Preparing and Res to Ref- Unit 16

Preparing Hearts for His Glory

This week we learned about the ending of the Golden Age of Greece. 

We learned that the 400 years between the end of the Old Testament and the birth of Christ were known as the 400 years of silence.

During this time, Athens was known for its beautiful buildings, culture, and education... and its fleet.  Sparta did not care for the fine things but, they were jealous about the fleet.  Athens and Sparta fought a long war. Neither side won.

We learned that King Philip of Macedonia thought of a plan to become the King of Greece too.  When he was killed, his young son, Alexander became the new king of Greece at age 20.  Alexander studied with the famous Greek teacher Aristotle. 

The kids drew a piece of Greek pottery called an amphora.  They added an ornamental design in brown crayon and then painted it in black water color.  The only thing I would change was to do this project on water color paper.  We did not and our paper was wrinkly! 

We learned that the Greek amphoras show pictures of Greek heroes and  Greek stories. The black background of the vases makes the brown design stand out.

Our vase told the story of how Alexander the Great trained the stallion who was afraid of his shadow.

We learned that Alexander the Great had studied with Aristotle and became a great military commander. 

He conquered all of the known world and wept when there was nothing left to conquer.  On the return home he was feasting and drinking in Babylon and died.  He was only 33. He left his generals to fight over  his empires.

Alexander the Great was a great thinker and we copied some of his famous quotes. 

Another great cursive sample from a 5th grader. He is doing well as he has only been writing in cursive for a little over 6 months. 

Our narration was about Carthage and Rome in the Punic War.  We learned that jealousy stirred the controversy as each were jealous of the other.

This week the kids began working on the constellation books used to record the constellations that they learn.  They copied Psalm 147:4-5 on the front (I wish they would have done it a little bigger so it was more legible.) and then they drew the constellations on the inside.  

I had them use dots for the small stars and big stars for the brighter stars.  

The experiment was to discover why stars look like they twinkle.  We shined a flashlight into the jar with crumpled aluminum foil underneath. When we touched the water the reflection on the ceiling flickered. We learned that stars appear to twinkle as their light rays are bent when the rays move through the Earth's atmosphere.

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Resurrection to Reformation 

This week he learned about the early explorers. Trade routes had flourished in the east.  The West needed a sea route.  

When Constantinople fell to the Turks, the trade routes from Asia to Europe closed. Sailors began seeking a way around Africa to reach India for spices, silks, and gems.

Lorenzo de' Medici also known as Lotenzo the Magnificent helped usher in the Italian Renaissance. 

The painter of the Mystical Nativity, Sandra Botticelli, lived and painted in Florence, Italy. 

Columbus sailed for India in the other direction, hoping to sail west to meet the east. He landed near the Americas. 

We made sea biscuits/hard tack. 

 It was a sticky mixture so we used lots of flour to roll out. 

After rolling out the dough, we used a pizza cutter to cut into 2" strips and then he poked holes into the tops with a fork.   

The kids tried to soak the sea biscuits in broth but, weren't really fond of them. They thought it tasted like a thick tortilla. Columbus and his voyagers ate hard tack sea biscuits on their long journey across the ocean.

We did learn many interesting facts about Columbus in this unit and also that Leif Ericson discovered America hundreds of years before Columbus.


•••••••••  JuSt FoR FuN!

We did add this fancy "get along jar" to our homeschool room this week.  It has been amazing! The two who are not getting along  - or tattling - get to draw sticks. These are tasks to do together, extra chores, silly games, sincere apologies, and a few grace sticks included. So far this has been amazing. The kids giggle and it is so funny watching them completely forget why they were even fighting in the first place!  This will be easy to recreate by writing on popsicle sticks.  Of course you can make age appropriate ideas or here are some of the ones we have in ours for our 8, 10,11,14 yo:

