Missionary of the Week

I've been inspired by Practical Pages's Composer of the Month to come up with a little 'poster' for our Christian missionary/hero of the week. It's very simple, as you can see, but it works for us.

To see our weekly schedule, click here

I've been asked how we study a missionary each week, and the poster is a big part of it. And, surprisingly, the girls really enjoy looking at the picture! Mary reminds me each Tuesday to put up a new one (our school week starts on Tuesday, since that's our CC day). In addition to the little poster in our dining room, we read a story about the missionary or hero for that week. I have some resources listed towards the bottom of the schedule post, but for my girls, they enjoy these books the best:

Each book has colorful pictures and it's not too long. Also, the book rhymes, which I thought might be a turn-off, but the girls love it! These books are just right for my 4 year-old, and they hold my 2 year-old's attention pretty well, too! I have this one on our dining room table (Gladys Alyward is our missionary this week), and Mary asks me to read it daily, so I do, but usually after Daddy leaves for work. This particular book didn't make me cry, but I was a mess almost each time after reading the ones on Amy Carmichael and Lottie Moon! Sheesh! They're just very touching stories, and I always said that if I were a Care Bear, I'd be Tenderheart, that's just how I'm made. Hear a pretty song or watch a sappy show, and I tear-up. It really doesn't take much, ha!

Well, that's how we've been studying Christian missionaries and heroes as we go through CC. Any additional activities for a particular missionary/hero will usually be listed under the general plans for that week. When the girls are a little older, I'd like to try a modified version of the daily plans in this free book. But right now, the poster and book are enough for my little ones.

In other news...

Mary's getting over a virus or something, so we missed CC today. After having my fill of Strawberry Shortcake and Disney movies, I introduced the girls to The Phantom of the Opera. The 25th Anniversary Celebration Performance is fantastic! I have so many wonderful childhood memories of the theater. My mom used to do the lighting for some community productions, and I would hang out with her during rehearsals. I grew up in Southern California where everyone, including me, wanted to be in the movies (the closest I got was meeting the nerdy kid from Saved By the Bell - no, not Screech, another one, which tells you just how close I got - ha!). I did lots of children's theater work and developed a love for the theater. Ahhhhh, the memories are flooding back! So, I take my girls to as much stuff as we can. Anyway, since we've been confined to the couch for the last couple of days, I thought they should meet Christine. :)

Ooh! Don't forget to vote today! And if your kids like to color, you can print this electoral college map for them to fill in tonight as the results trickle out.

Happy Election Day!

Free Christian Missionary Curriculum!

So, sometimes I'll encourage people to share their favorite resources (and even if I don't specifically ask, I always love it when you share!), and most of the time no one does. No worries. I don't have a lot of time to go commenting on other people's blogs, too. However, SOMEONE SHARED on my Cycle 1 Christian Missionaries and Heroes List! The Carpenter family shared a link to a completely wonderful, fabulous, and FREE one-year (day-by-day, week-by-week!) missionary curriculum! THANK YOU, FRIEND! Wow!!! It's pretty long (500 pages), so I haven't read through all of it, but what I've seen looks incredible for elementary-aged kiddos. As you can tell, I'm super excited about using it with my girls. Click on the link below and check out the titles of the chapters. Insanely awesome!

Click here to check it out and download this free curriculum.

But, don't just take my word for it.
Check out the Old Schoolhouse Magazine review!

Don't you just love it when people share?! Thanks again, Carpenter family!

Cycle 1: Christian Missionaries & Heroes List

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations . . .

Matthew 28:19a

As I'm making my weekly plans, I feel God leading us to study Christian missionaries and heroes of the faith. I've posted about them in our weekly plans (see sidebar), but I thought I'd make a quick reference list. This list doesn't match-up exactly to the weekly plans, but I'm listing them here in the order I'd like to study them the next time we do Cycle 1. Some are easy match-ups to our Geography or History memory work, while others are a little bit of a stretch (they lived sometime during the span of our Timeline that week, maybe), but any time spent learning about God using ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things is time well-spent, match-up or not. Also, some of the first few weeks don't have anyone listed yet, but I'm working on that. ;)

Here are some of the Christian missionaries and heroes of our faith (and, at times, martyrs) we'd like to learn more about this year:

Week 2: Lillian Thrasher (Egypt)
Week 3: Apostle Paul (Greece, Rome)
Week 6: Perpetua (Carthage/Roman Empire)
Week 7: Amy Carmichael, William Carey, Sundar Singh (India)
Weeks 8-9: Gladys Alyward, Lottie Moon, Hudson Taylor, Eric Liddell (China)
Week 10: Jacob DeShazar (Japan)
Week 12: Read selections from Tales of Persia: Missionary Stories From Islamic Iran
Week 13: Mary Slessor (West Africa)
Week 14: C.T. Studd (Central Africa), Martin Luther (Germany)
Week 15: Brother Andrew (Middle East)
Week 16: Rowland Bingham (Sudan), George Washington* (America)
Week 17: David Livingstone (Southern Africa)
Week 18: David Brainerd (Native Americans)
Week 19: George Muller (England), Abraham Lincoln* (America), Harriet Tubman (America)
Week 20: D.L. Moody (America), Cameron Townsend (Mexico, Peru)
Week 21: Corrie Ten Boom (Holland, Nazi Germany), Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Nazi Germany), Betty Greene (American, global missionary)
Week 22: Nate Saint, Jim Elliot (Ecuador)
Week 23: Clarence Jones (Ecuador)
Week 24: Solomon Ginsburg (Brazil)

* Yes, these presidents are not missionaries per se, and some see their Christian faith as debatable, but we think it's important to spend a little extra time discussing God's hand in their lives and how it shaped our great nation.

Missionary Books - Individual Biography
Christian Heroes: Then & Now series - ages 10+, but reviews say younger children enjoy these as Read Alouds
Heroes for Young Readers series - preschool to early elementary age, biography told in rhyme
Little Lights series - preschool to early elementary age

Missionary Books - Collections of Biographies
Missionary Stories From Around the World - ages 9+, but great Read Aloud for littles. This is my go-to book for quick missionary stories; each missionary gets about three pages. This book has 27 different missionary stories, and it covers many of the missionaries listed above.
Hero Tales - ages 8+, but another great Read Aloud for younger ones. Each volume in this series has 15 short stories (a page or two each) followed by a Bible verse and questions to discuss. The authors of this series also write the Trailblazer books, which are historical fiction for ages 8+ centering around a missionary or Christian hero.
Portraits of Integrity - wonderful Read Aloud book with 45 true short stories of missionaries and other heroes of the faith.

Missionary DVDs
The Torchlighters - Heroes of the Faith - Great 30 min. DVDs on heroes and missionaries. Their site also has a Kid Zone page for each movie, complete with coloring pages, quizzes, and other activities for elementary-age children. Amazon offers some of them as instant downloads.

Links
Teaching with God's Heart for the World - FREE one-year curriculum for elementary-aged children. Special thanks to the Carpenter family for sharing this incredible link in the comments!
Wholesome Words - biographies
Child Evangelism Fellowship's Wonder Zone - free evangelical ministry where kids complete 'adventures' to learn about the missionaries (and other heroes), then they answer questions.
Here is a general link of Christian missionary resources for children.

If you'd like to see how we study them at home, click here.

I know there are many more books and websites out there, these are just the ones that I'm familiar with and plan on using throughout this cycle. I also list more specific links to the weekly missionaries and heroes in my weekly plans (see sidebar). Did I leave out your favorite resource on this topic? If so, please comment and share! I'm always looking for good ideas!