Experiencing God's Love in Insignificant Things

Alina “loves” to swim. Today was the first day of public school for our local district so we planned to go to the pool, knowing the kids would practically have the pool to themselves.

In order for us to actually get out the door to go swimming there were several responsibilities that needed to be taken care of. As the kids were taking care of their responsibilities and I, mine… Alina was pulling together her swim gear and couldn’t find her swimsuit. After I gave her a few suggestions of where to look she came to me in tears.

Looking back over today’s event and processing it I thought about the fleshly tendencies that were developing in my sweet Alina before we began the journey of learning how to love with a Christ-like love through the   Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry. Something particular I was beginning to see develop in her was an attitude of irritation in circumstances like this morning. Extreme irritation and anger when something was lost, was common among the older siblings and adults in my childhood, and I had also developed that fleshly unloving way of dealing with such circumstances, and was passing it on to my children. But, the Lord was good and led me to the  Lifestyle of Learning™ ministry and gave me the gift of Barbie and Marilyn speaking straight into my life. Today, there was no irritation or anger in Alina’s response, she was just simply frustrated (stopped up) and in tears. I would like to clarify that I use to soft sell my sin - my anger, by saying I was just frustrated when I was truly irritated and angry which is unloving (sin is the self centered failure to love).  I have since learned that we can be frustrated and still be loving, but when we move from frustration to irritation we are unloving (sin).

I hugged Alina and took her into my arms and I prayed. In my conversation with the Lord and with Alina we focused on how grateful we are that Alina did not go from frustration to anger. We thanked the Lord that He is concerned about what Alina is concerned about. In my past I would have thought the Lord wouldn’t be concerned about something as insignificant as a bathing suit or swimming, but I have been learning different and we thanked the Lord for His concerns for us and that He is concerned about the things we are concerned about. We asked Him for help in finding it, and thanked Him for loving Alina SO MUCH! I encouraged Alina to surrender her worries to the Lord and to trust that He will provide for her to go swimming.

Alina went to her room and lay down. She later told me that she knew if she kept looking in the state of mind she was in she would still feel stressed and she thought she needed to rest. As she did, Daniel entered the room (unsolicited) and began asking her questions, he was entering into her concerns with a heart to help her. He began to help her look, lifting up a bag and other things, helping her look around the room. Alina noticed the bag Daniel had lifted up and remembered she left her swimsuit in that exact bag last week when we went to the beach.  Before I knew it, Alina peered around the corner and told me that she found her swimsuit and we were soon off to go swimming.

I was thinking about the events of this morning and how different it might have been if we had stayed on the road we were on before  Lifestyle of Learning™ entered our life. I also thought about what a gift it was for Alina to experience God’s love for her in the small (insignificant) things in life, to experience the love that has been growing between her and her brother, and also for God’s love to still point to her need to continue to learn to put things away – something she is working on.

I talked with her after we got home from swimming about all of this. She said that she is so happy that our family has been learning to love and that she never wants to go back to the way it was.  She often tells me she is so thankful we started  Lifestyle of Learning™  because she enjoys school more now and because she is grateful that our family is learning how to love each other in a much deeper way.  She told me how she now says things with a sweet spirit, she said sometimes she hears in her mind the same words with the unkind tone she use to use… she followed that up with telling me that it has become much easier to be loving to her siblings and that she never wants to go back to being unloving. We agreed that there is no better place to be than in the place of experiencing God’s amazing love in the very details of our life and that there is no going back.

Alina's Varied Expression of Her Interest in Animals

Alina has always loved animals and I have seen animals really connect with her in various situations over the years.  One of the many animals she loves are horses, which led her to begin collecting Schleich model horses and eventually other types of animals as well.  She is building and making most everything that is needed for a farm/equestrian center for her models.  As I think about the various directions her interest in collecting Schleich animals have taken her, I am quite amazed.

Math and Woodworking

She started with designing a barn and then soliciting her daddy’s help in building it.  This barn has taken a long period of time to build, she still is putting on shingles before it will be finished.  Building this barn included math as she drew the plans and then measured and designed it to fit the size of her models, figuring and refiguring sizes.  She put a bit of thought in how to make the roof, which required perseverance in figuring out designs that work or don’t work so well.  She is now in the process of designing a bigger and better barn to build in the future. 

This was Alina's first drawing of the stall area inside the barn with measurements.

 A front view of her barn.  Up in the hay loft the kitties are playing, the stalls are filled with horses and there is lots of activity going on with the dog running around and the horse tied up and ready to go, or did it just get back from a ride?

