12 Days of Christmas

The meaning behind the 12 Days of Christmas Song!!  So often we put words to music to help us memorize it.  This is a very clever way to be reminded of Christ!!!  Merry Christmas everyone!!!

From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics. It has two levels of meaning: the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.
 

-The partridge in a pear tree was Jesus Christ.
-Two turtle doves were the Old and New Testaments.
-Three French hens stood for faith, hope and love.-
-The four calling birds were the four gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John.
-The five golden rings recalled the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament.
-The six geese a-laying stood for the six days of creation.
-Seven swans a-swimming represented the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit--Prophesy, Serving, Teaching, Exhortation, Contribution, Leadership, and Mercy.
-The eight maids a-milking were the eight beatitudes.
-Nine ladies dancing were the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit--Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, and Self Control.
-The ten lords a-leaping were the ten commandments.
-The eleven pipers piping stood for the eleven faithful disciples.
-The twelve drummers drumming symbolized the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed.

P.S. We will be back to regular posts in January.  It has been a busy holiday season and school will resume January 3rd!  Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

~Riki 

Trips continued....

The next field trip was to the fire station.  I wasn't able to go because I was at the Women's Retreat with the church but Chris, Mimi, Sammy, Nahna, and Bubby all went.  They had a blast!!!  Here are some of the highlights of their fun trip:  

Firewoman Nahna!!

Fireman Bubby!!

Demonstrating how they get people out of the car during accidents!

Daddy had to help control the hose.  There is a lot of force coming from it!!

Doing a great job "putting out fires".

Room with a little bit of fire is one that has built in sprinklers.  The other side has standard smoke alarms.

I'm thinking that smoke alarms aren't as safe as I originally thought!!!

A fun time was had by all!!!  =)

Taking a few "trips"

October was very busy with the Autumn Unit Study (which is done except for the lapbooks!!!!) and field trips.  Our first field trip was to the Harry and David Factory to see how the candy and Moose Munch is made.  We also saw how they package up the pears and gift boxes.  It was a great time!!  Did you know that they start making the Christmas candies in July right after Independence Day?  Or that Harry and David is actually named after the founder's sons (they eventually took over the company after their father's death in 1914) and they shipped pears all over Europe to the grand hotels and restaurants at first.  When the Great Depression happened they decided to ship their pears everywhere!  We learned so much more too.  It was a great field trip.

Nahna at Harry and David

Making Moose Munch!  Yummy!!

The Moose Munch all mixed and being dumped out!

Making Chocolate Covered Pretzels.

Cookies, pies and bars baking!!

Just a fraction of the entire factory.  This is part of the packing area!

Glitter EVERYWHERE!!!

Such a cheesy grin!!

For the last five years we have painted and glittered pumpkins for Harvest.  This was Bubby's first year to get to join in our tradition!  We don't celebrate Halloween but we love to do crafts and recipes for fall!  The pumpkins are the centerpiece on our table through the month of November and for Thanksgiving.  Here are a few pics:

Painting stems.  She lives to paint!!!

She also lives to glitter stuff!!  If she had her way EVERYTHING would be glittered!!!

I am not a huge fan of glitter but he did so well!!

Finished product!

They just HAD to make faces!!

It was a fun project to do!!  Next on our list to make is Swamp Juice....

Oy Vey!!!

This has been a very challenging day.  Within the first minute (I am not exagerating!) I had one of my children lie to me and the other directly disobey.  If I had known that it was a foreshadowing of my day, I would have gone back to bed!  It has been rough today.  I think we are going to finish up this project and then go back to bed play games or bake or something to try and turn around the day and make it positive!
On top of that, I am pretty nervous about making dinner tonight for my grandparents.  Grandma is a phenomenal cook.  I hope I do dinner justice since I have never cooked for them before!  =)  Thanks for listening to my venting.  I better get back to schooling.  AWANA is tonight and I need to make sure the kids know their verses and I am prepared in my heart to be a good leader to the Red Sparkies!  Have a wonderful Wednesday!  

Popcorn, Apple Cider, and more....

Waiting for the Stovetop Popcorn to pop

I made popcorn and ate the popcorn.  Apple Cider and apple pie are going to be made next.  I did worksheets too. ~Nahna 
I like everything. ~Bubby

Watching the Airpopped Popcorn

Waiting for the Microwaved Popcorn to finish

All three popcorns!!  Airpopped is the winner!!

