Sometimes I Don't Understand What I Read

Though more sporadically than I'd like, I'm still enjoying writing my responses to scripture in my prayer/poetry journal. Sometimes, though, I'm puzzled by my reading -- as with today's reading of Mark 11.

I wonder why

You cursed a fig tree

for not bearing fruit

out of season

when You were hungry.

You could have made the fruit appear --
received the gift of God
because You are He
who can move mountains
and cast them into the sea.
You proved positive your power --
but in the negative. Why?
Why a miracle of death?
How does the curse of the Christ
demonstrate that faith in God
will grant us the gifts of our hearts?

Open my eyes;
I cannot see.


Are there any passages of scripture you've been puzzling over lately?

Monday Musings on the Creator in Me

The theme this week at HSB is "A Day in the Life" -- Linky party and all! In honour of that theme, I found myself writing a poem . . .

A {Hard}Day in the Life of a Homeschooling Mama


Slightly short on sleep,
she rises, ready to read the Word,
wanting that Water to wash away the worries

of yesterday, and today, and tomorrow --

the naysayers of Now.

But she lingered a little too long,

and now padded patters mingle with the jingle

of dog tags. The house is astir,

and peace is pierced by demands for food, fresh air . . .
The “quiet time” will have to wait,
and she chides herself for not getting up earlier.
At least there’s the regular readings with the children –
passages and prayers that turn all eyes to Him --
for the millisecond that separates squabbles and scuffles.
Grace. Gratitude.
She grapples for them, knowing that
therein lie the miracles that will make the day right.
Her head and heart heave with the knowledge that
those miracles are hers to have –
to hold and hand over to her children.
But it’s hard.
Simple.
But hard.
The recognized lie of “not enough”--
strength, wisdom, patience --
pushes her to pray
and tap into Truth,
the only Power to prove the miracle.
And when she does
all is not perfect,
but Peace presides.
This lesson learned requires review –
repeated recollections, hour by hour,
minute by minute,
that His strength is made perfect
in her weakness.
Moments of mercy –
His through her –
make amends to the day.
Readings and ramblings,
capers and calculations,
are interspersed with
glimpses of Glory –
Glory that gives hope
for the Now of her tomorrow.

_____________________________________________

Sometimes descriptions of "a typical day" scare me. Whether it's my own description or someone else's, they can inspire fear that I'm failing because I'm not doing "enough," or because I'm not doing things "right." Like many homeschooling moms, that "f" word -- "failure" -- haunts my head -- and steals my joy. So, my hope with this poem is that others might see themselves in it -- and be inspired to cling to those glimpses of Glory that God gives. We have the Power in us -- the Gift of Grace in every moment -- because we have Creator God in us. We can claim joy -- even in those hard moments when the Deceiver would drag us down.

Will you wallow in feelings of failure -- or will you grab Grace and count it all Joy -- every. typical. day?

KinderBach Product Review

For the last several weeks, my family has had the opportunity to review an online piano program called KinderBach in exchange for an honest review. Our use of the program is time-limited, and no other compensation has been given.



Once they knew what to do, the children could easily move through the lessons on their own.

The favoured rhythm instruments -- loud ones!


What is KinderBach?

KinderBach is an online program that teaches basic music skills to preschoolers. (Children expecting to learn how to play the piano right away might be frustrated. They do learn to play it -- but there's far more instruction in music than actual piano playing. It's best to present it as a music program that they will enjoy:) There are over 240 lessons that are accompanied by downloadable pdf. files which support and reinforce the concepts being taught. Lessons are divided into weekly units, with each week having four sessions. Yearly subscriptions can be purchased monthly or -- more economically -- for a one-time fee.

As the website specifies:

The Year Membership gives access to 6 Levels [a 7th is almost ready] of entertaining music education for 3 to 7 year old children through about 22 hours of video and interactive coloring pages. Miss Karri introduces preschoolers to the keyboard characters, as well as the Grand Staff clefs. Kids will enjoy playing simple songs, identifying music direction, learning new rhythm notes and their beat value. [Levels 1 to 6] cover proper hand and finger positions for the music scale, as well as staff note reading by pattern for voice and keyboard.

