifted & capable than you ever realized, simply by being obedient to the Word that has already been produced & put right into your hands!
In a nursery situation, which seems the most conducive to the babysitting spirit of complacency, with a whole new vision & outlook & prayer for more inspiration from the Lord, you'll find that babies are actually the very easiest to teach & the most able, capable, & receptive to teaching. (See "Teaching Reading" GAP Video Production by Auntie Anne for specific how-to's on presenting large reading words to little children, who will some day reap the results as early readers & learners in every area!) Baby stimulation tips & tried-&-proven counsel can be found in Childcare Handbook 1; Activity Books 1& 3; & in the new GAP Video series. (See "Teach Me Time" & "What Is That In Thine Hand" Programme #3; as well as FSM 37 by Dora.)
In toddler & younger children's groups, if you find that adults & teens are doing all the work while the kids play, why not turn to the Curriculum Guide & "Practical Skills" section in Childcare Handbook Vol. 2, & see how the most routine of daily affairs can be the major part of a young child's learning. Little children enjoy working more than playing & love to learn to do what you're doing—which instills good habits in them for the rest of their lives. Brushing teeth, learning table manners & orderliness in their classrooms, cleaning up the room & dressing themselves are all a major part of their education. You can not only put those kids to good use to help you get the work done, but you'll find them much more challenged, happy, fulfilled, cooperative & educated at the same time!
Keys to Making It Work
One of the keys to make it all work, besides following the guidelines in the printed Word, is the simple preliminary measure of organizing your day. Cut all corners & unnecessary unfruitful time & determine to put those idle moments into better use. If it's a need, surely God will answer prayer & supply the time, materials, vision & burden to get the job done. You don't have to do a lot, but the question is, "Can you do more?" If you're faithful with the little time that you have, you'll find yourself even more challenged & fulfilled in your Childcare Ministry.
The second key is to learn to control the classroom with a real loving spirit of orderliness & a firm control of the group. Even if discipline is not your forte in Childcare, usually the Lord has someone in your Home or situation who can help you get control of the classroom, get the kids' attention & motivate them to obey—someone who is not afraid to crack down on the trouble-makers when needed so that you can accomplish more for the Lord. Without organization & discipline you might not get much further, but conquering these goals first of all with make every bit of difference in your overall fruitfulness & productivity & happiness. Praise the Lord!
It may be a matter of having the right people in the right place. Maybe you don't consider yourself really cut out for Childcare, but perhaps you just haven't found the tools or the keys that will make the job much easier & more fruitful. We could liken the situation to being locked in a room with a bunch of unruly kids with seemingly no way out. You may be tempted to accept that this is just the way it's going to have to be, if you haven't tried the golden keys available to you from the Pubs. There's no rush. There's no contest or comparison, just start by researching in the Indexes the subjects that you need. Follow the Curriculum Guide in the Childcare Handbooks or any of the five Childcare Indexes in the PUBdex, & you'll find many more ideas to work with than you could ever accomplish in your children's lifetime! And don't feel you have to implement all this at once! Just do what you can do today! Be faithful today!
Or we could liken it to trying to run a kitchen without a meal plan, shopping list or budget. Your routine daily meals might turn out, but having an organized plan of attack makes the difference between quick sandwiches & a nutritious, well-balanced diet that is going to help the body to not just survive, but grow & be nurtured & healthy in our service for the Lord.
Pray—You Can Do It!
If these ideas spark an interest in your heart & spirit, perhaps you could ask for prayer in your Home & pray together about organizing Childcare meetings, or schedule time for the interested adults to read & study the Pubs together & watch the GAP Education Videos, which either do the teaching for you or show you how. We don't need qualified college graduate teachers, those who can whip out the 3 R's & 3 G's with little effort. We only need little people in Childcare with a big vision & a lot of faith in God's Word & Spirit that He is going to do the job of teaching & training the mighty big Army that we have of Little Endtime Soldiers! As Dad asked us years ago, "What Is That in Thine Hand?" This is a call for the dedicated, faithful men & women of the Family to reconsider the Childcare Ministry as your calling & election! Our children need you! The Family needs your loving care & teaching of our many children! Are you willing?
God bless & keep you as you put the Word into action in our children's lives. Great is your reward in Heaven! "For as much as you have done it unto one of the least of these, My children, ye have done it unto Me!" (Mat.25:40) Praise the Lord!
