Setting A Feast

Simple is best.

Do not overcomplicate gathering a bag of tricks.

Books.

Art Supplies.

The option to nap.

The key is quiet activity for a specified amount of time, using no technology.

Finding the great books is something I have learned along the journey.

Here are some resources and names that you can Google if you need direction in finding great books to have on hand.

Carole Joy Seid Reading List

Sarah MacKenzie Reading List

Read Aloud Revival

Honey for a Child's Heart

Sally Clarkson Reading List

Whole Heart Reading List-this link is a compact treasure trove!

Give your children a new book on holidays and birthdays.  Build their library so quality material is always available to pull from.

Good quality colored pencils such as these Prismacolors are a favorite in our house.  Each kiddo has a set. They are high quality and very fun to work with.

Hobby Lobby is another jackpot place to look for art books, Prismacolor pencils and sketch books.

The curriculum we have used for two years now is called Higher Up Further In.  You can click on the link and browse the books we read, choose ones that look good, and add to your library that way.  This is a free resource.

Here is a sample of reading suggestions for our boys this year:

 

Mr. Popper's Penguins
The Story of Doctor Dolittle
Dick Wittington and His Cat
The Boxcar Children Series 1-19 only (RA 1st bk only)
English Fairy Tales illus by Rackham
A Wonder Book by Hawthorne

Child’s Book of Heroes edited by Bennett

Baby steps.  Step one is carving out daily time for no technology.  Step two is giving them a small handful of resources that they can pull from.  Set the feast and let them enjoy.

As Carole Joy Seid puts it, "You can have all of this for the price of a free library card!"

A Gift: time to be bored

Do you have a time period built into your day for quiet?

I am not talking about video games, phone time, or TV time. 

I am talking about a time of quiet with no technology. 

I am talking about creating a space where you have to think about what to do. 

I've noticed we have become reliant on our technology to fill the gaps, dadgummit. 

Mindless time wasting is the golden calf we worship. 

God hates our idolatry and we whiz right along on the path to death with no regard to our sin.

It almost sounds ridiculous to me that establishing a quiet time in our home has been hard for me, but it has.

When I hear older women exhort us younger moms to carve out "quiet hours" it sure sounds like something that would enrich our days.  Mentally I am on board with the idea.  In the early days when my house was filled with nappers I was on board.  Somehow my daytime nappers grew up. Somewhere in the process I avoided cultivating quiet time as they grew older.

There will be pushback and I don't want to deal with it so I foolishly turn a blind eye.  I tell them with my actions that we don't have to cultivate the hard things, that it is OK to fill the gaps with idol worship.

I do not want to be a woman who cowers away from what I believe will be the best because I am running from the pushback.

I don't want my children to be reliant on technology to fill the quiet spaces. 

It is a shiny trap laid by the enemy that seduces far too many of us and paralyzes the fruit that could be coming from our days.  A swipe of the finger is robbing our days, snatching away the legacy we could be leaving.

The first time I implemented quiet hours with my older children (read: this afternoon) it was borderline comical.  They moped around like they had just lost their best friend (read: Minecraft).  Mommy, mommy, mommy...I became the star of the show.  One kiddo sat in the chair across from me chewing his gum, rocking and just looking at me to pass the time.  What the???  And I'm nothing to look at today with my no showered crazy haired self.  Geesh.  He'll figure it out though, they all will.

What am I giving them if their only option during free time is dependent on something that plugs in?

This, by the way, this idea of unplugging a bit each and every day, is not a gift they are going to thank us for anytime soon.  Naw.  They are going to give us the business about it.  They are going to moan about it.  Today it was enough to drive me to a can of Dr. Pepper and some tater chips.  They're smart though, they'll figure it out.

Give those kids of yours space to have to figure things out.  In my next post I will give ideas on setting a feast for them to pull from.  Until then, consider this.

Is there a period of time you could carve out daily for some technology free quiet time?  Don't rob those kiddos of yours of this irreplaceable gift.