Month: March 2012

The Jesus Tree–Day Seventeen

Today’s topic was The Lost Sheep/The Good Shepherd. The Bible reading itself was the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15:1-7, where the shepherd leaves his ninety-nine sheep to search for the one sheep that was lost. Because the topic listed for the Jesus Tree also mentioned the Good Shepherd, I decided that our reading from The Story Bible should be about the Good Shepherd and His Sheep, which is based on John 10:1-18, in which Jesus compares Himself to a shepherd, and us to His sheep. Along with that, we also read the 23rd Psalm from The Story Bible, because it was placed immediately after the Good Shepherd reading. This was a good opportunity for me to flexible in our readings, and add a little something extra that wasn’t specifically suggested–I love improvising!

After our readings tonight, we sang “I Am Jesus’ Little Lamb.” Even though this is a very familiar hymn to the children, it was also a good opportunity to get out our My First Hymnals and use them to sing along. What a great gift those were from our church!

The Jesus Tree–Day Sixteen

Today’s reading was from John 6:22-59. It’s the well-known “I Am the Bread of Life,” passage, in which Jesus tells of the forthcoming Eucharist, even though His listeners didn’t really get it. This is one of only two readings where I couldn’t find a corresponding story in any of our children’s Bibles. I guess that makes sense, because this is a pretty complicated passage, but then again, children understand a lot more than we give them credit for. Anyway, I just made sure we really talked through the ESV reading, since we didn’t also have a simplified version to read and understand.

The Jesus Tree–Day Fifteen

Today’s readings were from Matthew 14:22-33, Mark 6:45-52, and John 6:16-21. These are the accounts of Jesus walking on water. The children were very interested to learn that only Matthew records the part of the story in which Peter asks Christ to allow him to walk out on the water as well, and then has to be rescued by Jesus when he looks at the waves and loses faith. I thought it was interesting that even though this reading directly follows the feeding of the 5,000 in all three Gospels, we won’t be reading that story until Saturday. That actually annoys me a little…I would prefer to read chronologically as much as possible, especially when the two stories are as intertwined as these two are. That’s what I get for not looking ahead in great detail, though…next year, however, I may switch up the order of the readings if only to pacify myself!

March 7–Perpetua and Felicitas, Martyrs

From the LCMS website:

At the beginning of the third century, the Roman emperor Septimus Severus forbade conversions to Christianity. Among those disobeying that edict were Perpetua, a young noblewoman, and her maidservant Felicitas. Both were jailed at Carthage in North Africa along with three fellow Christians. During their imprisonment, Perpetua and Felicitas witnessed to their faith with such conviction that the officer in charge became a follower of Jesus. After making arrangements for the well-being of their children, Perpetua and Felicitas were executed on March 7, 203. Tradition holds that Perpetua showed mercy to her captors by falling on a sword because they could not bear to put her to death. The story of this martyrdom has been told ever since as an encouragement to persecuted Christians. 

The Jesus Tree–Day Fourteen

Today’s reading was about the Good Samaritan from Luke 10:25-37. Reading out loud actually got me wondering…what is the difference between the priest and the Levite in this story? A Levite is a priest, yes? Or at least from the priestly line. I did some cursory research in my Lutheran Study Bible, and all I found in my initial reading of the footnotes is that they’re both temple workers. Even The Story Bible refers to the Levite as “another worker from the temple.” I wonder if there is supposed to be some distinction between the two that I’m just not getting? Maybe I don’t properly understand the difference between a priest and a regular Levite? Or if it’s just a way of showing two people who should have known better than to leave an injured man on the side of the road? I may dig out the Luke commentary later, if I’m feeling intelligent enough for it!

Oh, and there was also a lot of discussion as to whether our symbol was a horse or a donkey. The ESV just says “animal,” and I guess it doesn’t really matter, but small inquiring minds really wanted to know!

Homeschool Review: Presidential Blocks

I haven’t reviewed any homeschool products for quite some time, mostly because I haven’t found anything new that I’m really excited about. At least I hadn’t until I stumbled across the Uncle Goose Presidential Blocks Set.

