Bible Lessons

Our next Bible stories stop was to visit the miracles of Jesus. Since these occurred during the worst time of year for us, NIU band camp and Tom's west coast activities, very few pictures were taken and the core of the month was provided by Netflix. It is amazing how many biblical movies they have. Not all of the them are good, but Stephen enjoyed many of them and retained the information just as well as if I had done a ton of crafts. I prefer crafts to the DVD player, but we needed to survive the month of August.

A few craft project ideas survived and where completed prior to marching band madness.

Great Faith: Jesus Heals the Sick Servant

We must apparently cover our whole face when we sneeze. LOL

Good Soil: Jesus Talks About Growing

Be Still: Jesus Stops the Storm

Let's Eat!: Jesus Feeds the 5000

Netflix Picks

Greatest Heros and Legends of the Bible

This is about the time our schedule went out the window for awhile, but we also covered:
She's Alive: Jesus Brings a Girl Back to Life, A Ghost: Jesus Walks on Water, The Christ: Jesus is God's Son, White As Light: Jesus Shows His Glory, The Greatest: Jesus Talks About His Greatness, Forgive: Jesus Talks About Forgiveness, Now I See: Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind, My Sheep: Jesus is the Good Shepard
We have been having a much more productive month in September and here are the stories that we studied.

The Baby: Baby Issac is Born

Each morning, the kids come down to do an activity that introduces the story. This gives us time to vacuum and empty the dishwasher without too much incident. For this story, I decided to bring up the container of baby toys. I think Tom was a bit sceptical on this activity and it was a HUGE hit. I think some of the toys were smuggled up to their rooms since the container wasn't as full as when I brought it up from the basement.

The Bride: Issac Marries Rebecka

This activity was also a big hit when I had them use ground coffee to glue onto their camels. We talked about how the servant rode to find Issac a wife and how Rebecka gave them water. I think they actually remember the story AND had a great time playing with the coffee grounds. I'm not sure why I have not done this project before and plan on using it again on those cold snowy days coming up soon. I had a picture of the finished product, but it has somehow disappeared.

The Twins: Esau Trades His Birthright
This was a story with another fun introduction activity. I gave the kids our big soup pot for them to make their own stew using their plastic play food. It was interesting since I only gave them one pot and asked them to work together. They weren't crazy about it at first, but then saw that there were two spoons. I didn't think it was wise to push my luck and have them take turns stirring. It was, in fact, first thing in the morning; that is my excuse and I'm sticking with it.

The Liar: Jacob Takes Esau's Blessing

This morning, I brought up the whole play kitchen that proved to be another snowy day idea that I will tuck away for later. Typically, only Rhea plays with the kitchen set downstairs in the playroom while Stephen plays with his trains. When I brought it to the kitchen, everyone cooked and served meals like Jacob and Esau.p align="center">
The Ladder: Jacob Meets The Lord

Stephen drew a touching picture to begin this lesson. Our focus was "God is with you ALL the time". He was instructed to draw a picture of him and God together. The result was the two holding hands. God also needed a kite and a few other things too...

The Worker: The Lord Blesses Jacob

Helping hands was our theme today and the opening activity was "supposed" to involve drawing and coloring their hands. This turned into a short period of making hand bats followed by an immediate breakfast. I think they were extra hungry and missed the whole helping hands application. Oh well.....

Forgiveness: Esau Forgives Jacob

This was another activity that took a different form. The kids were supposed to draw roads on the floor using butcher paper and play with their cars. The object of the activity was when one child crashed into another child's car, we would teach forgiveness. I was told that we didn't quite get that far since bodies were somehow crashed before the roads were drawn. Hey, however the concept was taught really doesn't matter, right?

The Coat: Joseph's Brothers become Jealous

This lesson was a big hit because they were able to construct their own coat out of paper. Stephen's came out really nice, but as you can see, I think I underestimated Rhea's size. She is small, but not that small.

Slave: Joseph Helps the Potiphar

The Dream: Joseph Becomes Egypt's Leader
The Reunion: Joseph Welcomes His Brother's
The Blessing: Jacob's Family Grows in Egypt

These lessons were a lot of fun. We talked about God's faithfulness and that he will take care of us no matter what. These pictures are of the kids shopping for food. We talked about the famine and how Jacob's family came to Egypt to find food. I'm not sure how much sunk in, but they had a great time with their store.

Victory: The Walls of Jericho Fall Down

Building the Wall

Can we knock it down yet?

.....and the walls came tumbling down!

I think the kids had more fun acting this one out rather than their activity sheets. We first built the wall, but then had to resist tumbling it down before we marched around it.

The Wool Fleece: Gideon Becomes a Warrior

The Little Army: Defeats the Minianites

This one took a little practice, but was a fun story to act out once they got the hang of it and remembered the words. We took turns "sleeping" while the "army" snuck up and said "The army of the Lord, and Gideon!" The "sleeping" group would scream (big fun) and run away. I can't remember how many times we did this, but we had a great time!

Jesus Heals the 10 Lepers

This was our version of Jesus healing the 10 Lepers. We talked about the people in our lives that take care of us and that Jesus loves all of his people. The kids love playing with my blood pressure cuff that I had when I was pregnant. Stephen, however, is a little confused as to where it goes sometimes since he has it around his bear's leg.