Duet

Psalm 133:1
A Song of Ascents. Of David.
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!

My children's piano teacher is a good friend of mine and each week graciously overlooks the fact that my children are not in love with playing the piano. They take lessons because they must. They practice because they must. They improve with age and practice, but Mozarts and Beethovens they are not yet. Still, they are learning to play beautiful music.

But, lately, the piano notes are not the music I am impressed by as much as by who is playing and how. Recently, Miss Jen assigned a duet: "A Waltz for Four Hands." Watching my children work together as a team and learning to play in sync has been the real joy. The first child will do all their other piano assignments first, then call the other to join for the duet. They come immediately when the other calls. Our keyboard corner is too small for them both to sit, so they stand side by side without complaining about it. Holly counts the beats (1, 2, 3, 4...1, 2, 3, 4) and they try to play together with the proper rhythm. It isn't easy. But, they have treated each other so kindly and patiently. There have been no nudges of recrimination for mistakes. There has been no laughter at one another's expense.

This is not the first job they have tackled together. They learned early to work out systems in work and play. Holly (my first born who believes in fairness) generally orchestrates but Elijah (second born/baby tough guy) is not without input. When we go to the library, one pulls the cart of books around, the other checks the books out. When we bring them home, Elijah unloads the books from the car to the living room; Holly organizes them on the shelf. When the groceries arrive, he lugs them to the pantry and she organizes them on that shelf (yes, a pattern emerges, but it satisfies them both).

I am blessed to see my children cooperate, share, and be kind to one another. It encourages me to think that they will be able to rely on one another into adulthood.

The Curiosity Files: Quicksand -- A Review

Who knew you could dig up 84 pages of information and activities all having to do with quicksand? I never would have suspected it, but The Curiosity Files: Quicksand unit study does just that. Published by The Old Schoolhouse for only $6.95, you’ll want to sink right into this one!

Written for 8 to 13 year olds, this e-book is amazingly comprehensive. Beginning with “Everything you NEVER wanted to know about quicksand,” Professor Ana Lyze uses a humorous conversational tone to relate the science behind this non-Newtonian fluid. If you don’t know what that means, you’ll need to read the book! And while you are at it, you can make and handle a non-Newtonian fluid as one of the activity choices that follow all the learning.

There are related lessons and activities in all of these categories:

• Bible, cleverly beginning with the house on sinking sand
• Math, including ciphering and word problems (how deep did the poacher sink?)
• Reading, with practice reading charts and graphs
• Writing, providing an essay question, plus tips for how to write essays and outlines
• Word puzzles and other games
• Vocabulary, giving lists that are multi-level for younger and older students
• Drawing and other art projects (as you might expect: sand art!)
• Spelling practice
• Handwriting and cursive practice, incorporating the Bible verses from the lesson above
• Science, with labs on surface tension and viscosity
• Geography, teaching mapping and a lesson on terms
• Music, adding a little song to your repertoire
• Reading list, for additional reading on the subject
• Recipe for edible quicksand (using some of our favorite ingredients!)

If that isn’t enough, the section called “Curiosity Snippets” will help you create a cut-n-paste project file which would make a great addition to your home-school portfolio.

My middle-schoolers enjoyed doing the crossword puzzle once they found they could use the spelling/vocabulary list as a word bank. Next, we tried the viscosity lab, timing the speed of a marble as it drops through different liquids. We tried milk, hand-soap, syrup and molasses. With great fore-thought, we used our craft table area where “messy” is not a problem. If you choose the same liquids, you will want to have a little bowl of water (or sink) nearby for hand rinsing! Of course, the favorite activity was edible quicksand. The kids had fun making the gummies “scream” as they went down deeper and deeper into the mire of pudding and marshmallow. We substituted vanilla wafers for the cinnamon graham crackers and we all emerged with smiles!

For more details about this and other similar unit studies, including topics as varied as “Cicadas,” “MRSA” and “Red Tide,” go to: The Old Schoolhouse.

I received this e-book for free in exchange for an honest review.

This One or That One?

My daughter's Missionettes class is studying "Creation" this month. Last week, I walked around class and offered each girl a chance at winning a penny. I held out two closed hands. They had to decide which one held the penny. If they guessed correctly, they won. If not, they lost out.

This was an object lesson you might use with your children. There are two options available for us: evolution and creation. They are complete opposites. One relies on an intelligent, personal, and powerful God to accomplish everything. The other relies on a floating speck of hydrogen. You cannot have both of them; you cannot meld them together. You must choose one.

The world tells us that we can make up our own minds about what is true. But, is that true? Or is it like the penny game? You can make whichever decision you want, but only one will be a winner! Choose wisely.

Forget the Bunny

This article originally appeared in my Coordinator's Column for the MOPS Pitter Patter newsletter in April 2000. With Resurrection Sunday right around the corner, it seemed timely again.

Easter is a time of very special memories for me. I am not talking about Easter bunnies, hats, parades or even baskets full of chocolate, but rather much more romantic moments. My husband, Paul, chose Easter Sunday as the day he would propose to me. He came to pick me up for church, dressed in his wool suit, carrying a full vase of lilies and a brown envelope.

The note on the lilies was a quote from Song of Solomon: “Like a lily among the thorns is my darling above the maidens.”

