7 FREE Mission-Minded Family Resources!
At Harvest Ministry, we want to motivate your family for world missions – and help get you prepared, with your bags “packed-and-ready” for whatever God has planned! Here are 7 FREE Mission-Minded Family resources. MAY YOU BE BLESSED!!!
(Also, be sure to see our Mission-Minded Books and Family Resources!!!)
Freebie #1
Take the 40-Day Mission-Minded FAMILY CHALLENGE!
FREE online mission class with Ann Dunagan – Click here!
In just 4-5 minutes per day you and your family will be encouraged to focus on God’s Great Commandment (to love God and love others) and God’s Great Commission. Progress a lesson a day – Monday through Friday – for eight weeks, or your own pace. Or gather a few families, and encourage others in the challenge!
“It’s eight weeks to becoming more effective . . . for eternity!”
Freebie #2
MAPS for KIDS! – Missions Adventure Preparation School
FREE Vacation Bible School Curriculum – Click here!
Take a week of the summer to train your church kids for missions! Your missionaries-in-training will “travel” on M.A.P.S. for KIDS International Airlines (with their own “passports”) and through customs officials to learn about the world and famous missionary heroes. They’ll taste international foods, experience daring adventures, make fun crafts, learn how to share the Gospel and pray for the lost, and get ministry training in perhaps puppetry, worship, drama, or how to use the EvangeCube!
“Missions is not just for missionaries! God’s call is for all!”
Freebee #3
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World
FREE One-year, day-by-day, homeschool unit study curriculum – Click here!
While your kids are young (during a year when most of your children are older elementary age), devote a year of your homeschooling commitment to establishing a life-long foundational family commitment to God’s Great Commission. This one- (or two-) year study presents a whirlwind tour all-throughout-history and all-around-the-world. You will learn the importance of developing a personal devotional life with the Lord and how to develop more of God’s heart for the world and the lost.
“Impart God’s Heart . . . for the World!”
Freebie #4
Homeschool Folder-Charts!
FREE tool to help kids be self-motivated in homeschool – Click here!
This helpful organizational tool is designed for use with the Teaching With God’s Heart for the World Curriculum (although it can also be used with your own curriculum). The feature article includes insight, based on 19 years of first-hand experience, about how to continue in your homeschooling commitment for the “long-haul” (if that’s what God wants for your family) by encouraging your children to become self-motivated and self-disciplined.
“Get your kids organized and self-motivated!”
Freebie #5
Mission-Minded “Passports”!
FREE craft project – to make “Mission-Minded” Passports – Click here!
A great learning tool for children. FREE PDF files and how-to instructions to make fun passport crafts to encourage children in missions, with a link to FREE coordinating international flag stickers.
“Mission-Minded Passports — Just for fun & just in case!”
Freebie #6
Sample excerpt from The Mission-Minded Child!
FREE sample of The Mission-Minded Child. Download a few chapters — Click here.
Learn more about “Raising a New Generation to Fulfill God’s Purpose.” Your children are God’s arrows, designed for an eternal impact; aim each one for God’s destiny.
“Raise your kids for God’s purposes!”
Freebie #7
Sample excerpt from The Mission-Minded Family!
FREE sample of The Mission-Minded Family. Download a few chapters — Click here!
Whether of not your family is called to “fulltime” international misssionary work, you’re called — as followers of Jesus – to live a fulltime mission-minded life. Learn more about “Releasing Your Family to God’s Destiny.”
“Get your family excited about expanding God’s Kingdom!”
M.A.P.S. for Kids – FREE VBS Curriculum
Looking for a mission-minded summer outreach idea . . . for your family, teenagers, home group, or children’s church? How about planning a backyard or neighborhood Vacation Bible School to share the Gospel and God’s heart for the world?
M.A.P.S. for KIDS!!!
As a special gift from Harvest Ministry, we would like to provide you with this FREE Vacation Bible School Curriculum.
This Bible-based kid-tested curriculum includes complete day-by-day instruction outlines. Throughout the week-long adventure, your kids will “travel” around the world (to Africa, Asia, Europe, India, and Latin America) on their own “M.A.P.S. for KIDS International Airlines” — through “Customs” with their own personal “Missionary Passports” (the program even has printable passport and visas!).
