A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover – part 1

Hi everyone, and especially you brave homeschooling moms! Here’s something I’ve been putting together for school with my five year old. She absolutely loves birds, and talks about them for hours, so I’ve incorporated them into the curriculum. I’m presenting 1-2 stories a week from Exodus, told in a very gentle way so she can learn without nightmares (always a goal on my part). She’s been telling her friends about the Exodus story, and about these stories I wrote for her. I read the bird version, and then the original so she knows the history. Without further ado, here’s the first part of A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover:

A Bird’s Eye View of the Passover Story

Part 1

The Birth of the Boy

Dinah the barn swallow returned to her nest in the eaves of the house when she heard a sound that startled her. The sound startled her so much she dropped her little piece of straw. From inside the house came the sound of a baby’s cry.

Three days ago, Dinah had heard sad news from a swan who lived near Pharaoh’s palace. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had given a command to have all the Hebrew baby boys killed.

Dinah fluttered to the window of the small house and peered inside. The mother looked tired and happy and worried all at the same time. The father paced the floor.

“Amram, do not worry,” the mother said to the father. “God will give us wisdom.”

“Will we be able to hide him from the soldiers, Jochebed?” the father asked.

“Look, he is quiet now,” the mother said. “And he is a beautiful baby.”

“I’ve never seen a lovelier baby,” the father said. “You are right—God will give us wisdom. Shall we bring Aaron and Miriam in to meet their brother?”

The mother’s face beamed. “Yes!”

Although Dinah worried for this human baby, she had to check up on him later. She had her own babies to think about, and a nest to finish so she could house them.

 [Right here I put in

a picture of a barn swallow.

I don't have a royalty-free picture of a

barn swallow, unfortunately.]

Dinah’s nest was all built with straw and mud, and day after day she sat on her eggs to keep them warm. While she’d been building her nest, she saw the Hebrew men using the same materials she had used, straw and hay, to make bricks for Pharaoh.

Dinah sat on her nest and listened to the lullabies Jochebed would sing to her son. Boaz, Dinah’s mate, would bring her bugs while she waited for her eggs to hatch. Every time a soldier passed by the house, Boaz and Dinah did their best to distract him. But Jochebed’s baby was so pleasant and hardly ever cried.

One day, Amram and Jochebed’s daughter, Miriam, brought home an armful of reeds and a basket filled with pitch. Pitch is a dark mud that is used to make boats airtight so they won’t leak.

“That’s perfect, Miriam,” Jochebed said. “Now you set those down and sit here with the baby while I work.”

Dinah couldn’t pay any more attention to them—her eggs had begun to hatch! One by one, the baby barn swallows emerged from their eggs. Dinah began to understand, just a little, how Jochebed could feel tired and happy and worried all at once. Now she had lots of work to do—she had to feed those barn swallow babies.

Dinah and Boaz made dozens of trips every day to find food for their little ones. Each time she returned, Dinah glanced in the window at Jochebed working. This mother used the reeds and pitch to make a large basket, large enough to hold a small child.

“It’s finished,” Jochebed said sadly one day. “Miriam, place him in the basket.”

The little girl kissed the baby’s forehead and set him inside the basket. “Don’t worry, Mama. God will take care of him.”

Jochebed smiled at her daughter. “Will you come with me to the river?”

Dinah fluttered impatiently as she waited for Boaz to return with food for their little ones. When she saw him, she explained what she heard the mother say.

“You stay and feed our babies,” Boaz said. “I will follow them to the river.”

…to be continued…

As soon as we finished the story, I gave my daughter a coloring page of a barn swallow. When she finished coloring, she acted out the story with me. This was one of our best homeschool days.

And if you have any older readers in your house (10+) I have a YA Fantasy book that is free on the Kindle this week.