What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards for DVD 5

We've finished a set of review flashcards for What's in the Bible? DVD 5. Click on the link below to download for free. Also, check out all of our other free What's in the Bible? resources.

Simple Ways to Teach with the What's in the Bible? DVDs

Review Flashcards for DVD 1 can be found here.

Review Flashcards for DVD 2
Review Flashcards for DVD 3
Review Flashcards for DVD 4

and the newest set...Review Flashcards for DVD 5:
Vol. 5, Part 1: The People Want a King
Vol. 5, Part 2: Kings Make Mistakes, Too

So, if you’re wanting a little extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs, I hope you’ll find these flashcards helpful.

We’ll share the other sets of flashcards as I finish them. Sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.

Today's Questions: How do you help your children learn about (and from) the Bible?

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Our (Practically Free) Kindergarten & Preschool Learning Plans 2012-2013

This year, we're not planning on purchasing any official curriculum. Below is our pieced together, mostly from materials we already have on hand, curriculum. In a small way I feel like this helps to balance the fact that we're still paying off my Elementary Ed degree :)

Bible
Our children will be learning about God, his love for them, and what they can do to love him back. For our "official" Bible studies we'll be continuing with breakfast readings from 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories. We'll also be walking through the Bible with the What's in the Bible? DVDs and the My Bible Coloring Book.

We'll also be reading from The Jesus Storybook Bible as well as other Bible storybooks.

We'll continue to focus on prayer with our Prayer Pail and we'll keep memorizing scripture with this simple Scripture Memory Box system (which, by the way, we love). For more ideas check out our Raising Children for God Pinterest board.

Language Arts
Our family will be focusing on reading lots of great books together. We'll also be listening to some wonderful audio books (partly so I can get some work done and partly because we all enjoy them so much).

All of the kids will continue to utilize our growing collection of Alphabet books and Alphabet activity books. We will also interact through many Alphabet activities and games and continue to talk about letters, letter sounds and words in real life situations.

We will also be learning and reviewing with several Alphabet videos including Letter Factory, WordWorld (Rocket to the Moon, Lucky Duck, Flying Ant), and free online videos as well. We'll also be attending story time at our local library once a week.

Jonathan and Eliya will also be doing a very simply Letter of the Week focus with a two or three activities each week on a specific letter.

Emahry will continue with simple phonics work and will continue to learn sight words from the Dolch sight word list to help make reading easier. She'll keep reading with Set 1 of Bob Books, which my mom gave us, and will complete many of the activities we've pinned in our Teach Me to Read board. Emahry will also continue to write in real world situations, making to-do lists, writing letters to family and friends and writing labels and descriptions of drawings. She'll also work on writing her full name, address and phone number. We like this website for making handwriting printables.

History
For a general overview we'll be reading through the History for Little Pilgrims that I picked up at Goodwill for less than a dollar. This book has 15 short chapters, each with a simply activity and a handful of questions. We'll go through one chapter each week.

After that we plan on starting a history overview using children's books. We have not decided yet if we'll begin in the beginning with books on the Ancient World or if we'll start closer to present day with an overview of American History. Here's a list of children's books about the Ancient World divided by time period and civilization. My friend, Kristin, has a great list of American History books organized into time periods as well.

Math
We'll be spending the first 11 weeks teaching and reviewing numbers 0-10 with a number of the week for our three oldest children. We'll also be using numbers in real world counting and completing lots of the counting activities found here. We may also go back to the Funnix Beginning Math Program once Emahry becomes more consistent with recognizing written numbers.

Emahry will also be keeping a math journal for recording facts about numbers (or like this), counting, graphing, and pattern work. We'll also add some number activities like this to her journal. We have this Primary Journal with space for drawing at the top and lines for writing on the bottom half.

Emahry will also work on counting to 100 and will begin to work with money, skip counting, and simple addition and subtraction using a variety of books, workbooks and activities. She'll be using some of these free 20 question math practices at least once a week as well.

Science
This fall, we'll be focusing on a nature study of trees. We'll be reading lots of books about trees, starting with this list, and enjoying the autumn weather observing local trees and collecting lots of leaves. We'll also be completing some tree and leaf projects we've pinned here. In the spring we'll pick back up with our study of plants and gardening.

We'll also be studying the seasons through books and activities.

Art
We'll be starting the year with a simple study of shapes and how to draw them. We'll then begin combining different shapes to make pictures. We'll be following many of the How to Draw... activities pinned to our Art Activities board. We'll also have some fun making fingerprint art like this.