The envelope contained his written proposal:

Colleen Copley
You are reverent,
virtuous, wise, loving,
patient, fun, creative, understanding,
most beautiful, highly desirable and very special!
I love you dearly
and I would like to spend the rest of my life with you.
Will you marry me?
Paul Berry

He chose the day for its significance in our lives as believers in Christ. What better day to profess his love to me, than the anniversary of God’s profession of His love to the world?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:16

I have said yes to both of these proposals. These were the two best decisions of my life. It is true, both have meant sacrifice -- I can’t always have things my way anymore. But, both have brought me life, love, and peace.

Some of you may still be waiting to answer the proposal before you, still deciding – don’t delay any longer. God is waiting for you to turn to Him and say, “Yes, I love you for You have loved me with an everlasting love. And I will in turn love you with my whole heart, spirit and mind.”

Leave it to God

On Saturday, after 4½ hours of hard labor, we collected fifteen large trash bags full of leaves from our yard. Out of curiosity, we weighed one. Thirty pounds! If that was average, we unloaded almost 500 pounds of leaves from our yard! If that sounds unbelievable, you haven’t heard it all. Those fifteen bags barely scratched the surface – maybe 1/6th of the yard!

We had to acknowledge that we haven’t been the best stewards of our yard over the past few years. You get busy and you stop noticing. The new leaves hide the older leaves. And the piles get bigger. And under them? The grass is missing. Our land is becoming barren.

The same thing happens when we are not good stewards of our hearts. We allow little sins to pile up. Then we cover them up and they become unnoticeable (to us) because of the more sins added on. Soon, it all looks so unmanageable.

What to do?

First, our eyes must be open to see the clutter we have allowed. Ask: What stands between me and God? And then, we must acknowledge our failures before the Lord.

1 John 1:9: If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

After that, we must begin to clear it all away. New grass cannot be seeded in my yard until the leaves are removed. The seeds need to be able to raise up to the light of the sun. Goodness cannot grow in my life unless some weeding is done and the soil is exposed to the light of the Son.

Through it all, the Master Gardener promises that He will help us.

Deuteronomy 31:8: And the LORD, He is the One who goes before you. He will be with you, He will not leave you nor forsake you; do not fear nor be dismayed.

The Lie

Adam had it all. He was the strongest man in the world. He was the handsomest man in the world. He was the smartest man in the world. He was married to the most beautiful woman in the world. He had it all – perfect place to live and plenty of food to eat without any of the hassles of cooking or laundry.

And he traded it for something he already had. The lie of the serpent was this:

Genesis 3:4-5

Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

He promised they would “be like God.” But, hold on a minute! Read this:

Genesis 1:26-27

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Adam was already “like God.” He was created “like God.” He already had what Satan promised to give him. The lie was in asserting that being “like God” came from a different source. To give credit to the serpent, or to Eve, or to Adam, or to a piece of fruit would be to steal the credit that belongs to God alone.

Satan, even today, tries to promise us peace if we will do this or prosperity if we do that. But, those things come from God and Him alone.

Let us give credit where credit is due. When good things happen, they come from God -– not our own industry, not our own piety, not our own planning.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

2 Peter 1:2-4

To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ: Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust…

And let us use the gifts we have been given to further God’s kingdom, not selfishly seeking for “more” when we already own it all!

Homeschooling High School – Are You Crazy?

When our children were toddlers, we considered the idea of homeschooling.  My husband was all for it.  I was dubious.  I was already “on” 24/7 and couldn’t imagine that continuing into the school years.  My selfishness led us to what we thought would be the next best thing:  Christian private school.  We got the uniform, paid the tuition, and lost our daughter.  Within a month, we were dissatisfied (through no fault of the school we chose, but with “school” in general) and within nine weeks of study and prayer, we had decided to give homeschooling a try. 

When people asked, “How long?” we cautiously said, “one year at a time.”  And probably every year, we briefly re-think our decisions.  That was nine years ago.  Now people query me:  “Are you really going to go through high school?”  The implication is:  “Are you crazy?”  Doubt is easily sown and I have considered our options again.  I prayed again for wisdom (before bringing it up to my husband). 

The evening news is a constant reminder to me of some of the reasons public school will not be our choice.  Almost every time I watch, there is a teacher or student arrested, a bus accident, or some other horrific occurrence to show that many schools are not safe places these days.  My niece brings us stories that make me cringe about the indoctrination the public school tries to give her.  Besides evolution and tolerance-training, her school annually shows “The Secret” – the Oprah flick about how to ask the universe for what you want (New Age philosophy) -- yet she is not supposed to bring a Bible on campus.   A friend of ours is interning in a public middle school and keeps reminding my kids, “You aren’t missing a thing!”

So, my mind turned back to Christian school.  They tend to have rigorous academic standards and they would certainly uphold our conservative Christian values, wouldn’t they? 

Then I ran into an old friend of mine, one whose children have gone to Christian school all their lives.  And, while her children have done fine, she revealed that a majority of her eldest child’s senior class (now in their first year of college) have already abandoned their faith and training.  No matter how hard the school tried, they did not make a difference.  The children are partying, drinking and playing around with the world.

I felt a sudden renewed peace with our decision to home-school through high school.  Because there is no security in any option that we choose.  Homeschooling certainly does not guarantee a child will continue in the path laid by the parents.  We must only rely on the Lord.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.