Creation to Christ - Unit 8

This week we read about the fall of Jericho.  The shofars were blown like a horn and the walls came tumbling down!  We learned that shofars were often used in religious festivals and during battle to show that the battle belonged to the Lord.

The kids created a wall of Jericho lego set to show the spies getting into the window and a thief plundering.
















We read that God parted the waters of the Jordan River so the Israelites could cross with the Ark of the Covenant.  The kids history project was to make the waters rolling back parting from construction paper.  I guess that wasn't enough. lol.   So again this awesome lego set was created showing the priests crossing over the Jordan River.

Our last story was about Gideon and his army of 300.

How could God's people forget the Lord after all his miraculous signs?  After the death of Joshua the Israelites did just that.  They turned their backs on God and began to worship idols.

I love seeing these completed workbook pages.  The kids do a great job most of the time completing them fully and nicely.  Such a treasure to hang onto also.

 In or grammar this week, we learned past, present and future tense.  The kids made this cool gadget and we had mini competitions to see who could identify the fastest! 

In science, we learned the horse family is called Equidae.  There are many different breeds of horses.  They are herbivores and have excellent hearing.  The kids thought it was so funny that they can sleep standing up!

 This week our Science experiment was to identify different gaits or ways that a horse walks.  We learned and tapped the different gaits.  Walk, Trot, Canter, Gallop  We have a gal in horseback riding and she was so happy to share this info with her teacher!

Hope you had a great week!
See you next time!

Creation to Christ - Unit 7

This week we read while Moses was away, Aaron failed as a leader.  The people returned to idol worshipping as they were use to doing in Egypt. God gave the people specific instructions but, the Israelites built an idol and disobeyed.   God punished them and made snakes appear to bite the people.  God commanded that they make a bronze serpent to wrap around the rod and when the people looked into its' eyes they would be healed.

We learned that the symbol of the snakes on the rod is still used in healthcare today and just happened to see it at our doctors appointment after reading the story.  The kids wanted to take a picture! 

We learned that God wanted to teach the people of Egypt to fear Him because he is just and holy.  He wanted them to realize He was different from the pagan idols and gods they had been worshipping in Egypt.

Our history art project was to make an ephod or breastplate like the High Priest Aaron wore with the gemstones of the 12 tribes. We skipped the toothpaste stones - as I have tried and failed at that one once before - and the kids just went and picked out 12 stones each from our forest!

We tried the toothpaste/glue mix before and really did not have much luck.  It turned out sticky and yuck!  So, I avoided it like the plague and just told the kids to find some stones in the backyard.  LOL!  They hurried out on an adventure and found some great ones!  We painted the stones just like the Unit notebook page.

It was a beautiful day and perfect for a quick painting project outdoors!  

The kids wanted them to look textured like the pictures and they mixed paint to get just the right shades they needed!  A bit of a mess but, they enjoyed it!

The stones turned out great and they dried fast! 

We copied the Hebrew text onto the stones with black sharpie.  Thank goodness most of the rocks we used were smooth and flat!

Our final breastplate with the 12 tribes of Israel gemstones looked awesome! The kids did a great job and had fun too!

In Poetry this week, we read 'Gathering Leaves' by Robert Frost.  We are certainly anxious for the colors on the trees to change as we anticipate fall so this was a wonderful poem for the week.    

The kids painted a yellow faded background and added a brown tree with branches and limbs.  

I saw an interesting technique floating around Facebook for painting leaves and gave my kiddos the option of trying it with their artwork.

We made a bunch of q-tips with a piece of scotch tape holding them together.  The kids used the bunch to dab paint on their leaves.  They used orange, brown, and yellow and one wanted to add red.  This was a cute and easy way to paint their leaves and had great results! 

I love the branches showing through the tree! 

One of my kiddos wanted to continue using the sponge technique and I think it turned out great too.  

This one  has a more leathery finish to me.  Very pretty and was definitely the desired look my little artist was going for! 

What a beautiful painting! Such a fun way to incorporate art in with the study of poetry!

In Science, we read about beavers and how they are rodents that build dams that creates a wet land environment for many other species.  Their dams are also useful to help purify the water downstream.    

Our Science experiment was to figure out what special adaptations God gave the anteater to help it get the food it needs.  We learned that anteaters have VERY long tongues.... 2 feet long! We measured ours and didn't quite meet the 2 ft mark.... LOL!  Anteaters lick very fast to catch many ants.  

We did try to be anteaters and collect our ants, errrrrrr.... chocolate chips with just our tongues.  It wasn't easy and the kids really wanted to use their lips for help!

We added a bit of honey to the anteater tongue yarn.  The idea was for the chocolate chip to stick to the yarn with the honey.  Our chocolate chips were heavy ants and wouldn't hang on but, the kids got the idea and that is the important part!  This was a fun and quite hilarious experiment! 

We had some hands on Science this week with puddles and magnificent, humongous mushrooms! The kids really enjoyed finding a turtle and playing in the flowing creek behind our house!

Hope you've had a great week too! 

See you next time!

