We had such a great week! We enjoyed our bi-annual global focus week (think missions conference) so much as we learned about what God is doing in Japan. We made new friends and enjoyed fellowship with our church family for four days. It was a great time, but as you can imagine, the kids got worn out pretty quickly. We started off strong and got all of our work done the first two days, but I took a cue from the kids that they were getting really worn down, so we just stuck to history and literature for the end of the week.
Grace: Preschool
Grace is counting down the days to her 5th birthday! She's feeling quite grown up and can't wait to celebrate turning five. It's bitter sweet watching my baby's birthdays pass each year, but much more sweet since I am able to enjoy watching them grow and develop through homeschooling.
We focused on writing the letter
I this week and she really liked this one because it was so easy and because it is in her name. We are not learning the letters in ABC order, but by style. Right now our Fundanoodle book is teaching the basic lined letters first. I think this is a really smart way to build their fine motor skills.
Grace enjoyed some time using our school-room computer this week. She can use this really well now and navigates to the approved websites with ease. It is a bit overwhelming how well young kids can use computers and the internet. We use their computer time to help them learn responsibility and teach rules of use as well as enjoy whatever learning games they are using.
Beth: Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit 4 (2nd grade)
Beth seems to enjoy spelling and I think she is a natural speller as long as she is putting forth the effort. I don't know what one child finds spelling easy while another doesn't, but I'm glad for her sake it isn't difficult. We're over half-way through book two of All About Spelling and I can't say enough how great this curriculum is.
Beth
loved loved loved our history readings this week. We studied about Pocahontas! She wrote an excellent acrostic about her and just like her big sister the best part of the week was when she found out Pocahontas became a Christian because that meant she will get to see her in heaven one day.
We really enjoy the history readings. I feel badly for families who struggle through them, but so far we haven't found them to be tedious at all. If you are in Bigger and finding the readings hard, try giving your child something to do. Right now my daughters are working on a 3D version of Jamestown, which goes along with Beth's history at the moment. They are actively engaged in listening because they can answer questions, but they enjoy keeping busy while I read.
I didn't get a picture of it, but she also passed the first level of Typing Tournament! She was so excited.
Rose: Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 23 (4th Grade)
Rose is so very close to passing the second level of Typing Tournament. She really enjoys it, but like with many things, gets frustrated when it takes her longer to complete than she wants it to. I think she is learning to take this much better this year and I'm happy to see her getting closer.
We took a look at Rome this week and the various cruel and not so cruel leaders. We learned about Pompeii as well and she was fascinated by this ancient city. I recently read a wonderful historical fiction book called
City on Fire by Tracy Higley which is just excellent. It was like my own living book study!
I would not say Rose is a natural speller, but she
is a determined student. She's doing incredibly well as we enter into the fourth book from All About Spelling. She takes her time and really thinks about it. I'm
finally able to see some improvement in spelling in other areas. Not always, but most of the time which is a huge thing for her!
Good week and I'm so thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling which allowed us to more fully enjoy our global focus week. Here we are enjoying one last meal with our new friends. 10 Points if you can guess what restaurant we were enjoying!
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