Week 6

Aside from our field trip that I posted about earlier, we had a pretty average school week. Both Sis and Boo are doing great in their swim classes. Sis is working on her rhythmic breathing and is perfect with her backstrokes. Boo swam the whole length of the pool unassisted on her back for the first time this week and is very close to moving up to the next level with Sis.

History: In our history studies Sis is still learning about Egypt. This week we decided to do the history project since it didn't require tons of extra materials. She made a column like those found in Egypt at the Temple of Karnak. The top of the column was to look like a lotus flower, which was sacred in Egypt. She made it out of white paper wrapped around a paper towel roll (the roll wasn't necessary but we thought that would make it more sturdy.) Then she cut and curled the top to make it resemble the flower. Last she painted pictures to symbolize the plagues on Egypt.

We also looked at the plagues and which Egyptian Gods each of the plagues were against. For example the Egyptians worshiped the river god of the Nile, when God turned the Nile into blood, it was a direct insult to their so called river god. Yahweh was saying "I am greater than the river god you worship." Here is Sis' notebook pages...

Boo learned about Dutch pioneers who came to the new world from Holland this week. We read a story about a ship full of cows that made the journey. I never realized that there were not cows in this part of the world until they were brought over from Europe! The Indians had horses and buffalo but they had never seen a cow! Think of all the wonderful things that the white man now had to share and trade with the indians..milk, butter, and cheese!
Boo is also learning songs this year for American history using the Celebrate America CD. This week we started learning the song "America." I never knew that song had so many verses!

Read-alouds: Boo and I also started reading a new book together "The Courage of Sara Noble." This is a story about a little pioneer girl who goes on a journey with her father to find the spot where they will build their new home. Sara has heard stories about the Indians that live there and wonders if they will be friendly or fierce like the children have warned her.

Sis and I also started reading a new book together called "Boy of the Pyramids." This is a mystery book which is Sis' favorite genre and it goes well with her history studies. So far we're enjoying it.




Bible: Both girls have weekly memory verses. This year Sis has to memorize all of Philippians chapter 2. That's 30 verses! She has a music CD that is helping her to learn it.

Boo learned a new name for Jesus this week. We learned Jesus is called The Bread of Life. All of our stories this week were related to bread (manna, Jesus feeds the 5,000) Then we talked about why Jesus is called the Bread of life. Her memory verse and copy work was John 6:35..."I am the Bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

Nothing too exciting happened in spelling, language or math this week...just trucking along through our books. There really is a lot more school work that goes on here than what I usually post in these blogs, but I figure a lot of the regular stuff like our spelling and math workbooks will put you to sleep. We did start Primary Language lessons with Boo in the past couple weeks. So far it's been really simple, mostly picture studies, copy work, and oral narrations. I think she likes it.

Art/ Poetry: We all agreed that this week's poetry painting was our favorite so far. The poem we read was called "Fireflies in the Garden." Our watercolor painting was of a night sky with twinkling fireflies.