Bible:  We almost finished up What Would Jesus Do? this week.  Great book.  A good reminder that our faith should encapsulate all of our lives.  For Bible Memory, we did serious studying of  the First Catechism this week as Micah has a "quiz" coming up at church soon on this.  Daniel went through his preschool fighter verse pack and is doing well remembering them!

History:  Micah asked where the alphabet came from.  We looked it up on the computer and even found a cool video of the "evolution" of the alphabet. 
In history, we are currently studying the Pony Express.  The boys enjoyed listening to Riding the Pony Express Christian silently read Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express as well.  We watched Old Yeller on video this week -- it finally came back to the library for us to check out!

Literature:  We spent approx. 3 hours reading aloud Shadrach by Meindert DeJong this week -- probably 3 hours next week should finish it.  Every minute of this book is delightful to me as well as the boys.  I feel like the book is a peek into the mind of a little boy.  The author has an incredible way of expressing childlike thoughts, fascinating empathy for children.  I would not have known about this author if it weren't for a my favorite book about books -- Who Should We Then Read?!  Our whole family is richer for the introduction.

Other Language Arts:  CJ is doing very well at memorizing roots of words.  He learned his first Latin root this week:  .  These are the words he and I have memorized so far:
After reading Madeline, we talked about the literary devices of poetry and repetition.  We will add these to our list of "Choices a Writer Can Make" in the boys' notebooks, with descriptions and examples.

Art:  We did a picture study of Snap the Whip.  After reading Madeline, we talked about how the drawings within were of real places in Paris.  We taked about how the illustrations were not photographic (fooling the eye into thinking they are photographs), but rather the artist's impression of the streets of Paris.

Science:  After reading Madeline, we talked about what an appendix is (Madeline had her appendix removed in the story).  We looked up drawings and photos of appendixes on the Internet (I love GOOGLE).  Also after reading this story, we talked about Health, especially the need to wash hands after going potty and before eating, brushing teeth, and eating nutritious balanced meals.

Math:  After reading Madeline one day, we noticed the symmetry in the artwork.  We talked about symmetry.  Daniel LOVED counting people and things throughout the book.
Micah and CJ worked daily in their math curriculum.

Preschool Day:
The boys' 4-year-old cousin joined us for a morning this week, so we decided to have the big boys teach "preschool" in lieu of our regular work (we had been planning to do this for Daniel but had put it off, having little Sammy over too made it even more fun!).
We busted out the book MADELINE and got out our Five In A Row unit study book (the book is named FIVE IN A ROW as you are supposed to read the book 5 days in a row, doing lessons springing from the book each day).  CJ picked out the arena he would like to teach -- grouping and dividing.  After reading the book and discussing "compassion" (the girls in the book "smiled at the good, frowned at the bad, and at times were very sad"), we went to the computer and checked out our neighborhood on Google Earth.  Next we flew right on over to Paris, France!  Woo-hoo, the things you can do with Google!  We also looked at photos of French flags and a map of France.  Back in the living room, Christian placed 12 marbles in front of the boys, telling them they were the 12 little girls from the book.  Sam and Micah arranged the marbles into several different counting groups (how many groups do you get if Miss Clavel sends them three at a time to brush their teeth? etc.).  Micah wanted to read to Samuel and Daniel, so he read from a few BOB BOOKS.  Next, the boys spent 1/2 hour designing and playing with tangrams.  What a fun morning!

Real Life:
Ron took Micah's Tiger Cub troop to visit a new police station.  What a fun and educational trip!  The boys looked at guns and tazers and handcuffs and even saw the emergency call center (a 9-1-1 operator spoke with them).  The video made it look like so much fun that I am sorry Daniel and I didn't go along!