Homeschool - Units 4, 5, and 6

I don't feel so flustered writing this homeschool post as I did writing the first three units.  I am saying "Units" because it doesn't necessarily mean we took 1 week to do a unit.  Sometimes we have to spread it out over 6 days of school - "life" gets in the way of a perfect "on time" school day.  But this expectation of mine is slowly fading, because I'm "used to" the kids doing a full day of school, 8-3, and homeschool, well, it just looks different.  I'm not tied to a Sept-May schedule, and I can do what we need to with the time we have.  Some days we get 1/2 a day completed and do 1 1/2 the next day because of whatever-event.  I really like the flexibility of how this curriculum is planned out.

So, let me review units 4, 5, and 6 for each child.

VANESSA!

Unit 4
- "One Dusty Camel" focusing on the sound of letter D.
- Bible Lessons about Jacob lying to his father Isaac, pretending to be Esau.  We acted this one out, I was Jacob in a chair, blindfolded.  She put on fuzzy sweatshirt arms and said she was Esau and wanted the blessing.  A craft to go with this was to write her name dotted in black marker, and try every color but black to try cover her name.  It was not possible, since the dotted "Vanessa" still stood out among the scribbles.  It is better to be yourself and not cover up who you are and pretend to be someone else.  Song - "The blessing that will be".
- Jacob leaving home, traveling a long distance to meet Rachel, wrestling with God on the way, having a dream about the ladder filled with angels and seeing God, and Esau forgiving Jacob.
- Devotional with letter D, "Do all things without complaining." Phil 2:14
- continuing to work on handwriting letters, kindergarten math concepts, and reading new words.

Unit 5
- Review week - refocus on A-D.  Read all devotional stories from A-D again, and she loved all this review.
- Bible: Joseph's father gave him a special coat, Joseph went to find his brothers, Joseph was sold (coin activity - the Egyptians gave his brothers coins as a trade for Joseph), Joseph worked in Egypt, and God took care of Joseph in prison. (all these were acted out every day, her fav part).
Song "Joseph's Dream"
- continuing to work on handwriting letters, kindergarten math concepts, and reading new words.  New story of the week she reads is "dot is on the sand, come and sit on the dot, dog. this dog is on the dot."  She struggles with the word "this".

Unit 6
- Letter E week.  "Joseph's Brothers" focusing on sound of letter E - all their jars were "empty" and the brothers were hungry.
- Bible: The king had a dream, Everyone obeyed Joseph, Joseph helped his brothers, Joseph forgave his brothers, and she finishes unit 6 tomorrow, where she will learn that Jacob blessed Joseph's sons.
- Song "7 Fat cows"
- crafts, LOTS of coloring.
- continuing to work on handwriting letters, kindergarten math concepts, and reading new words.  Story of the week is "ant and a red can.  can is on the sand. ant sat on the red can on the sand."  She's still working on this one.

CALVIN!

Unit 4
- Reading through history: Stories of the Pilgrims.  Wonderful book!  as the Pilgrims tried leaving England again, the ship's captain sailed away with only the men.  Women and children put in prison. King James finally let them go and leave England.  Holland was full of new things the Englanders had to get used to. Windmills, water canals, leaks in the dike were common and had to be patched.
- Science: How many drops of water can you fit on a penny?  Water has tension, this is one way boats are able to float.  We also made a dike of playdough in a long pan, poured water on one side, and the dike kept the other side dry.  We poked holes in the playdough to make leaks and plugged them!
- Storytime to end the week was Luke 12: 13-21 - rich man was asked to give up all his possessions to follow Jesus and he was sad walking away with this thought.  His treasure was on earth.
- Art projects to go along with each history lesson.  
- Geography - Ocean is 3/4 water. Learn location of oceans. Why were most new cities built by water?
- Poetry: Daybreak! fantastic poem to go along with this.  Copied all of this for handwriting, and drew amazing pictures to go along with it.  His imagination is incredible.
- Bible study: Matthew 6:19-21.  Store up treasures in heaven - where your treasure is, there your heart is.  The Pilgrims left lots of things behind, but they had to leave them behind and follow what God wanted them to do.  Their treasure was in heaven!
- Song "Where your treasure is"
- Math daily
- Handwriting - copy poem of the week.
- Storytime - I finished the Bibliography about William Henry Harrison and we learned he was the first president to have a slogan for his presidential campaign. 9th president of the USA. He died 4 weeks after being in office.
- Language arts - spelling of the week, and learning what asking sentences are.
- Schedule reading in his Early Reader's Bible - between 5 and 9 pages a day out loud to me.

