The Parables of this Generation

Movies are such a great teaching tool for any parent to use to engage their child in meaningful and pertinent conversations. We believe that movies are the parables of this generation. Where Jesus used parables (or stories) to convey a larger meaning to His followers in a way they would understand, movies can be used to convey a larger meaning to our children using a medium that they find interesting, exciting, and thought-provoking. Teaching our children to be critical thinkers is something that we value highly and we find that watching movies in short snip-its and then discussing the content has been something that has drastically increased our kids' ability to think and draw conclusions, ask questions, and come to an understanding of some very deep concepts.

We typically choose a movie or series to watch during our lunch break. Sitting down at the table and eating helps keep the children in one spot and focused. We watch about 20 to 30 minutes of the movie and then we pause it (until the next day) and discuss what we've watched. This allows the children to hone in one specific topics that can often be lost if you watch a full-length film and try to remember all the little teaching gems at the end. More often than not, we pause the movie several times during lunch as well, explaining concepts and asking questions along the way. It has become a treasured time during our day (especially since Daddy comes home for lunch and participates with us) and the children are learning some amazing life lessons. You may want to use a meal time for movie time or you may want to do it a few times a week after breakfast or before bed. Whatever works best for your family! So far we have done “learning through movies” with Remember the Titans, Harry Potter (all of them), The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and we are currently on The Bible series.

To illustrate my point, I'd like to share a short clip with you that we watched with our children and then give you an example of what we discussed afterward. In this clip from, The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, we see the Secret Council of Lord Elrond (if you don't know anything about LOTR I apologize. You should watch them, you're missing out!). Lord Elrond has called together some of the greatest warriors, kings, wizards, and hobbits of Middle Earth to see what should be done with the One Ring (it's the Ring of Power which is basically pure evil). Once they decide that it should be taken to Mordor (where it was created in order to destroy it), Lord Elrond asks who will take it.

After much arguing among the other members of the Council, Frodo stands up and says “I will take it! I will take it! I will take the Ring to Mordor!” Frodo did not focus on his shortcomings (his small size and lack of experience) but rather was willing to be sent no matter the cost. Read Isaiah 6:8. How is Frodo's willingness to take the Ring to Mordor similar to Isaiah in the verse we just read? Sometimes God calls us to take a similar leap of faith. God calls us to be servant leaders, missionaries, teachers, preachers, and witnesses. Many missionaries reminisce on how God called on them to do something very important, and they knew that God wanted to send them when they were as young as 5 years old! God calls us to “Big Picture” plans like this and He also asks us to do little things, like tell someone at school about Jesus or start eating lunch with that one kid that no one talks to. Is God calling you to do something? How will you respond to Him?

We also see Gimli tried to destroy the Ring with his ax but the ax shattered. Gimli relied on his own strength to to try accomplish this great task. Just like the ax and the Ring, there is a spiritual battle that we engage in everyday and we must not put our faith in our own strength. Read Ephesians 6:11. What does God's Word say to use in spiritual warfare against the enemy? God gives us armor, spiritual armor, to help us defeat the enemy and his forces of evil. We must be prepared each day for the spiritual battle that lies ahead.

We also learn that Aragorn is actually the rightful King of Gondor, but he's been hiding because he's afraid that he may not have what it takes to overcome the weakness in his bloodline. Sins of the past can become a heavy burden that weigh Christians down and make us afraid to answer God's call. But God forgives us of our sins and calls us to have courage to do what is right, “Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid or dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

There are so many AMAZING life lessons and teachable moments in these great movies that I mentioned above and so many more. We've been able to discuss so many things: friendship, perseverance, good vs. evil, temptation, Satan, addiction, prejudice, stewardship, heroic sacrifice, sovereignty, romantic love, spiritual warfare, teamwork, servant leadership, embracing a calling, coping with separation and loss, resurrection, redemption, salvation, standing for what's right, loyalty and betrayal, marriage, divorce, adultery, sin and consequences, history, missionaries, the Church, what God values, the life of Jesus, Old Testament prophets, overcoming adversity, and so much more!! It's really quite impressive. The Bible series has been awesome and we've been able to teach the kids SO MUCH about the Bible in just a few days. They are absorbing so much and the absolutely love it. They can't wait 'till the next day to watch more. I love seeing them so excited about learning. And if movies help them do that, I am all for it!! I think we'll do the Chronicles of Narnia series next :)

Don't be afraid to try something new. Movies are not the enemy. If you need some help finding a movie to start with, send me a message! I'd love to help. You can also check out www.pluggedin.com to both screen your movies for content (we do this with all the movies we watch) and also you can find their “Movie Nights” that are mini-studies based on specific movies. They give you a pdf printout to go with your movie and aid in your discussions. These are great starter tools (although I wouldn't stick just to the pdf because you may see something even more in depth that you want to discuss, which is totally fine!). But definitely great conversation starters. Oh, and please note that pluggedin is anti-Harry Potter. I am totally pro-Harry Potter so we don't agree on everything. But for the most part, it's a good place to start if you're really having a hard time picking out conversation pieces.

So there you have it. Learning through movies... now go pop some popcorn :)

Bye for now,

Kristina

Why I Taught my 6yr old & 4yr old About Abortion...

