Unit 8: Preparing

History: This week's focus was on the Promised Land. After 4 weeks we finally finished reading Tirzah. We enjoyed reading all about this young girl's adventure as she leaves Egypt and travels through the desert with Moses and the rest of the Israelites. The book ended as God gives the news that only Caleb, Joshua, and those under age 20 will make it to the Promised Land. Tirzah has many years in the desert ahead of her, but has hope that she will one day see the land Yahweh has promised.  In Grandpa's box we covered a lot of history. We read about Joshua, Jericho, battles in Canaan, Ruth, and an intro to David!. Our own box is filling up with the figures that Sis has been drawing. We add 1-2 every chapter.

We also learned about the 12 tribes of Israel. Sis already knew that the Israelites were God's chosen people, that they came from Abraham's family, that Israel had 12 sons, and that God gave them the promised land. She's never learned or understood though that they were divided into tribes or what that means. We did internet research on the 12 tribes (I found this great website for kids 12 Tribes of Israel. ) 
We learned the names of the tribes. We also talked a little about the Levite's special jobs with the tabernacle and learned about the Ark of the Covenant. We talked about Jesus coming from the tribe of Judah.
Sis's history project was to make a map showing the 12 tribes and the land that was allotted to each one. We color coded it by family groups.... one color for all the sons of Rachel, another for Leah, etc.

In her Draw and Write book Sis drew the Ark of the Covenant. At the end of the week she drew David as an introduction to next weeks history ( we will be learning about the time of David and the Greeks.)

Science:We finished up our unit on muscles with an experiment that is going to take 2 weeks to finish. Every other day for 2 weeks Sis is suppose to time herself to see how many times she can open and close a clothespin in one min, then how long it takes her to write her name 30 times. We're recording the times on a chart. Her hypothesis is that over the next 2 weeks her times will improve bc by using those muscles more they will increase in strength. I guess at the end of 2 weeks we will see if she is right.

We also started unit 4 on the digestive system. We're learning what exactly happens to a piece of food after it is swallowed!

We learned that digestion doesn't begin when you swallow, but actually begins in your mouth. Teeth chewing up your food is an important part, also saliva contains chemicals that help break down your food. We learned about the teeth and the names of them. We also did a saliva experiment that required putting a saltine cracker on her tongue.


Not too much else new to blog about this week...We did take a trip to the pumpkin farm. We got to watch a huge pumpkin be catapulted into the air and try apple cider slushies!mmmmm.

 

MFW 1st grade: Week 8

Boo is moving right along this week with her reading. Her biggest struggle right now is remembering /ing./ For some reason she can never remember that one. We made an ING poster. She colored it and drew little pictures of /ing/ words like "sing" and "wing." The we hung it up where she will see it all day. throughout the day all week I point to it and ask her what it says. I'm trying hard here! I don't know that it makes the greatest wall decoration (one of the joys of homeschooling is you end up with random letters, maps and artwork posted all over your house.lol)  but I think it's helping.


Boo memorized her proverb and did her handwriting/copywork. We also learned about who wrote the Bible. We talked about a few like Moses, David, Paul, Matthew, etc...but we learned that God is the true author of the Bible.

For art we used our drawing book to draw a cat.

In science we learned about rain. We talked about the water cycle. It rained one day this week so we got to watch the rain and look at rain clouds.



All of the kids also had dentists appointments at the start of the week. Apparently while they were down the hall getting x-rays the Dr. asked them "What is your favorite part of being homeschooled?" Boo answered "My favorite part is that I get to be with my family and not have to leave them for hours every day." Sweet huh? Well then I found out Sis answered, "I just like that I don't have to get ready in the mornings...I do school in my pajamas." hmmmm...Wonder what the dentist thought about that? lol...You never know what they're gonna say! Shhh, That's secretly one of my favorite parts too though! Oh the joys of homeschooling.

