Our moving baby

Elnathan has learnt to swivel himself when he is on his tummy. In this picture he  was originally facing the little block train carriage. He turned himself right around and started grabbing Christmas presents!

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What do your walls teach?

I was prompted to ask this question when I read that walls are one of a home's best teaching tools in Educating the Wholehearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson. In all honesty, I'm not sure what our walls teach at the moment! I have taken pictures of some of our walls to give you a little tour.

Elnathan has a bug Grandma drew and a growth chart from friends in South Africa. The little pictures include two cross stitches I made as a child and two pictures made for me by childhood friends.

On the other side of the room we have the quilt I made of Australian and South African animals. This quilt represents Elnathan's heritage as the child of a South African and an Australian, and there is a special message on the back about how we want him to love both places. You can also see a teddy bear I painted during an art class I attended as a teen, and a clock Gran in South Africa gave Elnathan. On the drawers are three toys I made as a teenager.

Step out into the hall and we have a collection of wall ornaments from South Africa. A friend made the collage of people who could not make it to our wedding.

In the bathroom we have a picture from Cradle Mountain, where we went for our honeymoon. You can see one of our elephants on the windowsill reflected in the picture!

Step back into the hall and you see another African item, which Dave purchased on one of his trips in Africa. The little red item is a beaded bug Dave enjoyed purchasing from a stall on our first trip together to South Africa.

In our room we have a wedding picture over our bed (sorry about the poor photo).

I was also recently able to complete this picture which includes our full wedding vows. It is wonderful to have the reminder on the wall all the time!

We also have a picture of a man, a lady and a house. I love the images of fruitfulness in this cross stitch, and the verse about God giving to us according to the fruit of our doings. It seems appropriate for a family like ours as we love to grow things.

In our living room we have two prints of John Glover paintings (one is pictured here) and two watercolours. You can also see our Advent calendar in this picture! All the pictures in our living room are of Tasmania.

In other parts of our house we have lists of words we are trying to learn in Zulu, photos taken by Dave and by my younger brother, a map of Africa, a framed BA certificate, and more handwork.

I am not sure what Elnathan will learn from our walls, but here are some thoughts . . .

* We love Tasmania and Africa.

* We appreciate making things and displaying the things others have made. Making things is a valuable thing to do!

* We love to delight in the beauty God has given us, and the memories of special places and events.

Perhaps walls serve as a tool for remembering and displaying what the family cares about, and what defines them as people.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

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Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day 2009

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Outline of the human body

Today I wanted an outline of the human body to label with Zulu words so we can learn them more easily. This was the best one I found during Internet searches. It comes from a lesson plan associated with Anatomy Acts, a Scottish exhibition of the connections between art and science. I found lots of interesting sites while searching for this. Attempting to help my family learn at home is also a good way to keep up with resources that could be useful in the primary classroom, should I ever have the opportunity to use my Dip Ed in paid work as a teacher. In the end, though, I wondered if it would have been a better use of time to simply draw a human body outline myself!

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Haystacks for dinner

Yesterday we enjoyed haystacks for dinner. This is a simple meal of corn chips topped with a bean and tomato mix plus cheese, sour cream, and whatever fresh or canned veggies you want! I'm always looking for meals that can use a variety of garden produce, and this is one. Yesterday we enjoyed fresh lettuce, rocket, and grated carrot from our garden. Elnathan ate some homegrown turnip (frozen prior), plus some pumpkin and avacado. I love meals like haystacks for Sundays as they don't take long to prepare. Sunday is my official rest day, so I don't like to spend it doing lots of cooking.

Another reasonably quick meal we've discovered recently is homemade whole wheat tortillas. These are much cheaper than the store bought variety, and taste yummy! Like haystacks, you can use lots of garden vegetables on them. I think these may well become a summer staple at our home. It is also great to use beans on tortillas and haystacks as they are a frugal and earth friendly option. We're blessed that we happen to love beans!

Here are a few extra photos of our boy . . .

Natey loves to sit by himself, but occasionally falls over so we still put a cushion behind him.

 

He pushes himself right up with his arms when we put him onto his tummy, but doesn't roll yet.

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A Christmas Carol

Stacy McDonald has posted some thoughts on A Christmas Carol. It looks like this would be another good movie to watch at Christmas time. I'm looking forward to perusing resources like this in the years to come as we consider the books and movies we'd like to enjoy in our home.

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Little Lord Fauntleroy DVD

On Friday we loved watching Little Lord Fauntleroy, which we borrowed from our local library. This movie is based upon the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Cedric Errol (Little Lord Fauntleroy) is left the only heir to the title of Earl of Dorincourt after the death of his father and uncles. Cedric lives in the USA as his mother is American. His grandfather, the current Earl, hates Americans and Mrs Errol in particular.  Earl Dorincourt's son married Mrs Errol against his will and he has not forgiven this offense. The Earl sends his lawyer to America to ask that Cedric come to live with him, on the condition that Mrs Errol lives nearby but separately. As the story progresses Cedric conveys unconditional love and positive regard to the grumpy old man. As a result, the heart of the Earl is transformed.

The last scene of Little Lord Fauntleroy is a Christmas dinner, so it is particularly appropriate for this time of year. It is a good movie for children, as the main character is an exemplary child. As we were watching, Dave said "I want Natey to be like him"! The movie also presents many themes that would be worthy of discussion. These include the political structures of England and the United States, poverty relief, the responsibilities of the rich, the value of holding one's tongue and choosing not to speak ill of people, the importance of forgiveness, and the wonder of unconditional love.

One problem with the film is that it may give the impression that people can be transformed without Christ. Little Lord Fauntleroy seems too perfect to be true, and he is. Only one child, Jesus, has truly held the transforming power of unconditional love. Children, like adults, need to remember that they cannot transform the lives of others on their own. They can, however, point to the one who came into this world as a perfect child and whose birth we celebrate with joy. Human love provides a shadow of the unconditional love that led our Heavenly Father to give his precious son.

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