So for this week's parsha, we are talking about Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal.  One of my daughters was intrigued to learn how mountains formed, which led us down a really fun path of discovery from our high points (like mountains of our epic triumphs or equally epic failures) to the depths of the Earth.  I pray you can incorporate these lessons into your week, and go as the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit leads YOUR family in the Lord's ways.  Here's a little recap of what we've done so far:

We started out with a simple science experiment that costs nothing but your time to do with your children.  We did an easy project to understand how fold mountains are made.  We just took several towels, layered them, and had two children (or boxes will do instead) to push the towels toward the middle.  You can see exactly how it's done at   http://www.thechaosandtheclutter.com/archives/how-fold-mountains-are-made.  

Next we diagrammed the soil layers using a neat STEM activity with Legos you can find here: http://littlebinsforlittlehands.com/lego-soil-layers-activity-kids-earth-science/.  This site also has free printables as well!

Here was our version:

Next we moved onto the Earth's layers beyond the crust, now reaching deep into the Earth's core.  We know that scientists only theorize about the deeper layers of our Earth, but here is a profound video that backs up the theory with Scripture from both the Tanak and the Brit Chadasha/Renewed Covenant.  Please note that this is a sobering video, but should not scare young viewers in the least.  In fact, it actually can equip our younger ones to understand Earth Science even better, as well as a deeper understanding of the Word of God.  You can view the "Scientific Proof That Hell Exists" video here:

My children gleaned a lot of understanding from this video.  They diagrammed the Earth twice today, one charting the scientific terms that we know (ie. crust, mantel, outer core, inner core) but then did a second diagram on the back of the page that charts all of the Biblical references and Hebraic terminology as well (like Abraham's Bosom).

We also made all the layers of the earth in a playdoh diagram (pictured at the beginning of the post) AND made these really yummy cupcakes to simulate a core dig.  You can check out the ideas here: http://www.123homeschool4me.com/2014/05/earth-science-experiments-for-kids-1.html?m=1.  We did make our cupcakes a little different.  We put a scoop of blackberry filling at the bottom of the cupcake (to represent the gooey liquid mantel), then did a chocolate cupcake (for the crust layer) and topped with blue icing, green fondant (for the landforms) and fish sprinkles in the waters.  The children loved simulating a geologist dig with their straws into their cupcakes!  And it never hurts to use food to reinforce facts, people.  This I have learned LOL.

With all of this new knowledge of soil, mountains, and our Earth, I asked the Lord how all of this was going to conclude with Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim.  He led me to a biblical archaeology site where the stone altar of Joshua is being examined.  He encouraged me to read through the information and reenact an archaeological dig on Mount Ebal!  One clue that led scholars to believe the current Joshua altar was in fact the one of the Bible was because it was placed directly upon bedrock (use that Lego diagram you built!).  You can have fun with discussing the ashes and the kosher bones found at the site, and even the scarab artifacts that date back to the pharoah of the Exodus, Cartouche of Tuthmose III (1479-1425BC).  You can visit all of the information on Joshua's altar at http://www.bible.ca/archeology/bible-archeology-altar-of-joshua.htm. 

The bottom line is that Mount Ebal is a picture of us having the chance if we choose wrong of turning around by placing our offerings on that altar of Joshua (Yehoshua/Yeshua) and starting over again.  The Lord is a loving God and makes a way for us if we will only accept it.  I pray the deep themes of this portion resound in your hearts this week like the blast of a shofar.  As Elul draws near, may we rest in His goodness and open arms.  Have a blessed week everyone!

Shalom all!  It has been such a long time (ago, in a galaxy far, far away...JK) since I've had the chance to sit down and record the amazing things the Lord is doing in our lives on a daily basis.  Tonight though, I had to stay up to share a super easy cookie/craft lesson to help reinforce one angle of our weekly parsha.

​In Devarim (Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22), we experience Moses' recounting of Israel's trek through the wilderness and progression toward the eventual destination into the Promised Land.  Moses then makes a solid declaration of the Lord's faithful word: "The LORD God HAS multiplied you, and, behold, you are this day as the stars of heaven for multitude.  (The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as you are, and bless you, as He has promised you!)"  Deuteronomy/Devarim 1:10-11

​For young children especially, I think this is a very significant concept to convey to their hearts.  The LORD (YHVH) does keep His word and Moses affirms what He said.  And if that wasn't great enough, Moses went onto multiply the current fulfilled promise by a THOUSAND TIMES!  How phenomenal!!

