Week 27-28 in ECC: Japan

Japan was great. It helped that my husband had taken several business trips over there and his employer gave him a bunch of information and fliers about Japan. He also took pictures when he was over there, so we had those, too.

For Geography, we read in the Atlas about Japan and read the interesting facts pages. The day came to make the Japanese flag, and originally, I was just going to have them color the copy from the book, but Pooh wanted to "make the flag." So, I drew circles on red paper, and let them cut them out and glue them on. Instant craft! Pooh loves doing crafts for some reason. Then, on the "colors" page, where we colored the fish, I just so happened to have eyelets left over from my paper scrapbooking life, so the kids cut out the fish, and I put the eyelets on so they could easily string them up.

In science, we had a couple of experiments to do. The first set involved salt water. I didn't have enough salt, so we skipped those. I think I might try to remember to do them this summer or something. The second set involved showing how cold water sinks. Ours didn't work to well. I think an aquarium would have been better. Most of our readings were about oceans, and the boys joined in and made science pages, too, a couple of days. Also, it was warm enough for us to do nature walks this week. We got to go just after the snow melted, and our "stream" through our park was really rushing, so that was neat for the kids to see how the water really moves, but it made me nervous walking over those bridges with no railings!

I just realized I haven't been doing a good job of explaining to Rabbit about why we're studying the biomes. I haven't been explicitly tying in the region. I think it was pretty obvious when we studied Brazil, Mexico, and Africa. But, I think Japan may be more subtle. I'll have to remember to go over that with her.

Rabbit did okay with her copy work, and writing. And, for the vocabulary words, she again wrote several sentences each week. I think having only one to do each week really motivates her to write more for that one.

We keep marching on with Sequential Spelling. I think she loves that she is spelling big words and getting them right (at least during spelling time), but I know she still doesn't like how long the lists are. We often break it up still, doing 13 words, then reading time, and then 12 words.

We've been doing most of English orally. One day I was able to make a fill-in-the-blank worksheet for her out of the lesson. I realize now, after going through the manual, I forgot to do the Haiku lesson with Rabbit. Maybe I'll catch it next time.

For math, we finished off lesson 21, and lesson 22, except the quiz for lesson 22.

For art, we've been doing the Origami - I didn't have the stuff for the art projects. The kids like the origami, and Pooh has done one "dog," too.

We finished up one Abeka 3rd grade reader and moved on to the next one. We really enjoyed Secret in the Maple Tree. It was like a chapter book. This next reader is a bunch of stories in one book. It is kind of funny, because we read some of these stories through the book basket list in ECC. Rabbit gets kind of bummed when I skip the ones we have already read.

We finished Gladys Aylward's book. What a great life, and I love how she lived out her passion. She was the third missionary who really focused on helping children.

We haven't done Spanish everyday, thanks to dance class, but we're progressing. We probably only have 15 lessons or so left. I'll probably stop doing an Spanish when we finish.

We also got two, "Families of Japan" type videos from the library. They were great. We also got "Big Bird Goes to Japan," kind of for fun. It was okay, but there was a scary scene where they show the "guards" of a temple (basically statues that look like goblins). If you have sensitive kids, I wouldn't get it.

Even though they believe in lots of gods, Japan felt a lot "lighter" than China. Perhaps because it is not a communist country.

Week 26 in ECC: China

I changed things up a little this week. We still started with Rabbit's Awana verses every day. Then, we did cross-crawls, ear-eights, jogger lunges, fencers, and cross-legged toe-touches. I was always forgetting those, so I thought we could get them out of the way. It only takes a few minutes. (We're still doing writing-eights before we do English/Spelling/Writing, and eye-eights before we do reading.) Then we did Bible time. We finished up Hero Tales with Gladys Aylward. It matched up perfectly with what we were reading in the YWAM biography.

For Geography this week, we made a Chinese flag (Tigger and Pooh joined in), played the geography game (the Around the World version), did Tangrams, and made Chinese lanterns. I let Tigger and Pooh do the lanterns too. Pooh did an incredible job cutting his lantern. I was concerned about his fine motor development, but I think he is progressing well. Here are our lanterns - we each made one:

In Science, we looked at Glaciers and Mountains. On one day we were to locate the highest mountain on each continent on our big wall map. The interesting thing was for two of the mountains we couldn't find them. So, a quick Google search and we found alternate names for them, and they were on the map with the alternate names.

