Fun With All Ages

It's been a full week! There is no way I'm going to write a long enough post to address all that we accomplished this week (yes, you may thank me for that!) and in spite of Mama getting strep throat. Most of this post will focus on some fun preschool activities with the little ones, but I first simply must highlight one of our days from our continued reading of Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis.

This particular chapter was called "Sexual Morality" and addressed the virtue of chastity--a particularly interesting chapter to read with my teenagers. I think Lewis did a wonderful job with this subject, as he does with so many. We get a kick out of his wry sense of humor and can almost hear him talking with an accent as we read the book aloud. He does such a good job presenting biblical principles and then addressing them from a common sense, logic-driven perspective. I simply don't see how anyone could argue (coherently, at least) with much of what he says.

The chapter is rich, addressing the difference between modesty and chastity, the theory that if man had never fallen, sexual pleasure would actually have been greater, faulty views towards sex, and the unequivocal statement that "surrender to all our desires obviously leads to impotence, disease, jealousies, lies, concealment, and everything that is the reverse of health, good humor, and frankness" (100). We had a delightful discussion about the marriage bed being honorable and God's desire for the BEST for us.

These kids are so much fun to discuss this book with! At the conclusion of the chapter, Destry volunteered that it had made him think of a scene from Pilgrim's Progress so he recounted the story of the two children, Passion and Patience. Both were in a room on chairs, but Passion was discontent and Patience was quiet. Passion received a bag of toys (or treasure) and laughed at Patience who continued to sit quietly. But Passion's toys/treasure were soon broken and ruined and Patience would later receive a better treasure which would never wear out. "He therefore that hath his portion first, must needs have a time to spend it; but he that hath his portion last, must have it lastingly." So Christian perceived "'tis not best to covet things that are now, but to wait for things to come."

What insight for him to apply that parable to this subject!! Giving into desires outside of God's perfect plan results in the cheapening of that treasure and robs us of the beauty and lasting treasure God wants for us. Similarly, Briana shared that it made her think of the biblical parable of the Prodigal Son who wanted his inheritance before it was time and squandered it, thus missing out on what would have been best for him in the long run. I'm loving this book discussion and hearing my children's thoughts.

We're doing a different book study with the little ones. We have long been fans of The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats, and we have a surplus of snow, so it seemed a fun book to center preschool activities around this week. Just as the main character, Peter, walks in the snow with his toes pointing out and his toes pointing in, Easton and Kiana got to step in blue paint, then leave their own footprints. They loved this activity, of course, and we had to do it several times.

I think washing their feet in the tub full of soapy water at the end of the butcher paper might have been their favorite part!We also did a fun worksheet in which they circled the pictures of things that melt. Kiana first circled the things that melt, but was having so much fun circling, she went back to circle all the pictures, which reeeally bothered big brother Easton! He got rather excited and informed me that mittens and apples and bananas don't melt and SHE'S CIRCLING THEM! Oh the difficulties of being a four-year-old with a three-year-old sister.
Other than bringing a snowball inside to put in the coat pocket to see if it would melt like Peter's did, I think mimicking Keats' art style was my favorite project. We used construction paper and chalks to recreate her style and even the big kids had to get involved in the fun!
I helped Easton cut out rectangles and triangles, then he glued them down and topped them with white construction paper "snow". Destry had the most fun, I think, with his snowmobile and rider flying over snow-covered hills.
We read several other books about snow and animals in the snow, and I have more activities we'll do next week. But no reading of 'The Snowy Day' is complete without going outside to make your own footprints, snow angels, snowmen, and snowballs.

I bet Peter wishes he had a big brother to pull him around on a sled!! :)