It has been a long time. We've been working hard, trying to get to the end of the school year. Last week they did their PASS tests (standardized tests are required every 3 years) and now we are DONE until July 19. I've already ordered all the books for the next school year and waiting patiently for them to come. As they arrive I've been piling them on the family room coffee table...any more and we won't be able to see the t.v.
Turtle has camp in a few weeks. She is going away for 2 weeks and can't wait. This means a lot of prep. She needed new summer clothes (she just won't stop growing) and the list the camp gave us seems endless. This has nothing to do with butter however so I better get to that before you think I've lost my mind.
Over the weekend we realized we were out of butter. My family loves hot cereal in the morning for breakfast with butter and cream in it but being Memorial day weekend, in a resort area, I was NOT going to the store. This seemed like a perfect time to try making our own butter. This is a project I have been wanting to do for a while. I honestly didn't think it would be as easy as it is.
To make your own butter, take a jar and fill it half way with heavy cream. Close it tight and hand it to your kids. Let them shake, shake, shake; an up and down movement seems to be best. It will slosh around in the jar for a few minutes and then they will tell you that it feels like nothing is sloshing anymore. It will get a little harder to shake. This is the whipped cream stage. Keep shaking! All of a sudden it will get easier to shake and you'll see the chunks of butter separate from the buttermilk. Keep shaking until you get a glob of butter. From 1 cup of cream you'll end up with half a cup of butter and half a cup of buttermilk. We simply drain the buttermilk from the butter and stick each in their own jar. We add a scant 1/4 tsp. salt to the 1/2 cup of butter we get (we fill each jar with 1/2 cup cream and that gives us 1/4 cup each of butter) and stir it together. Then I cover the jar and put it in the refrigerator.
I've seen where people gently squeeze the butter in a cheesecloth and then put the butter back into the jar with some very cold, fresh water. They mix it together and then shake the jar again. Drain the water and then add some more and repeat until the water is clear. This gets out all the buttermilk and helps lengthen the life of the butter. We haven't done this yet as the butter doesn't seem to stick around long anyway. Maybe with a bigger batch we will try it.
To store it, we simply put it back in the jar but I've read where people use a butter bell (it is on my wish list) or put it in a jar, packed as much as possible then top with fresh cold water. They even store it out of the refrigerator (which would just bother me too much).
My kids love making the butter. They now want to try different brands of cream to see if it makes different tasting butter. We are going to pick up organic cream (which I think tastes better) for the next batch.
Oh, and that wonderful buttermilk! If you don't like buttermilk try the buttermilk that comes from your butter making. It isn't as tart and has a wonderful creamy flavor. We would like to try making pancakes with it, but can't seem to keep from drinking it, it is so good.
This is a fun project that you can make part of your science or history class. If you are doing a unit study on Colonial times or reading the Little House books, this would really be fun along with making homemade white bread, corn bread or biscuits (which you can use the buttermilk for). If you happen to take a field trip to a dairy (maybe as part of a unit study on farms) see if you can get some fresh cream as I bet that would make the best butter. I may have to become friends with the people who own the dairy down the road. Even if you can't, a talk about all the wonderful products that come from dairy cows will go along well with this project as well as some homemade ice cream and maybe some cheese.
As a side note...I've seen how other people make this with their stand mixer and the beater attachment. I have not tried this as it is more fun for the kids to use a jar. It is also less of a mess and less dishes to wash; so I think we'll keep doing it this way.
Next time, I'll take some pictures to share.
01 June 2010
02 March 2010
Lunch idea
I was doing a little looking around the internet for homeschool ideas. I love reading other homeschooling blogs and seeing what other moms are doing to make their days work for them and their children. I found this fun idea that seems to be a big trend for lunch. It is called Muffin Tin Monday and you can find the website FAQ here. Basically you serve your child lunch in a muffin tin or muffin cups. There are themes each week (the next one, for example, is Yellow) that you can find on the site and they encourage you to post your photos for all to see. This is a great idea for little little ones as it is a great way to introduce different foods in a fun way.
They remind me of bento box lunches. I love bentos! Bento is Japanese for lunch and if you do a search for bentos you'll find a lot of different box styles and the most amazing ideas for filling them. We have a few different boxes and I use to send the kids to school with their bentos every day. The other kids were alway jealous of their great lunches and fund lunch boxes. This muffin tin idea is very similar to bento boxes so even though you may think my kids are a little old for this I think we may try this muffin tin Monday idea. It is also a good way to keep serving sizes in check as this is always an issue for Turtle and I. Yes, I'll even make myself a muffin tin lunch. Moms can have fun too!