I was sharing with another mom on fb this week who was worried about being a couple days behind due to sickness. I told her how I have learned to not stress about our schedule and curriculum so much, but to just take school one day at a time and relax. It got me thinking. So many people I know live their lives so rushed, tired, and stressed. Part of the freedom that comes with homeschooling is making our own schedule, taking life slowly, enjoying life. I'm very thankful that my kids and I are blessed to get to stay home. Most weekdays there's no where we have to be or anywhere we have to go. Our lifestyle is much more relaxed than most people. Schedules are a good and healthy thing. Sometimes however even as homeschoolers in our business to get everything done, all the boxes checked off, every subject covered, all the housework, we forget that it's ok to NOT do everything! It's ok to take a day off just because. It's ok to sleep in and even healthy to do so. It's ok to NOT check every box that day. It's ok to skip science for the day and just go for a walk together. You are in control of your time and schedule, ENJOY your school days. Life is too short not to. Take a deep breath and realize you don't have to let your curriculum control you! Spend time together making breakfast, then some time in prayer. maybe take a day to just play board games and read together. Your kids future and education is not going to suffer if you put spelling off till tomorrow! RELAX! Your kids are learning and enjoying life and isn't that at least one of the reasons you chose this lifestyle for your family to begin with?

Unit 7: Preparing

We ended up taking an unexpected week off due to sickness and other things that came up last week, so this was our week back after a little break.

History: I think that this will be our last week in Ancient Egypt. It seems like we've been learning about Egyptians forever now! The two books that we have been reading for history are "Grandpa's Box" and "Tirzah." In both stories we are now reading about the Exodus...the Hebrew people leaving Egypt and their time in the desert. Next week will begin studying the time period when the Israelite's moved into the promised land. We've had a lot of fun learning about Egypt though and I'm kind of sad it's ending. This week Sis did some further internet research on Pharaohs. She learned that Pharaoh's were considered gods. We read about the most famous pharaohs (mostly Tut,) how a person got to become a pharaoh, what they wore, who the youngest Pharaoh was, etc. We also added the Exodus to our history timeline.

Her history project for this week was to make an Egyptian pyramid out of white paper. This was by far the most frustrating project we've tried this year. We went through 4 sheets of paper trying to get the dimensions right. Every time, our lines were off and our pyramid walls didn't line up!!! We persevered and finally got a pyramid that looked half way decent. For those of you trying this one, I suggest using an extra large sheet of paper, a ruler, and making a perfect square instead of a diamond. Since real pyramids were originally covered with limestone our second step was to paint our pyramid with a diluted glue and sprinkle with sugar. Next we added a ground colored like sand, used a flashlight to cast a shadow, and shaded the shadowed area. Lastly, we painted the tip of our pyramid "gold," like the Great Pyramid of Giza. 

In her Draw and Write Through History Sis drew Moses parting the Red Sea, a frog and locust (plagues), and a quail.  

Reading: In reading we began a new genre, Adventure! For our adventure kickoff we talked about some characteristics of an adventure story then did an activity where Sis had to pull 3 items out of a bag and make up a story that includes those 3 items. We did this a few times. Her first 3 items were a ring, turtle, and a camera. Next a map, car and horse. She did pretty good although all of her adventure stories also quickly turn into fantasy.lol. On day 2 we began our Adventure book, "Toliver's Secret." I chose this book because it is said to be an unusually good historical adventure book for kids. While it also falls into the category of historical fiction, it is definitely an adventure book. This adventure is fast paced and keeps her attention. It's about a young girl on a journey disguised as a boy to deliver a message to General Washington for her grandfather who is a patriot spy. She finds herself on a boat full of British soldiers and in the wrong town! So far Sis is really enjoying reading it. 


Science:

In science we are learning about muscles. We learned the different types of muscles. The names of some muscles. What makes muscles grow and why they are important to our bodies. Sis made made a newspaper article about some of the things she learned. We also did several experiments. One was to see how long she could hold her arms out straight before her muscles tired out. Another, while learning about smooth muscles she tried to push a clay ball through a nylon demonstrating how the smooth muscles have to contract and squeeze to push the food and waste through our intestines.

