Considering all the different interests of each family member, what would be an "ideal" vacation? Joshua wanted to go to New York City, stay in a hotel and see the Statue of Liberty. Caleb wanted to go to New York City, eat hot dogs (conies) and pizza. (Gotta love my little Southen boy for wanting some good Yankee food). My ideal vacation would be to visit my family in New York State, have real New York pizza and visit a craft store that met my quilting, scrappin' and stampin' needs. Martin was at work so he couldn't let us know of his ideal vacation. Sorry hunny maybe next time.

So by looking at what each person wanted, we were able to come up with a "cooperative" vacation. On our "ideal" vacation, we went to New York State to visit my family, then hopped down to New York City, stayed in some hotels, had pizza, hot dogs. Now here's the tricky part of cooperation. Sometimes you must compromise. I decided to compromise and not visit a craft store as South Carolina has them too, and visit the Statue of Liberty with the family. While teaching about cooperation, I'm also trying to help the boys understand that sometimes you must compromise in order to cooperate.

What does this mean: Church is not a spector sport? This was a tad difficult to explain to the boys. I used how they participate in children's choir and when they sing in the musical, they will bring joy (okay folks, work with me) to the audience.

Then we discussed who is in our extended family. After discussing that, I "drew" (an artist I am not) a tree. Thankfully Joshua figured it out right away. We'll be doing more with this topic later on.  I need to pick up some supplies and have some pictures made.

Read the bible story of Peter and Cornelius (Acts 10:1-11:18). I read from a very old copy of the Egermeier's Bible Story book. While reading the story, I would stop and really make sure they were understanding what was being said. And what this had to do with cooperation. It was a tad difficult because of the custom of Peter, being a Jew, to not enter a Gentile's house. I think this part was difficult for the boys to grasp.

Made a list of some of the jobs each person in our family does. What would happen if Joshua stopped unloading the dishwasher? Or Martin stopped going to work?

Discussed the old saying "many hands make light work". Using the job of grocery shopping, I was able to show the boys how just using my two hands would make putting away the groceries go very slow. But if Martin helped (now we have four hands working together), it would go quicker. Then if Joshua and Caleb joined in (a total of eight hands - um, a little math throw in too) would make the job go even faster.

Discussion:

• How would you describe church? Big building, lots of people.
• What is the purpose of our church? Learn about God and His love for us.
• Who are the workers at church? Pastor, choir leaders, office workers, janitor, lawn guys, kitchen staff for the Wednesday night meals (Caleb suggested them).
• What are the needs of the church? Tithes and offerings. Respecting of the workers and the people attending, and the church property.
• How can we pray for the church? Pray for the Pastor and the workers (see above list)

What would happen if the workers didn't cooperate? No clean rooms, no sermon on Sunday morning, no food for our Wednesday night dinner. Even the volunteers are working in cooperation with the Pastor and the pupose of the church. Some of the volunteers are the Sunday School teachers, the children's choir leaders.  Even at church everyone must work together and practice cooperation to accomplish God's goal of learning of His love for us.

Discussed at breakfast the old saying of "too many cooks spoil the stew".  Using extended family members and their favorite foods, we were definitely able to help the boys understand that if you aren't cooperating with each other, then food (among other items) would not be tasting so good.

Prior to breakfast Joshua offered to take a soda bottle to the recycling bin. I mentioned there were a few other items to go too. Caleb and Joshua both had two items to take outside. As they went to put on shoes (it was a very chilly morning), they declared they were "cooperating". Uh, such a "Konos moment". They both carried teh flashlight. Then they had to cooperate on which way to go around the van in order to get to the recycling bin.

Even though I've had the lesson plans typed up for our Konos unit on Cooperation for months now, I finally just took the plunge last week to learn about cooperation.

Definition: working well together

Objective: to practice cooperation

Vocabulary: unity; harmony;

Bible: Psalm 133:1 -- how good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity (NIV).

