First Meeting of 2013!

Looking forward to our first meeting tonight, seeing old friends and meeting some new ones! 

An Introduction/What We Do

An Introduction
Welcome to this exciting ministry of teaching children to be Keepers of the Faith.  We are glad that you are interested in this program for your family.  It combines both spiritual and practical skills as a complete unit, since there is really no difference between the secular and the sacred in the daily walk of a Christian.  “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” ~1 Corinthians 10:31.  The purpose of this ministry is to guide and train young people to walk in the steps of our Lord Jesus Christ, day by day, moment by moment, in every situation.  Jesus came to earth to complete the work God had given Him.  God also has work for us to do.  Men are to preach and teach the Word of God, lead their families, provide for them, and care for them.  Women have the work of being helpmeets to their husbands and nurturing their children.  Each has a responsibility to be a faithful witness and reach out in love to the needy.  It is with joy that we do this work for our Lord, and it is with joy that we teach our children likewise.  It is God’s plan as revealed through His Word.

Keepers of the Faith Clubs are carefully designed programs that provide a solid framework for establishing and maintaining a Christian learning environment.  These programs stress Christian attitudes and habits while teaching a wide array of practical skills that are often critical for children who will develop into complete and competent adults.  This program will teach and inspire children toward fulfilling God’s plan for them.

Keepers of the Faith Clubs provide wholesome, fun-filled learning experiences while building character.  The children learn basic skills of caring for their immediate environment, such as home care for boys and homemaking for girls.  Hand skills, crafts and projects are learned by both.  Spiritual skills and habits are developed.  Physical fitness is developed through outdoor activities.  Knowledge is gained through learning about leadership, culture, and nature.  Spiritual priorities like Bible reading and memory work are stressed, and there is also a strong emphasis on meeting the needs of others.  Children learn to make such traits an integral part of their lives through a number of others-oriented activities.

Keepers of the Faith Clubs permit every child to achieve without competing against each other.  Success is not dependent on brains, talent or speed.  Hard work, character, and perseverance are the requirements for achievement in this ministry, as in life.  We promote parent-child relationships, family, and God’s design for a masculine man and a feminine woman.  We have a mission from God to teach our children.  Let us minister together to train them to be strong, godly adults who are independent of the world, and yet fully dependent on God.

What we do:

The foundation of the clubs are the Contenders for the Faith and Keepers at Home handbooks, which are the basis of the skills to be learned to equip our children to be godly men and women, able to care for their homes and families in their God-given roles.

Meetings consist of Lesson Time, which will focus on character building and practical Christian living, and Skill Time, where the children will learn and practice hands-on skills from the handbooks. 

Children will have the opportunity to earn badges for skill accomplishments as well as for Bible reading and Bible memory.

More information about Keepers of the Faith can be found at www.keepersofthefaith.com as well as handbooks, table of contents of handbooks, skill lists, badges and more. We emphasize Christian character, Bible reading, serving others, and practical skills while having fun and fellowship!

Important Information
KOF Club is geared toward boys & girls ages 5-14, however, this is a family club.  Parents are expected to attend meetings and all siblings are welcome!

Meetings generally run from September through April, with optional recreational/social activities scheduled monthly May through August.

Regular meetings will be held Thursday or Friday evenings.  More info to come.

Join us on FRIDAY, AUGUST 23, 2013 @ 7:00 P.M. for a planning meeting.  Anyone who is interested in signing up or just learning more is welcome.

To receive e-mail updates or if you have questions, please contact Nikki Donahue at    nikkidonahue@verizon.net

No Club for the 2012-2013 School Year

We have decided to take this next year off, as we joyously await the arrival of our newest blessing, due in January.  Lord willing, we will reconvene our club for the 2013-2014 school year.  Thank you to all who have joined us and participated in our club for the past 2 years.  It has been a blessing!

Miniatures, Cont'd

Step one on the dollhouse roombox project was the base.  The girls each painted their bases green to resemble grass and left them to dry.   Later, they marked where the walls would go and then glued in their choice of color as carpet for the room.  Stone- and brick-patterned papers were glued down to make walkways leading the door of each "room".

2 of the different bases created by our girls

Lesson Learned: If you are going to be painting foam board, it must be sealed first!  We didn't know this and so had problems with the paper layer separating from the board as well as the boards warping!  The remedy to this is to seal the board on both sides with a product called "gesso".  It is found in the art supply area of the craft store.  Next time I think we will forego the paint and just use felt and paper to cover our board!

