Firm Foundations 9:4

Theme: Because of sin, we are God's enemies


Scripture Memory: Review Romans 6:23.

Scripture memorization tip from Central Presbyterian: Make flash cards with Scripture on one side and the book, chapter, and verse on the other. If your child is too young to read still use the card to help yourself and for future review. Take the cards with you when you go out so that you can review the verse at different times of the day (in the car while you are at a light, waiting in line at the grocery store, etc.). You can put a sticker on the card when the child has successfully memorized the verse. He/she will be encouraged by the accumulated cards. - Read more tips from Central Presbyterian Church on helping your children memorize the Bible.

Catechism Q&A: Q. What did God require of Adam? A. To obey Him perfectly.


Enemy Combatants: Read Ephesians 2:1-3. Without Christ, we are God's enemies, opposing His will and ruining His creation. Write down a list with some of you and your children's failings.  Next, read Revelation 20:11-15. Someday God will sit as Judge, and will give us what we deserve for our actions. Bring up your list and talk about what kind of punishment should be received for each one. Then point out that the punishment God says we'll receive is to be separated from Him forever in the lake of fire.  But wait! There's someone to rescue you!


Depending on your children's interest level and reaction, this might be a great time to give a simple Gospel presentation, such as the bridge illustration.

Notebook: Use one of the pictures from the bridge illustration to remind your children of how we are separated from God because of our sins.

Firm Foundations 9:3

Theme: We can obey God with confidence, for He always knows what's best
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your path straight." (Prov. 3:5-6)


Scripture Memory: Review Romans 3:23

Catechism Q&A: Q. What did God require Adam to do? To obey the Lord perfectly.

Trust and Obey, part 1: Read Isaiah 40:11-15, 22-26. Before reading, tell your children to listen for: 1)What God measures and 2)Where He sits. This passage gives us a picture of God's awesome knowledge and power.
Take some measuring cups, a scale and a ruler outside. Tell your children that you are going to measure how much dirt is in your yard. After spending some time digging and measuring, tell them the job feels too big. Do they agree? Even though it would take your family a very long time to measure all your dirt, God knows not just the amount of dirt in your yard but also the amount of dirt in the entire world! Emphasize that God knows everything. Tomorrow, we'll talk more about how His omniscience enables us to obey with confidence.

Notebook: Mix some dirt with glue and then smear it onto the scale picture for today's notebooking page

Firm Foundation 9:2

Theme: God gave Adam 1 rule
"And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" (Gen. 2:16-17)

Scripture Memory: Review Romans 3:23

Catechism Q&A: Q. What covenant did God make with Adam? A. The covenant of works.
Q. What was Adam bound to do by the covenant of works? A. To obey God perfectly.

Making Rules: Do your children understand rules? If they're like mine, they probably have a fuzzy idea but couldn't define the word clearly. Before reading today's Scripture passage, play this fun "make your own rule" ball game.

Gather some balls and baskets or boxes beforehand. When it's time for the game, ask your children what a rule is. Talk about their definitions, then give one of your own: A rule is a command that must be obeyed consistently. What sorts of rules do you have in your house? Name some of the rules. Then tell them that they get to make the rules for this game! They can make rules for the following 4 areas:

1. What is the playing field?
2. How do you move the balls around?
3. When do you get points?
4. Is there anything you CAN'T do during game play?

Spend 10 minutes or so playing their game together! When the game is done, sit down and read Genesis 2:8-17. What was the one rule that God gave Adam? Shouldn't be too hard, should it?

Notebook: Make a mini book using one of these lapbook templates and record some of your family's rules. You can either have your children illustrate the book or find clipart using Google Image.

Firm Foundations 9:1

Theme: God created everything! Therefore, He makes the rules
"In God's hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him." (Psalm 95:4)


Scripture Memory: Over the next several weeks,  our memory focus will be the Romans Road, a selection of verses in Romans that clearly present the Gospel. This week we'll begin with Romans 3:23: "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Here are a couple options for learning the verse:

• Download Romans 3:23 set to song.
• Steve Green's Romans 3:23 song from Hide 'em in Your Heart
• And of course, make up actions for the verse. We're going to do the Steve Green version, so I'm not going to post actions here. If someone else wants to come up with some, send them my way and I'll post them here.

