Map Project #2: Lakes & Rivers

The student journal that goes along with the QH's AS, vol. 1 has helped me (Ma) as a teacher. I never excelled in history or geography. The Student Journal is a place for the student, and (in our case) the teacher to narrate again, what was read/learned. I appreciate the map work SO MUCH!

Map project #2 (where is #1?? I forgot to take pics.) had the student locate the Great Lakes and major rivers in North America. We had our garage sale find of a map spread across the table.

And did you know... this is so embarrasing... I forgot about Lake Huron!!!

the coloring map was purchased from Miller Pads and Paper

New Week

I am all set for a new week. We finished learning about Leif Erikson and I am so glad we took 2 weeks to talk about him, read about him, and talk about his character. Our favorite book in addition to our Queen's "spine" was of course, Leif The Lucky by the D'Aulaires.

We did have an emergency with the book. I had it checked out from the library, but I couldn't renew it again because someone was in line and had requested it. UGH! So scrambled around and was blessed to find it from a few people at church. Wheew!

So, this week, it will be the usual stuff, but I think we'll add some play dates in here and there. That will be nice.

I'll try to post some pictures later today!

Our Current Read-A-Loud

We are currently listening to Pa read Little Pilgrim's Progess a-loud to us. This is such a good book. The chapters are short enough to have a little discussion about Christian, his journey to the Celestial City, and all the people he comes in contact with along the way.

We highly recommend this.

Math for Farmer Boy (the 3 yr old boy)

Keeping the younger ones occupied isn't as difficult as I thought it would be. Sometimes they do get a little loud, but Half-Pint has been gracious and isn't distracted like she used to get.

All of our kids love Lauri Toys. If anyone who is reading this has a Toddler or Preschooler, you MUST get your hands on some of these! We love them in this house. They are safe for littles, and if you lose a piece, LauriToys will replace it for free (I believe you have to pay for shipping, so double check). In the pictur above, Farmer Boy is learning his numbers by playing with the Number Express.

School time is all the time...

In the future, you'll be seeing a lot of pictures of our kiddos with books.

Half-Pint has been reading up a storm. Her reading & spelling skills really picked up after we began the Spell to Write and Read program. It began as a little co-op with other kids her age from school. Our friend taught it and the moms sat in and helped or just watched. I am truely amazed with that program. We are continuing on with it this year.

Half-Pint and Farmer Boy are constantly asking me "is school done now???". This drives me batty. It's almost as if they are saying, "Are we done?! Can we be free now?!?!?!?" Seriously?? As if I have them chained to a desk, staring up at a chalkboard, making them rattle off facts that they probably don't understand in the first place? My answer usually is, "NO! So quit asking!"

Yesterday, I was asked the blasted question. I took a deep breath, quickly asked God for wisdom, and then gently replied,

"No. School is never over in this house. We learn all day, every day. We learn from books, from cleaning, cooking, gardening, and even doing the laundry. So... no. We are NOT done."

I didn't hear the question all day.

But I did hear it this morning. I turned around and Half-Pint said, "Woopsie." Then I gave her a smile.

In this picture, you will see HP reading to FB. It's a book called Small Wolf by Nathaniel Benchley. I am one proud mama. HP didn't need any help with the words. She even stopped to explain some of the book to her brother. So sweet!

Reading- CHECK!
History- CHECK!

Jesus Storybook Bible

This year, we are going through the Jesus Storybook Bible**. Why did we choose this? I had read so much about this particular story Bible and it stuck out in my mind. The main premise: Every story whispers His Name. Whose name?

JESUS CHRIST

What a beautiful way to not only teach about different stories in the Bible, but show HOW even the Old Testament events happened, because of what was going to come- JESUS! The SAVIOR!

There are 44 stories. After talking with a friend, I decided to do what she was planning on doing. After each story was read, have my daughter draw a picture and write something about what she learned from the story.

It's scheduled out this way:

Monday: read one chapter.

Tuesday: Listen to the chapter on the CD. Then, draw a picture from that chapter. Copy a significant statement from the chapter.

Wednesday: repeat Monday (but the next chapter)

Thursday: Repeat Tuesday

Friday: review and Praise God for Jesus!

Here is the first in her own Jesus Storybook.

So precious. What a great reminder, too!

**please note, we own the Jesus Storybook Bible, deluxe edition. This comes with the story read on CD. BEAUTIFUL!