Christmas Events

We got to do some new things that we thoroughly enjoyed. Matt had a total of 17 days off from work (Dec. 24 - Jan. 12) and it was quality family time, at home.
*Christmas in the Park - SBC Outreach (serving popcorn; Micah learned how to use the machine); *SBC Winterfest - we took Micah's friend Kevin M.; *Santa fly-in at Deer Valley airport; *SBC Christmas Eve service; *Christmas Eve and morning in our home, in our pajamas!; *An evening drive looking at Christmas lights; *Day trip to Flagstaff for sledding; *Matt joined us on a trip to the Barton Home; *New Year's Eve hosting soup & games (until 8pm); *Afternoon at CrackerJax; and lots of playing and organizing (new things in - old things out).

Merry Christmas!!

We're home!! The last time we had Christmas at home Lilly was a newborn and we hosted all 4 grandparents (2007). It's a little blurry to me, haha! We recently had visits from all the grandparents and so here we are ... not traveling and Matt home for over 2 weeks.
We did it!! We completed our Jesse Tree for the very first time. It was wonderful!! A great celebrating and learning experience.

Jesse Advent Tree

This month our heart focus and school focus are parallel with one another. This is a great year for putting huge efforts into our Jesse Advent Tree. Lilly is old enough to sit with us, get the ornaments out, and hear the message through our daily devotions. Micah is old enough to take it to a deeper level, if he asks to. This is only our second year to stay home for Christmas (the last time was 2007, when Lilly was a newborn), so we are actually going to complete our Jesse Tree this year. How exciting!!!

Our verses: The Christmas Story in Luke 2, those from the Jesse Tree, Isaiah 9:6, and emphasizing the one and only purpose of Jesus' birth. To save us!! To be our Savior!! What a perfect time to reflect on what God's purpose is for our lives. He has one!

Grandma & Grandpa Rich's visit

We decided not to have official school time during Grandma & Grandpa Rich's visit. But, it was a learning experience in time for relationships, playing games, and special outings. We had some Christmas festivities to celebrate with them including our church's Christmas Concert and the Phoenix Zoo ZooLights. We spent one full day at the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium.

And more patterns

Can a person have too much fun learning? We made gingerbread houses from scratch and decorated with leftover candy (Halloween and before).

More patterns

As a science project we colored pasta noodles overnight and made necklaces the next day. Our necklaces, obviously, were patterned. Lilly enjoyed this one with us. We then used those same patterns to integrate our verse: Romans 12:2 "Do not conform yourselves to the patterns of the world, but let God transform you inwardly by a complete change of your mind. Then you will be able to know the will of God - what is good and is pleasing to him and is perfect." (Synonyms for patterns: standards, habits, routines)

Worldly Patterns - orange = lying; purple = stealing; blue = selfishness; green = love of money.

Godly Patterns - orange = praise God; purple = read Bible; blue = pray; green = love others.
(Anyone from the Beth Moore Esther study might say we could do some ciastic structuring here.)

Christmas patterns

For math this week we're learning about patterns. Micah took the camera around the house in search of patterns, we made patterns with the blocks, and made some pattern paper chains for the Christmas tree.

Stockings - AB AB pattern

Letters

Micah frequently requests being able to send a letter or drawing to a friend or relative. Great teachable moments. Maybe you've been the receipient of one.

An officially published book

We sent out Micah's Illlustory Book this week! Whooo hoo. It's entitled: A Butterfly's Trip to the Moon.

Harvest Study

Prior to Thanksgiving we had some time to study Harvest. We gathered some books from the library. We did some apple art. But, best of all we were able to observe crops from our very own garden. We had tomatoes, peas, and pumpkins growing. Yummy!

At the same time our church was hosting the Missions Festival and we were able to meet many of the missionaries that we support and pray for. We heard about and talked about the type of Harvest God looks forward to and the work these missionaries do to help plant the seeds.

Our verses: Matthew 12:33-35; Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23 Parable of the Sower; Matthew 13: 24-30 Parable of the Weeds.

Being a "Supporter" and "Encourager"

Micah was extremely enthusiastic to support three of his favorite people.
First, his friend Ross. Micah attended Ross' soccer game on Friday November 6, 2009. Go Ross!

Second, his Dad. Micah made posters and encouraged his dad during his Tour De New River bike event on November 7, 2009. Matt rode over 70 miles that day.

