Discover Their Gifts

MFW ECC Highlights: Kenya- wk 18-20

2012-02-04T15:47:00.001-05:00

Welcome to “Weeks 18-20 in Review” in Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World curriculum!

Welcome to our travels to Kenya!

Grasslands ~ plants and animals of Kenya
Research on cheetahs and elephants
Tapioca pudding – Kenyan recipe
Movie about a cheetah: Duma
Movie about the people in each biome we’ve studied so far this year: Human Planet
Enjoying the book of Matthew for our Bible lessons
We learned the character traits of missionaries like: David Livingston and Mary Slessor

Global Art craft: Necklace

Yummy ~ Kenyan Recipe: Tapioca Pudding with Pineapple

The missionary character trait copywork pages are from Mama Jenn’s website !

Though the girls are enjoying their studies of the different biomes, they were asking to do some hands on science experiments.

Their experiment choice (thankfully it was an easy one): an underwater volcano!

ECC co-op Class: Artist Impressionist study

Led by Kattie from 2 Ladybug and a Lizard blog

Artist: Paul Cezanne

Still Life

My girls watercolor paintings

We are off to Asia next week!

Next week’s linky will be hosted by Kattie @ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard !

MFW ECC Highlights:Germany–Wk 16-17

2012-01-21T11:22:00.001-05:00

Welcome to “Weeks 16-17 in Review” in Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World curriculum!

Germany

Geography Focus:

Our weeks learning about Germany were filled with fairy tales and castle stories: Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Red Riding Hood, Rumpelstiltskin, Incredible Castles and Knights and the Pied Piper of Hamelin.

We snacked on Nutella and crackers as we watched The Sound of Music.

Science Focus:

Biome: Lakes, Rivers and Ponds.

Due to the freezing temperatures and snow, we were unable to go investigate areas of water. I taped the show Planet Earth: Rivers.

I also found some colorful worksheets from Enchanted Learning.

Family Fun Field Trip with our ECC co-op ~ an indoor waterpark!

Look who just turned 3!

Drop by Kattie’s blog ~ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard next week.

MFW Highlights linky & iPad Apps

2012-01-07T21:07:00.001-05:00

It’s been a wonderful holiday break for our family.

This past week, we were supposed to complete week 16 in ECC and travel to Germany but that did not happen. My girls and I began the year gently with just a few lessons a day.

I purchased an iPad at Christmas time. I wanted to share a few

iPad apps

that my girls have been enjoying during class time this week.

Geo Walk HD 3-D – World fact book for our ECC lessons

Stack the Countries game to reinforce what we learn in our geography ECC lessons

Math BINGO – math fact games (+ – / *)

Interactive Telling Time – learn how to tell time with both a digital and analog clock

Simplex Spelling Phonics 1

Montessori Crosswords – Learn Spelling with Phonics – Enabled Alphabet and over 300 words

Real Chalkboard HD – my girls love to write their spelling words with this app ~ it’s FREE too

Doodle Buddy everything ~ free

I get iPad App ideas from friends or other mom’s blogs like:

iPad Educational Apps from Confessions of a Homeschooler

Apps for Homeschooling blog

Moms with Apps

Tune in next week when I share our week 16-17 in ECC using My Father’s World curriculum!

Check out the links below to see what other’s are doing!

MFW Highlights: Christmas Fun

2011-12-03T10:06:00.001-05:00

This year has flown by so fast. I can’t believe it’s December already! In order to slow down and enjoy our holiday season, we are taking a break from our MFW lessons until January.

I just thought I’d share a few things we will be enjoying this holiday season to prepare us for the Birth of our King ~ Jesus.

1. Our Family Advent read aloud Tabitha Travels. There are three books in the series by Arnold Ytreeide (Jotham’s Journey, Tabitha Travels and Bartholomew’s Passage). Each evening when the girls are in bed, I read them a passage from the book. It is a favorite this season so far!

2. Grapevine Bible Studies ~ Birth of Jesus. The Grapevine study has been such a wonderful addition to our lessons. I am planning to do more when we are done with the 5 week series ~ Birth of Jesus. My girls (and I ) absolutely LOVE drawing the stick figures as we learn. If you would like to see what others think of Grapevine Studies – check out Mama Jenn’s review here!

3. Truth in the Tinsel. I have to admit that I am just now in the process of reading through this eBook. But the planning has been done for me!!! Yea !

Truth in the Tinsel offers lots of learning and fun during the Advent season from: scripture to ornaments, discussions questions and more!

Check out a complete review on Mama Jenn’s blog. More thoughts on Homeschool Creations blog.

4. Sewing projects. We have always just had 2 stockings each Christmas. So this year my daughter and I decided it would be a good idea to have four! We went to Jo Ann’s to buy fabric.. or should I say over-buy fabric. I am still learning how to read patterns.

Here’s a sneak peak at the start of our stocking project:

5. Thumbprint Christmas Cards. I have never had an interest in sending out Christmas cards. This year I thought my girls would enjoy creating a few and mailing them to close friends and family. I LOVE Pinterest. I found this great idea on Pinterest ~ Thumbprint Christmas Cards.

I went to the library and got the book by Ed Emberley called Fingerprint Drawing Book to help guide our art fun. It has great ideas on how to make thumbprint art with Santa and a reindeer.

6. Christmas music. We have enjoyed the girls new interest in singing Christmas songs as they play the piano. Boy.. am I gonna miss these days!

7. Community Service ~ serving meals to those in need in our community. Our MFW ECC Co-op families prepared a meal and served it at a local shelter started by a couple in the early 90’s. The kids had such a great time talking to the families who came to eat. They were so excited to be used by God.

Be sure to link up and share what you are doing during the holidays and in MFW!

Kattie @ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard will be doing a link up next week (December 9th).

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 14 - France

2011-11-20T18:04:00.001-05:00

Welcome to our “Week 14 in Review” in Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World curriculum!

Bible Focus this week:

We have been reading through the book Window on the World this school year. The stories have opened my eyes to the persecution other people groups face around the world. I have been able to have some great discussions with my children. Just the freedom we have to worship our Lord opening, without persecution or fear, is a blessing I hope future generations will enjoy.

