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!

All About the Numbers October 25, 2009

Our “N” week was a little different. I took a break from an organized set of activities focused on a book and instead inundated my son with numbers as part of our N studies. He often calls numbers ‘letters’ so I thought it would be good to do all we could with numbers.We looked for  numbers everywhere we went – on gas station signs, speed limits, books, etc.

Our activities for the week were simple but fun – we read our book 10 in the Bed and counted down using acorns my son found at the park. Every time one of the animals fell out of the bed, my son took away an acorn and we practiced subtraction.

My son practiced his numbers with glue and sand – we made the numbers using glue and my son poured sand over the glue to make the numbers appear. Pretty simple!

We also played two fun Mickey games – one is a board game where my son matches the numbers on the board with the small game pieces that have numbers on them. He matched them all with  no problem.

The other game uses his Thomas the Train flash cards and Mickey pieces on loan from my sister-in-law. We put one card on the floor and place the corresponding number of Mickey pieces on top of the card.

We read our N book, which included words such as nut, nutcracker, nightingale and the numbers nine, ninety and ninety-nine. He made the letter N out of beans (no specific reason for using beans – I considered using glitter but it’s not very popular at our house!)

Our Bible story for the week was about Nicodemus and we practiced John 3:16 together. We also listened to my son’s CD of Bible songs in the car and he asked repeatedly to hear the one about “a man named Nicodemus.” On to letter O!

Mike and Mary Anne October 21, 2009

I’m a bit behind on my blog posts but that’s what a baby and a preschooler will do to you! We did our M week a couple weeks ago and had a ton of fun! The book we focused on was Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel. This book is part of the Five in a Row reading list, which is designed for 5-8 year olds.

My son received this book as a gift from his uncle and since we have it we decided to do this one as it corresponds with M. It’s a fun story about how well Mike cares for his steam shovel, Mary Anne. My son actually has a miniature steam shovel pictured below and it happens to be read just like Mary Anne!

Our Bible lesson for M week was none other than Moses. We read the stories of Moses that are in my son’s Bible (Passover, the burning bush, the Ten Commandments) and designed our own burning bush. It’s my son’s hand traced onto construction paper with torn/cut pieces of orange and yellow tissue paper glued to the “bush.” Looks pretty good!

I also decided to focus our days around certain “subjects,” such as math, science, music/art, language arts and history/social studies. This has helped me do a few activities per day and gives me more order to what we do. Of course, some days activities overlap or happen on a different day but the guideline is there and helps! And music day was quite often as my son enjoys hitting his “drum” with his “drumsticks.”

For language arts, we practiced our letter M by finding objects that begin with the letter. My son is not interested in writing yet but we can practice how a letter is constructed by making it out of shapes! He made the letter M with macaroni and he played with the leftover macaroni in a bowl of water. He found that dried macaroni quickly turns soggy if left in water.

Other fun things we did this week: we made edible mud with yummy gummy worms! The ingredients: crushed Oreos, chocolate pudding and gummy worms. Tastes great and once you’re done eating, you can put a bulldozer in the goop and have a ball!

Our final M project was what I call fun folders – we created a folder collage of Mexico, the country where my husband is from. We found some pictures that represent Mexico and some other 3D items to put in the folder. My son calls it his Mexico Book and he looks at it often

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!

Plenty of Pockets for Katy October 6, 2009

The other week my son and I focused on Letter K. We continued with his alphabet books and read My K Book and also read Katy No-Pocket, which is included in our Before Five in a Row curriculum. Fun story: I actually found the book below in a stash of old books my parents had kept. And this book belonged to my uncle! It’s in great condition for being at least 30 years old.

There are so many animals listed in Katy No-Pocket, the most obvious one being a kangaroo! My son and I went through the book counting the different types of animals, and used animal cards to match the pictures in the book. My son knew most of the animals on the cards. He was fond of the lizard for a reason I’ll explain in another blog post.

One of our crafts for the week was to paste pictures of animals onto a felt tree. The animals, including a koala, owl, squirrel and monkey, are ones that were found in Katy No-Pocket and/or live/climb in trees. Here’s his handiwork:

Katy No-Pocket also has a page devoted to tools – the man who gave Katy her “pockets” has an apron full of tools. My son loves tools so we used flash cards with pictures of tools to match with the pictures in the book. And I even made him his own “pockets” – a tool belt! It was a fun sewing project even though my son wasn’t interested in wearing the belt all that much until his daddy began working with tools.

Another fun activity we did was have a K snack – kiwi! My son loves kiwi so we made kiwi-shaped seaweed and white chocolate covered pretzel Goldfish. Very yummy!

