Proverbs 7

If you are a lady, and have been reading Proverbs for awhile, you may think that you wouldn't get much out of chapter 7.
But today as I began reading through the familiar verses, I got a few verses in and started more or less skimming...  I knew these verses were about the strange woman, and that men are to beware of her.  And thought that didn't apply to me since I'm not a man.
Then I thought, wait.  All of God's word is for everyone, anyone.  So I started over, reading slower... and thinking...

Proverbs 7
1 My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee.
2 Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.
3 Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
4 Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman:
5 That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger which flattereth with her words.
6 For at the window of my house I looked through my casement,
7 And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding,
8 Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
9 In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
10 And, behold, there met him a woman with the attire of an harlot, and subtil of heart.
11 (She is loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
12 Now is she without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.)
13 So she caught him, and kissed him, and with an impudent face said unto him,
14 I have peace offerings with me; this day have I payed my vows.
15 Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
16 I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved works, with fine linen of Egypt.
17 I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
18 Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
19 For the goodman is not at home, he is gone a long journey:
20 He hath taken a bag of money with him, and will come home at the day appointed.
21 With her much fair speech she caused him to yield, with the flattering of her lips she forced him.
22 He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks;
23 Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it is for his life.
24 Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth.
25 Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths.
26 For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong men have been slain by her.
27 Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death. 

As I read each day, I jot down verses or phrases from verses in a notebook, and sometimes my own thoughts as well.  Here are some of my notes from today:

Proverbs 7
1.  ... keep my words, lay up my commandments
2.  ...my law as the apple of thine eye
3.  Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart.
4.  Say unto wisdom, Thou art my sister; and call understanding thy kinswoman.
5.  That they may keep thee from the strange woman, which flattereth with her words.
-- That they may keep thee!
-- flattereth with her words!  That's all. To begin with...

I thought about these verses.  In verses 1-3, "apple of thine eye," "bind," and "table of thine heart" clearly tell us that we should love and embrace God's words.  His laws, even!  We should love his laws!  Wow.
Then verse 4 tells us that wisdom and understanding should be very close to us.  Our sister, our kinswoman.
Verse 5, That "they" (understanding and wisdom) may keep thee from the strange woman.
Understanding and wisdom can keep all of us from whatever sin that may snare us.

But how do we get understanding and wisdom???  
By studying God's word.  By heeding His words, and actually applying them to our lives.  By really searching for what He wants us to do.  And listening when he tells us.
Then we will want to give God our heart.  We will want Him to guide and direct us.  We will be open to anything He lays on our heart that we need to do, or to get rid of, or give up.  And if you're really searching His will and getting close to Him, it won't be nearly as hard to do as we once thought.
If you read Proverbs, you'll see a lot of verses about wisdom, knowledge, and understanding.  And the more you read, the more you will understand what you are reading!
(Read Proverbs 2 at the bottom of this post.)

7.  ...void of understanding (see v. 4-5)
8.  (Proverbs 4:14-15  "Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.  Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.")
9-10.  If you're in the wrong place, you'll meet the wrong people.

Years ago, even when my kids were still very young, my husband took them to youth meetings, revivals, 1-day services, Christian camps, or even just the night services at these camps, and whatever he could find out about that had good preaching.
I didn't used to always go to these, but he did, and I'm so thankful.  Through church, we have met some wonderful people, and our kids have found some really great friends, and have gotten some great opportunities they wouldn't have had otherwise.
I'm glad my husband took them to the right places.

13.  escalates suddenly
15.  "diligently" -  but at first she flattered w/ her words.
19.  The goodman is not at home.  Beware of those who want to be secretive about any little thing, even if it seems harmless now.  (fb, Google+, texting, etc. Hiding things from parents, teachers, or spouse.) Or is dishonest in any way.
21.  flattery w/ speech, lips.  Trying to talk you into something.
23.  =(
24.  Hearken, attend -- listen up!
25.  Your heart goes first.
26.  many strong men. =(

So if you're a lady, watch out for other ladies who flatter with their words.  Stay in your Bible so you will recognize when something isn't quite right.  Beware of those who are secretive about anything.  Even gossip. When a woman gossips, they are putting someone else down in order to make themselves look/feel better.  We all have faults, but the gossipers won't tell you theirs; only those of others.

If you're a man, watch out for women who act as the strange woman in this chapter.  A woman who flatters with her words, paying you attention.

