9/27/14

31 Days of Heavenly Mothering




I am so excited about joining the, "31 Days of Writing" challenge that is hosted by Myquillin Smith of The Nester.
I read a book this year called Heaven on Earth, about Waldorf homeschooling, and there were so many lovely things about it, but the spiritual aspects of it were not necessarily from a Christian perspective. I have also read many parenting books that were written by Christians, but so many of them dealt intensely with how to get our children to behave and seemed to completely overlook the other more joyful aspects of growing up in a Christian home.

 As a young mom, I was very guided by these behavioristic books and it took having a child with a learning difficulty for me to start studying child development and realizing that children need lots of sensory input to develop healthy mental abilities. 
It is very hard for a child to get that proper development when they are kept in a playpen for hours or in blanket training. It is also hard for them to develop confidence and decision making skills if they are not allowed any decisions at all. Teaching children to obey, so they can obey God might be a good place to start, but there is a whole lot more to bringing up children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.



What should Christian mothering look like? That is the topic that I am going to explore here in the next 31 days.
Christian children can be creative and artful and sweet and well mannered at the same time, but I think we have made Christianity way too much about behavior and overlooked what a happy adventure it is. If we have overlooked it ourselves, chances are, our children aren't getting that message either.

On the other hand, for some of us in our efforts to shy away from behaviorism and legalism, we might be making life harder for our children by not teaching them some basic civility that is necessary for a family or society to function.

So join me over the next 31 days as I use three important passages of scripture to illustrate Heavenly Mothering, mothering that nurtures children to be both kind and creative, obedient and adventurous, respectful and radiant, all for the glory of our King.

Day 1-Introduction (this post)
Day 2-Heavenly Mothering is Intentional
Day 3-Heavenly Mothering is Aware
Day 4-Heavenly Mothering is Prepared
Day 5-Heavenly Mothering is Prayerful
Day 6-A Heavenly Home is Joyful (Psalm 100)
Day 7-Mutual Service
Day 8-Heavenly Mothers Sing
Day 9-Heavenly Mothers Know Their Maker
Day 10-Heavenly Mothers Don't Follow Strangers
Day 11-Thankful
Day 12-Heavenly Homes Are Full Of Praise
Day 13-Heavenly Mothers Speak Blessings
Day 14-Heavenly Mothers Are Merciful
Day 15-Heavenly Homes Are Honest


Day 16-Dependent on the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22)
Day 17-Loving
Day 18-Joyful
Day 19-Heavenly Mothers Seek Peace
Day 20 Heavenly Mothers are Patient
Day 21 The Fruit of the Spirit is Gentleness
Day 22-God is Good
Day 23-Heavenly Parents Need Faith
Day 24-Meekness is a Fruit of the Spirit
Day 25-Temperate -My son had surgery and I showed temperance by hanging with him instead of writing a blog post.

Day 26- Prepared to Parent (Ephesians 6:14-16)
Day 27- Heavenly Mothers Obey
Day 28-Heavenly Homes are Peaceful
Day 29-Heavenly Mothers are Armed and Dangerous
Day 30-Heavenly Mothers are Watchful
Day 31- Conclusion




For more posts on Family from the 31 Days of Writing series click here


9/15/14

Discovering Early Americans


We have started another wonderful year of learning and this year we are doing Early American History. We have used various curriculum in the past but this year we are staying on a budget with homeschool materials and just studying a different event in American History each month without purchasing a curriculum. We will then celebrate with a monthly project day with a few of our friends.


Although we don't have a formal curriculum this year, I own a few high school textbooks and student readers which I can use as resources for the younger children, as well as a wonderful set of timeline figures and blank maps which will be resources that I pull from.
Our first month was the study of Native Americans, and we found some interesting books to read about a few different tribes. Because the content of some of these books may be a bit dark, I will edit as needed while I read, but they were all fascinating.

Book List


If You Lived With The Hopi-Kamma

The Serpent Never Sleeps- Scott O'Dell

The Trail Of Tears- Joseph Bruchac

                                                       




We used our Picture Story form to write and illustrate a book report for each story that we read. This has been a good way to use the writing skills that we have learned through Institute for Excellence in Writing, as well as a good opportunity to evaluate the story and get writing practice.

Another fun activity was to label a United States map with geographical features as well as the territory that each tribe was living in.






The big finale was our project day. The children dressed up in costumes that I had made for some of their older siblings. We mixed up corn cakes in honor of the Pueblo people that we had been reading about and cooked them over an open fire. We used long branches that we had pruned off our apple tree to build a teepee which we covered with an old sheet.


                           

The children also made beaded jewelry, bow and arrows and ground acorns in a grinding stone. They  ate snacks from the time period such as dried cranberries, popcorn and beef jerky.
They also presented reports, my youngest students had a report on the Pueblo people complete with a rigatoni noodle pueblo village and my 11 year old son presented his Pueblo report while donning an elaborately painted mask which he had copied from a book.



                                 

Although our project day incorporated elements from many different tribes, it was a fun filled time to experience some of what the early Americans had experienced.
After we had finished up with our project day, I handed out blank books.  I purchased these in the dollar aisle at Target and we will use them as a scrapbook of our year. The children will fill in one or two pages each month with some of the information that they have learned.

                 

We are having so much fun incorporating many elements of learning into our history studies this year! Reading interesting books to my children and exploring other cultures and time periods are just a few of many wonderful aspects of homeschooling. 


This post contains affiliate links. So far, I haven't made any money from it, but it is worth a try!