Best of all, your kids will learn to draw closer to God, to obey His awesome Word, and to follow Jesus all throughout their lives . . . to do whatever God says to do, to give whatever God says to give, and to go wherever God says to GO!
Click here to download the FREE 106-page curriculum
M.A.P.S. for KIDS!!!
A 5-Day Mission-Minded V.B.S. Curriculum
Each day includes . . .
- A different international theme
- A Bible memory verse and a mission-minded focus
- An easy object lesson
- A missionary monologue skit
- An easy craft idea
- An international mission-minded snack idea
- A fun outdoor missionary adventure
- Day-by-day instructions for six ministry training workshops to equip children in mission skills (such as puppetry, drama, music, or the EvangeCube).
- A concluding M.A.P.S. for KIDS Program
- Plus much more!
Be blessed! Have fun! (And if possible, let us know how it went!!!)
If you use this M.A.P.S. for KIDS curriculum, or any part of it, we would sure enjoy hearing how your program went. Let us know how you used the curriculum, where you live, and how many children were involved. Feel free to add positive feedback from anyone who was involved . . . or any helpful ideas. Our heart is to encourage and challenge children’s ministers, teachers, and parents to equip the next generation for world missions.
It’s easy to do, very effective, and best of all, it’s FREE!!!
Come take a look!
Here are a few highlight photos:
Making international crafts
For ASIA-DAY: Painted Oriental Lanterns and Fans
Learning to use chopsticks
The International Food Cafe
Outdoor Adventures: Setting up a “MISSIONS CAMP”
(Completed “CAMP” – (Notice the Bibles on the chairs!!!)
TWGHW: FREE One-Year Homeschool Curriculum!
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World
By Ann Dunagan, Illustrated by Brenda Whitmeyer
Published by Family Mission-Vision Enterprises“A one-year unit study curriculum, especially designed for homeschoolers, incorporating God’s heart for world missions into nearly every subject!”
Ann wrote this two-volume world missions curriculum (with over 500 pages) several years ago to assist homeschooling families and Christian educators (in both church settings and in Christian schools) to impart a fervent heart for world missions into the next generation.
The curriculum includes 160 day-by-day teaching plans, missionary highlights, motivational mission stories, crafts, songs, prayer projects, and hundreds of ways to incorporate a passion for the lost into nearly every subject (including Bible Study, Family Devotions, Reading, Writing, Geography, History, Art, Science, and even highlights for Math).
The curriculum presents a “whirlwind tour” of God’s enduring passion for missions, all-the-way-through-history and all-across-the-globe. Using weekly unit-studies, this curriculum is created to be used over a one-year school year, although it can be easily adapted to be used throughout two years. It can be used as a core curriculum guide (for elementary children), or as a supplement to another curriculum. It is written especially for elementary grade levels, but it can also be used for the whole family to study missions together.
Click here for a review on TWGHW by the Old Schoolhouse Magazine
Throughout this 2010-2011 school year at SeriousMoms.com a mission-minded homeschool mother of four, Brenda Scott, is leading other homeschooling families in “blogging-through” our Teaching with God’s Heart for the World curriculum (with our full BLESSING and gratitude).
Because this curriculum was originally written in the 90s, some recommended materials are outdated or no longer available. Brenda is supplimenting each weekly lesson, as she goes through the year with her children, adding links to FREE online resources and recommending additional books which are currently available.
If you plan to utilize this missions curriculum, we encourage you to check-out this site (and be sure to add your own feedback, encouragement, and practical ideas about how your family is using this material . . . and how God is impacting your lives and attitudes for His Great Commission.).
NEW smaller individual pdf files:
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World
VOLUME 1
Vol.1.0a – CONTENTS – Intro to VOLUME 1
Vol.1.0b – HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE – FREE download: CLICK HERE TO BEGIN!!!
