evlogia

Memory Eternal!

 

Archbishop Job of Chicago and the Midwest

Week Bb

Bb is for Brigid

 

 

 

 

   

 

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

The Tree of Jesse for Little Ones ~ Week Six

Download Day Thirty-Six ~ Censer

 

Download Day Thirty-Seven ~ Angel

 

Download Day Thirty-Eight ~ The Theotokos

 

Download Day Thirty-Nine ~ St. Joseph

 

Download Day Forty ~ Manger

 

Download Day Forty-One ~ Christ Child

 

Download Day Forty-Two ~ Radiant Light

 

The Tree of Jesse Learning Plans

Acrylics on Canvas

My fourteen-year old daughter, Eleni, did this painting for my dear friend's daughter, Rose. It's modeled after a photo Paul took at the Irish Fest a few years ago. She's grown up quite a bit since then. 

Eleni worked by using an artistic technique that she learned from her nouno. She began by drawing a grid over a copy of the photo. The grid created one inch squares over the entire image. Then she turned the photo upside down and began to sketch exactly what she saw on a piece of canvas marked with an identical grid. After sketching the image, she turned the page right-side-up and then painted it with acrylics.

I wish I had a photo of Rose's face when she saw the painting this afternoon. 

 

Discovery Questions

The more we share peeks into Letters of Grace, the more questions come our way. At this point, an in-depth Q&A post is in draft and we are working on offering thorough answers to all of the questions that have been asked over the past few weeks. It is obvious from the feedback that people are beginning to make curriculum choices for the spring semester and next fall. They would like more details to help them in their decision. Alicia left this question in the comment box today:

Hello Mary. Could you tell us a bit more about the way the (Discovery) topics were chosen? Is there a natural science/nature study focus for the K-3 years? Do you touch on other areas of science? Four major areas covered yearly or over the four years? I am trying to decide which way to go for next year so I would like to have an idea, as much as you are able, of what the science program as a whole looks like at this point. I fully realize that it is still a work in progress and will be "field tested" in the coming year.
Gratefully Yours, Alicia in New Zealand

This is a timely question and the answer deserves a post of its own. Round 1 of our initial field testing began last week as our family worked through the plans for Week Aa. Upon completing the week we discussed the issues that our family encountered and I expressed a few concerns to Matushka Emily and Anna. As a result, some major changes and corrections were made, which will now be tested in January by the two of them. 

Curriculum development is definitely a process. Sharing personal lesson plans in a blog format is a much different work than fleshing out a complete early childhood curriculum. We do not want to offer plans that are not fully tested. Every aspect of the curriculum from the book lists, to the activities, to the planning resources needs to be...wonderful. If a family decides to use Letters of Grace and invests their hard-earned money in the books and supplies that we recommend, we want to be sure that they have invested wisely. 

One of the major issues that came up during the first week of testing had to do with the Discovery plans. You can re-read the Dd is for Discovery post to refresh your memory of the initial format, but the original idea was to offer three separate Discovery activities, one for each level, per week. 

It didn't work out well. 

My little Anna had a great time investigating magnetism (Aa is for Attraction), while Michael got lost in the shuffle because we never had an opportunity to take a nature walk to collect rocks for his acidity experiment. What ended up taking place far exceeded our initial vision and the original plan morphed into an afternoon of playing and experimenting with magnets.

I could romanticize the moment and pretend that I had an epiphany of sorts; but in this case, my Ah ha! moment was more like a Duh! moment.  Three different topics in one day is too much for a parent to plan and direct. The realistic approach is to concentrate on a common topic each week and flesh it out for all three levels. 

The past week has been spent completely re-working the Discovery element of the curriculum. The books in the aStore reflect the change in plans (In fact, from now on, if you find a book listed in the Letters of Grace aStore, it means that the plans and resources for the selected topic have been finalized. We do not want people buying books unless the plans are set for their use.) To give you a better idea of what to expect with the Discovery plans, let me take you through the plans for Week Dd. 

How Big Were the Dinosaurs?

The topic for Week Dd is Dinosaurs, and in particular, the size of dinosaurs. Three books have been chosen based on reading comprehension level. Children working in Level 1 will read Dinosaurs Big and Small. Level 2 has been assigned How Big Were the Dinosaurs? and children in Level 3 will read Dinosaurs are Different. (If you live in an area with a sadly lacking public library and are working with more than one child you can choose one of the three books for a family read-aloud. The multiple titles are meant to add variety, not financial strain.)

A dinosaur coloring page, intended to be completed after the read-aloud, will be provided for young children working in Level 1. After reading time, children working in Levels 2 and 3 will move from the couch to the driveway. With a yard stick, string and a bit of sidewalk chalk, the child will follow directions to carefully measure and mark the sizes of various parts of a Tyrannosaurus Rex (height, length, jaw, teeth, arms, feet, etc...). 

After observing the actual dimensions of a T-Rex outside, Level 3 students will return inside and practice graphing skills by considering the sizes of 14 different types of dinosaurs in comparison to himself, recording the sizes on a provided graph. Additional advanced topics such as using the dinosaur's measurements to label a picture of a T-Rex, identifying the locations of T-Rex fossils on a map of North America, and math-enrichments such as calculating proportions (How many cars make up the length of a T-Rex?) are included as well. 

Below you will find the complete plans for the Week Dd Discovery lesson. Check out the books from your library, try out the plans and see how it works for your family. We hope that it will help those considering the curriculum to have a better idea of what to expect each week.

