Traveling with Dinosaurs through the Land of Nod

We're being chased by Velociraptors near the Pishon river, being hired by Jubal's family in the land of Cush, swimming frantically away from a great Plesiosaurus, and finding gold in the land of Havilah.

And learning about ancient biblical history hasn't ever been more fun, I think.

It's a shame this closet treasure is long out of publication (originally published in 1988) but we played The Great Dinosaur Adventure: an educational game of creation and bible knowledge for the first time all the way through last night and had an awesome time.

The history of the people, places, and events of the first ten chapters of Genesis are woven throughout this fun and educational board game, focusing specifically around the time before and directly after the flood.

Traveling around the board with your dinosaur pawn, you make your way through the lands of Nod, Havilah, Assyria and Cush where the four rivers of Eden flow. The board is filled with pictures of dinosaurs, peoples of the Bible, and other geographically and historically interesting tidbits of this time period of the first two thousand years of human history. Land on an event card and you might get sent on a gem mining hunt in Havilah, running from twelve-inch long dragon flies, or farming with Cain's great grandsons in Assyria.

You also might happen to land on take a card in which you get to draw from a thick stack of dinosaur-themed cards and get a chance at answering some multiple-choice or true or false questions. These range from the scientific method to fossils to the ice age to giant kangaroos and sea monsters, with dozens of topics being covered including geology and archeology, changes in human life span, climate, and animal behavior, loads of information about dinosaurs and other extinct animals, the men of this time period in the Bible, and the biblical account of creation.


He loves the dinosaur theme, and I love having a resource for teaching him about dinosaurs that isn't drenched in evolutionary propaganda. Funny how there is an amazing amount of evidence that dinosaurs and humans indeed existed together, yet it doesn't "fit" with the evolutionist's theory so it is ignored. One simple little site I have enjoyed on this topic is Forbidden History: Dinosaurs and the Bible.

We have been casually studying ancient history over the past year of so, so this will be a splendid and invaluable addition to our learning adventures. So little is known and understood by most Christians about the biblical history pre-Egypt, and even I myself have learned so much in the very recent past. I am deeply excited to be sharing these things with my son and giving him an early understanding of the true account of world history.

And what better or more interesting way to do it than a game, no?

"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together." 

Job 40:15-17

Hunter is 5 years, 1 month old

Seasons and More

Earlier last week was the winter solstice, or "first day of winter" and longest day of the year. We talked about how the days have been getting shorter and shorter little by little, but now they will start getting just a little bit longer and a little bit longer until the longest day of the year in June.

This is actually something that has been really close to Hunter because, not only does he notice that his daytime playing hours are certainly less than before, it is especially noticeable to him because of the time Brandon goes to work every day (4:30 pm). When we first got here, there were several hours from between the time Brandon left and the time it got dark, but now the sun is setting as he leaves.

Anyhow, we made a chart of the location of the earth in relation to the sun at the different seasons. I made the earth and sun pieces out of construction paper, and Hunter glued them together and glued them on the paper. He also cut out the sun, helped color the sun beams, and wrote the season words. We talked more about the opposites of summer and winter in the northern and southern hemispheres and why summer is summer and winter is winter (tilt of earth creating longer/shorter days as well as making us closer to / further from sun).

We also learned some words - summer and winter solstices (shortest and longest days of year) and vernal (spring) and autumnal (fall) equinoxes (equinox means "equal", where the day hours are as long as the night hours).

Later we'll talk about how on the equator it is always hot (they are always close to the sun) and that they always have equal nights and days.

I like making crafts like this because it's not only something that is a fun project and a fun lesson, but something that we'll use again and again. We'll refer to this often to talk about a lot of other things (like the north and south poles and the magnetism of the earth, how the earth rotates as well as spins counterclockwise, the gravitational pull of the sun, etc., etc., etc. It's fun to learn these things as we relate them to real life experiences, making it simple and interesting to understand.

I was going to hang it up in the school room, but Hunter protested, "No, I'd like to hang it up in my room."

"He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." 

Job 26:7

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old 

Santa Teaches Geography

This morning my sister sent me a link to a site called noradsanta.org. It is this world map with little marks of "where Santa's been" in live action time. The locations are (I think) in every major city of the world, and if you click on the little present icon over a particular city, it tells you the name of the city and a picture. There are even a bunch of "newscast-style" videos in select locations, such as the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal. So far he has covered most of the Eastern Hemisphere.

