I've been too busy to update this blog. Since the last update:
I'm still working with Trusten on his alphabet, colors, etc.
I continued to read through the Psalms aloud to the boys and also a Proverb each day. We'll soon be done with Psalms and will start Ecclesiastes.
I read their magazines with them that were about a month old, b/c we'd had no time with all the moving and putting away stuff. William gets Your Big Backyard, and Trusten gets Wild Animal Baby.
In science in The World of Plants, we did three lessons. The first one was about trees, and then there was a bonus piece on redwood trees, so after that we got on the Internet so that I could show William pictures of cars driving through a redwood tree. We also did a lesson on what seeds needed to germinate--water, warmth, and oxygen--and are still in the process of finishing our experiment with seeds in jars to see whether they truly need all three. We then did a lesson on the difference between two kinds of seeds--monocots and dicots--and we dissected a pre-soaked bean seed (dicot) and corn seed (monocot) and identified the different parts of the seeds.
In history we read in Our Christian Heritage about the Constitution of the US, the Bill of Rights, and about the American bald eagle. We then reviewed about those, the liberty bell, statue of liberty, and the Declaration of Independence. The next day I read to William the book The Story of the Constitution, put out by Childrens Press.
Will did three lessons in the reading section of the Complete Curriculum for Grade 1. He did one lesson in Explode the Code (or maybe two lessons). I know he worked on short 'u'. He read probably 30 pages or more in the Learn-to-Read Bible. One day he read 10. Most days he's read four, but he's read six a couple different days and has requested to read more than four a day. He'll be finished with it soon, and so then we'll go back and continue on the main Rocket Reader books.
He did four math worksheets (2 one day and 2 another) on addition.
He did a lesson on sabbath before last in the book on obedience. Last sabbath (yesterday) we went to the Living Church of God congregation that meets in Joplin. It was our first visit, and it went all right. Nathan stayed at home, and I left Trusten with him.
We have not done anything in the way of art or music in awhile, but we'll get back to it.
I finally bought the Universe series by the History Channel, and we've started watching those. We've only watched one segment so far, and that was about the sun. Very interesting, though one can only put so much trust into what they say about certain things. They act as if they're so sure about some things when they have no way of knowing.
Well, besides the thousand questions Will asks me every day and thus all the additional things he learns but that I can't remember all of in order to post (and don't have time to post it all, anyway), that's about it.
As far as what Nathan and I are learning, we're watching those videos, and I am always learning more biblically. I can't remember all what we learn, either, so I don't always post about it.
Anyway, this is it for now, as things have been very busy around here. I'd like to get back to posting some pictures on here from time to time. I WILL eventually.
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Grass, Declaration of Independence, and Addition
~Monday~
**William**
We read in Psalms, Proverbs, and went over the Ten Commandments.
William read four pages in Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.
He did a lesson in the reading section of the Complete Curriculum book. He read the story aloud to me, as usual, and then he answered the questions.
He did four of nine pages in Explode the Code, a lesson on short 'u.'
I read to William about grass in God's Design for Life: The World of Plants. We went outside and dug up a grass plant and identified the parts of grass. He used a magnifying glass to get a better look. He learned about five groups of grass: turf, forage, cereal, ornamental, and miscellaneous; that grass covers 1/3 of the land; and that people eat the seeds of grass, while animals eat leaves and seeds.
**Trusten**
I did alphabet flashcards with him, having him repeat aloud each letter. Then, after we went through the whole alphabet, we went back through the alphabet orally, without the cards.
In the late afternoon, I took the boys to the park. I've told William that if he does well each week with his school work and obeys well and is nice, then I'd take them to the park once a week.
~Tuesday~
**William**
Psalms and a Proverb from the bible, review of Ten Commandments, and a reading of the works of the flesh vs. the fruits of the spirit from Galatians 5.
He read four pages in the Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.
He completed the other 5 pages in the lesson on short 'u' in Explode the Code.
And sadly, that is all that got done, because Will gave me a hard time, and we had to go grocery shopping (takes 2.5 to 3 hours of the day). I was hoping to do some history.
