Star Chronicles: A Bible-Based Study of the Stars - Review

Star Chronicles: A Bible-Based Study of the Stars by Dawnita Fogleman

Psalm 8:3-4

When I consider they heavens, the work of they fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou has ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

We have spent the past few weeks reviewing this new book. One of the interesting things included in the introduction of this books is "What this book is NOT". There the author is very clear that this is not about zodiac, astrology or horoscopes. I love that she is upfront about what the book is not about. The book is about the constellations and the scriptures.

This book introduces the constellation then tells about some of the stars, giving their name and the meaning along with scripture verses. For example, Virgo holds a sheaf of grain which could be the symbol of her seed.

I read the information about the constellation while the children colored the picture. There are note-booking pages included for each constellation and I did have Bob write something for those.

When we began this book, Bob wasn't too sure about it. I am not sure what he was thinking it was and what he was expecting. It did get better. We had some discussions maybe not as deep as I would like. I have to say that I learned quite a bit. This book took the mystery out of the constellations and gave me an understanding based on the Bible.

The book includes coloring pages, notebooking pages, and suggestions for scrapbooking and drawing the constellations. We just used the coloring pages and the notebooking pages.

We read about one of the constellations each week. It was easy to just fit into to what we did together. This would be perfect to add to an astronomy study or even a creation study. There are numerous ideas of activities and crafts while studying the constellations. This is a great resource for studying the stars.

This book can be purchased in PDF directly from Fogelman Forerunner.

The discount is good until 4/20/14.

CreateSpace ($25): https://www.createspace.com/4730823

PDF ($12): http://foglemanforerunner.com/star-chronicles

Beth

Living through Transitions - When the end is in sight.

The end is in sight. After more than a year of transitions, we are seeing the end to our transition. As we view the end it is interesting how things change. The emotions are excited but sad. We are moving on but sad to leave.

It is different when the end is in sight. The stress begins to increase as there are physical things to be done -- packing, cleaning, and last minute shopping. The emotions play into how we are feeling as we have to say good-bye, we are leaving things. There is also a spiritual element as we are preparing to serve in a new place.

We need extra patience at this time. For me it seems that as the stress increases the patience decreases. While that might be the natural tendency but I need to depend more on the Lord to give me the patience.

We have lots of little things to do but at the same time we are also trying to place some fun good-byes. We went to Yogurtland for the last time. We still want a trip to Krispy Kreme. We are using up our gift certificates. I have asked the kids what they would like to do so that we attempt to have some good-bye time here.

Just as we have gotten through this time of transition by resting in the fact that God has called us that is what continues to carry us through the last challenges. The last year has been a journey of faith and now we are beginning to have sight.

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 

Hebrews 11:1

So we pack our suitcases, say our good-byes and begin a new journey of faith as we move. It is exciting to be at this point.


Beth

Piano Lessons and Special Needs

Miss K began piano lessons about a year ago. She wants to be like her older brother and since he was taking piano lessons she wanted to do that. The piano teacher was willing to give her a short lesson and so we began.

When she began playing her fingers did not move independently. Getting one finger to play a note and then another was tough. She has short stubby fingers and that makes it hard as well.


The first songs that she learned to play were Hot Cross Buns and Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater. Then she moved to some other pieces, The Pony Tune, Four Furry Kittens, Jingle Bells, and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Those pieces were learned by listening, playing and signing along. She does know when she hits the wrong note. Now she is beginning to work on songs from a book and has learned Firefly.

She is not yet reading music but that will come but that will come. She sings along as she plays to know what to play.

Learning to play the piano has been very good for her in so many ways. I see how her fine motor has improved as well as independent finger motion. I believe that learning to play an instrument helps the brain. We are thankful that we found a teacher here that was willing to work with her.


Beth

Week in Review - April 3, 2014

I had fun on April Fools' Day. I had planned and had lots of fun food to serve the kids.

What did we do this week? That is always a good question for the end of the week. In some ways it was school as usual but then it was also a week of flex.

We are working on our Ancient Greece and Greek Myths pockets. We are enjoying this as it gives a bit of hands on activities.

We ended up having meetings later in the week in the morning. My preference is afternoon meetings but that doesn't always happen so we flex.

On Friday we met a supporter for breakfast at The Original Pancake House. Miss K ordered chocolate chip pancakes and thought of Grandma. Grandma makes pancakes often when we are visiting. Kids eat free on weekdays.

Friday evening we went to a concert by Heavenly Melody from Taiwan. We were glad to see Doris again. It was about 8 years ago that we saw her last.

We are slowly packing. Some slower than others.  Our passports are at the consulate waiting for the visa.

That wraps up our week here.

