This mini unit study could be done the week before Valentine’s Day. 

CRAFTS, GAMES, AND COOKING

©        Make Valentine cards for friends and family using construction paper, lace, paper doilies, stickers, glitter, sequins, and whatever else you have on hand!  Try to think of someone who could really use a lift in their spirits.  Pinprick valentines were popular in the earlier days of the United States.  They were made by poking holes with a needle in a piece of paper to make a heart shape.

©        Every February we hang our Big Red Valentine Heart, which I made several years ago out of a large piece of felt edged with white lace.   It is about 26” by 23”, with ten 4 ½” by 4” felt pockets.  (It’s a good thing I made so many pockets, because we now have ten children!)  For labels, I used the computer to make name cards which stick up out of the pockets.  The children have a lot of fun making valentines and putting in small gifts like bite sized candies.  I usually put in candy or small presents, too.   This is one way to add a little extra affection to our family life! 

©        Julie Druck recommends a few fun games in her e-mail newsletter, “A Heart for Home.”  To play Blind Hearts, each person is provided with a sheet of paper and a red crayon.  They are told to close their eyes and see who could make the neatest heart and write their name in the center.  To playing Throwing Hearts, divide your players into teams of two.  Put a bucket in the center of the room, and let the players stand (across from their partners) at even distances from the bucket.  You can mark the distances on the floor with small heart stickers. Hand each of them several heart playing cards and have them try and see how many cards they can flick into the bucket.  The team with the most wins!  If you would like to receive “A Heart for Home”, you can send any message to: aheartforhome-subscribe@welovegod.org.   To send a personal message to Julie, write to thedrucks@netzero.com.

LANGUAGE ARTS

©        Read picture books with the theme of love and friendship.  You can look at your Christian bookstore, or find these at your public library:

·             Bub, or the Very Best Thing by Natalie Babbitt (love is the best)

·             I Want to Say I Love You  by Caralyn Buehner

·             Love Is—by Wendy Anderson Halperin (1 Corinthians 13)

·             I Love You the Purplest by Barbara Joosse

·             Mama, Do You Love Me? by Barbara Joosse (Eskimo setting)

·             If Kisses Were Colors by Janet Lawler (motherly affection)

·             Because I Love You by Max Lucado (God’s love, safety limits)

·             Our Nest by Reeve Lindbergh (animal homes, love)

·             Love You Forever by Robert Munsch (love of mother and son)

·             Friends! By Elaine Scott

©        Have your children find several poems that convey love and affection.  Copy them into your notebook.  (This is a great idea for those who are easing into a Charlotte Mason style of education.)  The Book of Virtues is a great place to start.

©        Write original poems to copy on to cards, using your very best handwriting.

©        Learn to say “I love you!” and “Jesus love you!” in Spanish, French, sign language or other language, such as that of your family’s cultural heritage.

©        Acrostic valentines were popular a long time ago.  Write a word, phrase or sentence beginning with each letter of the recipient’s name.

©        Write an essay about love.

©        Write letters to family members and make sure you send them on time so they will get there on or before February 14.

©        Practice spelling words like: love, heart, Valentine, compassion, charity, kindness, cardiology (or any word with root “cardio”, which means heart), etc.

©        How about a little educational game?  Let your kids write a list of words using the letters in the phrase “Valentines Day” -- like “daily”, “live”, and so forth.  You can’t use a letter twice unless it appears in the phrase twice (“a”, “e”, “n”).  You can’t make a new word just by adding “s” to another word.  This is obviously a spelling and vocabulary game, but here are some ideas to extend it into a GREAT math activity.  Try writing the words in columns marked for one letter words (1 point each), two letter words (2 points each), three letter words (3 points each), on up to 8 letter words.  Yes, there are at least four 8 letter words!  To score, count the words in each column and multiply by the points for that length of word.  Then add the column values together to get your total.  (I dare you to beat my score of over 950!  Let me know if you do.)  You can even plot the incidences of word counts on a bar graph, using word length on the x axis and number of words on the y axis.  You should get a bell curve showing lower counts for the outer edges (1, 2, 7 & 8 letter words) and higher count moving toward the middle (3, 5, & 6 letter words) and a sharp peak at the bar for 4 letter words.  Can your child explain why this happens?  This is an introductory lesson in statistics!

HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY

©        Find out who St. Valentine was, where he lived, what he believed, and why he died.

