Here is what we were up to our 2nd week of school ~ 10 days completed.
Nutrition 101 ~ Highlights:
We covered Unit 2, chapter 2: Digestive Health and Nutrition. Some of our activities included testing the body's pH. Healthy pH is from 6.0-7.5. We learned that the foods we eat can affect our body's pH, that acidic bodies are more prone to disease and what kinds of foods we should eat to restore a healthy balance.
I have some urinalysis test strips, so we all tested our pH.
We also made a homemade pH test using cabbage juice as an indicator.
We tested water and lemon pickle juice. The water didn't change color (was neutral) but the lemon juice turned a dark pink indicating it is acidic. We also learned that cucumber juice and onion juice are neutral (we were testing to find something alkaline).
Power Recipe ~ Green Apple Bean Salad:
Lots of raw veggies, lemon juice and grape-seed oil. We learned what it means to julienne carrots. We also learned that while lemons are acidic, they have an alkalizing effect on the body.
Activity ~ Lemon Pickles:
The lemons will ferment. After preparing them, we set the jar in a sunny window. They will be ready in 2 weeks and we be used in chapter 4. {They smell so good!}
I think this is my favorite subject to teach. =)
Science:
Nathan and Dylan finished lesson 1: Introduction to Human Anatomy and Physiology.
Notebooking activities included:
Notebooking activities included:
- History of Anatomy
- Vocabulary Crossword
- Scripture Copywork
- Cell Miniature Book
They also started their "Personal Person" and will add body systems to this as they go.
If I didn't stress it enough in my last HH post, I LOVE these journals!
In General Science, Jordan finished Module 8: The Fossil Record and started Module 9: Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism. {He is more than ready to move on to the Biology section of this book and study life!}
Experiement ~ "A Simulation of Using Index Fossils to Order Rock Layers"
One thing I am trying to do this year is to keep my children more accountable. This means daily checking of their work, rather than weekly. This takes more time for me, but by the end of the week the boys were coming to me daily with stacks of notebooks and papers to show me their work. I give them a star sticker to remind myself that I saw or graded their work and this seems to be working.
New from last week:
New from last week:
We picked up 2 more studies this week: Writing Strands and MathScore.
Writing Strands is a self-directed writing program. Each boy works independently.
- Jordan is working in book 4 and completed assignment #5: My Mistake ~ Skill: Organization. He wrote about the time he was careless while shooting his BB gun. He has great voice in his writing and when I read his paper, my heart was relieved that he organized his thoughts well, he wrote clearly and it was interesting to read. I am not sure if I am feeling the self-imposed pressure about the fact that he is in high school now, or what! but I will be focusing more on writing this year than I did last.
- Nathan started book 4 and did lesson #1: How a Sentence Does It ~ Skill: Basic. He had to pick a subject, list the information he wanted to give, organize the info, and write the sentence in that order. He is on day 4 and his focus is on writing the perfect sentence.
- Dylan is working on book 3 lesson # 9: A Very Short Story ~ Skill: Creation. He worked on developing a character, the problem, how the problem was solved and the ending. His story is for young children and is about a frog who thinks he is a bird (cute so far!).
MathScore is an online math practice program. (You can read my review here). Each boy spends about 10 minutes online each day as a supplement to Life of Fred.
History:
- Finished Chapter 15 in SOTW: The Phoenicians
- Chapter test
- Worked on the lapbook.
Biblical History:
- Grapevine: Samuel and Review 4.
B4FIAR:
We finished rowing Blueberries For Sal with a French Toast and Blueberry Syrup breakfast ~ will share more soon. I usually start a new book towards the end of the week, but I needed a planning break.
Malachi 5K:
He worked on his handwriting (Getty-Dubay Italic) ~ letters and numbers and AAS phonogram cards. Math was writing numbers to 30, skip counting by 5's to 60 and 10's to 100, and telling time on the hour and half hour.
I did a lesson out of Language and Thinking for Young Children, by Ruth Beechick, called "Triple Play" (p.30). In this game, I name 3 things and he has to use all three things in a sentence. Then he gave me 3 words to use. I played the same game with Eliana using 2 and 3 words. I drew pictures to help her remember the words.
For example:
- pencil - paper - desk ~ "I got my paper out, drew (with my pencil) on my desk."
- apples - cinnamon - brown sugar ~ "I get out the apples, dip them in cinnamon, then dip them in brown sugar." (We had recently made baked apples).
They both had a hard time giving me things rather than sentences so I helped them.
One night, Luke initiated a game of add on at the dinner table. We went on a picnic and took some pretty silly things! but Malachi did a great job remembering most of them.
Life:
We made new nesting boxes for the chickens using 5 gallon buckets. I saw the plans for this in a homesteading magazine.
We are up to about 8 eggs a day and the boys all try to be the one to get to them first. One broke (not sure how) and the chickens started eating the egg, so Luke suggested we put a golf ball in their box to keep them from pecking the eggs. (They don't like how hard the golf ball is). What we weren't expecting is that the chickens consistently lay where ever the golf ball is! So we put another one in. So far, they lay where the two golf balls are. :p
We also finished insulating the shed for winter, made a plan for the water (which is currently outside) and the heat lamp and wondered who will be the eager one to collect the eggs once the snow flies. ;-)
In the Scriptures:
Luke has amazed me ~ he is all caught up and on schedule to finish reading in 90 days. =) I am at Luke 21. Nathan is in Ezekiel.
Thoughts:
The fact that I didn't get all that I wanted done in the school room before we started is catching up with me. I need one day to just work on organizing so that our week will go more smoothly. Here is my plan: the boys (Luke and the oldest 2) are working in Montana splitting firewood today and tomorrow, so I will take tomorrow to organize.
We will have a short week this week ~ we have a Sabbath Sabbath ~ a Feast Day on a Sabbath this Shabbat (Feast of Trumpets) ~ so we will be spending some time studying about the Fall Feasts. Our focus will be on what we can do to remember the Feasts while in outside of the Land ~ how we can keep/guard/shamar the commands of YHVH ~ while obeying/guarding all of His commands. For example, the main requirement of Tabernacles was to keep the Feast in Jerusalem ~ we cannot ignore this command for the sake of keeping another. We must guard them all.
We will have a short week this week ~ we have a Sabbath Sabbath ~ a Feast Day on a Sabbath this Shabbat (Feast of Trumpets) ~ so we will be spending some time studying about the Fall Feasts. Our focus will be on what we can do to remember the Feasts while in outside of the Land ~ how we can keep/guard/shamar the commands of YHVH ~ while obeying/guarding all of His commands. For example, the main requirement of Tabernacles was to keep the Feast in Jerusalem ~ we cannot ignore this command for the sake of keeping another. We must guard them all.