Welcome to Gosline's Christian Academy
Feb. 28, 2008
Dinosaur Study

Earlier in the year we did a study of dinosaurs from a creation point of view.  We took our lessons from the home school share site. 

Dinosaurs were made on day six!!

A Velociraptor was 6 feet tall

A Utahraptor was 20 feet tall

Triceratops and Stegosaurus were 25 feet tall

Iguanodon was 33 feet tall

T- Rex was 40 feet tall

Apatosaurus was 90 Feet Tall

Fossils we made

We also made the dinosaur eggs but Greg threw them away before I could take the children's pictures with them. 


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Feb. 27, 2008
Study of Leaves/Trees

When the tress started changing colors we did a study on leaves and trees with some friends.  I know it has taken me a while to load!!   I did use some of the ideas from Homeschool Share http://www.homeschoolshare.com/leaf_man.php

For the cover we crushed crayons and melted it between wax paper.  Then we traced leaves and cut the wax paper into shapes of leaves.  They were suppose to have a sample of an entire, toothed, and lobed leaf.

The next pictures is just a picture of their folder open.

 

On the left hand side we put our book for the leaf margins.  This book is the one open below.  We have a picture of a leaf with the parts labeled.  The bottom part with the flap up is a picture of the process of photosynthesis and a pressed leaf.  When we open the bottom flap you will see the paper they made.  Once they made the paper and it dried they cut it into the shape of a tree and wrote Psalm 1:3 on it.  The other side of the flap holds a matching game.  The pictures are of leaves that are named.  For example:  Eastern Cottonwood, Elm leaf, Elderberry,  Aspen, etc.

 

The next set of pictures will be from the right side of their folded.  On this side they have a tree trunk labeled, Voc words, Different types of trees:  Deciduous, Evergreen, Conifer, a tree obersvation log, and the poem The Road Not Taken

 

 

 

 

The last picture is the back cover.  They drew the trunk using their hand and arm.  The leaves are their hands.


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Feb. 27, 2008
Father - Daughter Dance

 

 

 


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Dec. 23, 2007
Field Trips

We have been on a lot of field trips lately.  I did not realize it until I started recording them in my book.  Maybe we should take a break from field trips for a while.? 

I don't have pictures of all the them but here are some of the places we have been.

 

Pumpkin Farm

Wild West Town

Culinary Dept at the local college

Nutcracker (To go along with our Russia study)

TV station

Radio station

Nemo on Ice

Fire station

Chinese restaurant

Indian meal at a friend’s house that is from India

Farm Pictures

Here is a picture of Samantha feeding the chickens an egg shell

Hay Ride around the farm

 

While at the farm we also went through a corn maze.  I did not take any pictures of that.  The children did a really good job reading the map and getting us out of there.  I am so glad it was not left up to me to find the way out. 

Wild West Town

 

 

 

 

 

 

While were at the Wild West Town we did get a tour and a history lesson.  Next, they put on a really neat show.  Then the children got to ride horses and finally they played cowboy and robber.  We had a really good time.

Fire Station

 


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Dec. 23, 2007
Samantha's India Lapbook

Front Cover

Left Side of folder

Left side opened

With the clocks we showed what time it was here and what time it was in India at the time. 

 

The bottom two flaps show a write up about Gandhi and The Taj Mahal.

 

The layered book, I think that is what it is called, is showing the ranks of the Caste system.  However, I wish we had done it in the shape of a person.  When it was taught to her we drew a person and labeled the head as the Brah-min – high priests.  The shoulders were the Kshatriyas – kings, warriors, soldiers that protect and guard the country.  The arms were the Vaisyas, which used their hands to work.  They were the third in the caste system and contained the merchants, skilled workers and farmers who provided all of India with food and products necessary for living.  The legs were the Sudras, which was the fourth and final level of the caste system.  These were the servants.  Finally, under the feet we had the untouchables.  They were deemed "unclean" and polluting.  Their role in life and society is to perform menial, degrading jobs like burying corpses, and killing or skinning animals, cleaning toilets and clearing rubbish and body excretion.   I still have a copy of this person if you want it - just let me know.  I could not figure out how to post it. 

 

When we finished the Caste system we compared it to the ranking system of the Middle Ages and Renaissance time period. 

Right side of folder

On the bottom flap we have a book we made of symbols of India.  On each page we put a picture of the symbol, what it was, and what is symbolized.  In our book of symbols we included the emblem, animal, bird, flower, tree, fruit, and sport.

