sorting hearts & building a road

Yesterday we discovered the kid's computer is sick, messed up, refusing to work and I don't know what happened.  It's been so good for over a year and a half!   While it sits downstairs refusing to load, telling me it's missing some random file on a start-up disk I don't have...I've come up with a few other activities for K while I work with D.  She likes to be right where we are in the morning during school time and I like to keep her challenged. 

So today, K began her school time sorting little wooden hearts I had picked up for $1 at a craft store earlier in the week.  It's something we can use for her sort by color or size and something D can graph that's not edible. ;o)  This morning she sorted them by color and did a great job using 6 play cups/bowls!  (this was a non-HOD activity)

After the hearts, she told me the letter name & sound for "P" and traced the flashcard with her finger.She is easily remembering the name & letter sound this week - HOORAY!  She did her hide & seek page all by herself today (finding letter P in various words, drawing a line connecting lowercase & uppercase P).  She also completed her counting page for Unit 19 drawing ovals for fish bodies and a triangle for the fish tails. 

She has come so far in 6 months - especially her drawing skills!

For her activity to go along with her Bible story today (Jonah - specifically the storm that came up on the boat) - she pretended to be the "wind" of the storm and blew various objects (pencil, pompom, crayon, and heavier items) across the table.  She really liked blowing the yellow pompom across the table. D even joined in on the fun.  She discovered the heavy items couldn't be blown by her "wind" like her "balloon buddy."

"Balloon Buddy" (thanks for the idea, mom!) - a balloon filled with dry, hard ingredients for D (and K) to hold, squeeze and pull while they work, listen, or read during school time at the table.  I made two "buddies" the other day: 1 filled with salt and 1 filled with popcorn kernels.  I am planning to fill more with rice, dry beans, and a mixture of a few things.   The kids LOVE these things which really surprised me.  D begged to draw a face on his with a Sharpie.  Of course I let him and then K asked that I make her green "buddy" into a cat face.  Ha!  So silly, but it helps them to have something squishy, pliable to hold to concentrate while they're working.

We read the story from D's history book about the Caesars today - how most of them wanted the Romans to worship them and not God.  Except for Constantine which encouraged people to worship the one and only true GOD!  To go along with the story, D was to build a road out of food or blocks (he used graham crackers) and have people & chariots (GeoTrax people & train cars) moving on the road with one person asking the other people if they believe in God or if they heard He had risen from the dead.   It was cute to watch him act this out and of course, since it involved food, K was beside him participating, too!

new stones & valentines

Yesterday we were at the Dollar Store for a few minutes and I came across colored stones (like marbles with a flat bottom).  They're used for flower arrangements a lot of times, but we used them for math today.  What fun for $1!  

K sorted all the colors for her math activity today (a non-HOD activity).

 

I had D take a half sheet of paper - fold it several times to make 16 "boxes" when we opened the paper.  I then had him write the numbers 1-12 in each box...writing 9-12 again to fill in the remaining 4 boxes.  We grabbed a set of dice from another game and began to play a math game.  Each time he or I would roll, we'd have to add or subtract the two numbers to put a stone on the paper covering the correct number.  He knows most of his math facts but when it came to 5+6 he was stumped for a second.  By the end of the game, he was getting better!  He won, of course, by filling in his entire paper with marbles.  He's getting better with subtraction with is good - since that's something that MUS didn't cover this year but something he needs to know for Singapore's book.

D's history today was about St. Valentine - I never knew he was a martyr!  To go along with his story today he made a "real" valentine heart by folding red paper in half and cutting out half the heart I had trace for him to follow with his scissors.  Then he opened it up to see the big heart.  He has cut out paper hearts on his own before and had never made them this way.  He was not happy that I had him fold the paper so because of that he refused to decorate his valentine. ;o(

 

Before school time this morning, D was exercising in the living room using "TaeBO Kicks" - a DVD I had requested from the library and picked up yesterday.   He did it last night after dinner, too.  He loves it!

