Our Owl Week October 25, 2009

What a fun week we had studying and learning the letter O and all that goes along with it! We did read a book this week but it’s not part of our curriculum list. It’s one I found in the library called “White Owl, Barn Owl” and just went along well with our O week.

The book gives a great explanation about barn owls, where they nest, what they eat, how they sound and feel. My son really liked it and asked almost first thing in the  morning for me to read it to him. There were some new words for him to learn – pellets, nesting box, vole – but I think he gleaned a lot from the story.

For our craft, we found a pre-printed pattern that used hearts to put together a heart-shaped owl. This correlated well to the story because the barn owl is described as having a heart-shaped face. My son mostly glued the owl together (he’s not real into crafts right now.)

We also live near a bird sanctuary at a local park and took a trip there for a our owl week . We got to see a few owls – a great barred owl and horned owl. They were pretty sleepy but a few had their eyes open. It wasn’t getting pictures through the cage but I managed.

Of course we had to have an owl snack so we made owl cookies! My friend made these with her daughter so I thought we’d try them. They were easy and turned out cute but didn’t taste all that sweet… next time I’ll change up the dough instead of following the recipe!

Our week wasn’t only about owls. Our O book included other O words – octopus, otters, ox, oatmeal, opal. We practiced counting, letter matching and cutting with scissors. We also had an “orange” day and searched for all the orange things we could find. We mixed red and yellow paint to make orange (a darker orange), and my son “practiced” painting the letter O!

I also chose to make our main word of the week “obey” and used fun flashcards to show the word to my son. I kept it at our kitchen table so he could always see it while eating. And we memorized a new verse, Ephesians 6:1, “Children, obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.” My son already knows it, thanks to his Bible songs CD. We talked about what it means to obey and this will be a lifetime lesson I believe! We read Bible stories about obedience – the prodigal son, Noah and how Jesus calmed the storm…even the winds and waves obey Him!

My Little Lamb October 12, 2009

The Letter L week was a fun one for me and my son! We read The Little Lamb, which isn’t part of our Before Five in a Row curriculum exactly…the same author/photographer wrote The Little Bunny, which is on the list but since I don’t have the bunny book and just the lamb one, I decided to do lessons for my son about The Little Lamb. We also read My “l” Book in our ABC series and that included lambs in it so it worked out well.

The Little Lamb takes readers to the Weatherbee farm where new lambs have been born. One lamb, Timothy, wanders from the flock into the arms of a young girl who is allowed to care for him for a short time. My son loved reading the story and looking at the photographs, which we discussed have been different than the illustrated pictures in his other books. He has a white Beanie Baby lamb that we kept with us while reading the story and we named him Timothy.

We had a fun time acting out the scene in the book where Timothy knocked down a bushel of apples that went tumbling down the steps. I blew up balloons and we pretended they were apples. We put them in a laundry basket and my son knocked it over. He loves balloons! We also have a wooden birthday cake that we made a mess of to act out the scene where Timothy knocks over  a table at a birthday party and spills the cake.

We also began talking about Jesus being the Lamb of God and started memorizing John 1:29, which says, “The next day John saw Jesus coming and said, ‘Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!’” We put it to song and my son has mostly all of it memorized. We made a cute lamb craft out of white buttons.

We also practiced letters and numbers this week, and talked about other animals that start with the letter L including lizards! It was a fun science lesson to watch lizards stuck to the outside of our bathroom window as they waited quietly for moths! The light from our window would attract the moths, which were gobbled up by the lizards! We’ve seen this several times and my son thinks it’s so fun…probably not for the moths! You can see three lizards below:

Most of all, this week’s lesson has reminded me that I am called to care for my son, my little lamb! Jesus asks Peter in John 21 to feed His sheep, care for His sheep – His people. The Lord is my son’s Shepherd and mine too, and for the time being I am responsible for caring for my son, and my baby girl, too. I pray that God gives me the strength to do this most awesome job!

A Child’s Prayer September 27, 2009

The next book on our Before Five in a Row list was Prayer for a Child, a sweet story about a little girl’s prayer before bedtime. I wasn’t sure that my son was going to relate to the story since a little girl is the narrator but he liked it and focused more on the items prayed for rather than the one praying. He liked looking at the page that includes a picture of children from around the world illustrating the little girl’s prayer for other children.