If you're a teenager, be careful of what friends you have.  Are they secretive?  Have an online account their parents don't know about?  Delete texts before parents can see them?  Pretend not to hear when their mom or dad calls them?  This is all dishonest.
Don't be "void of understanding."  Get in your Bible and read at least one chapter in Proverbs every day.  Read for understanding.  God will begin to change your heart, and you will draw closer to Him!


There are SO many verses in Proverbs about wisdom!
It's hard to choose, but since I was looking at Proverbs 4 a bit earlier, I'll put that chapter here.

1 Hear, ye children, the instruction of a father, and attend to know understanding.
2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
3 For I was my father's son, tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother.
4 He taught me also, and said unto me, Let thine heart retain my words: keep my commandments, and live.

And these verses about wisdom and understanding!

5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
6 Forsake her not, and she shall preserve thee: love her, and she shall keep thee.
7 Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.
8 Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her.
9 She shall give to thine head an ornament of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee. 

10 Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many.
11 I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths.
12 When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble.
13 Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.
14 Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men.
15 Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away.
16 For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall.
17 For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence.
18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
19 The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble.
20 My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings.
21 Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart.
22 For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh.
23 Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life.
24 Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee.
25 Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee.
26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
27 Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil. 

Oh, and I really love Proverbs 2 also!  This may be my favorite.  =)
I love the If-Then's in the Bible.  Read carefully all of v. 1-9.

1 My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee;
2 So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding;
3 Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding;
4 If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;
5 Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
6 For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
7 He layeth up sound wisdom for the righteous: he is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
8 He keepeth the paths of judgment, and preserveth the way of his saints.
9 Then shalt thou understand righteousness, and judgment, and equity; yea, every good path.

And the when's.  Look at what happens when you get wisdom and knowledge!   

10 When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;
11 Discretion shall preserve thee, understanding shall keep thee:
12 To deliver thee from the way of the evil man, from the man that speaketh froward things;
13 Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness;
14 Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;
15 Whose ways are crooked, and they froward in their paths:
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
17 Which forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God.
18 For her house inclineth unto death, and her paths unto the dead.
19 None that go unto her return again, neither take they hold of the paths of life.
20 That thou mayest walk in the way of good men, and keep the paths of the righteous.
21 For the upright shall dwell in the land, and the perfect shall remain in it.
22 But the wicked shall be cut off from the earth, and the transgressors shall be rooted out of it. 

I love Proverbs!!!

sMiLeS,


(hehe, this got long!)  =)

The Path We Follow to Destruction

I posted the other day about Sudden Destruction.
Proverbs 29:1 "He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy." 
Sometimes we are so shocked by things we learn about a fellow Christian, but we know that none of us are immune to sin...
But how could it have happened???

This article tells The Path We Follow to Destruction.

Root: discontent

As I was reading this, I was thinking, I am pretty content with my life... then I realized that sometimes with my husband I am not. I get aggravated at certain things. And I realized I do the same with my kids.
We all have different personalities, and when we live together, personalities are bound to clash now and then. But I need to be content and overlook some things. Be more agreeable rather than getting aggravated at certain tendencies (not talking about disobedience).
Just mainly being discontent with who they are.

Some friends and I recently talked about reading verses like Proverbs 29:1, and passing over verses like this, thinking they were for some really bad person.
But when I first read the above article, I was doing just what we had talked about!
Passing over looking at ME and thinking this must be for someone else.
We hear certain things all our lives, and come to think of certain verses and phrases from the preacher as applying to someone else.
But God wants our heart. In his eyes, all sin is sin. And it only takes a little for God to not truly have our heart. (It is the little foxes that spoil the vine. - Song of Solomon 2:15)
I heard an illustration once about a little sin. "Would you drink a glass of water that someone had spit in? It's only a little spit..."
When we compare ourselves to others, we think we're not nearly as bad, right? But compared to God's holiness... not so good after all.

It's amazing after having read Proverbs over and over (once a month, each chapter on its corresponding date), I keep finding new things, or old things that apply differently to a current situation. Either in life, or maybe an attitude.

I love Proverbs!  So like a mirror.

sMiLeS,

"Sudden Destruction"

"He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."  Proverbs 29:1

I just read this verse this morning, and then it was in an email devotional that I get - Daily in the Word.