Cost:
$7.99 per month billed in a one-time annual payment of $95.88 OR $19.99 per month billed monthly for a year. The first two weeks of lessons are available for free trial.
Requirements:
All you need is a computer with internet access, a piano or basic keyboard, and the printed booklets (available for download from the website). It is definitely easiest to download each whole booklet and print them than it is to print each lesson's pages separately from the screen. (Ask me how I know!) It is assumed you will have access to crayons and rhythm instruments -- which can simply be pots and pans, pencils to bang together, or homemade shakers.


How did we use KinderBach?

I expressed an interest in KinderBach with DS4 in mind, but showed DD8 (at the time -- she just turned 9 two days ago) the website and asked if she would be interested in it, too. Indeed, she was! It was at least a week before I heard whether or not we'd been selected to review it, and every day DD8 asked if I had "got the email yet"! She was keen to get started! Once we did receive it, KinderBach was all she wanted to do!!!! For hours on end, she did lesson after lesson. DS4 wore out long before she did -- but that was OK. She was happy to go back and do the lessons again with him! She did at least 8 weeks worth of lessons -- twice! Clearly, she loves it! (And is sad our subscription will soon expire.) DS4 wasn't quite as enthused, but he truly enjoyed it, too -- as you can see from the pictures.

We did not use KinderBach every day, though it would be easy to integrate into any schedule. Instead, we would have KinderBach marathons -- usually until I said it was time to do something else because of time constraints.



Learning to use the correct fingers

 Key features of KinderBach:

• The program is very child-friendly. While older children and adults might quickly tire of the syrupy sweetness of Miss Karri, littles adore her candy qualities and lap up her enthusiasm, which is, after all, geared to appeal to them. Miss Karri uses her musical, educational, and dramatic training to full advantage in the professional videos that really do appeal to little people.
• Besides watching the videos, children are given lots of opportunities to be active -- marching, walking on the spot, playing instruments, practising on the keyboard, colouring, and cutting. There are also some optional online games (to which we did not have access). This, of course, supports a variety of learning styles and enables the children to be -- well -- busy-bodied children.
• Because the program involves things like numeracy (counting), decoding (recognizing different kinds of notes), tracking (eye movement from left to right), fine motor skills (colouring and cutting), and aural discrimination (distinguishing high and low sounds), it not only helps to develop music skills, it also supports the development of skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic. (Click that link to see an article that more fully outlines the relationships in skill development.) Truly, it is a cross-curricular program that benefits many aspects of the young learner.
• Not only is it simple to use (even a 4 year-old with some computer skills can navigate through the program), it is simple and gentle in its approach. Children are not bombarded with flashy images and fast-paced sounds. Instead, concepts are presented with simple characters and images and catchy tunes.
• Children can move through the program at their own pace with or without adult accompaniment. Of course, adult supervision is required -- but constant direct involvement is not necessary.
• Repetition of concepts enables children to grasp the content and skills.
• The program is leveled, with each step taking the child through a well-organized curriculum. (Click that link to see a break-down of the curriculum.)
• No musical background is required to implement this program. (Good thing! I learned stuff, too ;)
• Activities are simple but engaging for early learners.



They really do have clothes that fit them (and match!) -- they just choose not to wear them ;)

 Our family has thoroughly enjoyed using KinderBach, and we express our gratitude to the company itself, and to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine for the opportunity to review it. If you'd like to read other reviews by the TOS Crew, click here.

Another Birthday Tea Party

My Sweet, Sweet Petunia turned 9 yesterday:

She wanted to celebrate with her friends by having another tea party. So, for take-away gifts, she and her brother planted flowers in teacups (from "VV Boutique" -- aka Value Village):

And we filled little baskets with tea, collector teaspoons and fancy neckware ;)

We played "tea" games -- like "What's missing on the tea tray?" and Musical Teapots (since there wasn't room for so many chairs ;)

And of course we did some art! I was just going to have them paint tea related things with water colour paints, but my friend Shannon  showed me a cool idea she'd recently learned -- the girls drew or stencilled  a picture using permanent markers, then painted a rainbow of watercolour over top so that the colours blended into each other beautifully. The marker pictures popped behind the paint. Easy -- but lovely!

Lemonade tea (basically iced tea), sandwiches, veggies and fruit, and cake and cupcakes completed the event!