Nov. 8, 2009 - MamaBuzz Tour: "Mothering Heights" by Keitha Smith and Susan Brereton
This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by: Judson Press for this review.
Author Information:
Susan Brereton is a former New Zealand resident currently living in England. She is a wife, mother of five children, and an interior designer. For many years, Susan has run a Bible study for mothers of preschool children, and has had a long association with the Navigators and Moms-in-Touch.
Keitha Smith lives in New Zealand with her husband and two children, including one with special needs. With a background in training and education, Keitha leads the women's ministry group at her church and serves on the local school's board of trustees.
Check out Keitha's fictional Mother's Prayer Blog ,The Jonah Tree. Also visit www.MotheringHeights.org.
My opinion:
"Mothering Heights" was a quick read that was enjoyable even if I didn't agree with everything that the authors wrote about. I liked the fact that several classic books were used to glean knowledge from such as Pride and Prejudice, Pilgrim's Progess and several others. The quotes used from the books were very much aligned with the theme of the book, mothering.
Using Scripture Smith and Brereton do back up their writing with Biblical basis - again some of their applications of Scripture were not what I had interpreted them to be but I definitely did find myself gleaning some inspiration from the book. This book was not geared toward moms who homeschool and it does include several mentions of having alone time and how good that is for the mom - one of the things I disagree with - but I can't throw the baby out with the bath water - because overall this book was loaded with uplifting writings to speak to the heart of a mom.
Wether you are a first time mom or a mom three times over this book will have something to speak to your heart. With study questions that can help to see how you view motherhood and your expectations of others, it could be used as a guided Bible study as well. Again it's a fast read which any mom will appreciate and the insight in the book will be well worth the time that it takes to read it.
Price: $15.00
Available at Judson Press. A sample chapter is available at the mothering heights website.
Nov. 8, 2009 - God's Chisel
Have you ever asked, "Why me? I don't deserve this." God is molding you into the person He wants you to be. It is painful. His ways are not our ways. When you proclaim Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you do not all of a sudden become perfect. Yes, when you ask God to forgive you, He will. That is guaranteed. And no we don't deserve that.
But many people view Christians as "holier than thou" as though we are supposed to be perfect. We are not. We struggle with all the same things the rest of the world struggles with. And it is painful. When we ask God to take away our imperfections, it often hurts to let go of those things. The difference is, that we have God to lean on while He does the work. We can call on Him to help us through the hard times and He will be there because He loves each and every one of us.
"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
Yes, He loves YOU too. Wherever you are right now, you too can receive His forgiveness and become born again. Jesus said in John 3:3 ..."I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again. " It is really quite simple, but it is a matter of the heart. Accept Jesus Christ, as your Lord and savior. And believe it. He came to this earth and gave his life in a bloody, painful death so that you could do this. He loves you. Confess your sins to God and know that He will forgive you.
If you don't know what to do next, I humbly suggest you pick up a Bible. Don't know where to start? I didn't either. Try Romans or John. They are both good books (among many) for a new Christian or an unbeliever to start.
The following video was played for us in church today. Our study was on Ephesians 4:17-24 It was an awesome video and I wanted to share it with you today. Humorous and so true. May you be blessed.
Nov. 8, 2009 - Hands On Carnival #14
Welcome to the 14th edition of The Hands On Homeschool Blog Carnival.
This month we had several submissions relating to preschool and young child activities. We can learn so much from seasoned homeschoolers and the many young families starting out in their homeschool journey. Sometimes when I'm surfing along and I see these wonderful posts for activities to do with the young children I glance by and keep going because I think the preschool activities are just for new homeschoolers. But I can't forget the little ones in our multi-child families. I have a five year old at home and I often have to remind myself to not only include her in our lessons for the older kids, but to also include lessons that are just for her at her level. Just because I have done something before doesn't mean she has!
I'm going to start this edition with our preschool submissions so we don't forget these young ones and how fun their school time can be! If you have only older children at home, don't worry! We have lots of hands on ideas for you too!
~ For Our Littles~
Amida presents Journey Into Unschooling: Bead People posted at Journey Into Unschooling.
