My Grandma

 

 My Grandma at about the age of 18 with a part of her

quilt in the background

"Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." Psalms 116:15

 On the 15th of June, my Grandma went from labor to reward, five years ago. On the way to son's baseball game, my daughter and I passed a small yard with a garden in the back of the house. My mind instantly thought about the summers I spent with my grandparents. My parents worked so, my Grandma would watch me. I can remember my Grandpa telling me or my cousin to go out and pick some red tomatoes from their backyard garden- this was big to us because we lived in the city. He would wash them off and go sit on the screened in front porch, with a salt shaker and eat them or my Grandma would pick some cucumbers and soak them in vinegar for later on in the day. Sometimes we would sit on the porch with a brown paper bag and Grandma would show me how to pick greens or get peas out of a pod. My favorite thing to do was to run through my Grandma's freshly washed sheets that she would hang out to dry. I loved how they smelled. Today, I was washing my face and the scent of the wash cloth transported me back to those days. It smelled so much like those sheets! My Grandma would see me running through them and attempt to tell me to get out of them and then she would laugh. I have heard my entire life that I look like my Grandma. I never saw it. My mom found the picture above of her at a relatives house after Grandma was gone to be with the Lord. When I saw it for the first time, I thought I was looking in the mirror! It is now my FAVORITE picture of her. So when I really miss her, I just go look in the mirror and smile and realize she still lives on.

I miss my Grandma and it is so hard to type this and not cry. Then I thought about the blessed hope we have in Jesus.  She's not dead- but asleep!

"For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words." 

I Thessalonians 4:14-18

"But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you."

Romans 8:11

For the month of February I decided we should cover Black History. I went to the library and borrowed some books as usual. I was looking for a particular book called "Sweet Sarah and the Freedom Quilt". In this story Clara has a quilt that is really a map of the Underground Railroad. Each patch represents a part of the escape route. I thought that would be pretty neat to cover since we have two quilts in the house that my 85 year old great aunt had made. I noticed next to that book was another one and I basically grabbed it because it looked like it would go along with the lesson. It stayed on my shelf for about two weeks until I took it down to read it to the children. The name of this book was "The Patchwork Quilt" as I read the book it became very interesting. I found out later it was the children's version of the book "Hidden In Plain View". The adult version talked of the secret slave codes that were hidden in quilts during slavery.

The quilts were to look as if they were airing out, but it was a message to the other slaves. As I looked at the patterns, one looked strangely familiar.

As I began to look further into the two books, I was very surprised to discover that pattern in the book was the pattern on one of the quilts my great aunt had made!  It is called the Dresden Wheel- it was used to alert other slaves that the one who hung it out to "air" were about to make a journey on the Underground Railroad and their help would be needed to gather extra food and supplies and a cover for them to make this journey.

The Dresden Wheel was from a pattern for china made in Germany. And it also represented Dresden, Ohio- a stop on the Underground Railroad.

The beautiful part of my story is that my Grandmother passed away 3 years ago on a hot day on June 15th. She had her front door and back door opened as if she were hot, but she had that Dresden Quilt over her. We believe she was letting us know that she was about to take her journey from earth to glory and she was ready to go.

 

The Underground Railroad Quilt Code Patterns
	Monkey Wrench Prepare the tools you’ll need for the long journey, including the mental and spiritual tools. Or (as a Ship’s Wheel), the pilot is prepared to begin the transport.
	Wagon WheelLoad the wagon or prepare to board the wagon to begin the escape.
	Bear’s Paw Take a mountain trail, out of view. Follow the path made by bear tracks; they can lead you to water and food.
	Crossroads Refers to Cleveland, Ohio, a destination offering several routes to freedom. It also signifies reaching a point where a person’s life will change, so one must be willing to go on.
	Log Cabin A secret symbol that could be drawn on the ground indicating that a person is safe to talk to. It also advises seeking shelter
	Shoofly Possibly identifies a friendly guide who is nearby and can help.
	BowtieDress in a disguise, or put on a change of clothes.
	Flying Geese Points to a direction to follow, such as where geese would fly during spring migration.
	Drunkard’s Path Create a zig-zag path, do not walk in a straight line, to avoid pursuers in this area.
	Star Follow the North Star. Worked in conjunction with the popular song, “Follow the Drinking Gourd,” a reference to the Big Dipper constellation.

