Unit 8- Dinosaur

I wasn't planning on this unit until after Thanksgiving , but decided to bump it forward rather than having a review week. We covered all of our material during the previous weeks and aren't needing any additional coverage this week. 

I went in to huge research mode(I enjoy this part of planning lessons) to find Intelligent Design resources regarding dinosaurs. Ken Ham from Answers in Genesis had a biblical viewpoint that was age appropriate for curious little boys. In learning quite a bit during this process as well. His was the only one I found, so glad it was meaty!

In case you are curious like me, the biggest difference is the young earth theory, weaving in the creation account in Gensis as well as the Ark, the flood, fossils, looking at Job 40 with new eyes where very large animals not describing any other existing animals we know are found .

A glimpse at all the Dino books we have. A couple do mention non-biblical ideas. At this stage for a 3 and 5 year old, we'll use the two books for reference on names, size and what they ate. 

Other fun during dinosaur week:

Posters :

 

Week 5 ABCJLM

You didn't miss a post and I didn't number the title incorrectly. We are on week 5 of the ABC Jesus Loves Me curriculum.  I'm keeping a big picture perspective with our planning this year and expecting a baby in the Spring. So, we'll be skipping a few of the review weeks (weeks 4, 9 and possibly 14) and tag those review weeks at the end, rather than core material since we are going to be adjusting to a new baby around the house at that time.

We are still finding our flow this fall due mainly to sickness, pregnancy symptoms I'm still trying to manage (that I didn't have with either of my sons mind you), losing my office to a nursery now as well as being in a new house overall from last year. So, all that being said.... we are learning and finding our groove. SO glad we are covered by grace :-D

I drafted the two paragraphs above two weeks ago and then we moved my computer and the ports stopped working to upload pictures from my camera, we I have 3 weeks to catch up on... Here we go :-)

Learning Posters:

Books for the Week:

Bible Story of Cain and Able. This is the first story this school year we've come across that hasn't been introduced to my boys before.  I dug out a few more resources to bring this story to life and make it applicable since we do have two brothers . Only one children's bible had the story, but we did find age appropriate videos on YouTube, coloring pages and other books that supported the underlying themes of temper, hurting etc...  We referred to making peace from the story during the week when I saw upset starting to brew between the two of them.

 

My Father's World activities. Two weeks, we were behind....

Letter of the week with Bible verse and Character Trait. We wove these in to the bigger bible story as well. 

 

Letter D manipulatives

D got the lacing cards out on his own. So cool when he does that~!

We are hitting a stride and working the two curriculum in with some changes that work for us. The comprehension questions and additional ideas from ABCJLM are so helpful for both ages.

Baby Moses

Week 7 of 36

This week I took a slightly different perspective. Rather than feel pressured and stressed to complete all of the LOTW activities I have prepared. I decided with some encouragement from the ABCJLM group to just play with intent- novel idea I know. It got me to thinking, I'm not trying to raise a prodigy here. Learning is not a race, it's a life long journey. 1 Corinthians 8:1 says knowledge puffs up but love builds up.  I'm simply wanting to be with my child and help him learn. He's not quite three and I just want him to have an enjoyment of learning centered around the love and a relationship with Jesus. I have nothing to prove and the only thing that God says to brag about is how faithful and loving my Jesus is.

Articles like this one here summed up what I was feeling in my heart. I don't want to burn any of us out. I was over thinking the process and losing the joy experience on my end as a result. I can't reflect Jesus if my goal, heart and treasures are being stored up in trying to prove any earthly standard of success. This is a valid and successful way to educate our children. It's the best decision for us and our family and that's enough. I have nothing to prove to family, friends and most importantly God. He knows my heart in starting this even if I slip up and lose sight momentarily.  These precious souls are not a trophy, a doll to dress up or successes to live vicariously through.

This blog is to store up memories, to share our lives and what works for us. Everything under my momentary stewardship ultimately is to glorify God. It's not to say look at us, the materials or our way of living as superior.  Teaching my children to reflect more of God and less of themselves is our big picture goal. Education, like anything else is a tool to find a vocation that will best help others to know God. It's not about their potential, their alma mater, their class ranking, how many extra curricular activities or how socialized they are. It's about God and how He uses everything for His glory and good.

If my teaching, correcting and training as well as how we carry ourselves live out the great commandment, that's God's definition of success. If our children can learn how to live out loving God first and then the people He made, that's success. I pray they have a heart to love Christ, find the joy and grace in obeying him and have a passion to share His love with those who don't know Christ.

I remembered our goal for this year and that's how I'm keeping this area of our lives simple. Bible story, memory verse while learning to write and one to one correspondence. I will trust God to guide us to the ways to most reach out to Munchkin. Doodlebug is just having fun getting to play with letters, books and other learning toys while we do activities. I started doing letter fun with Munchkin when he was 21 months old and he thrived on the structure and playing along side with mommy. I'm also finding we all really enjoy having a book centered curriculum which opens the door down the road to lapbooks, unit studies and a Before Five in a Row approach book I bought recently.

books of the week

memory verse 

Visuals

Review list of ABC bible verses

We referred to this scripture lovingly through out the week

Learning Poster- . I never seem to get pictures of the motor skills.
We throw and roll balls daily around here with two boys.
Munchkin does not like paint on his fingers in the least.

Felt and bible stories

More Baby Moses versions

Daddy helped :-)

What's in the Bible telling of the story

Counting crackers

Starfall letter of the week

We also read CCBB by Munchkin's request

We took out foam sticker letters and made words. Great in sounding
out the letters, going left from right, etc..

Dry erase tracing

We started out Shine with the Light of Jesus crafts for this month's Faith theme

We came across an episode of Blues Clues that told Hey Diddle Diddle

Letter D

Our week of D in pictures

I did more of a true sensory bin, rather than a collection of my materials. I'm working up towards the textures in the bottom. I found a DIY for colored rice and sand that looks easy enough....

Munckin's favorite D object was the dogs. We talked about the different colors, sizes, textures, etc

 Munchkin really liked the new power magnets that were delivered this week. We did patterns, groupings, and counting while we played. He used quite a bit of fine motor control for the placement

Window clings naming letters

Books time is my favorite! I'm going to start researching more of the Charlotte Mason approach and slowly incorporate some of that teaching style and see how munchkin responds.

Stamping D's ( and 2's which was our number for the week) on our d page.

Our attempt at the playdoh mats. I did what I could in yellow since that's our next color to learn.

 Munckin really enjoyed his first experience with water colors.Mommy colored over the stencils then Munckin played around.

Tracing the outline of the D for munchkin to watch. We played the Fridge phonics several times while we did arts and crafts time.

Coloring our bible verse of the week

 Putting together the foot prints of the alphabet we've learned so far in order. Munchkin collected them and in the picture he is moving on towards the numbers.

Racecar letters, one of his favorites!

Munchkin also really enjoys the bottle cap exercise from COAH

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree is getting more colorful

Playtime dog piling on daddy with his dog and the diapers