BIBLE: Another proverb was given this week to be recited and learned. "Reckless words pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing." Proverbs 12:18
We wrote "healing words" on two bandaids and gave them to someone we thought needed encouragement using kind words... ;o)
He also had a worksheet showing the Greek Alphabet where he was to write the letters himself. He wasn't too crazy about this assignment because some of the letters were so different.
READING: We dove right into this new week with learning "ir" "er" and "ur" and how they all sound like "er". He read new words and learned the sound that goes with "aw" and how a, e, i, o, u can ALL sound like "u" in 'up.' The last word series he learned was "wor" as it is pronounced in "were."
Once you learn to read, you really don't think about it anymore, but the vowels make SO many different sounds. That's a lot for a little mind to absorb and remember. I'm very impressed with how Caleb is able to keep up with all those different aspects. When he gets stumped I just tell him the rule to follow and he sounds out the words...
BOOKS: As usual we read a lot of books this week. And as many as we read, we come across all sorts. Good, bad, and sometimes just plain weird books. And every so often, we get one that is really, really good....One that reaches inside you and touches your heart in a BIG way. The book that did that to us this time was, "The Raft" by Jim LaMarche. Oh, if you've never read it, you really need to try to find it at your library....It tells the story about a little boy who doesn't have a choice but to spend the summer with his grandmother. He expects to be quite bored, but during that summer, she teaches him the joy in rafting on the river. Such a sweet and wholesome story....I even had a little tear eeking out the corner of my eye and Caleb chuckled at me for it. ;o) The illustrations were absolutely beautiful - - see what I mean??
Caleb's favorite would have to be "A House for Hermit Crab" by Eric Carle....He was able to show off in his memorization of the months of the year while we read this one...and who doesn't love an E. Carle book - they are always good.
Our books touched on nearly all our topics this week including math when we read "More or Less" and "Mall Mania," by Stuart J. Murphy
With our study of rivers in science this week we read several books on that subject, but I found "What is a River?" by Chris Arvetis to be the best selection to explain the concept in terms that a 1st grader could more easily understand.
MATH: Lots of worksheets concentrating on addition were given to Caleb to complete this week. He really seemed to enjoy figuring out the math problems. At the beginning of the week the worksheets had him using "counters" to introduce the concept. Then they worked into picture math - here's an example:
I'm not sure if it was just the day or if the pattern animals are no longer fun for him, but I had to encourage Caleb to do the assignment this week when normally he's pretty excited about them. This week we had to see if we could cover any of three animals using only two colors...our answer to that problem was "No." We were able to cover the Rabbit using three colors, but that was as close as we could get.
I wasn't crazy about the hands-on project this week and asked the Principal if he wanted to do it or if we could skip it. He agreed to skip it, so we did not do the Filter Water project...In the broad scheme of things, it just didn't seem important on that day.
ART: We opted to skip the Drawing with Children art assignment for this week and work on a couple of things we'd picked up from Michaels in the mark down section. They seemed cute and fun at the time, but once we opened them it was sort of a fiasco.
First project was a stained glass car! Sounds cool, right? Well, the paint for the stain was awful. Gloppy and gross. We did our best, but it really wasn't very much fun for Caleb.
Then he asked to paint one of the ceramic trucks from the other painting kit we had. Upon opening all the little paint cups - DRY. Every last one of them was dry as a dry can be.
So, as luck would have it we had a plan B. I pulled our Crayola finger-paints off the shelf and he used those instead.
And this was the closing on our week #8 of MFW home school. I'm always encouraged by each day of school. There is so much to learn and Caleb really seems to enjoy it. We still have only had what I would call one really bad day of school. There are some days though where Caleb is dragging his feet and I have to keep asking and encouraging. So, to alleviate that problem I came up with this system after a discussion with my sister-in-law, Kathy, who happens to be a teacher.
I don't know if this is exactly how her system goes, but this is what I do. Caleb gets 3 chances to act right. If I feel I've had to ask too many times, I pull #3. Too much asking again and I pull #2. When he gets to yellow, #1, he knows things aren't good and one more card pulled and he will not get his sticker for the day.
All these colorfully numbered cards are....
Since I have incorporated this system, I've never had to pull a card. I think we've only had two or three occasions were I said, "am I going to have to pull a card?" And right away he straightens up. Because you see, he gets a sticker every day for a good day of school. If his sticker card for the week is full, he gets a small prize. If his sticker card for the month is full, he gets a bigger prize.
Honestly though, out-of-sight out-of-mind. I've only bought one toy "for stickers" since we started this. When he thinks of it, I honor it. ;o)
Off to week #9, which we started already. After one day into it, I can see it's going to be a fun week!!
Walking with the King,
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