Right side of folder with bottom flap opened

The top left hand corner of this is a write up comparing Christianity and Hinduism.  Under that is a picture of a girl in a Sari.  Under that we compared the clothing of women and men in India.  Next to the picture of a girl in a Sari is a picture and a write up of Amy Carmichael.

This picture is showing the book of Major Hindu gods opened.  With Samantha I did not really go into this too much.  I just explanied to her that the Hindu religion belives in many gods where as the Christian faith only believes in one God. 

 

Back Cover

Here we labled the mountains of India and the dessert as well as the following surrounding countries:  Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, and Pakistan.


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Oct. 19, 2007
Our Trip to India

India Study

 

We began our trip to India on September 10th and will conclude on October 16th. 

 

The books that I have used or read a-loud are:

 

The Story of Little Babaji by H. Bannerman

The Story of Little Black Sambo by H. Bannerman

Once A Mouse by M. Brown

Rikki-Tikki-Tavi by Rudyard Kipling

India by Joanne Matten

Mama’s Saris by P. Makhijani

One Grain of Rice:  A Mathematical Folktale by Demi

Lighting a Lamp:  A Diwali Story by Zucker

The Hidden Jewel (Amy Carrmichael)  by Dave Jackson

Christian Heroes:  Then and Now Amy Carmichael Rescuer of Precious Gems by Benge

Biography on Gandhi

 

 

Their readers were:

 

The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

Night of The Twilight by Mary P. Osborne

The Conch Bearer by Chitra Divakaruni

 

Movies that we watched:

 

Bride and Prejudice

Gandhi

Jungle Book

 

Additional Resources used:

 

Geography Songs to learn the countries of South Asia

India Art trunk from the Fayetteville Art Museum

www.homeschoolshare.com

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/india/general.htm

 


As we began our study we began with information on Asia and learned the names and locations of the following South Asia countries:  Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, and Pakistan.  Some general information we covered about Asia is:  Vocabulary, 60% of the world’s population lives in Asia, languages, and Asian animals. 

 

When we did our book studies we learned the following topics: 

 

The Story of Little Babaji:  Bengal tiger and other symbols and customs of India

Once A Mouse:  Indian fables and they wrote their own fable

Mama’s Saris:  clothing

One Grain of Rice:  Their food and diets and why cows are considered sacred.

Lighting a Lamp:  Diawli festival

Biography of Gandhi:  Gandhi and History of India

The Hidden Jewel and Amy Carmichael Rescuer of Precious Gems:  Religions:  Hinduism and Buddhism, The Caste System, Customs of India, climate and land of India, and the missionary Amy Carmichael.

 

Additional topics covered were the Himalayan Mountains, architecture, and the Taj Mahall


Their Fables


Tee Time

By:  Amanda, 11

One day a dog named Miss. Cuppy invited her cat friend Miss. Out for tee.  Miss. Cuppy was a very good host but Miss. Out was not a very good guest.  She kept eating, eating, and eating.  She kept getting bigger and bigger.  Finally Miss. Cuppy said angrily, “There is no more food left you ate it all!”  “OK”, said Miss. Out.  “I will go to my house and eat my food.”  But when she got up to go she was stuck in the chair.  “Just, go – go –go”, said Miss. Cuppy.  But when she tried to go out the door she couldn’t do it because she was much to stout.  “Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no!” said Miss Cuppy.  “Now you are stuck her for infinity” “Of course not” said Miss. Out, “Just until I am skinny.” So they waited and waited and finally she was skinny again.  And she never ate that much again. 

 

The moral of this story is to never eat too much food.


Three Horns Lesson

By Nicholas, age 9 

          One day a rinosaurus named rhino met a tyrannosaurus named Three Horn.  He was a very mean dinosaur.  He eats people and other animals.  One day Rhino told him that he should be nicer and just eat plants, instead.  Three Horns did not listen so Rhino tried to teach him to be nice and not to eat meat.  Three Horns started to be a little nice but sometimes he got a little carried away and ate meat.  Rhino wished he could get Three Horn not to eat meat at all.  One day Three Horn finally told Rhino why he eats meat.  He said it was because nobody wanted to be his friend so he got mad and ate everyone.  The Rhino asked why nobody wanted to be his friend.  Three Horns said it was because everybody was afraid of him and Rhino said, “Well Ill be your friend.  I’m not afraid of you.”  So Three Horn no longer ate meat and soon got lots of new friends of all shapes and sizes.


 

Research Papers

(without the title page and Bibliography page)

India

By Amanda, age 11

         India is a great place because God created it just like He made the USA.  It has towering mountains, great rivers, and flaming deserts.  I will tell you many things about India.  Stuff like the geography, customs, and people who did great things.  Sadly there is one bad thing about India.  They worship many fake gods.