Vol.1.1-2 – WELCOME (Ch.1-2)
Vol.1.3 – OUR CALL (Ch.3)
Vol.1.4 – OUR BIBLICAL BASIS (Ch.4)
Vol.1.5 – OUR HERITAGE (Ch.5)
Vol.1.6 – OUR EXAMPLES (Ch.6)
Vol.1.7 – TEACHING HELPS (Ch.7)
Vol.1.8-9 – MISSION SONGS & HOLIDAYS (Ch.8-9)
Vol.1.10 – TEACHING HISTORY (Ch.10)
Vol.1.11 – TEACHING GEOGRAPHY (Ch.11)
Vol.1.12 – THE GOSPEL & PERSONAL PRAYER (Ch.12) – Week 1
Vol.1.13a – BEGINNING OF WORLD MISSIONS (Ch.13)
Vol.1.13b – OLD TESTAMENT/ISRAEL/CREATION – Week 2
Vol.1.13c – NEW TESTAMENT/ROMAN EMPIRE – Week 3
Vol.1.14a – MISSIONS THROUGH HISTORY (Ch.14) – Week 4
Vol.1.14b – CRUSADES/HOLY WARS/LATE MIDDLE AGES – Week 5
Vol.1.14c – RENAISSANCE & REFORMATION – Week 6
Vol.1.14d – EXPLORATION & COLONIZATION – Week 7
Vol.1.15a – W.EUROPE/EARLY MISSIONARIES (Ch.15) – Week 8
Vol.1.15b – E.EUROPE/FALL OF COMMUNISM – Week 9
Vol.1.15c – NATIVE-AMERICANS/PILGRIMS/THANKSGIVING – Week 10
Vol.1.15d – MISSIONS IN THE USA – Week 11
Vol.1.15e – SOUTH AMERICA – Week 12
Vol.1.15f – MEXICO/LATIN AMERICA/CHRISTMAS – Week 13
Vol.1.15g – SE.ASIA/INDIA/HINDUISM – Week 14
Vol.1.15h – FAR E.ASIA/CHINA/BUDDHISM – Week 15
Vol.1.15i – 10-40 WINDOW- Week 16
Vol.1.16 – Notes, Bibliography & Index
NEW smaller individual pdf files:
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World
VOLUME 2
Vol.2.0 – Intro to Volume 2
Vol.2.1 – FINDING YOUR MISSION (Ch. 1)
Vol.2.2 – INTERCESSORY PRAYER (Ch. 2)
Vol.2.3 – MOTIVATIONAL MISSION STORIES (Ch. 3)
Vol.2.4 – WORLD RELIGIONS (Ch. 4)
Vol.2.5 – FOUNDATIONS (Ch. 5) – Week 17
Vol.2.6a – TEN FORTY WINDOW (Ch. 6) – Week 18
Vol.2.6b – MIDDLE EAST ISLAM (Ch. 6) – Week 19
Vol.2.6c – NORTH AFRICA ISLAM (CH. 6) – Week 20
Vol.2.6d – SUB SAHARA AFRICA (Ch. 6) – Week 21
Vol.2.6e – SUB SAHARA AFRICA TODAY (Ch. 6) – Week 22
Vol.2.6f – AUSTRALIA ABORIGINES (Ch. 6) – Week 23
Vol.2.6g – SOUTH PACIFIC (Ch. 6) – Week 24
Vol.2.7a – COLONIAL LIFE (Ch. 7) – Week 25
Vol.2.7b – WESTWARD ADVENTURE (Ch. 7) – Week 26
Vol.2.7c – VICTORIAN AGE (Ch. 7) – Week – 27
Vol.2.7d – WWI (Ch. 7) – Week – 28
Vol.2.7e – GREAT DEPRESSION (Ch. 7) – Week – 29
Vol.2.7f – WWII (Ch. 7) – Week – 30
Vol.2.7g – SPECIALIZATIONS (Ch. 7) – Week – 31
Vol.2.7h -NATIONALIZATION (Ch. 7) – Week – 32
Vol.2.8 – UNREACHED PEOPLE (Ch. 8 )
Vol.2.9 – FINANCIAL STEWARDSHIP (Ch. 9)
Vol.2.10 – MISSIONS AND LOCAL CHURCH (Ch. 10)
Vol.2.11a- MAPS-VBS (Ch. 11)
Vol.2.11b – MAP OVERHEADS (Ch. 11)
Vol.2.11c- MAPS-VBS-COPIES (Ch. 11)
Vol.2.11d – MINISTRY-IDEAS (Ch. 11)
Vol.2.12 – MINISTRY-IDEAS -Section 5 – Notes, Bibliography, Index
Vol.2.13a – MISSIONS RESOURCES – PART 1
Vol.2.13b – MISSIONS RESOURCES – PART 2
Vol.2.13c – MISSIONS RESOURCES – PART 3
Vol.2.13d – MISSIONS RESOURCES – PART 4
Note: If you’re searching for “Teaching With God’s Heart for the World” as a full curriculum in a two-volume spiral binding printed set, look here.
