"Love One Another" Visual Aids

Just sharing visual aids I created (using the Children's Songbook illustrations) for the classic song "Love One Another". Whether you're a Primary chorister or you just want your family to learn the song, this might help.

Love Quote Matching Game

You may recall that our homeschool curriculum for this year is all about life and as part of that, we host Biography Club once a month. At each gathering, before the students give their presentations, we play some kind of game relating to people. (We've gone through the Who cards of Smart A**, played The Name Chase Historical Figures Edition, etc.) Today, in honor of February, I created a matching game where you match a quote about love to the famous person who said it. (Before beginning, though, I went through the list of people to make sure everyone knew who the people were, or at least a little something about them. For instance, no one knew who William Goldman is off the tops of their heads, but I made sure they knew he was the author of The Princess Bride, something everyone was familiar with.)

Check it out. Play it with your family.  If you need an answer sheet, ping me in the comments.

Secret Valentines - Emulating God's Love

Growing up, February 1-14 was always a little extra exciting in my house. At some point during my childhood, I forget when, my mother instituted Secret Valentines. Everyone in the family drew names on February first and from then until Valentines Day we did secret acts of service for whomever we drew and made Valentines to leave them. My mother would make huge heart-shaped sugar cookies and we would each get solitary time in the kitchen (so as not to be seen and figured out) decorating one for our Secret Valentine. There would be a Valentine making station and a pool of treats to incorporate into our Valentines. For two weeks we'd dote on a family member daily and then on Valentines Day we'd have a nice family dinner where the table was set with some little gift at each place setting that each of us had secretly purchased for our Secret Valentine and then before eating we'd each try to guess who had drawn our name. I especially remember when my father drew my name because he sent me flowers at school!

This year I wanted to incorporate Secret Valentines into our Love and Home Month, but we are just doing it for one week. This morning we drew names and I distributed a paper bag with goodies inside for us each to use in our Valentine capers.

Of course, treats are nice, but the real meat of this activity is to learn to serve each other. We sang the hymn "Come, Follow Me" and discussed each line of verse. Jesus Christ didn't just say he loved us, he showed us in everything he did through acts of service, including the greatest service of them all when he atoned for each and every one of us. 

This week we are revisiting lessons past when we learned about God's love using "14 Days of God's Love" from Not Consumed. This time, we're getting very specific in discussing how we can emulate God's love among each other within our family relationships.

Happy February!

Love at Home Tree of Life

You may recall that we began our school year with a study of the Tree of Life. We continued the theme with a gratitude tree (didn't get that one posted yet!). For February, we now have a Love at Home Tree of Life to help us overcome sarcastic habits. This is a tree of compliments and sincerity, value and support, an effort to bear fruits of love in how we think of and speak to each other.

It would be easy to create such a thing yourself (I have done it with our gratitude tree and other things) but I did happen to come across this super cheap Classroom Kit at Walmart and because it is plastic, I can reuse it if I'm careful.

It fits perfectly on a door (I did cut for the doorknob.)

The goal is for each member of the family to write one thoughtful, sincere compliment or appreciative/supportive statement about another family member every day throughout the month until our tree is crazily blooming in love.

Off to a good start:

Aiming at Love - New Meaning for an Old Symbol

Everyone is familiar with the Valentine image of Cupid or a heart with an arrow shot through it. I've never thought too much of it before, but as I've planned out our Love at Home devotionals and activities, I came across  Dieter F. Uchtdorf's "Aiming at the Center" article and it has given real purpose and meaning to this symbol for me (and I hope now, my family). 

While I read the entire article to my children (and please do read the entire thing) the point I emphasized was that Christ taught us to "love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." (Mattew 22:37-40) This means that every other commandment, every other thing we are supposed to do or not do, come back to being categorized under these two commandments. (I  had the kids name off commandments off the top of their heads and we tested each one to see if these two great commandments were at the "heart" of every other we could think of. They are!) Then I asked the kids who their closest "neighbors" were. Each other, of course! 

