Choosing a grade level for Pip was easy but with Benedict I decided to opt for the grade 3-5 rather than grade 6-8, even though he would have officially entered grade 6 this time round. I'm glad I did because even Dave and I had to think of how to help him find the answers! One of his tasks was to emulate the work of St Jerome and translate the beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) into the words a first grader could understand. I think he did an excellent job:
If you are unhappy God will help you.
When you are kind people will want to be around you.
If you are sad God will give you a hug.
If you remember to do what is right you will be happy.
If you are kind people will be kind to you.
If you think good thoughts you will be near to God.
People who stop fights will be happy.
If somebody laughs at you for loving God it doesn't matter because you will be rewarded.
After much wailing and gnashing of teeth (both him and me!) he eventually settled down to draw a picture of St Jerome, using an icon image as his guide.
Pip's Saint of the month is St Martha. We read the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead and that through the faith of Martha and Mary this miracle was performed. Pip had to complete a sentence:
"I believe God can ... make Daddy better because he is poorly. I so wish I had this girls level of faith, unless we become as little children, eh?!
We also read about having faith the size of a mustard seed (Matthew 17 v 20) and that as a result one could move a mountain, so her next task was to draw a picture of her and Jesus holding up a mountain together.
Whilst Benedict was finishing his work, we chose a selection of flash cards and using the magnetic letters Pip had make the matching word, sounding out as she worked.
It has been a mixed day but I am grateful for the progress we have made this past week. We have also begun a nightly ritual of playing board games straight after tea and it seems to be working well. It keeps the kids calm before bath time and bed and gives a much needed boost to the end of the day and is a lovely way to spend time together as a family. So often we are fire fighting with sickness, disability and home schooling that we forget to lighten up and have a little fun. So yay for gaming.
2 comments:
Would you believe I found that link but haven't really taken a good look at it yet! You are inspiring me to, though. .)
Hello San, It's so wonderful to hear about your days learning together :) We used to always play games in the evening also. We used to do so before suppertime while waiting for Greg to come home from work. It was a nice way to quiet down after the busy afternoon.
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