Monday, December 24, 2012

School Days Summary - the Exodus, the Tabernacle, and the Aquarium


I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of December 3-21

I got the blog picture thing fixed. It took several days of work but things are back on track. In the meantime, school kept on going. We're at our official half way point! Not just because of the Christmas holiday but we've actually logged half of our required days. That's a great feeling!
Here's what we did for school:

Things that were scheduled as usual:
Math
Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Electives:
Typing
Spanish
Civics: They read about Highway Workers and Hairstylists.
Health: They did a worksheet about having a healthy lifestyle.
PA History: State Flower


My Father's World Creation to the Greeks-
We completed weeks 14, 15, and 16 which covered most of Exodus.
Bible: We finished learning the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 and made mini books using pics from this site to help us review them. (page 1, page 2, page 3)
Science: Bass helped the younglings do several experiments including making germs,
floating an egg between salt and fresh water,

making a galaxy in a cup,
making a sort-of to scale model of the distance between the planets and sun in our galaxy,

They spent some time on a clear night star gazing on the trampoline and using the telescope and using popcorn to show the stored chemical energy in the sun.They skipped the parfait of color experiment, the stars in the umbrella thing, and the solar hot dog roaster though.
History:We spent these three weeks talking about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their wanderings in the desert.
To help the younglings experience meal after meal of manna, we had them eat popcorn for breakfast, popcorn for morning snack, and popcorn for the first part of their lunch. That was enough for them---they were complaining already! Hmm... just like the Israelites.

We added the Exodus and the 10 commandments to our timelines. We also worked on a model of the Tabernacle. MFW included instructions and student sheets to help us do it but I had a book from a yard sale that made it a little less time intensive for us. We did a little bit each day and read about the significance of each part of the Tabernacle and how it points to Christ as we made it.

We were able to go to a local display of the biblical Tabernacle. We heard a great presentation about the Tabernacle and got to see actual-sized parts of the Tabernacle. 
Going along with the Exodus time, we learned about the first North American civilizations, the Olmecs and the Chavin.

Other MFW: 
Music: We finished Bach's biography while filling out a notebook page from here. The following weeks we listened to several pieces by Bach including my favorites, his Brandenburg Concertos.
Art: They did some colored pencil work learning about the color wheel (primary, secondary, tertiary colors, shading with color, and complementary colors.)

Extras:
We took advantage of Dollar Days in Baltimore to visit the aquarium and the USCG Cutter Taney.

Web:
DVD 3: The Books of the Law (Pentateuch the Musical)
DVD 3: The Books of the Law (Deuteronomy Song)

Favorite Books:
Comets, The Sky is Full of Stars, and What is the Moon Like? by Franklyn Branley
Exodus by Brian Wildsmith
Moon by Steve Tomacek
The Moon Book and The Planets by Gail Gibbons
We're looking forward to our Christmas break until after New Years! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Make a Card Monday - Christmas Gifts

During our fall school break and Star Wars marathon, I kept myself busy by making our Christmas card for this year. I was really low on Christmas themed paper so when I saw a great idea to use up scraps of generic scrapbook paper, I was on board!
It took a lot of cutting but I used a ton of scraps pieces. To use up some ribbon and fibers, I colored each of the stamped gift image with slightly different color schemes.
Merry Christmas!


Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (textured black, card base)
patterned paper: unknown scraps

embellishments: ribbon and fibers (some from Adornments; others unknown)
stamps:TAC Homespun Holiday (image) and TAC Mini Wreath (sentiment)

Monday, December 10, 2012

School Days Summary -- The 10 Plagues of Egypt

4 of 10 Plague Placards found here
I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of November 12-30

So my blog ran out of space for picture storage. Without the ability to upload pics, I haven't posted about any of our schoolwork let alone the different Christmas projects I finished. Ugh! Well, I've been trying to figure out how to fix it without having to pay for storage and found a solution so I'm up and running again.
Here's what we did for school:

Things that were scheduled as usual:
Math
After a 2 day switch to another math curriculum, Soprano realized that her Saxon is not all that bad. So after another heart to heart and some attitude adjusting we're back to the original plan, and it hasn't been an issue at all for the last several weeks.
Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)
Tenor's fantastic illustration for his reading, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler
Soprano's cursive handwriting
Electives:
Typing
Spanish
Civics: They read about Judges.
Health: They did a worksheet about the effects of unhealthy living.
PA History: State Seal and Motto and State Flag
Geography: The next few geography worksheets focus on each of the continents. This week they reviewed a little about Antarctica.
Co-op: We finished our last class of the fall. I can't believe our 10 weeks went by as fast as they did. They each had music and gym and their last fall elective class (Soprano-Art and Art History; Tenor-Chemistry).

