I have decided I am going to participate in the 52 books in 52 weeks challenge.
I am not sure how this will go, but I am going to give it a shot. I will try and blog about the books I read. I will give you fair warning though, I tend to like an eclectic mix of books. I like books by Christian Fiction authors, biographies, children's books and classics, with the occasional non-fiction book about animals thrown in for good measure.
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Weekly update for the week of 12/13/2010
This was our last week before taking a 2 week break and what a fantastic week it was. I was amazed at all the fun things we did this week in CTC.
In Science N. is absolutely loving "Birds of the Air". In fact he gets a little distracted during school looking out the window and identifying different birds. He decided this week to start painting and drawing some birds on his own after school was done. This is huge for him. Here is a Cardinal he painted and I just love it.
He also did a great job on his notebooking page this week.
He finished his last weeks science experiment this week. He put eggs in Vinegar 3 days and it dissolved the shells. He knew this would happen since he had done it before. We talked about the fact that the egg also became swollen due to water passing through the membrane. Then he put the eggs in corn starch for 3 days. He then saw how the water passed back out through the membrane.
For his science experiment this week he and his sister tried catching "flys" (cheerios) with different types of beaks. It was pretty funny to watch.
In History he finished his picture of the Hanging gardens of Babylon. He took 2 days to color it and I was proud of the effort he put into it.
History project was a cookie replica of the statue in Nebuchadnezzars dream. This project was a hit with the entire family. He then used the cookie to talk about the different kingdoms each color represented and how God gave this dream way before some of the kingdoms ever existed.
We finished reading Jonah in storytime and are now reading Esther. Also moved from learning about the Assyrians to reading about Babylon and the Medes and Persians.
Their poetry painting this week was a snowy scene, which was appropriate since we had 2 snow storms this week.
N. said on Friday-what a fun week! He was right. Perfect week to end on before Christmas.
In Science N. is absolutely loving "Birds of the Air". In fact he gets a little distracted during school looking out the window and identifying different birds. He decided this week to start painting and drawing some birds on his own after school was done. This is huge for him. Here is a Cardinal he painted and I just love it.
He also did a great job on his notebooking page this week.
He finished his last weeks science experiment this week. He put eggs in Vinegar 3 days and it dissolved the shells. He knew this would happen since he had done it before. We talked about the fact that the egg also became swollen due to water passing through the membrane. Then he put the eggs in corn starch for 3 days. He then saw how the water passed back out through the membrane.
For his science experiment this week he and his sister tried catching "flys" (cheerios) with different types of beaks. It was pretty funny to watch.
In History he finished his picture of the Hanging gardens of Babylon. He took 2 days to color it and I was proud of the effort he put into it.
History project was a cookie replica of the statue in Nebuchadnezzars dream. This project was a hit with the entire family. He then used the cookie to talk about the different kingdoms each color represented and how God gave this dream way before some of the kingdoms ever existed.
We finished reading Jonah in storytime and are now reading Esther. Also moved from learning about the Assyrians to reading about Babylon and the Medes and Persians.
Their poetry painting this week was a snowy scene, which was appropriate since we had 2 snow storms this week.
N. said on Friday-what a fun week! He was right. Perfect week to end on before Christmas.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Weekly update for the week of 12/6/2010
This week seemed to fly by. N. continued in CTC and started some new books so that is always fun. In Science he started "Birds of the Air". He really, really likes this book. I wasn't sure what he would think since it doesn't have a lot of colorful pictures. He reads his pages and then does a good job orally narrating or answering questions about the reading. We have several bird feeders that he can see from our dining room/school room window and he is having a great time identifying the birds he sees. We found an app for his Ipod that has various birds and bird sounds on it. They are realistic enough to get the cats excited when he turns it on. We have a dear friend who loves birds and just moved to Kansas so he is going through and finding birds that she has that we don't.
In Geography of the Bible lands he just started learning about Egypt. He learned about the Sinai peninsula this week.
In storytime we finished God King and are now reading through the book of Jonah. He loves this book of the bible. In his independent history reading he continues to read about the Assyrians. For his history project we made a prayer box. I say we because he just couldn't figure out how to fold it and honestly either could I. This is the first history project that I almost gave up on, but finally we figured it out. Once it was made he did enjoy learning about A.C.T.S. prayer and spending some quiet time praying using the A.C.T.S. pattern. Also for history this week he started the Draw and Write through history. He did one of these last year and he enjoyed it, but there was no way with his shaky hands that he could draw the pictures, instead he would trace them. This weeks assignment was to draw the Hanging gardens of Babylon. He determined that with his mechanical pencil he could follow the directions and do it. I know beyond a shadow of a fact that God honored his determination, because he drew something that is far beyond anything he has ever been able to draw before. I had to walk out of the room and shed some tears.
One other fun thing we did this week that tied in with our studies was to go to a "Night in Bethlehem" that a local church was doing. They have their entire church decorated as a Jewish marketplace. You put on biblical clothing when you enter and then the market place had things like the pottery shop, the stone mason, the metal shop, hebrew school etc where they had activities for the kids. Of course the Roman guards and the tax collectors are there also. The shepherds then came into the city to tell what the angels told them and we followed them out to hear the angel choir and then to the nativity scene with live animals. N. loved all of this because it brought all his history from this year to life. I couldn't have planned a better activity for him.
In Geography of the Bible lands he just started learning about Egypt. He learned about the Sinai peninsula this week.
