Final Friday

Why homeschool? What is our purpose?

In the state of Kansas one must register their homeschool as a private learning institution, legally. And that institution needs a name and a purpose. Well, today I had a prompting from the Holy Spirit about our purpose.

After sharing some books this morning, we peddled our 1 mile ride today at the Manner. The kiddos love the freedom and I love the safety! But, to get home again, we passed the home of a widow we know. Miss Margaret. She used to be an active part of our lives when Student was younger. We worked in Weekday Bible School together for the public schools, back in the day. We used to remember her often and visit regularly.

Well, our priorities have somewhere been lost. In comes Final Friday!

In a close-by metropolitan area, Final Friday is a reason to have Art socials, drinking brigades and music played all-through-the-night just to glorify the world. However, our version of Final Friday will be for His glory...the whole purpose of homeschooling. Thus, Final Friday will be our realization to care for orphans and widows. What if this were our Final Friday to complete this service for The Lord? We shall act on this command of our religion today, and each Final Friday we are given.

We will make our way back to Miss Margaret's place and with us bring blessings of music and cards! May Student's music bless all in His name.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Veggie Tales

How did God create girls different than boys? Well, if you are still wondering, and haven't figured it out... 'tis true that girls are talkers and boys are doers.

Student created a puppet theatre today. We reviewed our Literary terms from our Literary Thursday Lesson blogpost. And, this girl student remembered well, but couldn't keep her play under 5 minutes for a video post! Really, if there are characters to introduce, an antagonist to overcome, and a resolution ...well, you see it is all fun, but long! So our family will enjoy some live entertainment once Dad returns!

The puppets are colored oh-so-beautiful with colored pencil that we couldn't get to come through in the picture. But, the characters are full of expression, as Student loves the extra sessions on Veggie Tales videos that teach one to draw the characters. She has had lots of practice!

Our morning 1 mile ride brought us to the local library and we have filled our cabinet with all new books. Toddler was pulling books out ready to get reading right when we returned home. And taking turns with Student, we read a small portion of our pile. Cuddly and warm... not too many times can a Teacher safely read that way in school... just another blessing God has given us through our adventure in homeschooling.

Afterwards, time to splash in the backyard and soak up some sun, our summer day was complete!

Fabric Space

Yes, it is only Wednesday, but when we conjured up this idea, we couldn't wait for Friday! Student completed her seatwork of History, Phonics, Handwriting, Art and Math...so after she read 4, count them, 4 chapters of her first chapter book, Prairie School, we got to work creating her first solar system model.

Solar system of fabric, of course! Student picked the scraps and in the process of putting it together, she endured an iron burn. With the help of an ice pack, the eyes were full of tears, but none were shed.

In History we studied Cain and Abel from Genesis. Student had fun answering the questions, b/c she knows this story so well, it was quite easy. But new to her, was the question:

Who was Adam and Eve's 3rd son?

Other than work, we played in the rain and enjoyed our 1 mile ride in the morning sunlight from above. And during rest time for Teacher and Toddler, Student enjoyed Computer. What a mid-week day!

Student: As you can see, I put blue fabric in the background for the dark outer space. Then, I took the colors of the planets in fabric. Then, I traced them and cut the circles so that the different sizes, not the same size of the planet, but one that a human can see, so the sun was the biggest. You can go on the planet, because it is right there! I got Mercury a little too close to the sun, because we started with Pluto, and so Mercury is on the sun. And the planets are too close in this one.

My favorite part was cutting out the fabric circles. My uncle said to research about Pluto not being a planet anymore...here it is!

Keeping Up

Well, we officially have 6 1/2 weeks til adding to this family, here at homeschool, and there is much to keep up. Student has kept up with her violin, and completed her summer lessons today. She has also kept up with her space facts, and review in Math. And for her Reading seatwork, we have almost completed & emptied those, too.

We will be finishing our curriculum plans with the ordering of a few last supplies this week. Student looks forward to that! New and exciting things always come through the mail!

We have gotten a start on History, Science and Art already. And with a steady climb in Reading, there is much to learn before Fall Break when our addition arrives. Upward and onward, we shall overcome.

