Guest Tuesday

When did these kids get so technologically-advanced?

Our homeschool day started with a bike ride to the neighborhood park. Quite the experience at an evos park. http://www.gerberleisure.com/EXPAGES/EVOS.asp

This is our newest city attraction, and built right in our area! This park claims to give kids mental and physical challenges during their "play". However, during our bike ride there, the kiddos did succeed in the high-tech satisfaction of pumping their arms at diesel drivers and obtaining a honk or two!

After their engaging play, we skip-counted and enjoyed snack at the picnic table in the morning shade. Counting by 4s was the number choice today, as Guest Pupil was hoping to work on her multiplication facts of 4.

We pulled out the Old Skool Math games just to throw off our Guest! We began with homemade flashcards for our Guest to fine-tune her Multiplication. Student loved to help her practice and then switch and work on her place value flashcards. After all of the giggle-filled learning, we moved along to the FIRST MULTIPLIER. This handy tool pictured above in the first picture, was used by Guest Pupil's father in his days of learning. Afterall, it's all in the family, with homeschool!

They loved the colors, use of both hands and the noises of the sliding parts...all things missed out on with computers. And the other moving-part Math game? Well, SKILL BALL, straight outta the 50s. It is metal and requires one to crouch onto the floor to roll the ball in three turns and add up the end score. They love learning away from the table/desk! Anything to get their bodies moving and grooving for learning!

Back at the table, we continued with History from Genesis ch. 11. Searching the maps and globe, we located the area where The Tower of Babble was in The Mesopotamia. Guest was fascinated to have free reign of the globe and find all that she could with no time limit, like at school.

Next, the kiddos looked up their key words and took their best guess at defining them prior to reading the dictionary version. This is fun for everyone, and always makes a good read on the blog!

Guest Pupil:

Envy: an ivy type

Ziggurat: a rat type

Babylon: babbles

Student:

Envy: poisonous

Ziggurat: unkind

Babylon: a city

Finishing up with reading and Space facts, we enjoyed having our Guest before she starts school this week. Summer School is drawing to an end.

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.