Character Education Begins with the Fear of God ~ Respect for His Authority. Proverbs 1:7

Parents who love their children search for ways to prepare them for the adult years.  Parenting can be likened to planting
seeds for the harvest. The harvest is obvious, it is to raise children who fear God and keep His commandments.

We can gain a parenting tip from the Parable of the Sower...

"A sower went out to sow his seed... But the ones that fell on the good ground are those who having heard the word
with a noble and good heart keep it and bear fruit with patience." Luke 8:5a,15

When reading the parable of the sower in Luke 8:5-12 a parent can't help but hope their child's heart will prove
to be noble and good to keep God's Word and bear fruit in their adult years.

One question comes to mind: "How do I cultivate a noble and good heart in my children?"

Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God and all receptive hearts will be cultivated by it.
The heart that is noble and good recognizes, accepts and responds to God's goodness.

As a Christian parent we are to give our little ones a vivid picture of true Christian devotion.

• Communicate the Redemptive Love of Christ
• Invest Time Reading God's Word in Family Worship
• Completely Immerse them in the Love, Words, and Deeds of Christ
• Provide Opportunities that they may Be Doers of the Word

It's by God's Word that the soil of our heart has been cultivated. It will be by God's Word that our children will have
a heart-to-heart relationship with Him too. 

Heard the Word... Keep It... Bear Fruit

We've noted already that character education starts with the fear of God. Our starting point or foundation for teaching
life principles is getting a firm stance on God's authority... respect for His standards.

Luke shares with us in his gospel that Jesus cried out saying, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"
Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.  By keeping God's Word as the standard
within our homes, we can train our children to reject the fallacies of this mixed up world and find The Truth.

More than ever Christian homes need to be the grounds in which foundational Biblical principles are planted.
God is calling you as a parent to communicate the redemptive love of Christ to your children. Within God's Word you're given
the answers of how to win the heart of your child. How consistent are you digging into His Word? How consistent are you
planting "Truth" into the lives of your children?

Because young children learn values from many different influences: parents, older siblings, teachers, friends, tv, movies
and advertising... It is imperative that they learn to categorize and discern good and bad attitudes at an early age, especially
5 years old and up.

The more we fill a child's mind with the valuable standards found in Scripture, the more he will focus on the thoughts revealed
by God concerning what truly is right and wrong. By doing so, you are equipping him how to deal properly with a particular behavior.
When we diligently teach them the reasons why an attitude is either good or evil and show them how to apply it
(living it out in our own life), then that child will gain the wisdom needed to succeed in the transforming process of overcoming
his own sin, today and in the more challenging years to come.

There is so much that can be said about the application of character education but for now we want to say...
Simply take the time to create within your home an environment saturated with the love for God's word ~
"He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Bible Verses for Children ~ Beginning Steps in Character Education

 When we first started Train Up Children we offered parents and teachers a children's activity guide titled “Plant the Word”.
Its purpose was to teach children to read, write, and memorize the Word of God one verse at the time.

Plant the Word is no longer available in book/cd form, yet still we want to make available some of its content here on our site.
Because we believe it's so important to teach children how to read and gain the wisdom found in God's Word, we pray you will
make use of its motivating format and teach Scripture to your children or students. We feel you'll discover that it aids in the practice
of reading, writing, and biblical character skills fluently.

There are 51 Bible memory verses to choose from.  Each memory verse is written with Zaner-Bloser print style.
These worksheets are eye-catching and fun to use! Children 5 years old and up will enjoy tracing the Bible verse word for word.
Parent and teachers alike can memorize Scripture along with the children when using them for a morning devotional,
homeschool worksheet, or Sunday School pre-class activity.

In addition to the worksheets there are pre-made flash cards or "word cards" as we call them which break down the verse into
individual words to practice reading and memorization.  A child can memorize a Bible verse by sequencing - that is putting the cards
in the right order to match the worksheet.

A SPECIAL NOTE TO TEACHERS: Plant the Word can save you time in preparing a "take home" activity for your students.
With 51 printable worksheets to choose from you'll have access to free teaching material for use in your classroom.

Plant the Word is Highly Adaptable for a Wide Variety of Children's Activities.

This simple but effect program can take on the following variety of children's learning activities. 

Memorize Scripture - Select & print worksheets which relates to a topical study.
Writing Skills - Introduce copywork and handwriting practice using Scriptures.
Scripture Location Skills ~ Practice locating book, chapter, & verse.
Reading Practice ~ Locate the verse and practice reading content before and after verse.
Scripture Sequence Game - Use word cards as a memorization game.
Take-Home Worksheet - Memory verse art activity and a Gift of Love to parents.

These printables are so versatile and beneficial to use... not because they're our worksheets, but rather,
on these worksheets Scripture can be found.  Both teachers and parents can use these free printables as a tool to teach children
how to encourage other believers with a special verse from the Bible. There a many opportunities children can engage in
to share God's Word with others.  Children can frame and decorate their worksheets then give them as gifts to family members,
friends, maybe to the elderly in your church and near by nursing home, or better yet to someone who is dealing with an illness. 

Plant the Word worksheets and word cards are pre-made. So, you have the advantage of just selecting the topic at hand and
simply click-n-print.

How to Get Started Planting the Word...

In the upper left hand corner of this webpage is a few links which will take you to the worksheets and additional teaching suggestions.
If by chance you come across any links that are not working, now or in the future, please contact us and we will do our best to fix the problem.

Worksheets are coming... we're just taking a break ~ be back soon.