Elder Uchtdorf had begun his article with the example of archery, and how you shoot at a target that already exists, not that you shoot the arrow at a blank wall and then draw the target around it. Using this powerful archery example and the scripture, I wanted to turn the Valentine symbol into something with more meaning, to remind us of what we're aiming for:  LOVE. Loving God and loving each other.

Here is the end product:

We followed this up with...

This would make a great Family Home Evening lesson and treat!

And if you're wondering what I'm doing with things like this little project...

Love From Home Art

Our second day of Love at Home Month we made color-diffused, snowflake-style hearts to send as Love FROM Home Valentines to our missionary. If you like how these look, here's how to do it.

Get a stack of coffee filters. (So cheap! I bought a bulk package at Sam's Club years ago and it's still going strong.)

Fold the filter in half and cut a heart shape like you would with a folded rectangle.

Now fold it back in half, then fold into thirds.

Cut shapes out just like you would when cutting a paper snowflake.

Open it up and, VOILA!

Now for the color! Using Crayola washable markers, color the heart. You can use just a little bit of color here and there, or you can fill it in a little more, depending on the look you want. You do not need to color the entire piece. In fact, don't! The colors will spread in the next step, when you spray the entire thing with water. (And too much of too many colors will just make everything brown.)

Here is a lightly colored example:

Here is a more heavily colored example (don't color more than this):

The colors WILL drip, so either place your creations in a shallow baking pan to spray them or, weather permitting, spray them outside. Use just a spray bottle filled with water. (We just used an old hairspray bottle refilled with water.) Have a towel very nearby to quickly remove the wet hearts to and allow them to dry.

Once dry, you can either tape them to a window for a lovely display or, as we did, affix them to some colored cardstock to make cards and write our Valentine messages.

This is the dried version of the
more heavily colored one above.

Yep, even Dad got in on the action!

Love at Home Art Project

Today I declared February Love at Home Month. I love doing Valentine-y Love things all month long in February but I really believe it's important to explore real love, especially inside the home with family. Sometimes it's hardest to be your best loving self at home; we tend to think of charity as what we do and give others outside of our families. But if you can't make love work at home, what's the point?

I created a little art project today to kick off the month. It begins with the template I made below. Print this on 8.5x11-inch cardstock and grab a black Sharpie marker.

The first step is to draw sections of "rays" or diagonal lines behind the house.

Next draw stripes inside the house. You can make them uniform or not, any width you'd like.

Doodle a different design in each section.

When you have designed each section, cut a heart out of tissue paper and fix it to your cardstock with double-sided tape. Doodles can be simple or complex, but give each person the freedom to create in his or her own way.

Cherry Macaroons!

I love these cookies! They are flavorful, chewy, and festive. I especially like them for Christmas or Valentines because of their color.

Cherry Macaroons

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 1/3 cups shortening

2 eggs

3 1/2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup chopped maraschino cherries

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

1 cup coconut

Cream shortening and sugar; add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Add cherries, extract, and coconut and mix. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. 

*Sometimes I add cherry-flavored chips to the dough if I have them as well.

Ballads, Baseball, and Valentines

A ballad is a narrative composition in rhythmic verse. It's a poem or song that tells a story. Typically it consists of 4-line stanzas. The most common rhyming scheme is ABCB or ABAB, but others such as a duo of couplets, AABB, are also employed. Often there is a lesson in the versed story, but it isn't implicitly stated.

To introduce the ballad, after discussing the literary traits of one, I chose first to read aloud The Ballad of Valentine. It's super cute and imparts the basics of a ballad well--plus it's February.

Next I went with something all of my kids will relate to well and be interested in:  baseball. I printed off copies of "Casey at the Bat" for everyone and I read it aloud while they followed along. After each stanza I asked them to rephrase what was going on. At the end we found and discussed poetic devices throughout the poem. (They've already been taught all the devices of poetry, so it's just a matter of them pointing them out. You can skip that part if you're not there yet.)

