Kid Devotion Time

This morning I had a marvelous time by myself (sans infants) spending time reading the Bible and praying. Our church offers a few mornings during the summer where moms can come, drop off their kids, pick up coffee and snacks, and have a few hours of uninterrupted quiet time. One of the questions in the Bible study I was working on asked, "what would need to happen for you to set aside substantial time to listen?" It got me thinking.

Let me backtrack. Here's the situation: We just finished homeschooling for the year and already my daughter is struggling with boredom. The rest of the day is fine, it's just when little brother and sister are napping and she has no schoolwork to do that it's a bit of a struggle. I have difficulty fitting in my quiet time. She's not having a quiet time. So why not solve multiple problems at once?

Starting today, I plan to make a simple devotion guide for Gracie:

1. Pray (God, help me learn)
2. Read a Bible story (she can read simple stories independently)
3. Read a memory verse
4. Praise God by singing a song
5. Pray to God (say sorry to God, thank God, ask for something you need)

She can have quiet time. I can have quiet time. She's not bored. The little ones are sleeping.

This definitely works for me!

See what works for everyone else to prevent boredom this summer at We Are That Family.

Teaching character with Dr. Seuss

We've begun a theme unit on Dr. Seuss in preparation of his birthday next week on March 2^nd. In addition to being a lot of fun and fairly accessible new readers, many of Dr. Seuss' books lend themselves very nicely to teaching various character traits. Here's a list that I came up with:

• The Cat in the Hat: honesty, responsibility, obedience
• The Lorax: care for the earth/stewardship
• Bartholomew and the Oobleck: contentment
• The Sneetches: not judging based on appearances/looking at the inner qualities of a person
• How the Grinch Stole Christmas: anti-materialism/contentment
• The Butter Battle Book: getting along with others
• Horton Hatches the Egg: patience, commitment, value of life
• Horton Hears a Who!: compassion, protecting the powerless
• Green Eggs and Ham: trying new things, leaving your comfort zone
• Yertle the Turtle: humility and compassion in leadership
  

What other life lessons has Dr. Seuss taught you?

Teaching values, improving reading skills and having fun at the same time works for me!

WFMW: Score!

I love thrift stores. Always have. At least since I discovered them in college. But they are not always the easiest places to navigate with three children five and under. Sometimes it takes a little bit of digging and searching to find that bargain in the rough. So it's been a while. But last week I rediscovered the joy, the thrill of the hunt, the satsifaction of success! Here's what I found:

The Polar Express (Van Allsburg),

The Legend on the Indian Paintbrush (dePaola), (for a unit on Native Americans coming up this semester)

Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear? (Carle),

Frog and Toad Together (Lobel), (Gracie's reading these by herself now!)

A Pippi Longstocking book (that must have been comandeered before I took the picture!)

The Cat in the Hat; One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish; Dr. Seuss' ABC book (all by Dr. Seuss. We'll be doing a Dr. Seuss unit to celebrate his birthday coming up on March 2nd)

Ed Emberly's Great Thumbprint Drawing Book (a very sneaky way to work on fine motor skills!)

Brain Quest (2nd grade)

And all for about a dollar each! And what's even more impressive, the kids were with me! Yeah me!

I know photography does not work for me (see above), but finding good homeschooling stuff at thrift stores for a song does work for me!

See what works for everyone else for the last time (sniff) at Rocks In My Dryer.