One of my goals this year for our homeschooling has been to saturate my kids with Christ. I don't want our Christianity to be placed in a little box that we pull out for church or evening devotions, I want it to be who we are. These past few months have really taught me the importance of having God's word hidden in your heart so that you have something to get you through your times of doubt and questioning. Without God's promises it is so hard to see God's grace during times of extreme grief or incredible hardship.
This year to incorporate God's promises in your family I encourage you to use a number of methods. Try to choose Christian curriculum where possible, and encourage your child to participate in Anchor's memory verse contest. After memorizing the verse of the month, file it with the previous verse so that you are continuing to practice the old verses along with the new, the goal being that by June your child will be able to recite each month's verse. For penmanship I recommend using A Reason for Handwriting which uses verses from the bible to practice neat printing, each day your child sits down to do their penmanship read the verse together. Have index cards on hand to write down verses that are important and can be encouragement at different seasons of life. As you get a stack of these cards it is nice to have a small box like a recipe box or a small photo album to keep them in. This keeps them from getting lost in mounds of paper and mail around the house. Creating a treasure box for your verses can be a fun craft to do with your kids for an afternoon too!
In our home we have started to learn God's promises by having afternoon tea together (my girls prefer Vanilla Rooibos with a brown sugar cube). This has become a time that we can connect as a family, discuss our day, and dwell on the promises of God. I take out our heart shaped tea set, and our box of special verses, and we sit down at the table together. During this time I choose a few verses out of the box and we talk about their meanings, how they makes us feel, etc. Sometimes we have a snack and other times it is just the tea and verses. The purpose of this time is to include God's word in an everyday activity, and to begin hiding God's promises in the hearts of my children. I have found that it can be hard to feel like we have time to fit this into the day, but when we do I am always surprised at how the remainder of the afternoon and evening is much more pleasant. There is something about feeding our bodies and our souls that seems to keep away the afternoon grumpies and increases our ability to manage the little frustrations of life. I strongly encourage you to try this with your children. If tea doesn't suit your family, maybe it's over cookies and milk, or at the breakfast table, whatever works for you. The important thing is, that you are together and you are focusing on God's promises!