Egyptian Profiles

Our THAGS (Three Honored and Great Subjects- Word, Form, and Song) this week are all centered in Ancient Egypt. The Word requirement of our THAGS has been met by reading selections from Roger Lancelyn Green's Tales of Ancient Egypt aloud to the kids. Song has been filled with Google images of ancient Egyptian musical instruments (it gets better from here, I promise), and for our Form studies, we read about ancient Egyptian art and made Egyptian profile portraits.  

We had a lot of fun with these projects. To create each child's profile, I just took a photo of each kid in front of a white wall, then erased the background, upped the contrast and changed the resulting silhouette to a pale orangey color (which didn't photograph great with my phone). After gluing the silhouette to black paper, the kiddos made elaborate headdresses based on our study of Egyptian art. They used oil pastels which stands out fairly well on the black paper, though, again, it's hard to tell with these pics.  

As you can tell, the older the child, the more historically accurate the headdress. Our 3-year old ended up drawing broccoli and monster trucks on his. ;) Even though the older children probably got more out of this project, the little ones enjoyed it a lot. In fact, I was kind of jealous that I didn't think of making myself one.  I think it's pretty whole-family friendly. It could also be made more complex for older children. I've seen other versions of Egyptian faces projects that use gold tempera or acrylic paint and more sharpies, collage materials, etc. When we do this again, we'll take more time to design and execute our artwork. But, for our first THAGS art appreciation/ form project, I call it a success!   

Welcome to the Schola: A tour of our Homeschool schoolroom!

We are formally starting school tomorrow morning, so I thought I'd share some pictures of our homeschool space before it get's completely wrecked with real life goings-on.

When we decided to homeschool again after being at our great little Classical school for two years, I realized that I was going to have to use our space differently.  Before, when we homeschooled, we had our books and materials integrated with our library downstairs in our house.  We schooled at the dining room table and had a map on one wall and a chalkboard painted onto the wall on another.

I hated it.

I am not, unfortunately, an organized person, so having the constant clutter of school in our main living area was energy-sapping, to say the least. What I've realized is that I NEED visual peace, and the means to achieve visual peace fairly quickly, in order to maintain some level of personal sanity. Having our homeschool stuff all over the place doesn't do it for me.

Enter our upstairs spare room.

This room, for many reasons (three doorways, two large windows, very small walls) doesn't work as a bedroom.  We decided to shop IKEA for Billy bookcases and the Norden gateleg table.  We also got white stackable stools from IKEA. The chairs are actually Henriksdal, also from IKEA, though I found them at Goodwill through a blessed set of circumstances (they were only $30 for both!).

As one walks into the room, this is the wall to the right.  The bulletin boards are for the two youngest kids to highlight their work, at their level.  Above the bulletin boards is our THAGS board.  This is our way of incorporating the Three Honored and Great Subjects (Word, Form, and Song) weekly. (The THAGS reference is from The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson and you really should check it out.) Above the THAGS board is our Zach Franzen portrait of Reepicheep.

This is the corner opposite the THAGS corner.  Here are our featured books (right now they are all Shakespeare).  Above that is a round mirror I got at a thrift store.  I watercolored a portrait of a little fox and tucked it inside it.  I think it reminds us not to take things too, too seriously.  We have a Zach Franzen Abe Lincoln pic above that.  The picture ledges are IKEA.

This is our gallery wall, minus our Schola McStewium sign, which is still in process.  The frames are all from IKEA.  I attached a little command hook and binder clips to four of them - one for each child to highlight the work of his/ her choice.  On the floor is our little mouse house.

Our little mouse family lives there.

Their bunny friend visits frequently. 

And on our final wall is our Art Wire and world map.  This door leads to our steep back staircase and the old servant's quarters (which is actually just a little room our kids call "the put-away room" because we store toys in there.) It's latched most of the time. The bug specimen print was inspired by an embroidered specimen wall hanging at Land of Nod.  That was waaaaay too expensive for us, so I watercolored one instead.  The Art Wire will, eventually, feature our weekly art projects, I hope.

And, I expect that this is how it will usually look, with more stuff on the floor, of course. Partial nudity optional, but almost certainly guaranteed. :)

Kinda the point

I got this note from my daughter this weekend. My first instinct when I saw it was to feel rather terrible that she had occasion to write me a note like this. I don't want to be Hurting Mom. I feel sad that I am. I wanted to throw it away and get rid of any written evidence of parental failure. 

