School Work

We took the month of December off from home school, so now we are hitting the books everyday now and having a lot of fun.  We are doing a pocket book for January that is studying the seasons.  Each pocket has art and writing projects and some science in there too.  We started on winter and now have moved on to spring.  Mary made the snow people below from a shaving cream and glue mixture.  It made a really cool puffy paint that dried really nicely.  We made a drawing of the solar system and what causes the seasons and she made ice cicles with mylar foil on paper and she wrote a little paper on what winter is.  Now we have moved on to spring.  She made some modeling clay flowers, a tree with tissue paper flowers, a spring book and tomorrow we are going to be reading some spring poems and decorating the pages with spring images that match the poem.  Mary loves poetry.  For her reading she has been reading a Bible story every day with a short devotional and then I have been reading the Little House on the Prairie Series to her.  We just finished up On the Banks of Plum Creek and started On the Shores of Silver Lake.  I have been so deeply impressed with these stories.  I have not read them since childhood and it is so wonderful to revisit them now and share them with Mary.  They are so profound to me and a wonderful example of people who lived a simple life and were so loving and godly.  It made me think it would do all of us, including me, to focus less on material things (having stuff), entertainment and social events focused on entertainment.  They were homeschooled most of the time and did not have the luxury of going to church and even then it was only visited by a circuit preacher who came once a month.  The other times they read the Bible on their own and learned their school lessons at home.  They were a very vibrant and loving family that truly cared for each other and their neighbors.  They worked for others and cared for them when they were sick.  They made the best of things even when things were hard, like when her sister, Mary went blind after having Scarlet Fever.  Laura became Mary's eyes and guided her when she needed it and described  things to her.  Mary found happiness and love even in her blindness and was so grateful for Laura helping her and being her eyes.   They had a good outlook on life and were thankful for each other.  They loved their parents so much and respected them and wanted to please them.  Mary loves for me to sit on the bed with her and read several chapters each day.  My sister Linda gave her a song book from the books.  So when we come across the songs in the book I can play them on the piano and Mary can hear the tunes.  So much fun!