We traced my son’s hands and made a set of “praying hands” out of construction paper. Inside, we wrote people to pray for and my son added some stickers. He’s already prayed a few times on his own, mostly before meals and he sounds really cute! I pray with him throughout the day while we’re together – I want him to know he can pray anytime for any reason and it’s definitely a reminder for me.

The most amazing thing was that while we were out in the backyard one day we found a praying mantis hanging on to our patio table! I took several pictures but only a few turned out well. I told my son it was “the coolest bug” and he kept saying, “I want to see the coolest bug!” We confirmed with my husband that it was a praying mantis after he saw the pictures (the bug is upside down in the pic below.) God sent us the bug to see up close and personal during our lesson on prayer!

This week was also our Letter J week so we talked about how Jesus prayed and the Lord’s Prayer. My son has most of it memorized. We read the story of Joseph, which my son really enjoys. We talked about how Joseph was probably afraid while in jail but God was with Him. We talked about how Joseph probably prayed to God, just like the little girl in our story did, and just like we do and can. We also read about Joshua and the story of Jericho.

Other J lessons included J animals – jaguar, jackal, jellyfish – and we did some jungle pictures. We also made a rain stick using rice and paper towel roll but my son wasn’t too interested in that. He preferred looking at the jungle book we checked out from the library. In it, we discovered that a Central American lizard is known as the Jesus Christ lizard for its ability to glide across water making it appear that it’s walking on water. Learning has been so much fun for us! Next week is Letter K and Katy No-Pocket!

Planting Carrot Seeds! September 14, 2009

We’re just trekking along with our little homeschool preschool and last week read The Carrot Seed, which is part of our book list. This was such a simple book about a young boy who has faith that his carrot seed will sprout while everyone around him tells him it won’t. My son loved it! I found it at the library and it’s an oldie – check out the pics below!

Of course, we spent time outside “gardening” and planting seeds. We did actually plant a few carrot seeds in a large pot I have but these take a while to grow. We’ll see if anything pops up. My son did choose to plant some flower seeds as well – he chose poppies. Funny story – after he planted the flower seeds in one pot, he decided all of that soil with the seeds belonged in the large pot that had the carrot seeds! Yikes! So, now we have little sprouts in the large carrot seed pot and I have a feeling those are the flowers. We’ll see in a few weeks.

We also cut off the top of a carrot that has a little sprout on top and put it cut side down in a bowl of water and watched the sprout grow – and it did!

Another fun activity was making letters out of carrot matchsticks! I wasn’t expecting my son to actually eat the skinny carrot sticks but after he made a few letters he did eat them and thought they were yummy! Fun food!

We’re still focusing on memorizing John 3:16 and we’ve created a catchy jingle to go along with it. My son has several of the words memorized already so I’m thinking within a month he’ll know the whole verse.  This week was also letter H week and we read our book about Little H and all the H words we could find – hair, hands, hat, hippo and of course helicopter. Anything the drives or flies and makes lots of noise is my son’s best friend! See you next week!

Homeschooling begins…or has it always been? August 21, 2009

Well, here we go! This past week, I started my first “official” week of homeschooling my 3-year-old son. He’s attending the Little Lamb Preschool and he’s the No. 1 student! I say that we’ve started the official week because I’m now documenting what we’re doing but since my son has been born I’ve been homeschooling him, in a sense. I’ve been teaching him all he needs to know at this age. At 2 years old, I took it a step further and introduced him to “school time” where we would spend time learning colors, shapes, numbers and his ABC’s. Our main focus has been reading a book focused on one letter of the alphabet and spending our week doing crafts, activities and games on that letter. We’re still doing that but we’ve added more to our “curriculum.”

What we’ve started is a program called Before Five in a Row which is so simple for preschoolers. We read one book per week for five days in a row, hence the name, and do crafts, activities and games focused on that book. Our first week, Aug. 17-21, was all about the book “Corduroy.” My son loves it! I’ll post some pictures of the activities in a separate blog post soon.

