Easter !!

For our Easter celebration with our family, we will be doing a 5-day Easter Unit Study as part of homeschooling this week.  The unit study is from "The Teaching Home" Newsletter I receive weekly.  You can find the full study online at www.theteachinghome.com.  We will be using the main themes of the study to share with the children about the celebration of the Lord's resurrection.

Our 5-Day Easter Unit Study 

Activities for Each Day
Day 1:  Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem 
Day 2:  Celebration of the Passover (Last Supper) and the Garden of Gethsemane 
Day 3:  The Hearings and Trial 
Day 4:  The Crucifixion 
Day 5:  The Resurrection and Ascension

May we use this precious time to - 

•  Teach our children the heart of the gospel so that they will thoroughly and accurately understand this most important doctrine.

•  Proclaim to the world the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ — and salvation through faith in Him.

•  Remember, reflect on, and appreciate what the Lord has done for us — then thank and praise Him!

The Good News of the Holidays!!

(From the Teaching Home Newsletter)

The spiritual significance of Christmas and Easter is the very essence of the Gospel – the Good News of God's love and gift of eternal life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Christmas: The Incarnation of Jesus Christ
Jesus is God's gift of love, celebrated at Christmas. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16).
Easter: The Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ
The gospel includes four historical facts (celebrated at Good Friday and Easter) concerning the God-man Christ Jesus, the object of saving faith. "Now I make known to you, brethren, the gospel, . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. After that He appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time" (I Corinthians 15:1-6).
1. He died for our sins.
The death of Jesus Christ in our place is God's only provision for man's sin. "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone" (Hebrews 2:9).
2. He was buried.
The burial testified that His body was really dead. "And Joseph took the body . . . and laid it in his own new tomb . . . and he rolled a large stone against the entrance of the tomb" (Matthew 27:59-60).
3. He rose again on the third day.
"He (Jesus Christ) was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification" (Romans 4:25).
4. He was seen by many witnesses.
The record that Jesus was seen by many assures us that the resurrection was genuine. "To these He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many convincing proofs" (Acts 1:3). "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast" (Ephesians 2:8,9). 

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you" (I Peter 1:3-4).

We will also be learning this song this week!  

Christ, the Lord, Is Risen Today by Charles Wesley, 1739

Christ, the Lord,     is risen today, Alleluia!

Sons of men           and angels say, Alleluia!

Raise your joys      and triumphs high, Alleluia!

Sing, ye heavens,     and earth, reply, Alleluia!
Love's redeeming work     is done, Alleluia!
Fought the fight,     the battle won, Alleluia!
Lo! the Sun's     eclipse is over, Alleluia!
Lo! He sets     in blood no more, Alleluia!
Vain the stone,     the watch, the seal, Alleluia!
Christ hath burst     the gates of hell, Alleluia!
Death in vain     forbids His rise, Alleluia!
Christ hath opened     paradise, Alleluia!
Lives again     our glorious King, Alleluia!
Where, O death,     is now thy sting? Alleluia!
Once He died     our souls to save, Alleluia!
Where thy victory,     O grave? Alleluia!
Soar we now where     Christ hath led, Alleluia!
Following our     exalted Head, Alleluia!
Made like Him,     like Him we rise, Alleluia!
Ours the cross,     the grave, the skies, Alleluia!

Praise God for the Gift of His Son, Jesus Christ!

In Christ,

Coree

The unit study material and information are by Cindy Short and Sue Welch,  

"Copyright 2010 by www.TeachingHome.com. Reprinted by permission."

Children's Choir at the Gallo Center

The kids were able to perform their Spring concert at the Gallo Center last night.  We had such a great time!  All of the kids involved did wonderfully, and our honor choir always amazes me.  They are 3-8th graders and are all so talented.  It does help to have a wonderful choir director, Mr. Thompson!  Below is a link to the Modesto Bee article on our group - it also shows a video, you have to check it out to see what an amazing job our Honor Choir does!  It includes my favorite song of the evening, and I didn't get a chance to tape it, I was so happy to see it online!!

Hickman Charter School performance at the Gallo Center

Modesto Bee - About 100 homeschool students from Hickman Charter School, seen during rehearsal, performed on the Foster Family Theatre stage at the Gallo Center for the Arts Tuesday evening. The honor choir performed in addition to the jazz band. An art show was also featured in the lobby of the Gallo Center for the Arts, featuring student works. Hickman Charter School was started in 1994 and wanted to celebrate their continuing commitment to arts education with the performance for family, faculty, and friends. Mar. 23, 2010. (Brian Ramsay/bramsay@modbee.com)

CLICK FOR MORE PHOTOS

•   Hickman Charter School Foster Theatre Concert

If you haven't noticed, I havn't posted much lately... so sorry. I always have such good intentions, but... I have a hard time posting without including a few pictures here and there. And my "regular" computer decided to not work on me after we got home from a Disneyland trip the first week of March.  I have such cute photos of the trip too!  I love my computer, I have it all set up with just the right programs to efficiently post pictures, make movies, all my homeschool files, and other numerous files, etc...  But at the moment, fixing it has not been on top of my to do list, and I have my husbands lovely laptop to check emails at least!  So one of these days - after housework, laundry, school work, kiddos... I will get a chance to haul my computer and get the little thingy fixed - I did try to fix it myself, to no avail.  It will just come down to necessity and priority, when I absolutely need a file for church or something then it will get fixed!  Then I can post all of our lovely pictures of the concert and of the kiddos singing as well.

Well, lastly, I have to post this!  My sister found us a car, or should I say transport vehicle!  Check it out below.  Thanks Angela!  And thanks KC for the great graphics.  (This actually would work out better than any SUV, hee hee).  Would I need a different license for this??   Do they actually sell these to the public?  I guess if you ever see me driving one, you will find out!
God Bless!
~ Coree