They remind me of bento box lunches. I love bentos! Bento is Japanese for lunch and if you do a search for bentos you'll find a lot of different box styles and the most amazing ideas for filling them. We have a few different boxes and I use to send the kids to school with their bentos every day. The other kids were alway jealous of their great lunches and fund lunch boxes. This muffin tin idea is very similar to bento boxes so even though you may think my kids are a little old for this I think we may try this muffin tin Monday idea. It is also a good way to keep serving sizes in check as this is always an issue for Turtle and I. Yes, I'll even make myself a muffin tin lunch. Moms can have fun too!
16 February 2010
Teaching the Bible in Public School
I was watching the news this morning and heard something that made me very thankful I homeschool. It seems a school in Tennessee will be using the Bible as literature in a public high school. While I agree that the Bible could be used as such, and I agree that knowledge of the Bible can be useful in many areas of ones life (including literature, law and even popular culture); I do not agree that it should be taught at this level or that it should be required.
I do not believe teachers can teach the Bible without bias; after all they have not been able to teach politics without bias. Religion is something very close to most people. If you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Wiccan or even Atheist, your religion (or lack thereof) helps to define who you are. It is a part of you. If you sit down in a class to teach the Bible as literature, and you happen to be Wiccan, how can this not have an affect on your class? If you happen to be Christian, what happens when a non-Christian student challenges YOUR Bible? We already have color lines and socio-economic lines drawn in the class room (black kids hang out with black kids; rich kids with rich kids), why are we looking for something else to divide us?
Then you have to ask, whose Bible are they going to teach? Jews don’t consider the New Testament part of the Bible (I know because I am one) and there are many translations of the Bible and many are inaccurate. In fact, you may argue that because Hebrew can not be easily translated, word for word, to English, any Bible they choose other than one written in Hebrew would be inaccurate. Also, what happens to the kids who don’t hold any stock in the Jewish or Christian Bible at all? Because of the emotion involved this is much more consequential than when someone just doesn’t like “Of Mice and Men” or “Romeo and Juliet.”
Rather than teaching the Bible itself, it may be best for the school to pull out examples from the Bible. For example, when talking about our legal system it is certainly appropriate to point out the laws that connect to biblical laws (our founding fathers were men of faith after all). When reading a piece of literature which references the Bible, I see nothing wrong with referring to that part of the Bible for an in depth analysis; however, making the Bible required reading is just too dangerous.
I do not believe teachers can teach the Bible without bias; after all they have not been able to teach politics without bias. Religion is something very close to most people. If you are Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Wiccan or even Atheist, your religion (or lack thereof) helps to define who you are. It is a part of you. If you sit down in a class to teach the Bible as literature, and you happen to be Wiccan, how can this not have an affect on your class? If you happen to be Christian, what happens when a non-Christian student challenges YOUR Bible? We already have color lines and socio-economic lines drawn in the class room (black kids hang out with black kids; rich kids with rich kids), why are we looking for something else to divide us?
Then you have to ask, whose Bible are they going to teach? Jews don’t consider the New Testament part of the Bible (I know because I am one) and there are many translations of the Bible and many are inaccurate. In fact, you may argue that because Hebrew can not be easily translated, word for word, to English, any Bible they choose other than one written in Hebrew would be inaccurate. Also, what happens to the kids who don’t hold any stock in the Jewish or Christian Bible at all? Because of the emotion involved this is much more consequential than when someone just doesn’t like “Of Mice and Men” or “Romeo and Juliet.”
Rather than teaching the Bible itself, it may be best for the school to pull out examples from the Bible. For example, when talking about our legal system it is certainly appropriate to point out the laws that connect to biblical laws (our founding fathers were men of faith after all). When reading a piece of literature which references the Bible, I see nothing wrong with referring to that part of the Bible for an in depth analysis; however, making the Bible required reading is just too dangerous.
11 February 2010
Messianic Judaism?
There is a new (to me) phenomenon that I find very disturbing and feel a need to talk about it a little bit. It is this growing movement in Christianity called Messianic Judaism or Jews for Jesus. As a Jew, I find the whole business to be very unsettling. Jews don’t believe Jesus was the messiah and that is all there is to it. If you believe he was, than you are not Jewish. I’m not sure if the movement is filled with Jews who were scammed by Christian missionaries, Christians fooling themselves or Jews hedging their bets. All I know is that I am getting very tired of doing searches for Judaism and Jewish resources just to be led to a Christian website.