MORE HELP:
Learn more about how you and your kids can make a FREE File-Folder Weekly To-Do Chart – to use with this Teaching With God’s Heart for the World curriculum -
FREE Homeschool File Folder Charts
How to Make File Folder Charts for the
Teaching With God’s Heart for the World Curriculum
To my homeschooling friends:
For those of us who are committing to teach our children, we’re all in our last remaining days of summer . . . and our final chance to prepare for a new school year. (Although one thing I always keep in mind is that I don’t need to prepare for the whole year at once . . . I just need to stay a day or two ahead of where we’re going!!!)
Here in our household we’re gearing-up for a super year . . . with hopes and feelings of expectation that this year may be our best homeschooling year ever! And I’m really excited about it!!!
For those who will be utilizing the Teaching With God’s Heart for the World curriculum, I wanted to share a specific teaching tool that has really helped our family.
Kids Keep Focused, Diligent, and On-Task
One of my biggest continual challenges with homeschooling life . . . is that we have continually have LIFE going on!!!
There are many people who give homeschooling a “try” for a year or too; but sometimes, despite the best of intentions, many homeschooling parents realize the commitment is simply “not working” on a consistent basis. I’ve heard many homeschooling moms share genuine feelings of concern and inadequacies, feeling that they’re “cheating” their children of consistent instruction (because these moms know what’s “really” been happening at home). A homeschooling parent may attempt to stay consistent with his or her teaching plans . . . but sometimes their best efforts can lead to burn-out . . . or quitting . . . or too much stress on the family . . . or maybe “persevering” in the decision, whether or not the kids not getting the education they need.
Let’s face it.
There are times when our best intentions and wonderful “teaching plans” are interrrupted. How can our children’s home education continue . . . even if we get an urgent phone call, or if there’s a little one who needs immediate attention, or if our husband has a specific job he needs us to do, or if we have a time in our lives when God is focusing our passions in other areas?
I love teaching and training our children . . . but I also know how my personality works (and I’ve come to recognize my weaknesses).
I tend to focus my thoughts and attention in concentrated whole-hearted “spurts.” I get extremely passionate about things (whether that’s life, or a hurting family, or rescuing orphans, or helping with a specific project at church, or writing a ministry newsletter, or meeting a book deadline) . . . and that focus can be good . . . but it can also be very distracting to our homeschooling.
Despite this, I’ve come to “rest” in the fact (for our family) that homeschooling is God’s will and His purpose for our lives. For us, it has been tremendously successful, both educationally and spiritually for our “big” kids; yet even so, I still deal with inward questioning and times discouragement. We’re now in our 18th year of this journey, and we believe we’re called to continue homeschooling our children . . . for the long-haul. And day-by-day, we continue to rely on God’s grace to follow Him.
When I feel like throwing-in-the-towel if things aren’t working, I simply know that I need to seek the Lord for help and wisdom. If God has truly called us to homeschool (which for us, I believe He has) He will show us the way.
In the forward to my new book, The Mission-Minded Family, I really appreciate what longtime homeschooling pioneers and ministers, Greg & Sono Harris, wrote. They said:
“God is too good and too wise to give us conflicting obligations. Every obligation from God is perfectly compatible with every other obligation that comes from God. Not only are our obligations to family and missions compatible, they are mutually supportive in His purposes.”
For me personally, my biggest homeschooling need is how to keep my children working and independently motivated, especially when other things are happening. I know that I need an on-going “structure” that is well planned, yet also completely flexible (even at the last minute) to flow with our family’s life and with the needs of our missions work and ministry.
In the midst of really praying about this, I woke up one morning with a “picture” in my mind of this little weekly “To-Do” Chart.
