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While attending the 2008
National Hearts At Home Conference,
I sat in on a session where Linda Wicks told attendees about a challenge
she implemented to keep her kids busy during summer breaks. I was so excited about the idea
that I sat down with my daughters to come up with goals for our own
super summer challenge.
My intent was
to mirror
the examples Linda provided on her website but, when I attempted
to group the girls' goals by type (arts & crafts, chores,
physical activities,
etc.), it seemed wrong to limit kingdom work to one or two
categories like spiritual growth and serving. I don't want my
children to compartmentalize Christianity. It's not something we do
on Sunday,
it's who I want them to be every day.
Wanting to find a
verse that encompassed all the categories I wanted to
include in this summer's challenge, I visited
biblegateway.com
and searched for all verses
that contained the words heart, mind and soul. Although four verses
contained these three words, only one contained the additional two
categories I needed to make our summer challenge complete.
Luke
10:27 was written in response to a question that an expert in the law
asked Jesus.
"Teacher," the expert asked in Luke 10:25, "what must I do to inherit eternal
life?"
"What is
written in the Law?" Jesus asked one verse later.
The expert answered:
"'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your
neighbor as yourself.'"
"You have
answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."
If this verse
describes what we need to do to truly live, then surely it provides
the foundation for what we should be teaching our children. For this
reason, the super summer challenge became, not just a seasonal
activity to keep my children busy, but an attempt to teach them the
Luke 10:27 way of life.
Read on to see
how you, too, can create a summer challenge that teaches your
children the importance of loving the Lord our God with all our 1)
heart, 2) soul, 3) strength, and 4) mind and 5) loving our neighbor
as our self:
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Create a
list of
goals to be achieved and assign a point value to each goal
When
I first proposed a summer challenge to my daughters, they were
so excited that we sat down that night to create a list of goals
to accomplish. The tasks we came up with were a mixture of what
they wanted to do and areas I wanted them to work on. Click on
the link below to view the initial goals we identified.
Note 1: Microsoft Word must be installed on your computer to
open this link.
Note
2: If you are asked to enter a password when opening or
closing the link, press the cancel button to ignore the prompt.
Summer Challenge Completed Goal Sheet
When setting your
child's goals, it helps to think of good habits you would like
them to form, new skills you would like them learn, fears they
would benefit from overcoming, and new ways they could
contribute to the running of your home. To help you get started,
click on the link below to save a blank goal sheet to your hard
drive.
Note 1: Microsoft Word must be installed on your computer to
open these links.
Note
2: If you are asked to enter a password when opening or
closing a link, press the cancel button to ignore the prompt.
Goal Template for Parents with One Child
Goal Template for Parents with More than one Child (print copies
as needed)
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Calculate
the number of points your child will likely earn each week
After
reviewing Katie's and Hollie's goals, I determined that each
could potentially earn up to 10 points in a day but, because
there will be days when we are busy with out-of-town guests and
other activities, I multiplied this number by 4 days per week
instead of 7 to arrive at an average of 40 points per week.
-
Determine
the number of weeks the challenge will span and the overall
point goal
Because we
will be traveling for two weeks in August, we decided that our
summer challenge will start on June 1st and end the weekend
before we leave on our August trip.
Knowing that the challenge will be 10 weeks in length with an
average of 40 points per week, the overall challenge goal was
set at 400 points per child.
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Set awards
and prizes
Once our
list of goals and the timeline was set, I asked the girls what
they would like to work for. Although many children would choose
a family trip or a fun activity, both Katie and Hollie opted for
items to add to their Webkinz collection. After determining the
dollar value of the items purchased (which in our case was $40
per child), I divided the amount spent by the number of weeks in
the challenge (which was 10) and concluded that the girls would
need to earn $4 each week if they wanted to purchase everything
they picked out before the challenge was over. Since we were
using a point system and I expected the girls to earn 35 to 40
points per week, we determined that each point would be worth
25 cents.
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Determine
how you will keep track of points
In her
presentation, Linda Wicks suggested using marbles, a graph, or
poker
chips when
working with younger children. Because my daughters are in
elementary school, we have decided to use a tally sheet to keep
track of goals achieved and the number of points earned. Click
on the link below if you would like to do the same.
Note 1: Microsoft Word must be installed on your computer to
open this link.
Note
2: If you are asked to enter a password when opening or
closing the link, press the cancel button to ignore the prompt.
Summer Challenge Tally Sheet
Before you get
started, don't forget to review the ideas and sample charts on
Linda Wicks' site. She has done a great job of communicating how
she has made her family's summer challenge both fun and
frustration-free over the years.
Click on the
link below when you are ready to learn more about the Luke 10:27
Summer Challenge:
Summer Challenge Update
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