Overall, it’s been fun and easy to sit down and read with my son. He loves books. And the added benefit is that his baby sister, who will be 3 months old next week, listens in too! So, she’ll definitely be ready when it’s her turn. However, that’s where my homeschool hesitation comes in. Can I truly homeschool my son beyond the preschool years? And then continue with my daughter when they will be three years apart? I believe I’m looking too far into the future when I need to focus on my reasons for homeschooling now. And I have reasons, actually more of a desire that I believe is from God to educate my children at home.

Since my son was a baby and I was introduced to people who homeschooled, I became intrigued by the idea of teaching at home. I love to teach and what better students than your own children? I’ve blogged previously about my reasons for wanting to homeschool so I won’t go into much detail here but my No. 1 reason is to be able to incorporate Biblical lessons into my children’s education. How great for them to be able to start the day, continue the day and end the day with prayer? To be able to learn about their world from God’s worldview.

How much fun will it be to “do school” for a couple hours a day and then enjoy other activities whether it’s playing outside, playing instruments or sports, going on nature hikes, visiting with grandparents, etc. that will enhance their learning? Of course, they’ll have more time for these activities since they won’t be bogged down with homework.

Most of all, I’m looking forward to creating in them a desire to want to learn and to love learning in all aspects of life. Reciting our ABCs while playing in the sandbox, counting buttons on the floor, learning about fractions while measuring flour for cookies, understanding weather patterns by being in them and enjoying God’s creation by admiring the world around them.

So, we will embark upon this adventure at home and I hope to document most of our journey here at my blog (which I’ve neglected for some months after giving birth to baby #2!). Our successes, sometimes failures, joys and challenges will be included so others can learn and see that they too can succeed in teaching their children at home if that’s the desire God has placed in their hearts. Thanks for joining us!

The Untitled Blog Post January 22, 2009

A lot can happen in three months – WordPress changes its format, you find out you’re pregnant, your son turns 3 years old. So, what’s the natural response? Blogging hits the backburner. At least for me.

But amidst the craziness and chaos of life, one thing has remained constant. There will always be more craziness and chaos. That’s life with a toddler-turning-preschooler who demands his way is the best way. Wait ’till he meets Jesus.

Or maybe I should say wait ’till Jesus meets him (and hopefully transforms him SOON!). But that wouldn’t be correct because my son is already known by Jesus, already known by His Heavenly Father, who fashioned him in the secret of my womb before I even knew he existed.

And God my Father has done it again – has allowed me to become the carrier of another miraculously-created life who I will bring into the world in less than six months. If only I could pray away the labor pains. Not likely.

But what I am praying for is that this unborn child will personally know and trust Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The same prayer prayed daily for my firstborn. That Jesus will be first place in his life, that Jesus will remain the one constant thing amidst the craziness and chaos of life.

Of course, telling my son that will work wonders because he listens oh so well I believe it’s called selective hearing and thankfully he has heard my conversations about Jesus because he already knows Jesus loves him and died for him and that Jesus is alive. He at least can recite this at 3 years old and I’m praying these truths will become written on his own heart soon.

No, I think the better way for my son to learn that Jesus is first among all things is to see that portrayed in my life. In my crazy and chaotic life. For him to see that no matter what financial difficulty we face, no matter how many repairs Dada’s truck needs, no matter how many times I’ve repeated the statement that pee-pee goes in the potty not on the floor, that Jesus is still King of all. Because no matter how I treat my Lord, He is still Lord. No matter how unfaithful I am to Him, He is still faithful to me. It is undeserved love but as my husband would say, “It is what it is,” and it is grace.

Oh Lord, if only our hearts would cling to You with unfaltering faith, if only we could take You at your word and know beyond our doubts that You desire to bless us beyond belief, then we could truly rest in Your peace here on earth and exchange our chaos for your calm. For your death and resurrection have given us the right to become children of God, and as an earthly father desires to give his children good things, You, Lord, desire to give us even more.

