Homeschool Wrap Up Week 23

We've had some sore throats, headaches, and runny noses making its way through some of the children this week.  Thankfully no fevers or anything really serious. We did manage to have a full week of school this week!

Week 23 in our Homeschool

P.E.: We did one day of yoga, and two days of Family Time Fitness. We skipped one day of P.E. because I was running a little bit behind in the morning.

Bible: In Windows on the World we read about Hinduism.  In Hero Tales we read about A/A Judson.  The Bible memory verse was the rest of the Lord's Prayer (which they already know), and our Bible lesson was Matthew 18:15-19:15.

Read Aloud: For our morning read aloud we read 5 chapters of Amy Carmichael.  In the afternoon we read Shepherd, Potter, Spy and the Star Namer by Peggy Consolver.  In the evenings we are reading The Sword, The Ring, and the Parchment.

Poetry: We started Level 2 of IEW Poetry Memorization and worked on the poem How Doth the Little Crocodile by Lewis Carrol.

E.C.C: This week we started learning about India.  We reviewed all of the locations of the countries that we have learned so far.  We read about Asia and India in Children's Atlas of God's World.  We read facts about India in Another Trip Around the World.  In Properties of Ecosystems we read about Recycling, Reuse, and Reducing, and Mountains.  We also read about Mountains in the Living World Encyclopedia.

History: We completed two stops in Passport Ancient Greece.

Art: We did the African Sunset Watercolor Painting from Creating a Masterpiece. 

Emmie was not feeling well that day and wanted to do a different art project on Friday, so her and I did Peaceful Lake using soft pastels.

Language Arts: Lily completed two lessons in Eclectic Foundations Level B.  The rest of the week she was very busy writing a story called A Mermaid Tail.  I counted that as Language Arts.  Christian and Anthony completed lesson 15 in Fix It! Grammar and did an oral and written narration on a story about a bear who disturbs a honey tree. 

Spelling/Reading: Christian and Anthony completed steps 24 and 25 in All About Spelling Level 3.  In AAR they completed lessons 58 and 59.  Lily completed lesson 19 in AAR Level 3.

Math: In MUS Geometry Nick completed lesson 22.  Christian and Anthon completed one lesson in Times Alive this week and 4 lessons in Math Lessons for a Living Education.  Lily also completed 4 lesson in MLFLE and Alex completed 4 lessons in Teaching Textbooks.

MFW Creation from A to Z: Emmie was not feeling well and did not completed much school work this week.  She did start the unit on "p" for penguin.  We read some books about penguins, she completed the picture card page and the handwriting page.

Nature Study: Our nature study was on evergreen trees.

All American History and God's Design in Nature: In AAH Nick completed through lesson 20 of Volume 2.  In God's Design he completed through Day 116.

Other Activities this Week:

Tuesday the girls had gymnastics and Nick had youth.

Wednesday was Kid's Club.  Since Emmie was not feeling well her and I hung out in the parlor and watched Netflix on the iPad.

Thursday we had a 4 H meeting.  Emmie woke up feeling much better.  Nick went to a concert Thursday night with the senior high youth.

Friday we ran errands and went grocery shopping.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

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Nature Study Week 7: Evergreen Trees

One of my goals for 2017 was to be more intentional about Nature Study for the four youngest children (5,7,9, and 11).  I want to do Nature Study once a week around a specific theme.  I remembered a friend mentioning a resource she bought at the beginning of the school year and after taking a look at it decided this might be what I needed to help make sure I actually get it done.  I bought Exploring Nature With Children , an ebook with 48 nature study ideas, a poem to go along with your theme, the name of a piece of art work to look up, books, and extension activities.  She also lists coordinating pages from Handbook of Nature Study if you have that book and are interested in looking up more information.


Our week 1 study was on the winter sky.

Week 2 was on the moon.

Week 3 was on trees.

Week 4 was a pond study.


Week 5 was on Candlemas and looking for signs of new life.



Week 6 was earthworms.


The week 7 Nature Study topic was evergreen trees.  We actually covered this earlier in the year as part of our studies in Exploring Countries and Cultures, but it never hurts to talk about something more then once :)  We read through the pages in Exploring Nature with Children and read the suggested poem and looked at the artwork.  I had planned on walking the nature trail at the park when we were in town on Tuesday afternoon but it was raining (again!)  Instead, we looked at some of the trees in our own yard on a pretty sunshiny day, and the children did some drawings in their notebooks.

Lily did not get finished before we had to leave the house

Happy Homeschooling!

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February Nature Seekers 4 H Meeting

The boys had been asking if we could do another LEGO meeting.  I did one a couple of years ago now and it was one of their favorite meetings ever. So we did another LEGO meeting today.

Last month we elected officers.  We have a new president, and 2 young ladies that are going to take turns being Vice President.  Nick will continue to be Treasurer.  Anthony and Christian are taking turns being Photographer.  Alex is the Recreation Leader.  Lily and Emmie were not interested in doing anything specific.  No one was interested in being Secretary so I will keep the log and hopefully get Lily interested in doing that.  Our new President presided over the meeting today and the Vice President filled the secretary role.

Today Christian led The Pledge of Allegiance (I discovered when we were working on Record Books that I had no pictures of any of the children leading pledges so we are making sure to get some.)