Don’t read me wrong, I have nothing against Christians nor do I have anything against Jews who convert to Christianity or any other religion for that matter. I do have a problem with scam artists and that is exactly how I view Messianic Jews.
Why don’t Jews believe in Jesus as the Messiah? If you do a search you are sure to find many websites with this information. I won’t go into too much detail here but I’ll give you a quick list that I got from Aish and if you want to learn more please go to http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48892792.html where it is explained in more detail. You may also want to look and ask many questions at www.askmoses.com.
1) Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.
2) Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
3) Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are mistranslations.
4) Jewish belief is based on national revelation.
I am getting very tired of searching for Jewish websites, homeschooling resources and books just to find that they are these types of groups. I’ve been to many sites claiming to be Jewish and selling Jewish materials only to find that are actually Christian. These sites and people are acting fraudulently and should be taken to task, at least.
I know my children will not be fooled by these people as we discus these groups but I worry some may. This is why it is so important to arm our children with knowledge about what Judaism is and is not. It is also important for Christians to understand that just because these groups are in existence does not mean they are in any way main stream or legitimate. I know many of my Christian friends think these “Jews” are enlightened or righteous but it is just the opposite.
Don’t read me wrong, I have nothing against Christians nor do I have anything against Jews who convert to Christianity or any other religion for that matter. I do have a problem with scam artists and that is exactly how I view Messianic Jews.
Why don’t Jews believe in Jesus as the Messiah? If you do a search you are sure to find many websites with this information. I won’t go into too much detail here but I’ll give you a quick list that I got from Aish and if you want to learn more please go to http://www.aish.com/jw/s/48892792.html where it is explained in more detail. You may also want to look and ask many questions at www.askmoses.com.
1) Jesus did not fulfill the messianic prophecies.
2) Jesus did not embody the personal qualifications of the Messiah.
3) Biblical verses "referring" to Jesus are mistranslations.
4) Jewish belief is based on national revelation.
I am getting very tired of searching for Jewish websites, homeschooling resources and books just to find that they are these types of groups. I’ve been to many sites claiming to be Jewish and selling Jewish materials only to find that are actually Christian. These sites and people are acting fraudulently and should be taken to task, at least.
I know my children will not be fooled by these people as we discus these groups but I worry some may. This is why it is so important to arm our children with knowledge about what Judaism is and is not. It is also important for Christians to understand that just because these groups are in existence does not mean they are in any way main stream or legitimate. I know many of my Christian friends think these “Jews” are enlightened or righteous but it is just the opposite.
06 February 2010
Fort Discovery
Yesterday, we went on a field trip to Fort Discovery in Augusta GA with the homeschool group. It was a bit of a drive and the weather was horrible, sheets of rain and lots of wind, but we had a great day. MooGoo was able to take the day off and I packed us all lunches. We left at 8:30 in the morning, which is early for me, but I got to sleep a little in the car. I don't know what it is about a moving car that always seems to rock me to sleep. There were lots of fun exhibits at the museum. There was an echo tube, working phones from the 1800s to present, electricity demos, optical illusions...the list goes on and on. The kids LOVED it. Everything was very kid friendly; they were able to put their hands on everything and I didn't have to be on top of them the whole time. It was fun for the adults too. We enjoyed the hands on exhibits as much as the kids did. This is the reason we homeschool!
We also made it back in enough time to easily get ready for Shabbat. MooGoo made the bread and I set the table Thursday night so we didn't have to worry about it Friday. When we got home I started cooking and we had a nice (grated not as fancy or elaborate as other nights) Shabbat meal.
All in all, a great day and we all slept well last night.
We also made it back in enough time to easily get ready for Shabbat. MooGoo made the bread and I set the table Thursday night so we didn't have to worry about it Friday. When we got home I started cooking and we had a nice (grated not as fancy or elaborate as other nights) Shabbat meal.
All in all, a great day and we all slept well last night.
02 February 2010
New look
We did it! We moved the homeschool room out of the sunroom and into the baby’s room. It wasn't a fun task; packing up the baby items was a bitter task for MooGoo. I was sick so the poor guy had to do it all himself. We are giving all the diapers (some were given to us by my sister in law) and wipes and cans of Similac to the local Dept of Children and Family Services. Everything else went into the attic; I’m not giving up just yet on our dream to expand our family.
