We had a lot of fun discovering the life of the pilgrims and the many hardships and opportunities they faced. Some interesting things we learned? The Mayflower only had a small amount of Separatists looking for religious freedom on it compared to the number of people who were coming for a new adventure, for the opportunity to discover new resources to make money or as sailors making the voyage. The way of life on the Mayflower for three months was rough! And the Pilgrims were blown off their intended course because of intense storms but they were able to recognized their final destination based on maps that John Smith had passed down. All very cool!
One regret that I had about this week is that we finished Squanto last week so we don't have it to continue reading this week, thus it was easy to forget about the really cool connection between the Jamestown settlers and the Pilgrims. I did try to include him in our discussions, reminding them of how he helped the Pilgrims and the ways God had intervened throughout his life so that it could all work for His purpose in the end. I reminded the kids that even during the hard times of Squanto's life, God had a purpose and a plan and He was able to use all things for His glory. What an amazing way to see this story for the first time!
In keeping with the MFW curriculum this we learned about the way of life for the pilgrims, including how they made their window coverings. Oiled paper is a really cool concept and it was interesting to see the difference it made to apply just a little bit of oil. While outside (because we don't do messy inside) we also took time to discuss the sun, stars and Betelguese. It was eye openinging to thing about how large Betelguese is compared to the sun, especially after studying how big the sun is compared to the earth and how large the earth is compared to what we see around us. The kids LOVED the name Betelguese (pronounced beetle juice) and I loved their innocent reaction to that word since they've never heard of the Beetlejuice movies or character.
Brooklee is doing a great job on her math work, learning to add money and three digit numbers. However, spelling has become a challenge for her. My struggle is finding the balance between being her teacher and being her mom when it comes to studying. Her spelling works are certainly challenging (there's no point in learning how to spell cow when she's known it for a couple of years already) but if she'd take the time to study them I think she'd do much better. But homework and studying are not something easily understood in our world yet since it seems like everything that we do is "homework" since we are at home doing it together anyways. So, we'll be learning together through trial and error how this all works and seeing if she is able to take on the responsibility of studying on her own.
Kellan is also doing great in math. This week his curriculum introduced adding 1 to each number. He already knows what 1+ any number is so this is review for him, but I thought it would be great for him to learn the method of how they will be teaching addition right now so we stuck with this week's lesson. In spelling, he also did a great job. However, in reading he struggled - not because he can't do it, but because it takes about 30 minutes of crying and frustration (and me getting aggravated) before he'll put down his mental block and actually begin to use what he knows to read a word. Once he puts his mind to it, he easily reads the word and the words that follow and his confidence soars. Its a stressful process but once it clicks, I love to see the light in his eyes and how proud he gets. The joys and frustrations of homeschooling all in one!
Of course, Sadie Quinn would never let us forget her. She wants her own set of coloring sheets, worksheets, etc. and crawls in the middle of my lap when we read books, watch videos or sing songs. She is so bright and I love to see the things she picks up from watching her older sister and brother - like how to do the pledge allegiance, how to pray before meals, and how to sit in a desk and pay attention (for a very short time span) when its time to do school.
You're welcome!
We used several awesome resources this week as we learned about God being the light, the life of the Pilgrims and the size of the heavenly bodies:
We're learning the words to America the Beautiful. This week we are focusing on the first verse, so I found this great video to use as we learn it.
Our Bible verse this week:
I am the Light of the world, whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have eternal life. John 8:12
We reviewed it and talked about it, but where my kids really learn is through learning things through song. So we found a YouTube video of the Bible verse. Not only did they learn it easily and quickly, this has become one of the videos they ask me to play first.
We found this cute little video on YouTube about a mouse who goes on the Mayflower journey with the Pilgrims. I'll have to be honest and say I was making lunch when they kids were watching this so I halfway payed attention and can't really vouch for the accuracy or educational value of the video, but I can say the kids enjoyed it and were able to visualize a little better what it was like on the ship.
And the kids watched this video of what life would have been like as a Pilgrim once they reached America. I can't say they were completely interested in this one, but they did watch it and it was educational.
Here are some of the books we found at our local library to go with this week's studies:
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| If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620 |
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| Sarah Morton's Day |
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| Samuel Eaton's Day |
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| On the Mayflower |
And one we didn't get but I wish we had (I may try to read it before Thanksgiving when we talk about the Pilgrims and Indians again):
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| AIO The Imagination Station - Problems in Plymouth |
On Friday we wen't to Navigators co-op! The kids' lunchboxes came in so now everyone has their own lunchbox for the first time ever! Is it silly that the kids having their own lunchboxes make me feel like a real mom and all of this feel like real school?
Brooklee worked hard on her bug diagrams this week so she could try to remember the MANY parts to a bug. My in-laws brought her bottles full of dead bugs for her to take with her to co-op so she was excited to show them off. Unfortunately, she also came back home with them to keep in our refrigerator with instructions to catch more bugs for next week. We really should have signed up for that music class during first block - but she's loving every minute of this!
Kellan's class read Dr. Seuss's Fox in Socks today. It was a long, very complicated book for preschoolers, but they enjoyed the activities that came with it. Their teacher gave them each a bottle filled with rice and plastic bugs that they could use to play search and find games. They also had a deck of cards that gave instructions like "Find the red bug with the number 3" but Sadie Quinn helped Kellan lose those cards not long after we got home. For their notebooks the kids used their handprints to make a fox and used their fingers to paint socks on him.
We continued our extracurricular activities and friends this week and we are starting to get a grasp (half way through September) of what our fall schedule may look like!
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