Our theme this week was Winter and Snow.
- We began a new character trait for this month, Dependability. We defined it as “Being trustworthy to do what I say I will do, when I say I will do it.”
- We listened to the CD from www.BriteMusic.com on this topic. It was OK, but I didn’t like it as much as the previous two (Obedience and Gratitude) that we had listened to. Probably because the setting of the story was in a spaceship with alien looking characters (as in Star Trek). I’m not too crazy about that, and my kids are totally unfamiliar with the idea, so I don’t think they identified with it very well.
- We talked about how God is the ultimate example of dependability – He always does what he says he will do, when he says he will do it.
- We learned Genesis 2:15 “The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.”
Our book list included:
- Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton – a story about a snowplow named Katy who dug out the entire city of Geopolis after a very big snowstorm. The pictures are detailed and fun to look at. We had already read it during the summer when I found it at Half-Price Books, so it was already a familiar favorite.
- Frog and Toad All Year by Arnold Lobel – We read the story about Frog and Toad going sledding in the winter. Toad didn’t want to go, but Frog talked him into it. Toad had fun in spite of himself, even sledding by himself when Frog fell off. But once Toad realized Frog wasn’t there, he lost control and ended up crashing into a snowbank. Then he decided it was safer to go back to bed.
- Winter Days in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder – another adaptation from the book “Little House in the Big Woods” about preparing for and experiencing the winter and snow in the Big Woods of Wisconsin.
- The Big Snow by Berta and Elmer Hader – Describes how all the wild animals in the forest prepare for winter and the biggest snowstorm they’ve ever seen.
- Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost – the classic poem illustrated in mostly black and white drawings. Didn’t really capture the kids’ attention.
- The Hat by Jan Brett – The favorite of the week! A hedgehog gets his head stuck in a woolen stocking, but comes up with a cheerful explanation to each of the barnyard animals who says he looks silly. But one by one, the other woolen things that were hanging on the clothesline disappear until we find out at the end that ALL the animals have found “hats” for themselves. Excellent illustrations to teach the reader to be observant!
Activities this week:
I planned this theme for this week back in September. There is no way I could have known it would actually SNOW in Houston on Friday, December 4. God has such wonderful timing!
It started snowing about 8:15 in the morning and continued most of the day, sometimes quite heavily. But it never did stick to anything here in our neighborhood. But not too far from us friends reported having quite a bit accumulate, some even still around the next morning. Ronnie got off early from work because of the snow and had to scrape off a couple of inches off his car before he could drive home.
The day before it snowed, we made paper snowflakes and hung them up. I had to look up instructions on the internet for how to make them. (http://highhopes.com/snowflakes.html was a good source.) We found out later that napkins are easier for small hands to work with than regular paper (because they are thinner and easier to cut). Also, scissors that cut with different shapes (like those used for scrapbooking) make very pretty snowflake designs).
Travis was the first to notice it was snowing. By the time we got all bundled up, it had stopped. But it soon started again and we got to watch it for a while.
Travis couldn’t wait for it to snow enough to use his sled…
I got a workout trying to pull 100+ pounds of children on a sled across the grass…
I told Travis we couldn’t really sled until the grass was white with snow. So, all day long Travis kept praying that God would let it snow enough so he could sled, but that he would be content whatever God chose to do. I joked later to Ronnie that God must not have gotten our change of address, because Granny got more snow at her house (our old house) than we did!
The next morning, our grass WAS white – with frost! Travis thought that meant it was time to sled… so we did!
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