Tis the Season....

Fifteen minutes until our CRAZY TUESDAY begins - we leave the house.

The weather here is changing. Stacia cracked us up when she wanted to wear the cat costume under her coat instead of a hat.

From 09 December

Yesterday we played, did school, I sent out 3 PWOC related letters, one international call and several emails.....all good.

Advent Clue: "Where food is found but this is down."

From 09 December

Nolan found the gingerbread tree - which was NOT what they were supposed to be looking for. ::snort::

From 09 December

Ah - glowsticks!

From 09 December

Advent Calendar on DVD - yesterday the excerpt was on the story of the cease fire in the trenches on Christmas 1914....we've read a children's book on this before. Cool story. Here's a book: Silent Night: The Story of a Christmas Truce and a History Channel Special on the story.

Fifteen minutes are gone.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Christmas Alphabet

Here's the link to a Christmas Alphabet. I plan to have the younger ones make a "book", drawing, pasting or coloring a page for each letter of the alphabet. Things like this make it easier for me as I don't have to do quite so much thinking. LOL Rumor has it my friend, Melinda, is going to post a Christmas Alphabet and I may use her alphabet instead. LOL

Enjoy.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Sunday's Fun

Mike was sick. He stayed home. Arielle had a sore throat but was needed for a performance. She, Jared and I went in. She performed. I taught Mike's Sunday School class. We left after Sunday School, bought a thermometer and headed home.

Jared decided to run back to base - as in RUN to the base...and BACK HOME. He'll feel it tomorrow.

Meanwhile, back at home we took everyone's temp. All were fine....except mine was HIGH...which is a shock becuase my temp is always low due to my thyroid....so I'm typing this up and heading to bed. I've taken it easy today.

Advent Clue: "Think outside the schoolhouse."

From 09 December

The boys ran hither and yon in places that might be considred outside of the schoolhouse. Stacia followed.

From 09 December

Arielle learned from Mom that it's a good idea to sit and think about these clues. ::snort::

From 09 December

Then she discovered 1/2 of the gift. In the antique school desk that is outside the schoolhouse.

From 09 December

Nolan found the other half.

From 09 December

We try to do four "bigger" gifts on the four Sundays of Advent. Last week was a game, this week was DVD's. I loved how they fit in with our Advent Readings. They are Veggie Tales...one on St. Nicholas (today being St. Nick Day) and one on Abraham (who we read about this week in our devotionals).

Advent Calendar on DVD excerpt: Saint Nicholas

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Saturday Night's Clue

From 09 December

Clue: "If you are hoping it will be there, it will be."

As I thought, I realized it must be in my HOPE CHEST. Since this is where I keep Bible studies, I thought I better go supervise.....

From 09 December

Nolan found the prize UNDER the hope chest.

From 09 December

The prize was two kaleidoscopes - one assembled and one in a kit.

From 09 December

From 09 December

English subtitles allow us to work on our language skills. ::snort::

From 09 December

Advent Calendar on DVD excerpt: O. Henry's, "The Gift of the Magi" and "The Fourth Wise Man".

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Intercultural Children's Christmas Party

It's been a full day.

It's been a fun day.

We participated in an Intercultural Children's Christmas party. A local man brought 20 Japanese children to the base. The chapel provided 20 American Children (not all from the chapel, but we were the base agency who hosted it).

They played games, shared language, worked on a Sand Art "Nativity/cross" craft, ate lunch, sang a carol (in English and Japanese), had a gift exchange. At that point the Japanese children went to have their photo taken with an F - something or other plane.

The chapel middle school drama team went to the Weasel's Den to get ready. The Japanese children met us there. Our kids put on a bit of their Christmas drama. A Japanese interpreter interpreted as they went along. Then they played some more at the Weasel's Den. Great day.

From 09 December

Volunteers are given gifts by kids

From 09 December

Arielle is Joseph, Mollie is Mary....and I used this photo because no other kids' faces are showing.

From 09 December

Think about the opportunity to perform the Christmas story for a group of your peers who have most likely never heard it before. These were not Japanese children from an off base church, they were children from a language school who wanted to learn about Western Christmas. What an amazing opportunity.

I stopped at the commissary, came home and made chili and cornbread for dinner and am ready to call it a day.

Prayers for Mike and now Arielle who dont seem to be feeling 100% well.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Friday's Advent Hunt

Tonight's clue: "In the real world, this would be really cool.

I had a hard time with this one....but the kids figured cool - play room in the garage - and that led to...

From 09 December

Ah...."A Charlie Brown Christmas" in the freezer of the play kitchen. Filmed in 1965, this movie is one of the few secular movies that retains the Christmas story. I'm glad we've added it to our collection. The younger ones thrilled at Charlie and Snoopy....we'll have to see if there are other movies we can get from netflix.

We are enjoying our Jesse Tree Devotional readings from Reformed Church in America. They are SHORTER than what we've done in the past....but just the right length with the Scripture reading and then discussion. We are also using the DVD Advent Calendar this year. I'll have to review it seperately. We're only 4 days into it. Tonight's clip made me want to find a performance of Handel's Messiah to attend.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

SCIENCE FUN

We are using Apologia's Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day. Along with this we use the Learn N Folders from Live and Learn Press that correlate with our science. We really like these. This combines lapbooking with notebooking and provides an easy way for us to review our science.

Today was the first time we've pulled out the scissors and papers to work on our Learn N Folders. Here's another example of using one text for three grade levels.

Question from our Learn N Folder: What are neuromasts? How do lateral lines and neuromasts confirm creation?

Zander - 7 yo/Super 1st grade - "Only God could make this up!"

Nolan - 10 yo/4th grade - "Lateral lines go from the gills to the tail. It has a group of millions of little hairs called neromasts. The neuromasts sense movement and change the movement in the water to electrical signals for the fishes brain. Scientists can't make one. Someone smarter, bigger and in charge had to create lateral lines and neuromasts." Zander piped in with, "THAT WOULD BE GOD!"

Arielle's is much the same as Nolan's...a bit less wordy as SHE wasn't dictating. ::snort::

Question from our Learn N Folder: What is the usual way a fish produces - how is a sea horse different?

Zander - Super 1st - "Wives lay eggs that float or sink in the water. Husbands find the eggs and put sperm on them. That leaves babies in them. " Seahorses - "The mother puts them in the daddy's pouch (more like pants). The daddy takes care of them until they hatch. They explode out of his pouch, like daddy is giving birth himself. Strange."

Nolan - 4th grade - "Females lay eggs which fall or float. The male finds eggs and fertilizes with sperm. Baby fish form inside the eggs." Seahorses - Female puts eggs on male and leaves. Male takes care of eggs. They hatch and shoot out of his pouch. It's wierd."

Arielle - 7th grade - "Female fish lay eggs that either float or sink to the bottom. Then the male finds the eggs and fertilizes the eggs and the fish develope inside the eggs." Seahorses - "The female lays the eggs in a special pouch on the father and then leaves. The father takes care of the kids until they are ready, then the come out of his pouch."

Note the progression of thought and vocabulary. I found it intersting that the kids translated the whole process to kids, mommies and daddies. One text, interesting to all levels (Stacia - 4 yo - listens too) with each student interacting with the material at their level. It really IS possible to be "fair" with all multiple age levels using the same material...easier on mom and cheaper too.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...