A recipe for Homemade Finger Paint has been posted at Mommy's Life.You'll get to see an adorable video of A Picture of "One" posted at Baby Steps.
Rachel says this is a "great way to incorporate masterpiece artworks into a learning activity, that doubles as emergency entertainment when out-and-about. I love this, DIY I Spy Board!" Mini-Whiteboard becomes Animal ?I Spy? posted at quirkymomma.com.
Martha presents The Chef-a-nator Working on Fractions posted at Sunrise to Sunset.
~ Moving on to those "older" kids... ~
This month I wanted to share something in the math department. This is Hands On Geometry with my 7yo posted at Talking to Myself.
Five in a Row is generally for younger ones but I gotta say my older daughter enjoyed many of our lessons when we did FIAR a few years ago. So don't let this next post fool you, it is a field trip for kids of all ages especially those boys at heart...
Dawn presents FIAR Field Trip posted at my4sweetums - Homeschool Blogger.
Kris and friends held a Mesopotamia Party and she shared some pics at her blog Science of Relations.
Brenda presents Rocks in My Dryer posted at The Tie That Binds Us.
There seems to be a rock thing going on this fall. Kris is studying geology too and submits her Saturday Science Challenge #12 on At Home Science. And if you like science, you'll love the new At Home Science Yahoo group.
Rachel presents Try a Shoe Box Journal posted at Minds in Bloom.
Barb and her kids do a fabulous artist study and she shares her son's artwork here on her post Jean-Francois Millet Project-Oil Pastels found at Harmony Art Mom.
Writing...How do you make writing hands on? Well you could argue that writing is in fact hands on just because of the nature of holding a pencil in your hand. But I'm looking for something more than that. Something that make writing more tangible, something that brings writing out of the mundane and into the extraordinary. This next entry just might get us started in that direction. There's nothing like a contest with funny rules to make writing interesting.
Pamela presents It's Almost NaNo Time! posted at Blah, Blah, Blog.
Another family with preschoolers running about, this final post doesn't really meet all of the guidelines for our carnival but it was such a great post that I hope will inspire us all in a way of life that will help us to meet our goal of doing more hands on projects with our kids.
Adam presents Still No TV? posted at The Faughn Family of Four.
Thank you all for sharing your hands on projects here with us at The Hands On Homeschool Blog Carnival. I look forward to seeing you next month. If you are reading this and you have never submitted an article of your own, I encourage you to blog about your next educational, hands-on project and share with us here.
Submit your blog article to the next edition of hands on homeschool blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
If you are interested in hosting an upcoming edition of The Hands On Homeschool Blog Carnival or you'd like to be on our monthly reminder email list, please send me an email.
Nov. 7, 2009 - Fall Impressionism
My 5yo told me she wanted to paint fall pictures. She wanted to paint colorful leaves and trees and scenes from nature. After a bit it seemed best that I draw a few simple pencil sketches for her to paint because she was having a hard time getting the paint to do what she wanted and was getting quickly frustrated. So we started with some leaves.
Next I drew a tree for her and showed her how she could make the tree have many leaves by just using dots and dabs of paint. First I did up an example and while she painted I pulled out print cards I have of van Gogh's self portrait and a variety of impressionist paintings that use many small strokes like those of Monet and Sisley. We were able to talk a bit about the different types of painting and what started as an innocent child asking to paint turned into a brief introduction to impressionism and pointillism. I love it when lessons come out of nowhere! Here is her finished tree.
Nov. 7, 2009 - Another ER Visit--ALMOST
More drama in our family. I have a genetic defect called medullary sponge kidney disease. It's not as ominous as it sounds, although some people do seem to have a terrible time with it. People with MSK have deformed kidneys. The drainage tubes in the kidneys have small pockets where urine collects and turns to stones. I have hundreds of these pockets in both my kidneys and hundreds of stones. I know; it sounds like I'm exaggerating. But my doctor said there were too many stones to count. I used to joke that my x-rays looked like I had been hunting with Dick Cheney. (An x-ray of my kidneys shows tw oval areas of what looks like buckshot!) Some people have chronic kidney infections, constant pain, and other problems. I am truly blessed with sporatic pain, and so far only one kidney infection when I was 11 years old. (I wasn't diagnosed until I was 38 y.o. Most people aren't diagnosed until their first kidney stone. I probably had my first stone when I was 18, but they didn't do any x-rays or extensive testing, just sent me home with an "I don't know what's wrong with her, probably in her head" look.)
