Another month has flown by and it has been full of learning! I feel like we have really hit our stride this month as far as school goes and so that has been great!
We've continued studying in the Doctrine and Covenants. It has been so amazing. The depth of our gospel conversations this last month has been incredible. There are angels in our home and in our school. It's incredible and I love it.
One thing that I have decided to do which kind of puts a kink in my original plan (but I am totally okay with!) is speed up our study of the Doctrine and Covenants. In the upcoming months, and beginning in January, there will be a new manual for teaching in the home released by the church. This is such an answer to prayer. I am so excited for it! Really excited. So beginning in January we will start studying the New Testament. So I am trying to move things forward a bit so we are ready for that.
This month we talked about the Angel Moroni and the Gold Plates, Martin Harris and the lost pages, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph and Oliver getting the Priesthood, Witnesses seeing the Gold Plates, the preparations and organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, some of the early miracles that happened in the church, early growth of the church, Samuel Smith's Mission, Joseph and Emma, and how only the prophet can receive revelations for the church (but we can receive our own personal revelation). So much goodness!
Next up is MATH! Jacob is doing so well in Math and we both truly love doing it every day. We finished our first unit which mostly focused on number sense from 0-10. So much of this was review but there was some new things sprinkled in there. We talked about some addition stories, introduced the plus sign, tally mark addition, number line addition, introduced the penny, adding pennies, and ABCD patterns. We don't really have a lot of tests (because I can usually tell if Jacob is understanding something or not) but we did have a test after we completed his first unit - 100%. I was so proud of him.
We started up his second unit which has a much bigger focus on addition and subtraction. So far we have practiced adding on, and making five, four, three and two.
Sarah's preschool is one thing I feel like needs a change. It's going okay but that's all. I feel like we are both kind of indifferent about it and so I am working on making some changes. We will probably still use the things I got for this year but let it work as more of a supplement and bring something more to the front. This girl loves to learn and it has been fun to work with her more independently and find out more how she learns. I can't wait to dive in more and thought we would need to give it more time but this girl is ready to be all in! Let's just hope I can keep up ;)
This month we did finish her bunny unit which focused all about love and the color red.
We also started our second unit all about BEARS! The emphasis this time is about the color black and obedience.
History has been great! I feel like Jacob is really beginning to enjoy it and that has been a lot of fun to see - because history is my favorite! We are still talking about ancient history. And this month has been all about ANCIENT EGYPT! We've talked about their daily life, writing, government, buildings, and beliefs about the afterlife. We also talked about Herodotus who is considered the father of history and his findings about Egypt and the power and importance of history. We have also been reading a great book called Boy of the Pyramids by Ruth Fosdick Jones. And Melina was able to show Jacob some of the neat things she got when she traveled to Egypt a couple years ago. It's been awesome.
Science has been going really well also. We are still learning about all things water! We've talked about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation, the water cycle, bodies of water, how water shapes the earth and oceans, currents, and tides.
Jacob is also going full speed in his language arts now! One thing that has been so amazing this month is his spelling! He is doing so much better and I am so proud of him. It does not come naturally but he is really putting forth a lot of effort and that is all I ask! He finished his first spelling chart this month and we were thrilled (we've been working on it since June!).
He also finished reviewing all of his kindergarten phonics cards and is not working on his new first grade ones.
This month we worked on syllables, poetry, previewed the phonogram OU and EA, did a lot of work on the EE phonogram and began working on common and proper nouns. One project that Jacob probably spent a good week on was his "All About Me" Book. He worked so hard on this and it turned out fantastic. It's definitely a keeper and it was fun to hear about the things that he loves. There was some surprises ;)
Jacob also works on his handwriting while I read aloud to him. We finished Homer Price by Robert McCloskey (which was hilarious), then read Mountain Born by Elizabeth Yates (absolutely loved, very tender and sweet), and are now reading Little Pear by Eleanor Frances Lattimore.
We ended up only go on one formal hike but we have been spending a lot of time outside.
For art appreciation we are still studying ancient art. This month we studied the Standard of Ur, the Pyramid of Djoser, the Bent Pyramid, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and Stonehenge.
Music appreciation has also continued to go well. We are still studying Johann Sebastian Bach. This month we have listened to the Concerto for 2 Violins in D Minor and Toccata and Fugue in D Minor (SPOOKY!). It's been so fun!
This month our state study just didn't happen. Time just slipped by me and before I knew it we were in our last week and I didn't want to just scrunch it in there. I am still not quite sure WHEN to do it - but we all love it and so we've got to find a time somewhere!
We did do an art project this month! We talked about sunflowers and then did some watercolor. Life is always better with watercolors!
That felt like so much WORK writing down about all of our WORK. Our days are busy and full. I am grateful for this life and what we are trying to do.
If someone could help me figure out how to more effectively keep my house clean and keep the seemingly endless piles of laundry from drowning me at all times though, I would love that!
No comments:
Post a Comment