 

          If you want to know were all the big mountains, rushing rivers, and blazing deserts are in India then this is the thing to read.  If you put your finger in the middle of a map of India the Himalayas would be Northeast of you finger.  The Thar Desert would be to your North West.  Your finger would be right on the Vindhya Range.  South East would be the Eastern Ghats.  South West would be the Western Ghats.  There are six Grate Rivers of India.  I will tell you three of them.  The Krishna River runs from the Western Ghats to the Eastern Ghals.  I think it should be called the Ghals River instead.  The Ganges River and the Yamuna River run from the Himalayas, which are the biggest mountains in the world.  The Yamuna River runs into the Ganges River.  That is all God’s cool creation.

 

          There are many interesting symbols of India.  India’s national animal is a tiger.  It is respected.  The tiger symbols strength, grace, and power.  A long time ago it was hunted which now makes this beautiful large cat and endangered species.  The national bird of India is the peacock, which symbolizes grace, pride, and beauty.  The national flower of India is the lotus.  It symbolizes long life, honor, good fortune, and triumph.  The lotus also grows in mud and symbolizes purity of heart and minds.  The national tree of India is the banyan tree (fig tree).  Their national sport is hockey.

 

          Gandhi was a boy who lived in India.  He lived with his mom, dad, cousins, uncles, and ants.  Gandhi was very timid.  At the age of seven his parents found a wife for him to marry.  When he was thirteen he married her.  He fought for India’s independence.  He was put in prison several times.  Sadly his wife died with him in jail.  Finally, India got their independence. 

 

          Another great person who lived in India is Amy Carmichael.  She was born in Scotland then she moved to England.  She went to Japan and started missionary work.  Then Amy went to India because she felt that God wanted her to go there.  It was really hard to teach the work of God in India because the people who lived there had so many gods and so many rules.  Nobody wanted to break the caste system.  Any never got married but she was never lonely.  She started to rescue girls from the temples and taught them the gospel.  Girls in the temples had to get married to the gods.  She rescued over 100 boys and girls.  Sadly Amy died on January 18, 1951.  Amy’s home for boys and girls is still in use today.

 

          The customs of India are very interesting.  They would paint henna on their hands and feet on big celebrations.  When they got married the wife would wear a red dot on her head.  Sadly some children get married very young.  Their parents arrange their marriages.  India’s customs are very different from ours.

 

          India is a great place.  It has great history and geography and fun customs.  Not to mention the symbols.  I hope you learned a lot because I sure did.  There is a lot and I mean a lot more stuff to learn about India.  We should pray for India that they would learn more about God. 


India

By Nicholas, age 9

     India, which is in south Asia, is a peninsula that is surrounded by the Indian Ocean, Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea.  India has lots and lots of spicy foods.  Gandhi is a famous civil rights hero who lived in India.  Every country and state has their symbols including India.

 

The symbols of India are really fascinating.  India’s national animal is the Bengal tiger. The Bengal tiger is going extint because it used to be a common sport in India to hunt tigers.  The tiger is respected for its grace, bueaty, and power.  India’s national bird is the peacock they respect it for its beauty and pride.  The natinal flower of India is the lotus.  The lotus represents long life, honor, and good fortune.  The national tree of India is the fig tree.  The fig tree gives them lots of shade.  India’s national fruit is the mango.  In India it comes in lots of different colors shapes and sizes.  The national sport of India is hockey.  India has eight Olympic gold medals. 

 

Most Indian foods are spicy.  There bread dose not really have a taste but if you bite in just the right spot it will taste a little bit spicy.  The respectful way to act when you first walk into an Indians house is not to take the fist offer of tea or bread but the second time you may take tea and then the third offer you may take both.  Indians do not eat cow so most of there hamburgers would be vegieburgers! 

 

Gandhi, who started out as a timed little boy, lived in India.  He grew up to fight for India’s independence from Britain.   He was a very peaceful man who led lots of strikes and protests. But one day Gandhi was shot and died.    

  

I think that they where all very important but my favorite was the food!  The symblas and Gandhi are probably the most impotant thing to the Indians but I still like the food the best. 

Indian Clothing

 

Tina, Michelle, and myself

 

 

Aunt Anna

 

Their Notebook

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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Sep. 27, 2007
Field Trip

 

 

 


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Sep. 11, 2007
Goin' Someplace Special

This week’s theme was an introduction to the library.  I wanted them to be familiar with our library and how to use it - since they will be doing all kinds of research this year.  The book I picked for our study was Goin’ Someplace Special by P. McKissak.  Using this book also gave us an opportunity to discuss civil rights.

