Tag: homeschool

Snorkel Under the Stars

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Just past the condo complex we live in is one of the most popular snorkeling spots on the Big Island. On any given day the beach there will be packed with hundreds of people getting there first glimpses of sea turtles, eels, crabs and a hundred kinds of brightly colored tropical fish. All our boys have learned to snorkel there and every time they go they see something different. Lately though, they’ve figured out that the dark hours of the night are not just for sleeping and stargazing, they are for snorkeling, too. But for these starlit snorkel outings they head the opposite direction to another spot where the manta rays are known to congregate. These giant creatures have a “wing” span of 6-20 feet and feed on the plankton attracted by the spotlights of the snorkelers. For a small fortune you can pay to be taken out on a boat equipped with spotlights and snorkel gear right out to where the mantas are. Or if you are super adventurous, you can swim from shore through the dark (and Mom’s quite certain, shark infested) waters which is of course, the method my dear husband and our two oldest boys prefer. Last week, Joel came back from his first manta swim all excited because not only was there a big one circling all around him but the “water was full of twinkling lights,” too. No, the stars hadn’t fallen into the sea. He had just encountered a host of tiny, bioluminescent creatures. How awesome that our God chooses even the darkness of night to reveal his splendor, not just through the vastness of space but even to the depths of the sea. As this week’s memory verse beautifully states, “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them.” -Nehemiah 9:6

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Y is for…

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This Week’s Memory Verse: Y is for…
“You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them.” -Nehemiah 9:6

Hymn of the Week: “When the Roll is Called Up Yonder” (James M. Black)
When the trumpet of the Lord shall sound, and time shall be no more,
And the morning breaks, eternal, bright and fair;
When the saved of earth shall gather over on the other shore,
And the Roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

On that bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise,
And the glory of His resurrection share;
When His chosen ones shall gather to their home beyond the skies,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Let us labor for the Master from the dawn till setting sun,
Let us talk of all His wondrous love and care;
Then when all of life is over, and work on earth is done,
And the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.

Friday’s Factoid 28 (by Mom)

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We had standardized testing all this week (as required by the state of Hawaii), plus 2 birthdays, and some late nights (will post on the Starlight Snorkel outing later!) so our week was a little off. I read the material aloud to the boys but decided to give them a break from the whole typing routine. Sorry to disappoint some of our followers (you know who you are, Omas and Opas), but today’s post is only from the teacher. So here are the next 4 stanzas of our homemade rhyme about the Zodiac signs as the ancient Hebrews would have understood them.

As a sacrifice Christ’s flesh was scourged,
but from His death New Life emerged.
CAPRICORN shows the goat now slain,
and the fish, His church, the Living Gain.
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From the stricken Rock fresh water burst,
to quench the desert wanderers’ thirst.
AQUARIUS shows the stricken Man,
Those who drink of Him shall not thirst again.
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Two fish by cord are captive bound,
just as the Israelites were found.
Like PISCES all God’s children yearn
for their Redeemer’s quick return.
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ARIES represents the Lamb,
Worthily called The Great I Am.
Slain for us but exalted high,
A faithful witness in the sky.
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(An interesting note on Aries taken from Fleming’s book, “God’s Voice in the Stars”):
“About the time of the exodus of Israel from Egypt, the sun entered Aries on the fourteenth day of the Jewish month of Nissan. This was the day on which the Israelites were ordered to slay a lamb and sprinkle its blood on the lintel and doorposts of their houses. In the course of almost fifteen hundred years, and due to the precession of the equinoxes, the sun receded further into the sign of Aries. By the fourteenth day of Nissan in the year AD 30 (the probable date of Christ’s crucifixion), the sun stood in the head of Aries near the stars Elnath (The Wounded) and Sheretan (The Bruised).”
The author points out that due to the darkening of the sky at the time of Christ’s death those who looked for the sun would have seen these two stars instead which had been stood as prophetic witness to this very hour for millennia. Here are some more star meanings from Fleming’s book.
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