I like how things have been going...reminds me of how it used to be before Trusten was born. I've gone more slowly with the "going-in-order" books. Jade has about a month's worth of his first grade writing lessons left, and then we'll start on Complete Curriculum for Grade 2. In science, we just do whatever comes up on a certain day, and if nothing does, then I'll usually do a lesson in the animal science book, and then they watch related videos when it's Youtube time, and we may look at other books that share related material. I really like it this way. Same with history. We've finished the Drive Thru History dvd series. It won't be the only time they're watched. We haven't done any book history work on a regular basis for may months. We'll soon start Volume 1 of Mystery of History, which teaches world history in a way that the history recorded in the bible is taught chronologically alongside history in other parts of the world (like the Far East).
I just instituted a break from required written and almost all book work. I will just read to the boys each day the following: a chapter from Proverbs daily, a bible story from Bible Stories, a book that is Trust's pick of the day, and some chapters from Swiss Family Robinson. I would like to read at least five more chapters of the SFR to them over the next two weeks. Then we'll continue Prepare and Pray.
Some things we've done since the last update:
*Bible Stories: money changers, born again, Jesus sending out his disciples, the sower and the soils, Jesus teaching how to pray, John the Baptist's death, Jesus feeding the hungry crowd, and Jesus and Peter walking on the water
*Sabbath School lessons: "God's House" (respect in church, appropriate things to do on the sabbath, inappropriate things to do on the sabbath) and "God Created Non-Living Things"
*Explode the Code: Jade finished his fifth EtC book, Explode the Code 3. He finished that book with a 90% average, which is the same average he made on the other book. FANTASTIC! It's too bad that he could have done even better, as there were a couple lessons on which he fooled around and hurried through it. One of those he only scored a 71%. In case anyone is wondering, this is the only thing I grade, except for tests (and he's only had those in his science books so far). The stuff in Complete Curriculum I work on with him pretty closely. Everything he gets wrong on that stuff, I usually make him correct. Other things I may correct with my red pen, but I don't give him grades. The only grades I have ever given is on EtC and science tests.
*Bible Prayers for Bedtime: We dont' do these at bedtime but rather at reading time, after we read the bible. The lessons since the last update have been how to pray for safety/deliverance, how to pray when we need help with a problem, asking God what to do when someone argues with us, praying to know God, obeying God when God tells us to do something after prayer that may seem strange, and praying for a miracle.
*Ice experiment: We froze cubes of water and cubes of freshly juiced orange juice. I let the boys try to gently bite into the frozen water cubes and then the orange cubes to see which was harder. I asked them why they thought fruit juice popsicles are softer than plain water ice. Jade said because the juice had other things in it. I told him he was right and explained more specifically that the water froze in large crystals, but when the other components of juice were mixed in, that water froze in smaller ice crystals, resulting in softer ice. It's the right time of year for ice experiments. We even have snow on the ground now! :-) Jade has had a lot of fun in it. Trusten doesn't like to be out there for long. We all three spent some time out there today while Liv sat in her bouncer chair positioned so that she could look outside.
*Writing: verbs, adjectives, and pronouns
*Animals: in God's Design for Science we finished studying amphibians and started on reptiles and then read more about lizards and snakes. Jade even got on the floor to try moving in the four ways different snakes move across the ground.
*Youtube: benefits of coconut, whole foods vs. processed foods, top 10 worst foods, historical accuracy of the bible, Keith Hunt's part 1 of Matthew 24, snakes eating eggs and animals, rattlesnake attacking person on live television, lizard walking on water, gila monster, komodo dragon. Also I have found these "Crawford the Cat" 5-minute cartoons on Youtube. I've been showing the boys 1 or 2 a day. So far they have watched ones on: putting away toys, please and thank you, hand washing, tooth brushing, good table manners, and putting on a coat
Well, Jade and I have had a LOT of interesting conversations, and I sure can't remember them all. But, I've enjoyed the way we've been doing things for sure. He's learning what he wants to know, and I've had fun teaching him. Same goes for Trust, but Jade asks more things that require in-depth conversations. I've also started telling the bedtime stories again about Randolph the grasshopper and all his friends. He has had a wife for awhile now, Sasha. They just recently had children. The stories of late have focused a lot on the children, especially Daniel. R. and S. had 100 children. One of them was a foolish child who was killed and eaten by a bird, because he disobeyed his father's instructions not to go out onto the rocky places outside of the grass where he could be seen more easily by predators. Since that child had done that so many times before w/o being harmed, he didn't trust/believe his father. Well, one day his "luck" ran out. I explained that just because a person doesn't always get hurt from disobeying a parent's rules or may not even understand the reasoning for a rule, it doesn't mean the rule is invalid and that one day you may finally pay the consequences. I always relate things back to God's Law and the love it shows. We should always trust/belive and obey him. Many say they believe Him, but in works (by disobeying His Law) they deny Him. Whenever the boys disobey us, I ask them why they didn't believe us, why didn't they trust us enough to obey.
Daniel is discussed most often. He is a wise son, and he's very studious. He likes to visit the library and museums and explore nature. He loves to ask questions and has a good relationship with his parents. Daniel recently started studying reproduction among animals and how different animals reproduce in different ways. Daniel also recently visited with one of his friends, Adam a ladybug, and Adam tried selling him a pack of gum (all natural from the trees in the nearby forest) for cheap. Daniel asked where Adam got the gum, since he knew that gum sold in the marketplace for more money. He discovered that Adam stole the gum from an ant that Adam knew. Daniel refused to buy the stolen treat and told Adam he had better return it. Daniel told his parents what had happened, and they advised that Daniel should not be friends with Adam anymore, unless he repented of his misdeed. I asked the boys what they would do if a friend tried selling them something they knew was stolen. Jade said that was a hard question. I said, "Because it would be very tempting, wouldn't it, because you know you would not have to spend as much of your allowance as you would at the market." He said, "Yes, and because it would be a good treat." I then reminded him of what I call the silver rule (most know this as the "golden rule": do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but the golden rule TRULY is to do unto God the way He wants us to do). He said he would not want anyone to do that to him and so he would refuse the treat. :-)
Okay...well, I've run out of time, so that's it for now.
