Monthly Archives: March 2012

Celebrating Purim

09 Friday Mar 2012

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Since we recently finished My Father’s World’s kindergarten curriculum before leaving Alabama, we decided to jump right in to the first grade curriculum upon arriving in the DC area!

This particular curriculum leans heavily onto history and the Bible, and first grade is no different. What makes this year so interesting, is the focus on the Bible history, and specifically the history of the Hebrews, since the Bible and Christianity begins with them.

As part of our study, we’ve been looking into Jewish customs (attending a service at a local synagogue – more later) and Jewish holidays. So I was very excited to realize that we could celebrate Purim right here in the US.

When doing a quick search, I found these online resources for Purim:

Not being fully prepared ahead of time, I was able to find a great Palestinian restaurant, The Jerusalem Restaurant. (I also used a sale on Restaurant.com to get a gift certificate dirt cheap, which saved us a ton on our bill! Get on their mailing list to find out about their great deals!) This is great, because part of celebrating Purim is having a feast, and what better way to celebrate with “local” food!

The food, by the way, was FABULOUS. And dessert was even better, except I ate it without taking a picture. (Baklava. I’m a sucker for it.)

The girls had chicken kabobs. Meat on a stick is always a winner.

Keeping two little active girls occupied while waiting for the food is always a challenge. This time I was prepared with coloring sheets from the Esther story:

Later on, we cut out the colored characters, and then created these “puppets” to tell the story of Esther.

We really enjoyed our experience celebrating Purim, and next year I’d like to do it again, this time letting the girls dress up as “Princess Esther” (since we’re obsessed with princesses anyway) and act out the story, perhaps recruiting some of their friends to join us!

Our Visit to the US Capitol Building

08 Thursday Mar 2012

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Since we have such a “short” (Please note both my excitement for being here and my sarcasm. We’re living here in a hotel for two months. But even still, I’m happy to be here.) time in DC, I was determined to take advantage of all the area has to offer!

If you’re planning a trip to DC, the first thing you need to do (even before arriving) is contact your Congressman! My Representatives, Senator Shelby and Representative Bonner, are able to help get tour tickets. We were able to get tickets for a tour of the Capitol Building quite quickly, and so the girls and I headed into DC and got in line for our tour!

(Tip: When they say don’t drive in because parking is horrible, BELIEVE THEM. Plus, the parking meters have a max of two hours, which is hardly enough time to do anything. Lesson learned. If you’re dealing with little legs, take the metro and then get a taxi to drop you off. It’s worth it.) 

Here we are in the Welcome Center. This is where you will find water fountains, bathrooms, lots of people standing in lines, and a lot of statues.

And this is by the exit of the tour. The girls were quite tired of walking and of me taking pictures by this time.

Okay, the coolest part of the tour for us, were the headphones! They were connected to a microphone our tour guide had, so that we could hear her clearly and she didn’t have to yell. This was great, because the echo was crazy.

Here are pictures of the inside of the dome.

This room was the “original” location for Congress. Honestly? There was very little to see in here and was kinda boring.

Plaques on the floor note where certain representatives (the famous ones) sat.

Entrance to "traditional" office of the Speaker of the House. Not sure how much it actually is used, though.

And this is the “crypt”. Originally, they wanted to bury George Washington here. But they didn’t, so now they store his statue. Yup. Along with a few others.

Beyond that, there was very little to see in this tour. (I did not opt to do the viewing of Congress in session. Figured it wouldn’t be appropriate for preschoolers.) The entire tour, including a fifteen minute video, lasted 45 minutes. My overall impression was, “Meh.”

But, if your kids were slightly older, and you had been studying US geography, you could make a scavenger hunt game looking at the statues. Each state has donated a statue to the Capitol Building, and they are all kept in the areas you’ll visit during the tour. In fact, sometimes they are jam-packed and shoved practically on top of each other.

Here is Helen Keller's statue, donated by Alabama

Just FYI, this is the guy you need to thank for air conditioning.

So, that was our trip to the Capitol Building. We can at least say we did it, but the girls were completely uninterested, and I was underimpressed.

