Because we missed school on Monday and began our home school co-op on Friday, we had to squeeze a week's worth of school into 3 1/2 days. Easier said than done, but we did it! Here are the highlights...
Bible
Our memory verse from this week is Matthew 4:4. We talked a lot about hungering for God's Word in the same way that (or frankly, more so) we hunger for food. As we read through Matthew about Jesus' life as a baby and child, we have located Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Egypt, Nazareth, and the Jordan River on a map.
Geography
Isaac and Julia got their passports this week!! We traveled down south from the U.S.A. to Mexico and Central America. We learned a lot about the location, climate, and geography of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies.
Science
We began studying deserts this week. As we read through Properties of Ecosystems we learned a lot of interesting facts about hot and cold deserts. The most interesting fact (in my opinion) was animals that estivate. Maybe I learned this way back when and forgot, but I thought it was fascinating. Estivation is just like hibernation but in opposite conditions. Animals that estivate in a desert go into a deep sleep through the summertime to survive the extremely hot temperatures. Isaac thought that the Saguaro cactus that can grow up to 50 ft tall, weigh tons, and live for 200 years was pretty cool.
We also did an experiment about how cold blooded animals cope with desert temperatures. We placed a cut out of a turtle with a thermometer taped to it in the sun for a few minutes and then recorded the temperature. We did the same by moving the turtle to the shade. We discussed how the sun helps warm the turtle.
We did a similar experiment by placing an ice cube in a shady place and one in the sun. As soon as the ice cube in the sun melted we checked the one in the shade and discussed how shade helps keep animals cool.
Music/Art
This week we got to learn two new songs, one from Mexico called Pin Pon and another from the Caribbean Islands called Tingalayo. The kids really enjoyed trying to figure out the Spanish words in Pin Pon since they are learning Spanish through Rosetta Stone. They also enjoyed Tingalayo for its silliness. Isaac also loved listening to the steel drum.
One day this week we talked about Mexican clay pottery as a prominent art form. We used air dry clay and the kids got to create anything they wanted. It is so interesting watching how differently the kids respond to activities like this. It almost drove Isaac crazy that he could have a perfectly formed anything instantly. He doesn't have much patience for tedious art projects. Julia on the other hand does and really got into creating a small pot with a sun decoration on the front. (we learned that in Mexico the sun is used a lot in their art) Isaac tried to make a bowl, scrapped that and ended up with a donut that someone had taken a bite out of. He is such a boy!! Caleb said his was a turtle, though I wouldn't have known that had he not told me!
We also studied the artist Claude Monet by looking at his painting Water Lilies. We talked about impressionism and re-created our own versions of this painting.
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| Studying the Monet paintings |
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| Caleb's Water Lilies or better named just Water |
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| He enjoys art but gets easily annoyed by it when it doesn't look "perfect" |
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| Isaac's Water Lilies painting |
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| She LOVES art |
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| Julia's Water Lilies painting |
Read Aloud
This week we started reading a book about Cameron Townsend, the founder of Wycliffe Bible Translators. It is a biography. You would think after weeks of fascinating stories from Kingdom Tales a biography would be kind of a bore, but it is actually very interesting.
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| We got outside one morning this week before it was scorching hot and read together on the back porch swing. So looking forward to fall temps to arrive so we can do more of this. |
Isaac
Guess what? Math is another review week. Isaac is learning about multiplication by 10. Easy stuff. In reading he learned about vocabulary in context. For writing he is learning about making and writing descriptive observations. We took this week to review all the spelling words from the last 4 weeks that he needed to study further. Overall, it was a very successful week for Isaac.
Julia
Math was super easy for Julia again this week. Maybe I should have skipped over some of these first lessons, but I wanted to make sure she has the basics down before we move on. She worked on some simple addition this week again. She also learned about vocabulary in context in reading. In writing she is learning about ordering events. And in Language Arts, the main thing we have been working on this week is reading a passage orally for a presentation.
Caleb
My birthday boy got the week off from preschool. Because we had less time this week to get our regular school done with the big kids, I sadly didn't have time to work with Caleb. He didn't seem to mind and played the days away. He of course joined us for art and reading times throughout the week. He is super happy to officially be 3 years old. He is growing up so fast. I just want time to slow down sometimes.
We successfully made it through our first 5 weeks of school. Next week we will put aside our regular school work and spend a week having some fun as we read and do a book study on Charlotte's Web. We have a fun field trip planned for next week as well. Other than having a bit of fun, this week "off" will give me the opportunity to re-evaluate what we have done so far and adjust things as needed.It will also give me an opportunity to write the lesson plans for everyone for the next five weeks. It works better for me to do this all at once rather than week by week.
So I am off to get things ready for Charlotte's Web week. Check back at the end of next week to see pictures and a post about all the fun we had.
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