February 25, 2009

Birds of a Feather

It's been a quiet week in our house... some reading, a little crafting, and a lot of learning! Our 7 year old son is still fascinated with birds. All day long, nearly everyday, he watches them, reads about them, feeds them, draws pictures of them and wants to listen to them. I was going to start a unit on the weather this week, but he asked me if we could continue our study on birds.

So, now we're making a bird lapbook. If you're not familiar with lapbooks, here are a few links that might help explain what they are and how to make one:

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/Lapbooks_at_HSS.php

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/backyard_birds_lap_n_note.php

Youtube even has some videos with lapbook examples and how to make one. If you have a child that loves to craft or scrapbook, or loves hands-on learning, this would be the way to go!

The other morning my little ornithologist woke up and stumbled into the kitchen. He found me sitting there with my bible, a concordance, and a notebook. He recognized the bible, and the notebook, but had to ask me what a concordance is. I told him it's a book that lists words and then lists all the verses in the bible where that word appears. People use a concordance when they want to study a certain subject in the bible.

He went over to the bookshelf and found another concordance and then got his bible; he sat at the table with me and proceeded to look at a word in the concordance, then try and find all the bible verses listed for that word. He was fascinated with the whole thing and spent about 20 minutes looking at both books.This was wonderful for me-I was able to continue on with my study while he did his.

Well, this afternoon, after a full morning of school work, I went into the kitchen to load the dishwasher and bake some bread. I noticed Barrett (my 7 year old) sitting at the table, again with a concordance and his bible. This time he had a tiny notebook layed out next to the bible on the table and was writing furiously. Wanting to let sleeping dogs lie, I did not ask him what he was up to. I loaded the dishwasher, threw 2 loaves of bread in the oven, de-cluttered the counters and the table, and then went on to straighten the livingroom. He followed me, lugging all 3 books and his pencil to the couch where he continued his study.

Finally, after a long time of sweet silence, he chirped, "Mommy? What other birds are listed in the bible? I wrote the verses about sparrows in my notebook, but I want to write down the verses about other birds too."

I should've known his bible study would have something to do with birds! But as he sat there writing, reading, and thinking, I realized something. That boy is learning so very much right now!

-he's practicing his handwriting
-learning about alphabetizing words ( I had to help him with this a few times)
-learning where the books of the bible are and what their abbreviations are
-learning about birds and what the Lord has to say about them
-practicing spelling
-the Word is being absorbed
-he's taking his first tiny steps into studying the bible

I have a feeling it's going to be very hard to keep one step ahead of this boy.....

February 18, 2009

50 Ways to Love Your Lover

Not really, but that title did grab your attention, didn't it?
Actually this post is about just one way to love your lover. Or a friend. Or your kids. Or your parents. Or your nasty little brother....you get the point.

My husband and I have been married nearly 25 years. That's one quarter of a century! And after that many years of marriage it's become very easy for us to take each other for granted. Being married to my husband for that long is like having a very old, comfortable, cozy favorite pair of shoes. (No lovey, if you're reading this, you are not old. Our marriage just feels that comfortable. Honest.)

Anyway-I wanted to do something special for my husband for Valentine's Day, but I couldn't think of anything unique. It also had to be frugal. I could think of thousands of things that cost money, but I didn't want to spend any. Finally, last week I found this blog post and ran with it.

Just in case you don't pop over there, I'll tell you what I did. I cut out over 50 little hearts from scraps of construction paper and scrapbook paper I had laying around. Then on each one I wrote one thing I love or appreciate about my husband. I scattered them all over the house; my husband had to search high and low to find all of them, but he did.

Some of the things I listed were:
-you keep me in chocolate
-you pray with me in the middle of the night when I can't sleep
-you're willing to rearrange furniture again and again and again....
-you listen to me
-you want to grow in your friendship with the Lord
-you encourage my creative efforts
-you never complain about the strange things I cook
-you let me warm my icy feet on you
-you let me take up more than half the bed
-you forgive me when I hurt you
-you have never lost your temper with me
-you watch chick flicks with me, and seem to even enjoy them

You get the idea. I'm glad I took the time to do this. It meant so much to my husband, but it also blessed me. It helped me slow down and think about, and appreciate, what a wonderful, giving, loving, tenderhearted man I'm stuck with.

Like I said before, this would be something you could do, not only on Valentine's Day for your husband, but maybe as a gift for a friend on her birthday. Or your toady little brother's birthday. Or any old day you feel like blessing someone......

February 5, 2009

An Interview With Mom

I found this idea for a post over at:

http://bloggerfriendschool.com/

Our 16 year old son finished his "interview" first. The second set of answers came from our 7 year old.
I think I'm going to have to have a chat with him......


WHAT DOES MOM ALWAYS SAY TO YOU? You’re eating again?!

WHAT MAKES MOM HAPPY? When I give her a hug. Chocolate Doves.

WHAT MAKES MOM SAD? Grey skies, economy level. When she doesn’t hear from Ben and James for a long time. When we’re sick.

HOW DOES MOM MAKE YOU LAUGH? Dry, Rinella humor with a sarcastic twinge.

HOW OLD IS MOM? Barrett says older than dirt.

HOW TALL IS MOM? A little shorter than me. ;)

WHAT DOES MOM LIKE TO DO? Scrapbook, get outside, go hiking, read and cook.

WHAT IS MOM’S JOB? What doesn’t she do?

WHAT IS MOM’S FAVORITE FOOD? Pizza Hut pizza.

HOW DO YOU KNOW MOM LOVES YOU? Constant care. Hugs. She tells me to that she misses me and to crawl out of my hole. My “hole” as she so endearingly calls it, happens to be my bedroom. Plus, she tells me that she loves me often.



WHAT DOES MOM ALWAYS SAY TO YOU? I love you.

WHAT MAKES MOM HAPPY? Me cuddling.

WHAT MAKES MOM SAD? When Daddy doesn’t bring Chocolate home.

HOW DOES MOM MAKE YOU LAUGH? Tickling.

HOW OLD IS MOM? Older then dirt.

HOW TALL IS MOM? This big *

WHAT DOES MOM LIKE TO DO? Eat chocolate.

WHAT IS MOM’S JOB? She doesn’t have one.

WHAT IS MOM’S FAVORITE FOOD? Chocolate.

HOW DO YOU KNOW MOM LOVES YOU? Don't ask me.
Barrett. January 2009

Psalm 139-a repost of an old post :-)

I originally posted this in 2009, but wanted to share it again: Lately, more than ever, I've begun to see the importance of memorizing G...