Love is Patient Butterfly Character Trait Homeschool Unit Study

 

I based this homeschool study on the first character trait of Love in 1 Corinthians 13: Patience. Look up the passage. In fact, I challenge you to read 1 Corinthians 13 with your family for Valentine's Day (check out my 1 Corinthians 13 Valentine's day wreath for a pretty decoration idea). If Valentine's day is about love, then it's especially important for my children to understand what real love is and 1 Corinthians 13 nicely lays it out for us.

 

It's interesting the more we study character traits, the more homeschooling has been refining my character as well as my children's! My patience is definitely something I could tinker for the better! What about yours? 

 

Originally, my sister inspired me to include Character First Education in our homeschooling. It's where you learn about an animal and a character trait that ties in with that animal. Here is a post about the resources we use for our character trait study. Plus until Sunday evening, you can still leave a comment on that blog post to win this character trait book Achieving True Success: How to Build Character As a Family! 

 

Character First Education provides some free resources on their website that have been helpful and you can include that in this homeschool study as well.

To kick off our Love is Patient Butterfly Character study, we read 1 Corinthians 13 (and made this wreath). We read this book about butterflies: Grow with Me: Butterfly that we picked up at the library. We talked about how caterpillars have to patiently grow in their chrysalis until they become butterflies and how waiting can make things better (i.e. food to cool off so it doesn't burn our tongue). Also how showing patience with our friends, family, and siblings shows them love. So if we truly love our neighbor, we must embrace patience!

Because my daughter is part kinesthetic learner, we role-played each stage of the butterfly. We rolled up like an egg, inched around on the ground like a caterpillar, stood very still like a chrysalis, then opened and fluttered our wings like a butterfly. (A great introduction to life cycles)

We then did a word search that I made with most of the vocabulary used in the book Grow with Me: Butterfly. You can print that word search here (for free!): Butterfly Word Search

To have some bonding time, I created a copy and trace coloring page for young kids and a "Mommy Meditation" page on 1 Corinthians 13 (also great for bigger kids who can read). The Mommy Meditation is a way you can lead by example! Get your color on and face-time with your children all while focusing on the word of God!

This Love is Patient Butterfly Trace, Copy and Color Butterfly Page (for young kids): write your name, copy and trace Love is Patient (after reading 1 Corinthians 13), and then color in your butterfly.

For the Mommy Meditation page: color as you like! I also suggest highlighting the word LOVE, then underlining in one color (I used gold) what love is, and underlining in another color (I used red to signify "stop") what love isn't.

Here is Big Blue Eyes and I after we colored our pages!

 

Love this girl! And learning together!

 

We also read page 70 "Monarch Miracle" in the book My Big Book of 5-minute Devotions and page 54 "Patience vs Restlessness" in Achieving True Success: How to Build Character As a Family (you can still win this book - details here).

 

Here is an outline of our unit study and resources below.

 

Language Arts

Love is Patient Butterfly Color and Copy

Butterfly Word Search

Mommy Meditation Page

 

Science

Butterfly Life Cycle Craft from Buggy and Buddy

Life Cycle of a Butterfly pasta activity from the Hildebrands

Comparing Types of Butterflies (or make a Venn diagram with 2 different types of butterflies)

 

Art

Painting B Butterflies: A lesson in Symmetry (I'll post this tomorrow)

Character First's Education Beautiful Butterfly Activity

 

Math

(I'll update this with a blog post tomorrow as well)

 

Resources

Character First Education for Patience page includes a poem, nature story, and song along with a few activity pages and a story of George Washington Carver. Check them out for some more free resources.

 

 

And a bible!
(Purchasing through the book links above can monetarily help/fund support Sweet Roots! I'm thankful to be an amazon affiliate!)

Please comment below if you decide to partake! I'd love to hear your thoughts and any other butterfly-related activities!

Thanks again, my dear readers!

Week of Love: Golden Smoothie

Turmeric is a powerhouse of antioxidants and anti- inflammatory properties. It has been scientifically proven to help prevent and/or treat alzheimers, arthritis, and cancer. It's a powerful anti-inflammatory thanks mainly to curcumin, turmeric's active constituent. This bright orange root helps protect the liver and detoxify the body by binding heavy metals and neutralizing free radicals.

