Charlotte Mason {in Church}

We have begun our second semester of Children's Church. Things are starting to become easier for all involved... the teachers are seeing the benefits of the new routine and the kids are getting used to the structure. The kids are also getting better at narrating, which is encouraging because we have some pretty young kids (ages 4+ but also some 3 year olds come, too)!

A few weeks ago, we were reading in Genesis about God promising a son to Abraham and instructing him to name the baby Isaac. A child commented that her "beginners Bible" doesn't mention Abraham laughing at God's promise but now it made sense to her because she knew that Isaac meant "laughter." She had originally just thought they named him Isaac (not knowing God had instructed him to), but hearing the reason behind it brought a new illumination to her understanding of God's Word. I was so encouraged because it is truly hard work to read from the Bible to children of this age! It is hard work for them to listen and attend, it is challenging for the teacher to read it interestingly but it is harder to have faith that the Holy Spirit is working through our attempts into the hearts of the children.

The kids continue to memorize Psalm 139; we are working on verses 1-12 right now. My hope is that by the end of summer, we will have completed the entire Psalm.

Nature study/painting continues to be a hit for all the kids. We often have visitors or kids who come very infrequently, so when that happens, I am sure to demonstrate what it means to hold the paintbrush the correct way and how to use the watercolors. This seems to help a lot for kids who might not have painted with this medium before. A lot of kids will approach it like you would acrylics, which is why it needs to be taught and approached differently.

We are also continuing to listen to and sing along with one hymn each month (taken from the Getty Kids Hymnal cds). Lately we have used their Doxology/Oh Shout for Joy and All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name. These are on YouTube! 

So, for those of you who are wondering what we have been studying since Advent, these are our Bible stories and pictures that we have used the past six weeks: 

Matthew 14:13-21 : The Miracle of Five Loaves and Two Fish by Lucas Cranach

Genesis 16 : Hagar Leaves the House of Abraham by Peter Paul Rubens

Matthew 14:22-33 : Jesus Walks on Water by Ivan Aivazovsky

Genesis 17:15-27 : God's Promises to Abram, James Tissot

Matthew 15:21-31 : The Exorcism of the Syrophonecian's Daughter by Immenraet 

Genesis 18:1-15 : Abraham Serving Three Angels by Rembrandt

I have been reading this great book by Charles Spurgeon:

I highly recommend it to any pastor and anyone who is leading or teaching children. Even if you are a parent and not in a teaching position, his words are so good. 

He says this in chapter 6:

"Perhaps they thought that children did not have sufficient mental capacity to understand. Jesus Christ said such wonderful things that the children could not be expected to receive them. Yet indeed, this is a great error, for children readily enter into our Lord's teaching. They never learn to read so quickly from any book as from the New Testament. The words of Jesus are so childlike and so fitted for children that they drink them in better than the words of any other man, no matter how simple he may try to speak. Children readily understand the child Jesus.... as far as the mental faculty is concerned, the capacity for faith in the heart of a child is great. His believing faculty has not yet been overloaded by superstition, or perverted by falsehood, or maimed by wicked unbelief."

His words ring similarly to Charlotte Mason; he has great respect for the smallest children and I find it to be affirming and challenging. It's a free Kindle download, too!

If you are interested about reading more on the Charlotte Mason {in Church} series, click here.