St. Patrick – More than Shamrocks and Leprechauns

Tags

preschool st. patrick bible

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!  I was so tickled to create these cute pots of gold for my 2-year-old class I teach every Monday at my Classical Conversations group.  These kids have been so cute all year long and really soaking up every subject we’ve been learning about.  So I really wanted this year to be a time where I could teach them who St. Patrick REALLY was and what the day really signifies.  Whether you are Irish or not, chances are you might now know that the holiday is more than being pinched if you don’t wear green and that it is not about luck.

To explain this, I “read” by summarizing the pictures of this book I found from Voice of the Martyrs called, “St. Patrick: More than Shamrocks and Leprachauns.” I never realized how much his story parallels Joseph in the Bible who was captured and sold as a slave.  Except that St. Patrick was sold as a slave, escaped to return to his family, and obeyed God to go BACK to the land where he could have been hurt for his faith just to tell them to “trust in the Lord with all their heart” and that “nothing is impossible with God.”  Wow!  I know there is more to his story than even this.  But to convey just this much to 2-year-olds is awesome.  They get it.  My 8-year-old was all over it too.

After the story, we talked about how God wants us to store our treasures in heaven.  So we made pots of gold with each child’s treasures: Jesus and each of their family members… people they will all see again in heaven.  But I really loved one girl treasured “learning”… and I think that’s a treasure to totally store in heaven!

I got the idea for these cute pots with a combination of these bloggers.  For the pot, I just took the template from Christianpreschoolprintables.com.  For the back of the pot, I glued a printable that you can also download free from the link above that quoted Matthew 6:20, “But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”

 

click here to get these FREE printables for the pot and Matthew 6:20 quote from ChristianPreschoolPrintables.com.

You can see my idea from happyhomefairy.com.  For the coins, I just traced a circular bottle and cut them out.

I think the part the kids in my class liked the most, was the “stickers” I made them from the .pdf file available at Made2BCreative.com’s blog.  Her whole blog is filled with great printables.

Of course, this post would not be complete without mentioning the AMAZING corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, and carrots my husband brought home from Cracker Barrel tonight!  All of us kept saying, “YUM!”  Gluten-Free.  The kids easily understood that the wee bit of Irish in them from my side of the family is equally as fun as it is delicious.  How does it get better than that?

Have a Blessed St. Patty’s Day!

 

Happy Birthday, Dr. Seuss!

Today was a Snow Day here in Ohio for the local schools.  Which meant a snow day for our Classical Conversations community as well.  It was bittersweet to miss our extended family of friends – but we had an unexpectedly fun day in our home school instead!

Our Math lesson today covered how to visualize what 1/4 looks like.  We had four, equally sized, clear, empty containers.  I filled one whole jar to the brim with liquid and asked my daughter to fill the other jar halfway (which would cause her original jar to be half).  The lesson brought home how 1/4 is simply half of a half and that all four quarters come together to create a whole.  We are just about finished with this RightStart Mathematics Level B course.  It will take a whole other post to sing my praise about it.  Let me just emphasize, for now, that it is a recurring theme throughout the book that numbers are related.  We do not just add numbers for the sake of adding.  All numbers have a relationship of which are either part or whole.  The way they repeatedly drive this home, visually and kinesthetically, empowers me with the tools I need to teach my daughter, who cried during math last year with a different curriculum.  She can now mentally add double digit numbers plus double digit numbers in her head.

After Math and lunch, a quick browsing of my e-mails reminded me that March 2nd was Theodore Geisel’s birthday.  Who’s that you ask?  The one, the only – Dr. Seuss!  So I continued the day in his honor.  We looked at Pinterest for ways to celebrate.  We found out my almost two-year-old son recognized the Cat in the Hat, and referred to him as the “Go-Guy” (made sense to us after the PBS song the Cat in the Hat sings about “go go go – on an adventure!)  So, we printed coloring pages for him of the “Go-Guy.”