When I took this screen shot (around noon), he was in the Crozet Islands in the south Indian Ocean. Before that he was in Enderby Land, Anarctica and a little while ago he was at the International Space Station (that was Hunter's favorite).

Cool things about this:

1. The obvious geography lesson. We are seeing pictures of all these world cities, some that we're familiar with and some that we're not, and their location on a world map.
2. A lesson in time zones. Getting a better understanding of how it is night time there, while it's still daytime here, and by the time Santa "gets to" us, it will be Christmas Eve night here, just like it was in China hours ago.
3. More on opposites of seasons in the northern and southern hemispheres. We were talking about how it's summertime in Australia and South America right now, making more references to the tilt of the earth.

You can learn a lot from a fictional fantasy character, can't you? Oh how I love technology...

"God understandeth the way thereof, and he knoweth the place thereof. For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven..." 

Job 28:23-24

Hunter is 4 years, 9 months old

Teaching Buddies

"What man is he that feareth the LORD? him shall he teach in the way that he shall choose." 

Psalm 25:13

Hunter is 4 years, 8 months old

Bahrain

Hunter's letter to Brandon:

Brandon, I colored this flag
of Bahrain for you. It looks like
the flag of Qatar. I colored a map
too. The sand is yellow. I am glad
you are home now. Love, Hunter

Bahrain is a little island of the coast of Saudi Arabia. While we were printing out geography coloring pages for the next two years (flags and maps) we printed out this of Bahrain, too, where Brandon was for about a year and a half. We have been learning about it and reading about it. He was very careful to color the map a brownish-yellow, because "there's sand there". When we were finding the flag of Bahrain on his geography wall, he was careful to point out that it looked a lot like the flag of Qatar.

He did really good at coloring, he was especially careful with the map, with all the little crevices around the islands. It's so fun now that he's old enough to write letters, is getting better at talking on the phone, etc. It'll really be an asset for staying in touch with friends and family, even from the other side of the country.

"For he looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven"

Job 28:24

Hunter is 4 years, 4 months old

What Do You See?

What do you see in this picture? A water-spitting phenomena? An obtuse angle? A yellow sunset over a blue ocean? A sign pointing left?


Hunter saw this squirt gun today and said, "Hey Mom, look! It's Ukraine!"

The things he picks up on...

"The LORD hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God."

Isaiah 52:10

Hunter is 3 years, 9 months old

Museum of Science and Industry

An Afternoon at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry from joel gratcyk on Vimeo.

Today we went with our family to the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. We haven't been there in a long time even though we have a membership. It's a really great museum, and apparently the largest science museum in the Western hemisphere! We're so blessed to live so close to such awesome learning experiences in our community.

The main focus of our visit was to see their seasonal exhibit, Christmas Around the World or also called Holiday of Lights. Each year at Christmas time they deck their halls with dozens of Christmas trees, each tree representing one of more than 50 countries. The ornaments on the trees represent the traditions of the country and there is a tablet in front of each tree giving you information about how that country celebrates, a traditional holiday greeting (Feliz Navidad!), and other fun information.You can actually go to the link above and read about the different countries featured.

Some of the trees didn't quite represent that country's respective decorating traditions, i.e. the USA tree looked more like a Fourth of July tree than a Christmas one! But the Swedish one, on the other hand, had tons of familiar decorations, like the straw reindeer and the weaved paper heart ornaments. Hunter's Great Grandma was full-blood Swedish, and we actually have some Swedish Christmas decorations such as these that she gave us.

We learned a lot in this exhibit and read many of the trees.

Fast Forward

The Fast Forward into the Future exhibit was pretty neat. Emailing pizzas? Human-like robots? There was a lot of interesting stuff in this exhibit, which Hunter enjoyed. Below - Hunter and Jocelyn enthralled by the "magic" mist at the entrance; Hunter experiments with some sort of sound-mixing music machine; Hunter tests out a fuel-efficient car; butterflies land on Hunter's outline as he experiments with a computer that can be run by your shadow.

Chicks and Genetics

Hunter really loved the baby chicks at the Genetics exhibit. I think we all did, as we hung around there for a long time! There were a lot that were already hatched but we didn't get to see any hatching, unfortunately. Hunter and Jocelyn also really loved playing with this touch-screen controlled video presentation that takes you into life in the womb.

