His Treasure Seekers

This week we did ABC Jesus Loves Me Week 10 on the Ten Commandments.  (We skipped Week 9, which was a review, since we’re really just focusing on the Bible part of the curriculum.)  It seems like we had more discipline issues than normal this week, so we found lots of opportunities for talking about various commandments.  I decided not to do a specific “memory verse” this week because I cared more about Ian becoming familiar with all the commandments, but “Honor your father and your mother,” (which was the suggested verse) did come up a lot over the last few days!

In keeping with my objective of building familiarity with all the commandments, our Bible Notebook work centered around short summaries of each one.  I really like the website BibleStoryPrintables.com (and its sister sites).  Momma C from ABC Jesus Loves Me sent us there to find a few different ideas for activities.  I had trouble making up my mind, so I ended up choosing two (a little reinforcement never hurt anyone!)

First we did this 10 Commandments train craft.  I wanted to put them all on one page, so I shrank the images down.  Ian’s not very into coloring, but he paid close attention as I talked about each commandment and added it to the train.  (In case the “Thomas” jammies didn’t give it away, he LOVES trains!)  The engine has Proverbs 22:6 on it: “Train up a child in the way he should go.  And when he is old he will not depart from it.”  I loved this idea!

For some reason I don’t think we’ve ever talked about the fact that we have ten fingers.  (How did I miss this???)  So I thought I’d work on associating 10 fingers with 10 commandments.  I got out Ian’s fingerpaint set and just let him have fun.  Once his hands were covered, I helped him make handprints.We’ve been trying to work on numerals and counting, so I printed up these 10 commandments cards.  The cards were meant to be full page images to use on a bulletin board, but like the train cars, I shrank them down so we could put them all on one page.  Again, we talked through each commandment (and number) as we glued the cards on.  (Ian and I both liked the little pictures that went along with each one.  He spent a long time looking at each one and wanted to read through the whole page several times.)

I put together an iPod playlist for the first time in a couple weeks, and it was really nice to have something to listen to that went along with our story.  Here’s what we played throughout the week:

• “Train Up a Child” (Proverbs 22:6) and “Honor Your Father and Your Mother” (Deut. 5:16) from the Hide ‘Em In Your Heart CDs
• “Honor Your Father and Your Mother” from Sing the Word from A to Z CD by the Harrow Family
• “Ten Commandments” from The Singing Bible
• “Exodus 20” from the ESV Audio Drama Children’s Bible from Faith Comes By Hearing (also includes a song about the 10 Commandments)
• “Trust and Obey” from “100 Ways to Know God Loves me & 100 Songs to Love Him Back“

Once again, I intended to do a Before Five in a Row book, but I just didn’t get to it other than one read through.  I’m trying to give myself grace.  After all, I’m battling the nausea and fatigue of the first trimester, so my life is all about priorities right now.  Ian’s only three.  As long as we do our Bible lesson, I’ll consider myself on top of things!  🙂

We ended up doing two weeks on the story of Baby Moses due to a death in the family and the ensuing chaos.  Ian certainly didn’t mind.  From the first day, the story captured his heart in a way no other has.  He asked me to retell the story with the flannelgraph several times, and then he spent another half hour moving the figures around and telling it himself.  (I wish I’d gotten a picture, especially since it happened every time we got the flannelgraph out!)  Then he started wrapping his stuffed bear up in a blanket, calling it his “baby”, and for days he spoke to it in a soft little voice, rocked it in his arms, and lovingly carried it around in a basket I gave him once I saw how into it he was getting.  SO sweet!

For our memory verse, we used the passage from ABC Jesus Loves Me week 7: “When I am afraid, I will trust in you, in God whose word I praise.” Psalm 56:3-4.  It’s on Steve Green’s Hide ‘Em in Your Heart CD, and again I found myself lamenting that his songs don’t include the reference.  Luckily we review our verses every time we read through our Bible Notebook, so I’m hoping Ian will pick up the references that way for the songs that don’t include them.  Along with the memory verse (which is one of our favorites–we find all sorts of occasions to sing it), Ian really liked the song about Baby Moses from the Lullaby Bible (which I think has a CD, but we just have the book).  He kept asking me to wrap him up in a blanket, hold him like a baby, and sing it to him.

