(Creative) topographical map of Israel

BEHOLD! Israel through the eyes of a 5, almost 6, year old. In Tapestry of Grace we go through history chronologically. Starting at creation we take four years to get to the current times. Right now we are studying King David and Israel during his reign. TOG has a lot of hands-on projects; salt maps or dough maps being very popular with the curriculum and in this house.

After the dough is made you shape it to the desired shape. After it dries you can paint it. I’ll let Reagan explain her color scheme:

“Blue is the water. Yellow is the camp. Purple is where it’s nighttime. Orange is where it’s real sandy. It’s the mountains too. Red is where it flooded. Green is the grass. ”

Uhh, did she say it’s nighttime in the purple areas? Yes. I’m not quite sure why it’s not nighttime everywhere, but then again, my imagination is about as big as a seed. And we are not learning that it flooded anywhere, or that there were camps in specific places. This is imaginations as well. And it was very hard for me not to correct these things. Imagination is a good thing though and as long as she’s within the realm of sensibility I’m fine with that. I draw the line at creative spelling though and other “feel good, don’t-hurt-the-kids’-feelings” philosophies.

I hope to encourage Reagan’s creativity throughout her school career. She wants to be a painter when she grows up. That takes a lot of imagination. Let’s hope my rigid structuring doesn’t interfere with that or whatever God’s will for her is.