PS. I forgot to mention that I was able to use this trip to introduce the girls to Schoolhouse Rock!
 
Go on, you know you want to sing along!
 
 
 
 
 
 

Valentine’s Day Unit

06 Tuesday Mar 2012

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Okay, I know this is a million years late, but I am finally getting around to uploading pictures and attempting to catch up on all my backlog of blog posts! Here are pictures from our Valentine’s Day unit!

Some of the activities I found were heavily Cupid-themed. Since the girls don’t know who he is, I decided not to introduce this mythological character right now. I also avoided a lot of the activities and events that I felt promoted the give me-itis. And I tried to downplay the candy focus of Valentine’s Day, though that didn’t last very long with my girls. Daddy also didn’t help in that regard, since he decided the girls needed little heart boxes of chocolate!

We created our first file folder books with Valentine’s Day, and that was as much of an experiment for me, as for the girls. I’ve found that I still don’t feel comfortable winging it too much, and prefer the security blanket of detailed, precise, teacher instructions! Oh well, maybe later on.

First, we practiced our cutting skills by teaching the girls how to make hearts by folding the paper in half.

(This was right after one of our Upward cheer events. She refused to take her uniform off.)

Then, using a full back of the candy hearts, I had Lily sort them by color. 

Abby’s job was to count the sorted piles and create a graph so we could figure out which color had the most.

What I sadly don’t have pictures of was my favorite activity! (I forgot.) I went to dollar store and found packets of those lace doilies like we used to use to make valentines in school. The girls decorated them with coloring and stickers, and we took them up to a local assisted living facility.

This was the same facility that my grandmother stayed in for many years, and so when I told them who I was and my girls had some Valentines to pass out, the director was thrilled to show me the activity room and interrupt the weekly bingo game. Many of the ladies there remembered my grandmother and were completely charmed by the girls and their homemade valentines. And I must say how sweet and loving the girls were to these ladies they didn’t even know. They walked right up to each of them, handed them a decorated heart and told them Happy Valentine’s Day, even my shy three-year-old! I don’t know why their sweet spirits surprise me, but I am so thankful for them! My hope is that we can continue this tradition in the future, to reinforce the concept of showing and sharing our love to others, instead of our society’s “What’s in it for me” disease.

I didn’t get to try everything, but here are some great Valentine’s Day Unit resources:

 

First Things First

05 Monday Mar 2012

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I’ve really been thinking about the concept of “firsts” and “giving the first fruits to God” lately.

Yes, we give the first of our income as a form of tithe to our church. (Basically, I write that check or pay that online first! Maybe a little legalistic, but I think the physical action of doing that before paying anything else is a good spiritual discipline.)

There are a lot of firsts in our daily lives though, aren’t they? First day of the week, first day of the month, first day of the year. First child, first kiss, first cup of coffee, first breaths and thoughts of the morning. Quite a lot of firsts! And if you really start to think about giving all of your first fruits to God, it can really change — everything.

Besides redeeming your all for the glory of God, I do believe there is another potential positive to come out of this practice – ORDER.

God is a God of order and not of chaos, right? So, when I began to think about making a conscious decision to give Him my firsts, I had to be a bit organized about it. And, even now, it IS a conscious action, and never an unconscious one. Kind of how God likes it, I guess. But what I’ve noticed is the act of giving God my firsts brings order through everything else.

Think about the joke, “you make all your mistakes on your first child.” Gosh, how many times I’ve thought that about myself, and my oldest is only five! How much more does that oldest and firstborn need the extra grace of God to cover all our many parental screwups! Being “the youngest” myself, I kind of bristle at the idea that just because of birth order, a child is not “given over to God” or that any one child “can redeem the rest.” Still kinda dealing with that concept to be honest. But I do know the fact the oldest is a role model for the younger ones is important, and older siblings have a large influence on younger ones. I see this reflected in our homeschooling right now as well, as our three-year-old is mainly along for the ride as I truly homeschool the older one, but it’s amazing how much she soaks in, just from observing and participating peripherally.

