Honoring the Birth of a Soul by Planting a Tree

This is the fourth post in my 12 month series about miscarriage which you can read about here.

One way I've heard families honor and remember babies they lost through miscarriage is by planting a tree.  We live in a rental house so I did not even consider doing this, but my parents surprised me one day by sending me an email saying they had purchased a tree in honor of our angel.  This really touched me and made me feel our angel has a very special place as a grandchild as well.  It was a tree that blooms in winter (the season we had the miscarriage where my parents live) and they chose a special place they could see out of the kitchen window.

Another friend sent me a message one day saying she had made a little heart in memory of our angel... and had put it alongside a heart a friend made her when she miscarried a few months before.  She sent this picture with the message as well as other words of encouragement and love.  This touched my heart deeply.

This month I also posted about working through miscarriage using the Baha'i Writings for comfort on the Enable Me To Grow and Baha'i Teachings websites:

• This post included a prayer song download to "Refresh and Gladden My Spirit"
• This was the first in a series about my experience of miscarrying
• This was the second post in that series

Sending love to all of you.  

Will you help me fundraise for education in Papua New Guinea??

I am organizing a Full-Circle Learning teacher training in Papua New Guinea AND I NEED YOUR HELP!

I've set a goal to raise $1,500 online - at $5 per contribution this would take 300 people (at $10 only 150!) which will cover over half of our expenses.  I will also be holding a brunch and craft sale fundraiser in a couple months and possibly another online fundraiser closer to date.  Find out all the details on my Fundraising Page. (this first fundraiser ends 19 June)

I'm offering guest posts to bloggers to help raise this money... if you would like any of the following topics featured on your blog, simply email me (chelsealeesmith at gmail dot com) or leave a  message on this post and I'll be in touch!

Be sure to also send me your blog's web address, what style of post you are looking for, and a date you're hoping to run the post.

Here are some topics I can offer (but let me know if you'd like something not listed here!):

I was thinking of labeling them all "Learning about Papua New Guinea" with the topic after a colon

• Introduction (basic facts and coloring sheet!)
• Typical Day at a Preschool
• Food
• Bird of Paradise Craft
• Bilums (used as a purse and backpack!)
• Transportation
• Music
• Language
• Featured Storybook

I will soon create a page with all the posts which you will be able to link back to if readers would like more activities about Papua New Guinea, I'm thinking of calling it "Learning about Papua New Guinea: The Ultimate Collection" since I'm not sure if anything else is available out there yet ;-)

THANK YOU!  

Review of our Ridvan Celebrations 2013

I have already done a few Ridvan posts this year but wanted to do one final wrap up with some pictures, so we can remember some of the sweet times!  Some of the activities we did on the same day and I didn't take pictures every day either, but here's a basic summary of our Ridvan this year :-)

Cookie making station at the First Day of Ridvan sector celebration at a park

Picnic (with a special treat - fish and chips from the local shop) looking out onto a construction site he he lots of fun for the boys.

Crown making and marching.  (If you missed my interview with Red Grammer - the musician who played the song we were marching to - check it out here!)  We also sang some other songs which you can read about on this post.

Planting a little garden. (described here)

Having a picnic with friends and a simple children's program.  (also described here)

Going out to eat at our favorite breakfast resteraunt overlooking the river.

Making tents, of course.

Having tea and muffins while talking about the story of Ridvan.

 
Decorating the flower pictures the boys made at the Ridvan children's program with more cut out flowers and leaves... and also making some flowers with pipe cleaners.

We went to a devotional at our dear friend's house in Redcliffe (45 minute drive) and afterwards a park.  (this picture was actually taken a different day since I didn't have my camera on me when we had our day trip! this one was after our lovely breakfast out at Kangaroo Point)

We attended our sector's community gathering for afternoon tea before the Ridvan election - here the boys were getting ready since we were going to spend some time in a park before going.

Because we've been in the groove of celebrating Holy Days for the past few years, it is seeming to come so much more naturally now and I don't feel stressed about getting things together but just going with the flow.  So if you are new to the idea of celebrating but want to do something, don't worry if it seems difficult at first or like it's too much to plan.  The smallest and simplest of things mean the most to children... like today I arranged the fruit on the plate in a pretty way for morning snack (ie grapes in the middle of the plate surrounded by cut up pears and apples) and the boys were super impressed.  Just putting in a little effort here and there to make things festive and remembering to talk about the meaning of the day is great.  And with a little practice, it will all come together easily. :-)

Sending love to all of you!  

