And God Got Bigger!

The school year is well underway and I must say we're having a great time! This year we've put the science curriculum more toward the top of the list because the poor thing has been so neglected for so long. There had always been something else more pressing to accomplish, like orchestra or dance--or how to host a tea party.

But to my great delight, I claim no regrets! Fifi is now of an age where the subject matter is being met and matched by her great curiosity and enthusiasm and it makes for some really fun discussions. Now, it only took us 2 years to move through the opening lessons on the galaxy and weather, but now we're moving toward plant and animal life in this overview course and I don't see any more stalls in the future.

This week, in studying the speed of light, sound and wind, God became exponentially bigger in our finite little minds with every new understanding. This is where it becomes a little humbling that my educational years need such a measure of restoration.

Who knew that the speed of light travels the globe 7 1/3 times every second?!

Not me.

Who knew that, with the afore mentioned in mind, the sun's light takes just more than 8 minutes to travel to our planet?! That's more than 480 seconds at--again--7+ times around the globe per second. 3460 revolutions around the earth! And then some. Wow!

And who has spent time lately pondering the fact that the light from the next nearest star would take 5 years to reach us? 5 years?! That's really far; and that's just what we can see!

I'm using a lot of exclamation points, I know. But, wow! How can I not?

We also talked about measuring thunder and lighting, and came to realize for the first time that the two elements are actually one event; only the evidence of the lightning is traveling faster than the evidence of the crash and roar of the thunder.

Yes, indeed, that just...donned on me...today. Because I'm a genius that way.

And when we were through, and the text pointed us to the section of Proverb 139 in which David ponders that there is no escape from God, how moved was I to listen to Fifi interject about how that reminded her of the end of her latest read, Twenty-Thousand Leagues Under the Sea because the main character cries out to God at the end, acknowledging that even at those depths, he is not hidden from Him.

I want to read that book. She says it was pretty exciting.

All this intersected nicely with our opening lesson of this year's study of the Creation, Ancients and to the Resurrection in The Mystery of History. I like that history a lot for it's very detailed instructions about how to mark the lessons with hands-on activities; I need that direction because I am about as creative as a bookcase.

Meanwhile, the littler girls continue with their reading lessons and piano practice. Math is an easy sell because they don't get to play with the MathUSee blocks unless they first, cheerfully, attend to their lesson.

Thankfully, each is very excited about the McGuffey's Readers, Primer and First, that I checked from the library this month. They're so cute! They are just the right size for little hands, the drawings are darling and the story texts are sweet narratives that often promote kindness and virtue. I may have to look for a set of my own because, by comparison, what I've used until now is very big and bulky, hard to handle, and kind of nonsensical with stories of driving cows and talking dogs. It's got the job done, but nobody is anxious to do it--least of all me.

And to top off a lovely week, Fifi gave me this. And I bawled like a little baby. Because it's what I do.