According to Rosemary Gladstar, turmeric "is one of the best herbs for immune health and is often overlooked because of the huge popularity of Echinacea" (Rosemary Gladstar's Herbal Recipes for Vibrant Health, page 110). She continues to say that turmeric is antitumor and antibiotic as well as a metabolic tonic and blood purifier. Michael Castleman, author of The New Healing Herbs, states that consuming antioxidant herbs such as turmeric helps prevent oxidative damage - the underlying cause of heart disease, cancer and stroke (the top three killers in the United States).

Safety concern for Turmeric: If you take blood thinners, consult with your physician before consuming medicinal doses/supplements of Turmeric. Culinary use is considered safe.

God gave us these wonderful herbs that are already so powerful in their healing capabilities. It is best to introduce each herb to the body and increase the amount taken over a period of time. With turmeric, low amounts taken over a long period of time are proven to be more effective than high doses over short period. Once introduced and by including this herb in your diet regularly, you can reap its many benefits.

I had this smoothie for a week straight and I could definitely tell my energy was more boisterious!

Enjoy this for Valentine's Day with the one you want to grow old and gray with!

 

Golden Smoothie
1/3 cup soaked cashews
1 cup water
1/2 cup coconut cream
1/2 tsp to 2 tsp turmeric powder
1 orange
1 frozen banana
1 TB raw local  honey * optional
Ice *optional

Variations:
1. Substitute coconut or almond milk for cashews, water, and coconut cream.
2. Add chia seeds for omega and protein boost.
3. Use a scoop of tahini for calcium.
4. Substitute orange for a small organic apple (cored) and 2 tsp cinnamon
5. Add a handful of greens

Turmeric is available at your local grocery store or Mountain Rose Herbs. I buy my herbs from Mountain Rose Herbs.

  Another on-the-go way to incorporate turmeric is the yummy vegan and savory Indian Spice Sipping Broth. I love this green tea-infused drink. It's so delicious on a cold, winter morning!
 

This post contains affiliate links. Buying through these links may help to support Sweet Roots! I thank all my sweet readers for your support!

 

And last but not least, I'm not a doctor. I'm not licensed to diagnose or prescribe. This is for educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Use information at your discretion, taking into account medical history. Always research! 

Week of Love: Sticker Resist Heart Bookmarks

Today's week of love post is a craft perfect for children: Sticker Resist Heart Bookmarks.

 

This idea came to me while my daughter and I were making Jean Van'T Hul's Sticker Resist Starry Night Cards from the Artful Parent blog. Jean is the author of The Artful Parent: Simple Ways to Fill Your Family's Life with Art and Creativity and The Artful Year: Celebrating the Seasons and Holidays with Crafts and Recipes, which actually looks like it was released today! How exciting! I own The Artful Parent which I've found to be a great resource. I read the book initially and return to it again and again. It's my main kid creativity cookbook. Geared towards ages one through eight, it has a lot of fun activities but part one is worth the price of the book alone. So go give Jean some love on this momentous day of her second book release!

My daughter really enjoyed making the sticker resist starry night cards. When we were making them before Christmas, I thought how easy and fun it would be to do these for Valentine's Day but with heart stickers and pink/purple/orange colors. And instead of handing out cards, why not bookmarks? Big Blue Eyes was tickled!

To preserve the bookmarks and keep them from leaking on to books when in use, we laminated them with Scotch Thermal Laminator 2 Roller System (TL901) and trimmed the sharp edges. I think they look just beautiful and very professional.

This is a great opportunity for learning as well. Some ideas that can be discussed (depending on age and skill):
1. Different Colors
2. Shapes
    * Hearts, Stars and Circles (think polka dots) are all great options here.
3. Color Mixing (read below for suggestions):
    * white + red = pink
    * red + blue =  dark purple
    * red + blue + white = light purple
4. Patterns
    * Big Hearts, Small Hearts, Little Hearts, Tall Hearts
    * Also works for paints - paint pink then red then purple
5. Talk about Love
    * This is why we celebrate Valentine's Day
    * Different kinds of love - unconditional love, friendship love, and mommy & daddy love
    * Read verses about love - 1 Corinthians 13, 1 Corinthians 16:14, 1 Peter 4:8, Ephesians 4:2
    * Read about the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:25-37. We are currently doing the God's Little Explorers Week 19 from Motherhood on a Dime, which I highly recommend!

