Learning Moments... Importance of Keeping Your Word

It was a blessing this week as we studied through our Torah portion.
One of the topics we discussed was the importance
of being careful when making an oath, a vow, a promise
and about keeping your word.



Copywork of instructions that YHVH gave
and how Yeshua taught to 'go the extra mile'.


Copywork page that I put together to use with the children...

Parsha Mattot: Vow, Oath Copywork Numbers30


Also this week, we had TONS of fun
creating a little jingle to go along
with the lesson we discussed about keeping our word.

Here's a little video I put together,
with the song we wrote...




What a blessing it is to train our children up
in the way they should go!


Shalom!

What Do You Pant For?

photo credit: allposters

You're in the wilderness. It's hot and it's dry.
The heat has been beating down upon you.
You've been walking.
You've been walking a really, long time.
You've even run some of the time.
Sometimes it seemed so unbearable
that you even crawled.


Your mouth is opened and you're panting.
What do you pant for?



photo credit: allposters

"Water!",
the children answer unanimously,
as they sit at the table, Bibles open,
as we are reading through Scriptures
and listening to Mama's illustration...

-----------------------------------------

"How bad do you want that water?",
Mama asks.
"Really bad, huh?
You thirst, you long, you ache for it, right?"


They all heartily agree,
"Yes! Really bad!"

-----------------------------------------

Mama shares the Scripture, again,
that they had just read aloud...


"I opened my mouth, and panted:
for I longed for Thy commandments."
Psalm 119:131


-----------------------------------------

"Do you see how YHVH wants us
to pant after His commands? His Word?",
Mama questions...

"Just as much as if
you were running in a desert wilderness,
with no water...
but you thirsted and panted for it... badly."

"He wants us
to want His commandments, His Torah, that badly.
Even more!"

"He wants us to open our mouths...
ready to receive it and drink it in.
Just like we would that beautiful glass of water!"

-----------------------------------------

It was a good illustration for the children.
They understood.

It was a good illustration for me.
I was reminded.

It is a good illustration for all of us.

-----------------------------------------

I wonder...
What do we pant for?
What do we have such a desperate longing for?
What do we open our mouths for to receive?





Abba, may I always thirst, long, and pant
after Your commandments, Your Torah...
Your beautiful commandments, beautiful Torah,
full of revelation of You and Your heart.



"I opened my mouth, and panted:
for I longed for Thy commandments."
Psalm 119:131

Blessings in Cooperation

How many homeschool children does it take
to change a light bulb?
|
|
|
Three at our house...

This evening we discovered our back porch light was out.
I watched the children as they worked together
to discuss, delegate, and determine the course of action
to change the outside light bulb...
Our son did the actual light bulb swap,
one daughter held the bulb that wasn't being used,
and the other held the flashlight...

What a blessing it was to see them
work together!


Thank you, Father,
for their willingness
to cooperate with one another
in love and kindness.


"Two are better than one;
because they have a good reward for their labour."
Ecclesiastes 4:9

Student of the Word Samples...

We've sure been keeping busy lately
and continue to enjoy using SOW, along with our other studies.

I had a few minutes to get online
and wanted to share a few samples
of what the younger ones have done recently.
We spent a week in the beginning of Genesis 11,
discussing the Tower of Babel.
Here is their outline for that week
(which ended up being only one drawing)...


(you can click to see it enlarged)

The past two weeks we have spent in our recent lesson.
Since there have been 5 chapters of reading,
we have divided them up and read a chapter a day or so
and then worked on adding to our outline.
Here is their outline for those chapters.
(Carolynne & Will decided to color my outline and Beth drew her own)...



It has been a continued blessing
to really dig into God's Word!

Here are a couple of pics of the children together...


Beth and Carolynne working on their outlines



Will and Ally working together on our Bible vocab


Have a blessed rest of the week!


"Study to shew thyself approved unto God,
a workman that needeth not to be ashamed,
rightly dividing the word of truth."
~ 2 Timothy 2:15

Thursday's Things...

The past couple of days
having been busy with home educating,
home blessing, church gathering,
outside playing, Christmas dress sewing,
dentist visiting, and more. ;o)
It has been a blessing to spend
quality time with the children.

Our adventures in home education
have been rich this week.
We have been enjoying what we're learning very much!
We have, also, been blessed by reading
in the book of John this week.
It has taken us almost all week
to get through the first chapter
but what a blessing it has been.
We have, also, been able to read
our "Summer with the Moody's" more
and are drawing near to the end,
already anticipating the next book. ;o)

I thought I'd share a few photos
from the last two days.
The children have really enjoyed their learning.

The lil' girls have been motivated
to get a 'preschool type' coloring/workbook
off the colorbook shelf to work on together...

