No, I Have Nothing For You!

I've been reading lots of meaningful posts this season, but one that has really touched me recently is from The Idea Camp:  A Young Boy and the Start of a Movement.

It's a story that takes place in Zimbabwe, which seems so far removed from our lives at the moment, but brings back all kinds of African memories.

A young boy grabs the author and says:  “Sir, thank you for visiting my country. I’m really sorry it’s in the state that its in. I don’t want to beg, but I have not had food in days. Is there anything I can do to work for you, so I can have a meal?”

The author's reaction:  I was confused, overwhelmed and tired. I looked at this humble boy (created in the image of an almighty God) and said these devastating words: “No, I have nothing for you!”

As I was looking through our old photos for pictures to go with this post, I realized how much Chris's short story could be my own.  Surrounded by poverty, it's so easy to become jaded by the great need, to marginalize the poor due to a couple of bad experiences, to feel helpless to make a difference, to miss one God-given opportunity after another to change the world. 
 

Fortunately Chris has a longer story to go with the short story.  He goes on to explain how that encounter - that boy - has compelled him to start a movement and to make a difference in the lives of countless others.

I got out the map to figure out how far Oregon is from Arkansas - is there any way we could get to the Idea Camp in February?  It's a really long drive and not financially feasible for us right now - but for those of you a little closer - please consider!

I look at these old photos of Esmé high-fiving AIDS orphans, and I KNOW there's got to be a way, a better way, to deal with the global orphan crisis.

Some way to make room for these little Christ-children in our world...

WW: Christmas Party

Last Friday, Esmé donned her party dress (a Sunrise Shop & Save special) and some angel wings to join me at a work party.  There were the goodies and the Santa and the gifts, but maybe just a little different twist…

A few friendly faces:

Winter Lessons

It seems I am late for the L.E.N.S. Photo Challenge – Winter Lessons edition.  (Sometimes that fashionably late thing is overrated… sigh…)

However, I did get the perfect shot, so here it is.

Winter Lessons are exactly the same as summer lessons:  picnics while dressed in a swimming suit and tutu.  The only difference – they happen smack dab in front of the heater instead of outside.

(Stop shaking your head at the outfit, Pappa.  We’re picking our battles today – notice she’s eating apples and peas!  Plus, she had just done a strenuous ballet recital, and she DID change into brown fur before we headed outside to play deer in the meadow.)

A Time for the Seasons

Timer set for 1/2 hour – let’s see if we can actually get a post out today…  Grrrr – checking in 14 hours later after too many interruptions to count!

It’s still fall.  Isn’t it?  I mean, in town, there are still brilliantly-colored fall leaves blending in with the sweet Christmas lights.  December 17th and all.

In fact, I like Esmé’s perspective better.  We were outside yesterday (these photos were all taken yesterday – honestly!) trying to do a You Capture – Outside prompt, taking pictures of leaves and things.  (Only a couple days late in posting – I am the expert in fashionable lateness.)

She asked:  “It’s not fall, is it?  There are still green leaves!  It can’t be fall yet!”


My thoughts exactly.  I mean, there are even rosebuds on the bushes.


Miniature daisies in the lawn. 

(Finding and downloading and reading my camera manual is definitely on my New Year’s resolution list – up from last year at #61.  I must have taken at least a dozen photos and the camera absolutely positively wouldn’t focus on this daisy.  Its Intelligent Auto setting isn’t so intelligent, it seems.)

Even these dandelion-like blowy things.


And our onions – all harvested, I thought – have decided to take on new life.


I’m even feeling compelled to check the birdhouses for eggs.


But, alas, the grape vines and fruit trees are saying it’s winter, even though the blackberry bushes are still on fall.  And a cherry tree never lies, as George Washington taught us.  (I’m guessing Pinocchio was made from blackberry bramble…)

The point though…  the fact that we never finished our unit studies on Fall – and never even started our Thanksgiving unit studies – has nothing to do with why I have blinders on this December against all things Christmassy.  Umm – not really?  Umm – maybe a little?

It’s hard to motivate myself to put together wintry material when I have two folders of perfectly good, well-thought out FALL/Thanksgiving stuff just waiting to be used, and it’s hard to motivate myself to use fall stuff in December. 

