Some activities for the last two weeks included making lentil soup (Jacob and Esau), doing our own "tomb" painting, and making an Egyptian home. We didn't make a complete villa, but it still gave us an idea of what Potiphar's house may have looked like when Joseph was put in charge. The girls also completed mini-books about different aspects about homes and home life in Ancient Egypt. The boys, Russ and I also started watching a DVD from the Bible Collection on Abraham. It is about three hours in length, so we have just been doing a little each night.
We continued with our Vivaldi Four Seasons listening to the "Autumn" section. The kids once again all completed water color paintings on an autumn scene or on what Vivaldi was portraying in each of the movements (peasants dancing, peasants sleeping, and a hunter walking through the fields). Seth didn't quite finish his so I will post a picture of that later. It is definitely worth posting and I will just give you a teaser to keep you in suspense...it contains lots of pterydactyls.
In science we continued our study of air. We did some neat experiments to show that the air is made of molecules, specifically oxygen and carbon dioxide. We have one experiment pending, but it involves a helium balloon and I just haven't gotten around to getting that yet...
We also spent some time the last two weeks learning Psalm 121 and Psalters 110 and 317. The homeschool group from the FRC sang and recited at a special program for one of their organists who had been playing for 60 years (she started when she was 11). That program was this past Thursday night.
Seth completed the letters "T" for turtle and "U" for Us. In the turtle unit the words to learn were "I don't quit, I persevere." We learned all about turtles and also looked at stories that showed perseverance. I realized Seth does actually pay attention when he came upstairs from cleaning the toy room in the basement saying, "I did it the whole time, Mom! I didn't quit--I persevered!"
In the "us" unit we took one day to study each of the five senses, marveling along the way that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. The other kids loved the senses activities too (guessing objects in a bag, being blindfolded and guessing sounds and smells, and drawing a picture with a blindfold and then without). The words to learn in the "us" unit were "God made us wonderful!"
Seth's favorite books for these units: Facts About Turtles by Carmen Bredeson; Lookout for Turtles by Melvin Berger; The Tortoise and the Hare by Betty Miles; Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton; The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper; Keep Trying Travis by JoDee McConnaughhay; Senses by Anna Sandeman; The Sense of Sight by Mari Schuh; My Five Senses by Aliki; You Can't Smell a Flower with Your EAR! byJoanna Cole; My First Book About the Five Senses by Kama Einhorn; and The Luckiest One of All by Bill Peet.
Russ just finished up a reading week this week, getting quite a bit of work done on upcoming papers and book reviews. Last weekend he spent most of Saturday doing yard work--mowing, raking up leaves, cleaning up the garden--and trying to box in the duct work and water pipes in the garage. He still is not finished as he is waiting for insulation board. Russ also ordered two cords of wood that were delivered last week. As the guy who dumped the wood on the driveway was driving away, I looked at that huge pile turned to Russ and asked, "Did you happen to back one of the cars out of the garage first?" Nope. So we all worked really, really hard and were able to get it all stacked by 6:30 that night. When Russ delivered some chicken soup across the street to our 90 year old neighbor lady she said, "I saw all that wood o. your driveway, and then sure enough a few nights later I saw smoke coming out of your chimney!" I didn't realize we were watched that closely!
This coming week looks to be busy week. We picked up another bushel and a half of apples today, so I will need to make applesauce sometime soon. Also, we have three doctor appts scheduled: my physical, Nicolas is to have his hypergranulation area on his finger cauterized, and Lydia hopes to have her cast removed. We have our usual BSF on Monday night and Caleb has an orchestra concert on Tuesday night. I continue to appreciate a full schedule as it keeps me from thinking about being homesick. We are so thankful for letters, email, phone calls, and skype!
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