Partnering with Parents in the Elementary School Years

Partnering with Parents in the Elementary School Years Hero Image

This Sunday we officially kick off the 2014-15 school year here at Watermark Kids! Congratulations! You made it through the summer, your kids are a grade older and the possibilities for the new year are endless! The question before each and every family today is what possibilities will you aim your children at this year and will it grow the depth of their love for the Lord.

Spiritual growth in the lives of our children doesn’t happen by accident nor does it happen within the confines of what we hope is a great hour with us and their small group leader every Sunday at Watermark. Because of that, we constantly want to remind you, parents, of this . . .

Watermark Kids is most effective when we are partnering with parents in discipling your kids!

That is the very reason this blog, this resource exists: to provide simple, intentional discipleship opportunities for your family centered around what your kids are learning during their time with us on Sundays. You will find a new post every Sunday morning throughout the year containing these 4 main components.

What We Learned

Each Sunday, we will provide you with a brief summary of what we talked about in their class including the Scripture passage our lesson came from. This will also include the definition and memory verse we are working on for the month. If you’re new to Watermark and want to know more about our elementary curriculum, you can learn more here.

Family Questions

Asking your kids, “What did you learn today?” is better than not asking them anything, but not nearly as effective as asking them specific questions about what they learned. Each week we’ll post questions you could use on your drive home or at lunch or dinner on Sunday to review what your kids learned that day.

Bring it Home Activities

Deuteronomy 6:4-9 gives us a great model for the discipleship of our kids, specifically telling us that we should teach them “when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” In his book Think Orange, Reggie Joiner breaks this down into four distinct roles parents play as Teacher (meal time), Friend (drive time), Counselor (bed time) and Coach (morning time). Our goal, new this year, is to provide you with one simple idea in each of these categories to help you as you play these roles in your kids lives on a daily basis.

Looking Ahead

Lastly, each week we will give you a sneak peek at what we’ll be talking about the following Sunday. The purpose of this section is to encourage you to teach your kids next Sunday’s lesson before they even get to us. We love it when we hear kids say, “Hey, my parents told me that story!” That is music to our ears!

Let Us Join You!

We hope you’ll use these resources weekly and allow us to support you in your incredibly important role as the primary disciple-maker of your kids. We know it can be an overwhelming task, and we want to help. Subscribe to the blog through email or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and/or Instagram for consistent reminders throughout the week. Thank you for the privilege of partnering with you in the discipleship of your children! We can’t wait to see what God does this year!