Discussion: What does cooperation mean? How do we work together? What happens when we cooperate? We have joy, show love and respect and we also share. Who should you cooperate with? Your brother, parents, friends. What happens when we don't cooperate? We fight and fighting makes everyone sad. Reviewing our bible verse from Psalms, what is the oppositive of good? What does pleasant me in this verse? Which is pleasant - apple pie or rotten eggs (Caleb's suggestion)? What does dwell (KJV) mean? And unity means harmony.

It's only Monday and I'm already tired of this week. Ugh. First I didn't get up at 4am like I should have and it's now 2:40pm and I am unable to get into the work system due to having to change my password. Modern technology isn't all that it's hyped up to be. And it's this kind of aggravation that really annoys me especially considering we had a great morning of school. So once again, which one should I have chosen to do? My full-time work for my employer or school my children when their minds were more apt to learning? Definite rock and hard place.  Because we are having a "yellow" crayon day (bright, sunshining, happy), let's concentrate on all the great things we learned about today. 

• From the "Bedtime Bible Story Book" by Jesse Hurlbut, we read Day 7: Abram's Journey from Genesis 12:1 - 13:4. When I read this passage from the Bible, I skipped some verses that would have gone over the boys head.
• From " Devotionals for Children" by -Stephen Douglas Williford, we read "When Nobody Else Believed." It's about David and Goliath from I Samuel 17:48-51. I read the Bible passage before reading the devotional story.  Unfortunately this is a library book that is already overdue. I'd really like to find a used copy of this book as the stories are easy to read and I am very able to apply them to our lives.
• Then we moved into attempting to combine the easier activities of two weeks of Konos: Obedience into about four days.
• From the Authority/Light week we did ~
• Who is the child's authority when at the library, (um, let's return those overdue books), church, etc.
• Who is the hightest authority (God) from Luke 22:42
• Play "Mommy Says" (like Simon Says)
• Play "Mother May I?"
• Briefly talked about how was Adam and Eve obedient - um, they weren't. 
• Also reviewed the verse Jeremiah 26:13 ~ obey the voice of the Lord, your God.
• From the Bible week we did ~
• Reviewed II Timothy 3:16 & 17 which lead into a brief rabbit trail discussion about "inspired" by  God, does Wal-Mart make Bibles (um, no, but they do sell them), how do we get the Bible, etc.
• Back on track, we discussed why did God give us the Bible (II Timothy 3:16 & 17)
• I did an introduction to the two sections of the Bible - Old & New Testaments (which Caleb had just learned for Awana Sparks Skipper)
• Briefly discussed and showed them what a "sword drill" was. But they wondered where the "sword" was - um.... but I was able to help them understand that it's important to really know your way around the Bible
• Discussed that the Holy Bible is from God and because of that we should always show respect when we talk about the Bible and when we handle the Bible. I've begun to notice some serious disrespect when reciting our Sparks verses - um, from the Bible, so this definitely needs to be discussed and discussed and discussed some more.
• We also sang the B-I-B-L-E many, many times.
• Did you know there are four stanzas to the song Jesus Loves Me? I didn't until I dug out my very old hymnal. I was amazed. I think it might be good for us to actually learn all four stanzas.
• Tonight we are going to be doing a bit more on our Lapbook: Caleb's Surgery. Honestly, it's many pictures and discussions, so it's not that difficult for the boys and won't take that much to finish it. But hopefully it will provide an avenue in which to help Caleb prepare and ask questions.
• And lest I forget, they also did their Handwriting Without Tears workbooks and copywork; and their respective Math U See lessons and copywork.
• I almost forgot about the Awana Sparks sections the boys have been working on. Joshua is in his 2nd year of Sparks, so he is in the Hiker book.  He is doing Red Jewel 2, section 5, Red Jewel 3 sections 1 & 2. They are only allowed three sections a week.
• This is Caleb's first year of Sparks (we purposely held him back a year in Cubbies ~ one of the best decisions we made), so he is in the  Skipper book.  He is doing Red Jewel 3, sections 3, 4 and 5. Section 4 is where he starts learning the books of the New Testament. Even though I can't find the CD from the Skipper book, thankfully I remember the tunes. Having these verses set to music is about the only way the boys and myself are learning.