In addition to seatwork in Phonics and Writing, there was cutting and gluing to practice sorting. Also, Student had the opportunity to get some Life Skills lessons today from a friend. They repaired a bargain necklace Student bought while scavenging the local sidewalk sales this past weekend with Dad. I can't imagine the great conversations they must have, as Nancy is a part of a family legacy that honors The Lord in all they do. Good friends and family make for good Homeschool!

Student: Cool! I like it when my seatwork shows me how to do it, and it does some of the work for me!

Life Skills

Today was almost our first sick day. With a Teacher tiring faster than usual, and breathing treatments every 3 hours for Student, we fit in just a little homeschool today.

Really, her attendance record was the only thing that she didn't master last year, at Christian School. With her tendency to have a lung infection with each cold, she missed 23 days just in the last 9 weeks! Now, at home, we can do just what there is energy for, and pass the rest onto a day when breathing treatments don't make our schedule for us!

In between resting, and meds, Student worked on life skills today: just one of the grrrreat benefits of homeschooling!

1- Cooperating with Toddler to create a Lite Bright picture

2- Measuring and mixing brownies to enjoy

3- Cleaning all of the gathered dust in her room

4- Entertaining herself with drawing while Teacher has to be on bed rest

5- Multi-tasking

6- Recycling & reusing what we have to embellishing a project to coordinate with the color scheme in her room, as anything having to do with fabric is a valuable life skill!

Student was able to multi-task and practice her skip-counting while dusting. We squeezed in counting backwards, as well. Ending the day with outdoor activity time at the park, we are looking forward to rest for all tonight!

Student: It was fun, but a lot of work to fill in the whole clown picture. The hat was lots of lights working together to make one big color.

In the Garden

Today marked the end of a week, each passing us right through Summer. Where is the time going? We have truly been blessed to have this opportunity to homeschool and get experience before the addition to our family in September.

History moved onto Adam and Eve in the garden. Student spelled and looked up her dictionary search words from our story today:

abundance

cheribum

cleave

transgressor

We talked about the difference, word by word, contrasting God's directions about the Tree of Knowledge, and the Serpant's version of what God said. It is so important to help the next generation understand about Satan's deceptions, and his native tongue of lies. He lied then, and continues to use this language to deceive.

Space facts continue to orbit Student's brain. Our focus was Pluto, and Mercury today. We are 1/4 of the way done with our 100 space facts. We plan to have an Outer Space Open House, so watch for the invite! Student will share and show what she has learned throughout our unit.

Violin, that is another story. We are hitting a rough spot, where Student doesn't desire to practice, and complains most of the way through our sessions. Of course she acts well-mannered for her instructor once a week. But, it is a struggle at home right now. We focus on games and will work on a video for the blog of her latest song: Lightly Row. Maybe this goal will bring back some fun for her!?

Our project, for this Friday, connected to our studying Mercury. Student will account for her crater project.

Student: I put flour on a plate. Then, I took a marble and dropped it and it made a crater in the flour. The first time I dropped the marble from too high, and it was in too deep and it was hard to get out. Mercury's surface was the flour, the marble was a rock, asteroid, hitting the planet.

Wake Up

In the middle of VBS week, Student has been waking up late. Schedule? Not this week!

We began with our 1 mile bike ride in the morning sun and shade. She and Toddler loved going under the highway, they usually don't get to go in that direction, so there wasn't much fuss to keep them going! They have gone 2 miles before, but it was a bit of a struggle. So, this was truly a nice length of ride to help Student wake up today.

Reading goes on and on, faster and faster. Her favorite books take less time to get through, and Toddler requests more and more of her developing reading for his pleasure. She is especially excited about graduating to chapter books. It just sounds so big!

A short review of subtraction, Student says she is ready to move up to double digit subtraction. Those asteroids sure make it fun to do Math. Student does well both with and without the manipulatives, at this point.

To finish our lesson on Creation, in Bible History, an Artwork is included that parallels with the subject, Student did some learning about The Sistine Chapel Frescoes. Her very own version of creation is quite nice! This super site saves her painting and displays it in action, just as she designed it, color by color, stroke by stroke. We love Art.com You can view it here:

http://artpad.art.com/?kn91jc1iai6w

Student: As you can see, mountains that slant down, come forth rocky land. One rock, burst up by the pressure of the Earth, and God is sitting in the middle, and the sky is over His head, as you can see.