Catechism Q&A: The wording for this week's catechism questions and answers is a bit too technical sounding for me. I'm going to reword it to make it more understandable for my children.
Here's the original wording:

• Q. What covenant did God make with Adam? A. The covenant of works.
• Q. What was Adam bound to do by the covenant of works? A. To obey God perfectly.

Here's my wording:

• Q. What did God require Adam to do? To obey the Lord perfectly.

Owner's Rights: Provide your children with  a) some paper dolls,  dress shapes, glitter and stickers. Tell them to color and decorate however they wish; or if you have a boy that's not so hot on paper dolls b) Some playdoh, buttons, pipe cleaners and pom poms. Tell them to create anything they want out of those objects. Set the timer for 5-10 minutes and allow your children's inner artists to come loose!

When they're done, pick up the doll or sculpture and pretend to talk for it. Have the created item tell your child it really wants to be different, that it would prefer to be a skydiver and so it needs a parachute and airplane. Or that it wants to be a firefighter and needs a jacket, hose and hat. Isn't it silly for the toy to tell its owner what it should be and do? The owner makes the rules, not the toy!

Read Psalm 95:1-7a. God is our owner, as well as the owner of everything in the world. Doesn't He have the right to tell us what to do and to make us the way He wants us? Compare our situation to their creations. Then read the Psalm again and rejoice in our great Creator!

Notebook: Snap a picture of their creation. Put the picture in today's Notebook square as a reminder that the creator makes the rules!

Firm Foundations 8:2 - Holiness

Theme: Sin ruins happiness
"The Israelites became greedy for food and tested you there in the desert. So you gave them what they wanted, but later you destroyed them with a horrible disease." (Psalm 106:14-15 CEV)

Scripture Memory: Review Psalm 119:9-11. Do you remember all the actions?

Catechism Q&A: Q. In what condition did God make Adam and Eve? A. He made them holy and happy.

The Unfortunate Events: Do your children remember what "holiness" is? Pure goodness, all the way through! Even if they don't remember the word, I'm sure they remember the candy bar...Just as the candy bar was yummy and wonderful, the world that Adam and Eve lived in was wonderful too. That is, until sin entered the world.

Read selections from Psalm 106. Talk about how the Israelites' sin always got them into trouble. It always ended up making them unhappy. Show your kids another candy bar. What they don't know about this one is that you scraped out some of the insides and inserted garlic and onion seasonings instead. Let them take a bite - Ewww! It's pretty disgusting. That's what happened when sin entered the perfect world. It ruined God's wonderful creation, including ruining Adam and Eve.

Do your kids like yelling? What about when a friend is mean? How about when a sibling hits them? All those things make us sad, all those things are sin. Some sin looks good on the outside, just like the candy bar did. But once we get involved in it, it will turn out to be yucky and to hurt us.

Notebook: Smear some of the chocolate from the candy bar on to the square. Have your child draw an unhappy face saying, "Ewwww!"

Firm Foundations 7:1

Theme: God created the first family - Adam & Eve
"And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female..." (Matt. 19:4)


Scripture Memory: Review Psalm 119:9-10. Check out this great post from the North American Mission Board on fun Scripture review games. There's a lot to choose from!

Catechism Q&A: Q.  Who were our first parents? A. Adam and Eve. (Use some of the review ideas from the above link for the Catechism as well)

Thee I do Wed: Marriage's foundations are found in the account of God's creation of Adam and Eve. Read Genesis 2:15-24. Then create a Paper People Chain with your children. Talk about how God created marriage to just one man and just one woman for life. Decorate the paper people in the middle as a man and woman, and cut away the other connected people in the chain. Once we're married, we stay married to that man or that woman and don't get married to anyone else.

Pull out your wedding photos and/or video. Look at them together and talk about how special your wedding day was. Again, emphasize how you are married to your spouse for life.

Notebook: Paste your paper people on day 1 of this week's notebooking page.

