Lionden Landing

I was informed this week that Bamidbar is one of Froggy's absolute most favorite parshiyot. It is a cool parsha with lots of neat stuff including the census.  But no, what Froggy likes about it are the descriptions of the degalim each camp as well as the degalim of each shevet.  Froggy made representations of the flags for the four camps. 

Our Torah portion this week is Toldot.  We are using Little Midrash Says as our primary resource and it is great but I want to engage Froggy more.  So I went looking for some more resources.  And I was thrilled with what I found. We are going to make red lentil soup as a starter for Shabbat as a tribute to Jakov.  I am playing this song for Froggy.   I am also putting out the materials for Jakov and Esau puppets as an Art Opportunity.   In my search, I found two new blogs, Torah Family Living and Torah School which will be interesting resources in the future. They are both Messianic blogs but have done lots of research and pulled together a list of activities for each Parsha.

In this week's Parsha, we are introduced to the Nazir.  We talked about what it means to make a vow and how important it is to keep a vow once it is made. We also read the story of Samson emphasizing what happens when a vow is broken. The story of Samson is a bit different since not only did he not choose to make the vow for himself but he also did not willingly break the vow. Still it emphasizes how serious the consequences are. Our Parsha book also includes a story about Queen Helena who choose to become Nazira for seven years but actually ends up being Nazira for 21 years because of technicalities which invalidate her first two attempts.  This story made quite an impression on Froggy. This is the priestly blessing at the Kotel. The parsha also includes the Priestly blessing which we had just heard in Shul on Shavuot.  It was heart-warming to watch Froggy recall that moment and make the connection with the Torah and why we do it.  This is the only ...

We are starting the new Torah cycle with some new Parsha resources.  We have been using My First Parsha for three years and it is officially being retired.  If Froggy had a younger sibling we would continue to use it as I would encourage Froggy to read it to the sibling.  It will stay on Froggy's shelves for her to use on her own.  Instead, this year our primary source will be The Parsha with Rabbi Juravel .  It provides a more in-depth view of the parsha while still presenting it in a child-friendly manner.  I will present more of a review once we have used it for awhile.  New as well this year, we will include the Haftorah portion in our weekly study.  I do not have a good primary source for Froggy so it is going to be a mishmash of sources including general summaries.   And the best news of all in my opinion, is that I have begun my own study.  As my primary sources, I am using Etz Chaim and The Five Books of Miriam . ...

Yes this is a bit late. Last week's parsha was Bamidbar.  As part of studying the parsha, we made tribal flags.  The idea came from Challah Crumb and I can't remember where I actually found the flags.  First Froggy colored the flags. Then I cut them out for her    And we placed them on pumpkin muffins and arranged them in the same positions as they would have traveled while carrying the Mishkan.  Once we arranged them and played with them and even ate our muffins, Froggy took the flags off to play with some more while I put the food away.  She played with them for days, telling stories and having the tribes grumble about their respective position (as they do in one of our parsha renditions) until Moshe comes and settles the dispute.

Thanks to Adventures in MamaLand and the latest edition of Jewish Homeschooling Blog, I think I may have cobbled together a plan for parsha work for the rest of the school year.  Adventures in MamaLand reminded me not to reinvent the wheel and to go back to one of my favorite sources, Chinuch.  We have used Chinuch before for Pesach study work .  We read Parsha Pearls which provides a parsha summary as well as a Misdrashic story.  And then we did a sequencing activity both provided by Chinuch.  I suspect that the sheets are designed to have the pictures remain in place and the summaries matched to them.  However I cut out the pictures and glued them landscape style onto a separate paper so that we could match up both the summary and the passuk. I prefer using the passuk but I am not sure Froggy would understand the story with just the passuk so we use both.  And all week we work on copywork using the sheet from Adventures In Mamaland.  Frog...

Our week this week is very crazy and our goals are minimal.  The week is full of excitement and visitors culimating with Froggy's birthday party Sunday afternoon. We are starting our week with our annual Fall Harvest Fun Day. We will go straight from the farm to Daisy Investiture so there will be no schooling at all. Tuesday I am hoping to get in some solid learning since Tuesday night a little girl is coming to stay with us for a visit while her parents are away.  I think Froggy is  more excited about this than she is her party.  And then because our house will not be full enough the grandparents arrive on Thursday.  This week my main goal is maintaining routine.  Among all the additions, special events and visitors I will work  to keep as much of our standard activities as possible. As for academics we will continue with Handwriting and Math and Parsha.  The portion for this week is perfect since it is about inviting visitors into the ...

With a raucous joyous Simchat Torah on Thursday evening, we started the Torah over again.  Froggy's Hebrew birthday is Shmeni Atzeret and we celebrate with a special dinner at the end of that solemn day so we are already in a festive mode when we chant Maariv at Shul.  One year soon, I hope to bring Froggy to a celebration that actually takes the Hakafot out into the streets.  Meanwhile we have tons of fun singing and dancing with the Torah at our synagogue.   After two years of using the same texts for our weekly parsha study, I decided to shake things up this year.  If we were the typical stair-step family, we would have welcomed a new young into Torah study this year and Froggy would move to reading My First Parsha Reader to the younger sibling. I have encouraged Froggy to read it to her dolls since there is no sibling. For Froggy, we are doing a very creative multi-media approach this year.  For the core we are using Reading Genesis by Roberta Osse...

