Creation to Christ - Unit 1

This year, we are excited to start our homeschool in a new geographic location! We moved (hence the falling off of our Preparing Units a little early last year.... ) a few hours north to Maryland from Virginia in the early summer and are excited about all the new places we can explore!  (Mt. Vernon, D.C. Museums & government buildings, and local history are all on our lists!)

We have a 9th grader in Rev to Rev, two 6th graders and a 4th grader in Creation to Christ.

Our first week of homeschooling for our 2016-2017 school year is complete!  These are some of the books that crossed my desk this week.  - I am in love with the Illustrated Family Bible! -  It certainly felt great to get back into a schedule and a  routine for the kids...  Even if it was at a slower pace than I'd like. 

I will note that we made a few changes to our math from Christian Light to Teaching Textbooks for our 6th graders. This was a last minute decision that I think I am already excited about!  

I really enjoyed CLE (and my 4th grader will continue with it) but, we needed a break from the workbooks for the boys and they have been wanting to try an online math course.  So far, Teaching Textbooks has been a hit.  The lecture teaches the kids the concept and then they complete the questions. The immediate response if a problem was answered right or wrong seems to be an extra benefit to the kids that I didn't realize made a difference. I guess its a sense of satisfaction.








NOTE:  We did have to bump them up to TeachingTextbooks Math 7 as the CLE was about a grade ahead. *Fingers crossed this is a turning point for a year of success for both 6th graders. 

In our history, we started off our week by revisiting the story of Creation through the time of Noah.  They were amazed to learn that Adam lived to see 8 generations of his descendants. The kids documented the first 10 generations from Adam to Noah.  

Each flap lifts to show a name, how long they lived and a special fact about that person.  The kids drew a scene of the Garden of Eden on the outside of their flap book and listed ordinal numbers to 10.  We then glued them into our history notebook.

In geography, we learned that the stories in the Bible are connected to the earths geography and that the Garden of Eden may have been located in modern day Turkey. We studied the locations of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. 

We studied Robert Frost's poem, "A Late Walk" and made a water color painting illustrating the words. First, we painted the background yellow and faded it down throughout the paper. 

Next, we painted our brown tree and used a toothpick to make lines for the bark.  They added a single leaf softly rattling down from the tree.  The kids copied one stanza on a notecard to glue onto their page. 

These turned out great. I love how each of their art is unique. We talked about utilizing the space on the full paper and I certainly love the concept of blending poetry appreciation with their creative art.   

We completed our history page for unit one. The kids did a great job following directions and were all able to fit the text into the boxes, which was a concern for me.  The narration in Box 4 was realitvely painless. 😜 

Pencils did not write well on the glossy HOD pages and so we are trying the erasable gel pens. This is the first time the kids have written with ink and it's going much better than expected. 

Our new, BIG  homeschool dry erase board is wonderful! I'll have to give credit to my hubby for putting this together from a big piece of shower board from Lowes!  I love being able to write the Teacher, Semi Independent, and Independent boxes on the board  for the kids to check off as they complete throughout our day.  The kids have done great getting their independent work completed on their own!  This is the first year that I have fully implemented any independent work - over due for my 6th graders.  So far so good!

I laminated the bible verse cards and we have them displayed at the top of the dry erase board so the kids can easily reference them when we sing!   They are working on Philippians 2 for their memory work.   The song this week was catchy and the kids did great singing along to help memorize! 

Science ended our week with a fun experiment about camouflage and natural selection. Any thing with M&M's is a hit and they were so excited all week to do this experiment!!  

The kids learned that camouflage helps animals survive in their environment.  They each were given 60 seconds to find as many as they could.  It was harder for the kids to find the same color M&M's as the construction paper in our habitat.   We made a graph to show our results on our lab sheet.

The Science note booking worksheets found in the Creation to Christ Facebook files are amazing!  Thank you so much for all the individuals that put forth so much effort and SHARE!  Much appreciated from all the teachers out there like me! 

  

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Our older son (14) is in Heart of Dakota's Rev to Rev and I've decided not to blog his weeks at this time. It's going great so far and he is enjoying the independence and hands on projects.  We are grateful that Heart of Dakota continues to bless our family year after year! 

We hope our blog is helpful and is an inspiration to anyone that may be considering homeschooling. We wish each of you a successful year along your homeschooling journey.

See you next week with Unit 2! 

Be blessed!

Preparing - Unit 25

What a fantastic unit on the Middle Ages. The kids have been waiting on this! 

We learned that food was scarce and the English was kept busy fighting with their neighbors and keeping safe from raiders. 

We made medieval trenchers which is a hard and stale bread that was used as plates during the meals. 

The kids thought it was funny that after they finished eating they are their plates! 

The trenchers weren't that yummy but, they certainly got the idea. 

The kids designed a menu and we had our medieval feast. 

We made cinnamon apples. 

We had tomato soup, fried chicken, raw vegetables, corn on the cob, and fruit pastries. 

We listened to Middle Ages music while we are and even had place cards so we knew where to sit! Lol! The entertainment was a grand juggler, princess jokes, and a mighty joust. 

Preparing -Unit 24

This unit we learned that world religion spread, the bible was translated, and churches were built. 

We talked about the Arabs and how they conquered North Africa. Then, Islam became the religion.  Muhammad's teachings led to the new religion. His followers were called Muslims. 

The Arabs of long ago were famous for beautiful churches, sharp swords, coffee, cotton into cloth, and the number system. We learned Muslims believe women must be covered, and men may have several wives. 

Our history project was to make an illumination. Bibles often used illuminations as they were decorated, beautiful lettering. 

The kids started reading Minstrel in the Tower. 

So far the kids are really liking this book. 

We finished our week with a outing at the theater. We watched the musical production of Alice in Wonderland. It was a hit! 

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.