Monthly Archives: September 2013

Memory Verse: Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory, forever and ever. Amen. 1 Timothy 1:17

Poetry: Little Things by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Hymn: I Need Thee Every Hour

History: Ancient India and Buddha, Ancient China and Confucius

Science: Venus

Five in a Row: The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (studying China, Ducks, and floating/sinking)

Read Aloud: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Last Week’s Photos:

We learned about the volcanoes on Venus and then did a demonstration of how lava is formed when rock (butter) is melted and how it turns back into rock when it cools.

Will it Float or Sink? Seems like just yesterday I was doing this experiment with Elliot when he and I were learning with The Story About Ping!

Memory Verse: The laws of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. – Psalm 19:7

Poetry: Little Things by Ebenezer Cobham Brewer

Hymn: I Need Thee Every Hour

History: Nebuchanezzar, Fall of Babylon, Cyrus

Science: Venus

Five in a Row: The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack (studying China, Ducks, and floating/sinking)

Read Aloud: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin

Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Last Week’s Photos:

Elliot’s First Week of Piano Lessons

Practicing

We did two activities to go with our study of Mercury. Mercury is covered with many craters due to being hit by asteroids, so we first dropped “asteroids” (pebbles and marbles) into a bowl of flour as a demonstration. Then we made a model of Mercury by making a dough with our flour and covering it with a variety of sizes of craters.

Our birthday gift to Elliot was Snap Circuits and as far as I’m concerned, this is quite possibly the best toy we have ever owned. There are hundreds of fun projects you can do that build an understanding of how electricity works. Elliot spends hours each day doing them and after just a week, he was already wanting to order an upgrade kit that will allow him to have several hundred more to try-out. Even Caroline has caught the Snap Circuits bug. She’s trying to figure out how to smuggle them into her room.

Caroline had her first softball game and did great!  

Memory Verse: The laws of the Lord are perfect, reviving the soul. The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy, making wise the simple. – Psalm 19:7

Poetry: At the Sea-Side by Robert Louis Stevenson

Hymn: I Need Thee Every Hour

History: Greek Olympics, Rome, Assyria, Nineveh

Science: Mercury

Five in a Row: Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha

Read Aloud: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett

Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Last Week’s Photos:

Caroline is learning about the United States, and specifically the New England states, with her current Five in a Row book.

Astronomy Notebooks

Added Johann Sebastian Bach to our Artists and Composers Notebook

I talk a lot about how great homeschooling is, and it truly is all of those wonderful things I’ve mentioned, but I think it needs to be said too that it can be really hard. I think other homeschooling mothers out there need to be reminded that all of us reach that place where it isn’t fun and it’s okay to be there now and then. This past week was one of those dreaded weeks for me. Over the last few weeks my kids have been enjoying all sorts of fun with a vacation, a birthday celebration, and out-of-town family visiting. I suppose it’s hard to come back to reality after all that and I’ll just be honest when I say that their attitudes stunk! The whining has been incessant and the motivation reached rock bottom, and I’m pretty sure all of us shed tears at some point or another. And we were only on our fifth week of school! I’m sure all teachers experience this kind of thing, but I do also think it’s different with your own children. They tend to “let it all hang out” with the ones they are most comfortable with (my kids both fully admit this to be true), which makes being both Mom and teacher challenging sometimes. Usually when we experience this kind of week, my mind starts wandering down a path of thoughts such as, “How much longer can I really do this?” and “Wouldn’t my life be so much easier and more peaceful if they were in school!” It’s especially challenging knowing that because Caroline is a Kindergartener this year, I would have both kids in school right now if that’s the route we would have gone. Those thoughts do tempt me from time to time when it gets hard, but luckily I’m no stranger to these frustrations and doubts. After three years of homeschooling and many declarations to myself that I’m surely “quitting” the next year, I know that it passes quickly and that I will soon be back to loving it and knowing it’s my calling to teach my children.

Homeschooling has definitely been the biggest sacrifice and the hardest thing I’ve pursued so far, but it has brought a richness into my life that wouldn’t otherwise be there. There are so many gifts that God has given me through homeschooling, aside from the obvious ones such as getting to spend more time with my family and being able to witness my children learning and developing. As far as I’m concerned, I’m being educated all over again, as I learn so much new information right alongside my kids. I’ve become an avid reader, both of children’s literature and adult. I rarely read before we started homeschooling, but doing so much reading with the kids has helped me discover the enjoyment of reading. Above all, it has deepened my faith. You just can’t do a job like this without fully relying on the God to strengthen and equip you each day. Even when it’s hard, I know He will carry us through it. He is the one who changed my desire to do this in the beginning (because homeschooling was NOT what I initially wanted to do) and He has been faithful to continually renew the joy that it brings to our family, even after seasons where the joy is just not there!

Initially I had planned to take the entire week of Labor Day off, but since we recently took some unplanned time off, we’re going to go ahead and do school. Here’s what we have on tap for this week:

Memory Verse: I, the Lord, speak truth; I declare what is right. – Isaiah 45:19

Poetry: At the Sea-Side by Robert Louis Stevenson

Hymn: I Need Thee Every Hour

History: David, Solomon, the Alphabet, and Sparta

Science: Mercury

Five in a Row: Night of the Moonjellies by Mark Shasha

Read Aloud: The Secret Garden by Frances Hodges Burnett

Artist: Pierre-Auguste Renoir

Composer: Johann Sebastian Bach

Last Week’s Photos:

We magnified the sun’s rays to melt chocolate.

Caroline’s activity of choice this Fall is softball. We had been planning on dance classes for a while, but she changed her mind and decided she needed to be cheered on at some games like her brother. She had her first practice last week.

We do everything under Mabel’s watchful eye.

Added the Trojar War (when it was said to have happened) to our Book of Time.

World History Notebooking Pages

Making a Solar Eclipse

Learned about Ancient Greece on BrainPop

Videos of Our First Memory-Work Poem
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