More facts about space are lingering in Student's brain, as we are hoping to get all 100 done soon!

Field Day

What can mix-up a hump day with fun and adventure? A day of recreation with Dad.

Aka: principal!

Physical education is always welcomed in our family. Outdoor activities are treasured most, and the weather has been just such a blessing that we have spent much time out doing such. Golf ranks highest among most of the family members, and the cart ranks highest for the other family members! Everyone wins with golf!

And indoor time with Principal? Oh yes, iphone Art, computer time and reading. All done in the ways of a Daddy and his Daughter. Student loves homeschool with Dad, and his perspectives.

Proverbs 17:6 "Children's children are a crown of old men,(grandparents) and the glory of children is their father."

Creation

Today marked the beginning of our Bible History. We began with a short history of the Old Testament, which we drew our dictionary search words from:

Ark of the Covenant

Tabernacle

Student and I had the opportunity to study God creating in Genesis. One of the questions from our lesson was asking about who was present during creation. Another delt with the timing of creation...when did it happen? Was God before and after creation? Her eyes were so big when she described the big bang theory, and how silly it was to think that something just came from nothing. Like a big gust of wind just brought it and it was there and we just live and then one day the world is not here anymore.

Well, her thoughts brought the opportunity for us to discuss purpose, and why we have work to do while we are on Earth, and the focus of this not being our permanent home. What a big Student...what a brain from God...what a precious creation she is, I am honored to be her teacher.

Computer time came both alone and paired with Toddler. Student completed asteroid math focusing on subtraction and skip-counting. And then came her escape...

Violin lesson was today, as well as girls-afternoon-out! A friend came to spend time with Student and together they went to lesson, shared in conversation, art and baking. They created a scrumptious supper for us, as well as this artwork that included a card from Student and her friend. Student's card reads:

"Dear Mom, I love you. Plese help me no wat is best for me."

Yes, she blessed my day. No, my eyes aren't dry.

And the Space Walk Continues...

More Space facts entered the brain, today. Space Math and Reading were included, as well. Student read from #3 in our Sesame Street Series, for adults to read to tots...and she finished the continuation of the Penelope story in #4 volume. We had these books when I was a kid, and NEVER did I read them as quickly as she does. Praise the Lord for her love of reading!

We began our Old Testament History today, with The Children's Illustrated Bible. Maps and timely drawings galore!

This will cover much of the needed History lessons for our first semester, and part of the second. I still haven't figured out when we'll break for American History, it is just a short amount that is required for First grade, not to mention she knows much of it already. But, with the Abeka background Student has, she has fulfilled much of the first grade requirements, and so we are working on second grade also, just to keep up with schedule of her Christian school, if The Lord's plan be to send her back next year.

Introduction to The Bible, was our first lesson, which introduced Student to her Bible Dictionary. We get to look up a few words from our lesson, prior to reading it, to get a preview of our lesson. Today's dictionary word list:

Oracles

Law

Hebrew

Gospel

Student looked up and read the definition to each word. She seems to enjoy this challenge.

We also covered the dead sea scrolls, first Bibles printed on papyrus papers, (which we have a papyrus plant on our side porch, so now student wants to try to make paper:)

and the first authorized Bibles, and the story of the King James version.

Student: I like learning about space.

I learned about some stuff in the Bible. There are 66 books in the Bible. Generation by generation, mouth by mouth, teaching their child, to child, to child, tis was the time when the Bible was not written, so the stories were told this way to their children's children.

3D Earth Model

A cooled, painted, and dried model of the Earth Layers, by Student!

No blue paint in the house, so it must be a polluted day, as the Earth looks green with cloud cover!

Rainy Morn

We should be posting the stats that I have heard most teachers I know quoting on rainy days like these:

"It is proven by research that change in the barometric pressure results in change, and wacky change at that, in children!"

Our Bible Time lesson was telling about hospitality in wealthy homes, of that time. Each drew 6 small pictures of what was described in the story, to help us remember the details. This was a welcomed break from handwriting key words, and sentences! We will be practicing our hospitality tonight when Cousins come over for a sleep over!