Sudden Destruction
By Paul Chappell


Tuesday, Jan 29, 2013 

"He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy."  Proverbs 29:1

Bernard Madoff seemed to have it all. He lived the life of the fabulously wealthy in New York City. The securities trading company he founded when he graduated from college produced amazing returns for investors. He was tapped to serve as Chairman of the NASDAQ stock trading company. He rubbed elbows with the elite of the financial, political, and entertainment worlds. He enjoyed the best of everything that money could buy.

Yet all of Madoff’s apparent success was built on the foundation of a lie. His investment firm was nothing more than a giant Ponzi scheme that for decades depended on getting new investors to pay off the old ones while money was being siphoned off for the personal use of Madoff and his family. With shocking suddenness Madoff was arrested, tried, and convicted. He is today serving a 150-year sentence in federal prison.

One of the most effective lies of Satan is that we will get away with doing wrong. He convinces us that we will be the exception and can escape the consequences of sin. If we had an accurate assessment of the devastating results of sin in advance, we would be far more hesitant to cross the lines that God has drawn in His Word. Often we mistake the grace and forbearance of God that protects us from immediate punishment when we first do wrong as His permission to continue. Yet that very mercy is extended as a reminder to do right. As Paul wrote, “the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance” (Romans 2:4).

The only cure for sin is confession and repentance. No cover up will hide sin from the eyes of God, and if we continue stiff necked in doing wrong, eventually judgment will fall. The best way to avoid sudden destruction is to respond to the first warnings of reproof.

Today’s Proverbs Precept:
No sin stays hidden forever. It is always wise to confess and repent before destruction falls.

I have been thinking along these lines lately... Proverbs is a great "mirror"!!!  
I get lax and start doing "little" things, and think, well it isn't so bad.
Skimping on my time w/ God is the root cause (or putting it off till later in the day, then feeling rushed), and that causes a host of other things.
But then when I start getting closer to God again, those little things stand out.

Little things can also cause me to be dissatisfied, can affect my attitude, and I get grumpy toward my hubby and kids... Which as you know ends up affecting their attitudes as well. 

This devotional is talking more about hidden sins, but it all starts somewhere. Little things can grow into big things without realizing it. When you get further and further away from God, you begin to get hard-hearted.
No one is immune to "falling" or any "big" sin. It begins in the heart, with something the devil will tell us isn't important.

"The best way to avoid sudden destruction is to respond to the first warnings of reproof."

sMiLeS,

A little bird told me...

"Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry the voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter."
Ecclesiastes 10:20

 "...be sure your sin will find you out."
Numbers 32:23

Por aquí pasó un caballo/The Learnables

The Learnables - books with no writing, only pictures. 
Basic Structures - has pictures with sentences

I must say first, that I really do not recommend the students looking at how the Spanish word is spelled until waaayy after they really have the pronunciation down pat.  (I mean, we teach babies how to talk long before we teach them to read, lol.)  😄

Update: Looking at the computer versions on The Learnables website, however, I am not sure if they are adding in the written sentences now, or if the samples shown are to go along with the second book, Basic Structures.  
You may contact them for current information. 

I recommend caution here... I know that for some people, (this is from experience) seeing the spelling can actually make them start mispronouncing words, after they had already learned them correctly.  
It may be better to do as I accidentally ended up doing, not even showing them anything until well into Lesson 4 - nearly eight weeks in.  🙂

It did work out fine, even though they had some misconceptions early on.  But pronunciation was great, especially for one kid, lol.  

►Possibly a better option, if you have good pronunciation yourself, is to simply pronounce each individual word when introduced in The Learnables.  

I'm talking about the verbs in sentences that are not introduced individually in the lesson.  (You can look in the second book, Basic Structures, if you are having trouble catching all the words.) 

The main vocabulary words are spoken alone and should present no trouble for students, but verbs and connecting words are added into the sentences and sometimes consist of more than one word, and are run together, just like we do in the English language. 

A real-life example is how I learned this little rhyme as a teenager, and did not know until well into adulthood when I decided to google it one day, that I had some things wrong, lol. 

► Watch here
 
Por aquí pasó un caballo, (A horse passed by here)
con las patas al revés. (with his feet backwards)
Si me dices cuántos tiene, (If you ask me how many he has)
te diré que diez y seis. (I will say 16)
uno, dos, tres, cuatro, (1, 2, 3, 4)
cinco, seis, siete, ocho, (5, 6, 7, 8)
nueve, diez, once, doce, (9, 10, 11, 12)
trese, catorce, quince, diez y seis! (13, 14, 15, 16!)


