CTG Week 6 and Genesis Bookmark

I mentioned Squirt making a Genesis bookmark a while back and then forgot to post the pic once she finished it. So here is the Genesis bookmark-

We simply copied our timeline piece for Genesis 1:1 from my TM's appendix. I copied it onto card stock and then we cut it down after Squirt colored it. I covered it with contact paper for durability.

This week Squirt has done a number of projects. Lots of summaries and vocabulary work.

She and Buddy listened to Vivaldi's Four Seasons movement Summer. They will paint or draw to it next week.

She attempted to do the project from the Pyramids book displaying the stability of a pyramid structure versus a cube. She built the pyramid with six smaller pyramids.

But then we hit a speed bump with the six pyramids that were suppose to fit together to make a cube. I guess I didn't get the angle of pyramids' sides exactly 45 degrees, so they didn't fit together without big gaps. hmmm Daddy the mathematician's turn.....

We checked on our bread project and still no change (it may take a few weeks before we see anything)

Squirt started her Ten Commandments memorization. I had some left over packing stuff that was brown paper and already nicely crumpled, so that became our stone tablets for the wall. I think the font size was a little small, but oh well. It worked and we get the point. 

I am continually amazed at my daughter's ability to memorize things, ie scripture, poems, songs etc. I wish that I had that gift many times. ILL Lesson 13 poem memorization was a piece of cake for her, as usual.

We will start our crystal growing experiment this week. All our science projects seem to be long term processes. I hope to post pictures later of what we grew. I plan on using Super Washing Soda instead of baking soda as my TM suggests, simply because I have more washing soda on hand to waste. Need my baking soda for ummmm .....baking.

So we will be taking our summer break pretty soon. Warm weather, sand, salt water, relaxing times are calling (and hopefully no oil slick).

New Bread Recipe

I added a new version of my homemade wheat bread to my recipes on my other blog. You can find it at http://quietlyrunningtherace.blogspot.com/2010/05/bread-recipe-2.html

Yummmm!

CTG Week 5

I only have a few minutes this morning, so I will try and get in the highlight from this week. We did allot of catching up, including finishing things from last week.

Squirt finished her King Menes crown

I think she did really well. The only thing I helped her with was fitting for her head. 

I picked up the CD of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons at convention last weekend. The kids listened to the Spring Movement. Squirt, naturally, danced to it while listening. I put on Smetana's The Moldau after that for them to listen to (a much better example of tone painting!)

Then the next day they painted Spring inspired paintings while listening to Vivaldi. 

Here they are in different stages.

Buddy's

(painting rain)

Finished work (the bottom was a river)

Squirt

Painting one (She was unhappy with her finished product. So I let her paint another one the next day)

2nd try-

using watercolor pencils and watercolor paints

Squirt did the paper pyramid poject and made an extra for Buddy (he destroyed it pretty quickly)

We couldn't do the pyramid sugar cube project, because I couldn't  find sugar cubes anywhere. So Squirt made a step pyramid with legos instead.

(she tucked in doll furniture, little figures, and a block for the sarcophagus)

We did the science project from week 4. I didn't have cheap bread to use. To quote Squirt when she read the science project instructions "you aren't going to use your good bread, are you?!"  (I make my own bread. You can find the recipe here . So we waited till I bought some white bread. Pictures to come when we see the finished results. It was to teach about preservation and decay related to mummification.

We added Pyramids in Egypt (2500 BC) to the timeline.

Squirt has memorized all the Old Testament books and can now spell them all correctly. 

We did all the usual English, Math, Greek root work etc.

Buddy had a better day yesterday (first time in a long time). He is still having major issues, but we take it one day at a time believing that one day the Lord will heal him. He has had a rough time with his shots recently and Spring has been hard. You can read about our experience here . Hopefully when the air clears out of so many inhalant allergens he will feel better and can control his temper more easily. I am trying to always remember to be thankful to the Lord for Him and stay patient with him no matter how he behaves. Some days it is really difficult, but I know that when I am weak that the Lord is my strength. 

Lots of of fun this week. 

Buddy started using his new preschool toys that I picked up last weekend at convention. You can look at them here. He really likes the kids puzzle.

 He has been having fun having me hold up a piece and he imitates the way the person is standing. 

We started using the number puzzle and he has enjoyed that too. 

It seems like a perfect fit for him. He is smart enough to start Kindergarten early. But I didn't feel like he was ready for the writing in it yet. So we will have fun with all the preschool stuff. I'm thankful it came with lots of ideas of how to use each item in many educational ways. I do hope to pick up some cutting things for him so he can also enjoy cutting and pasting. 

Til next time...

CTG Week 4 Highlights

I am a little late posting. We had a shortened week, since I worked Convention on Friday and Saturday. So we did school four days last week. We also had many doctors appointments which interrupted our school days threes days out of the four. I decided with all the health challenges we are dealing with in our family right now (spring is really hard on Buddy), I would wait to do the feasts along with the calendar starting in the fall.