This week's Torah portion is very special because Yom Kippur falls on Shabbat. On Yom Kippur ,we read the Book of Jonah. The lesson from the story is that God readily accepts the repentance of anyone who sincerely desires to do Teshuva , to return to the Almighty and to the path of the Torah - just as He did with the people of Ninveh. We spend the time from Tashlich through Neila contemplating our sins, repenting, and doing teshuva . Yom Kippur can only atone for sins between man and Hashem , not for sins against another person. Before we can ask Hashem for forgiveness, we must first get right with our friends. Then on Yom Kippur, we are ready to show true repentance and ask Hashem for forgiveness. Full real Teshuva is not easy. There are four parts to full teshuva although many people never do step four. Admit you did something wrong Say you are sorry Promise not to do it again When faced with the same situation choose better We a...

This week we have a double portion . We are winding down. Moses is finishing his retelling and reminding in preparation for his imminent death. After all this, B'Nai Yisrael make a new covenant with HaShem . Why? Because none of those (except Joshua and Moses) were alive when the first covenant was made. They did not witness the miracles or the plagues. All they know is wandering. But the time for wandering is over and it is time to commit to a new life. Moses teaches "The law is not too hard nor too difficult to understand." Keep trying you will get there. You have to study and do Teshuva . Torah is not way up in the sky nor far away across the sea. It is very close to you. It is in your mouth and in your heart All the people, men, women and children, gather. Moses explains, "You can keep the Torah or abandon the Torah; that's your choice. No one can force you to be a tzadik if you don't want to be one. But just remember the consequences of a...

This week's parsha is Ki Tavo. The parsha markes the final preparations for B'Nai Yisrael for crossing into Eretz Yisrael. The subtitle for this Parsha could easily be "The Good and The Bad" or "The Blessings and The Curses". Many people find this parsha a frightening or sad parsha, because of the horrible curses listed. These are warnings though and reminders of what could be if we turn our back on HaShem. It is not foretold, something sure to happen. The offering of Bikurim is commanded reminding us how important gratitude is. We return the first portion of each of the seven species to HaShem as a reminder that everything comes from HaShem and belongs to Him. One of the first prayers is found in this parsha "When you dwell in the promised land, take a selection of the first fruits and bring them to the place God chooses for God's Name. With a priest you shall make an offering saying, 'We remember when we were slaves in Egypt. We r...

This week's parsha is Ki Tetze. The parsha continues the saga of Moses teaching B'Nai Yisrael how to rule themselves in preparation for crossing into Eretz Yisrael. The specific theme this week is repeated in several different ways is "Be a Good Neighbor" or "Others before Self". There are several specific commandments that prevent animal cruelty and teach B'Nai Yisrael how to care for animals. Separation is a consistent theme in the Torah and is repeated here. We are commanded “ Tza’ar Ba’alei Chayim ” not to harness two different kinds animals together. Why? Because HaShem knows that different animals have different strengths and one would end up hurt or over used. The mitzvah of "Tza’ar Ba’alei Chayim ,” is mentioned again when we are commanded to help unload a neighbors animal even if the neighbor does not help so that the animal will not suffer. HaShem also sets rules about gathering eggs in the wild and teaches respect for His creatu...

One of the wonderful blogs I read (I wish I could remember which one) recommended Challah Crumbs which has activities and crafts to go with each parsha. Since getting Froggy to do any craft is a serious but necessary challenge and I wanted something to spice up our weekly parsha study which has not yet made the transition out of the preschool style this was the perfect answer. This week, we studied Parsha Pinchas which offers one of the far too few opportunities to celebrate the women of the our history. In Pinchas, we meet the five daughters of Tzelafchad: Machlah, No'ah, Chaglah, Milkah and Tirtzah whose names I would not even know without Challah Crumbs as neither of our study books mention them. When Tzelafchad dies, these daughters petition Moses to grant them their father’s inheritance since he had no sons. Their request is ultimately rewarded and they become models of initiative and wisdom. To honor them and remind Froggy that there are lots of women in our history...

Now that Froggy is 3, we started Torah Study. We are using My First Parsha Reader . It was the only Parsha study I could find that was geared towards preschoolers. The language is more silted than regular books or even the bible story books we have. It took some convincing initially to get Froggy to sit for the reading but we persevered. My goal is to read each parsha at least three times. So far we have made that. The questions at the end of the parsha have not been useful thus far. I think they may prove more engaging and relevant when we do the series again next year. We have delved deeper. For instance, in Noach, there is no mention of the rainbow. As well, with Babel we talked about how bad ideas sometimes get a hold and crowd out the good ideas and how we have to help make sure the good ideas get heard. After completing two full weeks, I am finally starting to see results. Only now is Froggy starting to ask about the stories. And what does she ask about, not Lech Le...