L l Leaf

Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree

Leaves are the theme of the week and the words to remember are "I will live and grow in Jesus".  We're going to need to extend this into next week because there are so many wonderful activities to do and we were just too busy to get everything in.  Next week is A a Apple with the words "If I stay in Jesus I will bear much fruit" so the two themes mesh together easily.  

Monday was our only "school day"...

• We worked on handwriting - Thank goodness for the easiest letter to write.  Nora has mastered Ll!!  And neither of us cried! (I might try to do handwriting stations next week to make the process more fun. (Thanks for pinning such brilliant stuff, Rachel!) 
• In math we are working on patterns. 
• We did a picture study of Van Gogh's Mulberry Tree
• We went outside and picked a leaf from a plant.  We observed it shriveling all week and we talked about the analogy of that leaf and our need to "live and grow in Jesus".  We read Psalm 1:1-3, Jeremiah 17:7-8 and 1 John 5:12. 
• We read lots of books about leaves.  There are so many great ones. I'll put a book list at the end in case someone can find it useful.
• We went for a leaf walk and collected lots of leaves to use for various activities that we'll get to next week (hopefully).  

Leaf gathering is hard work.  Claire takes a snooze in Nora's lap.

On Tuesday most of the girls from my MOPS table plus my 2 neighbors came for a Messy Party in our backyard - 8 moms and 17 kids.  We had a blast!  There were a bunch of messy stations with each one representing the 6 days of creation. The kids played so nicely together and the moms actually got to talk.  I would have messy parties every week if people would come!

Day 2 Station - exploring water, ice and shaving cream
I don't have a photo for Day 1, mostly because it got eaten before I could get to it.  It was finger painting with vanilla and chocolate pudding (for the light and the darkness)

Day 3 Station - making concoctions with beans, seeds, grass, dirt, etc.

Day 4 Station - making a mural of the night sky (and other things)

Day 5 Station - painting fish and birds.  (Also a vat of blue jello with floating fish for the babies)

Day 6 Station - playing with animals in dirt and making mud men.
 I was surprised that this wasn't more of a hit.  If I was a kid I would have jumped right in.
 I've always loved a good mud pit.

Ball Pit

Baby Blanket - with a basket of creation bean bags, squishy bags and discovery bottles.
See the triplets?  So cute!

Lunch Time

The sand box got a lot of use.  The chickens are looking on in the background.

Wednesday was library day...

The girls made masks  

By Thursday, everyone (except Daddy who never gets sick) had colds so we took the opportunity to veg and watch movies until an evening birthday party for our sweet neighbor and playmate, Louis, who turned 2.

On Friday we had the great treat of getting together with my best friends from college - Phil and Amy and their three boys.  They moved to Indiana years ago so our visits are few and far between. Our times together are always good and thought-provoking.  By the way, if you want to hear some great, new music for the church, check out Phil's church's project: Clearnote Songbook.  They are doing amazing work there.  When we were helping with the contemporary service at our church we introduced two of their songs and loved them.  We often listen around the house by clicking the "play audio" button in the upper right hand corner. Nora loves to sing along.

On Saturday we had two birthday parties before nap time!  Hunter and the triplets were both turning one.  I made discovery baskets for each family and I'm very happy with how they turned out.  We had SO much fun.  Apple picking at the Styers Orchard and Itsy Bitsy Spider were the themes.  THEN at night we met up with Aunt Vicky and Hope and went to homecoming at Cairn University.  We got to connect with a bunch of people we know and love and we had a blast on the free rides and bounce houses.  The night ended with a great fireworks display.  It's been a fantastic whirlwind. I'm thankful for the 7th day of rest!

Apple Picking

No wonder I have back problems!  I spend a good portion of life in this position. :)

Hay Ride

 I love how creative my friend, Jess is.  Look at all these fun, educational games she set out.

Happy Birthday, Sweet Boy!

Happy Bithday, Triplets!

Stephanie threw an amazing party.  Look at that cake!!

At Homecoming on the Scambler with Claire and Hope

Lucy and Aunt Vicky

Face Painting!

I love the way the "Discovery Bag" turned out!

My new favorite 1st birthday party gift - discovery bag and bottles and set of creation bean bags

Our favorite "Ll Leaf" books:

• Leaves!  Leaves!  Leaves! by Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
• Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert
• Why Do the Leaves Change Color by Betsy Maestro
• Leaf Jumpers by Leslie Evans
• The Little Yellow Leaf by Carin Berger
• Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins
• Leaves by David Ezra Stein
• Fletcher and the Falling Leaves by Julia Rawlinson
• Look What I Did with a Leaf by Morteza E. Sohi
• Poetry for Young People by Robert Frost (Poems of Autumn)
• Poetrees by Douglas Florian
• Tree from the DK Eyewitness Book Series
• My Favorite Tree: Terrific Trees of North America by Diane Iverson
• Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees by Jim Arnosky

M m Moon

"Starry Night" by Van Gogh

This turned out to be a soul-plumbing week.

