The Seasonal Branch

A few weeks ago the girls informed me that our crocheted flower/branch table centerpiece was no longer "in-season".  I asked them what they thought would look nice.  Pretty fall leaves?  Some small pumpkins and gourds?  No, they informed me, they thought it would be nice if I could crochet some colored leaves.   So, with a little internet investigation I found a leaf pattern.  I crocheted and the girls did the hot-gluing.  I wonder what they will have me crochet for next season...

Home School Weeks 6 and 7

The last two weeks we have been back in Genesis and read from Abraham's call through Isaac's birth and the sending away of Hagar and Ishmael.  We drew a map of Abraham's journey and considered  his historical context in Sumer and specifically the city of Ur. 

In social studies we read about the Second Sumerian State and the people of the Indus Valley.  We also reviewed more aspects of Ancient Egypt: the Rosetta Stone and hieroglyphics.   The kids made their own Rosetta Stone with hieroglyphics, a cartouche with their name in hieroglyphics, and the girls also completed various lapbook pages on these topics

We finished up our pyramid unit in science and picked up Genesis for Kids again (based on days of creation). We had completed Day 1 (all about light) and now started Day 2 (air and water).  We had fun with a few experiments, learning that air takes up space and has mass.   In case you are wondering about our mummy preparation experiment results:

This shows that drying out the body with salt (toast) and rubbing the body with oils and spices that have antiseptic properties (antiseptic cream) help preserve the body.

For fine arts this week we listened to"Summer" in Vivaldi's Four Seasons a few times.  One of those times the kids all completed a watercolor painting of a summer scene.  They also had a few art lessons from God and the History of Art.

 

How are we doing with our Biblical feast celebrations?  Well, we did do our Yom Kippur celebration last week Friday night.  We were then to build our on sukkah for Sukkot, or the Feast of Tabernacles.  We thought we could just use Nicolas' fort from outside?  Not sure about the celebration in it this weekend as Renee and Andy will be here.  We may have to postpone for another week. 

Books that helped us learn the last two weeks:  Seeker of Knowledge:  The Man Who Deciphered Egyptian Hieroglyphics by James Rumford and The Mystery of the Hieroglyphs by Carol Donoughue.  Tikvah Means Hope by Patricia Polacco and On Sukkat and Simchat Torah by Cathy Goldberg Fishman

Seth continued his letter units with the letter "A" for apple and "N" for nest.  For apple week we made applesauce one day when Wendy VB (seminary wife) came over.  She had picked up seconds of Honeycrisp apples for only $2.00 a bushel!  We also wanted to visit an orchard, but since Russ' sister Renee and family are coming for apples this weekend we thought we could wait and go then.  I just found out that many orchards offer tours for a small fee for school and home school groups.  I am not sure I will take advantage of that at this point, but it would have been fun.   The words for last week were "If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit."

This week was "nest" week.  We learned a lot about different animals and their homes, especially baby birds and how they are protected and kept safe in the nest.  Seth matched animals to their homes and made his own house book by drawing pictures of animals in their homes.  The words for this week were "God takes good care of me."

Library books Seth enjoyed for his two units:

The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons; Golden Delicious: A Cinderella Apple Story by Anna Smucker; Apples by Jacqueline Farmer; Apples Here! by Will Hubbell; Apple Cider Making Days by Ann Purmell; and The Story of Johnny Appleseed by Aliki.

A House is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman; Castles, Caves and Honeycombs by Linda Ashman; Annie and Snowball and the Cozy Nest by Cynthia Rylant; and The Best Nest and Are You My Mother? both by P. D. Eastman.

We had no home school orchestra or cello lessons this week because of the tender finger.   We did have BSF and piano lessons on Monday, I went to a Ministry Wives talk on "The Emotional and Physical Demands of the Ministry," on Tuesday night,  and Nicolas, the girls, and I went to the Boys and Girls Club kickoff on Wednesday night at the FRC.  The Plymouth Christian School did not have school yesterday so Wendy VB and kids came over in the afternoon for awhile.   Now we are preparing for a visit from Renee and Andy and family who will come later this afternoon and stay through Sunday.

I am horribly homesick so it is a good thing we are keeping busy.  We can't wait to see and hold Finn David!  Also, when I read that Abe S. needed to go in this week to have surgery on his arm I just wanted to be back in Iowa to help my dear friend, Amy.  I feel so helpless here in Michigan.  After having a pity party for myself one night this week, I read the Haiti blog on "Sacrifice" and it put my homesickness into perspective.  Not going home until Christmas is still a pretty good deal!

