Week 15

I'm about 2 weeks behind on my blog. We have a lot going on right now and it's hard for me to keep up. Here is a little of what we did a couple weeks ago for week 15...

I still can't believe we are already half way into January. That means there are only about four more months until summer break! I really feel like this school year just started. We have been moving so slow this entire school year, that there is no way we're going to finish everything by summer...panic! Take a deep breath....I have to remind myself that it's ok. My kids are learning. We can set our own pace and whatever we don't get to we can incorporate into next year. I have been trying to re-evaluate this past week though and set some end of the school year goals to make sure we cover the most important things. I'm also planning, researching, and preparing to buy next years curriculum already. I always order in February, so it's coming soon! I have some really fun ideas that I think I want to try out next year...we'll see.

History: This week in history Sis learned about Israel falling to the Assyrians and Judah being saved. We finished reading God King, whose plot takes place during this exact time period. So, all year I have been nagging Sis about how sloppy her history notebook is. It drives me nuts that she is fully capable of neat handwriting, but her handwriting looks like slop in her notebook. Also this girl can draw, she has been drawing since she was two and is able to produce some pretty good artwork for a kid her age. When she draws for pleasure her drawing are great, however her artwork for history a lot of times looks like my 4 year old drew it. I just can't understand, why I can't motivate her to try harder at school work. I know a lot of the time she just wants to rush through the written work so that she can do something else. This week though she actually put some effort into it. This is the neatest I have seen a notebook page all year, so I'll take it!

 

Also Sis made an origami prayer box for her history project. The lid has 4 letters to remind her of 4 types of prayer: A-adoration, T-thanksgiving, C-confession, S-supplication. Inside the box there are prayer requests written on strips of paper. This is for her to use during her prayer and devotion time.

 



Boo learned about four new States in her U.S. history; New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, and North Carolina. We reviewed a little bit about Jamestown and the early settlers on the day we learned Virginia. That is definitely on our vacation bucket list for site seeing/ field trips in the future.

On the day we learned about New York we did a study on the Statue of Liberty, also on our bucket list...you'd laugh if you actually saw the length of our bucket list. There are so many awesome historical and beautiful things to see in this nation and just not enough time or money to see it all. That's why I'm not a huge fan of repeat vacations. There are some favorite places or places a few hours from home that I like to visit every now and then.  I guess what I mean is that although all of our trips have been fun and if my family wanted to I would gladly do them all over again, I would rather choose to go somewhere new and see things that we've never seen any day. There's just so much I want to experience and want to show my kids. I want them to be able to see as many states and sites as we can firsthand as a family before they are grown. Ok, vacation rant over. Once I get started talking on this subject I usually can't stop. Anyway, we will be visiting Northern New York with the girls for the first time in a few months, so that made the state a little more exciting to learn about.

Boo and I read a book about the statue of liberty. We also did some really fun measurement activities...such as "How wide is your mouth? How wide do you think the Statue of Liberty's mouth is?" then we did nose, arm, height. It's crazy how big she is!

In our bird book we read about the Northern Cardinal. This is Virginia's state bird but we learned it's also the state bird of many states. We learned that the common bright red cardinal's are the males, females are a lighter pale color. The kids were not happy about this fact because they had to rename their stuffed bird.hahaha.

 

Science: We are finally nearing the end of our light unit in science. At the back of each unit are a few bonus lessons. We decided to try out the first one. last week we learned that fiber optic cables can be used to bend light. This lesson taught us that light can also be used to send information through the use of fiber optics. Most telephone and internet providers now use fiber optical cables, because light can carry information faster than electricity. We used a simple experiment using Morse code and a flash light to show how a message can be sent without using sound. The girls each made up a 1-2 word message and then used a flashlight to shine "dots or dashes" on the wall while the others had to figure out the message using the chart. They had fun with it, and Baby Bear's message was "oranges" they all thought that was random and funny.

