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Monthly Archives: February 2015

Wrapping Up Week 27 (2014-15)

Posted on February 28, 2015 by Deanna

This week had lots of ups and downs. Over the weekend Ian came down with a stomach bug and was miserable, especially when he had to miss his birthday party with our extended family. Thankfully he had lots of little blessings that came his way over the few days he wasn’t feeling well, which helped make up for his disappointment. Then just as we were getting back into the swing of things, my husband and I both came down with the bug. In other words, school didn’t look quite like I had planned this week, but we improvised a bit and still managed a fairly decent week of school.

During our down time we finally got around to listening to the latest Jonathan Park album (The Journey Home?) and were delightfully surprised when the Creation Response Team bumped into the Brinkman family (from one our our other audio favorites, The Brinkman Adventures).

Bible/Circle Time

I don’t usually mention our main Bible lessons, which come from our family devotions in Old Story New , but this week’s lesson fit well with our science lessons. We’re on Week 18: The Four Soils (a.k.a. the parable of the sower), which tied in nicely with what we’re learning about seeds.

We only managed to get through four chapters of Little Pilgrim’s Progress this week, but that means we should be able to finish up Part 1 next week, barring any disruptions such as we faced this week.

Math

I was especially thankful for our online math programs this week. Ian has made great progress with xtramath.org, and I think I’m going to start having him practice subtraction cards now that he has his addition facts pretty much nailed. Our subscription to CTC Math is going to expire in the next couple weeks, so I tried to have Ian complete a few more lessons there in addition to several lessons in the program we’re currently reviewing, GPALOVEMATH. I love CTC Math’s straightforward approach, which makes it very easy to see which concepts he needs to work on. GPALOVEMATH seems to be pretty thorough as well, however, so I don’t see a need to renew our CTC Math subscription at this point.

Literature

Our scheduled reading for Ambleside Online, Year 1 are pretty thin for the next few weeks (mostly because they’re a bit heavier in the history books, which we’re not using), so we didn’t get any farther behind despite our crazy week. We finally read the story about “The Law of the Wood” in Parable from Nature. We’ve been using Leslie Laurio’s paraphrase because many moms on the AO Forum had said this book was one of the most challenging for their kids in Year 1. I’m really glad I made that decision, because even with the paraphrase this book has been difficult for us, I think because the stories tend to be longer than most of our readings. I’ve pushed through for various reasons, but I think it’s both Ian’s and my least favorite of our literature selections.

I also read Noah’s Wife: The Story of Naamah by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso to connect with our study of seeds. It’s a beautiful story based on a traditional story from Hebrew midrash (which made for a quick lesson in and of itself). In the story, Noah’s wife, Naamah (also sometimes called Naomi according to tradition) is tasked with collecting seeds from all the plants on earth to preserve on the ark and scatter after the flood. Ian really liked the story, and it gave us a chance to review the meaning of alliteration.

History Cycle

We are almost finished with Series 2 of Friends and Heroes. These episodes have been set during the Roman siege of Jerusalem. Even though we haven’t quite gotten to it yet, we spent some time talking about the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 and its significance.

Science

Somehow in the midst of all the sickness we still managed to get through lessons 4-6 in The World of Plants. We also watched The Magic School Bus Goes to Seed.

We talked about monocots and dicots, dissecting beans and corn seeds and then putting some in jars to sprout. Within a couple days we had several sprouts, and I think we’re supposed to be using these in the next few lessons.

We also spent a day at the California Science Center, and Ian enjoyed a lesson on electronics from Daddy as they worked with the set of Snap Circuits he got for his birthday. Thankfully, Daddy knows a lot about that kind of thing, because I would be pretty useless! I’ve heard a lot of great things about Snap Circuits, and I’m so glad we gave them a try. Ian’s already figuring out how to create his own projects, which amazes me since I really don’t have a mind for this kind of thing. I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of things he comes up with.

Upcoming Reviews

Watch for these reviews in the next few weeks!

