MFW First Grade: Week 26

I thought we'd get more ahead this week ... we're still a week behind ... but, alas, nope. I expect that we'll be back on schedule over the next two weeks. We're taking the week after Easter off (I wish I could say that it's for a relaxing family vacation, but, again, nope. Sparkler is having surgery. Boo.), so I would like to come back to lessons on May 2 fresh and ready to completely live the last 7 1/2 weeks of school with a very healthy little girl.

Bible

Sugar is a whiz at memorizing the books of the Bible. This week took us all the way through I Thessalonians. My TG gives a very brief, one-sentence description of the book, but I read the introduction from the Kid's Quest Bible. It gives a little more shine to the purpose and authorship of the book.

We began this week with the story of the unyielding friendship of Naomi and Ruth. Ruth is one of my favorite books. I love the message, "Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay" (1:16).



Sugar has really taken to the translation from the Jerusalem Bible. It has a sing-song quality to the language that I think appeals to her age. The version we have includes beautiful devotions, so I have found this to be a sweet Bible to read from at Bug's naptime, just to the girls. Bugs listens in on The Child's Story Bible (not that  he follows along, but I like for him to hear the stories nonetheless).

We met Samson this week, as well, and briefly encountered King Saul. The story of Samson was captivating for the girls ... may have been the part about his eyes being poked out ... or his sacrificial end. I am again awed by the marrying of reading, phonics, and Bible history. Well done, MFW.





Sugar is amazing me with her narration & dictation skills. For her Bible notebook (above), I read the story of Samson from The Child's Story Bible (then again from The Jerusalem Bible later in the day ... or maybe it was the next day), and then we worked on her reading workbook. Sugar then reads the same story from her reader and narrates what she read. Now, the hard part ... she pulls all of that information together into two sentences that not only summarize the story, but that also speak to her heart. I write down the two sentences and then dictate them to her for her to write in her notebook. I helped her with "belonged" and "Philistines" and with reminding her that when we start a new line, within the same sentence, we do not need a period and capital ... she wants to put a period after "very" and capitalize "strong" since it feels to her like a new sentence begins on each new line. We worked on this concept and she's got it now. She's very literal. Like me.



Sparkler is diligently working on Bible and thinking/motor skills with Rod & Staff. I try to align the girls' Bible lessons ... this week she wanted to continue coloring her Samuel page ... so we have yet to meet up with Ruth or Samson, or Saul. Did I mention that much of what we are working on with Sparkler is attention and confidence?  Another reason that MFWK will be a perfect fit for her in the fall.



Our Proverb for copywork this week resonated with me, especially. It fills my heart and keeps my mind in the right place ... we are sometimes so blindsided by the things some people say and do, it's painful. That's another story for another time. It is another teaching tool I can keep close to keep my children on Christ's path ... faithful witnesses.



We are moving right along in Reading and Sugar is stealing away in her closet (it's huge and lighted and even has radiant heat) and reads and reads and reads. I think we're slowly turning that corner from learning to read to desiring to read. We spent some time seeing singular and plural in print, which is exactly the method to grammar that I have chosen to take until we reach the dialectical stage. Gentle, oral grammar with a sprinkling of written to cement the concept is best at this stage of development ... next year we'll move to more formal, yet oral grammar with Primary Language Lessons and then to Intermediate Language Lessons, some oral some written. For now, Sugar is adept at many grammatical rules, though we've never had a lesson in grammar. Thank you, Charlotte Mason, again.

[caption id="attachment_348" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="We needed a little lowercase "d" and "s" encouragement, too. "][/caption]

The sounds we've covered ... ooh, we are so close to completing the chart.

