Balloon Math, New Educational Stuff

For the week of Dec. 23-29, 2012:


Balloon Math

The kids wanted to play with balloons, so I decided we'd do some balloon math.  Coming up with the idea for Liv to count balloons and for Trusten to practice addition by adding two sets of balloon was easy.  I wasn't sure what to do for Jade, so I did a search for balloon math and found a great idea on the Education World website.  I wrote a random numbers on the balloons, one number for each balloon; these were answers.  Then I used index cards to write problems to match up with the balloons, three different problems for each answer.  Then I taped the index cards throughout the living room, and Jaden had to stick the index cards with the problems onto the correct answer balloons.

Liv counted balloons before and after I numbered the balloons for JW

Some of the index cards taped around

Trusten has drawn a lot of pictures lately.  I'll post some next week.  I also got the kids some window crayons.  Jaden and I have written mirror messages (I to the kids in their bathroom and I to Nathan on his mirror in our bathroom, and Jaden wrote on my bathroom mirror), and Trust and Liv did art on the boys' bedroom windows.  Trusten drew a tree, some grass, and what looked like clouds.

I read to them from the Weekly Reader about winter holidays from both Trusten's and Liv's issues.  The four holidays (with "lights" and "celebration" as the topics) were Hannukah, Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Diwali.  I also sat with the kids through a short Youtube video discussing the pagan origins of Christmas.  I even wrote a poem (though poetry is far from being a talent of mine).

They say today is Christ's mass.
Do they not know they trespass?

Everywhere you go it's "Merry Christmas,"
and they all act as if full of bliss.

Families kneeling all around the evergreens,
Trees decorated with lights and figurines.

Lying to kids about Santa Claus,
Their traditions conflicting God's laws.

Asking God to bless dinner of ham,
But God blesses not, but does damn.

Was Jesus Christ born on this day?
They know he wasn't, but they choose to play.

When will they ever learn?
God doesn't wish for them to burn.

Even at the very end they'll make merry
and will send gifts all around,
When once the two witnesses who were wary
have been killed and lie on the ground.
                                 -Tara Lang Chapman

My sweet baby Elizabeth is pulling up all the time now:

Kids sitting ready for reading time, and Liz wants up, too.

We've been reading God's Little Instruction Book I every day in lieu of our daily Proverbs chapter, and we'll be doing this until we go through all three books I have.  I love the books.  I got them as a gift from my secret sister at church long ago when I was in a "Secret Sister" group.  The books include wise sayings, each matched with a scripture verse (often a Proverb or something Christ was recorded in the gospels as saying, but it includes scriptures from a wide range of biblical books).  I read a few pages each day and elaborate on certain points as I usually do.

In Mystery of History we read about the "Division of Israel" and "Elijah."

We read in God's Design for the Human Body about taste and smell and did some experimentation, including plugging off the kids' noses and closing their eyes while they tasted apple, potato, and carrot to see whether they could guess what they were tasting.  They all recognized the every taste, but it wasn't as strong with their noses plugged.

Now if we could just make mouth clips...lol

The kids all got some new things for learning, mostly with money from family.  During my mother-in-law's recent visit, all the kids got some money, and both Olivia and Elizabeth got money for their birthdays from a few.  So what cool stuff did they get?

Jaden loves all the stuff.  I chose the age 11-12 for him for Brain Quest (he's 9.5), and that was the perfect choice.  That math he struggles with (though he can answer some of it, too), but everything else he excels on.  He's such a big reader.  Nathan and I have played Line Up with him once so far.  Jade loves it.  It works on memory and attention to detail skills.  I think he's probably already worked through half the Perplexors book.  They're the little problems that give you clues about various individuals and what they had, liked, wore, etc., and you have to figure out who else likes what, etc.  Then the books are "Choose Your Own Adventure" books.  I remember reading a sci-fi book like that as a kid, and I thought it was really cool.  They set you up on an adventure, and at certain points you are given choices on the end of the page, and depending on which route you take (you then go to whatever page number it instructs) you may be a hero or end up being eaten by a dinosaur or something.  Lots of action and problem-solving.

Liv got the preschool (4-5 years) Brain Quest (she's 3), and this is just right for her.  The skills put forth in the cards are the skills she's learned or is currently learning.  The Little Keepers at Home book will be better served as the years progress, but she's already in early training, and this is a cute little book that works on scripture memory and various household tasks like cleaning and cooking.

Olivia and Elizabeth also got a nice Radio Flyer off road wagon with high wooden sides attached.  They both love it!  I can pull them both slowly, because Liv will hold Liz between her legs and hug her.  Olivia will get in by herself, and Jaden will run pulling her.  

Trusten will soon start the Language Lesson book.  Jade is using a book from this same series, but for an older level.  I knew Trust would love the Usborne Phonics Readers books.  We all do!  We've read almost all of them.  The Frog on a Log book has several different stories in it, but each of the other books has one story each.  The Brain Quest pictured is the "Grade 1" for 6-7 years, and I was torn between getting that and the 5-6 years level.  In most cases for such things, the correct thing in the case for my kids is to go up at least one level, but since Trusten is at that stage where he's learning to read and write and go beyond basic counting, I was unsure.  This one ended up being too advanced for him, so I've since got him the level down, which is perfect, and by the time he reaches his sixth birthday in May he'll probably be ready to move up.

I also got some other books not pictured.  I got Shel Silverstein's The Giving Tree a couple weeks earlier.  I love the lessons in that book.  I even referenced that book in a biblical article I wrote a few years ago.  I want to get some of his poetry books, but for now I settled for A Net of Fireflies which contains a lot of rhyming haikus.  I then got a non-rhyming haiku book called A Year of Guyku (haiku for boys).  I'm not looking at the authors right now.

Also for Jaden and I to read together next year I bought a trilogy wherein the first book is The Giver by Lois Lowry.  I didn't know until I looked for this book to buy that it ended up being the first in a trilogy.  The book has been on my mind a lot lately for some reason.  I never even read the entire thing as a child, but there's something that keeps telling me to get it and read it.  I read enough of it to score well on the tests given.  It was a required reading book for English/Language Arts in junior high, and I didn't like my teacher at the time (no one did), and some of the other stuff she'd subjected us to was so deeply tormenting in the boredom department that I didn't want to waste my time reading something of her choosing. 

Science stuff!!!!!!!  These things will be used for various purposes throughout our learning experiences.

Nathan, Jaden, and I played Bible Scattergories on Sabbath.  It was the first time Jade had ever played that game.  Trusten and Liv did bible sticker books.  I helped Liv finish her book and read the last story to her, which was about the men building their houses on sand vs. rock foundations.

It was mostly a cold overcast week, but it snowed on the sixth day of the week, so the older three kids played out in the falling snow while I prepared for Sabbath.  It was the first snow of this winter.  The next day we took a Sabbath drive, because I wanted to go see the outdoors, but I didn't want to freeze.

Until next time...