Alex led the 4 H Pledge.

Photo by Anthony

Then Christian did a LEGO Robot Demonstration.

Photo by Anthony

Photo by Anthony

We played a few rounds of LEGO BINGO (I gave candy bars as prizes.)  Our Recreation Leader called out the LEGO people.

Photo by Anthony

Photo by Anthony

Then had a LEGO building challenge.  I gave them 15 minutes to make whatever they wanted to from a large bin of LEGO.

Photo by Anthony

Photo by Anthony

Photo by Anthony

We had 8 club members present and 3 adults.  Next month we are planning a tour of a bank and doing a piggy bank craft.

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Virtual Fridge: African Sunset

For this week's art project we decided to do African Sunset, a Level One project from Creating a Masterpiece.  This project needed watercolors and watercolor paper, along with paint brushes, water, and small straws. 

This project took around 45 minutes to complete.  It actually would have taken less time if we didn't have to mix black paint.  It took me awhile to get a color and consistency that would work.


The drawing part was very easy.  The only things we had to draw was a circle, a line, and some zigzag lines.  Then we got to paint.

Emmie did not do this art project.  She has a bit of a cold and didn't feel like it.

 We made the trees by putting a dot of paint on the paper and blowing up through straws.

 Our finished products.  Mine is top left, Christian (9) top right, Anthony (11) bottom left, and Lily (7) bottom right.

Linking up here.

Happy Homeschooling!

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Homeschool Crew Review: HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Greece

This year we are using a curriculum that's main focus is on geography. I have really missed teaching history and was very excited to see Home School in the Woods on our upcoming vendor list.  We were chosen to review HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Greece and have been working on it over the last several weeks.

This was not the first time we have used a product from Home School in the Woods.  In 2015 we reviewed the Project Passport Ancient Egypt Study.  In 2013 we reviewed their Great Empires study.  I have used their timeline figures for years (they are the best I've ever seen!) and have also done the History Through the Ages Time Travelers American History Study: The American Revolution.  We have loved every product that we have used from Home School in the Woods.

The HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport series is for students in grades 3-8 but younger and older students can use it as well.  There are 4 different Project Passport Studies so far: Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, The Middle Ages, and Renaissance and Reformation.  Ancient Rome will be coming out in 2018. In each of the studies, students pack their bags and travel through time to experience the life and culture of the people during the time period through a variety of projects and activities in 25 different stops.  Each study should take around 8-12 weeks to complete, but the pacing is entirely up to you.

The Guide Book Text for each stop has 2-3 pages of information about a topic.  Your Travel Itinerary gives the instructions for all of the projects at each stop. The Scrapbook of Sights is a binder that your student will add projects to.  Souvenir Cards have instructions for hands on 3 D projects.  Throughout the study students make projects that they will add to a lap book at the end of the trip.  There are also several audio tours included in each study.  Travel Tips, Travel Planner, and an Additional Resources list are also included.

Each of the Project Passport titles can be purchased as a download for $33.95 or as a CD for $34.95.

Topics included in the HISTORY Through the Ages Project Passport World History Study: Ancient Greece include:

Laying the Foundation

The Archaic Period

Greek Government

Athens

Sparta

Everyday Life

Farming, Business, and Transportation

Education, Oration, and Literature

Science

Medicine and Disease

The Arts

Philosophy

Religion

Warfare

The Greece-Persian Wars

The Golden Age and the Peloponnesian War

Sparta, Thebes, and the Coming of the Macedonians

Alexander the Great

The Hellenistic Age

The Greeks and the Jews

Rediscovering Ancient Greece

You will need several supplies to complete the study such as: a 3 ring binder, cardstock (colored and white), paper (colored and white), folders.and double sided sticky tape.  You will also need basic supplies such as colored pencils, glue, and scissors. If you choose to make the souvenir projects you will also need the supplies for those.

I have been using the Ancient Greece study with my 7,9,11, and 13 year olds.  Some of the stops we have completed in one day but others we have spread out to 2-3 days.  Since we already did the Ancient Egypt study we already had our luggage folder and passport ready.  Instead of printing out all of the pages for all of the children, we decided to work together on one Scrapbook of Sights and one Lap Book. I chose not to print the Guide Book Text out, I read it aloud from the computer. 

Here are a few photos of what we have done so far. 

Here are a few of the items in our Scrapbook of Sights:

A Timeline

Maps

Activities

Postcards

We have also been working on pieces to add to our Lap Book at the end of the study.

We have also made a diorama of the Agora.

We are really enjoying the Passport Ancient Greece study!  The text provided at each stop in The Guidebook Text is a perfect length for a wide range of ages.  We love the timeline and mapping activities.  Each of the items added to the scrapbook of sights and the lapbook helps to bring alive the topics being read.  My children love the audio tours! 

The instructions are clear and easy to follow.  Photos of each of the activities are included so you can easily see what they look like when they are completed.  The most difficult part is printing everything out for each of the projects.  You can not print everything all at once, each page has to be printed separately.  I think the finished product is worth the time that is invested and it is something you can continue to look back on. We have learned so much about the life and culture of the Ancient Greeks.  We look forward to finishing this study and can't wait for Ancient Rome to be released next year.

To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog!

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