I couldn't pronounce it, but I ate it!

A couple from our church invited us over for dinner.  Upon arrival we realized it was a larger group than anticipated, but what we couldn't foresee was how blessed we would be for the hours we spent with them.

We conversed with a woman from Thailand.  She answered so many of our questions about the religion, culture, and language.  She brought Thai fruit for us to try!  I had the hardest time pronouncing its name because there is no English equivalent for the sound, but it almost sounds like "nok."  It tasted like nothing I had eaten before, and yet a culmination of many sweet fruits.  You peel the skin off, and eat the inside, except for the seed (which looks like a large almond).

Another couple we met had lived in Thailand for over a dozen years and explained the challenges of sharing Christ with the Thai people.  They believe that if you do good things, good things will happen to you (karma), so why would a perfect "good" God (Jesus) take all of the bad (sin) and give us the good?   Hearing this made us more aware of the challenges and obstacles we'll be facing in our presentation of the gospel message.

Our evening was coming to a close, but moments before we left, the Thai woman put her arm around me, "When you are in Thailand, I want you to meet my family.  There is no one there to tell them about Christ and I want you to teach them."  Tears welled up in my eyes, "It would be a privilege!"

As we drove home, we reflected on the evening,  the sweet time of prayer we had together, and the brothers and sisters in Christ we just met, yet felt so connected to.  We are so thankful that God put these people in our lives and this particular time.  It was uplifting to be around such an awesome group of believers!

We are really excited to move to Chiang Mai and share the Good News!

Apologia Venus

Venus was a really fun planet to study! 

 It's a great excuse to experiment with volcanoes!  

Here's a walk through our study of this unit in Apologia's Astronomy book.

 

Baking Soda and Vinegar Volacano!

We found an experiment in this book for an underwater volcano!

 Underwater volcano: Put hot water and food coloring in a small container

 (I used an old inkwell).  Fill the large jar 3/4 full of very cold water.

 Use string to lower the small container into the larger.

 Watch what happens!

 The heat rises! 

 Oooooooooh...

Radar is used to take pictures of Venus because it's atmosphere is so thick.

  Bouncy ball radar activity: 

1.  Place the blindfold on the child and hand them the ball.

2. Spin the around then face them towards a wall.             

3. Have the child throw the ball at the wall in front of them.
4. By listening to when it bounces, they guess if they are near or far away from the wall.

5 . Repeat at various distances.  (He loved this activity!).  

Thick atmosphere:

• Craft: Use a plastic container from a vending machine or a clear globe.  Paint clouds inside.  When it dries, play the game below using your new "Venus sphere."

•  Place an object in the Venus sphere.  Ask someone to guess what's in it.  Discuss how radar would help determine the object's size (dimensions).

• Eye Spy container:  Place objects in an empty peanut-butter or baby-food jar and fill it with clear beads or clear poly-fill beads.  Give your child the list of items that are inside the jar.  (This makes a fun travel game, but be certain to secure the lid closed!)  

Drawing Comparisons:

• Earth and Venus are very similar in size, and they are both terrestrial planets, but the are very different.  Daytime on Venus is about as bright as a cloudy day on Earth and the Sun would look like a yellow-orange smear of light.  The ground on Venus is flat (due to the crushing weight of the atmosphere) with some dust, gravel, and flat broken rock.  Mountains are higher than any one Earth.  A valley is longer and deeper than the grand canyon.  The gravity is about the same, but there are always thunderstorms somewhere on the planet and lightning flashes about 25x per second!

• Language Arts: Familiar Sayings relating to Earth and Venus being twins: "Looks can be deceiving" so "don't judge a book by its cover."

• Rotating:  Venus spins the opposite direction of the Earth.  (More proof that the Big Bang theory doesn't make sense).  Activity: Spin 2 tops at the same time, but in different directions.

 

Art:

Line a shoebox with a piece of paper.  

 Dip a "top" in paint and spin it in the shoebox. 

 

 Dip a different color and spin the top the opposite direction.

Check it out- he did it!