Because of of everything going on this week, I didn’t end up using an iPod playlist.  We did read the story from the NIV several times.  We also watched the first part of The Prince of Egypt  (next week we’ll be talking about Moses leading the people through the Red Sea so we’ll finish it then) and Veggie Tales: Duke and the Great Pie War (also available streaming on Netflix), which includes a story about Miriam taking care of baby Moses.

For our Bible Notebook we did this Baby Moses craft from Little Blots (you have to scroll down the page to find it).  First Ian colored the baby and the basket with crayons.  Then he used blue watercolor paint over it.

Finally, I traced his hands several times on green construction paper, cut them out, and glued them on to be the “reeds” where Moses’ mother hid the basket.

In accordance with the ABC Jesus Loves Me Week 6 lesson, we spent a week talking about Joseph’s colorful coat, his dreams, and how he ended up in Egypt after his brothers sold him.  I did use the Bible verse from the curriculum this week (Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21).  I love Steve Green’s Hide ‘Em In Your Heart CDs, because they do a great job of helping us memorize Scripture.  I just wish they incorporated Bible reference so we knew where to find the verses!  Here was our iPod playlist for the week:

• “Genesis 37” from the ESV Audio Drama Children’s Bible from Faith Comes By Hearing (and the song “Joseph”)
• “Joseph’s Dream” from The Singing Bible
• “Do Not Be Overcome By Evil” from Hide ‘Em In Your Heart CD

For our Bible Notebook, Ian made a “coat” from a tissue paper collage.  I found a paper doll online, then saved the image and enlarged it so it would take up the full page.  Then used it to draw the outline of a coat for Ian to fill in with tissue paper squares.

After it was dry, I cut it out and helped Ian paste it over the Joseph paper doll, along with the hair he chose for him.

Every week when we add our latest creation to Ian’s Bible Notebook, we read through all the previous pages.  He’s getting very good at “reading” the memory verses!

I’m still trying to catch up to what we’re actually learning about, but I do want to put up at least basic posts for the Bible stories we’ve already covered.  A family crisis last week has kept me from writing, but I’d like to be caught up by the end of the day today (which will be a little easier since we ended up taking about a week off of any “school”.)

Ian was already familiar with the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, but it’s a favorite so he didn’t mind spending a week on it.  This was the first week we incorporated a “letter of the week.”  Ian really liked writting the letter in a rice tray, and he enjoys the pictures in Big Thoughts for Little People so much, he always wants more than just the page for our letter.  I let him look through the rest of the book, but I tell him he’ll have to wait until “K” week (or whatever) to read about the pages that catch his interest.

For our memory verse, I strayed from the ABC Jesus Loves Me Week 3 lesson.  As I was looking at the activities in the lesson plan I came across this verse and it seemed more appropriate.  I want verses that Ian can really internalize, words that will express the feelings in his heart as he grows in his relationship with the Lord.  Psalm 119:10 seemed more “personal,” so I set it to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star”:

“I will seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.  Psalm one-nineteen, verse ten.  Psalm one-nineteen, verse ten.  I will seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands.”

I did go with her suggestion of teaching “Oh Be Careful, Little Eyes, What You See.”  Ian loved this song and asked me sing it over and over.  I love the message and know we’ll refer to these lyrics many times in years to come.  Here was our iPod playlist for the week:

• “Genesis 3” from the ESV Audio Drama Children’s Bible from Faith Comes By Hearing.
• “Trust and Obey” from “100 Ways to Know God Loves me & 100 Songs to Love Him Back“
• “Two Trees” and “God’s Promise” from The Singing Bible
• “Oh Be Careful, Little Eyes, What You See” from My First Hymnal CD

Our Bible Notebook was a big hit this week.  I saw this idea for a fingerprint tree and used the “alternate paint idea” of pudding.  Since I’m always battling with Elijah not to smear food all over his high chair tray, I thought he’d love being a part of this project.  Not so much!  He screamed and refused to touch the pudding, even after I smeared a little on his lips.  Ian, on the other hand, had a blast!

I mixed up a batch of chocolate pudding to use for the trunk (and for us to eat for dessert that night), plus a batch of vanilla to dye with food coloring for play and our notebook page.  Here’s the finished product!