Homeschool Week 9: It Was Hair Raising

After taking a few days off last week we were ready to jump back into school full force.  A little break did us all good.  A little change of routine did too.  There is not much I love more these days than teaching my boys.  It brings me much joy but it also drains a lot of my energy.  It felt good to step away from it for a bit and get recharged before continuing on.  I've got my eyes set on Christmas break now and I believe we will make it there strong.

I don't really have a favorite subject but my favorite thing to teach is Bible.  I am pretty passionate about teaching my boys the Word of God.  I want them to get a firm foundation that we can build on in the years to come.  We begin our days with Bible and I put a lot of energy into that time slot.  This week our lessons were on Jacob and Esau (Esau trading his birthright and Jacob tricking his father).  We also had the story of Jacob's Ladder.  Our doctrinal drill was on Salvation.  One morning in snack I gave the boys some pretzel sticks and let them make a ladder. 

 

 Cruz had to recite the memory verses he has been learning.  Here he is saying Psalm 34: 8-13.

In Math Cruz's lessons covered addition +9 and mental math.  In addition to his worksheets I would call out problems like seven plus two plus eight equals what number?  He would have to figure out the problem in his head and tell me the answer.

Cruz working math problems

Ben's math lessons had him counting to 20 and recognizing numbers 1-8.  He also learned to write the number 8.  That was a challenge so we watched a few You Tube videos to help him learn.   I am thankful for resources like You Tube and Google to help me out in times of need.  
 

Here he is matching up the Math U See color blocks to the right number.  He won't officially begin learning that until K5 but thanks to listening in on his brother's lessons he already knows every one of them.

In language Cruz was reviewing blends.  Both boys got a new list of sight words to begin learning.  Ben's lessons covered visual discrimination- alike and different, sequencing, and matching. 

Ben matching up the letters of the alphabet. 

I love history.  I am relearning a lot.  We began the week by learning about William Penn.

William Penn

We also learned about Daniel Boone.  The boys really enjoyed this day!  They thought his story was very interesting.  We watched a You Tube video about him that they also enjoyed.

We made these Daniel Boone stick men.

While they were watching the video I hid stuffed animals around the house and put out tracks that led to each one.  They were very excited when I told them they were about to go on a hunt like Daniel to see what they could find.

bear tracks 

off on a wild hunt  

We learned about the State of North Carolina.  Each week in addition to watching tourism videos on each State we also watch a short video on You Tube called:  Two minute tour of ________.  Here is the one on North Carolina:

 Cruz's workbook sheet on North Carolina

coloring North Carolina on his workbook map

 finding North Carolina on our wall map

This is our new read aloud book that we began.  We are loving it and instead of reading just one chapter a night we have read two or three each night.  The boys keep asking for more.  We will most likely finish it early.

In Health we talked about the importance of getting enough sleep and how our bodies relax while we are resting.  I had them run up and down the hall three times and then feel how fast their hearts were beating.  After sitting down and resting a while we noticed the difference.  They thought it was fun.  We learned about some sleep habits of a few animals and compared them to the way humans sleep.  It was a fun week.

running down the hall

Science is their favorite!  We study it on Thursday and Friday.  I save it to give them something to look forward to.  They get so excited when Thursday arrives!  This week's lesson was on static electricity. 

Here I am rubbing a balloon on Cruz's head and then watching it make his hair stand up.  We did this numerous times on each other.  

Here is Ben doing it to himself while looking in the bathroom mirror.  They enjoyed this a lot.

We tied a Cheerio to a piece of string and suspended it from our table.  We charged our balloon and then used it to make the Cheerio swing.  

I love hands on learning!!!

We also took our balloon to the kitchen and made water curve.  That was really cool!

We rubbed our balloons on our heads and then used them to pick up pieces of tissue paper.

fun times!

Did you know that a static charged balloon would make an empty soda can roll?  I was a little skeptical but it worked.  This was my favorite experiment of the week. 

 Cruz testing out our experiment

We ended the week with them getting to watch a video while eating lunch.  That was a treat.  They watched an episode of "The Magic School Bus".  They are big fans!

In Art they had to draw a baby llama.

Ben wanted his to be like a rocking horse so he added a line across the bottom.  He makes me laugh.

We made these hand print spiders and have them hanging from our schoolroom door frame. 

My boys love art.  One of their favorite television shows lately is called Mister Maker.  The guy on the show makes all sorts of cool things.  One day after watching Cruz went into the schoolroom and made this.  He has it taped to our wall.  

it's a chicken eating a worm

He didn't have all the same supplies that the guy used so he came up with his own.  I thought he did good.  Check out the website for some great art ideas.  

And lastly here is a short video of Cruz practicing piano recently. He goes to lessons every Tuesday afternoon and is doing great.  He is playing one of his current favorites- Yankee Doodle.

We are now a quarter of the way through the school year.  It is passing quickly!  I know they are learning but what I am most proud of is the fun they are having while doing it.  Or maybe I'm the one that's having all the fun.  ha Who knows?  Either way these are precious days!