Kicking off The Alphabet House

Jenny

This summer has been so much fun so far. We have lots of friends whose schedules are more freed-up in the summer time, which allows for some awesome kid playdates (which comes with the wonderful side of adult conversation!), and so we have really enjoyed getting to spend time with some wonderful people in our lives. The past few weeks have also consisted of Natalie’s official birthday week celebration (post to come about all the fun activities), which overlapped with her three cousins spending the week at Harwood Camp. (Just in case there was any misconceptions – 5 is different than 2.) 🙂 We had a BLAST, but this mama was pretty exhausted come the end of the visit.

Needless to say, we have gone lax with our structured school schedules, and have found learning opportunities in the nooks and crannies of the day.

So once things slowed down a bit around here, after the return of the extra 3 kiddos, I excitedly jumped into The Alphabet House! We’re only a month ‘late’, but a few great things about homeschooling – flexibility to change schedules, no real fear of parent-teacher conflict due to last minute changes, and the freedom to really enjoy the people around us and allow relationships to be priority in our lives. I’m so thankful for this season of our lives!

I also have approached this month differently than my first with Mother Goose Time. Last month was my first baby-step into schooling with two, and so I was very grateful for a teacher’s guide and Little Goose Guide to walk me pretty much step-by-step through the process of the daily activities. I thrive on structure anyways, and so this was a reassuring benefit to this curriculum. However, now that we’ve gotten our toes wet, I feel more confident now to review and then pick and choose which activities seem the most appealing to this stage of life, that I feel like the kiddos will enjoy the most, and allow the rest of it to just be ‘extra’ if we have time. This is a HUGE step for this perfectionism-recovering mama who usually views a to-do list as set in stone, to be met or to be grieved over at the end of the day. Thank You, Jesus, for freedom and grace, and learning to choose the best over the good! Because Lord knows there are a MILLION and ONE choices out there for us homeschooling mamas (and anyone, really) to grab our time and attention and energies, and at the end of the day, was it even really fruitful?

Anyways, I could go on, but back to Alphabet House! So this month we’re pulling out a few days at a time and letting the themes flow together right before us. The amazing theme and design team from Mother Goose Time weaves the daily topics together so beautifully that it’s so easy for our discussion to flow from one daily topic to the next without much prep or work on my part. I love it in this season where I want to be available mentally, emotionally, and physically to my littles (who need so much) – I’ll gladly receive the benefit of others’ hard work in that.

So we started out the day with grabbing some books that I already had around the house, more for a visual to show them where we were headed and that books are always going to be a part of our learning process.

And I grabbed the awesome manipulative bag that came with this month’s box – foam shapes and cute little plastic keys!

These were the cute little doors that came with Day 6’s bag: Doors and Windows!

We built Peterman a little door out of our math manipulative blocks so he would have something to unlock.

I challenged Natalie to build something and she chose a rocket (R as in Rocket was a theme last month’s curriculum, so neat to see those ideas still being on the front of her mind).
However, now that I’m looking back at the pictures, I don’t think we ever quite made it. We got a little sidetracked once I pulled out the keys for Peter and started talking about doors. Oh well. The rocket will wait for another day!

I pulled out the number cards that came with this month’s focus, and Peter decided he wanted to share some of sissy’s foam shapes to fill in the circles on the page. So we spent a little time reviewing shapes and seeing if we had any other pieces that would fit his card.

Natalie decided to match her foam shapes to the Daily Topic Sheet, adding her own little doorknob. (Peter mimicked this addition in the pictures above, adding a quite large doorknob to his door.)

We talked a little about different doors and types of homes, and knowing they both love a good fairy tale, we focused on Day 5: Castles!

And then they wanted to feed the dragon, and so it ate some of the random manipulatives that we’ve collected so far: pom poms and keys (because dragons will eat anything). Peter didn’t like the idea of the dragon eating his precious little rabbits (one of the manipulatives from May’s Growing Gardens), so he saved those and moved to another activity.

Here was the fun dragon we built!

The discussion of what to feed the dragon

Peter had since accomplished the Rabbit Rescue mission and had left the scene

A girl and her dragon

We then moved on to this fun exercise from the day focused on RV’s. Peter matched all the shapes correctly, which was fun to see him excited in his success.

We wrapped up the morning by building the rest of our Alphabet House so that they could see it take shape (and because mama loves a finished board!).

After a really fun, relaxed morning, I was really giddy at the prospect of this fun month before us! With so much sweetness in my morning – from the super cute curriculum to these amazing two little children of God, I was pretty much ready for a soul sugar crash by lunch. It’s a fun season and I’m embracing it! I know they won’t all be like this, so I will take the good right now and store it away with all the other millions of ways the Lord has been so faithful to direct our steps, change our hearts, and reveal His goodness.

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences with the curriculum.
Click here for more information on Mother Goose Time.

Parable of the Sower

Jenny

For May, Jordan and I have decided to focus on The Parable of the Sower from Luke 8 for our family devo time. We have these really cute little picture cards (as I posted earlier here) we got through our current homeschool curriculum, Mother Goose Time, as well as some fun activity suggestions that go along with the lessons.