Music
We'll be using Songs for Sapling Questions with Answers CDs as part of our Music time this year. We will listen to these 4 CDs throughout the day. I'm sure the ABCs and 123s CDs will sneak into our rotation as well. We'll also focus on learning two different hymns, This is My Father's World and Take My Life, and Let it Be.

Physical Education
Our kids are all very active. We will continue to play at home and at local parks & playgrounds. We will also go on regular nature walks. During warmer weather, our children will regularly swim in their grandparent's pool.

We're counting finally nailing down this plan as our finished project for the week. Would you like to share what you've accomplished? Link up to our Finished Friday blog party.

We're sharing this post at Pin the Tail on the Bloggy Pinterest Party @ Fox Hollow Cottage.

Today's Question: We'd love to hear about your homeschool plans for this year. Feel free to leave a link if you've blogged about your plans.

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Schooling Kids of Different Ages {TIPsters}

Make sure you visit Kristin & Christy for their thoughts on today’s topic. Also hop on over and see what Suanna, our guest TIPster has to say.

Are you homeschooling with more than one child at home this school year? If so, I bet the thought of how to juggle the different needs of your little (or not so little) learners has crossed your mind. How can we, as moms, effectively meet the needs of children of multiple ages? I'm definitely not an expert here, although I may be by the time everything is said and done.

This school year I will be teaching a 5 year old, 4 year old, 2 1/2 year old, and 1 year old. My head is already spinning :)

My plan is to implement 3 main practices.

Schooling Kids of Different Ages

1. Learn through real life. While I'm not officially labeling our family unschoolers, I do believe that children can learn so much by being involved in the ins and outs of normal life-- math in the grocery store, art at the kitchen table, science in the backyard, health at a dental appointment. At least in the younger years, most of the subjects we're required to teach can easily be incorporated in a hands-on, literacy-rich environment, as long as we're aware enough to make them teachable moments.

2. Do it together. The majority of our learning will happen with all the little ones present. While the baby may not be fully involved she'll definitely be close by. Of course, some of our studies (mainly Reading and Math) will be geared towards our oldest, but there are simple ways to include younger siblings.

For other subjects like Bible, History, Science, Art, Music, Health, and Physical Education we'll all easily be involved in the same activities. For example our "official" Bible studies will be continuing with breakfast readings from 365 Read-Aloud Bedtime Bible Stories. We'll also be walking through the Bible with the What's in the Bible? DVDs and the My Bible Coloring Book. We'll be continuing to focus on prayer with our Prayer Pail and we'll keep memorizing scripture with this simple Scripture Memory Box system (which, by the way, we love). For more ideas check out our Raising Children for God Pinterest board.

3. Have fun, hands-on learning tools ready for younger children. Younger sibling don't want to feel left out, so make them some special "school time" toys of their own. We have a selection of preschool appropriate busy bags, craft supplies, and manipulatives ready for our little learners. If you like to sew you could always make an oh. so. sweet quiet book for your littlest ones. (We'll be sharing some of the busy bags we've put together soon.)

So, what will our typical day look like? Well, I'm guessing anything but typical, I've been a mom long enough to know that things never run as planned and that children are not predictable.

But, our little ones will be learning some of the most important lessons of all, how to love God, get along with others, love learning, and put their toys away. Really, what more could we want? :)

Check out the blog parties we like to join

Please visit my fellow TIPsters:

Kristin @ Bits & Pieces from my Life and 

Christy @ A Living Homeschool
and visit Suanna, our guest TIPster.

Coming Soon:

August 21: Teaching Kids to Read

(Remember if you'd like to guest host an upcoming TIPster post, just let me know.)

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What's in the Bible? Review Flashcards for DVD 4 {Finished Friday #47} come link your projects, too!

Link up your projects at the end of this post.

Yesterday I posted the simple, but effective ways we use the What's in the Bible? DVD series as part of a children's Bible study. In the same post I announced that the DVDs are on sale for only $10 for the next week!

I also told you that I'd be making Review Flashcards for the rest of the DVDs, so without further ado...

What's in the Bible? DVD 4 Review Flashcards
Part 1: Finally, the Promised Land
Part 2: Cycle of Misery

And here are the links for the other sets of flashcards:
Review Flashcards for DVD 1 
Review Flashcards for DVD 2
Review Flashcards for DVD 3

So, if you’re wanting a little extra review to go along with the What’s in the Bible? DVDs, I hope you’ll find these flashcards helpful.