The new homeschool room, when it was first painted over 4 years ago, was named Lavender Fields. It was a guest bedroom that we painted Lavender and Green. I have a poster (someplace) of a field of lavender that went above the bed and the wicker furniture (now in Turtle’s room) was girly and sweet. Simple and homey, the finishing touch was the rocker that was too big to fit through the door so we had to bring it in through the window (it is still in there). All in all it was a beautiful room meant to be relaxing and inviting to our guests. Now it is our homeschool room so I’ve decided to change the blog colors to mimic the room (I still can’t get that green right though). I’ve also been playing with naming our homeschool Lavender Fields…something…academy, school, school or girls…I don’t know if there is any reason to name our school. I know many people do it but I don’t know if it really matters for us. I have thought that it may be nice just to have something to be proud of. I don’t know…if you are a homeschooler and have a name for your homeschool, I’d love to know your reason behind it and how it works for you.
The new homeschool room, when it was first painted over 4 years ago, was named Lavender Fields. It was a guest bedroom that we painted Lavender and Green. I have a poster (someplace) of a field of lavender that went above the bed and the wicker furniture (now in Turtle’s room) was girly and sweet. Simple and homey, the finishing touch was the rocker that was too big to fit through the door so we had to bring it in through the window (it is still in there). All in all it was a beautiful room meant to be relaxing and inviting to our guests. Now it is our homeschool room so I’ve decided to change the blog colors to mimic the room (I still can’t get that green right though). I’ve also been playing with naming our homeschool Lavender Fields…something…academy, school, school or girls…I don’t know if there is any reason to name our school. I know many people do it but I don’t know if it really matters for us. I have thought that it may be nice just to have something to be proud of. I don’t know…if you are a homeschooler and have a name for your homeschool, I’d love to know your reason behind it and how it works for you.
01 February 2010
Under construction
I am working on the set up but I am also suffering from some sort of cold. Stuffy nose, soar throat, etc...I think I need to lay down so I am going to leave it under construction and hope I get back to it tonight with an explanation for my madness ;)
29 January 2010
Sorry I havn't posted in a while...
Somehow, time is getting away from me again which is why I’ve neglected to update. Between home and school my days are full; I’ll give you a run down on what’s been going on.
We’ve decided to turn the nursery into a homeschool/play room this weekend. We had the homeschool room in the bonus room the first year but when we thought we were going to get a baby we moved Turtle up to the bonus room, the school room into our, very small, sunroom and started calling her old room the nursery or baby’s room. The sunroom isn’t really much of a room. It is more like a wide hallway connecting the living room, breakfast nook and master bedroom. I can’t fit our large calk board anyplace in the sunroom so we have been using Bri’s play easel which is small. We could really use a little extra room and since we have it, we might as well use it. I have been going back and forth on this decision as it feels like giving up; but I think we need to pack up the baby stuff and move forward. Besides, if a baby came to us today, we wouldn’t put her in her own room for at least 6 month.
We have been working on the kitchen. We have a 1963 Flair oven that has been sitting in our garage. I love it and hate the glass top that was in the house when we bought it. We’ve had plans to do this for a while but at some point we thought we might sell. Then the economy took a dive so we took the house off the market. Now, we’ve decided, since we can’t sell we might as well continue with our plans. Moogoo works in metal and brought home a beautiful stainless counter top Wednesday night for our island. He is working on the tops for the rest of the counters but the island is beautiful! The Flair, meanwhile, needs a lot of cleaning and Moogoo has been working hard on that. If you don’t know what a Flair is, Samantha Stevens used one on Bewitched. Our plan is to replace the glass top with the Flair, cover all the counters with stainless, put in black and white checkered floors which will continue into the sun room, and find a unit (Hoosier, side board, credenza?) to store some small appliances and extras like our silver and placemats, and also give us a little more counter space.
We have been using our weekends wisely lately. We went to Rock Hawk and Rock Eagle weekend before last. They are both Native American effigies and parks. One weekend we went to the GA Aquarium and another we went to a Schoolbox store and exploring. We would like to go explore a nearby town over the weekend if the weather holds. They have a lot of antique shops and specialty type stores so besides being fun we will keep our eyes open for a unit for the kitchen.
School is going well. The kids love their new books and have been doing very well with them. I hadn’t done grammar with Butterfly because it was like pulling teeth. She just didn’t understand it. Now, it seems, she is ready. This is proof that if your child isn’t ready for something it is no use forcing her; simply put it away until she is ready. Part of the benefit of homeschooling is teaching to the individual child’s abilities. Not only does she understand grammar now, but she is excelling at it.