So we are taking a homeschool break of sorts until I can regroup and figure out how we will proceed going forwards.

See, since September we’ve been doing this loopy – er, looping – thing so we can cover EVERYTHING I want my daughter to learn before she starts university.  I have this really long list of what I want to cover in a day, and rather than starting fresh with the next day’s stuff on the next day, we just keep at that day’s list until we get it done before we start the next day’s list, which may not be until next year.  

(Don’t you just love saying “see you next year” and so on to people about this time of year?  It makes tomorrow seem so far off, and I am all for anything that creates an illusion of lots of time.)

The problem with looping is that means we do math maybe once a month.  See?  Big problem – because Esmé’s natural pace of learning is faster than that, so I’m still trying to get her to count to 9 when she can do her 9x multiplication tables.  And I’m trying to get her to write the letter “C” when she is sounding and spelling out words already.

Though in her own fashion, of course.  This completely-self-motivated sounded-out “butterfly” from about a month ago is just so classic – I grin whenever I see it.  Which isn’t often, since it is buried under a mountain of fall-themed printables that we haven’t touched yet.


As I was saying, I am reconsidering the whole loopy thing.  I’m trying to come up with a short daily list that includes the math and handwriting and Bible (and everything else I want Esmé to learn before she starts university) – so we can get that done quick and then let the themed stuff (book themes, geography themes, beginning-letter themes) take as long as it wants.  Because the themed stuff really does have a mind of its own.  I’ve been hesitating on this, because isn’t that themed stuff the fun stuff you SHOULDN’T be cutting out?  But I’m killing my kid with the “C”s – she is definitely ready to move faster.

That being said, we really do have a couple of Christmas posts lined up.  Just trying to be fashionably late on them is all – and I think we’re just about there… 

Though you know, if we do the overdue Months of the Year-themed post instead – that we were working on in September – it might actually be useful to some of you, because isn’t January a perfect month to study the Months of the Year?

Maybe I should schedule our Christmas posts for NEXT year?  Maybe I should just do all my posts that way?  Is there really a happy sense of fulfillment in timely posts, folks?  Please tell me – I’ve never had that experience… :)

Review/Giveaway: The Baby Bible Christmas Storybook

Title: The Baby Bible Christmas Storybook

Author: Robin Currie

Genre: Christian children’s book (toddler/preschool)

How to enter: Leave a comment on on this post.  If you're a subscriber or a follower, leave a second comment for a second entry.

Entry deadline: January 10, 2010

Restrictions: Open internationally!

This is our review copy, so it has been (as) gently read (as a three-year-old can read – no marks). 

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Publisher:  David C. Cook
ISBN:  9780781403689
Physical Description:  36-page Board Book
List Price:  $9.99

Synopsis:

A simple and interactive approach to teach Bible stories, Scripture, prayers and worship to toddlers and preschoolers. Your child will look forward to the Baby Bible Moments Together when you share God's Word.

About the Author:

Robin Currie is a pastor at Grace Lutheran Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois. She has authored resources for teachers and librarians, and written Bible story collection for children. Her book, The Baby Bible Storybook, has sold over 300,000 copies.

What I Liked:  This is a LOVELY intro to Christmas for your little ones! 

• Sturdy board-book pages mean the smallest can page through on their own without too much damage (though we haven’t tested it with teething babes – :).
• You can use this for 15 short readings, or read through the whole book if your child wants – so it’s flexible for differing attention spans.
• Each reading has a Bible verse(s) associated with it, so you can refer back to or read the original passage if you like.
• There is also a prayer at the end of each reading to help internalize the story.
• There are suggested actions to do with each line of the reading.  This is perfect for tiny ones who are still working on their basic vocabulary – and probably my FAVORITE part.
• The illustrations are Esmé’s FAVORITE part!  Colorful, appropriate for each page of text, and on the verge of being cutesy but not quite…

What I Didn't Like:  Got nothing for you! 

Esmé (at 3 and 1/2) is just on the verge of outgrowing the book – though she still loves paging through the illustrations – so we will be gifting this book to one of you for the coming year…

Thanks to The B&B Media Group, Inc. for the review copy.


