School Days Summary - the Exodus, the Tabernacle, and the Aquarium

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A Summary of December 3-21

I got the blog picture thing fixed. It took several days of work but things are back on track. In the meantime, school kept on going. We're at our official half way point! Not just because of the Christmas holiday but we've actually logged half of our required days. That's a great feeling!

Here's what we did for school:

Things that were scheduled as usual:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Electives:

Typing

Spanish

Civics: They read about Highway Workers and Hairstylists.

Health: They did a worksheet about having a healthy lifestyle.

PA History: State Flower

My Father's World Creation to the Greeks-

We completed weeks 14, 15, and 16 which covered most of Exodus.

Bible: We finished learning the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20 and made mini books using pics from this site to help us review them. (page 1, page 2, page 3)

Science: Bass helped the younglings do several experiments including making germs,

floating an egg between salt and fresh water,

making a galaxy in a cup,

making a sort-of to scale model of the distance between the planets and sun in our galaxy,

They spent some time on a clear night star gazing on the trampoline and using the telescope and using popcorn to show the stored chemical energy in the sun.They skipped the parfait of color experiment, the stars in the umbrella thing, and the solar hot dog roaster though.

History:We spent these three weeks talking about the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their wanderings in the desert.

To help the younglings experience meal after meal of manna, we had them eat popcorn for breakfast, popcorn for morning snack, and popcorn for the first part of their lunch. That was enough for them---they were complaining already! Hmm... just like the Israelites.

We added the Exodus and the 10 commandments to our timelines. We also worked on a model of the Tabernacle. MFW included instructions and student sheets to help us do it but I had a book from a yard sale that made it a little less time intensive for us. We did a little bit each day and read about the significance of each part of the Tabernacle and how it points to Christ as we made it.

We were able to go to a local display of the biblical Tabernacle. We heard a great presentation about the Tabernacle and got to see actual-sized parts of the Tabernacle. 

Going along with the Exodus time, we learned about the first North American civilizations, the Olmecs and the Chavin.

Other MFW: 

Music: We finished Bach's biography while filling out a notebook page from here. The following weeks we listened to several pieces by Bach including my favorites, his Brandenburg Concertos.

Art: They did some colored pencil work learning about the color wheel (primary, secondary, tertiary colors, shading with color, and complementary colors.)

Extras:

We took advantage of Dollar Days in Baltimore to visit the aquarium and the USCG Cutter Taney.

Web:

Meeting Place Between God and Man
Tabernacle: Picture of Christ

DVD3: The Books of Law (What does holy mean?)

The Fabulous Bentley Brothers Leviticus

Mount Sinai Found

The Magic School Bus Sees Stars

DVD 3: The Books of the Law (Pentateuch the Musical)

DVD 3: The Books of the Law (Deuteronomy Song)

Pre Historic People in North America

The Native Americans

The Olmec - Ancient Mexico

The Olmecs (September Gurls by the Bangles)

Map Timeline of Israel from Abraham - Joshua

Prehistoric Mammoths vs. Mastodons

The Mound Builders

Chavin

Videos:

Meet the Musicians: Bach

Bach's Flight for Freedom

History's Greatest Secrets Volume 3

Favorite Books:

Comets, The Sky is Full of Stars, and What is the Moon Like? by Franklyn Branley

Exodus by Brian Wildsmith

Moon by Steve Tomacek

The Moon Book and The Planets by Gail Gibbons

We're looking forward to our Christmas break until after New Years! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

Make a Card Monday - Christmas Gifts

During our fall school break and Star Wars marathon, I kept myself busy by making our Christmas card for this year. I was really low on Christmas themed paper so when I saw a great idea to use up scraps of generic scrapbook paper, I was on board!
It took a lot of cutting but I used a ton of scraps pieces. To use up some ribbon and fibers, I colored each of the stamped gift image with slightly different color schemes.

Merry Christmas!


Details:
cardstock: Georgia Pacific (white), Recollections (textured black, card base)
patterned paper: unknown scraps

embellishments: ribbon and fibers (some from Adornments; others unknown)
stamps:TAC Homespun Holiday (image) and TAC Mini Wreath (sentiment)

School Days Summary -- The 10 Plagues of Egypt

4 of 10 Plague Placards found here

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of November 12-30

So my blog ran out of space for picture storage. Without the ability to upload pics, I haven't posted about any of our schoolwork let alone the different Christmas projects I finished. Ugh! Well, I've been trying to figure out how to fix it without having to pay for storage and found a solution so I'm up and running again.

Here's what we did for school:

Things that were scheduled as usual:

Math

After a 2 day switch to another math curriculum, Soprano realized that her Saxon is not all that bad. So after another heart to heart and some attitude adjusting we're back to the original plan, and it hasn't been an issue at all for the last several weeks.

Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Tenor's fantastic illustration for his reading, The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

Soprano's cursive handwriting

Electives:

Typing

Spanish

Civics: They read about Judges.

Health: They did a worksheet about the effects of unhealthy living.

PA History: State Seal and Motto and State Flag

Geography: The next few geography worksheets focus on each of the continents. This week they reviewed a little about Antarctica.

Co-op: We finished our last class of the fall. I can't believe our 10 weeks went by as fast as they did. They each had music and gym and their last fall elective class (Soprano-Art and Art History; Tenor-Chemistry).

My Father's World Creation to the Greeks-

We completed weeks 12 and 13 which covered the 10 plagues of Egypt.

Bible: We continued learning the 10 Commandments from Exodus 20, adding the next 2 commandments.

Science: Bass helped the younglings do the paint factory experiment, create the salt cleaner and salt lift, and talk about observation skills. Because of the supplies needed, we skipped the plant babies and plant maze experiments.

History:We spent these two weeks talking about and experiencing the 10 plagues of Egypt.
For Blood I added red food color to our water jugs, ice cubes, and the toilets

For Frogs we cut and used the 80 frogs from the 2nd edition student sheets. Bass hid them all over the house for the kids to live with and then 'pile together in heaps' at the end of the day. We're still missing 1!

We didn't act anything out for Gnats but for Flies we cut pieces of black construction paper into small circles and then taped them between two strips of packing tape. Then we hung the tape strips in the school room door. The tape didn't quite line up so they were a little sticky (and therefore annoying).

The Livestock plague was my favorite. I took all of their small stuffed animals and placed them either belly up or face down around the house.

Except in the 'land of Goshen' (aka the end of the hallway) where the animals weren't touched by the plague.

Boils was another fun plague. I taped packing peanuts on to their exposed skin. The tape and the peanuts were irritating. I think they got the point.

We didn't do anything for hail, locusts, darkness, or the death of the firstborn.

To help cement the 10 plagues, I printed off the artwork from this site and cut some construction paper into long strips 5.25" wide. We glued the strips end to end and then folded them up. The kids glued 1 plague to each section to create a long fold-out book.

Other MFW: 

Music: They listened to several pieces by Vivaldi as we finished up with him and listened to the first half of Bach's biography while filling out a notebook page from here.

Art: They painted a stone and talked about the beauty and creativity of art.

Extras:

Web:

Hatshepsut Found

The 10 Plagues Game

10 Commandments for Kids song

Locust Plague

Passover Pesach

Videos:

Stolen Hearts, Stolen Jewels

The Not So Golden Calf

The Rest is Yet to Come

What's in the Bible Volume 2: Let My People Go (Click on the link and use the code to get 20% off any What's in the Bible? items!)

Secrets of Lost Empires: Obelisk

Prince of Egypt

Favorite Books:

Johann Sebastian Bach by Mike Venezia

From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons

A Seed is Sleepy by Dianna Hutts Aston

Now that co-op is over, our schedule seems to be a little easier which is nice. We're just plugging away with the 3 Rs and enjoying the fun of our Egyptian and Israel studies.  

Sheet Music Christmas Trees

As a musician, I've been drawn to the different versions of sheet music Christmas trees floating around the web. I actually bought a styrofoam cone last December so I could make my own but never got around to it. Well, after decorating for Christmas this year, I was so not loving my dining room window vignette so out came the glue gun. Here's how I made mine.

Supplies needed:

Styrofoam cones of various heights

Sheet music

Glue gun

Scissors

Something round to roll paper around (like a marker or large wooden spoon handle)

First I pulled sheet music out of some books I found at Goodwill. I cut the music into 2" strips and then rolled them around a marker to curl them a bit.

 

After curling the strips, I fringed them by cutting along the bottom edge every 1/4 to 1/2", only cutting halfway up.

To attach the strip to the cone, I ran a thin bead of hot glue along the top edge of the music and then stuck it on. I overlapped strips going around and then continued working up the cone, layering the strips about halfway over the previous row.

To finish them off, I cut a small circle of sheet music to cover the very top.

The final product is so much better than my previous attempt (which ended up in the garage sale pile.)

 

Linking up to these great blog parties:

Sunday: Sunday Showcase at Under the Table and Dreaming; 
Tuesday: One Project at a Time at A Bowl Full of Lemons; Tutes and Tips at Home Stories A to Z; Show Me What Ya Got at Not Just a Housewife;
Wednesday: Wicked Awesome Wednesday at Handy Man, Crafty Woman; It's Overflowing at Overflowing with Creativity; Whatever Goes Wednesday at Someday Crafts;
Home Decor and Organizing at Organize and Decorate Everything;
Thursday: Delightfully Inspiring Thursday at Delightful Order; Transformation Thursday at The Shabby Creek Cottage;
Friday: Frugal Friday at The Shabby Nest; Flaunt it Friday at Chic on a Shoestring;