My Father's World Creation to the Greeks-
We completed weeks 12 and 13 which covered the 10 plagues of Egypt.
Bible: We continued learning the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20, adding the next 2 commandments.

Science: Bass helped the younglings do the paint factory experiment, create the salt cleaner and salt lift, and talk about observation skills. Because of the supplies needed, we skipped the plant babies and plant maze experiments.
History:We spent these two weeks talking about and experiencing the 10 plagues of Egypt.
For Blood I added red food color to our water jugs, ice cubes, and the toilets

For Frogs we cut and used the 80 frogs from the 2nd edition student sheets. Bass hid them all over the house for the kids to live with and then 'pile together in heaps' at the end of the day. We're still missing 1!

We didn't act anything out for Gnats but for Flies we cut pieces of black construction paper into small circles and then taped them between two strips of packing tape. Then we hung the tape strips in the school room door. The tape didn't quite line up so they were a little sticky (and therefore annoying).

The Livestock plague was my favorite. I took all of their small stuffed animals and placed them either belly up or face down around the house.

Except in the 'land of Goshen' (aka the end of the hallway) where the animals weren't touched by the plague.

Boils was another fun plague. I taped packing peanuts on to their exposed skin. The tape and the peanuts were irritating. I think they got the point.

We didn't do anything for hail, locusts, darkness, or the death of the firstborn.

To help cement the 10 plagues, I printed off the artwork from this site and cut some construction paper into long strips 5.25" wide. We glued the strips end to end and then folded them up. The kids glued 1 plague to each section to create a long fold-out book.

Other MFW: 
Music: They listened to several pieces by Vivaldi as we finished up with him and listened to the first half of Bach's biography while filling out a notebook page from here.
Art: They painted a stone and talked about the beauty and creativity of art.

Extras:
Web:

Videos:
What's in the Bible Volume 2: Let My People Go (Click on the link and use the code to get 20% off any What's in the Bible? items!)

Favorite Books:
Johann Sebastian Bach by Mike Venezia
From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons
A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

Now that co-op is over, our schedule seems to be a little easier which is nice. We're just plugging away with the 3 Rs and enjoying the fun of our Egyptian and Israel studies.  

Sheet Music Christmas Trees

As a musician, I've been drawn to the different versions of sheet music Christmas trees floating around the web. I actually bought a styrofoam cone last December so I could make my own but never got around to it. Well, after decorating for Christmas this year, I was so not loving my dining room window vignette so out came the glue gun. Here's how I made mine.
Supplies needed:
Styrofoam cones of various heights
Sheet music
Glue gun
Scissors
Something round to roll paper around (like a marker or large wooden spoon handle)

First I pulled sheet music out of some books I found at Goodwill. I cut the music into 2" strips and then rolled them around a marker to curl them a bit.
 

After curling the strips, I fringed them by cutting along the bottom edge every 1/4 to 1/2", only cutting halfway up.

To attach the strip to the cone, I ran a thin bead of hot glue along the top edge of the music and then stuck it on. I overlapped strips going around and then continued working up the cone, layering the strips about halfway over the previous row.

To finish them off, I cut a small circle of sheet music to cover the very top.
The final product is so much better than my previous attempt (which ended up in the garage sale pile.)
 
Linking up to these great blog parties:
Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming; 
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons; Tutes and Tips at Home Stories A to Z; Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife;
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; It's Overflowing at Overflowing with Creativity; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts;
Home Decor and Organizing at Organize and Decorate Everything;
Thursday: Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order; Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring;

Saturday, November 10, 2012

School Days Summary -- Egypt Lapbooks and Hatshepsut

A Summary of October 29-November 9
Here's what we did for school:

Things that were scheduled as usual:
Math
Soprano is not loving her math (Saxon 3) and now battle after battle, I'm wondering if I should switch it. We went through something similar with her language arts last year. I ended up changing the curriculum with much success. We borrowed a new program from the teacher ed section of the college where Bass works. We're going to give it a try for the next few weeks and see how it goes.
Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)


Electives:
Typing
Spanish
Civics: They read about Mail Carriers this week.
Health: They did a worksheet to create a healthy advertisement (as opposed to a junk food commercial.)
Geography: The next few geography worksheets focus on each of the continents. This week they reviewed a little about Africa.
Co-op: They each had music and gym and their elective class (Soprano-Art and Art History; Tenor-Chemistry).

