Monday, January 18, 2010

Serious Nine Year Old Stuff


Oh Noah, do you wonder why,

The children of God are doomed to die?

Know this: that only bodies die, souls return to Heaven on High.

The spirit lives and does not perish!

Today was another great Monday. These truly are wonderful days in homeschooling. I told the story of Job, his trials and hardships and his continued faith. This led to a discussion of Job's children, the ones who perished when the roof collapsed in order to see if Job would curse God or not. Rowan wondered if they were brought back to life once Job proved that he was still faithful. I reminded Rowan of the lines he is working on for the upcoming Noah play. This led to further discussion of what happens after we die. The talk we had was heavier than I expected on a Monday morning, but totally appropriate for a sensitive nine year old boy. Are we just this body? Do we have a soul that lives on? How do we know this? Who is right? Do we reincarnate like the Hindus believe, to work out karma in life after life or are we sent to Heaven or Hell depending on our "goodness" or "badness" in this life? These were the questions that came to us in our lesson.

Our Old Testament lesson led very smoothly into a lesson on clothing and shelter. The weather right now is powerfully stormy and it is so easy to see why we need clothing and a house! We spoke of all the parts of the world we know about from our travels and also the parts we know about from books and teased out the different needs for clothing and shelter just based on weather and available resources. From here I offered a big stack of library books with great photos an illustrations of clothing and shelter through the ages.

Our painting today was of a rainy day scene with a shelter in it. We both ended up with a similar painting: mountains and rainy sky, forest with a log house.

All this work with shelter and clothing and Old Testament stories seems to be reaching Rowan right where he needs it. He is in the midst of wondering who and where he is in this world and he needs to feel secure. This curriculum is giving him the support and structure he needs to express himself.

As I do this little work in my home with my youngest child, I think of the larger world and the events currently happening within it. The large earthquake and devastating damage in Haiti have moved many and I have found a little place to contribute. The group called Craft Hope for Haiti is an Etsy shop selling donated handmade items. 100% of these sales is going to Doctors Without Borders in Haiti. I am making my small contribution by offering one of my white felt doves to the cause.

1 comment:

  1. Lovely, Jennipher! I am so inspired by your blog and gathering ideas for my eight year old for next year.

    We have been much preoccupied with Haiti in our home and my eldest especially was wondering how she could help. I will suggest the craft Haiti idea to her, thanks!

    ReplyDelete