7th Grade Week 1: Creation and Celebrating the Sabbath

We eased into our first week, focusing on creation and celebrating the Sabbath as we begin our study of ancient history. Join our 7th grade homeschool adventure as we study Creation to the Greeks and Rome to the Reformation with Mystery of History added in. Here are the highlights from our first week -

Creation

We started where history begins, with creation. We studied the 7 days of creation and started a notebook journal with a page for creation.

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. - Genesis 1:1

• Day 1: Light & Darkness / Night & Day
• Day 2: The Firmament / Heaven
• Day 3: Seas and Dry Land; Grass, Seed-bearing Herbs, & Fruit Trees
• Day 4: The Sun, Moon, & Stars
• Day 5: Sea Creatures & Birds
• Day 6: Cattle, Creeping Things, Beasts, & Man (male & female)
• Day 7: God Rested

We discovered it is best to only use the front side of the notebook pages. If you journal on the back it shows through the page. 

Lindsey & I are both creating notebook journals. (It's fun!) We used colored pens to journal with. Lindsey's creation page is on top and mine is underneath.

We  talked about how God created us in his image. That means we are also made to create things. Lindsey drew a self portrait using colored pencils and wrote "made in God's image" on it. 

We also took time for school pictures. I brought an antique school desk up from my dad's basement and took it outside for some fun photos. We also walked down to my aunt and uncle's farm for some nice backgrounds. Here are some of Lindsey's 7th grade pictures -

God rested on the seventh day. We learned about the Sabbath and prepared for our own Sabbath celebration.

Celebrating The Sabbath

We planned decorations and a menu for our Sabbath celebration using the suggestions in Celebrating Biblical Feasts by Martha Zimmerman. Our projects included a Challah cover, oil float stars, and a spice jar. 

We bought a white bandana and fabric markers and Lindsey drew the symbols on the bandana for the Challah cover. We placed newspaper underneath to protect the table from the markers bleeding through. Once the markers are set, the cover is machine washable.

I created a star out of cardstock, and we traced it onto a foil pan and cut out the stars. We traced a small juice glass for our circles, but we substituted craft foam for the cork called for in the instructions. The craft foam worked fine. I bought a pack of tea light candles from the dollar store and removed the wicks to use as the wicks for our stars. 

We recycled an empty yeast jar for our spice jar. I cut a strip of paper to fit around the jar and a circle for the lid. Lindsey drew on them and then we glued them in place. We placed cinnamon, allspice, and cloves inside the jar.

Friday Night Sabbath Dinner

Our menu for Friday night's Sabbath dinner included Challah bread, tossed salad, and homemade chicken soup. 

Lindsey selected this recipe for Challah bread that we found on Pinterest and she followed the instructions and started the bread machine. When the dough was ready I helped her divide it into sections and we rolled them out. Then she braided them into two loaves. We covered them and let them rise, then she brushed them with egg and baked them in the oven. They turned out beautiful!

I cut up the chicken and the onion for the homemade chicken soup, and Lindsey did the rest. She cut up the celery and measured the
frozen vegetables, and added everything to the pot. Then she added the seasonings and stirred it all together.

We followed the instructions in our book for our dinner, including the Bible reading, prayers, candle lighting, father's blessing, hand washing, breaking of bread, and sharing grape juice from the cup that overflowed. There's quite a bit to it, and my family asked a couple times "Can we eat yet?"  Everyone especially enjoyed the bread, it was sooo good!


Sabbath Saturday

On Saturday we dined on pot roast that had been prepared on Friday, then cooked slowly in my crock pot on low. We also had blueberry pie for dessert. The blueberries were fresh from my aunt's garden.

Saturday was too overcast for us to find the first 3 stars in the sky at dusk. We followed the remaining instructions for saying farewell to the Sabbath. Lindsey liked extinguishing the candle in the spilled grape juice and the sweet aroma of the spice jar.

We had also planned to make candle stick salads for our dinner, but I forgot (oops), so Lindsey made them on Sunday for a snack instead. They were easy for her to make and looked great.

Art: Frustration

We read about Joni Eareckson Tada and watched this video about her -

She is so amazing. Lindsey was fascinated and asked "how does she do that?". Then we tried it for ourselves. Holding a colored pencil in our teeth, we tried to draw a butterfly. They turned out better than I expected, but it is very difficult trying to draw with your mouth. (Yes, I tried it too.) We had fun trying it, and it was a great lesson in frustration and not giving up.

Books We Read -

Creation by Gerald McDermott

Annie's Shabbat by Sarah Marwil Lamstein

The Illustrated Book of Myths by Neil Philip