Third, his friend Ryan. Micah attended Ryan's swim-a-thon, Saturday November 21, 2009 and financially supported the swim team. Ryan swam 100 laps that morning.

Thanksgiving Feast

It was a beautiful day at Cactus Park celebrating Thanksgiving with our Eastside Explorer friends. Micah made an apple, marshmallow turkey; we had yearbook pictures taken; we ate; and everyone played! What a terrific co-op. Thank you friends for a great first semester together.

God's Kidz Performance - Micah

On the last day of Bible Study, 11/17/09 the God's Kidz perform songs for the Moms. What a beautiful sight and sound to see and hear some of the things Micah is learning in his Tuesday class. His favorite thing this semester - acting out the events of Biblical history. His favorite characters to be - Abraham (when he was sacrificing Isaac) and Boaz.
We'll be starting again in February.

Nana & Papa Joe's Visit

We didn't officially sit down and do "school" time during Nana & Papa Joe's visit. But I wouldn't say Micah didn't learn anything. They played lots of games, had some valuable relationship time, and there were lots of field trips.

*Trips to parks; *Phx Zoo - opening day for the Komoto Dragon; *Out of Africa; *Preparing for Dad's and Lilly's birthdays; *An Eastside Explorer field trip to Fry's Marketplace

"Maybe one day I'll be an author."

After storyboarding his Illustory book, hanging up the draft pages and illustrations, Micah said "Maybe one day I'll be an author." He really does enjoy creating books (writing and illustrating). He does a lot of them while I'm putting Lilly down for nap. This one we're going through the full process and sending it out to be published in hard book form. What a sense of accomplishment when he holds that in his hand.

Milestone Celebration

What better way to celebrate our 50th "recorded" day of school than with a bowl full of candy! Micah dumped the Halloween candy on the table and began sorting, counting, graphing, ...

Coins from around the world

Last night at Home Fellowship, Jim T. shared some of his coins that he's collected from around the world. He and Micah sat at the kitchen table with a world map and placed coins "around the world". Jim told Micah where they were from, they found it's location, and Micah learned how much each coin was worth. One coin was worth the amount of 2 American pennies.

Micah's Marketing Question

While enjoying fruit snacks in the back seat one day, Micah was being quite aware of the details contained in the snack bag. "Mom, do all the bags have the same amount of fruit snacks?" (He now has a little sister also getting snacks who is aware of how he might be sharing ... or not sharing.) "Mom, do all the bags have the same colors/shapes?" "Mom, why did I get 2 blue ones and Lilly didn't have any in hers?"

So, we bought a box of fruit snacks - Turtles. We read the box '10 bags per box. Weight of each bag .09 oz. Total weight in box .9 oz.' That is significant information when we get done collecting our data. I printed out blank graphs and Micah wrote the color names (alphabetically) for the x-axis and put numbers for the y-axis. We had 10 graphs (1 per bag). I opened each bag independently and he counted each color and graphed it. Then they collected in a container. Once all the snacks were collected, then Micah sorted them by color, counted them, and graphed that total number. While counting (even though he could easily count them), I had him use the base-ten blocks, 1 per snack, and then make trades for rods (group of 10) to confirm his answers.
Results: bags contained 8, 9, or 10 fruit snacks per bag. Majority were 9. Some snacks were larger than other, thus allowing for a difference in total count per bag - since the weights were the same. There were hardly any red snacks in the box and LOTS of green ones.
How would that data compare to another box???? Hmmm, interesting!!

Lilly's participation, putting like colors of crayons on the piles of snacks. Of course, she also enjoyed eating some ... once our counting was done.

Micah's Market "Grand Re-Opening"

Micah's Market now takes cash!! Please note the sign ... it took lots of time and energy. It is completely all Micah's work. Micah brainstormed categories for his market, wrote the words for handwriting, cut and pasted them in alphabetical order, copied them onto the posterboard (after measuring equal amounts for the number of items being listed), gave each item a cost (choosing between 1-10 cents), and then stamped how that amount could be paid (using pennies, nickels, and/or a dime). Then it was time to PLAY!!! Our wallet (for the customer) contains paper coins and the cash register also (for the store clerk).
It's sooooo fun!! (I think I mentioned before that playing store and restaurant are on the top of my list of fun things to do.) Come on over and shop (limit 5 items right now).

The Price is Right!