For Butterfly, I am using the following resources: Singapore Math, Spellwell, Ridgewood Grammar, Sylvan Vocabulary, and Spectrum Science. I use my own curriculum for history and geography that I’ll post one day.
For Turtle we use: Singapore Math, Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Rules of the Game (grammar), Power Basics Earth and Space Science (she is a little behind as she should be on Biology now) and Power Basics World History. Both girls have various reading, religion, art, social studies and values resources.
All in all, we are keeping busy and doing well. I am actually looking forward to cleaning out the nursery this weekend and getting the homeschool moved into that bigger room. Is it an end, a step forward, a closed door or an open window? I guess we’ll see; it isn’t for us to know what’s to be.
We’ve decided to turn the nursery into a homeschool/play room this weekend. We had the homeschool room in the bonus room the first year but when we thought we were going to get a baby we moved Turtle up to the bonus room, the school room into our, very small, sunroom and started calling her old room the nursery or baby’s room. The sunroom isn’t really much of a room. It is more like a wide hallway connecting the living room, breakfast nook and master bedroom. I can’t fit our large calk board anyplace in the sunroom so we have been using Bri’s play easel which is small. We could really use a little extra room and since we have it, we might as well use it. I have been going back and forth on this decision as it feels like giving up; but I think we need to pack up the baby stuff and move forward. Besides, if a baby came to us today, we wouldn’t put her in her own room for at least 6 month.
We have been working on the kitchen. We have a 1963 Flair oven that has been sitting in our garage. I love it and hate the glass top that was in the house when we bought it. We’ve had plans to do this for a while but at some point we thought we might sell. Then the economy took a dive so we took the house off the market. Now, we’ve decided, since we can’t sell we might as well continue with our plans. Moogoo works in metal and brought home a beautiful stainless counter top Wednesday night for our island. He is working on the tops for the rest of the counters but the island is beautiful! The Flair, meanwhile, needs a lot of cleaning and Moogoo has been working hard on that. If you don’t know what a Flair is, Samantha Stevens used one on Bewitched. Our plan is to replace the glass top with the Flair, cover all the counters with stainless, put in black and white checkered floors which will continue into the sun room, and find a unit (Hoosier, side board, credenza?) to store some small appliances and extras like our silver and placemats, and also give us a little more counter space.
We have been using our weekends wisely lately. We went to Rock Hawk and Rock Eagle weekend before last. They are both Native American effigies and parks. One weekend we went to the GA Aquarium and another we went to a Schoolbox store and exploring. We would like to go explore a nearby town over the weekend if the weather holds. They have a lot of antique shops and specialty type stores so besides being fun we will keep our eyes open for a unit for the kitchen.
School is going well. The kids love their new books and have been doing very well with them. I hadn’t done grammar with Butterfly because it was like pulling teeth. She just didn’t understand it. Now, it seems, she is ready. This is proof that if your child isn’t ready for something it is no use forcing her; simply put it away until she is ready. Part of the benefit of homeschooling is teaching to the individual child’s abilities. Not only does she understand grammar now, but she is excelling at it.
For Butterfly, I am using the following resources: Singapore Math, Spellwell, Ridgewood Grammar, Sylvan Vocabulary, and Spectrum Science. I use my own curriculum for history and geography that I’ll post one day.
For Turtle we use: Singapore Math, Vocabulary from Classical Roots, Rules of the Game (grammar), Power Basics Earth and Space Science (she is a little behind as she should be on Biology now) and Power Basics World History. Both girls have various reading, religion, art, social studies and values resources.
All in all, we are keeping busy and doing well. I am actually looking forward to cleaning out the nursery this weekend and getting the homeschool moved into that bigger room. Is it an end, a step forward, a closed door or an open window? I guess we’ll see; it isn’t for us to know what’s to be.
13 January 2010
New Semester = New Schedule
This is the first week of the new semester. We have a slightly new schedule and some new books for the second half of the year.
We are starting a week later than I had scheduled because the books didn’t come in time but in homeschool that doesn't matter much. We will make it up at the end of the school year or little by little on weekends.
