Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Prayer Time Struggles

The description of my blog says "struggles and successes." Time to post a struggle.

I think prayer time is important for a family. My husband agrees. So we have implemented a family prayer time that is held fairly regularly - several times a week, anyway - since fall at least. That ought to be enough time for the kids to get used to it, right?

Prayer time starts with taking requests. My husband often does this but lately the kids have wanted a turn at writing them out. We keep them in a notebook. So there are spelling questions and suchlike. This part takes FAR too long, in my opinion.

Then we usually sit in a circle on the living room floor for the prayers. We sometimes hold hands, but that usually causes more troubles than it's worth. "I don't want to hold HIS hand," or kids scooting around the circle once they realize who they're sitting by to avoid hand holding.

One of the kids begins and prays and we pass the notebook around to help us to remember the requests. Bob always ends up, so that none of the requests are missed.

Sounds straightforward, right? Well, it's almost always a struggle. Bad attitudes, wiggly kids, opened eyes, distractions, etc. etc. etc.

Today I got so frustrated that I got up and left in the middle of it.

Yep, I thought I'd be honest and share our struggles. No preaching, please!

Monday, February 25, 2008

Jane Austen Day

I have declared today Jane Austen Day - which is really just an occasion for me to watch Pride and Prejudice.

Ah wait, did I just say that? I MEANT it was an opportunity to introduce my children to the writing of Jane Austen and the British culture of the early 1800's.

We have watched about half of the 6 hours, so it looks like tomorrow will be Jane Austen Day Continued.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Pilgrims Progress Book and Video

Emily (age 10) read the A Beka Book version of Pilgrim's Progress recently. (Yes, I know it's a 3rd grade reader, but I don't care. I don't think she would have enjoyed as much in 3rd grade. Besides I forgot to have her read it then! lol)

David had read it a few years ago, as well. (Yeah, probably in 3rd grade. Back then I was a little more anal about stuff like that.)

ANYWAY. When I taught school, I taught in a Christian school that used A Beka. (And yeah, I had third graders.) So we did Pilgrim's Progress. And then we watched the video afterwards. It was an animated video and I don't have access to it now. I think I saw it in the CBD catalog the other day, however!

But on Netflix, I found an older live action movie version. It even starred Liam Neeson, in what I found out was his first movie role! So, I got it for the kids and we watched it today.

It was pretty good, even considering the special effects circa 1979 and the obvious low budget. My kids all enjoyed it, even 5yo Suzy, and I think they got the concept of the story and could follow the plot.
Before the movie started, there was a short overview of the life of John Bunyan, the author. George Beverly Shea, the famous hymn singer, was the narrator.

And yes, they all recognized Liam Neeson. After all, he plays Qui-Gon Jinn in the Star Wars movies AND he does the voice of Aslan in the Narnia movies.

David asked me if Liam Neeson was a Christian. I had to say I don't think so, based on his movie roles, although I don't know for sure. He sure would have to know the truth as his main role in this film was Evangelist, and he also played several other characters including Jesus.