Rabbit surprised me this week and did her whole spelling list each day in one sitting, rather than splitting it in two. I set the timer for 15 minutes, and it is taking us just about 15 minutes for the words in each day's list.

Rabbit did great in Math this week, finishing her times 8's and getting a 100% on her test. Next is a Unit Test, so we will be practicing all the times facts until she feels ready. Our goal is next Wednesday, but we'll see how it goes.

We've been plodding along in English, just working through the Primary Language Lessons book, doing most of it orally. And for writing, Rabbit wrote really well this week. Her spelling was still atrocious, but the ideas and content of her writing was much improved. She even wrote 4 sentences one day. I've also cut back to one vocabulary word each week. She did much better with that. And, she wrote 4 sentences for her vocabulary page. Seems to be a trend this week.

We got Quarter Mile Math this week. I got a really good deal through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. Rabbit has been using that for her math drill this week. She really likes it. You can set it up to be either a race car or horse, and she likes to race as a horse. The boys like watching her race as a race car. We'll see if it improves her basic math skills.

We haven't been doing Power Glide every day this week, but I think we did 3 days. This is our 3rd time through the 3rd book, so I'm okay with taking it easy.

The art project this week was suppose to be making handmade paper, but we didn't really have a lot of fresh leaves and flowers to use, so we did Tangrams instead.

Reading Gladys Aylward's biography is fun. I did skip the part about the public execution.

Another new thing I started this week was being more organized. I got the idea from The Workbox System. This is mostly for me. I got an old hanging file-folder box that we weren't using any more and a bunch of file folders. I put in our books, paper, copies, etc., in each folder in the order we do our subjects. So, in the first folder is our Bible verse, and paper for copywork. In the second folder is any books for geography. In the third folder is our book for science, and so on. I even made a "seatwork" folder, to give to Rabbit when it is her seatwork time. I was always struggling to find our English book on English days, or our Spelling books on the bookshelf. This way they are all right there, and I can easily find everything.

Next week: Japan!

Week 25 in ECC: China

China has been very interesting our first week.

Bible started off the week in Window on the World reading about China. It was great to read how the government there hasn't been able to get rid of Christianity. There was also a John 3:16 page in Chinese to color. We read about Hudson Taylor this week in Hero Tales. A very faithful man. And our memory verse was about being a servant. Our Bible discussions have been good.

We started our week deciding it was better to fly to China from India, because of all the mountains in between. Tigger was our pilot for the trip. I did skip doing the Chinese Checkers activity as I didn't have a Chinese Checkers game to use, and didn't feel like making one. We read interesting things about China and the Far East in our Illustrated World Atlas and played the Geography Game. We are now using all 5 continents we've covered thus far.

Science has been about Avalanches, Mt. Everest and Volcanoes. We had two volcano experiments to do. The first was to show how the earth moved when magma moved up through the soil. You cut a hole in the bottom of a yogurt cup (use an exacto knife), and push an open tube of toothpaste through the hole. Fill the cup 2/3rds with sand. Then squeeze the tube. We used one of those little trial-sized tubes from the dentist office. It was interesting to watch the sand shift around as the "magma" moved up. Here's a couple of pictures of that:

The other volcano experiment was to create a volcano out of clay, and do the traditional vinegar and baking soda thing. We had some left over clay from an earlier art project (more on that later). We made the volcano in an empty Nucoa margarine tub, and let it set over night. We used a test tube in the center to make the "crater" neat. Then, we used a funnel to pour in some baking soda. Ours was so small, we used only about a teaspoon of baking soda. Then we poured vinegar and watched the action. Tigger and Pooh loved this experiment.

