Well, I have filled out the final paperwork for the end of our official 2007-2008 school year. The next month will involve finishing our "yearbook" and doing unit studies on gardening, worm composting, animal husbandry, and other outdoor learning projects.
I have already gathered stacks of our gardening books, magazines, etc. for our prep work indoors. Of course, most of our summer learning will take place out doors. We are planning to build worm bins under the rabbit cages, the usual garden work, and a few new projects. One of which will be a new way of growing potatoes.
I always get so excited when it is the "growing season" and so sad when winter comes. This year, I am a little bummed out that right when our baby (#6) is born it will be harvesting time for some garden produce and I'm thinking I won't feel up to preserving much. Although, with grocery prices still on the rise, maybe I should endure! I know the girls can do a lot, and I am counting on that.
Speaking of baby #6...I have to spend a moment thinking back to how much fun it was to be YOUNG and pregnant. I know 37 isn't OLD, but it's not like having a baby at 25!!! I remember being 8 months pregnant and weighing about 135...ahhhhh, the good ole' days. Now, well, we won't talk about how much I weigh, but I'll just say I'd be happy to weigh 135 NOT PREGNANT!!!!! Yes, I know I started out this pregnancy with my weight from the last pregnancy. I'm not the first person this has happened to, am I??? Anyhow, with still 14 weeks left in my pregnancy, the inevitable has already started. Some caring person asks when am I due, and when I answer, they look SHOCKED and say THAT LONG? Oooookaaay. Then a seemingly friendly co-worker of my husband meets me and later asks him the same question, and when given the answer, replies, well, she's going to be really big by the time the baby is born isn't she??? Uh, yeah, that's nice. Or while I was shopping today, an elderly lady looks at me and whistle/sighs whew!!! like she just can't get over how GINORMOUS I am... Well, listen folks, I've been to the doctor and her chin didn't hit the floor when she measured me! But you know, I have been known to give birth to a toddler, so you never know. Anyhow, for my sake, the next time you see a GINORMOUS pregnant woman, just tell her how blessed she is, or tell her that babies are a gift from God above, but for crying out loud, don't comment on how HUGE she is, ok? You might regret it......
Our modem fell off the desk and broke, so I missed posting what all we did for the last several days. I'll just hit the highlights here, but scroll down to the Resurrection Rolls recipe to check it out. They are sooooo not healthy, but I think once a year, the wow factor overrides the health factor. We also read the Resurrection Story at this time for greater impact.
Before we had our passover meal, I typed up various verses and explanations onto some index cards. Each child (and parent) had several parts to read out loud during the meal. I think the entire meal and reading took a little over 2 hours. It was great fun, the food was fantastic, and we learned a lot.
Made matzah, matzah ball soup, lamb, potatonik, charoset, orange sponge cake with raspberry sauce, and meringue cookies
Discussed numbering Jewish years, and what that has to do with the Earth's rotation about it's axis, the revolution of the Earth about the sun, and the revolution of the moon about the earth
Made resurrection cookies (kind of like divinity, kind of like meringue...empty inside...fun to make)
Located Jerusalem on the map, discussed the Covenant City
Discussed the Holy Land
This was a great object lesson for our Ressurection Day breakfast.
Resurrection Rolls:
3/4 cup warm water
1 large egg
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
3 TBSP sugar
6 TBSP butter
3 TBSP dry milk
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 TBSP cinnamon
24 marshmallows
Directions:
1. Combine first 8 ingredients. Let rise until doubled. Divide into 24 balls and flatten.
2. Mix sugar and cinnamon together. Dip rolls into melted butter, then into sugar/cinnamon mixture.
3. Wrap roll around a marshmallow, covering completely. Dip once more into butter, and again into sugar. Place rolls in a large greased pan and allow to rise till double. (about 30-35 minutes)
4. Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until done.
When you let them cool, bite or break one open and SURPRISE...it will be completely empty...just like the empty tomb.
We are ready to prepare our Passover meal, finally, and if you hop over to Tavita's Purse, you can find out what to do with your leftover Matzah! Oh boy, I can't wait to make her recipe! She's planning to add 10 recipes, so you'll have to check back there to see what she has going on in her kitchen! Mostly, I am looking forward to our celebration I have planned for Resurrection Day. That's the BIG day for me.
I wish I had THIS resource a few weeks ago. Now I feel like I'll have to stay up till midnight tonight reading it all before Seder.
Did you know that the Feast of Unleavened bread are held in immediate sequence? Is God trying to tell us something about a connection between yeast and our health? Read more Here!
Here's what we were SUPPOSED to do today...unfortunately, we had a little unexpected chaos, so I never did get to school today. But I'm going to be playing catch up tomorrow...of course THAT'S never happened before!
Bible lessons: Luke 23:39-46, Matthew 12:40, Luke 16:19-26, I Peter 3:18-20, 4:6
I am really starting to look forward to doing some lesson plans that SOMEONE else has prepared! I think I must be putting too much on our collective plate! I shouldn't complain though, the lesson is really sinking in with the children, and though exhausting, it has been fun. Today's run down:
Review yesterday's Bible reading
Recite memory verses
Sing our resurrection songs
Plague of Locusts...pictures of locusts everywhere!!!
