Before I had children, autumn meant sweaters and jeans. Thanksgiving meant turkey, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. But as soon as my little girl met her first Thanksgiving, I wanted it to be meaningful. I want her and my son to know the One who makes us truly thankful!

I like to break down the word Thanksgiving into THANKS and GIVING. With each activity we do during this season, we try to have them center on these two ideas: giving THANKS to God or GIVING to others. Here are a few ideas we’ve done over the year. Maybe you can do one with your family this year!

A simple THANKS sign made from freshly fallen leaves and leftover cardboard! I’m a big big fan of banners and signs, so this was a great (and big) reminder to give thanks go God!

This is the time of year when people start collecting cans, clothes and more for people in need. We like to add a little flair to all the canned goods we donate!

Make a Helping Hands Thankful Tree this year to really challenge your kids AND yourself!

Laminated leaves are beautiful gifts to send to your sponsored children at Thanksgiving!

Holidays and season changes are perfect opportunities for you to show your children new aspects of God. The themes of fall and Thanksgiving are ripe for teaching children (and ourselves) to give thanks to God, being appreciative of what we have and giving to others.

What fun activities do you and your children do in Fall to focus on God?

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

When my daughter was an infant, I followed a strict feeding, sleeping and playing schedule. I wrote down every time I fed her, how many minutes and more. As she started sleeping through the night (very early I might add–thankyouverymuch, schedule!), I was still nursing her once in the middle of the night, to tide her over. I called it a dream-feeding. And I loved that sweet, quiet, alone time with her.

photo by D. Sharon Pruitt

When my son was born, I tried doing a dream-feeding with him, too. He wasn’t sleeping through the night as easily as my daughter did (maybe because that schedule was hard to follow with a 3 year old following me around?) and I thought the dream-feeding would be a perfect remedy.

Unfortunately, that dream-feeding woke him up. He didn’t lay there quietly and eat. He’d wake up, cry, eat and then have to be settled back down for sleep which meant he didn’t sleep well and would get up early because he was overtired. *sigh* The unending cycle of tired babies!

That was one of my first signs that my children were different.

You’d think this would be pretty obvious. I mean, they don’t look too much alike. One’s a boy and one’s a girl. But, they are comprised from basically the same DNA. I should be able to raise them, feed them, care for them and love them the same way, right?

Nope.

It’s like love-languages. My daughter is a touchy-feely lover. She wants to hold my hand, sit in my lap, rub my face and hug me tight. My son, even when he could barely speak would say to his sister, “Don’t hug me! Don’t hug me!” He wants you to play with him. To roll on the floor with him. To sit right next to him while he’s reading a book. Just being with him is his thing.

But how does all this transfer to raising them? To disciplining? How can we train them in a way that will actually help them and lead them to Jesus? That is catered to them specifically?

Sorry. I don’t really know.

I struggle with it every day. The thing that works with my daughter doesn’t work with my son. She is potty-trained practically overnight with a chart. After two months my son still doesn’t have ONE sticker on his chart. My daughter will go to her room without a peep while my son pounds on the door. It’s more than frustrating. It’s overwhelming. I want so much to help my children, to grow them how God made them. But how do I do that?!

I remember something one of my {online} friends told me. She said, “ I often pray that the Lord show me my son’s heart.” She told me she realized that God knew her son’s heart completely and that He could see what was going on in there, so she asked God if he would be willing to “clue her in” on it and what she should do about it.

This prayer hit me like a ton of bricks! I had never ever thought of this before. Ask God to show me how my daughter works? Ask God to show me why my son responds this way? Of course God would do this! He promises to confide in those that fear Him.

Of course, this prayer doesn’t mean that I suddenly am super-parent. It doesn’t mean I know how to do everything right and understand everything about my kids. But it does point me back to the One who does know. The One who did knit my children together inside of my womb.

So now, when I stand with hands on hips glaring at my disobedient children, I can either yell, “What is WRONG with you two?” Or I can quietly, inside my heart, say, “God show me my children. Reveal to me how I can lead them to you. Teach me how to teach them about you.” And I believe with all my heart it is a prayer God honors. And answers.

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

This fall, my daughter had her first day of school. First day ever. I’m a stay-at-home mom and never felt the need or desire to put her or my son in preschool, Mother’s Morning Out or even Grandma’s house on a regular basis. We’ve had fun memorizing scriptures, reading books, playing outside and just being together.

I assumed my daughter would go to public school like I did. Or maybe Christian school if we found a good one around us. But when the time came I just couldn’t do it.

I wanted to be more involved in her education.

I didn’t want to put my timid little girl in the arms of a complete stranger for 7 hours a day. I couldn’t imagine my daughter in a class where God wasn’t even mentioned!