This is a hand-clapping game I learned as a young teenager from my best friend and her sisters.  Their dad, a native Spanish speaker, was my Spanish teacher in high school.  
I learned this rhyme by sound, not knowing how anything was spelled, or even what most of the individual words were.  I did know what the rhyme was about, but it was like one long string of sounds with pauses at the ends of each phrase.  

The other day I was around two cute little Spanish girls that knew no English, and I wanted to teach this to them!  (It would also have been fun if they already knew it!)  But because it had been well over 20 years since I had learned it, I was unsure whether I had it right, and didn't want to accidentally say something bad!
So I called my best friend, and YES!  I did know it!  Mostly.  I had an e and i reversed (saying ti dere instead of te diré), and left off the s from dices in the third line.
I also didn't realize al revés was not arre bes, and that Por aquí pasó un caballo was not pora kipa sun caballo.  Which is how I had been thinking of it all this time.  (I have no idea if those are even real words!)  Pasó un is run together so that the o is barely or not even heard.

Even though having learned it well, I am now having a hard time wrapping my mind around the individual words I see written!   But other than about four words, I already knew what each word meant (although I didn't realize it until I saw them all written out).  But in my mind, I still see the "old" words I had formed in my head long ago.

If I had been told each individual word, that would have helped greatly.  

Which brings me to The Learnables.
(Click ↑ to see my review, and video of a partial lesson.) 
About three days into the first lesson (usually a lesson can take about 2 weeks to learn), my son came through the door spouting an entire sentence in Spanish with a perfect accent!  La señora está comiendo la manzana. Sounded perfect to me!  😊 
So I was pretty pleased.

But recently, my daughter wanted to know how to say a phrase in Spanish that had words we hadn't yet learned.  We talked about how to say several other things as well, and I discovered that she had really misunderstood some of the words from the native Spanish speaker on The Learnables CD.  😯
(Similar to when my oldest daughter was small and wrote "cow" as "cal." LOL!  Okay, sounds the same!  But actually not even close.) 

This was a little dismaying to me since we are already in Lesson 4!  Nearly eight weeks!
With The Learnables, you learn one word at a time, then put them together in phrases, then sentences.  

But I discovered that my son thought of "está comiendo"  (is eating) as "estaco miendo."  Hmph.
But even if the purpose of not seeing the words is so that you won't mispronounce them, your mind still will think of how they are spelled.  Maybe not actually spelling them out in your head, but it hears the sounds and interprets this as letters.  Cow and cal.  😄

So I let them look at the first couple of pages in the Basic Structures book (2nd book in the series), which has pictures and sentences that use words from the lessons in The Learnables.  My daughter was amazed at how the words were spelled.

We also went over vowel sounds, and I gave them English words to help them remember how the vowel can sound in Spanish:  a in father; e in bed; i in pita (pita bread); u in nuke.  The Spanish o is tricky.  With our Southern accent, I can tell them it sounds like the beginning of oil, but I have no idea how to get that across in written instructions.  lol.

I told them how a rolled r sounds kind of like t or d.  Otto and aro sound very similar, except for slight difference in the ending o's.

Since they knew how to pronounce the numbers 1-10, I then went over the spelling of those and we sounded them out according to what we had learned about vowel pronunciation.  I also wrote down several made up words to see if they could read them according to what we had learned about vowels.

We then went over orally come (com-eh) and comiendo (eats, eating) and bebe and bebiendo (drinks, drinking) since they had learned both of those forms separately, and may not have connected them.  

And that trae (trah-eh) is brings, and pone (po-neh) is puts. My daughter had said she was having a hard time catching whatever it was the waiter did, which was trae.  El camarero trae más café.  (The waiter brings more coffee.)
The sentences are getting longer now in Lesson 4.  El camarero pone la taza de café sobre la mesa del hombre. (The waiter puts the cup of coffee on the table of the man, i.e, the man's table.  De and el are joined as del.)

The kids do fine at listening and knowing what is being said, but still were not quite catching all the words, and sometimes were making 2 words in their head where there should be one, and vice versa. 