We also spent time talking about kindness and being kind, and reading the story of Zacchaeus and how Jesus was kind to him when no one else was. We shared examples of how we can be kind to others and he remembered his previous Bible verse, “A friend loves at all times.” He recites his Bible verses with me every night before he goes to bed – and he does it on his own because he wants to! Praise God!

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!

Humble beginnings lead to fond memories January 26, 2009

It was never meant to happen this way. I never intended to be in an apartment when my first child was born. Nope – it was not my plan. But then again nothing ever goes as planned. Or perhaps Proverbs 16:9 phrases it much more succinctly – The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.

However, it did happen that way. When my firstborn arrived, my husband and I were living in a one-bedroom apartment. One that we liked sometimes and one that we hated most of the time. But it was home.

When my son was about 11 months old and our lease was up, my husband and I attempted to find a house to rent but nothing safe was within our budget. And buying a house was not in the plan at the time. So, we moved into another apartment – a two-bedroom, third-floor apartment. In the same complex. Its only redeeming quality was the lake-front view. But oh those ducks could be quite loud in the morning.

Spending time in an apartment, on the third floor, with a rambunctious 1-year-old isn’t ideal but it was what we could afford. Of course being a stay-at-home mom I made the best of it. We colored, read books, played games, watched the ducks from the balcony, spent time outside on the balcony, filled up a baby pool with water on the balcony (don’t recommend that) and tried to not make too much noise for our neighbors below. Naturally, an early-rising toddler has no concept of how fast he’s running or how loud he’s stomping, and that your “neighbors” are still sleeping at 6 a.m. Oh and did I mention that carrying groceries up three flights of stairs isn’t all that fun either? (well it was mostly my husband’s job but it was still hard work!)

With enough prayer and faith in God, my small family eventually moved out of that apartment into our very own home. Our first house! Being almost 2 years old, my son would now have his own backyard and more space in his room to collect more toys that he really doesn’t need but that’s a different story. We loved our new house! It was and is a gift from God! I would change nothing about it.

It’s been more than a year in our new home, yet, most recently, I’ve found myself reminiscing about our old stomping grounds, our third-floor stomping grounds. Perhaps it’s because we now drive by that apartment everyday taking my husband to his bus stop and my son recognizes his first home and says, “Aparmen!” very happily. He asks me repeatedly to go there but I kindly remind him of our new home.

But looking back upon those “tough times” often being cooped up in the apartment, I think about the fun times we had when my son was small. His first bath in the real tub, his first birthday, his first steps, the way his room smelled like baby powder, how he loved watching the ducks, rocking him to sleep while humming, ‘It is well with my soul,’ and the fun games we attempted to play on our small balcony. Not to mention the constant prayers of faith asking God to one day provide us with a home to use for His glory. It’s so strange to think now that something so confining at one time could be the catalyst for fond memories at this time.

Those were our humble beginnings and even though our living situation has improved, we still face difficulties as we make sacrifices living on a limited income. But would I ever exchange the memories made in that apartment with my little baby over a larger, more secure income? Most assuredly not. I think in a way it was God refining me to force me to lean upon Him even more, to trust Him daily, with all my needs. For what need do we have for God, the Ultimate Provider, if we have no needs at all?

Dear God,
I pray to lean on you all the more as I find myself in hopeless and difficult situations. As I look around me and see trials and tests, I pray that my faith will increase as I remember that I am standing on solid ground, on the rock that is My Savior and Your Son Jesus Christ. Help me to remember from where You have brought me, a life of death and destruction, to where I am now, a new creation in You, and where You are taking me. Help me to remember that is You who is carrying me, as a Shepherd carries his young lamb on His shoulders. In Christ’s Name.

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.

What I’m Lovin’ Now… October 10, 2008

1. Whataburger – I never thought I’d hear myself say this but I truly do prefer Whataburger over Chick-Fil-A! What is wrong with me?!?! It could have something to do with the fact that my son and I got sick from eating at a local Chick-Fil-A more than a month ago but I can’t be sure. I just seem to prefer Whataburger’s No. 7 with lemonade over Chick-Fil-A’s No. 1 with lemonade (except, of course, CFA does have better lemonade.) But I can always choose the sweet tea at Whataburger, which isn’t bad. Oh and my son enjoys Whataburger, too, so that helps.

2. My moms group – Our church started a moms group/Bible study a few months ago and it is so great! I’m having a wonderful time chatting with the other moms, making new friends and allowing my son to play with kids his own age. Not to mention I’m learning what God expects of me as a mom and that it is not perfection. Whewwww! That’s good news! But He does expect self-sacrifice, discipline and above all things love.

