8/31/08

TOG Y1r U1 W5

Princess L (PreK)
Letter E
Reading: The Empty Pot, Eggs and Legs, The Ear Book, The Little Engine That Could, Elephants Swim, The Easter Bonnet Parade, The Elves and the Shoemaker

Princess S (LG)
Bible: Genesis 11-31
Climbing to Good English: pgs 106-109
Hands On Activities: Build a ziggurat, Play Senet or Royal Game of Ur
Handwriting: letters w-z lower case and A-D upper case
Math-U-See: Lesson 11
Writing Aids: adverbs
Reading: Old Testament Days (excerpts), The Illustrated Book of Myths (excerpts), The Tower of Babel

Princess E (UG)
Bible, Handwriting and Hands on: same as above
Reading: Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of Ancient World (excerpt), Life in Ancient Mesopotamia, Gilgamesh the King, The Revenge of Ishtar, The Last Quest of Gilgamesh
Writing Aids: adverbs, two graphic organizers

This will be an interesting week. Princess E is invited to a sleep over party away from home. So we decided to let Princess S invite her own friend over for a sleep over here. This will be a first for both of them. It will have to be partially dependent on getting their school work done this week. One more week until Awana and piano lessons start back up. That will put our schedule as full as it's going to get for a while. I was toying with the idea of doing Swim-n-Gym classes at the YMCA, but I think I'm going to hold off on those until springtime. I may look into art classes instead.

Blessings.

8/30/08

How Kids Learn to Pray

We were ready for dinner two nights ago. We'd been talking about the election. I explained briefly what I liked or didn't like about the candidates. When it was her turn to pray, Princess S said, "Please let Mr. McCain win, and please help Mr. Obama to learn the Truth so that we could vote for him someday." I was actually quite proud. I know I had never prayed for that, a change in Obama's heart. That's what it takes isn't it? It really doesn't matter who the President is - the President cannot save us. Only Jesus can save us.
Blessings.

8/23/08

TOG Y1r U1 W4

Princess E (UG)
Bible - Genesis 1 -10
Geography - mapping Noah's descendants
Easy Grammar - pgs 33, 35, 37, 39, 43, 45
Handwriting - cursive review S-X
Vocab words and Important people
Math-U-See - Gamma Lesson 4
Reading: What the Bible is All About for Young Explorers (excerpts), Usbourne Internet-Linked Ancient World (excerpts), The True Story of Noah's Ark, The Ark
SOS Science - Parts of Plants, How Plant Parts Function
Writing - adjectives and word games
Hands on activities - measure out Noah's ark, learn to play Senet

Princess S (LG)
Bible, Geography, Handwriting, Science and Hands on - same as above
Climbing to Good English - pg 102-104
Math-U-See - Beta Lesson 10
Reading: Song of Creation, A is for Adam: The Gospel from Genesis,
Writing - adjectives

Princess L (PreK)
Letter of the Week - D
Reading: Daddy, Could I Have an Elephant?, Danny and the Dinosaur, One Duck Stuck, Daddy is a Doodlebug

** Note - This week is the first week that we will have school for a full five days. Also, the local public school will be starting up on Monday. That means that the neighbor girl won't be ringing the bell or calling on the phone to play. (YAHOO!) But, it also means that we need to start stepping things up. Right now neither of the older princesses will appreciate that. Princess L, however, still loves school as long as she can color and cut and glue. If only the real world were all about those few things.

Blessings.

8/20/08

Out of the Mouths of Babes...

We went to the park down the street the other day with Nanny and Papa. Nanny was riding with Princess L on the teeter-totter. (The new kind, not the more fun old kind where you could suspend your partner in the air with feet dangling, threatening to let them come crashing to the ground on their rear if the aren't being nice.) Princess L was leaning over the handles and Nanny told her to be careful because she could hit her teeth on the handles and break them. Princess L looked at her and said, quite matter-of-factly, "God made my teeth and He can just glue them back in." If only!
Blessings.

8/18/08

TOG Y1r U1 W3

This is our fourth week in a row that we have not spent a typical week in school. The first two weeks were half weeks, last week and this week are lighter due to Nanny and Papa's visiting. Next week will be our first "normal" five day week. We've got a lot to do this week, but if they finish it all early then they will have a playday. We will be going to the Minnesota State Fair on Thursday. We go every year, continuing on a tradition from when I was a child. They are all pretty excited about it.


Princess L (PreK)

Letter of the Week - C
Reading: The Caboose Who Got Loose, Clickety Clack, Calico Cows

Princess S (LG)
Bible - Exodus 6-18
Geography - mapping the Israelites path out of Egypt
Climbing to Good English - pgs 98-101
Handwriting - cursive letters m-r
Vocabulary words and Important People
Math U See - Beta Lesson 9 - skip counting by 5s, and nickels
Reading: Tutankhamen's Gift, Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, Celebrate A Book of Jewish Holidays (excerpt), Old Testament Days (excerpt)
Writing - working on verbs
Hands on - making cardboard sandals and making jewelry

Princess E (UG)
Bible - Exodus 6-18
Geography - same as above
Easy Grammar - pgs 21, 23, 27, 29
Handwriting - cursive review m-r
Vocab words and Important People
Math U See - Gamma Lesson 3 skip count review 2s, 5s, and 10s
Reading: What the Bible is all About (excerpt), Usbourne Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (excerpt), Ancient Egypt Make if Work (excerpt), Pepi and the Secret Names
Writing - verbs list, dictation, complete sentences from graphic organizers
Hands on - making cardboard sandals and making jewelry

Blessings.