©        Research the history of Valentine’s Day and how people celebrate the holiday around the world.  Find out what Lupercalia was, and how Valentine’s Day replaced it.  You can read more in these two books (which are VERY similar): The Story of Valentine’s Day by Clyde Robert Bulla and Valentine’s Day by Alice Flanagan.  You may be able to find these in your public library if you act fast.  Here’s an example: “It was also during the Middle Ages that Valentine’s Day became a children’s holiday.  English children went from door to door in groups singing songs.  The mistress of the house would often throw flowers or pennies to the children or give them sweet buns made with plum filling.” And, “In Italy, young men and women gathered together in flower gardens on Valentine’s Day to listen to music and poetry.”  Why not try it at your house?

©        Research the history of the Valentine’s Day card.

©        In other cultures, the heart is not considered to be “the seat of emotions”.  It could be the kidneys or some other body part!  Find out more about this!  (But don’t ask ME where, because I don’t know!  I just remember hearing about it because Bible translators have to take this into consideration when working in different places!)

SCIENCE AND HEALTH (THE HUMAN HEART)

©        Learn about the anatomy of the human heart and how you can keep it healthy.  Those of us who have had children with heart defects have learned a lot from the web about this!  These educational sites will get you started: 

·              http://www.fi.edu/biosci/heart.html

·              http://www.americanheart.org

©        Study what kind of nutrition is best for the heart -- one low in saturated fats, cholesterol, etc.  Plan a week’s menu with heart healthy foods and talk about how cooking wholesome foods for your family is a great sign of love in action!  (OK, so you can still have some chocolate on Valentine’s Day!)

©        Sign yourself or your older children up for CPR classes.  These are offered by the American Heart Association, local hospitals, the fire department and other organizations.  If you already have a CPR manual, REVIEW IT RIGHT NOW!

MATH

©        Count out candy hearts, combine groups of them to show addition, put them in rows and columns to teach multiplication, divvy them into piles to do division, and then eat them to demonstrate subtraction!

©        Calculate how much postage you will need to mail Valentine’s cards, or how much you will save by sending e-mail and web cards!

BIBLE AND CHRISTIAN CHARACTER

©        Read 1 Corinthians 13 and answer the question, “What is love?” 

©        Look up some of these Scriptures: Matthew 5:43-46; Matthew 26:36-40; John 3:16; John 13:34-35; John 14:23-24; John 15:9-17; Romans 5:6-8;  Romans 8:35-39;  Romans 12:9-13; Romans 13:8-10; 1 Corinthians 8:1; Galatians 5:13-15;  Ephesians 3:16-19;  Ephesians 4:15-16;  Philippians 2:1-4;  Colossians 3:12-14; 2 Timothy 2:22; Hebrews 6:10; Hebrews 10:24; 1 Peter 4:8; 1 John 3:1; 1 John 3:10-20; 1 John 4:7-21  (I know this looks like a lot, but it’s only a small sample of New Testament passages with the word “love” in them.  You can find more if you have Bible software on your computer.  You can look them up first before deciding which ones to share with your children. You could pass out little slips of paper and have your children look them up and read them aloud for the family.  They could each choose some short verses to copy, too.)

©        Copy Bible verses about LOVE onto red or pink paper hearts with bold letters and hang them around the room.

©        If you know any Christian songs about love, sing them together!  There are some great ones on Steve Green’s Hide ‘Em in Your Heart Scripture memory song albums.  Others are “Oh How He Loves You and Me” and “Oh How I Love Jesus.”

©        Talk about the different kinds of love (romance, friendly kindness & affection, and unconditional “agape” love) and when it is appropriate to show each of these.

©        Ask your older children, “What is the best way to find a mate?”   Compare how our culture views romance with what the Bible says about marriage.  (See Ephesians 5:21-33, 1 Peter 3:1-10, Titus 2:3-5.)

©        Find the lyrics of love songs -- good and bad! -- and discuss them with your children. Which lyrics you choose to discuss will depend on the maturity of your children and what they have already been exposed to.  Hopefully, this will help them to learn discernment as you help them see what is wholesome and what is not! 

©        Show your children your wedding photos, and talk about how you met your mate.

©        In Austria, Hungary and Germany on Valentine’s Day, boys used to draw the names of saints, and whomever they picked, they would try to live like them for the next year.  Ask your children if there is a Bible character or some other worthy person that they wish to emulate.  Brainstorm practical ways to make it happen.

©        Sing this verse and chorus to the tune of “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know”

“Loving others is the way, to make God happy every day.

Jesus loves to see us care, for other people everywhere.

Let’s be like Jesus! Let’s be like Jesus!

Let’s be like Jesus! The Bible shows me how!”