MFW 2nd Grade - Week #20

BIBLE:  Our new memory verse for the next two weeks is "I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."  John 15:5

We added another name to our Jesus poster.  I have taken a picture of it, but it up to date with our current week, so I will post it when I get to week #24.  (Sigh. Only 4 more to go.)

SPELLING:  Typical spelling week.  I'm really seeing Caleb struggle.  He can memorize the words for the spelling test, but there is no retention.  I really need to seek out another program to reinforce what I know he knows, but has forgotten because this program doesn't reinforce it enough.  (At least in my opinion.)

ENGLISH:  The lessons in English this week seemed a bit dull and dry.  I guess that's pretty typical for English glass.  

Reading List:

A Picture book of Lewis and Clark, David A. Adler
The Story of Ruby Bridges, Robert Coles
Francis Scott Key, Melissa Whitcraft
By the Dawns Early Light, Steven Kroll
The Star Spangled Banner, Peter Spier

Read-A-Loud:  We wrapped up Farmer Boy and have moved on to "On the Banks of Plum Creek."  Caleb insists he won't like it nearly as much as Farmer Boy.  I'm hoping the story has enough fun antics of Laura Ingalls to pull him in.  Caleb wouldn't let me read the last chapter of "Farmer Boy" for a while.  I finally said we just had to so we could say we were done with it.  He said, "But mom, then it will be over."  He loved the book so much that he didn't want it to be over.  Have you ever loved a book that much?  That you hated for it to end?  My heart went out to him because I certainly know how he feels.

So far, every day he says, "I don't like this new book as much as Almonzo."  Every day.

HISTORY/STATE STUDY:   Our study this week is on Thomas Jefferson and the Louisiana Purchase.  We read from our Story of the U.S. book and going along with that our state for this week was on Louisiana.

It was quite incredible really, that the very week we are to study Louisiana daddy has to take a business trip to - yes - Louisiana.  Caleb and I tagged along and were able to see the place for ourselves.  It was such a good week and while not all our school work was done for this week ON this week because we spent some time being tourists, we did complete the week at the beginning of the next week after we returned home.

History Activities:   It was actually rather fun to make some red beans and rice to go along with our Louisiana theme.  John and I quite enjoyed it.  Caleb?  Well, we all know how he is.  It looked too different and he wouldn't even try it.   I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, but here it is in the beginning stage.

SCIENCE:   More talk on plants and growing things.  We discussed how plants grow, do they need water, etc?  In this instance we used popcorn.  One plate was a dry plate and the other plate the napkins were watered.  We covered them both in foil and Caleb checked them each day, logging the differences in the seeds each time.

It was rather neat to see the popcorn with water actually do something.  I think Caleb was a little surprised as he only thinks of popcorn in the form of movie popcorn or microwave popcorn!

MATH:  Several lessons this week in our Singapore Math book and YES, we finished it.  We are going to back to review for a while before we move on to the next book!  

MUSIC:   We listened to "There Are Many Flags" again and listened to "The Start Spangled Banner" after reading from our "Red, White, and Blue" book.

HEALTH/MANNERS:   Our lesson this week was on the topic of good posture.  I had to laugh just a little bit because Caleb does school all over the house.  He lays on the living room carpet under a tent, he lays on the bed, he sits at the coffee table, at the dinner table and 

LOUISIANA TRIP:   We spent time as tourists, but it was also a time of learning.  Since our study at school has been talking about animals, it was perfect that we spend some time at the Audubon Zoo.  We also went to the Audubon Aquarium, and the Audubon Insect and Butterfly Garden.  The IMAX theater had several options to choose from and Caleb chose the Coral Reef, which helped him to learn a lot about those animals under the water.

It was really cool to see the names of some of the people we're coving in school this week throughout our tourist visit to the Zoo and Aquarium.  Here are a few.

He's not looking so happy here.  We were tired.  And I don't think he wanted to stand for another picture.  This one is of a Baldcypress tree, which is Lousiana's State Tree.  If you wan to read more about it, the next pic give a bit of description.

I have a lot of fun pictures from our trip.  I will probably post those on our family blog.  When I get that done, I'll update and put a link here so visitors can click over there to take a peek.

All in all our studies this week were so much fun.  Even those outside of the trip.  There is nothing like a week in Adventures with My Fathers World!  I'm three weeks closer to being caught up now.  Yay me!!

Educating in Christ,

Momma Pam