We have been praying for cultures who struggle, as the result of communist rulers: Romania, Quechua, and Albania. The stories are uplifting and help us reflect on all the blessings we, as Americas, enjoy. Plus they give us an ‘other-focus’.

Hero Tales has been a great addition to our study of Character Traits. This week we learned about Menno Simons. He rejected the un-Biblical teachings of the organized church and took a stand for truth! We studied integrity, loyalty and sacrificial love. We also read through the miracles of Christ in the book of Matthew chapter 9.

Geography Focus this Week:

We headed to France this week!

Eiffel Tower paper craft
Paper dolls with flags
Eiffel Tower 3D with marshmallows and toothpicks
Madeline movies and movies galore!
We learned about the French culture and cooking.

The toothpick Eiffel Towers were wobbly but the kids had lots of fun!

Our favorite books this week:

Science Focus this Week:

The girls are reading through The Complete Book of Animals.

We learned about Caves, Bats, and how animals adapt to their environment to survive.

My girls tend to enjoy colorful worksheets. So I grabbed some cute clip art of plants and animals that adapt to their environment.

I then typed up the ‘adaptation’ information from the MFW teacher’s manual. The girls enjoyed cutting and pasting their answers.

Family Fun: Operation Christmas Child

Be sure to check out what others are doing in MFW by heading on over to Kattie’s blog ~ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving. The next link up for MFW Highlights will be here on December 1st.

MFW ECC Highlights: Wks 12-13 Norway

2011-11-11T18:01:00.001-05:00

Welcome to our weeks 12 –13 in Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World!

When life gets busy for me, my blogging time takes a back seat. I am going to just summarize the highlights of our last two weeks!

Geography Focus:

Europe – Norway and Sweden

Geography vocabulary: Promontory

Lapbook from homeschoolshare.com – Annika’s Secret Wish

Science Focus: Coniferous / evergreen forests

Our ECC Co-op kids mapped an area in the Forest.

ECC Co-op Kids: Norwegian Recipe ~ yummy !

Family Fun !

Our favorite resources this week:

Nature Study: Fall Color Walk

2011-10-31T01:58:00.000-04:00

There’s nothing more fun than a Nature Walk in the woods with your kids on a warm day!

Check out Barb’s Outdoor Hour Challenge: Fall Color Walk

We collected leaves of many colors. Then the girls went to hunt for colors in the woods. They found brown and white lichens.

They found purple flowers, red berries and pink flowers.

Such a precious age… I wish they would just stop growing up so quickly.

Our Nature Journal

Using PrismaColor pencils, I had my girls lightly color a 1” area on the left side of their Nature Study sketch pad. They then had to write down the specific color of the pencil lead (eg. - vermillion red or lemon yellow). Next, they had to find a leaf similar to that color and tape it in the center of the page using double sided tape.

In the last step, I had them use Kimberly Watercolor pencils. On the right side of the page, they were to find two watercolor pencil colors similar to the leaf colors and then color a small area with each next to each other. They then blended the two colors with a paint brush wet with just water. This allowed them to see how different shades can blend with ease.

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 11–Brazil

2011-10-28T21:46:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 11 in Review” using Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father’s World!

Nature Study this week: Squirrels and Chipmunks

Our nature studies have been a priority in our schooling these past few weeks because the warm days are quickly coming to an end.

This week’s Outdoor Hour Challenge was to compare and contrast the squirrel and chipmunk.

We have lots of squirrels running around the woods near our home. But we have yet to spot a chipmunk. Maybe our 3 curious dachshund's keep them away!

Our Nature Study resources:

Geography Focus this week: South America, Brazil

This is our last week in South America. Next week we fly to Europe.

We studied the colors of the Brazilian flag and learned about the crops grown there.

A fun book I have enjoyed reading short tales, as we travel the world this year, has been the book Around the World in 80 Tales. The illustrations are beautiful too.

Geography Vocabulary notebook illustration: Marsh

Science focus this week: Tropical Rain forest

This was our last week learning about the Rain Forest. The girls picked two animals to study more in depth: the Jaguar and Quetzal. We watched the film Wild Amazon on the National Geographic channel.

ECC co-op kids:

Yummy Avocado Recipe with apples

Fall Harvest Party with pumpkin carving and costumes!

Check out what others are doing this week in My Father’s World!

MFW ECC Highlights: Fall Art & Nature

2011-10-22T20:20:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our '’Week 10 in Review” using Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father’s World!

We continued our studies in Brazil, South America this week. I featured our Rain Forest lapbook, art and link in last week’s post.

Nature Study and Fall Art fun:

This week was full of hands-on ‘fall’ fun and artwork. I would like to share our projects and links so you can see how to complete them at home.

Rain Forest ~ Thumb / Finger print art & watercolors:

I got this cute project from 1+1+1=1 blog. You just need watercolors, ink pads, the tree worksheet from the blog post, stamps and a little hand willing to make finger/thumb prints!

My girls added a few animals found in the layers of the Rain Forest.

Watercolor Crayon Resistant Leaf

You just need some corrugated cardboard, water colors, crayons and a few leaves. I got this project from an excellent resource – Art Projects For Kids blog. Click here for details.

ECC Co-op Kids craft:

The ECC co-op Kids really enjoyed this fabric project lead by Kattie @ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard. Check out the details on her blog here.

My daughter asked to take her fabric craft one step further by sewing a star pillow! We are still learning how to sew therefore simple projects work out best.

Nature Study ~ Fall Color

My girls went on a nature walk (in their pj’s) to collect leaves of all colors.

I will be posting more details about our Nature Walk soon.

Check out what we have done with our weekly Nature Walks scheduled for Wednesdays in the MFW ECC Teacher’s Manual:

Our current read alouds:

ECC Resources for Brazil:

Amazon.com Widgets

Check out what others are doing in My Father’s World this week @ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard blog.

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 9-Brazil

2011-10-14T22:59:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our ‘Week 9 in Review’ using Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father’s World!

