Shine Everywhere is the faith-at-home initiative of Shine Curriculum. Through a process of creating at-home resources and hearing how they work for families, we hope to create ever more relevant and practical resources for use at home. Along the way, we hope to create a community of churches and families who discover and practice the everywhere habits that grow faith in children.
A vital aspect of this initiative is learning as we go. This is an iterative process: we do something, then pause and ask what we are learning, we apply our learning to the next thing we do, then pause again and ask what we are learning. We think this learning is important enough to pause from time to time and share with you what we are learning. This way, you can learn along with us, which is only fair, since we are learning from you!
We are learning from a variety of sources. We are learning from you, our friends who use Shine Curriculum and tried first at-home test product, the “Follow the Peace Path” Cards. We are also learning from books and surveys on the topic of faith formation at home. And, we are learning from the other projects funded by the Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative of the Lilly Endowment Inc.
We are still collecting your feedback from the “Follow the Peace Path” Cards, so if your family used the card deck, please fill out our survey. The feedback we have received so far indicates that people think the card deck is practical, beautiful, and fun to use. We are learning that when using the cards, the time of day and setting matter. For example, if you are using the cards at bedtime, you want quiet, “wind-down” activity options, and if you are using them at snack time or mealtime, there could be food-related activities. Overall, people are responding well to the format of the card deck and indicating openness to another card deck in the future.
We are learning that congregational leaders know their families. As we spoke with them at Roundtable, they had clear ideas on what the daily lives of their families are like, and they had a sense of what felt realistic or unrealistic to expect from parents and families. Leaders understand the importance of buy-in from the parents. They want to know that the parents would want the card deck and know what to do with it. Many suggested or even planned a meeting with the parents to introduce the resource.
Through the Roundtables, we are learning just how busy families are. Parents are often overwhelmed by the day-to-day activities of raising children. Even those who want at-home resources find it difficult to fit them into the day.
That’s what we’re learning—to date—from those who used the “Follow the Peace Path” Cards. We are hoping for many more survey responses, so if you used the cards, please fill out our survey. If you gave the cards to others, please ask them to complete it. Next week, I’ll share what we’re learning from the other sources I’ve named: books, research, and the other Christian Parenting and Caregiving Initiative projects. See you next week!
Shana Peachey Boshart, Shine Everywhere Project Facilitator