Sunday School

The Sunday School curriculum I'm writing does 5 lessons, then a review, in the hopes that they'll remember something. Each review focuses primarily on what they've learned in the past 5 lessons, along with some general questions, and then some sword drills also focused the past few weeks. For everything after the first review week, I also include some "if you have time" questions at the end from previous review weeks.

We have fun on review weeks. The whole thing is set up as a quiz with different teams trying to win the great prize of having won (the competition and glory of winning are enough for them). Some of the questions have one answer, some have multiple answers and more than one team can get points, and some of them are done as hangman or fill-in-the-blank.

Yesterday was a review day in Sunday School. We had a lot of fun and there was a lot of laughter, especially when they were trying to name everything that proved Jesus was human in their attempt to get the ones on my list ("He had birthdays parties and presents and went to the bathroom!") They remembered most of what we learned over the past five weeks and some of what they learned before then.

At the end, I was going to tell them what the next week's lesson would be and realized that I had no idea! I've been trying to finish the full year's curriculum before I get busy again next week (barring interruptions, it should be done within 2 day). I could tell them what we're doing in May, since that's what I was working on last week, but that was it!

After a bit of thought, I told them I was pretty sure we were starting name of God. I checked when I got home and I was correct! 

Barley Bowls

In my on-going search for inexpensive, healthy, tasty meals, I stumbled upon barley bowls. There are piles of recipes online for pretty much any taste. I sometimes us a "proper" recipe for breakfast and lunch barley bowls, including a grilled chicken barley bowl, a barley salad with lemon dressing, or an apple-walnut barley breakfast bowl. I haven't tried the carrot cake one just yet, nor have I tried "overnight barley" (just like overnight oats, another favourite of mine).

Often, though, I just make "whatever-I-have-on-hand" barley bowls. It's pretty much a mix of barley, vegetables, some form of protein, and a dressing. I make enough to last 3-4 days and can either warm it up or eat it cold.

Today's barley bowl recipe:

1. Cook 1 cup of barley in 3 cups of water and a pinch of salt. Bring it to a boil, turn it down and simmer until you can't hear it bubbling. It's about 30-45 minutes, depending on the type of barley.

2. While it cooks, peel and chop the cucumber that's been in the fridge for a couple weeks (the peeling part is only because the peel looks less lovely, but the inside is fine). Also chop up 3 green onions and a red pepper.

3. Earlier in the day, take 3/4 cup of corn and 3/4 cup blueberries out of the freezer so they have time to thaw.

4. Find the leftover already cooked pork stir fry meat and chop it up a bit.

5. Yay, the avocado is ripe! Chop that up too.

6. When the barley is cooked, add everything you've been chopping and thawing, and let it sit for a little while so everything warms up and the flavours merge nicely. 

7. Add some maple Dijon dressing (Dijon, maple syrup, lemon juice, seasonings, apple cider vinegar), and mix well.

8. Remove from heat, put some in a bowl, and enjoy!

Bonus: There is enough for at least 2 and maybe 3 more days. I may heat it or eat it cold; it really depends on my mood each day.

Also: I didn't thing time, but hard boiled eggs are also good in a barley bowl.

Esther and Bad Jokes

I get together with a group of friends every couple weeks for a Bible study. This year we're going through Esther with Lydia Brownback's study guide (it's a very good guide; I definitely recommend it). 

I love Esther. It's so full of God's plans and how He's working all the bits together for good, even if Esther and the others couldn't see it until the end. It's one of my favourite books of the Bible, and I plan to use it to teach the children about God's sovereignty and providence later this year.

But: We were on chapter three on Sunday, the part where Haman gets all upset because Mordecai wouldn't bow down to him, and responds by plotting to kill not only Mordecai but also all the Mordecai's people (the entire Jewish nation). 

And the whole time, all I could think was, "That's a bit of overkill."