Language Arts: Sis and I have been working double time on English (Rod and Staff Building With Diligence.) We doubled up on a couple lessons this week and plan to do the same for a few weeks. We are not even 1/3 of the way through the book yet! Luckily most of this year's material is review for her, so there are several easy lessons that she already knows that we can skip too.

Boo is still working through her Language Lessons for Today book. This week she had a poem to memorize, write, recite and draw a picture to go along with it. She had no problem learning it, but my problem is I can't get her to quit. She's been saying it over and over all week even in the shower!It is driving me nuts! I'm glad she's enthusiastic about learning her poetry though. Her poem was:

There was an old man with a beard,

       Who said, "It is just as I feared!

Two owls and a hen,

Four larks and a wren,

Have all built their nests in my beard!"

Math: Ok I don't write about math much, because there's just nothing that exciting about it and (don't tell my kids) I hate math. I have to pretend to not hate it so that my kids won't hate it too, so I never say that in front of them. However, math has had me in almost in tears this week. Boo is usually the one who gives me blank stares when we talk about numbers, but this week Sis' 5th grade math has been so frustrating. I understand the concept, but when I try to teach it to her she has no clue what I am trying to say. By Friday I think she was finally starting to understand. I'm scared for the rest of the year. I hope it doesn't get much harder!

Art: Our watercolor poetry painting this week was of ocean waves using blue and green paints.

We used a crumpled paper towel while the paint was still wet to soak up some of the paint making white tops on our waves. 

We really like the finished product on this one. It reminded us of the Atlantic ocean that we visited last fall. The waves were rolling and beautiful. Baby Bear's painting is on the left (I still can't believe how well she does with these paintings for a four year old!) and Boo's on the right.

  For some extra fun we also did glow in the dark markers on felt stickers one day for art.

 

Dad had the whole week off for week 15 and it was hard getting much done. Now that the holidays are over and he is back to work hopefully things will get back to normal around here. I'm hoping to get caught up to date on my blogging this weekend ( I'm going to try anyway.)

Week 14

After having over two weeks off for holiday break, it has been so hard getting back into school. We've been trying to get as much done as we can, but it's been difficult motivating anyone. We had a good Christmas and got a lot of rest though. Here is a little bit of what we've been working on the past week.

History:
Sis is learning about the Assyrians in her history studies. She did research on Aram or Syria to gather information about the area. She has been reading all of the bible stories and history lessons on her own, then she adds to a timeline, takes notes, and writes narrations about what she learned in her notebook. Honestly I do not love this method of learning. I wish I was more involved in her history studies. next year we will all be learning history together, so I can't wait! We are still reading the book God King together which talks a lot about the Assyrians.

I didn't take a picture of Sis' notebook pages from this week, but she did all of those as usual.

She also did a mosaic project this week. She had to draw and color picture of a soldier riding a chariot. Then she had to cut the picture into 64 half inch squares and number them. Then she glued the squares into her notebook to make a mosaic. Some of the squares got cut a bit too small and didn't quite line up, but it still turned out pretty good. Sis loves any kind of art project, so she enjoyed this assignment.

Boo is still learning about the states along with the state birds and flowers. This week we added the States of Maryland and South Carolina to her map and learned some cool facts.

Spelling: I just wanted to give some recognition here to Boo for getting all of her spelling words right this week! This is the first time that she has been able to get them all. Spelling does not come easy to her and she gets so upset when she misses words on her tests. She had a couple that she really struggled with earlier in the week, but she was able to remember them by Friday. I'm very proud of her.
We also did a lot of handwriting practice this week. We are working on forming all of her letters properly and writing on smaller lined paper (Boo tends to write her letters huge.) She has improved so much since last year. I couldn't believe it when she brought me this worksheet. The top word she traces and the one underneath she does by herself. It is almost perfect and this is from a kid who had really sloppy handwriting a year ago!