From Mercy Surrender, Europe
I have been teaching toddlers for the past year & would like to share some lessons I've learned with them. Before that I was teaching older children for quite a long time so I needed a complete change of approach & a radical change of attitude as I couldn't just tell the toddler to "be quiet & listen." I had to make things fun & challenging & I found out it took a lot of energy, patience & imagination. TTL!
Throughout the year I taught from two to four children, ages 1 ½ to 3 ½. I had a planned study as I went along & simply included newcomers as I went, & they always adapted very well.
The first thing I did was ask for prayer at devotions, as I honestly didn't know what to do. I wanted to teach them the Word, as well as reading, math & a lot of other things, but I didn't know how to. I studied the Davidito & Techi Letters on the toddler age, as well as various articles in FSMs & the Activity Book No. 4, particularly the articles "Word Fun" (pg.P1), "Simple Object Lessons" (pg.V4) & "Story Telling" (pg.V13).
I made a long-range plan to teach them the Life of Jesus over a period of a few months. I used the flannelgraphs "Early Life of Jesus" & the "Later Life of Jesus," all published by Standard Publishing Co. I also would reinforce the story by reading it in a Bible story book if I could.
Then I made a little schedule for their schooltime & we tried to follow the same pattern every day. It bore good fruit to have a consistent routine so they knew what was coming next. Our routine went like this:
* Word Time (including reading)
* Memorization & review
* Potty Time
* Snack
* Special Activity
* Review former lesson(s)
* Playtime &/or Get Out
One important thing I learned is to keep moving at a fairly rapid pace. Little tots seem to absorb things much better that way & we proceed from one activity to the next without interruption. Thus their attention is fully captivated & their little computer absorbing the most. So usually our school-time was about 1 to1 ½ hours.
In their Word time I included reading. I made the words which were related to the story, backed with flannel, & incorporated them as I was telling the story. For example, with the story of "Baby Jesus" I taught them the words, baby, Jesus, Mary, & donkey. I also would try to teach them a little song related to the subject such as in this case: "Away in a Manger."
For memorization I followed the FML (Feed My Lambs) list for small children I found most of them illustrated in some Kidz Mags, so I photocopied them & had the OCs color them & then I put them in plastic pages in a folder. This became their favorite book, & they memorized without realizing it. I would teach a new verse every two or three days, & review three recent ones & two older ones to make sure they would remember them well.
The special activity was usually related to the Bible story, or if I couldn't find anything to relate it with, I'd teach them some other simple thing such as "What is a plant?" or the basic shapes, the colors, etc.
Usually I did the same story for five days in a row so that they would really absorb it well, but the special activity would be different each day. Below are some sample activities to do which are related to Bible stories. They are all very simple & usually only involve gluing, except for a few experiments. It is better to prepare the material ahead of time (the night before, or I used to even prepare all the material for one week at a time.) One very helpful thing to have is a bag or box full of colorful pictures (taken from catalogues, old color books or completed children's workbooks, etc.) to choose some nice appropriate pics for the toddlers to glue.
Sample Studies on the "Life of Jesus" with Related Activities:
I. "Jesus at 12" Luk.2:40-52. Theme: Growing up. Activities for five days:
1st Day: Theme: Plants grow: Flannelgraph "God's Plan for Growing." Look in the garden at the plants. Glue pics of different stages of the growth of a plant. (Note: When I didn't have certain pics available in my collection, I would make very simple drawings or trace from a book.) Put seeds on cotton wool in a plate & watch them grow over the next few days.
2nd Day: Theme: Animals grow. Glue pics of a baby animal & the mummy. You can write the names so they learn some good vocabulary. (Example: A kitten grows into a cat.)
3rd Day: Theme: I'm growing up. Look through the children's photo albums & discuss how they grew. Glue pics of the child at different ages into his book.
4th Day: Theme: To grow we need Food: Glue pics of different foods they know (a glass of milk, a piece of brown bread etc.) & write the words for the foods Sleep: Read LWG "How To Grow." Glue pic of child sleeping & write "How to Grow" as the caption.
5th Day: Theme: Growing for Jesus. Explain we need the Word to grow. Glue heart with slit in it & have a pic of the Bible to slide in. The child can put the Word in his heart (by sliding the Bible in the heart).