 

Bible:

 

Monday:  Genesis 4:3 – Genesis 27:34-41:  Anger:  Made a comic book showing ways to deal with anger that pleases God and ways that do not please God.

 

Tuesday:  Genesis 4:21, 22a:  Jubal and Tubal-Cain


Bible Notebook


 

Goin’ Someplace Special

by Patricia Mckissack

 

Goin' Someplace Special

 I took our lessons for this book from www.homeshoolshare.com.

 

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Confronted with the indignities and humiliations of segregated Nashville in the 1950s, young 'Tricia Ann holds her head high and remembers that she is "somebody, a human being--no better, no worse than anybody else in this world." For the first time, 'Tricia Ann has been allowed to venture outside her community all by herself. Her grandmother has prepared her well, fortifying her "with enough love, respect, and pride to overcome any situation." 'Tricia Ann, though frustrated by the Jim Crow laws that forbid her, as an African American, to enter certain restaurants and hotels, or even to sit on park benches marked "For Whites Only," rises above her pain and makes her way to one of the only places in the city that welcomes her with open arms: the public library.

 

Character Building & Bible Study:  Joy

 Tricia Ann is reminded-- "don't let those signs steal yo' happiness!" 

 

Verses we looked at that reinforced finding joy in all circumstances:

 

Philippians 4:4
I Peter 4:13
Galatians 5:22
Philippians 4:11-12

 

My favorite line in this book is,

 

“You are somebody, a human being – no better, no worse than anybody else in this world.  Getting’ someplace special is not an easy route.  But don’t study on quittin’, just keep walking straight ahead – and you’ll make it.”

 

Geography:  Tennessee

 

History:  Segregation, Jim Crow Laws, Sit in, Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Civil Rights. 

 

We also covered the history of libraries.  We talked about how during the middle ages the books were chained to the shelves and why, “books” during ancient Egyptian times, and the smallest published book in the world.  I read them the story Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora.  This is a story about how Tomas developed his love of books.  Later Tomas had an elementary school, library, and a book award named after him.  On Friday we went to the library to do a Scavenger hunt.

 

Language arts:  Character development:  dialogue, word choice, and quality adjectives.  Vocabulary words:  Caucasian, Civil rights, and segregation.

 

Readers for this work were:

Martin’s Big Words:  The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King by D. Rappaport
If a Bus Could Talk:  The story of Rosa Parks by Faith Ringgold

 


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Aug. 31, 2007
A Day's Work

I am not very happy with our progress for this week of school.  Nicholas was sick – running a high fever and bronchitis.  So some of the activities that we do together was skipped.  On top of that Nicholas’s 5-paragraph paper he was working on is lost.  He saved it on a disk, which must be bad, because I can’t open any of the files on that disk.  I talked with Greg and he suggested that the additional language art lessons and science lesson I had planned could be skipped but he wanted Nicholas to redo this paper and finish reading Oliver Twist.  Nicholas only had his conclusion paragraph left to write.  Greg has asked me to cover research and more writing this year.

 

Bible:

 

Monday:  Genesis 1:26-28:  God made us to rule over the earth and to be good stewards of it.

 

Tuesday:  Genesis 4:1-16:  God made families so we could care for each other.  Am I my brother’s keeper?  (Made a family tree)

 

Wednesday – Friday:  Due to Nicholas being sick we just listed to praise music. 

 

·       They also finished their paper on The Garden of Eden.

 

The Garden of Eden

By:  Amanda G

Age 11

 

          The Garden of Eden, which was created by God, must have been a perfect place.  I will tell you all about it.  You will wish you lived there because it is so wonderful.  I will tell you the geography, creation of man, and sadly the fall of man.

 

          We are going to find out where The Garden of Eden could possibly have been.  There are four rivers that run through the garden sadly I could only find two.  The names of all four rivers, which separate into four headwaters, are the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. I think that it is in Iraq or Turkey, which is in Asia, because that is where two of the rivers meet.

 

          Next, we are going to talk about the creation of man.  The creation of man and women, which was done in the image of God, was created on the sixth day of creation.  God created man because He wanted somebody to praise and glorify Him.  God took the dust and made man.  Then He took a rib from Adam and made women.  God breathe his breath into our lungs so that we could breath.

 

          We must now sadly talk about the fall of man.  The fall of man happened because the serpent tricked Eve into eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which God said not to eat from.  Then Eve told her husband Adam to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge – and he did.  God found out and said, “Who did this?”  Adam blamed it on Eve.  Eve blamed it on the serpent, which was really satin.  God kicked Adam and Eve out of the garden and cursed man, women, and the serpent. 

