The Real Saint Patrick

How often, when a holiday comes along, do we begin to wonder "What would it be like without the commercialism of it all?" This year, as part of simplifying our lives, we have chosen to teach our children (and ourselves) the reason for each season.

The past week, Toby has been having a milk intolerance reaction so our days are pretty easy and slow due to how clingy and needy he can be when unwell. Basically we roll with it. Read when we can. Skip count as we hop down the hallway. Write shopping lists. Very natural learning with not many set lesson plans.

But we couldn't miss Saint Patrick's Day.

But what is it all about?

To hook the children's interest, I decided to show them a short movie about Saint Patrick. It gave them lots of laughs but also showed them the basic story.

We then spent a while role playing the travels of Saint Patrick from a young boy until his death. I printed off a map and the children used barbie dolls to be the parts of each character.

The children noticed that the shamrock showed up often in the above movie. We went outside and found a clover leaf each. It led beautifully into the next segment of our study. The trinity.

We made a simple shamrock and discussed the way that God had 3 different parts: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. As the children glued their shamrocks together we talked about our different body parts and the jobs they have. You can't see with your legs. Your legs are for walking and moving around. Your skeleton has the job of holding your body up, not for digesting food. Your stomach has that job. And the 3 parts of God are the same. Each one has a particular job. Amy was able to identify that God's job was to be creator and Lord of All and that Jesus' job was to die for our sins and help us get to God (success!!!!). They had never really heard of the Holy Spirit so had a little talk about "that voice" that tells you right from wrong and guides us all. 

We read the book "A picture of God: 3 in 1" which is available at Manna Christian Bookstores and also on YouTube.

They then, of course, had to have a snack of...you guessed it...apple! Amy happily chatted about what each part meant as she devoured her half and Sarah just ate. And thats okay! Because the more exposure they get to these harder concepts, the more easily they will begin to understand it one day when they are ready.

Before we finished, the children asked to watch another YouTube movie about Saint Patrick. I had previewed one from Adventures in Odyssey the previous night, and it turned out to be a favourite with both girls.

Finally we sung a song found from Blessed Beyond A Doubt. It is sung to the tune of Frère Jacques:

"Praise the Father, Praise the Father
Praise the Son, Praise the Son
Praise the Holy Spirit, Praise the Holy Spirit
Three in one, Three in one."