​I began researching various activities other educators and parents had posted to teach the parsha.  I found a cute star cookie recipe that was adorable.  But I'm kind of a Star Wars geek, so my cookie version got a galaxy upgrade:

Honestly, I MAY have had more fun than the kids on this one.  This worked for children and adults alike!  I happened to have taught preschool and the elementary school aged children at my congregation who were pleased to participate.  And I even had some middle schoolers sneak in to learn about the promises of the Lord too and get artsy with this yummy snack!  Mission accomplished...

In Lech Lecha, Abba did an amazing ministry in my spirit this time around in the Torah portion.  Genesis 13:16 jumped right off the page at me as I prepared my homeschool lesson inspired from the parsha:

"I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted."

My thoughts as I read this promise were, "Abba, dust is so insignificant.  Grains of sand are so beautiful, but who wants to be likened to a particle of dust?"  As usual, Abba silenced me with His magnificence soonafter.

I felt like our theme for the week would be to study dust.  For science, we found sites explaining dust particles, we explored different microscope slides to compare and contrast how very different each particle is, and even went around the house collecting our own dust samples.  It was pretty interesting to say the least.

But then, as I was online further developing the following day's lesson plan, I stumbled onto a website that literally humbled me and brought me to tears.  If you have not encountered an artist named Willard Wigan, please visit this link and expose your family to this man who Abba has extraordinarily anointed.

Mr. Wigan is a microsculptor.  What is that, you ask?  Basically, Abba gifted him with the ability to take the tiniest dust particles and create captivating sculptures with them.  Studying the intensity of this craft led me to a deeper understanding into our Father's creative process.  This art came about through much adversity in Mr. Wigan's life; he had learning difficulties in both reading and writing.  But in his spare time as a child, he befriended little ants and had such love for them that he fashioned them shoes and furnishings!  (Never discount the simple acts of children.  Abba works best in these little ones!)  Eventually his hobby became a world reknowned art form and his gift has made signficant contributions to the medical community to assist surgeons with complex procedures.  These are some of the works Mr. Wigan has done (photos courtesy of http://www.willard-wigan.com):

This first piece is sculpted in the eye of a needle, just in case you couldn't tell!  The minute I saw this, I pondered, "Is this how little we are to you, Abba, though immensely complex at the same time?"

This second picture is of a little girl sculpted on an eyelash.  Another one of my favorites.  Halleluyah.  We were able to use this artist for both art and creative writing.  My son (who is very similar to Willard Wigan in his early years) wrote about the world that Willard and he would create for some little ant friends.  He talked about a flashy racecar and even a refrigerator for these tiny ants!  And my eldest daughter, a budding artist, wrote about the techniques and skills necessary to make these incredible pieces.

I can honestly say, I have a renewed view of the Abrahamic covenant.  This homeschool week left an indelible impression on my mind and I found myself very humble before YHVH.  I now am thankful to be likened to a speck of dust!  Halleluyah!!!!

We are already past the halfway point for this week's Torah portion Lech Lecha and our family is still fanning the flames of last week's outpouring of blessings about rain, clouds and the mechanics of the heavenlies.  (Science has been SOOO fun, let me just tell you.)  But Abba was not wanting this week's portion to go by the wayside, so He had a word jump out at me last night as I read the fourth aliyah portion:

"Now the vale of Siddim was full of slime pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and they that remained fled to the mountain."

Thank YHVH I was reading this translation (and it is the same on my Strong's Concordance iPhone app) where it actually used the word SLIME in this verse!  I just HAPPENED (heh, I don't believe in coincidences) to have a Slime Science Kit I had stowed away that had not been used.  So cool!  And you don't even need the kit to do this little activity with your own family!

