Wonderlab

Hubby left about half an hour ago to go to his brother's house (aka Uncle BJ) and took Munchkin with him so I could get a few things done at home and have some "me" time. Don't I have the BEST husband in the world EVER?! As much as I'm looking forward to a few hours alone, I miss my boys already!

-------------------------------------------------------------

Before I began staying at home with Munchkin I was an elementary teacher. I taught 5th grade for a couple of years and then second grade. There are times when I miss teaching, but I wouldn't trade staying at home for the world.

This September, Hubby started being a Shepherd to 4th graders at our church on Sunday mornings. I contemplated somehow getting involved with the youth at our church, but also really wanted a break from working with kids (well, besides my own!). In January I was approached to teach first and second graders in the Wonderlab at our church during the months of March and May. The Wonderlab is our science room. How cool is it that we teach science at church? I decided to do it, and this morning was my first morning.

The students are on a rotation. Our church is fairly large, so each week in the month of March, I'll teach the same lesson to a different group of kids. The kids rotate lessons each week. For example, one week they come to me to do science, another week they do theater, missions, or worship. However, no matter what type of lesson they are doing, the whole month has the same focus. For example, during the month of March, each Sunday the kids will be learning about faith and our focus is on Peter (the person, not the book in the Bible).

The science lesson was so much fun! And it was great being back in a classroom with kids again. First, we watched a short clip of Matthew 14:22-33 where Jesus walks on the water and so does Peter. Then we put an orange in a pitcher of water. It floated. Once we took the peel off, it sank. The peel has air pockets in it that allows the orange to float. Likewise, our faith helps us stay "afloat". God didn't promise to take our problems away, but He did promise to help us through them - but we must have faith in Him. Once Peter took his eyes off Jesus and focused on the problem (the wind and waves) Peter got scared and started to sink.

We did another activity after that where we used water, glue and Borox to make this "ooze" stuff, but the orange activity is the one that hit home for me. Please pray for me as I teach these precious little ones about faith in Jesus through science. I was amazed at the wisdom some of them already have about God. I also ask that you pray about whether or not I should teach more "full-time" next year in the Wonderlab. The person in charge of it mentioned it to me this morning and I want to make the right decision.

I hope you had an enlightening day at church today as well. If you weren't able to go to church, you can watch sermons from my church online. I don't think today's sermon is posted yet, but you can look at past Sundays if you like. Also, they broadcast live each Sunday. At 9:00 a.m. there is an audio broadcast and the video broadcast is at 10:30 a.m.

Happy March!