A side view of the barn and part of the corral 

Popsicle Sticks & Hot Glue

In addition to her horses she has collected cats, cattle, dogs, chickens and recently got her first person.  She has used popsicle sticks and hot glue to make many things for her animals which include fences, bridges, basic horse jumps, horse jumps with bars that fall off, horse water troughs, horse tack room, horse washroom, horse stalls, round pen with a gate that opens, frames for horse pictures to hang in the house she wants to build one day, a chicken coop, a cat tree, cat feeder, a dog house, dog bowls, a cave for her dogs, a wishing well, a working cow milking stall, a milking stool, and the list goes on.

 This is the tack room.  Alina made all the horse blankets from fleece, except for the blue one.  

Her very first halter are hanging, made out of bread ties.  

 Alina modeled her chicken coop after our actual coop.  

 The round pen, three dog houses, more pens and the bridge she made.

 The corral is filled with horses.  This is the gate she made that opens and close.

Polymer Clay

With polymer clay she has made cat food, flowers, dog food and water bowls, dog food, carrots and apples for the horses, plates, a cake and cookies for her person, and eggs for the chicken coup.

 Apples and carrots that Alina made for the horses.

Beading

Alina had learned some basics in beading, and she is using some of those techniques along with some of the beading supplies in making horse bridles, halters and adding straps to her home-made felt saddles that actually cinch up.  

 Here she used lobster hooks (beading term) and leather craft lace to tie the horse down for her bath.  The wishing well is made from rocks from our yard glued together.

Engineering/Problem Solving

Many of the items that Alina built for her Shleich models required a bit of figuring, or engineering.  She went through of process of figuring out what doesn’t work until she discovered what worked, sometimes drawing out what she wanted to do.  For her bridle’s she started with one version that didn’t really fit over the horses head the way she wanted and later figured a new way with new materials to put the bridles together so they looked more realistic.  She saw a cow feeding stall on a TV and then spent time working out in her mind and in real life how to make a piece of the stall move so that she could lock the cow’s head in.  She wanted a gate that really opens and closes for the stable and after her daddy gave her some plastic hinges she spent time working out in her mind and in real life to make the gate piece so that it would stand up and then open and close.

The cow stall Alina made with a removable bar so the cow's head can be locked in.

Photography – Story Writing - Video/Movie Making - Editing

Alina has shown an interest in photography in the past, but had put that aside.  She brought her camera out to record her collection of Schleich models.  This collection of pictures led to Alina using Windows Live Movie Maker to make a slide show and add music.  This then led to her making up a story where she used pictures and video together to tell a story.  So far she has made two episodes of Kovu and his herd.

My Schleich Models


 Schleich Stop Motion


Kovue and His Herd - Episode 1


Kovu and His Herd - Episode 2


Negotiating

I couldn’t help but add this one in that happened just recently.  Dan offered to pay one of the kids for doing a data entry task for him.  When Alina saw what was involved she negotiated new Schleich models in place of the money, which ended up costing Dan more than he offered the job up for.  She is quite the negotiator, as her dad doesn’t budge that easy in this area, but this is something he has modeled and she has learned well.

These are the 4 new Schleich that Alina got from negotiating with her daddy.

Alina's Schleich Videos

As I mentioned in my last post, Horses - One Interest Two Bents, Alina made a video using her Schleich horses.  In September she took her collection outside and made a video introducing all her Schleich animals that she had at the time.  

As you can see from this video (above) she has many (and has added several since then) and has named each and every one of them.

This video (above) is the first episode of a series she intends to make of the adventures of Kovu and his herd.  This was all done with the video option on her point and shoot camera and then edited on MS Moviemaker.  She used a tripod to keep her camera stable in the scenes.  The entire project was something she came up with on her own, created the story, produced, edited, etc. all on herself.  She has episode two put together and waiting for the editing process, so there will be more to come soon.

Note:  If you are receiving this post as an e-mail and are not able to view the videos, you will be able to view the video's at the blog site by clicking on this link:  A Delightful Journey

P.S. The video's seem to work on Alina's computer, but not on mine... please let me know if they are not working on your computer.

Horses - One Interest Two Bents

Alina is 13 and Tiana will soon be 15 and somewhere around 8 years ago their mutual interest in horses became apparent.  Over the years I have provided them with riding lessons when we could afford it.  One year they volunteered to muck out stalls though they were not able to ride.  A little over a year ago their riding lessons were stopped due to my husband being laid off.   This was about the time I began to get re-involved with Lifestyle of Learning and I was hearing things relating to children “proving their interest.”   I had noticed that my girls interest in horses was focused mainly on taking lessons or being around them.  I had encouraged the girls to read books and try to learn more about horses to help them get more out of their lessons, yet they didn’t do that.  This caused me to wonder if they were really interested in horses or more interested in being provided something fun to do, if their interest in horses was based more on entertainment.  The idea of encouraging our kids to “prove their interests” was an answer to my concern.  I explained to the girls when we stopped the lessons they could continue their interest in horses through learning all they could through books from the library, etc. and I explained to them the principle of “proving their interest.” 

