Music in the Family

I had the most refreshing observation yesterday in church. As the congregation was singing “It Is Well With My Soul”, I glanced across the aisle at our pastor’s young children. They were holding hymn books, but I couldn’t help noticing that they were not reading the words. They were singing with all their hearts, but not needing to refer to the page for any of the verses. Impressed with this observation, I watched them singing at our vespers service later. Again, they were singing all verses without the use of the words. For all of their lives, those children will have the benefit of having a collection of hymns recorded in their memory. As I thought more about it, I couldn’t help feeling what a blessing it would be to all Christian families to take up a habit of memorizing hymns. Here are some ideas:

• If you don’t already own a hymn book, buy one. Preferably, get one that is the same as the one your church uses. Or maybe you could even borrow one from the church. If someone in your family plays piano or some other instrument, use that to accompany your singing and to help learn the melodies if you don’t already know them. 

• If no one in your family can accompany the hymns, choose common ones that have melodies you already know by heart and teach those to your children without accompaniment.

• While the melodies of hymns are beautiful and have an emotional and spiritual benefit to the listener, the most valuable part of the hymn is the words. So, if your family does not particularly care for the melodies (although I’d strongly encourage developing a taste for them), you can still learn the words as poems. In fact, many times we learn hymns by rote and never really hear the words. Try just reading the hymns as poems and see for yourself how precious the messages are.

• Buy a book that gives the history of hymn writers and hymns or do a search on the Internet and share the information at family time. There are some amazing stories behind the hymns. Some suggestions of songs to research might be It Is Well With My Soul or O, Love, That Wilt Not Let Me Go. Hymn writers who might be interesting to learn about could be Fannie Crosby or Philip Bliss. 

So many parents wish after their children are grown, that they had invested more time and energy into family music. Don’t wait. It doesn’t require a lot of money for music lessons to enjoy music as a family. And putting the great old hymns in the minds of your children is a gift that will definitely keep on giving!

copyright@2010gwensimmons

Some Children See Him
By Alfred Burt

Some children see Him lily white
the infant Jesus born this night
Some children see Him lily white
with tresses soft and fair
Some children see Him bronzed and brown
the Lord of heav’n to earth come down
Some children see Him bronzed and brown
with dark and heavy hair (with dark and heavy hair!)
Some children see Him almond-eyed
This Saviour whom we kneel beside
Some children see Him almond-eyed
With skin of yellow hue!
Some children see Him dark as they
Sweet Mary’s Son to whom we pray
Some children see Him dark as they
And, ah! they love Him so!
The children in each different place
Will see the Baby Jesus’ face
Like theirs but bright with heav’nly grace
And filled with holy light!
O lay aside each earthly thing
and with thy heart as offering
Come worship now the infant King
’tis love that’s born tonight!

Nature Hunt

Autumn is a great season for participating in nature activities with children.  The weather is cool, yet crisp and pleasant.  Foliage is turning shades of orange, red, and brown.  Flowers are going to seed, creating pods and seed packets that are interesting to touch and see.  It is a fantastic season to explore nature with children.  Here’s a fun game to do outside with children:
Use a word, such as CREATION, and have the children find or see an object from nature that starts with each letter found in that word.  For example:

C = cattail
R = rabbit
E = egg shell
A = apple
T = tree
I = insect
O = olive leaf
N = nectar

The children can document their findings in a nature journal where they can draw, gather, write about, or photograph the items they found.  When one word is completed, move on to another like NATURE, WILDLIFE, or FOREST.