Trains

We briefly looked at the train exhibit. There were tons of awesome little electric trains running on over 1000-feet of track, with mini replicas of the city of Chicago and so much more.

Aerodynamics

We spent quite a while relaxing in the aerodynamics exhibit, which I would have loved to explore more with Hunter, except I spent most of the time sitting down! We were all pretty exhausted at that point - well, everyone except Hunter that is! I had a hard time keeping an eye on him as he was busily running all around checking everything out!

"And the heavens shall praise thy wonders, O LORD: thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints."

Psalm 89:5

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

A is for Albania

You Can Change the World

Those are some pretty weighty words to be saying to a three-year-old, especially when you're not talking in future tense. But that is the title and focus of the new book we're going through, and it's not about building kids' self esteem but about teaching them to pray for the nations.

The book mainly focuses on praying for your family but I got the great idea to start praying for the nations, and we're using the book "You Can Change the World" by Jill Johnstone. It is the children's version of Operation World. Each week we will be praying for a new nation or people group, and learning things about them to better help us know what to pray for. The book we're using is written for children and is in alphabet-style format, with a different country or people group for each letter. The first country is Albania:

A is for Albania, where Christians once were banned; But God has stepped in and is changing this land.

Hunter is very excited to be praying for the people of this nation, and to know that he is having a lasting effect on the eternal souls of these people.

But perhaps you're thinking, do the prayers of toddlers really mean anything? Isn't changing the world a little much for a three-year-old? Are the prayers of tiny kids simply cute, innocent, and sweet, or are they capable of having a true and lasting effect on the world? I believe whole-heartedly that God views little children as so much more than "cute" and takes their requests seriously.

"And they brought young children to him, that he should touch them: and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took them up in his arms, put his hands upon them, and blessed them." (Mark 10:13-16)

"Then there arose a reasoning among them, which of them should be greatest. And Jesus, perceiving the thought of their heart, took a child, and set him by him, And said unto them, Whosoever shall receive this child in my name receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me receiveth him that sent me: for he that is least among you all, the same shall be great." (Luke 9:46-48)

"... but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger." (Luke 22:26)

God puts little children as an example for us, a role model, and says that the greatest among us shall be like the youngest, says that we must become like them and receive God's kingdom as they do in order to enter therein.

Little children - yes, even toddlers - can have a world-changing impact through their heart-felt prayers to their heavenly Father, calling on him to change a nation - and he will. "The LORD hath heard my supplication; the LORD will receive my prayer." (Psalm 6:9) "And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son." (John 14:13

So we are going to be praying - and praying a lot! And we are also going to be learning a lot about the land, the people, and their history of each country we pray for. I spent this weekend researching Albania and learned a great deal of interesting things. The first thing I made was a list of "Programs of Intelligence", which is basically the Doman term for facts about a subject. The point of Programs of Intelligence is not to cover every single fact about the subject, for that has the potential to go on infinitely. Rather the point is to give a good general overview of important things about that subject. The POI's for Albania include things about their culture and geography, like their language, climate, type of government, location, and other interesting facts.

We're also learning a few things about their language (common phrases and counting to ten), and learning about the history of their nation. Here is the information I compiled:

Programs of Intelligence for Albania:

1. In Albania people shake their head back and forth to say yes and nod their head up and down to say no.
2. The Albanian word for Albania is Shqipëria (shchih-PIRd-ia) which means the land of eagles.
3. The national motto of Albania is "Albanians place their faith in Albania"
4. Albania is located in southern Europe and borders the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.
5. The capital of Albania is Tirana.
6. The official language of Albania is Albanian.
   
7. The climate of Albania has a moderate, Mediterranean climate with an average temperature of 7° C. in the winter and 24° C in the summer. Its landscape is mostly covered with mountains and hills, with small plains near the sea.
8. The natural resources of Albania are petroleum, natural gas, coal, bauxite, chromite, copper, iron ore, nickel, salt, timber, and hydropower.
9. Albania’s form of government is now a Parliamentary Republic. The Albanian Constitution was adopted on November 28, 1998
10. During World War II the Albanians protected the Jews that lived there and provided refuge for Jews from other countries. Only one Jewish family was killed during the Nazi occupation of Albania. Albania was the only country that had more Jews living there after the war than it did living there before the war.