II. The Baptism. Mat.3:13-17; Jn.1:32. Activity: Write the verse Jn.1:32 at the top of the page. (I usually write quotes & verses in red & the regular text in blue so they know that the red words are from the Bible or the MLs.) Then do a study on birds (related to the dove). Discuss & glue pics of birds, feathers, eggs, how many legs, how many wings, nests, etc. Look up in encyclopedia. (Note: For simple science studies I use Volume 1 of "Science from the Beginning," which is very simple & clear. See HH2 pg.105, no.82)
III. Calling Fishermen. Activity: Discuss different types of fishing. Glue pics: Net fishing is like mass witnessing & angling is like personal witnessing. Look in encyclopedia. Write verse Mat.4:19.
IV. Sermon on the Mount. Mat.3,6,7. As this is quite long & has not much action, I selected verses o interest to them & only read them these. Activities for seven days:
1st Day: Write verse Mat.5:13. Learn about salt. Let them taste it. Read LWG "Why is the Sea Salty?" Put a little salt in a piece of plastic & seal it with scotch tape (like a little plastic bag) & tape it in the child's book. The text could explain the different uses of salt.
2nd Day: Activity on Light: Write verse Jn.8:12. Glue pics of sun & stars (all natural light comes from them). Look through a prism (a transparent plastic ruler can also be used sometimes). Explain how a prism breaks the light into a rainbow (spectrum). (Note: These words might sound "too big" for toddlers but I've been amazed at the amount of vocabulary they can absorb & remember afterwards.)
3rd Day: Write verse Mat.5:14. Draw & glue pic of candle under a bushel & one brightly shining. Write also Mat.5:15. Show them a little lit candle (carefully).
4th Day: Verse Mat.6:26. What do birds eat? Glue pic of a bird & all the different foods he eats: insects, worms, seeds, berries, fruits. Add words for each food. Go out & watch the birds. Read "Bye, Bye Birdie" & LWG "The Story of Our Birds."
5th Day: Verse Mat.6:28. Glue pics of different flowers & write their names. (If you have a lily & a rose, you can point out that Jesus is the "Lily of the Valley & the Rose of Sharon" (SoS.2:1).
6th Day: Verse Mat.7:17 Glue pic of a good tree full of nice fruits. Write verse Psa.1:3. Then pic of bad tree (all dry with no fruit) & verse Psa.1:3
7th Day: Verse Mat.7:20. Glue pics of fruits & write their names. Get some fruits & discuss them. Look up about them in an encyclopedia. Read LWG: "Eden's Fruits"; "Mr. Coconut"; "Mr. Mango & Mr. Pineapple." (Note: If the stories in the LWG were too long, I would read it "simplified" & mostly explaining the pictures without reading the full text.)
V. Jesus talks to the Samaritan woman. Jn.4:5-30, 39-42. Activity: Learn about water. Do simple experiments: Watch boiling water (from behind the taped danger line in the kitchen). Feel an ice-cube & let it melt in the sun, see how things float & sink, discuss how water is transparent, animals live in water etc. Illustrate different points with pics & write appropriate captions.
VI. The Lost Sheep. Luk.15:4-6 & Jn.10:1-16. Write verse in Jn.10:27 Glue pic of sheep & write text explaining a bit about sheep. Read LWG "The Story of Snowflake."
VII. The Two Houses. Mat.7:24-27: Luk.6:47-49. Activities for two days:
1st Day: Learn about rocks & different aspects (cliffs, boulders, pebbles, sand). Glue [pics & write words.
2nd Day: Illustrate the story. Glue pic of the house on top of the Rock (I put a small pic of Jesus on the Rock so that they will know Jesus is our Rock.) Then a pic of the same house in the storm. Next pic of the house on the sand & pic of broken house in the storm. Verses Mat.7:24 & 26.
VIII. Jesus & the children. Mk.10-13-16. Activity: learn about races. Look in a book or children's encyclopedia at people of difference races, point out we all come from the three sons of Noah. Glue pics of three children of different races & write their race. Point out that even though we look different, everyone needs love.
IX. Mary anoints Jesus. Jn.12:1-8. Activity: Talk about perfume. Smell cologne, put some on the toddlers. Prayer is like a perfume. Read TK "Prayer."
X. Washing the Disciples' feet. Jn.13:1-17. Activity We all took turns to wash each other's feet. (At the time I had four children, so we had one do it each day for four days or it would have been too long for one day's activity).
