Feast of Trumpets 2009, Starting School Again, and Cooking Pancakes

We started back on the books Wednesday, the 16th of September on the Roman calendar. I have a very simple schedule for the remainder of Jaden's first grade year, and it's been working well. On Sundays and Fridays he does a lesson in Explode the Code (for a total of two lessons a week), Mondays and Wednesdays he does a lesson in Spelling (usually 4 pages), a few pages in Lang. Arts (4-8 pages), a few pages in Math (4-7), and a lesson in animal science out of the God's Design for Life series. On Tuesdays, he does a lesson out of Spelling and a lesson out of Lang. Arts, and we go grocery shopping on this day. On Thursdays we do Spelling, Lang. Arts, and Prepare and Pray. Then, of course, every day I read to him a chapter out of Proverbs and then usually a chapter or two from where ever we are in reading through the bible (still in Jeremiah, and we're going through it s-l-o-w-l-y).

Oh, whatever day he wants to do some art, he does that in his free time. We'll go back to history and music next year. I have his math and language arts lessons pre-set with paper clips throughout the Complete Curriculum book. It's making it very easy and organized for me. When he's nearly finished (I have it set to last around 6 -7 weeks), I will pre-organize his writing lessons. He'll be using the skills he's learned from reading, spelling, and language arts in order to be successful with that section (this was my choice, as I just didn't think he would be ready for that section until the others were completed). Then, during the last week or week and a half of this year he'll be doing testing from the book. He will be finished with the math section within six weeks, probably, so I bought him another workbook for math. It's a first grade math book by Miquon.

He's doing very well in spelling. He breezes through his lessons. Most of the language arts has been easy for him. With some of the things, he struggles a little at first and then quickly figures it out. Some of the stuff in math he struggles with, but he says every time before we begin math that he likes math. He's been doing addition and subtraction, including doing fact families, and he's done place values. He caught on to the place value stuff very quickly. We're still working through some of those lessons, and then we'll be starting on money.

We observed the first fall feast--the Feast of Trumpets--last sabbath. This is the second year we got the boys gifts, but I have a better plan now. I made them each a Feast of Trumpets reward folder. Both Nathan and I wrote short notes to each of the boys, hole-punched them, and put them in their folders. At the bottom of the notes, we also listed the reward(s) they received this year. We will be keeping these folders for them and updating them every year by adding an additional page with our notes each year. The notes are to detail what they did well the previous year, what we've appreciated, and what we've noticed that they've overcome, what behavior traits are good and what extra help we've appreciated. The reward(s) can be taken away if they fall away from having good behavior and slack off helping the way they should or being disrespectful or irresponsible, not taking care of their responsibilities. Of course, for now, this applies more to Jaden, since he has more responsibilities than Trusten.

I made trumpet-shaped cookies again for the feast. This was my second year in doing so. The cookie cutter is too big, though, so the shape gets messed up when transferring the cookies to the cookie sheet to bake. This year I made roll-out peanut butter cookies. At least they tasted good. We had a beef brisket as the center of our main feast meal. We had that Friday evening and then leftovers the next day for lunch.

I went over the feast lesson with the boys by first detailing a brief summary of all the feasts, as I do each high holy day, and the steps of salvation which they symbolize: Passover being that we need a perfect sacrifice for our past sins, Unleavened Bread that we must repent and remove sin from our lives, Pentecost that we must receive the begettal of the Spirit of God in order to help us live righteous lives according to God's Law, Feast of Trumpets that there will be seven trumpet plagues before the return of Christ and that at the seventh trumpet the saints will be raised and changed as Spirit sons of God, Day of Atonement that Satan will be locked away during the 1,000 year reign of the Firstborn Son of God and all the other sons of God (the saints in the first resurrection) so that human beings who have lived through the tribulation and their posterity will live under the Kingdom of God rather than the kingdom of Satan and that people will become "at one" with God, the Feast of Tabernacles that life here on this physical planet in these physical bodies is temporary and that the Sons of God "tabernacle" temporarily with human kind until the plan of salvation is finished, and the 8th Day that all who have ever lived and were not called to the Truth (whether because of death during childhood or spending one's life in a heathen culture, never hearing about the true Creator God and His Law and plan of salvation) will be raised to physical life once again and be shown the truths of the scriptures and be given their judgment period to choose life or death, and then all who have rejected God's way will be thrown into the lake of fire, and God will come down with the new spiritual earth and dwell with his Sons.

I then focused more specifically on the Feast of Trumpets, reading several scripture selections dealing with the feast and with what it means in the future fulfillment at Christ's return. Jaden understands it all more and more every time we go over this. I always ask plenty of questions as we go along. I explained that at Christ's return he will be bringing rewards (gifts) from our Father to the saints who earned them.