Remember to leave a comment to enter the giveaway!

WW: Risky Business

The danger of using auto-flush toilets…  The shoes were found in the public restroom, but the guy was gone.

Photo by Pappa

Tiny Talk Tuesday

Esmé at three-and-a-half is her daddy’s girl.  She can point out the contradictions in everything…

A deer took my car on one night a couple weeks back.  The car won, but the deer did some real damage first…  Anyway, Esmé was with me at the time and told the police officer all about it when we were stopped later that evening because of the busted headlight.

A day or two later, she had messed with the inside light in the other vehicle I was now driving.  It was dusk, so I only noticed down the road a ways that it was on.  I turned it off, saying I needed to be able to see outside so I wouldn’t hit any deer.

“But Mom, you hit the deer in the DARK, not the LIGHT!” she exclaimed.  And she was right… but that’s not what I wanted to hear.  Me – I just want prompt obedience, no questions asked.  Not a chance…

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She was spelling out the word NOEL.  “It spells 'No L,’ but that’s not right, because there really is an ‘L’ in it,” she observed.  Right again…

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I was reading the story about Abram and Sarai having a son in their old age.  The book read, “Nothing is too hard for the Lord.”

“But carrying the cross was too hard for the Lord!” she exclaimed.

I have no idea how she made that connection, but it was definitely one I had to ponder for a bit.

Review: bambinoLUK

We’ve loved everything we’ve tried from Timberdoodle, and this bambinoLUK product is no different!

In short, the bambinoLUK is a workbook set for ages 3-5 that doesn’t require writing of any kind – it uses a controller with six tiles that, if placed correctly, match a specific dotted pattern on the backside.

The workbooks give practice with memorization, concentration, visual perception, logical thinking, linguistic skills, and basic arithmetic.  There are numerous sets to choose from, so you can pick a set based on your child’s skill level and/or interests.

We got the starter kit, as well as the Theme-Based Learning – Animals set and the Concentration set.

What We Liked:
There’s a list, so I’ll just turn that numbering thing on!

1. No writing appliances necessary.  Don’t get me wrong – we use writing workbooks lot – but I like to mix things up, so this is a nice variation that builds fine-motor skills, too.
2. Intuitive and self-driven.  There are no written instructions for the puzzles – just one example – which means Esmé was up and running on her own very quickly.  Once she knew how the controller worked (and tried her own variations like putting all the symbols upside down), she was good to go.  She can set up the puzzles and use them at her own pace whenever she wants.
3. Progressive.  Esmé is pretty advanced for her age academically, so when she breezed through the first couple of puzzles, I was a little worried she’d get bored.  However, she did start finding some of them challenging – and it gave me an idea of what areas we could work on…
4. Skill-building.  We’ve been covering the ABCs and 123s pretty well already – so this is a nice addition in areas I don’t always think about:  spatial perspective, transformation, correlation, concentration, and all that good stuff.
5. Theme-based set.  The Animal themed books were her absolute favorites – regardless of which skills were being used.
6. Reusable.  That’s a benefit of a non-writing workbook – it can be used over and over, by one or multiple children.  The pages are pretty durable.
7. Appealing.  The workbooks are colorful and use objects that kids know and are attracted to.  As I mentioned, animals rate big at our house!
8. No letter/number recognition or matching necessary.  This wasn’t a big deal for us, but I can see it being a big plus for kids who haven’t started or are struggling with their letter- and number-recognition.

What We Didn’t Like:

There was one thing that didn’t quite click perfectly with Esmé – the self-correcting pattern.  There are a lot of dots to check out against the answer key, and she got frustrated with checking out each one.  It’s easy to see if there are any unmatched colors, so that’s the guideline I ended up giving her for self-correction – but she still wanted to use the answer key.

Summary:
This product is a great value for your money.  The bambinoLUK Starter Pack, which comes with a “sampler” workbook covering various concepts and levels, is currently available for $19.95 at Timberdoodle.  Other packs are available for $9.95 (two-book pack).  Each book has a total of 11 puzzles, or 66 exercises.