Summarizing:

• Use Clothespins and glue a word or picture to them.  Then clip them onto a cardboard (or felt) cut out of Venus.    (Examples: hot, volcanic, thick atmosphere, sulfuric acid). 

 

• Planet Pancakes!  For Venus use strawberries as the volcanoes and chocolate chips for lava rock.  Cut the strawberry top off and a bit off the bottom to expose a hole.  fill it with whipped cream until it comes out the top.  Pour "lava"  (strawberry puree, jam, or syrup) over the surface of your planet (pancake). 

I hope you enjoy your study of Venus as much as we did!  

For more information about how God is calling our family to THAILAND to work with homeschooling missionary families, please visit our website by clicking here.

Jack-splat

The rain fell by buckets the other day so we let the kids play outside.  They grabbed their rain-boots, Callie wore her raincoat and off they went.  We were all smiles watching Callie jump in the puddle by the gutter spout.

Jack on the other hand brought a foam baseball bat with him.  He yelled, "Hey mommy- this is what the Word of God is like" and water dispersed in every direction as his bat made contact with the puddle.  A few things crossed my mind:

• he's such a boy!
• he is realizing the need for the gospel to be proclaimed to everyone, everywhere.

It's so encouraging to watch God prepare our kids to share Christ

 with the people of Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Have you thought about joining us?  We need partners to be the hands of God stretched from the USA to Thailand, through prayer and support. You can learn more about the opportunities we'll have for outreach by clicking here.

What happens when you open a window?

There's a window that few will open.  It's not in a home, but it belongs to over 4 billion people, (that's 2/3 of the world's population).  85% of  them are the poorest of the poor, and most of them have never heard the message of salvation....not even once. Who will open the window and share Christ, His story of redemption that breathes life into lost souls, cleansing hearts like wind moving through a stuffy, stale house?  Let me show you the window.

This area is called the 10-40 window.  For every $100 given to Christian ministry, 1 penny is given to this area of the world. 1 out of every 10 missionaries will serve here.  Our family desires to serve in this window of opportunity.

The Lord has called us to work with other missionaries in and around Chiang Mai, Thailand, providing educational support to their children.  Many missionary families homeschool (most out of necessity) but not all of them have the necessary resources. We will come alongside them, by partnering with Grace International School, to provide testing, training, curriculum and assistance in college preparation.  By serving in this way, 10 missionary families are able to stay on the field and continue the work God has called them to: preaching, caring for the homeless, orphans, and refugees, or learning a tribal language to translate Bibles into the people's native tongue.

99% of the people in Thailand are not Christians and many have never heard the message of Christ. What's most exciting to us is being able to share God's Word and minister to the people of Chiang Mai, and to some of the 120,000 Burmese refugees. 

Please pray for the families already serving and pray that God provides the financial resources for us to join them.  We will not be receiving a salary in Thailand, so we are praying for people (like you) to join our ministry by donating money on a monthly basis or as you are able to give. To help click here.


Do you feel the Lord impressing a need upon your heart to go to the 10-40 window?  You can find more information at The Joshua Project's website.

"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; 

 and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, 

 and to the ends of the earth.”  Acts 1:8

Apologia: Mercury

We are using Apologia's "Exploring Creation with Astronomy" for Science this year.  It's an awesome study that includes evidence of God in our Solar System.  We also use portions of the Junior Notebook from Apologia.  I hope this provides you with a few ideas and saves you some planning time:)

 
 Mercury!

 Activity shelf #1

"God Made Outer Space" (I think Nana picked this one up in the dollar section of Walmart?)

She also sent us this model of the Solar System.

I made up this little matching game (see below). 

 

 Match the number to the correct box. (Click here for the free printable version!)

The basket contains all of the cards we've studied so far (the Sun and Mercury).

(The larger cards are from Baby Einstein). Scroll down for an explanation of the 3 bowls.

The plastic container holds cut up pipe-cleaners.  Use with a magnet to make them

                  crawl up the side.  The kids LOVED this!