We have been looking for a reasonably priced SpiderMan costume, that fits, for about two years. This week Matt dropped Micah and I off at a costume outlet store while he and Lilly went to REI. We found a few SpiderMan costumes and Micah was trying them on. The first two were similar except for the eyes on the mask, but differed in price - $25. and $30. Micah said "so what's our price range?" I said "well, I think $25. is still too much to pay for a costume, even though I know you'll play dress-up in this one throughout the year." He said "well, I like this one better ($30.), but this one is less money ($25.)." He was really thinking this through. Then, we saw it, ... another SpiderMan costume. It wasn't quite as 'puffy' (making the muscles stand out) but otherwise it was just the same. It was the right size and ... it was $15. I said "Micah, I'm willing to pay $15. for a costume that you'll use a lot. Want to try this one on?" We were both so giddy with excitement! He got it on and we started on our way to the mirror in the opposite corner of the store. On the way over there he says to me (mask completely over his face) "Mom, I know you can't see me but I'm smiling really big under here." I cracked up and thought to myself 'that's worth the money right there'. Obviously we got the costume. He put it on just outside the store and we walked to REI to show daddy and Lilly. He's hardly taken it off since. :)

Spelling Bee - Eastside Explorers

Eastside hosted their annual spelling bee on Monday night (10/26/09). Since it was our off week for Home Fellowship we went to support and observe. Micah's crazy about words, but wasn't sure about participating this year, so we opted to see what it was all about. There were two sections: k-2 and 3-8. It was interesting and well-done.

Schepf Farms with Eastside Explorers

Eastside Explorers put together a field trip to a favorite fall spot - Schepf Farms. Matt took Friday off and we went down as a family to join a lot of other families. It was soooo much fun!! We got settled in as a group and then ran free, running into other friends and family throughout the farm. We'd do a ride with one family and then a show with another. At noon a majority of us ate lunch together at the ramada. Several of Micah's friends were there and he met a few more. After lunch there were no lines to the rides and there was a wonderful breeze. Fabulous day! Micah's favorite ride was the go-cart ... individual one. He rode it over, and over, and over again. Lilly's favorite ride was the bumble bee. She rode it over, and over, and over.

To view more Schnepf Farm pictures go to: http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8AatWrFi5ctW3m

There are no "COINcidences"

I continue to run that thought through my head when things like this happen ...

I'm printing out directions for our field trip tomorrow (Schepf Farms!). An email from Focus on the Family is in my inbox. That's not uncommon, but the subject line read: God's Perspective on Money. Do you love it?! I do. Here's a cap:

While the Bible points out that money can be a snare for some people, wealth can be a good thing when it's used to help others and advance God's Kingdom. One of the ways God is using the current worldwide financial challenge for good is that many are recognizing the benefits of having a simpler life and not becoming overly focused on earthly, material possessions. As Hebrews 13:5 (NIV) says: "Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." For helpful resources, encouraging articles and biblical guidelines for wise financial stewardship, visit our Money and Finances page at http://focusonthefamily.com/

What a perfect verse to go along with our study too. That should be the one we memorize. We've read the Good Samaritan (the robbers stole the money; the good samaritan gave money to take care of the man); The old woman who gave her two copper coins; how Jesus was 'bought out' by Judas; etc.

Late Night Learning

One, of many, blessings to teaching Micah at home this year is that we're able to continue some of our favorite night-time family activities, outreaches and Home Fellowships. Monday night we went down to Neighborhood Ministries to serve the kids dinner. This time BOTH kids worked! Micah counted out paper products to put in the bags for each classroom, Lilly helped hold the bags open while we put the items in. Our family, Matt, myself, Micah & Lilly served the meal in the kindergarten/1st grade classroom. While the kids were eating Micah & Lilly sat down with them, joined in conversations and then later did the Bible lesson and craft activity. What a beautiful sight!

Our collection - Money Words

Here are "MONEY WORDS" we've collected. I'll continue to add them to this entry. Keep them coming!!

Bucks, Dinero, Greenbacks, Green, Coin, C-Note, Benjamin's, Moola, Bacon, ace, bean, bone, scratch, dough, spondulicks, G's, buckeroo, loot, proceeds, currency, lucre, filthy lucre, hard cash, pocket money, pin money, wampum, bill, note, draft, check, bread, cabbage, jack, lettuce, green stuff, long green, gelt ...