Stay tuned for the rest of the project!

April - Miniatures

For the months of April and May, our girls are learning about Miniatures, specifically Dollhouse Miniatures.  Dollhouses have been a hobby of mine since I was young.  I currently have one unfinished dollhouse and lots of furniture and accessories to fill it!  I wanted to start the girls on a simple beginner's project to show them how much fun this hobby can be and how they can use their creativity and frugality.  Miniature collecting can become a very expensive hobby, but at the other end of the spectrum, there are many, many things you can make yourself for next to no money at all!

In looking for an inexpensive beginner project, I came across this photograph online at this site:

I thought, WOW, I could totally make that out of cardboard for free!  Talk about inexpensive!  So I had it all planned out in 1" to 1' scale, making the finished product 20" wide and 12" tall.  I later realized that this was a bit ambitious for a beginner project, so I modified the design to make just a one-room "house" with a little garden. 

Here is the basic, unfinished product I came up with, ready to be decorated:

Here's the step-by-step on how I put them together.

D-I-Y DOLLHOUSE ROOM BOX W/BASE (Makes 2)
Materials needed:
     2 sheets foam board 20x30 (Dollar Tree, $1 each)
     Utility knife
     Stacks of newspaper or old cardboard
     Glue

Make sure you read all the directions and look at the pictures before you start, just to make sure it all makes sense!  I hope my directions are clear.

Cut one 20" x 30" sheet of foam board in half lengthwise
so you have 2 pieces, each 10" x 30"

Out of one 10" x 30" piece, cut 2 pieces that are each 10" x 12".
There will be a smaller piece left over that you can save for
other projects

Measure the thickness of your foam board (mine was a bit over 1/8")
Holding your 10" x 12" piece so that 10" is the height and 12" is the
width, mark a straight line 1" from the edge and another line 1" + the
thickness of your board. Use these lines to cut a slot in the board half
the height of the board.

Do the same with the other 10" x 12" piece, then flip one over
so that they fit together like this:

Once you're sure they fit, mark your pieces 'left' and 'right' as well
as 'top' and 'bottom' and 'inside' and 'outside'.  Take the pieces
apart and cut out details such as a door and a window.  I cut on
2 edges of the door and scored the third so that it would make a door
that opened and closed. 

Make sure you score on the correct side so that your doors
and windows open to the "outside" when it's put together as
seen here:

I used the second sheet of foam board to cut a 15" x 15" base
for the "room" so that there was room on the "outside" for a
walkway and flower bed area.

So that is the basic unfinished "room box", ready to be decorated by the girls!  If you've made this, you'll see that you have half of the foam board left over so you can make a second project.  I think this would also work doing a full-size "house" as in the picture above, using a 12" height with a slant for the "roof" and a 20" or more width, giving you rooms that are at least 12" x 10", perfect scale for a 1" to 1" scale dollhouse.

Also, if you don't need to make 2, you could make the height of the box 12" or more and make the peaked roof as shown in the first picture above.  There are so many variations you can come up with!

Stay tuned for directions for the rest of the project.  Next will be wallpapering and carpeting!

March - Cancelled

Our March meetings were both cancelled due to illness.  Thankfully, all is well now and we will resume our regular meeting on Friday, April 6th.

Girls will begin a Dollhouse Miniatures project and boys will begin learning and practicing using Hand Tools.  Both of these projects will continue for 4 consecutive meetings (April and May). 

This will be our last project for the school year.  In June we will have our end-of-year picnic and awards ceremony.  During July and August there will be optional recreational activities planned -- more details to come soon!

February - Sign Language

For the month of February, we learned some basic sign language.  We were blessed to have a great volunteer, Mr. Paul, to come and teach us.  Mr. Paul is currently studying sign language in conjunction with his job and was eager to share what he has learned. 

We learned the manual alphabet and many common words such as colors, numbers, greetings and other words and phrases useful in conversation.  We also learned how to sign important words such as Jesus and pray. The children enjoyed practicing finger-spelling their names. 

The adults were just as interested and eager to learn as the children (if not more so!) and we as a family have continued learning and practicing sign language. 

I apologize for not having pictures - we took lots of videos but no still photos!  Here are some of the signs we learned: