Tag: homeschooling

Pass It On!

Diana B.Leave a comment

God keeps bringing Psalm 145 to my attention lately — a timely reminder to pass on to my children all that I know about the one true God. 

First, as part of our homeschool curriculum this year, I purchased a fabulous new family Bible story book by Starr Meade called The Mighty Acts of God. The author’s note for parents explains that the book gets its name from Psalm 145:4. “One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts.”  

Meade goes on to explain that the purpose of telling stories of God’s mighty acts isn’t for entertainment value or good moral examples. The purpose is to make known the wonder of God’s great character. What a great verse Psalm 145:4 is for parents and grandparents! 

One way of declaring God’s mighty acts is by talking about them, and another is by writing about them. Psalm 102:18 says – “Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD.” 

Over Labor Day weekend, our family had the privilege of seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls at our local science museum. How amazing to see those ancient words of God that He miraculously preserved in jars inside of caves for two thousand years. What a mighty act of God! And how thankful I am for those men of long ago who obediently and diligently wrote those precious words down on scrolls so that my generation could see them and praise God! 

My daughters also were quite inspired by seeing the Dead Sea Scrolls, and they were eager to create their own scrolls at home. (We just glued parchment paper to wooden dowels to create them.) 

Laurel writes in her scroll.
Linnea uses hieroglyph stamps on her scroll.
We wrap each scroll in felt to help preserve it.
our jar of scrolls

Another way to pass along truths about God is through song. And that’s actually another way God brought Psalm 145 to my attention. While my husband was leading worship music at church a few weeks ago, he found this fantastic song for a Sunday morning offertory. Our very talented friend Mia sang “The Lord is Gracious and Compassionate” beautifully. It’s one of those songs that you can’t help but sing along to, and the words are right from Scripture. Many are right from Psalm 145. Listen to this version from Vineyard Church and you’ll see what I mean: 

Putting Scripture to music usually helps greatly in attempts to memorize it. So when the fall Sunday School classes kicked off at church this week, I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised to discover that my oldest daughter’s weekly memory verse comes from Psalm 145. It’s verse 9: “The LORD is good to all; He has compassion on all He has made.” She came home from class with it already memorized, thanks to that song she’d heard over and over!

What’s more, my youngest daughter and I have been studying the seven days of creation in Genesis this past week, so “all He has made” has been at the forefront of my mind. Her memory verse isn’t from Psalm 145, but it dovetails nicely into this message of God’s mighty acts. Luke 18:27 says, “What is impossible with man is possible with God.” Preserving words on paper for two thousand years would be impossible for man, but it was possible with God! 

So, as we dive deep into a busy new school year — teaching the next generation about God — I am thankful for the fresh encouragement in these ancient words of Psalm 145. When I am tempted to be angered by my children’s attitudes or behaviors, I cling to those words “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, rich in love.” Lord, help me respond to my children the way You respond to Yours! 

I am so thankful that God is good to all and compassionate on all He has made. I am thankful that He provides for my needs and watches over me. He is worthy of praise for ever and ever! 

Psalm 145

A psalm of praise. Of David.

 1 [a] I will exalt you, my God the King;
       I will praise your name for ever and ever. 

 2 Every day I will praise you
       and extol your name for ever and ever. 

 3 Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
       his greatness no one can fathom. 

 4 One generation will commend your works to another;
       they will tell of your mighty acts. 

 5 They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty,
       and I will meditate on your wonderful works. [b] 

 6 They will tell of the power of your awesome works,
       and I will proclaim your great deeds. 

 7 They will celebrate your abundant goodness
       and joyfully sing of your righteousness. 

 8 The LORD is gracious and compassionate,
       slow to anger and rich in love. 

 9 The LORD is good to all;
       he has compassion on all he has made. 

 10 All you have made will praise you, O LORD;
       your saints will extol you. 

 11 They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
       and speak of your might, 

 12 so that all men may know of your mighty acts
       and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. 

 13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
       and your dominion endures through all generations.
       The LORD is faithful to all his promises
       and loving toward all he has made. [c] 

 14 The LORD upholds all those who fall
       and lifts up all who are bowed down. 

 15 The eyes of all look to you,
       and you give them their food at the proper time. 

 16 You open your hand
       and satisfy the desires of every living thing. 

 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways
       and loving toward all he has made. 

