Nature Study- Mushrooms

We were walking through the yard and stumbled across this patch of mushrooms. Christopher and Sammy decided we should pick them and cook them for daddy as a surprise. I decided that it was tome for a lesson about mushrooms. So I printed off a little mushroom lesson booklet, picked some mushrooms, and we began our study. The kids also drew mushrooms for their notebooks. It was a really simple lesson but was really fun. http://www.americanmushroom.org/workbook.pdf

*Never pick wild mushrooms except for scientific study and ALWAYS under adult supervision.

Weekly Wrap Up–The One Where We Get It

I have no Rows to share with you this week, but that’s not because we didn’t do anything. We did a lot. This week I spent some time really getting back to the heart of why we homeschool, and what we want out of it. It was a wonderful week, so I thought I would share it with you.

Every morning this week the kids would get up and get in my bed and we would watch two episodes of Little House on the Prairie. There were many great discussions that came about during these shows. Best of all there was lots of snuggling.

* Spending quality time with my kids is one of those things I like to take full advantage of. Homeschooling for us opens the door for opportunities I would not have otherwise.

 

My boys spent time building forts, and watching educational video’s together on the iPad.

*I love that my boys have the opportunity to develop a relationship on a different level. They don’t always get along due to the age difference, but moments like this are priceless to me.

We enjoyed some great Gluten Free and Healthy food. What better way to talk about the affects that food has on our bodies, and to develop healthy habits? We had some great discussions during our meal times. We even discussed in much more detail how Celiac is apart of our family, and how that does not stop us from eating good healthy food.

*I was blessed by our many meal time discussions, and we were able to have them three times a day. That is a huge blessing to me.

 

We took our learning outside. I wish I had more photo’s, but I was busy enjoying our games. This particular day we made a Sight Word hopscotch board for Christopher. He had a blast with this, and sis great with the words. Sammy was upset because he couldn’t read the words, so Hailey had the idea to make a shapes hopscotch. Just look how much fun he is having.

*Several things happened during our time outdoors that day. My kids had the opportunity to learn without losing their love for learning. My son read words with ease. My daughter used problem solving skills, and made her little brother very happy. We laughed, and played, and learned. The learning was natural not forced.

We did science right after dinner with Daddy. Christopher learned new words, and worked on his hand strength at the same time. Hailey wrote a story (this is a big deal) and performed it for us with a wonderful puppet show.

*Involving the whole family in our learning experiences is a HUGE reason why we homeschool. We get to experience successes together, and learn together.

 

We spent our mornings, Afternoons, and nights, in the word of God.

*This is probably the most important thing we did this week, and one of the most important reasons we chose to homeschool.

My cup runs over. I love my kids. I love this life that the Lord has blessed me with. Thank you Lord. 

Somewhere in there we did complete our regular school assignments, but it all came naturally.

FIAR- The Clown of God

There are things I liked and did not like about this book. Had it not been a FIAR selection it’s not a book I would have hosen myself. We did not do a lot with this book but we had fun doing what we did. The book is about a little orphan boy who can do something special. He can juggle. He makes a great life for himself juggling. When he is old he goes home to his old town, and finds shelter in a monastery. His last moments of life are spent juggling to the glory of God. (well, I think that’s point they were trying to make, and that is how I presented it to my children) This book is dripping with religious preference. I don’t really feel that my younger children are really ready to learn about religious theology other than what we believe, so I simply did not get into all of that. I did talk with my older daughter about a few of the questions she had. The littles didn’t ask questions, so it was a non issue. If you should wonder if you should row this book, I would strongly suggest that you read it first and decide for yourself  if you feel it is appropriate.

Math: 1st – 10th place

This book talks about the order in which the clown juggles his colored balls. So I thought this was a good time to really talk about this and make sure that Christopher understood. I laid out colored tiles and would ask him to point to the 6th tile, or the 10th tile etc. he did a great job.

Language Arts: Building sentences, Folk Tale, ow as in clown, ow as in sow, Rhymes with Clown 

We already had the colored tiles out so I thought we would build some sentences 

We got out our phonics cubes and did a little phonics work.

This book is a folk tale. It is based n a true story or event, but the story was embellished to make it more interesting. We talked a bit about other stories we had that fit this category,

Social Studies/Bible/History: What is an orphan and what does the bible tell us to do?, Ways to give glory to God

The clown in this book is an orphan boy. We talked a bit about what that meant, then we read a book we have call The Train to Somewhere (this is a folk tale). At the end of the book The Train to Somewhere it tells a bit of the history of the Orphan Train. We read that and talked about it.

“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27

We talked about different ways that we can care for orphans. we also talk a but about adoption and how Christopher and Hailey came to live with us.

Geography: Italy , Idaho

We did not do a big Study of Italy. However the kids did look it up in their big Geography book. Hailey read everything the book said about Italy. We talked about how Italy looks like a boot, and then we looked at out map of the USA and they found the state that looks like a book IDAHO. They colored their Color the States Idaho page. (sorry no pics.)

