Week 3 - CtG - Shofars and Rosh Hashanah

Creation to the Greeks Week 3

Here are a few highlights from our week.

Art

I know we are a bit late for Grandparent's Day, but better late than never ;) The kids skipped lesson #5 in the History of Art (it was a review anyway) to make cards for their Grandparents and Great-Granny. I'm sure they will enjoy receiving these little treasures in the mail :-D

Lesson #6

The kids had fun making their shofars. Click here for a quick and easy template for a shofar.

Here is a link to a short video demonstrating the sounds of a real shofar.

The Tanglewoods' Secret

We are a little bit ahead in reading...chapter 10, I think. Anyway, this week's reading was especially touching. My daughter has come around to this story and actually likes it now. Like I said before, it had to be God's perfect timing as we have been talking with her about these very same things. She has given her life to the Lord already, but like the story says, it is a learning process and you must be deliberate in listening for the Shepherd's voice.

Bible & History

The kiddos' hand-drawn Biblical maps.

She is such a poser! 

Had to take his picture doing something 'manly' like working out on the machine

Click here for a informative 2 minute Tower of Babel video from Answers in Genesis.

Science

We tried out Archmedes' Death Ray (as described in Genesis For Kids) over the weekend along with a few other magnifying glass experiments while on our camping trip. In case you missed it, click here.

We did not do the 'Light from Unexpected Sources' experiment because we happened to do this and more like it over the summer. We put the wintergreen candies in our mouths though instead of using pliers. It was pretty cool! You have to do this experiment in a pitch black room in order to see the effects though. We went into the bathroom at night, all stood in front of the mirror, put our wintergreen lifesavers in our mouths and crunched them up with our mouths open. Our mouths sparked with every crunch!

You can try this same experiment with plastic unused rubber bands as well. Go into a dark room, hold each side of the rubber band with each hand, and quickly stretch. Once you stretch them, they won't work for a while, so be sure to have plenty of un-stretched rubber bands on hand. The more you stretch at once, the brighter the light will be. The kids really liked this one too! 

Another short video from Bill Nye about refraction.




Rosh Hashanah

I think this feast went a lot better than the Sabbath feast. We also had a special guest with us :-) 'S' is not home schooling with us this year and happened to be over for a sleepover, so that made things extra special for the kids.

'A' helped set the table.

Notice the 'place cards'. She wanted to make sure each guest knew exactly where to sit ;)

Everyone chowing down and enjoying each others company :)

Honey Cakes

If you have not done this feast yet and plan to make honey cake, I suggest dividing the recipe in half. I ended up with 3 of these, so 2 went into the freezer for later.

We ended the evening by watching a snazzy Rosh Hashanah video based around the story of Abraham, Isaac, and Sarah.

This post has been linked up with 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard

What Was I Thinking?

This week has been a little crazy. 

I have no idea what I was thinking when I scheduled so many appointments in the same week as school, a camping trip, and another Biblical feast. Plus, there was the added element of Granny going into the hospital unexpectedly. 

It hit me Sunday night after we got home from the Emergency Room to just how busy this week was going to be. So, Monday morning, I spent some time redoing the lesson plans so we could at least get some school in.

We stripped it down to just the basics. We took another break from My Father's World. Week 3 of CtG is now scheduled for next week.

Monday was school basics, a dentist appointment, an eye appointment, a visit to Granny in the hospital, and my daughter's Hip Hop class. I only remembered her class because the calendar on my phone alerted me by sending me a 10 minute warning bell. We were in the next town over on our way home from the hospital, but she made it to class...20 minutes late. The good news for that day is Granny was released to go home later that night :-D

Tuesday was a little better. I am actually glad my son's band practice was postposed till the following week...that created a tad bit of breathing room. Whew! Some school basics, some camping planning and shopping, and an appointment to get fingerprinted in order to renew my teaching degree should I ever decide to go back to teaching in the public school.

Wednesdays are always crazy. We call Wednesdays our 'Granny Days'. We get in half a day of school and then head to Granny's to spend time with her and help her with whatever she needs for a few hours. Their Paw-Paw lives right across the street and the kids hadn't seen him in a while, so we spent close to an hour over there that day as well. After that, it was straight home to change for church, then fill up my van with neighborhood kids and head to AWANA. I am really thankful for the family meals our church does on Wednesday nights. I don't know when we would fit eating into the schedule if they didn't already have it done for me...lol!

No time for school on Thursday. Instead, a last minute father-son golf outing, 2 daytime dance classes for my daughter, packing and loading up for camping, and a foot doctor appointment {good news - no surgery required...bad news - arthritis and a bone spur :(  .} By that evening, we were ready to head off on our little camping trip.

Golfing...notice the large nutria rat in the background

We sold our travel trailer last year to pay off my van, so this will be our first 'roughing it' camping trip in a tent. We used to tent camp all the time before we had kids and have since been spoiled with 'travel trailer' camping. So, it was interesting adjusting to tent camping again.

But it really wasn't bad at all.

