Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 10

Preparing Hearts for His Glory

This week we learned that King Solomon used cedar trees from the Phoenicians to build God's temple.

 The Phoenicians were a strong civilization and known for their cedar trees, shipbuilding, and their purple cloth. 

The kids learned that the Spartan army used scytale (pronounced like rhymed to Italy) in Ancient Greece. 

They each made their own message to give to Daddy.   We tried it horizontally and vertically. We used a paper towel tube to wrap our message around. 

Once the kids took it off the tube, they were amazed that they couldn't read it at all! There's no way Daddy will figure out this message!  They did have to give him a helping hand to figure it out. 

In Ancient Greece there were 2 main cities, Sparta & Athens.  We learned Spartans prized discipline and Athenians prized the arts, beauty, and training of the mind and body. 

The Greeks had a big outdoor sports event every 4 years in Olympia. Winners were crowned with laurel wreaths.  The Olympic Games were held in honor of the Greek god, Zeus. 

The kids learned about legends and how they exaggerate the truth of an event as they are passed down through generations. The kids learned of the legend of the founding of Rome. They thought it was a neat story about Remulus and Remus. They could relate it to Moses in the basket and Cain killing Abel. 

The kids started reading The Great Dinosaur Mystery and the Bible.  We learned that there are problems with fossils.  They are incomplete because of missing or damaged bones. Different creatures may be mixed together. We've never seen a live one, so we aren't sure about the skin, flesh type, or color. 

In the book of Job, he talked about the great behemoth with great description.  God made them all! 

We learned God designed every part of each animal including the very smallest cell!  We skipped the corn starch art and went for something edible making animal cell pizzas for lunch.

The kids enjoyed making their own animal cell pizzas.  We found these awesome free printables  

-above -  that the kids could label the parts of the cell.  There are several great sheets here including a word search, memory game cards with definitions if you want to dive a bit further into cells.   

Here is the link:  https://www.pinterest.com/pin/98938523041778306/

These were a huge hit... Even though they picked off most of their mitochondria, ribosomes, and smooth ER! Lol! 

In English this week the kids learned to use commas in the correct places when listing a series of items.  They did great with this!

Resurrection to Reformation

Pope Gregory VII and the Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV disagreed for over 50 years whether the pope was above the emperor or emperor above the pope.

This week we learned about Peter the Hermit.  He lead the first crusade and it failed because of his poor leadership.  

We learned that Mainz was an important city in the Western Empire.  The emperors of the Holy Roman Empire were elected in Mainz. 

He made a red cross and set out on a crusade to follow the clues.

Peter the Hermit began preaching for a war against the Turks.  This resulted in the Crusades.  The first Crusades captured Antioch. Catapults were key weapons used by the Crusaders.

In science, he was learning about cells also so it worked out great to have a cell pizza lunch above. 

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We took a break to head to the mountains to see the peak of the beautiful fall foliage. The drive was breathtakingly amazing! We love Virginia! 

This is my favorite time of the year and I love seeing God's beauty showing through in his creations! 

We drove along Skyline Drive making periodic stops to take some awesome photos.  

We made a stop at Luray Caverns before we headed home.  

What an incredible tour of the underground!

They have homeschool days coming up this week and then again in the spring with reduced rates for homeschoolers.  This would be a fantastic opportunity.   Luray Caverns Homeschool Days

We had a fun and busy week.  Loving this fall weather!

If you want to follow our daily journey, you can like our Facebook page here:     https://www.facebook.com/takingoffwithhomeschool/

See you next week! 

Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 9

Preparing Hearts for His Glory

This week we studied the meaning of names.  The kids searched for the meanings of their first and middle names ...  The referenced site from the guide did not exist so we just googled and of course there were many sites that provided the info we needed.  The kids made signs for their doors. They included pictures of things they enjoy and  characteristics that make each of them special. 

We talked about Greece this week and learned that in Ancient Greece they believed in 12 fairy tale gods.  We learned that our God is the one true God.

We read about the story of the Trojan horse.  The kids thought it was such an interesting story and are loving reading the Trojan Horse Book on their own.

The kids drew their own!

We learned that 2 long poems were written by Homer - Illiad and Odyssey. 

 The kids took such a fascination to this topic, so I found a great site with some excellent freebies.  We put together a lapbook about Ancient Greece.  

They colored the sheets, cut, flies, and put them together with little help onto a folder. 

There were a lot of pieces but, overall this is something they can do on their own.  I do help them with the research. 

I love how she used a string to close her lapbook. 

When we put this together it looked really great! The kids love lapbooks and are really proud of them when they complete them. 