Mostly dot-to-dots but Beth has delighted
in helping Carolynne recognize her alphabet more. ;o)

Today, after dot-to-dotting, I worked with them.
Carolynne enjoyed working on colors and line drawing
while Beth enjoyed copying her letter 'B'...



Here was Carolynne, gladly showing her hard work...



Beth and I, also, read a poem together
(Carolynne listened in as she colored).
We read a poem about a fuzzy caterpillar
and then she drew her own picture
of a caterpillar and a butterfly
(though she wasn't interested in posing with it, as Caro was)...



Will and I have continued reading
about George Washington,
which we have enjoyed SO much,
though Will was already more knowledgable about him
than I have ever been.
Will LOVES history!
We have, also, been reading our Burgess Bird Book
and our Handbook for Nature Study,
which has been a delight!
We talked about blue birds and robins today
and learned a lot about them,
including that they are cousins.
Yesterday we finished talking about
the different sparrows.
We got to watch one this afternoon
as it was treating itself to supper...

Birds are so fun to watch!

Will has been diligent in taking the initiative
in doing his copywork in language and math each day,
which has been a blessing...


He has, also, been faithful in practicing piano
and is enjoying it very much...



Ally has been eagerly working, too.
She has been practicing/playing piano and violin
and working diligently in her academics
(including worldview, history, literature, and science).
When checking in on her yesterday,
I found her working on her advanced chemistry...


When checking in on her this afternoon,
she was working on... you guessed it...
advanced chemistry...

She even took it with us, this evening, to the dentist!
She is thoroughly enjoying it.
She cracked me up earlier this week...
She mentioned how she didn't really care for her math
and claimed it was more like logic.
I was aiming to give her something a little more relaxed
for math this year so she could focus on her other subjects
so I went with a book called Mathematical Quilts
and a book about the history of math.
I thought with the Mathematical Quilts
we might use it for more than math,
perhaps, um, quilting? It was a thought. ;o)
Well, Ally, proceeded to make a request,
respectfully, and backed it up with logic.
She asked if, instead, of her current math
would I be willing to get her
Teaching Textbooks' Pre-Calculus! lol
She proceeded, logically, by stating
the pre-cal would help her in advanced chemistry.
I could not help but chuckle from being delighted
with her eagerness to learn more.
This will be presented to Daddy,
which, I'm sure he will chuckle in delight, as well.
We'll see what happens, though. ;o)


With being busy with teaching, reading aloud,
housekeeping, home improvement projects
(like fixing the pencil sharpener in the wall,
taking the pot rack down from the ceiling, etc...),
and among other things,
I haven't been able to accomplish as much with sewing
as I had initially planned but I have made some progress...

Slowly but surely. ;o)

This evening, after our dentist appointment,
we stopped into our local fabric store
(other than the local supercenter).
They are having a sale this weekend
with Butterick and McCall's patterns at 99cents,
so we picked up a few.

Before I go, I wanted to share this...
On the way home,
I was taught a lesson on mercy from 5 yr old Beth...
She was the only one to see the dentist tonight
so she was the only one to pick a prize from the drawer.
On the way home, Carolynne insisted
(in an aggressive 3 year old way)
that she wanted the toy.
Beth had just gotten the toy and wanted it,
at least for a little while before she handed it over.
Carolynne was quite persistent and loud
(as I was driving down the road, mind you).
I declared to Carolynne that she needed to
stop whining and to be understanding to
let Beth play with it peacefully for a while,
then she would share.
Carolynne proceeded to declare she wanted it now
(in her 3 year old way).
I, again, spoke and told Carolynne, firmly,
that she may NOT have it
and she may NOT ask for it, again.
Yes, I admit, I was less tolerant
and a bit annoyed.
It was quiet, then, for a little while.
Then I heard a little commotion
and discovered that Beth
had given her toy to Carolynne, after all.
I appreciated her kindness
and willingness to share
but, in the flesh, was still bothered
that Carolynne had gotten her way
and instructed Carolynne
that she needed to give the toy back.
Then Beth spoke up and sweetly said,
"Mommy... It's okay with me if Carolynne has it.
I just want to make God happy."
It was quiet, again, and my heart was touched
(and convicted).
Here I was 'sticking to my guns'
(which isn't, neccesarily, a bad thing at times),
convinced that Carolynne should not have it
because she was whining and pushing her way.
And the truth is... she really didn't "deserve" that toy
but Beth wanted to show mercy and kindness
to the one that she loved
and was willing to sacrifice for her.
My heart was moved by her willingness.
It was a precious reminder and example
of love, kindness, and mercy
And I was, of course, reminded of how Jesus Christ
showed his mercy and grace toward us
by leaving Heaven and all its glory,
to come to Earth, to willingly sacrifice Himself for me
(and for you),
even though I didn't deserve it
and how He offers His salvation freely.


