Parenting Archives - Page 2 of 7

Christianity Cove Cheat Sheets {Review}

September 10, 2013 by Emilee Evans

I received the product mentioned to facilitate my review. Regardless, all opinions are my own. This post contains affiliate links. Read my Disclosure Policy for more information.

As parents we get really busy. I feel like as a homeschooling mom and regular blogger I am constantly doing something. In fact, I’m even posting this a little later than planned because I got caught up in “life.” Even though we include Bible Study in our homeschool day, and I do my own daily devotionals I do find I don’t incorporate it throughout the day. When situations come up, and I want to reference a Bible verse, I often can’t think of the exact verse or helpful reference.
Well, Mary-Kate Warner from Christianity Cove has designed a wonderful resource for Christian Parenting – Cheat Sheets! The Parenting Cheat Sheets were put together from carefully taken notes on important virtues. Unfortunately, by the time she found references and wrote down all these notes it was too late to implement the lesson, but after others saw her binder of notes and how detailed they were she realized it would be a good resource to share with others! So now we can have this information right in front of us without looking it up!
Her tag line is:

“For when you know the Bible has an answer, but aren’t sure where to look.”

Each Cheat Sheet focuses on a specific virtue or life situation. They are broken down into 7 mini challenges (there is one with 8) to help your child in that area. Most of the mini challenges can be done in 10 minutes or less! You can do one mini challenge a day, a couple a day, or one every few days. It is noted in the introduction it’s not advised to let more than a few days lapse between the challenges as it is easy to forget. I am definitely aware of that fact in our home! I find one a day with a sporadic day off here and there works well for us.
The challenges and topics vary, so the Cheat Sheets aren’t specific to a particular age range. I found there were some topics that don’t pertain to our family or children now but may in the future. I could also see how some wouldn’t pertain to a family with pre-teens or teens but others would. Although it mostly addresses moms it could definitely used by both parents and together as a family.
I only recently began using the Cheat Sheets, so we have only covered “Gratitude” so far, which was a subject that definitely needed to be addressed! Next I plan on “Lying” then “Anger.” There are so many other great and relevant topics! Check them all out.
When you order you get instant access to the Cheat Sheets to download. Right now there is also a BONUS gift of the Christian Parenting Cheat Sheets Holiday Edition. The Holiday Edition includes 7 mini challenges that keep God and faith at the center of each holiday. I know with Halloween right around the corner this will be a great one for me because that is one I, in particular, have a hard time explaining (why we only choose certain costumes, etc.).
Right now you can get both the Christian Parenting Cheat Sheets and the Christian Parenting Cheat Sheets Holiday Edition for $27.00. They offer a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Order Here.

For More Information:

Visit the Christian Parenting Cheat Sheets information page on Christianity Cove
Connect with Christianity Cove on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube.

ebook Bundle of the Week: Preschool

September 10, 2013 by Emilee Evans

Ah, another great bundle designed for someone like me – a mom with a preschooler (or in some cases preschoolers)! Whether you’re looking for informal learning activities or more structured curricula, this collection includes inspiration for learning activities you can do at home with your preschooler, tons of great printables and an 80-minute audio recording to encourage you during these early years. And it’s available this week only for 80% off!
The Preschool Journey by Angela Thayer
The Preschool Journey is a hands-on preschool curriculum to help parents prepare their child for kindergarten. It includes 26 weeks of lesson plans and 50 pages of printables. In addition, Angela outlines the concepts that should be covered in preschool, along with a list of skills for these early age. The curriculum itself offers children opportunities to practice letters, shapes, measurement, graphing, fine and gross motor skills, art, sensory and social skills.
Sensory Bins by Sharla Kostelyk
Sensory bins are a simple and inexpensive learning tool that can benefit all children. In Sensory Bins, Sharla offers an introduction to using sensory bins plus a how-to guide to get you started, including idea lists, storage and money saving tips, information on using sensory bins with children with sensory processing disorder, and helpful recipes.
Learning in Love: The Preschool Years by Renee Tougas
In the Learning in Love: The Preschool Years audio recording, Renee shares her heart for the preschool years from the wisdom and experience of nearly fourteen years of mothering three children. She will equip you with a preschool curriculum that will not stress you out with its requirements but instead will build on your strengths and your children’s interests. Learn to identify and focus on the most important aspects of these critical learning years and lay the foundation for a lifetime of learning.
File Folder Games by Lauren Hill
Lauren’s File Folder Games is a 12-game collection of educational activities for preschool through 2nd grade. The games included can be used as independent activities or one-on-one learning time to reinforce key concepts such as sight words and math facts and learn basic skills like color recognition and matching/sorting.
You Can Read Bundle from Carisa at 1+1+1=1
You Can Read! is a simple sight word program that Carisa developed for younger readers who are ready to learn words and reading skills but aren’t ready for complex worksheets and activities. The printables are based on the Dolch Pre Primer & Primer Sight Word lists plus a few extras, for a total of 72 words plus printable sets for color and number words {1-10}, broken into 18 units to make learning sight words fun for young readers!
The Preschool Activities bundle is only available through 8am EST on Monday, 9/16. Get yours today!

