Our Freedom Quilt & Astronomy!

We've been covering the Civil War this term and today we read the story "Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt" by Deborah Hopkinson. It is a story about a young slave girl who works as a seamstress and dreams of freedom. She learned from other slaves of escaping North which motivated her to make a patchwork map of the area, her 'Freedom Quilt'. When she escapes, she leaves the quilt behind to guide others.

We decided to make our own freedom quilt! To save time (instead of sewing) we used cardboard as our background and added colored paper, paint and drawings. Our discussion was pretty interesting as we discussed how she followed the North star with her family to freedom. Last night, we got our sleeping bags and laid out on the patio to study the night sky and we noted the big dipper and the North Star. How amazing and awesome God's "mural" is in the sky! This was a great way to link learning about astronomy and an authentic story of how man can use the stars as a guide. Here's our quilt so far. Not quite sure what to do with it when we're finished! :)

Fun with Electronics

We've discovered the Snap Circuit sets and we love them! Hannah made a simple closed circuit which played "Happy Birthday" on the provided speaker. We were impressed at how easy they are to use, while teaching simple electronic concepts and symbols. Mark was thrilled with the alarm he made with an LED light! Their dad loved it too (who makes electronics) and proceeded to 'show them how it works' ! :)

Bible Characters Coming to Life!

We've been reading the Child's Story Bible this year and we just finished the section on the story of Joseph. It is a capturing story to read for both me and the children! The kids were sitting on the edge of their seats after each chapter asking please, please, please can you go on Mommy!! After the story, we borrowed this idea from a friend who had just done a play with her children from the story of Peter Pan. So.... we drew Joseph, the 12 brothers, Jacob, Rachel and other characters to re-enact the story of Joseph. The kids were really engaged in the activity and we performed it for their dad when he got home from work. Oh -- we used toilet paper rolls and glued the characters so that they were free standing. We had to make 3 Josephs -- one as the beloved son of Jacob with the coat of many colors, Joseph the slave and Joseph in the chariot in second command under Pharoah. That was fun!

Faith is Simple

A minister at our church recently made the point about children having automatic faith in simple things.. I think this message that appeared on my refrigerator says it all!

A Heart for Haiti

Hannah watched a news report the day after the earthquake in Haiti. She began to have a burden for the people in Haiti and all the tragedies they were facing. She wondered how we could help and so our research began. We realized that our prayers and sending money would be the most effective way to help. She brought a jar out to our church and labeled it "Spare Change for Haiti" and also held a bake sale. Many people helped with the bake sale and together with the spare change, she earned $287 to send to a relief effort that is sending direct help to Haiti. The money will pay for part of a water storage tank or a large tent for shelter. Great job Hannah and thank you to all the children and individuals who helped with the bake sale and bringing their spare change to give. Also, thank you Anwen for drawing the map of Haiti - terrific job! :)

We found the Owl

We found a Great Horned Owl at our local nature center! Sorry -- but you can barely see the owl behind the cage. This owl has been injured and rescued by the center and wouldn't naturally survive in the wild due to this injury. He is known to be one of the fiercest predators in the area. We learned that he has one ear that aims low and one that aims high to check for prey above and below. Also, the 'horns' are not actual horns, but feathers in the shape of horns.

The Great Horned Owl

We've been studying John James Audubon's drawings of America's birds. His personal goal was to create pictures of all the birds of America. By 1838, he had drawn 435 birds! One of the drawings we focused on, was of the Great Horned Owl. This is a local bird to us and the kids found it intriguing to learn about it's size, power and gracefulness. Afterward, they drew their own version of the Great Horned Owl. We will try to find one this week at our nature center! If we do, we'll post photos.