We also added muscles to our "personal person" project.

Not too much exciting to note about all our other subjects. We're finding the area of parallelograms and doing division in math.Sis is flying through her 5th grade spelling (hardly ever misses a word.) She's wanting to be part of some sort of spelling bee, I might have to look into that in the future. We're practicing adverbs and still diagramming sentences in Language. In Bible we're reading a chapter called "How can I know what is true." That's been really good. Other than that Christmas shopping is in full swing over here (Yes I said Christmas!gasp!) I'm already planning out our holiday breaks and activities. It is quickly approaching! I'm also working on trying to fit in some fun and educational field trips soon. We shall see.

MFW 1st grade: Week 7

Well we took 2 weeks to get through week 7, partly because of some sick days and partly because Boo needed some extra review. I'm still a little hesitant to move forward. We're just going to move slowly until she feels comfortable with her new phonics sounds. We've been reviewing /sh/ /ch/ /th/ /ing/ /ang/ and long vowels with a silent "e." She still gets confused by all the new sounds, but with lots of practice she's getting it.

This was one reading game we did this week... I taped some of her words on the wall. Then she had to point to one and read it. If she got it right she got to take it down and put it in a pile. The ones she missed or had trouble with we left on the wall and practiced them more.

For math Boo started learning addition. The past 2 weeks we covered adding by 0's and 1's. We use MathUSee which focuses on one math concept at a time until it's mastered. We will be learning all the addition facts for the remainder of the school year and then hopefully moving to subtraction.

We are learning about Proverbs in Bible. Boo has memorized 2 so far and now we are working on the 3rd. This week we learned the first half of Proverbs 10:5 and next week we will learn the rest. We're talking about being a hard worker compared to being lazy. We're also still enjoying our bible devotionals in her "5 minute devotionals for Children," book. This week we also learned that there are 66 books in the Bible. We stacked 2 piles of books on the table. One with 39 books and the other with 27 to illustrate the number of books in the old and new testaments.

One thing that we decided to skip this year is the Drawing with Children book that is scheduled in the

teacher's manual. We did not like that book when we tried it with Sis a few years back. So Boo has been joining in on some of the art/craft projects that Sis is doing with her school work. However, Boo loves to color and draw and there is not much art for her this year. Sis on the other hand has tons of drawing and projects in her Heart of Dakota. So,I decided that Boo and I would work through Usborne's "I Can Draw Animals," book together. She was so excited! It's much more simple and fun for her than trying to do the Drawing with Children in my opinion. This week we followed the steps and  did our first drawing together of a lion. Baby Bear joined us
 ( her's didn't quite look like a lion yet, but she actually does really well for a 2 year old! All my girls are little artists.)

Unit 6: Preparing

History: We are continuing to enjoy our time in Ancient Egypt. In our Grandpa's Box book, Grandpa is telling stories of Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, and how the Hebrew people ended up in Egypt.

In her Draw and Write through History Sis drew a Spinx and a picture of Joseph this week.

In our "Tirzah," book for story time, we are reading about a young Hebrew girl and her family. Moses has led them out of Egypt and she crossed the Red Sea with her cousins. Now they are facing heat and thirst in the desert as they follow the cloud of God to the promised land. It is fun to put yourself into the story and feel the emotions and fears that the Hebrew people (especially the children) may have been feeling.
 
We added Joseph to our timeline and we used a globe and maps to locate the land of Cannan, Egypt, Goshen and the Red Sea.

Sis had 2 history projects this week! The first was to research an Egyptian Crook. We learned that the crook (a shepherd's staff with a hook on the end) and a flail were symbols the Pharaoh's used to symbolize being King (or a shepherd) over the people and the land.  She made her crook out of white construction paper rolled up, foil for the hook, painters tape and yellow marker to decorate it.