Focus Areas for Homeschooling

Adding onto my post outlining our Homeschooling Plan, I just thought it may be useful to share how I intend to go about our "focus areas."

Each month there is a subject (such as Science or Insects) and I've outlined a few ideas that I'd like to cover under each.  However for the most part, at the beginning of each month I will share with the kids the new focus area and we will write up what THEY want to know on our white board.  Like for animals, they will get to choose what animals they want to learn about, or for inspirational people I will have a few stories (or a collection book) for people they can choose from to learn about.

Then we will visit the library and collect some resources for learning about the topic.

Each day we will choose a book or resource to look into... and ocassionally probably use google.

Each month we will also make something creative so we can build on our knowledge... but they will have control over what that is and even how fancy they make it (as long as they are practicing research and compiling what they know) because I want them to feel ownership over the topic they are learning about.  I have no idea what they will want to do... but here are some ideas:
- Making a book
- Making a poster
- Making a diarama
- Making a hanging display (sorry forgot the name right now, but one of those things that is like strings hanging from a clothes hanger)

 At the end of the month they will practice giving an oral "report" on what they learned (good to build up those public speaking skills!) on the day when we "close the month" and then we will do something to celebrate.  (The "yes jar" are fun experiences we usually cant do or fit into the schedule - I'm also still working out how to compile these ideas so they dont go against family values... ie balanced diet and not costing too much)

Hope that helps :-)  

Our Homeschooling Yearly Plan

A few weeks ago I posted on Facebook something about finishing my yearly plan for homeschooling, and quite a few friends asked me for a copy.  So here it is!

First a little explanation...

(Please note I have been working on this plan bit by bit over the past few years, especially after developing my vision and organizing my goals through creating the blog Beauty in Wonder and taking the course Successful Homeschooling Made Easy)

Basically I feel when Zorion is 4 and Zavian is 2, I just want a structure for learning and a routine for covering the topics I'd like to.  I have a virtue of the month (according to the Radiant Hearts program)  which we'll also work on singing/memorizing prayers and quotes for, an activity of the day (using things I've developed in the past, such as our music box or Feast folder), and a "focus area" for each month.  The focus can be covered through library books or other activities which I will find as we go along according to what the boys are interested in - using Pinterest, favorite homeschooling websites etc.

I will work with Zorion on Math and English (reading, writing, vocab, etc) during Zavian's nap - we already do this using work books, writing stories, Bob Books, a few Ipad games, and listening to stories.  So hopefully Zavian will continue napping and we can continue this.

Otherwise we'll do a short lesson each morning, using this daily routine (we already pretty much do this besides the "focus of the month"):

• ·         Starting the day with family prayers
• ·         Learning about our virtue of the month
• ·         Completing a daily activity (chosen in whatever order suits)
• ·         Participating in a short lesson on the focus of the month

Every morning at 7:30am when the alarm goes off we go into the "school room" for prayers and activities.  Sometimes we continue on to reading books, but we always end with going into housework.  I (sometimes, and plan to more often) set the timer for 10 minutes of quick cleaning to get a fair bit of work done - tidying the kitchen after breakfast and putting in any loads of laundry, as necessary.  Then I invite the kids to help me with any meal prep (ie preparing the bread maker or slow cooker) as needed.

Here's the current school room set up which is working great for us... I've been adjusting it to suit our plan/needs and it's great to have a space that makes our learning routine even easier (ie having the blackboard with our virtue and focus written up, a place to put our current themed crafts, pillows for prayer time, assorted craft materials, book shelf and basket of library books, etc)

 

There are Monthly Review sheets (2 pages per month) which give space to record what we do each day, plus share the Focus of the Month with plans of how to learn about it, a list of Special Events (including birthday and Holy Day family traditions), and a space to record Notes about academic progress/ interests. 

