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God’s Wonderful Creation

By on September 30, 2010 in One Room Schoolhouse

I am really excited to have Cheryl Pickett as my guest poster today. You can find out more about her in her bio below.

Kids and animals, more often than not, they go together like peanut butter and jelly. What’s great about that is God gives us lots of opportunity to use this connection to help build our children’s faith along with teaching them about His wonderful creation. Here are just a few examples of how include science, fun and faith with a kid’s natural love of animals:

1109601 57547620 225x300 God’s Wonderful Creation (photo credit: Jan Willem Geertsma)

1. Sea Star

Believe it or not, a summer trip to the ocean or aquarium offers an opportunity to talk about Christmas and the Christ child! Most adults grew up calling this creature a “starfish” but it’s not really a fish at all so scientists are really encouraging the use of its proper name. If your child gets to see (and hopefully touch) a sea star, a simple connection is to ask them what story in the Bible talks about a star and see where the conversation goes.

2728814481 c39e7de029 o 300x199 God’s Wonderful Creation(photo credit: marshmallow)

2. Brown Bear

Brown bears are smart builders. When it’s time to build a den, they choose their site very carefully. They look for places that are solid, often near a rock or large log if they can find it. Another big goal is to make sure the ground is not sloped so water and snow don’t flow in as easily.

Building a house on a firm foundation…sound familiar? Bears have the right idea because Matthew 7:24-25 instructs us to build our faith on a firm foundation too.

Have some family fun time with this idea and make a further connection by going out to the sandbox. Build a “house” on the sand then use the garden hose to show how easy it is to wash it all away. Do the same on a harder surface to show the difference. They’ll learn a little about water power too!

1191421 91958093 300x146 God’s Wonderful Creation

(Photo by Cheryl Empey)

3. American Alligator

When you think of an alligator, what comes to mind? Do you think of a cuddly animal that you could snuggle up to? Probably not, unless one of your favorite stuffed animals happens to be an alligator.

Most people think of alligators as tough and dangerous. This makes sense because they aren’t soft or snuggly at all. Their skin is thick and covered with bony plates and scales that protect them similar to the armor that knights or soldiers wear. Alligators also have powerful jaws and the most forceful bite of any animal on earth. All of these traits help them to survive and defend themselves.

The faith connection this time is that as Christians, God gives us our own armor and strength through the words of the Bible so that we can defend our faith when we need to.

As a reminder of this lesson, kids can easily draw their own gators: Place a piece of green or white printer paper (or construction paper) on a flat surface horizontally. Put your left hand on the paper so that the fingers are together pointing right. Now, slide the thumb down a little for the gator’s lower jaw. Trace around the hand and wrist. Draw in eyes and a few teeth, color it green if you used white paper and you’ve got your very own Grinin’ Gator!

Psalm 104: 24 (NIV) How many are your works O LORD! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures.

Cheryl Pickett is the author of Creation Inspirations: A New View of the World Around You. Find out more about the book and how to connect kids to faith via nature at her website www.creationinspirations.com.

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Simchat Torah

By on September 29, 2010 in Faith, One Room Schoolhouse

SimchatTorah Simchat TorahSimchat Torah (pronounce Sim-hot Tor-ah) is one of the wonderfully joyous Jewish festivals. Simchat Torah is at the end of the month that began with Rosh Hashana, bringing to a close a very important and spiritual month with joy, laughter, excitement, dancing and singing.

Simchat Torah translates to mean ‘Rejoice with the Torah’ and signifies the end and beginning of a cycle. As Rosh Hashana marked the beginning of the Jewish year, the birthday of the world, Simchat Torah marks both the ending and beginning of another Jewish milestone – public reading of the Torah.

One might think that Rosh Hashana, the new year, would mean that we begin reading the torah from the beginning once again. However, it is actually 3-weeks later on Simchat Torah that Jews mark the transition from the end of the torah and return to the beginning.

The Sefer Torah (pronounce safe-air Tor-ah) literally means ‘Book of Torah’. And the Torah is the first five books of Moses, most often referred to as the Old Testament. A Sefer Torah is handwritten on parchment paper by a trained scribe. They are one of the most holy relics of the Jewish people and are held in such high regard that they are dressed in ornate coverings and treated with such care that special pointers have been made so that hands and fingers do not touch it for reading purposes.