Russ is also quite busy with seminary work.   This is mid-term of the semester so that means exam time; Greek was last week, NT Intro is tomorrow, and Dr. Beeke's class is a week from next Tuesday.  I still try to bake once a week for the seminary guys.  The pans always come back empty:)  Russ is limited in what baked goods he can eat because of the egg issue, but I would like to look into the chia seed alternative for eggs in baking.  I just haven't gotten to a health food store to purchase this, but would like to experiment if it isn't too expensive.

I guess that is all that is new for us this week.  Thankfully, no one was injured--no ER trips were made this week!

Caleb's Soccer Season Ends

Caleb finished his JV soccer season tonight with a win.  Unfortunately, the Mustangs did not have a winning season.   However, Caleb had fun, made some friends, worked on his soccer skills, and just enjoyed the physical activity.  We also enjoyed going to the soccer games (we had beautiful weather!) and watching him improve as the season progressed.  Tonight was our turn to make the meal for the team and work concessions for the varsity game.  Russ brought the food to the school since he needed to be at NorthPointe anyway to tutor a junior girl after school.   We all went to the JV soccer game, but I left early with the other kids to take Nicolas to his soccer practice.  Russ and Caleb then stayed--Russ to work concessions and Caleb to be ball boy for the varsity game.  It rained the entire varsity game.   Glad I didn't have to sit through that!

Caleb regarding school (and I quote), "I am doing fine.  I especially like my geometry teacher and my orchestra conductor.  I survived my first chair placement challenge this week (barely).  After the concert this fall I will be moving to first violin because of the lack of numbers in that section.   I am taking MAP tests this week.  They are somewhat similar to ITBS, but computer-based.  I am currently overwhelmed with projects and papers.    I will enjoy two days off next week, though."

Art Prize, Lake Michigan, Blandford, and More

Joline, a friend from college who lives in Chicago, came up to visit us for part of the weekend.  Although I had seen some of Art Prize with the home school group and another time with the family, there were still many venues that I hadn't been able to get to.  Joline and I strolled through some of those on Friday afternoon and then took off to enjoy dusk at Lake Michigan.  The drive on that gorgeous day was beautiful as the trees were so colorful.  On Saturday, the kids and I (minus Caleb who was playing violin in a quartet for a wedding) showed Joline more of our favorite spots--the Blandford Nature Center and the Fish Ladder.

I did not take a picture of the Art Prize winner this year as I did not have my camera with me at the time.  It was a huge stained glass mosaic of the crucifix.  If you want to see it you can click here. 

Lydia enjoyed this interactive piece.  You pushed and pulled the center knob and it changed colors. 

Made all of yellow Legos.  The artist had some sort of message on "emptying yourself".

This picture was constructed with different colored duct tape

A beautiful tile mosaic.  That is the artist standing in front on the right side.

A favorite of all kids

Crafted from recycled bottles and cans

"Pioneer Woman"  made of limestone.

Loved this piece!  The artist used all different fabric pieces.

"Grizzlies on the Ford"  chainsaw art.

"Dumpster Diving"  Really clever use of recycled material

An impressive pencil sketch

Very colorful and eye-catching with the prism things dangling in front.

I thought this was neat.  A rug formed with sand, beans, and other natural things.

 Lots of great oil paintings:

Russ' favorite.  This painting was very large and featured several nostalgic toys.

One of Caleb's favorites

Another favorite of Russ'

Lake Michigan in the fall:

Loved all the colors at Blandford (and, no, I'm not talking about the green pond!)

It Finally Happened...

With all Nicolas' whittling and carving, I knew it would probably happen sometime.  The knife slipped.  For the next two weeks he'll have three stitches in his left middle finger including one in the nail bed (that makes my stomach tingle).   It doesn't look too big, but it is quite deep, cutting diagonally from the tip through the nail bed.  For those who are interested, here is a little peek:

What was he working on?

A tomahawk for his cache of weapons.  He can add this to his bow and arrow, knife, sword, and spear.

I haven't told his cello teacher yet...

A New Cast!

This is the old splint with sling (which she didn't wear much towards the end of the week).  The picture was taken the day after the injury--note the swelling in her poor little fingers.

This is the new cast she had put on today.  The Dr. told her to drink at least two glasses of milk/day while her bone is healing (I know, Greg, I am thinking the same thing--"only two?!"), but I guess it seems to be healing okay.   She will have this cast on until Nov 3rd.   Although, you can't tell from the picture, she is actually much happier with this cast since her arm is no longer immobilized in the flexed position. 

Home School Weeks 4 and 5

The last two weeks we have taken a break from the Biblical story to concentrate on Ancient Egypt.  So far these are the areas we have concentrated on:  the importance of the Nile for farming, Egyptian boats, the unification of Egypt under Menes, mummies and pyramids.  The girls completed mini books on mummies, pyramids, important Egyptian crops, and decorated a canopic jar for their lap book.  Nicolas helped Lydia with her mini books this week since she was unable to write.  We drew maps of ancient Egypt and labeled them with important cities and geographical areas.