Weekday activities (chosen in any order that suits us, except for the few that must be done on certain days such as the introduction to the month, Feast folder, etc) are as follows:

1.       Introduction to New Month

·         Sing school motto (“Strive” quotation)

·         Write on the dry erase board: new virtue, focus and new questions

2.       Birthday Calendar

·         Look ahead at next month and make cards to mail

3.       Monthly Volunteer Work

·         Choose a place to volunteer in, call and set the date

4.       Visit to the Library (get books about focus subject)

5.       Virtue lesson

·         Spiritual Treasure Box craft, several Radiant Hearts activities, songs

6.       Appreciating Nature

·         Seasonal craft, song, story, poem, nature poster and/or display

·         Look in activity books for an outside activity/discovery/experiment

7.       Singing

·         “Fun Songs” folder, song books

·         Voice exercises (ie copying scales, repeating made-up tunes)

·         Compose new songs

8.       Relationships

·         Feeleez Book; dolls with situation cards; Learning To Get Along Series

·         Using the conflict bridge

9.       Mental Health

·         Yoga

·         Meditation (use book of exercises)

10.    Culture Club

·         Focus on a country; learn location on map, food, music, dress, language

11.    Music

·         Pick a card from the Instrument Box and watch videos of the instrument

·         Listen to performances, read/listen to stories of composers

12.    Creative Art

·         Choice to make something of interest in any medium

13.    Vocabulary

·         Choose three words to learn from dictionary, draw and write word for homemade dictionary

14.    Jobs

·         Explore the work of someone in the community

15.    Family Meeting

·         Family Meeting Bag: RH devotions, update Family Prayer List

·         Look at albums and/or card collection

16.    Local homeschooling meet up

17.    Educational Outing

·         Museum, zoo, performance, sporting event, etc

18.    Close the Month

·         Choose something from the “Yes Jar”; reorganize school room and store items

19.    Feast Folder

·         Prayer for Feast, reflect on quotation, Baha’i songs, make a Feast Treat

For all of the above, I have collected the resources already, so will just get them ready on the day.  What I still need to do is:

• Make a list of kid-friendly volunteer service projects so I can just call up and not be searching for places each month
• Same for educational outings - make a list of 19 I'd like to do for the year
• Finish making our Family Meeting bag
• Finish our Birthday Calendar and choose a place for it on the wall

Each (Baha'i) month has a "focus" area to learn about:

1. New School Grade Poster
2. Service Project
3. Religion
4. Environment
5. Insects
6. Inspirational People
7. Literature
8. Healthy Lifestyle
9. Travel
10. Machines
11. Life's Big Questions
12. Money
13. Australia
14. Animals 
15. Our Bodies
16. Weather/Geography/Space
17. Family History
18. Science
19. Making a Year Book

There are more ideas in the actual document about how I plan to go about learning these focus areas, however for most I just have general ideas/plans for and will choose on the day/week according to what the boys are interested in and what we have readily available.

Download the plan here (note it's a PDF so it will open easiest but if you want a Word copy just email me... note the calendars I used are available on the Radiant Hearts main page - I feel making a short note about what we did will help me keep on track and check of daily activities as we do them):

Chelsea's Yearly Homeschooling Plan

Let me know what you think and please share ideas!!!

 

Tapping into the Joy of Ridvan

"Rejoice, with exceeding gladness, O people of Bahá!”, Bah’u’llah has written, “as ye call to remembrance the Day of supreme felicity, the Day whereon the Tongue of the Ancient of Days hath spoken, as He departed from His House proceeding to the Spot from which He shed upon the whole of creation the splendors of His Name, the All-Merciful! Were We to reveal the hidden secrets of that Day, all that dwell on earth and in the heavens would swoon away and die, except such as will be preserved by God, the Almighty, the All- Knowing, the All-Wise. Such is the inebriating effect of the words of God upon the Revealer of His undoubted proofs that His pen can move no longer."

Wow what a special time this is. Truly 12 days of heavenly joy... and there are so many ways to celebrate and share the happiness! 

Here are five things we have done during Ridvan which we have found to be lots of fun and very uplifting:

Spending time with friends  

Some moms in our community got together this year for a Ridvan picnic at a playground - the kids played and we all shared snacks and each other's company. We also had a short "program" - we sang a prayer together, had a little game, and did a craft activity (making a collage of rose pictures - cut out from an old calendar - along with the quotation: "Associate with each other, think of each other, and be like a rose garden." ~ ‘Abdu’l-Bahá). What better way to celebrate than spending time with those you love?

