School This Week

This week we finished up chapter 1 and started chapter 2 in Weaver Volume 1. It took a few more school days than it is "supposed to", but we have certainly been enjoying ourselves! 

We began making a topographical map of the United States of America-- I got to put my VERY rudimentary map drawing skills to work for this one!

We talked about how Christians are to be a light to the world, a city on a hill. I showed them how putting a candle up high in the room makes the whole room light up, whereas putting it down on the floor makes almost no difference in the darkness.

They made a picture of a light bulb using foil for the filament.

They also made crosses to remind us of heaven.

 The Bible first lesson in Chapter 2 is about the Tower of Babel again. We discussed how the people chose not to obey God, and instead wanted to make a name for themselves. We also talked about how, historically, ziggurats were used as places of worship. So, we went on a trip to see a number of different places of worship! Mainly Christian churches, but we also threw in a synagogue and observed the fact that there were crosses visible on nearly every church, but not at all on the synagogue. We first took them to see a number of more ornate and grand structures in one of the neighbouring communities, so that we would be able to discuss the historic architecture and design, and then we came back to our area, where the churches are far newer and compared the ornamentation of the older churches to the newer churches.

Apparently this "looks like heaven" to our children.

Greek Orthodox church

Jewish synagogue

Week 1 with Weaver

We began using a new curriculum this week. I had been planning to save it until the "new" school year, whenever we began that, but I needed inspiration, the kids needed more to occupy them than asking me to watch The Magic School Bus or to please let them go catch worms for the turtle, so we started using Volume 1 of The Weaver Curriculum. 

In the first unit, the focus in social studies is on the development of civilizations, and the history in the community around you. Therefore, it is suggested that you ought to select some historical sites that may be of interest to your children, and go visit! We started our week with a visit to the location where the Battle of Dam #1, or the Battle of Lee's Mill, took place. 

There wasn't a whole lot to see, but we did sit and sketch the scene anyway.

You can't really tell, but the kids are standing next to one of the earthworks. Lesson learned: specify angle desired when you aren't the one taking the photo.

The first Bible lesson was on the Tower of Babel and how the people disobeyed God and chose to make a name for themselves by using bricks baked in an oven to make them strong, and they were going to do this in order to not be scattered over the earth. We just happened to take a trip later in the week to a place that we actually saw "fired bricks"!

Our next trip took us to visit the old old courthouse, built in 1810, and the oldest government use building in our city,  and the new old courthouse, built in 1884.

Built in 1810, this courthouse has 3 rooms.

The keystone for the 1810 courthouse with the names of those involved in its design and building engraved on it.

You would think they were about to be on trial, based on their expressions, but they actually really enjoyed their outing to the courthouses!

The 1884 courthouse

 The 1884 courthouse was built because the municipal case load had grown too large to be handled in the small 1810 courthouse. The 1810 courthouse became the county clerk's office when the 1884 courthouse opened in 1885.

Another part of the unit focus is on geology, and at this age, the geology we are studying focuses greatly on that which is around us. What sort of land formations are around us, the soil in our neighbourhood, where the highest point in the city is, etc. So... we took a trip to the highest point in our city. A manmade hill. Which isn't even as tall as the trees that grow in the field below it! This is the most popular "sledding hill" in our city, probably because it is the only real hill to my knowledge!

Standing on top of the hill-- they were amazed by this hill. I guess when you live on the coastal plains it doesn't take much!

 Our second Bible lesson was about the parable of the houses built on sandy ground and on a rock. We used popsicle sticks to build houses on sand and on a piece of my old broken baking stone, and used the spray nozzle at the sink to make it rain on each house and its foundation.

Building on the sand.

Building on the rock

Results!

As you can see, the sandy foundation washed out, and the rock stood firm. Point made-- we should build our lives on the solid rock of God instead of the shifting sand of the world. Or at least our houses. They are at a pretty literal age, and took it to heart that we need rocks under our houses. I wonder if they are going to try to dig down under our house's foundation to be sure it is secure... hmmmm.

Anyway, we also went and collected samples of soil and mounted them on a piece of poster board after examining them with magnifying glasses, and when the ground dries out enough to show a difference, we will check out different areas of our yard to determine the best place in our yard to build if we were to build something.

Along with all our activities, we have been reading a book about our state, learning about the symbols of our state, learning about community helpers, reading books about soil, geology, cities, and maps, and generally just enjoying having a lot to keep us busy. Between bouts of vomiting, since we have all been dealing with a stomach virus for a week. It finally seems to have subsided as of yesterday! :)

Preschool

We started Preschool with Rebecca on Monday!

First day of preschool

He's looking so grown up!!

We went for a nature walk on Wednesday, and Rebecca found a "hand" sticking out of the ground! What a shriek came out of her! It was quite funny, but she wouldn't come close enough to take a good look at it... even though it was just a root. :)

Looking at a mushroom

We talked about Heaven being God's home, and how we have an address here where we live, and will eventually live with God in heaven.

Elias started Nursery school this week too, and we've been learning Jesus Loves Me. He took the camera from me trying to see what I was looking at when the camera flips around. He apparently decided it wasn't that interesting, as he gave it back to me. :)

Rainy Day

Rainy days can be long. Especially with little ones to keep out of trouble the whole day! Thankfully, our day started with library story time this morning, which took care of the morning. They do both nap still, so that took the first two hours of the afternoon. The rest of the day though (from around 2pm until 6pm) needed to be filled! And, with lightning and thunder (and thus warnings of cloud to ground strikes), it wasn't wise to entertain them by taking them out in the rain. 

My little lefty :)

We spent some time doing school. Rebecca worked on a counting/colouring sheet, and Elias started working on yellow stuff, so he coloured a crayon yellow with his yellow crayon.

We talked about peanuts and George Washington Carver for Rebecca's school time today, and one of the things we were supposed to do is make peanut butter dough (like playdough) to play with. It's a great idea, especially with Elias involved, because he believes in eating regular playdough. However, we are a peanut free home! We have a peanut allergy!! So, we used sunbutter in place of the peanut butter. As it turns out, sunbutter must be slightly drier than peanut butter, because I had to add extra liquid. We had sunbutter crumble instead of dough! So, a tablespoon of orange juice later, it was ready to go.

And then, when they were tired of playing with and eating their dough, we put it away and exchanged it for coloured noodles, which I had coloured last night. As it turns out, the recipe I was following wasn't nearly as detailed as a recipe I found later on, and I probably would have had much darker, brilliant colours, had I read the second recipe first. However, both children enjoyed it anyway!

The "brown" is actually purple.... it really didn't want to take.

Elias struggled a bit with getting the noodles onto his yarn, so he got a lot of help. He had fun trying, and then every time would look up and say, "Help!"

Rebecca was very focused on making hers work. She loved the activity, and I'm sure she will ask to do it again soon.

Rebecca made a "Noah's Ark" necklace

Elias was very pleased with the results of his (Mummy's) hard work! :)

We also read a number of books which we brought home from the library this morning, and watched the Veggie Tales movie Where is God when I'm S-s-s-s-s-s-scared... and watched a portion of March of the Penguins, because Rebecca wanted a penguin movie to watch.