Feeding Your Family God’s Ideas

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philp. 4:8

Now these are words (Ideas) to live by!!

Isn’t feeding our families these Ideas……God’s Ideas……the best reason to Home school? It is for me! Though I will go further and say isn’t feeding our families these Ideas the best reason to diligently watch over and protect our children concerning the types of Ideas they are presented no matter what our child’s ‘school’ situation is.

At Home, Public, Private Schools, after school, weekends………..wherever our children are…………….with us and away from us, we should do our best to present them with IDEAS that feed their mind, soul and spirit. They need to have daily opportunities to see and hear things that are true, noble, just, lovely, good, praiseworthy. We also need to daily protect them from unhealthy IDEAS…..the opposite of what God’s Word speaks of. That is not always easy in the world we live in today but just because it isn’t easy doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do it. The problem is that this world ‘s definition of what is pure, good, true, etc. is becoming completely different than God’s definition of these things. Our desire as parents should be to search out God’s IDEAS on everything and choose to stand on them no matter what. I appreciate the opportunities that I have been given to teach my boys these holy and righteous IDEAS! Daily I get to help my boys live out these scriptures through the direction of the Holy Spirit by sharing God every day with them, praying with them, being forgiving and seeking forgiveness from them when that is what is right, by choosing carefully what t.v. shows, movies, cartoons, books they see and the music they hear. Home schooling is also another wonderful opportunity I have to present them with a wide variety of noble, true, pure, lovely, and admirable IDEAS through the books we use, the people we learn about and activities we are involved in!!

It doesn’t stop with our children though, we need to make all our life choices based on God’s Ideas! Not only will we be living out God’s commands, we will be making choices that are healthy for our entire being and we will be living examples of God’s Word to our children.

I encourage you to meditate on this scipture. Let’s strive to provide our families with the opportunities to live out this scripture (Ideas) in every area of their own lives? I pray that God continues to give you and I the wisdom, grace and strength to daily feed our family on HIS Ideas!!

A few ways to provide these types of IDEAS (True, Noble, Right, lovely, Pure, Admirable):

1. The Word of God (Read it, listen to it, talk about it) (Click HERE for he Daily Audio Bible site)

2. Praying Daily (Click HERE to be learn more about prayer)

3. Listen to Christian Music (All styles)

4. Read Living Books ourselves and to our children or have them read them (Click HERE for a great Living Book “book list”)

5. Getting out in and studying God’s amazing creation (Go HERE for great information, tips and Inspiration)

6. Read Biographies of people that have characteristics that God would approve of =) (See above book list)

7. Art and Music (Classical, Hymns, etc) Study (For one ex. click HERE ) (HERE is a link to Biblical Art) (Go HERE for Secular Art) (HERE is a great site for teaching your children about Composers) (Go HERE for a great list of Hymns)

8. Read about Missionaries, Teachers……You know Hero’s of the Faith (Click HERE for a great book series)

9. Check out the idea of Home Schooling especially the Charlotte Mason method of Home Schooling

10. Check out Sky Angel: A ministry (like cable) with Safe, Inspirational, Family, Spiritual, Fun choices for T.V., Radio and Movies. (A wonderful friend told me about this, Thanks T.H. =)

Remember everything always comes back to God and His Ideas:

We allow no separation to grow up between the intellectual and ‘spiritual’ life of children, but teach them that the Divine Spirit has constant access to their spirits, and is their Continual Helper in all the interests, duties and joys of life–Charlotte Mason

I know it’s long but I thought you may also appreciate the words below.

Quote from the Charlotte Mason Vol 1 Home Education Series: Children learn, to get Ideas.––The child must learn, in the second place, in order that ideas may be freely sown in the fruitful soil of his mind. ‘Idea, the image or picture formed by the mind of anything external, whether sensible or spiritual.’––so, the dictionary; therefore, if the business of teaching be to furnish the child with ideas, any teaching which does not leave him possessed of a new mental image has, by so far, missed its mark. Now, just think of the listless way in which the children too often drag through reading and tables, geography and sums, and you will see that it is a rare thing for any part of any lesson to flash upon them with the vividness which leaves a mental picture behind. It is not too much to say that a morning in which a child receives no new idea is a morning wasted, however closely the little student has been kept at his books. Ideas Grow and Produce after their Kind.––For the dictionary appears to me to fall short of the truth in its definition of the term ‘idea.’ An idea is more than an image or picture; it is, so to speak, a spiritual germ endowed with vital force––with power, that is, to grow, and to produce after its kind. It is the very nature of an idea to grow: as the vegetable germ secretes that it lives by, so, fairly implant an idea in the child’s mind, and it will secrete its own food, grow, and bear fruit in the form of a succession of kindred ideas. We know from our own experience that, let our attention be forcibly drawn to some public character, some startling theory, and for days after we are continually hearing or reading matter which bears on this one subject, just as if all the world were thinking about what occupies our thoughts: the fact being, that the new idea we have received is in the act of growth, and is reaching out after its appropriate food. This process of feeding goes on with peculiar avidity in childhood, and the growth of an idea in the child is proportionally rapid…….. Value of Dominant Ideas.––But how does this theory of the vital and fruitful character of ideas bear upon the education of the child? In this way: give your a child a single valuable idea, and you have done more for his education than if you had laid upon his mind the burden of bushels of information; for the child who grows up with a few dominant ideas has his self-education provided for, his career marked out………….. If you would like to read more go HERE and scroll down to pg 173