2012-2013 School Year: Week #9

For some reason I was having such a hard time this week doing school. I think because we had such a big weather change from about 78-80 to now dropping to 69 or so and drizzling, it just made me tired. Overall we got everything done we were supposed to.

In Art this week we learned how to weave, but not with construction paper. No we used yarn, grass, feathers and cotton etc. The projects turned out real pretty and the kids really enjoyed working with these types of materials and learning how to weave more than paper. The best part about this one is I was able to participate with them and help them. Whenever we do drawing projects I just sit there and watch or draw my own project, but I like to help!

For Bible we finished up our stories of Moses starting with continuing the last of the 10 plagues. Just wait till you see their drawing of the last 5. We were able to see how God worked in the lives of the Egyptians especially in the miracle of the crossing of the Red Sea. We also learned that complaining or going to false gods may cause us more harm then just relying on the one true God (or our parents). We also read about Balaam and Balak and that whole story. What a lesson about really paying closer attention to what God tells us to do. As one example in the story, here is a man who is so ready to beat the snot out of his donkey without ever wondering what the reason was for the donkey to disobey him. Until he finds out that the donkey was not trying to be bad.  Parents,’ good lesson for us. Sometimes we scream or overreact before we ever find out the reasons for something. Anyway, the kids enjoyed this story since it was a lesson not only for them but for me too. J Their pictures are pretty cute too.

Continental Shelf was our Geography lesson this week as well as starting to read about South America. My daughter was on a rebellious streak Thursday so as you can see by her drawing, there is NONE! She hated the idea that I took a picture of it, but I told her if this is the work you want to submit to me, then it will be the work that will get put onto the blog. She wrote the words and that was it. But my son did a great job on his shelf. Just look at the reef and the deep sea fish etc. Very cute!

In History we finished up our Ancient Africa study by having fun with our history project which was drawing our hand. You see the Ancient African people use to paint their hands and bodies. Probably still do in some areas. Anyway, we traced our hands onto paper and then using mostly geometric shapes drew a design onto our hands and colored them. I love both my kids, but for some reason the colors my son used really appeal to me. I told him I want a shirt in those colors.

For the other part of our history study we learned about the Middle Kingdom of Egypt. Very interesting. I have read about this before, but actually this was the first time I have really understood the difference between the Old, Middle and New Kingdoms of Egypt. I get it and since I really got it so did the kids. Our art project for history was making gold bracelets just like the Egyptians wore. Well actually they were toilet paper rolls cut in half and painted with gold paint and then they painted a design on them. They turned out real cute!

Science was all about finishing up our study on pollination. I really loved this subject. There was so much to learn and so many creation confirmations in just this one area of Botany. We went ahead and used our light hut that we made in lesson 1 and planted some butterfly seeds. Maybe if we can really get them to grow we can do a container for the butterflies and this coming spring we can have a bunch of butterflies visiting our home. That would be very nice.

Math went well this week for both kids. Actually since we have calendar time in the am, part of that time is having my daughter set the clock to the actual time. So math this week was all about time. Easy cheesy for her. And my poor son still struggles with math. We are taking it slow this year and not a ton of pressure. We will probably end up about a 1/2 a year behind or so, but it will be worth it in the long run if I can get him to relax and just soak it in.

One of the other things we have been doing is learning where all the states are. We are up to 32 states now. My son has all 32 and my daughter has about 28 of them. Not bad. Once we get all 50 then we go to flash cards and learn their shape. Uugghh@!

Anyway, that’s it for this week. Have a great week. See you next weekend!