Worship our Creator God
acg
Explore His earth, His heavens, His universe... He is INDESCRIBABLE!
Take a trip from planet earth, through the atmosphere, the stars, the galaxies... look at the incomprehensible magnitude of His handiwork. And know He is bigger.
We explore... and worship!
Iraq Recovers Artifacts
If you are exploring the fascinating country of Iraq as you travel through the Holy Lands, check out this recent development:
To read more at National Geographic, Iraqi Museum Recovers Artifacts
Children Reaching out to the World
Dear A Child's Geography Team,
Yesterday's happenings must be shared with you, that you may know that your service to the Lord here on earth is producing fruit of eternal value. We recently downloaded the first two chapters of A Child's Geography and began working through the first one this week.
I have an 8 year old son and an almost 6 year old son (along with two little girls). When I read to them your suggestion of providing a meal for a homeless person that we knew, they were stumped as we don't know any homeless people personally. However, I wish you could have been a little mouse in our dining room as the Lord took them on such a sweet journey.
They remembered that there is usually a homeless person that sits near our Starbuck's. We brainstormed and decided we would pack him a sack lunch and take it to him before our own lunch time rolled around. We put the lunch together, along with a note from each of us telling him we had prayed for him that day and that the Lord loved him and was his hope. Then we all piled into the car, the boys' faces flush with excitement, chatting about where the man might be and wondering if he was hungry. We came to the assumed location and he was not there.
We drove to a few other places where we had seen homeless folks before but we could not find one individual. The boys became worried, wondering what would happen if we could not find anybody to give our lunch to. I suggested to them that we ought to trust the Lord to provide someone that we could bless that day, knowing in my heart that my children were about to be blessed, as well. I just KNEW the Lord had something up His holy sleeve!!!
Finally, after about 20 minutes of driving, we found a homeless man. We pulled up alongside him and offered him our sack lunch. He ignored our offer and asked us if we had a coat, that he was cold and really wanted a coat. I apologized profusely for not having a coat and offered him again our lunch. Finally, he said, "Lady, I don't have no teeth". Again I apologized and held our lunch in defeated hands. The man walked away. My boys, in the back seat, were completely silent. Finally, my 8 year old, with tears in his eyes said, "Mom, I wish we had a coat. All he needs is a coat....". In an instant, my children's world had just grown by leaps and bounds. The needs of those around them were, at that moment, overwhelming.
There were tons of questions; 'why didn't he have any teeth?', 'how does he eat?', 'why doesn't he have a coat?', etc, etc. Finally, my 8 year old asked, "Mom, can we get some coats next time we're at Goodwill and just keep them in the car, in case we see him again?". My nearly 6 year old, in all the seriousness in the world, also asked, "And some teeth, Mom? Can we get some teeth?"
I held in my chuckle at the suggestion and watched as my children were humbled to the point of tears. 8 year old Son asked if we could pray for this man and with a trembling voice and tears rolling down his cheeks, he asked the Lord to take care of this man, to provide him with a coat and food that he could eat and he thanked the Lord for showing him that sometimes all people need is a coat.
We swung by the Starbuck's one last time and I knew in my heart that the homeless man we were originally looking for would be there, the Lord just needed to teach a lesson first. Sure enough, there he sat, just like he always does. The children erupted in celebration that we found him, they were thrilled beyond measure to get to give him their lunch and they watched as he eagerly found the drink and chugged it right down. "He was thirsty, wasn't he, Mom?" The man thanked us, of course, and it was with tears that I said, "Thank YOU!".
My children will never be the same. The Lord has opened their eyes, pricked their hearts, and they are brainstorming the many different ways they might be able to help those without a pillow to lay their heads at night. It is impossible to watch the Lord move in the hearts of your children and not find Him moving in yours as well. Please be blessed by the fruits the Lord is producing through your works.
With great fondness,
Fun Free Geography Game
You are making a Difference!
- Filled a stable for a village with milk-producing goat and cow, hens and a rooster for eggs, piglets for protein and additional income, and a donkey to haul heavy loads.
- A share in the drilling of a well for a whole community: Your gift will provide equipment, well parts and an engineer for drilling a deep borehole.
THANK YOU, one and all for fulfilling the Great Commission to go into all the world! Because of you, many needy one around the globe know the love and care of God.
Exploring with Journey North
Journey North releases the week's new clues on Fridays and the fun begins with latitudes. You will graph a comparsion between your own local photoperiod (the amount of time between sunrise and sunset) to the photoperiods of the ten mystery classes. You won't believe how soon you'll begin to have clues as to where the mystery class might be! (Check here for sunrise and sunset times for any date)
By the end of April, guesses may be submitted to Journey North. And you'll discover: were you close?
