Remembering Patrick

Saint Patrick Going to Tara Ireland from allposters.com

There was a man called Patrick who was captured by Irish marauders and taken from his wealthy, comfortable life in Roman occupied Britain to live as a slave in Ireland. There he found faith in Jesus Christ and even though he managed to escape and return home, he obeyed God and returned to Ireland to evangelize to the lost. Patrick was a missionary.

Today he is traditionally called St. Patrick and considered the patron Saint of Ireland although he was never officially cannonized by the Roman Catholic Church. I like Patrick. I like to remember him and his love and service to God. I grew up observing St. Patrick's Day with my family and today I observe it with mine. I use it as a time to celebrate someone who gave his life to God.

I think one of the best children's books on the life of Patrick is Saint Patrick by Ann Tompert. This book focuses more on the facts that can be known about Patrick than the legends that have grown up around him. The illustrations are beautiful and capture the attention of young children. My 9 year old daughter reads it herself. If you only share one book with your children about Patrick, this is the one.

I'm currently reading "Let Me Die in Ireland" by David Bercot to see if I want to share it with my children. So far so good. Subtitled, "The True Story of Patrick" the author attempts to tell the story of Patrick using only facts gleaned from Patrick's autobiography embelished with details of life at the time Patrick lived. So far this is an excellent book. The gospel of Christ is presented as Patrick comes closer to God while a slave. The historical descriptions are accurate and manage to teach while entertaining.

We also spend this day in my family celebrating and learning about the Irish people. We listen to Irish music, check out parades online, and eat Irish food.

I hope you will spend some time tomorrow telling your children about Patrick and how he loved God enough to give up his own comfort to spread the gospel.

Vision Forum Giveaway on Clark Chatter

Ginger at Clark Chatter is hosting a wonderful giveaway. Go check it out!

I feel so much better about myself now!

Praiseworthy Blog: E.W. Spider

I've found a blog that I really love. It's called E.W. Spider and is described as "bite size, vegetarian based crafts and recipes for young learners. And that is an apt, if understated description. I'm simply enchanted with this site! There are so many simple fun things to do with kids. And the author's sense of humor is delightful for adults as well. Frankly, I'd like to do a lot of the things she writes about even if I didn't have kids!

The author of this blog teaches English to children in Japan. Now that sounds like a perfectly lovely job. And apparently through it she has learned a lot of things to do with children that aren't "twaddly" as Miss Mason would say, and that children will find as delightful as parents. Check it out!

No Knead Bread

Okay. I'm a little behind the eight ball on this one. I tried No Knead Bread a few weeks ago. This is the recipe that became famous all over blogdom after it was in the New York Times. Folks...it's fantastic. You just mix up a few ingredients, let it sit for eighteen hours. mess with it a bit and I mean a LITTLE bit. Then bake it in the oven in a preheated lidded pan. I used my cast iron dutch oven.

This bread rivels any I have bought in stores. The texture is a chewy, crisp crust and a tender interior with lots of air pockets. Some have complained about the taste, but I find it very tasty. And as you can see from the picture above, it looks quiet impressive.

The first time we had a few slices with butter and honey then I froze the rest of the loaf and used it to make garlic bread. The second time I made it I made two batches and used them to make pizza's the next night. Fantastic pizza dough! I just stretched the dough onto pizza pans, let it rise and then topped them and baked. Delicious. Next I'm going to try making cinnamon rolls with this dough.

So, I advise you to try it at least once. Teach your kids how to make it and let them do it! They'll love it and it's a great chemistry lesson.

Mother Culture

I missed the Charlotte Mason blog carnival this time around but wanted to highlight a few things. The topic is mother culture and I hope you'll click on the button on the right side of my blog to read some of the entries. But if you don't please at least read this post on living, learning and...loving. This is a new blog to me but I will be back. This post is one of the post explanations I have ever heard of what "mother culture" is in Charlotte Mason's terms. I found it so encouraging, positive and inspirational. Reading it is itself mother culture!

And if your wondering my mother culture is derived from reading the blogs you see in my blogrolls as well as handicrafts and time out doors. I'm so thankful God has provided me with these ways to grow and learn.

First in the Hearts of His Countrymen

According to the Federal Government this day is really Washington's Birthday observance. Many people traditionally view this as a day to remember both Washington and Lincoln whose birthday also falls in February. And still others choose to remember all Presidents of the United States on this day. No matter how you choose to celebrate this day here are some resources.

Face of Lincoln is a very interesting informational film that older children might enjoy...parent's too! Here is some information from archive.org where the 21 minute film can be downloaded.

Presents Professor Merrell Gage, retired head of the Department of Sculpture at the University of Southern California, describing the life and career of Abraham Lincoln as he sculpts a lifelike bust of the 16th President, making physical changes in the subject's hair, beard and expression to correspond to events in Lincoln's life.

Biographies of all the presidents are on the White House website.

A REALLY fun book is George Washington's Cows. You'll never believe what all those cows get up to.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

Birdwatching is very popular in our house. Especially in the winter months when it's hard to go outside sometimes because of temperatures that are too low or high winds. So this year we are going to use one of our favorite activites to help scientists in gaining an overview of birds in our area. The Great Backyard Bird Watch starts on Friday February 15 and continues through the 18th. It takes as little as 15 minutes to participate. During that time you write down the birds you see and then turn them in here.

At the main site you'll find a page devoted to kids activities. There are also lots of online guides and tools here. The whole site has lots of interesting information so I urge you to check it out.

If birdwatching and study interests you and you'd like to continue there are lots of resources on line to help you. We have a bird book for our area and some binoculars next to the window we look out most. Some days my kids will draw pictures of a bird they saw in their nature notebook with the date and bird's name. If you want to get fancy, Notebookingpages.com is currently giving away a really nice Bird Study set with great pages for kids to fill in information about birds in general as well as the specific birds they see. Just go to their site and join their newsletter and you can receive the link for free.

Whether or not you take part in the GBBC I hope you will encourage your children to learn more about the birds in your area. It's a great winter time activity!

Valentine's Day

The Collectible Valentine Index at About.com is a treasure trove of images and information for collectible Valentine's. Also on About.com find activites for babies and toddlers (and older children too) for Valentine's Day here.

Tasty Valentines!

Last year my daughter made these peppermint heart Valentines. I believe I got the idea from Martha Stewart but I'm not sure. But they are simple to make. Take your leftover candy canes and arrange them on a baking sheet with a silpat mat or another nonstick surface. Place them in a 350 degree oven until they start to melt and run together. Don't let them spread out too much. IMMEDIATELY pull them out and stick a lollipop stick (you can get them at craft or candy supply stores) at the bottom. Let them cool and then they come right off the mat.

My daughter made her own little tags as you can see and slipped them on the sticks and then placed each one in a ziploc baggie. I will warn you that they are VERY brittle and will shatter easily so carry them carefully. Great way to use up old candy canes, do a craft with your kids AND have unique, handmade valentine suckers!!