October: It's the "I can't believe it's over" vs. the "I can't believe I'm still alive to tell of it" month. 

I've just spent an entire week either in bed, or pretending I'm not sick, when at times dreams of being in the hospital brought a smile to my face!  Thankfully, that has passed and I'm mostly recovered!  Thank you all prayer warriors.

Our month definately ended on a high note.  Tuesday, the 31st was our first "official" homeschool arts and crafts day.  In other words, the area of crafts which is sorely lacking in the day to day, now has a day of its own--the last weekday/schoolday of each month.  I've marked the calendar for the rest of the school year and hope to see it accomplished!

Jump ahead a couple of weeks and I still haven't finished this write up!  There is nothing like getting a little distracted with good things! 

Well, I still want to tell you about our October, so here goes:

Bible:

In Bible we studied the ten spies, the journey through the wilderness, the crossing of the Jordan, and Samson.  This was Judah Bible Curriculum (JBC) weeks 10-13 and we focused on how God prepares a people for Godly self-government and liberty: The beginning of the plan of redemption.  The principle(s): Intimacy with God is primary. Bondage is voluntary. Freedom takes Godly character to maintain. Civil liberty and success is consequential. (In other words...have a right relationship with the Lord and you will experience liberty and success as the consequence!)

I so enjoy JBC because of it's emphasis, not just on Biblical principles, but because it's scope and sequence (for lack of a better term) allows us to truly emphasize that the Bible is ONE story: HIStory, and the He (Jesus) is on every page! 

We do this by seeing all of scripture in it's entirety.  We do not emphasize OT and NT.  We always examine His providence in every chapter.  What was His purpose for the event, individual, nation, etc.  How did He prepare, provide, and protect, and lastly, what did He promise.  As son learns to ask and answer these questions, the lessons move beyond what we typically consider a "Sunday School" lesson.

Our memory verses included:

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."  II Cor. 5:7

"This book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous and th you will have good success."  

Joshua 1:8

History:

We continue to progress with our Truthquest guide as we ventured, or should I say ADventured into studies of the Puritans, the Thirteen Colonies, and Native Americans.  We chose a few tribes to highlight, and as expected son enjoyed reading of the Cherokee and the biography of Segoyah and the written Cherokee language. 

Math

We continued with our multiplication and began our introduction to subtraction, using the skill of making change.   This made it much more fun for the boy!  The lessons are including more and more math games.  I've found it a bit challenging, for myself, to remember you can learn from games and that they are, indeed, part of the lesson!  Of course, son loves them.

Spelling/Grammar

Son continues to spell wonderfully.  He really "sees" words and their meanings when he spells them.  One of his favorite activities is coming up with sentences for his words as you will hear in The Complete November.

Geography

We have slowly but surely, continued the Beautiful Feet Geography Guide and reading of "Seabird", by Holling C. Holling.  Not enough can be said about how great these Holling C. Holling books are, however, I have found it a stretch to see this particular books use in teaching geography.  Teaching about whales and whaling, yes.  As much as we enjoyed "Paddle to the Sea", I think we'll be retooling our Geography studies soon.  Of course, we aren't done with it yet.  You never know!

Classical Music

We've stepped up our History of Classical Music studies and really, really enjoy them.  Adding more reading and more listening.  Son really loved reading about Handel, listening to the Classical Kids presentation of "Hallelujah, Handel" and understood how his wonderful "Messiah" could mean so much and glorify God so truly! 

Astronomy

We continue to learn all kinds of great things about the planets in our solar system.  The experiments are always easy and a thrill to the kids.  I promise to post pictures next month!

I do wish we could actually SEE the sky from where we live, but alas, we are stuck with pictures.  We do hope to change that at some point. 

Hymns

For our hymn of the month, we learned "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and for extra pleasure, as previously posted, "The Lord of the Dance". 

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father,

There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;

As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Great is Thy faithfulness!

Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;

Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Among other things we did this month, we enjoyed an exciting trip to the Children's Museum.  If you haven't read about the great explorer that we met there, click here. 

If you are interested in some "firsts" for us, read here.

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Both the children have enjoyed what are probably the last warm weather days of the year.  The time just flies by, as you well know.  Son is still reading a blue streak, while daughter is a wannabe reader!  I'm happy to report son is reading TO his sister.  Both enjoy this like it is a super-duper treat! 

Son just completed a week long campout in the guest room "tent"--sheets and blankets erected across the tops of chairs, etc.  His "nest" was quite cozy as I can personally attest, and it was great to be able to tell him he could camp for a week.  His sister, as was to be expected, went visiting each morning--snuggling in and somewhat reluctant to come out!  At my bedtime one night, I saw a light under the door, and upon checking, discovered his Coleman battery powered lamp still burning, son sound asleep...with a book clutched open in his hands.  Nice.  Unbelieveably, no camera was on hand.  Bad, bad Mommy! :)  But ohhh, to be seven!

My big girl (3) is snap, button, and zipper proficient.  The clothes thing is just about mastered.  The potty thing, too, is coming along.  You can read more about that great adventure here. 

Well, as I said, forgetting to complete this post has put me well into November.  I've saved all those little goodies though, so you can expect to hear more from us soon.  In the meantime, to all our family and once-a-month readers, have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving time.