MFW 2nd Grade - Week #14

Week 13 was Thanksgiving week, so we are now moving onto week #14, since last week was week #12.  Moving right along in MFW!!


BIBLE:  We talked this week about Jesus being the Way.  We read scripture in John 14:1-11, Acts 4:12, Matthew 7:13-14, and Psalm 119:105.

Memory Verse:  Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me."  John 14:16

Bible Activity:  Our activity this week had to do with drawing a line of chalk on the driveway.  Caleb had to try to walk along the line while blind-folded.  Then see where he ended up at the end.   Okay, so my son is somewhat of a perfectionist and did not get too far off of the line as he walked.  I was just glad he wasn't right on it, or the whole activity wouldn't have worked.  The activity was used to show that only when we have the "Light," which is Jesus, can we walk on the right path to get to Heaven.

I let him walk the line again without the blind fold.  

SPELLING:  We finished up our review of the 60 spelling words this week and Caleb was tested on them.  He did amazing!!  We then moved onto another week of new words.

ENGLISH:  Our first lesson this week consisted of a picture study.  It was called "Saved," by a painter called Landseer.  It was a picture of a large dog having rescued a small girl who had fallen in the water.  We talked about it and went over some questions that came with the study.  We had a couple of lessons that went over the use of a/an.  

HISTORY/STATE STUDY:  This week we talked about Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina.  Caleb completed all coloring pages and cut-n-paste sheets for these states.   

Read-A-Loud:  The new read-a-loud book is called Farmer Boy.  This is a rather thick book and is going to take a while for us to complete, as long as we don't read ahead.   The book is actually written about the spouse of Laura Ingalls Wilder, when he was a small boy.  It is very detail oriented and descriptive, but Caleb seems to be enjoying the story.  So far we've learned about his family, what a school day is like, a winter evening and night, a surprise from the teacher, and what his birthday was like.  It's really quite interesting.

Book Basket Reading:
We had a full week and did not get in any extra book basket books.  Shame, shame.....well, honestly, we can't be perfect all the time.

Except for United Tweets of America.  We're reading this book as we study the states.  It talks about the state birds.  As we talk about a state, we look up the bird and see what this book has to say.

MATH:  We worked through several lessons in our math book.

SCIENCE:  We continued our study of birds.  
*We measured 14ft and learned that was how many worms a robin could eat in one day.  
*We held 4 pennies and learned that was all a chickadee weighed.  

Science Activities:

Make a Robin's Nest (one that WE can eat, not the birds):

 They look good, but, I'm not sure we had the right noodles as they were extremely crunchy and hard on the teeth.  Oh well......

Because even thought he is showing off here like he's going to take a HUGE bite, Caleb didn't even eat a nibble.  

So, even though he is quite proud, these went in the trash about 4 hours later....

Bird Feeder Activity:  We made a bird feeder out of a 2 liter bottle using a kit that came with our curriculum.  It was fun to watch birds find the feeder!

MUSIC:  This week we talked about and listened to "America the Beautiful."   We were supposed to be memorizing the different verses of this song over the last while, but Caleb doesn't sing, and I'm not singing it by myself.  I tried playing just the CD, be he looks at me like, "really, mom."  So, we've read the song a few times and we talk about how important it is to our country.

HEALTH/MANNERS:  This week our listen consisted of learning how to properly use a water fountain.  Not a bad topic as these are still around and about.  We've talked about it before, but it was good for him to see it as a topic in this book and know mom meant what she said.  Caleb is a bit afraid of germs, so I never really have had trouble with him using a water fountain incorrectly....

Extras:  

Stockshow - we had some friends participating in the county livestock show so we spent a good part of our Wednesday at the show.  We watched how the participants show chickens, we looked at nearly all the animals that were entered into the show.  We enjoyed fresh lemonade, funnel cakes, a burger, and even a fajita gordita.....Mmmmm, all good stuff!  

Rabbits - we've gone into the rabbit business and this week our homeschool has a new phase, checking on the rabbits in the morning and making sure everyone has food and water. Not a big deal, but it is another responsibility we have to take care of.  No pictures, but maybe I'll take one soon.  


Here's to another blessed week!!

Educating in Christ,

Momma/Pam

MFW 2nd Grade - Week #12

BIBLE:

This week our studies in the bible were about birds.  We had a discussion about God creating the birds on the 5th day and read scriptures in Genesis 8:6-19, Isaiah 40:28-31, Matthew 3:13-17, and Matthew 6:19-27.

SPELLING:   This was a big week in Spelling.  It was a review of the last five weeks of spelling lessons.  We worked hard this week reviewing all 60 words and studying them for a test.

