Faith, Home, & Family
*Thanks to Pop Secret for sponsoring today’s discussion
We love gathering in the living room and watching movies together as a family. We have 6 kids, the oldest of which is 28, so we have had a lot of family movie nights. A family movie night is not complete without popcorn!
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My kids love to build forts when their cousins come over. They build big elaborate forts that they also sleep in. Every summer they try to out do the forts they built the year before. Even though the four kids at home are all teenagers, they still like to build forts.
Here’s the fort my daughter and niece built and slept in last night.
An eclectic arrangement of sheets, blankets, and a few towels. Help up by clothesline, clothespins, chairs, and a Ladder Ball
Yes, all the blanket, sheets, and towels will have to be washed again before putting them away. Yes, it costs money for electric, water, and laundry deteregent.
But the memories they make together are priceless!
So let your kids build a fort. Let them have fun together. Or with cousins or friends.
Let them make great memories together.
Because that’s what really matters!
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I have 6 kids, ages 30, 28, 22, 21, 18, and 16. So I have some experience with teenagers. I have said numerous times that it was easier to get my youngest four out the door when they were little than it was when they were all teenagers. Teaching my teenagers these time management tips made a huge difference for them. And made my life easier, too!
1. Set good example – If you’re late all the time, you can’t expect them to be on time. If they see you goofing off on Facebook instead of getting ready to go somewhere, they are going to do it too.
2. Set them up with a calendar – paper, computer or on their telephone, to record their upcoming events, assignments due, work hours, etc.
3. A morning routine, after school routine, and evening routine all help teens to remember to get everything done. Once they get in the habit of doing these routines, it becomes easier for them to manage their time effectively.
The routines shouldn’t be long. Just 3-5 things to help them stay organized. For example, an evening routine could include getting clothes ready for the next day, getting books and papers together so they are ready in the morning, and checking the calendar for the next day to see if they need anything special. Things that will make the morning go much smoother.
4. Get them started using a to do list. This doesn’t have to be elaborate, with everything they need to do every day, but get them started with the 5 most important things to be done that day. This list could also include the things they need to bring with them for outside activites.
Making a to do list will help them learn to prioritize their chores, homework, activities,etc. This will also help them to learn not to procrastinate. Whether on paper, an electronic list, or written on a chalk or white board, a to do list is a big step toward time management independence for teenagers.
5. Have a planning day with your teen once a week. Go over school assignments, outside activities, chores, etc. This will enable them to plan ahead. and help them to not over commit.
This is also the time to tell them “we have to leave at 6 on Monday night” or “have your assigned rooms clean and ready for company by 3 on Saturday” or “You have a game on Tuesday, make sure you have your equipment packed by the time your ride gets here at 2” or any other special activities or events.
Teaching teenagers time management happens a little at a time, not all at once. Introduce these ideas to your teenagers, then pick one to start with. Add the other tips in one at a time. And soon the days will flow much smoother for your teenager. And you!
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I planned my first Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt when my youngest, who was 12 at the time, requested to have an Easter Egg hunt. He was too old for the egg hunt at church. But I was glad that he didn’t think he was too old for one. Especially since that was the last year he requested one. We all had fun with our first Easter Egg Scavenger Hunt for teens! Now, in 2021, when we have to be careful with indoor gatherings, an outdoor scavenger hunt is a perfect fit.
I thought it might be fun, and more challenging to have a scavenger hunt instead of a regular Easter egg hunt. Here are a few links I found, then I’ll tell you what I’m going to do. Your clues will need to be specific for your house or yard. Not everyone has the same features. So have fun finding clues that will fit your house, yard, and family. And you can make it different each year!
Scavenger Hunt Clues
45 Scavenger Hunt Clues for Kids (& Adults!)
40 Scavenger Hunt Riddles for Kids
Since I did our scavenger hunt outside. I used the worksheet for the Christian Scavenger Hunt, linked above. The kids had to look up the missing word in ten Bible verses. The missing word was the item they had to find for the scavenger hunt.
I gave the worksheets to my 12, 14, 17 and 18 year olds and had them fill them out. I hide four candy filled eggs, one for each teen & pre-teen participating, at a spot outside that corresponds to the missing word.
Example: water. I put the eggs near the outside faucet. For rock, I put the eggs by the rocks of our fire pit. Of course, we have rocks as garden edging all around our house, and a gravel driveway. So they had to really hunt for the eggs. lol
It was so fun! It satisfied my 12 year olds desire to have an egg hunt. And include the teens in a fun, challenging way, when they wouldn’t have participated in a regular Easter egg hunt.
For another fun idea, use glow in the dark Easter eggs for a night time scavenger hunt! Indoors OR outside! See how we used the glow in the dark eggs.
Here are some other fun things for Easter egg hunts!
And here are a couple of scavenger hunt games to play as a family anytime!
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We love to play games as a family. They are not only fun, but educational also. We’ve played games with all six of our children from the time they were very little and just barely able to play Candyland, Chute’s and Ladders, and Hi Ho Cherry-O. Don’t forget Go Fish, Slap Jack and War.
Here are a few of the games we currently have. These are on top of a cabinet in our schoolroom. Hours and hours of fun represented in this picture.
