Weeks 5 & 6 - Mexico

And We're Off To Mexico

Wow! What a week!! We had so much fun 'visiting' Mexico. We also had a couple field trips to break things up a bit. We located Mexico on the maps, learned the capital and some things about the landscape, people, how they dress, and the flag.. We also learned about deserts and the animals in the deserts and how God made they able to adapt to be able to survive.

 We made some pretty sweet decorations to brighten our room

We also made a fun geography game to memorize the countries in North America. Candy is a wonderful motivator, and Smarties are cheep rewards. ;)

We all play together and it is so much fun!

Because honestly, I struggle naming those countries in Central America

Bible

During Bible, we focused our prayer time on the people of Haiti and Cuba. We also continued reading through the 4th chapter of Matthew.

Even our stuffed friends get to study God's Word

Field Trips

Now these are what the boys get excited for. We are incredibly blessed with some pretty
fun things to do around Lincoln.
 We went to Honey Bee World during week 5. It was a wonderful learning experience for all of us. I was grateful for the instructor who help the kid's attention for over an hour filling them with so much knowledge about honey bees. We learned about Queen bees, drone bees, and worker bees. We learned about the parts of a flower and pollen and nectar. The boy's favorite tid bit they took away was that the drone (boy) bee's job is to eat, sleep and get fat while the worker (girl) bees go collect nectar and make the honey (the stores for the winter) and during the cold season when they can't make honey, if the stores get low, the girl bees drag the boy bees out by their wing or feet and throw them outside to die.

One of our friends dawned a beekeepers outfit

Just look at all those kids! Over an hour...a miracle. 

They had a bee observatory where Ian tried hard to find the queen.

They looked and looked, but couldn't locate her.

Tyler waited patiently and let the littler kids go first. 

Lincoln Journal Star

This wasn't with our regular field trip group, but with the Lincoln Area Homeschoolers group. We had a blast on this short tour of the printing room. 

We took a fun tour of the printing press at the LJS at the end of week 6

I was surprised that they didn't get this laser cutter for the stamps until 2010

This printing press is 5 stories high, imported from Germany and the building was build AROUND the machine! Impressive stuff!

Then the papers are sent to this room to be bundled send off.

Eye Appointment

 And now that Tyler's reading so well he has been complaining of "tired eyes", we took a trip back to the eye doctor to find out his astigmatism has gotten worse and he would benefit from having glasses, so he joined the Four-Eyed club.

From this to that

 We celebrated with a pizza party at the park with daddy.

Fiesta Time!

We finished our study of Mexico with a fiesta of homemade tortillas and shredded pork tacos. Yum!! 

Now it's off to our next destination.....

Weeks 3 & 4 - United States

Welcome to the United States!

This has been a fun couple weeks. We are finally getting our groove back. FINALLY!! We finished up our paper mache globes and we think they turned out fantastic! Check it out....

We had to mix our green.

Ian was quite the careful with his painting,

Tyler was what I think is a typical 7 year old. He did his best.

It was kind of funny to me that they both chose to show the same side of the world.

Bible

Our Bible time this year has been sweeter with Derek leading us. We read about Dwight Moody and Harriet Tubman these two weeks and learned about some of the character traits they had such as repentance, boldness, strength, compassion, joy, and perseverance. We talked about what being a missionary kid in a different country is like and also how we can pray for them. I really love how interested the boys seem to be and see the love of others building in their soft hearts. Derek and I are also learning a ton! Win. Win.

Geography

One project I'm so glad I didn't skip was this strategic mind bender. They each had 4 different colored pencils and had to color all 50 states using only the 4 colors, being careful that no two bordering states had the same colors. Everyone had a great time, and I got lunch cooked ;)

Bonus

We received the always fun Book It in the mail. This is a fun day every year! I am so thankful my kids are able to participate in a fun program I did as a child. 

