This & That

We are finishing up Unit 14 today. We've hopped a few bunny trails lately including reading books on flight after finishing John Audubon

bubbles, water drops, miracles & birds

This week went by quickly!

K surprised me yesterday and did FIVE pages in The Reading Lesson book.  

Most days we're lucky to finish ONE...but FIVE!  I realized that it most likely had to do with the fact that the day before she wanted to begin reading some early reader level 1 books we have on one of our (many) bookshelves.  She was frustrated she couldn't read some of the words.  I stopped her and told her she'll be able to read them on her own when she's done with The Reading Lesson book.  I guess that spurred her on to accomplish a lot yesterday!  :)

K enjoyed blowing bubbles out of her crazy bubble blower at co-op this week...it was a lot of fun and the other Kindergarten kids enjoyed it!  :)  

To Make:  Use a clean yogurt container, sour cream container, etc. & punch 1 hole  the side to insert a drinking straw.  Cover the top of the container with 1 piece of felt and secure with rubber band.  Dip the felt in a mixture of Dawn dish soap and just a little water. Blow OUT the straw to see the bubbles come up over the felt.

She learned about LOTS of Jesus' miracles including when the men lowered their friend through the roof!

She had fun reenacting it with wooden blocks, a dish cloth and Legos. :)

Math game one day this week...Cool Cash Bingo.  They LOVE it!

Discovered water drops have "skin" to hold them together...

Blowing them across the table...soon D and C were there with her blowing more water drops!

'Lil C surprises me almost daily with what she can do...I'm amazed what she picks up from the other ones.  One day this week she sat at the table and asked for me to read more about "the bees" which we read a few weeks ago...she remembered!  She listens to Farmer Boy (D's read-aloud right now) and Danny Meadow Mouse (K's read-aloud right now).  She always runs over to move the book so she can see pictures...I'm constantly telling her to imagine the pictures in her head.  :)

I pulled out Mighty Mind (just the first few cards) and she quickly got the hang of it!  She kept wanting to do more and more cards!

C's favorite little piece puzzles right now...she does these almost daily!

K reenacting another miracle...healing Jairus' daughter.  She had to follow a certain path and skip, hop, tiptoe, etc. to the ending point....just like Jairus walked to find Jesus.  :)

D's wood thrush from last week that I forgot to take a picture of...he's enjoying listening to John Audubon's story each day for science.  I've noticed he looks for certain things in birds while outside and while in the car...flying, gliding, colors, sounds, etc...all the things we've studied so far.  I LOVE IT!

Units 10, 11 & 12

In between one kid down with the flu, traveling for a funeral, J's work travel, homeschool PE beginning and weekly co-op, ballet and church things...we managed to get through Units 10, 11 & 12 for K in LHFHG and Units 10 and 11 for D.  Whew!

I haven't been faithfully taking pics, but here's a few of K's work this week...

K painting paper with water...in an attempt to prove we can't turn water into wine like Jesus did...

 Then adding red food coloring...

I thought it was neat how the food coloring bled into the shape of a heart.

Checking out condensation...no purple water on the outside of the glass.  She was stumped for a minute.  :o)

As we read History for Little Pilgrims this week and looked at the timeline again, she wanted to make her own (something I did with D, but not with her as I felt she wasn't ready when we began in December).  She surprised me and did a great job with the pictures!

After the first few were done, she didn't want to color anymore.  I love how the cross is the center of history - from the beginning they looked towards it and now we look back at it.

Friday!

We finished Unit 9 in LHFHG and Bigger. D drew pictures for his history notebooking page for Ben Franklin (pic below). We need to work on his spacing.

He finished the book Science in Colonial America today. It was a good read!

I finally put together a rice box for C. She loved it and it kept her busy over an hour!!!! When K was done with her school she played for awhile, too!

K did a great job copying shapes on a grid for her Thinking Skills page. And for math we read the book All in One Hour. She showed the time every time it was mentioned in the story.

Sink & Float, Telling Time & Ben Franklin

K enjoyed doing her sink/float science experiment today. She wanted to continue playing in the water!

C was begging to do her "school" so I gave her a shape paper. She sat at the table on her own and colored BOTH sides. I'm amazed how well she colors already... Staying almost inside the lines.

K continued her work on telling time today. We read the book "Cluck O'CLOCK" which she thought was so funny. She sat with the little clock and showed the times as they were read throughout the book. When we were done our REAL clock showed 11:30 and she was able to read the time. She then showed the time to Daddy after dinner tonight.

She also read a story from The Reading Lesson to Daddy. She has been eager to read books in her room...which has encouraged her to work more in The Reading Lesson. :)

She did an activity about Naaman's healing with a Sharpie "sore" on Saran wrap with brown washable marker on top with oil. All washed off with soap & water but the sore. Jesus is the one who healed Naaman and not the water.

Drew has been reading about Ben Franklin in history & science. He is intrigued!

He is challenged with his math - long division in a good way. We have slowed down, but everyday he is gaining more confidence.

Outside of the house, the kids began homeschool PE which they thoroughly enjoy!

Silly Sentences

Both D&K wanted to sit at the table and do their work together this morning. I let them do their writing, thinking skills and math.