The Christian Parenting Handbook Review

May 2, 2013 by Emilee Evans

As I’ve mentioned it is officially launch week for The Christian Parenting Handbook from the National Center for Biblical Parenting. What an exciting launch it has been! I joined in on the Twitter party, which was a blast! Plus, it was wonderful to find out the book has taken off! In fact it has already sold out in some locations! Wow! Not only do I get to help share in the fun of the awesome promotions and let you know about the amazing $400 in free resources you receive if you purchase the book before May 5th, but I also got to read the book myself as part of the Launch Team!
Parenting three special needs children definitely isn’t always easy. When you and your spouse also have medical conditions it poses to be even a little more challenging. We manage to stay positive and keep going despite more than a few hard days, and it is definitely by God’s grace. He has truly blessed us with perseverance. Without Him I’m honestly not sure where we’d be! I am very blessed that my husband is a wonderful spiritual leader for our family and our older two kids, even though still young (ages 7 and 5), are very receptive to not only learning about God but actually getting to know Him and build a relationship with Him. I pray our 3 year old will be the same!
Despite our countless blessings we still face many challenges. Having three kids so close in age often results in MANY arguments, and with a sensitive girl in between two rough boys, it can cause quite a clash in dynamics. Lately, the tension in our household has really been building up, and despite our best efforts in parenting it just wasn’t working! We were at a loss! The Christian Parenting Handbook couldn’t have come at a better time!
The Christian Parenting Handbook: 50 Heart-Based Strategies for all the Stages of Your Child’s Life is presented in such a way that is easy to understand and go back and look up specific points you need at the time. I appreciated that they took the approach of saying what you’re doing isn’t wrong – it’s just not complete. Let’s face it – it’s easy to feel defeated in parenting, isn’t it? Would you feel encouraged reading a book telling you everything you’re doing is wrong? Probably not. You would probably get a little defensive. The thing with parenting that they share is, there is MORE. There is MORE than what we’re used to knowing about parenting, and without this heart-based approach – parenting is incomplete.
I was only in the first chapter of the book when I had my first “aha!” moment. It just made sense to me. It was that piece that was missing. All the discipline and rewards in the world still weren’t the full answer to our problems. They help a little, and there is still a place for them, but I truly see now it is a heart matter. Changing their behavior is temporary in that it doesn’t have lasting effects on who they will be as an adult, but changing their hearts is everything. It’s also everything God calls us to do as parents!
One example in our home is our 5 year old daughter. She has Sensory Processing Disorder and has a hard time accepting personal mistakes. Therefore she will lie in order to not take blame. This will range from blaming her brothers two rooms over for spilling her drink or the pencil itself for making a writing mistake. We, as parents, have had a hard time addressing this. My husband addressed it with discipline, and I sometimes disagreed because I did the same thing when I was young because I, too, have Sensory Processing Disorder. I still struggle with self confidence issues. What I have learned, though, is just as we cannot put God in a box, we cannot put people in a box either. God can change hearts. We know that. Whose hearts are more pliable – a child’s or an adult’s? I know God is working on mine, and I know He can work through us to change hers. The Christian Parenting Handbook is exactly what I needed to see this! We, as parents, have the opportunity to break though walls and labels and really get to their hearts! Soon she will be able to say “I made a mistake. I’m sorry.” That will be amazing! She won’t have to go to time out or get a privilege taken away, she will get acknowledgement of genuine admiration from us. I am filled with joy knowing she will be changing at the heart level in ways I didn’t have the chance to when I was her age!
I have already started implementing some of the strategies I have learned in The Christian Parenting Handbook such as: letting our children own their problem (this really works!), really studying each child to get to know their characteristics, encouraging family teamwork, affirm approximately right behavior, taking a break, treating each child uniquely (as well as helping them acknowledge “fair” isn’t the same as “equal”). These are just the tip of the ice burg. There are FIFTY wonderful strategies in The Christian Parenting Handbook! I’m just sharing a few of my favorites!
I cannot stress enough how The Christian Parenting Handbook has blessed our lives. It truly was an answer to prayer. Whether you have young children like ours or older children there really is something for parents with children of all ages. I know it is definitely a resource I will keep handy as our children continue to grow and enter different life stages!
Reminder! Buy The Christian Parenting Handbook through May 5, and you will get a Bonus Parenting Package valued at more than $400.00. Plus, you can receive The Christian Parenting Handbook Companion Guide for free if you purchase 5 copies or more of the book! You can make your purchase directly from The National Center for Biblical Parenting. It *may* be available for purchase in other locations such as: Amazon (paperback on Backorder), or your local Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, or Mardel.
To claim your amazing free gift, simply forward your purchase confirmation to Gift@biblicalparenting.org and The National Center for Biblical Parenting will send you your special product code for the $400.00 package. If you purchased 5 or more copies of the book, they’ll send you the PDF version of the Companion Guide along with the audio segments.
launch team

« Previous Page