But then the Spirit impressed upon me what a gift I hold here. This represents what I've always hoped our family would be- a safe place to fail. A place to find hope and healing. 

I always thought that process would look prettier than it does. I hoped it would involve gathering the children to my knee, gently smiling wisdom into their expectantly upturned faces. In reality, um...no. I'm a mess. The gathering-to-the-knee happens, but not very often. And I'm not sure the kids will remember that scenario at all. 

However, the sort of thing represented by this note- I think they'll remember. There's hurt. But then, by His love, God works in my brokenness (and theirs) to bring us to the process of repentance and forgiveness. He grow us in Grace. Amazing. It's pure Gift. 

I think I'm going to save this note forever as a witness to what we're doing here. We hurt. We forgive. We repent. We love. 

And sometimes we write it down.

The absolute best Scripture songs in the world!

No. I'm not exaggerating.

Let me tell you why I love it.

For the past couple of months, we have been listening to the amazing Slugs & Bugs Sing the Bible cd at home and in the car. The music is simply wonderful-great musicians, clever instrumentation, singable melodies...Randall Goodgame has a lovely voice and plays a winsome character on his kids' cds.  My children love, love, love it.

My favorite thing about this cd is that it has prompted incredible discussions about who the disciples thought Jesus was (from "You are the Christ"), how we serve other people (from "Two Shirts" "Love" and "Love One Another"), and how God knows us (from "What is the Book" and "Romans 8"). We've talked about how we think about Jesus and what he did and does and can do for us.  We've discussed idolatry, freedom from sin, responsibility for the poor, identity in Christ, etc.

And the music is appealing for all ages.  I don't turn it off in the car when I'm the only one in there. Even the three and five year old have memorized the books of the Bible and big passages of scripture and all of the kids know more about Levitical food laws than I ever imagined (you'll understand that if you have the cd).

I simply cannot recommend it highly enough.

Get it here from The Rabbit Room and definitely consider buy extra for friends and family.  Once you hear it, you will want to pass it on.  It really is amazing.

The importance of worship through play

I love watching my children play. They have such incredible imaginations.  I love to see how they create entire worlds out of the position of an object or entire plotlines from the posture of a toy. I love to hear them create dialogue and action.  I love their narrations and the intricate backstories they create for their characters.

I think most parents find delight in observing their children's play.  But I've been surprised to discover that many parents do not consider introducing Biblical subjects to their children as a possible basis for play. I've observed that children have a unique ability to enter the Biblical stories at a level of understanding that eludes many adults. Because God has given them extraordinary imaginative powers, they are able to inhabit characters with their whole selves.  This means that they are also positioned to learn from these characters in an extraordinarily real way. I'd suggest that more than being a good idea, Play is essential to a child's understanding of and love for the Bible.

And in our family, the only way Biblical play happens is for my husband and I to commit to creating time and providing the tools for it to happen.

The time

We have found that Biblical play happens best when we make it a part of our daily lives. This is one reason we love celebrating the church year together through family worship. Our family has found worship to be an important part of creating a home environment of praise and growth in the Lord.  We observe the church seasons because ordering our lives according to the story of Jesus birth, baptism, ministry, death, resurrection and ascension, as well as the ministry of the Holy Spirit through the church reminds us that God is present and active in our world. We are Protestants, and fairly low-church Protestants now, at that. But liturgical traditions have shaped and formed us and blessed us, too, so many of our activities reflect that background. 

If an example of how this works would be helpful, you can read more about how we celebrated a specific day in the church year, Ash Wednesday, here.

The tools

The Montessori educational theories on deliberate play and the internalization of play by children have informed my own thoughts on this.  The book, Godly Play by Jerome Berryman (see his YouTube resources here) may be a good introduction, though I definitely do not endorse all of Berryman's theological positions.

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones is essential to our family's worship experiences, though we also enjoy Egermeier's Bible Storybook which has short, well-written versions of the stories-of-the-faith. 

Peg people created with woodburning tools and watercolors

Our first method of playing-the-stories is to act it out ourselves.  Blankets, sheets, cords for belts, and various props have created some wonderful scenes here.  My children still remember the year we acted out Mary and Joseph's visit to the temple and their encounter with Anna and Simeon when the children were ages 5, 3, and 1. They rode on a Daddy-donkey and the youngest child was Mary and Joseph's faithful dog. It made a big impression!

