End of the year

Our school year has been very...scattered, I guess you could say.  We often randomly take a week or more off at a time because of appointments, holidays, weather, etc.  We are trying to wrap up for the end of the year.  If we squish some things (for example, doing two states per day instead of one) we should be able to get finished just in time to start the new year!
I am very excited about the new school year.  It will be the first year I've had to report to the school district for Sweet Potato, who is now 8 years old.  We are doing MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures, which is more than just a geography/social studies curriculum, but is designed to also give children an understanding of the prayer needs of people in other countries who live very differently than we do.  It focuses on learning the geography, the cultures, the habitats and animals of different countries, as well as the religious climate of the countries and what the attitudes are toward Christianity. I pray that it will open our eyes and show us how fortunate we really are to live in our own country which is so rich in everything and where we have so many freedoms.  Here are some of the books we will be using:

MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures Teacher Manual

Flags of the World Ultimate Sticker Book 

Hero Tales

Window on the World

Illustrated World Atlas

Classroom Atlas

Maps and Globes

Geography from A to Z

A Trip Around the World

Another Trip Around the World

Living World Encyclopedia

Global Art

Wee Sing Around the World

Kingdom Tales

Christian Heroes: Then and Now - six book set

Cameron Townsend

Amy Carmichael

Nate Saint

David Livingstone

George Müller

Gladys Aylward

I have also been collecting various books on different countries at book sales, yard sales and anywhere else I can find them!  

Here's everything on the MFW website.  Some of the books on there are different than what we're using because they are now selling the 2nd Edition, while we are using 1st Edition. 

I bought my TM at the used book sale at CHAP last year for $15 and pieced together the rest of the books from eBay, the MFW Curriculum Swap Yahoo group, and some we just happened to have on hand (thanks, Lord!) 

Relaxed schooling

Since I have been sick for the past two weeks (feeling better now, thanks) things have been really relaxed around here.  We finally started back to school yesterday, but it was an easy day of math, LA, history and watching two episodes of America: The Story of Us to review what we've learned in American history so far.  Today was another relaxed day.  Here you can see Sweet Potato working on his language book on my bed.

He was really not enjoying Primary Language Lessons and was not getting anything out of it but frustration, so I decided to switch him to a more structured language curriculum.  I chose Christian Light Education's Language Arts.  After looking through the samples online, I realized we would need to back up to 1st grade level.  However we were able to skip the first two units and start with Unit 3.  So there are 8 units, each a skinny workbook, similiar to Lifepacs.  So far he is getting through it much better and is learning more also.

Thanksgiving Week

I think it is really great that the Hazells include a lesson plan for Thanksgiving week!  I really wanted to do some of the Native American games and crafts, but time just got away from us.  The children REALLY enjoyed the pumpkin science lesson, though! 

It floats!

The number of seeds really surprised us!

Week 4 - Native Americans

We enjoyed our study of Native Americans, and it was really convenient that we happened to be coming up on Thanksgiving week the following week also.  The children enjoyed Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims so much that we ended up finishing it in a few days rather than the few weeks it was scheduled!  They also really enjoyed the crafts this week.  They spent a lot of time making their wigwams and teepees.  While we at the dollar store that week we HAD to buy some Indian and "settler" figurines so they could play with everything.

The Wigwam Village

The Teepee Village

Of course this also inspired them to dig out the Lincoln Logs to make cabins and forts for the "settlers".  All in all, a very creative and memorable week!

Week 3 - Jamestown

Our paper Jamestown model

The highlight of our Jamestown study was the paper Jamestown model we made.  We printed this project for FREE from Homeschool In the Woods.  The children enjoyed coloring it and setting it all up.  This stayed on the dining room table for a week or two.  I remember studying Jamestown when my oldest was in 6th grade and we used Lincoln Logs stood on their ends to make a replica!

Adventures!

Beginning Adventures in My Father's World! Here are some pictures from the beginning of our school year.

Some of the resources we are using:

Schoolhouse Rock DVD's, AMERICA the Story of Us DVD's,

Primary Language Lessons, Usborne First Encyclopedia of Science,

American Pioneers and Patriots, and Kids Learn America!

Book basket books for the early weeks

Leif Ericsson notebook page

Christopher Columbus' ships activity

Two of our "Name" crafts:

God loves me bracelets & name plates for their notebooks

Sweet Potato working on Spelling

Sweet Potato's math books

Fresh/Salt Water Experiment

I am way behind on posting our Adventures adventures! We are currently working on Week 9. Sweet Potato is not doing well with Primary Language Lessons, so I have decided to switch him to Christian Light Language Arts. We are starting that tomorrow. Cupcake is moving through her Rod & Staff Phonics right on schedule and is almost finished Unit 1. Snickerdoodle is still not interested in school, other than putting together the occasional puzzle or requesting play-doh during school time. We are on target to finish the school year by July or August so that we can begin the new year in September.

