Preparing - Unit 23

This week we learned about barbarians and how they attacked the Romans.  

We talked about the Germanic tribes,  Huns, Anglo Saxons, & Vandals. 

Justinian was the Roman emperor who built the church Santa Sophia in Constantinople. He also brought the secret silkworm secret of making fine silk to Europe from China. 

We made a Viking brooch like the Vikings would wear to fasten their cloaks and dresses. The boys made circle shapes. We learned that the females brooches were oval... So my little girl insisted on an oval shaped brooch. She drew her design in pencil and then we used Elmer's glue to outline the design. 

We added an extra round of glue on Day 2 to make it stand up more defined.   I would say this is quite necessary to see more of the design. 

We covered our brooch with aluminum foil and pressed firmly around the glued areas. 

We added a straight pin to the back. We learned that the brooches were often made from bronze, gold, silver, wood, or animal bones and had beautiful designs carved into them. 

The kids made maps showing the route that of Leif. He was able to share Christianity all over Greenland. 

In Science we started learning about the Coral Reef! The Great Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Australia in the sea. 

It is like a wall to ships or submarines.  God made amazing sea creatures! 

Our narration this week was about Monks and Nuns and their great work. They desired to live holy lives in monasteries and abbeys.  They made manuscripts and copied books and even the Bible.  They had daily diaries, helped the poor and needy, gave shelter for travelers, and took care of the sick. 

We had a fun day with reptiles this week. 

Love the freedom to add field trips to our weekly learning. Homeschooling perk for sure! 

Preparing Hearts for His Glory - Unit 22

This week we focused on Roman emperors. We learned that even though Jesus and Augustus Caesar lived at the same time, Jesus was the true king. 

We read more about Rome and learned that a triumph was held to honor conquering military generals. They were presented with golden laurel wreaths which we learned was a symbol for royalty and power. 

To help with time, I made a pattern and cut a lot of the laurel leaves out of yellow paper.  

We didn't paint the leaves...  The kids used a brown coloring pencil to make the leaf lines. 

The kids used glue to place the leaves around the green strip of paper to make the wreath. 

They had a fun time making these and actually wore them around for a few days. 

We talked about the terrible violent emperor of Rome, Nero, who persecuted Christians.  He built a big bronze statue of himself. 

We read about Marcus Aurelius and how he was a famous Roman emperor who was a stoic who tried to do what was right. 

We finished the week learning that Constantine made Christianity legal in the Roman Empire after he had a dream about a flaming cross. He placed crosses on the shields of the soldiers and he won the battle! 

We started reading 'Leif the Lucky'. The Vikings raided parts of the Roman Empire. 

In Science, we learned that planets are fixed in their orbit around the surround. It's takes 365 days for earth to go around the sun! 

Preparing Hearts for His Glory -Unit 21

This week we learned the persecution of Christians continued. Herod put the apostle James to death. God saved Peter and helped him escape from prison.

Our history project was to make a mosaic picture of a cross. We learned that mosaics were a popular art form used in churches and usually showed stories from the Bible. 

The kids first drew their cross onto black paper.  It was easy to use white chalk as our outline and then we could wipe it away.  Then, we used magazines and cut the squares to make their mosaic art. I love how they are each unique.

We learned that Paul endured beatings, prison, earthquakes, shipwrecks, and stoning while spreading the news of Christ.  Luke was his friend and wrote the Gospel of Luke and Acts.  We learned that the Jews tried to kill Paul when he was preaching to the Gentiles.  Paul used his rights as a Roman citizen to request a trial before Caesar.  Even though he endured this persecution, he was able to rent a small house, have visitors and spread the gospel while he was waiting for his trial in Rome.  

We read Revelations 22:1-5.  Paul knew that one day all believers will be in heaven with Jesus.  What a wonderful promise!

In completion of Grandpa's Box today, John had a vision. We learned that it is hard for Christians to trust in God because we still see so many daily battles that seem like Satan is winning.  We have the promise and assurance from the word that God has victory in the end. 

The kids really enjoyed making the items in Grandpa's Box on index cards.  Their characters are fun and cute.  It was a great way to keep them interested and engaged with our stories each day.  What a fantastic book to give them a glimpse throughout the bible.  I am so glad this book was a big part of this years curriculum.  

The kids Science experiment was to see why the Sun appears larger than the other stars.  We learned that it is because it is closer to Earth.  

Preparing & Res to Ref- Unit 20

Preparing Hearts for His Glory


We talked this week about the spread of the gospel and how it is all a part of Gods big plan.

God equipped the apostles and they received the boldness of the Holy Spirit and preached throughout Jerusalem. People's hearts were changed. The apostles were imprisoned and beaten, but they continued to preach. 

We learned about the symbol of the ichthys and that it was one of the first ways to identify Christians.      The early Christians met secretly to protect themselves from persecution.  They would etch the walls and rocks with an ichthys to signal a meeting place.

We went light on this history weeks project.  I gave the kids a press and seal square with  a bit of applesauce.  They shaped out the ichthys and then gobbled it up!  I really liked this idea and we may use it for spelling words at some point!  ;)

In Grandpa's Box our reading was about Stephen who was martyred for his belief in the vision God showed him of Jesus sitting at the right hand of God.  Stephen was stoned to death.  Many Christians were persecuted and fled for their lives.  As they moved, this helped spread the gospel.

We read about Saul's journey to Damascus and how his eyes were opened after he was made blind.  He was baptized and God used Paul to spread the gospel. 

We taped an army man to our globe.  And used the guide to make our constellation in aluminum foil.

We learned that the stars appear to rise and set in the night sky due to the rotation of the Earth.

Preparing & Res to Ref- Unit 19

PREPARING HEART FOR HIS GLORY

Although we had a few distractions with the beautiful snow in our area, we were able to press on through Unit 19!   Our week continued with Grandpas Box and we learned about the story of Lazarus. The kids learned that Jesus did not go immediately to Lazarus even though he knew he would die.

We learned that Mary and Martha might have been upset with Jesus for not coming immediately.  We learned Jesus wept with Mary and Martha.  After 4 days he raised Lazarus from the dead. 

We learned that in preparation of the body for burial, a perfume made of spices was used.  

We made our very own perfume like they used long ago with rubbing alcohol, and some random spices that I had up in the cabinet.  We combined the spices into 3/4 cup alcohol and left it sit for a week. We added quite a bit of cinnamon and so that was what it mostly smelled like. It definitely looked pretty gross all week sitting on the counter but, when we opened it and placed it on our wrists it smelled of a beautiful and warm cinnamon. We learned that perfumes and colognes are made in a similar way today.  The kids thought this was so neat. 

This week we also were blessed with the reading of the death and resurrection of Jesus.  We learned the events of the day of his death.  We made a timeline clock for the events. 

The kids wrote out the events on their clock. 

We covered it with a partial circle to only show the time.  This project was a bit time consuming with the writing that went into listing the events and honestly, my kids were discouraged. (Especially the younger one.)  However, it was so neat to show them everything that occurred and all that Jesus endured within a short amount of time.

We learned that Jesus chose to die for our sins.  He could've called the angels to save him but, he died in God's perfect timing... just for us.

We read about the resurrection and how it was at the time of the Passover.  Jerusalem - modern day Israel - was filled with people.  We learned that God sent the Holy Spirit to comfort the disciples and to equip them with boldness as they preached to the people.

This was a fantastic and very intense week and it certainly opened up many questions and discussions amongst us all.

Love this cursive and this narration!