Sugar is still a math devotee. Goodness the child loves math and science (which I'll post about later ... we have that scheduled with daddy on Sunday). This was a much-needed week of review with Singapore. We're nearing the close of 1A and as such, spent all week reviewing number bonds, addition and subtraction with numbers through 20, and ordinal numbers. Even for my mathy child, some concepts necessitate several ways of teaching the same idea. Another reason that MFW has set her up well for these times ... we pulled out our beans for place value and number cards to show, clearly and visually, how 10+5=15, without ever having to "add." We're heading to the library on Sunday to find books to solidify what she's learned with math in her first 50 Singapore 1A lessons. Some living books to the mix.

I am beginning to compile Sugar's state portfolio assessment and as I was reading through  my TG again I flagged activities that we never got to, but that I don't want the girls to miss. One was about pressing flowers. While at the market this week I saw a bunch of edible flowers, and since upper New England is short on garden flowers this time of year, I bought a bunch to dry and press. I think we'll make bookmarks with contact paper when they are ready. More to come ...



Oh ... Sugar's shepherd's bag came out beautifully. Obviously, David would not have woven potholders together to craft a bag for his lunch, but this little project gave her a good dose of the mechanics of weaving and a few snacks fit in the bag and she is enamored with carrying it everywhere.



This week we will have our shepherd lunch ... figs, olives, raisins, cheese, and bread. It is supposed to be SEVENTY degrees on Tuesday, so that calls for an outdoor picnic in honor of David.

Another beautiful, sometimes blurry week in My Father's World. Life at the pace of life. I tell my husband every.single.day how thankful I am for the privilege to home school our children.

I encourage you to stop over to A Heart Like Water for this week's MFW Homeschool Highlights.

Because of Him.

Wait

The wait for a court date to at long last fly to our little boy and hold his hand, hug his itty bitty body, and kiss his sweet face is agony. Just plain hard. We are at the mercy of two governments, worlds away, and unknowns at every.single.turn. Blissful highs and crushing lows. Dreams of playing at Crane Beach this summer as a family of six and nightmares of seeing the leaves turn this fall without him, again. We press into our faith, into each other, into the hopes that sustain us, and have sustained us since we first saw his face and knew we were his seven months ago, today. And, we wait. I pray that his wait is peppered with the same hope and peace that we will soon be together and that he knows in his soul that he is loved. Madly.

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Wait by Russell Kelfer

Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried;
Quietly, patiently, lovingly, God replied.
I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate . . .
And the Master so gently said, "Wait."

"Wait? you say wait?" my indignant reply.
"Lord, I need answers, I need to know why!
Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard?
By faith I have asked, and I'm claiming your Word.

"My future and all to which I relate
Hangs in the balance, and you tell me to wait?
I'm needing a 'yes', a go-ahead sign,
Or even a 'no' to which I can resign.

"You promised, dear Lord, that if we believe,
We need but to ask, and we shall receive.
And Lord I've been asking, and this is my cry:
I'm weary of asking! I need a reply."

Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate,
As my Master replied again, "Wait."
So I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut,
And grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting for what?"

He seemed then to kneel, and His eyes met with mine . . .
and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign.
I could shake the heavens and darken the sun.
I could raise the dead and cause mountains to run.

"I could give all you seek and pleased you would be.
You'd have what you want, but you wouldn't know Me.
You'd not know the depth of my love for each saint.
You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.

"You'd not learn to see through clouds of despair;
You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there.
You'd not know the joy of resting in Me
When darkness and silence are all you can see.

"You'd never experience the fullness of love
When the peace of My spirit descends like a dove.
You would know that I give, and I save, for a start,
But you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.

"The glow of my comfort late into the night,
The faith that I give when you walk without sight.
The depth that's beyond getting just what you ask
From an infinite God who makes what you have last.

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you.

"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see
That the greatest of gifts is to truly know me.
And though oft My answers seem terribly late

"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee,
What it means that My grace is sufficient for thee.
Yes, your dearest dreams overnight would come true,
But, oh, the loss, if you missed what I'm doing in you."