The letter "M", the moon and the words: "I am the Light of the World" were our themes. I really want to raise children who delight in serving others and who are lights in the world.  We talked about how the Bible says we are to let our lights shine so that God will receive glory.  We talked about ways that we can do this and practiced some of them.

In dealing with this topic I was struck with the hypocrisy which exists in the juxtaposition of the desire I have to live out the Christian life of service and the very deep ugly that resides in me.

We started learning the Operational Definitions of Character Qualities.  This week I chose "Hospitality" which is: "Cheerfully sharing food, shelter and spiritual nourishment with those whom God brings into my life." and we learned the verse to go with it: Hebrews 13:2.  That saying, written in large print on our chalkboard kitchen wall, along with Bible verses and a week's worth of spiritual light reflecting activities, after a while seemed painfully sardonic.

After one particularly difficult morning in which I was inexcusably monstrous, I had to wipe off everyone's tears and then proceed to present a carefully constructed lesson plan about missionaries and showing love to our neighbors and what not.

Hey!!  How about you just work on not being a complete jerk toward your kids, Lauren?!

Parenting is hard.  Just being a decent human being is hard for me sometimes.

And here I am, making missionary cookies for the neighbors who don't yell at their child and who are more neighborly than Mark and I and they don't even claim to be Christians.

<sigh>

But this is what I learned in My Father's World kindergarten: I'm not meant to be a flashlight or a candle or anything else that you think of hiding under a bushel, no.  I'm meant to be a mirror.  Just like the moon doesn't give off it's own light but it reflects the sun's light, (did you know that?  I didn't know that), I am supposed to be a reflection of who God is. I don't even have my own light to shine which was painfully obvious this week.

So if we could all just sing "This little reflector vest of mine" in Sunday School, that would clear up a lot.

I know, the Bible explicitly says that we are to be lights.  And the moon is called a light in Genesis.  But when I look at the way God created the moon to function as a light even though it isn't actually a source of light itself, it helps me to understand the verse in Matthew better.  I'm still working out all of the implications but I think that changes the way I see my Christian duty.

And how many times have a I been a mirror but in the wrong way?  Particularly to my kids and my husband, when they interact with me and all I point out are their faults.  But if I were to reflect God's light, they would find a well of grace and hope and love that tells them they are lovely, not because of what they do or don't do, but because God loves them.

I'm so thankful to have Mark, who has been the greatest example of sacrificial and unconditional love to me.  It is always the times when I know I don't deserve it and he gives it anyway that profoundly change me.  I feel like if I do nothing else as a parent, as a person, receiving and reflecting grace is enough.

So here are the light reflecting things we did:

• We took a flashlight and mirror into a dark room to talk about this concept of Jesus being the source of light and we being a reflection of it
• We sang "This Little Light of Mine" afterward and used mirrors for our lights
• We learned the definition of "hospitality" and talked about how that is applied first to the people who live in our house
• Nora has a new job on Mondays- I taught her to take over my task each week of folding and stuffing the bulletins for the shut-in's from church.  There are only 4 so she can do it well.  We talked about how sending an encouraging note or making a phone call can be a way to reflect Jesus' love. 
• We talked about the missionary Lottie Moon and how she made cookies for the Chinese children to have an opportunity to tell them about Jesus
• We made Lottie Moon cookies for our neighbors

• We talked about what it means to be a missionary and how you can be a missionary anywhere.  We talked about our resident missionaries, Mimi & Poppi (My Dad and Linda), and how they always look for opportunities to tell people about Jesus.  This weekend they are taking 5 bus loads of people down to the Harvest Crusade to hear the gospel preached.  
• We got cozy and watched a Mister Rogers episode about a planetarium

• Nora spent her two hours alone with Mika (a practice they are doing weekly now.)  They had a tea party and pretended that a bunch of animals were going to dinner and the doctor's.  I'd rather stick a fork in my eye than play pretend so Nora relishes her time with Mika.  We talked about how Mika is a "mirror" and pretty much hospitality incarnate.
• Our friend Candace came over and we made tin can candles with old candle wax and crayons.  The insides of the can reflect the light from the flame and it's very pretty.  I'll try to refrain from giving everyone candles for Christmas.

• We went as a family to a work day at church.  This was the first time we attempted such a thing and it was fun to have the girls help with the cleaning.  We scrubbed 4 bathrooms - even Lucy pitched in before eating the wash rag and then being banned from helping.

Relaxing with Pastor Sparling after a hard morning's work

Here are some of the other things we did:

• Writing Mm - another hard letter - and the number 2 in playdough, with the wet-dry-try method from Handwriting Without Tears, and a bunch of other tactile ways.  It is hard, hard work for her.

• Math - we grouped m&m's from 0-10.  When they got it right, they ate them.
• We learned about the phases of the moon - a good excuse to eat oreos.  I think this information was actually retained.  They are much more aware of how to moon looks and Nora is able to name the phase that she sees.

