September Table Display

Yep, it's November and I'm only now getting around to sharing what our schoolroom's monthly display was all about in September!

I have a little table next to the couch in our schoolroom that I try to change the display on every month. I usually choose something related to the month itself, and because in central California where we live September is apple harvesting season, we had to go with apples!

I already had that fun and totally-fitting-for-a-schoolroom apple pouf from Land of Nod. But the stuff on the table was new for my kids, 4 and 7, to explore.

First, I checked out the book Apples by Gail Gibbons from the library. I love Gail Gibbons. Her books are packed full of information while still being fun, sometimes funny and colorful.

To the left of the book, you'll see this wooden lacing apple tree. The kids used this over and over again throughout the month and it's so good for their finger coordination and fine motor skills.

In front of the book is this wooden apple maze. Both kids, especially 7-year-old E, is always up for a challenge. And this high quality toy was just that!

You'll see white cards on both the top and bottom shelves. The top shelf cards are these Parts of an Apple nomenclature cards. The cards on the bottom shelf are about the life cycle of an apple.

To go along with the apple life cycle, we used this wooden apple life cycle layered puzzle. My son, 4, especially loved repeatedly putting this puzzle together.

We also had an apple taste test!

In the Gail Gibbons book, we read all about the various varieties of apples, so we thought we'd slice some up to see which ones we like best!

What's your apple go-to?

How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA

I'll be honest, it's November... and I'm just now getting around to posting what the kids and I were up to over the Fourth of July!

Last year, we read (and LOVED) the picture book, How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman. So for the fourth, we couldn't wait to dive into Priceman's sequel, How to Make a Cherry Pie and See the USA!

This delightful book takes us along on the journey of a young baker and her little dog as they travel the United States in search of all the materials they'll need to create their own baking tools to make a cherry pie.

The book highlights a handful of states which was a great opportunity for us to learn about those states. To do that, I had a U.S. map on hand along with an atlas in which we read about each state the book mentions.

We also used this United States coloring book which I actually don't let the kids color in. : ) I make two copies of whatever page we're wanting to color (one for E, one for R), so that we can use the same coloring pages in the future. We'll be studying the states for years, I'm sure, to come!

A wooden puzzle map of the United States like this one is a really great toy to have around... and it was perfect for learning the geography and capitols of the United States.

We explored national landmarks and symbols too. First, to learn what a symbol is, we made these booklets bought here on Teachers Pay Teachers.

So the kids could play with some of our national symbols, I ordered these Supertoob USA figurines from Amazon. To learn all about them, we ordered the book O, Say Can You See.

Of course we had to bake a cherry pie!

And we watched several videos online while exploring this book, specifically to learn all about the various materials the book's main character was gathering across the United States to make baking tools like coal, cotton, clay and granite. Those links, along with many other ideas to explore this book, can be found on my Pinterest board.

It's November 20th... should I say Happy Thanksgiving, or Happy Fourth?!

Godly Play - The Exile and Return

Our Godly Play story for this week was (drum roll please)...

You'll find the script for the story in the book Young Children and Worship. And in addition to reading the story, you may find it helpful, as I do, to watch someone else tell the story online. Here's the link to the story I watched.

As usual, I made my own story materials (so much less expensive than buying them!) and here's what they looked like:

You'll have a better idea about what the materials represent after reading and watching the story. But the white tray with sand inside is our desert box, the wooden peg people with felt clothing are the characters in the story. The two wooden blocks (snagged from my kids' blocks bin!) each represent a city, the two strands of blue yarn represent two rivers and the adjoined paper clips represent chains.

For more Godly Play ideas and inspiration check out my Pinterest board!

Godly Play - The Ten Best Ways to Live

The kids and I had a great time telling the Godly Play story The Ten Best Ways to Live.

You'll find the story script in the book Young Children and Worship but before making my own story materials or telling the story to my kids, I find it helpful to watch someone else tell the story online. Here's the link to the story I saw.

After watching or reading the story, you'll see that telling it requires a heart-shaped box and some pieces that go inside that, when put together, look like a heart. Each piece represents one of the ten commandments.