My 7-year-old daughter found images of the famous oobleck and begged to make it.  So we got to it.  Here is a recipe for oobleck if you’ve never heard of it, from Dr. Seuss’ famous story:  Bartholomew and the Oobleck.  This was my son’s first experience with gooey stuff.  At first he was horrified, but you can see his delight below.  My daughter was also curious as to the science behind the mixture.  How did it feel so solid and then turn so liquid the next instant?  Preschool Powol Packets defined the reason is “Oobelck is a suspension (a liquid mixture that has particles large enough to eventually settle out of the mixture).”  This means it operates like quicksand.  The long starch polymers press together when thrown or rolled on the table.  My daughter had fun slapping it on the counter as a ball and then watching it ooze back to its liquid state.  This happens because the polymers in the oobleck easily trap the water when pressed together and then behave like a solid.  But when you let it go, no force, causes it to relax.  The water then flows within the mixture and it behaves like a liquid.  I was impressed she actually repeated this back to me after I explained it to her.  Thank you Preschool Powol Packets!

A Dr. Seuss birthday didn’t seem quite complete without including the Lorax.  So, while  I was boiling an egg for the Lorax creation she wanted to replicate, she drew her own version of Mr. Lorax.

Here is the finished hard-boiled egg version of The Lorax.  Isn’t he loveable? So easy to make.  We used a blank sticker page for the eyes and stuck them on.  Pipe cleaners for the arms.  And we used cotton balls for his eyebrows and bushy mustache.  We tried using yellow food coloring to color the cotton.  That did not work at all.  So she ended up coloring with a marker.  And no, this was not my idea.  It turned out just like what I found on Pinterest.

This was so fun, we are gonna be celebrating all week long.  I found a great site on pinterest that brought creative writing and copywork into the mixture.  Inallyou.com posted GREAT FREE printables for both younger and higher elemetary grades.  We finished the day with great prompts to get our own story juices flowing!
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Did you celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday?  Join us this week and tell us what you did.

Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to

get better. It’s not.” ~Dr. Seuss, The Lorax

Valentine’s Day and 100th Day of School Celebration

Whew!  Today was a relaxing sort of day… but with a lot of extra fun!  Little Miss and Little Mister enjoyed a fun Valentine’s Day/100th Day of School Party at home while it snowed the most gigantic flakes outside I have seen in awhile.  Here’s how it played out:

We woke up and both kids enjoyed their very own breakfast in the shape of “100.”

Then at Little Mister’s naptime, we had some extra fun girl bonding by making our own chocolate fudge (from a box – I promise, Aunt Gladys, I will get our actual family recipe down before too long!).  I think the heart molds came out the best, but we also made animal-shaped fudge.  I had a bunch of little heart molds that I had thought would be fun to make 100 of… but it didn’t look good enough to spend our afternoon down that road.  And, of course, Valentine’s Day is not complete without Chocolate Covered Strawberries!  Let me tell you… yum!

My favorite part of the day came next.  Little Miss sat at her desk and drew a picture of her as a 7-year-old and a picture of her when she will be 100 years old (in the year 2106.. actually, mom made an error that it would actually be 2107).  I find it hilarious that the old version of herself still has brown hair.  She informed me that, even at 100, she will still be coloring her hair.  She is not a girl who wants to go gray

 

While she drew her pictures, we read on Wikipedia about what happened 100 years ago in our world.  We discovered that in 1914, President Woodraw Wilson issued the first official Mother’s Day in America.  This was also the first year that World War I was declared in the world.  Automobile workers were paid a daily wage of $5 daily (that is not per hour!).

We then read through some names of famous people who were born in 1914.  Amazingly, a few of them are still alive and about to turn 100!  The person who interested us most is a man named Karl Otto Gotz. He will turn 100 on February 22nd! A German, Gotz loved drawing while he was still in school.  His gift began making abstract paintings… which were banned in Nazi Germany from being displayed.  So, to survive as a professional artist, he was only permitted to paint landscapes.  His work transformed to spreading thick paint and then raking it off.  He was also known for enlarging computer images to the point of only seeing pixels, then hand painting the pixels to make a giant mosaic.

We thought this was cool, so I showed Little Miss what pixels are on Adobe Photoshop.  She thought it was neat that pictures on computers are nothing more than pixels up close and, how, when zoomed out.. they become a normal looking picture.  This was a great opportunity to explain to her that pixels are a lot like our lives.  That each decision we make in life is like a pixel.  We can’t see the big picture until after we’ve lived our life and can see what God did with our lives.  Sometimes we can’t even understand our lives until we are 100!  I didn’t even know if she could grasp this concept, but sure enough later she told my mom all about what she learned on the phone.  Here is her pixelated drawing she made on Paint.

Math was a continuation of adding numbers over 100.  And to end the day, we co-authored a story of her choosing that was 100 sentences long.