You can speak Albanian! Useful and common phrases we will be learning in Albanian to give us a brief but meaningful overview of the culture and language:

Numbers:

1 një (nyUH)

2 dy (dEW)

3 tre (trEH)

4 katër (KAHT-uhr)

5 pesë (pEHS)

6 gjashtë (JASH-tuh)

7 shtatë (sh-TAHT)

8 tetë (tEHt)

9 nënd (nUHnd)

10 dhgetë (duh-YEHT)

Common Phrases:

Hello – Tungjatjeta (toon-jat-yeta)

Goodbye – Mirupafshim (meer-oo-pafsheem)

How are you? – Se jeni? (See-yeenee)

Where are you going? – Ku po shkoni? (koo-paw-shkawnee)

Good morning – Mirëmëngjes (meer-mihn-JEHS)

Good afternoon – Merëdita (meer DEE tah)

Good evening – Mirëmbrëma (meer-EHM-bruh-mah)

Yes – Po (pOH)

No – Jo (jOH)

Thank you – Faleminderit (FA-leh-meen-DEH-reet)

Please – Ju lutem (joo-LOOTehm)

Sorry – Më fal (muh-fahl)

History of Albania in a nutshell:

1. The land of Albania was once the Roman province of Illyricum since the year 165 B.C. Later on this land was divided into two provinces, Dalmatia and Pannonia.
2. In 476 A.D. the Roman Empire fell and Albania was now under the Byzantine Empire, administered from Constantinople. Albania was under Byzantine rule up until the 14^th century.
3. In the 14^th century the Ottoman Turks took over the land that is now Albania. The Turks ruled this land until the 20^th century.
4. Albania is mentioned in the Bible in Romans 15:19 where Paul says he preached the gospel from Jerusalem to Illyricum. In 2 Timothy 4:10 we learn that Titus went on a mission to Dalmatia. Albania was once filled with Christians but after the takeover of the Ottoman Empire in the fourteenth century many people converted to Islam – the religion of the Turks. Albania became the only Muslim nation in Europe for many years.
5. Between the years 1444 – 1466 a man named Gjergj Kastrioti Skanderbeg led the Albanians in driving out the Turks. Skanderbeg led 30,000 men to successfully hold off the brutal campaigns of the Turks. The Albanians were independent for a very short time of just 24 years. Albania became famous throughout Europe for their resistance to the Turks. Skanderbeg is still a hero to this day and a symbol of hope to Albanians.
6. The Albanians continued to resist the Turks for many years, and Albania finally became an independent nation on November 28, 1912.
7. In 1939 Albania was invaded and conquered by Italy who made Albania part of the Italian Empire.
8. In 1944, during World War II, the Italians and Germans were driven out of Albania and Enver Hoxha became the dictator. Hoxha set up a communist form of government. The state owned and controlled all factories, farms, power plants, schools, hospitals, and all other businesses. They also controlled all communication and transportation facilities. The government controlled all peoples’ lives and did not allow the people to have things like cars or refrigerators, did not allow people to travel and did not allow them to sell things with other countries. Religion was banned and people were not allowed to pray, talk about God or own any books that spoke about God. Parents were not even allowed to name their children Christian or Muslim names. The government tried to control everything so they could improve the country’s education and industry, but Albania became the poorest country in Europe. Many people saw the horrible situation in Albania but no one was allowed to go in or out of the country.
9. In 1985 Enver Hoxha died. In 1991 the communist government was forced to resign. Since then Christians and many others have been coming into the country to help the Albanians with food, clothing, and medical supplies, and tell them about the gospel. They are still one of the poorest countries in Europe but are improving with the help of new government leaders and with freedom of religion.

Can you imagine what a thorough understanding you would have of geography and each country's place in world history if you learned 50 facts like these for each nation and people group of the world? I wouldn't doubt that after learning 50 or so facts like these about each country of Europe you would have a better understanding of the geography and history of the continent than do most college professors.

He is going to be learning a lot and getting a very good understanding of the nations of the world, but the most important thing he will be learning - the whole reason that it is important to learn about geography and history in the first place - is that he is developing a missionary's heart. From this young age, he is learning that his life has meaning, has significance, for eternity.


To say the least, I am very excited about our new geography curriculum!

"Among the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord; neither are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name. For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone. Teach me thy way, O LORD; I will walk in thy truth: unite my heart to fear thy name."

Psalm 86:8-11

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

Quantum Leap Pad

Yesterday Hunter's aunt gave him her old Quantum Leap Pad and a couple of books to go with it. He has been playing with it ever since and really enjoying it, especially the geography book.