Math Analogies, Beginning from Critical Thinking Co. (software)
GPALOVEMATH from GPA LEARN

Posted in Ambleside Online

Koru Naturals Emu Oil Products (Crew Review)

Posted on February 27, 2015 by Deanna

This post is a little out of the ordinary for me since this blog is mostly about our homeschool/discipleship journey, but I know many of my fellow homeschool moms enjoy finding natural products to meet their families’ needs, so I took the opportunity to review two products from Koru Naturals: the pure emu oil, and the Koolpurrie Restoring Balm.

About Koru Naturals and Their Products

New Zealand is known for its natural beauty, and for thousands of years its inhabitants have enjoyed the benefits of many natural substances found there. From manuka honey and tea to various oils and Rotorua mud, Koru Naturals shares the resources of New Zealand with the rest of the world. They sell a variety of products intended for skin and hair care, as well as other common health concerns.

The first product we received was emu oil, which is used as a moisturizer for both skin and hair. It is hypoallergenic, has very little scent and penetrates skin well so it does not clog pores or leave a greasy feeling. It can be applied directly to hair or unbroken skin, or it can also be added to bath water.

Koru Naturals sells Grade A emu oil that is fully refined, but not clarified (a process which can strip the oil of some of its active ingredients). Each batch is tested to ensure that vitamins, minerals, and Omega 3 and 6 fatty acids are present at the same concentrations found in nature. Koru Naturals offers pure emu oil in 2, 4, or 8 oz. bottles.

The other product we received was the Koolpurrie Restoring Balm, a combination of Grade A emu oil and pure lanolin. It is intended for softening and healing skin that is dry, cracked, or calloused. It is especially good for hands that are subjected to harsh elements such as detergents, cleaning products, or severe weather. The balm is recommended to be applied at bedtime (as well as reapplying after bathing or showering).

Emu oil and lanolin are both gentle, so there is no stinging or burning. Nothing else is added (there are no dyes, perfumes, preservatives, paraffin, or chemicals), so it’s great for people with sensitive skin. It comes in a 4 oz. container.

How we used it

My skin tends to be dry year round, though it’s definitely at its worst during the winter, so I’m always on the lookout for quality moisturizing products. These two products are obviously very similar (with just the addition of lanolin in the balm), so they can be used for many of the same things. For me, the choice usually came down to whether it would be easier to apply a liquid (emu oil) or something less drippy (the balm). Also, the lanolin is helpful for healing, so I used it when trying to treat more severe skin issues.

Emu Oil

I mainly used the emu oil as a skin moisturizer. Just one or two of the thick drops in my hands was plenty to help relieve dry skin. More than that left them feeling greasy, but it absorbs really quickly and it never bothered me. My dry, itchy skin was left feeling soft and comfortable almost instantly, and the relief was long-lasting.

I also just started using it in Arianna’s hair, which is a bit curly and tend to get very dry and tangled. Again, I found the key to be moderation. The first time I used it, I applied it to her wet hair after washing (first rubbing it on my hands, then into her hair starting at the ends), and it was hard to tell how well it was being absorbed so I kept adding more. I probably used six or seven drops altogether, and it was definitely too much. Although her hair wasn’t overwhelmingly oily, it didn’t look clean. Still, it was much more manageable. I plan to use it again, but I will be sure not to use more than two or three drops.

Koolpurrie Restoring Balm:

My main hope for the balm was to help clear up Arianna’s eczema. My three older kids have all suffered from moderate eczema on their legs around ages 2-3, and hers seems to be peaking lately. With the boys, lotions and various oils usually helped, but Arianna’s has been a bit more persistent. Thankfully it looks more irritating than it seems to actually feel (she never complains about it as the boys did), but I would love to find a way to clear it up for her. Unfortunately, the Koolpurrie Restoring Balm didn’t help as I had hoped. Maybe I just needed to be more vigilant about applying it regularly, but when I didn’t see any improvement after several days, I set it aside unless Arianna mentioned it.

