At least - and, truly, I'm thankful - they behaved themselves in church.
I've mentioned before that all the kids at church are encouraged to take notes. (And the pastor facilitates thise by preaching from an organized outline and emphasizing and repeating his main points.) The kids write their notes on 5x7 cards and leave them, stuck to the fridge in the kitchen, for the pastor. Then, next Sunday, he acknowledges those kids by name from the pulpit. The littlest kids draw pictures, some kids obviously get help from mom or dad, and even the older "kids" - like high school and college age - will sometimes leave their notes on the fridge.
Okay, honestly, I'm probably missing some of the richness in the sermons myself because I'm repeating things for Tate (who can't hear a lot of what is said), but it's so, so very worth it to have the kids engaged in the message. This is how it plays out for us.
Wyatt, at 12, doesn't need any help to get the text and the main points, though we're working on getting him to listen and write down sub-points, or supporting details and references.
Tate, at 10 (and with his hearing impairment), is expected to get the text and main points with my help. He often likes to draw a picture on the back of his notes of something from the text that came up in the sermon.
Gunnar, at 7, hears the main points just fine, but can't write fast enough (or spell well enough) to get them down on his own. So I simplify them and fingerspell them to him, (because he loves it) and he writes them on his paper. He's much more interested in drawing a picture for Pastor Bert. He doesn't always have the discernment to draw a picture of the main point, but it's always somehow related. Like the Sunday he happened to hear the figure of speech ("the pecking order") in the sermon and drew a flock of chickens. (Wish I had that picture!)
It just boggles my mind that they can go from what you see in the post above, to what you see here in the span of an hour. That is the grace of God :0)
4 comments:
My Olivia is like Gunnar, and we see some of the funniest pictures sometimes!
It's a great window into their minds, don't you think? :0)
I love the "pecking order" picture! Too sweet. I also love the idea of keeping kids engaged durign the service by taking notes. Matt is still crayon and pencil phobic, though I'm hoping that phase will pass soon!
Oh Leah,
He's still little :0)
Sometimes kids listen better when their hands are busy. There are certainly diverse opinions on this, but I sometimes let the kids hold a quiet toy... if they wouldn't be tempted to make sound effects!
It's a hard balance for me between not wanting them to be so absorbed in a toy (or drawing) that they're tuning out what is going on, as opposed to expecting them to sit perfectly still and pay perfect attention while being perfectly quiet.
Well, I know you know :0)
Julie
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