 18 The LORD is near to all who call on him,
       to all who call on him in truth. 

 19 He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;
       he hears their cry and saves them. 

 20 The LORD watches over all who love him,
       but all the wicked he will destroy. 

 21 My mouth will speak in praise of the LORD.
       Let every creature praise his holy name
       for ever and ever. 

By the way, the girls and I have been reading The Mighty Acts of God aloud, and it’s really well done. I highly recommend it.

Expressing Herself

Diana B.1 Comment

While our oldest daughter has been quiet and reserved since Day 1, our youngest has been, well, much louder and much more expressive. On Day 1 in the nursery at the hospital, one of the nurses told me, “Wow! She’s a pistol!” We spent the next 4+ years fully realizing just what that nurse meant!

If you saw these photos last summer, you know our expressive one makes lots of faces in the backyard. Truth is, she makes lots of faces wherever she roams. Here are some that I caught at the park our first day of school.

serious
smiley
excited
mischievous
sweet

To Ethiopia with Love

Diana B.Leave a comment

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”

-Isaiah 1:17 NLV 

Earlier this week the girls and I went shopping for boy stuff!

Can you imagine how excited they are to buy boy stuff? You see, as part of our sponsorship of a little boy at Kind Hearts Orphanage in Ethiopia, we are putting together a little care package that will be delivered to Dawit this fall.

So we bought a little toy car, a soccer t-shirt, chewing gum and lots of other little stuff — emphasis on little because it all has to fit in a gallon-sized zip-lock bag.

I had to keep reminding my little shoppers of this noteworthy detail throughout our shopping excursion. They are so generous, and they think so big when they are excited!

The girls also are full of questions about Dawit’s life in Ethiopia and why he can’t just go to the store and buy these sorts of things for himself. Oh, how tender and compassionate their hearts are growing toward this little boy living such a different life half-way around the world! Laurel is so ready to adopt him and be his mama herself. I keep having to explain that he isn’t available for adoption, not to mention that he’s older than she is and probably wouldn’t like her bossing him around!

Still available for sponsorship through Children’s HopeChest  are several children at Trees of Glory orphanage. For more information or to sign up as a sponsor, please contact Karen Wistrom at kjwistrom@yahoo.com or hop over to her blog, Family from Afar.

Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.”

-Isaiah 1:17 NLV 

Preschool Booklets

Diana B.1 Comment

I threw together two little preschool booklets for my littlest one to complete, and I thought I’d share the downloadable files I created. I printed them on cardstock so they will hold up to paint dots, markers, etc.

Laurel gets to pick exactly what she wants to do with hers, but some of the options might be decorating the number cards with a corresponding number of colors or paint dots. For the abcs book, we might decorate it with something that starts with that letter, such as glitter for “g,” buttons for “b,” you get the idea. Stickers are also an option.

Here are PDFs of the abcs book and the number book. Just print, color, cut on the dotted lines, and assemble with a stapler. Or punch a hole in the top left corner and slide a book ring through it.

Laurel will be counting up to the 100th day as part of our preschool plan. She will be making a construction paper chain with these 100 links. They are 1 inch by 9 inches long and maybe I’ll even convince her to do a rainbow pattern with them! She’ll also be adding mini-sized popsicle sticks to a jar each school day, and on the 100th day we’ll go do something fun to celebrate.

Not Back-to-School: Part 4

Diana B.3 Comments

This week “A Day in the Life” is the focus of the Not Back-to-School blog hop going on at Heart of the Matter. So, I thought I’d share a sample schedule, which sort of reflects our daily routine when school is in session. The book Managers of Their Homes by Steve and Teri Maxwell was quite helpful in putting this together.

7:30 a.m. – dress, make beds, do other morning chores

We use the chores system from Accountable Kids, which is really helpful.

8:30 a.m. – breakfast and clean up kitchen, review memory verses

9 a.m. – prayers, sing a hymn, Bible lesson, calendar

We use traditional hymnals as well as Hymns for a Kid’s Heart (vol. 1 and 2) and Passion Hymns for a Kid’s Heart, which all come with music CDs, hymn stories and prayers. 