ENGLISH:   We worked through some lessons in our Language Arts book.   We talked about when to use was/were.  He had nine sentences to read and decide which word went in the blank.  He also had 7 questions to answer in regards to 4 statements that were made.  Such as, 1. Tom was throwing snowballs.  Question:  How many boys were mentioned in the first sentence....We also read an excerpt about farmers and wheat.  Another lesson was talking about shade trees, different types, and writing down the various types of trees.  This was a long lesson and lots of writing.

HISTORY/STATE STUDY:  This week we began our study of the states.  We talked about Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia.  This is a quick study of the states as MFW will bring them back to the students in a more in-depth year when they are a little older. For each state Caleb has a coloring page.  He colors the state bird and the state flower using an ID card that came with the curriculum.  He also finds their flag sticker on the sheet and applies it to his coloring page.  While he is coloring, I read to him some highlights about the state.  He also writes on his coloring page the two-letter abbreviation for the state and the state capital.

I also found some extra pages to go along with this study.  So, additionally, as we study each state, he cuts out some graphics and places them on a two page sheet.   Sort of like a cut-n-paste sheet.  The state name, the seal, the flag, the US map showing where that state is on the map, state bird, state flower, and the license plate are all graphics.  He cuts them out and glues them down in the right spots.  He hates using glue, so most of the time he cuts them all out and I glue stick them down.  He then writes the states nickname, the capital (again), the state motto, and then a fun fact about the state.  When we're having a great day, he also fills in what the bordering states are.  

History Activity:  Making of the Liberty Bell

When we talked about Pennsylvania, one of the things Caleb learned was that the Liberty Bell was there.  So, we made our own small version.  The paper strip says, "Proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof."

Read-A-Loud:  We don't have an assigned read-a-loud this week, since we finished Sarah Whitcher's Story early.  So, we just focused on our book basket reading....... --->

Book Basket Reading:

Detective Dinosaur Undercover, James Skofield
Mittens (I Can Read), Lola M. Schaefer
The Magic School Bus, At the Waterworks, Joanna Cole & Bruce Degen
Ready for PUmpkins, Kate Duke
Mice on Ice, Rebecca Emberley & Ed E.
Two Little Monkeys, Mem Fox
Cock-a-doodle-doo, Creak, Pop-pop, Moo, Jim Aylesworth
The Great Sheep Shenanigans, Peter Bently & Mei Matsuoka
Big Birthday, Kate Hosford
Very Special Friends, Jane Chapman
A Picture Book of George Washington, David A. Adler

The Very Lonely Firefly, Eric Carle
Homer, Elisha Cooper

MATH:  We worked through about 10 pages in our SM book.  Some days, math is just math. :)

SCIENCE:  We discussed birds in this subject also, reading from our Birds, Nests, and Eggs book.  Caleb really seems to enjoy the study of birds.  He learned things like birds are warm-blooded, have very good eye-sight and very good hearing.  The activity this week was the make a pair of binoculars out of toilet paper tubes.  Caleb has an awesome pair of real binoculars that he received as a gift from his Uncle Harold and Aunt Brenda.  I didn't see any reason to make a pair when he had those to use.  So, he used them to look outside and try to spot the birds.

MUSIC:  This weeks music lesson consisted of listening to Yankee Doodle; Yankee Doodle Dandy CD again.   He still thinks music is silly.  I'm waiting for the day he really enjoy something.  A mom can only hope, right?

HEALTH:  This week in our health and manners book we had a twenty question review over the first 9 lessons.  He did great as we talked over the questions and matched up possible answers.

Just because:  Big brother Randy gave mom the teacher a small water fountain.  He thought it would be a fun thing to have going as we do school.   I really can't remember if I already mentioned this in on here.  If I did, I'm sorry.  If not, well, here's a picture!

I am still incredibly behind on this blog.  I am trying to catch up!!  

Educating in Christ,

Momma/Pam

Homeschooling by the Fire

I really can't say it enough.....Homeschooling is such a blessing.  And it's always fun to break out of the mold and change it up.  December 11th brought one of the first really cold days to us.  Caleb was so excited and asked if we would be able to have a fire.  So, the night before, Daddy gave us a quick run-down on how to go about it.

That morning Caleb could not wait!  He asked and asked until finally I gave in and we went outside to gather some wood.  

We spread a blanket out on the floor in front of the fire and gathered all our school books for the day.  We sat there and enjoyed each other, enjoyed the fire and did school!  What more could any momma ask for that the blessings of a day like this?!?

Educating in Christ,

Momma/Pam

MFW 2nd Grade - Week #11

BIBLE:  We had a lot of conversation this week about God and His Living Water and we talked about the water that comes in the form of rain and replenishes the earth, plants, flowers, grass, etc.  We read in Exodus 17:1-6, John 7:37-39, and Proverbs 25:21.

Memory Verse:  We continued this week with our memorization of John 7:37.  

