R is for Rock and J is for Jewel

I'm so glad we did "R for Rock" and "J for Jewel" together. The books I found overlapped with both topics, and honestly, my knowledge about both topics overlaps a lot. Thank goodness I have geologist grandparents that have given my boys A LOT of cool rocks and gems for us to look at. Too bad I'm not very good at distinguishing what rock is what, but I am hoping that my boys will have some enjoyable rock conversations with their great-grandparents soon, as they are moving to Chattanooga next week!!!!!!! YAY!!!!!!

Just look at the collection we already have from my grandparents:

 We sorted them by color/size/type as best as we could:

Here is a piece of fool's gold with our lesson for "R for Rock":

"I listen and obey. I build my life on the Rock."

Of course, we talked and sang about "The wise man built his house upon the rock."

They loved this video too:

We also bought some geodes to bust open:

We learned with J for Jewel that "Jesus is more valuable than anything else." I taught them the song "Lord, you are more precious than silver..." And we talked A LOT about heaven. About the streets of gold, the gates of pearl, and all the jewels listed in Revelation that were seen by John in the New Jerusalem. 

Here is the math worksheet for this unit:

The curriculum suggested that we make necklaces of jewels...um, yeah right. I have two boys. So we made crowns of jewels. That of course turned into playing Yellow King and Blue King (thankfully, I convinced them to be on the same team so they wouldn't hurt each other with those swords).

We did everything in three days! I think we left out only one worksheet (as some repeat each lesson), so I don't feel like we missed anything. We read the books "Stone Soup" and "A Cache of Jewels", and then we were ready to move on to K for Kangaroo!

100th Day of School

 The boys had a blast today!

 First... I set up a 100 star path for them to wake up to in the morning....

It was like Christmas morning. 

I woke up to hear Tobin in the hall saying: "Jonah! COME SEE! It's 100 day!!!!"

I bought a bulletin board kit from Oriental trading company. We used the parts for decoration and 100 day hats!

" panda-monium" is a good word for describing our first 100 days:)

My yellow and  "3" obsessed child 

We had to put 1-100 back in order, which was a great learning experience, and then we taped them to our school room door. I am proud of my 5 year. He did really well today. Counting to 100 takes a LOT of patience!

 I said "strike a pose". LOL!

We made fruit loop necklaces with 100 fruit loops. Once again- lots of patience and perseverance!

It helps when you are promised such a sweet reward.

Daddy surprised Tobes with a 100 in Minecraft that had 100 emeralds in a treasure box!

Then I had the idea of skip counting by 10's by fingerpainting their "10 fingers" 5 times each.

 I have a feeling there was more like 1,000 by the end. 

I did count as they painted, but finger paint seems to make them crazy.

Bath followed, so no more pajama party after that adventure. 

I served 100 bites for lunch (they only had 16 left over)

You know you have boys when bulletin board decor is turned into swords, shields, and crowns.

 This says:
         I'd love to eat 100 "grapes", but I'd never eat 100 "grass". - Tobin
         I'd love to eat 100 "itty bitty cookies", but I'd never eat 100 "cars" - Jonah

FINALLY! He wrote a number every day for the last 100 days! He thought that meant no more school, and he was not delighted when I told him we have 80 more days to go.

We had a blast today! Tobin made up songs counting to 100, we made a "100 day" pin, we drew pictures, we went to the library, we went to the playground wearing our 100 day hats, we played dominoes, and we read the book "One Hundred Hungry Ants."

Considering we are also talking about I for insects, and that we have an ant farm we are observing right now, this book was perfect. It also shows how to skip count to 100, so we got some more math in too. Today was a party day, but also a math day. Doesn't get any better than that.

Mexican Fiesta

While Daddy was in Mexico on a business trip, we studied Mexico at home. Thanks to Dora and Diego, my boys understood the concept of speaking Spanish. We learned 1-10 in Spanish, and how to sing "Gloria Dios," "Alleluia," and " Dios es Amor" (with finger puppets).

We looked at pictures I had pinned on pinterest, and we enjoyed our children's atlas book.

http://www.amazon.com/Childrens-Altas-World-Craig-Froman/dp/0890517061/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1381949882&sr=1-1&keywords=children%27s+atlas+of+god%27s+world

We also watched the Kratt Brothers learn about the Monarch butterflies that fly to Mexico every year. My boy LOVES bugs. He retained this information better than anything else we talked about.

Oh, and we talked about shapes. I didn't really find a way to make that about Mexico, but I wanted to review them and add some new ones to his vocab, and I figured now is the best time. We also made symmetrical drawings (butterfly/house/tree), and my little man made a hopscotch game (good way to review his numbers). 