We did two art projects this week, as we didn't do one last week because we didn't have any clay. A trip to Michael's last weekend took care of getting the clay. We were also suppose to use fake jewels, but they were expensive, so I got those pretty colored stones, instead. Here is our jeweled box we made:

The clay was still wet in this picture. It has dried pretty nice. The other project was to make a printing press. The book suggested cutting up an old shoe insole to make the design. We cheated and used foam shapes instead. Here is our "press:"

The book said to dip it in a "puddle of paint," but that didn't work as well as painting onto the press and then stamping. You have to use a very thin coat of paint when you do this. Here is the results of a couple of tries:

For math, we finished skip counting by 8, and are now working on multiplication by 8. The only new fact to learn is the 8 x 8 fact. We've been using Dianne Craft's Right Brain Multiplication Cards. If I tell Rabbit the story title, she immediately knows the answer, so I made a "game" for her to work on remembering the title to go with the problem. I wrote just the story titles on one set of 3 x 5 cards. Then on another set I wrote the multiplication problems, WITHOUT the answers. Then on a 3rd set, of half-sized cards, I wrote the answers. I put contact paper over all the cards. Now, we can either lay the titles out on the floor, and she matches the problems, or lay out the problems, and then she matches the titles. Then, she puts the answers on them. She really likes playing this, and will do it herself.

For reading, we've been reading the next Abeka reader, The Secret in the Maple Tree, I think is what it is called. A very touching book - made me cry.

We've continued our work on English. I forgot, and only did one day of "extra writing." But, Rabbit got a letter from her pen pal today, so I imagine we'll make up for that. And, we made it to Worship Dance this week. Hopefully, we won't miss that any more.

We've been reading Gladys Aylward's biography. She sure had an adventure just getting to China.

Tomorrow is Home School Day at the Capital here, so we'll be going to that for Friday. We'll finish off China next week.

Week 24 in ECC: India

We finished up our week today, in spite of sickness. We loved the story of Amy Carmichael, and how Hero Tales lined up with the read aloud. Another interesting thing was how the Bible passage for today talked about being a servant, and that was what the Hero Tales entry was about. We had a good discussion today.

Geography was good. The facts in Illustrated World Atlas were interesting. Playing the Geography Game was a big hit. Even Tigger and Pooh joined in on making the Indian flag. Today we made Chapittas - we ate them with honey. Everyone but Tigger tried them and liked them. Here are are Chapittas:

Science was good. Rabbit did a page every day but yesterday, because yesterday we started our science experiment for the week, and finished it today. Rabbit learned that water expands when it freezes. Here are our before and after pictures:

We didn't do the art project this week, as I didn't have any clay or "jewels." Maybe this weekend, after the storm passes, I'll get to a craft store. We did listen to the songs recommended.

For reading, we finished up Abeka's Pilgrim Boy. We really enjoyed the story. I had never heard about the Speedwell and the problems they had with that boat, before they came over on the Mayflower.

Math has been skip-counting by eight. Rabbit is frustrated with it. She gets 40, 48, 56, 64, and 72, but she has trouble with 24, 32, and 40.

For spelling, we have just kept on in Sequential Spelling. We still split the list into 2 sections, doing half in the morning, and half in the afternoon.

We did our 3 pages in English, and two days of "Writing Without Curriculum." I used pictures from her stories from the book basket for her to write about.

We also did Spanish about 4 days this week, and went to Worship Dance class

Tomorrow: China!

Frustration over sickness

Okay, can we just stop getting sick, yet? Yesterday I woke up with sore throat and sniffles. I had assumed it was allergies, since it had been so warm here, and I have allergies to 6 to 8 different types of grasses. But, by yesterday evening, I was running a low fever, sore thoat, and body aches.

Then, last night, Tigger came home from AWANA's with a 101 degree fever. It was 102.8 this morning! Ibuprofen is taking it down. Rabbit is still running a low-grade fever and coughing, too.

Our Principal (dad), called off school today. He wants everyone to rest. Still trying to decide if we can make it to our Keeper's meeting tonight. We're suppose to bring snacks, but I don't know. I'll have to see if my fever has broke. My throat is still killing me, though.

Looks like we're having summer school this year... I'm really bummed out....

Week 23 in ECC: India

This week we started on India. We read in Window on the World about India, and reading Amy Carmichael's biography is really tying things together that way. For our memory work, Rabbit has been learning the Lord's Prayer. She did very well. I gave her a week to do the "copywork" part of it, and then we took 3 days to do the dictation of it this week. We've also been reading about Adoniram and Ann Judson's work in Burma (or Myanmar).

Rabbit did well learning her x7 math facts, and aced her math test this week. I am really pleased with her understanding.

