Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 13

Preparing Hearts for His Glory 

This week we learned more about Nebuchadnezzar and how God used him to show Daniel and the Israelites that He was still in control.  We learned about the dream that God gave King Nebuchadnezzar  about the statue.  God revealed the meaning of the dream to Daniel.  

The kids made invisible ink with baking soda and water. They used a q tip to paint it onto their paper. 

During a party where Belshazzar used the goblets from God's temple for a party, a hand wrote on the wall in Aramaic. Daniel was summoned to interpret the writing on the wall for King Belshazzar.  

The writing showed God's judgment of Belshazzar. It said God was bringing Belshazzars rule to an end by dividing his kingdom. 

King Cyrus allowed the Israelites to return  to Jerusalem to rebuild God's temple.  The temple was finally rebuilt when God sent Haggai and Zechariah to encourage the people. 

The kids drew the temple in disappearing ink too.  It was fun to reveal with blue water. 

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119:105

I sure love his drawing! 

The Day 4 writing was about Esther. We read from Grandpa's Box, wrote our narration, and then watched the Veggie Tales show about Esther. They liked that!

In Science, the kids placed an egg into vinegar and let it sit overnight.  They thought it was so neat to watch the shell dissolve.  I'd love to have a final pic but, my boy wiggled the bouncy egg right off his hand and it did break into the floor! Be careful!

The kids found the Dino egg above in pic 4 .... made from plaster at the Dollar Tree.  They carved out the plaster and a baby Dino was inside. We learned that reptile eggs are tough and leathery with a built in food supply much like a chicken egg without the shell. 

Resurrection to Reformation

This unit he learned that the Black Plague began in China in the 1330's and spread by a ship to Messina, Sicily.

He marked cheerios and placed into envelopes that were labeled.  He rolled the dice to see just how long he could survive.

He visited the 2nd city and got the plague... that didn't stop him though, as he went to 3 more cities to spread it before he died.   He was not able to make it back to London safely.  He learned that the plague was spread easily. 

He thought this was a fun way to demonstrate the effects of the plague and how quickly it spread.  It eventually killed 1/3 of Europe's population.  It spread to port cities by sea routes and by land on the Silk Road to Europe.

This week in Tales from Shakespeare he read Merchant from Venice.

This week we were able to get our Operation Christmas Child boxes completed and dropped off!  The kids really enjoyed shopping and getting the boxes ready and it was such a great outreach! 

We hope you had a great Thanksgiving holiday! 

See you next week! 

Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 12

The Preparing Hearts for His Glory 

We learned Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, sent a threatening letter on a scroll to King Hezekiah in Judah. 

  We got to make our own and used a brown paper bag for our scroll project.  We cut the bottoms off and then up one side.

The kids wadded up, wrinkled, balled, threw, stomped on, etc....  until their brown sack.... errrrr...... scroll paper was nice and soft.  

Next, they painted water onto one side of the scroll and let it dry.

I wrote out the cursive in pencil and then let my non-cursive 8 yo, trace over top of it.  

She was proud! 

The boys were both able to write it in cursive on their own.  They were very proud of their beautiful scrolls! 

We tied our scrolls and the kids played around a bit delivering special messages. 

We learned that when King Hezekiah got the letter, he went to the temple and laid it out before God and prayed. God answered his prayer.  Sennachcherib's army was destroyed and didn't even set a foot into Jerusalem. 

We learned of another important scroll God gave Jeremiah a message for his people. King Jehoiakim heard the words, he ignored them, and cut them out of the scroll to burn them.  God's word still came true. 

I can't tell you how amazed I am at this cursive!  I love reading beautiful cursive. My ds has done so well in his learning and come so far in his penmanship. 

The kids used Draw, Write through History to learn to draw a big fish and a Merchant ship like Jonah may have been on.  I love seeing their drawings improve!

We learned about what ingredients are needed for a fossil:  quick burial, water in the right amounts, and suitable materials.

Noah spent 120 years building the ark and warning the people about the great flood. 

The kids learned that it is hard for scientists to put together dinosaur bones. 

