1st Grade is fun!

Emma loves first grade. So do I!
I love teaching my kids! I love seeing their faces as they figure something out, hearing their responses, and I really love their artwork. I love that our house has become "nerdy" as Rusty puts it. Emma got really excited about the History channel today. What?
Drama seems to be a big part of our learning. When we learn about something, the kids like to act it out. There are only three of them, (Treston's not quite ready for the productions) and that's if Justus will do what they say (which is not often) so sometimes stuffed animals have to play parts too. Like a few weeks ago, when Sir Walter Raleigh got married, Jax was married to a huge stuffed bear with a skirt on.
This is a picture of Emma as Queen Elizabeth. She looks regal, doesn't she?

And then, can you guess? Pocahontas. Did you know she married John Rolfe, NOT John Smith. She never had a thing with John Smith. Disney lies. My kids will be happy to set you straight.


And when we decorated the tree, Emma put baby Jesus in a basket at the bottom, and she became Mary. She can become any character with whatever is handy. It's pretty remarkable! I love it!

This week we are learning about the American Revolution. But first we had to cover slavery. You may remember my post about Rosa Parks and racism today, when I had to sit the kids down and explain racism to them. They were appalled! They were confused! Emma has never forgotten that conversation, and brings it up often. Well, learning about slavery has been very disturbing to her. Which is hard to teach, but it ought to be disturbing! We talked briefly about the Civil War, and she was not happy the South was on the wrong side of that one. I love the South! I love Southern people, food, and culture, but I hate that our ancestors fought for slavery. I hate seeing Confederate flags in the back of trucks, as if we had anything to be proud of in the Civil War! Here are the journal pages about slavery from Emma's journal. She knows very little about what slavery was really like, but she is still very upset by it. She takes great comfort in the fact that slavery is against the law now. That makes her feel better.


It says "Slayv Trayd that's rong" translated "slave trade, that's wrong." (In their journal, they can spell things however they think is correct. On other work, I correct it, but their journals are a free expression of art and writing.)

When I see my kids' responses to sin, I can only hope that I am still appalled by the things that God hates. And yet, as Emma and I talked about today, God still loves all of us, despite how yucky our sin is! He sent His Son to die for us, knowing full well the bad things we would do.
I love teaching my kids, and I love even more filtering it all through the lens of God's love and His Word. These are precious days with them that are going too quickly. Even though I have been so sick and miserable with an evil virus, I still enjoyed teaching them today. I am so grateful for this crazy, wonderful time in my life. 1st grade is fun!