May and June in our household has gone swiftly...I must have blinked for too long as we are already in the middle of June!!
We have been steadily working through our Weaver unit studies and learning more about our Lord and His word. The rain has been kindly tending to my garden :) - Thankyou God!! So it is still alive but some of it is being eaten by woodlouse!!
They have all grown a bit bigger now and I am getting excited about having some home grown veggies on my dinner table.
The girls continue to be creative in their play. Recently they decided to do some videoing, so they made some props and created some LaLa Loopsy dramas.
Home school Happenings!!
Weaver has led us to investigate how a volcano works, we have read books and watched videos and then we built and exploded some in the back yard.
Some dirt and water = MUD!!! Add a plant saucer and a plastic cup, then start to build around the cup in a volcano shape.
Add a cup of vinegar and some bicarbonate of soda...and
KABOOM!! Well not really!! But that is what Adele thought was going to happen :)
The kids loved this activity, so much fun!
In Chapter 2 we were also learning about what to build our life on. We built a house with scripture to help us to think about our life with Jesus as our cornerstone, and to realise that God is in control.
We also discussed our role in Gods' church and how we need to be good stewards of the gifts He has given us. We discussed the body of Christ and how all parts are needed.
Interlock.. Josef has been slowly working through interlock, his preschool program. We have been discussing light and dark. Josef has been exploring what it is like to be blind.
He has coped his name in braille using playdough balls.
He has also been playing in goop.
And we added real sprinkles to our goop cupcakes.
The hardest activity we had was to create a silhouette of Josef. Have you ever tried to get a 4 year old to stand still enough to trace his shadow!! But we persevered and achieved it :)
No. 1!
Back to the big kids, we have been reading and talking about energy. They both had the opportunity to build an electrical circuit. Damon created an alarm with light and Adele created a fan.
In Chapter 3 we have started to look at communication, so we returned to the Tower of Babel. WE looked at how God created language and He has the power to confuse it and to stop it for a time. He is in control. We have also been discussing what the purpose of speech is - to praise our God! So in that we looked at ways we should use our speech and ways we should not! Once a word is spoken we cannot take it back!
Here is Avril putting back together the number 1. It illustrated how we once all spoke the same language until God confused the languages at Babel.
Avril and I read about how sound enters our ears through waves. She drew a picture of someone with big hears, showing the sound waves and what they were hearing.
As a family we listened to an orchestra play Sleeping beauty. We listened and identified different instruments. Adele then headed off to sketch a wind, percussion and string instrument.
The girls were learning that there are many languages people speak in Australia. We watched some videos on different experiences and reasons for moving to Australia.
Avril is learning to write sentences.
Not only are we learning how to communicate, but we are also learning how animals communicate. For we learned that they were not suitable company for Adam because they do not have complex voice organs like us. Adam needed someone of his kind.
Avril has been looking at other languages and how they are written. We chose Chinese and French to look at. Avril identified these countries on a world map. We also read about children from these countries.
We love this book!!
Adele investigated the similarities of different languages. She then created a poster on the word LOVE using several other languages.
Very unusual I know!! Some photos of Damon! Damon has been reading some science on sound in Exploring Creation through Physical Science. We had to do some experiments to help us see sound move and to understand what sound uses to move.
We first did the candle experiment. We made a drum covering over the base of a cut coke bottle. We lit a candle, and holding bottle close to the candle we hit the end creating sound and watched it blow out the candle.
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Our next experiment was with rice. We covered a bowl tightly and placed some rice on top. We then grabbed a fry pan. Holding a fry pan near the bowl, we hit its end creating sound, the sound waves made the rice jump.
Damon has also been reading 'A History of the Language we Speak and Why we Should be Glad we do' by Laurie J White. Such a fascinating read!! For any study of the English language I highly recommend this book. It takes in history, lingusitics, English literature and the English Bible. We are following the journey the forming of the English language.
We had a lot of fun at the end of the week. The kids cousin came to visit and joined in 'school' with us.
They were creating poetry. They made concrete poetry mobiles together.
We also started to learn about non-verbal communication. We read all about non-verbal communication and discussed different facial expressions and body language. So I got the girls to try and imitate some emotions.
I didn't get a photo of them telling me a thought in non-verbal communication, but I can tell you it was very funny. And they also told me nursery rhymes in pantomime. They all worked really well together.
On our visit to the local farmers market, the girls found some snails. The organisers of the markets decided to invite the girls to race their snails for a prize. The girls were delighted and we won a lovely bag of fruit.
Avrils snail making it over the finishing line.
I encourage you to come and support our local Maitland Harvest Markets. The produce is great and I love meeting the growers.
