You should read this

Examine things through a magnifying glass, or just with the naked eye, ask questions to draw out analogies and connections- questions such as:

What does this look like?

What else does it look like?

What does this remind you of?

What else?

Look closely. Think by analogy. Change scale. Theorize.

The four most important mental tools are:

Close observation

Thinking by Analogy

changing scale

theorizing


Organization of information in your mind-

The more actively you process information, the more actively you retain it.- David Perkins, Project Zero, co-director of Cognitive psych-research.

I don't think active processing is done through projects done with modeling clay, sugar cubes, toothpicks, and yogurt cartons, but a variety of ways of thinking about the material, asking questions of oneself, making analogies and discovering and making connections in the mind.
The person making the connections and doing the research is the one learning the most.

These are notes I took from a book called
The Private Eye : "5X" Looking/Thinking by Analogy - A Guide to Developing the Interdisciplinary Mind on creative ways to approach science. I think there are applications for Bible classes as well.

Updated to add- these are *just* notes, raw. I actually meant to save this as a draft and work on it later, but in my haste to get out the door, I hit publish instead.=) Thanks for your ideas, S.C. (my middle brother, btw, is Stephen Christopher)

Possible approaches in Bible class (or elsewhere):
Close observation- I'm going to tell you the Bible story, and when I am done, I want you to tell me back every thing you can remember.

Thinking by Analogy- What is God's love like? What is God's power like?

changing scale- What would it be like to be God and then make yourself be born as a human baby?

theorizing- In what situations would this passage of scripture be helpful? What other verses would be good? How could you apply this verse/command/principle? Why do you suppose God might have done things this way (with the understanding that our ability to figure this out is minimal, it is still a useful process).

I use a variation of the following questions for all kinds of reading, school and bible study:

What does this look like?-

What else does it look like?

What does this remind you of?

What else?

I ask: 'What other story/person/event/verse does this remind you of?' How? What other story/person/event/verse? In what way? I am often astounded at the connections my kids make when they have to review the material in their own heads this way.

Well, thing. A free thing. If you have a kindle- although you can download a free Kindle app to your computer and read it online that way.

Don't Make Me Come Up There, a devotional book for moms by somebody whose blog I read occasionally- it's a good read. The devotional book via your kindle or kindle app is free today. But only today. As in, now and for about three more hours. Hurry up already. Click on the link- the title of the book. Click, click, click!



Time doesn't stand still, you know? This is both a heartbreaking tragedy and a breath-taking blessing, but I kind of think the blessing side of things would win out if only we knew what God knows.

And so it begins.... Made plans for the boys to spend the weekend. On Thursday was called and asked to go pick them up. In a blizzard. Declined. Happily, was able to decline easily because I actually had no car available. Said we'd pick up the boys Friday afternoon as planned. Friday morning was called and asked if she could bring the boys and drop them off in an hour. Okay. Sunday night was called and told she was in Chicago, so we couldn't take the boys home, she'll come get them tomorrow after her cable guy comes to fix the cable. The four year old is an angry little boy and has made it clear he does not want to be here. He told his mother on the phone that he never, ever wanted to come back to my house again. The 6 year old is pleased as punch. The four year old.... Well. Y'all pray for him. And us.

On a highly positive note, our 12 year old son was AMAZING with the little boys. He took them sledding, he played trains, he brushed teeth, he gave piggy backs, he played chase all over the upstairs and hide-n-seek. He kept the 4 year old in his lap for half of evening services. Two of our girls were gone for the talent show and singing down in Indi. I missed them. She made some FABULOUS scones. So delicious and tasty. Full of nourishing foods like bacon and onions and pepper. Goodness abounds.

On another positive note: I am relieved to be able to say I now have SIX times more to read through Jeremiah. I did not get to the eighth Montaigne essay as planned, but I finished the seventh, and *MIGHT* get to the eight tonight. Of course, as Jeremiah says, the heart is deceitful...
So, I have now read through Jeremiah 14 times back to back (plus the other times I read it when I've read through the Bible. Plus, I had an intense high school Sunday School class taught by my father when he had his marbles and was no slouch as a scholar. Plus the major prophets were covered in an excellent college class I had. So I should know Jeremiah, yes? Of course, yes.). And so today I was reading this section:

“‘Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. 3This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. 4Do not trust in deceptive words and say, “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!” 5If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, 6if you do not oppress the alien, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, 7then I will let you live in this place, yadda, yadda, yadda (I hope that doesn't seem irreverent)

And All of a Sudden my brain went, "Wait. Wha- OOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" and made a connection that has ALWAYS been there. YOU probably already noticed this, but I hadn't. But this goes back to the division of the kingdom- you know, when Rehoboam got Judah (and Jerusalem) and Jeroboam got Israel, and concerned that he'd lose his grip on his kingdom, he built new places of worship and golden calves and ordered the people to worship them and duplicate the temple feast (more or less) but in honor of his golden calves, and otherwise engage in his totally made up religion.

And Israel never had a good king again. They were all wicked. By the time of Jeremiah, Kingdom of Israel has already been exiled to Assyria, never again to fully return, and no doubt the Kingdom of Judah has been smug for some time now- just as in the days of Jesus with the Samaritans. They had the TEMPLE and Israel didn't, so off Israel went to exile. But Judah had the TEMPLE, oooooh, neener, neener, the TEMPLE, so of course the Lord was never sending THEM into exile like those temple-less jerks in the Northern kingdom, ooooooh.....
Essentially, they trusted to the form of religion and ignored the heart.

Wonder what I'll be noticing over the next six times.

Here's what you've all been waiting for:

My husband reading to our first grandson:


Me getting my weekly snuggle time with our second grandson:







There was something else I meant say, but all this cuteness made my brain melt.