Initially I didn’t see much activity and wondered if this was my answer to my concerns about the horses being more of an entertainment for the girls.  Then all of a sudden I began to see different things happen in two different ways.  I didn’t know it at the time, but two bents for the same interest were beginning to be developed and would eventually be revealed to me.

Tiana ordered lots and lots of books from the library, and still does.  She looked through different horse magazines picking one to subscribe too.   She has been reading about the different types of horsemanship, reading about how horses think, and learning differences in breeds.  She has practiced drawing horses with pencil and on the computer, she has recorded breeds,  and has written short stories that include horses.  

Alina, on the other hand, wasn’t delving into the books so much, though she  enjoys  reading  stories about horses or that include horses.  She began to collect Schleich model horses and play with them.  Alina’s bent towards imagination was noticeable since she was very little, creating imaginary stories with various objects,  including toothbrushes, since she was a toddler.  At the time she began to collect the horse models and play with them I was just beginning in the Seven Seasons to LYFE pilot program.  I realized there would be benefit to letting her spend lots of time playing with them, and though I didn’t understand the “why” I chose to be okay with that.  Now that the program is in Season 6 the “why” is being revealed to me with each day.  Her interest in the horse models has led to many activities. She has been working on building a miniature barn with her daddy, she has built and continues to build many things with popsicle sticks like a tack room, a shower room, horse jumps, fences.  Just yesterday she completed a round pen and two more stalls.  She also has created many horse blankets, saddles from felt that looks like leather, and reigns from faux leather chord and supplies from her beading interest.  The collection didn’t stop at horses, but led to a smaller collection of dogs, cats, chickens and her most recent purchase a cow and calf.  She has built things for these animals to that include a chicken coop, a cat tree, cat food, dog houses, dog bones, etc.  She spends many hours playing, building and thinking about what to build next.  She has also ventured into movie making with her Schleich and has made slide show video chronicling her horses with their names, she made a stop motion video and recently made a full story that included video and pictures.  She explained to me one day how this is her way of learning, and gave me examples of things she has learned so far such as why saddles are designed the way they are, specifically how the western saddle came about, as she made reigns (looking up the designs) she learned the difference between western and English reigns, she has learned through the models themselves about the breeds she has collected.

It’s amazing to me how different these two bents look.  How one looks so huge with playful activity where the other is more academic and contained looking, yet the knowledge (fruit) is evident with both bents, especially when I sit down and talk with the girls about horses.  I think of how easy it would be to brush the value of these activities aside (particularly the play oriented ones) with a more schoolish mindset.  I am so thankful that I am learning to value my children’s natural bents, learning to nurture them and encourage them.  My children are thankful too.

Gilligan Myth

My children enjoy watching Mythbusters and Gilligan's Island, so it's quite natural for them to have come up with a Gilligan's Island myth to test.  Below is what Tiana wrote about it:

Anyone who's seen Gilligan's Island should know this myth.  Can you really charge batteries with salt water, bobby pins, pennies, wire, and cocounts?  Well today my sister Alina and my brother Daniel decided to try it out!  This was really fun to do.  so go ahead and do it yourself!

All you need is:

Bobby Pins

 Wire

 Salt (and water)

 Pennies

 After you get everything together put the salt into bowls (or coconuts!)

Then you want to place the wire under the bobby pin, but make sure the wire is on top of the penny.

Then we used scotch tape to hold the wire on the battery. Be sure and tape the wire on both the top and the bottom of the battery.

 Next take chop sticks (or anything else you want) and stir the salt water. Keep stirring for awhile

If you want to know if it really works, here's a spoiler (but those of you who plan to do this yourself don't look until after you do it!) Myth Confirmed. In other words, it really works!


Have a great rest of your day everyone!

Lego Games and Teamwork

The sound coming from the other room was so enjoyable! I heard lots of silliness and giggling. When I went to see what the source of all the joyful sounds, I discovered my three youngest children sitting at the kitchen table playing a game I hadn’t seen before.

As I pressed in to find out what they were doing I discovered that they were playing a LEGO game. Daniel, my 9-year-old, had created three game boards with the LEGOs. The first had a volcano on it, the second an island and the third was a robot castle. The point of each game is to collect the fire crown from the top of the volcano, the emerald staff from the robot castle and the water sword from the island by spinning a wheel made out of Legos. This is done by moving the little peg-styled man the number of spaces indicated by the spinning wheel through various obstacles, pick up the item and bring it back to their original spot.