 

          Now, that was just the beginning of many great works of God.  The most important part was when God created man.  The saddest part was when man disobeyed God for the first time.  The Garden of Eden was a very beautiful place because that is how God created it.

______________________________________

The Garden of Eden

by:  Nicholas, age 9

       The Garden of Eden was a special place because God made it that way for a man named Adam and a woman named Eve.  The Garden of Eden was created over 2000 years ago in BC.  We think, but we are not sure, that the Garden of Eden was located in either Iraq or Turkey.  The Garden of Eden had lots of plants, animals, food, and sounds.  God created the garden for man but sadly man sinned and had to be kicked out.

 

          The Garden of Eden was located in the east of Eden, which is where the four headed waters touched.  One was named Pishon the second one was Gishon the third was named Tigris and the forth was the Euphrates and they where all four rivers.  It might have been located in either Iraq or Turkey because the map shows two of the rivers and they go through Iraq and Turkey.  The continent had be Asia because of the two rivers. 

 

          There are beasts of the field, birds of the sky, and fish of the river.  In the Garden the sounds you would hear are roaring lions, tigers, and bears.  There were also trumpeting elephants, mooing cows, chirping birds and any animal sounds you can think of in the whole wide world. 

 

          God created man in his own image because He needed someone to take care of the earth.  God, who created man, had Adam name every animal on earth.  He named the Zebras - Zebras, He named Loins - Lions, and you know the rest.  That man and that woman probably took good care of the Animals.  I am sure that Adam and Eve absolutely loved it.

 

     Since Adam and Eve disobeyed God they where severely punished.  Adam had to work hard for food.  Eve had lots, and lots of pain in birth to her children.  Since they sinned they had to be kicked out and couldn’t live in the garden forever.            

 

______________________________________

 

A Day’s Work by Eve Bunting

 

We need more books like this!  I took our lessons for this book from www.homeshoolshare.com.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Francisco, trying to find work for his grandfather, or abuelo, who has just arrived from Mexico, acts as a liaison between Abuelo, who doesn't speak English, and Ben, who wants to hire a gardener for a day's work. Eager to earn the badly needed pay, Francisco assures Ben that his grandfather is a skilled gardener (Abuelo is in fact a carpenter). Returning at the end of the day, Ben is shocked to discover that Francisco and Abuelo stripped his field of the plants and left the weeds. Abuelo is also angered, learning only now that Francisco had lied to Ben, and refuses payment until they have done the job correctly. Recognizing the older man's integrity, Ben rewards Abuelo and Francisco with the promise of "more than just one day's work." Says Ben of the plants: "The roots are still there. If they've replanted early, they'll be alright." Similarly, Francisco is given a chance to start over. He changes from a naively parental figure to a child who "had begun to learn the important things." The shift in the boy's role quietly suggests not only the importance of a work ethic but also Francisco's need to be a child, guided by a caring adult. With expressive, gestural watercolors, Himler, who illustrated Bunting's Fly Away Home and Someday a Tree, conveys the boy's complex relationship with his grandfather and strongly invokes both the harsh and the tender landscapes of Francisco's world.

 

Character Study:  Honesty and Integrity

 

In the story Francisco lies for work.  This lie leads them to pull flowers instead of weeks.  The grandfather insists that they work for free to fix their mistake.  Abuelo, the grandfather, stood strong on a moral he believed in – honesty – and that proves his integrity.

 

“We do not lie for work”

 

Examples of lies and consequences of lies found in the Bible that we discussed.

 

Abraham and Sarah Gen. 12: 10-20 Abraham told Sarah to say she was his sister because he was afraid the Egyptians might kill him and take Sarah because she was so beautiful. Pharaoh takes Sarah into his house and is warned by God to return her to Abraham untouched or he and his family would die. Pharaoh returns Sarah but tells Abraham to leave their land.

Jacob and Esau – Gen 27 Jacob has to leave home to escape Esau's anger after deceiving Isaac into thinking he was Esau and receiving the blessing meant for Esau. He had to live in a foreign land for many years away from his family.

 

Ananias and Sapphira - Acts 5:1-11 Ananias and Sapphira were struck dead by God for saying they were giving all they had gotten for selling some of their land and really keeping some back for themselves. There was nothing wrong with only giving some of the money, it was theirs to give, but they claimed to be giving the whole amount.

