Week Two

I was S-I-C-K this week. Our family has been passing around a cold for a few weeks and after Caleb had it last week, I got sick this week. Usually when I get a cold it lasts a few days and I am done with it. Not this time. It turned into a full blown sinus infection and I felt so crummy that I cancelled school one day this week. That is another thing I love about home school. We can take a day off and not miss a beat. We did have to double up on school yesterday to catch up but it wasn't too hard to do. So with the craziness that came with Week Two, here is what we did....

Bible:
We focused on scriptures this week that spoke these concepts:
*How people began to speak other languages
*There is only one God for the whole world
*The good news is for all people
*In heaven, we will worship God together with people from all parts of the word!!

We also read in Windows on the World about Judaism. I do believe this is going to be an interesting and eye opening school year as we study cultures and religions across the world.

Geography:
We have continued to learn map skills this week. The kids learned about latitude and longitude, located and named the 5 oceans, reviewed the names of the continents, learned about elevation and depth, and looked at different types of maps such as physical vs. political maps. At the end of the week, they got to put together their own map and make up their own map symbols. On Friday we ended the week by making world cakes. Each kid got to make and decorate their own cake. It was a bunch of messy fun! And worth it... the cakes were good!

Working together to make the world cakes

All three got in on the action

Caleb thought the icing looked better in his mouth than on his cake!

Isaac finished world cake

Julia is not afraid to get a little messy

Julia's finished world cake

We enjoyed the cakes after Friday night's school presentation

YUM!

Learning about scale

Isaac's map and symbols

Julia's map and symbols

Science:
You will be happy to know that our earthworms are doing well. The kids have been making observations every day and have discovered that the earthworm's niche is to mix and aerate the soil to make it more fertile. They think it is neat to see the waste the worms have produced. Let's just say you can tell the worms have been eating the oatmeal!!! After a few more days in the jar, we plan to release our little friends back into the wild, which is a much better fate than if that fisherman had picked them up at Wal-Mart and taken them for a little "swim"!

This week for science we also learned about biomes and labeled them on a world map. We learned about the water cycle as well. On Friday we put together a water cycle experiment using a disposable roasting container, potting soil, water, foil, a plant, and some rocks. We set it up, sealed it, and put it in a sunny spot outside. We will check on it everyday to observe the water cycle in action!

Putting the water cycle experiment together

Julia's water cycle experiment

Showing Papa their water cycle experiment

Art/Music:
As we continue to learn the song "Hello to all the Children of the World", the kids made paper dolls and then colored them as children from around the world. They got very creative!

Children Around the World Paper Dolls

My silly Julia

Children around the world paper dolls

Kingdom Tales:
This week we began reading the book Tales of the Kingdom. I didn't know much about this book, but after reading the first story I was intrigued. It is a fascinating tale with a C.S. Lewis feel to it. The kids and I are equally enjoying this book so far. I think I am going to buy the other books in the series even though they are not required for our curriculum.

Poetry:
Every other week we will study poetry. This week we read Ladybug, Ladybug. The kids learned about innovation and personification through this poem. They both recited the poem on Friday for our weekly school presentation. 

Isaac:
Isaac had an AWESOME week! I am so proud of him. He worked through Lesson 2 in MUS, which focused on multiplication of 0 and 1. Easy review for Isaac. For Language Arts, he learned about possessive nouns and for Writing he learned about building and writing more detailed sentences. He is still doing great with Spelling Power and is zipping through the word lists.

Isaac giving his book report to Papa on presentation night

Julia:
Julia also had a great week. She worked on counting to 20 in Lesson 2 of MUS, also easy review for her. For Language Arts, Julia did several days of dictation, oral reading, and learned about sentence structure with capitalization and punctuation. She totally rocked her Spelling this week and got all the words correct on her test!!

Julia showing Papa some of her work from the week

Caleb:
Due to my sickness this week, I only got in 3 days of school with Caleb. He learned the Nursery Rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" this week. I just love listening to him recite his versions of these rhymes. Precious! One day this week, I got out items for him to act out the rhyme. He was so cute! He also learned about ovals and really enjoyed making oval art with his thumbprints. We also played throwing and catching games as well as some balance games. He is such a fun little guy and I have really enjoyed spending this one on one time with him.

Caleb used the pieces to act out Humpty Dumpty

Putting together his Humpty Dumpty craft

Thumbprint ovals

Play dough mats

Humpty Dumpty!!

I am a natural organizer. I am weird in that I love to write lesson plans and organize our activities for the week. And as strange as it seems, it gives me great satisfaction to highlight what we have accomplished for the week. On Friday, if my lesson plan looks like this... I am one happy camper!!

Well, that's it for Week Two. Now on to Week Three!!