SPELLING:  A typical week in spelling still using Spelling By Sound and Structure.

ENGLISH:  We completed several english lessons this week.  One in particular was a picture of a Lion in a cave and there was a short story to go with it.  The main point was that the lion was pretending to be ill and hurt so that small creatures would come to him in the cave and he could eat them.  Caleb looked up at me and said, "mom, that story would really scare small children."  The story ended with the sly fox out-smarting the lion and not ending up as dinner.  

HISTORY:  
*We had some review in history this week and talked about some of the history lessons we'd done so far.  
*We read a story about George Washington becoming president and how a young boy named Nathan rode his horse to go watch this great man be sworn in.  Caleb really enjoyed this story.
*We talked about how people used open fires in colonial times

Read-A-Loud:  Since we finished Sarah Whitcher's story early, we haven't picked up another read-a-loud yet.  We have several on the shelf to pick from, just need to make a choice.  With our Christmas break coming up, I decided we wouldn't dive into one yet.

Book Basket Reading:

Pass It on the Cow is Stuck in the Fence, Marilyn Sadler
Sky Tree, Thomas Locker
The New Americans, Betsy Maestro
George Washington, Ingri & Edgar Parin D'Aulare 

MATH:   We covered 9 lessons in Singapore Math this week and I'm pleased with the progress Caleb is making in math.

SCIENCE:  Our topic this week was things that are Wet and Dry.

Pop the Lid:  

Using a container Caleb filled it 2/3rd full with dried peas.  He added water and let it sit for a while.  

Before long the peas soaked up water and popped the lid off the container!

Knock Down the Tower:  Caleb stacked some sugar cubes on a plate, poured a bit of colored water at their base and was able to see that the bottom cube would deteriorate from the water and the stack would collapse.

Drying Things Out:  Cucumber covered with sugar shows that the sugar draws the water out of the cucumber.

MUSIC:    It was a complete treat this week that the Corpus Christi Ballet group was holding a performance of The Nutcracker for all the public and homeschool kids.  The cost for the tickets was only $2 per person.  At the last minute there were available tickets and Sissy and Chevy were able to go with us!  It was so cool!  It is a goal of mine to be able to go back in the future and watch the full performance.  This is something I might have to do with Sissy as I think Caleb had enough of ballet for a lifetime.  ;)

Sissy tried to take some photo's of the performers in their beautiful costumes and managed to get a couple worth keeping.

HEALTH/MANNERS:  This weeks topic was The Care of Rooms.  Daddy was home for this lesson and it was fun for daddy to add some input.  In this lesson Caleb was asked a series of questions and he had to determine if whether or not they were the "right thing to do."  Such as, "hang up my clothes in their place" or "put the garbage in a pile in the corner."  So much is common sense and it's nice to see that these things make sense to Caleb, too.

What a blessed week this was.  So many fun learning activities to filled the mind!  I think Caleb had a great time and is excited because this is our last week of school until after the Christmas break.  Daddy is taking time off of work and Caleb doesn't like to do school was dad is home.  Add to that Randy will be here for a week or so and it really is too hard to do school with Randy here also.  So, we will enjoy a much needed break and be back at it after the first of the year!  Until then, we pray God's blessing on everyone during this busy time of year and into 2013!

Educating in Christ,

Momma/Pam

MFW 2nd Grade - Week #10

BIBLE:  This week we talked about what Jesus says about a special kind of water called, Living Water.  

Memory Verse:  "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink."  John 7:37

Bible Activities:  We added the Living Water picture to our Names of Jesus poster.  I'll have to take a picture of this soon to give an update on it.

SPELLING:  Standard week in spelling.  :)

ENGLISH:  This week in we had a conversation lesson on The Care of Pets.   Answering questions about dogs, canaries and horses.  Quite interesting actually.  It was a lengthy lesson so we carried it out over a couple of days.  Then we touched on the topic of how to use "to," "too," and "two" when we are writing sentences.

HISTORY:

We read in a book called The Fourth of July Story and covered a few different parts:
The Birthday of Our Country
Writing the Declaration
To Carry the News

We talked more about George Washington and Caleb doesn't mind this at all.  We also read about Thomas Jefferson from our The Story of the U.S. History book.

We went over the thirteen colonies and colored a map of them to put in Caleb's history notebook.  We also looked at a facsimile page of the Declaration of Independence.

Timeline:  We added to our timeline the Declaration of Independence and the United States Becomes a Country in 1776.
Read-A-Loud:  Okay.  We just couldn't stand it.  Sarah Whitcher's Story was a clincher.  We finished it a week early.  Oh, if you ever have a couple of hours to spare, pick up a copy from your library and give this story a read.  I don't want to ruin the story for anyone, but it was so good.  So heartwarming...and encouraging at the same time!  Have a couple of tissues handy, too.

