Conversation starters....

I went to a moms meeting with a homeschool group a few months ago and we had a special speaker.  She was wonderful and spoke about a lot of different topics.  I learned a lot, but one thing was an example of a way to teach older children to make decisions.  It is along the lines of  a pro/con list, but I like this better and you can use it to discuss a lot of things with your children... children of all different ages! 

Draw a grid with four quadrants...

For God

Against God

The far right side is a really good things.  for example- a well written book, a well done movie or play, a fun toy, a fun situation even.

The far left side is a really bad things. for example- a badly written book, a badly done movie or play, a badly made toy or an unsafe situation.

The top is FOR God and the bottom is AGAINST GOD.


Now take a movie for this example.  The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  It was a well done movie.. we will give it the highest rating... a five.  It is FOR God... it show redemption, forgiveness, truth etc. but since it doesn't actually MENTION salvation (it is an allegory) we will only give it a 4.  Now mark on the graph.  So this movie is put in the FOR GOD/ really good thing quadrant.  You could basically recommend it to anymore.

A movie could be in the really bad side (not well made) but still be FOR God so it would still be great to see.  BUT a movie in the bottom badly made and against God you pretty much wouldn't want to see. 

Do you get it. 

You could use this with your child for a lot of situations and they could help make decisions about certain things by seeing where it fits on the graph!  My kids are visual and especially Matt I think would really like this.