Monday, 1 April 2013

30 Days of Praying for our Children

My friend Marcy from Ben and Me has been sharing about the book Lead Your Family Like Jesus and has invited us to join her for the month of April in seriously praying for our children every day. Prayer is not something I find easy to do while in the trenches of parenting and school and home duties. I prayed through Stormie's book The Power of a Praying Parent years ago and was amazed (yes I know I shouldn't be . . .) at the changes I saw in them and more importantly the changes in in me and my attitude over that dedicated month.

Marcy shared a quote by Tricia Goyer from the book which really spoke to me this morning.
Prayer is an essential act of will that demonstrates whether we're really serious about living and leading our families like Jesus. Without it we'll never be able to connect our plans and efforts with God's plan for His kingdom, or engage the spiritual resources Jesus promised in the work of the Holy Spirit.

Marcy shared a how Tricia broke down prayer into four main areas in our children's lives: head, shoulders, knees and toes.

Heads: Psalm 3:3
But you, O Lord, are a shield around me;
you are my glory, the one who holds my head high.

Shoulders Psalm 55:22
Cast your burden on the Lord [releasing the weight of it] and He will sustain you;
He will never allow the [consistently] righteous to be moved (made to slip, fall, or fail).

Knees James 4: 8-10
Come close to God, and God will come close to you.
Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts,
for your loyalty is divided between God and the world.
Let there be tears for what you have done.
Let there be sorrow and deep grief.
Let there be sadness instead of laughter,
and gloom instead of joy.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honor.

Toes Hebrews 3:12-14
Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters.
Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving,
turning you away from the living God.
You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,”
so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God.
For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed,
we will share in all that belongs to Christ.

If you are committing to pray for your children for the next 30 days, leave a comment below so we can pray for one another on this journey of praying for our children.

Blessings
Chareen


Graphics from Ben and Me Facebook Photo Stream

Sunday, 31 March 2013

Living He Loved Me, Dying He Saved Me


Glorious Day (Living He loved me) ~Casting Crowns

Video and Lyrics "Glorious Day (Living He Loved Me)" 
From the album "Until the Whole World Hears" 
Download on itunes!

Saturday, 30 March 2013

Astronomy and Space Unit Study {Review}

With our chronological approach to history this year we started with Creation and from here we progressed to space and the planets. Sir N is enjoying exploring the outer reaches of the universe.  We were delighted when A Journey Through Learning offered us the opportunity to use their Astronomy and Space Unit Study as our spine to guide us through our learning.

We downloaded the Unit Study There are sample pages for you to look at). The pack contained everything we needed. If we did not have a library or books close by we could have studied this topic independently with the information provided.  If you do a page a day the Unit should take approximately one month to complete.

We are digging deeper into each topic and it's taking us longer but we are enjoying the read aloud pages which have launched us into digging much deeper into each area. We are watching plenty of YouTube clips, reading books from the local library and filling in the Notebook Pages provided. Sir N's understanding is growing as we look up the new vocabulary introduced with each lesson.These words are underlined and introduced in context.


After downloading the unit I started printing off the notebook pages. The notebook pages are directly after each subject information is read. On one hand this part of the unit is good as you know which pages are to be filled in after reading the information pages. On the other hand if you want to only print the notebook pages it becomes a tedious effort as you can't just print pages 1-25. You need to print two pages then find the next note page and look for the number then print the next one. If I could change one part of the unit it would be this. For ease of Notebook page printing I would place all the notebook pages together as an appendix and have a line saying: Notebook pages X-Y at the point of the page so that I would know now it's time to fill in that particular notebook page.
I copied the PDF document to my Galaxy Tab and we would read the notes here together. I discovered that when looking for answers for the notebook pages we could underline the answers and enlarge the print on here for Sir N to use in filling in his notes.
I have a three ring binder in which the notes are added. I use a three ring binder as I find that two ring binders the pages tear out of easily.
We have also borrowed a stack of books from the library to read and supplement our reading from here and have made use of LEGO to be creative. We are just about to start exploring each of the planets in the study.
We have enjoyed our Journey Through Learning about Astronomy and Space and look forward to exploring The Earth Lapbook in the future.

Contents
  • 70 page Unit.
  • Information page (to read to the child)
  • Correlating activity pages (These are provided straight after the information read. Some of these were practical hands on activities others were notebook style pages to fill in or draw on.)
  • Vocabulary builder pages. As you read through the text you will notice words which are underlined. Once your child has heard the word in context it is time to look up the definition in your dictionary and fill in the vocabulary note page.
  • The Unit Study came with a comprehensive how to page with ideas for study choices.
  • Tips to go the extra mile
  • A comprehensive Table of Contents
  • Plenty of colour graphics. (photographs and clip art)
  • A good balance of writing and drawing on each notebook page.
  • Bibliography
  • Five Enrichment Pages
    Books I have Read
    Planet Book Report
    Narration form Young Children
    Narration from Older Children
    Organization Page
  • Suggested Additional Reading Material
  • A full index of other Products available from A Journey Through Learning.

Cost**
  • Instant Download $13.00
  • CD $14.00
  • Printed Version $21.00
** All prices quoted are correct at time of posting. It is the responsibility of the purchaser to check the cost before purchasing. Prices are subject to change without notice. All prices are in US $.

 Extra's
On The WWW
As you can see they have a fairly comprehensive range which is constantly growing. Pop on over to explore what they have to offer.

What unit studies have you done lately ?
Blessings
Chareen

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