So I'm making some changes, but first we will be going back over all the words they've learned in the previous lessons.
We will have actual objects (when possible), and they will be doing things I say.  Drink, drinking; eat, eating; bring, put, etc, different objects.  We'll spend a few days reading some things aloud, like the numbers 1-10 and some short words I make up, working on vowel pronunciation.  

I'll spend as much time as needed before jumping back into Lesson 4, and then we will start my new plan.
After letting the kids listen to a new lesson for a couple of days, we will take a day to go over aloud the individual words, such as action words, etc, that are in the sentences but are not pronounced alone in the lesson.

    
After a week (or more?), I may let them see the written words...  I will just read aloud from the Basic Structures book while they read along silently, and they can try it when they're ready.  I will also make up some of my own sentences with those words. 

►►If this creates a problem, we may just only do orally, no reading, with me pronouncing individual verbs or other words that are not introduced individually in the lesson.  

If things go well, we will review briefly for a couple more days (with them continuing the CD) just to head off any misconceptions.  

We will keep reviewing letter sounds so that eventually they will actually be able to read even unfamiliar Spanish words.  This is my "starter" idea.  I'll know more how to proceed as we get into it, since as usual, homeschool moms tweak as they go, adjusting to fit the needs of each child.


Some things I added:
The spelling of the words in each lesson is listed in the back of the Basic Structures book, but I wrote a few verbs (see at the bottom of this post) on my small dry erase board and let them copy them in their notebook.  This helped them notice the endings of the verbs.

If you are having trouble with the verbs, for conjugation, I use SpanishDict.com/conjugate.  (currently have to scroll way down to see it)  I just use the first row down, which is present tense.
If I don't know what a verb means, I use the translate section of SpanishDict.com, find the "to ____" verb, then go back and type the Spanish word into the conjugate section of the website.

We aren't memorizing the conjugation, but after a few regular (not irregular) verbs, they saw the pattern.  So each time a new verb is introduced, we go over the differences orally, and they will be able to hear the difference of se ríe and se ríen. (he laughs, they laugh)

Learn to hear the difference.  
Sometimes the I, you, he, they, part of the sentence will have different forms.  For example, one sentence may say, The man is eating.  (El hombre está comiendo).  The next sentence with the same picture may say, He is eating.  (El está comiendo)  The verb form will be the same in both sentences.  

Hearing the endings of the verb will help you understand who/how many is laughing, eating, etc. 

Note the word endings below:

ríer - to laugh

I laugh -- yo río (REE-yo)

you laugh -- tú ríes  (REE-es)

he/she laughs -- él/ella ríe  (REE-eh)

we laugh -- nosotros reímos (re-EE-mos)

they laugh -- ellos/ellas ríen (REE-en)

poner - to put 

I put -- yo pongo 

you put -- tú pones

he/she put -- él/ella pone

we put -- nosotros ponemos

they put -- ellos/ellas ponen

traer - to bring 

I bring -- yo traigo

you bring -- tú traes

he/she brings -- él/ella trae

we bring -- nosotros traemos

they bring -- ellos/ellas traen

Again, if seeing the spelling starts to cause a problem, just orally explain the differences in conjugating a few verbs as you come to them (and only in the forms learned so far), and practice them so that they can get the pattern.  

The verb forms introduced first - is eating (está comiendo) and is drinking (está bebiendo). 

Next is eats, drinks, puts, brings. (come, bebe, pone, trae).  

At this time, point out the difference between está comeindo and come, and está bebiendo and bebe.  

The next verb form introduced is plural.  The verbs usually end in the letter n. 

The man and the boy are eating.  La señora y el nino están comeindo. (not está)

The firefighters come.  Los bomberos vienen.  (Also notice the plural form of el = los)

There are "feminine" and "masculine" words that have either la or el (the) in front of them, and when plural, are las or los.  See the two sentences above. 

Words ending in o are usually masculine, and words ending in a are usually feminine.  (One exception is la mano.)   Words ending in letters other than a or o will need to be learned as you go.  

Students really do not need to know the spelling at this point.  They just need to listen for the differences, and will begin to catch them more easily as they repeat the lessons.  🙂

sMiLeS,

Thanksgiving!

Bethany (15½), Rebekah (almost 18), my niece Abigail (almost 17)

Yumminess preparation in progress...