However, I did find the balm useful in other ways. Elijah’s lips got really chapped one day (to the point of peeling and bleeding), so I pulled out the Koolpurrie Restoring Balm and gave them a swipe. Within hours his lips looked perfectly normal, and the problem didn’t return. I also found the balm to be a great relief for my growing pregnant belly, which always gets dry and flaky as the skin starts stretching. I found the pure emu oil soaked in too quickly to spread over my entire abdomen without using a lot, but the balm worked wonderfully.

Final Thoughts

It was great to find such effective moisturizing products that I can feel confident using on my children’s skin without worrying about chemicals or other additives. I appreciate the purity of the emu oil and Koolpurrie Restoring Balm, and I especially love the way they make my skin feel.

Koru Naturals offers many other products, including lip balm, lanolin cream, shampoo, and conditioner, which were received by other Crew members, so be sure to check out their reviews!

Follow Koru Naturals on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/korunaturals
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/korunaturals/

Posted in Product reviews

In Freedom’s Cause (Crew Review)

Posted on February 24, 2015 by Deanna

William Wallace seems to be one of those historical figures whose story grips the heart of all who hear it. It’s hard not to be moved by the tale of this man who gave up his life for the pursuit of freedom for his countrymen. So when I heard that Heirloom Audio Productions had released an audio theater recording about the story of William Wallace and Robert Bruce, I was eager for the chance to review the In Freedom’s Cause Single Package.

About In Freedom’s Cause

My excitement over In Freedom’s Cause stemmed from how much we enjoyed Heirloom Audio’s first recording, Under Drake’s Flag. Based on G.A. Henty’s historical novel about Sir Francis Drake, Under Drake’s Flag was an exciting dramatization that captured our family’s imagination. My kids spend several hours each day listening to audio books and radio dramas, so I am always on the lookout for quality productions that promote the values we want to instill in our children, and this first offering from Heirloom Audio was a real treasure.

I think In Freedom’s Cause is even better than its predecessor. I hadn’t gotten past the back cover before I knew we were in for a treat.

Then we listened to the story over the next few days, and I was even more impressed. The cast is phenomenal, the soundtrack is beautiful, and the quality of the production is superb. I’m a history-lover myself, but I think even people who don’t share that passion will be drawn into this story and enjoy listening.

In addition to the entertainment value of the production, In Freedom’s Cause offers plenty of educational opportunities. The In Freedom’s Cause eStudy Guide and Discussion Starter is a 49-page pdf document that makes it easy to use the recording as a learning experience for families (available as a download, the link is included in the CD packaging). It offers suggestions for walking younger children through the story or helping older children complete related written assignments. Each of the 37 lessons in the study guide covers a 4-to 10-minute segment of the recording and includes three parts:

Listening Well (questions about what happened in the story)
Thinking Further (questions for further research or to think more deeply about things that happened in the story)
Defining Words (vocabulary used in the story)

At the end there is information about Scottish history to help listeners better understand the context of Wallace’s story, three short Bible studies to help students explore the biblical themes in the narrative, and suggestions for further reading.

Our Family’s Experience with In Freedom’s Cause

We listened to the entire recording over the course of a few days as we drove in the car. Although Ian (7) was probably the only child following the story completely, my younger children enjoyed it as well, often repeating lines that struck them as humorous. It was definitely an entertaining way to pass the time on otherwise boring drives. The In Freedom’s Cause Single Package includes the 2-CD set AND instant access via MP3 download, as well as several free bonuses:

The In Freedom’s Cause eStudy Guide and Discussion Starter
A beautiful printable copy of The Prayer of William Wallace
The In Freedom’s Cause Soundtrack MP3 download

The Review Crew was also blessed to receive access to some of the bonuses that come with other packages. Our favorite was the video Behind the Scenes of In Freedom’s Cause, which showed the actors in the recording studio and gave a fascinating look at the process of creating the whole production. Ian loved seeing the actors work, and it made the story even more interesting the next time we listened to the CDs.

Our time with In Freedom’s Cause has been entirely positive. The only change I might suggest is for an Heirloom Audio website that lists their growing collection of audio theater albums. If I had just stumbled upon In Freedom’s Cause, I would immediately have gone looking to see what else the company offered, and because each album has its own website, it’s not as obvious as it might be to find what else they have produced or might be working on.

