School Begins

This school year began with a treasure hunt. The kids LOVED following the map to their bags of candy. They deserved it after listening attentively and doing their work with no complaining.

Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory is just the tool I have been looking for. We are studying American History beginning with Columbus. This curriculum gives a lot of creative ideas to expound on the characters and events of our history readings. e.g., we made a paper boat of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria! They really float! We made a watercolor painting of the sea with a hidden sea animal. We simulated a solar and lunar eclipse. We're learning more about the seashore and can hardly wait to examine One Small Square when we go to the beach in a few weeks.

Sweetness and Cutie Pie have notebooks with a picture of a puppy on the outside. This is their character notebook. Just like puppies need training in good behavior, so do children. (I'm not a humanist, however). So each week we copy a character trait, Bible verse, and list Bible characters who exemplify this character and talk of how we can portray this character in our daily walk. I asked Cutie Pie, "Do you believe the Lord will help you be good?" He shrugged hsi shoulders. "It's really easy to be bad, because we're born with a sinful nature, so we need God to help us be good."

"Yeah. It sure is easy to make a mess, but its hard to clean it up," he explained. Later he showed me a science experiment he learned in science camp this summer. He filled a small glass bottle with water and different food colorings until the water turned black. Then he asked me to place a drop of chlorine bleach in the bottle. We watched as the water turned clear again. Cutie pie said, "That's what Jesus does. He turns our dirty sins clean."

And the three r's. Cutie Pie really loves using dictation for spelling in lieu of those dreadful workbooks : / I hope he will remain enthusiastic as the text gets harder. Sweetness insists she reads better silently than aloud. I believe this to be true as she narrated a story with more detail after reading her assignmetn silently.

We are using Math U See as a spine to make sure I am covering most math concepts, but I do drift from the teaching methods at times. Sweetness catches on to math concepts much more quickly now as her brain has matured. Cutie Pie loves math, especially his time workbook.

Tomorrow we will take the day off from the "books" and spend time learning to serve others. I feel led to nurture Sweetness' God given gift of compassion. We attend our church's services at the local nursing home one Saturday per month. Sweetness is very fond of the residents there and begged to visit more often. We filled out an application, had a background check, and will begin visiting with a resident on a regular basis tomorrow. We are both nervous and excited about meeting this new person God has placed in our lives.

Then we will clean our church fellowship hall and decorate the Sunday School room I will be ass't teacher for.

Thanks for a wonderful good start to our school year Lord. Help me to teach my children what they need to know to further Your Kingdom.