Label the body parts of locusts, discuss what they eat and why they are pests
Look at Egyptian pyramids and ancient ruins (various library books)
Write an report on what you discover about Ancient Egyptian Pyramids
Discuss how bricks were made by slaves
Try to make a brick
Get grocery items for Seder
In addition to our lessons today, we had to pick up some plants for the garden plus a few flowers for the front deck. We also ran to the post office and recycle center and now the children are helping my parents with some tree work in their yard. So, it has been a very full day. Thankfully, we already have our evening meal prepared, all I have to do is pop it in the oven.
Practicing our memory verses I Corinthians 5:7 and Exodus 3:14
Practicing our songs: When I See The Blood
Reading our Bible lessons for today: Matthew 27:1-51 and 57-60, John 19:30, Isaiah 53:3-5, Hebrews 9:11-15, 2:9-18, 3:1-2
Today'splague is Hailstorm and Fire, so we studied how sleet and hail happen (see previous post to find out for yourself)
Writing assignment: Why is Jesus called the King of kings
For art we are going to make some Seder plate placemats
If I get the time we will be watching the video King of Kings...but I don't know that we will be able to squeeze that one in today.
I also had the children prepare menu's and grocery lists yesterday for a Passover meal, today we plan to do the shopping...although, I may have to put that off till tomorrow, since it is nap time for the littles and I hate going to the grocery in the afternoon or evening...maybe I'll just do that tomorrow morning
We are still looking at resurrection in nature such as the sand dollar, "easter" lily, dogwood trees, etc. Some of these are "legends" that have no real proof or meaning, others actually do seem to "point" to God, as does all nature really!
Steve Green said it best in his song All Across The Sky, didn't he?
All across the world
People everywhere
Ask "How can I believe in a God I cannot see?
If there really is a God, why is there so much pain?
If I could only see, then I'd believe."
If you could only see that His
For His Love is written all across the sky
As brilliantly the stars all testify
For the glory of the God Who reigns on high
Is displayed in the world He has made
And as all creation seems to shout and sing
In wonder of the one Almighty King
His signature can easily be seen on everything
Take a minute now and take a look around
Can you believe that everything you see
Took place by chance?
The intricate design
Down to the last detail
And what about the mystery that cuts us like a knife:
"What is the source of life?"
For His Love is written all across the sky
As brilliantly the stars all testify
For the glory of the God Who reigns on high
Is displayed in the world He has made
And as all creation seems to shout and sing
In wonder of the one Almighty King
His signature can easily be seen on everything
Yesterday afternoon while the children and I were reading about the plagues it started sleeting. We actually didn't realize it was sleet, we thought it was hail...(what's the difference?) We all ran outside to have a look and started talking about how it was the cattle plague day, not the hailstorm and fire plague day Here's a peek at what all we have been doing today:
Read our Bible verses: Mark 11:20-26, Matthew 26:17-19, Luke 22:13-20, Matthew 26:21-25, 30-75
Practiced our memory verses
Practiced our Resurrection songs
Listened to Passover music on a Jewish website for kids
Studied the map of modern day Egypt
Wrote up a "prescription" for natural cures for boils
Made a menu for a Passover meal and grocery list too
Watched 1/2 of The Greatest Story Ever Told (available on Netflix)
Copied a passage from our Bible lesson in our best handwriting
Today was not a real heavy work day. More to come.
We are having a great time learning more about Passover and the Resurrection. So far we have gone through the first five plagues...this morning when the children woke up all the stuffed animals in the house were lying "feet up" so to speak... We talked about murrain and what that meant. Here are some other things we did over the weekend and today... (scroll down to see some of my Passover Props)
Read several books about Jewish Culture, Customs, People, Synagogues
Ok, I admit I am a few days behind getting to the library... but we got there today and the children came across some great books. We also got a huge pile of free magazines...one I really think we'll like called Victoria. There were stacks of those free for the taking...Macey is really into that type of thing right now.
I think I finally put the finishing touches on the entire unit study plan! Whew...it was a lot of work. We should wrap it all up by April 27th, with our big Field Day event as the Grande Finale!
For today's studies we:
Put red food coloring in all the water (flower vases, water jugs and bottles, cups sitting out, etc.) to imitate the water turning to blood as in 1st plague, and discussed what else they could drink...
Reviewed Exodus chapters 12-16
Observed our molding yeast bread
Located Midian, Sinai, and Arabian Desert on a map
Discussed Bible Signs and named some
Discussed what is meant by Authority, who has it and why
Discussed the meaning of various numbers in the Bible
Watched Genesis with Max McClean on Netflix Instant Viewing
Looked for signs of the resurrection in Nature
Decided on our Memory Verses I Corinthians 5:7 and Exodus 3:14
Practiced our songs for Resurrection Day on piano and singing
So, that is what we managed to do for our schooling today. It looks like a lot, but it didn't take as long as I thought. We also did some fun stuff, like a passover word search, Exodus crossword puzzle, Elijah maze, and some art stuff just for fun. We also watched a video on Youtube of Mark Shultz's song I Am. I don't care for that type of music, but I really like the words.