Family football every Thanksgiving =)

Great catch!

sMiLeS,

Physical Science, Module 3, The Atmosphere

•What we did 2010
•Videos for this module


In learning about the atmosphere, I wanted to do a few more things about air this time as well as the experiments we did in 2010.  This post is only about the new ones.  =)
Air presses on us from all sides.  We don't feel it, but it is there.  That is why if you take a large, thin board and wave it in the air, you feel resistance.

Flatten an Index Card
I had the kids fold an index card in half and flex it a few times, then place it on the table so that it made a low "tent."  They could blow under it to make the tent flatten.
This was because blowing some air molecules from under the index card temporarily allowed the air above the card to have more pressure than the air under the card.

Rising Paper
I also had them place a short strip of paper on their chin and blow, causing air molecules above the strip to be temporarily displaced, making the strip of paper to rise.  This is also like air blowing over the wing of a plane.

Straw Fountain
The boys loved this one!
And as you may have guessed by now, this is because of pushing air molecules out of the way, allowing the air pressure that is pushing down on the water in the cup to be temporarily greater than the air pressure pushing down at the top of the straw.
(We taped the inside straws in place before adding water.)







Rebellious Paper Wad (p. 14)
This works if you tell the kids to blow HARD! =D




We also did the can crusher experiment from the 2nd edition, but we're using the first edition and had no directions except for things I found online, so maybe that was why this one didn't work like it was intended?
No crushing.

But... the can did suck up the icy water.
How?
Since the molecules in the can were hot, they were more spread out.
When we inverted the can into icy water, this cooled the molecules in the can, causing them to take up less space.  Since they took up less space, it drew the water up into the can.

LOL, the hot stove eye looks PINK!  How funny.


►Video of how it is supposed to work.
(You'll see my name under a comment, but my comment was apparently deleted... In case you're wondering what my name is doing there!)

►Find more air pressure experiments here.


sMiLeS,

To Build a Kingdom...

Why am I here???  What is my purpose?  What does/will God want me to do?

I've heard the song "To Count for Jesus" many times before, but several times this past week I've heard it again, and the phrase "to build a kingdom" has really jumped out at me!
That's what we're supposed to be doing.
But what are we doing???



Or listen here.  (music starts around 1:00)

♪ ♫ To Count For Jesus 

All want their lives to count for something;

To leave their mark when life is through.

But vain pursuits will count for nothing:

Time will erase what ‘ere we do.

I want my life to count for Jesus,

For earthly things will quickly fade.

No need to add to worldly riches;

I only seek eternal gain.

Inside my heart there burned a question,

What was I placed on earth here for?

It truly was to build a kingdom;

Not of my own but of the Lord’s.

I want my life to count for Jesus,

For earthly things will quickly fade.

No need to add to worldly riches;
I only seek eternal gain.

Matthew 6: 19-21
"Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
"But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
"For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also."


I've been reading in Ezra and Nehemiah about God's people who were carried away captive to Babylon and later returned to Jerusalem.  Under much opposition and accusations, they re-built the temple.  And then began re-building the walls and gates of Jerusalem.  Again, more opposition!
One thing that spoke to me was when the men were building the walls, knowing there were enemies trying to stop them, that "one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon."  (Nehemiah 4:17)
Sometimes we are so busy trying to keep the enemy out, that we aren't really doing God's work.
We dress right outwardly, talk right, don't watch ungodly movies, go to the right places, help in activities, and as far as anyone knows, we are generally good people.

But do we tell others about Jesus?
We are here to build a kingdom for Him!

Mark 16:15
"And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature."

At a revival service last night, "To Count for Jesus" was one of the songs sung.  There was a lot of testifying, and one man said, "Why wait for somebody else to do it when God can use you?"

I have three more years homeschooling my children.  I may not know where I will be after that, or exactly what God wants me to do then, but one thing I know -- He wants me to win souls, now and always.

Apologia Physical Science, Module 2 - Air

•What we did 2010
•Videos for this module

Air takes up space!  I mean, it really does!
Just look at these pics of kids trying to blow up a balloon inside a 2-liter bottle.
Since the opening of the bottle is sealed with the balloon, and the bottle is full of air, there is no room for the balloon to expand.

But Look!  What is this???
Why can JohnDavid blow up his balloon???