Donations Accepted

No we're not asking for money. We're asking for "money words". We're going to be brainstorming different ways to say "money". You know ... 'cash', 'currency', 'moola', and so on.
Send us your list to: jodierich1@cox.net, subject: Money Words
Thanks for participating.

Money, Money, Money

It's our last National Symbol - Motto: In God We Trust. It's on our nation's currency and so we'll have a brief introduction to money. I don't want to do too much until we've done more with counting by 2's, 5's, and 10's. But, this was a great segue to become familiar with the coins, read about the familiar faces (more biographies: George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, ...) and familiar places (Capital, Lincoln Memorial, etc.) that we find on our currency. We'll make some connections with place value and using our base ten blocks. We'll compare the coins and their worth (greater than, less than). And so on.
The best part ... we'll get to put some basic prices on our items in "MICAH'S MARKET" (located in the playroom). Micah's Market will no longer be accepting credit cards - just kidding.

Song Choices - Money

Our tunes this time aren't quite the familiar "America the Beautiful" and "Star-Spangled Banner", but don't be too quick to mute. I thought about money and the emphasis our society places on it and being successful persons. I encourage you to listen to the words as you visit our site.

Things Like You by Sanctus Real

Don't be offended with the words 'loving things like you has wrecked my life'. It's talking about "things" not "people". In this song the idea of 'loving things' has gotten old and they're looking for 'a better way to live my life'.
Things Like You (a few lyrics)

Everyone wants everyone else's everything

Sometimes the more we have the less we really gain

I'm tired of loving all that money has to buy

Get out of my heart, out of my mind, I'm leaving you behind

TobyMac, one of our favorite song artists has this song, J Train, which emphasizes the fact that all the money in the world won't buy anyone a ticket to Heaven.

J Train (a few lyrics)

Sit back, relax put on your travelin' gear

No need to doubt so put aside your fear

"Destination" out of this atmosphere

It's the J train baby, we depart from right here

No lines to fight no ticket to price

I'm rollin' first class 'cause I've seen the light

Try as you may but your money can't buy

A ticket on the J Line to the other side

USA unit - resources

Personal resources:

Matt had some pictures of when he visited New York and Washington, D.C.

Our neighbor, Max, has been serving in the Army since he graduated from high school. We were able to get a deep-down and personal definition of FREEDOM from someone young and serving, and also from his mom. Here is Max's definition:
Freedom is knowing that you have to live up to the high standards of our Founding Fathers and those who have laid down their lives defending either this nation or our ideals, many times without thanks from those people that were being defended. Many parts of freedom allow us to help others which is a great thing, while other parts of freedom require us to do so. My bottom line on freedom and most other things is taking responsibility for what we do ... good or bad, and realizing that people who came before us had it much harder than we do and wanted all of us to be better off than they were. We need to live up to those expectations and do the same for future generations.

Books: (Many easy readers, simple sentences and good descriptions)

I Pledge Allegiance; The Liberty Bell - Let's See series; The Declaration of Independence; The National Anthem - Our Nation's Pride series; Spotlight on the United States of America; The Statue of Liberty - True Books series; A is for America; George Washington - First Biographies series; a few other non-fiction books and biographies; some fictitious books - Arthur Meets the President; Arthur in New York; My Senator and Me;
Special - America The Musical (book and CD of music); America the Beautiful audio CD sung by Kyiv Symphony Orchestra and Chorus - we host these guys in our home when they tour the USA.

Websites:

www.statesymbolsusa.org/National_Symbols/National-Symbols.html
http://bensguide.gpo.gov/index.html

No test necessary

Watching Micah use, talk about, tell someone else about, ... is such an exciting confirmation that he's absorbing information, making connections, and learning. Some of my favorite moments are when I come out of Lilly's room, from putting her down for a nap (and maybe resting a while myself - an hour or so ...) and he's been diligently working on a book, drawing, etc. all about what we're studying. In addition to that, if he had some handwriting or math to work on for his independent work, it's done. Here are some pictures of a book he made about our Nations Symbols.
My greatest joy after this unit was sitting at the dinner table and teasing him that he wasn't having his "red, white & blue" dessert until he said the Pledge of Allegiance by himself. HE DID. Then he also said his scripture - "Galatians 5:1 FREEDOM is what we have ..." He could have asked for seconds and thirds!!!

Oh, here's that dessert. Looks yummy huh? :)