In storytime we finished God King and are now reading through the book of Jonah. He loves this book of the bible. In his independent history reading he continues to read about the Assyrians. For his history project we made a prayer box. I say we because he just couldn't figure out how to fold it and honestly either could I. This is the first history project that I almost gave up on, but finally we figured it out. Once it was made he did enjoy learning about A.C.T.S. prayer and spending some quiet time praying using the A.C.T.S. pattern. Also for history this week he started the Draw and Write through history. He did one of these last year and he enjoyed it, but there was no way with his shaky hands that he could draw the pictures, instead he would trace them. This weeks assignment was to draw the Hanging gardens of Babylon. He determined that with his mechanical pencil he could follow the directions and do it. I know beyond a shadow of a fact that God honored his determination, because he drew something that is far beyond anything he has ever been able to draw before. I had to walk out of the room and shed some tears.
One other fun thing we did this week that tied in with our studies was to go to a "Night in Bethlehem" that a local church was doing. They have their entire church decorated as a Jewish marketplace. You put on biblical clothing when you enter and then the market place had things like the pottery shop, the stone mason, the metal shop, hebrew school etc where they had activities for the kids. Of course the Roman guards and the tax collectors are there also. The shepherds then came into the city to tell what the angels told them and we followed them out to hear the angel choir and then to the nativity scene with live animals. N. loved all of this because it brought all his history from this year to life. I couldn't have planned a better activity for him.
Friday, December 3, 2010
Weekly update for the week of 11/29/2010
After taking a week off for Thanksgiving we were back at it this week. Overall we had a really good week. We did find out that N. had had a broken arm for a week that the doctors somehow missed on the x-ray. He is still able to do school with it though since it is in a sling and he is able to take it off for school.
The kids didn't complain at all about getting back to work. N. finished week 14 of CTC. In Poetry he read my favorite poem by Robert Frost "A Road Not Taken". He and S. painted their watercolors to go with it. He also performed the poem for his dad.
In Geography he finished studying about Israel, so today we ate Bagels and Cream Cheese and prayed for the Israeli people.
In Science he finished Land Animals of the Sixth Day. He really enjoyed this book, well all but this last chapter. It was on parasites and different types of worms like hookworm and trichinosis etc. He was very grossed out by it all. For our Science experiment we didn't have any live worms so we watched a lab online that showed what a mealworm does when cold water hits it.
In Drawn Into the Heart of Reading he is doing the Humorous Genre and finished Tales of Dust River Gulch today. Next week he will read More Tales from Dust River Gulch.
In History he is studying the Assyrians. It was great how our Storytime reading ties in so well with his history reading and his bible reading. From reading "The God King" he understands how cruel the Assyrians were. So now when he found out that Ninevah was the capitol of Assyria he realized why Jonah didn't want to go to Ninevah. We also talked about how amazing it was that God wanted to show mercy to the Assyrians after all they had done and what that means for how God wants to show mercy to us, even if we mess up.
One big discovery this week was something that is dramatically helping his writing. Normally he uses an adapted pencil that he calls his rocket pencil. This week he decided to use one of his sisters mechanical pencils. He came to me all excited to show me the difference in his writing. I must say it is amazing. The place it is helping the most is in math. He has a terrible time lining his numbers up and reading his writing so he makes calculation mistakes. Well now he doesn't do that.
The first picture is his best writing with his rocket pencil and the second picture is with the mechanical.
His cursive also looks so much better, even though he is writing with a broken arm.
His history project this week was a mosaic. Coloring and drawing will never be his strength, but he enjoyed this project anyway.
The kids didn't complain at all about getting back to work. N. finished week 14 of CTC. In Poetry he read my favorite poem by Robert Frost "A Road Not Taken". He and S. painted their watercolors to go with it. He also performed the poem for his dad.
In Geography he finished studying about Israel, so today we ate Bagels and Cream Cheese and prayed for the Israeli people.
In Science he finished Land Animals of the Sixth Day. He really enjoyed this book, well all but this last chapter. It was on parasites and different types of worms like hookworm and trichinosis etc. He was very grossed out by it all. For our Science experiment we didn't have any live worms so we watched a lab online that showed what a mealworm does when cold water hits it.
In Drawn Into the Heart of Reading he is doing the Humorous Genre and finished Tales of Dust River Gulch today. Next week he will read More Tales from Dust River Gulch.
In History he is studying the Assyrians. It was great how our Storytime reading ties in so well with his history reading and his bible reading. From reading "The God King" he understands how cruel the Assyrians were. So now when he found out that Ninevah was the capitol of Assyria he realized why Jonah didn't want to go to Ninevah. We also talked about how amazing it was that God wanted to show mercy to the Assyrians after all they had done and what that means for how God wants to show mercy to us, even if we mess up.
One big discovery this week was something that is dramatically helping his writing. Normally he uses an adapted pencil that he calls his rocket pencil. This week he decided to use one of his sisters mechanical pencils. He came to me all excited to show me the difference in his writing. I must say it is amazing. The place it is helping the most is in math. He has a terrible time lining his numbers up and reading his writing so he makes calculation mistakes. Well now he doesn't do that.
The first picture is his best writing with his rocket pencil and the second picture is with the mechanical.
His cursive also looks so much better, even though he is writing with a broken arm.
His history project this week was a mosaic. Coloring and drawing will never be his strength, but he enjoyed this project anyway.
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