Today we learned how popcorn pops, where it comes from, and the machines that are used to sort, clean and package it up.  We also watched a video about the process of making apple cider.  We had a sheet that asked us to tell about the process from start to finish based on what we had just watched.  Here is Bubby's version (in his own words): Get apples. Then them run back home.  Then them get more apples.  Then them run back home and their mom drive them back home to Daddy.  Then they get a pan then them run back home and eat all the apples and them Mommy and Daddy say "What?  Why you eat all the apples?"  Then them said "because we wanted to."  Then them eat, eat all.  Here is Nahna's version: The children get some apples.  Then they brought them to the farm.  The farmer put them in a big machine and then all the apples got squished.  They make them into juice.  A hose puts the juice in a jug.  Then they put them out to sell.  =)  Nahna's is the closest to the actual video.  Bubby's just makes me laugh.  Today was a great day of schooling!!!  We got everything done and are now on our way out for a nature walk to enjoy the beauty of God's creation. 

Keeping life in perspective....

I got this emailed to me from a friend of mine.  I LOVE it!!!

"Gratitude...
is meeting a mountain of dishes with a silent prayer of thanksgiving for the abundance of food on our table...


it's replacing the urge to be exasperated over the smeared windows (again) with a reminder that those little hand prints are growing quickly...


it's picking up my husband's dirty socks (he knows where they go) and remembering my friend who just lost her husband and would give anything to pick up his dirty socks again...


it's training my ear to hear the melody of "Mama" repeated over and over in a day--how sweet the sound if only I'll listen...


it's praising God for rain because blankets and books and snuggles are life-giving moments....


it's choosing to focus on the sweet breath of my baby in the night, and not on how little sleep I've gotten lately....

it's a reflection on the privilege of taking care of the people around me-"when you do it unto the least of these, you've done it unto Me"...


it's bringing into remembrance, each day, the grace that has been poured out on my life, and the Giver that gave all...


Gratitude is seeing what is in light of what could be and living thankfully on purpose."

 

~Riki

Merry Christmas....Almost

Two months until Christmas.  Start the freak out!!  Or not...  Most years I am ready for Christmas.  In fact I generally have my list made out in July and am completely done shopping by now.  This year...not so much!  With some very large bills looming, the realization that my kids only like their presents for about a week, and trying to shift our focus onto giving instead of receiving, Christmas is looking much different this year than in the past.  I still want to bless my children and give them gifts but I am taking my time about everything this year.  Making every penny count and continuing (it is an ongoing process!) to teach them about giving.  

Our natural inclination is greed.  It's easy.  It takes some doing to give.  It will not be effortless to teach the everlasting value of giving to our children but I am determined to do it.  The church is doing Operation Christmas Child ( http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/ ) this year and we are involved.  I totally recommend it!!!  I am hoping it is a start to opening all of our eyes about just how much we really have and take for granted EVERY day!!  When did we lose focus on the fact that Jesus is the reason for Christmas.  How about giving of our time, money, energy?  Not just at Christmas but everyday?  Thank goodness for big looming bills!!  They are causing me to look inward and change some of my actions and the actions of my family!!!  Merry almost Christmas everyone!!  Focus on the only One who truly satisfies!  He is the most blessed Gift of all!!!
~Riki

Once upon a time...

...there was a homeschooling family.  Them had a pizza to eat but them not like pizza.  They liked to read books, especially the daughter. Homeschooling is not the easiest path to take for education but it is the best option for this family.  Then the "Z" came and eat all the pizza.  Your imagination can go into books.  There are challenges but there are also so many rewards to homeschooling.  Then the "C" eat ALL the pizza and ate too many pizza and him sick and throw up.  A butterfly was in the book and then flew out. The way we homeschool is not with a curriculum but rather Unit Studies.  Then the "B" came and ate too much pizza and throwed up.  The butterfly jumped all around (in my imagination) the room.  Unit Studies can be time consuming to prepare but are totally worth it!  Then the "A" come and then him not throw up.  And then it [the butterfly] flew out the window.  We are doing this blog to help keep us accountable about Unit Studies and also to share the knowledge we have learned.  Then them all ate pizza and them not throw up.  Then the butterfly flew to Canada and lived happily ever after.  You are welcome to join us on this journey of discovery!!  It will be chaotic but it should be fun!!!
The Blue is my 3 year old's story
The Pink is my 7 year old's story
The Green is my story
If you want to laugh then read this in its entirety but if you want to get just each story than read only the matching color sentences.