Her second project was to make Egyptian pastries. We learned that Egyptians were known for their bread. Joseph's brothers also came to buy grain from Egypt. Our pastries look a little like cinnamon rolls, but they are honey flavored not cinnamon. I thought they tasted gross and had too much honey, but all the kids ate them

Reading: Book project week! Sis officially finished her historical fiction genera in the "Drawn Into the Heart of Reading," curriculum. She read both "Little Women," (which takes place during the Civil War) and "Sarah Plain and Tall," (which takes place on a prairie during the pioneer days.) At the end of each genera she has a book project to complete. Her project for historical fiction was to choose one of the two books for a "scraps from the past activity." This involved making a 5 page scrapbook/diary about the book. She had to imagine that she lived in the time period of the book and was friends with the main character. She then had to write 5 diary entries describing what happened that day (answering who, what, when, where, and why?) She also had to paste illustrations that she drew in her scrapbook. She chose to do Sarah Plain and Tall and imagined that she was best friends with Anna (the 12 year old main character.) Sis enjoys things like this so she had no problem doing the assignment on her own with little help from me. I'm letting Sis have total control over which genera she wants to do next. She picked "adventure." She next week we will begin our adventure!

Science:

In science we finished up learning about the skeletal system. We did the second half of our bone experiment that we started last week. Our chicken bones soaked for 5 days. One in vinegar and the other in water. We discovered that the bone soaked in vinegar was bendable and soft, while the bone in water was still "hard as a bone!" Vinegar takes the calcium out of the bone. So we discovered just how important calcium is to make our bones strong and healthy...bring on the milk!
 The final thing we did for bones was add bones to our "personal person project." This is a year long project in her notebooking journal. Each time that we finish learning about an organ system we will add it to a picture of Sis that we made. for some reason this project cracks us up every time we look at it.

MFW 1st grade: Week 6

This week we started learning long vowel sounds with silent "e." This was a real challenge for us! I've decided that Boo needs a lot more practice with her reading before moving forward too quickly. We started having a review more as the curriculum suggests. Up till now I've been skipping this step, but now she really needs it. These phonics lessons are moving really fast for her. I plan to take a week off soon to just review before we add any new concepts. She started making these little "Animal Tales" books where she has to copy a sentence and then draw a picture for it. We also did some matching activity cards. Boo reads the sentence and matches it to the correct picture.

For our daily read-aloud story time I introduced Boo to our Fancy Nancy collection. Boo has fallen in love with Fancy Nancy and her "fancy words." Sis use to love these books when she was younger too.

We're still learning about plants in Science. This week we read all about trees. Our activity was to do a tree bark rubbing, but Boo already did that last year with Sis so we decided to skip it. We also checked on our corn kernels that we "planted" in a wet paper towel. They're growing pretty well. It's neat to see how the roots have buried themselves inside of the paper towel.

Unit 5: Preparing

History: One thing I'm learning about myself is that history is my favorite subject. It makes me sad that I didn't care or pay attention to history growing up in public schools. It is so fascinating and I LOVE learning what has happened in our world in the past. It helps to understand the Bible and to see more clearly the "big picture" and how all of history has a place in this big plan of God for his creation. I think the one thing that I love most about Heart Of Dakota and My Father's World is that the core of both these programs centers around history. They make history come alive and exciting, so that my kids are just as fascinated as I now am. They are learning, not just to get the right answer on a test and then forget it, but they are also having fun. Hopefully they will not grow up with a love for history and more knowledge than I did. 


This week we started learning about ancient Egyptians! This is one of the earliest civilizations in which we have a written history. We learned about Egyptian hieroglyphics and the Rosetta Stone, which was discovered and unlocked the code allowing people to translate the ancient Egyptian writings. We used this website to look at a hieroglyphic alphabet and Sis tried writing her name.  NG kids Hieroglyphics-uncovered.  
We also learned about the Nile, Sphinx, pyramids, and mummies!

Her history project this week was to make an Egyptian clay cartouche (an oval shaped frame with a line at the bottom which indicated that the writing on it is a royal name.) We made a cartouche with hieroglyphic writing for the lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut's name. She was the first recorded female Pharaoh in history. We made our own clay out of salt, flour and water. Then we carved our hieroglyphics and let it air-dry overnight. Finally on day 3 we painted our cartouche brown. Boo joined us and made her own cartouche. She chose to make a rainbow and sun instead of Egyptian writing though.