 

K's letter activity today was to make the "P" with masking tape and tiptoe on it saying "p-p-p".  She's so funny!  Yes, she's wearing the princess outfit again with tights...it's been her outfit of choice lately.  I'll have to wash it tonight while she's sleeping. ;o)

 

We read more about Jonah today and how he was swallowed by a whale.  Her activity to go along with her Bible story was to trace her foot on paper (I did it loosely so we wouldn't mark up her tights & added the tail) to make a whale.  She then colored with crayon (her choice - pink!) and then used watercolors to paint over the whale to make it look like he was in the water.  She didn't finish painting the entire page but she did a good job...looks like other fish in the water. :o)

 

silly exercising & rainbow water

We woke up to an inch of snow on the ground this morning and hearing there will be 6 more week of winter...yeah for more snow!!!  The past few mornings this week I've been making an effort to get up early and hit the treadmill & shower before the kids wake up and before J leaves the house.  It's worked out well so far. Along with this decision for myself, I have decided the kids need to MOVE before we begin our school day.

So this morning I popped in one of our Hillsong kid's CDs (Superhero) which is really fun, fast-paced music.  I had a list of activities the kids and I did while the song played - running in place, jumping jacks, leg lifts, bouncing ball, windmills, push-ups, sit-ups, & toe touches.  It was a fun 10 minutes of activities!  C watched from her gate and enjoyed the show, I think! ;o)  When we were done the kids begged for more!  I love it!

We then sat down at the table and began Unit 19...

K's letter for the unit is "P" like "P-P-Pull" which relates to pulling the oars as you row a boat.  Her Bible story this week is about Jonah.  Today we read how God told him to go to Ninevah to tell the people there about God so they could repent of their evil ways, otherwise their city would be destroyed.  Jonah disobeyed and went the opposite way to Tarsus instead.

She was to draw a path with two lines at the bottom - one to Ninevah and one to Tarsus with water below.  She drew everything below except the letters "N" and "t" which I made for her.

She also built the city of Ninevah out of cardboard blocks (sorry no pic) and then had to go away from Ninevah using various forms of movement...crawl, tiptoe, big steps, walk backwards, hop, step sideways, etc.  She had a good time doing this.

When her school was finished for the day, she kept begging to cut something.  I had found this book of activities the other week for $2.  I love it!

There are many fun, colorful activities for her to do this year (and most likely next year as some require more skill).  I found two simple activities for her to do today...cutting out puzzle pieces and gluing them together to make a bear (bottom of pic) and coloring the other side of the bear (left side) which she didn't quite finish.

D did a great job with his Thinking Skills page today.  He was to think of synonyms (we learned what the word meant today) and write them in the blanks.  I had him read each sentence and think of the synonyms first and I wrote them on separate paper so he could copy them correctly...but all the synonym words he thought up himself.  He did a great job!

For History, we finished reading the last Bible story from his Bible story book today - all about John writing the book of Revelation.  We talked a bit about what great hope we have in this life...Jesus is coming back and if our earthly body dies before that then our soul goes immediately to Jesus and our earthly body will rise at the time of Jesus's return (rapture).   From his history book (History for Little Pilgrims), we read a story about Polycarp the Martyr from the church in Smyrna around 200 A.D.  In the guide book is said I could omit the reading for today, but I went ahead with it because I knew D would understand the story.  After I read it, we talked about what a martyr is and D drew another picture to add to his timeline that was shown in the history book today:

 

I was upstairs prepping D's science activity while he completed his picture.  When I came back downstairs he showed me the picture and what he had added: the person is inside a flame of a fire saying  "Ya! I M STAVD" (Yeah! I'm saved!)   Those martyrs were fearless - they knew for sure they were headed to heaven when they died to be with Jesus forever.  D got it today!