Ending TOG Y1r W2

Well, for some reason I'm not able to post photos of our sugar cube pyramids and the mummies we wrapped. Bummer, but we did it and learned a few things. We learned the hard way that we needed to use glue that was not water soluble. We first used regular school glue, but that just started melting the sugar. Then we tried a Nano glue, but got the same results. Finally we resorted to Tacky Glue and had success. The girls tried a few different building methods to find what they liked best. Princess L did more sugar licking than anything! Then on Friday we made mummies. I had planned to use Dollar Tree barbies, but they didn't have any. What they did have was a clear, plastic human model with organs that you could take out! Since that's what they did anyway, it was an even better find. They took out all the organs but the heart. Then they coated them with an olive oil and cinnamon mixture. They salted them up and we let them sit for 20 minutes, using a scale of 30 seconds to equal one day that they would have waited. While we waited we practiced writing our names in hieroglyphics. After the wait, we used toilet paper and school glue to wrap up our mummies. If we do this activity again in four years, I may splurge and get some muslin to use. But the toilet paper worked for a UG, LG and pre-TOGer.

Blessings.

8/11/08

TOG Y1r U1 W2

(Translation - Tapestry of Grace Year One Redesigned, Unit One, Week 2)

So our first week went fairly well. The girls are still trying to get used to learning some new ways of doing things. First and foremost is learning how to schedule their weeks. We sat down on Saturday afternoon and went through all of their work for the next week. We wrote everything out on their schedules. They will decide this week, because it is a shortened week due to Nanny and Papa visiting, when they will do each thing. The goal is to finish everything by Wednesday evening except for our hands on activities. We will do these on Thursday and Friday when Nanny and Papa can be here to join in the fun. Then we put everything into their new school baskets. I bought two nylon baskets at Target. They are to keep all books, papers, folders, pencil boxes, notebooks, (everything but their 3 ring binders) inside them. Then they can just pick up the basket and move around the house as they need to. They can bring their "school in a basket" with them. Hopefully I won't ever have to hear, "I don't know where ______ is," ever again. Okay, I'm in a dream world I know, but maybe I'll hear it less. Here are the plans for the week.

Princess L (PreK)
Letter of the Week - B
Reading: Blueberries for Sal, The Little Ballerina, Berloiz the Bear, The Baby BeeBee Bird, The Berenstain Bears' B Book, The Big Balloon Race

Princess S (LG)
Bible - Exodus 1-5
Geography - mapping cities, pyramids and water/deserts of ancient Egypt
Climbing to Good English - pgs 94-97
Handwriting - cursive letters d, e, and f
Vocabulary words and Important People
Math U See - Beta Lesson 8 - skip counting by 10s, dimes and pennies and Unit Test
Reading: Tutankhamen's Gift, Who Built the Pyramids, Mummies Made in Egypt, Old Testament Days (excerpt)
Writing - working on pronouns list and adding to nouns list from last week

Princess E (UG)
Bible - Exodus 1-5
Geography - same as above
Easy Grammar - pgs 13, 15, 19
Handwriting - cursive review d, e, and f
Vocab words and Important People
Math U See - Gamma Lesson 2 multiplication 1's and 0's
Reading: What the Bible is all About (excerpt), Usbourne Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt (excerpt), Pyramid, Calliope magazine articles on famous Egyptian Queens (because I accidentally returned A Place in the Sun)
Writing - pronouns list, dictation, learning about graphic organizers and completing two

Nanny and Papa are flying in on Thursday morning. We will be making sugar cube pyramids, mummifying cheap dollar store barbies, and writing our names in hieroglyphics for our hands on this week. Hopefully, they will enjoy this as much as I know the girls will. I'm anticipating a mess this week.

Blessings.

8/9/08

Prayer Request for Bachman family


I was shocked and saddened at the news today. You may have heard about the American who was killed in Beijing. His name is Todd Bachman. His wife Barb was also stabbed and is in the ICU. I was in Camp Fire Girls with their oldest daughter, Sara, for several years. We would take the bus to their house after school and have our meetings in their family room. This kind of violence is heard about every day, but this violence from across the globe feels like it is in my own backyard. I am asking for you to pray for this family. Pray for Barb's full healing. Pray for Elizabeth (Wiz,) who witnessed the event, that the images of violence would be replaced with happy memories from the past. Pray that Sara and Susie, their other two daughters, would be surrounded with the peace that only Jesus can give. They are a wonderful Christian family who have left a legacy in their town. Blessings.


8/8/08

Ending TOG Y1r W1



Well, we ended our first week today. Things went pretty well considering. Consider that we took two weeks of half days to do everything. Consider that this week has been late nights with VBS at church. Consider that Princess M has been teething like crazy for the past week, not eating much, not sleeping much and wanting to non-stop nurse. We spent yesterday and today working on cookie dough maps of ancient Egypt. (Except for Princess L who made her own island resort.) We are going over to Grandpa and Grandma's this afternoon to watch the Nova special on Pyramids that they Tivo'd for us a month ago. We probably won't watch all of it. Just a half hour or so (unless they really get into it.) The deal is that if they watch it and can answer a few questions, then we will get to watch the Hannah Montana 3D concert that is also Tivo'd for us. Nothing like bribery to get what you want out of school!
Enjoy the slideshow!
Blessings,
Jennifer
P.S. - I have no idea why the slideshow loaded twice but I can't figure out how to change it.