Building a Library Inexpensively

Reading is important but how do you build a library inexpensively? The more a child is surrounded by books, the more he or she will be encouraged to read. I know that we are in the age of electronics - books in digital formats may be good for older children and adults but you aren't going to give a child a love for reading this way. Personally, I prefer to hold a real book in my hands. 

There are many ways to pick up book inexpensively: 
- garage sales 
- thrift shops 
- used book sites on the internet: Alibris, Abe, Half.com, Barnes & Noble, Kregel 

Be sure your library includes a variety of books, not just fiction. Include some of the following:  

Classics: Dickens, Hawthorne, Defoe, Spyri, etc.  
Biographies: Presidents, Missionaries, historical figures, composers, artists  
Spiritual, Character building: find books that will help grow your child's character and spiritual life. These can be fiction or non-fiction. Check out Vision Forum and Lamplighter Ministries for some great sources  
Reference books: dictionary, commentaries, concordance, Bible dictionary, Thesaurus  

 “He that loves a book will never want a faithful friend, a wholesome counselor, a cheerful companion, an effectual comforter. By study, by reading, by thinking, one may innocently divert and pleasantly entertain himself, as in all weathers, as in all fortunes.” - Barrow

Thoughtful Tuesday

"Ideal teachers are those who use themselves as bridges over which they invite their students to cross, then having facilitated their crossing, joyfully collapse, encouraging them to create bridges of their own."  

-- Nikos Kazantzakis

Thoughtful Tuesday

"If we are going to serve the Lord, we must stop focusing on other people."

~ Evangelist Jim Pruitt

Memory Verse Monday

Write verse on chalkboard or poster board. Choose two volunteers. Have first volunteer face the class so that he cannot see the board. Have second volunteer choose one word. When quoting the verse, everyone claps in place of the chosen word. First volunteer must guess the word without looking at the verse.

Thanksgiving Place Cards & Napkin Rings

Thoughtful Tuesday

"God will not call you to do something that He will not enable you to do."

Memory Verse Monday

To review a familiar verse, divide board into several sections. Have children race to see who can be the first to write the verse correctly. For a larger group, make teams and have a relay race. Each person writes one word and then passes the chalk until entire verse is written.

Fully Rely On God - Frog Bulletin Board

Bulletin Board by Jessica - Visit her blog "The Road to Radcliffe Pond"

Is Reading to a Child Important?

The time that parents spend reading to a child will greatly affect a child’s desire to read. An important factor in whether a child learns to read or not – and how well he will ever read – is his desire. Parents build in children a desire for reading by reading to them at a young age. A child will learn to associate reading with pleasure and love.

“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.” 

^{- Abraham Lincoln}

Fall Crafts Collage

Thoughtful Tuesday

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.

Memory Verse Monday

Looking for new ways to creatively teach memory verses? I am hoping to share with you a new idea each week (or almost every week).

This month I decided to focus on chalkboard methods. Many of you have probably already used this first method, but just in case, I though I would share. 

Write verse on chalkboard or whiteboard and allow kids to erase one word or phrase at a time.

Fall Placemats

I'm Back

Dearest Readers of my sadly neglected blog,

I apologize for my long absence here on this blog. I have had a number of things going on in my life and just needed to take a break for awhile. I have some new ideas, so hopefully I will be able to carry them out on here. Any suggestions for topics would be appreciated.

I returned early this morning from the Loving and Leading Conference in Milford, OH. I highly recommend this conference. There were many different workshops to choose from to learn lots of new ideas to incorporated into your ministry. Dr. David Gibbs, JR was the speaker for the main sessions. He brought a number of very convicting messages. Now to just put into practice what I have learned.

~Julia

Books of the Bible Game

Sewing with Kids

Amy over at Amy's Creative Side is doing a series on sewing with kids. Check it out by clicking the button below:

This weeks project:

Teaching for Life Change

        

        Many teachers approach their class as teaching lessons rather than teaching students.  The pitfall of this is that it focuses on covering content rather than meeting the needs of individuals.  It is important for the teacher to get to know and understand his students.  The teacher should know the common characteristics of the age group he is teaching.  Moreover, the teacher needs to know each of his students on a personal level.  If the teacher’s goal is life-change, then he must know where his students are coming from and what direction they should be moving in.

         A creative Bible teacher will seek to teach in ways that promote life change.  If he merely teaches the Bible as content, he is implying that to know God and to know about God are the same thing.  Learning must be brought to where it has meaning to the student’s life and experience.  The teacher must use a vocabulary that the students understand.  When teaching unfamiliar terms or concepts, the teacher should carefully explain and illustrate to give meaningful understanding.  The closer an idea or concept is linked to something with which the student is already familiar, the more meaningful it will be.  A creative teacher will have his students take part in exploring the meaning of a passage.  When a student personally thinks through how Biblical truths may be applied, he will be more likely to respond on a personal level.

Jungle Bulletin Board Ideas

Ideas by Sophia from "Frugal Ideas from the Parsonage"

Influence vs. Control

By Cary Schmidt

Sometimes we get mixed up in ministry. We forget that our responsibility is not control it is influence. God never gave us control of people, their lifestyles, or their choices. He created free will, and gives each individual responsibility for their choices. I fear, out of good intentions, some spiritual leaders cross the line and actually try to control behavior rather than influence the heart. There are a lot of reasons this well-intentioned approach to ministry is really bad...read more

How to Teach Math (Just for fun :)

Tips for Evaluating Bible or Sunday School Curriculum

It is essential that curriculum enhance the teaching of the Bible, not obscure it. Teachers must take care to ask if the curriculum is actually teaching the Word of God or simply seeking to meet the objectives of a curriculum writer.

To teach content without reference to the student's need for personal response is not teaching the Bible in a way consistent with its nature and purpose.

A good curriculum will teach what the passage teaches and will call for responses that are rooted in the text of Scripture...It's easy to set up our rules of conduct and then to find passages that seem to indicate some biblical support. But this isn't teaching the Bible. It's teaching a legalism that can become crushing. Such teaching obscures, for teacher and learner alike, the God who reveals Himself, and who demands not conformity to a code, but response to a Person, a life lived not in cold conformity, but in willing and flexible response to God the Spirit.

Questions to ask:

1. Does the material gain attention and draw the learner to the subject being addressed?

2. Does the material present solid biblical content and explore the central principle of the passage accurately?

3. Does the curriculum reflect an awareness of the gaps that block response to God?

4. Are the lesson aims clearly stated and life-response oriented?

5. Do the aims exhibit a structure that leads into the Word, explores the Word, and guides students to explore relevance and plan response?

Taken from Creative Bible Teaching by L. Richards & G. Bredfeldt