Timberdoodle has many other GREAT homeschooling resources available, including a whole section on Thinking Skills.

Thanks to Timberdoodle for providing this product for review.  Trust us – we’d be raving about it no matter how we acquired it… :)

Butterfly Garland

This is one of those projects that doesn’t go as planned, but makes me smile every time I see it, anyways…


I started out with the idea of making a garland of coffee-filter paintings in Christmas colors.  So I set out diluted watercolors in green and red.  But that felt a little dull to me, so I added yellow, and blue could be a Christmas color, too, right?  And of course I couldn’t deny Esmé’s request for “magenta”!  So we painted away.


Well, the magenta promptly spilled itself all over the table, so we cleaned it up with numerous coffee filters for a nice splotchy effect.  And we dipped some of the filters, and overall, all the paints just combined on all the filters in a glorious array of colors.


After the filters dried on the floor and I scrubbed all the paint stains off the floor with scrubbing bubbles and a scouring pad (we are really organized here), I got out clothespins to pin the filters on thick yarn.  Well, Miss Esmé had seen clothespins and coffee filters together at preschool before, so SHE knew exactly where to go with this – BUTTERFLIES.


Mountains of butterflies.  Hers have two filters per butterfly – I went cheap with just one filter to stretch the garland out a little.


I wasn’t going to give up on the garland idea – though I was momentarily tempted to make a butterfly tree instead.  So the butterfly garland went up.  Not so Christmassy, but so what?

And then I happened upon some SweeTarts candy canes with just the right festive colors.  They give the garland the perfect Christmas touch. 


AND – it’s way up high where Esmé can look and not touch the sweet stuff!  :)

Logos (n. Word)

Esmé is fascinated with the serpent.


We were a couple of days late putting up our Jesse tree, which means we had read about “The Fall” the previous evening.  And I just happen to use mini apples as fillers around the Jesse tree ornaments, so Esmé was convinced the tree was indeed the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.


The Mary and Joseph of our crocheted nativity set were quickly reappropriated as Adam and Eve, and the dramatizations began.  I read “The Fall” several times on demand, then left Esmé to go through her own scenarios – all the way through the angel guarding the gate of the garden and Eve having her own babies and wondering if they might indeed be the Messiah.  Each time, the serpent played a prominent role.

I began to feel a niggling concern – maybe I should buy another tree to stand in as the Tree of Life to balance things out a bit.  Was this focus on evil, on the fall, taking things a bit too far?

So I sat the little Miss down to have a discussion with her.  What was her fascination with this serpent?  Why was he “cool?”

“Mommy, the serpent can really talk!” she exclaimed. 

Of course, I thought.  My daughter has ALWAYS loved stories where the animals can “really talk.”  I generally explain that it’s just pretend, but for once, here is a story that’s NOT pretend, and the animal can indeed really talk.

Boy, can that serpent talk.  He’s still yapping away at us, insisting that we can have more, be more.  He still appears beautiful, convincing us that if we eat the fruit, we can develop our own superpowers – we can become the perfect mom, wife, breadwinner, Superwoman.  We can even create the perfect holiday season for our families.

We try.  We fail.  We try again, though we’re destined for failure again.  We’re surrounded by apples of evidence – magazines, blogs, TV shows – perfection is there if we stretch a little further.  So we add more to our busyness, or carve away if we’re following the simplicity blogs, as we stretch for that perfection.

Shining through the cacophony, the darkness of failure, there is the WORD – Logos – the ultimate communicator - the One who spoke and it was so.

“In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was with God, and the WORD was God.”

Oh, I know we can be hard of hearing.  We’re quick to pick up on the unnatural – the serpent that really talks – while the Creator of it all, the foundation of our very existence, goes unnoticed.

And so…

“The WORD became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”

And the WORD, bruised for our iniquities, crushed that talking serpent’s head.

And that is what we celebrate today.

“The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.  The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.” Romans 16:20

Worksheets and All That

Just a quick hi as we dive into December… and a link to our post on making worksheets fun – over at The Homeschool Village.  Who says they’ve gotta be boring busywork?!

 

See ya tomorrow!