And remember, the What's in the Bible? DVDs are on SALE for one week for only $10 each!

We’ll share the other sets of flashcards as I finish them. Sign up for free blog updates so you won’t miss out.

Today's Questions: Have you seen the What’s in the Bible? DVDs? Do you think you might like to use them with your children? Why or why not? 

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)

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Where the linky says "Your Name" please enter the name of your project or the title of your post!

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Teaching with What's in the Bible? plus all DVDs only $10 for 1 week

Our family loves the What's in the Bible? DVD series. The DVDs are an in depth study of the entire Bible, book by book. Yes, even books like Leviticus are made easy for kids to understand, without being completely watered down. 

The DVDs are fun and educational and are a great balance of silly kid humor and parts that are genuinely funny as well.

For the past few months, we've been using these DVDs as a base for a children's Bible study that I teach on Sunday nights.

The children in the group range from 11 all the way down to two babies under a year old (thankfully, one of the babies is mine and the mother of the other baby helps out with the kids as well). I think children of all ages can learn from these DVDs. In fact our two year old has repeated things she's learned and I usually learn a thing or two as well.

Even though we've made it part way through the series during our Sunday evening Bible study, our family is going to be using the What's in the Bible? DVDs as our Bible curriculum for this year of homeschool as well.

So, in case you'd like to use these DVDs with a children's Bible study, your own children as a homeschool Bible curriculum, or even as a part of your family Bible time I thought I'd share how we've been learning with What's in the Bible?

In our Bible study, we watch the same DVD episode twice, which means that each DVD takes us through 4 weeks worth of lessons. (Carisa @1+1+1=1 uses the DVDs with her own kids and chooses to have them watch each episode 3 times before moving on.)

Start out with Reading

I find that if I start the lesson with a read aloud it helps to get everyone focused and the kids seem to stay calmer throughout our entire lesson. Don't fall into the misconception that older children don't like being read to, from my experience, children enjoy listening to someone read a story long after they can read themselves. 

If you have older kids, you can get them involved as your story readers (you can help encourage then by giving them a copy of the story before hand so they can read through it first).

We read from a variety of Bible storybooks, mostly because some of the stories covered in the series are not the "major" Bible stories and not all kids' Bible storybooks have them all. It's also nice to be able to read the same story from two different Bible storybook since we watch the same DVD session twice. I also like to read an except of the story from the actual Bible as well.

Here are some of the Bible storybooks we frequently use:

The Jesus Storybook Bible (our personal favorite)
The Beginning Reader's Bible (read our review here) 
The Jesus Said Bible Storybook

The Early Reader's Bible

The Beginners Bible

The Young Reader's Bible



After we read the story I usually ask a few questions or make a connection between the story and our lives today. Some times volunteers act out parts of the story (the kids love this part).

Watch the DVD 

After our story time we watch the corresponding What's in the Bible? DVD episode. So far, there are 8 DVDs covering the books of Genesis through the Song of Solomon. The ninth DVD is scheduled for release in the middle of August.

For one week only you can get each DVD for just $10. What's in the Bible? also offers FREE shipping on all orders over $15. Check out all of the DVDs in the What's in the Bible? Store.

Review with the the Flashcard Questions

When the DVD is finished, I use the questions from the What's in the Bible? flashcards to review the information we've learned. Some of the questions may be a little too difficult for very young children, so don't feel like you need to use all of them, just make them work for you.

DVD 1 flashcards 

DVD 2 flashcards

DVD 3 flashcards

I'll be making flashcards for all the other DVDs, too. Go ahead and subscribe for free updates so you won't miss them.

You can laminate the flashcards keep each episode's cards on a different book ring or make the flashcards more interactive by having kids pick a card and read the question to the group. Non-readers can pick a card and hand it to you to read.



Color a Picture

Once we've answered and discussed the flashcard questions we usually color a picture about the Bible story or book of the Bible we learned about.

What's in the Bible? coloring pages

My Bible Coloring Book (This 119 page coloring book was created by Shirley Dobson and has lots of coloring pages for some of the lesser known Bible stories.)

As you can see, the planning of the Bible study actually takes me very little time, but the kids really enjoy it and are learning a lot. 

I love that even as a busy mom who doesn't have time to make up my own Bible study curriculum, the What's in the Bible? DVDs allow me to teach and impact children beyond my immediate family for Christ!

Today's Question: Have you watched the What's in the Bible? DVDs? Do you have any more ideas for extending our learning?