 

Geography:  California and Mexico

History:  Culture:  Labor Day Holiday – Tie in

 

We will watch the video Oliver Twist as soon as Nicholas finishes the book.


 

  

 

 

 


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Aug. 24, 2007
First Week of School

We started school back this week.  We had a much longer summer then normal because

 Greg was home.  It was too long.  It has been so hot - 100 + - to hot for anyone to go

outside so they were very eager to have something to do.

Pictures of the Classroom



I did not take pictures of it but the dogs spend

 the whole day in the classroom with us. 

So, 1 teacher, 4 students, and 4 class pets - so far. 

 

Bible:  We covered Genesis 1:26 - Genesis 3:24 (The Garden of Eden) and discussed

             Numbers 32:23 and how you can be sure that your sin will find you out.  The

             older two are working on a 5-paragraph paper about the Garden of Eden. 

             Using finger paint we created a cover for their paper.

            (Jonathan LOVED this project)

 

Unit Study:  This week our theme was the history of Labor Day.  I used the project

                      pack from In The Hands Of A Child.  We covered the following topics:

 

  • Vocabulary words:  Labor, demonstration, wages, negotiator, strike, lockout, protest
  • Why do we have Labor Day?
  • When Labor Day is celebrated and why that date?
  • When and where the first Labor Day was celebrated?
  • What ways do people celebrate Labor Day?
  • What is a labor union and what do they do for the workers?
  • What happens when the union and the employers disagree?
  • What are the two types of unions?

 

 

On their own they had to interview an adult about their job.

 

Their readers for this week were: 

 

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

 

In this particular book Dickens’ writing is a commentary on child labor. 

Fire! The Beginnings of the Labor Movement
by Barbara Diamond Goldin

 

In 1911, Rosie becomes involved in the struggle for better working conditions in factories when fire rips through the Triangle Shirtwaist factory, where her older sister Freyda is employed.

 

 Next week I will tie these lessons in with the book we will be reading.  (A Day’s Work by Eve Bunting)

 

Math was mostly review, which they flew through, two weeks of lessons in one week.  Samantha is also flying through her phonics lessons.  It seems like the light has finally come on.  Yesterday she did one week of lessons in one day.  Today she covered two days in a day.  This is one of the beauties of home schooling. 

 

 


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Aug. 7, 2007
Summer fun and School Plans

It is so hard to believe that our summer vacation is almost over.  I have really                enjoyed having Greg home. 

 

School starts back on August 20th and, although I will miss Greg, I am really looking forward to this year. (So are the children they have been begging me to unpack their books)  We have all kinds of new things to learn this year.  We will start school at 8am and finish at 2:30.  Here is what our day will look like. 

 

Times

Amanda

Nicholas

Samantha

Jonathan

07:00 – 08:00

Get up, dress, clean room and eat breakfast

08:00 – 08:10

Calendar, Pledge, and Prayer

08:10 – 08:40

Bible

Bible

Bible

Play dough

08:40 – 09:20

Writing

Writing

Writing

Writing

09:20 – 09:45

Spelling

Spelling

Typing

 

09:45 – 10:00

Snack

Snack

Snack

Snack

10:00 – 11:15

Math

Math

Jonathan

Samantha

11:15 – 12:00

Jonathan

Typing

Math

Amanda

12:00 – 12:30

Lunch

12:30 - 01:30

Literature based Unit Study

Literature based Unit Study

Literature based Unit Study

School Box

01:30 – 02:00

Reading

Jonathan

Phonics

Nicholas

02:00 – 02:30

Typing

Reading

Catch up or chores

Mom

02:30

School is out all unfinished work is to be done as homework! Quick pick up in house (chores).

Nap

 

This year Amanda will be in middle school.  What happens to the years??  I will be using the following this year.

 

Bible:  Discovering Genesis and Christian Missionaries to Know both by In The Hands of A Child.

Math:  Math U See and Keys to …… Series

Spelling:  Sequential Spelling

Science, History, and Language arts:  Literature based unit studies.  Resources include Five in a Row, Homeschool Share Site, Beautiful Feet, and ones I do on my own.  I will also throw in some project packs from In The Hands of A Child.

 

For Samantha I will also cover phonics.

 

For Jonathan we will read – read – read.  My plan is to pick a theme then check books out of the library and do activities based on that theme.  Our first theme is farms.  My main goal with him is to develop a love of books and increase his vocabulary.

 

Also this year the children will participate in a world culture co-op.  The countries that will be covered are India, China, Japan, Russia, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Mexico.  In December they will have an around the world Christmas party and in May they will have a finale.