I suggest you use a jar that closes tightly if you don' t want this to happen!
             In case you're wondering why we played with magnets, it's because Earth and Mercury are the only 2 rocky planets that have a global magnetic field.

Sensory bowls
Mercury is: dusty (oat bran) and rocky (pebbles). 

 

 Galaxy Play-doh, (recipe found here), "Sam's Space Rescue" book,

The balls are paired together to show the size difference between

 Earth and Mercury, (but you could use a baseball and a golf-ball).

 Magic School Bus books are usually fun and informative, the cards in the holder were

from the dollar section at Target, and the holder is from Dollar Tree.
  The rest of the items are ingredients are for "Planet pancakes"  (scroll down).

 

Activity Shelf #2

 

 Easy reader book from Rocket Readers about colors (since Mercury has no 

atmosphere, the sky looks black!)  I added sparkly pom-poms

(non-magnetic) to our pipe-cleaner jar and paired it with the 

big magnet (a 15 cent find from my Thrift Store trip!)

 Use the magnet to separate items into the correct group.

 File Folder game: arrange by size.
(This came from McKay's in a big book of file folder games).

 Practice pouring "rocks from Mercury"

 Miniature Mancala game from my recent Thrift Store trip.  

This foam peg number set was 50 cent, also from a thrift store! 

I replaced the mini-rocks for flat marbles (from Dollar Tree).  Callie practiced sorting by color.

We called the pegs "asteroids."

(You could put a piece of plexiglass over the holes to explain how Earth is different:

God made our planet with an atmosphere to protect us from asteroids and to color the sky!)

Hammer time!

DIY: You can make your own version.  Click here!

I came up with this cooking activity as a review of Mercury:

Planet Pancakes!  You could make these for any of the planets, but here's what we did for Mercury:

• Dusty: pancake mix
• Cold (at night): Almond milk (or whatever liquid your recipe calls for).
• Hot (during the day): A hot cast iron skillet (or pan)
• Rocky: Chocolate rocks, (or chocolate chips, walnuts, or pecans).
• Asteroids: Blueberries (plopped in, to make craters)

Talk through each of the ingredients and compare them to Mercury. 

•  Add liquid to the pancake mix, then the "rocks" (and any other ingredients your recipe calls for.)

• Pour the pancake onto the hot skillet.

• Toss blueberries onto the pancake.

• Cook both sides and serve with Maple Syrup.

   (We poured the syrup around the pancake in an oval shape to remind us it's extreme elliptical orbit.)

 Our $1 sit-and-spin came in helpful to teach revolving and rotating.
The "rotate" sign says "revolve" on the other side and the child can demonstrate each.
(By using the sit and spin they are revolving around the pink handle).

The seat is an oval shape- a reminder of Mercury's extreme "elliptical orbit."

These are "Tegu Blocks"  they are awesome....but expensive.

 (We picked up this huge set on ebay for less than the retail price of the 8 piece set.)

Tegu blocks are magnetic so they stick to each other and this vintage tray my brother gave me.

 Use promo code B182S2133 by November 3rd to receive 20% OFF anything  at Tegu.com 
(Thanks "Surviving on a Teacher's Salary" for sharing the promo code!)

To learn more about our missionary work with homeschooling families in Thailand, please click here.

 My Apologia textbook is older, so I used a video to show the most recent space voyage.
 Video of the Messenger.

Freebie:  Use my printable pages to review facts and characteristics about Mercury.

What found me at the Thrift Store

        I dropped the bags off in the car and walked to Chuck E Cheese to meet up with Ken and the kids.  I tried to open the door, but it was locked.  I pulled the exit door and it too was locked.  Their hours were posted and they should have been open!  People were inside, but no one looked my way.  God was at work, but I didn't know it yet...

Tonight we ventured out to America's Thrift Store in Hixson.  We hadn't been there in a long time and we needed a couple things....and with Chuck E Cheese right next door we thought the kids could take their tokens and play a few games. 

 Callie found this V-tech computer.  When I asked her, "What is it?"  She announced, "Pink!"  To my surprise it had batteries and worked (and only $2.48). Ken's shopping was quick, as usual, so he took the kids to play while I continued to shop. 