As I said before, history fascinates me, and the best way I know of passing on that fascination is by introducing my children to exciting stories of the past. G.A. Henty’s books are a wonderful resource in that quest, and Heirloom Audio has made it so easy to introduce my children to these stories. Not only do they help bring history alive, they also emphasis faith, courage, respect, honor, and other character traits our family values. In Freedom’s Cause has been a great addition to our family’s audio library!

Check Out In Freedom’s Cause on Social Media

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/InFreedomsCause

Twitter: https://twitter.com/InFreedomsCause

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/112701427096792421838/112701427096792421838/posts

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/jointhecause

More Coming Soon From Heirloom Audio!

After enjoying both Under Drake’s Flag and In Freedom’s Cause, we’re looking forward to more from Heirloom Audio. Next up is With Lee in Virginia, set to be released around Memorial Day 2015.

Keep up-to-date on this new release by following on social media:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WithLeeInVirginia Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeeAudioDrama

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/114534826166314080647/114534826166314080647

Posted in Homeschool Resources, Product reviews

A Much Needed Sabbath

Posted on February 21, 2015 by Deanna

Growing up in the public school system with most of June July and August off, I remember getting about halfway through summer vacation and wishing I could go back to school and save the rest of those weeks off for when I really needed a break during the middle of the school year. Now that I get to set our school calendar, I keep that idea in mind. We still take a summer break, but not nearly as long as the traditional American schedule.

When I planned this year, I tried to schedule things so we would get some time off about every 7 weeks. I had left February pretty open, just saying we’d take a week off at some point, and last weekend I felt the Lord strongly prompting me to make this that week.

I’m so thankful I listened, for it ended up being a difficult week as far as my pregnancy is concerned (though everything is fine, praise the Lord!), and we all really seemed to need a chance to relax. There was still a lot of learning going on, but I didn’t try to work through any curriculum, so I’m not counting the week towards our attendance.

The boys both did several lessons on GPALOVEMATH, and we continued watching Friends and Heroes (about the ancient Roman Empire). We also spent a day at the wonderful Aquarium of the Pacific, and all the kids went to their music classes on Friday (choir, handchimes, reader’s theater, preschool music, and composer study). So really, we just took the week off from our regular literature, history, and science reading.

I love the flexibility that homeschooling provides. Having this little breather should help us get through to our Easter break without feeling too overburdened, and then we’ll just have a few weeks to finish up our school year!

Posted in Uncategorized

The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag (Book Review)

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Deanna

We’re big fans of the Berenstain Bears books. On trips to the library Ian always heads straight to the B section to see if there are any he hasn’t read yet, and since there always seem to be different ones to choose from, they must be pretty popular with a lot of kids. So we jumped at the chance to review The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag by Mike Berenstain (son of Stan and Jan Berenstain, the original authors of the series).

Synopsis

Biggest Brag begins with a look at Brother and Sister Bear, listing the many things they are good at and how they are “proud of all their hard work and effort.” Unfortunately, their achievements have led to an atmosphere of competition, in which they are constantly trying to best each other. For example, when Brother brags about getting an A, Sister has to let him know that she got an A+. Mama and Papa try to address their bragging and boasting, telling them about what the Bible says about love: “It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.” Still, Brother and Sister persist in their bragging ways, eventually getting into a ridiculous contest about who sees the most exciting pictures in the clouds. When Gramps overhears them, he gently chides them for their foolishness and quotes a Bible verse about strife and pride. Then he invites them over to his house for a game of checkers. The cubs instantly start back into an argument about who’s going to win until Gramps calls them on it and they walk home with him.

Our Thoughts

My three oldest kids (ages 3,5 and 6) were eager to read this latest book in the series. They all seemed to enjoy it, but it wasn’t a huge hit with anyone. My oldest did pick it up to read again on his own a few weeks after I initially read it to them, and when asked what he thought of it he said, “I kind of like it.”