**Trusten**
We did the alphabet flashcards again, and then the second oral repetition afterward w/o the cards.
~Wednesday~
**William**
Today we read Psalms and a Proverb from the bible.
We sat outside where I read to him The Story of the Declaration of Independence, a book by Children's Press. We'd gone over the Declaration in Our Christian Heritage, before the Liberty Bell and Statue of Liberty, but I had not read this additional book to him before, like I did for the other two things. I even learned a little bit from the reading of this book.
While still outside in our beautiful front yard under the gorgeous sunny sky (we did have some shade from a tree), he read six pages from the Learn-to-Read Bible.
We came in to do some addition work on the abacus, and he's currently working on two math addition worksheets that I copied from a workbook.
I am going to start writing sentences for him to copy, as he really needs practice writing sentences. I'll then move on to paragraphs after awhile, but I'll wait until we start doing more work in the Language Arts section of the Complete Curriculum book.
**Trusten**
He and I went through an alphabet picture book, and I had him repeat the letters after I said them aloud.
**William**
We read in Psalms, Proverbs, and went over the Ten Commandments.
William read four pages in Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.
He did a lesson in the reading section of the Complete Curriculum book. He read the story aloud to me, as usual, and then he answered the questions.
He did four of nine pages in Explode the Code, a lesson on short 'u.'
I read to William about grass in God's Design for Life: The World of Plants. We went outside and dug up a grass plant and identified the parts of grass. He used a magnifying glass to get a better look. He learned about five groups of grass: turf, forage, cereal, ornamental, and miscellaneous; that grass covers 1/3 of the land; and that people eat the seeds of grass, while animals eat leaves and seeds.
**Trusten**
I did alphabet flashcards with him, having him repeat aloud each letter. Then, after we went through the whole alphabet, we went back through the alphabet orally, without the cards.
In the late afternoon, I took the boys to the park. I've told William that if he does well each week with his school work and obeys well and is nice, then I'd take them to the park once a week.
~Tuesday~
**William**
Psalms and a Proverb from the bible, review of Ten Commandments, and a reading of the works of the flesh vs. the fruits of the spirit from Galatians 5.
He read four pages in the Rocket Readers Learn-to-Read Bible.
He completed the other 5 pages in the lesson on short 'u' in Explode the Code.
And sadly, that is all that got done, because Will gave me a hard time, and we had to go grocery shopping (takes 2.5 to 3 hours of the day). I was hoping to do some history.
**Trusten**
We did the alphabet flashcards again, and then the second oral repetition afterward w/o the cards.
~Wednesday~
**William**
Today we read Psalms and a Proverb from the bible.
We sat outside where I read to him The Story of the Declaration of Independence, a book by Children's Press. We'd gone over the Declaration in Our Christian Heritage, before the Liberty Bell and Statue of Liberty, but I had not read this additional book to him before, like I did for the other two things. I even learned a little bit from the reading of this book.
While still outside in our beautiful front yard under the gorgeous sunny sky (we did have some shade from a tree), he read six pages from the Learn-to-Read Bible.
We came in to do some addition work on the abacus, and he's currently working on two math addition worksheets that I copied from a workbook.
I am going to start writing sentences for him to copy, as he really needs practice writing sentences. I'll then move on to paragraphs after awhile, but I'll wait until we start doing more work in the Language Arts section of the Complete Curriculum book.
**Trusten**
He and I went through an alphabet picture book, and I had him repeat the letters after I said them aloud.
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Back to the Books
For the last little over a month, we've been really busy, as we moved and have had a lot of other things with which to contend. And I'd not updated for nearly a month before that. We now own a house on 18 acres, and it's great! Before we packed up most of the books:
**William**
~Our Christian Heritage: We read about the Liberty Bell, and to learn more we read the book The Story of the Liberty Bell put out by Children's Press. We also read about the Statue of Liberty, and then I read to William the book The Story of the Statue of Liberty put out by Children's Press. I then pointed out where Our Christian Heritage had stated that people would see the statue and start praying to God to thank Him for bringing them to the US so that they could have liberty. The statue is a heathen idol, and God alone brings liberty. He doesn't want us to use statues to pray to Him. So, I then showed William on the Internet some pictures done from descriptions of the Colossus of Rhodes and showed him how they compared to "Lady Liberty." I explained that they were both idols representing the sun god Apollo.