Jaden blew the shofar Friday evening. He's been blowing it on the weekly sabbaths and new moons for the last few weeks. He does extremely well for a six year old! He likes to do it. Then the next day, he asked whether I would get him and Trusten some balloons (I rarely let them play with balloons), so I blew up a balloon for each of them and wrote "Feast of Trumpets" on each of them. They played with their balloons after breakfast, and then after lunch they blew the little party noise blowers that I'd saved back from last year's feast. Then, we did the lesson, and we read their notes and let them open their rewards.

Jaden got a jump rope and two computer games (a racing game, as he has wanted a race car game for some time now, and an educational spelling game), and Trusten got a wooden helicopter with a wooden peg man inside (the latter of which I took away until he gets older, as it's a choking hazard). Trusten loves vehicles of all sorts and really likes flying machines (they both do, and they get that from me). He has frequently played with Jaden's little wooden helicopter (something Jaden has never played much with), and so I decided to get a bigger one for his very own. He loves it! And Jaden loves his race car game, which he gets to play after his school, other responsibilities (feeding cats, making his and Trusten's beds, and vacuuming the living room), and after outside time (I sure don't want him addicted to a computer game with no outside play!).

One day this week Jaden wanted pancakes (he loves pancakes), and he's been wanting to help me in the kitchen, so I let him make the pancakes. He even read off the ingredients the best he could, and with very little assistance from me, he put everything together, mixed them up, and cooked them. He did a great job! And it was a nice change to be able to sit down and eat pancakes while he cooked, instead of them sitting eating their pancakes while I still cooked! Yay!!! ;-) What a treat (and he thought he was the one getting the treat by my letting him cook).

The boys and I all got stung by yellow jacket wasps yesterday. I got stung on the front porch, and then a few minutes later the boys came screaming (and Trusten crying) from across the yard. I think they must have been by the nest. I have not yet gone out there to investigate. I had to take their shirts off, b/c they had yellow jackets crawling on them. Jaden got stung twice. Trusten got stung four times. So then last night we all read some things on the computer about stinging insects and learned about the Schmidt Pain Index. Very interesting stuff. And the creature that was second from the top looked like an insect I saw after I'd gone back outside a while after being stung. It was on the deck railing, and I was staring at it, wondering what it was and whether it could sting (it was obviously a wasp-type creature). Anyway, the creature I'm talking about is a Tarantula hawk. I investigated further to see whether they exist in Missouri, and they sure do. Well, if that's indeed what it was, I sure do not want to be stung by one of those. They are supposed to be worse than red wasps (which I've been stung by once, and my whole hand swelled enormously and stayed that way for days).

Well, I guess that sums up our learning adventures for the past week. I couldn't possibly ever fit in everything.

"How to Make" Videos and Plant Project Update

As far as the bible goes, we're still in Jeremiah! :-)

Jaden is reading a Rocket Readers book to me nearly every day when the boys and I have our reading time together. He is doing so well. :-)

As far as the plant/leaf project goes, we've added gaura, partridge pea (toxic, good for nothing but beauty, I guess), goldenrod, pokeweed, and I can't remember what else since the last time I updated. We together gather the leaves off trees and shrubs, or we pick flowers with the leaves. I look up the info and record it, and Jaden scans the plant parts, pastes index cards to the card stock, and cuts and pastes the scanned pictures. Trusten just sticks around and observes everything. ;-)

Jaden is always bombarding me with questions, and there's no way I could ever record all of it and remember to post it here, nor would I have time. Lately, he has asked a lot about different bodily functions. Human anatomy and physiology happens to be among of my favorite subjects, so I can explain fairly well w/o consulting anything. He's asked so much lately, though, that I've almost considered going through the science book on the human body before the one on animals, but I've decided to stick to my plan, which is to start on animals when we go back to the books next week; and then he'll start the human body next, once he starts the second grade.

Last week sometime, he asked about fiberglass insulation (or was it cotton candy?). It was about one of those things, and then I compared it to the other. Anyway, I told him I'd try to find some videos on both. I finally got around to that today. He watched two different videos on how to make cotton candy, and I couldn't find one on the making of fiberglass insulation, though we did find a video talking briefly about how fiberglass is made, which didn't really say anything beyond what I'd already said. He decided to also watch videos on:

How to Make Bubble Gum (This we'd all already watched a year or so ago.)

How to Make Potato Chips

How Chocolate is Made

How Crayons are Made (I remember very well watching this on Sesame Street as a child.)