For Science today, D learned the colors of the rainbow (tied into his Bible story about John's vision - seeing the splendor of heaven, various colors, etc).  We wrote down all the colors - including INDIGO which was new to him since he wanted to leave the rainbow with just 6 colors.  I then showed him how the first letter of each word spells "Roy G Biv" and he said "COOL!"  

I filled 3 glasses with water and added red, blue & yellow food coloring to them.  I was all out of "normal" food coloring so I had to use the Wilton decorating colors...praying they'd work (and they did...really well!).  We set the three primary colors on the school table on top of a rag to pick up any spills. :o)

I let D pick which two primary colors he'd mix together first - he chose blue & yellow.  I had him pour blue & yellow into the first empty glass trying to guess what it would make...K was watching and you would have thought D had set off fireworks the way she was so excited to see the water turn green!  D then poured  red & yellow together & made orange.  After this I had him figure out what two colors we hadn't mixed yet...red & blue which made purple (actually more of an indigo color).

K was watching the entire time - cheering as new colors were made and when she tried to guess what would be made, D and I would laugh.  She was hoping for pink, I think. :o)

When we were all done & had taken the pics above, I let them mix the secondary colors together to make even more colors.  At the end all the colors went into two glasses and made dark green & brownish yellow - looked disgusting.  Both kids begged to do it all again...we will...on a day when they need to do something to stay out of trouble. ;o)

back into routine again...

Well, I went into last week with good intentions of getting school done everyday...but in reality we had too much fun and there were "better things" to do all week than sit and do school work (read & see pics linked on my other blog).  D definitely had a lot of extra "PE" time last week...hiking, skiing, skating, tubing & running around with his (2nd) cousins!  We did manage to accomplish 2 days of Unit 18 for both kids.  We tried to cram 3 days into one today...leaving out a few of the fun activities (shh! don't tell the kids that).

D's coming to the end of the New Testament for his History Lessons.  Last week one of the activities he did was to draw stars (he had learned how to make them a week before for his Thinking Skills page) and cut them out.  He glued them to black paper and then drew a picture of Saul/Paul being lowered out of the city in a basket at night.

In the pic below he's cutting out the stars he drew...still in his PJs, books sprawled out on the floor in the condo... ;O) 

In reading Grandfather Frog  chapters today (we read 3 to catch-up from last week's unit)...he is exploring the world away from the Smiling Pool (his home).  He is being careless & not heeding warnings.   These type of chapters always spawn good conversations.

For Phonics, D is reading his way through a Frog & Toad book.  He prefers this over reading a page in Phonics Pathways...I don't blame him!  We're picking back up in Phonics Pathways tomorrow while continuing to read Frog & Toad, too.


D had a bit of an attitude about doing his handwriting today - funny how when Grandma helped him last week he didn't complain one bit. ;o)

He's cruising through his math book - working with place value (tens & ones) right now.  It's a bit of a different approach than MUS did but he's adjusting well...he just needs to slow down with his work!

K learned letter "O" last week and we finished her unit today - doing a few activities including making a scroll like Jeremiah did to warn the King of the coming punishment for Israel.  She will tell you that "O" says "O" like "Off" (that went with her rhyme for Unit 18 that included whispering & shouting).  :o)

We're headed into Unit 19 tomorrow!  Two more weeks and we'll celebrate our 100th day of school for the year!

Legos, Raisins & Oatmeal

The past two days for D's math, we've used Legos during the lesson time (I am loving Singapore!).  Yesterday, I pulled out 4 colors of Lego blocks in random amounts less than 10.  He had to sort them and then use stickers to graph the amount of each color of Lego.  He LOVED it and begged to do it again today.  We'll have to begin graphing the weather or something else that he can do daily...maybe good attitudes & first time obedience?!  ;o)

Then today for his math, we used a bunch of regular-sized Lego blocks (4x8) to group into tens and write the numbers on scrap paper below (sorry no pics).  He enjoyed it again.  He had learned place value with MUS earlier this fall and a little bit last year.  Each curriculum teaches it a bit differently but he was able to make the switch today successfully.

