Archive | April 2006

Booked by Three

Apr18

Meme, courtesy of Shelley’s Bookshelf:

Name 3 books you liked, titles which start with A, B, C (one per letter).
Adam Bede by George Eliot
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
Certain Women by Madeleine L’Engle

Name 3 authors you like whose names (given or surname) start with A, B, C (one per letter).
Ann Kiemel Anderson
Charlotte Bronte
Chuck Colson

Name 3 books on your To Read list with titles starting with A, B, C (one per letter).
Autobiography of A.A. Milne
Books on the Bookshelf by Petroski
Captains from Castile by Shellabarger

You can play ABC books and authors, too—either here in the comments or at your own blog.

Medieval History Resource

Apr17

Homeschoolers and History teachers: The Homeschool eStore offers one free product each week, and the product for this week is a book of outline maps of the medieval world. There are twenty-four nice, uncluttered maps in this book including maps of Columbus’ voyages, the Crusades, the Byzantine empire, the Holy Roman Empire, and more. And the book has “lesson plans” which consist of labeling activities to go with each map. All the books at The Homeschool eStore are ebooks; just download the pdf file using Acrobat, and you’re in business.

Yes, I get a small kickback if you purchase something from the Homeschool eStore, but the Medieval Outline Maps book by Terri Johnson, published by Knowledge Quest, is FREE this week (April 17-23, 2006), no purchase required. You can’t beat that price!

Picture Book Preschool Book of the Week #16

Apr17

It looked like spilt milk, but it wasn’t. What was it? Well, you must read through this book of white pictures on a blue background to find out what it really was. But the fun comes in guessing what “it” is along the way. After you read the book, here are some good follow-up activities:

1. Go outside and look at the clouds. What pictures can you find in the clouds?

2. Use white paint on blue construction paper to make your own spilt milk picture.

3. Read The Cloud Book by Tomie dePaola or Little Cloud by Eric Carle.

4. Play “I Spy.” One person says, “I spy something blue.” The other player tries to guess what is being spied.

5. Use white chalk to draw on the sidewalk.

6. Make a cloud book, drawing and naming all the clouds you see in a week’s time.

7. Use white cotton balls and glue to make another kind of cloud picture.

It Looked Like Spilt Milk is a book to enjoy reading together over and over again.

Picture Book Preschool is a preschool/kindergarten curriculum which consists of a list of picture books to read aloud for each week of the year and a character trait, a memory verse, and activities, all tied to the theme for the week. You can purchase a downloadable version (pdf file) of Picture Book Preschool by Sherry Early at Biblioguides.

Easter Center of the Blogosphere

Apr16

Bill at Out of the Bloo: “Everyone, this is really what it’s all about! Easter is the turning point of history, the culmination of a rescue mission that was planned before the foundation of the world.”

MM-V wishes all a Happy Good Friday: . . . for a few moments, we were, that Good Friday night, aware of terrible sorrow, the ineffable sadness that precedes a renewal or realization of a hopeful promise.

La Corona by John Donne from Waterfall at A Sort of Notebook.

Sparrow is praying for a prodigal this Resurrection Day: “Surely He is searching for her in the dark…watching the road and waiting for her return…unfazed by sorrow’s heavy scars. (O Lord, find her and bring her home!) If only she knew that He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes we are healed.”

Mission Safari: So What Is Easter All About Anyway? “Yesterday, as I was getting ready to leave the hospital a group of about 4 Muslims and 3 Christians were standing around the Nurse’s Station. One of the Muslim docs looks at me and says, “So, what is Easter all about anyway?” I about fell over. Did he just really ask me that?”

Sarah Louise rambles, but says things worth reading: “For me, Easter is not just the eggs and the chicks, pink bunnies and chocolate. It is a time of real mourning, of real reverence. Lent is a time of contemplation. This year, I had a notebook that I started when Lent began. In the front, I copied out a quote from Soren Kierkegaard, ‘So now, with God’s help, I shall become myself.'”