In times past I used to be really "anti-electronics" for little kids, not in the sense of being borderline Amish or anything but just having a thing against all the computer and TV learning ware that is on the market for little kids all the way down to newborns. I read Endangered Minds by Jane M. Healy when I was pregnant with Hunter and although there was some things in that book that were good (like the fact that kids who are constantly bombarded with loud, obnoxious television and other media for many hours a day may have some trouble learning in the real world, that is, in real books the letter A doesn't dance up and down and morph into an apple then into an airplane then fly off the screen, accompanied by flashing lights and fast-paced music, all in under 5 seconds flat) but there were a lot of premises in the book that were off, like the idea that when kids watch any type of media they are virtually in "zombie mode" and aren't learning anything, just being mesmerized by all the ruckus.

But now I know that kids can, and do, learn from just about anything. There are a great many people who simply refuse to believe that kids could learn to read from the TV but it happens all the time, and many kids are picking up words and figuring out reading on their own as the result of the TV. Now I don't in any way propose that we sit down our preschoolers to four hours a day of good ol' "educational TV" on PBS, and would much rather have my son playing with blocks or running around outside than watching TV. Hunter rarely, maybe once a week, watches any videos, other than maybe 15 minutes a day of foreign language immersion. But with that said, I do believe that kids can and do learn from just about anything, and pick up an amazing amount of information from their environment. I still would rather him use his imagination and be building and creating when he plays, but a limited amount of play with an electronic box can nonetheless be beneficial.

So, back to the Quantum Leap Pad. He loves the world geography book, and that's the main thing he's been playing with. In this small book they have all the countries and their flags (over 200), the states of the USA, continents and oceans, and tons of other stuff. You can learn how to say "hello" in the languages of Asia, Europe, or Africa. You can learn about longitude and latitude and about different seas, gulfs, rivers, and landmarks. You can learn each country's capital, national anthem, it's population and land area, things about its economy and people, etc. Some things I've heard coming out of this little box of plastic and wires are things like "Vexillology is the study of flags" and "You could fill 160 Olympic-sized swimming pools with the olive oil Spain produces each year." There are lots of games and challenges and it's a great way to review all the geography facts he's learned as well as learning new things. It's supposed to be for ages 8 and up but he didn't have any problem navigating the system.

There were two other books that he was given, one was a sample book (that's the one that comes with the system) with all kinds of stuff like the bones of the body, planets, multiplication, parts of speech, and presidents of the USA. The other book he got was 3rd grade math, which as soon as he's done learning all his numerals he will be able to use.

I do prefer to be learning with him, having lots of face-to-face interaction, learning by doing, etc. But for those times when that's not possible, it sure is nice to have fun toys that teach like this!

"God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us... That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations... O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth..."

Psalm 67:1-2, 4

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

It's Alabama!

A while ago I wrote a post about Hunter noticing state outlines in other things. Well yesterday in our countdown to Christmas, as part of it we keep track of the days left on Hunter's 100-bead abacus. As I moved the bead over from 33 to make 32, Hunter said "It's Alabama!"

"What?" I couldn't figure out what he was talking about at first. He kept saying, "It has two on the side" and finally it clicked that he was saying that he thought the beads resembled Alabama.

The beads do kind of resemble Alabama if you were to take those two beads and switch them to the bottom, but I guess he already did that in his imagination. It made me laugh that he was so creative as to notice "Alabama" in this line-up of dots, it's incredible the things that little kids notice when we give them the opportunity, that is, give them a base of interesting knowledge and help build their natural love of learning. Learning encyclopedic knowledge opens so many doors, it's just incredible.

I was also quite amazed that he noticed that because we learned those states several months ago and it was funny that they were fresh enough in his memory to be able to recognize the shape in something like that.

"Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else."

Isaiah 45:22

Hunter is 3 years, 8 months old

Sites for Kids - Map Puzzles

I found this site today and Hunter really liked playing the USA map game. It's good if they already know the states, then it will be easier. This great site has a ton of map puzzles with everything from continents to countries within each continent to world monuments. It's just a blank outline map and they give you one country / state at a time to drag and drop in it's respective location. Most of them can be played online with no download required. And best of all, it's all free. Enjoy!

http://www.yourchildlearns.com/map-puzzles.htm

"All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations."