This week’s schedule was packed full of fun and family time! In fact, we did very little school beyond language arts, math, start a Rain Forest lapbook, and watch a few movies about the Rain Forest.

Science Focus this week:

We headed to South America into the tropical rain forest.

Lapbook resources:

Read Around the World book ideas: love the book The Rainforest Grew All Around - Delightful Children's Books blog
The Umbrella coloring pages and book
You gotta check this cute stuff out!! … Rainforest art fun from 1+1+1=1 – thumb and finger print art
Rainforest Calendar connections from 1+1+1=1
Sample of a lapbook using the book The Umbrella

Below is the cutest thumb print / finger paint Rainforest Theme art from 1+1+1=1. We did not have time to do it this week yet. Check out the link above to download it.

We headed with our dad and cousins to the local fair!

This is a chicken….. cute huh?

Our grandpa took us to the Pumpkin Patch!

Thanks for dropping by. Be sure to check out the links below to see what other families did this week in MFW.

If you are linking up to this post ~ be sure to grab the MFW Highlights button !

Nature Study: Cobwebs & Spiders

2011-10-12T20:09:00.000-04:00

I never thought my girls would enjoy studying cobwebs and spiders as much as they did. In fact, they call me outdoors frequently as they discover a new cobweb in our yard.

The majority of the cobwebs we found were the Orb Web.

Our hostas had a lot of Sheet Webs or Funnel Webs.

The girls picked their favorite cobweb type to complete their Outdoor Hour Challenge.

I found some great resources to add to our studies.

If you would like more details about the Cobweb Nature Study check out Barb’s Blog ~ Handbook of Nature Study.

Our Nature Study: Pears & Apples

2011-10-11T19:23:00.000-04:00

Our ECC co-op Kids completed the following Outdoor Hour Challenge from Handbook of Nature Study blog.

I split the ECC co-op Kids into 3 teams. Each team received 5 different varieties of fruit: 2 pears and 3 apples. They could choose which 2 to study for their challenge.

For more information about a Pear Study ~ check out Barb’s blog.

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 8–Canada

2011-10-09T18:44:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 8 in Review” using Exploring Countries and Cultures in My Father’s World.

Bible Focus this week:

Memory verse: Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

The authors of our curriculum, Exploring Countries and Cultures, did a great job emphasizing the importance of praying for the people groups as we travel around the world in our studies. In order for us to remember to pray for them, I put together a pray binder.

I xerox a page from the book, Window On The World. I then cut out parts of it and glue it onto a piece of white 8.5” x 11” card stock paper. I use the ‘Pray For’ cards from the Expedition Earth curriculum. I write 5 prayers (2 ‘praise’ and 3 ‘petition’) on the card for each people group.

The Prayer Binder offers my girls and I an easy way to review and remember to pray for each group we have studied so far this year.

Geography Focus this week:

We completed our studies of Canada and enjoyed some Maple Syrup Slushies in ECC co-op class.

Maple Syrup slushies

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Science Focus this week:

We studied how trees take in water from the soil and move it up their branches and leaves. The woody, central part of a tree trunk is called the xylem.

Our celery experiment:

I used a Plant life: Stem/Root lab experiment from Pandia Press’s R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey LIFE curriculum.

The kids in our ECC co-op were split into 3 teams. They had to work amongst themselves and complete their labs on their own. The moms enjoyed seeing the kids work together, delegate responsibilities and follow up on the phone the next day. It was a great opportunity for the older kids to lead.

Resources this week:

Check out 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard to see what other’s are doing in My Father’s World this week.

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 7–Canada

2011-09-30T16:30:00.001-04:00

Welcome to “Week 7 in Review” using Exploring Countries and Cultures with My Father’s World!

Bible Focus this week:

People group to PRAY for: Garifuna people who primarily live in Central America (along the Caribbean coast in Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras). We read stories about their ancestors who were shipwrecked and enslaved.

The great news is that they have both the Old and New Testaments in their language. Please pray that their people group learn to read God’s Word. The other great news is that missionaries are able to share Jesus with them.

Missionary: William and Catherine Booth – founders of the Salvation Army.

The Booths demonstrated many Biblical character traits as they shared Jesus in their community. We focused on three this week:

Boldness
Creativity
Discipline

Are you looking for copywork pages for your ECC Hero Tales? Check out Mama Jenn’s website – link here

Geography Focus this week: Canada

Canada fun pages – Flag, money and passport – World Fact cards
Fun stuff from Expedition Earth curriculum -
1. Inuit Eskimo videos – the eskimo family hunts, build an igloo and attends church – it’s pretty amazing!
2. Niagara falls facts – this is where my husband and I got married
3. Ice Sculpture Art fun! (see photo below)
Paper dolls – Inuit Eskimo – from Quillingpatch.com

We completed the ICE sculpture project from the Expedition Earth curriculum.

Just color water with food coloring and freeze it in ice cube trays and cups of various sizes.

I worked with the girls individually to build their sculpture. It was much easier the second time around.

NOTE – Just take out the cubes you are using at that moment – one at a time. Keep the other trays in the freezer. The colder they are ~ the better they stick to one another.

Then came the ……. squinchies and dinosaurs…..

Lots of kids play time……the ice burgs melt……and a lovely mess!

Science Focus this week:

Food chains – I downloaded some great worksheets from Enchanted Learning
Scavengers (vultures) and decomposers (bacteria/fungi)
Herbivores, carnivores and omnivores

Nature Study: Check out the details to our Monarch and Milkweed study here

ECC Co-op Kids:

Painted our Clay Sun
Inuit Soap Carving
Watch a great video on food chains – Science Fundamentals Ecosystem and Biomes. It is for grades 2 – 6. My girls loved it and they are only 6 and 8 yrs.

Check out what others are doing in My Father’s World this week!

Our Nature Study: Milkweed & Monarch

2011-09-24T11:30:00.001-04:00

My girls and I are working through Barb’s Autumn ~ 2011 ‘’More Nature Study with the OHC” e-book. It’s super cheap and packed FULL of FUN with your kids. The lessons are guided so there is no busy work for mom!