A Journey through the Second Year of Motherhood January 18, 2008

As I reflect back on the second year of motherhood with my firstborn son, I thought it only appropriate to capture those days in the form of a poem:

My second year of motherhood has been such a joy

I love teaching Edson and raising a little boy

From trains to cars, Legos and blocks

We’ve played with them all, even dirt, sand and rocks

He really loves books with bright colors and shapes

He listens to my words and then tries to imitate

I wave my arms like the wind and the rain

That shook Noah’s ark in those ancient days

Edson always remembers my crazy weather display

And waves his little arms when the word ‘rain’ I say

After a while when reading is done

He’s on to the next thing and searching for fun

The words that he tells me I try to decipher

From ice cream to lunch, backyard to fire

One of his favorite games above all else

Is throwing balls in the air and trying to catch them himself

When boredom sets in and he’s had enough of the house

We head to the park, library or mall, or just out and about

A car ride would not be fun without his friend Dora

And the songs she sings about her life as an explorer

When we sit down for lunch it’s always PB & J

Pepino and milk and Goldfish on the way

I make up clever songs or read stories from the Bible

To keep him entertained at least for a while

It seems to me the best part of his day

Is when Dada comes home cause it’s really time to play

One thing I enjoy most is laying on my bed

Relaxing with my son and kissing his head

His sweet little cheeks and his cute button nose

Are all a year older and so are his toes

I think back fondly to those early days

When my son was an infant and my mind was a haze

He could hardly move but could certainly cry

He would sleep during the day and stay awake at night

I remember wanting those exhausting days to pass

Wondering if I’d ever sleep again, desperately wanting to crash

Edson is now 2 years old and he sleeps through the night

And now how I often miss those feedings by moonlight

I know, however, that this is God’s plan

For me to nurse a newborn and eventually raise a man

I vow this year as Edson gets older

To enjoy every moment we have together

For God my Lord has blessed my life

With a sweet precious son, my firstborn child

These two years have been fun and at times very tough

But God’s love is sufficient, His grace is enough

I rely on Him each and every day

To help me guide my son in the Lord’s faithful way

For I know the true joy of my life as a mother

Is seeing Edson declare his devotion for Another

Someone else who is more worthy than I could ever be

Our Savior Jesus Christ who died for Edson and me

So my prayer is to love my son through all things

And lead him to Christ, the true King of kings!

When will God end child abuse? January 15, 2008

This weekend in church, we were asked what burdens us, what breaks our heart, what makes us angry, what do you care about?

My immediate response was child abuse. I truly cannot stand to read or hear about stories involving children and abuse. The most revolting story I heard recently is about a man who allegedly threw his four children over a bridge – children ranging in age from a few months to 3 years. Supposedly searchers have found one of the children’s bodies.

Unfortunately, in this case, I have a very vivid imagination and just picture myself on that bridge watching this man throw his children over. I feel myself taking on their feelings – their feelings of fear, uncertainty, ignorance. How does an infant know he’s being thrown off a bridge into murky waters as much as 55 feet deep. What happened to the children’s sense of security in their father’s care? It’s too painful for me to imagine without crying.

If I wasn’t a Christian, child abuse would be the one situation that would cause me to doubt God cared about anything. How could He allow young children to experience such brutality? Why? For what purpose?

But I am a Christian, a creation of God’s, and am not God and therefore do not understand His ways or His thoughts (Isaiah 55:8.) Yet I wonder how much child abuse can even He stand. When will it end?

I am reminded of Psalm 10, a psalm that was brought to my attention during a seminar on domestic violence and abuse. When reading through this psalm, I see a wicked man who is determined to destroy the innocent:

Why do You stand afar off, O LORD? Why do You hide Yourself in times of trouble? In pride the wicked hotly pursue the afflicted; Let them be caught in the plots which they have devised. For the wicked boasts of his heart’s desire, and the greedy man curses and spurns the LORD. The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts are, “There is no God.” His ways prosper at all times; Your judgments are on high, out of his sight; As for all his adversaries, he snorts at them. He says to himself, “I will not be moved; Throughout all generations I will not be in adversity.” His mouth is full of curses and deceit and oppression; Under his tongue is mischief and wickedness. He sits in the lurking places of the villages; In the hiding places he kills the innocent; His eyes stealthily watch for the unfortunate, He lurks in a hiding place as a lion in his lair; He lurks to catch the afflicted; He catches the afflicted when he draws him into his net. He crouches, he bows down, And the unfortunate fall by his mighty ones. He says to himself, “God has forgotten; He has hidden His face; He will never see it.” (Psalm 10:1-11)