My Father's World Creation to the Greeks-
We completed weeks 10 and 11 which, yes, is still focusing on ancient Egypt studies along with Joseph and Moses.
Bible: We continued learning the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20, adding the next commandment, Do not murder. We added Israel in Egypt and Moses being born to our timelines. Our first one was so full that we started on our second timeline sheet. Eventually, they'll get hole-punched and added to a binder.
Science: We moved on to the next 'day of creation' and started learning about seas and land and plants.
They did a few observation activities but I didn't get any pics this time around.

History: Yup, still working on ancient Egypt. They were the dominant civilization for several thousand centuries. The kids have been working on lapbooks about ancient Egypt and finally finished them up this week. Here are pics of Tenor's book:


We explored Pharaoh's court, Egyptian clothing, weaving, and clay pots, chariots, and warfare. It was really interesting to read about Hatshepsut, one of the few women Egyptian rulers, who declared herself Pharaoh. She even wore the faux beard when in court. 

Other MFW: 
Music: They listened to "Winter" by Vivaldi and painted a winter scene.
Art: Drawing the Egyptian eye and a mural as well as drawing a tree and designing an obelisk.

Extras:
Web:
Drive Thru History: Abraham and Jacob
The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed
The Bible in Ancient Egypt
The Magic School Bus Gets Planted

Videos:
Eyewitness: Plant
The Animated Kid's Bible: Brothers At War by The Kids Bible Company (about Jacob and Esau)
Joseph King of Dreams by Dreamworks
Eyewitness: Ocean


Favorite Books:
How Do Apples Grow? by Betsy Maestro
Crinkleroot's Guide to Knowing the Trees by Jim Arnosky
Crinkleroot's Guide to Walking in Wild Places by Jim Arnosky (love his books!)
Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine Andronik
Linnea's Windowsill Garden by Christina Bjork
We're all excited for a partial fall break next week! I'm headed to the beach next weekend for a moms' weekend so I planned to take off from school all week. When I started looking at the calendar though, I realized that Thanksgiving is the following week. Well, since we need to take off Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday, I rearranged our fall break.
The plan is to do school Monday and Tuesday then take off this Wed.-Friday. Bass took off from work so we're going to have a Star Wars movie marathon. (It's set in a galaxy long, long ago... that's ancient history, right?) Anyways, next week we'll then do school Mon.-Wed. and take off the remainder of the week for Thanksgiving. I hoping that stretching out the break will be just as effective as taking off a full week in one shot.
Whether it works or not, that's what we're planning. We're looking forward to a change of pace.


Linking up at www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com
and 2 ladybugs and a lizard

Monday, October 29, 2012

God is bigger than the storm...

A few songs keep running through my head while we are beginning to see the effects of Hurricane Sandy.

A Shelter in the Time of Storm

The Lord’s our Rock, in Him we hide,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
Secure whatever ill betide,
A Shelter in the time of storm.


A shade by day, defense by night,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
No fears alarm, no foes afright,
A Shelter in the time of storm.


The raging storms may round us beat,
A Shelter in the time of storm
We’ll never leave our safe retreat,
A Shelter in the time of storm.


O Rock divine, O Refuge dear,
A Shelter in the time of storm;
Be Thou our Helper ever near,
A Shelter in the time of storm.


Chorus: Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A weary land, a weary land;
Oh, Jesus is a Rock in a weary land,
A Shelter in the time of storm.




And God Will Take Care of You 
Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you. 

Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you.

All you may need He will provide,
God will take care of you;
Nothing you ask will be denied,
God will take care of you.

No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you.

Refrain: God will take care of you,
Through every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.


Saturday, October 27, 2012

Making Papyrus with Kids Tutorial

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

To get hands-on in our learning about Ancient Egypt this year, we made our own papyrus scroll.
Sort of....
Here's what we did:
I cut some brown mailing paper into two 12x12 squares.

To prep the base of your papyrus, fold one piece in half.
Then cut straight lines from the folded side towards the open end every 1 to 1.5". Do NOT cut all the way through. Stop each line about 1" from the edge.

This is what the base piece will look like after you cut straight lines all along.
Take your second piece of 12x12 paper and cut it into 1 to 1.5" strips. These you cut all the way.
You can see that the loose strips are about the same length as the base piece.


When all the strips and the base piece are cut, start weaving one strip at a time through the base. Alternate each strip's under/over pattern on the base.
I put a cup of water and a tablespoon of white glue into the base of a broiler pan and mixed it to make a decoupage.


Gently soak the papyrus in the glue mixture.
When the whole piece is saturated, lay it on freezer paper or wax paper to dry.
We added some grass blades to add texture.
Let it dry overnight and then decorate!

See more of what we did with our papyrus here.
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