• We did a picture study of Van Gogh's Starry Night  (Anyone know what that big brown thing is supposed to be?  Nora and I didn't have a clue.)
• We had a family movie night and we watched "The Red Balloon" since Lucy is all about balloons and balls now.  It's a neat little movie.  And since it was a French film, I felt all cultured.
• Books we really liked: "Faces of the Moon" by Bob Crelin and "So That's How the Moon Changes Shape" by Allan Fowler
• We spent time at the playground until we dropped

• We all went to Bounce U with Mika and Kirsten, Benny and Arwen 

Claire continues to amaze us with her acrobatic ability

Even Lucy was doing it

Another good, full week.

S s Sun

Van Gogh's "Enclosed Field with Rising Sun"

It's been a good, full week.  We started our "S" unit on Monday.  I think our exciting start last week was sort of a bait and switch for Nora who keeps asking when the "fun" activities are going to come.  Hmmmm.... 

My Father's World does have  a lot of worksheets.  I'm pretty skeptical of worksheets and I would prefer to use them much more infrequently than this program ends up doing.  BUT that's the great thing about homeschooling!  If something isn't working, we can change it.  So for the future I'm sure we won't use the majority of them, but right now, Nora is getting good practice with cutting and pasting and drawing and writing. Those things are all difficult for her because she has some fine motor issues.  

This program begins with "S" which is a terribly difficult letter to write.  We used the Handwriting Without Tears wooden pieces to make the letter and a tray of salt to draw with our fingers and we formed it out of playdough.    We did some math activities with identifying shapes and corners and sides and looking for the shapes of objects in the world around us.  We did a couple worksheets with cutting and pasting things that start with "S".   We sang the a-a-apple song (which I really like and which is exclusive to MFW) with flashcards.  We learned our words to remember for the unit: "Jesus is the Light of the world" and we talked briefly about that concept in relation to the sun.  

I crammed a lot into the first day which was good since we didn't do any school for the next two days.  We had all day appointments at Shriner's Hospital on Tuesday and on Wednesday we spent the day at Katie's house.  I haven't seen her since May so it was wonderful to catch up.  The girls played nicely by themselves and napped while we got to talk for 5 hours.  That's my kind of a day!  She sent me home with two new books to read, a recipe to try and a mind abuzz with all of the wonderful things in the world.  Who would have thought that a cultural history of rabies and the story behind HeLa cancer cells would prove to be so interesting?  Katie.  She just finds this stuff.  Her unpretentious love of reading and learning and exploring is simply contagious.  And beer bread....I can't believe I never tried it before - SO good!  Anyway, so that was a Mommy day. Furthering my own education, if you will.  

We celebrated Mark's birthday on Wednesday night along with his parents at "On the Border".  Eleanor made her famous ice cream cake.  I mean, what more could you really want on your birthday?

On Thursday, more worksheets.  Nora is disappointed.  Ok, weekend activities....

We did our first picture study - Charlotte Mason Style.  We used Van Gogh's "Enclosed Field with Rising Sun" (shown at the very top of this post).  I asked the girls to look at the picture for a little while and then to describe it from memory.  Nora did pretty well for the very first time.  She said she remembered seeing blue and green and yellow.  Then I asked Claire what she saw.  She said "I am two year old."  Ha!  Then we looked at the picture together and we all pointed out different things.  We hung it up at their eye level in the kitchen so they can see it whenever they like.  I love how Charlotte Mason does picture study - it really opens the eyes up to truly seeing - observing and later recalling all that there is to see.  We'll study Van Gogh's work for 6 weeks and then move on to Cassatt.  As we go, we'll save the prints of these great works of art in a photo album for her to keep always as familiar friends.  At least that's the plan...

We played with shadows - traced them with sidewalk chalk and watched a Mister Rogers video about them. 

 We also watched a great music video about the sun a few times and we tried to make suns and S's with cooked noodles. (Unfortunately I used left over angel hair pasta which is really too flimsy for noodle art.  Oh well.) 

Daddy came with us to a park for a picnic to enjoy the beautiful sunny day and meet up with my good friend, Rachel, and her 5 pack.  We love this family.  

Claire hitches a ride with her buddy

Nora riding her new birthday bike all by herself!  (Thanks, Grammy)

On Saturday we went to a church BBQ.  They had a fantastic swing set...

This kid has no fear

We've been working on establishing the habit of personal grooming.   With Nora's motor issues, this table top tray seems to be the only way we can manage independent hygiene.  Both Nora and Claire are doing a good job with it.   After breakfast they pour the water into the basin, wash hands & face, clean fingernails and brush their teeth and hair.  It's an idea I got from Montessori so it also incorporates learning the proper way to do each step in order and how to put everything back just so when they're done, not playing in between.  That alone is great practice for my wild Claire-Bear.  She does a pretty good job of doing each step carefully.  She still spits on the mirror almost every morning at the end, just to leave her mark.  Baby steps.

At Bounce-U for cousin Melanie's birthday party