Sunday School

I've been working on a curriculum for Sunday School on theology/doctrine. This is the first year, so our focus was first on bibliology, to lay down the basics of where we get our authority, then theology proper. Over the past few weeks, we've talked about the existence of God, the Trinity, and the hypostatic union. Next week is about the Holy Spirit: He is God, and He is not an impersonal force.

I'm enjoying writing the lessons and digging deeper into doctrine and Scripture. I have three main resources: Biblical Doctrine by John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue; Reformed Systematic Theology by Joel Beeke, and Basic Christian Doctrines by Curt Daniel. I also have piles of old lessons that I've developed over the years that sometimes overlap with what I'm writing.

It's a pile of work, but a lot of fun, both writing lessons and teaching the kids. This week I asked them how we would prove that Jesus is fully God and fully man, and they answered, "By looking up a lot of verses in the Bible!" That pretty sums up what we're doing!

The goal is to have a 4-year program, taking the children through as much Biblical doctrine as we can teach in 4 years. There is so much I have to leave out, partly because of time limits, and partly because they're children and not quite ready for everything I could throw at them.

My main concern is that I'll enable a generation of Pharisees who have knowledge without faith, or zeal without knowledge. I don't want to raise a group of children who know all the right answers and can argue theology, but who don't know God Himself. 

My biggest goal is to teach them to know God and to desire to know Him more. It's a lot, but it is my prayer for them. 

Crafts with the Kids

Yesterday was fellowship week at women's ministry and therefore fellowship week in the homeschool room, and that means games and crafts. Last month was crazy in the craft room with way, way, WAY too many children, so this month I changed some things. All of my craft kids were from the two middle rooms, so they were all 6-9 years old. The littles had their play time and the oldest two groups were games groups. That way I only had 14 craft kids and it was manageable.

We made rockets and shooting start. They were coloured and cut out, pasted to construction paper to make them sturdier, and then cut out again. Then we attached a bit of a larger straw (covered a the top with a bit of paper) to the back, gave them a bendy straw that fit into the larger straw, and all they had to do was blow through the bendy straw to launch the rocket or shooting star! They were a mostly simple and remarkably popular craft.

We also tried making rockets out of toilet paper rolls, but those were more challenging. I had to teach them how to make a cone out of a circle of paper, then triangles for fins. And then we had to attach them to the decorated toilet paper rolls, and they could not grasp "leave it alone for the glue to set" and were upset because things didn't just stay in place! Also, we ran out before we could add the tissue paper streamers to the bottom. Oh, well; they had fun decorating them and had the first craft to take home.

It was a pretty good craft time. I not only kept the numbers down, but I also managed to find something that they could all manage (okay, one youngster wanted me to do the cutting for her, but I refused because I knew she could do it).

Added to that, the young man who was helping was very helpful!

January

January was a month of cold and snow, followed by a January thaw, resulting in slushy and then icy sidewalks, followed by cold again. 

January meant life starting up again after the Christmas break. Sunday School started again, and then women's ministry and my homeschool kids. There was a birthday party for a dear friend and a baby shower for a young lady. I was invited to visit a Bible study for their monthly fellowship dinner and to share my testimony. I started practicing hospitality again and had a lovely family over for dinner.

One of the best delights in January was a new baby granddaughter. She's all sweet and squishy and tiny and adorable! It also brought news of another grandchild due in the summer.

One of the most important parts of January was starting to pray with the help of 31 Days of Praying Scripture by William Varner. I'm not quite done yet (I started late and I'm not using it every day), but it's been a huge blessing to me. I'm praying more and with more thought. God has also been using it and other circumstances to deal with some deeply rooted and sometimes hidden sins in my life, which is painful but then good.

I finished two baby blankets in January and bought yarn for a two more. I also started a blanket for a young couple getting married in May. I read a pile of books and started a pile more. I wrote several Sunday School lessons and am doing well enough that I think I'll finish this year's curriculum by the end of the February.

January was a good start to the year.