Big Blue Eyes and I discussed color mixing, patterns, and love during this activity. She had a lot of fun and was very excited that she gets to hand them out to family and friends. She is four but can sit down and dedicate time to a craft for a while. Some kids might need breaks or a chance to return to the craft the following day. I suggest having it all set up with bookmarks cut, heart stickers out, and watercolors ready to go so that you can enjoy the craft with them.

A note about color mixing. We used Reeves Watercolor Paint Tubes. From what I understand, these are not washable and we did keep the window open. If I had done this activity when my daughter was three, I would have stuck with just plain old Crayola watercolors and skipped the color mixing talk and instead spear-headed it with identifying colors. Again, this will look a little different for each kid. Be flexible and breath!

On to the directions:

Sticker Resist Heart Bookmarks
1. Cut 9x12" Watercolor or heavier weight art paper into 2.25" by 6". I recommend using a paper trimmer like this one. A 9x12" will yield 8 bookmarks.
2. Place heart stickers (we used some from the Target dollar section and some from a mega sticker book) on the bookmarks. Other shapes are fine too! Circles are great for a polka dot effect and stars are just fun.
3. Use watercolor paints and paint over the bookmarks. A great tip from Jean is to use a different paintbrush per color - this way you don't have to keep rinsing.
4. Let dry overnight.
5. Gently peel off heart stickers (younger children will probably not have patience for this activity). This is a great time to write the child's name and year on the back. Older children can write their own names. We even chose a verse to write as well.
6. And laminate (we used this laminator. Trim the edges to allow for at least 1/8" and then snip off sharp ends. Again you'll need a paper trimmer for even lines.

Hand out and enjoy!

And sorry for the delay on this post! Took our little girl to the doctor because of a rash and discovered she had dermatitis so we've been washing all of her clothes among other things!

Come back tomorrow for a smoothie recipe that is good for your heart!

 

Week of Love: Chocolate Granola Cookies and Dandy Blend Espresso Frappe

Valentine's Day is coming! And what does that mean, Sweet Readers? It's time for the Week of Love, a week full of recipes dedicated to Valentine's Day. And today we are starting off with a tasty pairing...

These cookies and herbal coffee frappe make for a healthy snack or yummy breakfast.

I just so enjoy Dandy Blend. It's an herbal coffee made from extracts of barley, rye, chicory, dandelion, and beet root. It contains no gluten - all gluten is eliminated in extract process. It's also caffeine free! So I feel confident drinking it while nursing or letting my four-year-old have some "tea that has the flavor of coffee," as she calls it. Also its instant, which is super convenient!

A little glimpse of our little boy as I wear him around while drinking my snack. I am so thankful for Moby Wraps and Ergobaby carriers! Who else is a baby-wearer?

 

I buy my Dandy Blend from Amazon in two pound bag because it is the best cost. I put it in two jars, freezing half for later and leaving the other half on the counter to enjoy now.

Here's to Love and Chocolate!!!

Chocolate Granola Cookies
1 cup heaping walnuts
2 cup oats
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice sugar
1/4 cup flaxseeds, ground

1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup applesauce

1 TB vanilla
1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

 

1. In a mini food processor (or regular), grind oats and walnuts until like fine sand.

2. In a large bowl, mix first six ingredients. Add in oil, applesauce, and vanilla then fold in chocolate chips.

3. Drop large tablespoonfuls on cookies sheet or stoneware and bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes (I use stoneware but if using baking sheet might want to check at 12-15 minutes).

Dandy Blend "Espresso" Frappe

1 cup coconut water

1 large scoop coconut cream

1 banana, frozen or add ice if not frozen

1/2-1 tsp spices (cinnamon and allspice or cardamom for Turkish flavor), optional
Seeds from 1/3 vanilla bean

1 heaping TB Dandy Blend herbal coffee

1. Blend in a blender.

Enjoy!

And a Happy Valentine's Day!

Come back tomorrow for a craft!

 

This post contains affiliate links. Buying through these links may help to support Sweet Roots! I thank all my sweet readers for your support!