Hands-On Activity:

Hasty Pudding:  In Colonial times the people served pudding at any meal and sometimes it was the whole meal.  This pudding wasn't a sweet pudding.  Since we've been listening to Yankee Doodle and some words in that song are, the men and boys were "as thick as hasty pudding" we're making some hasty pudding to try.

Needless to say my picky eater did at least taste it, but that was it.  I tried to eat some, but I guess it wasn't my cup of tea either.  Now, granted, if that was all the food choice I had, I would eat it and I'm sure Caleb would, too.  But, we are very blessed to have plenty of other options rather than Hasty Pudding.

MATH:  We continued with our Singapore Math lessons, wrapping up about 8 lessons this week.  

SCIENCE:  We had a full week with science.  Lots of activities to do and as usual it was still not enough for Caleb.  He's all about that science!

Soaked Through:  How well do different things soak up water?  We used a variety of things from around the house to see which one's soaked up the most water.  As it turns out, the more porous items soak up more because they are full of tiny holes and those holes let the water in.

The Marble Test:   What happens to marbles when you get the soft surface they are sitting on wet?

Soaking Colors:  Using pieces of coffee filter and markers we watched the water make spread the marker up through the coffee filter.

Disappearing Water:  Wet two towels and put one in a plastic bag.  Which one dries out first?

The next day the one in the bag is - - - ah, yes, still wet and the one on the plate was dry.

Salty Water Test:   Add salt to water.

Give it a stir.

And a taste!  UGH!

Rainbow Sugar:  Add sugar to water and a bit of food coloring.  Let dry for three days.  

And you get dried sugar crystals....

HEALTH/MANNERS:   How to set the kitchen table.  Caleb had to look over a picture of a place setting and we talked about the different utensils being to the left, above, between, below, to the right of each other.  Then he had to draw a place setting himself.  He did great!

MUSIC:   We read the story of The Nutcracker this week.  I can't believe in all these years I had never read that story.  Or if I did it was so long ago I had no recollection of what it was about.

Another week in MFW is wrapped up.  I'm getting closer and closer to getting this blog caught up!   Between illness, holidays, school breaks, death's of acquaintances, and such....there has been a lot to contend with in recent weeks.  But, God is good and we will get through it all in His time.

Educating in Christ,

Momma/Pam

MFW 2nd Grade - Thanksgiving Week

So, this is when things get a little off-kilter.  Well, maybe that is too strong a word.  We are now going to skip to our studies for Thanksgiving Week.  Our curriculum has three days of studies lined out to do during the week of Thanksgiving.  So, we stop the regular scheduled programming, which would have been moving on to week #10, and do week #13, which is Thanksgiving week.

So, here is what we did for the few days before Thanksgiving!

BIBLE:  We read and discussed Psalm 100, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, Ephesians 5:19-20, Colossians 3:17, and Luke 17:11-19.  The focus was in remembering to thank God for all the things He does for us.

SPELLING:   We continued with our spelling lesson.  No sense in skipping this just because of Thanksgiving!!

HISTORY:  We read The Thanksgiving Story which talked about the pilgrims coming to America and it was broken down into a few short stories:

Two Ships and a Big Adventure

A Ship Sales Alone

The New Land

New Homes in a New Land

A time of Thanksgiving

Read-A-Loud:  We continued with Sarah Whitcher's Story.  Oh my goodness....Tears for this momma.  Caleb was patting me on the shoulder and saying, "it's okay, mom, it's just a story."  Ha!!

Book Basket Reading:

The Littlest Pilgrim, Brandi Dougherty

Daisy and the Beastie, Jane Simmons

The Thanksgiving Story, Alice Dalgliesh (different than the one as assigned reading.)

Hands-On Activities:

How Big Was the Mayflower?

We went outside to measure it off.  

It was 90 feet long.  Caleb is a speck over there by the garage door.

And 26 feet wide.

Woven Placemats:

A Hand Turkey:

A Hand and Shoe Turkey: 

The body of the turkey is traced from Caleb's tennis shoe and the feathers/wings are tracings of his hands.  

  

MATH:  We did six lessons in our Singapore Math book....can't skip out on math either!

ENGLISH:  We did a couple of lessons this week, but kept them simple since it was a short week.

SCIENCE:  Caleb really enjoyed science this week.  He did lots of fun stuff with a pumpkin!!

Will our pumpkin float??     ------------------->   Yes it does!

How much does our pumpkin weigh??   ------------------------>   3.072 lbs!

And, how many seeds does our pumpkin have??     --------------------------->   222!!

And our Thanksgiving week came to a close.  Lots of fun learning and surely a week of fun things Caleb will remember for a long time.  God is so amazingly good!

Educating in Christ,

Momma/Pam