D's Bible story yesterday and today was the time when Jesus ascended into heaven while He was talking with his disciples and commanded them to take the Good News into all the world.  Yesterday we looked at the globe and saw how far Israel is from our home.  We talked about how the Good News has traveled around the world - by people & God's Word.  Today we read the story directly from Acts 1:7-11 out of D's Bible.  We also reviewed where the book of Acts was since Drew had to memorize the books of the New Testament for Sparks the past few weeks.

To go along with the Bible story today - D's activity was to fill a glass with water, drop several raisins in, then add 2 tsp. vinegar and 2 tsp. baking soda. 

 

Mix it around and then wait several minutes.

The raisins were supposed to raise and lower in the water...we waited 5 minutes and nothing happened with the raisins.  I then added a bit more vinegar and that did the trick to make the raisins rise.  

K's Bible story yesterday was about King Josiah finding God's laws and being very sad the nation was not following them.  She had to draw a picture following directions I gave to her - two blue eyes for King Josiah, a black square to represent God's Laws (Bible) and then a red smile because the king was happy he found God's laws and could obey them now.

 

Today she pushed play doh into the paper I had made for her with capital & lowercase N.  She did a good job with just a little help from me.  I assured here we'd put the play doh back in the container when we were done so it wouldn't dry out.  I think she was afraid it was going to be an "N" forever! ;o)

Today's Bible story for K was about the Israelites worshiping God again, turning away from worshipping idols.  Her activity was to put the "sun" (marble), "statue" (Lego man), "animal idol" (monkey) and "money" (plastic coins) in a transparent container filled with dry oatmeal.  She then had to turn the container around and when she found the "idols" she was to say, "No! No! Worship only God!"  She enjoyed trying to find the objects she had put inside (with a little help from D).

 

One more day of school left for the week and then next week we'll be away for a week of vacation with family...

crowns & nail scars

I know I'm always raving about this curriculum, but it really is the BEST for US!   On days like today when I've got a lot to accomplish, it's so nice to just open the book & go with our school day.   Tonight is the first night of the spring semester reading course I'm teaching.   It's nice that I'm just teaching one and it's late enough in the evening that J will be home before I have to leave to teach.  Anyway, since my evenings are going to be busy M-Th again like in the fall, having to just open & go with our school stuff is a blessing!

Now about our school day today -

We got a later start just because D was picking out some fun Lego bricks on the Lego website (spending the last little bit of his designated "spend" Cmas $).  So it was just before 11 a.m. when we began.

I had D work on his math page first.  He had to complete only one today since he had begged for an additional one yesterday that would have been today's first page. :o)  It was another graph that used rectangles to represent kids who liked various types of fish.  He did well!

While D completed his math page, I worked with K.  Her Bible today was about King Hezekiah who obeyed God and had men destroy the idols/statues the people were worshipping.   To go along with her story, she was to make a "crown" and then wear it to act out the story we had read.

By this time, D was done with his math and begged to complete her project with her.  To eliminate fights, I had them each decorate their own crown.  K used lots of stickers and D chose to draw Pac*Man & squiggles on his.  He also asked for more paper to make the front of the crown...all by himself complete with colored jewels.  I thought he did  a great job on the additions in the front!

 

 

D modeling his crown with a very serious expression:

When it was time to act out the story, K didn't want to wear her crown.  (I think she's in the midst of the terrible 3's!)  She ran away and had a fit when I tried to take her picture acting out the story.

D acted out the story and ended up hitting his arm on the colored gate accidentally. :o(  Ouch!

C didn't really take a nap this morning (again) and so she was content until the very end of our school time playing & eating Cheerios inside her gate in the playroom.