The official Godly Play materials for the heart and commandment pieces (as seen in the video) are made of wood and have etchings on them. But using a heart-shaped cardboard box I got from a craft store and cutting the commandment pieces out of felt was a lot more inexpensive! Here's what the individual pieces, representing each of the ten commandments, look like:

The other materials I used to tell this story I already had on hand from previous Godly Play stories. For more on those materials, including more Godly Play ideas, check out my Pinterest board!

Godly Play - Noah

Our Godly Play story this week was Noah from the book Young Children and Worship. The book has the script, but, as always, I like to watch the story being told before I begin preparing to tell the story myself. Here's the link to the story on YouTube.

Although I usually try to make my own Godly Play materials, I couldn't come up with an easy, inexpensive way to make an ark with lots of animals. So I splurged on this Noah's Ark wooden play set on Amazon...

...and it was totally worth it!

My kids, 4 and 7, play with this all the time. And I love that, just like in all Godly Play stories, they are stepping into the stories in Scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to teach them, to speak to them, to move in them, as they play.

Godly Play - The Story of Creation

By far, my VERY FAVORITE thing we do in our homeschool is Godly Play. I've written a post on it before, but in a nutshell, Godly Play is a method of learning about and engaging with God and Scripture with young kids. We usually tell one Godly Play story per week, and this week's story was...

As usual, I made my own materials. You can buy beautiful, quality Godly Play materials online (just google Godly Play materials : )) but they're spendy. So with just a little felt and a couple of hours one evening, I made the creation materials myself!

Of course there are seven days in the creation story, so each day is represented by a medium-sized gray felt rectangle with felt cut-outs that go on top. Here's the one for Day 4.

The story I told was, as usual, from Young Children and Worship by Sonja M. Stewart and Jerome W. Berryman.

There are videos of the stories being told on YouTube and I almost always watch the story I'm preparing for, even before making any materials. The story script is in Young Children and Worship, but it's much easier to see the story played out when getting ready to not only make your own materials, but tell the story yourself. Here's the link to the YouTube video I watched.

After I tell a Godly Play story, I usually give each of my kids, 4 and 7, a chance to tell it too. Throughout the week, we'll read the story account from Scripture itself at some point and we'll continue to talk about the story as we go along with life. Sometimes I'll google activities or even just coloring pages related to the story and do those with the kids too.

If you haven't explored Godly Play yet... go, go, go! : )

What God Said to Me about Being a Parent

We're a couple of weeks into summer...

and earlier today I had a conversation with a friend who is struggling, this summer in particular, with being a parent. We all wrestle with being a parent for different reasons, at different times and in varying degrees. But she was talking specifically about the difficulty of being with her soon-to-be 7-year-old at home full-time during the school summer break.

My friend doesn't happen to homeschool and for we who do, this at home full-time-ness with our kids is our reality most every day. But whether we're homeschoolers or not, the challenge of being a parent, including the often intense demand it takes on us most every waking moment of every single day, is universal.

I was reminded as we spoke about something I feel God said to me soon after my first baby was born. I didn't actually audibly hear God speak, but what he said in my spirit was clear.

I was in the throes of newborn-land, lacking sleep, wherewithal and, among many other things, energy. I was exhausted and emotional and every minute it seemed felt deeply steeped in survival mode. I remember standing in the kitchen one afternoon, my husband was at work, the baby in the swing. And just when I didn't know how I was going to make it through the rest of the day, here's what, to me, God said: "Thank you for loving my daughter today."

My circumstances didn't change in that moment, but wow, what a big perspective shift. This little one was, and still is, God's. He dreamed my daughter up, his imagination and power and breath allowed her to be. And as trying as being a mom can be, taking care of her, walking alongside her, being entrusted by God to love her... on his behalf... is nothing short of an undeserved, amazing privilege and gift.

And so today, whether, as a parent, you feel you're in the trenches, or even if things aren't going so bad, I believe that God, to you also, would say "thank you for loving my child today."