We made a pinata, which was much more time consuming than I had remembered. Tobin was excited about the first layer of slime and newspaper, but after that, I was on my own.

He didn't realize he had cute dots of paper mache glue on his nose:).

We then got ready for the fiesta to welcome Daddy home! Naturally, the boys decided to do something I would never think of: making felt ponchos and pom-pom/foam sombreros for their dinosaurs to decorate the table with. 

The boys and their friends made a "bienvenida a casa" (welcome home) sign, and we finished our Mexican Angry Bird pinata. 

Daddy made it home safely (but sickly-thanks a lot Mexico). Family came over, and the fiesta began. We ate tacos and queso, and we enjoyed listening to some Herb Alpert. The boys loved breaking the pinata, eating candy, and showing off their finger puppet skills.

Out of all my do-it-yourself unit studies, I enjoyed this one the most. I have always loved learning about other cultures, and it was fun to share things I had from my own travels to Mexico.  I can't wait to learn about more cultures and what a big, big world we are a part of with my boys. 

Music and Learning

Life would be better if it was a musical. I grew up on musicals, I grew up playing music, I think in tunes, and guess what... so do my boys:). So many lessons can be taught with music. I have a cd of skip counting songs that we started listening (and learning) this week. Tobin can now play "Mary Had a Little Lamb" on the piano. My boys both love finding the beat and play rhythms on whatever surface they can find. Tobin started his homeschool music class this week too, and he has no problem hitting his little drum to the beat.

           I introduced the idea of what music looks like in written form, and Tobin loved writing the music language of circles and lines with A-G. I love how he just accepts the concept of music theory as another fun thing to learn.

We also incorporated the Bible truth of using music to praise the Lord! We learned Psalm 150:6, and sang lots of praise music together. 

We also enjoyed painting with blue paint while listening to Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin. 

Being a stubborn musician myself, and not very good at technology, this post has taken me about a month to actually post. Why? Because I finally figured out how to post the above videos... I think. Oh, the stubborn part is that I don't want to ask my techie husband who would have figured it out in 3 seconds. So I have lots of posts to work on so that I can catch up! I really want to keep up with this as a journal/diary of sorts so I can feel accomplished in my daily doings:). Hope you enjoy!

and add more music into your lives!

Lessons in Being Kind

   A couple months ago, I had the privilege of attending our local curriculum fair and listen to some wonderful speakers. I had decided to go to a Simply Charlotte Mason meeting because the theme was how to teach preschoolers. I did not expect to come away with so much wisdom on the importance of teaching good character. The simple yet new lesson (for me) was  to teach good character/habits first, and then home-school days will be smooth and enjoyable for all. Considering the behavioral troubles I was dealing with, especially between brothers, I was and will always be striving for good character in my boys (and me) and smooth days. We already have been reading about honesty and believing in yourself.

           This week we began learning what it really means to be kind. My boys memorized the above verse, and we read the story of Catherine Frye and The Value of Kindness. My boys have such beautiful, thoughtful hearts as they led this week in ways I did not expect. My 5 year old decided he wanted to write a letter to his Uncle Tom, who he had so much fun playing with the day before. We also wrote another dear family friend who was grieving over the loss of her husband. The boys also experienced their first funeral this week, and I was impressed by how they understood that it was a serious and important time and behaved very well. That in itself was a kindness and a lesson in respect.

Being the teacher, I of course used the letter writing as a school lesson as well. We learned how to write our address, about getting letters ready to mail, and of course wrote lots of words practicing our "ABC"s. They love to make cards for their Grandma and Aunt. Thank you sis for having a variety of letters in your name so that we had lots of practice:). 

The most important lesson that I wanted to teach was to be kind to your brother. I loved watching Tobin help his little brother write his name on his card. Jonah was so proud and glad to be included.

We ended our week with a science experiment, and a Bible lesson. As we watched the egg in vinegar bubble and change into something like a rubber ball, we talked about how we should be kind to everyone, and we should pick good friends that do not try to change us into bad people (that was the best I could do in trying to put the big idea into little people words). The idea and lesson came from this article:

http://comfyinthekitchen.com/2013/08/egg-experiment-and-a-biblical-lesson/

 24 hours later:

This science experiment was really cool and easy. The boys loved it! 

I just hope I can continue the theme of kindness through the school year by my own example and with Biblical truths at the ready. I find the only way to have this attitude is to begin my day in the Word. "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young has been a lifesaver and eyeopener for me in my morning devotions. My goal is to be authentic with my children, so I share my thoughts and daily readings with them, even though it can be very hard to explain what is on my heart. I just want them to hear and understand how we can live our lives for Jesus. One day at a time...