Walking through Bethlehem...

Today DH and I took the kidlets on a journey... a "Walk through Bethelem"...

We discovered what the village of Bethlehem might have been like the night Jesus was born…We registered our family with the census taker at the gate (a card asking how many was in our party and if it was our first time there). We walked the crowded streets (and yes, they were very crowded). And we visited a bustling marketplace and talked with the vendors who were busy in their shops.

The kids got to hear a story in the storyteller's tent. We watched as grapes were crushed into wine by a young boy.  And learned of how people had used herbs, ecualyptus oil, and cinnamon to treat common ailments.

The kids got to make a clay "Star of David" at the pottery stall and a beautiful "jeweled" bracelet to bring home with them. They watched as sisters rolled and kneaded bread  in the street and tasted the bounty with nuts and berries...

We worshipped with a rabbi in the synagogue and learned about their cermonies at that time and the Tora. Then we met the Magi and saw dried myrrh and smelled the Frankincense while being aware of the Roman soldiers, who were patroling the streets to keep order in the Judean town.

We even went to the inn only to be told there was "No Room"....

Outside we talked with shepards and saw animals of that day ~ camels, 4 horned Jacob sheep, goats, and of course donkeys...  

It was a wonderful Christmas week activity and a great learning experience for them and us...

Thanksgiving Fun...

For the week of Thanksgiving, I promised the kids that we would devote our studies to Thanksgiving, Early America, and crafts... they are so excited and so far we have had a great 2 days and still got in some great learning!!

Tonight we made "Marshmallow Turkeys" ...I found the recipe here at the National Geographic website...  

They were so easy... and in less than an hour, we had a tray of yummy turkeys!!

 

Rice Krispy treats mixed up and placed in heaping spoonfuls on wax paper to cool...



Rolling the Rice Krispy mixture into balls (you will need 2 balls for each turkey...1 the size of a golf ball (head) ~ and 1 the size of your fist (body)



After we added candy corn feet, marshmallow and chocolate chip eyes, and spice drop  and Twizzler feathers...



GOBBLE!!!         GOBBLE!!!         GOBBLE!!!

 

Halloween Happenings...

This week we are taking a break from our usual planned studies to do some fun Halloween things...  I know lots of families choose not to celebrate Halloween, but our family choice and decision is, that to us, it's a fun time for us and the kidlets..So while we don’t celebrate with spooky witches, lots of superstition, black cats crossing your path, or ghosts, etc.,  we do love dressing up in costumes and going to our friend's and families' homes for treats...

Some of the books we'll be using this week are:

1. The Halloween Grab Bag: A book of tricks and treats (all kinds of fun crafts and activities)

2. Halloween Poems by Myra Livingston

3. Crafts for Halloween by Kathy Ross    

4. We Celebrate Halloween by Bobbie Kalman (which is a great book that discusses the history of Halloween)

Plus I was able to save a copy of "The Book of Halloween" by Ruth Edna Kelley published in 1919 from Homeschool Freebie of the Day... ( a fabulous resource)... You can get a free PDF  of it from Librivox by clicking on the above link...

We'll be using a FREE Halloween lapbook that I found here.

A cool video I found here...

An interpretation of  "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe done by William Shatner that can be found here... An excellent short clip on the origins of Halloween from National Geographic found here...

 

We'll be learning about the life cycle of the pumpkin and about creatures of the night like icky spiders and bats... Eeeewwww!!! 

and some incredible Halloween facts too....

Halloween Facts 

• Halloween is one of the oldest celebrations in the world-pre-dating Christ.


• Halloween in Welsh is 'Nos Calan Gaeaf.'


• Halloween is correctly spelled 'Hallowe'en.'


• When Christianity came to England and the rest of Europe, November 1 became All Saints Day--a day dedicated to all those saints who didn't have a special day of their own. They performed a mass called 'All Hallow Mass' and the night before became known as 'All Hallows E'en,' and eventually Hallowe'en and Halloween.


• When the Romans conquered England, they merged Samhain with their own festivals, a harvest festival called Poloma, and a celebration for the dead called Feralia.


• In Mexico, they celebrate El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead) starting the evening of October 31.


• The very first jack-o-lanterns were made out of hollowed-out turnips.


• Growing big pumpkins is a big-time and serious hobby. Top prize money for the biggest giant pumpkin is as much as $25,000 dollars at fall festivals. The current world record for giant pumpkins is 1446 pounds (that's a lot of pumpkin pies!).


• With an estimated $1.93 billion in candy sales, Halloween is the sweetest holiday of the year (beating out Easter, Valentine's Day, and Christmas). In fact, one quarter of all the candy sold each year is purchased between September 15 and November 10. Now that's one of the sweetest Halloween facts around!

We're going to discuss the history of the Jack O'Lantern and use some resources found here...

Some great pumpkin worksheets found from worksheets 4 teachers.com here...

