Week in Review

April 2007

If you read this post, then you know that we have relaxed significantly in our schooling. But, I still wanted to share a bit of what the girls did this week.

 We read the story of How Adam and Eve Disobeyed God this week and the Princess narrated it beautifully.

I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but I started noticing some struggles with narration with the Princess a few weeks back. At that time, I decided that I would slow things down for her and really let her have her "First Grade" year instead of trying to combine so much and putting unnecessary pressure on her. One of the decisions we made at that time (per her request) was that we would continue to read The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos as a family, but I'd just let her listen. She wanted to read the shorter Bible Stories in Tomie dePaola's Book of Bible Stories for her "First Grade Stories" and she wanted to narrate these instead. She's been doing much better with that! So, we are currently reading through two Bibles. :)

We read Chapter 9 of Wisdom and the Millers this week and had a wonderful discussion about taking care of animals. We talked about how our family interprets the meaning of the statement in the book of Genesis where God gives us "dominion over" all the animals. It seems that many people think that it means we are better than the animals and should have control over them. In our family, we talk about how that means that God has called us to care for all of the animals. We believe that He gives parents dominion over their children and calls us to love our children and take care of them. We believe that He gives humans dominion over animals and calls us to love and care for the animals of the world. This week's Proverbs verse was about something similar ~ how the righteous man regards the life of his animals. I love the discussions I get to have with these little hearts and minds!

Daddy is reading The Wise Enchanter at night. We are currently on chapter 13 or the letter "M". The Princess is excited because the next chapter is her favorite letter!

We did something really great on Thursday. We got together with just two other families from our Homeschool Group and talked about "Creating Our Vision ~ Who am I and Who do I want to be?" It was really amazing to watch these young children discussing such things as "self" and "other" and "emulation" and "aspiration" and "manifestation". Each of the children then made their own "Vision Board" collage. 

The Princess made hers all about cats. She drew a cat on pink and cut it out and pasted it. She cut tiny whiskers from black paper and glued them on. She made a cat out of feathers. She found an image of a cat that looked like Silky and glued it on. Cats, cats and more cats. She also glued on a piece of paper that said "Always dreamed of being an animal doctor" and added the word "I" to the beginning. She glued on a picture of a pink rose that said BLISS on it. Very pretty.

The Hippie made hers all about how she wants to be a Marine Biologist when she grows up. She made a dolphin out of felt. She made a mermaid. She found a few flowers. She found an image that said "DREAM vision IMAGINE create BEGIN attempt EXPAND transform ... FOLLOW YOUR BLISS". She made another dolphin out of blue paper. There are some feathers hanging that are supposed to be something and I can't remember what (shame on me). Oh, and there is an owl. Random, I know. She says she likes owls. :)

After making our Vision Boards, we spent a good bit of time in the library, just exploring.

  

The girls got a bit of Greek Mythology this morning when they watched Hercules. *wink* They've also gotten some Dr. Seuss when they watched The Cat in the Hat this week (the one with Mike Myers). :)

THE PRINCESS

This week the Princess did a bit of copywork about Pocahontas for her My America book. She attempted some math and got frustrated to the point of tears, so we called it a day and she did a puzzle instead. Other than that, she's been doing a lot of reading this week. She's read:

Scat, Cats! ~ whole book

Too Many Cats ~ whole book

Mr. Putter and Tabby Take the Train ~she's on chapter 2

The Cat (non-fiction book about cats) ~ she's on page 8

Kitten Crowd (a "real" chapter book) ~ she's on page 13 and has read 2 chapters

THE HIPPIE

This week the Hippie did a bit of copywork about Pocahontas for her My America book. She also drew a lovely picture of Pocahontas. She took the test for Lesson 15 in math and completed a couple of lessons in her Language Lessons and her Cursive book. Like her sister, the Hippie has done her fair share of reading this week. She's currently reading Emily's Runaway Imagination by Beverly Cleary. She is on chapter 8. She also picked up a new book at the library on Thursday called Voyage on the great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady, R.M.S. Titanic, 1912. It is part of the Dear America series and is a wonderful little piece of historical fiction. She LOVES it. She says it is perfect because it is about a girl, but while you're reading the story, you're also learning about the historical period or event. Anyway, she's on page 60 in her new book.

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Other than that, the girls have been playing A LOT. And cleaning. And drawing. And, just plain old hanging out. I believe the Hippie is outside looking for a caterpillar or garden snake (she really wants a pet of some sort) as we "speak". After reading in The Handbook of Nature Study about garden snakes to see what they are like. The Princess is outside in her raincoat making mud pies.

Give thanks for slow, rainy, muddy days. And, the freedom to explore them.

Until next time,

~ Irie Momma

(p.s. Just a reminder that I am without the ability to take and upload pictures at the moment. Sorry. Hope you're enjoying my random pictures from seasons past).