"For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in him should not perish,
but have everlasting life."
~ John 3:16

"But God, who is rich in mercy,
for his great love wherewith he loved us,"
~ Ephesians 2:4

"In whom we have redemption through his blood,
the forgiveness of sins,
according to the riches of his grace;"
~ Ephesians 1:7

"Being justified freely by his grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:"
~ Romans 3:24

Thursday's Things...

Our day started off a little slowly today,
which we enjoyed.
When I came down for a cup of coffee,
I found the lil' girls coloring on the floor together...


And Will was at the table playing RISK...


This morning I was able to do a little cleaning up
and chisel away at Mount Washmore...
(a monument which will likely never cease to exist...
at least in our home.)

Will worked on some math today
and he, also, played an 'educational' game
on the computer...

In the game he was learning some critical thinking skills
and about people like Lewis and Clark, Thomas Edison,
and Ludwig Van Beethoven.
He enjoyed himself.

The lil' girls sat at the table doing dot-to-dots,
practicing their number and letter recognition...



I love how fun and learning go hand-in-hand. ;o)

Ally worked on grammar, worldview, and math
while in her room...

She was glad to get much done!

As they were occupied,
I sewed up a t-shirt dress for Beth...





In the late afternoon, we went to a local pizza place
to meet some friends for supper.
It was a yummy time of food and fellowship...









Mmmm... the cinnamon rolls...


When we first arrived, Carolynne was so sleepy
that she just didn't want to wake up for food...


But towards the end of our visit,
she woke up just in time to eat her share of the food...


Afterwards, we all headed to our local supercenter
to pick up some school supplies.
It's always fun to get those when they're on sale. ;o)
And I picked up some more fabric for myself
and, also, Ally and her friends picked out some fabric
to make matching dresses (that Ally will be sewing).
She'll be pretty busy with that, but it's a good busy. ;o)

Tomorrow is another eventful day for us...
Will has his junior golf tournament early in the morning,
we have our homeschool park day,
and then we have friends coming to stay the day
and for sourdough pizza night. Mmmmm....

Hope y'all enjoyed your Thursday!

Toddler Grammar...

On our way to church this morning,
I heard a conversation going on
between Beth (age 4) and Carolynne (age 3)...

Carolynne: "I have two toys."

Beth: "I have two, too"

a short pause and then a giggle...

Beth: "Two... too!"
"Two... just like you!"
"I have two, too... just like you!"

Carolynne: "{giggle} Yeah! Two... too, just like me!"

Ally and I couldn't help but giggle
and be proud of them
and they're child-like discovery
of this homophone.
It was so cute!
Children are so clever.
Do they understand exactly
what a homophone/homonym is?
No, but they sure did make a relation to it.

They are such a delight to watch
as they discover things on their own.

Proverbs Time...

This morning we had our Proverbs time.
We were in Proverbs 29
(since it is May 29th).
We took turns reading aloud
(those that could read),
then selected a verse to illustrate.
We chose to illustrate verse 11...

"A fool uttereth all his mind:
a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards."
~ Proverbs 29:11

Here was our illustration...




Ally helped with drawing the younger ones' pictures.
Here were the younger ones working on them...


These are such fun, teachable times with them...
a time when they enjoy the training and discipleship...
a time that I enjoy very much, too.

A Memorial Trip and Saturday's Stuff...

We were invited to our assistant pastor's home
for supper and fellowship this afternoon.
I decided to leave the house a little earlier
so the children and I could stop at
the Beirut Memorial and the local veterans cemetery.

First we stopped at the Beirut Memorial.
Ally read aloud a poem that was displayed...






Then we read aloud the names on the wall
and prayed for them and their families...




Also, near the memorial was another memorial
honoring those from September 11, 2001
and those serving in Iraq...




It was a steel beam from the World Trade Center...



Afterwards, we went to the veteran's cemetery.
It was a sobering reminder to see so many headstones.
Each one had an American Flag next to it...




As we were leaving the cemetery,
there was another section containing many
older-looking headstones

so we got out to look.
Then I sat in the van with the lil' girls
as Will and Ally walked together,
looking, reading, and appreciating...


Many of them were from the 1800's...
many were during or right after the Civil War.
They enjoyed reading many of the inscriptions together.
The oldest one that they noticed was dated...
Born 1694 Died 1766


It was an interesting trip.
We enjoyed many discussions while we were there
and on our journey in the van.

Afterwards, we arrived for supper
and then had a lovely time of fellowship and fun,
playing a few games.
It was a great time.

We look forward to the Lord's Day tomorrow.