Like I said in my previous post, I've felt crummy all week. So we didn't do any cool cultural evenings. We didn't get outdoors to do any cool nature studies. But we did do the essentials, and that's yet another reason I'm so grateful that we are able to homeschool.This week, Kathryn and I visited Spain and Portugal. One of the things we do as part of our Winter Promise "Children Around the World" lessons each week is add stickers to our Travel With Me maps for the country (or countries) we are visiting. The countries are all labeled in red. Water forms are labeled in blue. Major land forms are labeled in green. You can see our little "travel guide" children, and other stickers of things such as the Flamenco Dancer and The Running of the Bulls for this week, or Tulip Farms and Windmills in The Netherlands, a sheep to represent wool in the United Kingdom, and a potato to represent the Potato Famine in Ireland. Kathryn really enjoys adding the stickers, and the map is displayed at her eye-level in our school room all the time. When we finish Europe, we'll have a new map for a new continent.
Each week we have a few cool websites to visit, for things like a virtual sight-seeing tour of each country, or something extra like when she explored old Spanish galleons online. Some weeks we have additional "cultural experiences" books to read, like this week's Find Out About Spain, which was full of all sorts of fun facts. Kathryn was fascinated by bull fights (and felt sorry for the bulls!), and I was astounded when she read to me about an annual food fight festival held on the last Wednesday of August each year in the Valencia region of Spain; this festival celebrates the harvest, and is known as La Tomatina.
Kathryn really is learning so much about geography already -- and so am I! This makes it more fun, and we don't have memorize a bunch of boring facts or learn everything all at once. Our globe is getting used more often this year, too!
Kathryn really is learning so much about geography already -- and so am I! This makes it more fun, and we don't have memorize a bunch of boring facts or learn everything all at once. Our globe is getting used more often this year, too!
Kathryn chose our memory verse for the week: Philippians 4:6. We've continued working on Studying God's Word Book D, and she told me she likes the activities in this book better than in the previous ones. In her Prayer and Personal Involvement Journal we're learning about basic needs we all have, like a safe place to live. Part of this week's study referred to things like having shelter after a natural disaster (like a tsunami) or in a war-torn country. I hope this will help us all begin to have a greater appreciation of how greatly we are blessed. The other part of this week's lesson was about Foster Care. I think, because of all we've talked about for the nearly two years we've been going through the process of adoption (getting approved & all that), that Kathryn has a better understanding of this than the average 9-year-old. But I'm very glad this topic is covered!
Lindsey missed classes on Tuesday because she wasn't feeling well, either. She made up her work, and felt good enough to go to choir practice and youth group Wednesday night. On Thursday, she went on a field trip with a group from school to see the play Julius Caesar at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. She was most impressed by the fake blood used in the stabbing scene, and that was the first question she asked when they had a question-and-answer time with the actors after the play. {grin}
Lindsey was very impressed with herself in knowing much of her Physical Science stuff before looking it up. She said she felt smart. I hope this sort of thing, as well as last week's excellent grade on her English essay, etc., will begin to build her confidence in her ability to learn. I don't think she's had a lot of positive experiences/feedback in school in previous years. We just found out that she'll be having yet another new English teacher; I'm disappointed about this because she was really doing well with the interim teacher (who I though would be the teacher for the remainder of the year).
Last week was Lindsey's first Sunday helping lead worship in Kid's Church, and she loved it. This week will be her first choir performance at church. Kathryn had another Brownie meeting this week; I wasn't crazy about the Halloween crafts they did (we don't do Halloween), but the crafts did give me some ideas for crafts here at home. The acorns painted to look like pumpkins were cute, though!
Stop by to see Kris for more of this week's "Weekly Wrap-Up" participants.
Lindsey missed classes on Tuesday because she wasn't feeling well, either. She made up her work, and felt good enough to go to choir practice and youth group Wednesday night. On Thursday, she went on a field trip with a group from school to see the play Julius Caesar at Oglethorpe University in Atlanta. She was most impressed by the fake blood used in the stabbing scene, and that was the first question she asked when they had a question-and-answer time with the actors after the play. {grin}
Lindsey was very impressed with herself in knowing much of her Physical Science stuff before looking it up. She said she felt smart. I hope this sort of thing, as well as last week's excellent grade on her English essay, etc., will begin to build her confidence in her ability to learn. I don't think she's had a lot of positive experiences/feedback in school in previous years. We just found out that she'll be having yet another new English teacher; I'm disappointed about this because she was really doing well with the interim teacher (who I though would be the teacher for the remainder of the year).
Last week was Lindsey's first Sunday helping lead worship in Kid's Church, and she loved it. This week will be her first choir performance at church. Kathryn had another Brownie meeting this week; I wasn't crazy about the Halloween crafts they did (we don't do Halloween), but the crafts did give me some ideas for crafts here at home. The acorns painted to look like pumpkins were cute, though!
Stop by to see Kris for more of this week's "Weekly Wrap-Up" participants.