•  a large magnet (.15 cents)
• A leaf shaped basket (.25 cents) perfect for our Autumn activities in school.
• A play-doh set- brand new!  ($1.49)
• Don't Spill the Beans (.49 cents) It even has all the pieces!
• I don't know what you call the little box with the pins that leaves a relief, but it was .15 cents.
• Vintage Fisher price Calculator/Grocery list. Cute imaginative play ahead!  (.15 cents)
• Travel Size Mancala- brand new!  It has cute little rocks as pieces and MADE IN THAILAND:)  (.39 cents)
• Play iron.  (.15 cents).

So, all of this for about $6.  Not bad!  I usually leave smiling, thinking about how I'll wash and sanitize everything as soon I get home, and start planning how I'll use the school supplies, or when I'll give the little toys and activities to the kids, but tonight was different.

I dropped the bags off in the car and walked to Chuck E Cheese to meet up with Ken and the kids.  I tried to open the door, but it was locked.  I pulled the exit door and it too was locked.  Their hours were posted and they should have been open!  People were inside, but no one looked my way.  God was at work, but I didn't know it yet.

A man walked up to me, "Can you help me?"  

 I asked him what he needed.  His response: 

"I'm drunk, and I just need an open door."

My mind starting running through the list, what shelters are around here, who can I call to get a phone number of a place to help him... I was also aware of the locked door in front of me.  As I talked to this man, someone walked out of Chuck E. Cheese.  I held the door, but instead of walking in, I continued talking.  I know that sounds irresponsible, or unsafe, but I truly feel this was the Lord's leading. ( I did tell him that my husband was waiting inside for me.)

I told him that I was a Christian and he quickly met it with "I am too- praise God."  I confronted him, "If you are, why aren't you serving the Lord with your life?"  He told me that he was in college and that he loved people.  I said, "Look at your life- you are a slave to sin.  You are drunk and you do drugs (he told me that too).  Why are you a Christian?  Why will God let you into heaven?"  ( That sounds harsh, but I really said it in love and concern).  He said, "I don't deserve heaven or anything good, there's nothing good about me."

What an opportunity!  I told him that I didn't deserve anything good, that I- just like him was a sinner.  The Lord directed the conversation as this man talked about how he really loved his mother, I shared how God's love was deeper, about God the Father sending His Son for us!  I told him to look at his life, to see how he was in bondage to sin.  He held out his arms to show me they were covered in tattoos and he began crying, "I AM in bondage, it's written all over me."  I remember seeing a skull, but I don't remember anything else.  I wasn't scared.  I just looked into his face and told him about the apostle Paul and how he spent his life, until God changed him.

This man told me his name was Ben and that he had done terrible things too.  By this time he was smoking...and crying....and then thanking me.  I offered to call him a cab, but he said he lived in an apartment within walking distance. I encouraged him to read the Bible, starting with the book of John and then Romans. I told him to read it on the internet if he didn't have a Bible.  He agreed.  We talked a bit more, and he asked to shake my hand.  He apologized for bothering me, and I smiled.  "You were God's answer to my prayer.  I asked him to give me someone to talk to about Christ, and he sent you here.  I used to be so afraid to share my faith, but if it's the best thing in my life, why wouldn't I share it?  I'm so glad God brought you here and that I got to talk to you."  He thanked me again, and as he walked away he said, "Romans and John, right?"

I walked into Chuck E. Cheese and told Ken all that had happened.  He was excited too.  The whole car ride home, in-between our conversations, I kept thinking how good God is, how gracious He is and how He's changing my life....I'll leave you with this:

Today during lunch I was telling the kids about compassion (our character trait for the next week or so) and I told them we'd be learning about the Good Samaritan.  We also read the parable of the seeds (to go along with our study of fruit).  Jack and I talked for a long time about planting seeds by sharing the Word of God.  Several hours later, I met Ben, and had the opportunity to live out what I'd been teaching.

 I'm just humbled by it all....The Word of God is active and living and powerful!  I'm also reminded that the only good in me is God living and working through me. 