 

 

Finally after making the crowns & acting out the Bible story for K's school time, it was time to complete the rest of D's schoolwork.  His Bible story today was about Thomas not believing Jesus had risen from the dead until he saw HIM and saw the scars on His hands.  We talked briefly how we believe in Jesus even though we haven't seen Him in person like the disciples & especially Thomas that we read about today.  We also talked about the scars in His hands...Jesus died for me, D, K, C, YOU!  It was interesting to talk about this today during our school time, because earlier this morning I had read a few verses in John 10 and the end of verse 10 stuck out to me, "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."  Jesus came to earth to die for our sins & rose again so that we can LIVE eternally with Him.  He did it for those who were around him then, he did it for us, even though we can't see Him or talk with Him like the disciples did.  I'm so glad I get to share these conversations with my kids...D knows Jesus and my prayer is for K & C to know Him & invite Him into their lives when they're old enough to understand what He did for them.

To go along with the story, D was to paint one side of his hand, press it on paper and then press the other side of the paper on it to make a "print" of his hands so he'd end up with two.  He did NOT want to get paint all over his hand, so I did it with my hand.  I ended up not putting enough paint on, so I then decided we'll just trace one of his hands, he'll use a paintbrush to paint inside the hand (thick paint) and then press the other half of paper on it.  This worked.  K actually wanted to do this to - she chose to use pink for her project.

The last step of the project was to add red paint to the hands to show where the nail scars were that Thomas saw.

"one more page, please!"

We didn't take a "no school" day today.  We're finally making progress completing units each week and I don't want to give that up...yet.  We're trying to finish the curriculum by the first week of June so we can have summer vacation this summer.  We may/may not stay on the academic calendar for future homeschool years.  But I won't know until I try - so we'll see how it goes this summer for all of us.  :o)

K's Bible story was about King Joash fixing the temple...her activity was to "fix" the cracks in the walls of the temple using "paste" which was cornmeal/water.  K did it at first and then threw a fit saying she didn't want to do it anymore because it was "yucky" so D took over for her and finished the project.  I had to get a pic of her pouting with the project in front of her...

K also drew tall rectangles to be "pillars" of the temple on her paper.  I drew the first one and then she drew the next four...her first attempt was a bit off but then she corrected herself and made 3 really good tall rectangles. :o)

D is LOVING his math - opting to do it first now.  Hooray for the change!!!  Today his lesson was about graphing so he had to look at the graphs and compare the numbers and complete a few statements about the graph.  He really enjoyed this, so much so, that he BEGGED me to do "just one more page!"  I was thrilled he was begging for me, so of course I said "yes!"  Seriously, why would I say no. :o)  Since it was the 4th graph to look at and then complete statements, I let him do it on his own while I left the table for a few minutes.  When I returned he had it done correctly - all of it - read the statements and filled in the correct number for each!  :o)  HOORAY!

For his reading, we've begun reading through the Beginner's Bible (first book on the "emerging reader list" that HOD uses after basis phonics instruction - for D it was 100 Easy Lessons).  I moved to these books since the other "readers" he was reading were a bit too easy for him.  He read the first story (creation) with only a few word helps from me.  I was impressed.   We'll continue on for a few more stories then move to another book on the list in order.  I'm trying to decide what he'll do for this subject next year - and if he can read the emerging readers with minimal help then he'll move into Drawn into the Heart of Reading. We'll most likely continue the emerging readers over the summer - so he's reading daily anyway.

His Bible story today was about the two disciples who Jesus appeared to on the road after his resurrection.  It's a great story because they don't know who He is right away! ;o)  D enjoyed it.  We played a game where I hid an object under a cloth and he had to tell me what it was by feeling the shape.  He guess 2 out of 3 correctly.   ;o)

We read another chapter of Grandfather Frog - it was about Longlegs (heron) and Whitetail (hawk) fighting because neither one caught their breakfast (which was supposed to be G Frog) :o)  We had a short discussion about fighting - in the book no one won, both left still hungry and sore from fighting.