The girls have a slightly different schedule from each other. It can get confusing at times but since Turtle is in 6th grade and Butterfly is in 3rd, they can’t do the same things and Butterfly usually requires a little more hands on from me. It took some work but I finally got the schedule together; it is as follows:
Morning Chores
Shower
Breakfast
10:00-10:20 Tefillah
10:25-11:00 Turtle: Math
10:25-10:30 Butterfly: Penmanship - copy work (just a quick exercise to keep her on target)
10:35-11:00 Butterfly: Spelling
11:05-11:40 Turtle Grammar (M&W) Vocabulary (T&T)
11:05-11:25 Butterfly Vocabulary (M&W) Reading or Math Facts CD (T&T)
11:30-11:55 Butterfly: Grammar
11:45-11:55 Turtle: Free Reading
12:00-1:30 Lunch and recess
1:35-2:40 Turtle: History/Science/Free Reading: She has deadlines to meet each week
1:35-2:00 Butterfly: History (M&W) Science (T&T)
2:05-2:40 Butterfly: Math
2:45-3:00+/- Religion: Torah/ Hebrew/ Jewish Life Skills
Chores
Fridays are a little different. Turtle makes the challah for Shabbat and starts around 9 or 10 AM. Butterfly has a spelling test each Friday and we take care of that while Turtle is making the bread. Then we discus the Torah parsha and do a simple activity, read a story, do a craft project or watch something having to do with the parsha. We then clean the house and I begin cooking for both Friday and Saturday. We are not shomer Shabbat, but I do like to make Saturday as easy and family oriented as possible. We set the table after lunch and get ready for park day with the homeschool group which begins at 3:00 at various parks and churches, it changes each week. If we have time before park day we may watch some Mr. Wizard or something that I’ve recorded that is educational. This time of year we usually have to leave the park early but during the summer months we frequently stay until 6:30 or so.
We are starting a week later than I had scheduled because the books didn’t come in time but in homeschool that doesn't matter much. We will make it up at the end of the school year or little by little on weekends.
The girls have a slightly different schedule from each other. It can get confusing at times but since Turtle is in 6th grade and Butterfly is in 3rd, they can’t do the same things and Butterfly usually requires a little more hands on from me. It took some work but I finally got the schedule together; it is as follows:
Morning Chores
Shower
Breakfast
10:00-10:20 Tefillah
10:25-11:00 Turtle: Math
10:25-10:30 Butterfly: Penmanship - copy work (just a quick exercise to keep her on target)
10:35-11:00 Butterfly: Spelling
11:05-11:40 Turtle Grammar (M&W) Vocabulary (T&T)
11:05-11:25 Butterfly Vocabulary (M&W) Reading or Math Facts CD (T&T)
11:30-11:55 Butterfly: Grammar
11:45-11:55 Turtle: Free Reading
12:00-1:30 Lunch and recess
1:35-2:40 Turtle: History/Science/Free Reading: She has deadlines to meet each week
1:35-2:00 Butterfly: History (M&W) Science (T&T)
2:05-2:40 Butterfly: Math
2:45-3:00+/- Religion: Torah/ Hebrew/ Jewish Life Skills
Chores
Fridays are a little different. Turtle makes the challah for Shabbat and starts around 9 or 10 AM. Butterfly has a spelling test each Friday and we take care of that while Turtle is making the bread. Then we discus the Torah parsha and do a simple activity, read a story, do a craft project or watch something having to do with the parsha. We then clean the house and I begin cooking for both Friday and Saturday. We are not shomer Shabbat, but I do like to make Saturday as easy and family oriented as possible. We set the table after lunch and get ready for park day with the homeschool group which begins at 3:00 at various parks and churches, it changes each week. If we have time before park day we may watch some Mr. Wizard or something that I’ve recorded that is educational. This time of year we usually have to leave the park early but during the summer months we frequently stay until 6:30 or so.
05 January 2010
Happy New Year
I’ve been thinking a lot about the New Year and specifically whether or not it is my new year at all. I did a quick search on the Gregorian calendar and came up with a few facts:
So, I’ll leave the celebrations to the goy on New Years Eve. I acknowledge the passing of a year much the same as a passing of a school year or a birthday; but that’s all. I also have no choice (because I am not in Israel) but to use the Gregorian calendar but I will not call it a secular calendar any more.
Coincidently I’ve noticed a difference in my thinking between New Year and Rosh Hashanah. This is actually what got me thinking about the differences between the two and what lead to this rant on the matter.
My resolutions for this 2010 year are much more superficial than my resolutions for Rosh Hashanah 5770. In 2010 I want to loose weight, wake up and go to bed earlier, be more organized etc. In 5770 I want to pray more, be thankful more, give tzedakah, and be more vigilant about reading and discussing the Torah portions with my children. I recently read a funny article that compared the Hebrew New Year with the “Goyish” New Year. The article was funny, meant to mock extremes however they make a good point. The Goyish new year is time of football, drinking, partying and Dick Clark. The Hebrew/Jewish New Year is a time of prayer, repentance, family, and Gd. At the beginning of the year we Jews feel a new hope for the future. Having cast off our sins we can make the appropriate changes in our lives and make plans for the future. We take a deep breath and realize we have a second chance to make ourselves and the world better. At the beginning of the Goyish year we (they) are tired, hung over, and wishing for a few extra vacation days.