Family Education has a great maze (you have to register but it's free)   and a Squidoo lense with some free Halloween printables and coloring pages...

and then finish off our week using some printables on activities, spiders, and bats from Enchanted Learning...

and of course, Halloween wouldn't be complete without watching "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" and then carving pumpkins!!

Now every year when we carve our pumpkins, we talk while the kidlets do it... It is such a sweet way to remind them what we are as Christians...

First, God picks you from the pumpkin patch and brings you in from the field. He selects each and every one of us. We are in the world, but of his family as his children...

He then washes all the “dirt” off the outside that we received from being around all the other pumpkins. All the old things are washed away and all things become new.

Then, He carefully removes all the “yucky stuff” called “sin” out from the inside. He changes us through removing all the "yucky stuff". That’s why it is important to go the church and learn about God’s Word.

He carefully removes all those seeds of doubt, hate, greed, and fear. He replaces them with the seeds of faith, hope and love. After Jesus is invited inside, you will experience the changing power of God’s love in your life.

Then He carves a new smiling face just like the smile we have after accepting Jesus!

Now we are going to light this candle inside. Look! This pumpkin now reflects the light from inside out. So when Jesus lives inside of us, He shines through our life for all to see. We can let His light reflect through us. “Let your light so shine before men that they may be able to see your good works and glorify the Father, who is in heaven.”

So you see, we Christians are really like this pumpkin! We will never be the same with Jesus inside of us. We can say like this jack-o-lantern, “Thy presence, my light!”

Valentines Day

Our co-op had a Valentine's Day party... It happened to be a week late due to the fact our classes were cancelled because of snow... The kids were thrilled...
They decorated their bags to hold their valentine goodies, decorated sugar cookies with icing and sprinkles (which didn't last long without being devoured) and then exchanged valentine's... We had around 50 or so kids show up, most from the co-op, but a few that were HS'ers out in the community (which was a great way to extend the homeschool arm of fellowship)...
My kids couldn't wait until they could go through and look at each one...
Gotta love Valentine's Day through the eyes of children...

Here's some links for fun things to do about Valentine's Day.
Valentine Exhibition
Candy Heart Sentences
Graphing Valentine Candies
Valentine's Day lesson Plan
Chocolcate Box Craft
Kleenex Box Cover
Valentine Rice Krispy Treats
Word Play online game for Younger KidletsValentine Word game for Older kidlets

and my favorite link for all activities Valentine is this one  at Family Fun...

Valentine's Day gifts...

           Look what my DH and DC got me for Valentine's Day... I LOVE them!!!                                                                      a new iron skillet

                                  and an iron dutch oven with a ceramic lining
                                 I am in cooking heaven!!!

Happy Halloween!!

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

July 4th Homeschool Fun...Free Activities!!!

 

There are so many resources on the net that homeschoolers can access and use... I am always looking for fun and CHEAP!! things for the kids to do... Here are some of the things I have found for July 4th..

Stories of the War of Independence    a great free item!!

Miscellaneous unit studies and lesson plans from the HOMESCHOOL MOM

another great unit with lots of resources

Here's some links for crafts...

Enchanted Learning crafts

Coloring pages and more crafts from DTLK...

HAPPY JULY 4th!!!

Our Easter Lesson...

This year instead of taking a week to study a holiday, we have been taking just a couple of days to reinforce what the kids have already learned...

So here is what we did for Easter...

We of course had our Resurrection Eggs... (here is a website where you can learn more on how to make your own or you can do like I did and just buy a set)  and then we watched the movie "The First Easter" and read several books:

1. The Legend of the Easter Egg

2. The Story of the First East

3. Easter by Aileen Fisher

4. Benjamins Box

and we also read about the "Three Trees" online..

and then to top it all off, the Easter Bunny visited on Sunday morning and filled the kids baskets... and  I celebrated and ate a Cadburry Egg - gotta have one every year..

 

Easter Sunday...

 

We have had a wonderful holiday weekend...DH was up early to go to the Sunrise service... the kids and I slept in and went to church later... We stayed up to watch "The Ten Commandments"  (which is one of my favorite movies)... DD was bothered that there was 2 kisses in the movie - she said "there wasn't any kissin' with Moses in the Bible"... *LOL*

But the kids loved watching it and when the parted seas collapsed on the Egyptians, DS said "that's what they get for not setting the people free"... *L*

Sometimes it's the things kids say that makes everything so memorable...

Coloring Eggs..

One Easter tradition that we stick to every year is to color Easter Eggs... This year we only colored 12 eggs, but the kids actually did it on their own with Paul and I watching..

We made our own dyes using food color and vinegar... It was fun and science all wrapped into one...

Food coloring dye

Food coloring
hot water
white vinegar
small bowls or cups
slotted spoon


For each color measure 1/4 tsp. food coloring in small bowl. Add 3/4 cup hot water and 1 tbsp. white vinegar to each color. Add eggs and allow to sit until they are the desired color. Remove with slotted spoon.

