Life Long Learning Adventures: October 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Review - Week 9

Week 9 of 36

Learning Poster

Books to reread and talk about. We also went over our bible stories as well.

A show to reinforce numbers and counting

Tracing App for A through E

Writing time

Letter matching

Playdoh letters

Salt tracing

Letter and bible verse review

Monday, October 22, 2012

The Red Sea

Week 8 of 36

Our learning poster for the week

I have a great video of Munchkin singing He's Got the Whole World in His Hands on my cell. When I can, I'll upload it. He's singing with lots of enthusiasm :-)

Moses history ala Veggie Tales

Letter E and Number 4 fun!

Moses memory verse

My ABC Bible Verse of the week

Character trait of the week

Books for the week

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Jesus redeems our hearts and souls daily. Jesus, should we allow Him, can be in everything we do , see, think and celebrate. I have only participated in this October holiday the last couple of years with a trip to the pumpkin patch and the boys dressed up for our Fall Festival at our church. Over this year God has walked me through some different view points like this post from a friend. We used to go to church and served as camp counselors together many years ago. I've been convicted to be a light by adding to the events we do this year by having a celebration as well as handing out candy.

Do I still cringe when I go to even the grocery store seeing the caskets, skeletons, ghosts and witches? Yes, I do. I've never been a fan of being scared. I've never gone through a haunted house and I don't watch anything remotely dark for entertainment like movies, tv shows or humor.

A large part of my discomfort stems from the events following my sister's death in July of 2004. Weep over a casket and then see if it's funny or even indifferent just 3 months later to see them in people's front yards. Have to call a minister because of a panic attack on the way to the funeral. Know that it took everything God could give you, although you logically knew that's not the person in there anymore, that you're the last one to leave the funeral home because your heart is absolutely tearing in to bits at the thought of leaving her behind in that box. It's a messy sentence for messy emotions. It brought back her loss in a very painful way and yes, while going to meet Jesus is a celebration, the searing loss of pain, grief and hurt from a dearly loved one with a life time of memories who leaves a hole in your heart is most certainly not.

God tells us through the story of Joseph that everything can be used for His purposes. He tells us in the bible whether we eat, drink or what ever we do, do it all for the glory of God. We are called to be a light in the darkness of this world. I don't know a darker holiday or a time in more need of the light of Christ than Halloween. Jesus will be redeeming Halloween in our home.

Top: Christian Pumpkin cards to hand out from Knitted Symphony and CraftSayings. I'm not sure who the original source is, so I'm covering my bases with credit

Second row, left: Pumpkin carving templates from Pumpkinglow.com; Pumpkin craft from Oriental Trading Company (OTC); Candy to pass out that's also wrapped in bible verses from Family Christian Store.

Third row center: Pumpkin costumes for the boys ( a friend found them at a consignment store for me, thanks Christine!) and Shine your light for Jesus flashlights from OTC.

Fourth row left: Shine treat bags to carry from OTC; Pumpkin bible verses from biblestoryprintables.com; Shine bookmark craft from OTC; Front door decoration from OTC.

Fifth row: Pumpkin Gospel book - we also have "A Pumpkin Prayer","Pumpkin Patch Parable", "P is for Pumpkin: God's Harvest Alphabet" and "My Happy Pumpkin: God's Love Shining Through Me" off Amazon; Havest seeds candy to pass out from Family Christian Store, Activities at our nearby Pumpkin Patch; Shine cupcake toppers from Guildcraft

Bottom Row: Shine banner from OTC

I've been pinning all the pumpkin finds on Pinterest. It's a collection of Pumpkin Gospel visuals, crafts, books, party ideas, recipes, educational tie ins and bible lessons. I also found a tie in with candy corn and the Trinity. Maybe for next year.....

We are Shining our Light for Jesus!

Monday, October 15, 2012

Baby Moses

Week 7 of 36

This week I took a slightly different perspective. Rather than feel pressured and stressed to complete all of the LOTW activities I have prepared. I decided with some encouragement from the ABCJLM group to just play with intent- novel idea I know. It got me to thinking, I'm not trying to raise a prodigy here. Learning is not a race, it's a life long journey. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says knowledge puffs up but love builds up. I'm simply wanting to be with my child and help him learn. He's not quite three and I just want him to have an enjoyment of learning centered around the love and a relationship with Jesus. I have nothing to prove and the only thing that God says to brag about is how faithful and loving my Jesus is.

Articles like this one here summed up what I was feeling in my heart. I don't want to burn any of us out. I was over thinking the process and losing the joy experience on my end as a result. I can't reflect Jesus if my goal, heart and treasures are being stored up in trying to prove any earthly standard of success. This is a valid and successful way to educate our children. It's the best decision for us and our family and that's enough. I have nothing to prove to family, friends and most importantly God. He knows my heart in starting this even if I slip up and lose sight momentarily. These precious souls are not a trophy, a doll to dress up or successes to live vicariously through.

This blog is to store up memories, to share our lives and what works for us. Everything under my momentary stewardship ultimately is to glorify God. It's not to say look at us, the materials or our way of living as superior. Teaching my children to reflect more of God and less of themselves is our big picture goal. Education, like anything else is a tool to find a vocation that will best help others to know God. It's not about their potential, their alma mater, their class ranking, how many extra curricular activities or how socialized they are. It's about God and how He uses everything for His glory and good.

If my teaching, correcting and training as well as how we carry ourselves live out the great commandment, that's God's definition of success. If our children can learn how to live out loving God first and then the people He made, that's success. I pray they have a heart to love Christ, find the joy and grace in obeying him and have a passion to share His love with those who don't know Christ.

I remembered our goal for this year and that's how I'm keeping this area of our lives simple. Bible story, memory verse while learning to write and one to one correspondence. I will trust God to guide us to the ways to most reach out to Munchkin. Doodlebug is just having fun getting to play with letters, books and other learning toys while we do activities. I started doing letter fun with Munchkin when he was 21 months old and he thrived on the structure and playing along side with mommy. I'm also finding we all really enjoy having a book centered curriculum which opens the door down the road to lapbooks, unit studies and a Before Five in a Row approach book I bought recently.

books of the week

memory verse

Visuals

Review list of ABC bible verses

We referred to this scripture lovingly through out the week

Learning Poster- . I never seem to get pictures of the motor skills.
We throw and roll balls daily around here with two boys.
Munchkin does not like paint on his fingers in the least.