Week 3

Okay, so I promise I will NOT be able to keep up with a weekly school post, but we have had such full weeks I don't want to wait until the end of the month to post about it all! Once #5 arrives I have a feeling we will be taking a break from school and the blog!

This week we finally had an opportunity to paint our Egypt salt dough maps we made during week one. They were only supposed to take 4-5 days to dry, but it took over two weeks with the heat and humidity! (Having our AC break this week did not help either, but that is a whole different story!)

Here Luke is journaling what he learned about the different planets this week in science.

Playdough break so Mommy can make dinner! :)

Reading break. Jacob loves all things trains, and Luke loves to sit and play "I Spy" with Jacob and his Thomas book. Both of the older boys are great about playing and distracting Gracie and Jacob when I need one-on-one teaching time with the other sibling.

Nature walk: On Friday we headed to a local nature park to run and play and find items for art class to draw. We found a huge family of deer (5-6 with two fawns!) The kids were enthralled! The pictures were taken with my cell phone, so you can't see the deer, but believe me they were there! Don't you just love the grip that Gracie has on her older brothers? :)

In art this week the boys were learning how artists notice detail, and how detail can enhance a drawing. Their assignment was to find some interesting items on our nature walk and come home and draw them using as much detail as possible. I was really surprised by how much they noticed and added into their artwork.

Okay, so Jacob still occasionally tries to eat crayons, but he wanted to be included in art time too! He loves to color.

Prior to starting school and deciding to go with Tapestry of Grace this year I spent hours prereading books, searching our library system trying to determine which books we would purchase for our home library and which ones we would attempt to find at our library. I say attempt because while our library system and interlibrary loan system is phenomenal, we also live in a homeschooling saturated community! This means it is often difficult to find books which are required or suggested reading in various homeschool curricula. With the help of Jeff as a sounding board, I had a whole system of how I chose which books would be in which category.

One of the books we chose not to purchase focused on Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. I didn't mind discussing these topics, but didn't want to put a huge focus on false gods and idols. Well, God humbled me beyond words this week and taught this "teacher" a few lessons through our sons.




This book discusses the various Egyptian Gods, their roles, and the beliefs of the Ancient Egyptians. The book discusses a "judgement hall" in which Egyptians believed their hearts were weighed on a scale to determine if they were "good enough" to go on to an afterlife, or not good enough and eaten by a crocodile monster. After we read this section I asked the boys what they thought. Luke said, "That is scary to think I would have to be good enough on my own!" Ben responded, "We can't do that, we need Jesus, I would never be good enough without Him!" What a clear picture of God's grace out of the mouth of babes! It struck me that I had been worried that it would be too deep of content for them to handle, but God was using it to reinforce to them and to me what He has already done for us!

 On a lighter note, we had a blast enjoying our new chapter books for this week. A SL suggestion is the second A.A. Milne Winne the Pooh book, The House at Pooh Corner. We decided to read the first book, Winnie the Pooh,  and then we will read the second one later. (I found both books for less than a dollar at a local used book shop! :))
The boys were literally in tears laughing this week at Pooh's antics It was fun to watch how much they enjoy this reading time. It is amazing that even Gracie and Jacob will listen along during snack time, giggling with their brothers and enjoying the occasional pictures.

We also started reading The Boxcar Children by Gertrude Chandler Warner and L. Kate Deal. I have such fond memories of reading and re-reading all of these when I was younger. Both boys just about revolt when I won't continue reading "just one more chapter"!

 

We have had a fun third week of school, so much learning packed into such a short time! To finish off our three week study of Egypt, and week long study of Moses and the Exodus, we watched The Prince of Egypt movie!