Happy Trails, Folks! Let's go into all the world!
New Publishing Updates
Fellow travelers,
Ann and I want to thank you for your continued patience as we eagerly await the release of print editions of A Child's Geography, volumes 1 and 2.
At this time, our publisher, Knowledge Quest, assures us that they are on schedule to have print editions of both volumes available this Spring 2008. As the publisher confirms a final release date, we will post that information here as soon as we are able.
In the meantime, e-books are immediately available for your learning enjoyment through Knowledge Quest and free chapters remain available for download (here and here) if you are excited to embark on tales and adventures.
Don't forget to please check out our Travel Blog, where you'll find updates on the people your purchasing dollars have helped, world prayer requests, travel videos, and of course, lots of helpful, intriguing geography notes.
Finally, we are thrilled to announce that A Child's Geography has once again been selected as the winner of Mary Pride's Practical Homeschooling Reader's Choice Awards in the category of Geography for 2008. The award reflects actual customer satisfaction with readers scoring the curriculum on a scale from 1 to 10. We are humbled and deeply grateful.
Thank you and God bless.
Tonia and Ann
Turkey Travel
Come travel Turkey's Eastern Anatolia!
Virtually hike up Mount Ararat, ring Lake Van, walk through Haran and its beehive houses as Abraham once did.
Experience the remote beauty and breathtaking scenery of Turkey! Let's go!
Might Noah's Ark be found upon the peak of Mount Ararat? Come meet Turks who say they have seen evidence of an ark up its craggy heights. Travel the base of Mount Ararat and visit the children who live in the shadow of its peak!
ACG Transitions...
First, may we thank you for trusting to embark with ACG as you travel around God's grand and glorious globe! It is a privilege to serve each of your families.
We've deeply appreciated your thoughfulness, grace and prayers as ACG has grown over these last two years. As we have grown, we have listened to families request easier access to bound copies of the books, families wanting to peruse books at curriculum fairs, international families seeking local retailers. To meet this need, Terri Johnson of Knowledge Quest, publisher of Blackline Maps of World History, and Wonders of Old, is now also publisher of the ACG books.
What does this mean?
- That bound copies of ACG books should be available through local retailers
- That suppliers should carry the books in countries outside of the United States, reducing shipping costs for international families
- That folks can browse an ACG adventure, in hand, before embarking
What changes?
- in the short term, bound copies will no longer be available
- this coming winter, Lord willing, bound copies will be widely available through Knowledge Quest
- We are still 100% committed to supporting the least of these through World Vision. That will never change. 100% of all author royalties will be given to the hurting, the hungry, and the helpless through World Vision.
- ACG vision continues to be about going into all the world, about making Christ's Great Commission part of our homeschooling mission, about moving beyond the boundaries of our own spheres and becoming global citizens.
- We are still here to serve you, explore with you, and be awed by all His world!
GO INTO ALL THE WORLD
By definition, we are called homeschoolers, for we learn at home; the kitchen table our hub of discovery. We open pages of words, our vessels for the voyage out into time, nature, beauty and this world. And yet here in this home, but a few steps from where we sleep, we can – if we choose – radically revolutionize the entirety of this spinning world – every single day – if our heart beats like Gustavus’.
We met historical Gustavus one morning after poetry, his sure and steady voice calling across the centuries. A devout Swedish King of the 17th century, Gustavus’ heart throbbed and bled for the slaughtered lives of his brothers and sisters in the faith throughout the European continent. As Gustavus stood in the great hall of the Diet in Stockholm, passionately addressing his government on May 20, 1630, he anguished for “our religious brethren who sigh for deliverance. With the help of God, they will not have sighed in vain.”
The words of Gustavus’ ardent plea caught in my throat. Nearly 400 years had passed since those words rang out; an ocean and near-light years away. And yet, was there not still a collective sigh escaping from our persecuted brothers and sisters around the globe…at this very moment? I rise every morning, serve breakfast, pray, and begin learning with the children…entirely oblivious, generally apathetic and indifferent to the countless, innumberable cries of imprisoned, oppressed, tortured men and women who do what I do every day: talk to Jesus as Savior and Friend. Even if I had ears and heart to hear, I wasn’t Gustavus. I simply could not abandon spouse and children to deliver my brethren in the faith. While a husband and father, Gustavus was a king. We are simply, merely, a homeschooling family of a half dozen kids and a mom and dad trying and praying to hold it all together.