3. John 13 – For some reason, in the last few weeks, the story of Jesus’ humility in washing His disciples’ feet has been top o’ mind for me. When I read it after not having read it for a while, it just so spoke to me about my own attitude as a servant to my son and husband. “If you know these things, do them and you will be blessed.” I just adore Christ and am grateful for how much He has given up for me and for everyone else.

4. The weather – Fall in the Houston area is quite nice – you can have cool mornings, windy afternoons and brisk evenings. I can actually go to the park and playground at 4 pm and not become drenched with sweat. My son and I have been spending a lot of time outdoors and it’s been great. It certainly does wonders for his napping as well as our electric bill!

5. Honeycrisp apples – So, I’ve always been faithful to Gala apples but recently bought some Honeycrisp apples that were on sale at our local grocery store. And boy were they yummy! They weren’t too sweet but were definitely crunchier and juicier than Gala! I did a little research and found that there’s an entire Web site devoted to this variety of apple. Now, I just need to find more of them at the store and get them on sale. I wonder how homemade applesauce would taste using them?

Biblical Womanhood: If I Belittle… August 14, 2008

As a youth leader in my church’s youth group, there are two words I’ve heard more often than anything else among the high school girls I lead: gossip and drama. It appears to be inevitable especially among teenagers. They ask me regularly why there has to be so much gossip and drama? To be honest, it’s pretty cyclical. Things will be calm for a while and everyone is “on fire for God” and then they let worldly desires get the best of them and here comes the cat fight. I’ve questioned my involvement in youth ministry due to this very thing but God has encouraged me to not give up.

But you know something else? Gossip and drama aren’t only limited to teenage girls. I remember about four years ago when I was in the “working world” before my son was born I encountered two women who liked to speak negatively about others in the office. I often ate lunch with them and always tried to redirect the conversation but at one point I began to wonder what they said about me while I wasn’t there. For a few weeks, I ended up eating lunch alone and was quite thankful for the break. But I returned to them with a better idea – let’s start a lunchtime book club so we’re talking about something PRODUCTIVE. I do miss those lunches but not the gossip.

But you know who else knew that gossip would be a problem among women of all ages? Our loving Heavenly Father. In His infinite wisdom, God still created us women even though we like to let our mouths run – some more than others. However, He didn’t leave us without instruction or a guide to dealing with our mouths. He commanded us in Titus 2:3-5 how we are supposed to be:

Older women likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teaching what is good, so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands, so that the word of God will not be dishonored.

Not malicious gossips…ouch. But isn’t that true? I mean really. What kind of gossip isn’t malicious? You might be thinking that sometimes we just want to keep others around us “informed” about certain situations so we open our mouths. Or maybe what so-and-so did was just so rude that we couldn’t keep the pain of it inside. Yet women are commanded by their Creator to not be this way. Not only is gossip denounced in this passage in Titus, but 1 Timothy 3:11 says the same thing and the book of Proverbs is filled with verses about the use of our mouths. Not to mention James chapter 3 – nothing but description upon description of how our tongue can be used for good and bad.

We have this call to use our words wisely because people are watching. Claiming to be a Christ follower yet allowing your mouth to speak unkindly of others is nothing more than a bad testimony. For those of us who are moms, I can’t imagine what kind of message that sends to our children. I think for me what spoke most loudly about this issue was a recent devo in which great missionary Amy Carmichael wrote:

If, in any way, I belittle those who I am called to serve…

if I talk of their weak points in contrast, perhaps, with what I think of as my stronger points…

if I adopt a superior attitude, forgetting to consider the wisdom of the voice that asks me, inwardly, “Who made you different from the one you are criticizing – and what do you have that you have not been given?”

if I can easily discuss the shortcomings of the sins of any man or woman…

if I can speak in an offhanded way, even of a child’s wrongdoing….then I know nothing of Calvary love.

The Calvary love is the love of a sinless Shepherd dying for sinful sheep. A Savior like a lamb who was led to the slaughter yet did not open His mouth, did not say a word. A Man forsaken and forgotten, bearing the iniquities of generations. The Christ who died for all.

Perhaps the negative words the come from our mouths have their beginning a little higher up in our minds. Maybe our thoughts need to be taken captive under the control of Christ so what is in our hearts and minds will become blessings that we want to come from our mouths. Instead of choosing this day to bash your husband, friend or child, even for something you consider justified, ask God to give you only words of encouragement, love and support, and follow the Ephesians 4:29 principle:

Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.