Casey at the Bat

by Ernest Lawrence Thayer ©
Published: The Examiner (06-03-1888)

The Outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day:
The score stood four to two, with but one inning more to play.
And then when Cooney died at first, and Barrows did the same,
A sickly silence fell upon the patrons of the game.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest
Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast;
They thought, if only Casey could get but a whack at that -
We'd put up even money, now, with Casey at the bat.

But Flynn preceded Casey, as did also Jimmy Blake,
And the former was a lulu and the latter was a cake;
So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat,
For there seemed but little chance of Casey's getting to the bat.

But Flynn let drive a single, to the wonderment of all,
And Blake, the much despis-ed, tore the cover off the ball;
And when the dust had lifted, and the men saw what had occurred,
There was Jimmy safe at second and Flynn a-hugging third.

Then from 5,000 throats and more there rose a lusty yell;
It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell;
It knocked upon the mountain and recoiled upon the flat,
For Casey, mighty Casey, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Casey's manner as he stepped into his place;
There was pride in Casey's bearing and a smile on Casey's face.
And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat,
No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Casey at the bat.

Ten thousand eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt;
Five thousand tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt.
Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip,
Defiance gleamed in Casey's eye, a sneer curled Casey's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air,
And Casey stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there.
Close by the sturdy batsman the ball unheeded sped-
"That ain't my style," said Casey. "Strike one," the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar,
Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore.
"Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand;
And its likely they'd a-killed him had not Casey raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Casey's visage shone;
He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on;
He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the spheroid flew;
But Casey still ignored it, and the umpire said, "Strike two."

"Fraud!" cried the maddened thousands, and echo answered fraud;
But one scornful look from Casey and the audience was awed.
They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain,
And they knew that Casey wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Casey's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate;
He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate.
And now the pitcher holds the ball, and now he lets it go,
And now the air is shattered by the force of Casey's blow.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville - mighty Casey has struck out.

Then, for a little icing on the cake, we watched Disney's 1946 animated version of this great baseball ballad.

We followed that up with Disney's 1954 sequel, "Casey Bats Again." Some people nowadays might find this offensive. It's certainly not politically correct! But it IS cleverly written and we get a kick out of it. We do all agree, however, that Casey is once, and twice, and probably forever, a very foolish person.

Tomorrow we'll read other classic ballads and try writing our own. And hopefully at least some of my kids will take me up on my cash offer to anyone who memorizes "Casey at the Bat."

Artsy Valentines

Taking some tips from this Valentine craft post, we got very artsy with our Valentines this year. One Sunday after church we pulled out paper and watercolors and tried rubber cement masking and salt sprinkled painting. I LOVED IT! Even my husband tried it since we were making Valentines to send to our missionary. He painted "Happy Valentines Day" with rubber cement, watercolored over it, peeled it off, and then cut it into a puzzle for our missionary to put together.

Rubber Cement Masking

Very easy and cool.  Drizzle rubber cement over a piece of watercolor paper or white cardstock. Let it dry. When it's dry, paint over it with watercolors.  Let it dry again. When dry, peel off the rubber cement.

Waiting for rubber cement to dry.

One that's painted, waiting for paint to dry.

All dry, with the cement peeled off.

I made a good-sized heart-shaped stencil and traced it on the back of the paper and then cut out the Valentines.

Salt Sprinkled Painting

Also very easy and cool. Paint watercolors onto watercolor paper, being sure to be generous with the water. Sprinkle salt over your wet painting and let dry. The effect is really neat. When our papers were dry we brushed the salt off into the garbage can and then used the stencil to cut out hearts.

Painted, salted, and drying.

Dried.  See how cool the effect?

Room for lots of ideas and can be used any time.

One of my sons painted an American flag over his rubber cement mask. At first I kind of thought it was a waste of the mask, but it turned out pretty cool. 

It even made a great Valentine.

Waste not.

I didn't want to let one square inch of this painted paper go to waste, so with what was left after cutting out the bigger hearts I just cut free-handed artsy hearts of all sizes. These worked great for decorating envelopes, gift bags, gifts, etc. (They're pictured here against paper before I taped them elsewhere just to help you see them better.)