Paper Leaf Project

When our curriculum called for making paper snowflakes a few months ago, I found a great web site where you can print out patterns for the snowflakes, making it super easy for kids (and adults!) They also have patterns for leaves, flowers and a few other things. For our Keepers at Home/Contenders for the Faith Club, we needed a craft to make as a gift to take to some nursing home residents. Instantly, this popped into mind! They were a hit with the kids, parents, and nursing home residents. Here's what they looked like: (See below for instructions!)

Paper Leaf Decoration Instructions

1. Go http://www.papersnowflakes.com/leaves.htm and follow the instructions on printing and cutting out the leaves, using colored paper in fall colors.

2. Spray leaves on both sides with spray glitter in complementary colors (gold, red, etc), let dry

3. Laminate each leaf either with an electric laminator or using instant laminating sheets

4. Cut out around each leaf, leaving at least 1/4" of plastic around the edges

5. Punch hole in each leaf and add ribbon or gold cording

It is hard to see the glitter in the pictures, but these turned out SO beautiful and sparkly!

First Day of School

We are finally going to be starting our first day of school today for the 2010-2011 school year. I am hoping that starting the new studies will be inspiring for Sweet Potato, who isn't keen on school these days. On the other hand, Cupcake is always begging to have school! So watch for an update in the next or so on how our new year is starting out!

We have been doing school kind of off and on for the past month or so, maybe getting 2-3 days per week in, and mostly just doing things like math, reading, and writing, so there hasn't been much interesting blog material to share! So, time for an update. We are plugging away in MFW 1st, with about 16 days of work to go. We are skipping a lot of the activities either because we've done similar ones in the past year or just to save time. Sweet Potato is really feeling unmotivated at this point, so I am hoping when we finish 1st and begin our new school "year," that he will have a renewed interest. He is excited to start Adventures in My Father's World and learn about the U.S.

We are finally back to using our basement school room, so I wanted to share some pictures. There are some areas that still need to be filled up and organized but here's a few:




Our old hutch, repurposed for school supplies. Lots of books, manuals and resources on top. The drawers hold many types of paper, pencils, markers, manipulatives, laminating supplies, books for next "year" and in one of the lower cabinets I keep a box of activities that the children are allowed to get out once their schoolwork is finished and put away for the day. This box holds things like small painting kits, play money, paper dolls, and other random educational things that I don't know what to do with! On the right, you can see where the children keep their backpacks.



Here is our BIG whiteboard. It is 4 feet tall and 6 feet wide. My dear husband insisted that we needed it for our school room! I have taped either to the top of the board or the duct work above it the following, from left to right: Books of the Bible chart, Months of the Year, Days of the Week, Jewish calendar, Bible Lands map, and the Reading chart. Our timeline, made on a tri-fold presentation board, sits on the marker tray of the board for now. Some close-ups:








Sweet Potato working on his Math World Problems book. I got this from the Dollar Tree, and I really like it. There is usually something to color and/or draw with each lesson.



Cupcake and her Sound Discrimination page from the MFW K program.




Sweet Potato's Bible Notebook, his summary and drawing of the story of Manna.





We recently read the section in Things Outdoors, our current science book, about Snow and Ice. One of the suggested activities was making snowflakes. I found a great site with printable snowflake patterns. http://www.papersnowflakes.com/ There are some really amazing things on there! Here are two of the snowflakes we made from their patterns.


In other news, Cupcake's Keepers at Home group had disbanded, so Dear Husband and I decided to start our own new Keepers group as well as a Contenders for the Faith group (the boys' counterpart group). We just had our first meeting and it went great! So far we have 6 girls and 7 boys. To start out, we are keeping the two groups together. There are many skills that overlap, so it is no problem to find things that appeal to both genders. This month we are earning our First Aid badge. I am going to start a separate blog for the club, so watch for the link!

Faded Paper

Activity for Day 50, Sun activities: Faded Paper. You tape several objects to a black piece of paper and leave it out in the sun to see what happens. Well we started this yesteray, and it was cloudy. So we left them out overnight and it rained. BUT we still got a result. There was a little distortion also from where the tape was sticking to the paper.

Can you find the impressions of: a key, a coin, a crayon and a car-shaped Silly Band?

