For me, Vacation Bible School is an integral part of summer. As a child, I loved going to Vacation Bible School at our church. We sang fun songs, made neat crafts, played games outside and had flower-shaped cookies and Koolaid for snack. Most importantly, I heard stories about missionaries in foreign lands telling others about Jesus and a clear presentation of the gospel, an invitation to accept Jesus as my Saviour.
Animal Books and More
Our basket is full of books about animals this week! Here are a few of the best, ones that I found to be informative and age-appropriate for my six and eight-year olds.
Skunks by Patricia Whitehouse
Deer by Christine Butterworth
The Wonder of Moose by Rita Ritchie and Jeff Fair
Cheetahs: Spotted Speedsters by Jody Sullivan
African Elephant: The World’s Biggest Land Mammal by Kirsten Hall
We also got a video from the library entitled See How They Grow (Volume One) from Reader’s Digest Young Families that shows how baby animals grow up. It is probably geared toward younger children but is cute enough that my girls are enjoying watching it.
They also checked out a few titles from each of their current favorite series: American Girl, Magic Tree House, Cul de Sac Kids and Three Cousins Detective Club.
My eight-year-old wanted to read Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John. It was referenced in another book she had read so I reserved it for her at our library. I thought it looked a bit above her level, but she has read several chapters and says she likes it. It looks like a book that I may want to read as well. The author appears to have written a number of children’s books so I may see if our library has any of the others.
New to my reading list this week is The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns. Look for a book review on this one in the coming days.
See what others are reading this week by visiting The Happy Housewife and checking out her Thursday book basket post.
All About Animals
We finished up last week’s Ocean theme by heading to the beach on Friday afternoon. I love going a bit later in the day as there are more people leaving than arriving (and we always stop for supper on the way home!)
Books About The Ocean and Its’ Creatures
Following our weekly themes for the summer, our visit to the library this week included checking out books about the ocean and sea animals.
The following are the ones we liked the best:
March of the Penguins Okay, I suppose penguins aren’t technically sea animals, but one of the girls saw this book near the ocean section and asked for it. It’s adapted from the National Geographic film so the pictures are wonderful. We all really liked this book.
Octopuses by Deborah Coldiron
Jellyfish by Elaine Landau
The ABC’s of Oceans by Bobbie Kalman
Both daughters are still in the American Girl mode – they selected seven of those books to bring home this week. The younger one also chose The Missing Shapes Mix-Up by Wendy Wax from the Disney’s Read and Grow Library.
While we didn’t buy any books from the library sale shelves per say, they did have a collection of Highlights magazines and Puzzlemanias which appeared to be brand new. My older daughter enjoys those, so I allowed her to choose seven of them to buy; at ten cents apiece, it’s a pretty good deal for quiet entertainment.
On Wednesday we made a quick stop at a used book store for dollar day and got the books below for $3.75. (Three of the books were only a quarter apiece.) Maybe I could be wealthy if I never bought any books??
Pocahontas and the Strangers by Clyde Robert Bulla I had this book when I was a girl.
The Adventures of Old Mr. Toad by Thornton W. Burgess
The Boxcar Children Spring Special #2: The Mystery in Washington, D.C. by Gertrude Chandler Warner
A Louisa May Alcott Christmas (a collection of Christmas stories)
The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting Couldn’t believe we didn’t already have this one. It was a great deal for $1 as it is hardback and in great condition.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri We already had this book, but it’s mine from when I was young and literally falling apart.
No new books for me this week; I’m still working on the same stack. I’m now almost done with Do Hard Things by Alex and Brett Harris and would highly recommend reading the book. I want both of my girls to read it when they are approaching their teen years.
Visit The Happy Housewife to see what others are reading this week.
Train Up a Child
Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6
Whose Day Is It?
I guess this started about the time our younger daughter was old enough to talk…….a situation comes up during our day in which one of the following takes place: they have to take turns (who goes first?); a video can be chosen to watch; Mom needs a helper but can only handle one at the moment; who gets to sit by Daddy in the booth or at the table when we go out to eat? It would then fall to me to choose which one should go first or get the privilege over the other one.
I read this tip some place years ago and, after nearly reaching my wits’ end over the constant decision making and attempts to be fair, I decided to try putting it into practice. Since we only have the two children, I divided six days of the week between them. Monday, Wednesday and Friday are designated as my older daughter’s days; Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday are my younger daughter’s days. Anything that comes up during the day, be it a privilege, a first turn at something OR an extra chore that needs to be done, is assigned to the daughter whose day it is.
What about Sunday? Since most months have four Sundays, the first and third are my six-year old’s and the second and fourth are my eight-year old’s. If it’s a five Sunday month, the fifth Sunday is Mom’s and she gets to make all decisions without argument. How can you keep all that straight, you may ask? I really don’t have to – they police themselves quite well and usually already know when they get up in the morning whose day it is. Assigning responsibility and less refereeing – that works for me!!
This post is linked to Works for Me Wednesday.
Oceans of Fun!
Before I move on to talk about this week’s Ocean Life theme, let me give you an update on how things went last week in our summer learning program.
Book Review: God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible
With two little girls growing up at our house, I’ve come to know a lot about princesses. God’s Little Princess Devotional Bible by Sheila Walsh is a devotional book for young girls that highlights character traits a true princess would have and connects them to a Bible character or passage.
Daddies and Daughters
Isn’t it interesting how certain seemingly unremarkable events from your childhood stand out in your memory? For me, one of those events recalls my dad’s thoughtfulness.
Growing up,we didn’t go out to eat a whole lot – certainly not as much as we do with our children. There were four of us kids, so even a fast-food meal wasn’t exactly cheap. I believe we were headed somewhere on a trip and had gone through the drive-through at McDonald’s to get lunch, my dad placing the order for all of us. We pulled over into a parking space to divvy up the food before continuing down the road. Somehow the food I received wasn’t what I had ordered. I mentioned that I had gotten the wrong sandwich and, while it wasn’t what I had wanted, I could have eaten it. However, I remember my dad taking the time to get out of the car, walk back into the restaurant, stand in line and get the food I had requested.
The neatest thing is to see that same quality in my husband when he deals with our girls. Last night, our eight-year-old had left some books in the car and headed out to the garage to get them. I was busy in the kitchen when she came right back in saying it was too dark and she didn’t want to go out there by herself. My answer was to tell her to go on out there and just turn on the light and get her books. Yet her dad, overhearing the conversation, walked out there with her and turned the light on for her. Such a small thing, but he took the time to stop what he was doing and help her out.
Both stories are about a dad showing his love for his daughter by doing something that may seem insignificant at the time, yet cultivates that special father-daughter relationship, which is a finer thing indeed!
This post is linked to Finer Things Friday and Family Friday.
Our First Week of Summer Learning
Most of my Teaching Tuesday’s for the summer will revolve around what the girls and I are doing in our self-developed summer learning program. You can read here about what I have planned out for us to do each week. My younger daughter wants to call this “school” while the older one prefers the “summer learning” term.