1st Grade: Week 28 Highlights

Bible: We've really been enjoying the daily devotions at kids4truth.com They have been such a blessing for us. Check them out! "Rupert" has also been reading his children's Bible for phonics this week.

Grammar: We were introduced to three more sentence types this week- the command, the question and the exclamation. "Rupert" practiced writing a sample of each of the four types of sentences.

Science: This week we talked about our sense of touch. We also did a fun little activity where I put miscellaneous items into a paper bag, and "Rupert" had to put his hand in the bag, and determine what was in there by using his sense of touch. We also talked about how sensitive our fingers are to touch, and did the activity again, but this time wearing a mitten on his hand.

Some of the things in our touch bag:

History: We read about the Greeks (Sparta and Athens) coming together to fight off the Persians, the origin of the Marathon run, and finally, the Peloponnesian war. We also played a Peloponnesian war board game that was in our Story of the World Vol.1 Activity Book.

Math: We reviewed our skip counting songs and double and triple digit addition with carrying. After doing a great job on that, "Rupert" asked for a challenge: a 10-digit problem! My little math master did his challenge problem perfectly! We called it our "monster problem", so when he was done solving it, he drew in a monster face around it. :-)

Kung fu: "Rupert" learned more of his double stick form this week. I finished learning it, and I'm here to say, it is tough! Keeping track of what your body is doing is tricky enough sometimes, then adding a stick in each hand and trying to make those do what you want them to...I don't know how any kid would be coordinated enough to get it down. But they do...and he is.

Social Opportunities: We took it easy this week and just had kung fu class, a baking/crafting playdate for St. Patrick's Day, and PE class.

Our St. Patrick's Day craft will grow parsley "hair"

Our cupcakes had rainbow colors inside!

New Recipe: California Chicken Wraps

OH. MY. DEAR. HEAVEN! You have GOT to try these! We had them for dinner tonight and they were SO good! Next time, I think I'll try them with homemade tortillas!

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.