Our family has been blessed this year to be able to custom build our own home. It’s been an exciting adventure (14 months and counting) and we have enjoyed watching the process from: meeting all the people that are involved in the building process, seeing the equipment, tools and machinery involved;and of course, watching the day-to-day progress as the house develops before our curious eyes.
One of the first things we did when we knew we were going to embark on this adventure, was go to the library. There are many wonderful books on home building. Two of our favorite picture books on the topic are:
Building a house by Byron Barton
How a house is built by Gail Gibbons
Isn’t it wonderful that no matter what you are studying, or what is going on in your life there is a picture book on the topic that you can read with your child?
As our project progresses one of the things that the boys have noticed is that there is a lot of math involved in building a house but we are also learning about working together and orderliness. I can think of no better way to illustrate to my children how important each person is in the “big picture” than having them watch a house rise from the ground thanks to the efforts of individual people doing individual tasks—together.
Each night we pray for the safety of everyone working in our home and that our family will use this blessing to glorify God. It is something that I have been particularly praying for guidance on.
Unless the Lord builds the house; it’s builders labor in vain.
Psalms 127:1
Today as they began laying the stone floor the boys had an opportunity to practice using a level. The subcontractors laying the floor seem very friendly and approachable so I am hoping that the boys (and I) will have an opportunity to try our hand at laying floor tiles.
Hey, if the Duggar Family can build a house as part of their homeschool curriculum I’m sure our family can set two pieces of flooring in mud, right?
We did a major kitchen and bathroom remodel this summer with a family friend doing the work. He and his wife homeschool their children and he took my boys “under his wing” at times to teach them what he was doing while he was doing it. They loved it! My husband does this as well with smaller projects, but the remodel job was much more fun for the boys as the “helpers!”
We love Gail Gibbon books