 

I am sure we will also continue with our timeline unit study co- op.  This will take place once a week in February and March.  We will be covering 1600-1800.  (I think)

 

A rough outline that I have started with is as follows:

August 20 – August 31, 2007

 

  • History of Labor Day
  • They will write a 5-paragraph composition including an introduction and a conclusion on what they imagine the Garden of Eden to have been like.

I will be using the Book A Day's Work by Eve Bunting and lessons from www.homeschoolshare.com for the base of our unit study.  Their readers for these two weeks will be: Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens and Fire!  The Beginnings of the Labor Movement.  I am also going to use the project pack Labor Day from In The Hands of a Child.

 

September 4 – September 7

 

  • Unit on the Library
  • Civil Rights

I will be using the book Goin' Someplace Special by P. Mckissak and lessons from www.homeschoolshare.com for the base of our unit study.  Their readers for this week are:  Martin's Big Words:  The Life of Dr. Martin Luther King by D.Rappaport, Through My Eyes by Ruby Bridges, and Rosa Parks:  My Story by Rosa Parks.

 

September 10 – October 12, 2007

 

  • Asia
  • Mountain Habitats
  • We will begin an in dept research unit.  Our topic will be India.  At this point I will walk them through it step by step.

 

October 15 – November 16, 2007

 

  • Marco Polo
  • Mountain Habitats
  • With the research unit during these dates they will be researching China.  I will help them with China but my goal is with each country they will become more independent.

 

November 26 – December 20, 2007

 

  • The Nutcracker
  • Research Unit:  Russia
  • Science:  Still praying about this

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Jul. 20, 2007
The Bee Tree

I am finally getting around to posting our last project for the 2006/2007 school year.

We were using the book The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco and used the lessons from FIAR.  This time the children did a notebook instead of a lap book.  I would call it more of a scrapbook then the traditional notebooking. 

This is the Cover of their notebook.

This is our Language arts and Math section.

 

This is our LA section where we have our onomatopoeia's and analogies.  On the cover of our book for our analogies is a picture of a bee which they received in pieces and had to put together like a puzzle.  

For the Onomatopoeia's we did an accordion shape book and I printed pictures off of the Internet and they had to label them with their sounds. For example: telephone: Brrring, candy bar: crunch, alarm clock: buzzzz, cow: moooo, cat: meow, rain: pitterpatter, etc....

For analogies we came up with different things that I wrote on the board then they made a book of analogies. For ex: Yellow is to Banana as Tomato is to red, Burger is to bun as Taco is to shell, finger is to toe as hand is to foot, dog is to bite and bee is to sting, etc....
This is our Voc words and Math section.
 
For the Vocabulary we made a shape book which was in the shape of a bee hive. In addition to the FIAR voc we also added some bee voc.
 
For the math we made 8 hexagons.  7 of them they put together like a honeycomb.  For the 8th one we used it to review fractions and graphs.  I gave them 6 jelly beans.  They had to divide their hexagon into 6 sections and graph their beans.  If they had 3 orange beans they colored 3/6 of the hexagon orange, if they had 1 purple they colored 1/6 purple, and if they had 2 reds they colored 2/6 red.  3/6 + 2/6 + 1/6 = 6/6 which is 1 whole

 This next set of pictures is from our bee study and bee field trip.  We used the bee project pack from In The Hands of a Child.  We covered the following things: 

Types of bees: drone, worker, and queen

Responsibilities of the following worker bees:  House, guard, forger, nurse and wax bees.

The Life Cycle of a bee.

Anatomy of a Bee

The Hive

Predators of a bee

Bee Stings

Why Bees are important

How bees communicate

Pollination

Next are pictures from our Michigan study.  I have opened their Michigan fact book so you can see the inside.  I think this kind of book is called a layered book.  On the inside they have a section for state tree, flower, bird, mammal, and flag.  They put a picture of each item and told about it.

We also went to Reed's Gold Mine to visit the mines and pan for gold. Only one of us found gold.  I also have pictures from this field trip but they did not want to put it in their book because they did not feel like it really related to the story.

 

 

 We really enjoyed this book.


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May. 15, 2007
Strawberry Picking with friends

We have been reading the book The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco.  In the book Mary Ellen tells granpa that she is tired of reading and would rather be outdoors running and playing.  Well, this was one of those days.  We wanted to be outside running and playing.  So we went Strawberry Picking.  While we were there we watched the bees and talked about what kind of bees they were, if they were male or female, and why they were important.  Of course we took pictures of the bees while they were on the strawberry plants.  (I am saving those pictures for when I post about our bee studies)  After we were done picking we went to the park and had a picnic with our strawberries and sandwiches then they got to play for a while.

