Have you missed us? We've been crazy busy for the last while, so blog updates have fallen by the wayside.
We did finish our unit on Ancient Egypt, and it was a HUGE success! We ended the unit with a study of Passover and watching the classic The Ten Commandments movie. Big Brother and I discussed the similarities and differences between the Biblical account and the movie. He picked out many glaring differences right away! Even though this movie is an enjoyable classic, t is SO important that we know the truth from God's Word and share it with our children so when they see Hollywood's skewed version, they can tell the difference!
So on August 8th we moved on to Unit 2 of A World of Adventure: Ancient Greece!
We kicked off this unit by watching the Drive Thru History DVD titled "Greece and the Word". This whole series happens to be a family favorite. Big Brother laughed hysterically at Dave Stotts' fast-paced and fun way of exploring history. He really learned a lot from this DVD, and we are referring back to it all the time as we are continuing to cover ancient Greece.
Since the Greeks were fascinated with the human body, that is the focus of our science class for this unit. So far we have read about the major body systems, played a puzzle game to learn the names of many of our bones, measured our heart rates and chest expansion, and watched several interesting DVDs from Answers in Genesis's "Body of Evidence" series featuring Dr. David Menton. These DVDs are pretty in-depth and are actually recommended for high schoolers, but 8 year old Big Brother has still picked up a lot of good information from them.
We have enjoyed reading and discussing Aesop's Fables, the parables of Jesus, various Biblical Proverbs, and stories from Greek Mythology. (Big Brother says he's very glad the One true God is NOTHING like the many selfish and silly gods that the ancient Greeks believed lived on Mount Olympus!)
We are working on memorizing Psalm 139 for this unit. This will be the longest Scripture passage Big Brother has ever committed to memory! So far he knows the first 8 verses. We are just working on this a little at a time each morning.
It has been interesting to see just how much of the ancient Greek culture, art, and language has found it's way into our own.
One day this week while driving through a nearby town, Big Brother noted all the different types of Greek columns he saw on different buildings. He got so excited identifying the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian style columns he saw; and it turned an afternoon of running boring errands into a fun learning experience!
Another way we have been turning van time into learning time has been listening to audiobooks and stories on CD. We've recently discovered storyteller Jim Weiss and Great Hall Productions. His retellings of ancient Egyptian and Greek myths have been just great.
In other news:
Little Brother has been enjoying getting to explore a child sized drum set after his weekly Kindermusik classes. He really seems to have a natural sense of rhythm!
Big Brother has begun taking formal piano lessons at the same local studio where Little Brother attends Kindermusik. He is really excited and practices above and beyond his required time. He's looking forward to getting to use his developing musical talents to minister to seniors at a new local nursing home facility soon.
4-H meetings and activities start back up for the school year this week. Big Brother looks forward to participating in the local Homeschool, Cloverbuds, and Shooting Sports clubs this year.
Our local homeschool support group is also busy! We've had several afternoon meetings for play time at the park, and next week we will be doing a fun science co-op class in preparation for an upcoming group field trip to Mammoth Cave!
Have you started back to school yet? I would love to hear how your year is going so far!
We did finish our unit on Ancient Egypt, and it was a HUGE success! We ended the unit with a study of Passover and watching the classic The Ten Commandments movie. Big Brother and I discussed the similarities and differences between the Biblical account and the movie. He picked out many glaring differences right away! Even though this movie is an enjoyable classic, t is SO important that we know the truth from God's Word and share it with our children so when they see Hollywood's skewed version, they can tell the difference!
So on August 8th we moved on to Unit 2 of A World of Adventure: Ancient Greece!
We kicked off this unit by watching the Drive Thru History DVD titled "Greece and the Word". This whole series happens to be a family favorite. Big Brother laughed hysterically at Dave Stotts' fast-paced and fun way of exploring history. He really learned a lot from this DVD, and we are referring back to it all the time as we are continuing to cover ancient Greece.
Since the Greeks were fascinated with the human body, that is the focus of our science class for this unit. So far we have read about the major body systems, played a puzzle game to learn the names of many of our bones, measured our heart rates and chest expansion, and watched several interesting DVDs from Answers in Genesis's "Body of Evidence" series featuring Dr. David Menton. These DVDs are pretty in-depth and are actually recommended for high schoolers, but 8 year old Big Brother has still picked up a lot of good information from them.
We have enjoyed reading and discussing Aesop's Fables, the parables of Jesus, various Biblical Proverbs, and stories from Greek Mythology. (Big Brother says he's very glad the One true God is NOTHING like the many selfish and silly gods that the ancient Greeks believed lived on Mount Olympus!)
We are working on memorizing Psalm 139 for this unit. This will be the longest Scripture passage Big Brother has ever committed to memory! So far he knows the first 8 verses. We are just working on this a little at a time each morning.
It has been interesting to see just how much of the ancient Greek culture, art, and language has found it's way into our own.
One day this week while driving through a nearby town, Big Brother noted all the different types of Greek columns he saw on different buildings. He got so excited identifying the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian style columns he saw; and it turned an afternoon of running boring errands into a fun learning experience!
Another way we have been turning van time into learning time has been listening to audiobooks and stories on CD. We've recently discovered storyteller Jim Weiss and Great Hall Productions. His retellings of ancient Egyptian and Greek myths have been just great.
In other news:
Little Brother has been enjoying getting to explore a child sized drum set after his weekly Kindermusik classes. He really seems to have a natural sense of rhythm!
Big Brother has begun taking formal piano lessons at the same local studio where Little Brother attends Kindermusik. He is really excited and practices above and beyond his required time. He's looking forward to getting to use his developing musical talents to minister to seniors at a new local nursing home facility soon.
4-H meetings and activities start back up for the school year this week. Big Brother looks forward to participating in the local Homeschool, Cloverbuds, and Shooting Sports clubs this year.
Our local homeschool support group is also busy! We've had several afternoon meetings for play time at the park, and next week we will be doing a fun science co-op class in preparation for an upcoming group field trip to Mammoth Cave!
Have you started back to school yet? I would love to hear how your year is going so far!
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