We went to my dad’s field behind his house to find the milkweed. You can see the big pods. We did not get to study them when the flowers were in bloom. We plan to plant some seeds this fall and hope to see them bloom in the spring!

These are what we call the milkweed beetles. Check out their babies!

This is the Monarch Butterfly caterpillar! The monarch lays just ONE egg on a milkweed leaf. The eggs hatches 4 days later and the caterpillar has the leaf to munch on and grow!

This is the inside of the milkweed pod. There are tons of seeds inside. As the pods dry in September and October, the seeds fall to the ground. In the spring, new plants emerge! This is the part of the study my girls and I are looking forward too!

These are the OHC Milkweed study worksheets! I taped real seeds to the paper. The fluffy part above the seeds are so silky soft. It helps the seeds travel in the wind for new plants to germinate! God’s design is so unbelievable!

Our resources for this week’s Nature Study:

Barb’s - Outdoor Hour Challenge: Milkweed – details here
Handbook of Nature Study
Monarch and Milkweed – Frost

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 5 - Mexico

2011-09-23T22:59:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 5 in Review” using Exploring Countries and Cultures with My Father’s World!

Geography Focus this week:

The girls packed their bags and headed to Mexico this week!

They received their airline tickets and some spending money – pesos.

I used the money and airline ticket idea from Gator mom @ Baby Gator University. Here’s her blog post link – scroll down to where you see her picture of a passport, money and airline ticket. She has two links in her post.

My girls loved packing their backpacks (dolls and a pillow pet included) to board the plane!

We are using Expedition Earth curriculum along with our ECC lessons.

Science Focus this week:

Our ECC Co-op went to the local zoo
We studied the desert ecosystem
We studied a few desert animals in depth – Gila monster, desert tortoise, kangaroo rat and the rattle snake
How animals cope with the desert temperatures
Temperature experiment in the shade and sun

The girls learned about how a cold blooded animal , like a turtle, adapts to temperature in the desert. We used bean bags turtles and a thermometer to determine temperature differences in the sun and shade. It was a chilly day for our experiment – it was 60 in the shade and 65 in the sun.

The girls completed Zoo Adventure worksheets on desert animals of their choice from a science curriculum - Considering God’s Creation. I downloaded resources about each of the animals from the Enchanted Learning website.

Favorite Video this week:

Science Fundamental – Ecosystems and Biomes

Bible Focus this week:

Missionary focus from our read aloud – Heaven’s Heroes: Cameron Townsend

Our Matthew readings were from chapters 3 - 4 this week. We learned what it means to be an ambassador of Christ and that our citizenship is in Heaven!

Memory Verse: Matthew 4:4 “Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Prayer wall – the people of Cuba

ECC Co-op Kids:

Kattie led our art lessons with a clay sun. It is drying and we will be painting it next week.

Jessica led our cooking – yummy homemade corn tortillas topped with beans and cheese

Our week ended with a trip to a local Mexican Restaurant!

Our nature study this week was on the Milkweed (I hope to post it soon).

Favorite Resources this week:

Amazon.com Widgets

Be sure to drop by Kattie’s blog – 2 ladybugs and a lizard to see what other’s are doing in My Father’s World.

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 4

2011-09-16T17:05:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 4 in Review” with Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World.

Science Focus this week:

Deciduous and Coniferous forest – compare and contrast
Layers of the forest and it’s animals
North American Animal Lapbook: The Gray Wolf

Gray Wolf Lapbook: Homeschool Share.com

Geography Focus this week:

Review United States on the map
Write info about the US flag
Cook an American meal: picnic food
Geography Vocabulary: Badland or Butte

Bible Focus this week:

Memory verse: Matthew 1:23 – Immanuel means ‘ God with us !’
People group: Navajo Indians
Missionary: Harriet Tubman
Character trait studies: Joy, Perseverance and Compassion
Missionary character trait worksheets from Mama Jenn

ECC Co-op Kids:

Make ketchup and enjoy an American Picnic lunch

Our favorite resources this week:

I hope you come back throughout the week and check out what other’s are doing in MFW. Be sure to encourage other’s with a comment or two!

Thanks for linking up,

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 3

2011-09-08T22:19:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 3 in Review” with Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World.

Geography Focus this week:

Continent: North America

Country: The United States of America

Names of the 50 states

The flag – stars and stripes

Where do we live on the globe?

Our country’s facts and landmarks

Children around the U.S.A.

Bible Focus this week:

Missionary: Dwight L. Moody – from shoe salesman to sharing the gospel of Jesus
Character traits: Strength, Boldness and Repentance
Missionary kids in the US
Memory verse: John 3:16

Science Focus this week:

Forests: coniferous and deciduous forests
What kind of animals live in the forest ?
Animal lapbooks and 3D woodland animals
Way Cool Science Biotrackers DVD
Layers of the forest

I will be posting our Nature Walk about trees soon!

The Geography Vocabulary notebook displays a forest animal, the raccoon. My daughter used the Draw Write Now book for instructions on how to draw the it.

The girls colored 3D forests and their animals. I got them from a Rod and Staff Inside and Outside workbook.

my favorite resource this week:

~ a 30 minute video called Way Cool Science: Biotrackers

It is an overview of the habitats and their animals, within each continent.

This DVD is very worth tracking down from the library.

Animal Focus this week:

I let the girls pick 2 animals from each continent to study. They get to put a lapbook together in their binders. Most of my resources are from Homeschool Share and the library.

M6 picked a porcupine but instead I thought she picked a hedgehog. So I got all the books and lapbook mini folders cut out and wahhhh-lahhhhh ~ hedge hogs do NOT come from North America (shhh but we did it anyway).

ECC Co-op Kids Art: Sand Paint

Read-aloud this week:

More resources we enjoyed this week:

Amazon.com Widgets

Check what other’s are doing in My Father’s World – drop by 2 Ladybugs And A Lizard.

Nature Walk: Last Days of Summer

2011-09-04T08:37:00.001-04:00

It’s not to late to enjoy a “Last Days of Summer” Nature Walk with your kiddos!