Here's how to make your own slime:
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup warm water
food coloring (I thought green was extremely effective visually)

Directions:
1. Mix the above ingredients together.
2. Retell the fourth aliyah portion for the week (Genesis/Bereshit 14:1-14:20).
    *We used our hands to represent the two opposing sides.  Four kings on the one hand battling the five on the other.  Then, we read Genesis/Bereshit 14:10 aloud, sticking two fingers (representing the two kings of Sodom and Gomorrah) in the slime.

After the retelling and going further with explaining the Hebrew word for "slime pits," "be'er" (Strong's H875-bet/aleph/resh), we started to delve into the science of slime.  (BONUS!!!  Bible and science combined.  I'm a happy homeschool mommy right now.)  We discussed how the behavior of slime is so weird that scientists have a special name for it called a "Non-Newtonian Fluid."  We discussed how this fluid gets more viscous (or solid) when it is stirring then more liquid when handled softly.  We talked about the properties of quicksand too and how it is also known as a "colloid."  This means that the material is made up of tiny particles that remain suspended in another substance (in this case cornstarch particles in the water) instead of settling to the bottom.

And as we have learned before in our viscous experiments (check out our planetary study on the planet Tzeddek in the Biblical Astronomy section of this blog) we spiritually want to remain less viscous  (or fluid/easy moved) so that the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit can work through us.  Amen?!

I would highly encourage you to find ways to bring the Scriptures to life.  My fingers are STILL green from me sticking my fingers in the slime and experiencing this part of YHVH's Word.  It was squishy, sticky...I could just imagine those kings STUCK and every time I reread this part of the Torah I will remember this activity with my family.  I pray you are blessed this week, and your fountains are overflowing with The Living Water!

Slime on, everybody...

And if fire rainbows and cloud experiments and precipitation don't give you enough blessing about this incredible word from the Torah, try experiencing it through another sensory organ:

The Science of the Smell of Rain

From what I learned about the smell of rain, when a plant experiences a dry spell, it releases oils. When the rains finally come, it releases a fragrance into our atmosphere from the oil, causing rain to have a distinct aroma! Spiritually speaking, isn't that incredible? If we go through a dry period, we can experience the expressing of oil as well. Don't forget that YOU are releasing an oil. But when the rain comes through His Word, it cleanses us again, refreshes us to grow and sends the pleasant fragrance of that oil throughout the atmosphere.  HalleluYah!

May this week's Torah portion bless you exceedingly, and may you receive mighty rains that water you and your families in this season!

Last week's parsha was the final portion before we will start back at Bereshit again.  Moses is atop Mount Nebo looking at the Promised Land, knowing that his transgression justly keeps him from entering the Holy Land before he falls asleep.  So for our Erev Shabbat meal, we celebrated Moses' life with a fun themed dinner about this extremely important Biblical figure.  From little mini-Moses mountain climbers, to Moses movies and books, we really enjoyed the theme!  We also sprinkled the evening with a little added information about the famous Mount Nebo.  Needless to say, the portion's main points really stuck with us and we had great conversation.  Here are the details...

As we embarked on our new year of the Torah cycle, Bereshit brought a whole new learning with it for our family on several important subjects particularly in geography and science.

My eldest daughter, when hearing the Genesis 1:9 Scripture which reads, "And God said, 'Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear'," she inquired how Abba brought forth the land on the earth.  My mind immediately thought of Pangea, the supercontinent that in theory (maybe the theorized time of it is a little off, but that's for further study) is fully supported in the Torah.  So we did continent worksheets where the children wrote in the continents.  We discussed, as pictured below, the fossils found on different continents of like animals, archaeology, plate tectonics, and for fun played a contients game online.

We didn't get to do this idea this time around, but my children wanted to pick one of the fossils discovered and do a deeper study into it.  Really dig in to that part of the topic!  (Ha...that pun was intended.)  We will eventually be reporting their findings in creative writing projects/presentations!  And then...

Here are some Homeschool Helps:
1. Here is the link to a worksheet for a Pangea Puzzle. (as pictured above)
2. Google "Continents Worksheet" and find one that fits the respective ages of your children.
3. Here is a fun website with free, online map games: Continents and Oceans.

I hope this inspires your learning in your home!  We thoroughly enjoyed it in ours.  Glory to YHVH for His creation of the land out of the seas!