Psalm 22:27-28

Singing in the Car

A little glimpse into our life. To be honest driving in the car is one of our biggest "school" times. We like to listen to classical music, sing our hymns, and all other sorts of singing while en route. We occasionally do math equations, talk about politics, or whatever else floats our boat at the moment. It’s just our life of, well, conversation. “and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up…” (Deuteronomy 6)

Recently we've been singing the capitals of Europe. I made a list for myself and tried reading it to him in a fun way (like tickling in between) but he didn't seem too interested. However when I started reciting the list to the tune of a song, (and laughed at interesting ones like Bratislava and Ljubljana) he really liked it and now wants to sing it all the time.

And, yes, I probably shouldn't be driving one-handed but I was looking at the road, honest.

"Now therefore write ye this song for you, and teach it the children of Israel: put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for me against the children of Israel."

Deuteronomy 31:19

Hunter is 3 years, 7 months old 

Idaho?

Today I introduced Hunter to some state outlines. He saw them once, then I put them away.

Later when I showed him the second set of state outline cards, as I was going through he said "No!" and I stopped. "Go back" he said, and I backed up to the one I had showed him before. "No, no" he said until we got to Oklahoma. "That one!" he said. "Oklahoma?" I said. "No, it's not Oklahoma." he replied. "Yes, this is Oklahoma Hunter." "No" he said, and then proceeded to take the card and turn it sideways so that the long end was turned up.

"Oh" I laughed. "No Hunter, you're thinking of Idaho" I got Idaho out from the other set and showed him. "Is this what you were thinking of?" "Yeah" he smiled. "Oh, well this one here is called Oklahoma and this one is Idaho." It made me laugh. He's very particular about stuff like that. But, it was an honest mistake. Kids come make the funniest observations.



"And thine ears shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."

Isaiah 30:21

Hunter is 3 years, 4 months old

Belguim Waffles!

This morning we decided to have a special, oriental treat of Belgium waffles. We got a postcard from Aunt Abigail in the mail a couple days ago telling of her trip to Belgium and the wonderful waffles she had. So we brought a little of Belgium to our kitchen and cooked up some European goodness!

I always thought they looked disgusting and too sweet, but they were actually quite tasty with Cool Whip (instead of whipped cream, which is much sweeter) and fresh sliced strawberries. Nonetheless, Hunter loved them and eagerly pointed out Belgium on the world map before breakfast.

Maybe we don't get to travel the world but we sure do have a lot of fun, learning, and culture right in our own home. I wouldn't trade moments like this with my boy for all the traveling in the world.

"We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. 10According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth: thy right hand is full of righteousness."

Psalm 48:9-10

Hunter is 3 years, 3 months old

To Teach a Toddler Geography

Hunter has been learning geography, and he absolutely loves it. In fact, I can't get away with putting him to bed unless we get out our little flags and point to each one on the map that hovers over his toddler bed. "Silly Mommy, we forgot to do our countries!" he will tell me if I forget.

I know that in Montessori preschools, they teach children the names of the continents. Public schools' Kindergarten geography standards say that the child must know that a map or globe is a representation of the world.

But tiny kids, at this stage, can learn a great deal more than that, simply because it is so easy for them to absorb information. He may not have an accurate grasp of what "China" is yet, but the more he learns, the more he will understand. And when he's older and has to learn this stuff in school, it will be a joy and a task of ease.

I started off by simply pointing out some interesting countries on the map that is in our dining room. He simply loved that, and was constantly climbing up by the map and saying, "Let's find Russia!" Russia was his favorite at the time. Now it is Djibouti (pronounced "juh-booty"), a tiny little country in North Eastern Africa, near the Red Sea.

I then thought it would be a good idea to use the visual aid of flags and teach him the flags and the locations of each country at once. I simply hold up the picture of the flag when I point to the country: "this is Brazil" I say, as he looks at the flag, then looks where my finger is pointed.

This teaching time takes less than two minutes a day. And it is a very fun, stress-free two minutes as well.

We do our geography once in the morning, before nap time, and before bed (on a perfect day). He is not required to say anything back or be tested in any way, since teaching is about giving information like you would give a gift, not asking for it back.

I printed out the flag cards on card stock and laminated. I got the graphics off of Wikipedia. On the back of each flag I wrote the country name and its capital, as we'll be learning capitals later. I'm surprised at how much he loves it, and am excited to be giving him such a useful, fun gift.

"The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein."

Psalm 24:1

Hunter is 2 years, 10 months old