Science: In our study on light we learned that with the right tools light can be bent to make it go where we want it to go. We did a fun experiment where we cut a small hole in a plastic bottle and filled it with water. We shinned a flashlight on the hole through the bottle and put a hand in the sink underneath the stream of water pouring out. As we moved our hand close to the bottle a light appeared on our hand where the water was hitting it. The water bent the light and causing it to shine on the hand rather that traveling straight ahead. We then learned how we can use fiber optics to get this same result. Many occupations such as doctors and plumbers use this technology to do their jobs.


The girls drew pictures of the experiment with arrows showing the light passing through the water, reflecting off the air, and back into the stream.






Reading:
Boo and I are still reading Farmer Boy for her read-aloud. Sis started reading my Narnia book on her own. She just recently started to getting interested in these books. She read The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe on a long car ride on vacation last fall. I've put off letting her read this series until I felt she was old enough to understand the allegory and the good vs evil. After that we watched the first movie together and she loved it. So, this past week she started reading Prince Caspian. I told her when she finishes we'll discuss it and watch the second movie. As a writer for children, I've always been a Narnia fan. My favorite part is when the lion (Aslan) is voluntarily sacrificed in place of Edmond for his mistakes of betraying his family and following the White Witch. I typically do not allow my children to read books or watch movies that contain any sort of magic or witchcraft, just a rule we have in our family. For these I make the exception. Here's why; these books were written by a christian for the purpose of helping children understand truths about Christ and our enemy through allegory. They do not glorify witchcraft but are meant to show that there is no place for it in the Kingdom of God. They have such a powerful story of redemption, Christ's sacrifice, great examples of our battle against Satan, and victory over the evil one. Also, they are great conversation starters. I'm really glad that one of my girl's is finally old enough to share them with me.

Art/Poetry: This week we read a poem called "The Road Not Taken." We painted a road that divided into two roads. The girls were excited to get back to our watercolor painting after having a few weeks off.

I addition to our paintings we did a lot of other art activities this week. The girls got a lot of art supplies and activities for Christmas. So they've had plenty of coloring and marker type activities and arts and crafts. We got over 6,000 beads for Christmas from Grandpa so the girls spent hours one day making bracelets. I love getting gifts that we can use for school projects.

 Boo also had a fun time this week making things with her new Sew Cool machine. She wanted this so bad. She asked to learn how to sew, but after researching I decided that since she is only 7she is not quite old enough to learn to use a real sewing machine with a needle. Most are for ages 12 and up. When I discovered that she mostly wanted to be able to make cool things for her dolls more than she actually wanted to learn to sew. I found this. This sews felt sheets without having to use thread, has a protective shield so that you can not touch the needle and comes with some fun projects. You still have to guide the felt under the needle as you would with a real sewing machine, so she is learning a little about how to really sew. When she is older I will buy her a real one, but for now this was good. She made some pillows for her dolls, a doll purse for herself and Baby Bear, and an eye glass case for Sis. I thought it was sweet that she used some of her felt to make gifts for her sisters.

Week 12 &13

 History:

Sis and I started reading a new book for history. It is called God King. It's a historical fiction story that takes place in the biblical time period of king Hezekiah. It's about an Egyptian boy who becomes the king. In Egypt the king is considered to be a God, so he is the God King. When he flees  his country he meets two kings who are in conflict, King Hezekiah who trusts in Yahweh and Sennacherib the Assyrian. He must choose who to side with and the fate of his own country is in the balance. This fictional book brings the real bible story to life.
This is a pretty thick book so I assume that it will be several weeks before we finish this one.



Here is Sis's notebook work from both weeks:

 Sis did a history project in her notebook showing the division of the 12 tribes when they divided into Israel and Judah.

