WEEK 1

BIBLE

We read John 3:16 which is the theme for the entire two year study of the different countries. We read about the Garden of Eden (the first ecosystem) in Properties of Ecosystems. We also read about Christianity in Window on the World and we read God Speaks Numanggang which was a really neat book about a family who has translated the Bible for people in Australia.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Ryder did Spelling Lesson 1 and got a 100 on his spelling test.

They both did handwriting.

Ryder did Lessons 1-4 in English. Most was review, but he did do some work using a large dictionary and he learned about subjects and predicates.

Mercer did Lessons 1-3 in All About Reading Level 1.

Ryder had reading time every day. The first book he read this week was "The Empty Envelope." He finished it Thursday and started "The Fenway Foul-Up."

Our read aloud book this week was "Blotch." I highly recommend it!

GEOGRAPHY

The first day the boys filled out their passport applications and wrote their check to pay for their "passport" that they will use the next two years to travel to the different countries! Ryder took a country identification pretest and he only knew 2 countries :( Canada and USA. BUT that's what school is for right?! to learn! So hopefully his test in 2 years will be GREAT!

We read part of the book "Maps and Globes" which is basically background information on how maps came to be, how you can read maps, etc. The boys learned the names of the 7 continents. We talked about the different hemispheres, the equator, the compass directions. We talked about how a globe is round and more accurately describes the Earth, where a map is flat so its not a true scale of the Earth. We did an activity with an orange (pictured below) which better explains the concept. Ryder is learning geography-themed vocabulary words that go along with what we are learning. This week he learned continental slope and continent. We read "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" and "Me on the Map." The boys colored a map of the world and Ryder labeled the continents.

 

MATH

The boys did Lessons 1-5.

 

SCIENCE

We studied about careers that are in the animal field, predators/prey, environments, and other things in Lesson 1 of Apologia Land Animals. The boys colored pictures and Ryder did some activities in his Jr. Notebook.

 

MUSIC

The boys listened to "Hello to All Children of the World" on the WeeSing CD and they learned the Geography Song to learn the continents and oceans.

 

EXTRAS

The boys do 1 page/Lesson a week out of each of these books! We just fit them in whenever we have free time :) I probably won't post about this anymore during the year, but it is something we do every week until the books are completed!

 

We did most of our school in the morning. Reading was the only thing I saved til after lunch when the girls were napping. During school the girls would play with puzzles, crawl around, eat a snack, or play with magnets!