And

How Balloons are Made

But, the real reason I finally got around to videos on cotton candy and insulation is because today he asked me about the days getting shorter and seasons. I reminded him it was because of the earth's tilt and revolution around the sun. I told him it would help to see a video demonstration of it, so I went to find a video for that. The video I found discussing the earth in motion is awesome. Jaden sat down and ran the video, and then he had to follow instructions to test what he'd learned. What a neat site. :-)

While Jaden was watching some of the "how things are made" videos, I half-watched while I sat with Trusten on the couch and went through one of our books on colors. I also had to dig a large splinter out of Trust's foot. I'm not sure how he managed to get that.

I'm over halfway through a book by Kevin Leman called Making Children Mind Without Losing Yours. So far, it is mostly good. As he suggests, I discard certain things. I'm seriously thinking about reading Crystal Lutton's Biblical Parenting again. I have it in my library. I remember it being a very good read, but I read it when Jaden was a baby. I felt like I was almost the perfect mother during his first two years, and then things started falling apart when we lost our second-born son Asher. Just when I thought I was getting everything back together, I had Trusten, whom has been quite a challenge all along. I've gotten to the point where mothering hasn't even been very enjoyable and that I feel more frustrated than anything and knowing where my own faults lie (as well as my husband's) but feeling helpless to overcome them. I think reading back over things like what I'm doing will help me. I think it already is.

I really believe I have to change myself before I start seeing changes in my children (and we used to say Jaden was a perfect child). I have to approach this as I did my marriage many years ago. A person can't change one's spouse, but a person can change oneself. Once that's done, usually the other person changes, too. I have to overcome what I have been doing wrong. That's not to say that I'm to blame for everything that is wrong, but I am responsible for what I am doing wrongly. I know Nathan really wants things to be better again, too. I hope he won't give up and will do this with me.

Nathan has cut down some trees and has been working on cutting up the wood so that we'll have wood to burn this winter, especially if and when we lose electricity. Jaden has watched so that he can learn, and he helped pile wood.

Jaden will be watching me work on some sewing soon. I want to do a project this winter (not sure what, yet, but I need to work on my sewing), but within the next couple of weeks I'll be doing a hand-sewing repair to a Boppy pillow. The seams have broken, and the stuffing is coming out. I need to get it done before the baby is born.

Well, that's it for now. Next week Jaden will start back on book work, and I'll be letting Trusten do art work. Also the end of next week is a Christian feast, the Feast of Trumpets. I LOVE that day. I'm planning for it to be the greatest this year so far. I'll talk all about that soon.

Observing Nature and A Pleasing Conversation with My 6yo Son

I absolutely love to observe nature, among all three kingdoms: animal, plant, and mineral. It thrills me so to see my two boys love it as well. I get joy when they laugh with delight upon learning new things, and I don't mind answering their questions. If I don't know the answers, then we go seek them. It's amazing how much I learn, too.

Yesterday Jaden (William) alerted me to a red wasp that was perched on the front porch railing behind us as we sat reading the bible. He was upset about its being there, and as I sat staring at it, it seemed to sense that it should be in ready-to-attack/defense mode. It's interesting to watch them. But, anyway, I did grab up my other book and kill it. Well, I don't think I completely killed it. Sometimes it's hard to tell, since their nerves often go on twitching after death, anyway. But, I'm 99% sure this one still had its life-force in it. I let Jaden get a stick and "explore" it. That's the word he often uses, though I tell him "examine" or "inspect" is better-suited. I told him to watch its tail carefully and to notice that it kept bringing its stinger out. It was having some difficulty. Its computer was all but dimmed. Then J. finished it off.

This morning I was opening the blinds in the living room when J. walked in. He immediately noticed the wasp caught in the web of an orb weaver just outside one of the windows. Trusten came in about that time, and they got on the couch and stared out at the wasp and the approaching spider. (As a side note here, these spiders, which Nathan and I call "October spiders," because throughout our lives we've known them to show up around mid- to late September and stick around all through October and beyond before winter sets in, have been making webs around the house all through August, which is just one of several signs we've seen that the weather pattern is definitely "off.") I told the boys to watch how the wasp was moving in a manner to aim its stinger at the spider. It was fighting vigorously to free itself from the web and it kept swinging around and taking stabs toward the spider with its stinger-loaded "tail" (abdomen). I reminded the boys that some wasps eat spiders, too. The spider was barely staying far enough way to be safe from a sting. I commented that it'd better walk back away and wait until the wasp tired itself. Well, what ended up happening is the wasp loosened itself from the web, and I think it dropped out. J. had mentioned that he thought one of its wings was damaged. I didn't see where it went, but J. said he said he saw it just sitting (standing?) somewhere. I had walked off right after I saw the wasp get out, because I had breakfast to get ready.

