My family attended a super cool Chinese lantern festival here in Spokane, Washington. Since the people that put on these shows travel from city to city, you could easily find a Chinese lantern festival in a city near you to attend this year, if you wanted this cultural experience.
Since I’m a multicultural person myself, I enjoyed taking my children to see the artistic designs of paper and cloth lanterns of various vibrant colors, lighting up the night.
The two peacocks were probably the most detailed of all the lanterns. They were standing in the midst of red roses.
The panda bear display was also spectacular. The bears were hanging in a bamboo forest, which was like a backdrop for the scene.
Beautiful orange flowers glowed against the dark night sky. They were enormous!
Several Chinese warriors lined one side of the path. Their faces, headdresses, and clothing shone in bright colors. My family walked along a dirt path as we saw this whole Chinese lantern display, which was almost like walking through a city. It also reminded me of driving to see Christmas lights, but way more magnificent.
Several arched walkways were lit up thematically. This blue one had flowers and swirls. We felt like we were walking down a tunnel.
This was my favorite display–a lot of beautiful paper Chinese globe lanterns. Looking up, you get lost in the beauty of the paper umbrellas and lanterns. My entire family loved this cultural experience!
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16 ESV
Why can’t a city on a hill be hidden?
Because the lights from the houses shine in the night. Back during World War II, some British cities were told to shut their lights off by a certain hour because they didn’t want the Nazi’s to bomb their city. Cities are highly visible at night from any elevated area, whether from the sky or from a hill. A city on a hill is elevated so that people for miles can see its light.
It is silly to hide a lamp when the whole reason for lighting the lamp is to be able to see what’s around you. The light is there, shining in the darkness, so that you can see what is there, and you can see where you are going.
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” Psalm 119:105 KJV
Scripture teaches us who God is so that we will not be led into error. A lot of doctrinal error is logical based on just one Scripture, but just because something is logical doesn’t mean it’s right. If you have knowledge of the entirety of the Scriptures, this will light your way.
But Jesus says that WE are the light of the world. The light is God’s love shining out of us.
Last week I was translating for some Hispanic friends who were at the Social Security office, and the sign said that the average wait was two hours. I had to sit separate from my Hispanic friends, so I began talking to the people around me, asking how long they had waited. We eventually started talking about the Lord. The entire row of chairs I was in, and the people in front of me, were turned around and talking and laughing with me as we chatted. My light was shining.
Another example that struck me was when I was working at a Victorian shop, welcoming the people into the store, a woman walked up to me and asked if I was a Christian. I said yes, and I was amazed and asked her how she knew. She said that she could see Jesus shining from my face.
If you are a Christian, Jesus lives inside of YOU, too! Jesus DOES shine from you, but you can purposely draw closer to Christ so you can shine more and more brightly!
You are a light to others. That is who you are. Christ lives in you, and you shine!
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My daughter and I created the artwork for this series from the course {aff} “You are a Masterpiece” by Alicia Gratehouse. If you love to do art and are discovering who you are in Christ, this is a great art course for you!
Today we will be learning about prisms, light, and color. We will be doing some hands-on activities to see what light is made of, and what it does. We will also learn why we see colors.
Light is electromagnetic energy. It has different wavelengths that fall on the electromagnetic spectrum. Light is made up of all the colors, as you can see when looking through a prism:
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Light illumines the world around us so that we can see it. Light can be reflected, transmitted, or absorbed:
reflected: light bounces back
transmitted: light passes through material
absorbed: light sinks into an object
We conducted an experiment with several different materials and a flashlight, to see if the light was reflected, transmitted, or absorbed by the material. We used a mirror, Cling Wrap, wax paper, aluminum foil, a bench, and my jeans.
Experiments with Prisms, Light, & Color (video)
Take a look at how the prism separates white light into all the colors of the spectrum. Then watch as we conduct an experiment to see which materials reflect, transmit, and absorb light:
Playing with Colors
We printed a coloring page from Christian Kids Explore Physics by Bright Ideas Press, and my daughter enjoyed playing with colors as she painted the scene. She found out that when something is blue, that object reflects blue but absorbs all the other colors.
We had a wonderful time playing with prisms, light, and color!
Today we are beginning a new series on Elementary Physics, and we will be finding physics around us. You might not be aware that physics is a part of our everyday lives, so we’ve grabbed our video camera and captured some physics on film!
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We printed out the “Finding Physics” chart from Christian Kids Explore Physics by Bright Ideas Press, and my daughter had fun filling out the chart as we walked around, looking for physics.
Finding Physics: What We Found
Matter has weight and takes up space. It’s basically anything we can see or touch. Examples we found are people, scissors, milk, and piñatas. The wall, an ice cream cone, and dirt are also examples of matter.
Energy is the capacity to do work. Examples of energy are the wind, a waterfall, a bolt of lightning, or a microwave.
Heat is a form of energy that causes things to become warm. If you put a cat on your lap, the warmth of the cat will cause you to become hot. Sources of heat: the sun, fire, a furnace, a stove or oven, and even a cup of coffee.
Light enables us to see when it illuminates the area in front of us. Sources of light are the sun, a lamp, a night light, garden lights, traffic lights, and even your cell phone.
Sound is vibrations that travel through the air. We hear these vibrations when they reach our ear. Examples of sounds would be a screaming child, a lawn mower, the clicking of a keyboard, a radio, and birds chirping outside.
Motion is something that is moving. My daughter Rachel is constantly moving (unless she is asleep), so she is a great example of this phenomenon. Other examples of motion are cars, motorcycles, bicycles, a sporting event (although golf and baseball are pretty slow!), and a running hyena.
Here is a coloring page from the first unit: The Foundations of Physics. It shows how trucks, fireworks, and even rocket ships use physics to work:
Now that you’ve seen physics in the world around us, why not stick around for the rest of the series? These are the topics that we will cover during the next few weeks:
Hi! I'm Susan Evans. I speak at homeschool conferences about hands-on learning and run a huge unit study membership site. I also speak at women's retreats on the topic of prayer.
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