Here is a glimpse of our homeschool activities during the month of March.
I like to decorate our school room walls. We spent half of our school
year in the States so I did not have an overall theme this school year. Instead, I hung some maps that Cruz had painted last school year. They give a bright pop of color and are also a wonderful visual to remind us to pray for the nations. Also, we use those maps on a daily basis looking at places that we read about. I have had them for many years now and they have been one of my favorite homeschool purchases so far.
I normally change out our white board wall each month and do something seasonal. This is what I added for March. With the exception of changing the monthly header, I plan to just keep it for the rest of the school year. This teacher mom is a little tired.
During March we studied the life and ministry of Amy Carmichael. Her motto was, "You can give without loving, but you cannot love without giving." Our focus word for her study was compassion. What an amazing servant of Christ she was and her legacy continues to be an inspiration to many even today. We enjoyed learning about her and being challenged by her story.
The boys learned a few Easter themed hymns during March that we would sing together each morning in preparation for the upcoming season. Those included Christ Arose, Christ the Lord is Risen Today, and He Lives.
After Bible, we go right into History. We did a Mississippi history study our first semester while we were in the U.S. Since returning, we are reading through this book from Masterbooks that I borrowed from a local homeschool mom. I have never used any of Masterbooks materials before but I have definitely enjoyed this one. It is history from a Christian perspective. Book 1 begins in Genesis with the Creation and goes through the Roman Empire. We are learning Bible and history all in one. It has been an engaging study so far.
In Literature, here are the books that the boys read in March. Cruz read Adam of the Road and Ben read The Toothpaste Millionaire. They also read short stories each day from their BJU Press reading textbooks.
They will soon finish up their online IEW writing classes for the semester. I am very thankful to have these classes available online. It takes a huge load off of me to be able to outsource this course. Here is Cruz typing a weekly paper that he will submit online and have someone else check and grade. What a blessing that is. Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) is an excellent writing program. I cannot recommend it enough.
Ben participating in his weekly online writing class.
Ben using his keyword outline to write his paper.
We also use IEW's Fix It Grammar, which I love as well. The two go together perfectly.
Apologia Science is outstanding. It is our third year using it and I currently have plans to continue for year's to come. We chose Earth Science for this school year. In March we studied cycles (rock cycle, water cycle, mineral cycle, carbon cycle, and nitrogen cycle.) The highlight of the study was learning about science careers that go with each of these. Not only did we read about them in our textbook but we watched several YouTube videos for further learning. Their favorites for each were:
-Volcanologists and Geologists for the rock cycle
-Marine Scientists for the mineral cycle
-Hydrologists for the water cycle
-Ecologists for the carbon cycle
-Botanists for the nitrogen cycle
We currently only have five more school weeks to go but we will be breaking it up with some time off for Easter and travel. It is quickly coming to an end and summer break will be here before we know it.
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