 

The above was taken from & includes instructions of how to make

your own Freedom Quilt:

 

Here are some websites I used for info and they have many different links:

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/Socialstd/grade5/Sweet_Clara.html

Tadpoles

On the Weaver list, we have been having discussions about tadpoles and frogs- or should I say, how we can successfully keep them alive! My children have been wanting another tadpole, so I thought this is the time of year to find them. We looked so many places and didn't find anything but, what a man at the pet store called "Pond Scum". It was gross and he touched it. Actually, it was just algae, but it looked nasty. I came to the conclusion that all the frogs in Indiana have gone on strike and refuse to multiply.

It was suggested that I order some online and have them mailed to me. But as someone said on the group list, there's something not right about getting tadpoles in the mail.

So, back we went to the pet store and they had gotten a fresh shipment in and I got two!

My daughter named one Leah and my son named the other one J3 (for Jumpers the 3rd-yeah, we had that many in the past)

Here's a picture:

That's J3 on the left and Leah on the right.

The next thing on my agenda to get is...A Venus Flytrap. We had one last year and it was soooooo neat to watch when a fly or insect got into it!

The Home Schooler's 23rd Psalm

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to live on less sleep: He leadeth me through the noise of many voices.

He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me to teach the right lessons each day, for His name’s sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of undone Laundry and kitchen messes, I will fear no evil: For thou art with me, my teacher’s guides and Answer keys, they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence Of threatening school officials and critical family members: Thou anointest my head with heavenly wisdom, my cup runneth over.

Surely educated and godly children shall follow after me All the days of my life: and I will dwell again one day In a clean house with the Lord forevermore.

Speaking of Ancient Egypt...

That reminds me...the last time we did a study on Egypt, we also did the Ten Plagues. We had so much fun! I think I say that every time, but we really did! I didn't have a blog back then, soooooooooo since I have one now, I will post from an email I shared with others to help them out who would teach the chapter after me and for you .

We are really enjoying this chapter-
I just went to a suggested site with my children and we heard so many different
frog sounds! I didn't know that they could make so much noise:

http://www.exploratorium.edu/frogs/tracker/

When I began the lesson about frogs we read about it in the Bible and while the
children were writing I went downstairs and put small pieces of construction paper
all over the lower level of the house- so as they went down for lunch they were
greeted by "frogs". I forgot I had done it, until they went down for lunch
and began screaming and yelling. I asked what was wrong and my four year old said,
"Mommy, there are frogs every where!" - they were, I put them in the fridge,
the freezer, the bread, the cereal, the top of the stove, the floor, the table-
you name it, it was there. If we lived during that time, I doubt if they would have
survived this plague.   We have a tadpole and they began talking about what if he
multiplied and was all over the house, the yard, the city, ect.

For the water being turned to blood, without them knowing, I put food coloring
in some bottled water. I asked them to get me some water from the pantry and they
looked sooooooo confused when they came back with red water. That began our lesson
for the day- I couldn't pay them to drink it.

We covered the plague of lice the other day- on a site I saw where it was suggested
to get a whole punch and take the dots of paper and put it on a wide piece of clear
tape and wear it for a while. The lice was the paper and tape did itch, so it got
the point across.

Now they get up in the morning and have been asking for plagues!


Oh and here's the site with things to with the plagues:

A fun activity to represent the ten plagues can be reenacted. Ten days before Passover
begins, do something in your home to represent each one of the ten plagues. Here
are a few examples. Be creative and make up your own symbols.

1. Nile waters turning to blood --put red food coloring in the water glasses at
the dinner table, in the bathroom sinks, in the dog's water bowl, and anywhere else
you can think of.

2. The frogs--Use green construction paper to cut out roundish frogs with thin green
legs. Bend the legs to make the frogs look as if they are jumping. Put them everywhere,
in cereal boxes, in the shower, refrigerator, drawers, etc.