While we are here lets talk a little about the Hebrew calendar:
The Hebrew calendar has its roots in the Torah (five books of Moses in the Old Testament). There are several commandments in the Torah that relate to the calendar. It was established around 400 C.E (Common Era – noted on the Gregorian calendar as A.D) by Hillel II.
Years in the Hebrew calendar are numbered from the date of the creation of Adam. This was figured by adding up the ages of the people in the bible back to the time of creation of Adam. Note, this is not how old the universe is, it is how old mankind is. There are differing opinions on the age of the universe which I’ll not discus now as it advances beyond the scope of this article. To find the current year add 3760 to the Gregorian year if it is before Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah add 3761. So today’s date is 19 Tevet, 5770.
The moths are: Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, and Adar. In the leap years we add Adar I and the regular Adar is called Adar II. The names are actually Babylonian month names brought back to Israel after the return from the Babylonian exile. Most of the months in the bible are referred to by number rather than name. So Nisan is 1, Iyar is 2…and so on. Rosh Hashanah, btw, is “the Head of the Year.” However, it is not the first month in the year; that is Nisan. The number year is increased on Rosh Hashanah in Tishri which is the 7th month.
The head, or start, of each month is also taken from the Torah. "The L-rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This Chodesh shall be to you the head of months.'" The Chodesh is the crescent new moon and this is where each month starts. Originally there was no fixed calendar so the Sanhedrin (the Rabbinical Supreme Court) would determine the length of each month based on the length of the last. Hillel II realized that this system could not go on forever and came up with the current system.
The seven days of the week are taken from the seven days in which the world was created. In the Hebrew calendar the days are not named. They are simply counted as they are in the story of creation with Shabbat being the 7th day. Yom Rishon = first day = Sunday; Yom Sheni = second day = Monday; Yom Shlishi = third day = Tuesday; Yom Reviʻi = fourth day = Wednesday; Yom Chamishi = fifth day = Thursday; Yom Shishi = sixth day = Friday; Yom Shabbat = Shabbat day (Rest day) = Saturday.
The length of a day is from sunset to sunset. When Gd created time he began with night and then day. So the Jewish calendar begins with the night before the day. The Gregorian calendar begins and ends at midnight while the Jewish calendar begins and ends at sunset. You’ll understand why when I get into how time is measured but this is why Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday and ends at Sunset on Saturday. This makes our 24 hour clock irrelevant. The hour of the day is calculated by taking the total time of the daylight of a day from sunrise to sunset and dividing it into 12 equal parts. So the 5th hour of the day would not be 5:00 is would be 5 hours after sunrise. This also means that an hour is not necessarily 60 minutes. On a day when the sun rises at 6:30 and sets at 7:30 the “proportional hour” or “sha’ah zemanit” is 70 minutes long.
I’d like to also add that the holidays on the Hebrew calendar do not change. They are the same time every year. It is the difference between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar that make Chanukah (for example) seem like it jumps around while Christmas remains stationary. If we used the Hebrew calendar regularly then it would seem the other way around.
So I'd like to take this time to wish my Christian friends and all who celebrate it a Happy New Year!
- It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII and the name Gregorian is a tribute to him.
- The Gregorian calendar is an adjustment of the Julian calendar, both of which exist primarily to help the church calculate when Easter should be celebrated.
- The names of the months come from Latin and most pertain to Roman Catholic or Pagan gods, people and events. For example; January = Janus = Roman god of gates, doorways, beginnings and endings. August = Augustus = First Roman emperor
- BC & AD mean Before Christ and Anno Domini which means “In the year of our lord” (not "after death" as Turtle's public school teacher told her. Is it no wonder I homeschool?!). This comes from the Julian calendar and was first used around 527 A.D. It was surmised that the incarnation of Jesus was the 25th of March in the year 754 and therefore the year 754 became year 1 A.D.
- Some countries who were not Catholic felt trepidation taking on the Gregorian calendar. Many protestant countries worried that this new calendar was an attempt by the Catholic church to bring them back to Catholicism.
So, I’ll leave the celebrations to the goy on New Years Eve. I acknowledge the passing of a year much the same as a passing of a school year or a birthday; but that’s all. I also have no choice (because I am not in Israel) but to use the Gregorian calendar but I will not call it a secular calendar any more.