 Egyptian reed boats

For projects and activities we built pyramids, made our own Egyptian boats, mummified Barbies (idea from homeschoolhelperonline), and unified Egypt by making a red crown with a cobra, a white crown, and then combining them.

Step 1:  Take out organs, but leave in heart.  We drew a heart on the Barbie to signify the heart stays in.  Step 2:  Wash body with wine (wine vinegar diluted with water).

Step 3:  Prepare body with oil and spices

Step 4:  Rub with Natron (salt) for drying out.  Let dry for 40 days (or 40 minutes in our case)

Step 5:  Begin wrapping.  Place amulets (made with fun foam) between layers of wrapping

Dried mummified Barbies (I bought them for a dollar at the Dollar Tree)

Step 6:  Place in sarcophage and seal!

For science we concentrated on the science of pyramids.  How were they built?  Why use this structure?  We made cubes and pyramids then tested and compared the strength of each of them.  To get an idea of how they may have moved 2 1/2 ton limestone block we pulled a boot across the table with string, then tried it with rolling markers underneath and discussed the concept of friction.  We also discussed the preservation/mummification of Pharaohs.  For this section we took three slices of bread--one plain, one toasted, and one smeared with antiseptic cream--and placed them in plastic bags for a few days.  This was to represent the drying out process and the oils and spices that may have had antiseptic properties that were used to preserve the bodies.  Nothing has happened to the bread yet, but we will keep recording our observations!

Testing the strength of the cube vs pyramid

Some Egyptian DVDs we enjoyed:  Ancient Egypt Unearthed (especially the mummification section) and Unlocking the Great Pyramid.  The last one was our favorite.  Seth sat riveted the entire 50 minutes of a this documentary on the Great Pyramid.  Books we used for our research and to supplement our textbooks:  The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann, Pharaoh's Boat by David Weitzman, Mummies, Pyramids, and Pharaohs by Gail Gibbons, and Pyramid by David Macaulay.

We finished up a few things last week and continue to plug away at the rest.  We have been learning one Greek root word a week.  The kids took a quiz today on the first five Greek root words (biblos, sauros, tele, graph, and photos). Anna finished a reading unit on Sarah Plain and Tall.    They all listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons--"Spring" both weeks.  The first week was just an introduction.  We tried to listen for the babbling brook, the thunderstorm, dog barking, and the dance of the nymphs and shepherds.   The second week we listened to "Spring" again and painted a spring picture while we listened.   We also finished up our read-aloud, Tanglewood Secrets.

Painting while listening to Vivaldi.  Lydia trying it out with the left hand.

Anna's brook, birds, and storm clouds arriving

Lydia's left-handed painting.  Not bad!

Seth completed his units on the letter "M" for Moon and "L" for Leaf.  For the Moon unit projects we talked about how the earth goes around the sun and the moon around the earth.  The moon has no light of its own and needs the sun, just as we have no light of our own and need the light of Jesus.  "I am the light of the world"  was the memory verse this week.   Seth also enjoyed learning about the phases of the moon and drew a full moon, half moon and crescent moon on black paper.  We hung them as a mobile above our dining room table.  I especially loved the book Fool Moon Rising to use in this unit.

This week for Seth's leaf unit, we went outside (between raindrops) and collected lots of different types of leaves.  We traced five of them, colored them pretty colors, and made a little book.  "Doesn't have much words," commented Seth.  We pressed the leaves, then took them out a few days later to count and sort them by color, shape, size, kind, etc.  We also painted around a leaf to make a pretty leaf outline.  His memory words this week were "I will live and grow in Jesus."  To illustrate this we removed one of the leaves from a plant and talked about what would happen to it.

SETH:  "It will get crumpled and yellow."

ME:   "What will happen if we try to live without Jesus?"

SETH:  "We'll get crumpled and yellow?"

Um, I don't think I directed that question correctly.

We read lots of fun books from the library: Autumn Leaves by Ken Robbins, Leaf Jumpers by Carole Gerber, Leaf Man by Lois Ehlert, Fall Leaf Project by Margaret McNamara, Leaves by David Stein, and A Tree is Nice by Janice Udry.

We had planned to do a Yom Kippur celebration last Saturday, but because of Lydia's accident on Saturday, both my time and energy were exhausted.  We made meal plans this Saturday with another seminary family so plan to postpone the celebration another week.  I guess that means instead of ten days of preparation we have about twenty-four!   Actually, I think if we celebrate next Friday night we will be on the correct date for Yom Kippur according to my calendar.   We will then also try to follow that right up with the Feast of Booths or Sukkoth.  This week we also pick up the Biblical story of Job and  Abraham.