I was priviledged to teach the five year olds at my church a few weeks ago and speak on the commandment to love one another (John 13:34). My son, Aidan, is in my class as well and it's been fun spending this special time, just the two of us (well, at least without his brothers and sister!) It's one more way for me to spend time with just him, within our family, and it has created a new bond.
Often, I find when we are assigned talks or teaching assignments, the lesson is for both student and teacher. I've really enjoyed spending time with these beautiful souls. In many ways, they have taught me so much more than I ever hoped they could learn from me. I have truly grown spiritually in the few short months I've had them and I look forward to Sundays in a way I never thought I would. I know that this calling to teach has not only given me the opportunity to share the gospel with others, but has allowed me to research topics and doctrine I wasn't familiar with. Every week I teach I learn something new that I hadn't known before, and the blessings are magnified tenfold. I get to see life through the eyes of a child and I am so grateful for the opportunity given to me to teach these bright minds!
Warm wishes,
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Trisha, hope it's okay to ask you this question here in comment forum. And hope it doesn't sound impolite, but do you know where a person could pick up a primary or "lesson" book to teach children about the bible and about God? I haven't had the best of luck finding the right church for our family in recent years but I remember my Grandmother teaching us at her dining table when we were little and thought it would be kind of neat to do the same with my children. Any guidance would be appreciated. I love what you did with the cricut to help illustrate your teaching. :)
ReplyDeleteDarling card to illustrate a wonderful principle. I agree. The teacher always learns the most!
ReplyDeleteCassandra, we are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The family is a central theme in the beliefs and there's a lot of emphasis on more family face time.
ReplyDeleteI just updated my blog post with the links (you guys are fast to respond!!) and you can see the manual I used. This is for 4-7 year olds and teaches kids principles from the Holy Bible (King James Version).
The manuals are created to appeal to the age group and attention span of the kids being taught (there are several other manuals for different age groups, including 18mos - 3year olds!) and have a nice flow with attention activities, doctrine from the scriptures, visual aids and often a coloring activity, song, or game.
We also practice what we call Family Home Evening, which sounds a lot like what your Grandmother did. This is usually on Mondays (easiest for us), where the whole family gets together for a mini-lesson, treat and music. These are short discussions (due to the young age of our kids) where a principle or concept is discussed, with an activity and a treat and often coloring. I just choose a lesson from the youngest age group to teach. That way it's geared for their attention and ability to understand and the older kids and parents can always continue the discussion after the younger ones are ready to be done. It allows families to all get together at least once a week and spend time together and presents a moral teaching opportunity for us to share with the kids.
Check out this link for the books available and they can all be downloaded in PDF form or viewed in HTML on the website, too. Hope this helps and if you have any other questions, I'd be glad to help!