As the kids have gotten older, we use peg people. Most recently I created some with woodburning tools and watercolors. Wood pegs are generally available at craft stores or can be bought in bulk at Similar sets are available on etsy. (Or we make a limited number of sets- contact me to see if any are available for purchase.) 

The most important thing to provide, in my estimation, is encouragement and the space to play without judgment. We have our worship-play items

Zaccheus climbs a tree to see Jesus

set out on a small table under the stairs in the foyer of our house.  It is a relatively private space, so they get moved when more than one sibling enters the fray. I invite the kids to act out a story as part of re-centering when the environment gets tense or as part of their devotional exercises at the beginning of the day or anytime they are looking for something to do. And then I step back and let them discover whatever it is that God has for them in those moments.

For our family, worship through play has been a wonderful experience of meeting God in a new and different way. But I'd love to hear from you.

Have you incorporated play into your family worship? If so, what are your favorite resources? What has God shown you and your family through play? If not, what is holding you back?

Ash Wednesday

We managed to observe Ash Wednesday here even though we had sickness in the family and the parents were exhausted from sleep deprivation.
First we read the story of Jesus' temptation in the wilderness in The Jesus Storybook Bible and Egermeier's Bible Story Book while the children acted it out with our peg people.

Then we read Psalm 51 and took turns imposing the ashes on each other.

And we sang, "I have decided to follow Jesus." 

 It was a simple, meaningful celebration- a perfect start to Lent, despite the odds.

Does your family celebrate Ash Wednesday in any special way?

Celebrating Lent as a family: visual reminders

Worship Space

For us, celebrating Lent is as much about creating visual signals to pause and worship as anything else.You may wish to create your own space for contemplation or observation.  A purple cloth on a table, a chair with a Bible and a journal… these things communicate that there is something different about this time, something special.  You may want to decorate differently than you do the rest of the year.  Adding pictures or books in a special basket for little ones to enjoy incorporates them into the space.  This space doesn’t have to be complicated.  Rocks, wood, a nail, a small cross…things that children can touch and hold makes a difference in their understanding of the Jesus story!

Lenten wreath or spiral

Just as an Advent wreath helps to count the days or weeks to Christmas in a very visible, tactile, sense-engaging way, so do candles in some form help to create anticipation during Lent.  A weekly countdown should include 6 candles.  A daily countdown would need 40 (if Sundays are not included).  A Lenten cross can be made from wood, or can simply be a poster board cross, onto which candles in votive holders are set. Simple wreaths are also available at many Christian bookstores or online (try Catholic bookstores).  An Advent to Lent spiral is an especially beautiful way to remember the days.

Repentance box

A repentance box is a very visible reminder of God’s pardon for us.  Mistakes, errors and sins are written on slips of paper and put in the box.  On Good Friday, the pieces of paper can be nailed to the cross.  Or, another option is to write the word “FORGIVEN” on each slip of paper and throw them away or burn the pieces.  Or, a parent may wish to empty the box so it can be presented on Easter morning.

"Dust" bowl

A bowl with flour in it is a tactile way to remember that “we are dust, and to dust we shall return." Playing in the dust is a great way to redirect an older child (or adult) by asking them to draw something representing their sins in the dust and then erase it. We have used the flour bowl in our "quiet chair" area and in the past have made it available to the younger kids only with supervision. If the thought of setting a bowl of flour out for the kids to turn into a massive mess gives you the heebie-jeebies, forget this idea. But if you are a little enthralled, another great take on this can be found at this link.

Forced blooms
A beautiful way to recognize new life is to cut some branches from a flowering bush such as forsythia or a cherry tree, place in water and allow the branches to open in time.  These, inevitably, will open before Easter.  If you want to control the bloom, you may wish to use barren branches and then replace them with flowering branches at Easter.

Jesus Tree
Similar to a Jesse Tree at Advent, a Jesus tree is a lovely way to contemplate Jesus’ way to the cross by using scripture and art to tell the story.  You can make your own versions, but an excellent free (and gorgeous) version is available at Holy Experience from Ann Voskamp

Do you have any ideas for visual reminders that can help a family worship during Lent?