I really want my kids to love God. But I don’t want to force God on them. I don’t want them to grow up feeling like Jesus was crammed down their throats. I want them to clearly see that God created them and loves them so much that He doesn’t force Himself upon them.

Case in point: I love it when Mr. Smackdown gives me a spontaneous hug because he feels that gushy feeling in his heart, and the only thing he knows to do is squeeze me. Hugs from Mr. Smackdown are few and far between. But on occasion, due to some infraction, the Hottie Hubby (no offense) instructs Mr. Smackdown to give me a hug as part of his apology and this is met with opposition. To me, the hug doesn’t carry nearly as much weight and bring joy as a freely given hug, one that was a choice.

God is the same way. He doesn’t want to FORCE us to love Him. It doesn’t mean anything. He wants us to make a choice. It means more. It causes us to love deeper, and not be resentful.

At some point in each of our lives, a choice to commit to or ignore a daily, personal friendship and interaction with God must occur.

I see that beyond providing my children with the necessities of life, my single most important job is providing opportunities for them to naturally learn about God and experience Him in practical ways.

But this wasn’t happening. Each time I tried to train Mr. Smackdown using a particular Bible resource last year, it was met with resistance.

I dreaded Bible time.

And then a package arrived in the mail. And it gave me hope.

As you know, I blog for The Old SchoolHouse Homeschool Crew. Throughout this coming year, I have and will receive various emails and packages at my door or on my computer of curriculum to sample and offer my opinion.

Praise God that I have had the privilege to review Grapevine Studies. I don’t know if they will decorate your package, but mine came with a personal message as you can see.

Really, I don’t know that I really even need to offer my own comments because Mr. Smackdown eloquently exudes excitement and a happy devotion to learning about God’s Word in the following video:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE_bH-YTTk8]

Anyway, the Hottie Hubby and I decided to use the New Testament Overview with Mr. Smackdown.

We really think that it is important for our kids to be well versed in all aspects of the Bible. Thus far, I have been so pleased with Grapevine Studies, that I plan on doing the Old Testament Overview when we finish the New Testament Overview. Which reminds me . . . as one of my readers, you can get 30% off until September 15th, 2009 using the code crews at checkout if you decide to use Grapevine Studies as your Bible curriculum. You can get either an ebook or a hard copy. I have yet to enter the ebook revolution, and opted to kill a few tress so that I would have a hard copy teacher’s manual and student book. Obviously, the ebooks are cheaper.

Being artsy-fartsy and a former kindergarten teacher, I am enjoying the multi-discipline aspects of Grapevine Studies. Not only is Mr. Smackdown learning about the Bible, BUT he is gaining body awareness through drawing stick figures, and learning how to follow step-by-step directions as I show him how to draw each picture.

Our times together in the Word, have been so sweet. We typically sit down over some tea, discuss what we drew last time, read our lesson, and draw. The lessons are short but powerfully allow us to focus on specific aspects of Scripture.

It has been such a blessing!

the+old+schoolhouse Grapevine+Press bible+curriculum homeschool

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