For myself, I was disappointed. I felt like the attempts to correct the cubs’ poor behavior were half-hearted, and it didn’t seem like they really changed at all, since they were still going at it on the last page (though they did at least apologize when Gramps got on them about it). I like the idea of addressing the problem of bragging and making a competition about everything (definitely an issue our kids have struggled with at times), but I was hoping for more when it came to overcoming this bad habit. Their final battle about the cloud pictures just seemed silly and contrived, and I wish there had been a stronger resolution.

The thing I liked best about the book was Papa and Gramps pointing the cubs to the Bible when explaining why their attitudes needed improvement. I would have liked to see these ideas developed a bit more. Since Papa has at times been portrayed as rather weak and foolish, it was nice to see him taking a stronger, more positive role in this story.

We have enjoyed several of the newer books by Mike Berenstain and look forward to reading more, but unfortunately we didn’t feel that The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag lives up to the high standards of the other Berenstain Bears books.

BookLook disclaimer

Posted in Book reviews

Wrapping Up Week 26 (2014-15)

Posted on February 15, 2015 by Deanna

This week we had fun celebrating Valentine’s Day with some other homeschool families and talked a little bit about the story of St. Valentine. I’m so thankful to have a wonderful community to share life with as our children grow up together. Ian especially thrives on lots of time with other kids, so it has been great for us to have other homeschool friends.

Bible/Circle Time

We’re getting close to the end of Part 1 in Little Pilgrim’s Progress, and I’m going to let Ian finish doing his notebook pages once we reach that point. It’s been a good discipline exercise for him, but we’d both like to move through the book more quickly than it allows. He’s been doing a good job at narrating to me orally, so I’m ready to let him off the hook when it comes to the writing. We just have about 5 more days’ worth of reading to finish up.

(As these pictures show, my camera lens has gotten scratched and is ruining all my pictures. I’m so bummed!)

Math

I’m really happy with our switch over to doing all Ian’s math online. He has shown significant improvement in his addition facts thanks to xtramath.org, and I think the time on CTC Math and GPALOVEMATH has been really good for him.

One thing that has frustrating me in working with Ian has been how little he cared about getting a good score on a lesson, so I’ve been really pleased to see him repeating lessons on CTC Math to raise his standing (since it takes an average of the last three times). He’s been totally self-motivated to move from “silver” to “gold” or even up to “platinum.” I’m so glad he’s developing a sense of pride in doing his best work.

I think we’re both enjoying the independence that this switch has given him. While I think MEP is a fantastic curriculum, it definitely requires teacher involvement, and with a house full of little ones, I need to prioritize which lessons I’m going to do with Ian. For now (especially with a new baby coming in September), I think it’s more important that Ian can build a solid foundation and make steady progress at grade level than to push ahead with a rigorous program that’s continually challenging him.

Literature

This week we finished up the poetry of A.A. Milne and moved on to the Ambleside Online, Year 1 third term selection, A Child’s Book of Poems by Gyo Fujikawa. Ian loved the playful Milne poems and often asked me to go back and read some of his favorites. I like that this new work has a variety of poets, and I’m hoping Ian enjoys them as well. He really liked Wynken, Blynken, and Nod, and I caught him telling Nicholas all about them, pointing out his eyes and head and he said the names. So we’re off to a good start.

The one thing we were still really behind in with was our reading in Tales from Shakespeare. This week we finally read “The Winter’s Tale” (over the course of three days), and then we watched the story in the Shakespeare: The Animated Tales series. The story was new to me, so I enjoyed reading it with Ian. He had an easier time following along than he has with some of the other Shakespeare stories we’ve read, probably because there weren’t a lot of characters.

History Cycle

We’re continuing to focus on the church of the first century. After we finished the Storykeepers series on Monday we watched The Perpetua Story (from the Torchlighters series), as well as Polycarp and Perpetua, which wasn’t necessarily written for children, but contained many dramatizations and kept Ian’s attention. I especially appreciated the section taken directly from Perpetua’s writings. It was powerful to have a primary source and being able to hear the story in Perpetua’s own words (right up to the day before her execution, when someone else took on the task of completing it).