Sharing special treats  

At our community's gathering this year which was also a casual picnic in a park (luckily on a different day - so great there are 12 days of Ridvan!), I set up a cookie-decorating station for the kids. I brought a tray, a batch of bakery cookies (from a grocery store), a tin of icing, some candies and sprinkles, and a set of colored icing tubes. Yes I know, not healthy at all, but in a pinch and because I really didn't feel I could muster the energy to do it all homemade... I thought on a special ocassion this would be fine :-) So the kids enjoyed making cookies for themselves and for the rest of the community... it was so sweet to see how hard they worked and how proud they were when they could give the cookies away.

 

Going on a treasure hunt 

Last year during our children's program we had a treasure hunt for "rose chocolates" and told the children that the candies would remind them about how sweet our love is for Baha'u'llah.  It would also be neat to hide roses or rose petals - maybe attached to a quotation or portion of the Ridvan story, for older children? :-)

Making a garden  

Because it's so lovely to think about being in a garden, we have included gardening in our Ridvan activities each year. This year I splurged a bit and bought some little plant kits for the boys as one of their daily activities... I appreciated getting something where it was all ready for me since I have yet to tap into any gardening side of myself :-) We carefully read and followed the instructions, and already one pot (the sunflower) is starting to sprout!  The boys REALLY enjoyed this and I think it also makes the "garden" aspect of the Ridvan story a lot more hands-on and tangible, not to mention memorable.

Gifts of love  

Last year for our children's program I also made some little gifts for the kids and parents, kind of like a "party favor." Honestly I'm not exactly sure what the recipients thought (although everyone was of course very thankful!), but I found I actually got a whole lot out of the experience because, while making the crayons and bookmarks, I was pouring my love for Baha'u'llah into every one. As the kids get older, I'd love to give them the chance to think of some ways they could "gift" other people - maybe with crafts, baked goods, or services - during the Ridvan period, to allow them to express creatively the love and gratitude stirring within. 

There are so, so many ways to feel joy and create joyful experiences for our children during these 12 glorious days... and they don't have to be expensive or extravagant. Simply going on a nature walk to marvel at God's creation would do the trick. In fact, we may do that tomorrow. :-)

If you have any ways you have enjoyed celebrating Ridvan and making the time especially joyful for your children, please share in the comments!

This post is part of the Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan series hosted by All Done Monkey, where members of Baha'i Mom Blogs are sharing ideas for celebrating Ridvan during all 12 days.  

Follow along by visiting this page!  

Celebrating the "King of Festivals" Through Crown Making

This post is the seventh installment in the series Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan, sharing crafts and activities about celebrating Ridvan with children.

To help think about the meaning and importance of Ridvan as the "King of Festivals," as used in the selection below, our family made crowns. 

"As to the significance of that Declaration let Bahá’u’lláh Himself reveal to us its import. Acclaiming that historic occasion as the “Most Great Festival,” the “King of Festivals,” the “Festival of God,” He has, in His Kitáb-i-Aqdas, characterized it as the Day whereon “all created things were immersed in the sea of purification,” whilst in one of His specific Tablets, He has referred to it as the Day whereon “the breezes of forgiveness were wafted over the entire creation." (God Passes By)

I had some paper ready for the boys to choose colors from, and I had also printed out a page of small nine-pointed stars (found in google images) for decoration.  We sized the cut out crowns to their heads and then they glued on the stars where they wanted them... it was so sweet to see which ones they chose and how they wanted them placed.

After making the crowns, Zorion said he had something to ask me and he whispered into my ear, "Can we march with our crowns on?"  It was too cute.  So of course I said yes and, because the marching song that always comes to my mind is "Teaching Peace" by Red Grammer, we started singing and marching.  (If you don't know the song, listen to it and find the lyrics here)

We have also done made crowns for the past few years.  To see our post in 2011 click here.  (This crown still lives in our dress-up box)

 To see our post in 2010 click here.

This post is part of the Walking Through the Garden of Ridvan series hosted by All Done Monkey, where members of Baha'i Mom Blogs are sharing ideas for celebrating Ridvan during all 12 days.  

Follow along by visiting this page!