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4 Moms Q & A: Only Littles, Bible Reading Attitudes and Read Aloud Interuptions

moms of many manageToday the 4 Moms of Many are answering your questions.

Brianah asked this question on FB. It’s one that gets asked  frequently so probably deserves some more publicity,  “What did your day look like when you had all littles?

Our first 8 children are all between 14 and 18 months apart, so by the time we had our 4th baby our oldest was 3 1/2. I wrote a whole post on this topic, Home with All Littles, including our daily schedule and some tips for how we managed Bible teaching and beginning homeschooling.

Crystal asked about our children’s Daily Bible Reading, “Do your children enjoy doing this much Bible reading?

The short answer to this is, yes. Of course there are times that I’m sure they would prefer to head outside and play rather than read, but Bible reading is part of their (and our) lives and has been since they were born.

When Mark and I decided that we wanted to read through the Bible in 90 days we were not planning on the children doing it. However, they all wanted to take the challenge.

This year they had the option of reading through in 6 months or continuing to read through every 90 days, everyone who was allowed (we didn’t give the slower readers the 90 day option) wanted to continue with the 90 day plan.

We actually have less trouble getting them to read their Bibles than we do getting them to make their beds.

Crystal continues, “When they complain about it, how do you address that?”

We honestly haven’t had any (?) complaints, at least I can’t remember any.

I think that there are two things that contribute to our children’s attitude about Bible reading. 1). God has changed their hearts. They love Him and honestly desire to spend time in His Word. 2). For the most part we have our children’s hearts, they love us and desire to please us.

Bible reading is a family affair. Most mornings our whole family is out in the family room, snuggled up in blankets with our Bibles reading quietly. The little ones alternately snuggle, give kisses, play quietly with toys and ‘read’ their Bibles. Colby (5) frequently asks when he will be old enough to have and read his own Bible just like the big kids.

After reading the post on teaching grammar Kirsten said, “I’m wondering how you handle interruptions during read aloud times? Do you pause your read aloud to answer any and all questions that one or more of your children may have about the topic you are studying?

Yes and No. :)   I try to keep a balance on stopping during read aloud time. Often it’s beneficial to stop and discuss different aspects of what we are reading and sometimes it just interrupts the flow of the story.

It’s a delicate balance because we want our children to understand and think deeply about what they are hearing, but when you have more than one child, it can be frustrating to keep stopping to answer questions.

The way that we balance this is that we stop after each chapter and give our kids the opportunity to discuss what we’ve read. If someone asks a question that requires research or looking up, I have them to use that topic as their writing assignment for the day.

Also visit the other moms of many to read their thoughts and ideas:
Smockity Frocks
Life in a Shoe
The Common Room

To learn more about the 4 Moms of Many including a list of all previous topics visit the  4 Moms page.

Managing Clothes for a Large Family: 4 Moms

children dressed for church

This week the 4 Moms of Many  are talking about organizing, shopping for and managing all those clothes. Managing clothing is one of my least favorite tasks. It seems that no sooner do all the children have a sufficient number of nice outfits that 7 of them will put holes in the knees of their ‘going-out’…

Homemade Hot Wings and Other Snacks for a Crowd: 4 Moms Link Up

Photo Credit SausageKingOfSeattle

This week the 4 Moms are sharing some of our ideas for appetizers and snacks for a crowd and asking you to join in by linking up some of your favorite recipes. We often have last minute company or company that stays beyond one meal, so most often our snacks for a crowd are super…

4 Moms Teach Writing Part 1: Grammar

This week the  4 Mom of Many  are talking about teaching writing specifically teaching grammar. In our family we’ve taken a laid back, whole language approach to teaching grammar. Our plan goes like something like this. Read aloud to child Have the child narrate Teach the child to read Teach the child proper letter formation…

Bible Reading in 2012

Bible reading around the camp fire each morning

Our purpose in homeschooling is to fulfill our God-given responsibility to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. One vital aspect of this training is for our children to know the Word of God. One way we accomplish this is that we spend time every day reading the Word of God….

Merry Christmas

Praise God that He saw fit to send His Son to live and die on this earth for His rebellious creation. Christ was born, oh holy night. May you and your family have a blessed day worshiping and celebrating the birth of our Savior. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

Serving Who?

As you live your life and make those day-to-day, routine decisions are you self-consciously acting as if you are a servant of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or are you thoughtlessly serving the ruler of this world? Nothing is neutral. We are either serving Christ in any given decision or action or…

In Memory

My sweet friend, Denise Sproul, entered into the full glory and presence of God yesterday morning. Words fail, but I do not mourn for Denise.  I mourn for those who are left behind. Denise was a faithful friend and encourager to me. When I was overwhelmed with many little children, Denise came alongside, willingly gave…

Weekend Links: Christmas Decorating and More

christmas gifts packages

The children and I have been scouring Pinterest for ideas to decorate using items that we already have. We paired these simple mason jar, Epsom salt candle holders with fresh greenery from our back yard, gold organza fabric (left over from a previous project), sparkly red and gold ball ornaments and the old classic string-of-lights-in-mason-jars…