XI. The Last Supper. Luk.22:17-20. Activity: Each child in turn leads communion (with help—again we had one per day for four days). Flannelgraph: "Communion." Glue pics of bread & a glass of wine & write captions.
Other Studies Based on the Bible:
I. Creation. Activities for six days:
1st Day: Verse Gen.1:3 & 5 (simplified). Have the child paint one piece of paper light yellow & one black (small enough so they can be glued side by side in their book.) Label "day" & "night." We made a "day" poster & a "night" poster.
2nd Day: Verse Gen.1:6 & 7 (simplified. Glue a pic of the verse (see NHC Ch.39).
3rd Day: Verse Gen.1:20 & 21. Color bottom page sea-blue & top sky-blue. Glue pics of fish, crabs, etc., in water & birds in sky. Additional study: Learn about sea creatures & birds.
4th Day: Verse Gen.1:10 & 12. Color top of page sky blue & bottom green. Glue pics of plants, flowers & trees. Cut out several types of fruit to see the seeds.
5th Day: Verse Gen.1:16. Give the child a square of blue & a square of black colored paper. Glue a yellow sun on the blue square, & a round moon & stars on the black square.
6th Day: Verse Gen.1:25 & 26. Color bottom page green, top blue. Glue animals on land & pic of Adam & Eve (can be photocopied from the "Garden of Love" poster). Additional study: Learn about animals.
II. Study on Jesus says: "I am " Glue pic of Jesus with a bubble saying, "I am " Ten glue pics illustrating the different verses where He says, "I am": A Light (Jn.8:12); the Door (Jn.10:9); the Bread (Jn.6:35); the Way (Jn.14:6); The Vine (Jn.15:5); a Shepherd (Jn.10:11); a King (Jn.18:27: "I am with thee"—the toddler with Jesus beside him. (Acts 18:10; Mat.28:20)
III. Jesus, the Lamb of God. Verse Jn.1:36. Draw a lamb & help the toddlers glue cotton wool on the lamb.
IV. Jesus, the Bread of Life. For this I brought to class a little bowl & made some bread dough with some flour, dry yeast, water & salt. We let it rise & then asked the cook to bake it for us & at it later for snack. To illustrate it in their books, I made tiny plastic bags, one containing a little salt, one a bit of yeast, & one with a little flour. We then taped them in order in the book & drew a little bowl of water & wrote down the recipe. Verse Jn.6:33.
V. Obey & Be Happy. Verse Jn.13:17. Activity: Learn about happy & sad. Glue on one side of page pics of happy people & a happy heart (symbolizing the child's heart). Add caption "When I obey, I have a happy heart." On the other side glue pics of sad people & a sad heart. Caption: "When I don't obey, I have a sad heart."
More Simple Studies to Do:
Once you get the knack for these little activities, there are hundreds of facts that can be studied with little tots. Like little computers, they will absorb any info we pour into them & it will last forever. TTL! GBAK all of you teachers who are involved with the little ones!
From Esther, Far East Teen Farm
Years ago, when we first received some educational computer games, we were initially thrilled & eager to use them. We found that our children were, of course, drawn to some of the more razzy type programs with color, animation, sound & would like to spend a lot of time on them. I was interested & felt that in order to know that the kids were learning & to fit it into the "School Days' program, I needed to know exactly what each program was teaching. So I had some printouts of the programs done in full & looked them over.
Many of the System games were labeled according to different levels & appeared to thoroughly teach a subject. However, when I saw them on paper, it became apparent that most of these programs were very sketchy & didn't cover the full extent of material that needed to be covered. By trying to rely on the use of the games to teach these subjects, the kids felt they were learning everything they should know along these lines, but in actuality, they were not. The computer games were no comparison to the thoroughness our "School Days" Curriculum presents, so this made it deceptive for the teacher & also for the student.
There was another effect that worried me quite a bit, & it was that the kids were not learning the joy of sitting down & studying & learning quietly, learning how to tune in & concentrate. They were getting all razzed up & excited by these fast-moving images & the excitement of the games. While they were learning something, at the same time it was making them feel a bit sour towards sitting down & studying by applying themselves.