3. The lice--Use a hole punch to make many small white "dots" out of plain
white paper. Scotch tape them on your body and leave them on for a few hours. The
appearance and irritation will make you think of itching lice.

4. The flies-- Use clear scotch tape to tape pepper or small "dots" of
black construction paper in different areas of the house, the windows, the bathroom
mirrors, etc.

5. Disease afflicting the Egyptian livestock--put stuffed animals in different areas
of the house, upside down.

6. Boils--Use a hole punch to make many small red ÿdotsÿ out of red construction
paper (or cut out circles). Cover each other with boils by scotch taping them on
your body and leave them on for a few hours. The appearance and irritation will
make you think of the boils.

7. Hailstorm--Put ice cubes around the outside of your house, the porch areas and
on the outside window sills.

8. Locusts-- Use brown construction paper to cut out oval-looking locusts. Put them
everywhere as you did the frogs (you'll even think of some new places to surprise
your family).

9. Darkness--Tape brown paper bags over all the windows, draw all draperies to keep
it dark in the daytime, or don't turn on any lights in the evening.

10. Put red ribbon on the sides and top of door post of your house to avoid the
death plague. When the neighbors ask what the ribbon is for you can witness to them!

Our Study of Ancient Egypt

We are covering Ancient Egypt again, but this time more in depth. We went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum and saw an Egyptian tomb and took pictures of and in it. Inside they explained and showed to us the process of making a mummy. It was pretty neat. While the children were working on projects for their lapbooks, I read out loud to them:

• Croconile by Roy Gerrard


• Hat-Shepsut, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine M. Andronik


• I Am the Mummy Heb-Nefert by Eve Bunting


• Who Built the Pyramid by Meredith Hooper


• Ten Little Mummies by Philip Yates


• The Box Car Children, "The Curse of the Mummy"

Some great helps to me were:

The Usborne Traveller Books- Pharaohs and Pyramids- My 11 year old (as of today- Happy Birthday B.) really enjoyed looking through this book and reading all the little captions. Our booklets and pictures for our lapbooks came from History Pockets. Here's a link where you can look at it page by page: http://www.realread.com/pageview/browse.cgi?site=41906611&book=155799904X

I used "Ancient Egypt" for my older ones in the 5th & 6th Grade and for my kindergartner, I used "Ancient Civilizations"- the section on Ancient Egypt.

Here are some good links that I used:

http://www.iwebquest.com/egypt/ancientegypt.htm

http://www.guardians.net/egypt/kids/

http://www.kingtutone.com/kids/

To make a cartouche out of your child's name: http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/cartouche/cartouche.html

http://members.aol.com/Donnclass/Egyptlife.html

I recieved this book free from www.wowio.com - It had about 130 pages "Ancient Egypt Projects you can do Yourself" Very, very good.

We enjoyed ourselves and will post pics of our lapbooks next week.  Until then...here are some pics and some of the things we did.

Our Study of Egypt

The Crayon Box Song

When I was just a little child no higher than your knee,
My mother bought a box of crayons, just for me.
I picked them up and I opened them up and I looked way down inside,
And the colors there reminded me of Jesus when He died.

O...Red is the color of the blood that He shed,
Brown is for the crown of thorns they laid upon His head.
Blue is for royalty! Within Him did dwell;
And yellow is for the Christian who's afraid to tell.

I colored and I colored 'til the crayons were all gone,
And though I am much older now, the mem'ry lingers on.
And when I see a little child with crayon box in hand,
I tell them what they mean to me and hope they'll understand.

O...Red is the color of the blood that He shed,
Brown is for the crown of thorns they laid upon His head.
Blue is for royalty! Within Him did dwell;
And yellow is for the Christian who's afraid to tell.

Afraid to tell of a Saviour who died on Calvary,
He died for lowly sinners just like you and me;
And someday soon He's coming back to be our King,
And the colors of the crayon box we will sing!

O...Red is the color of the blood that He shed,
Brown is for the crown of thorns they laid upon His head.
Blue is for royalty! Within Him did dwell;
And yellow is for the Christian who's afraid to tell.

So, don't you be a Christian, who's afraid to tell!

written by: William V. Mason