Coincidently I’ve noticed a difference in my thinking between New Year and Rosh Hashanah. This is actually what got me thinking about the differences between the two and what lead to this rant on the matter.
My resolutions for this 2010 year are much more superficial than my resolutions for Rosh Hashanah 5770. In 2010 I want to loose weight, wake up and go to bed earlier, be more organized etc. In 5770 I want to pray more, be thankful more, give tzedakah, and be more vigilant about reading and discussing the Torah portions with my children. I recently read a funny article that compared the Hebrew New Year with the “Goyish” New Year. The article was funny, meant to mock extremes however they make a good point. The Goyish new year is time of football, drinking, partying and Dick Clark. The Hebrew/Jewish New Year is a time of prayer, repentance, family, and Gd. At the beginning of the year we Jews feel a new hope for the future. Having cast off our sins we can make the appropriate changes in our lives and make plans for the future. We take a deep breath and realize we have a second chance to make ourselves and the world better. At the beginning of the Goyish year we (they) are tired, hung over, and wishing for a few extra vacation days.
While we are here lets talk a little about the Hebrew calendar:
The Hebrew calendar has its roots in the Torah (five books of Moses in the Old Testament). There are several commandments in the Torah that relate to the calendar. It was established around 400 C.E (Common Era – noted on the Gregorian calendar as A.D) by Hillel II.
Years in the Hebrew calendar are numbered from the date of the creation of Adam. This was figured by adding up the ages of the people in the bible back to the time of creation of Adam. Note, this is not how old the universe is, it is how old mankind is. There are differing opinions on the age of the universe which I’ll not discus now as it advances beyond the scope of this article. To find the current year add 3760 to the Gregorian year if it is before Rosh Hashanah. After Rosh Hashanah add 3761. So today’s date is 19 Tevet, 5770.
The moths are: Nisan, Iyar, Sivan, Tammuz, Av, Elul, Tishrei, Cheshvan, Kislev, Tevet, Shevat, and Adar. In the leap years we add Adar I and the regular Adar is called Adar II. The names are actually Babylonian month names brought back to Israel after the return from the Babylonian exile. Most of the months in the bible are referred to by number rather than name. So Nisan is 1, Iyar is 2…and so on. Rosh Hashanah, btw, is “the Head of the Year.” However, it is not the first month in the year; that is Nisan. The number year is increased on Rosh Hashanah in Tishri which is the 7th month.
The head, or start, of each month is also taken from the Torah. "The L-rd spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 'This Chodesh shall be to you the head of months.'" The Chodesh is the crescent new moon and this is where each month starts. Originally there was no fixed calendar so the Sanhedrin (the Rabbinical Supreme Court) would determine the length of each month based on the length of the last. Hillel II realized that this system could not go on forever and came up with the current system.
The seven days of the week are taken from the seven days in which the world was created. In the Hebrew calendar the days are not named. They are simply counted as they are in the story of creation with Shabbat being the 7th day. Yom Rishon = first day = Sunday; Yom Sheni = second day = Monday; Yom Shlishi = third day = Tuesday; Yom Reviʻi = fourth day = Wednesday; Yom Chamishi = fifth day = Thursday; Yom Shishi = sixth day = Friday; Yom Shabbat = Shabbat day (Rest day) = Saturday.
The length of a day is from sunset to sunset. When Gd created time he began with night and then day. So the Jewish calendar begins with the night before the day. The Gregorian calendar begins and ends at midnight while the Jewish calendar begins and ends at sunset. You’ll understand why when I get into how time is measured but this is why Shabbat begins at sunset on Friday and ends at Sunset on Saturday. This makes our 24 hour clock irrelevant. The hour of the day is calculated by taking the total time of the daylight of a day from sunrise to sunset and dividing it into 12 equal parts. So the 5th hour of the day would not be 5:00 is would be 5 hours after sunrise. This also means that an hour is not necessarily 60 minutes. On a day when the sun rises at 6:30 and sets at 7:30 the “proportional hour” or “sha’ah zemanit” is 70 minutes long.
I’d like to also add that the holidays on the Hebrew calendar do not change. They are the same time every year. It is the difference between the Hebrew and Gregorian calendar that make Chanukah (for example) seem like it jumps around while Christmas remains stationary. If we used the Hebrew calendar regularly then it would seem the other way around.
So I'd like to take this time to wish my Christian friends and all who celebrate it a Happy New Year!
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