Here are some pictures of our fun...

 

Days 9 and 10...

We are doing good so far with our daily Lent activities...

For Day 9 - DD selected making  / sending cards to someone... So they made a card for a friend who had been sick and I got my St. Patricks Day cards signed and addressed ....

For Day 10 - we discussed "The Gift of Immanuel"  and made cross-shaped paper bookmarks to give to our friends... (I'll post some pictures of them later today)...

So far...

• So far we have been faithful with our activities for Lent... We draw a slip of paper with an activity out of the bowl every morning..


•  


• For Day 5 - We acted out the parade of "Palm Sunday" , I was the crowd waving mt make-shift palms towels) and DD was Jesus and DS was the donkey... We talked about "Hosanna" and the meaning.. and how the crowds opinions turned within the week...




• For Day 6 - We discussed "fasting and abstinence" and how that is a traditional Lent activity... So both kidlets decided that we should also give up something... They chose "candy and cookies" and I chose french fries (my weakness)...




• For Day 7 - We took a nature walk and gathered items that couild remind us of the life Jesus... DD gathered acorns and we talked about how they could represent "new life" as they are the beginning life of the tree and DS gathered sticks and he wrote "Jesus Lives" by breaking the sticks and spelling it out..




• For Day 8 - We talked about "repentance" and how we need to say we are "sorry" for things that might hurt someone else and that all we have to do is ask for forgiveness from God and that we should also remember to do that in our lives with friends and family as well...  We played a game where we bumped into each other and had to say "Excuse Me" or "I'm Sorry"...The kidlets loved this..they ganged up on me...*L*

Cleaning Windows...

Lent 4 -

DS drew out the activity today... It was talking about how Jewish families typically cleaned before the Passover celebration... This was great, we discussed Passover and I got my breakfast nook window cleaned!! WOOHOO!!

and as an added bonus, while we cleaned, we talked about how Jesus "washes"  away our sin and it all worked out beautifully!!

While they were cleaning they decided that this was fun and DS asked if they could do this again?

Homemade Pretzels...

Lent 3-

Today DD pulled out "make homemade pretzels" for our Lent activity. The twisted shape suggests "arms crossed in prayer"...

I googled several recipes (I have never made pretzels before, but I love Auntie Anne's =)

So here is the one I went with. Laura , the blog owner, put step-by-step instructions in with pictures and they turned out great... I saved what we didn't eat in Food Saver bags and put them in the freezer... Laura said they freeze well and just need a little reheating in the oven... We will definitely save this recipe to use again...  

Betray...

Lent 2 -

Explain what "betray" means. We did this and discussed how we can be faithful to God but also to our family and friends on a daily basis...

We talked about Adam and Eve and how they betrayed God in the garden and how Judas was a betrayer...

It turned out to be a great bible lesson for us...

Alleluia...

Lent 1 -

Our first task was to discuss the meaning of Alleluia and to sing a song...

So we talked about it over breakfast before going to co-op and sang "If your happy and you know it" and replaced "Amen" with "Alleluia".... It worked out great...

 

Our time with Lent...

When I grew up, we didn't celebrate Lent (or alot of other hings either) but my husband and I decided a couple of years ago that we were going to do things differently than our parents had when it came to our faith and raising our children.

I got this great E-book from Currclick on Lent Activities for 2009.

I love it... It has so many great things... I just printed it out, read the Lent details to the kids and then cut the activities into strips and placed them in a glass bowl on our kitchen table... Then we will take one out each day and hopefully complete it.

You can find the e-book to download for FREE here...

 

Ash Wdenesday...

For Ash Wednesday, we sat down and did some reseach on the computer...

We discussed that for Christians, the marking on the forehead with ash marks the commitment to Jesus Christ and God. That they wanted to show God that they were sorry for the wrong things they had done in the past year.

There is a wonderful site that explains it for kids here.  

Shrove Tuesday...

We are participating in Lent this year and I found this great website about Shrove Tuesday... It explains all about it and made it easy to explain to the kids.. You can check it out here. 

To celebrate, we took the kids to IHOP for their "FREE" pancake day... We had a great time and what a way to kick start our celebration of Lent.

Valentines Day 2009

This year we decided to make our Valentines... We needed 60 for our co-op and then another 12 for our karate class, and then we decided to make Valentine's fo the kids in our group at church... So, all in all, we made 120 Valentines...

 

I took my Sizzix and the heart plates and cut out 240 different color hearts, then the kids wrote "TO A SWEETHEART" on each one of the big hearts and signed their names on the back... we then used the hole punch to make 2 holes in the big heart  and stuck a PIXIE STIX through it to make an arrow and then glued the little heart onthe end for the arrow tip... They turned out great, but turned out to be an all-day job...  =)