I love that they are unique and different. These can be timely but, the history project this unit was simple so it fit well into this unit. 

You can find the link here:  Ancient Greece Lapbook

Resurrection to Reformation - Unit 9 

He was excited about the cookie project! Let's start baking! 

The dough was extremely crumbly and he ended up mixing with his hands too. 

We used Wilton icing colors to make bold coloring for our cookies. It wouldn't mix in with a spoon so we used the mixer. 

The colors were bright and dark.  They looked like balls of play dough!

Love the plastic sheets over his guide especially while we are cooking! 

We put the dough into the fridge in 3 colored balls. 

We removed the dough after about 30 minutes and divided into one inch balls. 

We baked 30 minutes on 300' and the shapes didn't expand or change much at all.

I personally wasn't a fan of these but, the kids ate them up quick! 

The Draw and Write through History is going a little better.  I think he did a great job with the castle. The struggle with art is easing with the step by step instructions.

He decided that his princess looked a little like a zombie but, I still think he overall had great effort. 

This week we had a group field trip with our co-op.  What a beautiful day at the pumpkin patch!  They had educational classes about pollination and the kids got some energy out bouncing and running through the mazes!

Of course, we found a crazy spider crawling in the pumpkin patch.  The kids enjoyed watching him closely and learning more about him when we got home! We learned he was a Marbled Orb Weaver. He is known for his bright colors. I don't like spiders but, this one was really neat! 

We love this time of year even though it is a bit busy.
Hope you had a great week too! 

Preparing & Res to Ref - Unit 8

Preparing Hearts for His Glory

We've continued our reading in our book, Grandpa's Box. The kids really are enjoying this book and honestly... So am I! As we read they love making the simple figures on index cards to go in our yellow box just like Grandpa.  So glad we are reading this book!

We learned that the Ark of the Covenant carried the Ten Commandments, a jar of manna, and Aaron's staff.  It went before the Israelites to remind them that they were God's people.  The kids drew the picture above from the draw and write book. Good job! 

God used Joshua to lead the Israelites in a march around the Jericho with the Ark of the Covenant.  The kids loved this story - even though they have all heard it many times before. We watched and learned the YouTube song:  Joshua Fought the Battle of Jericho and the Walls Came Tumbling Down

We learned Gideon wasn't especially brave but, God used him to defeat the Midianites. He trusted God. 

We read about God choosing David -even though he was the youngest and smallest - to do great things because he had a heart for the Lord. The kids drew pictures of him and wrote a paragraph about him. 

We made maps of the 12 tribes  with a key and read about Naomi and Ruth. Ruth was a Moabite but, after her husband died God used her in a mighty way.  She went with Naomi back to her land in Bethlehem and ended up marrying Boaz, had a son named Obed - who was King David's grandfather.

There has been so many details in these Bible stories and I have been trying to help the kids understand who is who with my simple dry erase board drawings. What I wouldn't give for those old felt board characters they used in vacation bible school when I was a kid! I think those would be extremely helpful when trying to explain. 

The kids had to design the 4 types of seeds that travel - by air, by water, hitch hike, and through the body. Then, they experimented with them to see if they were a success or if they failed. 

They had fun designing and of course experimenting. I was impressed by their creations but, the puppy wasn't as amused! Lol! He just happened to be our only hairy test subject for the hitch hiker seed. 

The kids learned about some of the animals they might see in the desert after a rain. They drew the life cycle of a  spadefoot toad. 

Christian Light workbooks are going well for my younger 3.  We are cruising along with our lessons and they are grasping the new concepts introduced well. 

Resurrection to Reformation

This week we learned of the fury of the Northmen. We started the Draw and Write through history this week. He didn't balk at this as much... as the detailed instructions helped. 

He learned that the Viking ships were light and swift and had one large sail. The ships used to rowers and wind to travel. 

In reading, Famous Men of the Middle Ages, we learned that Rollo ("the Walker") was a Viking. The Vikings - sea pirates and robbers- came into Europe from the north. 

Canute was a Danish King who also became the sole King of England. 

For his Shakespeare reading, he studied Much Ado About Nothing. 

Another successful week in Geometry with Math U See. So glad this has been a great fit for him. 

We really had a busy week with fall sports since we finally saw some dry days. 

So thankful for the rain but, even more so for the beautiful fall weather He has given us. It's my favorite time of year!  I saw this great idea above that we will be trying as soon as our leaves turn a bit more colors. How beautiful are these leaf roses!! 

Hope everyone had a great week too! 

See you next week!