Food: Alphabet Soup

In this book the little orphan boy juggles for soup. When I asked what type of soup they would like to make they said, “Alphabet soup” so that’s what we did. It worked out well since this book is based in Italy.

Memory Making: Juggling Clowns

 

The first thing we did was watch a youtube video of Juggling, then I painted their faces like clowns (scary clowns) and let them try to juggle.

I was going to spare you the up close scary clown photo’s, but Hailey says I must post them.

Choo Choo

This week we did not row any books, we simple did our other studies, and read books, and played outside. It was a great week. Yesterday, we went to a train museum with a support group that I lead. The kids all has a blast. It was a great way to end the school week.

FIAR- The Story about Ping

The Story About Ping is a book about a little duck who runs from consequences. he felt like hiding would be better then facing them. In the long run he found himself all alone, and in danger. Through the kindness of a little boy, he was given another chance to find his home. He did and had to face consequences, but he found his home and found that it was better to face them  than to run away.

Math: Addition, Finding how many years have past, Subtraction

This book was written in 1933. I wanted to show him how we could figure out how old this book was. I went ahead and had Hailey work this problem on her own, but I knew that Christopher is not quite ready for this type of problem (Carrying, Barrowing etc.) so I simply walked him through the basic concept of how to set this problem up, and gave him the answer.

 

For other math we talked about Ping’s large family. His Mother, Father, Sisters, Brothers, Aunts, Uncles, and Forty-two cousins. So we added them together, and then really practiced adding groups of numbers together. We did several pages in his Singapore math 1A book.

Geography: Yangtze river, Mississippi River, China, Mississippi

  

This story takes place on the waters of the Yangtze River. We located the river in our big geography book. The kids read facts about the river, and highlighted it in our book. Yangtze River is the largest river in China. We are focusing much of our geography studies on America this year, so I decided we would talk about the Mississippi River. The fourth largest river in the world. The kids thought it was really neat that the Mississippi river touched 10 different states.   Minnesota,Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana. I had the kids choose which state we would focus on, and they chose Mississippi. They colored the My State Coloring book page, and learned about the capital, flower, bird, and a little state history.

As a surprise we received a package from Sam and Sophia from China (little passports). We went ahead and opened it as it fit nicely with the theme of this book.

Literature: What is a classic?, Fiction, Story Elements

The Story About Ping is considered a classic. I talked to the kids about what make a classic a classic. We talked about how generations of children have enjoyed this story including their grandparents.  I talked to the kids about other books that we had that were considered classics. Then we talked about Story Elements, and made a story map. (Characters, Setting, Problem, Solution)

“Once upon a time there was a beautiful young duck named Ping.” – The Story About Ping

Not only is this book a classic, it is also a fairy tale. I had seen this awesome Fairy Tale unit on Mrs. Terhune’s First Grade Site, and was waiting for an opportunity to use it. This seemed like as good of time as any. We only did one of the activities found in the unit, but the kids learned and enjoyed.

Language Arts: Writing a fairy tale, ing family,

We tied language arts in with our literature study. I had Hailey and Christopher write a short fairy tale about a duck. Then I had them Draw one picture to illustrate their story. I also did a little bit of Phonics using ing words.

Science/Social Studies: Water Safety, Buoyancy (Sink, Float) 

There is a part of this story where there is a little boy with a barrel tied to his back as a life preserve. This opened up a great opportunity to talk about water safety. We read a little book we had and talked about ruled around water and the pool. This was also a great opportunity to do a Sink/Float activity and talk about why the barrel on the boys back floated.

 

We all know that where there is a bucket of water there will be splashing and fun. The boys were very inventive in their play.

Bible:

There was a lot to talk about in this lesson, so we tied this story in to several of our nightly devotions.

Night 1: “A wise son heeds his Father’s instructions, but a mocker does not respond to rebukes” Proverbs 13:1

Night 2: Jonah and the Whale- Jonah ran from God’s instruction.

Night 3- Blessed is the man who is patient under trial and stands up under temptation, for when he has stood the test and been approved, he will receive [the victor's] crown of life which God has promised to those who love Him. James 1: 12

Hymn: Trust and Obey

I have truly enjoyed my time teaching Christopher Hymns. We crawl up on the couch just me and him and snuggle a bit while we listen to and sing the Hymn of the week. It’s just a special time for me and him.

Art: Pastels and Baby Oil, Water, Scenery

in this art lesson we talked about different ways to draw water. We then looked at the pictures in the book and picked out a scene that we liked. We used baby oil  and oil pastels to create a water color look. I drew my picture first. It’s a bit all over the place, because I was teaching them how to draw different pieces of scenery. Hailey tried to copy me, Sammy only wanted to use baby oil (ha), and Christopher made a red sky because he said that the sky was angry.

Memory Making: Chinese Meal

I’ll be honest, I’m finding it difficult to do these special dinners for our rows Gluten Free. But, that is what the kids ask for. Special meals. For this special meal we went with a Chinese theme because we touched on duck being a delicacy in China. NO we did not eat duck. We picked up some Gluten Free past, rice and sauces, and my husband mad a wonderful stir fry. The kids made paper lanterns and we used those as table decorations.