We turned the page of Gustavus’ story, the children and I watching as Swedish troops waved farewell to hearth and home and sailed for mainland Europe, risking their lives, the only ones they had, so that unknown siblings in God’s family might worship freely. After five wave-tossed weeks at sea, Gustavus and company landed on the coast of Germany. Falling heavily down on the sandy beach, Gustavus led his weary army in prayer, “My Lord and my God, You who rule the winds and the seas, I give You thanks from the depths of my heart. You know, O Lord, I haven’t come for my own glory, but to help Your oppressed church. Protect us and bring us victory in this sacred work.” Standing, Gustavus observed tears in the eyes of his brave men.
Reading the story, my own emotions welled. Our little girl, seated beside me, softly wished, “Too bad we couldn’t go help the oppressed church like that, Mama.”
Gustavus stirred hearts, ancient and present, with truth, “Weep not. Pray to God with all your heart. To pray often is almost to conquer.”
I whispered his words again, “To pray often is almost to conquer.” I looked at the children circling our table, Caleb with face in hands, Hope with intent eyes, Joshua and Levi pressed together, leaning close. We could not go to China. Or Sudan. Or Iran. Our family of eight would never, in all likelihood, step foot in Saudi Arabia where discussing the Bible would toss you in a barren jail cell for 4 years and include a sentence to lashing—750 stinging, biting strokes. We would never fellowship in the dark of a damp underground church, or defend sisters in Christ from a flurry of fists and sticks for singing hymns on Sunday morning. No, we were simple homeschoolers. But might we too go into all the world, freeing the oppressed?
Gustavus echoed across the millennia to our family gathered around the table: “To pray often is almost to conquer.” This family could go. The oppressed church need not sigh in vain: we could pray. Often. Daily. God would hear…does hear. Our prayers would be as going, as conquering, emancipating our persecuted brethren, releasing those held captive to the dark. For greater is He who is in us, than he who is in the world.
We still go no further than out kitchen table each morning. But we go into all the world and battle. “Ask, and it will be given to you; search, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened for you” (Matt. 7:7).
So we ask “Father, today be with Pastor Van Thong, imprisoned in Laos for attending meetings with Western Christians. No one is allowed to visit him Lord and he is being held indefinitely. We cannot go to Laos and implore the government for Pastor Van Thong’s release. But we can pray, Lord, for his comfort, his encouragement, and his glorifying You in all these things. And may Your Spirit and Your good and perfect will reign victorious, Father, in Laos…and all the world over.”
To pray is almost to conquer . This homeschooling family now embarks into all the world, praying freedom—for brothers, and brothers-yet-to-be. Will you join us as Gustavus’ warriors, praying liberty and Light for the world?
With the help of God, let them not sigh in vain.
~~~~~~
For more resources in falling to your knees to be Gustavus’ prayer warriors:
www.achildsgeography.com --- Don’t let the Great Commission be your homeschooling omission—Go into all the world!
www.persecution.org --- Assistance, Awareness and Advocacy for the persecuted and suffering Christian Church
www.prisoneralert.com --- Be alerted of current persecuted and imprisoned prisoners, be made aware of prayer needs, put a face to oppressed brothers and sisters in Christ
Understanding Ocean Tides
Trying to understand ocean tides? These animations, and live footage, may be very helpful in visualizing how our Creator God creates such a daily phenomenon! Bon Voyage!
The Complete Earth
The Complete Earth: A Satellite Portrait of the Planet is an immense book whose permanent home is on our window seat, always ready for travelers to come exploring. From the flap:
"Within these pages, data from NASA's most advanced Earth observing satellites has been combined to produce a digital atlas of the entire planet.
At a scale of 53 km. to every centimeter, we can trace the Amazon from Andean headwaters to Atlantic mouth, explore the trackless sand seas of the Sahara, and follow the corrugated ridges of hills and mountains that mark the front-line of India's continental collision with Eurasia."
Truly, turning the pages of this 8.6 pound, 224 page book (large, like the world!), is like soaring in space and seeing, close-up and in color, the face of our planet! The work of God is breathtaking! Each photograph looks like artwork, delicate, surreal, impossibly creative. And then to think that is what Earth really looks like! One has only awe for God!
Each two page spread has a satellite overview of a region of a continent, an photographic inset showing exactly where on the planet that region is found, and then includes 2-4 captivating satellite closeups of that region.
The book is not from a Creationist perspective, but, for example, does include phrases such as the following caption for the narrow Bosporus gorge: "Around 5, 600 BC the rising waters of the Mediterranean burst through the narrow Bosporus gorge, sending 42 cubic kilometers of water a day into the Black Sea, which was them a freshwater lake. Submerged ruins indicate the lake's shorelines was inhabited and raise the possibility that the memory of the deluge survives today, preserved in the story of Noah's Flood."