Beth

April Fools' Day

Let the wise hear and increase in learning,

and the one who understands obtain guidance,

Proverbs 1:5

I had planned and was ready for today. I decide this is one time when I can try to put some fun in our day. I am the type that usually is all business and so I do need to plan so we have fun.

I was ready for breakfast with some fruit punch juice. Juice is a special treat at our house. I even bought straws for the juice.

It was just Jello in a glass. I don't think I fooled Bob. Miss K enjoyed the treat.

For lunch we had broccoli soup with grilled cheese sandwiches. Bob has recently decided that he does like grilled cheese sandwiches.

I had them all prepped and ready to grill when they came down for lunch. I told them when they finished their soup, I had some sandwiches.

He said it looked a bit like a grilled cheese sandwich but it didn't smell like one.

Doesn't that look like cheese just melted and oozing out of the sandwich.

It was just icing in the between pound cake.

We did talk a bit about the wise vs. the fool. The importance of who you are with, how to discern, and be wise.

Hear instruction and be wise,

and do not neglect it.

Proverbs 8:33

We were going out for dinner with friends and the kids where home with the kid sitter. Bob had asked if I was doing anything for dinner. I told him we were going out. I still have a few things up my sleeve.

I made soup. Okay, it really didn't look like soup but they enjoyed the pudding.

Then there was a cake. It was even a layer cake with a fluffy icing. Just a layered meatloaf cake with mashed potato icing.

It was a fun day and we did have a good discussion about what the Bible says about being wise.

My kids didn't pull any pranks and this was the only thing that we did.

Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be still wiser;

teach a righteous man, and he will increase in learning.

10  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,

and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.

Proverbs 9:8-9

Beth

Nature Books

I was wandering in the thrift store the other month and found some natures books on the shelf. I love when I find a collection of books at one time. You also can't beat the 69 cents per book.

These are part of a set of nature books written by Margaret Waring Buck. She was born in New York in 1905 and was an illustrator and naturalist. Some of the books she wrote were In Ponds and Streams, In Yards and Gardens, In Woods and Fields, Where they Go in Winter, Along the Seashore, Animals through the Year and a few others. These books where published in the early to mid-1950s.

The books are illustrated in black and white and while I love the color books that we find there is something simple about these illustrations. These are perfect for nature artwork.

I have a dream of having a nature shelf or table and these books would be perfect for this. They have a vintage look that I love as well.

Have you found some fun books at a thrift store or maybe a new author there?

Beth

Week in Review - March 28, 2014

We finished Mystery of History this week. Yeah!! I wrote a bit about Volume I last year and should do the same for Volume II.

Since we finished that I wanted to add something to our together morning time. There is just too much of the school year remaining to drop history. I am still wondering how it is the end of March already. Didn't we just begin January? We do school year round but do other things in the summer. I decided to spend some time in ancient Greece and Greek Myths. I will share a bit more about that later.

We are continuing with Star Chronicles. I am enjoying it and really learning some new things. Just another occasion of learning along with your children either it was taught in school and I forgot it or it was a gap in my education.

We finished North Africa this week. We tried to play a set/matching game but decided Bingo is so much easier. Next week we begin Europe in geography.

The kids enjoyed playing Jenga. I am impressed with their Jenga skills they built the tower up to 26 or maybe it was 28. Bob has done a great job teaching Miss K how to play. I figure it is a good fine motor skill for her.

We are continuing to use Horizons with Miss K. Horizon's uses a number line but instead we do pull out our Math-U-See blocks and use those. I was busy doing something this morning and Miss K did the first part of her math book on her own. Yeah!! Way to go.

We review math facts, counting by 5's, 10's or 2's and telling time on a regular basis. I do think the extra focus is helping. She needed a bit of time away from the blocks because she was fighting when I got them out. I have her copy a set of facts and then I drill her on those facts allowing her to look at the answer. This is part of errorless learning.

I wanted to take more photos this week and so I had the camera on the table. I didn't take as many but Miss K wanted to take some. Here is Focus. At least the photo is in focus.

You know you are a homeschooling mom when you have two big bags full of books that you checked out from the library.

This week I read the book The Firekeeper's Son. I had seen it on a list of geography books. It is just a short picture book but such a great story. It is set in Korea and there were a series of fires that were a system of communication. The Firekeeper's son has a decision to make to light the fire or . . . You will have to read the book and find out. It had an excellent character teaching

The other book we read was Boxes for Katje. The setting is Holland after WWII. Katje receives a package from America and this begins a relationship with boxes going to Holland and then Katje sends a box to America. This is based on a true story. I will say that by the time I finished reading, I had to wipe the tears away.

We have had a wet week and I think there is more rain in the forecast for the weekend. I have been sorting things and beginning to pack in faith that we will have our visa soon.


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Beth