Free Printable: Scripture Memorization Psalm 23

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      Here's a free printable for you! This is one of the methods we use to teach our children to memorize Scripture. We print out these pages with pictures to go along every few lines of the verse. Then we start by Mommy reading through the Scripture a few times and pointing at each picture. (I like to stick the pages in plastic sheets or they will get crumpled and stained very quickly in our house!) Then I ask each child to try and read it with me. Usually at first they may only get a word here or there. But we practice it once every day and overtime I am just pointing to the pictures as they do all the reading.



^-- Click on the Picture to get your free printable!! --^



     For older children who can read the words, the next step is to turn the page around so they can not see the words at all, but if your children are young and cannot read yet you can skip this last step.

     What age do I start Scripture memorization with my children? Well, it depends on the child and their language skills, some of my children had quite a lot of vocabulary and ability to express themselves by age 2, I started to work with them on it at that age, however, several of my children were closer to 3 years old before they could communicate well enough to memorize.

     There are several other resources I recommend for learning Scripture with your children. We love the Songs for Saplings CD's! This one is our favorite, but they have several other CD's as well like this and this. Each CD has Scripture songs that not only teach the scripture, but the chapter and verse as well. The songs are fun and easy to memorize and I love hearing my children march around the house singing Scripture songs, or jump into family devotions because they remember a verse that goes a long with what we are discussing.

     There are also some great printables over at Hubbard's Cubbord which we have used in the past to sing during family devotions. The printables give a popular children's song suggestion to match the tune to the verse. I find that not only my children, but my husband and myself have all learn a lot more Scripture simply by singing it!

     I hope this free printable along with the other resources help you learn Scripture with your children as well!  Here's a short video to close with. This is my second son at about age 3 reciting Psalm 23 using the same method as I described above. He didn't have it quite memorized fully yet, but he's still a joy to listen to! 

Review: Amazing Science DVD from scienceandmath.com

 

 

This is a DVD that I was able to borrow from my local library. It has 2 discs with 23 simple science experiments to teach basic scientific vocabulary and principles like density, electricity, magnetism, heat, temperature, pressure, surface tension, buoyancy, and more. Many of the experiments can be performed with items you probably already have around your house like dish soap, string, or an old soda bottle. Although, some you will need to prepare ahead for. (we can't wait to try the "Dry ice bubbles" experiment when we locate some dry ice!) Each experiment is well demonstrated and then explained after in a way that was easy for my 5 and 7 year old to understand (the 3 year old enjoyed watching, although she didn't quite understand what was going on- however the experiments we tried were still all easy enough and safe enough for her to participate in!) We were able to try three experiments so far, with plans to collect materials to try a few more!
 

Experiment #1

Color Changing Milk

(you can see this experiment's video right on scienceandmath.com's website, go check it out!)

 

They started by pouring out some whole milk onto a dish

 

 

then added a few drops of food coloring, being careful not to mix or swirl the plate at all

 

 

then, taking a Q-tip that is lightly coated with dish soap they touched the food coloring spots and watched as it quickly spread out!

 

 

When I asked my seven year old, he was able to explain that the way the fats and proteins in the milk react with the dish soap, causes the reaction. (the video linked above explains in more detail.) This experiment is really fun and easy for kids to do, and they really enjoyed watching the results!

 

 

Experiment #2

Reversing an Image with Water

 

This was another simple experiment, that was easy to do and the kids really enjoyed! All you need for the experiment is a piece of paper, a dark marker, water and a jar (we also used a book to hold the paper up easier).

 

 Draw two or three arrows on your piece of paper with your marker.

 

 

 Set up the paper and book so that you can look through the glass and see the paper (we folded ours so the arrows would be near the bottom.

 

 

 

 Fill the glass with water (make sure your paper is 2 or 3" behind the glass or this won't work)

 

 

The arrows will be pointing in the opposite direction!

 

Experiment #3

Lift an Ice Cube with String

  

This was a really fun experiment! The kids all had to try it. What you need is a jar filled with ice and water (lots of ice was important for us- but if it's colder where you are you may not need to fill the whole jar with ice like we did!) a piece of cotton string and salt.


Dip the cotton string in the water making sure it has good contact with at least one piece of ice


Sprinkle Salt on top and count to 10 and lift the string!


Mr. Over-achiever got THREE pieces of ice ;)


 

Yeah! Caught one!

My oldest son again was able to explain from the DVD lesson, that the salt melts the ice slightly, but then the water washes it away and the ice re-freezes with the string attached.

This is a great DVD to work on some simple science experiments with your children and get them excited about science! My children have watched each experiment over and over and really enjoyed learning the how and the why! If you go to scienceandmath.com they have the DVD there for purchase. They also have 7 of the experiments that you can watch for free on their site!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lego Quest II Play Challenge and a Todd Wilson Giveaway!

I found this great idea over on The Canadian Homeschooler Blog for a Lego Challenge each month! This month's challenge was "Play". Only my oldest wanted to participate and I showed him the challenge, and what a few other children had made and here's what he came up with!

He said they were playing "fight" and wanted to be sure I mentioned on the blog that these, "were like Nerf guns, not REAL guns!"

An incredible extendable arm with a "bullet" at the end 

 

 

 

Ramp for the bike to ride and jump off of

 

 

Ship with cannon on the front (and a barrel and dog to join in the fun!)

 

 

This Mini-fig. looks like he's enjoying himself!

 

Extender arm in action

 

"Nerf" cannon

Airplane

 

My son's idea for making the bullet look like it's flying

the full play scene!

