Catching up!!

The last time I posted we were on day 4!! Well We are now up to about day 31 and having a blast along the way!! We ran into a few set backs between September and November so far, one being I had a baby, and the other being she ended up in the hospital with Pneumonia for a week. However we are doing our best to stay on schedule with our work and get through all we need to get through.

I've been learning as we go more and more how to be more laid back about our learning approach this year. I started off having every day planned out and doing Kindergarten work and activities along with 1st grade activities and it became a little overwhelming...so we are now doing ONLY the kindergarten worksheets for S~ and all the 1st grade curriculum for A~. Then this summer we will go back and do the Activities for Kindergarten which are mostly science projects so it will give us something to look forward to! I had read somewhere that science for grades 1-5 is pretty much just repeating the same thing over and over again each year, which I've found really is the case. So I want their concentration in these first few years to be mostly on reading/math and bible.

We've been skipping ahead in the math sections, so far we've gone through and learned <,>,=. We've learned some geometry, and patterns. And now we are working on addition. Math seems to be a little tough for ~A right now. She was reading the numbers backwards for a few weeks, so we went to get her eyes checked and looks like she needs glasses. Seems like they are helping so far.

So far as our Reading lessons go, we have learned long vowels, short vowels, the sounds oo like spoon and book, th, and today we learned about ar. A~ is now able to write out a word on her paper when I call it out to her and spell it correctly without my help. She is really doing well with her reading!

Our Bible lessons have been building up! We memorize and talk about 1 proverb per week. So far we have about 6 of them that they both have memorized. I leave it up on the board and we try to remember it and talk about it after dinner each night, and A~ also practices her handwriting by copying the verse down each week on her paper. This week we learned about Israel and we drew a map of Israel. We learned a simple story to remember how it looks...it went a little like this:

"A man went fishing and this is his boat, his fishing lines got all tangled up under the boat! The man looked over the side of the boat and fell into the water! These are his two fingers under the front of the boat. He sent up a distress signal to call for help--a balloon with a string, and a mitten tied to the end of it! In this corner there is a head of a huge water bug with two long feelers coming out of it's head."

We are super excited to start our bible reader in 5 more days! Alanah will be able to start reading bible stories herself!!

September 27, 2011: Catching up day 4

We are officially back to school again! We did about 3.5 days back in July and then took a break until today. Mommy was very pregnant and miserable so we had to put school off longer than we intended until the arrival of our precious baby girl #5 Jubili Leora, born September 12, at 6lb 3oz! We are all very excited to have her here finally, and to get life back in order! So today we played catch up, and finished up day 4. We continued memorizing Proverbs 9:10 which I'm pretty sure the girls almost have that down.




Daddy was here to help today! Which is always a joy for all of us!! He and E~ practiced lacing the shapes, as well as S~ while A~ and Mommy worked on her handwriting, and math.




A~ did great today!! She finished up her worksheets and colored all the little pictures beside all the letters. So our first two pages of our "scroll" we will end up putting together are finished.


E~ Spent most of her time doing the lacing cards, and building towers as tall as she could get them!!



A~ finished up her number of the day worksheet with the number 4



And S~ worked on learning to write her name, and the letter S without having to trace. Looking forward to a full day of school tomorrow!!

July 19, 2011: Creation Day 3 & Proverbs

Today's number of the day was 3! E~ our 2 year old had a blast today! She got to put up the apple on the tree! A~ did great with her pattern worksheets in her math book and her number of the day worksheet!



While we were working on that stuff, E~ was building away with her math stuff! She was building towers while singing "The B-I-B-L-E". And when the tower got too tall and started leaning, and she knew she couldn't put anymore on to of it; the smart little thing tried taking it off the peg board and put it under it on the bottom! LOL



A~ did her review of the letters "G, H, & I"




And then for our bible lesson we did Creation Day 3 Genesis 1:9-13 " Then God said, "Let the water under the sky be gathered together so the dry land will appear." And it happened. God named the dry land "earth" and the water that was gathered together "seas." God saw that this was good. Then God said, "Let the earth produce plants - some to make grain for seeds and others to make fruits with seeds in them. Every seed will produce more of its own kind of plant." And it happened. The earth produced plants with grain for seeds and trees that made fruit with seeds in them. Each seed grew its own kind of plant. God saw that all this was good. Evening passed, and morning came. This was the third day"

We also read Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom...." We talked about what it means to fear the Lord and what it means to have wisdom and we worked on memorizing this verse today.

After all this we colored a picture of what it looked like after God created the Seas, Sky and land.

July 17, 2011: "Creation Day 2 & Clay Pots"

The number of the day today was "2". We put up our 2nd apple, and wrote a 2 on our 100 chart. Then A~ did her number of the day worksheet.





A's~ Math worksheet today was again about patterns. She had to color a bit then cut out the squares and continue the pattern. She did great!!



While mommy worked with A~ on her math & phonics, Daddy was able to help S~ with her ABC's and doing her string patterns.




For phonics today we reviewed the letters "D,E, & F" and how to correctly print them. We also did an exercise for "A, B, & C" where mommy says the word "Apple" and A~ has to correctly write the first letter of the word on her page. She did fantastic!!




Then today we did day 2 of Creation. Genesis 1:6-8 "Then God Said, "Let there be something to divide the water in two." So God made the air and placed some of the water above the air and some below it. God named the air "sky". Evening passed and morning came. This was the second day."







So for day 1 we learned about scrolls, and how they used to store them in clay jars. Today we made our own miniature jar! The girls had a blast!!

We also learned about the book of Proverbs, how it was written mostly by King Solomon who lived a LONG time ago. Each week we will be memorizing a proverb because they will help us become wise. Proverbs are like valuable treasures!