Drop by Barb’s blog Handbook of Nature Study for her free download.

Grab your camera, a clip board, an ink stamper, your flip flops and a willing child or two.

Have fun!

Discover Their Gifts

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MFW ECC Highlights: Week 2

2011-09-01T09:14:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 2 in Review” with Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World curriculum.

Bible Focus this week: Many-Colored Hands art

As we travel the continents this year, we will also be stopping in several countries to explore cultures, people groups and other ‘religious beliefs’.

In our Bible lesson, we learned how the God of the Bible LOVES all people and wants us all to come to the knowledge of Him. Isaiah 45 tells us that there is ONLY ONE GOD. In Luke 2 and Revelation 5, we learned that the Good News of the Gospel is for ALL people groups over the world!

Check out how to complete our ECC co-op art lesson ~ Art Projects for Kids blog

Geography Focus this week:

Maps and globes: latitude / longitude
Names of the 4 Oceans
Symbols on a map
Where do I live on a map?
Beginning Geography workbook pages

Science Focus this week:

What is a Biome? by Bobbie Kalman
What is a Mammal?
Biomes around the world and the animals who live in them

Animal Lapbooks:

We will be doing Animal Lapbooks for each continent. Each of my girls picked out 2 animals they were interested in learning more.

Here’s a sneak peek into what we are doing for our North American animals.

What do you need?

1” Binder
Cardstock paper (or use your scrapbook paper from your pre-teaching days… ha)
Glue and scissors
Binder tabs
Search Homeschool Share for a lapbook
Grab a few books from the library about your animal

The Lapbooks are from Homeschool Share.com.

The Animal Report form is from the Expedition Earth curriculum ~ Confessions of a Homeschooler.

The projects give me a little one on one time with the girls. They even love to do their lapbooks in the evenings or weekends. Lapbooks are not ‘school’ for them. Just think of all the fun learning ~ and NO whining….

Amazon.com Widgets

Check out our ECC co-op Nature Walk activities this week ~ here!

Link up and add the UPDATED button code from my side bar.

Kattie will be hosting next week’s Linky @ www.2ladybugsandalizard.blogspot.com

Our Nature Study: MFW ECC Week 2

2011-08-28T11:39:00.001-04:00

Don’t forget to ‘link-up’ your posts ~ if you are using any of the My Father’s World curriculum.

Kattie and I will be co-hosting the MFW Highlights link up on alternating weeks. The linky tool will launch on Thursday evenings and be open for one week.

Just grab a button from the side bar: created by Amber @ Refined Metals Academy.

Thank you Kathi @ A Heart Like Water for starting this up!

You can post a picture or write up… whatever you have time for. Please link up even if you have one picture that tells us a story. We all have busy week’s and little time to blog, but we still love to see what you are doing in My Father’s World!

Kattie @ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard blog –hosting this week’s linky until 9/1.

ON with our Nature Studies:

Our ECC co-op did a variety of Nature Walk activities for week 2 of ECC.

Nature Walk focus this week:

Collect leaves for a future art project ~ Look What I Did With A Leaf !
Seasonal Tree study – from Handbook of Nature Study blog
THIS IS SOOO FUN ~ End of Summer Nature Walk – notebook page
Pond Study critter list – our kids did a creek critter list. The link is on Barb’s blog – Outdoor Hour Challenge – August newsletter

More resources for our Nature Walk:

One Small Square: Pond by Donald Silver

Look What I Did With A Leaf! by Morteza Sohi

Amazon.com Widgets

Don’t forget to click the links above to download and print notebook pages for your kids. Our co-op will complete the lessons at home and bring them to class next week!

MFW ECC Highlights: Week 1

2011-08-24T22:04:00.001-04:00

Welcome to our “Week 1 in Review” with Exploring Countries and Cultures using My Father’s World curriculum.

Overview:

The girls and I will be traveling the 7 continents this year. We will be stopping at several countries within each continent to discuss its: culture, people, food, missionaries, biomes / ecosystem and animals of the area.

Geography focus this week:

The 7 continents and 4 oceans
How to read a map and globe
A rose compass, the equator and hemispheres
Mapping skills - distance using a scale

Below are a few of the great worksheets from the Beginning Geography workbook I picked up for our year.

More Geography Resources for the week:

Science focus this week:

Introduction to the ecosystems / biomes

An earthworm niche project ~ a few casualties

More Nature Walk Resources for the week:

One Small Square: Backyard series by Donald Silver

Bible Focus this week:

The kids in our co-op class are making a ‘prayer journal’.

Memory verse this week: John 3:16.

Check out Mama Jenn’s John 3:16 printables

ECC Co-op Kids ~ Nature Walk and World Cake:

Our ECC Co-op Kids went on a Nature Walk to complete our Backyard Habitat worksheet.

Blog Hop 2011: Student Photo Week

2011-08-17T23:12:00.001-04:00

Join the Blog Hop 2011 @ Heart of the Matter

MFW Highlights for 2011-2012

2011-08-17T22:35:00.001-04:00

Announcing the co-hosts for this years Homeschool Highlights in My Father’s World…………

Kattie @ 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard

Kathi @ A Heart Like Water

Just click the blog links above to find out how join in on the fun of sharing your Homeschool Highlights in MFW each week or whenever it’s convenient!

Grab the new button designed by my friend Amber @ Refined Metals Academy

The first link us starts on August 25th @ A Heart Like Water.

Have no fear if you are not ready……. just join us when you are …..and link up when you have time to post.

MFW ECC: Additional Resources

2011-08-14T07:53:00.001-04:00

I am using MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures curriculum this year. The lesson plans are done for me so I don’t really need to add anything to our year. But what fun is that ! So, I thought I’d list a few resources I am adding to our year:

Expedition Earth curriculum – lapbooks, coloring pages, and more
Children Just Like Me
Around The World in 80 Tales
10 Boys and 10 Girls Who Changed The World
Heaven’s Heroes
Count Your Way series

Animal Studies to Lap’n Scrap

I am going to steal my sister’s idea… yup .... Animal Lap’n Scrap books!