Here are a few more inside the cabinet. Bible Trivia is an awesome Bible game! And I do believe Scattergories is my favorite game of all time. We also have a couple of geography board games, those are fun, too.
The game I want to focus on today, though, is Scrabble. Scrabble is a great family game. It’s competitive, entertaining, and educational all at the same time. We had a Scrabble, Junior game when some of our kids were younger. I didn’t care for it, though.
I didn’t find it to be as fun and educational as the regular game. You can start your kids playing Scrabble as soon as they can spell a few words. For most that would be in the first to second grade range. An easy way to get them started is to make a rule that everyone playing, including the adults, can only use three letter words. That puts everyone on the same playing field.
Another way we play that helps the kids is to play with dictionaries in hand. I don’t consider looking in the dictionary for a word to use cheating for kids. I don’t mean just looking up the correct spelling of a word, but the child actually looking for a word they can make with the letters they have. The only thing I tell them is that they need to be looking for a word while the other players are having their turns. So the game isn’t held up for ten minutes while one kid finds a word. The game would never get over that way, and I would most likely lose my mind. lol
You can let them use any dictionary you have in the house, but a Scrabble dictionary is a great investment. It’s also helpful if you have a couple of dictionaries on the table, instead of everyone sharing one. It helps to keep the game moving. So while the family is having fun playing a game together, the kids are learning spelling and dictionary skills.
You can take any game that you like to play and modify it to be played with younger kids. You don’t have to follow every rule exactly. Make up your own house rules.
Like using a dictionary to look up words. Or adjust the Yahztee game so you skip some of the harder to get groups. In Monopoly, pass out all the real estate cards first, following the shorter game instructions, then let the kids have fun buying and trading from each other. Let them take turns being the banker. Let them count all the money without correcting them. If one of them catches another making a mistake, have them recount. If not, just keep playing. Once they realize they might be getting ripped off by a sibling, their counting will dramatically improve. lol
The family playing and learning together is more important than the game rules. Have fun as a family and the learning will follow.
One of my kids would often have a hard time sleeping, saying he was afraid. He didn’t have anything specific that he was afraid of, he just had a feeling of fear. After spending many nights talking to him, and praying with him, I wrote these verses out for him. He kept them by his bed with a flashlight. If he was having trouble, you would read the verses. This helped to calm him and relieve his fears.
Note: I’m not talking about little kids who need comforting. I’m talking about older kids, teens, or even adults that are having a problem with fear, that can read these verses for themselves.
There are a lot of verses in the Bible that speak about fear and worry. Here are the ones that I used.
Psalm 37:8
Matthew 6:25
Philippians 4:6
1 Peter 5:7
Matthew 6:31
Matthew 6:34
2 Corinthians 10:5
Hebrews 13:5
You can write the verses all on a sheet of paper or you could put the references and have the older child look them up as they need them. You could also write each verse on one card of a spiral index card pack. You could put bookmarks at each verse in their Bible or put tabs on the correct page with the verse highlighted. A flashlight by their bed or under their pillow with the verses makes it easier for them to use the verses without having to get up and without turning on a big light. Not using a big, bright light will make it easier for then to fall asleep again, too.
I hope this helps your kids get some sleep like it did mine.
Here’s a printable version of Bible Verses for Kids Who are Afraid at Night for you that you can print right from this page.
Have you signed up with House Party.com? I love House Party.com! I’ve had 5 or 6 parties so far and they are so much fun. It’s easy, too! After you sign up, when a new party opens you fill out a survey to apply. In a couple of weeks you’ll get an email if you get the party. You party pack comes later, just in time for your party. The party packs always include items for hosting the party, hostess gifts and coupons, and guests gift and coupons. Items in the party packs do vary, though, for each party.
I was excited to get the Hasbro Family Game Night party! The parties were held on New Years Eve. We had so much fun!
Here’s a picture of what was in the party pack:
Four games – Catch Phrase, Yahtzee, Twister, and Draw Something. Included were batteries for Catch Phrase
Family Game Night cups, party hats, a crown and trophy for the winner
Coupons for me and the guests.
Before the guests arrived, I opened and set up all the games in different areas so we had plenty of room to play. I also wrote the names of the games we were playing on a piece of paper. When someone won a game, they put their name on the list under the game they won. That’s how we determined the winner.
We played games, took a break for snacks, then played more games. The guests had free reign of the games. They could play what they wanted, when they wanted. We often had three different games being played at once.
Here’s a Yahtzee winner:
This was all of ours first time to play Draw Something. It’s so much fun! As you can tell by the faces of the kids playing!
Twister was a big hit, too. This new version of Twister has a new twist. haha One of the options on the spinner is to put certain body parts in the air. And hold them it there until that part was called again. This proved to be very challenging, especially when the kids were twisted up and had to hold themselves up. We laughed so much! The kids were sore by the end of the night, and were even sore the next day!
And the winner is…. He won the most games over the course of the party. He was much happier than he shows in this picture. He was trying to keep a straight face. lol
Here’s a group shot, minus three adults who didn’t want to be in the picture.
We had so much fun with this Hasbro Family Game Night! These games are all great family games.
Do you have family game nights with your favorite games?
DISCLAIMER: I received this party pack from HouseParty.com to have a party. I received no other compensation, and I was not required to write this post. I just wanted to share the fun!
