No more boring devotions

Today we’re going to talk about family devotions. Devotions are one of those things that can easily become just another thing to check off of the list, or worse yet, just another thing we "don't have time for", so we throw it to the wayside all together. If God is going to be a priority in our home, it's not going to happen by accident. We have to purposefully make it a priority. 

If you’re new here, I’m Tonya Johnson, founder of helping hearts homeschool where I help homeschool moms and ministry leaders navigate the waters of social media. We focus on creating enjoyable homeschool lifestyles while learning how to use social media in a way that glorifies God while simultaneously growing our bank accounts. Like anything else, social media is just a tool. We simply focus on using it for positive vs negative.

Today we're going to cover the 6 steps to creating a family devotion routine that works for everyone in your family regardless if your kids are 2 or 20.

We all know that the closer something is to the end of the day, the more likely it will be that it's pushed off all together. Family devotions should be done as close to first thing in the morning as possible. Not only will it be done before anything can come in and shake up your schedule, but your kids (and you) will be at your best while doing them. 

If you're a homeschool mom like I am, you have a little flexibility with this. My daughter gets up around 7, she does her responsibilities and gets dressed for the day, then we head down to the pool to start our school day. Devotions are the first thing on our agenda once we sit down, usually around 830. If your child is in public school and/or you have to rush off to work every morning, the best time to do family devotions will probably be around the breakfast table. This means that you'll need to schedule in an extra 30-45 min of time each morning (and go to bed on time each night) to ensure that devotions get done every day. 

I'm not talking about kids for this one. All kids should be involved whether they're 2 or 20. The only exception to this may be a very young child/newborn who perhaps sleeps until the siblings head off to school. In this case you may want to have 2 separate devotion times, see the corresponding video for more info on that. Another reason to have additional devotion times could be that you have an older child struggling with a certain sin or just a topic not suitable for little years (purity, body image, etc.) that requires extra one on one attention. 

What I'm talking about here is whether or not both mom and dad will be involved. Ideally the answer is yes, but realistically that just may not work for both mom and dad's schedules. We've never done devotions together. We've both done devotions with Glori, but at separate times. For half of Glori's life he has worked 5am-7pm, so he did devotions with her at night before he went to bed and the other half of the time he's worked third shift, so he does devotions with her at night before he leaves for work. These weren't necessarily every night, because as I mentioned above, it's easy to push them off when they're scheduled at the end of the day. Because of this it's been important for me to do devotions with her each morning. 

You want Family Devotions to be something your kids look forward to. Make them special. We've had tea party devotions, we've done devotions cuddles up on the couch, we've done devotions in a tent in the living room. I could tell you so many ways that we've made them exciting throughout the years. This doesn't mean that every day has to be extravagant, but at least once a week, make them a little extra special. Maybe have a special beverage or a special space to read the Word together. Currently our devotion time is done at the pool which makes for a very relaxing time to chat with God and read the Bible together. 

Don't just sit and read the Bible to them. I've been part of family devotions where everyone sat around a table quietly while dad read 2-3 chapters, preached to everyone for 5-10 min, asked if anyone had questions, and then dismissed everyone. Yikes! No wonder the kids dreaded these "devotion sessions". Engage your kids and make them age appropriate. 

Toddlers-Young Elementary School - Read a story from the Bible, then read that same story in picture book version. Allow the kids to color or play with playdoh quietly while you read. 

Older Elementary School and Middle School kids love to play Devotion Bingo and take notes during family devotions. (especially if a small prize is involved for getting a bingo) Check out this week's freebie for a free Devotion Notebook. We use these pages in church services for my daughter. What we personally do is allow her to get a prize for hitting bingo only if the notes page is also completed. We don't force her to take notes, and sometimes she chooses not to, but having the option of getting a prize incentivizes her to take notes also. 

Just like anything, repetition gets boring. Consider using a loop approach to your devotions. 

Mon: Introduce the story by reading it straight from the Bible and then read the picture book version. Allow kids to color or take notes/play bingo during this time. Introduce the memory verse for the week as well as a song that goes along with the story. 

Tues: Talk about the story of the week and go over a few vocabulary words from that story. We love to use Generations.org for this. They have a great Bible Study Program for kids called Our Big Story that has a vocabulary lesson and real life applications for each story. Spend a few minutes on the memory verse and sing the song of the week. 

