Week 17.... Back in Egypt with King Tut

 Back to Egypt just one more time to talk about  King Tut. While we have enjoyed Egypt its time to get a move on. We are wrapping up the Kane Chronicles and once again the kids give Rick Riordan a high five for making the ancients come alive. Ying and Yang were making fudge this weekend with Daddy when I got an excited cry to come look at the obelisk they had made from the butter and sugar. Yep it was one of those " you know you a homeschooler if.." kinda moments.

Math needed some switching up this week. Here is our brainbuster of the week. *hint there is not formula, etc.. you have to plug and play..lol* We Also broke out Math Dice Jr. for some math fact review. It started out great but in the end Yang got really upset that Hulk ( the human calculator) was beating her.

 In Bible this week we discussed Joshua and the battle at Jericho. I was impressed with the girls summaries. Their writing is coming along nicely.  Ying had made a Senet game a few weeks ago in her Ancient History class at coop, so we broke it out and She and Hulk played a few round and then Daddy got in on the action.

 In Science this week we are studying plants and starting to grow a bean. This is our fava bean after we removed its seed coat..lol

OK.. I got offer up a praise for the Lord and his protection. I was trying to cook lunch at my parents house this week and accidentally turned on the wrong burner. That burner happened to have a 9x13 glass cake pan on hit. No less then a minuet after i sent the kids out of the room, and then went to see what they were fighting over the pan exploded sending glass shards everywhere. We normally do school at the table 2 ft away. Height of my kids this would have been so serious facial laceration and guy shots with glass for me, but nope he put us all in places of safety.  Saving us all from my airheadedness. HE IS SOO GOOD!!!!

Week 16.....Wait there's a Western Hemisphere?

Oh my... Wait... There is a Western Hemisphere? People actually inhabited somewhere outside Egypt and Mesopotamia? While I love MFW, a valid criticism is its laser like focus on "Biblical" history to the exclusion of other cultures. So it was nice to hop across the Atlantic and for the blink of an eye look at the Ancient Americas. I will admit it's hard to find bookbasket books on this area that are time appropriate. Most of the books available tell about these cultures as the Spanish explores encountered them 1500 years later, but that being said it was a lovely break. We talked about the Olmecs,Aztecs, and Incas. We did some circular weaving for an art project which the girls really loved. 

In other subjects the number of vocabulary words/roots has gotten to the point that we needed a new way to review so we made a matching game.

In Bible we continued on with the Exodus and worked on a map.

In science we learned about freezing points and how dilutants effect those. The kids loved the experiment explaining why salt works to "melt" ice ( FYI it doesn't melt it.). 

Week 15.... The Tabernacle

So this week was the project i had been dreading all year.... Building the tabernacle. I tried to wrap my head around this last year as I was previewing.  I have read through the instruction a few times up till now and I have been just seriusly confused and overwhelmed at the idea... Well folks let me tell ya something... I was WAY overthinking this project. Its incredibly simple. So her is a sort of step by step pictorial:

Step 1. Cut apart your "milk" cartons and combine into a 30 cm structure like this. A picture was so worth a thousand words when it came to these instructions.

Step 2... 10 cm from back wall separate the "Most Holy" with a curtain made from whatever cloth you have. There are ideas in the manual for authenticity but for use we were using up scrap... so our "scarlet"= hot pink..lol. Build the corresponding paper structures from the student sheets. Add Lego Isrealites as desired. We have Minecraft Steve, Hagrid, and Coast Guard Israelites..lol

Step 3.... Make the 4 covering layers... Again we used what we had on hand... So our colors are off but our textures are close. I decided the textures were more important then color to help the kids understand how people living and nomadic existence were keeping the interior warm and dry. How you would layer cotton, wool, and leathers to keep out wind, sand, and water. Build outside structure.

4. Assemble to courtyard curtain and enjoy!

SO much simpler then i was making it in my mind!

 In 1st grade world, We started our Bible notebook. Hulk has been excited about this part, but he has his limits. I appreciate the progress he's made in  drawing/coloring.  These are neat and detailed for him. I recognize this as a lesson for me in appreciate each kids gifts. My girls were very verbal and artsy at this ago and Hulk isn't. He's a math and tinkering kid. His aren't publisher samples, but i cherish them.  Remember to judge your kids against themselves; not facebook, or blogs, or siblings, but as unique creations.

Out

Our last project of the week was items for our Co-op bake sale. We didn't have time or energy to bake this week, but we made it work!.... Chocolate dipped giant Marshmallows and pretzel sticks. Quick 1 hour  project that made 50 items.

Week 14----the Exodus FINALLY!

This has been a week of Adjustments. The ortho decided Ying has broken the Scaphoid bone in her wrist so she is now in a full blown arm cast on her writing hand.  Hence we are typing our assignments. We are thrilled to be on the move. We've enjoyed Ancient Egypt but its time to move along dogggies..lol.....

 Yang's typing too and we've moved some assignments to Group work. Above is Yang's assingment from Language Lessons for today. Since dictation isn't really feasible write now the girls wokred together to reviews the 10 commandments and the plagues.

Math Brainteaser of the Week:

 So this picture went viral on the web this week and we struggled about showing it to our girls. Its of their friend Lake's family. Lake's parents were unable to have a wedding during his lifetime due to medical bills and complications from Lake's diagnosis. Lake passed away 6 months prior to this picture. I know it was a very bitter sweet day. I wasn't sure how the girls would respond to the ghosting in this photo. In the end this picture became an after thought in a even tougher conversations. Another family friend lost a child this week to an unthinkable accident involving a handgun. We had to break the news the same day DH and I were discussing the picture. The kids did not take the news well and have a lot of questions. Most revolve around "How could adults let this happen?" Its so hard to explain how adults make mistakes too and mistakes sometimes have huge consequences. So I ask that you pray for both families. Pray for this family, and the family who lost a toddler just like "poof". Pray for a father who made the ultimate mistake and paid an unthinkable price.