Creation to Christ - Unit 6

We started our week with a fantastic 4 square game!  Such dreary, cloudy days lately with much need of outside play.  The kids jumped out of bed when they realized it wasn't raining yet and went for the chalk to draw some lines on our driveway.  There is something about seeing your kids all getting along playing games together that just makes a mom feel joy inside!  We all wish these moments were more common and when they happen I definitely let us all enjoy it, even if it's a morning delay. 

This week, we continued reading about Moses time in the Egyptian palace and how it was God's plan to use Moses to save His people.  The signs of the plagues were miraculous and were used to show Egypt that there is only one true God.  Pharaoh refused to obey God until the 10th plague.  The angel of death passed over the Israelites and Pharaoh sent a message to Moses in the middle of the night telling the Israelites to leave Egypt.  The kids had heard this story before but, it certainly never gets old taking a closer look at the wonders of God as he brought His people out of Egypt.

We added some glitter to our paint and followed the directions in the guide in making our Egyptian columns. This was a little messy painting a tube and glitter is one of my least favorite things to use in arts and crafts.

Once we rolled and painted our paper it asked up to draw the plagues.  I will say that had we drawn our plagues first, it certainly would have been easier.  However, the kids did great and went with the flow.  

They were able to draw all 10 plagues on their columns.  I love the imagery on the columns even if  it wasn't the neatest,  this art project won't be forgotten soon and will likely be referenced as they remember it for years to come.

Our Unit 6 history timeline and note booking and the plagues and their judges of the false gods.

In Poetry, we read Robert Frost's 'Fireflies in the Garden' with a night sky and twinkling fireflies.  This was probably my favorite painting yet!  So pretty and the kids each did a great job with their unique, creative touch!

We started out with placing small pieces of tape on our paper.  Some kids chose a lot of fireflies others minimal.  Either way this really was a great way to show them the concept of painting over  the tape and then removing to allow the firefly to appear.

They painted a dark blue sky  that faded into a beautiful shade of purple.  They added some yellow lines to their fireflies and a black tree in the night.

We are still trying to make use of the full paper since we upgraded to the larger sheets. The faded look and some brighter but, I think they all did awesome! 

The little girl asked not to have to glue the poetry onto her painting because she wanted to display her artwork in her room!  So pretty beside her "Bored Jar"...  LOL!

This week at co-op, the little girl learned the first step to crocheting.  She can now officially tie her own knots and make a crocheted chain.  And, she made them ALL week! Bracelets, necklaces, shoe strings, and Barbie scarves!







The boys have jumped into the Fables, Myths, and Fairy Tales IEW: writing lessons at co-op.  I'm really excited about this class for the boys and have already seen some improvement in their writing.

Math with Christian Light and Teaching Textbooks are going great.  I sure love the real life application in Teaching Textbooks.  The kids learned about using math in quilting, income taxes, and purchasing a car with a down payment and interest for financing this week!


I hope everyone had a great week!
See you next time!

Creation to Christ - Unit 5

This week we read about God giving the Pharaoh 2 dreams. God revealed the meaning of his dreams to Joseph and they were prophecies of what was to come.  There  would be 7 years of an abundance of food followed by 7 years of famine.  The Pharaoh made a plan to prepare for this and made Joseph 2nd only to him in honor of his prophecy.  We read about Joseph's brothers coming to Egypt searching for food.  His brothers did not recognize him so Joseph decided to see if they had a change of heart throughout the years.

The kids copied the recipe for Egyptian Palace Bread onto an index card.  As they prepared the slices of bread by cutting off the edges, I laughed when one of my sons said, "I guess they didn't like the bread crust even way back then!'  LOL! 

We cooked the honey bread stack on 250' for 45 minutes.

We placed the bread in the fridge for about 15 minutes and served with whipped cream! It was SUPER sweet and I thought it tasted like a honey comb!  My kids love honey so they actually loved it and asked for more! 

The kids learned in Science that the earth likely use to one land format.  They used a world puzzle to try and fit the continents together to see what it might have looked like.

They also read that it is likely that during the ice age animals and people may have traveled across the ice bridges to get to different locations.

The kids read about marsupials this week and their cool pouch.  They thought it was so neat that koalas are able to eat the usually poisonous eucalyptus leaves because they have a special chemical that allows them not to be poisoned. 

In Poetry this week, we read Robert Frost's 'One Step Backward'.  Our painting was a watercolor background and to draw flat stones in pencil and add shadows.  I think each week the kids do better with their art.

The shadowing was a bit tricky.  But, I think they all turned out great!

Another math test success! Proud of my 4th grader this week with a great job on her CLE math!  This year she is doing an excellent job with review and now on to her multiplication and division.

The exciting news of the week was the snakeskin we found in the front flower bed.

The kids really enjoyed the up close look at the skin.    They examined and touched and found it way more exciting than me! EEK!  Yay, for moving to the country!  We aren't sure what kind it is but, we did happen to run across a snake several days later! Maybe he was looking for his skin! ;)

        
And we found a perfect spot to keep it for the time being!

Right on our homeschool shelf!

We hope you each had a great week homeschooling.  Looking forward to the cooler weather coming soon! 

Until next week!