Oh but our God has not forgotten. He is the King gallantly riding upon his horse ready for war, ready to judge the living and the dead. He is a Mighty God who will destroy all evil one day and the source of all evil. With this destruction will come an end to child abuse, to all kinds of abuse. And the only tears that will flow will be tears of relief, joy and hope because a Savior has returned for His people and is rescuing them:

Arise, O LORD; O God, lift up Your hand. Do not forget the afflicted. Why has the wicked spurned God? He has said to himself, “You will not require it.” You have seen it, for You have beheld mischief and vexation to take it into Your hand. The unfortunate commits himself to You; You have been the helper of the orphan. Break the arm of the wicked and the evildoer, Seek out his wickedness until You find none. The LORD is King forever and ever; Nations have perished from His land. O LORD, You have heard the desire of the humble; You will strengthen their heart, You will incline Your ear to vindicate the orphan and the oppressed, so that man who is of the earth will no longer cause terror. (Psalm 10:12-18)

Homeschooling is like private school, but better January 9, 2008

As a follow-up to my previous blog post about homeschooling, I ended up attending that homeschooling intro meeting at my local library and was extremely overwhelmed.

Curricula were spouted off and names of forward-thinkers were listed, but I was just lost. Ironically, the leader of the meeting was a former member of my church so I chatted with her briefly afterwards. Her daughter was one of the brightest I’ve ever met and it could be because of homeschooling. Or maybe she is being homeschooled because she was bright at age 2?

Well, in any event, it appeared that only a handful of us at that meeting had no clue where to even start while others had done their research. Here’s what I learned:

- Homeschooling often teaches children to think and learn, rather than prepare specifically for tests or exams

- Homeschooling allows freedom in choosing curricula and how much time to spend on those lessons

- Homeschooling allows lessons to incorporate Christian doctrine and lessons as long as the five key areas required (reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and a study of good citizenship) by law are being taught. I was surprised to see that science is not on listed (sorry hubby!)

- Homeschooling has worked for many children, and if parents want to homeschool they can. There are many support groups that can make this happen.

- Homeschoolers are protected by the law (check out a ton of information at the Texas Home School Coalition Web site.)

So, it appears that homeschooling could be a possibility for my son. I still have a few years to decide. But the one thing mentioned at the meeting that I thought was interesting is that homeschooling can be a bit pricey, from purchasing books, supplies and lessons yourself to supporting extracurricular activities your child might enjoy.

One of the leaders called homeschooling ‘just like private school” (due to the cost involved) and I would add only better (because parents have more control over lessons and content.)

So, my primary hesitations are that 1) it could be pricey; 2) how do I encourage my son to develop good social skills if he’s home with me most of the day (I do know there are playgroups and sports he can participate in so maybe this won’t be a problem); 3) will I be able to do this, still work part-time and possibly have a second child?

Priorities definitely need to be evaluated. But I’m relying on God to make all that clear for us when the time is right. For now, I’ll let my son be a toddler and continue having fun with him, teaching him what comes naturally, which is usually ‘No, don’t touch that, don’t eat that, don’t play with that, etc.” You get the point!

Should you force a 2-year-old boy to become potty trained? January 9, 2008

That is the million-dollar question. My son turns 2 this weekend and he has somewhat been interested in his small Elmo potty. He prefers to sit on it fully dressed than actually use it. I’ve had it since he was 18 months old to get him used to it, and he had gone pee-pee in it three times on his own (well, I sat him down on it and he did his business.)

But now that my son is days away from an age milestone, should I start forcing him to use the potty? Should I take him to the potty every hour and see if he wants to go? Right now, he doesn’t show much interest at all. I ask him if he needs to go pee-pee in the potty and he violently shakes his head no. And there I am. While I’m on this topic, does anyone know if a ‘Potty Trained in One Day’ CD program works? I saw an ad in a magazine and was quite skeptical…

People have mentioned it (and my mother-in-law even told him it was time for the potty and no more diapers – well intentioned, I’m sure). But should I wait until he shows more interest, or just keep pressing? Will my pressure backfire? I would love to see him potty trained ASAP cause these diapers are getting pricey but I know how he’s been in the past about others things. When I desperately wanted him to eat with a spoon, he resisted until he started doing it on his own. When I buckle him into his car seat, he whines to do it on his own. Perhaps this is the same thing – he just needs to do it on his own when he’s ready.

Any tips or stories would be greatly appreciated!