Our experiment had the kids each draw their own dinosaur creation without showing the others, then cut it up into 12 pieces before anyone saw what it looked like. The kids had to try to put each other's drawing back together which proved to be difficult without knowing what it looked like to start with. 

It was easy for the one who knew what it looked like. 

They decided that had they seen the original picture it would've been much easier to put together. Since scientists have never seen what dinosaurs look like it is very difficult for them to put together.  

Our written narration this week was about King Nebuchadnezzar and his grand square city.  The kids loved the idea of a hillside on top of a palace but, were disappointed to learn that he burned down Solomon's golden temple and took the people as prisoners.  

Resurrection to Reformation

This week he learned about monks, Marco Polo, and the Mongols.

He learned Marco Polo was from a rich family in Italy where noodles were made.  Marco Polo also saw Chinese noodles on his trip to China. 

 We were supposed to make homemade egg noodles but, honestly...   I dropped the ball.

We were so busy we skipped the homemade part and he made extra wide egg noodles with Parmesan and butter.  I know...   right?!?!   I feel a little bad about that one but, the kids loved them and told him he did a great job though. 

He learned that during the Middle Ages falconry was a sport and greyhounds were rescued from extinction  by the clergy and bred as hunting dogs for nobility.  They were considered to be very valuable. 

We are still working on giving a little more  effort in art projects.  It looks like he started on these and then just didn't finalize his work.  

You might be a homeschooler if you are growing bacteria this week in the fridge and on the counter top.   :p

And we were also waiting one week to see what happens to bananas as they decompose. We added yeast to one of them. 

The yeast fungus is deteriorating the banana faster. 

It was beautiful weather this week in Virginia so our kids of course spent a lot of time outside! So thankful for the the blessing of beautiful fall weather well into the season.

Thank you for following our homeschooling journey! 

See you next week! 

Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 11

Preparing Hearts for His Glory

This week we read more in Grandpa's Box.  We learned that Solomon's kingdom became divided after his death and the new king, Ahab, led the people into idol worship. 

We made a flip book of the contest that God set between Elijah on Mt. Carmel and the prophets of Baal.  The contest revealed that there is only one true God. 

Each day the kids added to their flip book with a drawing that was a little different than the day before. They really enjoyed the animation after they understood how it worked. 

We read about Naaman and how he had leprosy. He obeyed after almost refusing when his servants convinced him to do as Elisha said.  We learned God often showed his power through his prophets. 

In Science, we learned that Behemoth means kingly, gigantic beasts.  We learned that there are many ideas of how dinosaurs became extinct. 

We learned that Noah's flood was the biggest disaster known.  Many plants and animals fossilized after the flood. 

Our experiment was to layer bread with objects inside. The kids enjoyed smoothing it all together. 

When we removed the objects we could see the impressions imprinted into the bread. 

We ended our week reading Grandpa's Box. God continues to carry out his plan even though all hope seemed lost when King Ahab and Queen Jezebel's daughter, Althaliah, tried to kill all her grandchildren so that she could be queen.  

This story had the kids thinking about just how awful she truly was. Thank God, that he provided safety for Joash to be the next king of Judah. 

The written narrations are getting a little better each week.  Be encouraged if you've been struggling with this too! 

Resurrection to Reformation

This week he learned that Saladin led the Saracens and Turks in recapturing the Holy Land for the Muslims.

He really enjoyed making an oragami turban.  

Saladin showed mercy to the Christian city of Jerusalem but, the churches were turned into mosques and the Christian crosses were removed. 

This history project was very entertaining for all 4 of my kids as Mr. Saladin put on quite a show.  The DS drew Saladin's face and put on his oragami turban. He dressed him in a tan washcloth and added an aluminum foil belt. 

He learned that Saladin was known for his heroism. 

He finished reading Robin Hood and learned that he may have lived in England.  Art is still somewhat difficult for our ds.  I am hearing less and less fuss but, art is still not a favorite.  He would much rather read and take a test than to draw, projects, or color.  However, I am realizing how helpful it is for him to actually press forward and just get it finished.   Does anyone else struggle with this?

Tales from Shakespeare reading this week was 'Two Gentleman of Verona'.   He does certainly enjoy the Shakespeare tales.

That's all for this week!  Thank you for following our journey!
See you next week!