A Sweet Little Story..."My Brother"

Part of the children's schooling includes going through these wonderful readers that precious friends have lent us. They are called the Christian Life Readers by Keepers of the Faith. They are sweet little stories that introduce new vocabulary words, teach a lesson, include a Bible verse, and have comprehension and application questions at the end. We have so enjoyed these! The stories are character building and filled with positive messages. Here is one that Julianna read recently that I really enjoyed. It's called "My Brother".

Who often with me kindly played,
And all my little trinkets made,
My kite and ball--though still unpaid?
          My brother.

Who made a sled when winter came,
With little ropes to draw the same,
And on its sides carved out my name?
          My brother.

And who was it that taught to me
The way to read my A, B, C,
And marked them on the slate for me?
          My brother.

Who gathered apples from the tree,
Chestnuts and walnuts too, for me:
Who cheerfully did all this? Thee,
          My brother.

Pictured to the left is a drawing of two brothers, both holding brooms, the younger one taking a bite of an apple, the older one with his arm proudly around his younger brother, which such a loving smile on his face.

We talked about how the older brother wasn't off doing his own thing, trying to get his little brother out of his hair, but rather, he gladly took on the role of being his big brother. Loving him through helping him, making things for him, and teaching him with such a thankfulness to have this younger brother. He didn't go and just get an apple from the tree for himself, but thought of his brother and got one for him too.

We talked about ways in which we see these acts of love in our family, and ways in which we see them not loving one another with frustration, pride and selfishness. Even as a mother, it challenged me...there are times when I don't always appreciate motherhood with this same attitude. To be just so thankful that God has given me these children to raise, to forget myself and not get frustrated with them not doing things on my terms because they messed with my routine or my current job/project. It was a wonderful thing, reading this sweet little story. It challenged all of us and reminded us of the importance of true love in a family.

What a blessing when so many more popular children's books glorify sibling rivalry and promote division amongst siblings. We try to be vigilant in not allowing that type of interaction between our children. I pray that the Lord would so knit their hearts together, that they would look fondly at one another when they're grown, with their arms around one another and say "My Brother" or "My Sister".

Here is the verse that was at the end of this story:
"He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him." 1 John 2:10

Here is Rebecca teaching Thomas how to read his A, B, C. :-)

Read more...

"Get Wisdom"

In planning our schooling for the week, I found that our next character trait to study is Wisdom. I have been using www.characterjournal.com as a help with our character studies. For each character trait they have definitions, Bible verses, famous quotes, Bible stories and stories from history. It has been a wonderful resource. Usually, I print out what they have for each character trait and then highlight what I would like to focus on with the children. As I was printing out Wisdom, I didn't understand at first why there were so many pages printing. When I checked to make sure that I hadn't clicked print 3 times by accident, which I have done before, I realized that it was all of the Bible verses pertaining to Wisdom. 

Our Lord, Jesus Christ, is this Wisdom. What a precious gift...

This verse stood out to me today and encouraged my soul:

Psalms 19:7 The Law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.

and another one:
Psalm 51:6 Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts; and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.

Read more...

A Fun Homeschool Project: Learning Anatomy

The last time I was at our local homeschool store, a sweet woman who works there recommended an idea for teaching anatomy of the human body. I was happy to have been given this idea because after we learned about cells, the next part of our Science lessons was going to be focusing on the human body.

So, we went to the hardware store and picked up a roll of the brown paper that contractors use on the floor, otherwise known as builder's paper. :-) http://www.homedepot.com/buy/trimaco-35-in-x-140-ft-brown-builder-s-paper-35140.html#.UOhCZKzNnTo

Next, we rolled out the paper and I had each child lay down on it so I could trace their bodies. 

(Thank you to Julianna, my photographer.)

Then, I cut out their bodies, and we taped them up on the wall.

Obviously, these are not perfect by any means, but the goal isn't perfection, rather that they learn about the human body in a fun and practical way.

Then, we started adding on bones as we are learning about the skeletal system. (We'll have to come back and finish with some of the bones after we do the other systems). But, so far we have our femur, patella, tibia and fibula bones! :-) You can use anatomy books or the internet to find diagrams of the body to help you along.

We added Annabelle to the wall, which is neat because they can see how much they have grown...and she was feeling rather neglected. ;-)

I look forward to finishing this project and referring back to it. I hope this was helpful!

Read more...

Our little violinists!

I have loved homeschooling even more than I thought I would. Teaching Julianna to read was just amazing to me, to think of how the Lord has created their minds with the ability to learn so many things. To see the whole process from the start is just so precious. Now, doing school with all three of them involved just adds to the fun. Thomas loves when we do his special "school time" learning his letter sounds and colors. Of course his favorite part is aggressively poking out all of the colored pencil puzzle pieces at the end. (Such a boy)

Another part of our homeschooling this year has been teaching the girls violin, which they absolutely love! We are using this cute little book as a starter book, and I have a couple more in their collection. http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/Musicland-Violin-Book-1/4344426 We shoot for practicing 3 times a week for 30 minutes, and one day a week they have free time with violin while I spend time with Thomas. We recently purchased a little plastic violin that plays music for Thomas, and he is just so excited. So here is a picture of our little violinists....

They can't wait to play for family worship with Mommy!

Read more...