Mystery of History, Snow, the Eye, and Pasting

Some highlights since my last post....

Jaden William:  Will loves talking about the periodic table of elements.  Nearly every time we sit down at the table to eat, he looks at the big poster on the dining room wall and quizzes us and asks us questions about various elements.  He has many elements memorized. 

He has been cheering Trusten on and encouraging him whenever Trusten is doing book work or talking about numbers and counting things. 

We started the Mystery of History Volume 1.  So far we've done three lessons.  He's done two projects:  following instructions by himself to make a book about creation, including the six days of work and the holy seventh day of rest, complete with writing and pictures AND forming his own animal out of clay and giving it a name.  He has also started making out memory cards on 3x5 index cards that will be used to help him memorize the high points of his history lessons and for games.  Trusten sits with us on the couch and listens to the lessons or plays quietly in the floor with Olivia.

He has practiced more on his addition with carrying.  He's been working on finishing his last spelling lessons and language arts pages in his Complete Curriculum Grade 2, and he's been regularly writing and drawing in his journal. 

He has read something like eleven Cul-de-Sac Kids books now and three or four of his graphic history novels.  Concerning the latter, he said he's "taking a break from them."  He says they are a little difficult for him, but he does like them.  I told him that it was okay if he wanted to wait and read them when he got a little older.

Trusten:  I introduced him to pasting.  I cut out pictures for him, and he made a collage on a piece of yellow paper that he cut out by himself.  He just about cut up the entire yellow sheet.  I got up to get something, and he went to cutting more on it!  When I got back, I had to explain to him that he was only to cut out the yellow portion of the page so he could paste pictures on it, not cut the page to pieces!  He also learned how to make a paper chain.  I cut out the pieces for him, and then I showed him how to do it, then I helped him do a few links, and then the last three links he did all by himself!  He did a great job.  He's also shown that he is understanding numbers pretty well up to ten. 

Both boys:  Bible reading every day.  William likes to read our daily Proverbs chapter.  He thinks it's fun, and I think it's GREAT!  I've also been randomly selecting sections (usually about a chapter, sometimes less, depending on the amount of information) from the gospel accounts so that the boys can learn directly from our Lord Salvation himself how to be like him.  On last Sabbath, we went over Choosing Obedience lesson 3. 

We started learning about the human body.  We  use books we have, and we have a flannel board with felt pieces.  Jaden William wanted to start on the eye, so we learned one day recently about the eye and the various parts and how it works, as well as a few cool facts about the eye. 

We've taken a few hikes on the sunny days.  The boys have been having fun playing in the snow we've had this week.   The last two days have been sunny, so even though we've had cold air temps, the sun has been nice, and we've taken the last couple of walks w/o Liv, during her nap time in her play pen. 

The boys love to play on the Playstation 3.  They play Lego Star Wars and Wall-E.  Trusten doesn't really know how to play very well, but he likes to watch William or play with him, anyway.  They also never get tired of playing with their various blocks.  Their overall favorite blocks are the Lincoln logs, but lately they've played a lot with the wooden baby alphabet blocks, and Will has been enjoying creating various structures that look like the Roman Colosseum.   He actually constructed the first model and called me to look at it and told me it was like the Colosseum.  :-)

Well, that's it for the highlights.  Here are some pictures:

Top, from r to l: Trusten making a collage, children sitting to listen to me read and talk, William working on his Creation book.  Bottom, from r to l:  William and his animal named "Three-Legged Big-Head," one of Will's Colosseum models, and Trusten with his paper-chain

Top, r to l:  Boys playing in snow, boys headed to top of hill for our hike.  Bottom, r to l: Jaden William's name written in the snow with his PEACE "sword," and William with an icicle

Until next time...