We've been continuing on in Sequential Spelling. I cut back to doing one list a day as Rabbit was getting overwhelmed. We do half of the list in the morning, after writing-eights. Then, we do the second half in the afternoon. Usually, the words in the second half are harder and she needs the quiet. She still frustrates easily. We're almost to lesson 40. There is an "evaluation" quiz to give after day 40 if I want. I'm debating.

For English, we've been doing most of the lessons orally, though one day I combined it with our "writing without curriculum" lesson. The English lesson was to continue a story. I knew Rabbit wouldn't have an idea on how to continue it, so I drew a picture for her, and then wrote the questions she was to answer from the picture that would continue the story. It worked great! I love how I could combine the two for her to make it easier.

We were more faithful this week doing math drill - it was a week where I scheduled doing the drills on the computer at the Math-U-See web-site. I try to alternate between Math Windows, computer drill, wrap-ups and flash cards.

For Geography, well, we went into India. Rabbit is enjoying the stories from the book basket. I made up the Geography game cards and my game board on the weekend, so that went faster this week. We did a puzzle from A Trip Around the World and read some about Southeast Asia. Our first time through the Geography game, we were mostly trying to learn where the countries are - especially all the "-stan" countries. I think we got it now. Creating those Vocabulary pages still take Rabbit quite a bit of time, even though I draw the pictures for her. (I'm concerned about using English From the Roots Up next year if she hates doing vocabulary this year...)

Science seemed more like sociology/anthropology this week. A lot of it was about how people survive. But, she still did a science page every day.

The art project this week was to do face painting. While Rabbit would have loved this, I changed it up a bit. I drew a face like the one in the book, and let Rabbit paint on that. She had fun with it. (We had errands to run, and I really didn't want Rabbit going out with paint on her face.)

For reading, we've been reading through Pilgrim Boy - an Abeka novel. She is really enjoying this book. We're near the end.

We've continued on through Power Glide Spanish each day. It is a repeat now, for the third time, so it isn't as exciting now. I'm trying to figure out about next year. I can't justify the cost of Rosetta Stone at this time. I'm looking at The Easy Spanish, as it is Christian based, story based (Rabbit loves stories), and has more grammar built into it. And, it's relatively inexpensive ($139) and can be spread it out over 3 years. That would cover us from 4th through 6th, and then I might consider Rosetta Stone. Unless I can pick up a used Rosetta Stone version 2 at a used curriculum sale.

Week 21-22 in ECC

We finished this about a week ago, with an interruption due to sickness - Rabbit had pneumonia. But, she's fine now.

Saudi Arabia was rather a "dark" country. Not many books at the library. I found a few about their religion and how important oil is to the region. We read facts from our MFW books. We didn't do any of the activities from the Trip Around the World book - I really didn't like them. We did try to copy the Arabic alphabet. Rabbit thought it was interesting that they read and write from right to left. We also made the flag.

We did try making hummus - that was one of the scheduled activities. Rabbit didn't really like it too much - thought it tasted funny. I thought it was interesting how the different flavors don't hit you all at once. You taste the garlic, then the sesame, then the lemon hits you. Must be how the different areas of the tongue taste those different favors.

We didn't do one art project, and the other, the "Cylinder Seal" we modified. I just had Rabbit press different shapes into the Play-Dough to see how the impressions were made.

There was one science experiment to see how a big foot helps keep camels from sinking into the sand. We tried doing it in our box of cornmeal that we use for spelling, but it didn't seem to work. So, we went out to the sandbox and tried it there, and were really able to see and feel the difference.

We started reading Amy Carmichael for our read aloud. One thing that has stuck out to me is her desire to do only things that please God. That would really improve the world a lot, if we all did.

A good couple of weeks, and I felt good that we tried the food activity. I'm not sure how much Rabbit is ready to learn about Islam, so I pretty much veered away from that. We'll hit this again in 8th grade, so we'll probably discuss it more then. I want her to have a real good Biblical foundation before looking at other religions too much.

Oh yeah, in Awana's she is working on her "Silver" sections in her book.

For the boys, I've just been doing the usual. Trying to really get them to learn the days of the weeks, months of the year, basic counting, letter names, spelling their names, phone number and address. Tigger knows if phone number, address, days of the week, and months of the year pretty well. Pooh, well, he can do his phone number. He doesn't seem to really care too much. He always misses Thursday when reciting the days of the week. But, he knows his letter names pretty well.