~Complete Curriculum for Grade 1: We also worked in that book in the reading and math sections.
We finished the Social Skills book. We will soon start on the other book I bought on etiquette and good manners.
********************
--So, now we are over halfway through the Psalms. We're in the 80s. We still read a Proverb daily. I now usually make Trusten sit beside William on the floor while I read it to both of them. I remind them of the Ten Commandments.
--We started back in the science book on plants. Last week William learned the four organs of a flowering plant: roots, stem, leaves, and flower. And although we'll go over it again in a later lesson, I went ahead and told him the various parts of a flower and their functions. We picked several different flowers in our yard and on the side of one of our hills. We identified the parts on the flowers. We'll be identifying our local plants, especially those on our 18 acres, this summer, with the help of guide books. We're always identifying birds, plants, insects, rocks, etc. We really enjoy this as a way of life.
--William worked on some pages in the Complete Curriculum book in the reading section--a Reading Roundup, so we'll start Unit 5 this week. He also did a review page in the math section, and we also got out his abacus for help. The next lesson starts subtraction, and he's not ready to move on from addition, so I'll be getting out another one of our workbooks so that he can practice more on addition. We'll also be using the abacus and anything else that aids him.
**Trusten**
--I also have not worked on the alphabet or anything else much with Trusten over the last month. I will start back on that this week. He has taken picture books off the shelves and laid on his belly on the floor to look at them, so he's definitely interested in such things, to an extent. He is nearly 2. I was hoping he'd know his alphabet, colors, and numbers to 10 by his birthday, but I didn't really anticipate the happenings of the last month and half, either. BUT, I'm happy to report that he's nearly potty-trained for daytime. He also throws less tantrums. He has not thrown a bowl, saucer, or thrown anything at a glass, breaking them in several weeks. He has broken one bowl since we moved, and it was an accident. He's also gone several weeks w/o a forehead injury. I'm so happy about that! He and William play together more and more. He still loves to talk. He's VERY spirited. At least now the spirit is more positive, rather than mostly negative. Praise God!
**Nathan**
I'm happy to report that Nathan took and PASSED his Arkansas Contractor's License exam. That license will allow him to "legally" bid bigger, higher-paying jobs than the HVAC license does. His goal is to soon get where he can spend a lot more time at home and have his main helper (was his partner when he was in a partnership) and good friend be a supervisor over a crew. Of course, the trick is to find hardworking, quality-striving, ethical individuals. But, that's Nathan's goal so that he does not have to go do much of the physical work himself and yet still bring in money. He'll make the decisions and just go check to see whether everything is going as instructed. And he'll have more time around here! We both plan to be out of debt soon, including the house (in less than five years). He wants to build a cistern for the house we live in, since the well water is bad (though we have a filter coming for temporary solution). But, his long-term goal is to either build an earthen home on the ten acres we own free and clear (part of the 18 acres we have) or to increase the value of our property, sell it, and build an earthen home on another property. He has lots of great ideas.
**Tara**
I had started reading a book Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard before we moved. I'd like to soon continue it. I'm already thrilled with the number of birds and butterflies we have here. It's awesome! But, I want William and myself to be able to plant some flowers around the yard to not only attract MORE beautiful creatures, but to also beautify the property with the flowers themselves. Oh! We do already have some wonderful trees and flowering bushes here, as well as some wildflowers. I love it! And I'm loving learning more about the plants here.
I've learned more about biblical things and am taking notes to write about them.
I'm out of time for now. I'm going to try to get back to updating this twice a week. I'm still working on getting back on a normal schedule, and we still have a lot of different things with which we're dealing right now. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed. :-)
**William**
~Our Christian Heritage: We read about the Liberty Bell, and to learn more we read the book The Story of the Liberty Bell put out by Children's Press. We also read about the Statue of Liberty, and then I read to William the book The Story of the Statue of Liberty put out by Children's Press. I then pointed out where Our Christian Heritage had stated that people would see the statue and start praying to God to thank Him for bringing them to the US so that they could have liberty. The statue is a heathen idol, and God alone brings liberty. He doesn't want us to use statues to pray to Him. So, I then showed William on the Internet some pictures done from descriptions of the Colossus of Rhodes and showed him how they compared to "Lady Liberty." I explained that they were both idols representing the sun god Apollo.