9:30 a.m. – oldest works on spelling and handwriting lessons while Mom works with youngest (craft project, abcs, reading a book, or doing dot-to-dot)

10 a.m. – oldest does math lesson with Mom while youngest listens to a book on CD and then plays with puzzle or blocks or Lincoln logs or dress up

10:30 a.m. – snack/recess break

11 a.m. – history lesson (mom reads aloud to both) and/or science lesson

11:30 a.m. – oldest does language lesson with Mom while youngest is free to play or look at books

noon – lunch break and clean up

1 p.m. – oldest practices piano while youngest reads with Mom

1:30 p.m. – quiet time for Mom, oldest reads in her room while youngest rests/naps in her room

3 p.m. – oldest briefly narrates/summarizes her reading to Mom; all enjoy a light snack

3:15 p.m. – errands, chores, various extracurricular activities and dinner prep

5:30 p.m. – dinner and clean up

6:15 p.m. – girls play while Mom and Dad talk

7:15 p.m. – read-aloud chapter book (read by either Mom or Dad)

7:45 p.m. – bedtime chores

8 p.m. – prayers and kids tucked into bed

Whew! It makes me tired just when I type it all out! And since we don’t start this school year until Sept. 1, this is basically last year’s routine, which will need to be adjusted to make room for new stuff, like a reading lesson for my youngest. Every year and every day is different, and I strive to be flexible and welcome God to interupt our day. After all, He knows exactly the number of days planned for us and He is the ultimate homeschool planner, as I blogged about here. 

God bless your school year and happy blog-hopping!

Not Back to School Blog Hop

Not Back-to-School: Part 3

Diana B.6 Comments

It’s week 3 of the Not Back-to-School blog hop, and that means the spotlight moves to the students. Please allow me to introduce my little stars!

Star Student: Laurel, age 4+

Laurel is our sensitive yet spunky almost 5-year-old star student. If she couldn’t be a little girl, she’d be a mermaid no doubt. She loves everything about water (as I mentioned in this earlier post) and has made great strides in swimming lessons this summer, gaining a lot of independence and confidence. She also learned to ride a bike with training wheels and a three-wheel scooter this summer, and she can pump her legs on the swings well enough that the Swing Pusher (that’s me) is out of a job. When she isn’t playing dress-up or plinking around on the piano, Laurel is usually saying something funny and quotable. She just can’t wait for school to start and is joyfully looking forward to reading lessons and an ant farm project with live (gasp!) ants. For her birthday in October, she is asking to have a baby-doll themed party because she really wants a baby doll that drinks real water and wets. (More of that water obsession again.)

Star Student: Linnea, age 7

Linnea is our sweet and studious 7-year-old star student. If she couldn’t be a little girl, she’d be a fairy for sure. She loves exploring God’s creation, and she’s an avid collector of rocks, shells (as I mentioned in this post), sticks, acorns, seeds and anything that she can sneak into her pockets. When she isn’t outside on her scooter, playing with the neighbors or practicing piano, Linnea is most often found curled up with her nose in one of the Boxcar Children books. I think she’s read more than a dozen of them this summer, and a few twice! This summer she has mastered swimming in deep water with confidence, which we discovered at our friends’ pool when she repeatedly jumped off the diving board into eight feet of water and swam to the opposite end multiple times without any adult in the pool. In fact, my husband and I weren’t even watching the first three times she did it. (Don’t worry, another adult was watching from the edge of the pool.)

I am one very blessed mama to have such star students to teach. There’s no one else I’d rather spend my day with! 

Thanks for reading about my little stars! Happy blog hopping!

Not Back-To-School Part 2

Diana B.16 Comments

It’s week two of the Not Back-to-School Blog Hop, and time to put the spotlight on the school room.

Oh, yikes! That room is still under serious construction at the moment! I promise to offer a current photo a little later in this post so you can appreciate how truly disorganized it is. But first, please allow me to share a few shots I took of our school room last fall when things looked most presentable.

This is our classroom in the basement. Glass French doors separate it from the family room.

