Poetry Day with Friends

     My kids and I had a great time with some of our homeschool friends yesterday.  We had "Poetry Day".  It worked out that I taught the younger kids (i.e. her kids) and my dear friend taught the older kids (i.e. my kids).  That was really fun.!  Worked out marvelously, I thought. 

 

We started off our time together with poems by each of the students.  Everyone did a great job; we were all entertained!

 

 

 



    

 

Younger Kid's Poetry Activities:

 

     I chose to focus on fall poetry.  I read my students several poems I found at Primary Success.  They listened very attentively, and seemed to enjoy them.  A few of the poems about fall were interactive, so that was fun.  Our main activity was writing an acrostic poem.  We brainstormed lots of autumnal words, but the overall favorite was "Pumpkin".

 

First, we did a "rough draft" together.

Everybody did their own and decorated it.

(with these!)

 

This poem can be found at DLTK

 

 

Older Kids' Poetry Activities

 

   My two had a great time having a new teacher for the afternoon! 

 



"Found Poems"

 



Reading his poem to a friend. 

 

 





Black-out Poems
(Taken from a passage from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Obviously, this new teacher really gets my kids!  :)



 

Autumnal Nesting

 

I had a great time "nesting" for fall a few weeks ago.  Since then, I've done a bit of tweeking, and thought I'd share.  (I love fall decorating, since I can have it up for 2 months!) 

 

To keep costs low, I only make fall decorative purchases after the season is over.  (Which for some stores is now, or for sure right after Halloween.) 

 

This is my china cabinet after lots of time tweeking with levels, and borrowing things from other rooms, etc.

I'm excited to say that the "P" pumpkin and the garland were purchased last year for 90% off! 

I add fall berries every year to my chandelier.  The chandelier itself is a DIY project of mine.  I spray painted it white, added new shades and trim.  I even added a fabric "scrunchy" at the top.  (To do this I actually stood on the table and sewed it by hand.  That was pretty crazy, but I was determined--and it worked!)

 

 

I learned a great lesson from taking pictures of my decorating.  Pictures really help to show how you could do better.  After taking the picture at the top, I decided my smaller pumpkins needed more of a "lift".

 

Here's a peek.  Old books make the best "lifts", but I've also used a bowl and a mug.

Now that's better.

 



My Fall Mantle.  This lantern is such a multi-functional piece!

The verse is not really meant to go with the fall theme....it's one my son is working on for Bible Drill.

The homeschool half of our living room.  I'll put pilgrims in the place of the scarecrow in November.  The Candle has now been moved to my buffet and replaced with Viking ships.  (A recent project/post)

Again, books for lifts.  We LOVE old books...and have lots.

 

 

Harvest Blessings!

 



Sunday School with my 4's and 5's

Today our story way about Zacchaeus.  We learned how Jesus loved him, even though many others did not.  We can love others, just like Jesus did!

In our craft/nature center we had fun weaving yarn in and around branches.

We talked about how Zacchaeus climbed up a tree so he could get a better look at Jesus.

We made trees for the block center.

The boys were super proud of themselves at the city/road they had made.
This is the road Jesus would travel down, and Zacchaeus would climb one of the trees.

The children had a lot of fun letting me measure their height.  We learned that Zacchaeus was a short man who climbed a tree to see Jesus. 

"Love other people."

Luke 6:27



Viking Longships

     We are currently studying the Middle Ages.  

These are a few of the books we are using in History:

 

 

 

 

     Last week we were reading about the Vikings...and I thought, "What a great 'boy' topic! We must do a fun project with this!"  I tried begged --to no avail-- to convince my children we should dress up as Vikings for the Fall Festival.  They had their own ideas.  But I didn't give up.  I searched the Internet for ideas.  I found THIS great idea about making a Viking longship from recycled products.  (I just love not having to go out and buy a bunch of stuff!)

 

Here's our very fun learning experience with building a Viking longship:

 

Measuring an empty milk carton to cut in half lengthwise. 

One milk carton made 2 long ships...perfect for us!



My youngest son had the idea to place craft sticks on/in his longship.  
The sides were covered with strips of construction paper and/or masking tape to look like wood on the side of a ship. 
 



Next step: making a dragon head for the front of the longship.
Vikings had these on the front of their long ships to look menacing!

