Third Grade- Week in Review

Here is a look at some of the things Hailey has been learning:

 Bible:

Hailey loves Grapevine for Bible and says it is one of her favorite subjects.  She drew a picture of her favorite part of the lesson from the week on this page.

Language Arts:

 Hailey is reading Cappyboppy, which we are both enjoying.

She is also working on learning cursive, which she is not enjoying.  I think this is the worst part of our day- she hates it 🙁

We did some dictionary review.

Science:

We are both loving our science curriculum!  There is always a short and easy experiment and we both really liked the one from this day.  We positioned a DVD behind a lit candle and we could see the rainbow.  It was so neat and really taught the lesson of the day (about how white light is made up of all of the colors)!

Here is one of the pages in Hailey’s science journal as she learns about how light works and how we see colors.

We also had a lesson about how when you look at something like a red flower why you only see the color red, so Hailey drew a picture in her journal about that too.  She drew all of the colors of the rainbow coming out of a light source and then the red light being reflected off to the person’s eye.  The rest of the colors are absorbed, so we don’t see them.

Geography:

Hailey learned about Connecticut and used her Little Passports magazine to do some activities.

She also used her USA Sticker book to learn more about Connecticut.

Just for fun:

One day Elsa and Snow White came to school 🙂

Third Grade- Week in Review

Last week we started third grade.  Which is really hard to believe, because I’m pretty sure it was just last month that we started second grade.  But apparently it’s been a whole year.  Anyway…

On Wednesday we had our first day of homeschool co-0p.  So here is Hailey all ready to go to co-op.  She was so excited to back and see all of her friends from last year.

Posing in her new outfit.

Then, on Thursday we had our first day of school at home.  Hailey, Hunter, and Harper were all excited for the day to start!

Since it was the first week of school and we only had 2 days of school I don’t have a lot to share, but here are a few of the things that we did:

Our calendar board is much simpler this year and so far that is working very well for us.  Hailey is doing everything on the board except the weather, which Hunter is doing.  Last year there was just way too much on our calendar board and it took forever to do everything.

As part of the beginning of our day, Hailey is also doing a page from Critical and Creative Thinking each day.  So far she is enjoying the activities.

On the first day of school Hailey filled out a Back to School survey about a variety of things she likes to do.  She did one on the first day of school last year too, and I hope to remember to do it every year since it will be fun to look back at them in the years to come.

Hailey also drew a self-portrait, which is another thing we do every year.

Another back to school activity we did was this All About-Me Robot.

We are using Grapevine for Bible this year and so far Hailey and I both really like it.  The simple drawings (that even I can do) make it much easier to remember the information being taught.

For math we are using Teaching Textbooks and Hailey loves it!  What a change from last year.  She cheers when it’s time to do math and that was certainly never the case before.  I hope her enthusiasm continues.

We’re using Science in the Beginning and Hailey really liked that too.  We are doing it every other day, so we only had science once.  We did a fun experiment and read a short lesson.  Then Hailey did an entry in her science notebook.

So far, so good.  Let’s hope that continues.

Apologia Educational Ministries Review

I have been busily searching for a great Bible curriculum to use with Hailey next year.  I never found anything I was super happy with this year, so I have kind of just pieced things together as went along.  Next year I’ll have a newborn, so I want to make sure I find something that is nicely laid out for me without much prep work involved.  I was given the chance to review What on Earth Can I Do? from Apologia Educational Ministries and I was really excited to check it out.  I knew that Apologia has a great science curriculum, but I didn’t realize they had a Bible curriculum as well.

We used What on Earth Can I Do? ($39.00), the What on Earth Can I Do? Junior Notebooking Journal ($24.00) and the What on Earth Can I Do? Coloring Book ($8.00).  We also received the What on Earth Can I Do Notebooking Journal ($24.00).

What On Earth Can I Do? is the 4th book in the christian worldview series- What We Believe by Apologia.  The book is a hardcover textbook that has 8 lessons and 294 pages that helps children understand that God gave each of us special gifts to be used for His glory.  It is designed to be used with children in grades 1-6.  The lessons can be spread out as long as you see fit for your family.  There is a suggested schedule at the beginning of the book which would make each lesson last for 3 weeks.  You could stretch them out longer or do them quicker, whatever works best for you.

The 8 lessons cover:

1. Your story or God’s story?
2. Who put you in charge?
3. Will you be found faithful?
4. Where is your treasure?
5. Where does your time go?
6. Whose life is it anyway?
7. Why isn’t it easy being green?
8. What will happen when the master returns?