I spent a full day figuring-out an ideal homeschooling week for my kids . . . and then broke it down into sixty 20-minute sections. Our family usually does only about 4 full hours of homeschooling each day (not counting daily athletic training, extra reading, art projects . . . and all that other “real-life-learning” that takes place all the time). I love keeping the big picture and vision in mind (of where we’re going), and at the same time, I know that my kids need concentrated education in reading, writing, language arts, history, math, science, geography, and Bible training . . . to get ready for God’s purpose.
I’ve come to realize that (in reality) I can usually only “consistently” devote about an hour or two of actual “Homeschool Teaching Time” with my kids each day (some days are better and I really “pour my heart” into our homeschooling . . . but other days are really full, and I can’t even do that. So for us to homeschool, my husband and I need to know, that no matter what, our kids will be self-disciplined and successfully progressing on their studies).
Okay. So let me show you how our “how-to” chart works:
Last year, our charts were made with simple hand-written cards; but this year, I wanted to make sure that our weekly and daily plans would fit with the Teaching With God’s Heart for the World curriculum.
So I created some pdf files (which you can print out for FREE here) with these sixty 20 minute learning goals.
We cut-out these printed cards I made and then taped them to colored pieces of construction paper (rectangle pieces – 1.5 inches x 2.5 inches) with clear packing tape to keep the cards sturdy.
For each child, we used: 15 red cards (for spiritual training), 11 yellow cards (for math), 5 orange cards (for science), 14 blue cards (for language arts), 15 green cards (for social studies).And the kids have been helping make these cards, and their individual files. This feminine-looking file folder is Caela’s (age 10). Mark (age 12) and Philip (age 7) have identical cards, but their file folders are black-and-green and black-and-blue with cool-looking masculine checkers. The whole project only costs about $1 per folder . . . and a little bit of time (but it saves SOOOO much time later on!!!).
How to make the folders:
We take a sturdy file folder, and cut-up the pockets to make new 9 new pockets: four little square pockets (on the left side) to hold the entire week’s schedule in main categories, four long pockets (on the right side) for each child kid to “lay out” his or her daily goals, and one long pocket (on the bottom-left) to place each card after the assignment has been completed. We use packing tape to hold them on.
(By the way, I found it helps to put about 15 cards in each square-category pocket before taping it on, to make sure the cards “fit.”) The daily “hour” pockets can be totally flat.
Our four main categories are:
- God is #1 (Prayer, Devotions, and Bible)
- Math and Science (“Teaching Time” and “By Myself”)
- English (Literature, Grammar, and Writing)
- Social Studies (History, Geography, World Missions, Music, and many international cultural ideas to keep things fun!!!)
So, here’s an example of how one of the kids can “lay-out” a day. They need to include 3 cards from each category each day, but they plan their own schedule (which teaches self-motivation). And I can make sure that the areas which require my “Teaching Time” can be arranged (and adjusted at a moment’s notice) to adapt to my schedule. I usually prefer to keep my “Teaching Time” during the 2nd hour (for one-on-one teaching, like math and grammar) and 3rd hour (for all-together family teaching, like devotions or history).
A huge benefit of this system is I know that if I can’t get to a “Teaching Time” on a paticular day, I simply tell the kids to rotate those cards back into the category pockets and to replace with with their “By Myself” cards. We know we’ll get back to those “Teaching-Time” cards before the week is over.
While the kids are working on the “By Myself” cards, I can be working on things I need to do, such as laundry, or household jobs, or getting lunch together, or working on ministry office jobs. I’m still available for questions, but the kids know that they need (as much as possible) to keep working as hard as they can on their own.
As each one completes a 20 minute assignment (and we continually use a kitchen timer to keep everyone working diligently), they transfer that particular card to their “DONE!!!” pocket.
These cards will then remain in this “DONE!!!” pocket until the following week.
For our family, this little homeschooling tool has really helped; and I believe it will really work well with this particular curriculum. I wrote Teaching With God’s Heart for the World many years ago; and since that time our homeschooling (and ministry) has adapted and changed, and I believe it’s also “matured” and become more relaxed and fruitful.
I think this change will help make this year-long curriculum more practical, easier-to-follow, and more of a blessing for the dynamics of your family-life.
Hope this will be a blessing to you!
(And I hope you and your family will ENJOY these last few days of summer!!!)In His Love,
Ann
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