We also started watching the first series of Friends and Heroes, which is set in Alexandria in A.D. 69. It’s about a group of Jews living under Roman rule during a time of unrest in Judea. Each episode also contains Bible stories (from the Old and New Testaments) that the characters share to help each other make wise decisions.

(We’re watching the first series on the JellyTelly Roku channel since we already have a subscription, but for the second and third series we’ll subscribe to gMovies, the only place they’re currently available to watch without buying the DVDs, which is beyond our budget right now.)

Science

We read through lessons 4-6 in The World of Plants (part of God’s Design for Life). We also watched two episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy: Cells and Plants, and Ian and Elijah enjoyed getting our our microscope and looking at various kids of cells (lesson 4).

Upcoming Reviews

We’re currently getting familiar with several products. Watch for reviews soon!

The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag (book)
In Freedom’s Cause (audio drama)
emu oil products from Koru Naturals
Math Analogies, Beginning from Critical Thinking Co. (software)
GPALOVEMATH from GPA LEARN

Posted in Ambleside Online

Wrapping Up Week 25 (2014-15)

Posted on February 8, 2015 by Deanna

This week had one main focus, and pretty much everything else just got squeezed in. We kept up with Little Pilgrim’s Progress and Ian’s online math programs, as well as our literature from Ambleside Online, Year 1, and we started our final book in the God’s Design for Life series: The World of Plants. However most of our time was centered around our history/Bible lessons because all the kids loved what we were doing.

History Cycle

As a follow up to what we talked about last week, we kicked off our history lessons by watching Julius Caesar from the Shakespeare: The Animated Tales series. I wasn’t sure how well it would capture Ian’s attention, but he and Elijah were both into the whole thing. When it was done he asked me if I had any other movies about Julius Caesar and was disappointed I hadn’t been able to find anything else at the library.

I asked Ian to tell me what he knew about Jesus and the beginning of the church and decided to move on to the persecution of Christians under Nero. I read to him about Nero in A Child’s History of the World by V.M. Hillyer, and then pulled out The Complete Storykeepers Collection, a book of all the stories in the Storykeepers video series.

The thirteen episodes include stories about Jesus (a nice Bible review!), but mostly they provide a glimpse at life as persecuted Christians living in Rome at the time of Nero. I don’t remember how I first heard of these stories, but I started trying to track down copies of the videos a couple months ago to get ready for this part of our history cycle. Amazon had some used copies, but they were all more than I could spend. Several of the episodes are on YouTube, but I couldn’t find them all. Finally I tracked down a fabulous clearance sale at happybuys.com, where I was able to get the entire series on 3 DVDs for $8 (plus shipping). The only problem (as we discovered this week when we went to watch them) was that the DVDs aren’t Region 1 and wouldn’t play in our DVD player. Luckily they played fine on my computer, so I still think it was worth it. (It’s hooked up to our TV anyway, so it really didn’t matter except that I couldn’t use my computer while they watched.)

The kids LOVED these videos. I’m letting them watch two each day (one for our morning Bible movie, and one at lunch time) so we can get through the whole series before I want to move on with our history lessons. The Complete Storykeepers Collection is easy for Ian to read, and he gets excited about the stories before I let them watch the videos (which have a lot more details). Then as interesting topics come up we pull out other resources to go into a little more depth. This week we looked through a book I’d bought in Rome about the catacombs, as well as doing a couple pages in The Storykeepers Activity Book to learn about the ichthus symbol.

It’s going to be hard to go back to our regular routine after spending this week (and weekend) with the Storykeepers. Secret symbols, underground hideouts, daring adventure… what’s not to love?

Upcoming Reviews

We’re currently getting familiar with several products. Watch for reviews soon!