I had no idea we’d learn so much today and have so much fun.  What was your 100th day of school and/or Valentine’s Day like?

Prepare Him Room!

Tags

advent calendar, Christmas, jesus, john, listening, llight, ornament

Is it Christmas already?  I can’t believe my favorite time of year is here.  Last year, our first homeschooling Christmas, I learned not to over-plan my days and tried to make the most of our days.  This year, I am thankful that I actually am (somewhat) accomplishing this – so far.  Some of you may have noticed I have not posted for quite some time now.  Out of nowhere, actually, we encountered some educational hurdles.  Hurdles, which I am happy to report, are mostly working themselves out because of today’s freebie I am offering you a few days late – an Advent Calendar.

I don’t know about you, but somewhere between Thanksgiving and Christmas, sometimes I get so overwhelmed about my to-do list or the issues I see my family needing to overcome, that what I’d really rather do is take a Mommy vacation rather than plan for the holiday.  To just let someone else plan it for me and I show up.  I quickly find myself shifting from an abundantly thankful heart on Thanksgiving Day and then the next day can brace myself with worries of how to plan the upcoming weeks for the “perfect” Christmas.  Every year it is so cool to me to see my kids understanding something new about Christmas.  I have to remind myself that it is usually not because of my planning this happens, but because Christ is making moments happen for their lives and making Himself known to them on his supernatural timing.

My anticipation completely changed from being buried underneath plans, when I stumbled upon this freebie Advent Calendar idea at Handmaden.com from pinterest.  With a 7-year-old and a 19-month-old, I needed something fast to create.  I wanted my Advent Calendar NOT to be a mere countdown to Christmas where we get a piece of chocolate or toy and forget that day.  Because attitude has been the issue at large at our house, I wanted each day to lead up to Christ’s birth and to invite an enticing attitude toward learning.  Handmaden.com’s blog provided just that.  Isn’t it pretty?

I thought it would be more fun for my kids if I printed each day on Christmas contrasting red and green colors.  But wait!  You were wanting a Christmas devotional, you say?  I was floored to find out the simplicity of this advent that she has a single scripture passage for each day to be read right on each day of advent.  Simple is what we need over here.  My 7-year-old has LOVED going to the calendar to see what scripture will be for the day, then she looks it up in her Bible, and practices reading aloud.  Even my 19-month-old knows the routine and can’t wait to go to it each morning.  It begins our day with devotions.  It is a beautiful decoration in and of itself.

If you are an involved parent or a homeschooling parent like me; however, you might want to take it to the next level.  Many families also choose to do an activity for the day with their advent calendar.  It could be something as simple as baking cookies or watching a Christmas movie together.  On the back of each day, I wrote the theme word or activity for our daughter to find when she pulled it down.  THEN, we don’t do the activity until AFTER our studies are done as a reward for her good behavior.  This makes our studies sooooo much more enjoyable as we both eagerly await the most fun part of the day that also ties Christ’s theme for the day.

When I first read each verse on my calendar, I was suddenly filled with the wonder of the Christmas story.  How AWESOME IS GOD that the very birth of Christ was spoken into existence in Genesis!  How GREAT is our God who is faithful in our lives today – EVEN when we are hopeless.  Like Abraham and Sarah who were in their old age and couldn’t fathom having God do what He said – making their descendants as numerous as the stars.  And How GOOD HE HAS BEEN in my life alone!  If I were just to think on the ways He has provided for me without even considering my family members… wow!

As I read each scripture, then, I decided I wanted to pick out a “key” word out of each passage and do a craft or activity to convey God’s amazing ways.  I have been amazed so far at how she “gets” it.  I’m soooo excited that “my” anticipation of hearing Christ’s birth is now becoming “our” anticipation.  It is addicting too.  I cannot stop anticipating how God will move on our behalf and the plans He has for us to do in 2014.

Here is a list and links of our 25 days of crafts/activities.  For each I have listed a single word that spoke the theme of the verse and then found an activity that went along with this word.  Feel free to share and find your own theme word.  I hope you feel just as inspired.  What activites will you be doing this Advent season?

Day #1: Prepare.  We made paintings welcoming God to our hearts.  We also talked about how we prepare for guests by cleaning the house, so we need to open the door to Jesus so that HE can be the one to clean our hearts, if we will just prepare a place for Him.  Also, in Isaiah, they were preparing for the birth of a Savior.  Today, we are preparing for the same baby, our now resurrected Messiah, to return.