Apples!

I grew up in Michigan and every fall we helped my dad pick apples from the little orchard of 9 trees in the front yard while my mom made applesauce or apple crisp. Now, with children of my own, for at least 1 week in September, we study apples and celebrate our incredible Creator, God!  This year was extra special because my parents were here for a few days of our apple unit!     

To learn about our homeschooling ministry

 in Thailand, click here

Bible story topics: God made fruit trees on Day 3 (Genesis 1:11-13)
                                The fruit of the Spirit (Galations 5:22)
                                 Adam and Eve and the "fruit" (Genesis 3)
                                 Bearing Fruit (John 15:5)
                                 Parable of the Seeds (Luke 8:1-15)
                                 Do a Bible word search for "apple" here.
                                        (Notice the phrase "Apple of my/your/his eye" used 4x).

            I hope you'll find the pictures and links helpful and time-saving as you study apples!
                              


Here's our activity shelf  #1.  The top shelf is for Jack, the middle is for him too, but safe for Callie to play with.  The bottom shelf is for Callie.

"Apples" book (a $1 garage sale find) covers the life cycle of apples, nutrition, origins, as well as historical
 characters like Johnny Appleseed.  The craft supplies on the right are paint,paint brushes and toilet paper tubes to
stamp and paint an apple picture like the one hanging in the background.

Parts of an Apple Chart,   A-P-P-L-E song cards,  apple book printable, sequencing cards from Kidsssoup, play doh apple molds, and a fantastic book called "Fruit" with picture overlays (bought for $1 at a garage sale!) Click here for more cute apple cards!  Or click here to make apple pie scented play-doh.  

  Book: "God Make Apples", "Apple Picking" from Kidssoup, play doh to make apples for each circle.  Pre-writing worksheet: tracing a line through the fruits (you could use stickers and draw a light colored line to trace).

Callie making play-doh apples as soon as she woke up.

Jack dissecting an apple to locate all of the parts: Core, Stem, Skin, Flesh, Seeds, Seed Covering

Apple Stamping!  She loved this!

Use a bent toilet paper tube dipped in paint to stamp the shape of an apple.

Activity Shelf #2

Preschool shelf: Sorting different colored cut-out apples and pom-pom apples.

Life Cycle of an Apple: the green apple is a pouch that I knit and inside it are 3-part cards.  The file folder is a math puzzle match up and the"Pattern Cards" on the right use the apples in the bowl to continue the pattern. (I think these were from Kidssoup too, but here's a freebie).

Activity shelf #3

We learned a lot with the Fruit section of our "Apologia Botany" book. Pumpkins and squash are really fruits!  We used this sticker garden set from Oriental Trading  to place the real vegetables together.  Jack designate a garden section for just the fruits.  The cards on the right were a free printable but I can't find the link.

Easy Reader book: "Apple Picking"  and "God Made the World" purchased at McKay's for .25 cents.  The worksheet hanging up is a printable found here that uses coordinates and coloring to make an apple (but don't tell the student it's an apple- let .  The apple cards have a number and since Jack is older I had him write the word in the apple (last year he drew the correct number of seeds instead). 

Activity Shelf #4

Sorting fruits with Hi-Ho Cherry-O. (A Christmas present from Aunt Katie!)  Cutting out "fruits of the spirit"  worksheet from kid's Wednesday night class.  Here is a similar printable coloring sheet.

"Adam and Eve" puzzle from the company Melissa and Doug (but I got it 90% off from at a store closing sale). This bi-lingual book came in the mail from the "Imagination Library."  Sign up here for this wonderful (and free) program.  The apple stick is a craft stick with a circle on it.  We painted this with glitter glue last year and use it to point to words in the books.

Sorting 3 colors of apples, and using fine motor skills to place the worms in the apple.  I got this game on clearance at TJ Maxx for $1.  We don't use it as the game suggests; Callie places the worms in the holes which is a great way to build the muscles of the"pincher grasp."

