Homeschool Week 13: Solid As A Rock

Another school week has come and gone.  Our days are busy.  I find that I am either in school or planning for school.  It takes a lot of my time and energy but it is a great investment.

In Bible we finished up our study on Joseph.  I really love all the elements of the story of Joseph and the life lessons we can learn from it.  It was really good.  Our doctrinal drill was on the Bible.  I hope to model a love for God's Word to my boys by allowing them to not only see me reading and studying it but also living it out in my daily life.  That is a hard job when you are with your kids 24/7 because they see the good, the bad, and the ugly.  I am often reminded though that what they see us do is a lot more important than what they hear us say.   Our actions speak louder than words and I pray daily that I would be a positive example for them even in my hardest moments.  Moms and Dads, our greatest mission field lies within the walls of our own homes. We are the ones that God has entrusted our children with.  It is our job to teach them, lead them, and guide them.  Let's give it our all and keep battling for the hearts of our children.   They are worth it and they deserve it!

I love starting our mornings with a patriotic song and saying the pledge to the American flag and the Christian flag.  We then sing a few Bible songs and have our lesson.  Here is Ben on a recent school morning leading us in a pledge.  If there is one thing this past election process has taught me it is the importance of praying for our country and it's leaders.  I have not done a good job of that in the past but I plan to do much better in the future both privately and as a family.

sweet Ben with the American flag

Cruz had to recite the memory verses he has been working on.  Here he is saying Psalms 34: 14-19.

In math Cruz's lesson was on adding doubles.  We are using Math-U-See as our curriculum.  We watch a video each Monday morning that explains the lesson and then spend a few days mastering that topic.  He takes a test every Friday to show his progress.  I chose Math-U-See when Cruz began kindergarten simply because someone gave me some unused materials for free.  I decided to try it and didn't really look at any other math options.  So far it is working well for us so we plan to stick with it for now. 

Also last week he learned to read and write the numbers 0-10.  Here he is putting some homemade flashcards in order.

Cruz doing a math worksheet

Ben continued a review of writing numbers 0-9 and practiced counting to 30. 

so far both of my boys enjoy math

In language Ben learned letter D.  We also covered the topics of fast and slow, soft and hard, noisy and quiet, and stop and go.  He has worksheets that go with each of those.

practicing his sight words

This picture makes me laugh because it shows some of Ben's personality.  When I give him an assignment the first thing he does is sort his papers in the order that he wants to complete them.  When doing each individual sheet he has to get all of the needed supplies out first and have them in order.  You'll notice the colors that he has lined up in the order that he will use them for this page.  He likes things neat and organized.  He gets it honest!

His memory verse for the week for letter  D was Psalm 34:14.  Cruz has also been learning that verse but also 15-19.  I didn't realize that Ben had picked up so much of it until I began to record him and he said he wanted to say it all.  I had to help him some but he had picked up a lot more than I realized. 

This is a sweet picture of them working together.  Ben does not like a lot of help from Cruz but Cruz loves to offer it.

Cruz's language lessons focused on short vowel o.  He had 50 vocabulary words to read, write, spell, and make oral sentences with.  He also had a daily spelling test.  His grammar lessons were on plurals, rhyming words, and capitalization.  He has a storybook reader to complete each week and takes an assessment test each Friday. 

reading in his storybook

Our history lessons were on Samuel Adams and The Boston Tea Party. 

Our activity was making a picture out of a tin pan by punching holes in it with a stick pin.  We looked at several internet photos of Colonial tin decorations to give them an idea of what the people would make in those times.  Ben made a flower design (for me) and Cruz made a turkey.

punching holes in his tin pan

I taped a pattern to the bottom of their pan and they punched holes around it.

Cruz with his turkey decoration

two turkeys!

We learned about the State of Louisiana.  Cruz remembered visiting there on our last Stateside Assignment.  We went on a swamp tour, rode a trolley in New Orleans, and visited the Audubon Zoo.  After our study he wanted to know the difference between an alligator and a crocodile so we watched a few YouTube videos to learn.  I am thankful for YouTube and Google.  They are my "go-to" resources for homeschool.  When I don't know the answer I can always find it there.  Cruz asks me often how something is made or how something works.  I just pull up a video and let him watch.  He has learned a lot that way.

In our read aloud time we began this book.  Our history curriculum, Adventures in America, has suggested readers and a reading schedule for the school year.  

In Science we learned about rocks.  I sent them out to collect several rocks to bring back in to examine.  We sorted them and lined them up based on color and size.  We also learned the three types of rocks- sedimentary, metamorphic, and igneous, and sorted them by type.  We then used our magnifying glasses to get a closer look.  I let them use their hammers to break open some rocks to see if the inside looked different than the outside.  They really enjoyed that.

looking at their rocks with a magnifying glass

Another activity had me sending them out to find a pet rock.  Here is Cruz washing his.

Once it was cleaned up he got to paint it any way he wanted.

Cruz's pet rock named Max.  He has taken it with him everywhere, including to church on Sunday night.

In Art they drew a baby gorilla.  This was probably the hardest one yet to draw but they still had fun doing it.

Ben got a little silly with his as you can clearly tell.

Cruz's gorilla

In Health we learned about the importance of taking care of our eyes.  We studied the parts of the eye and how the eyes work.

and I'll end with a few Thanksgiving themed pages they colored for our schoolroom door.

I love this time of the year because it helps us focus on the blessings of life.  One of mine is getting to teach our boys.  Will I always homeschool?  I do not know.  Right now though it is one of my greatest joys.