These fun mini-organizer tool totes for scrapbooking also work great for daily school supplies like scissors, pencils, glue sticks, ruler, eraser and crayons. I found the mini-sized ones last fall on clearance at Archivers and bought one for each of my daughters to keep on their desks. Unfortunately, I just did an online search and could no longer find the mini size, but the regular size Tote-Ally Cool Tools Tote is still available and would hold even more tools and supplies!

This bookcase from Ikea was another very useful purchase.

Besides the fact that it holds loads of books, I love that the shelves are perfectly sized to hold these boxes and many other containers that Ikea sells, too. I have labeled each square by subject or category. So, for instance, we have a square for math and another below it for boxes of math manipulatives. I also store 3-ring-binders for most subjects, boxes of small toys, boxes of school supplies, handwriting paper, construction paper, magazines, flashcards, music CDs, and our listening lab books here. When we first purchased this shelf, my youngest was not quite 3-years-old, and I liked that I could put several books within her reach and store special books and other items safely out of her reach on the higher shelves.

Learning at home doesn’t just happen in the basement, thankfully. The whole world is our classroom! And likewise, the whole house also ends up being our classroom, too. For us, the kitchen area is frequently used, and one item that has been especially useful there is our sensory tub.

In the photo above, the girls are using the tub to sort seashells from our Florida trip. It’s also great workspace for some science projects, but the main reason I purchased it was for educational entertainment during the winter months when it’s too frigid to spend much time exploring outside. The girls have played with dry oatmeal, cornmeal, sand, rocks, rice, water, snow, ice, and play dough in it. The possibilities are truly endless! For more sensory tub ideas with straw, magnets and other items, check out this helpful little video that I found on YouTube:

Okay, if you’re still with me, here’s that work-in-progress photo I promised at the beginning of this post.

See what I mean? Gasp! I better wrap up this post and start putting all this stuff back where it belongs!

Happy blog-hopping!

Not Back-to-School: Part 1

Diana B.6 Comments

As a homeschool family, our “back to school” is obviously a little non-traditional. Nobody regularly loads onto a big yellow bus with her backpack and lunchbox in tow, although 4-year-old Laurel did finally get to ride a big yellow bus this summer on a family field trip to a local dairy farm.

She was thrilled! And even without a big yellow bus to catch daily, we have many little thrills to enjoy when school begins!

Our daily routine and pace change once September arrives and activities like dance and art class start up again. And we do have new fall clothes to wear and new school supplies to unwrap. I seriously love buying school supplies. But — best of all — we have new books and curriculum! Some are still arriving in packages on our front doorstep. How thrilling to unwrap it all, crack open those books, and dig in!

In light of that impending excitement and this being “Curriculum Week” for Heart of the Matter’s Not Back-to-School Blog Hop, I’d like to share what books and curriculum we are planning to use this fall. (By the way, if you read this post, I am happy to announce that some of this has just been decided in the last 48 hours. Yippee!)

DOING TOGETHER:

SECOND GRADER

PRE-SCHOOLER (turning 5 this fall):

To read the curriculum plans of other homeschool families, click the button below and enjoy the Blog Hop!

http://heartofthematteronline.com/not-back-to-school-blog-hop-2

Reading about Reading

Diana B.1 Comment

Listen up, fellow children’s book lovers! Here are some handy resources for chosing books to read to your kids or to give them to read.

I may have already posted some of these links when I posted about preschool at home, so please forgive me if I repeat myself. 

  1. Choosing the Best Books for Our Children
  2. Children’s Book Mondays
  3. Reading is for Girls
  4. Girls of Character: Teaching Biblical Femininity to the Next Generation through Literature: Part I, Part II, Part III, and Part IV
  5. Reading is for Boys: Part I and Part II
  6. Honey for a Child’s Heart by Gladys Hunt
  7. Books Children Love: A Guide to the Best Children’s Literature
  8. Best Books for Girls: 20 Books She Has Loved
  9. List of Best Picture Books: Some Key Titles to Build a Home Library

And since I know how much you love reading about reading — or maybe you don’t — I have to add just a handful of my own favorite children’s books for the record!