So highlights sans feasts for now.

We learned about Upper and Lower Egypt and King Menes.Squirt attempted to create an Egyptian Crown. She made the first part (the white crown) and then went to make the red crown to fit over it. But we discovered that we were completely out of red construction paper (we used it all when we studied Chinese New Year) unbeknownst to Mom. So crown to be continued (hopefully completed this week, once I get to the store).

Squirt continued to learn how to draw and label,  with correct spelling, a Bible Times Map.

Squirt learned about the science behind Pyramids. She built a triangular based pyramid and measured its volume, then the same with a square based pyramid.  Squirt built a cube and a square based pyramid out of straws and playdough with the same size square base. Then she tested the strength of each structure. Of course the pyramid is much stronger.

We learned about Farming in Egypt. Other than that we did just the basics. We will catch up this week hopefully and be back on schedule.

Below is a picture of her timeline piece.  (King Menes Unites Upper and Lower Egypt 3000 BC)

CTG Week 3 Highlights

Highlights from Week 3 (Mesopotamia, Tower of Babel)

We are going to wait to start any more of our feasts until September and try and celebrate them according to the calendar year. In the mean time, I am working on dealing with health issues with the children and getting the rest of the basic schooling done.

Spring has been really miserable around here so it has been a challenge to get allot done without interruptions from crabby allergy ridden boys and cranky head-achy Moms.


The memory work for these weeks is the Old Testament books of the Bible. But Squirt learned them the very first week it was assigned, thanks once again to the Sing The Word song "The Books of the Old Testament".
Squirt has been working since then on learning how to spell the Old Testament books. I am working on a list of Memory Verses to add in where the Teacher's Manual has memory work.

We learned how to draw a Bible Lands Map. I love the story that is given in our TM. It gives a cute little story to tell as you draw the Bible Lands Map. Squirt learned it pretty well. She is now working on learning the spelling of the different labels that go on the map.


We learned about Mesopotamia, the Fertile Crescent and Cuneiform. Instead of doing the monograms in cookie dough Squirt did them in Gluten Free playdough (for her brother's sake)

We searched for their monograms in Cuneiform here

Then Squirt carved them out for herself and her brother in playdough.
I think she did a pretty good job. The second monogram picture turned out better since I turned off the flash for it.

Squirt read and learned about the Tower of Babel  in Streams of Civilization and ziggurats in The Victor Journey Through the Bible . I am learning as much as Squirt is, and really enjoying reading in both of these books so much about History that I never learned. Certain portions of it she will read in later years. For now she is learning the cut down version that is age appropriate. 

Here is our timeline so far

CTG- Sabbath

We finished up CTG week 2. But we did the Sabbath at the end of it instead of at the end of week 1 as scheduled.

I made Challah from the recipe in Celebrating Biblical Feasts. I doubled the recipe and made it with home ground Spelt flour. It took allot more spelt flour than wheat flour. It also made allot of bread. Squirt helped me roll out and braid the bread. We talked about the meaning of the three strands and how they are a picture of the Triune God. And we put one small loaf on top of a larger loaf to represent the double portion of manna that was given on the sixth day to the Israelites in the desert. We enjoyed praying for each person in the family as we worked the bread.

 

Squirt enjoyed helping me set the table. I discovered then that I didn't have the white candles that I thought I had. So we had two peach floating floral candles instead. Squirt made paper flowers to go next to the candles. (Nothing real fancy when you have a 1 and 3 year old eating with you. We left off the fine china.)We set the table and then called everyone in to begin. I lit the candles and we talked about how they represented creation and redemption. We talked about how Jesus was present at creation and is the light of the world. And how He redeemed us from sin by His sacrifice on the cross. 

We enjoyed having my lovely husband pray over the cup and pass the grape juice for each person to taste. All of them got a big kick out of drinking it. Then he prayed over each member of the family and then prayed over the Challah and we each had a piece. Buddy was so excited to get to eat the bread that we were all eating (he usually gets something separate.) As we ate and broke off pieces of bread, we talked about how Jesus is the bread of life and that His body was broken for our sake. We each prayed a prayer as we took a piece of bread from the loaf. 

Dinner went quickly and we never really got to the closing prayer of thanks. Bubba melted down and needed to become reacquainted with his bed. And Squirt disappeared with her Dad. Buddy and I finished the meal with a prayer together.

All in all a nice evening. I'm just glad I don't have to work that hard every Saturday.

On Sunday we lit two white candles (I picked them up at the usual place... starts with a W). We talked about the meaning of the candles, the grape juice overflowing in the glass and the Besamim (smelling spices). Squirt had decorated the box two days before and we had put in some whole cinnamon, all spice berries and ground cloves. Smelled really wonderful. Squirt has kept it on her desk since then and keeps smelling it with a smile.

 

We talked about the symbolism in putting out the candle in the overflowing glass. We read the scriptures from Celebrating Biblical Feasts. Then we smelled the spices and I read the Besamin, then we said a prayer.

Shabbat Shalom!