Download Discovery Week Dd 

Download Graphing Dinosaurs

 

To specifically answer Alicia's question, the science format for Letters of Grace will include 26 topics, which include three different levels of activities. With this format, parents can stay focused, families can learn together, and at the same time, each child will be challenged. Our plan is to offer three different cycles of Letters of Grace. This means that after the first 26 weeks of plans have been completed and made available on the new website, a second and third cycle of activities will be offered for two subsequent years. Obviously this is a long-term project. Please keep us in your prayers. 

As far as choosing the areas of study, we didn't want to limit ourselves to nature study. While nature study and nature notebooking are definitely an aspect of the Discovery lessons, Letters of Grace offers a rich and varied science curriculum introducing a child to 26 different activities in sciences such as Physics, Botany, Astronomy, Paleontology, Anatomy, Oceanography, Geology and more. Below you will find the list of topics for Discovery Cycle 1. 

 

Week Aa
 Attraction with Magnets

Week Bb
Sprout a Bean

Week Cc
Constellations

Week Dd
Dinosaurs

Week Ee
Energy

Week Ff
Flowers

Week Gg
Gravity

Week Hh
Human Body

Week Ii
Insects

Week Jj
Jungle

Week Kk
Kitchen Science

Week Ll
Leaves

Week Mm
Moon

Week Nn
Nests

Week Oo
Ocean

Week Pp
Making Paper

Week Qq
EarthQuakes

Week Rr
Rainbows

Week Ss
Four Seasons

Week Tt
Tornadoes

Week Uu
Life Underwater

Week Vv
Volcanoes

Week Ww
Water Cycle

Week Xx
BeeswaX

Week Yy
Yeast

Week Zz
Zoology

More Scenes from Week Aa

Expect to see a lot of learning-themed photographs over the next few months. Our family has begun our Letters of Grace trial run and will be keeping a photo journal for use on the new website. We are hopeful that the website will be a image-rich. Matushka Emily and Anna will begin their test run in January. The time lapse between the families is helping us as we finalize the lesson plans and resources. Expect to see photos on Charming the Birds from the Trees and St. Theophan Academy in the new year.  We hope to have our Q&A post from the Tour ready to share soon. Please continue to pray for us as we finish this work.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Final Days

With the feast of St. Herman of Alaska on Sunday, we have enjoyed our last fish,wine and oil day during the Nativity Fast. From this point on the fast mirrors the strictness of Great Lent and we're reminded that the feast is quickly approaching. Now is the time to increase our labors in anticipation.

Is my heart prepared?

Fasting with children can be a challenge and I try to find ways to help my children keep the fast without despairing. My spiritual father has been known to say that we should labor in the spiritual life enough to feel stretched, but not so much that we slip into despair. Laboring within our strength is a balancing act that requires constant discernment (and humility). No two people are quite the same.

The rules of the fasting seasons are meant to benefit us, to further our prayer and aid in the healing of our hearts. We have to keep watch to discern the spiritual benefit we are deriving and in the case of a mother of a family, we have to prayerfully watch over our little ones being careful that keeping the fast is bringing them closer to our Lord. 

There is a balance for the parent that can be difficult to find. Is the spiritual atmosphere of the home taxing the child? Is it causing him to complain about all that he misses? Or worse, is the atmosphere cultivating an attitude of judgment towards those who are already physically partaking of the feast in the days of preparation? 

It seems that most Orthodox parents find little ways to help their children joyfully keep the Nativity Fast, little traditions that increase the joyful anticipation of the feast at a time when ascetic fatigue usually sets in. This evening we plan to buy our Christmas Tree. The children love the tradition of going to a local family-owned garden center and picking out their favorite tree from the lot. We'll bring it home and deck it with lights and wait until the eve of Nativity to decorate it with our ornaments. So while our family table reflects the nearness of the feast in its lack, the fragrant lush tree raises our hearts and minds to He Whom we anticipate. The Son of God made man. The opening of the gates of Paradise. Our partaking of the Tree of Life. God is with us. 

If you would like to share your family's favorite Nativity Fast traditions, please leave a comment below. 

Photo from Nativity 2008

If You Give a Kid a Magnet

If you give a kid a magnet, she's going to ask for string.

  
 When you give her a string, she'll probably ask for paperclips.

  
 When she's finished, she'll ask her brother to join her. 

Then he'll want to play with magnets
 and begin looking at his little sister's magnet book for ideas.

When her brother reads the book, he might notice that magnets are cool. 

So he'll ask to build a compass. 

  
 When he's finished with his compass, his older sister will want to join them. 

She might get carried away and ask for a battery.
(She may even ask for wire and a nail.)

When she's done she will announce that she's built an electro-magnet.

  
 When the ooh's and aah's quiet down,
she may want to entertain her youngest brother. 

So she'll probably decide to make a flying paperclip...

  
 ... and ask for a string to go along with her magnet. 

The End

Letters of Grace
 Week Aa, Level Two Discovery Activity
 Aa is for Attraction

Let There Be Light!

 

 

  
 Creation in Color

And the winner is...

_G E _O R _G I _A !

Congratulations, Georgia! You have until Sunday, December 13 to claim your new book. Please send your mailing address to me at evlogiablog@gmail.com. I look forward to mailing A is for America to your family.

Matushka Emily, Anna and I will be hosting another Learning Through the Year of Grace book give-away during the second week of January and will draw names for another Letters of Grace title. Thanks to all who participated in our first give-away.