Unit 5
- Reading through History: Boys and Girls of Colonial Days - much like Stories of the Pilgrims. A Pilgrim family came to Amsterdam on a ship, a Dutch family let them live with them.  Girl waited patiently for dad to arrive after she did.  Amsterdam looked so different than England.  Streets were canals, houses were brightly colored, and tulips were everywhere.  Many houses leaned because the ground was so soft.  Water was delivered via boats on the canals near their houses.  They learned to speak some Dutch.  History Bible is Luke 2:39 - as Jesus grew, God was pleased with Him.  Jesus was filled with wisdom and grace, and was obedient to his parents.  The Pilgrim children tried to be obedient to their parents and God.
- Science: Light moves in waves through space - see this illustrated by blowing rippes across water that is very still.  Tulip grows in a pot.  Forming babies in wombs are crafted beautifully.  "God's Wonderful Works" science pages to go along with this.  Calvin is really interested in science so we have a lot of deeper science exploration with videos/research if he gets an idea to go further anywhere.
- Bible Study: Psalm 139:13-14. "For you formed my inward parts, you covered me in my mother's womb. I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Marvelous are Your works and that my soul knows very well.".  Most of his scripture memorization happens when he is doing headstands.  He says it feels really good to stand on his head.
- Song: "You Knit Me Together"
- New storytime book called Sword in the Tree. An "Adventure" book this time! We spread 100 pages of this book into 20 lessons so a few pages at a time, and he soaks in every detail, and ends up referring back to this story multiple times a day, wondering what might happen next or how a character must have felt.  He is learning how to narrate to me what we read.  This is a learned skill and has to be practiced a lot.
- weekly spelling words.  So far he's an A+ speller.
- Schedule reading in his Early Reader's Bible - between 5 and 9 pages a day out loud to me.
- Copying poem "Song for a Little House" and illustrating the poem.

Unit 6
- Reading through History: "Stories of the Pilgrims" book.  In Holland, there is a weekly scrubbing day.  The Pilgrims had never seen anyone keep house so well.  Dutch people believe storks bring good luck, but the Pilgrims didn't believe in luck, the believed in God's providence.  In the winder in Holland, the water in the canals froze and they ice skated.  Pilgrims moved from Amsterdam to Lieden.  They were poor but wanted a good place to live.  Bible story about history, Ps 51:1-7 - This Psalm reminds us we were all sinful from the time we were born, and Jesus cleanses our sin when we ask for forgiveness.
- Poetry: "The Months"
- Bible study: "Review Week", say each verse again, and each day refer back to Units 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 each day and listen to each corresponding song.
- Science: Storks are birds that do not have webbed feet.  Science textbook for extra learning about storks and what they do.  As weather gets colder, look at ice. Put one piece of ice in a fleece mitten, and another piece of ice in a dishcloth.  Which melts faster?  The warm mitten kept the ice from melting. Canals exploration - what are canals?
- Artistic expression - a big red heart with two slits cut in it.  A strip of white paper goes through it - one end of the paper has a black heart, one end has a white heart.  Pull the strip through to show how the heart covered the sinful heart and showed the clean heart.  He made some cool illustrations on this to show a person sad by the sinful heart, the word "Pray" between them, and a person happy near the white heart and a drawing of heaven.
- Storytime - continuing to read through Sword and the Tree.
- Language Arts - copying "The Months" poem for nice handwriting, learning about questions and what words start an asking sentence "who, what, when, where, why, which"
- Daily math work.  He learned to "borrow" or "rename" like doing 300-182.  And was initially frustrated but it "clicked" and now he can plow through them no problem.
- weekly spelling words.  So far he's an A+ speller.
- Schedule reading in his Early Reader's Bible - between 5 and 9 pages a day out loud to me.