And an Easter Sermon from St. John Chrysostom, courtesy of At A Hen’s Pace.
“Let us all enter into the joy of the Lord!

First and last alike, receive your reward.
Rich and poor, rejoice together!

Conscientious and lazy, celebrate the day!
You who have kept the fast, and you who have not,
rejoice, this day, for the table is bountifully spread!

Feast royally, for the calf is fatted.
Let no one go away hungry.
Partake, all, of the banquet of faith.
Enjoy the bounty of the Lord’s goodness!”

Happy Resurrection Day, everyone, and may we continue to walk in the Joy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ throughout the coming year.

The Celebration Continues

Apr16



These two books by Martha Zimmerman are the sources for many of our holiday traditions: the resurrection egg hunt, the covered windows and darkness on Good Friday and on Saturday, our sunrise Easter breakfast, the Emmaus walk, the celebrations of Passover and other Jewish feasts that we have done as a family in years past.

For more ideas of how to celebrate holy-days that are Christ-centered, I highly recommend these books. Coming up is Ascension Day, celebrated on the Thursday that falls forty days after Resurrection Sunday, and also Pentecost, the seventh Sunday after Resurrection Day. You can find many, many ideas for celebrating these and other Biblical and Christian holidays in Mrs. Zimmerman’s books

God’s in His Heaven

Apr16

Robert Browning (1812-1889)
from Pippa Passes

The year’s at the spring
And day’s at the morn;
Morning’s at seven;
The hillside’s dew-pearled;
The lark’s on the wing;
The snail’s on the thorn:
God’s in His heaven–
All’s right with the world!

It may sound trite, but that’s exactly what the Resurrection says: God is in His heaven. Jesus is Lord. All is right. All shall be well.

Emmaus Walk

Apr16

In her book Celebrating the Christian Year Martha Zimmerman suggests that we use part of the afternoon on Resurrection Sunday for an Emmaus Walk.

On Easter Day, two disciples were going to a village named Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, and talking with each other about all the things that had happened. While they were talking and discussing together, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were kept from recognizing him. And he said to them, “What is this conversation which you are holding with each other as you walk?” And they stood still, looking sad. Then one of them, named Cleopas, answered him, “Are you the only visitor to Jerusalem who does not know the things that have happened there in these days:” And he said to them, “What things?” And they said to him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, and how our chief priests and rulers delivered him up to be condemned to death, and crucified him. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since this happened. Moreover, some women of our company amazed us. They were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body; and they came back saying that they had even seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. Some of those who were with us went to the tomb, and found it just as the women had said; but him they did not see.” Luke 24:13-35

Take a walk together. Discuss the things the Lord has done. Talk about all that has happened to you this year and about what you’re planning for the rest of the year. Enjoy the company of Jesus as you walk and talk.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Matthew 18:20

Sunrise Worship with Special Effects

Apr16

Valley - Israel, Hills of Galilee, Sea of Galilee



Valley – Israel, Hills of Galilee, Sea of Galilee

Our sunrise worship service was beautiful. The choir and the assembly, all of us, provided the music. We prayed simple sentence prayers of thanksgiving and praise. We read the story aloud. We saw Peter and John in a boat after a hard night of fishing, no fish to show for it. And Jesus came on the shore, called to them to cast their nets again, and they caught a box full of goldfish crackers 🙂

Special effects were provided by God Himself, the sun rising over the bay. Jesus forgave Peter and called him to “Feed my sheep.” We remembered the life, the death, and the resurrection.

We worshipped.

Easter Morning

Apr16

Easter Morning


Easter Morning
Bell, Karyn E.

What do you do on Easter Sunday morning? We usually have a sunrise, or near-sunrise breakfast outside in the backyard. We read the story of the resurrection from one of the gospels, pray, and then we partake of deviled eggs, cinnamon rolls, coffee, and juice. Then it’s time to go inside and get ready for church.

THis year our church is having a sunrise worship time at a local park, and the young adults in the family are committed to sing at the worship service. So I don’t know what we’ll do about our family tradition.