two brothers and twelve sons

Pertaining to Parasha Vayishlach: Gen. 32:4-36:43, Hosea 11:7-12:12, Hebrews 11:11-20

In this parasha, the two brothers (Ya'akov and Esav) are reunited and Ya'akov fathers twelve sons and a daughter. Our character traits this week were GRACE and FORGIVENESS. Esav forgives Ya'akov for his deceitfulness, and Ya'akov praises G-d for His grace to Ya'akov by promising him in Genesis 32 that his descendants will be "as numerous as the grains of sand by the sea, which are so many they can't be counted."
To remember this promise, we played in a "sandbox" (it's really dry oats, but it works!).

We made paper dolls for all of Jacob's children (yeledim shel Ya'akov) and labeled them all by name. Trying to learn all of their names and meanings in Hebrew is great for older children. Some other significant Hebrew words are: "ach" (brother), "achot" (sister), "Yisrael" (wrestles with G-d, or rules with G-d) and "matanah" (gift). Just as Ya'akov gave his brother Esav an elaborate gift, we talked about giving and bought/sent a few friends special gifts (which is great because Hanukkah is almost here!). This parasha also provides an opportunity to review/teach body parts to little ones because Ya'akov's hip was dislocated by the Angel. Because I didn't have much computer access, I simply drew Ya'akov and we labeled some of his body parts. Now my toddler knows where her hips are, and although I did not teach her to do this, she sticks one way out to the side and laughs when I ask her where they are. She's pretty funny!

Other than this, we just continued with our colors (blue) and letters (G), and worked to get back on schedule after all of the birthday excitement and family visits. Still working on that one! :)