Firm Foundations 6:4

Theme: Memorize Scripture so you'll remember what God says!
"Thy word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee." (Psalm 119:11)

Scripture Memory: Review Ps. 119:9. Then begin on verse 10:

• "I seek you (Cup hand over eyes as though searching for something)
• With all my heart (Draw heart with both fingers)
• Do not let me stray (Shake head while doing the ASL sign for "lost")
  
• From your commands (Put hands together in a book shape)."

Catechism Q&A: Review Q&A 14 - Q. Where do you learn how to love and obey God? A. In the Bible alone.

Pass a Message: Read Psalm 1. The psalmist points out several blessings for the person who loves and mediates on God's word. When something is very important to us, we memorize it so we won't forget it.
Play a version of "Telephone" where you whisper a message to one of your children. They must either run to another child and whisper the message, or pass it on to their other parent or a grandparent. Is it hard to remember the messages? If so, have them repeat it back to you several times before delivering it. Talk about how important it is to repeat Scripture over and over in order to memorize it, just like they've been doing with the Bible memory passages.

Read Along: We read this book during the Proverbs Project lessons, but it's such a fun one that we're going to read it again. Don't Forget the Bacon recounts the hiliarious escapades of a boy trying to remember the shopping list his mother verbally gave to him that morning.

Firm Foundations 1:3

Review: Let your kids put YOUR memory to the test today! They ask you the catechism questions and you provide the answers. Is your memory as good as theirs? Take time to review Colossians 1:16 as well by singing it fast and and then singing it slow.

Creation Lesson 4:

• Read Genesis 1:24-28 and Genesis 2:1-2.
• Discuss how God made each animal according to it’s own kind. What does that mean? Using this animal matching game or your child’s collection of stuffed creatures, sort the animals in various ways, ie, by habitat, characteristics or species. On space #6, make a pocket to hold the animal matching cards.
• Create the art for the final space on this week’s catechism notebook page. Color a picture of the earth, then glue a heart in the middle of it. Talk about how God was pleased with His creation – it was good! Everything God does is good and perfect.
• Close Out this lesson with praise! Have each child think of one aspect of God’s creation they enjoy. Thank God for it together!

Heart Check 5: The Wonder of Insignificance

"You are familiar with all my ways..." (Psalm 139:3)

This week I'm going to be teaching my children about God's omniscience and omnipotence. We'll explore some of the wonders of space in our quest to understand the awesomeness of our Creator. The number of the stars, the rotation of the planets, the cosmic enormity of our universe - all underscore His power.

But as I was meditating on the truths covered in these lessons, I was reminded that in the midst of the vastness and complexity of space, God has still taken time to know me. Me. What an incredible thought that He would even care about someone so small and seemingly insignificant. And yet He does. David's words in Psalm 139 paint a picture of the God who is here:

Before a word is on my tongue
       you know it completely, O LORD.
  You hem me in—behind and before;
       you have laid your hand upon me. 

We all face varied trials, heartaches, struggles that appear meaningless and more conducive to our ruin than to our good. But don't let appearances deceive you! God knows you. And the result of that deep, personal knowledge is the ability to use our trials to bring ultimate good. So trust. And rest. He knows and His way is best.

Theme: Show God love by telling others about Him
^“I will speak of your statutes before kings and will not be put to shame, for I delight in your commands because I love them.” (Psalm 119:46-47)

Scripture Memory: Review Psalm 100:1-3

Catechism Review: Q.  How can you glorify God? A. By loving him and doing what he commands.

On Mission: Read Psalm 145:3-12. What kinds of things does the Psalmist say we should tell others about? Discuss how we can show God love by telling others about him. Read a missions book or watch a movie about a missionary and discuss how their love for God motivated them to tell many others about Him.

Further Resources: My goal for my children at their current ages (5 & 3) is not to necessarily be out witnessing! Instead, I want to give them a vision for talking about God and then model that for them. To help with the former goal, we’ll read a biography about a Christian hero geared for young children. I’d recommend the Heroes for Young Readers series published by YWAM or Hero Tales by Dave and Neta Jackson. You can also download a pdf book, On African Roads from WMU.  Another fun resource is the Kids on Mission site from the Southern Baptist Mission Board. They’ve got great videos geared towards kids on mission related topics. Finally, check out Wycliffe’s Bright Ideas PreK and elementary curriculum to find some other fun, mission focused activities.

