Skit Guys - The Birdcage

Today's selection will mark the end of this short video series with a poignant message from one of my favorite comedy teams.  God bless you this day.

Testing Friction

When we are disobedient to our authority figures we add friction to the relationship. In January we spent time learning about friction and resistance in the physical realm and how that compares to friction in our relationships with our parents, bosses and teachers.
To conduct our experiment we built a small inclined plane and divided the surface into three sections.  The first section was covered with sand paper, the middle was covered with wax paper and the third section we left bare.


The kids selected three smooth stones that slid down the board at the same speed.  Then they tested the different surfaces to see which surface had the least amount of friction by starting the stones at the top of the board and releasing them at the same time.  Missy used a yard stick to hold them all up at the top and release the stones at the same time.  Once they had a good idea of which surface provided the least resistance they brainstormed to think of a variety of ways to reduce the friction.   



The items tested were plain water, vegetable oil, bar soap and then liquid soap and then I think some combinations of these four.  It got a bit loud, the kids enjoyed the 3-2-1 countdown to release the stones each time they tested a new lubricant.

This activity can be found in KONOS Volume I - Obedience on page 123 items H & X and we also combined it with activity KK on page 126, reading a prayer and discussing total submission to God.  Other activities for the day included having the kids pretend they were parents and write a list of rules for their five children page 137 item C and making a vinegar rocket launcher.  Sorry I can't give details on that activity, I was inside while they did it outside but you can find it in Mr. Wizard's Supermarket Science on page 28.

Starting a New Unit

This week we begin a new unit - Wisdom.  We've been doing inquisitiveness for so long it is a thrill to start something new.  I kind of felt we weren't getting enough Bible study in with inquisitiveness so this is a perfect next unit as most of our study material will come directly from the Bible.  This week we have been reading about David and Saul and Solomon.  Normally we start each morning with Bible and prayer but this week our afternoon KONOS time has also been filled with reading from the Word and I have enjoyed seeing my younger kids really think about the lives of these men in a deeper way than I have ever seen them before. 

Somehow our studies have also fallen into line with my eldest dd's studies of the Hebrews in HOW I and she is reading about this same time period in history.  She's been interested in our readings because they are so familiar to her right now and she can't help adding in little bits of information and background stories now and then.  Actually it has been rather illuminating having her input!

I look forward to sharing with you on this excitng new unit.  Although I'm not sure how many resources I will have to share, I'll be updating the sidebar with anything I come across as a useful resource for Wisdom.

At This Moment in Time

My 8yo son and my 6yo daughter are currently reading I Samuel 18 - 31.  A hefty reading given their age but I've asked them to take turns reading the chapters.  They started during school today and got to chapter 22 before they had had enough reading.  So I let them do other things, have dinner, go to karate etc. and now are back to reading for about an hour before bed.  They have just finished chapter 24 and are debating what this reading is all about. 

Totally unprompted Biblical debate between an 8yo and a 6yo.  You can't get much better than that.  Happy Mommy heart moment. :)

Junior Bible Quiz Meet Today

Our team came in second place in their league today at our district meet.  This is our first year and only their second competition.  Three members of our team scored in the top ten and my son quizzed out for his first time. This is all very exciting for us since we are SO new to JBQ.  To learn more about Junior Bible Quiz you can visit the National JBQ website.

Our First JBQ Meet

For the very first time, our church has put together a Junior Bible Quiz team and last week we had our first competition.  It was exciting and scary and encouraging all at once if you can imagine such a thing.

Junior Bible Quiz (JBQ) is a national organization that helps kids learn Bible truths through healthy competition. Each team is made up of 2-4 kids with up to 4 substitutes.  Children who want to compete in JBQ must be in 1st through 6th grade.  Each child is assigned a variety of questions and answers to study from the Bible Fact Pack.  The Bible Fact Pack is filled with 576 questions and answers about the Bible and Bible doctrine and this is where the competition questions come from.  (Although this is put out by the Assmeblies of God, there are several other denominations who use it and go to competitions as well.)  All the teams have several meets per year and then best teams move on to regionals and so on.

Within Junior Bible Quiz there are two leagues:  "A" League which is made up of kids who have been in JBQ for a while and "B" League for kids in their first year.  Age doesn't matter and I have seen this to be true as my 6yo daughter (one of the youngest kids there) made 8th place in overall score her very first meet!

Fortunately we had plenty of support with us including the other mom of our team and my oldest daughter who is too old for JBQ.  (They do have a Bible Quiz version where they have to memorize books of the Bible if you are interested for older kids.) 

I was a little nervous before the meet but once we got there it was easy sailing and I had no problems.  The organizers do a great job of keeping everything simple and flowing right along.  The kids were also nervous but I didn't notice it in them until they were actually IN their first round.  Prior to that they were playing and happy and only concerned about when they would eat next.  LOL  So once in the first round there was some "stagefright" going on but since they had to compete in four rounds, they were able to work through it by day's end.

DH came to support the team too.

The First Thanksgiving « Videos « The Skit Guys

My daughter's youth group is going through a series of lessons from The Skit Guys.  She likes them and we find their videos to be moving or hilarious.  Sometimes both.  Have you seen these guys?  Here's a little Thanksgiving treat for you:

The First Thanksgiving « Videos « The Skit Guys

It's kind of addictive.  Once you watch one video, you can't help but watch another, and another, and well, you know what I mean.  So we got kind of carried away and when dd told her youth group leader that she loves the videos and she's been watching them online, he said we couldn't watch them anymore.  They still have a bunch in the series to do and he doesn't want her to be bored in class because she might see one ahead of time.

That's very thoughtful of him.  But I'm not sure he knows us well enough.  We can laugh at these guys over and over and over!  But we'll behave.  We haven't gone back to their site but we did agree that we could watch each week's episode at home after they have already seen it at youth group.  It's hard though.  Self-control isn't one of the easier fruits of the spirit to come by.