Boo started something new this week in history. Up till now we have been learning the history of the United States. Now we begin our study of the 50 states that will continue until the end of the school year. This year is not meant for her to memorize her states and capitals but just give a brief introduction to them. Each day we will add a state to her notebook. We look at a map to locate it. then Boo has her own map to color in the state we learned. She also has a worksheet for each state where she will label the capital, color the state bird and flower and stick a state flag sticker on. On the back of the page is facts about the state. We also have full color state cards that she will look at and use to color her birds and flowers correctly. here is a sample of the sheets she is doing with the flag stickers and bird cards...

We also finally get to start adding stickers to our  state sticker poster that has been hanging up all year. It is a blank map of the states and we will add colorful stickers of each state with it's name as we learn them.

Science: We are still learning about light in our science book, but we also added a second science book for Boo that goes with her history. She will also be learning about birds in science as we learn state birds in history. We started reading this book, "Birds, Nests, and Eggs Take-Along Guide." which tells all about birds and introduces her to many different kinds of birds. 

For a small project Boo made some pretend binoculars. She had fun using her real ones to look out side for birds, but it's the middle of winter so the best we did was find some nests in the dead trees.

 
For our regular science lesson all of the girls did another experiment with light. This one was really cool, yet so simple. We learned that light can not only be reflected and absorbed but can also pass through some objects. in the experiment we put a metal fork in the bottom of a clear bowl. When we looked at the fork from beneath the bowl it appeared to flip upside down and float on top of the water even though it was really still just sitting at the bottom of the pan. This is because the light is passing through the water, bouncing off the fork, reflecting off the top of the water, then passing back through the water and glass and hitting our eyes!
This is what the fork really looked like...

This is what it looked like to us from under the table looking up! No the fork isn't really floating upside down on top of the water. It is the reflection of the real fork that is being seen in the picture. cool huh?

The girls drew pictures of what happened in the experiment and Sis wrote about what we learned.

Bible: Since we are learning everything birds Boo had a whole week of Bible stories about birds. Then for week 13 we added a new name of Jesus to our list: Jesus is the Way.

Read-a-loud time: Boo and I also started reading Farmer Boy as a read aloud time together. This picture cracks me up!! Only in homeschool can you dress yourself for school when you're 7. Why not? Hahahaha!! All of the kids have been listening to this story though. We love Laura Ingals Wilder.

 Art/Poetry: We only did one painting over these 2 weeks. It was of a night time sky with a full moon and trees. Sorry I never took a picture...


Baby Bear had fun doing Play-Doh cake factory while we did school. All 3 of my girls still love to create things with Play-Doh (even Sis when her sister's are playing) so they all took turns making cakes this week during their quiet time, but I discovered this is a great way to keep Baby Bear busy while the older girls are doing their work. So, I bought the the pizza maker and ice-cream factory too too for Christmas! shhhh!

 We will be taking a couple weeks off for Christmas break and will be back after the New Year.

Week 10 & 11

Wow it's been a really long time since I've blogged. I have good intentions to really, but it is so hard to keep up during the holidays. This is a recap of two weeks even though a week long Thanksgiving break was between them.

Science: On week 10 we took a closer look at the human eye during our study of light, to find out what actually happens when light hits our eye. We learned that light passes though the cornea to the lens and is hits the retina. There rods and cones change the light into electrical energy and sends it to our brain, then we can see the object!  Our experiment was about our blind spot, the one spot on our retina that doesn't have any rods and doesn't get the message to our brain. We used this drawing by staring at only the green dot and moving the book from arms length closer to our face we eventually hit a spot where the blue dot disappeared completely! Was the dot really gone? No,the dot was in our blind spot. The light reflecting off of it was hitting the spot on our retina that couldn't send the message to our brain. This experiment was another fun one. The kids have been amazed by just about every experiment this year and they are actually remembering and learning a lot.

My favorite part of this experiment though was when Sis said "Wow, you would never know that so much goes on inside your eye ball for you to see something. All this stuff happens in the world with light that you never think about! Science is my favorite subject."Without even realizing it the kids are getting the message. Science doesn't contradict God's word, instead it proves that creation is so complex that there has to be an intelligent  Creator.

