Category: Apologia , Curriculum , Hand Writing , Homeschooling , Language Arts , Math , What We Did Today
I had stayed up late last night finalizing some lesson plans through the end of the year. After a week off for a family and great friend campout I needed to refresh even for this week.
Before my feet hit the floor Bethany woke me up with the news that her grasshopper "Saw" had laid what looked to be eggs! Wow. School came early for me and Bethany. A few lethargic moments later I arose, and went in for the inspection. After a few minutes on Google we decided that indeed, they looked like eggs. No time like the present for a blog post!
We proceeded to craft a post. I typed what she said while Bethany went and took pictures of Saw and the eggs. After an easier than usual download, we published the post at 8 a.m.
While it wasn't what I'd penciled in for the day, we'd already accomplished Internet Research, Entymology, Photography (it's a new thing for her- even learning how to run a camera), and Writing. Throughout the day we continued our observations with a journal page in her science notebook (in came Spelling!), and a drawing (more art.)
We are reading through a great book called, "Wisdom With the Millers" during our Bible time, and we focus on the Proverb for the day. The lesson was about our words having value-how words can either add to or take away from someone. We posted a sign, "Do my words have value?" that we used throughout the day for the purpose of SELF-observation. Then I got this idea of delving further into the idea of "value." I used my drivers license, a $10 Dollar Bill, and a $35 Dooney-Bourke make-up bag as examples of things that have value for different purposes. I went so far as to say a $10 Dollar Bill in the U.S.A. does not have the value of a $10 Dollar Bill in a poor region in India, for example, if given to someone to buy food for a poor family or families. Should a missionary come to talk with the person who has just been fed, they then receive the good news of the gospel of Jesus, they get saved, and all of a sudden, the $10 Dollars becomes the most valuable thing on our list because through its' greatest use, a soul is brought to the Lord. Topic accomplished: Teaching a Biblical Worldview to my 4th grader and my 2nd grader. I had 100% participation. They even got to line things up in what they saw as most important of the 3 items, 2nd, and so on.
Then the rubber began to meet the road. I gave Daniel the big picture in Math, English, and Reading, and sent him off with a stack of things to do, and a list! He loves lists, and had every item but 2 checked off by days end. This time I had him sign it, and I'll be putting a sticker that reflects how I saw his attitude about his work. It's one thing to get it done, it's another to do it well and willingly.
During math I was loosing the audience of my daughter due to the beginning of what could have been a melt-down. I prayed instantly, and God said, "Do a U-Turn". So I pulled out the Geo-boards, the rubberbands and shapes, and made my now 2 math students shut their eyes, pull out the shape and then they had to make that shape on the geoboard. Wow....her eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I knew I had made the right decision. School was back on track.
I continued on to our lengthy Saxon Math lesson. My error was not just continuing on to Writing and Language Arts, but there was still great gain made. Besides, writing was already done as was spelling. Because of God's faithful direction we managed to get it all in as He planned it!
Tomorrow: Park Day, Soccer practice, a homeschool picnic at the park, then in the evening an event for girls and Mom's by Secret Keeper Girl, a gift from sweet friends in celebration of their daughter's birthday.
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