As I continued to listen I learned that Daniel came up with the game ideas and built the game boards. He invited his sisters, Tiana (14) and Alina (12) to play with him and they, over a period of time, helped him improve this and tweak that until they came up with the game I was seeing. I was so blessed by their ability to work and play together in a productive and enjoyable manner!

A few days later Alina and Daniel wrote up directions for the Volcano version of the game. Alina typed as they both brainstormed on how to word the instructions. When the instructions were done and printed out I sat and played all three games with Daniel.

I was so impressed with how much fun the games were to play! We came up with some modifications to their game directions and they are in the process of editing them.

In the meantime, Daniel is adding a 4th part to his game which involves a cave. As it turns out he has decided to combine all three games into one big game and will be adding the fourth, the cave, when it is done.

The creating and game playing and teamwork continues!

Alina's Beading Process

Several months ago I could see that Alina, my 12 year old, was resisting working through a project that was not turning out the way she wanted it to and her countenance was down.  I learned that I needed to purposefully encourage my children to be willing to persist, and I told her that many things in her life will take practice in order to turn out the way she wants them.  I explained to her that every time she makes a mistake she learns and if she isn’t willing to make mistakes she isn’t allowing her learning process to happen.  I encouraged her to be thankful for mistakes as they give her opportunities to develop perseverance. 

About a year ago Alina thought she would give beading a try.  She has a good eye for design and after Sereina, her oldest sister who had dabbled in beading, gave her a few pointers, she made a few necklaces and earrings, but didn’t pursue learning any more about beading.  I noticed that she came to a point of setting aside the beading until fairly recently.  Nearly a month ago, I noticed Alina was all spread out with her beading supplies and busy for several hours.  She eventually came to me to show me her finished project.  All on her own she came up with the idea to make something new and found an online tutorial for making beaded flowers.  She explained to me the process that she went through, encountering problems such as having the wrong type of beads, the wire breaking just as she finished one flower, and having the wrong size of bead which required a need to improvise.

 As she explained her process to me I helped her see how her education was being worked out in this project with each problem she encountered.  She beamed and smiled ear to ear.  She went on to create a modified flower that she shaped and added wiring to look like a butterfly.  She then came up with smaller flowers, making two of each and turning them into earring sets.  This process had given her confidence and the idea to make a dragonfly for her brother’s birthday, since he has an interest in them.  She found a tutorial and once she was finished, she was so amazed that she was able to make something so beautiful and then made two more, giving two to Daniel and keeping one for herself.

As we talked more about all her mistakes and how she persevered, I explained that her character is being formed through this project and others that she works hard like this on.  When I asked her for more details for this blog post, she told me that in the past she had challenges with crocheting and drawing.  When her projects didn’t turn out right she would get mad and quit, believing she would never get it right.  Alina now realizes she should not have quit.  She told me that when she faced her beading project, she saw how cool it looked in the tutorial and was determined to get it right no matter how many times she had to redo it.  She told me that she use to want things to turn out right on the first try and, since that hardly ever happened, she was discouraged, but now she has learned better and is willing to give crocheting and drawing another try.  Alina now knows that she can use this same determination in any project she approaches.

The Hikers Fortune by Zopingo Productions

This is a film project the kids worked on and finished last week.  First is the movie trailer...




Here is the movie...






And now the bloopers and unused clips....

Snowflakes

At the Lifestyle of Learning Project Fair the Polings did a snowflake presentation/workshop for the kids.  Philip and Rachel gave some wonderful pointers and then let the kids have a hand at it.  The kids really enjoyed that and we came home and made several more.  I thought it was great to see Daniel take an interest in spending several hours cutting snow flakes and I gave it a go as well.

 Sereina's

 Daniel's

 Daniel's

 Sereina's

 Daniel's

 Sereina's

 Tiana's

Tiana's

Writing, Writing, Writing...

The kids seem to focus on different things for periods of time, moving from one focus to another after a period of time.  A couple of weeks ago Tiana and Alina could be found at just about any given time sitting together on their laptops working on their latest stories.  Both have been working on several stories over the months, some were even started a year or more ago... many of their stories are still a work in progress.  Writing does take time you know.

It's really neat to see their writing improve through this process, the spelling, grammar and the content are all improving with each story they write.  You can read Tiana's latest piece that she shared a chapter of at the link below.  If you enjoy it, please comment on her blog, she will appreciate that.

Star Dust

Alina's Purple Jewelry Set

Today I beaded a matching set of jewelry for my mom. My sister, Sereina, showed me how to add clasps to the wire for the necklace and bracelet. I used a barrel clasp for the necklace and a lobster clasp for the bracelet. For the ear rings I put the beads on the head pins and then attached them to the fish hooks. 


By
Alina