We all had a good laugh over that one!  =)



In Experiment 2.2, Oxygen and Fire, I also added Carbon Dioxide.  I wanted them to remember that oxygen feeds fire, and that the heavier carbon dioxide displaces the oxygen-containing air around the candle, suffocating the fire.
(Here is a neat way to pour CO2 onto a lit candle and extinguish it!  With a bit more explanation about displacing oxygen.)

Hydrogen peroxide and yeast produce oxygen.
Vinegar and baking soda produce carbon dioxide.

But first, an overflow!  Woopsie! =D



Okay, here we go...
CO2 in the yellow balloon; oxygen in the white balloon.



They always have fun when we make a mess!

sMiLeS,

I Have a Goodly Heritage ♪♫

Chick-fil-A, after a revival service.
(my girls are the ones in the purple and green sweaters)




sMiLeS,

I have prepared with all my might...

King David had wanted to build the LORD a temple, but God chose David's son Solomon to build it.

I Chronicles 28
2. "Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:
3. "But God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood."
5. "...he hath chosen Solomon."

How many times do we feel slighted if we are passed over and someone else is chosen?
Do we sit down and pout and say, "Well then, I just won't do anything."
David didn't sit down and give up.  He got busy preparing for the work of the temple!  Even though he himself wouldn't be able to do the work, he wanted to do what he could.

I Chronicles 29
2.  "Now I have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for things to be made of gold, and the silver for things of silver, and the brass for things of brass, the iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble stones in abundance."

I love that phrase, "I have prepared with all my might..."  
Do we do that?  Even though we're not able to be in the limelight, or get to do a job we like, do we do the background work with all our might?
Maybe we need to do a job we even dislike, but if it is for the Lord, do we do our best?  Or are we half-hearted because we feel we should be chosen to do something more "important."  Do you presume any work of the Lord unimportant?

What was the result of David's preparation and his willingness to also give his own offering?

I Chronicles 29:9
"Then the people rejoiced, for that they offered willingly, because with perfect heart they offered willingly to the LORD: and David the king also rejoiced with great joy."

The next time you're cleaning toilets at the church, or staying behind to do cleanup after everyone else has left, and maybe no one even notices, just remember that you should be doing it for the Lord.  If you're disgruntled because no one notices, you're doing it for man's approval; for self-gratification.
What you do in the background may not seem important, but it isn't done for man; it is for the Lord.

I Chronicles 29:1
"... the work is great; for the palace is not for man, but for the LORD God."

sMiLeS,


P.S.  Homeschool moms, and stay-at-home-moms, there was once a time when I felt so useless.  I felt like a candle burning at both ends.  My Mom told me that I was a candle.  And I was being used.  And I should be letting my light shine in my little area for my kids, because I was doing a work with them in preparing them.
You never know what your kids can become if you just let His light shine through you!

But... a confession... I didn't do that.  I was the disgruntled person.  My husband took my kids to multiple youth meetings and various revivals for years, and they eventually began reading their Bibles on their own.  They began to want to go to other church meetings.  So much so, that I never kept a calendar for I knew they'd remind us when a meeting was coming up.
I didn't always go with them, and that almost became a costly mistake.  I noticed that only one of my children always wanted to go; the other two varied, and sometimes wanted to stay home with me.  One more than the others.  I got worried and decided I'd better go with my family as much as I could, even though I like being at home.  But I began to love going as well!  The Lord has something in every sermon for me, and sometimes I'm sure it's not what the preacher intended, but I get something I need!
He does always know what we need, doesn't He?  =)

Colossians 3:23
And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men. 

I Corinthians 10:31
Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

Apologia Physical Science, Module 1, The Basics

•What we did 2010
•Videos for this module

This is my second time around with Physical Science!  And I think I like it the best.  (But I also said that about Biology, and some modules of General Science, haha.)

Exp. 1.1, Atoms and Molecules
A 9V battery and copper wire in water w/ baking soda... bubbles coming from the ends of the wires...
Copper atoms were able to link together with oxygen atoms, hydrogen atoms, and carbon atoms to form molecules of copper hydroxycarbonate on the end of one of the wires.

Basically atoms and elements are the same thing. 

But an atom is just the smallest amount of an element.

Read this ice cream analogy.

We talked about how atoms link together to make molecules, and how formulas for molecules were written to indicate how many of each atom actually made up a particular molecule.  H2O means that there are 2 atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen in a molecule of water.
I had written out several chemical formulas and assigned colors to each element (atom).  The kids used Legos to "build" the molecules.  They used a variety of ways to put them together, haha, but I only cared that they knew how to read a chemical formula, and that individual atoms were what made up a molecule.

