Flipping Through and Laughing Out Loud

My lovely boss Ginger (with Digital Sermon Transcription, if you're interested) frequently Facebooks links to Jonathan Acuff's blog, and I have laughed out loud so many times reading it because he knows! Take, for instance, his latest "Stuff Christians Like" post: Saying Goodbye to Vacation Bible School. We've all been there. Yep, it's fun while it lasts, but seriously, could you do that every night of your life? (This year the week of VBS turned out to be my first week of work filling in for Matt here at IWU-Kokomo's front desk, so I missed all the "fun," but I certainly remember how utterly drained and exhausted I was at the end of those two hours!)

Anyway, I requested Acuff's Stuff Christians Like from Interlibrary Loan, and I picked it up today on the way to work. Flipping through it and reading only the headings made me laugh out loud and cause the laughing-tears start to slide down my face! If you've grown up in any kind of church culture at all (and I do mean any, clear across religious spectrum), you will find your church (you?) in a few of these! It's fun to laugh at yourself a bit, I think.

Here are some of my favorite headings under the banner Stuff Christians Like:

:: Trying not to complain around missionaries

:: The sound-guy neck crane

:: Pressing on your eyes during prayer

:: Saying "You're in my thoughts and prayers."

:: Name-dropping God to get out of a speeding ticket

:: Refusing to tithe until you have the proper amount of cheerfulness in your heart

:: Telling testimonies that are exciting right up until the moment you became a Christian

:: Losing the will to clap during songs

:: Finding typos in the worship music

:: Making sure everyone knows your fiance isn't living with you

:: Telling other people maybe God gave them the gift of singleness

:: Fake laughing at unfunny jokes out of Christian love

:: Judging people who use the Table of Contents in their Bible

:: Coming to church sick

...and my all-time favorite:

:: Dominating the "Please turn to..." Bible race during church

MFW Adventures, Week 2

Right up front: I couldn't find my camera this week. I knew that I had uploaded pics while sitting in my chair last Saturday. I pulled that chair out at least 5 times, tipped it, felt down in it. No luck. Turned every other nook and cranny inside out looking for that thing. Glen was leaving for DC on Friday--and wanted the camera, of course. So we started tearing apart our room one last time looking for the camera. I asked him to go look under the chair again...and Voila!

While I was (am!) very happy to have my camera back, I was (am!) very bummed about all pictures I missed.

(Quick note: MFW Adventures is our core curriculum and does not include math, phonics, spelling, or language. This blog post and others like it will mainly be about MFW.)

Bible: This week we started studying the names of Christ, starting with Jesus, which means The Lord Saves. We used Carli's Discoverer's Bible for Young Readers to read the story of the angel's instructions to Joseph concerning Jesus' name, as well as read some prophecies in the Old Testament concerning Jesus. We started our Jesus' names poster as well.

Math: Ok, I know I just did a disclaimer above, but I did want to say that we started using our Usborne Math Wrap-Ups this week, and they are a hit! It's fun to do something different than flashcards everyday.

History/Geography: Christopher Columbus dominated our week in the history lessons. We enjoyed reading about him in The Story of the US. Carli placed his picture on our timeline, narrated about the lesson and then did a short copywork based on the lesson as well. We also sailed the Santa Maria, Nina, and Pinta across the Atlantic Ocean, blowing to help them cross. The boats were made from aluminum foil and a pencil to hold the mast, decorated with the red crosses that various illustrations show. This activity tied in nicely with our science for the week.

We started a new read-aloud book for history American Pioneers and Patriots and I agree with every other MFW blogger out there that this book was a huge hit in our household. Carli keeps asking me to read ahead.

Carli and Olivia both remind me everyday to listen to the "Pledge of Allegiance" and "God Bless America" which we're learning in history time now.

Book Basket: Our book basket included books about Christopher Columbus. Our favorite read this week was I, Columbus, which includes Columbus' journal entries as he led his men across the Atlantic.

Science: We began the Usborne book Science with Air. We learned that air is everywhere within the earth's atmosphere, that it does not have a shape, but fills any available space. We performed one simple experiment which showed that even an "empty" bottle has air in it, as evidenced by the air being pushed out when dunked in the water. (This simple experiment we documented using a page from http://www.notebookingpages.com/). We also had fun moving the air during a paper race.

Art: This week we enjoyed looking at art in Children: A First Book of Art. We talked about different styles (not really in-depth) and then Carli chose one picture she especially liked and told me a story about it.

Nature Walk: What a beautiful week for a nature walk! We enjoyed two days of doing all of our school work outside. I think mommy benefited from the extra sunshine as much as the girls did. Maddy had fun crawling off the blanket and around the yard.

On Wednesday, one of our outside days, the girls were outside eating lunch while Maddy and I worked with her developmental therapist. Suddenly Carli and Olivia came crashing into the room saying they had seen a raccoon. Sure enough, a small raccoon was in storm drain right at the edge of our driveway, vigorously clutching a grape in his paw. (Evidently the girls had a "bad grape" and were donating it to the drain.)

Yes, I'm getting to our nature "walk." On Friday, we had school in the park, spread out on a blanket in the shade. We read and played lots, studied a little (Friday's our generally our light days), and drew in our nature journals. Carli decided to draw a plant, a pine cone, and a feather she found while Olivia and I drew raccoons. Since I am NOT an artist, I cheated and used a tutorial from http://www.dragoart.com/. I can't believe that I actually drew something resembling a raccoon because my brother Jordan inherited every ounce of creative ability from Daddy, leaving me nothing to work with. Yes, I'm bitter. :)

Reading: Ok, so this isn't MFW either, but in reading, Carli finished The Fire Cat and started The Big Balloon Race. As a family we are reading aloud Matthew, The Strawberry Girl (Lois Lenski), and Where the Sidewalk Ends (Shel Silverstein). I wish I could tell you how happy it makes this book-lovin' mama to have my kids begging to have "Birdie" (Strawberry Girl) or "The poem book" (Where the Sidewalk Ends) read aloud to them. Many times I heard, "Just one more, Mommy!" when I would finish one poem or one chapter. The kids have been asking for their favorites of the poems. Right now the reigning favorites are "I Must Remember," "Captain Hook" and "Homemade Boat."

So I leave you this time with "I Must Remember."

I must remember

Turkey on Thanksgiving

Pudding on Christmas

Eggs on Easter

Chicken on Sunday

Fish on Friday

Leftovers, Monday.

But, ah, me--I'm such a dunce.

I went and ate them all at once.

Yep, I've done that!

Coming tomorrow: Awesome news on the Madeline Kate front!

Nature's Miracles GIVEAWAY

Living Sola Gratia is hosting a giveaway for the Nature's Miracles book series, which includes the following titles, great for read-alouds or science readers:

Once there was a Tadpole
Once there was a Seed
Once there was a Raindrop
Once there was a Caterpillar

Also here is a link for the TOS (The Old Schoolhouse) Crew Blog Walk (week 2) at Living Sola Gratia.