The nights were cool which meant sleeping outside without air conditioning was bearable. We definitely have to invest in some better sleeping mats though. Our air mattress had a hole and kept losing air and the foam padding didn't help at all. 

We did get a chance to do several science experiments though mentioned in the Genesis science book. The kids loved them and thought they were really cool.

J using a magnifying glass and the sun's rays to start a fire...it worked!

Using a magnifying glass and the sun's rays to carve the letter A and a flower into an old piece of wood.

Using a magnifying glass and the sun's rays to carve the letter J and a lightning bolt into an old piece of wood.

The lake was super clear. We could go out thigh deep and still see our feet! That is my kind of water. I do NOT like to go in water that I can't see though. The kids had a blast!

We have mastered the art of tin-foil fire cooking, rode our bikes..forever, and remembered how convenient it was to have a bathroom a few feet away for those middle of the night trips.

We survived though and are looking forward to another camping trip soon :-D

This post has been linked up with Discover Their Gifts :)

They can't ban that!

This week has been marked by controversy, outrage, and in a way...realization.

In the small town next door to ours, football run-thru signs with ANY Christian sayings or Bible verses have been banned. 

A group of cheerleaders, wanting to encourage and uplift the teams by using positive statements and Scripture instead of traditional statements dogging the opposing team, came up with the idea. 

It was bold move and a very worthy stand for their beliefs and they should be commended. The news of what they were doing spread like wildfire. Everyone was excited, supportive, and all a-buzz as to what was happening...or so it seemed.

The superintendent received a complaint and, after checking in with their legal team, made the move to ban ALL Christian sayings and Bible verses on the run-thru signs.

This is when the outrage and controversy began.

Part of me was just as upset as many of these parents and students. It was student led, not teacher/faculty led...how dare they take away their freedom of speech!

Then another part of me thought...what if this scenario was flipped? What if these statements were taken from the Qu'ran or the Book of Mormon? How would I feel then?

You better believe I would be calling down to that school complaining and seeking to get those messages banned! 

I think this is what makes it hard. We, as Christians, know, without a shadow of a doubt, what is right and true, so naturally, we want that truth to win out. Take the other side. No matter how wrong they are in reality, they believe they are right. 

It is a tough spot to be in to say the least.

Then the realization of it all hit me...we are asking a secular institution to uphold our Biblical values and beliefs?!?

Let's take a brief look back into history. Horace Mann is the person credited with starting government-run education in the United States in 1839. Horace Mann stated, 

“What the church has been for medieval man, the public school must become for democratic and rational man. God would be replaced by the concept of the public good.” Horace Mann (1796-1858)

I really like how Dr. Glen Shultz puts things, "When Horace Mann lobbied to get a common (public) school system established in our country, his main point of emphasis was the secular/sacred divide that separated religion and education into two different and isolated compartments of life.  He successfully argued that the home and the church should teach faith and values and the school should teach facts.  The implied meaning behind this statement was that education dealt with neutral facts and faith and values only applied to one’s religious life.  According to Mann, these two spheres can operate exclusive of one another." To read the article in its entirety (and it is worth reading), please click here.

John Dewey was another individual who was heavily involved early on in the public school system. He said, 

“There is no God and there is no soul. Hence, there is no need for the props of traditional religion. With dogma and creed excluded, then immutable truth is also dead and buried. There is no room for fixed, natural law or moral absolutes.” John Dewey (1859-1952), the “Father of Progressive Education;” co-author of the first Humanist Manifesto and honorary NEA president.

Anyway, there is lots of info out there on these individuals as well as the NEA (National Education Association). I encourage you to 'do your homework'. 

I don't know how all of this will turn out. I do know, that while they may be able to ban Christian run-thru signs, they will never be able to ban the light shining from these young people. I pray they will share the love of Christ an ALL that they do. The Bible says, "

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16 I love how our preacher, Bro. Mark, puts things. He says, "as you are going or as you go about your daily lives...make disciples." After all, sharing God's love with others is not a one day evangelism conference, a week long revival, just a thing you only do on Sundays...it is an every day thing.  If we are living out the love of Christ in our daily lives and in all that we do, others will see...and they can NEVER ban that! :-D

Creation to the Greeks Week 2

Here are a few highlights from our week.

Art

In Lesson #3, the kiddos learned about long and short lines. A drew her pencil and paint brush right away. J begrudgingly drew his paintbrush, then slammed his hands down on the table and said it looked like a cigarette. He was so 'over the top' about it (you know, like the world was gonna end kind of thing - you just had to have been there) I could not contain my laughter which made him a little more mad. I explained to him that I was not laughing at his drawing, but at how he was acting. Anyway, it didn't help, but he managed to finish his drawing (quite dramatically, I might add) and I had to contain my laughter all the more.

J's is the bottom pic.

It's going to be a long year for art...

Bible

I used to have a wonderful placemat timeline with the descendants of Adam and Noah. It was color coded, graphed, and listed out, but sadly, it was nowhere to be found...stored away and forgotten somewhere I'm sure.

Here is a timeline I found that worked for us though. I'm sure it's not exact, but it seems to be close.

Here is a link to pictures of the life-size ark replica that is on display in the Netherlands.