Then, within those lessons there are several components that you will see covered each time.  For example, each lesson has a section called The Big Idea which introduces the main topic in that lesson.  There will also be a Short Story which tells a story about other children and gives a little glimpse into their lives.  There is also a section called Hide It in Your Heart– where there are memory verses for your child to memorize.  You will also find a section called Parables of Jesus which is a parable from the Bible that has been adapted to help students have a better understanding of the story.  There are several other important components to each lesson, but that is just a brief description of a some of them.

We also used the Junior Notebooking Journal, for the younger elementary aged children, to go along with our studies. It is a spiral bound book that is 184 pages.  In the front of the journal there is a lesson plan guide to help you plan when to read what and which notebooking pages to do.  Again, it is a suggested schedule and you should use the pace that works best for your family.  The Notebooking Journal, meant for the older elementary aged children is also spiral bound and is 236 pages.  It is geared for kids who are ready to do more writing than what is included in the Junior Notebooking Journal.

The Coloring Book has pages to color that will go along with what you are reading to your child.

So, how did we use What on Earth Can I Do?

I planned to have our lessons be a little shorter than the recommended schedule in the book.  Hailey usually gets a little restless if I read too long, so I didn’t want her to get tired of listening to me read.  Plus, with a busy toddler, sometimes it’s hard to have uninterrupted reading time.  But, when I was reading the short stories or the parables for Jesus, Hailey begged me to read a little bit more.  And, Hunter actually sat and listened too.

While I read to Hailey from the textbook, she colored in the coloring book.

After we read the section for the day in the textbook there were notebooking pages to be completed.

 This particular page is called “I Spy.”  Hailey had to write or draw about where she had seen God’s works recently.  She decided to draw a rainy day where the sun came out and then a rainbow formed.

We also learned about what a tapestry is and how God uses the different events in our lives to develop us into who we are today.  Hailey had to design a tapestry that showed important scenes from her life.  She included things like when she was born, when Hunter was born, her first day of school, doing gymnastics and more.

She made this mini book about the fabric of her life.

There are also pages to help reinforce vocabulary being learned, such as word searches and cross word puzzles.

What On Earth Can I Do involves very little prep on the part of the parent- just get your textbook and notebooking journal out and you’ll be ready to go.  I found it to be easy to use and Hailey enjoyed listening to the readings.

Here is what is boils down to for me:

Pros:
Hailey really enjoyed the stories, and I did too.  They really kept our attention and we did not want to stop reading.
The notebooking journal reinforced what we were reading and had fun and educational activities.
It is easily adaptable for a variety of ages.
You can make the lessons as long or as short as you need them to be for the attention span of your children.

Cons:
Ummmmm… I can’t think of any 🙂  It is so easy to adapt it to fit your needs that I don’t think there are any cons.

Want to see some more of Apologia?  Check them out here:

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Week in Review

Here is a little review of some of what we have been learning about:

History/Geography:

Hailey tried out a fun class where the kids learn about a different country each week.  She learned all about Ireland when she tried the class.

She started out trying several different foods from Ireland.

Hunter really enjoyed a chocolate chip scone.

They also got to try playing a harp.  We learned that the harp is the national symbol of Ireland.

Hailey tried the big harp too, but Hunter was afraid to go near it.

We’ve also been having  great time using the Expedition Earth curriculum!

Science:

We have been learning about landforms in science.  We started out by reviewing the continents and oceans.

We are also using Science 4Us, which Hailey really enjoys.  She has done several lessons about our current topic and she loves using it.

I am also using a landform unit from Around the Kampfire.  We used this printable from that unit to come up with a definition of a landform.

Hailey did a test with a variety of materials to see what kind of effect wind and water would have on different kinds of land (dirt, pebbles, rocks and sand).  She drew a picture of what the material looked like before any wind or water came in contact with it.

She tested each material to see what would happen, then drew pictures of the results.   The water definitely beat the pebbles.

We took a day to go to a nearby science museum.  We had a great time!!

A floating ball!

Hailey worked to build a dam to stop the water.

Hunter loved playing in the water table.

Hailey testing out some magnets.

Fun block building

Hailey said she was a spider

Hailey and Pa (my dad) tested to see who was more relaxed.

They also made buildings and then set off an earthquake to see if the buildings could stand the earthquakes.

Hailey and Hunter helping turtles

Bible:

 Hailey has been practicing memorizing the New Testament books of the Bible.  I wrote them out on cards.  Then she would say the books of the Bible,  turn over some cards and then said them again, until all the cards were turned over and she could say them without looking.

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