But back to my point. I think part of my spiritual discipline this year is to investigate this concept of “firsts” in my own life, and focus on how to give all of my “firsts” back to God.

“Redeeming everything we have and are and do so that everything can be redeemed and be fruitful back to God.” – Jan 3, 2011

To that end, for the rest of the year, I’m going to try to focus on my firsts – first day of the month, first day of the week, etc. I’ve been resisting too much structure mainly because my artsy-fartsy side just rebels with too much regimentation, but my possibly-ADHD/life-filled-with-chaos side of me really appreciates order! Sounds insane, right? I desperately need the order, but hate being told what to do exactly when. So, I’m trying not to take this overboard, because I’d never end up doing it anyway.

1. To begin – this blog. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and have finally come up with a routine (don’t say schedule! don’t say schedule!) that I think I can feel comfortable with AND actually accomplish.

Mondays – First Things First: All about Order, Priorities, and Living Life in God’s Will

Tuesdays – Reviews and Recommendations: My Opinions on Products, Books, and Just about Anything Else

Wednesdays – Walk with Him Wednesdays: Spiritual Musings link-up with A Holy Experience

Thursdays – Practical Tips: Whether It’s Organizational Or Whatever.

Fridays – Homeschool: Plus Link-ups with Homeschool Mother’s Journal and MFW Homeschool Highlights.

Weekends – Saturdays and Sundays Will Be Extra, or Possibly Random Topics That Fit Nowhere Else.

Whew! That felt good to write down! Of course, I don’t expect to have something every single day of the week, but at least having this ROUTINE will give my mind and this blog some semblance of order.

2. Next – the First Day of the Month.

I’ve always used the first day of each month as my kind of “check-in” date. I will update my goals journal and make my plan for the rest of the month. Update my calendar. Upload pictures, edit them, and upload them to share with family and friends. Except that’s not really working for me any more. I’m not using my “goals journal” this year, and am instead blogging about my experience here. And I’m no longer doing the “once a month massive email with 50 pictures to everyone I know.” Heck, most of those folks are on Facebook, and if they are not, they ought to be, LOL! (Mom, if you’re reading this, yes, I am talking about you!)

But still, I need my routine. I feel like I’m floundering without that 1st of the month anchor. So, on the first of the month, I’m not sure what it will look like, but I will take some time that day, and spend time in prayer for the month past and the month going forward. I will pray for God’s Will and continued movement in my life, and then and only then, review my calendar to update it and create my plan for the month. So that living my life for God, and giving him the first fruits will continue to be a conscious decision on my part each month.

3. First Day of the Week.

This is always in my Grand Plan That Never Seems to Happen. (You moms know exactly what I’m talking about, right?) In my ideal, dream-world, I would get ready effortlessly, the children would disappear for a few hours (through no work on my own part, LOL) and I could sit down with a cup of coffee alone in the perfectly clean house and quietly start my week with a non-rushed devotional and prayer-time, write my spiritual journalings down and then go on with the rest of my week in focus. 

Did you get as much of a laugh out of that as I just did?

Even this morning, I tried my darndest to even keep the girls occupied so I could get my Bible Study notes in order so I could even begin! Sadly, what with computers malfunctioning, printers refusing to print, and all electronics just NOT LIKING ME TODAY, it took until 6pm for that to happen. And I know you can relate.

I always like to do the big homeschool work push on Monday mornings, so we can goof off later in the week, but I might have to change my natural impulses here. Because even school should not come before prayer time with God. And I really need that “getting set up for the week/starting my week off right time” or I flail about the rest of the week.

I have no idea how this is actually going to happen or what it’s going to look like, but here and now I make a conscious decision to give the first day of the week and especially some time that morning to alone time with God. And yes, I’m sure there will be many weeks where I will end up late at night on the computer, like I am tonight, trying to catch up!

I know there are more “firsts,” but that’s all I can handle for now! Thinking on it, I’m actually kind of excited to what this will end up being and how it will transform our family. May God use this year to bless and metamorphasize my family and yours!