The Berenstain Bears and the Biggest Brag (book)
In Freedom’s Cause (audio drama)
emu oil products from Koru Naturals
Math Analogies, Beginning from Critical Thinking Co. (software)
GPALOVEMATH from GPA LEARN

Posted in Ambleside Online

Wrapping Up Week 24 (2014-15)

Posted on February 1, 2015 by Deanna

Last week we finished our 2nd term (of three) for school this year, which felt really good! Along with that came a milestone I’ve been eagerly awaiting. Ian is a good reader, but he’s never really gotten into it. He loves books if he’s being read to, but he just couldn’t be convinced that they were equally enjoyable to read himself. Then this week when we were at the library, he grabbed a Geronimo Stilton book as we were walking out, and for the rest of the day, he had his nose glued to that book. At home, in the car, in bed… I think he spent about 4 hours total, finishing up that night as Daddy went in to turn out his lights when we went to bed. That’s how I spent most of my childhood, and I’ve seen my nieces develop a similar love and wondered if Ian would ever get there. So this mama was celebrating at the sight!

Bible/Circle Time

Our morning Bible videos have become something all the kids look forward to, and I love how familiar they’re becoming with the stories of Jesus. Ian continued to create pages to go along with the two chapters we read from Little Pilgrim’s Progress each day.

Math

We made some major in changes in math this week! Last week I shared about how I was thinking of letting Ian take a break from Mathematics Enhancement Programme once we finished Year 2 so Elijah could catch up and I could teach them together. After praying about it more, however, I felt that we shouldn’t even wait to finish out this year. It’s not that things seem too hard, but I felt like we should just stop where we were.

Instead, Ian is doing all of his work on the computer using various programs we have subscriptions to thanks to reviews I’ve done in the last year. We still have a little time left on CTC Math, and I’m using that as his main lesson source since it systematically works through the curriculum without any distracting game options. Ian really enjoys it and has been completing multiple lessons each day all on his own initiative. I’m hoping we can finish the 1st grade curriculum before our subscription expires in March.

$CTC Math$

A couple days I had him do some activities on Mathletics, but since he really enjoys all the “extras” on that site I prefer to save it for a reward. (He earns time on Mathletics by scoring well on his xtramath.org flashcard work.) He’s also been enjoying a trial of GPALOVEMATH. We’re about to start officially reviewing this program, so it will probably become his primary math curriculum in the weeks to come.

Ian is LOVING this change. He’s thrilled to have time to work on the computer, and it’s no longer a struggle to get through math each day. I do want to go back to MEP eventually (at least that’s my plan at this point), but I’m hoping that this break will help Ian finish building a really solid math foundation.

Literature

Ian is continuing to love the Just So Stories by Rudyard Kipling. This week we read the chapter about the first letter, and he was cracking up at all the confusion. He’s also really improving at narrating things back to me, particularly the Aesop’s fables. I’m glad he’s enjoying the literature selections from Ambleside Online, Year 1 so much.

History Cycle

We finished Our Little Roman Cousin of Long Ago by Julia Darrow Cowles. It wasn’t my favorite book in the series, but maybe it was just because the Roman culture didn’t seem quite so distinct as that of Athens and Sparta. We continued learning about Rome by reading about Roman builders and gladiators in Story of the World, Vol. 1 by Susan Wise Bauer, and we read the chapters about Julius Caesar and Augustus in A Child’s History of the World by V.M. Hillyer.

Then for fun, we started reading See You Later, Gladiator (from the Time Warp Trio series) by Jon Scieszka. It’s a great one for Ian and I to take turns reading to each other.

Science

With the end of the term, we finished our second book in God’s Design for Life, getting through the last few lessons The Human Body. There were several great videos we watched about the immune system:

Ian was an expert by the time we finished all of that! We also watched Bill Nye the Science Guy: Genes, which both boys found fascinating. Elijah was rather indignant that he’d never heard about genes before. (He loves going through See Inside Your Body, and he couldn’t believe it didn’t include a section on genetics.)

As a little extra, we’ve been watching some caterpillars go through metamorphosis, and this was a big week. On Monday most had already entered the chrysalis stage, though we had one late bloomer who was still crawling around. By Friday we had several butterflies! We’ve been wanting to get caterpillars for years so we could watch this whole process up close, so we were excited to get a butterfly habitat from Grandma for Christmas!