From left to right:  JohnDavid (my son), Caleb (my nephew), Bethany (my daughter
and JohnDavid's twin), Sarah (who is new this year!), and Courtney her sister.  =)

As you can see by the grins in these pics, my son keeps us laughing.  =)

We also did Exp. 1.3, Concentration, with the Tums and vinegar, and we did some conversions between units using the factor/label method.  It was pretty simple once they got the hang of it.  And they could watch the videos at home for review (in section 4).


sMiLeS,

Update on the Dead Body!

Read the first post if you haven't already.


Update:
Upon posting about this on facebook and getting feedback and (hindsight) advice from my friends, we have determined that there WAS a dead body, and the "surveyors" had to keep up their deception so we wouldn't suspect anything.
And the police were here to set up a sting, but when the surveyors got here, my son and I walked out and ruined it.
But a couple of weeks later, the surveyors came back!  We figured they thought the coast was clear!  We hid inside and pretended no one was home.  We purposely didn't look out the windows so that we wouldn't be witnesses.
Since it has been 3 more weeks, and they haven't been back, we've concluded they're not coming back because they did indeed do away with the body.
Whew!  So relieved.  I could not stand being the Witness Protection Program!  I like the name Marty, and no way I could give up homeschooling and blogging.
They'd find us in no time!

P.S.  Should I delete the facebook post?  hee hee! =D


sMiLeS,

"Anonymous" Strikes Again!

Strange people.  This cracks me up so much!!!  =D
Leaving comments like this:

" MK2227 can easily chronograph should be a rectangle shaped example absolutely 36mm tall moreover 10mm deep completed in some older plated metal obtaining wine pigmented dial based times quartz routine. The type of get pleasure from speaks of grace even so also can nice looking overall given that it's Or even more sub-dials towards two or more, 5 but six o-clock, luminous kiddy hands, each dark fabric little keep tabs on and moreover uncommon strengthen numbers. The afternoon has been revealed at only Nine 50. An important spring window clear protects a person's face. An individual associated with the specialist products in regards to this get stands out as a purses brushed buckskin bracelet your contraptions occasions everywhere in the arm offering up the application a bit of a ring face. Some sort of sub-dial over at Eight o-clock highlights"

This comment was on a recipe! (Easy Sticky Breakfast Buns)
Sounds like it was written using Mad Libs, hahaha! (Play here)

I read this in my inbox and said, "Seriously???  Again???"
Oh, My, Word!  This made me laugh so much.  I get strange stuff like this all the time and delete it/mark as Spam.  I get that English may not be a first language for some people, but most of these comments can't even begin to "fit" the post they've commented on!
I almost published the original commentor for the ridiculousness of it, but there were web links, so I didn't.

And of course it was Anonymous.
And always on the most current/top post on the blog.


Dying laughing over here,

Orange Sticky Buns and Cinnamon Sticky Buns

My girls were in a wedding recently...

Mine are the 2 on the left, then my niece, and a best friend.  =)

sMiLeS,

COMPLETE or FINISHED? (Which do you want to be?)

No English dictionary has been able to explain the difference between the two words "complete" and "finished" in a way that is easy to understand.
Some people say there is no difference between COMPLETE and FINISHED, but there is:
When you marry the right one, you are COMPLETE.
And when you marry the wrong one, you are FINISHED.

This is so hilarious, right?  =)
Most jokes that we can actually relate to are hilarious, and sometimes sad but true, or funny but true, etc.

My oldest daughter taught at a girls' camp recently, and one thing she said was to work toward being the right one and not just looking for the right one.
The other person out there is looking for the right one too, and if you're not being that person, you may miss out.
And you grow into it too (or out of it!), so you can't wait until the last minute!  Because you may one day find that right person... but by then you may not be the kind of man/woman they are looking for.  =(

You will only ever be COMPLETE with Jesus.
If you're not reading your Bible, start with one chapter a day in Proverbs.  Today is the 21st, so you can read Proverbs 21.  The Bible is a mirror to examine ourselves.  Gradually you will begin to see areas you need to change.  If you really get close to HIM, it will be easier to change them.
After reading through Proverbs multiple times, I'm still finding things to help me each day!  =)

sMiLeS,