OK, the question is does she wait till we get home to eat it?

 


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May. 10, 2007
Hospital Field Trip

We are testing this week but I wanted to go ahead and post some pictures of things we have done since I last posted.

 


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Apr. 24, 2007
Product Review for In The Hands of a Child ~ project pack North Carolina

I have fallen in love with In The Hands Of A Child project packs.  I have known about them for a while but never bought them because I figured I could do this on my own.  I have been planning my children’s lessons on my own and we love lap books so I did not want to waste my money on something I could do my self.  I contacted them about reviewing their product.  I was sent the project pack for North Carolina.  I LOVE IT!!!  I have already ordered several project packs to go along with our studies for next year.  What do I love about it?  EVERYTHING!!!  Not only are the graphics already there but also the big thing for me is the research they have already done.  It’s all right there.  The Project Pack for North Carolina was so complete I did not feel the need to supplement with other teaching materials.  The only thing I will add for my children are read a-louds and more on The Lost Colony.  The price of the pack is very reasonable and worth the money, even for some one who can do it.  I believe the quality is amazing and with four children the amount of time this saves me is worth it.  I never once had to look anything up or do additional research.  They did it ALL for me!!

 

This particular project pack has 14 pages of information on North Carolina and 26 activities to be completed.   The children are not just learning about basic North Carolina facts like we all did in school.  It also covers the geography, climate, government, economy, people (Andrew Jackson, James Polk, Andrew Johnson, Dolley Madison, Billy Graham, Dale Earnhardt, Sugar Ray Leonard, and the Wright Brothers), important dates, manufacturing, agriculture, natural resources, Native Americans, explorers, religion, and even pirates!! 

 

I have started two of the project packs with my children.  We are working on Discovering Genesis and Bees.  They look forward to school and my children love the pictures.  With the Bees we are reading The Bee Tree using Five in a Row.  Instead of doing a lap book with them we are doing a notebook, in a scrapbook format.  So whether you do lap books or notebooks The Hands Of A Child project packs are a great resource!! 

 

My only complaint is I wish they would put the graphics on the same page as the activity to save paper. ~ I have been told (and have seen) with the newer project packs this has been fixed.

 

 


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Apr. 5, 2007
Spring Plans

Spring is in the air and we are getting spring fever.  We are on spring break for the next two weeks.  When our break is over we will finish up our studies.  I want our studies to have a spring feel.

First,  we are going to study the book The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco.  We will be focusing on bees and doing a study on them.  Since there is also a lesson on gold for this book we will be going to Reeds Gold Mine for a field trip.

Next, we are going to study the book The Tale Of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter.  While doing the study on this book we are also going to do an author study on Beatrix Potter.  We will learn about her and read more of her stories.

Finally, we will finish up the year with a study of the book The Secret Garden.  We will go on a fieldtrip to the Sandhills Gardens.

Its so hard to believe the year is almost over.

 

 

 

 


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Apr. 5, 2007
The Renaissance Faire

We have finished with our Renaissance study.  We spent 8 weeks on this and the children had a lot of fun.  At the end of the study the children took part in a Renaissance Farie and a play "A Midsummer's Night Dream".  Following will be some pictures of the faire from that night.

Introducing the Squire,  Nicholas

Introducing the lovely Faire Maiden, Samantha

 

Introducing the lovely Lady Amanda

 

Nicholas won 2nd place in the horse show

Nicholas standing in from of one of the reports he did.

Knights

One of Amanda's reports:

The Besom Maker

Amanda standing in front of the store she made.

Faire Maiden Samantha and Courtney, who rolled out the red carpet

 

Lord Matthew and Lady Amanda

 


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Mar. 30, 2007
Pictures

Nicholas won the pudding contest

We Won !!

Nicholas's team claimed the championship of the Moore County Parks and Recreation 7-8 boys' basketball tournament!

Nicholas doing to presentations on Knights.

Samantha and Nana

Oops, I'm caught! (Being Cute)

 Me and My Guy Dance

Samantha doing her presentation as a Stain Glass Maker during the Renaissance.

What is This??

 Oh, This feels really good between my toes!

You Can't catch me!

 Yes, this is Amanda.  She can be crazy!

 

Oh Boy, Now what?

Broom Amanda made for her Renaissance report.  She was a besom maker.

The best dad award goes to:  My Daddy!!


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Mar. 30, 2007
Happy 2nd Birthday!!!

We love you so much! 

God has truely blessed us!


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Feb. 20, 2007
Fieldtrip


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