But my only other option was homeschool. And I couldn’t imagine planning her entire education! And what if all the bad things people said about homeschoolers became true about my daughter?! What if I failed to teach her to read?

As usual, God led us to where we should go.

This morning, Lydia will be attending a school that is the best of both worlds–she goes to a real classroom with kids, a teacher, cubbies and her backpack for two days a week. Then three days a week we learn at home with the curriculum set up by our school. It feels like a perfect fit for our family–there is time for Lydia to stretch her wings and time for our family to learn and grow together.

We’ve been talking about how much fun she’s going to have at school. And how much fun we’re going to have at home. She’s super excited but also told me she’s kinda nervous.

She thinks she might miss us just a little bit.

So, we made a family zipper pull to help alleviate any homesickness she might experience. I think these would be fun to make with any kid, nervous or not. It’s fun to have a little touch of home at school. All you need is some photos, a hole punch and a keyring.

I printed off a picture of my daughter with each person in our family. This was actually a really fun activity with her. We scrolled through my computer looking at pictures, laughing and remembering.

Then I added a little text on top in my photo editing software. (You could do this with stickers or even just a nice marker, too.) I cut them to the same size and then had them laminated. We punched a hole in them and added them to her backpack.

She is way excited about it and spent several minutes explaining to her little brother how she was going to look at his picture while she was at school. We also added one of her favorite scriptures, Psalm 40:1-2 to remind her that Jesus is always listening to her and ready to help her when she needs it.

She’ll be home in 1 hour and 54 minutes (not that I’m keeping track or anything) and I can’t wait to talk to hear about her day. I’m sad my little girl is so big. But at the same time I’m so excited because I love seeing how God is growing her up in Him.

I just pray the seeds I’ve planted the past 5 years through stories, songs, prayers and yes, even little zipper pulls will grow to produce a harvest thirty, sixty or a hundred times what was sown!

How has God led you to do school with your kids?

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!

Lydia & Asa’s Ark

My kids like to play. I’m not talking about playing with dolls or trucks. We have reached the perfect age of pretend. They make up elaborate tales, crazy stories and unable-to-be-followed-by-anyone-over-the-age-of-eighteen adventures. And I love it! Seeing my preschoolers’ imaginations come alive is one of my favorite parts of motherhood!

This summer I have zeroed in on this play-acting fascination by facilitating some Bible-centric playtime. I usually take the story taught at church on Sunday and think of a way to let the kids act it out at home. It doesn’t mean we have to put on Bible costumes (although, who doesn’t love a good costume?!). It just means immersing ourselves in the story!

Last week the kids learned about Noah and his floating zoo. So, we decided to make an ark of our very own. I got out my most versatile tool: Blue Painter’s Tape! Then we opened up our Bible, read the measurements of the ark (450 feet by 75 feet) and got busy turning our hardwoods into an ark! (No, it wasn’t an exact replica!)

Then we pulled down every single animal we own. Yup. Like Minnie Mouse, the Build-a-Bear family, Care Bears and even the Beanie Babies. The kids divided them up and placed them in the ark according to their kinds–you know, two by two…or twelve by twelve as the case may be.

The jungle animals stayed together on a jungle towel. The water animals were in a laundry basket pond and the bears stayed in their cave under the Ikea table!

My son, Asa (almost 3 and all boy) got busy repairing the roof of the bunny’s cage,

while my daughter, Lydia (5 and as big of a big sister as they come) unpacked suitcases and organized the animals.

They played and played in our taped up ark. They called each other Noah and Ham. Then they made the animals take a nap and pretended to sleep on hammocks like real sailors. It’s been two days and they still won’t let me pull up the tape!

In my former life I was a Children’s Pastor, so I’m all about teaching the details of a story. But this time? I didn’t talk to them about the destruction of the whole earth because of sin. I didn’t explain about the sacrifice Noah made when he got out of the boat. I didn’t make them memorize how old Noah was when he got off the ark. (601!) I just let them play.

And while they immersed themselves in the story, it opened up conversation. What was it like for Noah and his family? Were they afraid of the animals? Did the lions try to eat the zebras? What was it like to rain for 40 days and nights? Was Noah glad to see the rainbow? Did God forget about them? What was Noah’s wife’s name?

Keeping preschoolers in a routine of learning the things of God is as easy as painter’s tape and stuffed animals. We can make play and the Bible intertwine. We can make theology come down to pretend. We feed our kids small bites of God’s Word so that when they are ready for big bites, they already have the appetite!

Our only problem was what to do with the dinosaurs and dragons!

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Amanda is a stay-at-home mom of two who blogs at OhAmanda.com and Impress Your Kids. In her former life, Amanda was a Children’s Pastor — overseeing, organizing and developing ministry for kids in nursery through middle school, but now that she is a mom, her “skills” are used up on her kids!