Exploring Countries and Cultures (Week 2 and 3)

I got behind on posting so here are weeks 2 and 3. We have continued learning about maps and introducing our geography and multi-cultural studies. However, one area I had not planned well for our school year was PE.  Caleb, Simeon, and I came up with a solution for this.  It started out as a free kids bike race in a neighboring town.  Both boys lost, but did their best and crossed the finish line so this mom counted them winners and took them out for a victory lunch.  During our victory lunch Caleb and Simeon both told me that they had a lot of fun and wanted to know if they could race again.  I told them that I thought it was a great idea.  So we decided to look for more bike races and for some running races.  I have not had much success finding kids bike races in our area, but I have found quite a few fun runs for kids.  So now our PE is training to run races.  I will do the 5Ks and the boys will do the kids 1 mile runs and the kids dashes.  I think we will have a lot of fun, get in shape, and make friends along the way.

As far as academics we started out our days learning about 6 major world religions.  We also looked at several Scripture passages that coincide with our lessons.  I introduced the boys to spelling and how we will go about spelling this year.  Then we started a vocabulary book we discovered the definition of the word ocean and ocean ridge.  I also added 2 words that can be helpful when training character.  The first of these words is opposition so I can now use this word when my children are working against me to call them back to right behavior.  The other word is attentiveness.  This is an area of weakness in my children (paying attention) so I am defining it so I can say it is what I want and not have a gap in communication.also in week 4 we are starting an alertness training program to help with this problem.  We have also in the last 2 weeks have learned about longitude and latitude (we will be practicing using this skill throughout the year), my children passed the test and could name all seven continents, examined how to evaluate elevation and depth on maps and on globes, drew maps of their bedroom, our street, and our neighborhood.  During week three during our nature walk both boys had the opportunity to practice using the trail map to guide us.  We also evaluated the different symbols on the map to determine what they mean and how to tell North, South, East, and West on both a map and a globe.  We learned that there are five oceans in the world, where the Tropic of Cancer, Tropic of Capricorn, and the Equator are and the purpose of the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn.  We explored the cycles of nature, different aspects of plant and animal life, as well as beginning our study of deserts.  Also each boy started a leaf collection.  So far they each have 21 leaves.  We take weekly trips to the library to look them up and label them.  We read about DL Moody and read many, many books from the library.  Our favorite was Around The World In 80 Pages.

During these 2 weeks our town also had their annual Fall Festival.  During the parade Caleb and his dad were clowns.  This was Caleb's first time to be a clown.  He participated in skits and songs with the men and he handed out God Loves You Stickers during the parade route.  Also Caleb and Simeon entered the Fall Festival photography contest.  Caleb's picture won a blue ribbon.  I will share his picture with the ribbon after we pick it up at the library.  It is on display for another week.  We also did nature hikes, grocery store math, both boys are showing progress in reading aloud to me.  Here are the last couple of week in pictures to sum up weeks 2 and 3 of our school year.  Week 4 will be posted this weekend I hope.

 Simeon drawing a map of our street.

 We took our school to the state park and did it there.  Here is our picnic lunch while I did some reading aloud with them.

 Here is a toad they found clinging onto the playground equipment when the boys took a break from our studies out at the state park.  Simeon took this picture.

 This has been our favorite book of our school year so far.

 Caleb on the parade route handing out God Loves You stickers.

 Caleb and Dad pose for a picture before the parade.

 Caleb took this picture.

 Simeon took this picture.

 Brothers pose for a picture while walking the balance bar on The Fitness Trail at another state park.

 This was a great feat for Simeon.

 This was a first time for Simeon.  He did the monkey bars all by himself.  He made it two thirds of the way across.

We found an inch worm while on our walk and Caleb had to pick it up.