Thankfulness

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens his will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing,
Sing praises to his name: He forgets not his own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining his kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, wast at our side, All glory be thine!
We all do extol thee, thou leader triumphant,
And pray that thou still our defender wilt be.
Let thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Amen

Traditional Thanksgiving Hymn
(A translation by Theodore Baker: 1851-1934)

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is only a day away! Suddenly it’s the topic of conversation amongst friends and acquaintances. The beauty shop was buzzing with ‘food talk’ this week. Everyone was sharing what they were planning on making or serving for Thanksgiving dinner. It seems that left-overs and stuffing got the ‘most popular’ vote. I enjoyed hearing about family tradition and favorite foods, and how each family has their own way of implementing this popular holiday. It’s a time to give thanks! From what was said, it appears that this is the holiday that people ‘most cook’ and ‘most eat’. It seems that home-made is favored; and that many mom’s prefer to make the entire meal rather than having grown children bring something in a planned potluck style. My menu hasn’t been decided upon yet, but just listening and talking to others is helping me formulate my plan of action. I must get busy.

Of course I have some friends who are very organized and I admire them greatly! They are already planning their Christmas baking.  Thanksgiving isn’t even past yet.   Oh to be so efficient.

I guess I better run along now and draft a menu for next week — so that I can start thinking of delicious Christmas sweets and savories too. In the meantime, I’m going to enjoy taking a walk down memory lane while I look at this picture of the eldest which was taken years ago when he was a budding young cook.

Enjoy preparing for the holiday!

Autumn Adventure Day

 

The school year starts in September for most families. The days are beautifully filled with autumn splendor. The sun is bright, but the shadows long on many autumn mornings. It is a great time of year. Every year our family would start studies with much anticipation and energy. After a few weeks the newness would wear off and the children would need a boost (and so would mom!). Every October or November we implemented something that we called “Autumn Adventure Day” — a day whose events were always a surprise for the children. On that morning I would wake the children up, telling them to hurry and get dressed because I had a surprise for them. A backpack for each of them was packed and ready to go, including a packed breakfast and a journal.  It was usually one I made and it was shaped like an apple or pumpkin with a colorful cover on it. We would hit the road, stopping at all sorts of planned adventures along the way. Usually we would include a visit to the children’s grandparents. Along the way we would do things like: pick a bucket of apples in the neighbor’s orchard; stop at a bakery to watch them make bagels; go to a park and identify trees and gather nuts and seeds; jog a lap or two around a running track; go to Grandma’s house for a story she would read; go to a tea room for lunch and learn manners; to the other grandma’s house for cookies and a nature lesson; and so on. The time line was scheduled and filled with many fun, short activities. The children would record events in their journal in the car between events. Zip lock bags were included in their backpack for collecting nature objects. And a camera was given as well, for recording things that weren’t easy to draw or write about. The journals became more sophisticated over the years — being age-appropriate as the children grew.  Our autumn adventures were chock full of learning activities and events, all mixed with a great deal of fun.  Each autumn the children would look forward to this ‘surprise’ day with much anticipation.


I highly recommend thinking outside of the box! It’s how memories are made! What a blessing it is to be the teacher of one’s own children. Having an autumn adventure day is just one way of making it a fun and happy experience.

Growing Uniquely

I planted a tree.  I knew about trees, so I gave it space to grow.
 
I planted a morning-glory vine.  I knew about morning glories, so I put a trellis next to it so it could cling and pull itself up.

I planted a tulip bulb, and because I knew about tulip bulbs.  I waited until spring before I looked for signs of growth.

I was blessed with a child.  Because I loved that child, I learned how he grew.  Once I knew, I provided the environment and resources that best facilitated his optimal and delightful development.

* * *

Each plant has its unique characteristics and can be expected to act and grow according to them.  In the same way, given the right elements, children will thrive and grow when given the proper tools.  The recipe of warm responsiveness, time within the family unit, and freedom to explore will create children who grow willingly, enthusiastically, and naturally.  Each child will thrive and grow in their own unique way when given the time and resources to do it!

Hand-Made and Customized Education

“True home schooling is tutorial, hand-made, customized to each child. Such parents respond to their children in a loving, informal way, a balance between systematic structure where needed and a great deal of freedom for youngsters to explore.”
 
~ Raymond S. Moore