• Dust the furniture together.
• Prepare a snack to share together.
• Unload and load the dishwasher together.
• Jump on the trampoline for 5 minutes together. 
• Sit together quietly for 5 minutes.
• Pick up the playroom together.
• Say 5 nice things to the other person.
• Gather and take out trash together.
• Set the table together.
• Make/draw and apology card for each other.
• Tell each other you are sorry and HUG!
• Make the other person's bed.
• Take turns saying 5 things nice about each other
• Play a game together.
• Mommy's Choice 
• Pick up dog poop in the backyard together.
• Play legos for 10 minutes together.
• Do the Hokey Pokey!
• Go outside to ride bikes together.
• Put on your swimsuits and clean the tub together.
• Do the others persons chore.
• Tell each other a joke.
• Clean the door windows together.
• Make a snack to share with the other person

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

Preparing and Res to Ref Unit 15

This week we learned about a great warship called a trireme.  We learned that each trireme held  hundreds of people. The kids history project was to build a miniature one from aluminum foil!   This was certainly a hit with my 3! 

They were excited to sail them in the bath tub!

When King Darius sailed to attack Greece.  The trained Greek soldiers beat the Persian soldiers, even thought they were outnumbered.   A runner ran 26 miles to Marathon to share the good news.

As we reflected this week to the book of Daniel we were able to see that God has a plan for all of history.

Our narration this week was about Xerxes destroying the Athens. We learned that Athens was rebuilt even better after the fire with beautiful architecture.  Pericles did much to encourage philosophy, architecture, sculpting, art, poetry, and plays. 

We learned the different types of columns:  Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian just in time for our visit to downtown Louisville. It was so neat to be able to see the different styles as we walked the streets.  I wish we had more time and were able to dive a bit deeper into the architecture. 

I really enjoyed this!  :)

This week we started out Find the Constellations book!  Each star was placed in the heavens by God. We know that the names of the constellations and stars that we recognize today are mentioned  in scriptures.

Resurrection to Reformation

This week he studied the Italian Renaissance, the Inquisition, and about Ivan the Great.

Fra Angelico's name meant 'Angelic Brother'. He always prayed before painting. 

He learned that Ferdinand and Isabella were teenagers and married uniting the two Spabish kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. 

Ivan the Great was ruling in Russia. He learned his coat of arms had a double  headed eagle looking both east and west. 

He created his own coat of arms. 

He enjoyed it so much that he made two! 

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We have had a busy few weeks over the holidays but, took time to enjoy our friends! First time Ice skating was a hit! 

Hope you have a Merry Christmas! 

Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 14

Preparing Hearts for His Glory

We learned that India has existed since ancient times.  We talked about the India caste system and how it separated the people as they did not associate with one another.  India was known for it's fine spices, just as China was known for its silk.

We learned about the Silk Road and the secret to China's fine silk.  

The kids wrote the steps and were able to put them in the correct order.  I had them add little pictures onto the cards. 

We watched a quick YouTube video to show the process. The kids were quite amused by this. You can find it here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77ktNSPFbwQ

Our narration this week was about the brave Horatius. The kids enjoyed this story so narration came easy.  Love that cursive! 

In Science this week the kids experimented with dinosaur body design.  We learned that God designed each dinosaur carefully and perfectly to give it balance for walking and eating.  

The kids loved using marshmallows and toothpicks to create the perfect balances. 

They ate them after they were finished!

Resurrection to Reformation


This week, he learned about the end of the Middle Ages.  

He did make a pennant flag but, I somehow didn't capture a picture and learned that they were carried showing emblems or crests during the Middle Ages.

His drawing through history is going much better. This week he drew a knight in armor. 

He learned that French and English knights fought in the battlefield during the Hundred Years' War.

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We also had a visit to Krispy Kreme at the end of our week. They happily gave the kids a personal tour around the store, let them play with the dough, and answered all their questions.  Hats off to Krispy Kreme for humoring and educating my homeschoolers!  :)

Hope you had a great week!

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!