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Modest Dresses: Lengthen a Dress (or Skirt) by Adding a Ruffle

Our oldest daughter, Emahry, loves to wear dresses. For some reason she's convinced that long dresses equal fancy dresses...not that we're complaining about that at all!

So, what do you do when little girls grow taller and their dresses don't magically grow too? Or when someone gives your little girl a dress that is already too short for her (or your) liking?

In our house, those scenarios are often fixed by an appointment with my sewing machine and a pretty new ruffled hem.

When a dress or skirt needs lengthening I typically head to my fabric stash first to see if I already have something that coordinates. If not, then I'll wait until I have a couple pieces that need fabric before I make a trip to the fabric store. Four kids in tow helps deter me from becoming a Hobby Lobby regular.

Whether I find fabric in my stash at home or have to go to the store looking for it, there are a few criteria I'm looking for.

Picking a Fabric for the Ruffle
I want the ruffle fabric to coordinate. It doesn't have to be the same exact color or pattern, but I want it to look like it belongs. (For the daisy dress, I chose a yellow fabric with white polka dots.)

I also make sure that I have enough fabric to make the ruffle strip 1 1/2 or 2 times the width of the bottom of the dress depending on how "ruffly" I want it to be. With Emahry, the more "ruffly" the better, so I tend to double the bottom width of the dress most often.

The ruffle fabric should also be the same type of fabric as the dress (or skirt) itself. If I'm working with a cotton dress, I'll add a cotton ruffle. If the dress is knit, I add a knit fabric and so on.

Tips for Buying Fabric for the Ruffle
Before going to the store I figure out how big I want the ruffle to be and add in my seam allowances and hem. Then I have the fabric cut slightly larger to accommodate crooked cutting and possible shrinkage. Usually I only need somewhere between a quarter and a third of a yard, so the cost is fairly minimal.

When I do go to purchase fabric I take the dresses (or skirts) with me so there's no guessing about color while I'm at the store. I normally just hunt down a sales associate when I go in to let them know that I'm bringing some items to match.

I also read the fabric labels at the end of the bolt to make sure I know what I'm getting. It may help to write down the care instructions to refer to later.

*Make sure you also have matching thread for the ruffle fabric.

Preparing the Fabric
I think it's very important to prewash all new fabric before sewing. There's nothing like spending precious time making something and then having it shrink the first time through the wash.

I simply prewash all fabric on the same setting the finished garment will be washed in. If I have any doubts, I play it safe and run it through on the hottest setting for the type of fabric.

Once it's dried, I press the fabric to get out any wrinkles. Then I fold it back in half (like it was at the store), make sure both edges are straight and cut the fabric to the width and length I need. I also make sure to cut off any edges that frayed in the wash. I like to have two long rectangles, one for the front and one for the back of the dress. 

Getting Ready to Ruffle
Since I don't own a Serger, I like to use french seams to keep all the raw edges contained.

To do this, place your ruffle pieces with wrong sides together, then sew these two pieces together along the short ends using a 1/4 inch seam allowance.

Next, flip the fabric the other way (right sides together) and enclose the raw edges of the first seam. It really helps to iron now to get the seam to lay flat. Now sew both the short ends with a 1/2 inch seam allowance.

Then open it back up and those raw edges are nice and neat with no fraying. Iron both of the seams open and flat. 

Next hem the bottom edge under. I like to fold over a 1/4 inch and then another 3/4 inch to get all of the loose strings enclosed.

Gathering the Ruffle
Now that we've taken care of all of the other edges of our ruffle fabric, it's time to gather the top.

Ashley @ Make It & Love It has a very detailed tutorial for gathering and attaching a ruffle so I won't try to reinvent the wheel here. I use the "short-cut" method most of the time although I do prefer the look of the correct method. I attach the ruffle to the bottom of the dress the same way that she attached the gathered ruffle to the tube. Scroll down until you start seeing pictures with the orange polka dot fabric.

Finished!
Now that you've attached the ruffle to the dress, trim any loose threads, sit back and let that little girl twirl.

here's where we share our projects

This project will be entered in Kristin's Summer Dress Challenge.

Today's Questions: Have you ever altered clothing for yourself or your children? What's one way you've changed a piece of clothing to make it work for you?

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A Home Story at the MercyINK Blog

Today I'm guest posting at the MercyINK blog. Lauren asked me if I'd share some of my thoughts for her Home Stories series. Here's a tiny piece of what I had to say...

