Homeschool Highlights Weeks 10-11 (2018-19)

Here is a look at some of the things we have been doing in school over the past two weeks.

Our Bible lessons have focused on God's plan for our redemption.  They finished up memorizing Deuteronomy 6:4-6.  The people groups that we have learned about and prayed for are the Eastern Apurimac Quechua of Peru and the Farefare of Ghana.

In History we wrapped up our study on Ancient Egypt and then had lessons on the Hittites, Greek Mythology, and the Mycenaeans.   After Bible, I think History is my next favorite subject to teach.

We use A Reason For Handwriting curriculum for handwriting.  Each week the boys have a scripture verse to practice writing.  On Friday they write it out on a worksheet/ color sheet of their choice and then get to decorate it.  They like to give these away from time to time especially when we have teams.

 Ben's handwriting "test" from last week.

Ben doing a reading lesson from one of his Sing Spell Read and Write readers.

 grammar lesson on plurals

taking a reading assessment test

Cruz doing a reading assignment from one of his Sing Spell Read and Write readers.  His readers take him on a trip around the United States.  Each week he reads about a different State. It began in second grade and continues through third grade.  We have loved these stories and they have helped him learn so much about the United States.  Over the past two weeks he has read about the States of Pennsylvania and Ohio. 

Reading a chapter from a Sonlight reader.  He finished up his Third Grade Detectives book and last week read the book The Chalk Box Kid.  Because he loves to draw he really enjoyed this book.

 

Last week we began using an online reading program called Free Reading Program (www.freereadingprogram.com).  It is just something extra I will try to add in to help reinforce what they are learning.

In Spanish we began a unit on animals.  Their Spanish memory verse for the month of October is Psalm 51:7 and the song they are learning is "Camino yo con él". I am also teaching this verse and song to the kids in my village Bible study classes this month.

In Science we finished up our study of animals in Europe and began learning about animals that live in Asia. This study of animals around the world has been very interesting for the boys.

Our experiments were about air and water tricks.  One of the ones we did was a tissue trick.  We stuffed a tissue inside of a cup and stuck it straight down into a bowl of water.  Much to the boys surprise, when they pulled it up the tissue was still dry.  They learned that this works because the glass is full of air.  The water cannot push the air out so the tissue stays dry. 
 

ready to test our experiment

 It's still dry!!!

Cruz had to test this one again because he was amazed.

 

Afterwards we tried it again but this time we tilted the glass to see if it made a difference.

all wet and soggy 

They discovered that most things that look empty are really full of air.  Water has to push the air out before it can get in them.

Another fun experiment was learning how a siphon works.  They used a tube and a glass to test it.  They ended up doing this multiple times.  They would fill the glass with the tube and then siphon it out over and over.

In our Art lesson we learned about Near Eastern pottery.  Our activity had us making a figure of our own.  We made a batch of dough and formed our figures around a cardboard tube. 

rolling out their dough

 forming their figures

Cruz's figure

this was a fun activity

Lastly, in our read aloud time we finished up Henry Huggins and began this new book.