Kattie and I used to host monthly scrapbooking events before we began homeschooling our girls. Well now the many, many scrapbooking supplies are collecting dust. So…. Kattie came up with this idea of combining hands-on crafting through scrapbooking, Science and fun with her daughter!

Kattie said the toughest hurdle she had to overcome was letting her daughter pick expensive cardstock paper, brads and embellishments that she had once intended to use for scrapping photos. She said the greatest joy of it all is the ‘one on one’ time she has with her daughter!

Head on over to 2 Ladybugs and A Lizard blog and check out Kattie’s Lap’n Scrap books!

I had my girls pick two animals from each continent.

I then jumped on the website Homeschool Share and searched for their animals of interest. Many of the lapbooks on Homeschool Share site go along with a great picture book you can get from your library.

Here is an example of a lapbook for a North American animal:

Look to the North – Gray Wolf lapbook

I got the book Look To The North from the library and a few other books about wolves.

I am going to focus a little more on animals this year in ECC rather than the biomes. I am not saying we will not look at the biomes but I do plan to have the girls enjoy animal studies more.

The great thing about ECC is that we will be doing it again in 5 year but on a deeper level!

More resources for our Animal Lap’n Scrap books:

Zoo Books magazine
Homeschool Share lapbooks
Baby Animals in the ____________ Habitat series
Draw Write Now series – for drawing animals in their habitat

Have you seen the Animal / Habitat workbooks from Rod & Staff?

Their G-H-I series has fun PreK and K workbook pages. Even though my girls are older, they enjoy cutting, gluing and coloring in these inexpensive “fun” pages ~$2.80 each!

There are habitat coloring pages that can be set up 3 dimensionally in each of the books too!

Going On Eagerly – Polar regions
Hearing and Helping – Rainforest
Inside and Outside – Woodlands

Nature Study

Check out our Nature Studies from last school year!

One Small Square series – includes nature walk projects
Nature Studies from Barb @ Handbook of Nature Study blog

I plan to just glean from the Nature Study suggestions in the ECC Teacher’s Manuel. I will be using more of Barb’s suggestions each month (Handbook of Nature Study blog). Have you checked out her newsletter from this month? I love using her studies. She does the busy work for me!

Our ECC kids co-op will do a nature study each week, whether during class time or as homework, to share in class.

Outdoor Hour Challenge newsletter

Bible Memory Verses and Character pages

Matthew Printables and Copywork pages for our memory verses

Character Quality Copywork from Hero Tales

Sketching for fun!

Check out what we did last school year with Sketch Tuesday here

Sketch Tuesdays from Harmony Art Mom’s blog
I Can Do All Things art book – we did not finish this from MFW Adventures

Leave a comment and let me know if you have more suggestions I can add to our year traveling the world !

Blog Hop 2011: School Room

2011-08-08T06:46:00.001-04:00

Thanks for visiting me during the NOT Back-To School Blog Hop hosted by Heart of the Matter.

This week’s feature is our school room or where we do school.

This is where I work one on one with each of the girls. The table is my desk and they sit at the little desk. Our classroom is in the basement

This is our walk-in closet where I store books, supplies and the workboxes.

The computer desk and easel are in the basement family room. We do our MFW subjects, like Bible, geography, read-alouds, and science together on the couch ~ one of the joys of homeschooling as a family !

This is our morning board wall which contains a world map, prayer board and our science and geography ‘book baskets’.

More of our morning board: calendar, color words, make the date with money, books of the Bible, days in school and memory verse.

The green banner is our John 3:16 poster for MFW ECC. I have one paper doll to represent each country we are traveling to this year and they will wrap around the world above the banner!

These are the girls work areas for language arts, math and handwriting.

Read more about:

Curriculum 2011-2012

Workboxes and planning our school year

Our Morning Board

Wanta check out more school rooms? Head on over to the Blog Hop hosted by Heart of the Matter.

MFW Printables: Mama Jenn’s Blog

2011-08-04T09:13:00.001-04:00

Are you using My Father’s World homeschool curriculum? If so, head on over to my friend’s blog Mama Jenn. She has some wonderful memory verse and copy work pages for MFW ~ K, 1st Grade, Adventures, and Exploring Countries and Cultures.

Here’s a link to all of her wonderful printables ~ Mama Jenn's Printables

Here’s a link to her latest copywork pages for MFW ECC Matthew Memory Verses

Check out our year using MFW Adventures !

Hope you enjoy your year!

Our Morning Board: 2011-2012

2011-07-31T16:04:00.001-04:00

Updated Morning Board:

I reused a few things from last year like the weather charts. I printed them from Jolanthe’s blog ~ Homeschool Creations.

I added skip counting and Latin Words of the week.

I am using Song School Latin this year. They have free printable coloring pages on their website ~ Song School Latin Coloring pages

Make the Date: I got the wooden date board from Target $1 section. The girls write the date each day on the “Today’s Date is” worksheet. I use plastic sheet protectors and dry eraser markers. The dry eraser markers do not come off laminated sheets very well.

I have also added a place to display the Character Trait we are focusing on for the week.

I am using Character Notebooking pages from Notebooking Pages.

Check out these links:

Delightful Learning blog - Morning Board links

Character Trait printables - Sarah Sweeties blog

More fun learning from Homechool Creations blog ~ books of the Bible

This is our Exploring Countries and Cultures – Morning Board fun!

Our John 3:16 wall will be filling up with paper dolls from each of the cultures.

This is our pray card poster from Expedition Earth by Confessions of a Homeschooler blog. Each culture we study will have a pray card: culture name, continent, country, picture, etc. The cards will be displayed on the poster board.

These are my UPDATED workbox grid cards:

Check out my workbox system.

Check out my Curriculum choices this year.

Square Foot Garden Update ~ July

2011-07-18T21:32:00.000-04:00

My husband and I put in 6 Square Foot Gardens this year. They look okay but I realized they would produce a lot more veggies if I have put in different kinds of compost. Instead I just used leaf compost and the soil is lacking ……… nitrogen (I think)!