Simchat Torah is a family celebration and is very lively. At my synagogue, we make special floral wreaths for each torah. Last year, my daughter and I joined several other women to create beautiful purple and white wreaths. You can see our handiwork here, just scroll down to Simchat Torah! There is dancing and singing and plenty of torah reading. Seeing a torah scroll fully unrolled is quite a site. Because each Torah is hand created, they come in different sizes so it’s hard to tell you how long it is when unrolled. To give you an idea of how large it can be, check out this picture.

For my congregation, Simchat Torah is another way to get closer to G-D and celebrate the many wonders of Judaism. Everyone who is capable gets to carry the Torah and dance around. Children are given plush, stuffed torah so they can participate too. It truly is a wonderful way to mark the end of the Old Testament and the renewal and beginning of the new cycle of learning and study that comes with reading the Torah.

My daughter especially likes Simchat Torah because it is so much fun. Who doesn’t like singing and dancing and, of course, eating! And, like me as a child, she is overtaken with the enormity of the Torah when it is fully unrolled. At my synagogue a fully unrolled Torah scroll requires over 100 people to hold it. It truly is a marvelous sight. One that brings such pride, that even writing this I have a lump in my throat.

And just hearing those words – In the Beginning – make me so proud to be Jewish.

Photo Credit: Sara for Congregation Or Chadash

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10 Week Challenge – Decluttering, Beautifying, Creating

By on September 28, 2010 in House and Home

10week2 10 Week Challenge – Decluttering, Beautifying, Creating

About The 10 Week Challenge

My sister Sara (from Fabulous Womanhood) and I were chatting about decluttering and wanting to go through our entire homes and get rid of all the excess.

We discussed how we wanted to declutter every room, beautify each space, and create gifts for Christmas with the supplies we find.

~ Declutter ~ Beautify ~ Create ~

During this discussion, we came up with the 10 Week Challenge which will take us right up to the beginning of December and have our homes completely ready for Christmas (we hope).

A little bit about me, Honey (aka @Sunflowermommie). We are a homeschooling family of seven. We have acquired lots of stuff. People know we are a homeschooling family so they are always giving us things that they think we might be able to use. We have too much stuff. It’s time to purge. I thought that I would bring you all along for the ride. Are you ready?

Turning Over A New Leaf

To Declutter

  • to get rid of excess stuff we don’t need or don’t use
  • to organize the stuff that we do have
  • to sell, to give away, or to throw away the excess

To Beautify

  • to rearrange the house and make it more functional
  • to decorate the house and make it more beautiful
  • using mostly things we already own

To Create

  • beautiful things for my home
  • Christmas gifts from materials and supplies we find along the way

My Personal Goals For The 10 Weeks

  • declutter my entire house
  • get rid of as much stuff as possible
  • know what is in every nook and cranny
  • beautify each space in my home as I go
  • find things to use in the creation of Christmas gifts

About The Weekly Challenges

Each week we are going to be completing a challenge and presenting it to you to complete it with us. We hope you will join us and we can all encourage each other.

Week 1
Front Hall Closet and Extra Closets

  • go through your front hall closet and any hall closets.
  • get rid of as much clutter as possible
  • organize what’s left
  • make your closets look more beautiful
  • is there anything stashed in there that could be used to make a Christmas gift for someone? (pull it out and put it aside)
  • share your ideas for frugal decorating and organizing
  • tell us what you are getting rid of
  • write a blog post and come back and link it up next week
  • include before and after pictures of your hall closets if you can

My Personal Goals For Week 1

  • front hall closet (this is our coat and shoe closet)
  • hall closet on main floor (games and junk)
  • hall closet on upper floor (linens and books)

An Introductory Challenge For Today

  • write a blog post about the 10 Week Challenge inviting your readers to join you
  • put the button in the post (you can put it in the sidebar too if you like)
  • after you write your post come back and link up here

Use THIS LINKY (the one below) to link up for today’s challenge. Come back next MONDAY and link up and share about your experiences with WEEK 1.

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