The kids understand things so much better when they have pictures to look at.


The Tanglewoods' Secret

I am really enjoying this story! J seems to like it too. A - not so much. I think it is because the naughtiness of the little girl reminds her of of some of the same things she is working through right now. This story could not have come at a better time ;)



History

We are really enjoying the study of creation even though the kids know the basics already. It has been so interesting learning about dinosaurs! There is so much evidence out there to prove dinos and man co-existed together. If the Bible isn't enough (think dragons - that word was around looong before the word dinosaur), famous cr

edible people in history have written down and documented detailed encounters with these dragons with such accuracy. Why is it we are allowed to believe their accounts of other historical happenings, but disregard anything they said about dragons?! Petroglyphs, carvings, drawings, writings, artifacts, etc... have all been found in nearly every major civilization that match up EXACTLY with scientists' descriptions of certain dinos today. I wish evolutionists would open up their eyes and consider ALL the evidence...not just the evidence that fits their theories :(

Here is a link to some neat dino related activities. (Thanks again to Hydrangeas and Harmony for posting this great link!)


Science

We have not been thrilled with the experiments from the Genesis book so far. The light and water experiment didn't really work like I had hoped (perhaps it was not dark enough), but this short 1 minute video we found on you tube did work.

Below is a 2 minute video from Bill Nye the Science Guy on bending and bouncing light. This video is safe, but you have to be careful with Bill as he is a huge evolutionist.

The experiment where we took a glass cup filled with water and tried to see the different colors of light didn't work at all...maybe it wasn't sunny enough. Anyway, here is one more video (6 minutes) from Bill Nye demonstrating light and color.

Hope you guys had an awesome week as well!

Week 1 (Part 2) Shabbat!

Here are a few highlights from our week.

Well, this week didn't go quite according to our plans either, but we have learned to work with what we are given.

We broke our first week of CtG into 2 weeks. This week, we primarily focused on the actual Sabbath celebration. (To see what we did last week, click here.)

We had a gazillion things that popped up on Friday and inevitably, there were some things that didn't get done. One being the house. It was not really clean at all, although we made sure the area where our Sabbath celebration took place was clean...lol!

We didn't end up doing the full blown Sabbath meal as we had planned for a number of reasons, but we were able to do the Friday evening part of Sabbath (for the most part) as it was written in the book Celebrating Biblical Feasts.

Kiddos each made a loaf of challah

The table is ready!

Saturday and Sunday were full as well and we were not able to get to any of the Sabbath celebrations those day, but we were able to participate in a ministry through our church called His Hands His Feet. We helped make cards, set up tables and decorations, pass out meals, and clean up as a "thank you" to the first responders in our town for their hard-work, dedication, and all they do to help our community. 

kitchen craziness

In the end, we were not able to do all the Sabbath celebrations as we had planned, but it all worked out according to the plans God had for us that weekend :) 

We are looking forward to week 2 of CtG!

Week 1 (Part 1)

Here are a few highlights from our week.

Art

In art, the kids learned about frustration. I am so glad this was the first lesson because if anyone in our family gets easily frustrated when it comes to art, it is my son. Hopefully, that lesson about Joni Eareckson Tada will stick with him in the coming months. 

If you are not familiar with Joni, she has quite an amazing story. She was paralyzed from the shoulders down in her teens, yet, with God's help, went on to accomplish many things as well as create amazing artwork using just her mouth. Check some of her work out here.

Trying their hand at drawing by mouth

Can you guess what they drew? The top is J's and the bottom is A's. She drew it by mouth, but colored it by hand. I was a little late in snapping her picture. My son, the ever frustrated artist, decided against coloring and that having to draw it was enough. lol!

Bible
We started where it all began...the book of Genesis. We watched several short and amusing video clips to go along with our studies - What's in the Bible with Buck Denver , Bentley Bros. Genesis, and many more.

I like to follow along with what Jennifer and her kids are doing over at Hydrangeas and Harmony which is where I attribute finding many of these great video clip and songs links :)

We did not have time to do the Sabbath celebration this week due to an out of town trip we took on Friday. So, we sort of split CtG this week into 2 (hence the Part 1 post title). Next week, we are going to do a few more artsy craftsy things to prepare for our Sabbath celebration, then celebrate it this coming Friday and Saturday. We are really looking forward to it!


History
The kids are enjoying the dinosaur studies. They really wonder what it was like for Adam and Eve to live in harmony along-side these 'dragons'.  Jase even brought out his mini-TRex replica he put together a few years ago to compare it with the pictures in Dinosaurs of Eden. We laughed at how monstrous its head, mouth, teeth, and legs were...yet, it had these tiny little arms. My husband said that was God's sense of humor...LOL!


Science
We have been studying about light and the tricks your eyes can play on you when looking at different things. The examples in the science book were not that great, but we happened to have a book called Optical Tricks which had some excellent optical allusion examples.

After school one day, the kids had some fun riding the go-kart around the yard. Sometimes, they just get along so well, and other times...not so much - lol!

Hope you guys had an awesome week as well!