The girls drew diagrams of the human eye and what happens when light passes though it. Sis also wrote about the experiment and what happened.









Bible: Boo added a new name to her study of the names of Jesus. This week we learned Jesus is the Giver of Living Water. We read the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Boo's memory verse is John 7:37 "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink." We put her verse on a drinking cup that she used every night for bedtime water. Every time she took a drink it was suppose to remind her that Jesus has living water to give her.

Sis is still using the Jeshub's Journal Bible study to study the Old Testament laws.

The girls are also still doing their detective Bible Study (using Cold-Case Christianity for Kids) with Daddy in the evenings after dinner. He bought them each a binder for their investigation. They have been enjoying this time together. 

History: Boo has asked me for weeks now "When do we learn about when we became America?" Well we finally reached it week 10! We had a brief overview of the American Revolution. We learned about the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, the thirteen colonies, and the American flag. We read the books "The 4th of July Story" and  "Red, White, and Blue." 
 Boo and I used out world map to act out the British soldiers coming to fight and the American soldiers cheering in victory. Here's our little doodles we used.

Boo added a copy of the Declaration to her notebook. She also wrote a little bit about the American Flag.

 

Week 11 we learned more about the war ending and George Washington becoming president. We read a story in our American Pioneer and Patriots about the day he was sworn in.  

Sis began reading about the reign of King Saul for week 10. That week we started out looking at the story of David and Goliath and then pretty much read about the lives of David and Saul during his reign. I know Sis has known the story of David and Goliath since she was 2 and about King Saul as well. These studies on a 5th grade level really are more in depth than your basic children's Bible story. Sis is studying geography, researching ancient weapons and slings, studying and comparing Bible passages, memorizing scripture, doing written narrations. She is learning things she never knew or understood about this time period in history. 

For week 11 Sis did most of her history without me. I feel a little guilty that we have skipped the fun projects for both of these units (which was suppose to be make a slingshot and an ancient board game,) but like I said the holidays are busy so lately we've been doing the minimum.

Here is a sample of her History Notebook from both weeks. 

Poetry/ Art: After 2 weeks off of watercolor painting all of the girl's were excited to start back up. This week's painting was a fun one. We read a poem about leaves called,"Misgiving." Then we did a leaf painting.The background was made with strokes of yellow, red, and orange paint and then we placed a wrinkled up plastic bag on top of the wet paint to make the effect. It looked pretty neat. After drying overnight, we traced large leaves onto our background and painted around them with red paint. Last Sis added a verse from her poem. We were happy with the end result (sorry my picture turned out so blurry though)

For week 11 we had a painting fail. First off it was the weirdest painting assignment we've had this year. We were suppose to paint two blue skies...that's boring. We opted to paint one instead. We tried to use white crayon to resist the paint and make the sky "broken" like our poem, but it ended up not turning out quite right.

One exciting thing happened for Boo last week. She got her first penpal! Boo has been a little jealous of Sis' penpals over the last couple years. I decided she was finally old enough. I have been waiting until I was confident that she could write a letter. She's been practicing her handwriting a lot and I found another mother who was looking for a penpal for her 7 year old girl. She lives in a state very far from us, so that is a plus. I like for the girls to have penpals who live in places different from us. Boo was so excited to receive her first letter this week. Next week we will begin working on writing her first letter to her new friend.  

Over the past 3 weeks we went out of town for Thanksgiving, celebrated Baby Bears 4th birthday, went to the movies, celebrated a birthday for our now 1 year old puppy, and had an end of the season swim party at the girls swim class (see why I haven't had tome to blog!) We also finally got in the holiday spirit. Baby Bear and I took a special trip to the World's largest Christmas store. All of the girls have been watching Christmas movies after school. I only let them watch our Christmas movies once a year. That way they don't get tired of them and it makes the holiday movie time a little more special. Their favorite Christmas movie is Elf. We put up our tree and welcomed our family's "Elfie" on the shelf back.