Our Week in Review

Workboxes

We had a great last-week-of-school using our workboxes! Here are just a few shots of some things the children did. C enjoyed doing a page each day from the Thinker Doodles book put out by The Critical Thinking Company. In this book only half of the animal is shown on each page, and the student must draw the mirror image of each one. I have had this book for years, but thanks to workboxes we are actually using it now! C had a lot of fun with these.



Daughter G doing playful patterns with Little Man.


After my brilliant idea of putting most of Little Man's activities into his siblings' workboxes for focused time together, I had a second brilliant idea to have our daughter plan some of her own activity times with Little Man, just as she used to do with her brother C. So one day this book was in one of her envelopes, along with a note that said, "plan activity to do with Little Man".


She was responsible for choosing and preparing an activity to do together. She chose a really neat one involving planting seeds in a cut off 2 liter bottle. The top third of the bottle got turned upside down inside the bottom two thirds. G put water into the bottom of the bottle first, and then put a rolled up paper towel inside the neck of the upside-down top of the bottle, so the paper towel would act as a wick, constantly watering the dirt.


See the teeny tiny seeds in Little Man's hand? They are snapdragon seeds.


They had a lot of fun with this activity, and 3 days later we can already see small shoots beginning to grow!



History

Well, we made it to the year 1900 this week! Actually, slightly beyond. We spent this year studying the 1800's (Tapestry of Grace year 3) and what a fantastic year we had! This week we read about Helen Keller, George Washington Carver, and Teddy Roosevelt. This was the great book we read on Helen Keller. Pictures on every page, and engaging text. Great for all ages together!


After we read the book, we played a game where one person was blindfolded (having a "blind" experience) and another person guided them through an obstacle course we had set up in our family room. This was fun, but also really brought home to each of the children how important our sight is, and how thankful we should be for it!





Bible

We are just about finished reading through Matthew (we will finish next week, even though this was our last "official" week of school ~ homeschoolers never really stop learning!). Reading the Bible outloud to my children is one of the best things I have ever done, and probably the best part of our day (which is saying alot, because there are alot of great parts). Nothing has given me as much joy as knowing that we are, together, studying what God says to us, and hiding His Word in our hearts. Some of my children may not be good spellers, and some of them may not excel in math or grammar, but if they know and love the Lord and know and love His Word, I will feel that our primary homeschooling goal was accomplished.

In Matthew chapters 23-25, Jesus talks quite a bit about the end of the age. We read through these chapters several times and discussed them at length. The children were quite fascinated and had lots of questions. This is son G's journal illustrating the parable of the ten virgins (Matthew 25). The top picture shows all 10 going out with their lamps. If you look closely you can see that 5 of them also have oil, while the other 5 do not. The bottom picture shows the 5 on the left with their lamps lit, having been welcomed into the wedding feast by the bridegroom at the door, while the 5 on the right are crying because they were not prepared and cannot come to the feast.

This is daughter G's journal illustrating Matthew 24:36-42, where Jesus says that no-one knows the day or hour of the Lord's return, not even the angels or even the Son of God Himself! The small picture shows a man working in the field, wondering where his friend went who was there just a moment ago.



And this is L's journal illustrating the same portion of Matthew. The top picture shows a man in the field with a rake on the left that has no man attached to it. The bottom picture shows a woman grinding grain, where just a moment ago there had been two women.


When we finish reading Matthew, we will have read through Matthew, Mark and Luke. In the fall we will begin reading John. We are planning to continue reading in the new testament next year, because the following year we will start over with Tapestry of Grace's 4 year cycle, and begin at the start of history again, therefore focusing on the old testament.


Extra

Our daughter had her last horse riding lesson last week. She had a great time and learned so much! I was very proud of her and how much effort she put into each lesson. She showed a lot of improvement from the first lesson to the last. She is now considering whether or not she wants to continue with lessons in the fall. We have told her that if she wants to continue, she has to pay for half the lessons, and that is assuming that we can pay for the other half, which remains to be seen.



In other G news, this week she reached her initial goal of saving $100! She was able to sell $24 worth of items at our MOPS consignment sale, and when she put this in the bank that put her over the top. Way to go G!!! That's diligent saving for someone who has little opportunity to earn money yet.

Our son L received this bag of freeze dried scrambled eggs in the birthday box from his Washington grandparents. We prepared it according to the directions on the back, and he ate this for breakfast one day. It was quite good!


Yesterday was our last day of regular school work. Today we are finishing up the year with an art project day ~ from the era of the Impressionists. Stay tuned for pictures of our work!