Aug. 13, 2006
Shabbat and A Decision
We had another wonderful Shabbat. It is such a blessing to relax from the hustle and bustle of life and refocus our attention on HaShem. Since the kids were not here last weekend we picked up last week's parsha,Va'etchanan,this week. Va'etchanan(Dueteronomy 3:23-7:11) covers the Shema and the retelling of the Ten Commandments. This week's Hebrew letter was
(noon) pronounced like the english N. The kids completed their Torah Club booklet,read a story based on this week's portion from the Family Parsha site, and watched a Torah Tots video. They drew and cut out a picture of a scroll with the Shema wrote on it in English and Hebrew to hang in their rooms. We also made mezuzahs. A mezuzah is a small box that contains certain portions from the Torah. They wrote the Shema on a small piece of construction paper and rolled it up like a scroll and placed it in the box. The mezuzahs were taped to their bedroom door frames. I'm now trying to get them in the practice of going into the room and touching the box and sending up a quick prayer of thanks to G*d for giving us His love and mercy and His Word. I also got them started in the Adam to Abraham unit study. I discussed Genesis with them to spark their interest and had a discussion on what they already know. I wrote key events and characters from Genesis on index cards and the kids had to put them in chronological order. The first attempt they cannot use any reference and they only mixed up 4 out of 15. The next attempt I let them use their Day by Day Kid's Bible and they got them all in the correct order. We covered how the books of the Old and New Testaments are grouped and they made a drawing to help them remember. I read to them from Who's Who in The Bible and we watched Genesis(The Bible Collection). We covered the first two steps of the 4mat method:
- Excite
- Examine
- Expand
- Excel
Tomorrow they will begin working on step three and will have to do one of the following:
- Create a outline of Genesis 1-12
- Write a summary paragraph for each of the key events of Genesis 1-12
- Create a Time Line or Story Board on Genesis 1-12
We spent 7-8 hours covering everything today. I tried to take a break a couple of times but they did not want to stop. Needless to say I didn't get to work through my own FFOZ materials today. I did read the parsha and listened to the audio commentary last night while I was preparing the kids materials. When they go to bed tonight I'll finish up with the written commentary and questions.
My DH and I came to a decision tonight on Xmas. Rachel has been making a "wish list" all weekend of what she wants so we decided it was time to explain we won't be observing Xmas this year. Instead we are going to take the money we would spend on gifts and rent a cabin in Smokies for a week. I was prepared to hear cries of protest but they were thrilled with the idea of vacationing in Pigeon Forge. We will leave out the day after Xmas since we do have to make visits to our families. I'd like to leave out Xmas morning but I expect they'll be quite a outcry over us not observing it here. If we don't visit their houses either I imagine it would be a big argument so I will settle for the later departure. We are going to try to make this a annual trip that way they will have something to take their mind off of what they are "missing out on". Of course we will still celebrate Yeshua's birth but we will do so during Sukkot which is most likely the actual day of His birth. There is a interesting article about that
HERE.
My DC are finally in the bed so I am going to get off of here and read over my Torah Club material.
Blessings.....
Comments
Sep. 5, 2006 - Hello!
Posted by FollowingTheAncientPaths
I was tagged the other day by a friend and since I hadn't heard from you in a while, I thought I'd pass the "favor" on to you. :~) So, tag - you're it. LOL
Here are the questions and who else I tagged at my blog...
• Permanent Link
Sep. 11, 2006 - Hi There!
Posted by lazearbeam
We live in Cleveland. What part of TN are you? My email is serenashalom@gmail.com if you don't want to answer on here. We just started fellowshipping at Bethavara Hebrew Assembly in Cleveland a few weeks ago. They were incognito while meeting in a mobile home with no more room for visitors. But since they got into a storefront, they are growing and will be outgrowing where they are before long. We found out about them after they moved into the storefront. We are blessed to have finally found a messianic fellowship closeby. There are over 50 people that have been coming and our children are making some friends since there are quite a few children. Anyway, I thought I'd say "hi" and hope to get to know you more.
Love and shalom,
Serena
• Permanent Link
Sep. 11, 2006 - And...
Posted by lazearbeam
we went on a trip for xmas the first year we quit celebrating it, too!
Love and shalom,
Serena
• Permanent Link
Sep. 14, 2006 - Blessings
Posted by giftsfromAdonai
I think it is a blessing that you and your husband see eye to eye on the feast and on teaching your children the walk Hashem has directed you in as a family..
Don't you just love the Torah Club..I ADORE IT!!Blessings and Shalom to you and your family..
in Y'shua
• Permanent Link
Nov. 30, 2006 - So what are you doing in September?
Posted by AmaniS
I would really be interested on how you plan on remember his birth.
Some actually also feel that it was Tishi(?) 1.
I personally hate this holiday, but we are MIL for it so we don't have a tree in our house.
• Permanent Link
Feb. 27, 2007 - We just started...
Posted by Jazzymom
Adam to Abraham too! I'm teaching a class with my 4 kids and 4 of their friends every Wednesday. So far all 8 kids are loving it!
We didn't "do" Christmas this year for the first time and I got many complaints from family! They all live far away though, so it was easy to "ignore" them.
My poor kids. They're so "deprived"! I guess that's why when we told them (jokingly) that we were going to celebrate Christmas again next year they all complained & said "We don't care about Christmas, but we want to do Hanukkah again!"
So much for being deprived!
• Permanent Link