Another drawback was that the teachers would tend to get very absorbed in the games, making the programs, the upkeep of the computers, etc. It tended to pretty much absorb everyone & it became a center of attention in the School. So because of this, when I was teaching my own children, I felt led not to use the computer except for teaching them how to type, as we did find some excellent programs along this line. But even on this there were two types of programs. One was instructional & the other was a game. We found that the typing games didn't thoroughly teach the subject either, although the kids were drawn to the real fast & fun games & preferred to do that instead of working on the drill work of the more educational program.
My general feeling is not that the programs & the computer, etc., are so bad in themselves, but they are certainly second-rate compared to sitting down & learning those subjects from our "School Days" material. And they soured the kids on the joys of doing so because they would get all hyped up & want to get into the exciting fast games. So for us, the educational games did not bear such good fruit & I ended up just removing them from use for General Academics.
Maybe if I'd had a lot more time to organize the material & record what the kids were learning on the different programs, I could have charted them into the overall curriculum & used them more. But personally I found I didn't have time to sit down & see what was on every game at every level. So although they learned some things from the computer games, I found I couldn't use them INSTEAD of my Curriculum; I had to keep on working through CCHB "School Days" anyway.
However, we did continue to use the computers as a supplement to the regular schooling. We kept them set up for teaching the kids typing from the educational program & when they made good progress on that, we let them play the games. We also let them play the games on a special nights or at a special time as an extra treat & they were a blessing in this way, although we didn't use them for our Curriculum.
We also let the ones who had a real knack for it & an understanding of it learn about the use of the computer & some of the basics of programming & care of the computer. A few of our boys did become very adept at that & learned how to set up & repair computers. But they were taking it as serious study & they had already made progress in their basics. We also encouraged them, after they became proficient in their typing, to use the word processing program to type work into the computer.
In our situation here recently, one teacher was trying to base his curriculum around the computer educational games & programs. This meant that he himself had to spend a lot of time at the computer & it became quite a trip-off for him. His curriculum became very disorganized & he didn't have a grip on what the kids were actually learning & how they were progressing & where they stood. It's certainly an easy trap to get into as it doesn't even seem like a trap—it seems like it's going to be a real blessing & a real help.
In summary, I would say our main lessons were:
(1) not to rely to heavily on the computer games or programs for schooling in General Academics;
(2) not to let the kids get too absorbed in the games & fun to where they resent good ol' study;
(3) to beware of teachers becoming too involved in the computer programs to where they can't keep the general organization of academics flowing.
From PI Jumbo Shepherds
Reading "The Memorization Revolution" (see DB8) stirred us up to emphasize Memory Work with the children & teens more than ever before. Rather than just having memory time in the morning when we learn the Word, we decided to schedule review time more frequently during the day, which kept everyone focused on the Word. We review the new verse every time we have a change of schedule or line-up, just short quick reviews in-between activities.
We posted the times for review on our bulletin board—morning snack, potty run, line-up for lunch, going down for nap, waking up after nap, before get-out, & before dinner. We found that there are a lot of different slots where we could fit it in & we soon saw how the children really responded & started to love the Word more than ever before. The OCs & teens hung up Memory Charts in the dishwashing areas reviewed during dishwashing, & we found lots of other worktime where it is possible to review.
At one point we realized that some of the older children & teens did not clearly understand the meanings of some of the Psalms & chapters & even some verses in the Memory Book which they memorized years ago. Some had completely different pictures of what the words meant—even common verses like, "snare of the fowler," & "the pestilence that walketh in darkness." So we scheduled 15 minutes of our Wordtime a few times during the week to go over a verse or chapter, with the teacher prepared with a dictionary. It has really been a blessing, & we pray that learning the meaning of the verses will help them to be able to supply & use the Word more in their lives to be guided & convicted by "the voice of His Word."
The Memory Book has been such a blessing to all the groups, including the teens. The teens have a weekly Memory Test & another group has a Memory Shiner Chart to show when each one has memorized a section of the Memory Book. These incentives encourage the children to study & brush up on their verses during the week, & lots of them take their Memory Books to their beds before going to sleep so they can progress on their Shiner Chart.
With Memory Tests & Shiner Charts however, as with any situation where there tends to be some degree of competition, we need to make sure the kids & adults are loving & prayerful in their comments to each other so as not to hurt anyone's feelings if they miss a verse or are not so quick as others at memorizing.