VIOLET!

Unit 4

-Reading about History: Finishing up about Ice Age- Tribes were different than other tribes because of climate and diet.  Hunting became difficult and they kept moving, not making a home in one place too long, avoiding territories other tribes hunted.  Climate was crazy after the flood waters went down and the ice sheets were left.  Each tribe had their own language, culture, and foods they used.  They spread further and further. Some went across bridge to Alaska and beyond – this was the beginning of the Indians in America.  Child’s History of the World textbook explained that people who scattered always settled near rivers because it provided water, food, and a mode of transportation from settlement to settlement. Trading began, settlements grew and turned into cities, governments were formed to control the people.

- Storytime – more from Life in the Great Ice Age, and Genesis 10 and 12.

- Timeline cards – added  Ice Age.  No exact date because we don’t have enough information.  After flood and before Tower of Babel.  Added Tower of Babel card.  As the ice Age came to a closer, the Earth’s climate became more stable, probably like it is now, and civilizations began to flourish.

- Made a map with playdough of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers, learned where the Persian gulf is, where Mt. Ararat is where the arc may have rested.  Where walls of ice had formed and blocked travel in certain parts of the land until it melted, which may have helped form rivers.

- Independent History Study – Drawing and Writing through History, using cursive to copy the historical accounts and drawing the tower of Babel. 

- Poetry “To Any Reader”  - by Robert Louis Stephenson. 

- Drawn Into the Heart of Reading – This is the first week I attempted to add in something I bought for Violet.  It is a Literature program that takes a genre of a book, either Nonfiction, Adventure, Fiction, Mystery, etc…and has workbook pages to help her dive deeper into thought about the book.  She chose Naya Nuki, the Girl who Ran, and we are doing this for the next 15 assignments.  She did Day 1 and 2 this week.  Loves the book, and the workbook helps her organize the main ideas, supporting parts, and helps her think about the book and also incorporates Godly character traits she can pull out of the book, like Attentiveness, Cooperation, and Obedience.  So far she’s liking this, but it takes more time in our day.

- English lesson daily.  

- Math daily

- Bible study daily.  She’s studying Psalm 1:1-6.

- Science: Finish Tundra book. What is protist? A monera? Describe a caribou’s footprint like a snowshoe, difference between dwarf willow and black willow.  God sends the rain and snow and has a plan for all His creation.

- Dictation practice 3 times a week.

Unit 5

Reading through History: No more ice! Moving onto Egyptian civilization!  When people scattered, they went south into Africa as well.  The Egyptian civilization is one of the oldest in the world.  What are hieroglyphics? Rosetta stone – how it helped us learn how to interpret hieroglyphics, how the Egyptians believed in and worshipped many gods.  Their civilization formed along the Nile River. People in Babylonia were known to worship the sun, moon, and stars.  We worship the Creator, not creation.  Reading also in Grandpa’s box about God speaking to Abram and how God used Abram.  Left Ur, went to where God told him to go.  A Savior would come from Israel!

History project: made a clay cartouche of lady Pharaoh Hatshepsut’s name in hieroglyphics.  Made homemade clay, next day carved out the writings, next day painted it.  Watched a video about the Rosetta Stone. Amazing!  Codes weren’t cracked until the 1920’s.  Our information about Egypt is fairly recent even though artifacts and writings have been saved since people discovered them.

Researching hieroglyphics. Over time, it became unusable.

Vocabulary: mummy, derricks, monuments, Sphinx.

Poem: “A Good Play”

English daily

Math daily

Bible Study daily – this week in Psalm 127:3-4.  Children are a heritage and you are a blessing from the Lord!