I dropped by the Farmer’s Market and got a few bags of mushroom compost to enrich the soil. Boy is that some stinky stuff!

Check back soon for a garden update!

I am now working on filling a compost bin to enrich the soil for next year’s crops!

Planning Our School Year: 2011-2012

2011-07-17T20:43:00.001-04:00

This is my favorite time of the year……. planning the school year! There are a few preparations prior to schooling that help our year go smooth!

File System for each week of school:

What you need:

Hanging file folders – one for each week you do school in a year
Label maker – Label each file folder with a number (I do 34 weeks)
Colored file folders – Place one for each child in each hanging file folder
Stuff your folders with EVERY lesson - for each week for the WHOLE year!

I bought a file folder box with a lid.

This is the hanging file folder with the colored folders ~ one for each child.

Here’s a few items I placed in the folder. I will then put these in the appropriate workbox.

This planning process will help your year go super smooth.

I just pull out the file folder for one child on Sunday evening and place just the papers in the appropriate work box. You can stuff them each night with one day’s worth of work or you can pull out a week’s worth of work and place it in the workbox.

Workbox System:

I use 12’x12’ scrapbooking drawers – 9 drawers for each child. I got them for $9 for each 3-drawer section from Hobby Lobby.

Workbox cards and grids for each day of the week (details are from Jolanthe’s blog Homeschool Creations). I still need to update the cards for the changes I made in our curriculum this year. The new cards will be generic subject pictures, so I do not have to change them each year!

I added P.E. activity cards from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Go check them out… fun fun fun! I will put several in the girls boxes each day to add fun!

I keep a few items in the boxes all the time like: Explode the code workbook, spelling notebook, latin workbook, etc.

Morning Board: (update weekly ~ no photo yet because I am still working on it)

Bible memory verse
Latin words of the week (Song School Latin)
Make the date with Money
What time is it? digital and analog
Calendar time
Sowing seeds of __________ (Character)
Prayer card – People group we are studying in ECC

Planner:

I use the The Well Planned Day in a binder for my planning pages.

I am using MFW Countries and Cultures for our lessons this year ~ they have done the planning for me.

Check out the details of my Curriculum Choices for 2011-2012.

Curriculum Choices: 2011-2012

2011-07-15T11:06:00.001-04:00

It’s been a great summer for our family!

Swimming with daddy. The girls had their first sleep over … 8 girlies!

My girls turned 6 and 8 years old! We also had lots of play dates with friends!

….On with our curriculum choices for 1st and 3rd grade!

The new school year is just around the corner so I thought it would be a great time to let you know what curriculum we will be using this year.

Bible, Geography, Science, Read-Alouds, Art and Music

Last year was our first year using My Father’s World. It was our best year. MFW does the lesson planning for me!

We will be using MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures this year. It is a unit study designed for students grades 3-8th. It includes lessons for Bible, history, geography, science, read alouds, art, cooking, nature study, and music!

Why do I love MFW?

The lessons plans are created for me and I have all the resources I need except a few library books to add to our reading.
My girls work together on all their subjects except math, language arts and reading … so I only have to teach the subjects just once.
It’s economical especially since I will reuse the same curriculum again in 5 years but at a more advanced level of study.
It is easy to do with a co-op group. We have 5 families in our ECC co-op this year!
Just plain fun. My kids loved doing their MFW science and history last year!

What we will be studying in MFW ECC this year?

Check out their website Exploring Countries and Cultures with MFW

How often are we planning to do each ECC subjects?

Bible ~ daily; Geography ~ 2x/ week; Science ~ 2x/ week; Art ~ 2x/ week; Reading ~ daily; Music ~ 2x/ week; Nature Walk ~ 1x/ week

Our co-op will meet each Thursday morning for 3 hours during which time we will complete ECC projects like crafts, cooking, geography games, missionary/ character lessons, memory verse games, hands-on science projects, and/ or a nature walk lesson. The goal of our ECC co-op is to complete projects and lessons assigned in our ECC curriculum lesson plans.

I will also be adding a few supplements to our year:

Expedition Earth Curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler
Heaven’s Heroes by Shibley
Children Just Like Me by Kindersley
10 Girls / 10 Boys Who Changed The World by Howat

Math

Math U See has been our best choice for math curriculum. It teaches mastery without the busy work. The girls are working on MUS Alpha and Beta.

For math drill, we will be using a program I reviewed (and the girls enjoyed) called Mad Dog Math. Check out my review here

The girls will do math lessons and drill 4 times a week.

Language Arts

In January, I starting using the Barton Reading and Spelling program with my older daughter. It is my third and final curriculum purchase to teach her how to read. It has been the BEST program EVER for teaching a dyslexic child how to learn to read. It is an Orton-Gillingham based program so it’s multi-sensory. She will be finishing level 3 soon!

The Barton program teaches: reading, spelling, dictation, fluency, games and phonics. It is expensive and worth every penny. The re-sale value is high!

Check out Susan Barton’s Reading and Spelling programs here:

Barton reading

Bright Solutions For Dyslexia

If you have a child you suspect with dyslexia or reading delay listen to Susan Barton’s webinars for more details! Click the Bright Solutions link above or email me @ m_wharton@yahoo.com

My younger daughter, Marissa, will be using Learning Language Arts through Literature Blue, All About Spelling Level 1, and the Explode the Code workbooks.

Both girls will be doing Language Arts 4 times a week. Spelling will be 2-3 times a week. Reading will be daily.

Foreign Language

I reviewed a product called Song School Latin as part of This Old Schoolhouse CREW last year.

My girls loved the program so much that I plan to complete it this school year. Read my review here

More details on my homeschool planning for the year to come soon! It will be similar to what I did last year with a few updates – click here!

Check our what others are doing this year at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers blog.

Also join me for a blog hop @ Heart of the Matter – Curriculum choices week one

Review: Considering God’s Creation

2011-06-29T08:37:00.001-04:00

I have had the opportunity to review a wonderful natural science curriculum written from a biblical perspective.