The Word needs to be FUN, as Sara has shown us in the Davidito & Techi Books. Wordtime is the most exciting, interesting & happy time of the day! If our Word classes are like this, with follow-up activities, etc., then memorization will also be viewed by the children as fun & they'll love it! TYJ! Even without shiner prizes or shiner snacks, except occasionally, our children have been so excited & turned on to memorizing the Word! Hallelujah!
From Marie, Pacific
We've been having a Teen & JETT memorization revolution in the Home. They are just so on-fire about memorizing & have been memorizing chapter after chapter. They have been convicting the adults in memorizing up a storm! We photocopied for each teen & JETT the "Promises of Power" game from Activity Book 4 & they are memorizing each of the verses. As they memorize a verse, they color in he section of the game, & when they get finished, they'll have it all colored in. You may want to try it too!—And the best way to review is to play the game! They also write the "Promises of Power" verses in the back of their Bibles to look up whenever they need them.
As a variation on usual Memory Tests where verses are quoted or written down to correspond with references given, why not try a "Memory Bee"—like an old-fashioned Spelling Bee with a few variations. A "Memory Bee" based on categories of verses rather than specific references can give all the participants a chance to succeed.
Here's How You Do It:
1. Divide the group into two teams.
2. Line the teams up on either side of the room.
3. Decide together how many points will be needed to win.
4. The leader, armed with a Memory Book, asks the person at the head of Team One: "Can you give me a verse about Discipleship?" or "Faith?" or "Relationship to the World?"
5. When the verse is quoted, 1 point for Team One is recorded on the blackboard or whiteboard. Then the person who answered goes to the end of the line to await their next turn.
6. The leader then asks the first person on Team Two to quote a verse, preferably from a different category.
7. If a person is not able to quote a verse from the category given, they must sit down with a Memory Book & quickly review a verse on the topic. When they are ready, they can rejoin their place on their team's line-up. When their next turn comes up, they should remind the leader of the category they were working on & quote their verse. If they do it well, they get the point.
8. The first team to make it to the goal is the winner.
Other Points to Consider:
* All verses quoted do not have to be from the Memory Book or in the section of the Memory Book given, as long as they do apply to the topic given.
* The leader may also choose to use some different categories than those in the Memory Book, such as "a verse about trusting the Lord in trouble" or "about learning from our afflictions," etc.
* Quoting the reference is optional (or you can give a bonus point, if you wish). If the person knows it, they can quote it. If they don't know it, someone else can add the reference for them, or the leader can read it from the Memory Book. (See "Memory Work Made Simple," #2195:26-49, Lifelines 17)
* Also, as Mama brought out in "Memory Work Made Simple": "I don't think we have to be too much of a stickler for having the exact words all the time. You need to learn the basic words, the essential words, so you can remember the basic meaning of it but if you miss a little word here or there or substitute one that means the same, then there's nothing wrong with that." So, in terms of this game, for a person to get a point for their team, their verse doesn't have to necessarily be word-for-word correct. However it should be close & the meaning & message should definitely be clear.
* If there is a question whether a verse was quoted well enough, the leader might ask the other team, "What do you think? Was that close enough? Should we give them the point?" Or, if it is a question if the verse applies to the category given, the person giving the verse could have a chance to justify how the verse fits.
* Another variation rather than giving a category could be to describe certain situations, such as, "A missionary family finds they need money to buy more food. What verse could they claim?" Teachers might like to make a little card box of situational questions that they can pull out at any time for quick review times.
From FENRO
Answered Prayer Against Childhood Diseases
We would like to testify that since our prayer vigil against childhood diseases, the Lord miraculously protected our main School from contracting chicken pox. One child came down with it & had been in contact with many children before his fever was discovered. We were desperate in prayer that the Lord would spare all these children from this affliction for their health's sake, & also as there were many projects that the children were involved in which would have come to a standstill. Now we are out of quarantine & only the only child had chicken pox. We believe this is a direct answer to the prayer vigil & going on the attack against this big battle of childhood diseases in a large School.
Helping Children Recover
When children are sick, weak or run down following a childhood disease, they have lower resistance & are much more susceptible to other childhood diseases, colds, flu, pneumonia, bronchial infections & even more serious diseases such as meningitis. For this reason, we must take heed to make sure our children are fully recovered from any & all sickness, especially childhood diseases which take a tremendous toll on their bodies. We must consider that our children's bodies are growing daily, which require a large amount of protein, B vitamins, calcium, iron & all other nutrients, as well as daily vitamin C. All these requirements are found in a good balanced diet & are used to the maximum daily. When a child is sick, their need for all these nutrients is increased nearly 100-fold in some instances.