~Complete Curriculum for Grade 1: We also worked in that book in the reading and math sections.
We finished the Social Skills book. We will soon start on the other book I bought on etiquette and good manners.
********************
--So, now we are over halfway through the Psalms. We're in the 80s. We still read a Proverb daily. I now usually make Trusten sit beside William on the floor while I read it to both of them. I remind them of the Ten Commandments.
--We started back in the science book on plants. Last week William learned the four organs of a flowering plant: roots, stem, leaves, and flower. And although we'll go over it again in a later lesson, I went ahead and told him the various parts of a flower and their functions. We picked several different flowers in our yard and on the side of one of our hills. We identified the parts on the flowers. We'll be identifying our local plants, especially those on our 18 acres, this summer, with the help of guide books. We're always identifying birds, plants, insects, rocks, etc. We really enjoy this as a way of life.
--William worked on some pages in the Complete Curriculum book in the reading section--a Reading Roundup, so we'll start Unit 5 this week. He also did a review page in the math section, and we also got out his abacus for help. The next lesson starts subtraction, and he's not ready to move on from addition, so I'll be getting out another one of our workbooks so that he can practice more on addition. We'll also be using the abacus and anything else that aids him.
**Trusten**
--I also have not worked on the alphabet or anything else much with Trusten over the last month. I will start back on that this week. He has taken picture books off the shelves and laid on his belly on the floor to look at them, so he's definitely interested in such things, to an extent. He is nearly 2. I was hoping he'd know his alphabet, colors, and numbers to 10 by his birthday, but I didn't really anticipate the happenings of the last month and half, either. BUT, I'm happy to report that he's nearly potty-trained for daytime. He also throws less tantrums. He has not thrown a bowl, saucer, or thrown anything at a glass, breaking them in several weeks. He has broken one bowl since we moved, and it was an accident. He's also gone several weeks w/o a forehead injury. I'm so happy about that! He and William play together more and more. He still loves to talk. He's VERY spirited. At least now the spirit is more positive, rather than mostly negative. Praise God!
**Nathan**
I'm happy to report that Nathan took and PASSED his Arkansas Contractor's License exam. That license will allow him to "legally" bid bigger, higher-paying jobs than the HVAC license does. His goal is to soon get where he can spend a lot more time at home and have his main helper (was his partner when he was in a partnership) and good friend be a supervisor over a crew. Of course, the trick is to find hardworking, quality-striving, ethical individuals. But, that's Nathan's goal so that he does not have to go do much of the physical work himself and yet still bring in money. He'll make the decisions and just go check to see whether everything is going as instructed. And he'll have more time around here! We both plan to be out of debt soon, including the house (in less than five years). He wants to build a cistern for the house we live in, since the well water is bad (though we have a filter coming for temporary solution). But, his long-term goal is to either build an earthen home on the ten acres we own free and clear (part of the 18 acres we have) or to increase the value of our property, sell it, and build an earthen home on another property. He has lots of great ideas.
**Tara**
I had started reading a book Attracting Butterflies & Hummingbirds to Your Backyard before we moved. I'd like to soon continue it. I'm already thrilled with the number of birds and butterflies we have here. It's awesome! But, I want William and myself to be able to plant some flowers around the yard to not only attract MORE beautiful creatures, but to also beautify the property with the flowers themselves. Oh! We do already have some wonderful trees and flowering bushes here, as well as some wildflowers. I love it! And I'm loving learning more about the plants here.
I've learned more about biblical things and am taking notes to write about them.
I'm out of time for now. I'm going to try to get back to updating this twice a week. I'm still working on getting back on a normal schedule, and we still have a lot of different things with which we're dealing right now. I'm trying not to be overwhelmed. :-)
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