by Pat Lamb (Author of: “Let the Children Come”; “Children, Come to Me”; “When the Stars Fall Down”; “Widening the Church Doors to Teach the Narrow Way”; “My Thinking Book”. Available on Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, www.patlambchristianauthor.com.)

Train up a child…

Ideas for Children Home from School

When children are required to be at home instead of school, new challenges are present.  “What can I do to keep them busy?”  “I’m not a teacher, how can I teach them at home?”  Kids get bored.  Here are some ideas:

1)  If lessons are being sent home via Internet or otherwise, do those first.  When you get “stuck”, ask the child to explain it to you.  They learn more by telling you than you telling them.  When they don’t know, ask an older child or call someone who might know.

2) Having a child copy something important teaches writing, spelling, punctuation, and concentration in addition to the subject matter being copied.  “Engage pen; engage mind.”

3)  This is a good time to teach home care.  Teach sons and daughters how to repair things. Most homes have something broken that needs repair. Teach daughters and sons to cook.  Make sure they learn to measure ingredients.  Doing so helps children learn fractions.

4) Teach housekeeping skills.  Sweeping, dusting, organizing, and sorting through things to see what can be shared with others or tossed are good activities.

5)  Now there is time for family meetings!  Family devotional times including the memorization of Scripture and discussion of proper behavior help a family bond. Help children become familiar with the Bible.

6) Board games such as Monopoly, Dominos, and many others are good activities.

7)  Write thank you notes to teachers and others.

8)  Family contests such as who can learn the most Scripture, who can recite from memory the Preamble to the Constitution, etc.  (Memorizing is a good way to train the mind.)

9)  Have children help in making a chore chart.

10) Plan a garden for spring and summer.

11) Use the Internet to look up interests of the family.

12) Review rules of good manners.  The basis of all good manners is kindness and consideration of others.  Ask children to write ways to demonstrate this rule.

We may find that this time at home is a very good thing!