Today we came back from walking, and as we were about to walk up the steps of the front porch I spotted a lizard sunning itself on the left side railing. I pointed it out to the boys, and I guided Trusten over to see it, and J. said, "I'll get it so that you can see it Trusten." Well, I didn't get the words out quickly enough, but I foresaw what was going to happen. J. grabbed the lizard too far back on its tail, and off came its tail in his hand! LOL! He dropped it immediately and looked a bit bewildered. I just laughed and explained that it was the lizard's defense mechanism so that it could possibly escape from predators. I don't guess he knew this before, so this was something he learned today. He's caught lizards many times before, but I'm supposing this is the first time he's encountered this. (You know, I don't think I ONCE caught a lizard as a child, but I do remember trying. They were all so fast. I think they must be a little slower up here. ;-)

Earlier today I drove to town to get some groceries. Sometimes, rather than just fill Jaden's head with teachings, I ask him questions to get him to think for himself. As we were driving through the beautiful countryside, I asked what he thought should happen to a person if he or she murdered someone. His reply, "Killed." I asked what he thought should happen if a man raped a woman or sexually abused a child. "He needs to be killed, too."

Then I said, "Okay, well what if a person got really angry and murdered someone in his wrath, but then he felt really awful about it afterward and wished he hadn't have done it and would never think of doing it again?"

He replied, "I don't think he should be killed. They should be repented."

I said, "You mean that they repented and should be forgiven."

"Yeah."

I was very pleased with his answers. I often discover that he understands more than I think that he does. I told him I agreed with his answers and that I think people who do those things should be killed, too, and I only think that people should be given mercy and grace IF they repent and stop transgressing God's Law. I told him that all those things mentioned carried the physical death penalty under God's Law and that our society has rejected His commandments, statutes, and judgments. Those who should not get mercy expect it and often get it. On the other hand, those who aren't even guilty of a wrong under the Perfect Law are condemned.

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to Jehovah. ~Prov. 17:15

I didn't bring up that Proverb in our brief talk, but J. should know it well. We read over it once every month, since we read a chapter of Proverbs each day. He does know the Proverbs quite well. As I read them daily, I stop at different places for him to fill in the blanks. He does well most days. He's memorizing them, having wisdom stored within him. Now, all he needs to do is use it....sometimes he does.

On our walk, I saw an amazing thing, a very large mushroom. J. had run ahead, so I called him back, knowing he'd appreciate it, too. Meanwhile, T. was catching up. J. did like it, and then he looked at T. and asked, "Trusten, would you eat that?" Trusten shook his head violently and said, "Uh-huh!" :-) I said, "Well, that's good, b/c it may very well be poisonous." (We don't eat any mushrooms, though, as they are classified as "non-green plants" [sometimes classified in a separate kingdom altogether as a fungus], and non-green--meaning non-chlorophyll-producing--and non-seed-bearing plants were never given to us as food {Gen. 1:29, 9:3}). I sure don't want my child trying out something that may acutely poison him to death, though.

I ordered three more books yesterday from the new & used section on Amazon.com. I got two more books from Kevin Leman, the author of the last two books I've read/am reading. They are both parenting books, but I'm sure birth order is probably a topic in them as well. And then a book I'm really looking forward to getting is called Nature Got There First: Inventions Inspired by Nature. I bought it for a whopping $0.44. Besides law, family, natural health, and etymology, one of my subjects of interest and writing is science/knowledge and technology/application of science. I love learning and teaching about true science/knowledge and bringing glory to whom it is due--the Most High God, the Creator of all. In a world where two dominating views crush out the truth, namely that everything was somehow brought forth by rocks by itself and evolved or that God is some hocus pocus magician nothing like the man made in God's image, I am determined to share the truth with others who want to understand the true God.

Everything that man comes up with and all the miracles man has wrought with advanced knowledge and the application thereof has already been done by God and even better. Everything man comes up with pales in comparison to the knowledge and technology of the Supreme Creator. Human beings themselves are the greatest creation on this planet. The only real thing lacking is mortality, and people are busying themselves, as I write this, to use what knowledge they have to technologically make human beings immortal. Of course, I have full faith that they will fail, though many seem so prideful and confident that they will get it. Indeed, they are making advances with cloning, stem cell treatments, and nanotechnology (nano means "small," usually or always invisible to the human eye, we're talking atoms and molecules), and they're trying to make immortality a reality while still in the state of sin! What a horror...

The artificial intelligence, scientists say, will almost surely be a likelihood, with nanobots traveling through people's blood and increasing lifespan to over 120 years, perhaps several hundred years old. Well, that's not quite immortality, is it? ;-) You'd have to get rid of the blood altogether, as well as the earthly body.

Anyway, I'm excited about the book and can hardly wait to read it. Many people just don't realize how many of our fancy modern inventions were inspired by animals and other things in nature. I am hoping it will be fun to share with J. the things I read in the book, too.

Well, that's it until next time. I have to be careful, as I'm notorious for writing book-length things.