Nina helps Jack say his Morning Offering on July 21, 2010 - Jack's due date and his three week old "birthday".
Somewhere along the way in my homeschooling Mom research, I heard the term “prayer pegs.” (See the note at the bottom of this post for a “giving credit where credit is due” attempt for this idea.) The Prayer Pegs concept seemed a succinct way to name something I was already doing for myself and continually hope to train my children to do - basically “pegging” a habit of prayer and faith formation to different routine aspects of the day – wake up time, meal times, chore times, bedtime, etc.
Of course, the idea of attaching prayer to regular parts of each day is not new concept for anyone, I know. The fun name just makes it seem like it!
So, with the “Prayer Pegs” name as a catalyst, I began to reflect upon our days, noting what key routine, non-negotiable and natural events occur regularly despite “whatever comes up”. Then, I thought about our Jammies School Mission and Goals and how we might “peg” activities and action steps related to it to each of these rhythmic events of our day.
Since our primary goal is “to love God”, it made sense to me that the pegging should begin with prayer. For, as anyone knows, if you peg too much laundry to a line, the line might not hold. So, before I started randomly pegging things to each part of our day, I wanted to be sure I began with the most vital -- faith, leaving the stray socks and rags of life and studies, so to speak, to drape wherever they might fit in order to dry. Thus, we could rest assured that the most important things had secure spots to flutter in life’s breeze.
What I came up with was a relatively simple vision of what Prayer Pegs should go where within our day:
Wake Up
Morning Offering
(Daily Readings for Mommy)
Informal Conversations With and About God
Breakfast Time
Daily Prayer
Grace
Bible Story and Devotionals
Eventually: Inspirational Songs
Snack Time
Grace
Praise
Lunch Time
Currently: Grace
Moving Forward: Hail Mary (Building to Angelus) or the Memorare
Tea Time
Grace
Sometimes, Faith Based Story Time
Sometimes, Saint Day Tea or Other Special Faith Event
Dinner Time
Grace
Thank You God for...
Build toward Family Rosary before Bedtime
Bedtime
Currently: A.C.T.S Prayer and, sometimes, Faith-Based Music
Over Time: Examination of Conscience and Act of Contrition
Additionally, we participate in Mass at least once a week with our entire family, plan to celebrate our Name Days and our Baptism Days, and observe the Liturgical Year in our Domestic Church through special events, such as Saint Day Tea Times.
Over the course of the next few Wednesdays, I will share in detail about each of our Prayer Peg Times. Please stop by to see what we are doing as well as to add your own ideas and inspiration to our “loving God” mission by leaving comments.
Prayer Pegs are working for us. To see what works for others this week, check out the Works for Me Wednesday links at We Are THAT Family.
*NOTE: In the interest of giving credit where credit is due, I have tried to find where I first heard the term “prayer pegs”, but cannot seem to do so. I have traced the “pegging” concept, however, to Leoni from the CatholicCMason Yahoogroup with a developed example of a “pegged” day posted by Melisa Wiley at Here in the Bonnie Glen. If anyone knows who to credit for the “prayer pegs” idea itself, please share!
Nice post! We also peg the Angelus to meals and Grace.... And the rosary and morning prayers often are pegged to travel time in the car!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Leonie. If the Rosary does not work for us where I have it ideally pegged, I think I will follow suit with you about travel time. What a great way to spend car time!
ReplyDeleteA day bathed (pegged) in prayer is GREAT!
ReplyDeleteHi Martianne! Just to let you know I linked back at your blog at my Fish Study Part II post. Thanks for sharing the links on your Fish mini unit study. Hugs
ReplyDeleteI love this idea.
ReplyDeleteI think I may have a board created with something to actually move around. Maybe a PEG. lol
Blessings,
Emily
I think your tea time & prayer idea may have just changed my life. My kids go to a Catholic school and I've been looking for a way we can regroup with prayer and conversation right when they get home at 3pm. They both actually like tea very much so it should be perfect. Thank you for posting your pegging prayer idea. I shared on Pinterest so others can be inspired also. Thank you!
ReplyDelete