Thursday I had another kidney stone, large enough to cause severe pain. The only reason I even want to write about it, though, is that I have to tell you about my sweet children. Around 8 p.m. that night after about 3 hours of unrelenting pain, I lay down on our bed. Before that I had a heating pad and rice sock (tube sock full of dry rice heated in the microwave) and sat in a chair or paced the house. By this time, I had reached the point of wanting to go to the ER. I made calls to arrange that, knowing I would probably be there HOURS if not days. Then I just lay there. Praying. Oh, how I prayed.
Then my sweet children came in to ask if I needed anything. They re-heated my rice sock, brought me water, and then began to sing the most beautiful songs. Noah sang "Good night, sweet Mommy, flush that stone right down the drain." Jonah sat on the bed and held my hand, and Gracie sang "Silent Night". What an amazing prayer meeting we had. They got ready for bed, and we had our evening prayers. Again, they prayed for my healing, and as they prayed the pain subsided GREATLY. Within an hour, I passed the stone!
I love my children and my dear husband. You're probably wondering what he was doing?! He so hates to see me in pain and feels completely helpless. He's really good, though. He makes sure I have what I need, reheats the rice sock, brings me water, stays close enough that I can tell him if I need anything, but doesn't hover. He prays for me, and reaches out to our friends and family to ask for prayer. I had prayers going up all over this country. (Just before Mark's heart attack, we joined Facebook at the urging of one of his brothers. We thought it would be a good way to stay in touch with family and share pictures. It has turned into a blessed prayer ministry. When we need prayer, we share our requests--our "friends" are limited to family and friends, no strangers--and friends post their prayer requests. So many people we have been able to pray with, so many old friends we've found, and so many relationships built with family that we saw only at reunions and so briefly, then.)
So today I am just resting. We will be celebrating Jonah's 11th birthday with my parents this afternoon. His birthday isn't until the 16th Nov., but my parents will be out of town. He's kind of excited. He gets an early birthday and then we will celebrate his birthday at home on the day.
And I'm counting my blessings!!
Nov. 6, 2009 - School updates
Well we've been having lots of fun with school - I love doing school during the holidays as it really gives us more to study and do. With my husband having gone to the ER by squad on October 29th and staying until late Saturday the 31st, we've been very, very busy. Thankfully we haven't been sick, sick. Two of the children do have stuffy noses and I'm thinking it's more allergies than an actual cold so we're continuing life as normal. The girls and I continue to be busy with our Nutcracker rehearsals and this weekend marks every weekend rehearsals from now until the show!! My surgery is rescheduled for the day after Thanksgiving - and yes I'm still mulling over how to get in some after Thanksgiving sales LOL Anyway on to some pictures of school from about two weeks ago.
Bethanne studied Madeline and she started her first lapnote for this and she really enjoyed feeling like her big sister.
One of the projects she did was a Madeline 'doll' using a toiler paper roll.
Both girls with Bethanne's finished Madeline 'doll'
I don't have pictures of Hannah's lapnote so I'll take pictures later to show about J is for Japan unit. We did study the solar system and we made her own solar system which lost air very fast with a little boy who thought the planets were fun to squash so now all we have is pictures. Pluto is there, we had to draw it in - it's to the right of the blue balloon.
Here is some bread and cookies I've baked and frozen. The bread is pumpkin bread and the cookies are pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
And just because I can't leave my little guy out, here is a picture of Christian.
There will be more pictures coming from our field trip to Carriage Hill Farm - a historic working farm and other pictures of our school year so far. I'm working on updating as our days get back to normal.