I think this is the funnest study I've ever created. So far today, we have:
Made more voabulary flash cards
Listened to Hebrew Music
Located Egypt and The Red Sea on a map
Read Matthew 21:1-17, Luke 19:1-28, John 12:1
Made a flash card for each of the ten plagues with the following information on each card:
1. Number of Plague
2. Name of Plague
3. Verses in Bible where plague is described
4. Our description of plague
5. On the back, each child drew a picture depicting that particular plague
Discussed Bible Genealogies as God goes into detail about these in the Bible, what is God's design for the family and what family structure looks like.
More website's for fun and information
Worked on creating a timeline starting with Abraham and ending with Moses' death
Later I am planning to run to the library with the children to pick up a few more books to fill in what I am missing. Right now, Harmon is taking a nap, the four older children are working on their zones, and I have only a few short minutes of computer time before we all begin our quiet time. So much I want to do, so little time to accomplish it all.
I have been preparing a unit study to use for most of this month. We started it this week and so far this is what we have done.
Read Exodus 1-15
Watched Charlton Heston's The Ten Commandments (Netflix has it)
Went over passover vocabulary words and made flash cards
Researched the Feast of Unleavened Bread and leaven, how it works, why God uses leaven as a symbol of sin.
Baked some yeast bread (object lesson for previous) and left out one slice to see what would happen to it
Watched three short videos about Matzah, Seder, and wine
Looked at and discussed the Jewish Calendar and how it differs from ours
Visited several Jewish websites
Studied the Seder
Did some notebooking about what we have learned so far
Today we will be continuing our study and I will post again later today about what all we went over today. Hopefully, I will get to add some neat links to this post as well. Tomorrow I will begin a study of the 10 plagues, in the order they occurred. I'll definitely add pictures of that! I have spent a lot of time preparing for this unit study and hope to share as many details on here as possible... although this does seem to be such a busy time of year, doesn't it? Garden prep, outdoor activities, finishing up the school year (so to speak), etc. If you are doing any special studies on Passover, or have any tips, ideas, good books, etc., please add them in the comments so we can all share and benefit. Thanks!
This is a fun project for children and it will make them WANT to stay in the bathtub longer!
What you will need: 1 cup grated Ivory Soap ®, 1/4 cup warm water, food coloring, plastic cookie cutters
Mix water, soap and food coloring together in a medium bowl. Stir the crayon mixture until it begins to stiffen.
Remove the mixture from the bowl and knead until it is the consistency of a very thick dough
Spoon crayon mixture into plastic cookie cutters.
Place the plastic cookie cutters in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Pop the crayons out of the cookie cutters and allow them to dry overnight or until hard.
You could also use an ice cube tray instead of cookie cutters as a mold for your Tubtime Crayons. These can be used as bath soap! Super fun! With these crayons you can color on the side of the bathtub or on tile walls and floors. Children LOVE these! I got this recipe from a cool book called
Spring is just around the corner and it is time to start thinking about our gardens. I can't wait to bite into a Green Zebra tomato! Raw corn on the cob delights my family! Last year we did the traditional HUGE garden with my parents and it was a great experience... it taught me to stick to managable size gardens! If you are still worried about the chance of frost, start some seeds in your sunniest window, but do something to get started! This is a great school project! Gardening can be lots of fun!
Yes, I know I started out this pregnancy with my weight from the last pregnancy. I'm not the first person this has happened to, am I??? Anyhow, with still 14 weeks left in my pregnancy, the inevitable has already started. Some caring person asks when am I due, and when I answer, they look SHOCKED 
and say THAT LONG? Oooookaaay. Then a seemingly friendly co-worker of my husband meets me and later asks him the same question, and when given the answer, replies, well, she's going to be really big by the time the baby is born isn't she??? Uh, yeah, that's nice. Or while I was shopping today, an elderly lady looks at me and whistle/sighs whew!!! like she just can't get over how GINORMOUS I am... Well, listen folks, I've been to the doctor and her chin didn't hit the floor when she measured me! 
But you know, I have been known to give birth to a toddler, so you never know. Anyhow, for my sake, the next time you see a GINORMOUS pregnant woman, just tell her how blessed she is, or tell her that babies are a gift from God above, but for crying out loud, don't comment on how HUGE she is, ok? You might regret it......
Discussed numbering Jewish years, and what that has to do with the Earth's rotation about it's axis, the revolution of the Earth about the sun, and the revolution of the moon about the earth 
Here's a peek at what all we have been doing today:
If you are doing any special studies on Passover, or have any tips, ideas, good books, etc., please add them in the comments so we can all share and benefit. Thanks! 
