Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

Lately I've been re-evaluating our diet. I've been wading through TONS of information on food, how it is processed, what is added to it, the effects of those additives...and all the OPTIONS and diet choices there are to be made. I feel a heavy burden to protect the health of my family. I've been lost, confused, overwhelmed, motivated, disgusted, disappointed and inspired. I've contemplated organic foods, Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), whole foods, raw foods, local farms, vegetarianism...all in a matter of about two weeks! So if you run into me and I have a glazed-over, spacey look, that's why. I'm in a state of health food information overload! I've even been DREAMING in terms of raw milk and making my own butter and yogurt!

My research is not over, but changes are being made. Thankfully, I've found some great sources of information on healthy cooking and eating. People are sharing their knowledge and I am so grateful for their help. There are a couple of blogs, in particular, that I've found very helpful as I begin the transition to eating a truly healthy diet.

Kitchen Stewardship

Heavenly Homemakers

Naturally Knocked Up

Misadventures of a Homeschooling Foodie Family

Passionate Homemaking

I'm sure I'll find more great blogs in connections with these, and I'll post links to them as I stumble upon them. Just thought I'd share what I've found so far.

1st Grade: Week 27 Highlights

Grammar: We began learning about sentences this week, and were introduced to statement (declarative) sentences.

Math: "Rupert" has skip counting by 2-6 down, so this week we started on skip counting by 7. I cannot express how happy I am with the skip counting songs we are using. It's right up "Rupert's" alley as he is mostly an auditory learner and has a great memory for music.

History: We read a little more about the Greek gods and the fall of Troy. "Rupert" really liked the story of the Trojan horse and had fun acting it out.

Science: We read about the sense of smell, watched a Bill Nye video about smell, and did a taste test without using smell to see how important smell is in our ability to taste foods.

Social Opportunities: Overnight with Grandma and Grandpa, play practice, Kung fu, peanut butter bear playdate, PE class and art day.

1st Grade: Week 26 Highlights

Math: I made a little math memory game for us to play this week. The object is to find two cards that make 10 when added together. This went over really well, and we played several times on two different days.

History: We read about the differences in values and way of life between Sparta and Athens this week. We also made a "wax tablet" to write on like the schoolboys in Athens had.

Social: This week we had the usual play practice, kung fu, playdate with his buddy, Seth, homeschool PE and art day. We also had a special Caterpillar Cupcake Playdate with a couple of homeschool buddies. We had lots of fun things going this week!

Spelling: This week's words were a bit tricky with double "l"s and silent "l"s as in the words talk, walk and chalk. I thought for sure we'd be spending two weeks with this list, but "Rupert" did fine with them.

Grammar: This week we talked about writing dates, and I showed him how to write some of the special dates we know.

1st Grade: Week 25 Highlights

Hey, maybe it's about time I get last week's post up. And while I'm at it, maybe I should think about doing this week's as well. Holy moly, I'm late! Alright, here are the highlights from LAST week..

Phonics: "Rupert" read through "Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?" and a couple of smaller books this week. We also worked on a new sight word list.

Math: We did lots of skip counting this week. We like to use songs to learn to skip count, and we found some fun ones here. "Rupert" is currently able to skip count by 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6. We also did some work in his workbook. He is over halfway done with his workbook, and is getting excited to go out for ice cream when it is finished.

History: This week we read about Cyrus the Great who conquered many nations for Persia. We also played the "Conquer Mesopotamia" board game that was in our Story of the World Volume 1 activity book. I kicked "Rupert's" butt both times we played (ok, I barely won on the luck of the roll). It was fun, though, and a nice way to review the history we have covered thus far.

I'm putting together memory cards that have pictures of major events and people on one side and information about those events and people on the other side. They are wonderful tools, so I will be putting them into a lapbook for future reference. I found the cards on this homeschool yahoo group.

ASL: This week we learned signs having to do with seasons and weather.

Art: We did Chinese dragon watercolor paintings with our homeschool group this week. I was worried because of my lack of art skills, but they actually came out pretty cool...and most importantly, we had fun doing them!

Kung Fu: "Rupert" lost his 4th tooth at kung fu class this week. He was playing with the other kids during break time and accidentally got kicked in the face...not hard, just enough to pop his super loose tooth out! What a fun story he'll have for this one!

1st Grade: Week 24 Highlights

Spelling: "Rupert" aced his pretest on Monday, so got a break from spelling for the rest of the week. He was excited about that!

Bible: He has been learning 2 verses a week for the past couple of weeks. One for Sunday school and one for J-Force (the play he's doing). He's got a great memory, and learns both verses quite easily.

History: We learned more about ancient Greece this week. I think we'll be sticking with that for the next few weeks, then we'll wrap it up by having the grandparents and cousins over for a Greek feast and Olympic Games.

Social Opportunities: This week we had play practice, went to a friend's birthday party (Happy birthday, Naomi, my birthday twin!), went to two kung fu classes, had a playdate, did storytime at the library and participated in homeschool P.E. I look forward to the days where we don't have to be anywhere or do anything as much as the days filled with activities. "Rupert" is really enjoying all the fun things we've been doing lately, and is very happy with our new schedule.

Greek Alphabet Video

I thought this was a fun way to learn the Greek alphabet. We had a lot of fun watching it! :-)

1st Grade: Week 23 Highlights

Craft: We made valentines this week for "Rupert's friends. This craft was based on an idea we saw in Clubhouse Jr. magazine.

Phonics: I think we're having a reading growth spurt. "Rupert" is able to read a lot more than before, and this gives him the confidence to try sounding out new, harder words. It's a great cycle to be on! As we were in line at the post office this week, he grabbed a pamphlet and started reading what he could as we waited. The word "international" still trips him up, but he's got "shipping" down pat! LOL!

Grammar: "Rupert" began learning another poem this week. This will make 5 in all.

Science: This week marks the beginning of our human body study. We started by learning about bones. I am teaching "Rupert" the names of some of the major bones, about 20 in all. I am planning to do either a big lapbook for our human body study, or a collection of smaller ones. I'm not sure yet which.

This week we did a few projects to go along with our study: We made a model of a backbone complete with discs in between the bones and a spinal cord running up the center.

Here, "Rupert" is showing how the many bones work together to allow us to bend.

Our discussion went into how the nerves work and "Rupert" modified his model to show that the nerves in the arms and legs (the threads coming off the backbone model) are connected to the spinal cord, which is connected to the brain (the green spool on the right). It was amazing to listen to him explain to me how the nervous system works. He picked up on the concept very quickly.

We also learned that bones are made up of minerals. When the minerals are removed, the bone is no longer hard, but becomes rubbery. The calcium in this chicken bone was removed by soaking it in vinegar for a few days.

We did a measurement project to show that we "shrink" during the day and actually are shorter at night than we are in the morning because of the pressure that is on our bodies when we are in an upright position. It was pretty funny because we had measured "Rupert" in the morning, then came back to measure again at night and he was so excited to see how much he had grown over the course of the day. He was very surprised to find that he was actually about 1/2 inch shorter than he had been in the morning.

History: This week we've been reading about the early Greeks. "Rupert" made this Mycenaean shield and we have plans in the works for making a Mycenaean helmet as well.

Kung Fu: We are learning our 4th stick form. It uses two sticks and takes a lot more concentration to learn than the single stick forms we have previously learned. "Rupert's" focus is getting better, although he does still have a day here and there where he is totally spacey.

Social Opportunities: Besides all the real world social experience of being out and about, talking to all kinds of people of different ages and backgrounds, asking questions, and just generally experiencing the community around us, we had 2 playdates this week, art day, kung fu, story time, and play practice.