 

 

As a homeschooling mom, it's very easy to become consumed with your children's education. Certainly we should be diligent in attending to their studies, but where is the line? And are we allowing our marriages to suffer? There is a great little book by Todd Wilson, "How to be a Great Wife...even though you homeschool" 

This book is a great little reminder at setting right priorities and then also maintaining them! It's written by a homeschooling husband and father of 8 and I will be giving one copy away! Just enter through the rafflecopter widget below!

(please note the copy I am giving away is an actual book- not the ebook version, and it is "gently used") Open to all U.S. residents 18+

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our elementary school art curriculum



I admit, I am probably not the best person to ask, "What is your favorite curriculum?" because although we have a 2nd grader, a kindergartener and a preschooler, we have never bought a curriculum! There have been times where I would have dearly wish we could have, and times that it certainly would have made less work for me to have it all planned out, but my husband lost his full-time job the year we started officially homeschool our oldest son, and he has been taking odd jobs and looking for full-time work since, so a curriculum has never been in the budget. Thankfully, we have lots of great homeschooling friends and my mom, who is a retired elementary school speech teacher, we've gotten lots of materials to look through and piece together! Our art curriculum is the same. We got this book from my mom (I see they have a newer version here )

 



It has lots of works of art that have been simplified for easier coloring and a small description of the artist on the side.


 

 I have an idea of using tracing paper as well on a few of the pictures, when my oldest son gets a little steadier with his pencil- fine motor is not his forte. But I wanted to go a little more in depth in talking about these artists, so when I found this book set on clearance, I scooped it up!

It has beautiful full-color glossy images of the paintings and an additional description of the artist and style of painting he/she used.

My oldest son and I sit together and discuss one artist per day look at some of the art work he has done (an internet image search can really help with this as well!)  and then together we work on coloring in the picture. We have used colored pencils, chalk, water colors, tempera paint, and pastels. We are working on blending, colors together to make new colors, talking about what sort of feelings each painting makes us feel, and what is the main subject of each painting. He has been asking everyday if we can do art together, so I think he has really been enjoying it! Hopefully, we can take a family trip to the art museum soon and he can have some more inspiration!

left: Vincent Van Gogh-"Wheat Field with Cypresses"(tempera paint), right: Vincent Van Gogh Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers (pastels)

 

If you want to do an art study with your children, these books are great resources, but your local library should also have a great collection of art books to study painting together and here are a few resources I pulled together for free online:

•  This blog has a TON of great art resources and ideas!
• This is the US government art for kids site. There is some things on there that are a little fluffy and low on content, but there are a few links that we have found interesting as useful!

Some famous artwork you can print and color for free (please look through these on your own and pick ones that suit your families personal modesty convictions- there are a few pictures mixed in that may not suit everyone)



• mostly trees and a few others
• some wonderful artwork here
• there is some beautiful pictures here, however if you don't have a high-speed connection (I don't) they have far too many videos and moving pictures on that page that will eat up your data in no time!)
• art history coloring pages this also has a brief paragraph about the artist and work of art.
• There are some interesting art nouveau coloring pages here, probably for older children or excellent artists in your family
• the art student

I'd love to here what kind of art curriculum you use/what art projects you are working on in the comments!

 

 

"Don't Color With Your Kids!"

source 

 

I don't know if this qualifies as someone giving me parenting advice. It was said to me back when I was not a mom. My "future" husband and I were just engaged, and I was working as a one-on-one aide in a preschool for a little boy with autism. My job was to shadow him through the classroom and step in as needed to help him interact with other children and use the toys appropriately (several of the non-autistic children could have used someone to do this as well, but I digress). My little one-on-one pupil was absent that day which meant that I became a regular classroom aide for the day. I went to sit with the children over at the table and began to chat with them about what they were making. We began discussing animals and fast cars, dinosaurs and castles, and I began to draw with them. The kids were all very interested in what I was doing, they watched my picture progress and all seemed to enjoy the camaraderie of coloring together. That's when the classroom teacher came over to me and pulled me aside. "Don't color with the children!" she said. "I can't color with them?" I asked. "No, we were taught in school to never color with the children, it will make them think their coloring is inferior and damage their psyche." "Okay" I said and walked away. And that conversation has still rattled around in my brain until today, when I decided to evict it out onto my blog.
 

This is really more a discussion about perspective. Could a child, if you color with him (or play a game with him, or cook dinner with him) feel badly that he can't do it as well as you? Sure, but what is the issue that really needs to be addressed here, is it that he is feeling badly, or is it that he is comparing himself to someone else and feeling like he doesn't measure up?
"Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load." -Galatians 6:4-5
I think the bigger issue is whether we remove obstacles when they are difficult or unpleasant for our children, or whether we teach them how to change their perspective and look at things in a new way.
 
"A merry heart does good like a medicine" Proverbs 17:22
 Our three year old daughter is working on that verse (we learn a lot of Scripture through song, this CD is one of our favorites!!) She is learning (and we are all getting the refresher course) that your attitude can change not only YOUR experience, but the experience of those around you as well! If you choose to look at the negative, what you can't do, what's been taken away from you, what you wish you could have, then you will be unhappy and make those around you unhappy. But if you choose to be happy, to enjoy what you have, to not compare what you have to others but instead be grateful your merry heart will make you feel better!
I do color with my children, I love coloring with my children and if, as has happened on occasion, one of my children says "Wow Mom, I wish I could color like you!" I tell them that it wasn't the work of a day, that I have practiced coloring for a long time, that perseverance has helped me learn how to be better at it. (and of course I compliment their hard work as well!) So there's my piece of advice for today, color with your children- and remember that EVERY moment is a teaching moment.