The Christian Mama's Guide to Grade School Years

Everything You Need to Know to Survive (and Love) Sending Your Kid Off into the Big Wide World

Erin MacPherson

• Publisher: Thomas Nelson
• eBook ISBN:
  9780849964343
• Year: 2013

Prepares moms for the time when their school-aged kids take their first few steps into the world and away from mama's nest.

Sending a child off to school is a whole lot more than stocking up on school supplies and packing a (somewhat) healthy lunch. This helpful guidebook walks Christian moms through: 

• discovering a long-term vision for the person that Christ has purposed for your child to become
• instilling a sense of "who I am and where I came from" in your child
• choosing a school for your kids
• helping your kids to develop key attributes—courage, kindness, perseverance—that lead to success in school
• dealing with teachers, sports, and lessons
• navigating those difficult conversations that will come sooner rather than later
• a special feature includes sidebars "From the Principal's Office" with insights from a 35-year elementary school principal and educator

Moms will learn how to cover their children in prayer so that their launch into the world, and away from her control, is done with grace and wisdom—helping them grow into the men and women God intended them to be. 

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Into the Big, Wide (and Sometimes Scary) World
• One: Getting into the Big-Kid-Mama Groove: Surviving and Thriving as You Transition into the Grade-School Years
• Two: The Fifteen Factors: Doing What It Takes to Help Your Kid Succeed
• Three: The Most Important Factor: Helping Your Kid Find a Genuine Faith
• Four: Catching the Vision: Stepping Forward with a Christ-Centered Vision
• Five: Courage at the Great Divide: The Place Where Stepping Forward Means Stepping Back
• Six: Choosing a School: Sending Your Kid off to the Right Place
• Seven: Social-Emotional Learning 501: Preparing Your Kid for the Grade School Social Scene
• Eight: Your Kindergarten-Readiness Checklist: Getting Your Kid Academically Ready for School
• Nine: Great Communicators Anonymous: Encouraging the Fifteen Factors with Your Words
• Ten: The Christian Daddy’s Guide to Starting School: What Dads Need to Know about Sending Their Kids out into the World
• Eleven: When Things Don’t Go “Right”: What to Do When Your Kid Struggles in School
• Twelve: The Glitter Glue Incident: And Other Grade-School Behavior Issues You’d Rather Avoid
• Thirteen: Michael Phelps Was Born Swimming: And Other Urban Legends about Talented Kids
• Fourteen: Do This, Not That: Helping Your Kid in a Way That’s Actually Helpful
• Epilogue: Bring on the Big-Kidness
• Appendix: The Christian Mama’s Guide to Praying for Your Kids
• About the Author
• Index