Board Books

  • Jesus Loves Me by Debby Anderson
  • God Lives in My House by Melody Carlson
  • God Goes with Me by Melody Carlson
  • God Made Them All by Melody Carlson
  • I Can Count on God by Melody Carlson
  • The Very Quiet Cricket by Eric Carle
  • Brown Bear, Brown Bear by Eric Carle
  • Blue Hat, Green Hat by Sandra Boynton
  • Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton
  • Your Personal Penguin by Sandra Boynton
  • Barnyard Dance by Sandra Boynton
  • Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
  • Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown

Picture Books

  • Brave Irene by William Steig
  • A Parable about the King by Beth Moore
  • Pioneer Girl: The Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder by William Anderson, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
  • A Picture of God: 3 in 1 by Joanne Marxhausen
  • My First Little House Books (adapted) by Laura Ingalls Wilder, illustrated by Renee Graef
  • The Little Girl and the Big Bear retold by Joanna Galdone, illustrated by Paul Galdone
  • Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
  • A Tree is Nice by Janice May Udry
  • Click, Clack, Moo by Doreen Cronin
  • Giggle, Giggle, Quack by Doreen Cronin
  • A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman and Betty Fraser
  • The Oak Inside the Acorn by Max Lucado, illustrated by George Angelini
  • The Way Home: A Princess Story by Max Lucado, illustrated by Tristen Elwell

Early Readers

  • Little Bear series by Else Holmelund Minarik
  • Frog and Toad series by Arnold Lobel
  • Owl at Home by Arnold Lobel
  • Mouse Tales by Arnold Lobel
  • Mouse Soup by Arnold Lobel

Chapter Books

  •  The Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White
  • Anne of Green Gables series by L.M. Montgomery
  • Betsy-Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace
  • Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle series by Betty MacDonald
  • The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh
  • Sarah Whitcher’s Story by Elizabeth Yates

Children’s Bibles

  • Lift-the-Flap Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
  • Lift-the-Flap Bible Adventures by Allia Zobel Nolan
  • My Good Night Bible: 45 Bedtime Bible Stories for Little Ones by Susan L. Lingo
  • The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones
  • NIrV Discoverer’s Bible for Young Readers

Well, perhaps that was slightly more than a handful. But really I did it for you, my dear readers!

Quick side note: If you read this post earlier this week, you already know that I am undecided on what to use and what to do with regard to the Bible and history in our homeschool this fall. And now I have another item to add to the confusion: Through the Bible with Your Child . Sigh.

But enough about that. Grab one of these books, plop down in a comfy chair — inside or out — and then snuggle up with your favorite little people. Happy reading, friends!

Presentation Day

Diana B.4 Comments

Last week our homeschool group held its 2nd annual Presentation Day — a wonderful event that allows the students in our group to display some of their hard work and also perform before a live audience. It’s a fantastic way to wrap up the school year, and it’s also good medicine for us moms! When we are all wiped out at the end of the school year, there’s nothing more encouraging and inspiring than seeing the kids put on an incredible program — piano, violin, guitar, skits, poetry, ballet, singing, live science experiments, and even some magic tricks. It’s also really a treat to check out all the amazing projects other homeschoolers have been working on in art, science, history, etc.

Linnea has been studying U.S. history all year — from the Leif Erickson to Thomas Edison, and from Delaware to Hawaii. So she put together a pretty nifty U.S. history display, which included her tri-corn hat, her paper patchwork quilt, her drawing of the Statue of Liberty, her drawing of George Washington, her replica of the Oregon Trail, her replica of Jamestown 1607, and her 93-page U.S. history scrapbook that she labored over diligently all year.   

the Oregon Trail replica

She also had several pieces of artwork on display from her Friday art class with Mrs. Henriksen. The one pictured above is one of my favorites.

During the special program, Linnea played “Pink Polka Dots” on piano, and then she recited the poem “Bed in Summer” by Robert Lewis Stevenson.

Laurel recited “To the First Robin” by Louisa May Alcott. Then, accompanied on guitar by their dad, the girls sang “Three Cheers for the Red, White and Blue.”

They did a fantastic job! I’m so proud of them and all their hard work this year. We all have learned so much and made so many great memories together! I’m enjoying summer, but I’m also looking forward to start fresh again in the fall.