Integrating Faith and Learning

The title of this blog post sounds exactly like something my alma mater would use as a catch phrase in the literature they send out; however, we brought the concept down off its lofty pedestal today and implemented it on a very basic level in our very own home-sweet-home(school).

Today, being Friday, was the day we study the "specials." Forsaking such routine subjects as language arts and math, we instead focus on things like Spanish and art. So this morning, as part of art, I asked the boys to each draw a picture showing God's love so that we can send these along with our friend Melanie when she goes to a women's prison next weekend to be part of a group that ministers there.

Here are the pictures my little artists drew (with no help from me as far as ideas or execution):

~ Josiah drew Jesus on and off the cross--a great idea, I thought, since it reminds us that He didn't stay on the cross

~ David copied his big brother's idea and drew Jesus on the cross (see what a nice big smile Jesus has?), then he wrote "Jesus loves you"...when he wrote his name, he made the classic mistake that beginning writers make: he didn't leave enough room for all the letters so one lonely little "D" is hanging out by itself on the second line

~ even Tobin got into the act; after I set him in his highchair with a piece of paper and some crayons, he made quite a few colorful marks on the paper (and just a few on the highchair tray which fortunately is easier to clean than other random things that have gotten marked on recently around here!)

This was a fun way to, in a very small manner, share the love of Jesus with those who are hurting. I couldn't help but think of Matthew 25:31-46 because even though we can't go to visit these women ourselves, we can send a little piece of love to them. Oh, and we're also sending chocolate chip cookies. :)