So until my password issue is resolved, I guess I am going to enjoy being a "stay at home mom" and actually work on getting some clutter outta here.

I thought I'd take a few minutes to share what we are doing this week. As I had to explain to my brother, we are tad behind in the number of days (180), but then we are always learning something, right? So we are still 'doing school' this week.  About a year ago we did an abridged version of the Obedience unit from Konos out of the older book. Since having the updated book, I hadn't looked at the Obedience unit until today. WOW was I shocked at the way it was organized. Definitely better than the older version. So here's what we are focusing on this week.

 

Konos: General Week 1 of 1

Bible: Hebrews 12:9-11~because the Lord disciplines those he loves. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

Examples: Adam & Eve (Genesis 2:15-17; 3:14-19)

Definition: Obedience is being willing to do what one is asked

Objectives: Knowing whom to obey; knowing how to obey; realizing there are consequences for disobedience

Vocabulary:  disobedience; consequence; punishment; discipline; sin; wages

Books: "The Book of Virtues" by William J. Bennett. I'll be looking at the Self-Discipline section and pulling appropriate material. "The Children's Illustrated Bible" by Selina Hastings (A Dorling Kindersley book). " "The Little Book of Obedience" 31 Daily Devotionals "Egermeier's Bible Storybook", story 2, "The Story of the First Earth-Home" "Pinocchio" from Childcraft, book 1, Once Upon a Time. Our local didn't have any "easy books" for Pinocchio for the boys. Thankfully I already had one.

We read about Adam and Eve’s disobedience from Genesis 2:15-17; 3:14-19 from the NIV. Then we discussed how God had given an instruction and also the consequence of death. I briefly talked about how God didn't have to give the consequence at the same time He gave the instruction. Reviewed about what the instruction was (not to eat the fruit of the one tree) and what was the act of disobedience (eating the fruit from the specific tree) and then the consequence (toil by the sweat of the brow, etc.)  Also, Joshua read aloud to Caleb and myself from the Beginners Bible, the story "The Sad Day".

Have your child pretend they are the parent and write a list of rules for the children. Have them explain the reasons; what happens if they disobey; and the consequences

Read the books: Curious George Rides a Bike; Peter Rabbit; and Corduroy: were they just curious or were they disobedient?

What are the rules in our house?

Make a sign with the family rules on it; frame it if possible

Design a point system for approved and disapproved behaviors in your home. See example below

Make different signs for in-house rules; in-car rules; outside rules; public places. Explain how & why those rules differ. Set up consequences for each

For younger children, work on a behavior chart (for example, immediate, cheerful, thorough obedience) by using a Velcro “thermometer”. On a sheet of poster board, tape a vertical length of white Velcro. Cut out a red construction paper circle for the bottom of the thermometer. Give your child a jar of Velcro squares. Whenever they obey in a submissive way, have him add a red Velcro square. When the thermometer “mercury” reaches the top, reward.

 

Give rewards at the end of the week (e.g. 5 points earns a yogurt cone; 10 points, having a friend over to play; 15 points, a video or special event).

Our main curriculum this year will be Konos. I have been very, very blessed to be able to purchase all three volumes second hand. Previously I thought we would be doing the NERF unit - Nutrition, Exercise, Rest, Fun - NEFF!!!  Then we continued to see some serious behavior issues and decided that we needed to get some JOY back into our home. So last weekend I planned the 4 weeks of Joy and Cheerfulness. Yesterday because I was unable to work due to systems issues, we went to the library and have now checked out most of the books I had wanted. This evening I've been entering week 1 into Homeschool Tracker Plus -- excellent program and great customer service. They also have a FREE basic version.