Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett and I have been reading "One Small Square: Woods" for science together. He loves the bright beautiful pictures of this book, and I love the narrative qualities of it! It is so much more vibrant than a dry science textbook would be. The experiments and note booking assignments have also been excellent follow-ups to the readings, and they help him retain the information so much better than dry worksheets or fill-in-the-blank copycat type pages would do. One of our favorite days this week was the day we read about how insects are able to hide from their predators and how this allows them to survive. Here you can see Emmett's lab sheet, and if you look very, very carefully, you can see his yellow insect hiding in our flower arrangement quite artfully, in fact, so artfully we have decided to let him reside there for a bit!
Studying the woods in science has been a perfect tie-in to this week's history readings in our beloved Eggleston books, as each of the readings have been about famous 'woodsmen' - such as Daniel Boone and George Rogers Clark. When I think of the courage it must have taken for not only Daniel Boone, but for his WIFE and DAUGHTERS to live in the wild Kentucky woods, I am amazed! Sometimes I feel we live somewhat in the 'middle of nowhere,' as we are surrounded by fields and cattle and flat prairie land. However, we live on a paved road with neighbors across the road, and a town with a grocery store, gas station, a Pizza Ranch and Subway, a police department, and the nuts and bolts of what one needs to make living quite painless - all just 2 miles away from us. No. I don't live in the middle of nowhere. Reading the history this week with Emmett has shown me that. I also tend to feel like I have it kind of 'rough' sometimes, as my dh is traveling overnight quite often (he is only home about 5-7 nights this entire month). However, wrong again. Daniel Boone was gone for YEARS! His wife and daughters thought he was dead and moved back to North Carolina.
Anyway, the strength of these men and women was truly incredible. It makes me thankful for all we have now, and for the men and women that settled America enough to tame the wild so people like me could live here quite easily and happily!
So, one of the stories was about Daniel Boone's daughters and friend being kidnapped, and those girls were clever enough to leave bits of their clothes on branches, and clever enough to break sticks and boughs as they walked to leave a path for their fathers to follow to find them. They were recovered safe and sound, and I don't believe they left the safe confines of their fort square their fathers had built again.
In Christ,
Julie