There is a bit of sadness, however, as our last lesson from our Bible Time manual was today, and finishing it is bittersweet, at least for Student. We will carry on with Bible each day as our History, chronologically, beginning with Genesis tomorrow.

The rain brought a cool breeze for our lunch picnic, and the shade was oh-so-un-July!

Friday has proven a good day for projects, and trying to stay in that habit, today is salt dough day. We made a 3D model of the Earth and once it cools from cooking, we'll paint on the layers. We made a diagram to denote what each color of layer stands for...what smart first graders! We even have our own song to remember the layers! These kiddos are super!

Pupil: I learned about the solar system and the word I live in. It was in the inside. No, we don't eat laying down at our house, lie the Bible Times.

Student: I made a diagram. It's name was: Earth's Layers. I felt the dough for our Earth ball had texture from the salt. Can't wait to paint it!

Fine Motor SKills

Student had a day without Pupil, so girl-time and cuddly reading prevailed!

We got to pull all the tabs, remove all of the hidden features and read all about minerals today, as part of our Space unit. We practiced looking for items in the dictionary, and easily understood the concept of alphabetical.

And, even more exercise for those First Grade fingers, Student continued on her cross-stitch flower for the baby. She is using the pattern from my Grandmother Darlene's cross-stitch rose quilt on our bed. She has continued a design that has now been through 3 generations! I just love sewing! Could it be anymore rewarding to see her loving the things I love?! Truly, I pray she loves that which our Father loves, and hates that which He hates.

Student: I learned that rubies are found in Burma, and I found it on the globe. I am a mineral! And, strongest, most valuable mineral is diamonds.

Preparing for Feast Day

Our Bible Time lesson was about the preparation for and celebration on, the Sabbath. The key words were:

Chassen

Horn

Sabbath

Ark

Ten

Reader

It has been fun to see the kiddos learn about this History, and then use such terms that are rarely used today. Their vocabulary is expanding! And so is my knowledge! Who ever would have thought that homeschooling would be so enjoyable and mind-expanding for all involved. Wow, I can really see how God has asked us to step up to this challenge, and what blessings have already come from this journey. Can't wait to see what He has in store!

We continued with our Space Facts today, and Space spelling, too. This picture is of Student's spelling list...the letters were truly correct and the spelling was superb!

sun

spot

Earth

moon

Mars

dust

Book Fest

A new load of books has made it's way from the library to the hands of Summer readers! We turned in our reading logs and collected tickets for the free swim party that each kiddo qualified for. Toddler surely gets the award for MOST EXCITED!

We found a pop-up book that was on the "new books" rack and so it is actually in grrreat condition. It is Earthly Treasure which deals with all of the goodies that God hid within our planet when He created it! Our space studies continue.

Computer has been taken over by aliens, with the finding of kidsastronomy.com both Pupil and Student are enjoying this unit, especially Pupil since Star Wars can be talked about and it relates to our subject! He is on cloud nine...or should I say an asteroid? He is always fast moving and enjoys the scenery he flies past.

Student, on the other hand, is slow to enjoy and marinate all of the facts into her brain and invent a mental picture of all we describe of outer space happenings.

Together, they are making a great Summer School team!

Monday, Monday

Math has given much practice for penmanship! Even the numbers have a way of getting progressively BIGGER throughout the course of a lesson. And wild numbers?! Yes, those numbers keep getting wild and appearing backwards...Student figured out in a hurry that if she turns her paper upside-down, then a backwards 3 is instantly correct!

Along with oral counting of yo-yo's on our finished garland, numbers have been all around today. Each made a hypothesis as to the total number of yo-yo's, and Student guessed in the 50's family, and Pupil guessed in the 40's family...and the final count was 75! Our counting by 2's was really confusing the Toddler, though.

Pupil has gotten much joy from finishing his Summer reading goal today! Student will be ready by tomorrow, and we shall have a trip to the local library to turn-in our logs. Now, Toddler is another story...he rarely sits to read unless he is tired. So, we'll just keep him awake as long as it takes to finish his last 7 books!

Yes, we are on Earth, today. But where are our brains? In outer space, of course!