To me, “home” describes the place where I feel loved and accepted. It’s a place of comfort and encouragement…a place I can be myself without fear or rejection. This is what I want to give my family as well. I’ve found that the feeling of home is much more important than the look of the physical house.

Visit MercyINK to read the rest of my thoughts...and please say "hi" to Lauren while you're there.

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Prayer Pail {Finished Friday} come link up your projects!

Be sure to link up your finished projects at the end of this post.

I pinned the idea of a family prayer pail last month. I knew this idea would be a great addition to our dinner prayer time and would encourage our children (as well ourselves) to pray for more than just the food in front of us.

At first I simply wrote names out on large craft sticks and placed them inside of an old peanut butter jar. Then this past week I took some time to pretty it up a bit.

I used all items we had around the house so our prayer pail centerpiece ended up being a “free” project.

We decided that we wanted to deviate from the original idea a little to include a jar for the sticks we’ve already prayed for, so we could pray for all the people/groups before recycling back through. However, you could easily use this same idea to make a one jar prayer pail.

Materials

• oval metal pail (our was from a yard sale last summer, but I’m guessing you could find them at a craft or gardening store, ours had a plastic planter liner)
• two jars that fit inside the pail side by side (empty peanut butter jars)
• dried beans, small stones, etc
• assorted artificial flowers
• large craft stick (tongue depressor size)
• permanent marker (various colors optional)
• stickers to spell “Prayer Pail” (optional)

1. Simply write the names of people, countries, groups and ministries you’d like to pray for on the craft sticks with the permanent markers.

2. Use the stickers to write Prayer Pail on the outside of the pail. This is easier to do now than when the pail is filled (ask how I know).

3. Place the two jars into the pail and pour the beans around the outside of the jars to hold them in place.

4. Arrange the artificial flowers in the beans.

5. Place the prayer sticks into the jar on the left. (Once you’ve picked a stick and prayed for the person named on the stick you’ll move that stick to the jar on the right.)

At dinnertime we each draw a “prayer stick” (right down to our two year old) and pray for who or what is written on the stick. Our four year old thinks of her own prayer, but our 3 year old and two year old repeat either Tim or me as we pray for who or what is written on their stick. Tim and I also draw our own sticks.

Our children love the prayer pail and have been excited about drawing sticks and praying for different people. Tim and I love that we’ve found another way to encourage our children to build a personal relationship with God and to help them to focus on gratitude and the needs of others.

Today's Questions: What do you think about the idea of a family prayer pail? Do you think your family would benefit from one? Do you have other ways that you make prayer a priority in your home?

I'm trying to hold myself accountable to finish some of the projects on my to do list by posting each Friday about a project I've completed.

Would you like to join in? Link up to your own projects below.

1. Link to your project post, not your blog's home page, so we can find it easily.
2. Let us know what project you are sharing in your title, for example: Spring Wreath
3. We'd love it if your post links back here so that your readers can come join the fun. Feel free to copy & paste our Finished Friday Button into your post. (Just copy the text in the box below the button, click on the "Edit HTML" tab for your post and paste it there.)


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Bible Reading Plan {Simple & Effective SOAP}

I set a goal at the beginning of the year to read through the New Testament a chapter at a time. While I’d love to read through 7 chapters each week I knew that 5 or 6 chapters would be much more realistic.

However, the question still remained of how to make the reading meaningful and not simply breeze through each chapter in order to check it off of my to-do list.

Then I read about the SOAP method of Bible Study. SOAP stands for Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.

I use a composition book to take notes during by Bible reading. I simply write the date and what chapter I’m reading that day. Then I write an “S” for scripture.  
Before I read, I ask God to show my what he wants me to see in that particular chapter. Then I read the chapter straight through. After I’ve read, I go back through and look for one verse that stands out to me. I write out this verse next to the “S” in my notebook.

Underneath that I write an “O” for observation and write down what I observe about that verse.

Next I write an “A” for application and write how that verse and my observations are applicable to my life right now.

Finally, I write a “P” for prayer and write out a prayer thanking God for what he has shown me and asking him to help my take a step toward applying what I’ve learned.  
So far this Bible reading method has worked wonderfully for me. In the past I’ve always fallen behind in reading plans and then become discouraged. However, since I’ve set the goal for 5 days a week I don’t feel stressed out about reading my Bible. Also, as a person who grew up reading the Bible, this method is helping me to see familiar passages in a new light, which in turn motivates me to keep coming back to the Word.

Today’s Question: What about you? Do you struggle to find time and excitement in reading God’s word? How do you best focus and really make the Bible apply to your everyday life?

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