New World - New Faith part 2

Continuing on from the previous post, but the same week in LHFHG...

We learned about a very mean man in Peru who captured the king and promised to exchange him for a room full of gold. He was a greedy man, and didn't honor his promise.

The kids took a piece of papers, drew a line down the middle and drew a picture of the king on one half. The king was in one "room" the other "room" was empty...the kids made gold coins from playdoh to fill the other "room" for Pizarro. They enjoyed this activity, and I think they even grasped the amount of gold it took to fill the room, since it took alot longer than they anticipated to fill their "room" with playdoh gold!





The following week, (and I wish I had photos to show how much we loved this one!) we learned about Martin Luther. At one point he stopped eating, and we simulated the digestive tract as a science activity. We took a bowl, a fork for everyone, and a graham cracker. The forks were "teeth" that chewed up the cracker. The chewed up cracker was put into a baggie (the stomach) with a small amount of water (stomach acid.) The kids then squeezed the baggie, like stomach muscles! We followed looooong pieces of yarn while doing this...one piece of yarn for the small intestine, another for the large. They really, really enjoyed this activity, and have even asked to do it again!

We also read about how in Luther's day, people were instructed to put money into a box in the church, and by doing this they would earn/buy their way into heaven. Luther taught that salvation is through faith. Our art project was to make "boxes" but put "faith" into them instead of coins. The kids love doing these art projects!





We read about John Calvin, and how he believed in reform, just like Luther. We learned about Walter Raleigh, too! We're more than half way through Little Hearts now, and I have SO not regretted using this curriculum!

*Ü* Blessings,

New World - New Faith part 1

We have finished reading the New Testament - yes, we actually read the entire Bible! (Well, it was a kid's Bible...but still!) Then we began to read about how the gospel spread, first into Europe, and then into the New World.

We learned about St. Valentine and Constantine. We learned about false teachings...and how salt and sugar look the same, but aren't...how cocoa and hot chocolate mix look the same, but aren't...how apple juice and lemon juice look the same, but aren't. How Augustine found pears that looks sweet but weren't and that sin is like that...it seems sweet at first, but the consequences are not. We learned about St. Patrick, and how he wasn't even Irish! We learned about Boniface, Charles the Great and Alfred the Great.

We learned about European kingdoms, castles, lords and rulers. We learned King Richard was imprisoned in an Austrian Castle...then we built our own castle:



We learned about native Americans, and how they lived, hunted and worshipped:



We learned how Columbus thought the world was round when most people in his day thought it was flat. We learned of the Panama Canal, and watch a video of it working that we found on youtube. I'm hoping that at some point this summer, we will be able to visit some local working locks much like those in S. America, but on a smaller scale.

We learned about John Ponce de Leon, and even participated in our own archaelogical dig. You can see in the photos how much the kids really enjoyed this part of our day:





More to come...

*Ü* Blessings,

Hey! We Made them Look!

I'll be uploading some photos of our recent school activities, but I wanted to share that dd6 had her layout chosen as a "Made Ya Look Monday" featured layout at Faith Sisters! She is SO excited...
She gets to sport this lovely blinkie:



This was the layout that "Made them Look":



I think the girls may be scrapping again tomorrow! They just love doing it...ya know, I'm not sure I've uploaded all they've done...I'll have to get a slide show set up here for that I think.

*Ü* Blessings,

B and her Daddy - Scrapped

The girls showed off their newly acquired skill (digital scrapbooking - in case you missed yesterday's post) to their daddy/poppie. He was delighted at what they had done and asked specifically for dd to do one of them together. B got right to work this morning. We found this photo of them together, and found a kit (my Forever in Bloom kit)...this is what she created:



Yes, I helped a little bit...she is only 6 after all. For the most part the choices were all her's, and I only made suggestions for her. She actually was the one to suggest something to "attach" the tag...too funny, and yes, I had to do the fine detailing to get the tag to actually hang from the hook...but that's okay! She had alot of fun! My ds5 is now begging to learn! lol

One funny thing that happened during the course of this scrap session...we were getting ready for the title, and B wanted the brackets. She says "I love those bracket things!" We get that all done, and she's thinking we're just typing in her choice of words. (I really don't like the way my pse does typing...whenever I type an N it stops working properly.) All that to say, I was planning to use an alpha. Well, the Forever in Bloom kit does not have an alpha...so I headed over to my brand new kit (downloadable tomorrow.) I opened the folder that holds the alpha, and said "Oh, you can use my brand-new alpha..." to which she interrupted "is THAT glitter?! I LOVE glitter!" ROFL I think I've created a monster!

*Ü* Blessings,

Computer Skills?

I think this counts as school...I really do!

I had so much fun this morning! I taught the girls how to digi-scrap! lol
It can count as computer instruction (and art and keyboarding and writing, too!)

I was doing a lo, and they wanted to "help" so I was showing them how to clip layers and shadow and such. They loved it so much they wanted to do their own lo. One at a time, I let them choose a template, then their own photos, and then I suggested a kit to go with the colors in the photos. (Well, dgd just picked the kit based on the name! lol)

They ended up with very different pages, but they are SO proud of what they have done, and are begging to do another this afternoon! I think I've got them addicted!

Here is dgd7's layout:

She used my WHATever! kit (available at FaithSisters.com - She loves bright colors!

This one is dd6's:

She chose my Rustic Friends kit because of the reds and greens in the photo.

I thought it so cute that they both chose to do layouts of their sisters!

*Ü* Blessings,

A Resurrection & An Earthquake

This is an old update...I've been remiss about publishing our school year...

When these photos were taken, we were talking about the Resurrection, and then Paul's missionary journeys.

This was a science experiment we did... using vinegar and baking soda to make raisins rise up... This was SO cool because the author of Little Hearts for His Glory knew how excited the kids would get when the first raisin started to rise and she instructed the parent to feed that excitement with this statement... If we find the raising of a raisin exciting, imagine how exciting it was for the people to see Jesus rise up into the clouds and into heaven! WOW!



We moved through the New Testament, learning about Paul, his conversion and his testimony. How he was imprisoned...



And how he used his circumstances to spread the gospel...even to his jailer!



The kids build the jail with their blocks, chose random dolls for Paul his friend (Timothy?) and the jailer then re-enacted the earthquake:



Afterwards the jailer called out, and Paul replied I am here...then began to share his story with the guard.



We are truly enjoying Little Hearts for His Glory!

*Ü* Blessings,

Modern Homesteading Workshop

We had a homeschooling workshop today...it was themed "modern homesteading"....we learned about composting; container gardening; raising bees, chickens, ducks, goats, sheep, llamas; making quilts, making our own laundry soap, making our own butter & bread and salsa too!; making art from recyclables, using solar energy...umm, I think that was it...it was so much fun! The kids loved it. It was nice to visit with other homeschooling families. Of course I forgot my camera!
We came home with 3 loaves of artisan bread to bake, some homemade detergent (I've got a wash going now...it smelled SO good, I can't wait to see how the clothes come out!), an upside down tomato plant, a trio of salsa plants (peppers, onion & cilantro) as well as energy information and recipes to do it all ourselves!
It was the first workshop I've attended since returning to homeschooling, and it was just wonderful! They split us up into 4 well-known homesteading families (the Ingalls, Beans, Roosevelts and hmmmm...can't remember the 4th right now) and as a group we rotated through the 4 major stations. It was a beautiful day, and perfect for this! As soon as I get some photos from other moms who did remember their cameras, I'll post those pictures!

*Ü* Blessings,