A Few Lessons with ArtPac 1

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I know how it can seem that a new program is wonderful for a week or so ... and then it becomes dreary and you shelve it. I am truly not getting that vibe with Art with a Purpose. I genuinely like it. Who would ever have thought? It is so simple. I can see why some set it aside quickly. I think that its fruits will come with much time.

Okay ... so, yes. We colored. Just colored. I love coloring. Mid afternoon, Bugs is napping, house it tidy, hymns playing in the background, hot coffee, an oreo or eight, and my girls and me. Bliss.

This program is really hitting home with me for a few reasons.

1) It takes us back to the basics. Coloring. Fluid strokes. Gentle strokes. Willful coloring in the same direction. No scribbling. Deliberate coloring. My preschooler is dysgraphic ... specifically for her that means that she writes in mirror image because she sees from right to left and bottom to top. Imagine how hard it would be to do a simple exercise like color a picture if you had to be intentional about every movement of your hand. It is also a perfectly-timed reminder for Sugar to s.l.o.w. d.o.w.n. Be little. Color. Model for your sis how coloring is an art.

2) I'm just not ready to delve into the masters. I think that might come when my children are in third grade, respectively. For now, I'm flirting with art curricula for that time in our home school journey, but for now, I am very happy with the juxtaposition of the ArtPac and our previously learned Drawing with Children lessons.

3) To piggyback ... I think that the discipline of Drawing with Children, leading to the execution and individuality of Draw Write Now, alongside the simplicity of the lessons and the media of Art with a Purpose is a comfortable blend for us at this time.

It's just enough and nothing compares to the carefree afternoons with my girls coloring and creating.

Because of Him.

Art with a Purpose

I decided to spend more money ... haha ... and I ordered three sets of Art with a Purpose, ArtPac 1. At $8.95 each I felt comfortable getting a set for Sugar, Sparkler, and myself. I've read a lot of good reviews on this program, and a few that say it is too crafty and not artsy enough. Since it is for grades 1-8 I thought this would be a good time to give it a whirl, especially since it's so affordable. My girls love all-things-crafty so this seems like a nice way to spend a little time one afternoon, or two, each week together (preferably while Bugs is sleeping). We've already had a lot of time this year drawing with Drawing with Children and Draw Write Now, which we'll continue, so this might be a new spin on art.

I'll give it a thorough review in another week or so ... in case anyone  is curious.

Because of Him.

Drawing with Draw Write Now

Speaking of penmanship in my last post ... we have been trying Draw Write Now, both books 1 and 6. We chose 1 as a starting point and then picked up 6 to go along with our Pagoo studies. I have mixed feelings on Draw Write Now. I don't feel the true teaching of drawing with this that I do with Drawing with Children. We've completed several lessons, and I'm not sold just yet. A strong, homeschool Art and Drawing curriculum seems to be the most difficult curriculum to settle on. I'd love to see comments with ideas and suggestions.

We tackled a pig, goose, dolphin, and frog over the past week.

The frog was painful, but for my dysgraphic preschooler, it did feel like her fine motor skills were being polished.

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So ... please share with me your thoughts and experiences with DWN. Or, maybe you use an art/drawing program that you LOVE and want to share.

Because of Him.

MFW First Grade Days 98-102

This week we completed days 98-102 of MFW First Grade. I found myself with a cold again last week and gosh it was another doozy, so we'll play a little catch-up now through Easter.

We traveled to Jericho and also met the Judges and Samuel in our Bible History studies. Sugar thought the priests and trumpets who led the soldiers in capturing Jericho were pretty darn intriguing. We read from The Child's Story Bible to delve deeper into the Judges of Israel ... who were the judges and who can we compare them to today?

Sugar continues to blossom in Reading & Phonics. I'm very, very happy with MFW and its presentation and theory behind teaching reading. It has been a dream to witness her go from learning letter sounds, to letter names, to blending, to systematic phonics, to struggling reading, to fluid reading, and now her reading has inflection and the punctuation means something to her. It's so surreal to sit beside her knowing that I taught this child, my first, to read. She has an infectious love of reading as the days go by and I can see it transferring to both Sparkler and Bugsy.