Wed: Recap the story of the week and talk about a few real life applications. Again, I highly recommend generations.org for this. Go over the verse and sing the song. 

Thurs: Recap the story of the week. Watch a short video of that story while enjoying a themed snack. Superbook is a great way to incorporate videos into your daily devotion time and themed snacks can be incredibly simple! This is just one more way to help your kids remember what they're being taught. Example: Noah and the ark - animal crackers  Adam and Eve - fruit cup Moses parting the Red Sea - these were a huge hit with our Jr Church!! ***for this one I'd do the verse and song before the short video to ensure maximum focus. 

Fri: Recap the story of the week and do a themed craft for that story. Do the verse and song. 

Sat: Recap the story of the week. Let the kids ask questions. Sing the song, and say the final memory verse. Make this special. Have a sticker chart or a verse card. When it's filled up they get something special. 

*** we personally do family devotions 6 days per week because my daughter is in 3 church services each Sunday. Not only is she getting 3 separate bible stories with tons of fun ways to remember them and the verses that go along with them, but she's also working alongside us in the ministry, so we're not home but a few hours together each Sunday, and that time is usually spent resting or preparing for the upcoming week. 

If you're brand new to Bible stories and devotions, start with the above routine, because the stories will be new to them. If you're like my family, and your kids have grown up in church, they can probably tell you most of the stories by memory. As they get older and more familiar with the stories in the Bible, you need to keep layering Bible truths that apply to their lives with the stories that they already know. Just retelling the same stories with the same applications is going to cause our kids to think that devotions are boring and "only for little kids". This is one reason I like the generations.org "God's Big Story" so much. They layer new bible truths into the old stories as the kids get older. 

Here's what I would suggest using for devotions by age:

Toddlers, preschool, and kindergarten, follow the above routine, but swap out vocabulary work for abc pages, a themed game, or have fun letting them act out a character or animal in the story. At this stage, you really only have 5-10 min total before their attention leaves, so things like reading, playdoh, and coloring are great devotional times. Kids this age can also find joy in repetitiveness, so you can get away with doing devotions the same way each day.

1st-5th grade, follow the above routine using "God's Big Story" (this curriculum only goes through 5th grade)

6th-8th grade, follow the above routine swapping out "God's Big Story" for the middle school AWANA curriculum. Each week won't have a bible story but rather a theme and each book has a devotional section as well as projects that go along with that week's theme. At this point your child is very familiar with the stories of the Bible and is more than ready to really develop that personal walk with Jesus and talk about issues like boundaries, comparison, temptation, peer pressure, etc. 

9th-12th grade, you can choose to follow the above schedule or ditch it completely. If your teen is creative, the above schedule may be one he thrives on, but if the crafts and themed snacks feel juvenile to your teen, that's ok too! Highschool is a time to focus on apologetics: why we believe what we believe. The awana.org highshool books, "journey" is what they call them, are the best high school apologetics course I've seen so far. Throughout elementary and middle school we teach our kids the foundations of what the Bible says and what we believe. Now it's time to let them question everything we've taught them in a controlled environment, so our beliefs become theirs. This is also the time that they become confident and comfortable in sharing and even defending their beliefs with other people. 

***Here's where it may be necessary to have more than one devotion time with your family. If you have a mix of littles and bigs in your home, here's what I would recommend. Follow the above schedule with the entire family. Have your big kids help with planning the crafts and snacks, and then give them the option of creating them during devotion time or playing the part of the teacher and helping a younger sibling instead. In addition 1-2x per week have an extra devotion time just for the older kids and give them assignments/projects to do on their own throughout the week (assignments/projects can be found in the awana books). This is the time where they get to branch off and learn to have their own devotions outside of family devotions. 

Yes, it's a lot of work. I already know what you're thinking, and I realize that doing devotions like this not only takes scheduling them into an already packed week, but then it takes prep work to keep it interesting enough for our kids to actually enjoy them. Remember though that providing our kids with a Biblical foundation and then guiding them through having that personal relationship with Jesus is the main reason God lent them to us. It's more important than sports, having a spotless house, family game time, tv shows, and even making the A honor roll. None of that matters compared to giving our kids this foundation. I'm not saying don't make those other things important in your home also, but at the end of the day remember what the most important thing is and that's this. 

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