I like this for several reasons. First, it’s a great tool for helping children become familiar with our nation’s presidents, even while playing. It’s also a different way of learning, aside from just reading about the presidents…this set gives a lot of basic information, (name, nickname, number of presidency, years served, birth and death dates and locations, and political party, as well as a facial sketch), that children will absorb just by looking at and building and playing with the blocks.

I also like this set because it’s handmade in Michigan with Michigan resources and child-safe inks. Now, I’m not normally a huge “Made in America” type, if only because I realize that most of the stuff I need to buy just isn’t made here. But every once in a while, I find something really cool that is made here, and I want to support that effort and buy it. That explains why I bought this set, even though it was pretty expensive for our homeschool!

Because of the way the blocks sit in the included tray, you can have an overview of the presidents’ names or faces, or, my personal favorite, the American flag. The sixth side of each cube is designed to be a part of the flag, and when the blocks are all placed in the correct order, you can see Old Glory…very cool!

The tray allows the blocks to be laid out in a 9×5 grid. I know what you’re thinking…we’ve only had 44 presidents, so how can there be 45 blocks? The answer is simple, and rather ingenious, I think…there’s an extra block for the Oath of Office, the pledge that the President takes when he is sworn in. It’s not necessary to the set, but a nice little bonus, and a good way to fill the space. The only other thing I could have imagined working with this set would have been a block for the White House, but you just can’t include everything!

I realize that this set will quickly become somewhat obsolete, either this fall, or in four years, when another president is added. It’s worth it to me, though, because this is such a unique, well-made resource, and even when we elect a new president, the other blocks themselves will still remain accurate, and useful for teaching. And Uncle Goose makes other block sets that are equally impressive, including the Periodic Table, Foreign Language Blocks, and even a set that has Braille and American Sign Language!

The Jesus Tree–Day Thirteen

Today we read about Jesus calming the storm. And again, our readings came from the same three books of the Bible: Matthew 8:23-27, Mark 4:35-40, and Luke 8:22-25. I was struck by how very similar all three accounts are–while they’re not word-for-word the same, I think they’re the most similar out of all of the stories we’ve read so far!

The Jesus Tree–Day Twelve

This morning, we read the story of the ten lepers from Luke 17:11-19. When re-reading the story this evening from The Story Bible, Luke 17:5-6 was also included, which I found interesting. I also find it interesting that Luke includes more stories involving Samaritans than any other of the Evangelists. The only other one who even comes close is John, and John tells a different account altogether. This Lenten activity has been as eye-opening for me as it has been for the children!

The Jesus Tree–Day Eleven

Today’s topic was the Transfiguration. Again, we read from Matthew 17:1-13, Mark 9:2-8, and Luke 9:28-36. I thought it was interesting that, although Jesus instructed His disciples that were with him, (Peter, James, and John), not to tell anyone about what they had seen on the mountain, only Luke specifically mentions the disciples actually keeping silent. Let’s face it–they were an impulsive bunch, (especially Peter!), and even with Jesus’s instructions, I kind of figured word may have leaked out anyway! No Transfiguration account in John, even though, once again, he was a witness to the event.

I have to admit, I was intimidated by making this symbol, because I didn’t want to mess up a likeness of Jesus. I guess it turned out OK, but it could have been better. I do think I would have been more comfortable just doing the light by itself, though!

The 1904 World’s Fair

Last week, we went to the Missouri History Museum to see the traveling Mammoths and Mastodons exhibit as part of their homeschool days. While we were there, however, we also looked at another exhibit: The 1904 World’s Fair: Looking Back at Looking Forward. As much as I love mammoths, I think this gallery was even more interesting, and very relevant.

I thought it was really cool seeing ground-breaking supplies from the Fair’s preparation:

The comparison between the different World’s Fairs was also fascinating:

The main part of the gallery was divided into four areas:

There were many items from around the world, (and the United States, too!):

There were many cool souvenirs from the Fair, as well:

I especially liked seeing what fashion would have been like at the Fair:

As well as an example of transportation:

There were also other cools things in and around the museum, some of which had to do with the time of the Louisiana Purchase, and some which reflected the Fair itself:

It was a really fun place to go, and I’m already looking forward to going back, and exploring more of Missouri’s history!