... and other topics that are "taboo" to discuss with children....

Unborn baby at 24 weeks gestation... can legally be aborted.

Well, I have a few reasons. For starters, I've never really been good at lying. I don't do well with telling my children that Santa is real or that their broccoli will give them super human strength. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy pretend play time and I love good fiction/fantasy based movies like Lord of the Rings or The Avengers! I'm not anti-pretending. But there's just something about lying to my kids that doesn't sit well with me. And maybe I'll pay dearly for it in the end, but for now, it really seems to spark trust and good communication between me, my husband, and our children. They aren't afraid to ask us anything and they know that we will answer them, to the best of our ability and without being too age inappropriate, with the truth. Truth is very important to me. And I hope that I am instilling in my little ones the love of truth. So that's one reason we've already talked about hard topics like abortion, slavery, drugs, addictions, homosexuality, divorce, pornography (not in too much detail, but the basic idea of looking at women without their clothes on), etc. If it comes up (they hear something on the news or hear someone talking about it), we discuss it as a family. We talk about what it is, what God says about it, and what our family believes. The dinner table is a great conversation tool :)

Another reason I've taught my children about abortion and other hard topics is because I want them to learn the truth; not someone else's opinion. I don't want them to just believe whatever people tell them. I want them to ask questions, to use critical thinking, to compare that with Scripture and form a decision based on truth. Too often we let society mold the minds of our little ones into something that doesn't reflect what God values or His Truth. When we discuss difficult topics, we don't just say... A is bad because of B. We talk to them about both sides. This is what A is. This is why people believe A is OK. What do you think? What does the Bible say? When we discussed abortion, I told my kids the facts. There are a lot of people in our world today that think it's OK to kill a baby inside its mommy's tummy. Some women don't think it's human, like it's just "almost" a baby. Some women think that a baby isn't human until it's born. In fact, our President believes that a baby inside a mommy's tummy isn't human until after it is born. Some women think that babies are a burden, that they are too hard to deal with, too expensive, come at the wrong time, etc. Some women get very sick when they are pregnant and sometimes doctors tell mommies that the baby is very sick and it would basically be better off dead than to be born with problems. Some women are forced to kill their babies because the daddy was very mean to them or the grandparents are worried what people will think of the mommy if she's not married. There are many reasons why a mommy might choose to kill her baby. Do you think any of these are good reasons?

Guess what? It didn't take a long debate where my children weighed out all the reasons why they should be pro-life or pro-death. No. They answered in a split second, "there's never a good reason to kill your baby!!" They came up with that answer. On their own. My daughter was absolutely blown away that there is even this thing called abortion. Like it can't even be a real thing that people would kill babies. And yet it's rampant. We have not sheltered them from the Gosnell trial either. In fact, we have discussed it openly with them. I have, however, spared them the grisly photos. But they know who he is, what he did, why he's on trial, and so forth. My daughter and I sat and cried together as we were sorrowful over our societies lack of value for life. It broke her heart. And some of you may say, "why would you let her know this!? Why wouldn't you save her a few more years of innocence?" Well, because it's happening now. This is the moment when our country will either convict Gosnell and prove they have any a shred of conscience left or they will let him walk and prove that our country truly does not value life at all any more. We want our children to value life. We told them to value something is to think it's special. To want to take care of it and keep it safe; like something that you cherish. We spent several weeks teaching them about what God values and why. God values all human life including the unborn, those who are slaves (including those who are sex-trafficked), the elderly, orphans, and those who are handicapped and deformed. A great number of these that our society (by means of abortion, euthanasia, or turning a blind eye) would rather get rid of. Gosnell does not value life. Abortionists do not value life. President Obama does not value life. And it's easy for children to fall into that same mindset if we don't teach them to value the things God values.

As homeschoolers (and even as PARENTS) we have the opportunity, no, the responsibility to teach our children the hard truths, even when it seems too difficult to discuss. How can we teach our children to have courage in the face of difficulty if we can't do it ourselves? How can we teach our children to stand up for what is right if we shy away from any conflict that may be offensive or politically incorrect? How can we teach our children to grow up to have strong convictions if we can't stand on our own? I don't want to raise children who are afraid to speak, afraid of what others think of them, afraid to fight for what is right. I want them do to exactly as Joshua 1:9 says... be strong and courageous, do not be terrified, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go! I don't want to wait until the issue comes before them to make a choice and we haven't prepared them. There's no time to be timid in this world we're living in. 

Yesterday I had Savanna do a mini-report on abortion. I gave her the writing prompt, "I think abortion is..." and asked her to write something. I told her to think about why people get abortions and what you think about that. I did not tell her what to say. This is what she wrote...

With her report on abortion

She also drew a picture of an unborn baby at 10 weeks gestation (I looked up a picture from online for her to copy). She made note that the baby had little arms and legs already, you could see where her eyes and ears were, and she even had a smile! (I say "she" because Savanna drew a little bow on her head and said "it's a girl!!")

Her drawing of a baby at 10 weeks

So, there you have it. You may think I'm crazy, I know. But my husband and I believe we are raising children that will know the truth, love the Lord, and courageously value what God values. I hope you will find encouragement in that as you are faced with these difficult topics with your children.

Bye for now,
Kristina