Then they spent time outside as it was so nice today!

Over lunch I read to them about St Patrick from a free St Patrick unit study from Knowledge Quest. D really enjoyed it ( and so did I).

We played a few games today including Sum Swamp (K's current favorite) and Silly Sentences. Both kids loved coming up with silly sentences...even C put pieces together asking me to read her sentences. :)

K worked through a Telling Time book for math today. She knows the hours!

Last week while on vacation, I went through what she needs to know for her Kindergarten year that we haven't covered in depth yet. Telling time was one of those things. Our library had an education pack I checked out that had several time books & manipulatives in it.

D had two pages left in his handwriting book. He surprised me by finishing both today! He had come a long way in his desire to write!!!! He bragged to Daddy tonight that he finished it!

He is getting frustrated with division so we are taking it slow...very slow. I am second-guessing math for both kiddos. Singapore may be shelved for a bit....

Spring Break!

I'm excited about our week!

Since we are having our family spring break this week, we're taking a break from HOD.

We played D's favorite math game today with our 1-9 dice. D was figuring out some 7, 8 & 9 multiplication facts. I love this game...he rolls & multiplies then colors the squares in his grid to match the answer. He will easily do 20 facts during the game and not complain once.

K had a sick day as she (and I) were up from 2-5 am this morning. :(. Hopefully she is on the mend!

We're going on a few "field trips" this week (as long as everyone stays well) that I'll share in a post at the end of the week. :)

Finishing up the week

Some days I forget to take pictures. :)  The past two days were two of those days.  Oops!

We finished Unit 8 for Bigger and LHFHG today!

We also managed a "field trip" to the dentist this morning (our six month cleanings).  :o)  D gets very anxious and I know it was of God that the character trait he studied this week with unit 8 was COURAGE!  His Bible verse went so well with talking through his "fears" of the dentist. 

Proverbs 29:25 The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe.

 He put his faith/learning in action and was not super-fearful this morning!  He did a great job.  No tears through the cleaning!

D added "King Philip" and "Captain Benjamin Church" to his timeline today.  He enjoyed the history stories this week about both of these men (and I did, too!).

We put tape over his "wampum" belt he made earlier in the week so it could be glued to his notebook.  I'm not sure it will last more than a few months.  Note to those of you reading who will do this project in the future...use TONS of glue.  I'm not sure adding water the glue was really necessary?!?!  He journaled around the belt copying a sentence from the book explaining what wampum is.

We also read the story of Daniel today for D's Bible Study.  K was in the room when we did it so she was able to enjoy our discussion.  It always amazes me that there is NO SMELL of smoke on S, M and A when they came out of the fire.  AMAZING!  Our God is GREATER!!!!

Putting together Legos!!!  This is the greatest toy ever...and the new FRIENDS Legos for girls are great!  The girls are LOVING having fun-colored Legos with cute little accessories.  Below D is helping K and C put a few sets together. :)

K had her first sewing lesson yesterday- how to cut out a pattern and cut out the fabric pieces.  She sat with me while I began to sew the dress, but didn't stay the entire 20 minutes it took to complete it with the hemming & velcro in the back.  :o)  It turned out cute.  We have a jacket that matches to complete next...she wants to be able to use my machine, but I'm holding off.  I let her put her hands on my arms, but I don't want her tiny fingers near the needle yet.  And yes, I've looked at the kid sewing machines but the reviews are awful.  They break really fast.

Marbles, self-portrait, & pots

We had a good day today!

After singing through the first two verses of D's hymn that we're currently studying (Our God Our Help in Ages Past) and talking through the meaning again, D said, "That's just like a safe house.  God is our safe house!"  He was referring to what we talked about earlier in the week.  I love to see this understanding and application of what he's learning not only academically but spiritually as well!

D drew the planets to size using a compass for the first time.  He also learned the Transit of Venus will happen THIS June! He is so excited about it...guess I better start praying for good weather!

He did a great job on his vocab words. I love his stick people pictures!

He built a fun marble run from his wooden set.

K did her self-potrait and then inside the pic we wrote words that describe her. At one point she said her picture wasn't good...meaning it didn't look like her usual stick figures. I think she did a great job!

Lil' C found her workbook all by herself and got out her crayons to do her "School" too! :). I am amazed at how well she stayed near the lines! I was busy helping K while she was coloring.

K enjoyed marching around celebrating the ark of the covenant to go with her Bible story. We were all marching with her!

Safe House & Wampum

D built his safe house today after reading about one the colonists took cover in from the Indian attacks. He even had a minifigure inside.

He also made a replica of the wampum belt and learned what wampum was. It was a little frustrating for him since his drawing of men looked like only curved lines once the blue rice was added.

Planets and Tapestry

D enjoyed today's science project -setting out the orbits of the planets. We didn't us TP as suggested...just measured and used Nerf disks as the planets. We couldn't go outside due to the weather so we opted to use the hallway which made the planets in a straight line instead of circling the sun.  He studied the planets a few years ago and actually remembered the order!

K had fun making a paper tapestry to go with her Bible story about Samuel listening to the voice of the Lord calling him in the temple.  :) She chose fun bright colors.