His Treasure Seekers

Bible/Circle Time

For the two weeks before we break for Christmas, we’re going through the ten lessons in Walk With Me to the Nativity: A Journey to Bethlehem by Karen Harper.  This week we covered the time from Isaiah and Micah’s prophecies about Jesus’ birth through Mary and Joseph going to Bethlehem.  This was a book I’d added to our library a couple years ago, and I think it’s a good fit for us right now.  It has some great information without going too deep for a first grader.  I also love that most of the lessons incorporate picture study with classic paintings.

We also used our morning circle time to read the Advent books the kids unwrapped each day.

Math

Ian worked through lessons Mathematics Enhancement Programme 81-85 (Year 2).  With Elijah, I switched over to the new version of Year 1, which has less pages in the practice books because the Friday revision lessons are separate.  Since Elijah is really quick at math, I’m going to skip the revision pages unless it looks like he really needs them.  He often wants to complete 2 lessons in a day.  My hope is that eventually he’ll catch up with Ian so we can work together on math.

Literature

We were weeks behind on Ambleside Online, Year 1, but this week we managed to get caught up on most of our books.  (Woohoo!)  I’m hoping by the time we start school again after Christmas break that we’ll be back on track.

History Cycle

I’ve been trying out some of the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne.  I’m not entirely comfortable with them (due to the light treatment of magic and elements of pagan religions), but for now I’m willing to give them a chance with a lot of discussion.  We checked out some audiobooks from the library, and Ian is loving listening to them in the car (though I won’t let him take them into his room to listen by himself).

Ian’s a good reader, but he’s usually reluctant to read on his own, so I was pleasantly surprised when he decided to read through Stallion by Starlight, about Alexander the Great (which is next on our schedule for history).  That’s one of the reasons I’m sticking with the books for now, though I think we’ll only use them as related to things were studying for school.

We also read 2 chapters about Alexander the Great in A Child’s History of the World by V.M. Hillyer.  Ian liked knowing so much of what was going on in these chapters since many of the details had been included in the Magic Tree House book.

Science

God’s Design for Life is the one curriculum I’m using that is structured enough to make it hard when we get behind.  This week we did science every day to catch up, making it through lessons 13-21 in The Human Body, covering the brain, reflexes, and the five senses.  Ian completed the pages on the senses in The Usborne Human Body Sticker Book.

The boys really enjoyed these lessons and the activities that went along with them (although Ian keeps asking if any of the lessons will let him build a model, like we did in the animal lessons).  We tasted bitter cacao powder, which wasn’t nearly the treat they thought it would be until we added some sugar.  They also checked out how pupils adjust to let in just the right amount of light.

On Monday, we just did math, games on the MiniLUK, Reading Rainbow videos and a trip to the library.  Elijah turned 5 last week, so he was excited to be able to get his own library card.  Of course, I forgot to bring in my ID so we didn’t actually get his card yet… but I got the form to fill out!  Mommy fail.  Still, I checked his books out on my card, and Ian proudly ran his own pile through the “self check-out” station, and then they happily curled up on the couch and read their books for several hours.  That’s as good a school day as anything I had planned, right?  (Maybe better.)

Math

We doubled up on math this week, completing lessons 71-80 in MEP Year 2.  I’m really torn about what to do with math.  As I look at the lessons ahead, I think this year might get too challenging for Ian.  Lots of people use Year 2 for 2nd grade, so part of me feels like we should set it aside once it gets challenging.  But another part of me thinks Ian would be fine if we just went through it letting him pick up what he can without me expecting mastery.  I’ve been praying about this whole thing for weeks, and I still don’t have a clear answer.  I hope the week off will help me come to a decision about whether or not to print out the next set of practice book pages.

History Cycle

The books we’ve read over the last few weeks have made Ian somewhat familiar with the names of a few Greek gods, but I think it’s important to know some of the basic stories.  We watched several videos from the Greek Mythology for Students series, which says it’s for 4th-8th grade, but both my boys enjoyed them.  I had only checked out 3 from the library, but they wanted me to go back and get the others as well.

• “The Gods of Olympus“
• “The Trojan War“
• “The Journeys of Odysseus“

Science

We kicked off the week a little early with a field trip to Bodies: The Exhibition, a fascinating chance to see what we’ve been learning about in science up close.  I know it’s not for everyone, but I was pretty sure the boys could handle it, and they did really well.  It was a great chance to get out of our books and really see all the different muscles in our bodies, the layout of the nervous system, how blood vessels are all over our bodies, where our organs really are, etc.  Ian’s already asking to go back, but I told him he’d have to wait four years, and then we could go again the next time we study anatomy.

A friend expressed concern that the exhibit showed a lack of respect for human life, but I thought it was carefully done, and if anything, I thought it was a powerful testimony of God’s creative glory.

So that was our week, limping our way to Thanksgiving break!