Activity shelf #5

This is a free printable.  Each person gets a tree card and draws an apple.  If it belongs on your tree you get to keep it.  The first person to get 10 apples is the winner.  The extra paper is for the child or parent to write their own numbers.

This is an old puzzle!  It has the months and the days around the sun (which I also used with our Apologia study of the sun).  The card to the left has trivia questions about apples.  I added the blocks because the red, yellow, and green reminded me off apples or apple slices (bought for $3 at Marshall's).  The card on the bottom left is an apple life cycle bracelet using a pipe cleaner  and beads to make a visual display of how and apple grows (and have the child talk their way through it).

The little pieces of fruit from Hi Ho Cherry-O fit into the apple game.
I used a little wooden spool as a stamper (I thought it looked like an apple core) to stamp the apple worksheet (that came as a set from Oriental Trading on clearance but is now discontinued.)  They go with the dilly-dot markers- similar to do-a-dot markers).

The kids doing their math together.  He's writing 1-100 and she's stamping up to 100 times:)

Activity Shelf #6

My mom gave me this nutmeg grater with whole nutmegs. We grated some fresh nutmeg for a pie. The Parable book on the right came from Dollar Tree.

Thanks Nana for the book "The Apple Pie that Papa Baked."
Thank you Susie for the little vintage cook-top stove.
Callie had a lot of fun baking and smelling nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves.
We also compared the 2 types of apples and filled in the chart using our 5 senses.

Here's little sis ladling apples for applesauce.
 (The girl loves pink.....even if it doesn't match:)

The game on the left is a picture BINGO game ($2 on clearance at TJ Maxx). It's a double-sided game with picture on one side and words on the other- perfect for a 2 year old and 6 year old!
Another dilly-dot worksheet from the set I mentioned above.
The "Squiggly Worms"apple game again: this time we sorted the worms by color.

Here she is sorting the worms.  Click here for more free APPLE printables.
I found an adorable sensory bin and other great ideas here.
More apple and Math printables.

Activity Shelf #7

Learning about Washington (the largest apple growing state in the USA).
Experiment: observing an apple "brown."
Singing along with the book "America the Beautiful."

Fruits of the Spirit: scrambled word find (from an activity book).
Word Bingo (as seen above with Callie).  Apple seed transferring with tongs.
Apples in a barrel (for the fractions poster activity).  Check out this apple barrel math printable.

Cutting fruit (a Christmas gift from Nana and Papa last year)
Transferring "apples" (colored plastic marbles).

This poster was also on clearance at Oriental Trading.  It's used with  dry erase markers and we attached the apples with sticky putty.
This book "Apple Fractions" looks really cute!

Counting cantelope seeds.
Be sure to check out THIS free sample of the Botany book from Apologia!

Sharing "fruit" during our Bible study on scattering seeds and bearing fruit.

Counting by two's with your feet.

Every time you land you add 2 more.

It was easier to see for him to skip count to 100 by seeing these numbers.

Odd and Even game (scroll up for the link to print this).

Introducing her to numbers- these are Sandpaper numbers.

Transferring marble apples was easy.

Transferring apple seeds was harder...

So she picked up the bowl and poured the seeds into the other- hahaha!

Picture Bingo for her.

Activity Shelf #8

Learning more about Washington state, counting "seeds" by two's,
comparing seeds, and reading a parable of the sower and the seeds.

Here's an close-up of the seed comparisons. The seeds of 1 cantelope vs. the seeds of 1 apple.

This is an apple bag that holds 1/2 peck of apples.  I filled it with all of our apple books that we've read so far.  Callie's fruit cutting set was used as fraction practice for Jack.
The book is "Apple Cider Days" (.25 cents at McKay's).  "What's Wrong" with the picture, worksheet.

Remember this game from my previous post?  We called this game:
"Don't Spill the SEEDS."  On the right: transferring pom-pom apples with tongs.

Such a cute math activity.  Jack decided to tape on the seeds.
(Scroll up for the link to this one.)

Practicing counting by 2's as he divided the "seeds" to play the game.

To learn about our homeschooling 
ministry in Thailand,
 click here.