Morgan School Week 4

The weather has been a bit more mild lately, offering us LOTS of opportunities for recess outside. Someone at work innocently asked me the other day, "So do you have them sit down at desks in the morning and schedule school like they would in public school, finishing around 3?" I had to hold back a giggle because we have anything but a typical public school schedule! That is the beauty of homeschooling after all! While we do get the majority of our seat work done in the morning, we use the rest of the day to explore, play, experiment, and read lots of books! We typically have a bit more seat work in the afternoons while Jacob still naps, and we finish up our chapter reading books during afternoon snack or bedtime reading.

With this somewhat milder weather, we have been exploring and taking walks at lots of nearby parks. One park nearby has lots of trails and several old buildings to explore. Gracie kept asking when we were going to the park. Since there was no playground at this particular park she felt we had not yet arrived!

For science this week, Daddy helped us with our first experiment. We started learning more about the sun and planets. After our initial reading and notebooking, Luke shocked both of us one day at lunch by having the planets already memorized in order!

Now we have a visual reminder of the order of the planets from the sun to help the rest of us remember!

You know you homeschool when you have a solar system hanging from your kitchen! :)

One living book we added to our science study this week was Nicolaus Copernicus The Earth is a Planet by Denis Brindell Fradin. We love to add biographies about real people to our studies!



Our new favorite PE activity is working on pull-ups with Daddy! We try to get outside and run and play everyday, but we also practice push ups, pull ups and sit ups with Daddy.

Ben is actually able to do several pull ups without any help from Daddy! He is one strong little boy, but then again he has been practicing push ups for years now!

For our Tapestry of Grace studies we started our study from "The Beginning". While it may seem odd that we studied Egypt first, the authors of the TOG material design that for several reasons. While most of the reasons are better understood at a much higher level than first grade, the main reason is that Moses would have written the first five books of the Bible after the Exodus. So the context of Creation and God's plan for the Israelites would have been significant in light of what they had just  experienced. I am sure they all needed a few reminders of what God had done in the midst of their experiences, much like we do!

This week we read several versions of Creation and the Flood to compare and contrast the stories with the Biblical account.

One book we read was excellent for discussion related to creation. It was a supplemental suggestion from TOG due to the fact that it is out of print. We were able to find it at our local library. Yellow and Pink by William Steig. This is a funny little tale with much deeper concepts at a level little ones can understand and appreciate. It is a story of two puppets that find themselves contemplating and debating the age old question of, "Where did I come from". Pink concludes they must have been created while Yellow believes it was a series of accidents. Luke and Ben loved this book and we read it several times, each time having great discussions.



The boys also colored mini creation books to help remind them of God's amazing creation work.

One of our favorite Noah and the Flood renditions was The True Story of Noah's Ark by Tom Dooley. The pictures in this book are phenomenal! 

Another book we dove into this week was The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible by Paul S. Taylor. Some of this book was a bit over the boys heads, especially since they are not really familiar with any debates surrounding dinosaurs. It will be a great one to reread in the future, yet the boys were fascinated by it this time too!

Luke and Ben are both doing a fantastic job progressing with their reading. This week they both read Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. They love being able to read "real books" not just basic readers or Bob books. We also finished up our Winnie the Pooh and Boxcar Children this week, so we are excited to dive into new chapter books next week!

 This week each of the older three kids had earned a "date" with Mommy or Daddy. Friends of ours shared this system of rewards on their blog, and we have decided to try it out as a family. Every day each child is given the opportunity to earn a star. Earning a star is not just related to chores, or actions, but focuses on the heart or attitude throughout the day. If enough stars are earned in a given period, they earn a one-on-one date with Mommy or Daddy.  Since one-on-one time is at such a premium in this house, it does seem to be a fun reward both for children and parents! This is really focused more on the older boys at this point who have a better understanding of what is required, but Gracie is included too.

I don't have a picture of Luke  or Ben with Daddy because I forgot to tell Daddy to take pictures! So far our dates have just been simple stops somewhere for a special treat shared and time to sit and chat. They have all LOVED this time, I think it will be a great way to encourage positive, hard working, and loving attitudes. Now that the kids have all had their first date, they do not want to miss out on the next round! Here is a picture of Gracie on her date with Mommy taken with my phone! :)

We hope you had a great week this week!