First Day of School: July 12, 2011: "Creation Day 1 & Scrolls"

Today was our first day of School for 2011-2012! We started early again this year since my due date is Sept again. This way we can take a few more weeks off school if we need to! A~ turned 5 in Feb, and today was her 1st day of 1st Grade! S~ just turned 4 in May and today was her first day of Kindergarten! E~ turned 2 in June and today was her first day of pre-school, and T~ will be 1 in August and she was just along for the ride.

I was a bit upset about the photos today, we had several great photos that we took and we lost them so we had to improvise! So what you don't see today you will see in our photos tomorrow.



We started our day out with our school songs, and then we did the pledge to the American Flag, Christian Flag, and the Bible. Today E~ got to be the bible holder.



Our number for today was the number 1. S~ got to put up the 1st apple on our tree today! We also wrote the number 1 on our 100 chart.



A~ did her number of the day worksheet. She practiced writing the number 1 and then we wrote equations that equaled 1.





A~, also gets to start her first math book this year. We start this year off with learning about patterns. It was actually a bit more challenging then I thought it would be. We used blocks to help her understand the problems and she did great!!




A~ did page 1 of her student workbook, which for the next 9 days is just reviewing the ABC's how to write them correctly and their sounds.





Today we learned about the first day of Creation. Genisis 1:1-5 In the beginning God created the sky and the earth. The earth was empty and had no form. Darkness covered the ocean, and God's Spirit was moving over the water. Then God said, "Let there be light," and there was light. God saw that the light was good, so he divided the light from the darkness. God namaed the light "day" and the darkness "night." Evening passed, and morning came. This was the first day."

We colored the number 1 for "Creation day 1" and also made page 1 of our creation book showing dark from light.




Then A's~ bible lesson today was about Scrolls. We learned how the bible was a special book because it had God's words in it. It was written a long time ago and instead of books, people wrote on scrolls. Instead of having pages like a book, scrolls were made of one large long sheet, up to 35 feet long and 10-12 inches wide. The sheets were made from leather, parchment, or a plant called papyrus. They were rolled up from left to right between two wooden rollers. The rods were usually decorated at both ends with knobs or ornaments, to protect the scrolls and make them easier to handle. Scrolls were often stored in pottery jars. The writing was in short vertical columns a few inches wide, written side by side, and separated by a narrow space. To read the scroll, one column at a time was uncovered and read, and then rolled up on the other roller. usually people only wrote on one side of the sheet. It took five scrolls to write the first five books of the Bible!

When a bible scroll got old, people couldn't just go to the store and buy a new one like we can with a book today. Somebody had to copy ALL the words by hand! They had to write VERY VERY carefully so there weren't any mistakes. The words were so special because the Bible is God's words to us!

So on the pages above A~ wrote the letters A, B, & C in her best handwriting! Then as we finish all 26 letters in the next few days we will link them together and make our own scroll!

Today was a great start to the year I'm looking forward to sharing our day with you tomorrow, since we lost a few photos today!

Our summer project: Collect for Kenya...you can help!

So I saw on a blog the other day about the "Focus on the Family, Clubhouse JR. Summer Challenge" I've been looking for a while for things that the girls could do for others as a service project but haven't ever really found anything that has worked for us. So after seeing this summer challenge I thought it was a great idea for the girls to get involved, experience what true poverty is like, and work hard to help someone else. I thought it was a chance to instill thankfulness, selflessness, and compassion into them.

So this summer we will be working hard to be able to send school supplies and small toys to the children in Kenya. I want the girls to have to work for this and not just be handed things so the way they will be earning money to buy these things will be 1. We are having a yard sale next weekend. They have gone through their toys and put what they don't want into bags, we will put them in a bucket and ask for donations for the toys for the kids in Kenya. 2. They will have opportunities to earn money from doing their daily chores around our home, and will be able to decide what out of their money they would like to use for the kids in Kenya. SO far I've been pleased with their attitudes and answers and how selfless they have been with this. And #3...YOU...They will happily come to your house for small chores (remember they are only 4 & 5 but are great helpers ;)), They will be taking donations if you want to just donate money, school supplies or NEW small toys. #3 Mommy will be helping a bit with this one, Since I have my home business of making hair bows...I will also designate 1 type of bow to sell where all the proceeds will go to the girls so they can send stuff to Kenya. Check out my facebook page.

We are super excited about helping the kids!! When I showed them the photos and explained to them about how most of them don't have parents and even some of them -no homes, S~ was quick to say "Well mom, they can come live with us!" lol, If only we could, I'd take every one of them!

If you are interested in helping them out this summer with their project or donating items please feel free to message me at mom2manycoopers@gmail.com. Our deadline for sending the items is August 31, 2011.

Thanks!!

Week of June 1, 2011: Butterfly: God can make me new

Our favorite lesson this year was definitely the butterfly lesson!! Since A~'s favorite thing is butterflies she was so excited!!







Once we received our caterpillars in the mail, we watched them for about a week until they climbed to the top and hung down head first. Then one morning we woke up and they had spun a chrysalis!








Once they were completely wrapped up and had settled for a few days, daddy helped us move them into the butterfly habitat so that when they hatched they were ready to fly around!





We waited about a week, and all 5 butterflies hatched within 24 hours! We were all SO excited that we got to see them come out of the chrysalis!











After a few days of watching them and feeding them, we decided it was time to let them go. We talked about how just like the caterpillar was wrapped up in the silk and transformed into something beautiful, when we give our lives to Christ that's exactly what he does to us. He wraps us in his arms and transforms our old ugly hearts into new beautiful hearts!

We had a blast this school year! But we won't be long gone cause we are taking a SHORT break then we will be doing some character building this summer as well as a summer mission project. So keep watch we'll be posting about our summer project soon!!