I love the first Proverb we memorized and discussed ... it comes at a really good time as Bugsy is deep in the tantrum trenches. It creates many teachable moments for my girls, too, as they learn to be more patient with him and themselves as Bugsy develops into more of a little person with opinions and feelings.

Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control. Proverbs 25:28

I am so happy with Sugar's Penmanship (oops, missing an "s" in her copywork) ... we can hardly wait to begin Cursive in second grade!

In a separate post I am going to share some of our Drawing from Draw Write Now ... I'm hoping to hear from others on their thoughts on this program.

Have you seen the Come Look With Me series by Gladys Blizzard? These are FaNtAsTiC books for Picture Study. We are really loving studying a piece of art a couple times per week at lunch. Even Bugsy chimes in with what he sees. It makes my heart smile.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="218" caption="The Oddie Children by Sir William Beechey"] A Tough Story by John G Brown

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[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="216" caption="Edward VI as a Child by Hans Holbein the Younger"][/caption]

For our Music Study we are thoroughly enjoying Can You Hear It?. We are savoring one track per week. This is a beautiful, colorful, and smart book on composer and art study. It is very well executed, in my humble, not-musically-inclined opinion. I suppose that when the Senior Editor at the Met authors the book it is bound to be exquisite.

We began the year with The Story of the Orchestra for 12 weeks ... and spent half of that time listening to Peter and the Wolf, and the other half with Carnival of the Animals. MFW First Grade included a coloring book of the orchestra instruments, which has been a wonderful way to busy little hands, which naturally lends to more concentration and memory.

We are continuing to read The Doll People for Storytime. My heartfelt review, "eh." We'll finish it since we started it and I hope to instill perseverance (though, if it were me, I'd move on). The Borrowers accomplishes what *I think* was intended with the The Doll People, with more umph. It has that classic sensibility that cannot be trumped. Next up ... Mr Popper's Penguins. Soon enough.

The last two weeks of Pagoo (Nature Study) took us along as he molted and became more and more of a little hermit crab, with all the right parts, but still only the wee size of a pencil eraser. Amazingly, one of our crabs, Sam, ALSO molted. Pretty darn cool. Love it when connections are made effortlessly (though, Sam might disagree with the "effortlessly" part).

Oh, I saw that Queen has a Pagoo nature study. I just ordered it, so we'll be taking a short break until it arrives. I hope that it helps me to see Pagoo in all new ways and share those newfound curiosities with my children.

Sugar is still really responding to Singapore for Math. We will be finished with 1A in three weeks when we'll move on to 1B. I wholeheartedly believe that our months with Miquon Orange set her up for success with Singapore and I plan on doing the same with my younger children. We also tackle Calculadder daily. She has a competitive spirit and LOVES it!

There were two sweet activities scheduled with MFW this week ... a woven mat and sampling Bible times food. Looking ahead we got really eager for the activity in which we make a shepherd's bag ... so, I combined them all.

We (when I say we, I mean DADDY ... yes, he's that dreamy) did some weaving and made a potholder ... Sugar wove the material and daddy bound the edges (tough for little people). The fun part is that we are making two to weave together into a little bag, aka the shepherd's bag. We will fill it with our food finds from the market and enjoy our "desert" walk (it is going to be 50 tomorrow!) after church tomorrow.

We're heading to a local farmer's market tomorrow to find Bible Times food to sample ... dates, figs, almonds, olives, pomegranates, and goat's cheese. Then we'll visit the library and get some books with beautiful pictures of these age-old foods. I'll post pics next week when we make a shepherd's bag to carry our food while we take a little "desert" walk.

Full week ... did I say First Grade was winding down too fast? Boy was I mistaken.

Because of Him.

Spring Snow

Beautiful, drapey spring snow.

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Because of Him.