In our Draw and Write Through History book, Sis learned to draw a pyramid and a sarcophagus (the stone coffin that held the mummy.)







Language: Sis vocabulary words this week to add to her journal were: sphinx, derricks, and classes (as in social classes.) 
In LA Sis is learning how to proofread using the correct proof marks. We're still diagramming sentences and reviewing parts of speech. Sis also wrote a letter to her Penpal Jordan this week. I think all kids once they can write should have a Penpal or two. It's great handwriting practice plus it's so much fun to have friends from around the country. Even though they've never met Sis feels like she knows her Penpals and they are always sending each other special little surprises, pictures and drawings, and saying things like "I love you, wish we lived closer." It's very sweet and has been a good experience for her.


Reading: Sis finished Reading "Sara Plain and Tall." That means we are finished reading all of the books in our Historical fiction genera. Next week will be book project week!

We also began reading "Grandpa's Box" again for history and adding figures to our own box. We're so excited to get to start reading this book again we have missed it the last few weeks.

I also started reading the book "Tirzah," by Lucille Travis, to her for our story time. It's about the life of a Hebrew slave girl in Egypt. If only Moses could persuade Pharaoh to let her family leave. Surely Yahweh will hear her prayers for a better life somewhere else. This story gives you a look at what it could have been like from the perspective of a Hebrew child in the days of the Exodus. 

Science: Bones! Bones! Bones! We are studying the skeletal system this week. We learned the names of a lot of bones this week and labeled them on the skeleton in our journal.There is so much more to bones though than just learning their names and locations. We're learning the parts of a bone (the different layers inside of a bone), What happens when a bone breaks, how bones grow, bone marrow, joints and ligaments. The most interesting fact we learned is that bones bleed when they break and the blood clots to help heal the bone much like a scab on a skin injury! We did an experiment with a chicken bone (which are very similar to human bones.) Sis had to cut it in half. We opened it up and looked at the red marrow inside where the blood cells are stored. Then we started a project where we are soaking one bone in vinegar over the weekend and another in water to see what happens. The vinegar is suppose to remove the calcium from the bone. We will see next week what happens.

 

MFW 1st grade: Week 5

The most exciting thing this week was that we celebrated Boo's 6th birthday! They grow up way too fast!

Her workload has definitely increased now that 1st grade is in full swing. The phonics has picked up this week and it has been taking Boo about an hour to finish her reading assignments each day! She's getting it though, so even though it's time consuming I'm glad she's learning to read. Each day her reading right now consists of a dictation exercise (where she will either read word aloud or write words that a read to her, tell me the sounds in a word, etc.) a workbook page, and a student sheet/ activity. This week we started learning some blends. We learned the sounds for /sh/ /ch/ /ng/ and /th/. I hung them on our bulletin board and we practiced them all week. We also started using our "reading chart" and will be highlighting sounds as we learn them throughout the year. Here are the little phonics mini books Boo made for her student sheet activities. She had to write words with that sound inside of each booklet.

Boo also learned her 2nd memory verse for the school year. This time however we started using these cute sheets to practice her handwriting by copying her verse.

In science we continued to learn about plants. This week we looked at trees.  Instead of planting a bean (since I forgot to buy one!) we put some corn kernels into a wet paper towel. We will water them everyday to see if we can get them to grow some roots.

We also made our history timeline this week. It will be a few weeks yet before we start using it. We decided to use a tri-fold board that can be folded up and stored instead of using a wall for our time line. I also decided not to add all of the dates yet as the curriculum suggests. I remember having a problem placing the dates too close when Sis was in 1st then we didn't have room for all of our pictures, so I will add the dates as we go through history. This week we added "creation." Our picture was Gen 1:1 written in Hebrew that we learned about last week. We're looking forward to starting our history stories and notebook journal soon.