Grade: Adaptable for grades 2nd – 7th

The program is set up with lots of fun learning through games, experiments, poems, songs, crafts and notebook pages.

Cost: Only $29.95 – includes Teacher’s manual, student book and audio CD for a year’s worth of science (or more).

For ease of use, buy an additional student book packed full of 272 pages for only $13.95. You may copy the student book for each of your kids, but having the second book for such a cheap price is much easier than copying so many pages.

Topics:

Universe
Stars
Solar System
Earth
Light
Sound
Wind
Weather
Clouds
Rocks
Plants
Insects
Mammals
Reptiles
Birds
Fish
Amphibians
Food Chains
Reproduction and Genetics
Human
Animal Anatomy
Physiology

My thoughts:

I really enjoyed the hands-on approach to Considering God’s Creation. It’s adaptable to multi-age children. The projects keep the family learning together. I enjoyed the author’s biblical approach to science as well. CGC is a very affordable, family-friendly, natural science program that takes a year to complete if you do one lesson per week.

My girls loved the songs and experiments best. I enjoyed how the Christian author’s, Sue and Betty, did all the research for me and filled the program with lots of prepared notebook pages. The projects are simple too - for both the kids and mom!

What other supplies do you need besides the CGC books? A three-ring binder, student pages, scissors, glue, crayons and a few easy-to-find household items.

How do you teach the lessons? There are 36 lessons. Each lesson can be taught in one week for an entire school year. If you children are younger, you may take several weeks for some lessons and the program can take 2 or 3 years to complete. I did several lessons that took two weeks each.

If you children are older, you can use the DIGGING DEEPER for ideas to keep them challenged. There are also 12 crosswords for review or testing older children.

More details about Eagle’s Wings curriculum Considering God’s Creation on their website here.

Eagle’s Wings also has other homeschool curriculum – Science, History, Bible, Phonics, Geography and Math.

Do you want to see how other mom’s use Considering God’s Creation? Check out Kattie’s blog - 2 Ladybugs and a Lizard – Tree Study and Flower/Plant Study and the TOS Crew’s Reviews.

Blog Makeover!

2011-06-19T21:19:00.001-04:00

I am so excited to share with you that my blog Discover Their Gifts has just undergone a blog makeover!!! woo hooo!

I asked Jolanthe from Relevant Designs to redesign the look and feel of my blog. Can I just say… I am so delighted and pleased with her work!

Since I primarily blog about my family and homeschooling, I wanted the blog theme to feature the look and style of each of my girls next to their pet buddies.

My blog tag line is .. “homeschooling adventures in the country’. I derive most of my blogging ideas from our adventures in the country around our own home. Our curriculum, My Father’s World, assigns nature walks each week.

The girls spend a lot of time outdoors riding their 4-wheeler, jeep car, swinging with friends and chasing run away pets. This is one of the greatest benefits of homeschooling: my kids get to spend a lot of time playing with their toys, enjoying their siblings and friends, and exercising outdoors in our wooded acreage.

Back to my blog header …

My oldest daughter, Arianna, is featured in pink. She stands along side her sweet dachshund, Lola. Her puppy has been her best buddy and companion. Lola loves to go on walks, chase the neighborhood cats and deer, and sit in the kid’s wagon and jeep car.

Arianna will soon be 8 years old. She is shy, intelligent, discerning of people, nurturing, gifted in organization, and asks a million questions in any given hour! She is a joyful gift from our Lord!

Check out her earrings. She saved her own money to get them pierced. I cringed but she’s been a trooper at caring for them!

My youngest daughter, Marissa, will soon be 6 years old. I told her we were not going to celebrate her birthday so she would remain 5.. not sure she agreed with me.

Marissa loves glitter, sparkle, high heal shoes, and dressing as a princess. She is standing next to her rotten main coon cat, Gilbert. His job is to catch moles from our yard, but instead he must just hang out with them.

Marissa is free spirited, impulsive, single focused, charming with two big dimples, sensitive, intelligent and very confident. Also, she can’t seem to keep her shoes on outdoors not matter what the weather conditions are for the day.

Well ~ that’s a little bit about why I chose the look and feel of my new blog!

Don’t forget to grab my button for your blog

---------------------------------------------

Drop by Jolanthe blog Relevant Designs blog

Enjoy!

Review: Mad Dog Math

2011-06-08T22:05:00.002-04:00

Mad Dog Math was developed by a third grade teacher, Julie Kotoff, to help her students with multiplication and division facts. The ‘pencil – paper’ program soon evolved into computer software enhanced with all four math facts, including addition and subtraction.
It is designed as a supplement for grade K – 5th and students older who struggle with their math facts. Mad Dog Math has taken the basic math facts and broken them down into bite-size pieces for mastery.

All four math operations (- + x /) – just chose what your student needs
Bite-size pieces of facts for mastery – less frustrated kids!
Progress through a series of timed practice sheets at the child’s pace
Tracks the progress of multiple students through all levels
Allows students to earn ‘Student Club Stickers’ as they pass levels
Brief, timed lessons – only 5-10 minutes each day

Mad Dog Math levels: There are three levels and a challenge level. The student can take the school year to progress through one level.

My thoughts: My girls used Level One which is broken down by ‘fact family’ – addition or subtraction. There are about 20 problems in each lesson. The lessons are brief and fun for them. I had them do 3 of the “2 Minute Club” lessons. They enjoyed being timed and we motivated to try and beat their time next round. Mad Dog Math is the first and only math drill program my girls have enjoyed.

Brief lessons that are fun
Simple program and easy for the kids to use
Easy key strokes – key the answer and the tab moves to the next fact
Super for kids who are competitive

I enjoyed that I could check their progress by clicking the ‘progress’ button.

Mad Dog Math at Home – click here for more details
Watch a video about the program on their website here

1 year license download for ALL levels – $19.99
2 year license download for ALL levels – $29.99
Perpetual license download for ALL levels – $39.99
(available in both a 32-bit and 64-bit format)

Check out the Mad Dog Math website - http://www.maddogmath.com/

Don’t forget to check out what others on the TOS Crew had to say about Mad Dog Math over here!