Day #2: Sing for Joy.   There are many Christmas songs that fit this.  Joy to the World.  You could even pick Ode to Joy.  Over Thanksgiving, a friend told me that Seeds of Praise was offering a free download.  And what was the title of the song that I now LOVE?  You got it!  The theme I had picked!  “Sing for Joy.”  I thought they were only offering through Thanksgiving day.  But it still seems available and the whole album is awesome and helps your little ones memorize scripture to beautiful song.

Day #3: Jesus’ Strong Hand.  I have nothing against Santa and think this is adorable.  Thought it would be fitting to somehow turn this clay creation into either Jesus’ hand or into Abraham.  Love it.

Day #4: We sinned.  I saw in this melted snowman how we feel after we mess up and wish we could go back to being our normal smiling selves.  You can find the original artist and other snowmen to choose from on my pinterest board.

 

Day #5:  Abraham and Sarah.  Trust God and believe Him.  This activity is to make some cardboard cutouts of stars and to wrap them in foil and hang to see. Pretty fun to illustrate how Abraham’s descendants are indeed as numerous as the stars and that Jesus was born under the star of Bethlehem.  I found this wonderful site describing it here.

At our house this year, we don’t have time to decorate with a Christmas tree, but I found this AMAZING “Jesse Tree” craft.  It could actually be an advent calendar or activity to do all alone.  But I will use it along with my own advent calendar.  The ornament listed in this free downloadable .pdf goes wonderfully with the lesson.  All of the historical figures mentioned in this craft all illustrate the root of Christ’s lineage and the people surrounding the birth of Christ.  It is so neat to see how the prophecy we are reading comes alive from the Old to New Testament readings through the week. Later we actually make the tree, but here is the info for printing the ornament here.

Day #6: Listening to God.  We will be playing the song, “Do you Hear What I Hear?” making the Isaiah ornament from Jesse tree and creating the following crafts.  Listening and following directions are my main goals for my 7-year-old.  She’s a good listener in public, but at home… we are working on it.  Since she has Chinese heritage, she loves learning her characters.  I love how the characters portray listening as from the heart!  All found on pinterest.

{Update:  It was so fun! }             

 

Day #7. Believing God’s promises activity.  As in Day #5, this activity is found at the bottom to remind us not to just hear God’s promises, but to believe Him.

Day #8. Root of jesse tree and ornament.

Day #9. HIS Name is The BRANCH.  We will be making a special Jesus branch on our Jesse tree.

Day #10.  Daughter and son of the King craft.  I found this on pinterest also.  You can buy it.  I thought we could make one of our own.

 

 

Day #11. Jesus is fire.  Fire of the Lord Hats.  Again, something you can buy but we will make our own… found on pinterest.

 

Day #12. Jesus was there with God when the earth was made.  I just found this amazing site on pinterest called “Calendar Connections.” We are learning about the months of the year.  Basically, this site can take any occasion or learning topic you can think of and print out corresponding images to illustrate on a calendar for your child.  I love the Christmas one they have provided to teach kids about Christmases around the world!

 

Day #13. Jesus is the Light and the Bible in the flesh.  Candlelight craft

 

Day #14. John the Baptist prepared for Jesus Mark 1:1-3.  In our Jesse Tree, the ornament for the day representing John the Baptist is a sea shell.  When I was a little girl, my grandma lived in Florida.  She was always bringing sea shells, horseshoe crabs, and sand dollars home for all of the grandchildren to hold.  My favorite item she would bring was the sand dollar because of its story about Jesus.  If you’ve never heard the story, please check it out here.  I can’t wait to see my kid’s faces when they find the tiny doves inside the sand dollars I found at orientaltrading.com!

 

Day #15. Luke 1:5-13 Zechariah and Elizabeth ornament on Jesse Tree.

Day #16. Luke 1:14-17 John was pure and not rebellious.  Grow a borax snowflake

Day # 17. More on Zechariah’s transformation when John the Baptist is born. Watch The Nativity Story.  If you haven’t seen this, you MUST watch it.  It is now a tradition in our house and is one of the most awe-inspiring, biblically sound versions I have ever seen.

Day #18. Names of Jesus.  Choose one advent ornament for the Names of Jesus.

Day #19. Mary gives glory to God for blessing her.  Sing songs such as “Gabriel’s Message” by Sting.  Or “10,000 reasons” by Matt Redman.

