Weekly memory verse - "Fear of man will prove to be a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is kept safe." Proverbs 29:25
Bible stories for the week: David & Goliath, David Has an Enemy & Friend, Solomon, and Israel Splits into Two Countries
Reading rules for the week: "-er" and "-est" and "r" spelled "wr" and "m" spelled "mb"
BIBLE ACTIVITIES: We talked about David this week and it was known how much he loved to play the harp as well as other instruments, and he even loved to sing. He wrote many songs to God. With that in our minds we made a very simple Lyre out of a plastic hanger and rubber bands.
Once done, we hung it up in our classroom to remember the fun we had that day, giggling that it really wasn't going to sound like a harp.
Making Jewels:
With our study of King Solomon, we made a crown with jewels, since King Solomon was a very rich man. We squirted glue on a sheet of aluminum foil and waited for the glue to dry.
Then we colored the jewels with markers - making them nice and bright!!
The crown was made from a file folder and we covered it with more aluminum foil.
Then Caleb attached the jewels, placing them in the perfect spots!!
Two minutes before I was about to hit "send" and submit this blog post, Caleb decided he did want his picture taken with his crown on. So, here you go.....
We had a visitor in our home school today. It's always fun when we have visitors. Makes the day a little more fun than normal. Today we had - Super Monkey!
He tended to get himself in a little bit of trouble though.....
TIMELINE REVAMPING: This week we added King Solomon and the dividing of Israel and Judah to our timeline. We also decided to take our timeline down from resting along the edge of the shelf in our classroom. I thought about it some and realized that I would prefer that our timeline be a more hands-on item and something we can put on our bookshelf and pull out when we need to reference it. So, at the recommendation of another MFW user, we taped together multiple file folders, cutting off the edges and moved our timeline pieces onto it. I think this is going to work a whole lot better for us.
MATH: I honestly do not want to look back to see if I've mentioned this already. Call it lazy, or call it better management of time. It's okay, really. Call it whatever you like. The point I'd like to really make is that I've not felt we've done our best in math for the 2nd part of the school year. During this time we were supposed to repeat at a higher level what was done for the 1st half of the year. I recently realized that, as the teacher, I needed something a little more structured. Since I already had our 2nd grade material on the shelf, AND since we're starting in the beginning of that curriculum, I decided there really wasn't a single thing getting in the way of us just starting that math program. I think it will give him a much better foundation. It has assigned textbook and workbook pages for each lesson. So far, we're loving it!!
This math curriculum is called, Singapore Math, for the very reason it was developed in Singapore. The word on the homeschool street is that it is a more challenging math and not all kids are geared the way these math concepts are taught. But, MFW recommends it, so that is where we are going to start. If it appears that Caleb is struggling with the way math is taught, then we will switch to something else. There are many really good programs out there. Finding the right one for your child is the challenging part. Let me say again though, Caleb really seems to "get" it so far.
SCIENCE: This weeks science project is from our Science with Water book, and involves Water Power. I thought it would be fun for dad to work on this lesson with us, so I'll post the results of that activity at a later date.
IN CLOSING: I cannot believe our school year is rapidly coming to a close. We only have 10 more books of the bible to talk about and t10 more days of work in our student work book - otherwise known as the "bluebook" at our house, and Caleb's least favorite thing to do each day. We closed out the week with number of the day being 90 (and 10 more days until 100 days of school.) Coincidence that all these items have 10 left? I think not!! It's all part of the MFW Plan. ;o) When those items that are down to ten are completed does that mean our school year is over? Ummm, no. From that point forward things will change a little bit. We will begin our study of the New Testament. Caleb will be asked to read from his bible reader every day instead of every other day. He will also be asked to come up with summary sentences for his bible notebook every day instead of every other day. Our science will turn from science with water to science with plants. Should be interesting as we have a family garden and Caleb has already been very involved in that process helping his dad. It is also at this time that we will hit math pretty hard and go over all the reading rules and set those in stone before our year is over.
I'm only going to allow a couple of weeks break and then we'll roll right into 2nd grade. I'd like to start in June instead of waiting until August this year. I think it would be great to go with a year-round schedule simulating Randy's year-round school schedule. That way when Randy is here for a break from school, Caleb and I can take a break as well and not have to do school with him here. We can all break together and have a good time!
As always I ask for prayer. I'm not embarrassed to do so. The month of March continued to be a struggle on the home school front. In my heart I'm committed, but when a 6 yr old decides they don't want to school it can make for some very long and exhausting home school days. I began to question whether this was something I could really continue to do. The season of ugly, which is what I've decided to call it, came to a close when the principal stepped in and had a talk with the student. Nothing like a bit of counsel to help one get straightened out. It was almost precious really. One of those man to man type talks. No raised voices, no belittling of the little guy, none of that. I am ever so proud of our principal for his clear thoughts and judgement. We've had good days since that talk and I am SOOOO grateful. I really wanted to do Adventures in MFW for 2nd grade. It looked like so much fun. I was beginning to have visions of Caleb in Skidmore ISD and me at home doing MFW 2nd grade all by myself!!
Walking with the King,
Pam
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