In Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we have examined six ways to turn homework time into devotion time.  Today we will look at a final four ways that you, as a parent, can make your child’s homework a time of worship and honoring to God.

7. Explain that God gives us gifts as a stewardship and it is a students job to develop those gifts and use them.

God gives different gifts to different people, and there is no doubt that he has given each of us gifting in different areas.  That is why some students excel in math and others excel in the area of language arts.  We have a responsibility to God to develop our minds, but we have a extra duty to develop those areas where God has gifted us.  The Bible tells us that God gave us our gifts to be a blessing to other people.  Unfortunately, many schools teach to the lowest common denominator and kids tends to breeze easily through those subjects and classes where they are naturally gifted.  As students, your goal should not to be merely to “get by” or “even make good grades.”  Your goal should be to excel and continue to grow in those areas where God has gifted you.  As Christian parents, our job is to continue to challenge our kids in those areas that they find “easy” so they continue to grow in those areas.

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Yesterday, we began a series looking at a number of ways to redeem your children’s homework time. Today we will look at three more ways.

4. Show them God’s creativity in their homework.

It is very easy to let homework become a drain.  What is the Pythagorean theorem?  What is the formula for gravity?  There is a whole lot of information out there and more word problems that you can shake a stick at.  Help your child to see where it all comes from.  God precisely tuned the universe to work exactly the way it does.  Go decided the sum of two squares in a right triangle would be equal in length to third side.  God gave people the creativity to write the classics.  And, God gave us the ability to understand it all.  Sit back and ponder the enormous creative power of God in creating everything that you are studying.  Parents, rather than lamenting the lack of God in public school, help your child to understand how God fits into what they are learning.  After all, the Bible says that we as parents are ultimately responsible for the spiritual development of our kids, not Mr. Jones in 2nd period geometry.

5. Explain how they can use their homework as a means of mission to reach other kids.

The last thing Jesus said to his disciples before the ascension was to go and make disciples of all nations.  So often, we teach kids about missions to 3rd world countries and ignore the mission field that they are bussed to five days a week.  Encourage your child to do well in their studies so that they can help other students with their homework.  What better way to share the love of Jesus with a struggling student than to help them out in subjects where they are struggling.

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It’s that time of year again.  The weather is beginning to cool, kids are playing soccer 24 hours a day seven days a week (sorry, a little personal frustration thrown in there), the windows are open, the leaves will be turning soon, and the smell of diesel fuel as school buses zoom down the road in front of your house is enough to make you fall over gasping for breath.  That’s right, it school time once again as mothers and fathers (mostly mothers) across the nation experience the simultaneous heartache and joy of sending there little back off to school.

With the beginning of school comes the inevitable joy and smiling of kids as they…..wait a minute.  That’s not it.  Maybe it is at your house, but for us school brings a bag of mixed emotions.  There is some excitement.  New school supplies are cool for a little while.  It’s good to kids to see friends again that the kids haven’t seen for several months, and there is even a little bit of excitement about new teachers and lockers and desks and such.  But then, there is grumbling.  Things like getting up before the sun and homework which seemed like distant memories such a few short weeks ago have once again become part of the daily routine.  So, what is a parent to do?  Here are ten ways you can help your child’s homework time become a devotional time without them even knowing it.  Sneaky, I know, but I prefer Jim Wideman’s approach to family devotions.  I’m pretty sure it was in one of his books (if not, I’ll give him the credit anyhow – he probably deserves it) that I read that he doesn’t believe in “traditional” family devotionals.  He postulates that if you are living your faith out in front of your kids you don’t need to manufacture devotional times (my words, not his, but I hope a decent summary).  He’s right, too.  As parents, we shouldn’t make following God something that we restrict to a set family devotional time.  Rather, it should be part of our daily lives, and homework is no different.

Over the next couple of days, we are going to look at ten ways to redeem homework time for God.  So, here we go.

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