Nov. 5, 2009 - Praying for our Soldiers
Praying for our soldiers, especially those stationed at Fort Hood near Austin, TX. There has been a deadly, mass shooting. 7 reported dead, 20 wounded. 2 or 3 shooters with one in custody. Story here. First thing I did was call my parents to see if they had heard. My dad is retired military. Of course, as I dialed the phone my next thought was, "Surely, they didn't go to Fort Hood today." They frequently travel the 45 minutes to the base to fill prescriptions and do their grocery shopping. They were home and hadn't heard the news. This is so terribly sad. There are also several elementary schools and middle schools on base. I pray for the children, although not in harms way, they are all the children of military personnel and have so much to deal with. What a terrible tragedy!
Nov. 5, 2009 - Thanksgiving Unit Study
Next week we will begin a unit study around the founding of America. We will read several books by the d'Aulaires including: Leif the Lucky, Columbus, and Pocohontas. We will also read: The Light and the Glory for Children by Peter Marshall and David Manuel, selections from History Stories for Children by Dr. John Wayland, The Christian Foundation of America by Gary DeMar, and finish with the book ...If You Sailed on The Mayflower in 1620 by Ann McGovern. I would really like to end by making either placemats or dioramas. The children are very creative, so I rarely need to assign an art project. They would probably spend their days making art if given the choice. There are several good Thanksgiving movies to include: a Charlie Brown special, the Waltons' Thanksgiving show, a more recent Thanksgiving special that I've seen at Red Box (I haven't looked into it, so I'm not sure how appropriate it is.), First Landing (Again, not sure if appropriate). I haven't really looked for movies at our library, mostly because those are so easy to find and usually available. Besides getting ready for the holiday, these books, movies, and activities should keep us very busy, be lots of fun, and educational!!
Nov. 5, 2009 - CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS
We are taking an extended break from our History of the World unit study. We have worked our way to Noah and will take up the history of Noah and his sons, the Tower of Babel, and Sumer when we resume our studies in January. In the meantime, we will NOT be idle. (Aren't idle hands the devil's workshop?) This week we have been doing a fun unit study around the book Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
I found a unit study using this book here. We will be using some of these ideas as well as our own. We added a Bible study reading the story of Moses and the children of Israel who were fed manna and quail from the heavens by the Lord. Egermeier's Story Book Bible is a great resource. We have two weather books to use: The Magic School Bus: Kicks up a Storm and How It Works: The World's Weather. We continue to discuss healthy eating. And, of course, we will be eating spaghetti and meatballs.
Nov. 4, 2009 - Hands On Geometry
My 7yo son loves to play with pattern blocks. So today we focused on geometry using the pattern blocks and a book called 20 Thinking Questions for Pattern Blocks (that I'm embarassed to say, was gifted to me when I started homeschooling a few years ago and I have only just begun to use it this year.)
Each question or lesson gives a list of materials needed, a section on how to introduce the question, a box of possible problems that might come up and how to handle them, some examples of what you might see in your student's work, what to look for, discussion questions and then a journal reflection. This book is geared towards 6-8 graders and I could easily see myself doing this with my 8th grader once a week. For now, I have just pulled out the bits that I can do with my younger son. We can't get into the deep detail that the book does, especially in relation to decimals and percents and I don't bother with the journal entries because I don't want to slow him down with tedious writing.
Question #2 asks: How many different triangles can you make?
We started by reviewing the names of the shapes and then I made a simple triangle and asked ds to make a few of his own. Once he saw that he could make triangles out of other shapes beside triangles I urged him to make larger, more complex triangles consisting more varied shapes.
Question #11 asks: What patterns do you see?
This particular activity requires the child to only use one shape to recreate that shape in a larger size. Once the student can make it using only a few blocks he is challenged to make the next larger size. It took my son a few tries to get the blue parrallelograms right but he figured it out and found it even easier after that to manage the other shapes.
After class he had some free time so I let him free play with the hexabits which as is customary with anything ds plays with, he made wheels out of so he could race them and later to play war with.
My Family from WiddlyTinks.com
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