The Easter Dress Story

April 18th, 2014

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You will love my Easter dress story because you will realize that God is closer to us than we can imagine. He cares about each detail of our lives and is able to provide abundantly beyond all that we could ask or think.

My story begins a few weeks ago when I saw a beautiful Easter dress at Costco. It was perfect for my daughter. I sighed and put it back on the rack. I never buy new clothes for myself or for my children because resale shops are so much more affordable.

Even if I had the money, I would not buy it because money is limited. I either want to use extra money for something of eternal value, or for a refreshment for my marriage (like a getaway), or as an investment in my homeschool speaking ministry (my family business includes product creation, which costs thousands of dollars a year to produce). There is never enough money to do everything. I see money like a giant chess game, where I want to maximize each move to bring the most real joy into our lives.

So I left the Easter dress on the rack.

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Fast forward a week. A friend of mine was meeting me at the river to go for a walk because of the nice weather. When we arrived, she asked me what size Rachel was, because she had a dress that was too small for her daughter, and she thought it might fit Rachel. It was brand new.

I said sure, that we could look at it after our walk. So off we went for a walk, where I enjoyed sweet fellowship in the Spirit. When we got back to the parking lot, my friend opened her car and showed me the dress.

I had a shocked expression.

That was the exact dress that I wanted at Costco the week before, that I had carefully put back on the rack. And here God was giving it to me through this woman who was obviously prompted by God to offer me the dress.

I was speechless.

This just goes to show how great God is. He is so near. He paid attention to a small detail in my life. I’ve shared with you about how God provided for my needs back when we had no money and a ton of debt. Well, this was different. I didn’t pray about it, but God gave it to me anyway because He knew the desires of my heart.

“Delight yourself in the LORD, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 ESV)

 

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Posted in Creative Finances | 18 Comments »

Nature Study

April 16th, 2014

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Have you wondered how to incorporate nature study into your homeschool? A couple of weeks ago I was asked to be a panelist on this very topic, where several homeschool moms shared ideas for how to do nature study with children.

Why is nature study important for homeschooling?

Nature is science–plants, animals, rocks, weather phenomena, etc.–all of this is science. To be educated, you need to understand science. And to know it well, you need to see it and experience it first-hand in the great outdoors.

When can you start nature study?

Babies, toddlers, and preschoolers can enjoy nature. Here are some nature activities that small children can enjoy:

High school students and adults can also enjoy nature through nature journals, drawing and labeling intricate details of God’s creation. So all ages can enjoy nature study, especially because you can get fresh air and sunshine on your face while you relax and take it all in. You don’t have to rush when you are doing nature study.

What do you do back inside to follow up on nature studies?

Look inside an insect identification book for the insect you just sketched. Try to identify a tree by its leaves, or look up what kind of rock your son found.

I also like to take out drawing books, especially for younger children who might have trouble drawing straight from nature without seeing a pencil sketch. I describe more about how to do this in my workshop Using Journals to Teach Writing.

How directed should a nature study be? Is mom in charge or do you just let your kids cavort outside?

Most of our nature studies are open-ended, where the kids can decide what they want to write or draw. But if we are studying a specific topic in science, we might look for that topic. For example, if we are studying spiders, we would try to find spiders and spider webs to draw.

Tell us about nature study during the winter months when it’s too cold outside.

You can easily do a winter scavenger hunt, where you find different objects in nature, and snap pictures of them. You can also pay attention to what animals are doing this time of year, and you can study snow and weather. Here are some fun winter nature activities for you to enjoy:

Also, if you want to set up nature collections during the other seasons, you can continue to study nature from your home. Here is a fabulous workshop that shows you how to bring the outdoors into your home:

Here is the panel of homeschool moms who share what they do for nature studies:

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Posted in Charlotte Mason, Science | 4 Comments »

Moon Unit Study

April 14th, 2014

moon-unit-studyThis post contains affiliate links. I was compensated for my work in writing this post.

Join us as we do a moon unit study! We will explore the phases of the moon through hands-on activities. We are continuing our study of Earth and Space by Bright Ideas Press, and we have arrived at the outer space chapters. There is a super cool lunar observation chart in the book, which my kids filled out for 28 days as we looked up at the moon each night. (No, we didn’t howl like coyotes while doing so!)
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When you study the moon, be sure to look through some binoculars at least, since you can see the craters of the moon in greater detail. You can also use a telescope to see even more details.

One hands-on activity from the book was to draw the phases of the moon on paper plates. We drew them with pencil, outlined over the pencil with black marker, and colored in the moons with black crayon. We also made an Earth on one of the paper plates. We stuck them all to the wall, and the kids were able to learn the phases of the moon by matching the plates with the labeled index cards.
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We used Oreo cookies to do the phases of the moon according to the Bright Ideas Press chart from the book. You can see a simplified version here, where there are only eight phases. I decided to use black poster board and a silver Sharpie marker to make the chart. We opened the Oreo cookies and made moons out of each one, placing them into the chart.

Take a look at how we did these activities:

oreo-moon-chart

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Posted in Science | 2 Comments »

Psalm 1 Watercolor

April 11th, 2014

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Psalm 1 Watercolor

My kids illustrated Psalm 1 by drawing a picture around the Psalm and painting the beautiful illustration with watercolor. Make sure you use special watercolor paper, because the colors don’t roll off the page but sink into the higher-quality watercolor paper. (I’ve bought watercolor paper at art supply stores, but you can also buy it at Walmart.)

We’ve begun a study of the book of Psalms, which is a worship hymnal for God’s people. Lots of the Psalms were written by David, and there is usually a description of when the Psalm was written at the beginning of the Psalm, before the Psalm starts. This way you can figure out if David (or other writers) wrote the Psalm when he was fleeing from Saul, or after his sin with Bathsheba. You can understand the heart behind the Psalm if you do some research into it before you start.

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You can discuss the meaning of the Psalm itself. Do we delight in the law of the Lord? Do we spend time listening to the counsel of the wicked? How do we meditate on God’s law day and night?

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The most beautiful image in this psalm is the one of the tree planted by streams of water, which is what my kids chose to illustrate. The tree yields fruit in season, and whatever we do, we prosper when we delight in God’s law.

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We memorized the Psalm when the kids were little, back when I used to play an audio with me reading God’s Word. When you hear the same Psalm each day, pretty soon you have it memorized, and you have access to it day and night, for the rest of your life!

Since the Psalms are meant to be sung, here is a musical rendition of Psalm 1:

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Posted in Bible | 2 Comments »

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