And my favorite? The satellite overviews of the globe through each month of the year. It is like perching over the planet for an entire year, front row seats to watch God paint growing seasons of warm greens and then the creeping edge of cool whites.
A new copy of The Complete Earth is available from here for as little as $4.85 plus $3.99 shipping (for one very large book!)
Happy trails!
Singing with the African Children's Choir!
Last night we came to see them, they who had come from half way around the planet, to sing, dance, and celebrate the gift of LIFE! Our voices rose with theirs, as their music had us on our feet, clapping, swaying, worshipping too.
Come sing with the African Children's Choir! As one of our sons said on the way home through the dark and the rain, "Will they ever come back again?" Their joy was contagious! And a privilege to partner with them for the betterment of children all over Africa.
Our children met children with smiles just like theirs, sang to Jesus with them, and gave to their brothers and sisters in the Lord; a life-changing experience.
How can you let your little light shine for Jesus?
More about the African Children's Choir:
"As it has since its inception, the African Children's Choir™ works to bridge cultural gaps and spread hope and joy while shining the spotlight on the desperate plight of children in Africa. Money raised through donations and ticketed concerts supports numerous schools that have been established throughout Uganda and other African countries over the past 20 years, as well as the ongoing establishment of new schools. Donations also finance educational scholarships so children can attend schools beyond those operated by Music For Life, and support emergency relief efforts that ensure destitute children and their families receive the food, clothing, medical assistance and counseling they need to survive and flourish. Each year, a new Choir is selected and the Choir children from the previous year return to their homelands to attend schools sponsored by Music For Life."
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from Around the World
We found this humorous "travel around the world with loose teeth journal" at our local MCC Relief Auction in their Ten Thousand Villages venue. It is now a well-used, worn, much loved and laughed with copy. See if your library has a copy!
Throw Your Tooth on the Roof: Tooth Traditions from around the World!
"What do you do when you lose a tooth? Do you put it under your pillow and wait for the tooth fairy? Not if you live in Botswana! In Botswana, children throw their teeth onto the roof. In Afghanistan they drop their teeth down mouse holes, and in Egypt they fling their teeth at the sun! Travel around the world and discover the surprising things children do when they lose a tooth. Selby B. Beeler spent years collecting traditions from every corner of the globe for this whimsical book, and G. Brian Karas adds to the fun, filling every page with humorous detail. He perfectly captures the excitement and pride that children--ALL OVER THE WORLD!-- experience when a tooth falls out!"
Tooth traditions are organized by countries in a particular region of the world. A map of the world is included in the opening pages. An intriguing and accessible way for explorers to see that children all over the world are just like them, in many, many ways!
Will you Go? or Pray?
Let's go into all the world on our knees....
From the pen of Annie Johnson Flint:
"Pray—Give—Go
Three things the Master hath to do
And we who serve Him here below
And long to see His kingdom come
May pray or give or go.
He needs them all—the open hand,
The willing feet, the praying heart—
To work together, and to weave
A three-fold cord that shall not part.
Nor shall the giver count his gift
As greater than the worker’s deed,
Nor he in turn his service boast
Above the prayers that voice the need.
Not all can go; Not all can give,
To speed the message on its way,
But young or old, or rich or poor,
Or strong or weak—We all can pray.
Pray that the gold-filled hands may give
To arm the others for the fray;
That those who hear the call may go,
And pray—that other hearts may pray."
—Annie Johnson Flint
Sites with Google Earth
Free Astronomy Tool Online--go stargazing!
And, with Stellarium's simple ability to change "your location" on the Earth, you can see what people on the Southern Continent get to view nightly. Take a moment with your young geographers and try Stellarium today!
How He Makes Summer!
Waves and water, sun and summer.
What makes beaches? What creates waves? What makes summer?
Come see how God makes it all work!
ACGers give to World Vision
The first quarter of 2007 (from January 1- April 30) saw families going into all the world with the "A Child's Geography" curriculum donating all profits to World Vision such that, with a matched giving program offered by the Canadian government, more than $6,000 were donated to needy families around the globe.
I was hungry and you fed me,
I was thirsty and you gave me a drink,
I was homeless and you gave me a room,
I was shivering and you gave me clothes,
I was sick and you stopped to visit,
I was in prison and you came to me.'
Jesus thanks each ACG traveler for their giving onto Him.
Christ calls us into all the world. LET'S GO!