Song: “Children are a heritage”

Science exploration: What’s living in a cactus? Animals and plants need special adaptation to survive in the hot desert.  Describe a saguaro cactus.  What makes holes in it? Name animal that can live in the holes in the cactus.  Job 38:37-38 – paint a picture in our mind about the Lord watering the dry Earth. Saguaros can grow as tall as a tree. They grow very slowly!  How does the waxy coating on the saguaros help it to store water?  Put a wet paper towel wrapped in wax paper in the sun along with another piece of wet paper towel sitting out next to it.  After an hour, the one sitting out was dry, the one inside the wax was still wet.  Saguaros have a waxy layer to keep water in.

Timeline cards: Added Ancient Egypt, Abraham, and Babylonia. 

Unit 6

-Reading through History: Grandpa’s Box book – Abraham was promised 3 things.  Explain how God tested Abraham’s faith in His promises.  Abraham trusted God.  Abraham gained land, had a son named Isaac, from whom a great nation would come.  God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac.  Genesis 25 – what can we learn about Esau?  Esau and Jacob were opposites, both had many flaws, but God chose Jacob to carry out his plan.  Esau’s choices displeased God and we see this throughout the Bible.  As time passed, Jacob had 12 sons.  The older sons were jealous of Joseph, so they sold him into slavery and Joseph landed himself in Egypt.  Joseph interprets dreams, gains favor, and is put in charge of storing food for when famine would hit after 7 years of plenty. When famine struck the land, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to  buy food.  Pharaoh became concerned about how big the Hebrew people were getting so he tried mean ways to control their population.  He made them slaves.

Storytime: Tirzah. This girl is in a Hebrew family and is brought out of Egypt by Moses.  This is supposed to be a read aloud I read to her but it is so long I’m having her read it to herself.  Amazing story – and it is helping her connect to the desperate situation the Israelites were in.

-History project: Design a crook.  Pharoahs had crooks and flails – research the meaning of these things. 

-Drawing the writing through history – copying words in cursive and drawing Abraham, the Sphinx, and a sarcophagus.

-New timeline card: Joseph (1700 BC)

-Poetry: “Summer Sun” – some work with this and some creative writing once a week.  Reading it to appreciate it and also reading it out loud to someone else in the family.

-English daily (apostrophes, quotation marks, spelling, capitalization, diagramming sentences)

- Drawn into the Heart of Reading book and workpage.

- Dictation 3x a week.

- Math daily. Learning that 4x5=9, therefore 40x5=90, and 400x5=900, and so on.  Using mental math to do 23x4 (round to 25x4, then subtract extra).

-Bible study: Psalm 127:3-5.  Copy it in cursive, Children are a Heritage.

-Science exploration: Spines on a cactus protect it. Shallow roots find water near the surface before it evaporates.  Desert temps can be 120 degrees, the ground can be 170 degrees. No shade, no clouds.  Explain why collard lizard faces the sun. Why does desert go from hot to chilly when sun goes down? What do desert honey ants eat? Describe a honeypot ant. What does Ps 19 say about the sun?  Most animals come out at night to hunt. 

She did a science experiment to learn how bats help cactus flowers made seeds.  She had to get the edges of a tall glass wet, dip it in sprinkles, then put a coffee filter (with a circle cut out) up near the top of the glass so it looked like a flower.  I poured in a bit of juice in the bottom of the cup and she had to drink it with a shortened straw, so she leaned in and got sprinkles all over her face.  The sprinkles represented pollen as the bats shove their faces in a cactus flower to drink the nectar.  When a bat flies to another flower, it combines male and female pollen to create new cactus seeds. We watched a youtube video of bats eating nectar out of cactus flowers, which only bloom 24 hours a year.  Wow. 

She's also watching an Egypt documentary on Netflix and is helping her see what it looks like inside a tomb, and more about ancient Egyptian civilizations in general.

Violet's cartouche

Calvin's tulip like those in Holland

language arts practice

Calvin writing

Calvin's handwriting

and this is what Vanessa does all day.