Student: I learned about space. It was fun, my favorite part was learning about how many moons there are and moon families. My 3 favorite planets are Jupiter, Mars, but my favorite is my home, sweet, home, Earth! The sun is a star, I knew that, but not about a black and cold sunspot. The hot, fired gases are orange. That's all I need to say!

Pupil: My favorite part about space was learning about asteroids. One can be big like a mountain, one can be small as piece of dust. They go around the planets quickly. They are a family with the sun. And that's all I have to say!

Project Friday

Student loves Art soooo much, we have tried to schedule Friday for a project each week. She is quick to remind me just what day it is!

Today is a Friday that includes a Birthday Party for the Toddler! So, their chosen media was colored pencil! The poster board of firedog quickly became a rainbow of colors!

We talked about figures, and proportion. They understood the "HEAD" rule pretty well. And this figure, firedog, is 2.5 heads tall!

Math manipulatives and inches closer to our reading goal, these Summer school days are truly buzzing right by!

Outer Space, here we come! Our 100 facts about space begins today...I wonder which they remembered?

Student: I learned about when the sun, moon and earth, line up together...eclipse. And the sun is made of lots of burning gases, and it is not solid. Deep in the middle of the sun is a ball of energy that goes to the surface and moves to the surface and shoot burning rings into space...called prominence.

Pupil: I learned about when the sun and moon line together with the earth. That is called an eclipse. We wrote them on our paper. The sun is a star.

Student in Space

Student has details galore on her super-rocket-ship!

Student: It's a rocket ship from far far away. What I said is a little whistle-like thing: "I'm a little alien..."

My picture is multi-media with crayons and colored pencil strokes.

Outer Space Noise

Summer Pupil has artwork and space noises mastered!

Pupil: I made a picture of a Droid with a Clone Trooper in outer space.

Sweet School

How sweet is homeschool today? Well, in addition to coming only 5 books from their summer reading goal, completing phonics work, and artwork on our new unit on outer space, we have:

semi-sweet chocolate

peanut butter

margarine

vanilla

powdered sugar

rice Chex...

Our Puppy Chow consisted of:

reading the recipe,

measuring the ingredients,

and remeasuring the ingredients,

counting the seconds it cooked,

and

using those fine motor skills for stirring and rolling to coat...

and lastly, review of how we used each of the 5 senses to create such a sweet school today!

Student: We made puppy chow today. I had a good day, too. Today was fun because of my 2 favorites things: tasting the chow and drawing. I drew a flower and princess Leya and a rocket.

Pupil: Today was a fun day. Me and Student we drew Star Wars pictures and I drew a Jetti. And she drew Princess Leya. And that's all. I want my puppy chow!

Baby Swaddling

Our Bible Time Lesson was detailing the steps of bathing and swaddling a newborn. God's timing is soooo perfect! We talked about the differnces, however, of the swaddling blankets then and now...no strings attached these days!

The focus was on the big sister and all the help and pride she feels from helping the mother with the "man-child"! Student had fun picking out her key words and writing them along with her first lesson in cursive handwriting! We are only doing her name in cursive, as she has some more practice to do with her alphabet prior to cursive. But, when the excitement is present, teach, teach, teach!

We also reviewed counting by 2's to 100 on paper and out loud. Computer time will finish up this Monday of summer school.

Student: I like homeschool. It is fun. I like counting by 2's, and my computer time is fun.. I have a new Webkinz pet named Emerald. I liked to swaddle up the baby-doll. That was fun, too. My hypothesis about why the mom's used salt on the baby, was to keep the baby from sucking his thumb. But, really it was to help keep the baby dry in the swaddle cloth.

Camp Allegro

Student has been learning, playing, and witnessing MUCH at camp this week! She has shared about her new friends, that we prayed God would provide, lunchtime discussions and silly snacking in the van on the ride home.

Her newest addition of knowledge was inspired by the scavenger hunt they have each day at camp. They have been looking for a squirrel all week, with little success. But one of Student's fellow campers informed her of much needed cautionary information concerning squirrels:

" If a squirrel bites you, you are sure to get Arby's!"

Good ol' camp, good ol' memories!

Thanks to Grammy for making it possible for Student to attend camp and all it's glories.

Home again, home again, in the evenings! Student's Daddy time has produced new iphone artwork...goes quite well with the Summer rain God has sent for the day.