Week 21: Getting Back on Track

We've been kind of a hot mess over here in the school department this month. Christmas break never really went away, and between vacations and illness, it seems most of January has come and gone with very little school actually happening. Alas, that's the beauty of homeschool :) So here we are getting back in the swing of things.

 

After reading our Bible story (The Lost Sheep) and Big Thoughts for Little People, we worked on writing the letter "e". I had the kids trace our tactile letter and I modeled how to write it on each dry-erase board.

Then we made our paper bag lamb craft. They loved this project!

 

Next I handed out our new addition to school time...JOURNALS! The lessons in the curriculum at this point include drawing a specific picture each week...I thought it would be great to put them all in one place, and to have the kids dictate what is happening in their pictures. They LOVE it so far, and I think it will be a neat collection at the end of the year. (I got the books in the dollar bin at Target.)

 The first assignment was to draw a picture of something you love to do with your friends...

 

Next we talked about our senses. To demonstrate how important our sense of sight is, we put on blindfolds and had to identify similar items by feeling with our hands. They did NOT like having the blindfolds on! But they did pretty good figuring out what everything was.

 

 

Then we stamped some letters and numbers in play-dough. They each picked 3 cookie cutters. Once they stamped the shapes, they had to tell me the name of the letter, the sound it makes, and a word that starts with that letter. My, how we have digressed...

 

DAY 2!!

 

We started with the "12 Months of the Year" song...comedy I tell ya...

 

 

Then we re-read our Bible story and spent a lot of time talking about forgiveness. I gave each kid a few black pom-poms and we took turns saying something we had done that wasn't kind...something that Jesus wouldn't like...and each time, we put a black pom-pom on the heart. This was HARD for them...Addison and Noah came up with 2 things each (things like hitting a sibling or shouting at someone)...Jack, on the other hand is sinless :) He did NOT want to participate in this part.

 

Once we marked the heart with our sins, they asked Jesus to forgive them for each one, and they were able to take the pom-pom back, leaving the heart white as snow again. I think it really demonstrated how asking for forgiveness erases sin. Kinda cool.

 

Then we put together a little poster that models how to pray...this was tough, and they will definitely need practice, but they understood all the parts... I found the example HERE on Pinterest...

For the journal entry, the kids had to draw their families and tell me one thing they loved about each person. It is SO funny to hear the things the come up with!

Then we talked about our sense of smell. I put some smelly items in cups covered with tin foil, and I poked a nose hole in the top of each one. They passed around one cup at a time and tried to guess what was inside. The contents were peanut butter, chocolate chips, banana, orange, and hot sauce. They did a really good job!

We finished up the day with a game of dominoes. I think they really liked this game. They listened to instructions and were able to follow them very well. It's crazy how fast they are growing up!