Reading

What?! Did he finally become the child who loves reading like I do!? I'm not sure, but we have found a few series of books that have interested him enough that I found him reading ON. HIS. OWN.!!! Now this is a HUGE step in the right direction and a great big blessing to me. He has read many Puppy Place books (a series about dog adoption) by Ellen Miles and the 2 books in the Platypus Police Squad series by  Jarrett Krosoczka and has found a series of I Survived ________ by Lauren Tarshis that he is really enjoying. I mean, like, reading them in 2 days enjoying. My heart rejoices! He has even written a letter on his own initiative to writer Lauren Tarshis thanking her for her books and requesting a book about the Chicago Fire (thanks to our study of Dwight Moody!!!!)

Vocabulary, Math and Language Arts

  

Spelling Test and Language Arts

United States Feast

We celebrated a successful unit of the U.S.A. by feasting on grilled turkey burgers and baked beans. Followed by an American Apple Pie, of course! 

Closing Thoughts

Once again, I finish our weeks in awe of how God is guiding our days and making all things come together like only He can. I am so thankful that for this season we are able to see our boys growing in wisdom and stature. We are praying that our hearts would be soft to His teaching and corrections and that we would continue to walk in the ways that He has called us, whatever that may be. 

Week 1 & 2

Let's Get Started!

Well, the first couple of weeks weren't exactly like I had pictured in my mind...Day one was fantastic. That evening I came down with something (I think strep) and was bedridden for 2 1/2 days. Not really the kick off I was hoping for. We also had our monthly field trip that Derek ended up taking them to. Sooooooo......it took us two weeks to complete the first 5 days of school because the second week we had family in town and a birthday to celebrate so we did school when we could. We did spend one fantastic day at the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo, which was very educational and not at all in the lesson plans.  

I suppose this is one of the benefits to homeschooling: we are able to be flexible.

Anyway, we did enjoy the first couple of weeks of finding our "normal" school routine. We focused on learning about the world. We studied maps, talked about different cultures. We learned a fun song to memorize the seven continents. We did a paper mache project (that still isn't complete due to high humidity) and I learned it's OKAY to let my kids explore and try things out. They are way more capable than I give them credit for. I know, I know....you would think I would've learned that earlier on but alas I didn't. We also learned about different religions. I am really excited about one of the books we use for Bible. It is called 'Window on the World: When We Pray God Works'.check it out It has been very insightful so far and I can't wait to dig in deeper. We did an overview about what Animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism are. I especially appreciate the dialog Derek and I got to have with the boys about how those religions are different from ours because some of them sound similar.

Here are some fun pictures of our first couple weeks.

See?! Day one started off great!!

Tyler has his calendar book he does daily. It has lots of fun stuff in it. 

Someday I might show you.....

the press box at the Saltdog's Stadium

the boys said this was their favorite part - being in the dugout

the Saltdog's field. Also, the Husker's baseball field

We are so very fortunate to be in a wonderful group of homeschool families. A few were missing this time.

We were also blessed by getting to go to an Iowa Cubs baseball game and watch Grandpa Rullestad throw the first pitch of the game for his 60th birthday!!!

Ian digs the desert

Uncle Gabe, Aunt Nicole, and cousin Olivia tackle the rain forest with us

Those gorillas are exhausting (or maybe it was the miles of walking)

Ian hangs out with the rhinos

Tyler is reading chapter books now

He is 7, so it shouldn't be a surprise

Blessed with all the cousins present

Ice cream after a long day of schoolwork

Tyler, working on math

 Oh this paper mache.....humid days don't allow for quick drying times. We are working on making globes. I will have to keep you updated about these.....Let's just say, it wasn't as easy as I remember. 

So we survived and I will say we also thrived. It was a good start to what I know is going to be a wonderful school year. Please pray as we continue. The next few weeks we are exploring North America. Pray for continued growth and health. As we follow God's leading in our lives, we want to make sure we learn all HE wants us to this year. 

Blessing to you, our family and friends!