A couple days after we started, I realized I wanted more of a visual to help the kids understand the importance of being planted in good soil, and how that will affect growth. Being completely clueless as to where to start, I scoured Pinterest, asked for suggestions on Facebook, and honestly didn’t come up with much that I felt was feasible for us (and my lack of a green thumb).

Well, it just so happens, as God often works in my life, He has already given me what I needed before I even thought about this idea (which was really His in the first place…I just thought it was mine. Thank you, Holy Spirit inspiration).

You see, on Day 1 of our Growing Gardens study, the kids and I planted grass seeds in 3 little containers.

(Day 1: Natalie’s was on the far left, and then Peter’s, and then mine)

Natalie had decided she wanted to cover hers with soil, to make sure the seeds were buried, and that it was really planted. For Peter, I let him just scatter the seeds on top of the little soil container. And we ended up having some seeds leftover, so I pulled out a third container (much more shallow than the other two) and just put whatever soil and seed was left over. The idea was to watch over the next few days and weeks, and to record any changes they identified.

It wasn’t until Day 5, when we noticed that Nat’s container had a few little grass sprouts coming up, that I realized that we already had our visual aid.

(Day 5: Nat’s tiny little sprouts)

I’m explaining to Natalie that her seeds, unlike the other two, were actually planted. They were in the ideal environment for the little seedlings to grow, in good soil. And as we looked at the other two containers, there were no signs of life.

(Day 5:Peter’s scattering of seeds, no sprouts)

Well, as it would happen, as we continued to check on our little plants each day, on Day 8 we found that Peter’s container had started to sprout.

(Day 8: Growth!)

But, as you can see, it is yielding a lot less sprouts than Natalie’s. So we talked about how his, like the seeds tossed in the rocky soil, they were able to sprout up quickly, too, but don’t have as much opportunity to put down roots to get the water and nutrients they need. They were obviously not flourishing like Natalie’s plant.

We then went on to talk about how a few, that had sunk down into the soil, were trying to grow, but the rest were still just laying on the top. And we talked about how if the cups were outside, we could imagine birds possibly wanting to come and nibble on the exposed seeds (like those thrown along the path).

(And for me, the Holy Spirit took it even further, speaking to me about how Peter’s plant had sprouted. Yes, there was life, and it may even appear that it’s going to do well after all, that it just got a slow start. But if I were to take those plants outside, in more direct sunlight, it would be apparent pretty soon that it doesn’t have what it needs to sustain the growth. In the same ways, in the seasons where I choose to not intentionally set aside time to be with the Lord, to get into His Word and spend time in prayer – where it’s just a little here or there, whenever I can squeeze it in, and not a priority – I can be easily deceived that that is all I need. But when the ‘heat’ comes, it’s apparently pretty quickly the condition of my heart and how much I need to rely on the Lord each and every day for life and breath, because He is the One that sustains me and allows me to not only survive, but thrive.)

And lastly, my little ole container, well, it didn’t bear anything.
(Day 8: My plant, like the seeds scattered along the path)

The seeds were still laying on top of the soil, with no opportunity for growth or progress.

The whole thing has been such a great picture of some very true principles laid out in scripture, and I love that each morning she asks to see her grass sprouts, and surveys the differences between the plants.

(Day 11: A great picture of the difference in amount of growth and flourishing)

(Fun addition by Natalie that I found here on Pinterest)

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences with the curriculum.

Leaves & Love

Jenny

One of the passages that was really impressed on my heart while I was pregnant with Natalie was Ephesians 3:16-21.

“I pray that out of His glorious riches God may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

We had already planned on painting a tree in her room, and I just loved the imagery of her being rooted in the Lord’s love, secure and finding her life in Him.

Well, today we spent some time picking leaves for a lesson plan in our backyard. (I just love our new curriculum by Mother Goose Time, and the chance that I get to go through these fun lessons with them!)

They were so cute with their little buckets, exploring.

We found some great heart-shaped ones.

And with all these recent lessons on what it takes for plants to grow, being rooted, and how plants drink water, this passage came to mind.

As I was reading and discussing the verses with Nat this afternoon, we were talking about how in the same way that plants get water through their roots so that they can grow and live, when we are rooted in God, His love can fill us and help us produce spiritual fruit. And Natalie says, “But mom, I don’t feel God’s love filling me up.”

(Oh, how I get that statement more than she knows. I want to feel it. I want to lay eyes on it. I want to grasp it with my hands and examine it. I want to understand).

I explained to her that we don’t have to feel it, that we just need to ask God to fill us up with His love.

And the sweetest little prayer came next. “Dear God, please fill me up with your love. in Jesus’ Name. Amen.”

And there you have it. Such a sweet picture of child-like faith. She understands in a way that I am still trying to grasp that I just have to ask God for what I need, and then go on about my day, knowing that He promises to give me not only what I need, but so often showers above and beyond in His goodness and grace.

And that I don’t always have to feel it.
I don’t have to see or understand.
I can just know because His Word promises.

She is teaching me so much.

As an official Mother Goose Time Blog Ambassador,
I receive free curriculum in exchange for posting about our honest and authentic experiences.