Firm Foundations 3:2

Theme: We show love to God by obeying Him

Scripture Memory: Review Psalm 100:1-2, then focus on memorizing verse 3a:

• Know (Tap on your head with pointer finger)
• that the LORD is God (Lift both hands upwards).
  

Catechism Review: Q.  How can you glorify God? A. By loving him and doing what he commands.
Love to Obey: Read John 14:15, 21. Before you read, tell your children to listen for what Jesus says we will do if we love Him. Illustrate the lesson by telling your children you’re going to draw a picture for them. My girls love princesses, so that’s what I’ll draw (or at least say that I’ll draw) for them. Ask for their input as you create the masterpiece, but DON’T follow their instructions. In fact, as much as possible, do the opposite of what they requested. When you finish, ask if they liked the way you drew for them. Talk about how following Christ’s instructions shows our love for Him.

Catechism Notebook: Glue your “disobedient masterpiece” on week 3′s notebook page. Give it the caption “Show God love by obeying Him”

Firm Foundations 3:1

Theme: We show love to God by seeking to learn more about Him
Scripture Memory: Review Psalm 100:1-2. Then begin memorizing verse 3: “Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.” We’ll work on the first half of the verse today with the following actions:

• Know (ASL Sign)
• That the Lord is God (Pretend to put a crown on your head)
• It is He who made us (Use hands to model imaginary clay)
• And we are His. (Point at self, then point upwards)

Catechism Q&A: Q.  How can you glorify God? A. By loving him and doing what he commands.
If you’re memorizing the Q&A, go over it. If not, just ask the question to your children. In this week’s lessons, I’m going to focus on teaching my kids what it means to love God, as least in small part! I’ll probably simplify the wording even more by asking “How do we love God?” The answer for today is “By getting to know Him.”

Getting to Know You: When we love somebody, we care about what they like and dislike. I’m going to have my kids call up a favorite family member or friend and interview them. I’ll write down the answers as they dictate them to me, and we’ll use this interview sheet as part of our Week 3 Notebooking page.

When the interviews are over, I’ll read them Jeremiah 9:23-24. Getting to know God better is more important than being rich or having great strength or even being really smart! We want to know God better, and that’s why we have Bible time together every day. We want to know what God likes, what He dislikes, what’s important to Him and how He is at work in the world. It’s sort of like interviewing Him, just like they did with their friend on the phone. Pray and close out the lesson.

Lesson Add Along: Focus on phone ettiquete. Teach your kids how to properly answer the phone when it rings, what they should say (or not say!) and how to close out a conversation. Do some mock phone calls together. To memorize their phone number, draw it outside in chalk. Have them hop from number to number, saying each number out loud as they jump down the “path”.

Firm Foundations 2:1

Theme: Because God created us, He owns us!
Scripture Memory: Over the next several weeks, we're going to memorize a chunk of Psalm 100. We'll start today on verses 1 & 2:

• Shout (Cup hands around mouth and shout!)
  
• for joy to the LORD  (Point upwards)
  
• all the earth (Draw a large circle)

Catechism Q&A: Why did God create you and all things? For His glory.

Scripture: Read Psalm 100 together. Do they recognize the first two verses from today's memorization? Start memorizing verse 3, and draw attention to the phrase "...we are His..." That means God owns us!

Ownership: If your kids are anything  like mine, they mastered the concept of ownership early on. All it took was a sibling wanting to play with one of their toys. Suddenly that item they hardly noticed 5 minutes before became one of their most treasured possessions! While this protective ownership can be highly annoying, it can also help them understand God's ownership of us a little bit more.

Show your kids a selection of items from around the house. Have them sort the items into different piles by owner. Then pick up, say, one of Daddy's shoes and ask, "Can this shoe go to the park whenever it wants to?" Discuss how the object can't do its own thing...it has to obey the owner! Come up with some silly scenarios of toy dolls refusing to play or clothing items wanting to be worn upside down. It's crazy for the possession to make the rules! Instead, the owner makes the rules! In the same way, God makes the rules for our lives because He is the owner. He created us!

Notebook: Play this Preschool Animal Homes matching game. Have your children match each home to its animal owner. Store the game on your Notebook page in an envelope pocket.