ECC Weeks 3-4 (United States)

We started weeks 3 of Exploring Countries and Cultures just after we returned from our vacation.  I had planned that we would only need one day to re-acclimate but boy was I wrong.  I ended up starting and stopping a few times our first week back instead of just taking a few days to get out of vacation mode.  I need to remember this for next year!  Either that or just wait to start school after Labor Day like we did the previous year.

So I'm going to attempt a recap of our first two weeks in North America - the United States.  It's been a while so I won't be too detailed.

In ECC Bible:  We learned a little about the lives of missionary kids in the Windows of the World book.  We also started reading Hero Tales and copying the character qualities form the stories each day.

In Caroline's 1st grade Bible she is learning how the books of the Bible were first written on scrolls.  She made her own scroll from her cursive pages as well as her own clay pot to contain her scroll.

Since we're using Cursive First we used the pages that came with MFW for cursive instead of the manuscript practice.  These would eventually become her scroll.

Book Basket Time

In Math both girls are really happy with our Right Start Math Curriculum.  I wish I had learned this way.  They play games and use a variety of manipulates, the abacus being are main one.

In Geography the girls have been focusing on learning the states.  We've been using some United States puzzles and they've gotten pretty quick at identifying the states.  The geography cards are one of their favorite assignments for some reason.  Courtney and Claire especially liked learning about the isthmus.

In Science we are learning about the forests.  Sometimes the girls notebook after the lesson and other times we make a poster of our learning.  We covered the temperate forest, deciduous and coniferous trees,  the canopy, the forest floor, tree identification and the chaparral.

In Art we started Drawing With Children.  It was mainly for Caroline but I did it with all four of the girls.  This initial lesson was just establishing starting levels.  I was pretty impressed with how well they did and how the twins hung in there.  Oh how they want to do everything their sisters do.  :)  They did well too!

Calista

Caroline

Courtney and Claire

We also made Coup Sticks for our Native American art.  Each circle represents a significant event or accomplishment from the past year.  I loved seeing what they chose to draw.

Caroline drew the garden,  riding her bike without training wheels and her ballet recital.

Calista drew her acting class/performance, the Capitola vacation, completing 3rd grade and her work in Awana last year.  

For our Read Aloud time we are enjoying Kingdom Tales.  I mainly read this to Calista because the first story frightened Caroline a bit.  She has opted out which is okay with me since we have other read alouds as well.

It's not as easy to recap our weeks when I don't do it immediately.  I think that once I catch up I'll post school photos more regularly and not wait for the unit to end.  It feels a bit more daunting to write the big recap posts and I do want to make sure to document our homeschooling journey.