Week in Review {February 8-12, 2016}

I haven't been doing my regular week-in-reviews, as we have switched some curriculum around and tried some new things. I was doing different posts for each child's week-in-review, and I just can't do that anymore! So I'm going to try something a little different this week, and do a family week in review. :-)

We incorporate family learning in our homeschool, and we started using a new curriculum two weeks ago called BiblioPlan: Ancient History.  We are enjoying it thoroughly! The past two weeks we have read about Creation, the Fall of Man, and Noah. We learned about the Fertile Crescent, the Nile River flooding, and mummification. There are maps each week {even Silas and Mercie have been filling out the maps!}, copy-work, and creative writing prompts. We have made several notebook pages {I let the kids make them however they want; we use blank paper} and defined vocabulary words. We read from the BiblioPlan Ancients Companion, the Story of the World - Volume 1, and the Bible.

{Notebooking page with the rainbow; Fertile Crescent copy-work; mapping; Noah's family tree; mapping; and timeline.}

We are reading a book called "Timna" - it's a fictional story based on the Biblical account of Noah and the Flood. It is told from the point of view of a young girl named Timna {Shem's wife}, and two dogs who "stowaway" on the ark. The kids are enjoying it!

 

 

 For science, we have been reading Usborne First Nature: Trees. We read a page or two a day and then draw in our nature study sketchbooks. Even I have a sketchbook! The kids like to see me drawing; it makes them want to draw more and write more information. This is what we are using for science right now, although Mikaela does her own science. She is reading from the book "It Couldn't Just Happen!", learning how and why the earth and life could not have just come into existence. There has to be a Creator! It's a really interesting book.

{Some of the kid's nature study journal pages - evergreen leaves, the root system and how deciduous leaves fall off of trees.}

The kids are plugging away in math. Silas started using Math U See {Primer} this week, as we are reviewing it for the Crew. Mercie is still using Singapore 2B, working on her multiplication by 5's. Eli is using Life of Fred: Fractions, and Mikaela is using Principals of Mathematics.

Mercie and Eli picked up their Rod and Staff grammar books again this week {really, it's such a simple grammar program that we always come back to!}, and we do most of it orally. Mikaela is still using Easy Grammar and Daily Grams, but for 8th grade, she will use Rod and Staff.

 

Silas started using Logic of English: Foundations A {another review product}. It is such a wonderful phonics program that uses many different learning methods to teach sounds and blending. He loves it and it doesn't take us long at all.

Mercie, Eli and Mikaela completed another lesson on Here to Help Learning {an online writing program that is fantastic.}

We are also reviewing Grapevine Bible Studies, which is stick-figuring through the Bible. The kids think it's loads of fun!

Mikaela and Eli worked on their US Elections lapbook a few days this week. We are learning so much about the election process, which is so timely with this being an election year.

We did not "row" any books this week, but we plan to do "Lentil" in two weeks with Mercie and Silas. It is too much to do a Before Five in a Row book and a Five in a Row book in one week.

We made a trip to library, and the kids got a variety of books.

We will be leaving next Thursday for North Carolina for several months. I have already found the library, a children's museum, and an aquarium in the town we will be staying in. There are a lot of things for the kids to do, including a Lego Club at the library!

Our most teachable moment this week was during nature study: we were reading about seeds and the book featured a chestnut seed. We have two chestnut trees in our yard, and the kids had a blast finding the prickly chestnut seed pods {and getting a few "pricklies" stuck in their hands}. They are good for shade, but you have to be careful walking with sandals on! We have all had a "prickly" in our feet or hands before, and they hurt!

{chestnut seed pod - very prickly!}

 We also examined some of the pine trees in our backyard, and looked for pinecones to no avail. We found a "baby" pine tree and talked about how it grew from a seed from the pinecone!

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