Combined with the fact that children often do not eat very well during sicknesses, we can see that it is very important that their recovery program be just as carefully followed as the one instituted when they were sick.
When a child shows signs of good health after a sickness, they should not be put back too quickly into the main flow of activities, to save on adult personnel & time. Must more time will be taken in the long run caring for children who are continually getting sick because they never really got well. And worst of all, the children & their physical growth will suffer.
Following is a checklist which we pray will help in following a more thorough convalescence program. Most of all, keep in mind that the child needs to completely recover from their sickness. Of course, prayer can do the miracle, but we will also list a few basic signs of good health after sickness which will ensure that your faith for the child has indeed made them whole.
Signs of Good Health:
After a childhood disease, or any prolonged sickness is over (meaning the duration of their sickness has ended according to the medical time period of infection) your child should respond as follows if they are completely recovered:
1. Appetite should be fully back to normal.
2. The child should show no signs of fatigue (dark circles under the eyes, stopping to catch their breath, sleeping extra hours in the morning or nap times, lack of appetite).
3. The child should not be whining or complaining of headaches, earaches, sore eyes, stomach aches, lack of energy, sore muscles, fatigue, dizziness, etc.
4. Alert.
5. Happy.
6. Good color in their face.
7. Red lips, red inside eyelids (lack of color is lack of protein & iron).
8. Bowel movements should be regular & proper texture.
9. Urinating regularly, normal color.
Steps to Recovery
Following are steps to take to help a child convalesce or fully recover from a childhood disease or sickness:
1. Good ventilation & fresh air & sunlight should permeate the child's room.
2. Let the child sleep until they wake up themselves, both in the morning & at naptime.
3. Give the child easily digestible, high-protein foods such as: Brewer's yeast, yogurt, tofu, molasses, oatmeal, soups (made with bones, greens, root vegetables & meat—the broth can be drunk if nothing else).
4. Feed the child either food or liquid every 2 hours.
5. Avoid sugar. (Use honey, molasses, fruits & natural fruit juices for sweets).
6. Progressive Get-Out: Begin with gentle walks during the warm part of the day (but not too hot). Do not exercise the child to their full capacity, but build up to it. Quit when the child still wants to move about—do not overdo.
7. Regular vitamins, especially vitamin C.
8. For coughing, follow a diligent program of cough syrup (equal parts of boiled onion & garlic juice, honey, vinegar, ginger or lemon), plenty of liquids, fresh air & deep breathing. Prolonged coughing can lead to other bronchial problems.
Be On Guard Against Sickness
Some countries, like Japan or the West for example, may appear cleaner than Third World countries, but they are still dirty & full of sicknesses & we must be on guard & praying against germs. It is important to counsel together to make sure your Home is following all the health & hygiene measures required to have a clean house, as well as being faithful with the steps outlined in "Life with Grandpa" when children are out in the System.
Suggested Reading Program
Following is a suggested ML reading program to help raise our health & hygiene standard:
Cleanliness Is Godliness, #1031, Vol.9
Laws of Moses, #155, Vol.2
Take Good Care of Yourself, #2028, Vol.16
Prayer for the Children, #753, Vol.6
Why Is Your Child Sick?, #1135, Vol.11
Health Gems, #1313, Vol.13
Grandpa Jewels on Childcare, #1709, Bk. 18
Prayer for David's Fever, #2236, Vol.17
Techi's Story Ch.10, #863, Vol.7
Herbal Remedies—God's Wonders, #1236, Vol.12
The Health Revolution, #353, Vol.3
Food or Poison?, #609, Vol.5
Real Mothers, #389, Vol.3
Why Are Our Children Sick?, #737, Vol.6
Afflicted Parents, #1112, Vol.11
Keep It Clean, #1138, Vol.11
Ask for Prayer, #1249, Vol.12
Test of Faith, #1281, Vol.13
Power of Positive Praise, #1375, Bk.18
Watch Out for Mrs. Mosquito, #1831, Vol.15
God's in Control, #2084, Vol.16
Prayer for Mama's Eyes, #2326, Vol.17
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