Homeschool Highlights - Week of December 19, 2010

Not planning on doing the typical homeschool week.  There is more things to do besides workbooks, but life learning is going on!  Since homeschooling is more of a way of life for us, we are doing more preparations for the holidays and other things this week.

Sunday: 

Attended adult worship services.  While pastor preached from Revelations, Shayla colored a beautiful color page of the nativity scene. 

Bible:  Made this easy, cute wreath from Christian Crafts From Paper Plates book.

Attended a Happy Birthday, Jesus party at our church.  She participated in most of the kids' games with help. 

*Note:  Michele, I blame you if the kids run in the sanctuary or slide under the pews like in the under-the-pew relay race.  LOL!

We also did an accapella Christmas carol sing-a-long.  And our gifts for Jesus were examining our hearts and writing down where we planned on giving him ALL of us.  There were many areas that needed improvement for myself.  (Patience, understanding, controlling my tongue).  Shayla chose obedience.  She also chose to show the card to me.  It wasn't spelled correctly, but I knew what she meant and it brought tears to my eyes because we have been working on this character trait a lot lately.

Monday:

Bible:  Daniel Obeys God.  Daniel 6:10-19

Devotions:  Friends in Christ.  Titus 3:5-8

Reading:  Open Windows.  At School:  At the Bus Stop, One and Two and Then Comes Three, All by Myself, and In a Minute

Read Aloud:  The Value of Understanding:  The Story of Margaret Mead.  (social studies, science, geography)

Baking Day:  We reviewed math in a hands-on way, by spending the afternoon baking treats for my husband's employees.  We reviewed fractions with the measuring cup, counted, reviewed concept of half-dozen/dozen, reviewed time concept and others.  (math, reading, fine motor)

Christmas Program:  Shayla sang and participated in her school's Christmas program.  What an unexpected, holiday treat!  Who would have believed that my painfully shy, reluctant-to-try-anything-new daughter would want to participate in this.  She did a wonderful job!  She did not require any special assistance.  She waved to us as she went on stage.  She sang and smiled.  Afterwards, she said she wasn't the least bit nervous! 

Tuesday:  Happy Winter Solstice Day!

Bible:  God Protects Daniel.  Daniel 6:20-23

Devotions:  The Day the Sun Stands Still.  Revelation 21:22-24

Reading:  Open Windows.  At Home:  A Good, Big Fire, Jack's New Train, and Golden Keys of Courtesy.

Read Aloud:  The Value of Curiosity:  The Story of Christopher Columbus.

Spent the afternoon putting treat bags together for the other IS children at Shayla's school.  Thirty-six of those little stockings, no problem, right? *Note to self:  Allow myself more time for this next year.  :P 

The purpose of the stockings was to make sure Shayla got at least one treat.  I do not want her to feel excluded because I expect most of the treats will be candy treats, which she can not have because of her food allergies.  :(

Now let's see, how do we incorporate this into school?  We kept count of the bags, tags, treats - math.  Putting all the objects in the bag - fine motor skills.  We talked alot about Christmas traditions and gift giving - social studies.  Making the tags - art, and lastly, writing her name on them - handwriting.

Solved a pile of puzzles (problem solving).

Played Colgate board game.

Delivered homemade goodies to our neighbors.  Talked about how we are commanded in the Bible to take care of the sick, elderly, widows, and fatherless.  Our neighbors are sick, elderly, and widowed.

On the way to doing this, some family friends had a flat tire.  We stopped and offered assistance.  Compassion and kindness.  Another teaching moment that can not be taught with textbooks.

I was surprised at the JOY that seemed to come from both girls from doing simple, random acts of kindness.  We are going to make a more concentrated effort to continue thinking of others to teach that it's not all about them.

Wednesday: 
Party day at school!  The ironic thing was the IS kids didn't realize that today was a party day - their typical Specials Days are always full of fun! 

Some highlights were that they got to wear blue jeans instead of normal chapel wear, they passed out treats and received treat bags to take home, library time was spent hearing the Dr. Suess' How the Grinch Stole Christmas and playing a game, and music was watching a video. 

Thursday: 
God put another teaching moment in our path.  I hope we are passing the tests!

A lady pulled into our driveway because she had a flat tire.  (Not a good choice, our driveway is not fun in good weather, but especially not when covered in snow!)  In the process she also became stuck.  But her bad news didn't end there!  She did not have a spare tire and her cell phone was dead.

Luckily we were home.  Even though we were busy and had an appointment, we kept our joy and my husband brought her to the house where she could call her husband.  When he arrived, he changed her tire and my husband pulled her out with the tractor.  Even though our plans were changed and hubby was covered in mud, we were joyful because it gave us all a warm fuzzy. 

Later on, I decided to let the girls open the family present.  It was Apples to Apples card game.  We had a great time playing the comparison game.  We were all laughing out loud at scary soccer moms and round sports fans, and lots of other silly combos.
(reading, vocabulary)

Friday:
Christmas celebration with the family!  This year was the best year ever!  No tantrums or fits! (Although, we did miss oldest sister, Cassandra and her family.) 

We enjoyed opening presents with our family and both grandmas.  Then eating a nice meal, watching Karate Kid and Toy Story 3, and playing Apples to Apples and Guess Who?

Later we attended Candlelight worship services at Grandma's church (per Shayla's request). 

Saturday: 

Enjoying playtime with the new toys!