 

The rudder (the tail of the dragon) is made from pieces of a bamboo skewer and a piece of a straw...it really works!

 

We tried several ways...but the best way to cut a bamboo skewer was with mom's garden clippers.
The sticks were used for the rudders, sail and oars.

 

The mast and rigging....
The straw was made more secure with a skewer. 
The string is some kite string we had available.

Adding the oars. Mom cut the holes with a sharp knife. The hole punch would have been too big.
The flat part of the oar was made with masking tape that was trimmed with scissors.

 



All done! Complete with shields and all!

Ta-DA!  Ready to set sail!
(The sail was cut from some brown paper and the edges were covered with masking tape.)


 

 

     I did the first few steps of this project with my boys.  But then I said to myself, "They can read and follow directions.  It would be much more educational--and fun for that matter--if they figured this out on their own."  It went VERY WELL letting my boys do this on their own.  It "forced" them to have to read directions carefully, as well as use their problem-solving skills.  Much of the directions from the website did not give exact steps to follow.  My boys had to figure out on their own how to attach the sail to the mast, for example.  They learned something about Vikings from this project, sure.  But the real lesson here was more about ingenuity, problem-solving and paying attention to detail.  Mom says, "Job well done!"  :)

Contest: Science DVD Giveaway from TOS Review Crew

Passing along a great opportunity to my readers....

Here is a contest for free science dvds from Go Science! 

Enter now...just 6 days left.

Good Luck!!

 

 



13 Ways to Pray for Your Church

     Our church is currently ending week 5 of "40 Days of Discernment".  These 40 days are a time of concentrated prayer for our church...as we seek God's will for what is next. 
     In one of the devotions for our 40 days was a list of ways to pray for our church.  I like it so much, and think it to be such a great guide, I just had to share.  I'm going to tear this page out of my devotional materials and keep it where I do my Bible study so that I can be reminded of how to pray for my church each day.

 

 Pray for.....

1. Members that are sick
2. The Pastor/staff
3. For Revival and spiritual renewal
4. For specific lost individuals
5. For upcoming events
6. For Sunday School leaders and teachers to be effective (and I would add: Wednesday night teachers, etc.)
7. For growing disciples
8. For our church to outreach to our community
9. For the deacons and other church leadership
10. For the sermon the pastor will deliver
11. For special music that will touch people's hearts
12. For the challenges various families face
13. For stronger commitment to the Lord and His Church

 

     Wow...what would happen if all church members prayed for their church daily in this way???  

 

 

 

justpitchingmytent,

(in a world that's not my home)

 

Letha

Blog Post Find of the Day, "Six Ways to Stay Attractive to your Husband in an Amusement Park of Immodesty"

     I think the title of this blog post is what I love so much! 

 

 Check out the full article HERE.

 

 

Read more of her posts by visiting her blog, "First Comes Love".

Sunday Mornings with my 4's and 5's

Last Week....

We finished up our unit on the Bible.  Our Bible Story Last week was about Timothy.  He learned about the Bible from his mom and grandmother. 

I had pictures pre-cut for preschoolers to glue.  They found pictures that reminded them of family members.  "God's words in the Bible help us learn."

We are thankful for family members who tell us about Jesus!

What says "family" more than biscuits?  The boys and girls just LOVED taking biscuits out of the can and placing them on the cookie sheet.  They shouted with delight, "We've never done this before!"  (Oh, how I love preschoolers!)  They had fun buttering their biscuit, too.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Today....
We began our Unit, "I Can be Like Jesus".
Our Bible story was about how Jesus went to church with his family.



Today in the block center we built a church and a house.  The family walked to church. 
Our Bible Verse today: "Let us go to church"  Psalm 132:7.



Jesus went to church.  I can go to church, too.  I can be like Jesus!

A church...see the steeple?

 

We built with wooden blocks, too!  (Again, see the steeple?)



Puzzle Center





Love the multi-tasking captured here...holding a baby while doing a puzzle!  She'll make a great mommy.  :)



 

Craft Center: Marking a route on a map

 

We drew a church on the map, then the boys and girls used crayons to draw different routes to get to church. 
(How great it was to have all those maps leftover from our trip out West!  Thank you, Lord!)



Jesus walked to church, but most of us ride with our families in a car to church.

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