Write what God has done for you.

Day #20. Zecharias gave his son the name the angel had spoken, “John.”  He was not named after his father and this was unheard of.  What name does God call you by?

Day #21. Zechariah proclaims over his son after not believing.  Make another ornament from day #18, “The Highest”.

Day #22 Make ornament from Day #18, “Immanuel” ornament
Day #23 Mary hears from Gabriel.  We will be making cookies and gingerbread houses to spread Christmas cheer.

Day #24. More names of Jesus!

Day #25. The angel tells Joseph it is ok to take Mary as his wife.  We need to believe God.  He has come!  Hooray, Christmas is here!

Merry Christmas!  Please let me know what you loved the most and ideas of your own!

Tasting Ancient Africa – Classical Conversations Week 13

Tags

africa, bananas, classical conversations, dates, instant soy protein, math, timeline

It’s an exciting time whenever a homeschool project brings together multiple subjects we are studying all into one and uses my daughter’s gift of creativity.  But when all of this happens by ACCIDENT?  Oh my word!  It is an absolute wonderful miracle that only God can be given the credit for!

It all started with a great week back at Classical Conversations as we entered Week 13 and the Age of Exploration.  Two moments in our timeline song include “Slave Trade in Africa” and “Songhai in Africa” – which are two of the most fun parts of the week to sing.  Naturally, then, I decided we would study about Africa in our Story of the World curriculum.  At the end of the lesson were two recipes using ingredients found in Africa – dates and plantains (we used bananas).  I thought to myself… “Do I really want to do this?”  “Will it be a good use of my time if they don’t turn out?”  I debated and debated.  Finally, I decided since we have been memorizing also in Classical Conversations, mathematical measurement conversions used in baking, that we would go ahead and try it.  Something inside me told me I wouldn’t regret it.

Wow!  Was I ever right!  Both recipes were not only delicious, but my daughter and I bonded SO well.  She was intently interested in how many teaspoons were in a tablespoon and in mixing thoroughly every ingredient.  We laughed, we talked about so many topics that we wouldn’t normally have.  It was WONDERFUL.  As we baked, I knew it was moments like these that are why I homeschool.  What time would I have with a baby to do extra baking if she were in school?  How would I ever know ahead of time what she was learning to coordinate our activities at home to reinforce her learning?  I just plain old wouldn’t.  An added element for me as a mom was being able to substitute a third of the flour with Instant Soy Protein so I knew both of these treats were not only healthy with fruits, but also that the carbohydrates were dramatically cut and I know my little sweetie will be growing while enjoying.

It was so nice to serve these to my ladies who gathered at my house later that evening.  Baking, math, Africa, memorizing our Timeline, Science, hearts connecting… does it get any better than this?  I treasure these years dearly.

Here are the Recipes:

Date and Banana Protein Bars:

Ingredients:

*1/4 cup butter

*3/4 cup sugar

*1 egg

*1tsp. vanilla

*2 medium bananas

*2/3 c. flour

*1/3 c. Instant Soy Protein

*1/4 tsp. baking soda

*1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

*1/2 cup chopped dates

*(Optional:  1/4 cup almonds)

Icing:
*2 tablespoons butter

* 1 tablespoon lemon juice

*1/2 teaspoon vanilla

*3/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. Cream together the butter and sugar.

2. Add the egg and vanilla.

3. Stir in the bananas and dry ingredients

4. Add the dates and almonds.

5. Bake in an 8″ x 8″ pan at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until edges are turning brown.

Date Protein Chewies:

Ingredients:

* 1 c. chopped dates

* 2 eggs

*1 c. sugar

*1/2 c. flour

*1/4 c. Instant Soy Protein

*1 tsp. baking powder

*1 c. pecans, ground

*1/4 c. powdered sugar

Directions:

1. In a blender, blend eggs and dates together.  Set aside.

2. In mixing bowl, combine sugar, flour, baking powder, and pecans.  Add in egg mixture.

3. Pour into ungreased cookie sheets.  Press the mixture down so it will be as thin as possible.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes.  Remove from oven and cut into bars while hot.

5. Roll into balls and then roll in the powdered sugar as soon as the chewies are cool enough to handle.

I would love any comments on how you reduce the sugar.  Next time I will try agave syrup and see what happens!  Who knows what other great things will happen because of an accident?