The Ark and the Rainbow

Today we did 2 activities relating to the story of Noah and the ark. Since Daddy was home, he helped the children with the "Measure Noah's Ark" activity from Day 63. They learned how people measured things before they had rulers, which was with their arms! The length from your elbow to your finger tip is called a "cubit". Daddy measured everyone's cubit, then cut a piece of cardboard to 18" (the average cubit) and took the children outside to see how long the Ark was, which turned out to be about a block and a half here in our neighborhood. I wish I'd gotten pictures of them out there!

When they came back, we did the "Paper Rainbow" activity from Day 65. It turned out totally different from what I had envisioned! The children were pleasantly surprised as well, and took their rainbows straight upstairs to decorate their rooms! Unfortunately, I could not find my stapler, so we had to tape the ends together and they are not very sturdy, but as soon as I find that stapler, we will fix them! I highly recommend using a paper cutter also to cut the strips, especially when you're making 3 sets like I did.

One end taped together

The final product!

Birds and Boats

Well, the baby birds flew the nest! I kept meaning to get another picture of them before they got too big, but when we looked in on them yesterday, they were gone. The kids were amazed. "How could they get so big so fast?" I said, "Now you know how I feel about you!"

Yesterday we did our boat activity from Day 63 of MFW 1st grade. The kids did really well figuring out how to make a boat out of aluminum foil without instructions! I did make one of my own, but they didn't really copy mine. We tested our boats in the swimming pool. You are supposed to see how many pennies your boat will hold, but I couldn't find a quantity of pennies, so we used beans. I put a handful of beans in one boat and it held up just fine, so I figured the boats were sturdy enough! We didn't count the beans because I realized that if the boat sank we would have soggy beans in our pool! The kids wanted to float Legos and other things in the boats, but I said no to that also. It didn't help that the pool was full of algae too! So maybe when the pool is clean, if we can find the pennies, and we have time, we will re-do the boat activity!

My boat and Sweet Potato's boat

The tiny one is Cupcake's boat, but it held a lot of beans!

Summer

We are not taking a summer break from school this year since we are so far behind, but we are still having a good time! This week we had our Awards Picnic for Cub Scouts and Keepers at Home.



Sweet Potato earned about 2/3 of what he needs for his Tiger Cub badge, so we will continue working on those requirements through the summer. He also earned his Chess belt loop and Conservation patch. Here he is with Daddy after receiving his awards.

Cupcake earned Keepers silver pins for Rubber Stamping, Soapmaking, Embroidery and Horses. Here we are with our leader and her daughter (the only other girl in the group!)

We have been perservering with our MFW curriculum, though not doing as many of the projects and additional stuff like art and drawing. This week during school we kept hearing a loud noise - like birds chirping but it sounded like it was in the house! Well of course with this heat we have our windows open, and here is what we found under the awning outside our laundry room window:

Yep, a nest full of hungry baby birds! The kids were so excited. They have been "checking" on them every day, watching for the mother bird to come and feed them. Sweet Potato came to me the other day and said, "Mom, do you know what I saw? The mama bird took a worm and bit it up into little pieces for the baby birds! Can you believe that?" No, I couldn't! I mean, I was amazed that he was actually able to witness that. I will try to get some more pictures before they are big enough to leave the nest. Isn't wonderful how our kids learn sometimes without us doing a single thing?

Proverbs

One of the things we do in MFW 1st Grade is memorize a Proverb each week. The Proverbs are already scheduled for you but of course you are free to use your own memory verse if you choose. What I do is use a Print Shop program to make a one-page poster with the Proverb and a cute border (applicable to the verse, if possible) and hang it up so we can see it each day. This goes on our display board. I keep the current and previous ones up and when we move on to a new Proverb, I move the oldest one to an unused door in the schoolroom. They look nice all hanging up there and it makes it easy to review them!

Here are some videos of the children reciting some Proverbs that they have learned. They are really good at memorizing the words, but are still having trouble remembering the references.

This last one is a hoot!

A different kind of learning

This week we went on vacation, so a we took a big break from our school curriculum, but the learning did not stop.  We visited our friends in Michigan who keep lots of animals.  The children got to get up close and personal with goats, rabbits, sheep, chickens, and even a llama!  There were even baby bunnies, chicks and a baby goat for them to cuddle and hold.  But it wasn't all fun and games.  Sweet Potato went out each morning to hunt for eggs for breakfast.  They learned that you have to keep the baby chicks warm with a heat lamp.  They noticed that the llama and sheep were very good friends.  And they saw a goat drinking it's own urine like a water fountain.  Now that's education :-P

We also visited Tawas Point State Park, which is home of Tawas Point Lighthouse.  Unfortunately, the lighthouse was closed, so we couldn't go inside, but the children enjoyed walking barefoot on the beach of Lake Huron instead, even though it was about 45 degrees with a lot of wind.