A tiny peek at week 4: We made some fall art and talked about the Fruit of the Spirit. We also listened to one of our favorite "Go Fish" songs about the Fruit of the Spirit: I love this song. And the dance moves, too! G r o o v y ! And, we like to get groovy! In Social Studies, we learned about the pilgrims from England. They sailed to Amsterdam, Holland so they could worship God freely. When they arrived in Holland, they stood on a big hill that looked down over the city. They could see rooftops, chimneys with storks, windmills and a dike. We learned that Holland is a very low country, and the dike protected it from being washed away. The Fantastic Okapi drew this doodle. It's a picture of the lesson. (He's never complained about the social studies textbooks, but the stories are long and not very exciting. I sometimes wonder how much he's remembering, so I decided to have him draw the lessons out. It's definitely made social studies come to life a little more) I was excited to find this book at the library! A friend of mine told me about Hobby Lobby's little history figurines, so we stopped by to pick up the Jamestown settlers and Powhatan Indians. Who knew Social Studies could be so much fun!? Math is pretty independent. The Fantastic Okapi is busy coloring an addition riddle. After a morning of school, we usually sneak outside for some fort building! And the Green Owl's been hangin' around too!
He's been curious about addition lately, which makes me happy. Well, Week 4 is a wrap! Check back next week to take a peek at Week 5!
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What have we been up to in school this week? Well, we finished our first chapter book, Owl At Home. Quite exciting! My parent's stopped by the day we were on the final chapter, so The Fantastic Okapi was able to read to them. His reading has really taken off this year, which has been fun to see. In Social Studies, we've been reading about the pilgrims. (At this rate, we should definitely be prepared for Thanksgiving!) Math has been kind of basic. Mostly addition. And some fact families. I'm ready to spice it up a bit. Our Bible person of the week is Noah. It was fun to learn the meaning of his name: rest! We're also memorizing 1 John 4:15-16a and Galations 6:9. For handwriting, we wrote letters to grandparents, copied Bible verses and rented a "Draw Right Now" book from the library. We've also spent a bunch of time outside (enjoying every last drop of summer), visiting with friends, thrifting, doctor appts and trips to the grocery store. Sometime soon, I hope to take you on a day by day adventure through our homeschool... eh, perhaps sometime in October or November! Portraits of my parents, for Grandparent's Day. The boys wrote a little note on the backside. The Fantastic Okapi learned to ride a bike! We aren't the biggest bikers... as a matter of fact, Mr. Mustard Seed and I don't even own bikes. (Eek.) But, we hope to get bikes next year, so we can cruise around town together as a family. I think it will be fun! And how about The Green Owl?
What's he been up to? Well, he's been writing letters like a letter obsessed maniac annnnd he made us some Scrabble Soup. True story. I opened the fridge one night, and was like, "What.is.that?!" Aha, indeed, it was Scrabble Soup! Ha. With two weeks under our belt, I feel compelled to share a few reasons why I love homeschooling. Of course, the list of reasons is pretty endless, but here are a few things that stood out to me this past week... We're able to learn through real life experiences. Each day. Every day. Together as a family! We can do school in our pajamas if we wanna! We have so much creative freedom. Here is a postcard we made for one of the boy's little friends; she likes dolphins. And, perhaps one of my most favorite moments from this week- watching the boys play and learn together. Seeing their friendship grow... hearing them encourage one another. It really makes my heart happy! They're even sharing a computer chair. Hehe. When we're out and about as a family during the school day, people often ask how old the boys are and if they go to school. My boys are funny and never know how to answer, because, technically, they don't "go" to school. We just "do" school- it's part of our every day life. After I explain that we are a homeschooling family, we usually receive one of two responses, "That's so awesome! Do they like it?!" or "How are they socialized?" To be honest, "socializing" my boys has never been a priority of mine. I feel there are far more important things to focus on like learning, growing in God's word and likeness, fostering healthy relationships, and interacting with people in our community. I've often wondered, "What's the big deal with socialization...?'" I stumbled upon a few blogs last night that had awesome articles about this very subject. I'd like to recommend these two blog posts: "Confession- I don't want my boys to be socialized" http://www.servingjoyfully.com/2013/09/12/homeschool-confession-i-dont-want-my-boys-to-be-socialized/ and "Why my kids will never be socialized" http://www.jennifermcgrail.com/2011/01/why-my-kids-will-never-be-socialized/ Simply click on the link and it will (should!) take you there! Another reason I love homeschooling? I have the best teacher's helper in the entire world... Here he is in action: ...He even wears pajamas to school! The "before" - a wee bit messy! Gathering materials and things... definitely working hard! ...and the "after!" Pretty cool, eh? It's a TMNT sewer lair! That's how we "did school" today! Here are a few close ups: The best part? All the building materials were thrifty leftovers from our remodeling. The cd player is a pencil sharpener, hehe. Aside from these fun adventures, we've been kicking butt with our curriculum, too! (It's what ninja's do, you know!) Our timeline! So far we've learned a bit about Columbus, the Spanish settling in St. Augustine, Florida and the English settling in Jamestown, Virginia. We're ending our unit on Jamestown this week, so I am surprising the boys with a Pocahontas dvd and popcorn! Spelling test! 100%! I'm picky and make sure he only uses capital letters at the beginning of words. (Although, I think I am going to crack down on that next week... all letters pictured above should be lowercase!) We got to talk about the importance of straight "t's" this week too. Ha. See word no 7. Practicing some math on a hand-made thrifty game we recently found! We learned about David and studied the Psalms a bit too. Ironically enough, before our school week started, the Fantastic Okapi made a special request for David to be our "Person of the Week," so it was neat to see how he fit into our curriculum, too! Pictured: our David's with Jonathan's robe and armor. We baked some homemade biscuits too! September is National Biscuit month, my friends! Having Mr. Mustard Seed home to help with school this week allowed me to make a few homemade deliciousnesses: (Yep, I just invented that word... do you like it?) ...I also had time to rearrange our school space a bit. The object in the lower right corner is our kitchen table. Have a super weekend, super friends!
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