Post-Eastertide Guest Post #8: Montessori-inspired Prayer Chart

This week's guest post is from Leann, one of the fun on-line friends that I have made through blogging. We "met" in Karen Tyler's on-line Montessori course and have kept in touch through our blogs. Montessori Tidbits, Leann's blog, is a great resource for anyone wanting to learn more about how to implement Montessori into your homeschool experience. This was originally supposed to be part of the Eastertide series with Storyteller, but life happens, even in the blogging world. . . so we get to enjoy it now!

I love the simple prayers of a child.  They are so sincere, innocent, and pure.  They are spoken from the heart and in a way that many adults miss in their own prayer life.
As a Christian mom, I have always sought ways to help my son understand prayer is more than just asking for things.
It’s his time to mention things that are important to him. 
It’s his time to say thank you.
It’s his time to ask for help, especially on character traits that he’s working on.

However, my son sometimes has a hard time remembering what he wants to pray for and about.  That’s how our Montessori-inspired interactive prayer chart began.
In a corner of our classroom hangs a small pocket chart with 2 sentence strips.  “I pray for…” and “I am thankful for…” is written on the sentence strips.  A small basket sets beside this chart containing photos and name cards, to be placed on the chart. 

I created the name cards to include people in the family, friends, and character traits.  Also in the basket are postcards and printables from various religious organizations that focus on people groups around the world, orphans, missionaries, and persecuted Christians.

During our morning “Breakfast and Bible Stories” time, my son goes to the basket and selects some cards for things he would like to pray for that day.  Then after our Bible story and study time, we look at the chart once more to remind him of the things he selected.  We take turns praying for those topics that we feel led to pray about.  I love that the chart is positioned close by, which he can quickly reference, if he feels he cannot remember someone or something to pray for.

On the day that I snapped these photos, my son pulled out that he wanted to pray for his grandmother – my mom, because her cancer treatments have started to wear on her body.  Likewise, he wanted to pray that God will make him “a person after God’s own heart,”  -- a card he has continuously pulled out since we began talking about King David several weeks ago. 

At the bottom, he’s placed that he’s thankful for two of his cousins, as well as a printable about a persecuted people group in Central America (this is usually located under the “I pray for…” section and not the “I am thankful for…” section).



When I first began this chart, I was seeking additional resources that could complement it.  Here are a few of our favorites:

• We Choose Virtues clue cards
• Character trait printables found here (I print 6 to a page)
• I’ve been eyeing these prayer cards for a while, from Prayer Products
• scripture memory cards – your own memory work or print a set of ABC scripture cards
• unreached people group cards
• prayer calendar for persecuted Christians, found within the activity books from Voice of the Martyrs/Kids of Courage

I love that this interactive prayer chart allows my son to have the freedom to choose what he’d like to pray for.  It is teaching him to have compassion and gratitude, by reminding him to be thankful besides being earnest.  Most importantly, it’s building a foundation of coming to the Father with an open heart about any problem, situation, or care – and, in my eyes, there’s nothing else more important to teach him.

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Leann is a Christian homeschooling mama of an over-active 6 year old, proud wife of a cop, and pet lover of their two dogs and frogs. Her personal blog, Montessori Tidbits, chronicles their homeschooling journey, while throwing in tidbits about life, reviews, and recipes.