“Let My People Go!” and More Exodus Excitement!

I am a little sad {sniff, sniff} to leave Genesis after spending almost an entire school year there, but we have moved on to Exodus!  What an exciting story with so much for us to learn!  Here are a few things we’ve worked on so far…

We made Moses and Aaron staffs.  I think these are a hit with the boys because I hear them “playing Moses” every afternoon!  “Let my people go!” they shout!

We used wooden spoons and left one side unpainted so that it looks like a staff when you hold it up and like a snake when you throw it down!

We have learned some interesting things about spiritual warfare!  Whoa!  Each plague and even the staff becoming a serpent was a direct attack by God on Egyptian gods and goddess.   Yeah!  I never knew that!

This is Apep, the serpent god of ancient Egypt.  He was the god of all evil and God started by showing pharaoh He was greater!

Each plague can be associated with an Egyptian god or goddess.  We have studied nearly all school year about the importance of the Nile in Ancient Egypt.  Egyptians believed it was the source of all life and worshipped Khnum, the god of the Nile.  When God changed the waters of the Nile to blood, He was showing the Egyptians the real source of Life!

This is Khnum, god of the Nile.

For the first time this year, I let the big kids pick out their own little projects and work on them without any help.  (Yes, I know I’m behind!)  I let each of them choose anything having to do with what we’ve studied in Exodus.  I gave them a little direction as far as picking the project to study, but then let them work on their own.  Catherine choose to paint each of the Egyptian gods along with the matching plague.

Leven is our outdoors guy.  He sometimes asks to go outside before breakfast!  He asks for “survival gear” for his birthday and checks out camping and wilderness training books from the library.

For his project, he made a list of what the Israelites would have needed for survival in the wilderness, whether or not God provided these things, and the scripture reference for his findings.  He also wants to build a model of Mount Sinai.

 My husband always tells our kiddos that they are training for reigning!  I think Moses was, too.  He protected and defended the weak 3 times, and after leaving Egypt spent 40 years as a shepherd, waiting and training, before God spoke to him in the burning bush, before he could be a leader for God’s people. It reminded us of David.  Our children, too, are with us in training– training for reigning!

We talked about the 40 year pattern of Moses’ life.  He spent 40 years growing up in the lap of luxury in Egypt.  He spent 40 years in Midian with Jethro and Zipporah.  And finally, he spent 40 years in the wilderness with God’s people.  Here are the pages the big kids added to their notebooks.

Our excitement in Exodus is sure to continue with more fun projects and –if I have anything to do with it– more crafts!  🙂