Indians and the letter I

I've been trying to work with Eli in the mornings on his letters. We worked on the Letter I and he made an indian. I just used construction paper, glue, markers, and felt. Pretty quick and easy.

Making choices

This past Monday was very busy. At 7 we still had not had Family Home Evening and we still had some errands to run and bedtime at 8. So, we decided to combine our errands with FHE. Will was having a kindergarten performance the next day and needed to take cookies in for the snack after the performance.

We were going to make cookies but didn't have time so instead we put all the kids in the car and drove to WalMart. We got our cart and walked to the entrance. At the entrance we asked the boys what direction we should go to find cookies. They pointed to the right. This took us all the way to the toys. We asked them where to go next and they decided that if we went straight, we would just go to the toys, not find cookies, so they pointed again to the right. We went left again and ended up in the toiletries section. They said left and we were going towards the garden area. Mike and I asked them what section they thought cookies would be in and they said, "Near the food." So we asked them what direction the food was in and they pointed us back to where we came. Eventually, through this process of choosing the directions, we made it to the cookies. Once we got to the cookies we asked each of them which cookies we should buy. All of us chose something else.

At this point we talked to them about choices and how making choices effect the outcome. We talked to them about how certain choices are wrong and will not get us where we need to be--when we went right, we ended up at the toys, not the cookies. Then we talked about how some choices don't matter--even though we all choose a different cookie, it doesn't mean that one cookie is better than the other. We all just want something different.

We compared this to the gospel by pointing out that we all have agency and are allowed to make choices for ourselves. Some choices are wrong and some are right. We can follow the commandments or ask for help if we want to know what choice to make. We told them that just like they were confused which way to go to find the cookies, they could have asked someone that worked there that knew where to find those cookies. Just like we could ask our parents, teachers, etc., what we should do to make the right choice.

Just as we all chose different cookies, there are some choices in life that are personal to us and there might not be a right or wrong choice. Heavenly Father has a different plan for each of us and there are certain choices that he will let us know personally are right for us--what career to choose, who to marry, etc.

I think this lesson worked well for the boys. They really enjoyed getting to lead us to the cookies and then getting to choose what cookies we would eat for our Family Home Evening treat.

Family Home Evening on Repentance

Mike thought up this awesome Family Home Evening. He decided to teach the boys about repentance and I was a little nervous because I thought it would be a little over their heads but the activity he did to explain repentance was awesome. It reminded me that you are never to young to learn important doctrine and principles of the Gospel.



Mike had me buy a helium balloon and then he made a little contraption that he tied to the balloon. Then he got out some rice. He had the boys sit at the table and told them what repentance was and why repenting was needed. Then he had the boys put a piece of rice in little contraption/basket he made.

The balloon just started to float up and talked to them about how one little mistake or sin didn't seem like it was doing anything--that we were still floating up to our goal of being with Jesus Christ and Heavenly Father in heaven. He explained that when we sin once and don't repent, it is easier to sin more. So the boys put more rice in the basket. Soon, the basket was floating towards the ground. Mike explained that our lives are weighed down and our journey is now being led away from God.





Then we talked to the boys about repentance and how repenting is necessary to get our journey towards heaven back on track. We talked about the steps of repentance and had the boys slowly take out the rice until our balloon was once again floating up.

I loved teaching the boys this lesson. I really felt that Mike was inspired. I think sometimes it is easy to think that our kids are too young to learn various aspects of the Gospel but the boys seemed to understand what we were teaching them. Of course it will probably be many years before they really understand but this was a good way to help them make a connection. I hope they will never have to really go through the painful process of repentance, but we are each faulted human beings in need of daily repentance and I hope they will hold on to this precious gift of repentance we have been given so they we can all make it together as a family to our Heavenly Father. And if, at some point they have to repent for something more serious than our day to day mistakes, I hope they can understand the love or our Heavenly Father and of their parents. I hope they will feel safe enough to seek our help and understanding and go to the Lord to change their lives.

Learning about pioneers plus music shakers

Since summer started we have not been doing as many learning activities and crafts because we would rather be outside or playing with friends. We have done a few though. We made these little music shakers. It was pretty simple. I just had them tape paper over the ends of the empty toilet paper rolls (after we put in the beans) and then let them decorate the outside with markers, feathers, streamers, etc.







The week of the 24th of July we decided to do some pioneerish things. We went to the farm for playgroup, and then we made these covered wagons for a fun treat.

Family Home Evening: Pizza and a happy family

It's been a hard month at our house. We have had a lot of different experiences that have really left an impression on me and reminded me how important teaching my children is. We have Family Home Evening every Monday night but lately they have been kind of lame and last minute. Both of us have a renewed desire to make sure our Family Home Evenings are more thought out.

Last week we had some friends over for homemade pizza and we had quite a bit of pizza dough left over so I stole an idea off of my friend and adapted it.

We talked about all the things that make a happy family and each ingredient represented a different quality of a happy family. The last part of our pizza was cooking it in the oven, which we compared to trials that our family might have to go through. We taught the boys that the trials we go through will help us be a stronger family and that the ingredients we already put on our pizza (service, love, a home, etc.) would help us through those trials.

Kites--cutting and the letter K

Excuse Eli's clothes; we just had snack and it looks like most of his snack ended up on him!

The boys really wanted to make kites and this seemed like a good idea to me because Isaac still gets his R and K confused--makes sense to me, R's and K's look similar. So, we practiced our cutting skills and the letter K. Isaac is getting better and better at cutting--his is the one on the right and Will's is the one on the left (he cut out all his pieces on his own). I also used this as an opportunity to work on colors with Eli.

Fishing

I haven't had a lot to post on this blog recently partly because it has been beautiful outside and we just want to be out playing all day. We have also had a lot of playdates the last few weeks so we haven't done a lot of projects inside--mostly climbing trees and pretending to be "pirate kings" in the backyard.

Today we went fishing.

Yesterday I spray painted a box blue and then when we went to the park I made sure to pick up a long stick. I tied yarn to the stick and taped a magnet to the end (I can't find glue sticks for my glue gun right now). Then I drew six fish out of colored construction paper and laminated them. I then put paper clips on the front and put the fish in the dried box. Oh, I also wrote a letter and a number on each fish. I only did six fish though so I picked the numbers 1-6 and chose some letters I knew Isaac still got confused. I used six different colors so that when Eli gets a little older he can use these fish to learn his colors. For the numbers I just had Will fish for two and then had him add them, which was too easy for him so next time I'll have him subtract.

Then the boys went fishing. They had the best time! The only problem I had was that the magnet fell off eventually (need that glue gun!) and the boys had so much fun that they fought about who's turn it was and that was super annoying, though not surprising.