Our first quarter felt like it went on and on and on. We had many activities taking place and I had us going full steam as much as possible. We finished strong though and I felt like we accomplished a lot.
In Bible, we completed our study of the book of Jonah. I especially loved the reminders about who God is: He is all-powerful; He rules over nature; He is Elohim, the Creator; He is sovereign; He is our provider; He gives second chances; He appoints time; He can change His mind; He listens when we pray; He gets angry over sin; He is El Roi, He sees us; He is gracious, compassionate, slow to anger and abundant in loving kindness. We also learned that when we sin, it doesn't just affect us; but we hurt other people as well. The sailors were greatly affected by Jonah's disobedience to God. They questioned Jonah about who he was and what he believed. Can others tell we are Christians by the way we behave? Or do our actions cause others to doubt that we are followers of God? It was also important to realize that when we sin, there are consequences. Because God is holy, He must punish sin. But in His mercy for us, He had Christ take the punishment for our sins. When we chose to trust Christ as our Savior, all our sins are forgiven. Because of God's great mercy toward us in forgiving our sins, we should in turn be merciful and forgiving to others; not holding a grudge or trying to get back at those who hurt us. These were wonderful truths to ponder during our study. Next quarter we will study 2 Timothy.
We are really enjoying Apologia's Human Anatomy and Physiology. We visited the Bodies exhibit in September after completing our first couple of lessons. It was really neat to see the things we had just read about and even now we have a visual memory of what we are currently studying. The preservation was fascinating, but it was even more remarkable to see how God created our bodies to work together so perfectly; each system doing its own part to keep us alive. During this first quarter we learned about the skeletal, muscular, digestive and renal systems. I hope as we continue through this book that the kids will see the importance of healthy eating and exercise; that they will want to take good care of the bodies God has given them so they can do the tasks He has given them to do.
I continue to enjoy the Mystery of History curriculum; although I am not as fond of the format for
this edition. This volume is a hard back book which contains only the lessons. You have to purchase the companion guide or CD-ROM to get the lesson activities, maps and supplements. I had purchased the CD-ROM for the previous two volumes because it was easier to print the needed assignments, but I liked having the lesson activities in the book to refer to as needed. Now I end up printing them so they are available when I need them. The companion guide would let me have them to look at; but it is not as convenient to make copies from the book. This year, I am introducing outlining to the kids. Right now this means I put the outline for the lesson on the white board and they copy it while I read the material. I know later they will need to be able to do it on their own; but for now this seems to be helping them retain the information better. This quarter we began with the Wars of the Roses, the Medici family and the Spanish Inquisition. We learned about the first explorers, empires in West Africa, as well as artists and writers of the Renaissance. We ended with Martin Luther's Ninety-Five Theses and the spread of the Protestant Reformation. History is not the kids favorite subject, but I think they find Linda Hobar's style of writing interesting. I like seeing their timeline figures; especially how Josh's have improved over the last two years.
We continue to like Learning Language Arts Through Literature. Josh is in the Purple Book this year. I feel like I just did this with Ellie, so everything is very familiar. Josh completed his first Book Study through "Farmer Boy". He thought it was a "cool" book; but not enough to read the sequel. He struggled with having to do an oral presentation for me; he was embarrassed. But when he finally got up the courage, he did a fantastic job and even repeated it for Dennis. He hasn't finished his Tall Tale yet; but it will be interesting when it's done! Ellie is in the Green Book this year. Her first Book Study was on the book "Star of Light".
It was a more mature book than previous years. The story introduced some of the beliefs and practices of Islam and showed the work of a missionary in Africa. The story taught how following Christ changes us - our perspective, our priorities, and how to persevere through difficult things. The Book Study required Ellie to write character sketches, to compare Islam with Christianity and to write her own analogy for a spiritual lesson. She chose to write her final book review on the characters in the story and shared which one she identified with. There are signs of her growing faith. She also worked on poetry and I enjoyed reading her personal works.
Besides the Bodies Exhibit, we also went to the LA County Fair. It was another hot day, but we made the best of it as always. Ellie was so excited to see she won Sweepstakes for her Flashback Photo. We returned a week and a half later for the Cookie Contest. Both kids won a first place ribbon. Sadly, that evening ended up with Josh getting sick. I'm pretty sure the heat got to him.
Ellie is doing volleyball with CYAA again this fall. Dennis is coaching her team again. It is a fun group of girls. They are so silly at practice, but are able to apply what Dennis is teaching them on game day. Their skills are growing and they play together as a team very well. Josh is taking golf lessons with First Tee of Pasadena. His class level is at the same time as the lower level; but there are two coaches, so he is able to learn at his skill level. There are only two in his class, so he is almost getting private lessons!
My Friday school classes are going well. I only have 13 students, but only 2 of them are girls! These boys are still silly and don't like to sit too long; but they are neat kids and they are making an effort with the assignments. They really enjoyed the weaving project we did when we learned about the First Californians and they made all kinds of extra things with clay for their Spanish galleons when we learned about the explorers. I've heard from parents that their kids are enjoying my class and one student told me I was the best teacher. It is definitely easier this time around having all the planning done. The parents have been good about donating things which has been nice. Josh is doing well with changing classes this year and has been motivated to exercise more from attending a real P.E. class. Ellie continues to enjoy her art and science class and time with her friends.
I pushed the kids a bit at the end of the quarter to finish up the work I had planned to complete. I know that homeschooling allows for flexibility and we can choose what to do or not do. Maybe we don't have to finish all the curriculum by the end of the year because it's not expected in the schools or because we can work through the summer. Yes, sometimes I omit problems or activities from a lesson. When we are feeling weary or tired, we may slow down a little - which we did the first week of October when Dennis was gone on his school retreat. We took four days to complete two days of work. This allowed us a day at the movies and the mall which was nice, but I don't want to do that often. I feel very strongly about doing this homeschooling thing well. Filling my kids' heads with information is not the goal; it's the training in discipline to finish the task set before you and to do it to the best of your ability. Someday my kids will have jobs and they will be expected to show up everyday and do their jobs well. If they get in the habit of giving in to weariness or giving up when tasks are hard, they will not hold those jobs for very long. God expects us to give our best at everything and He gives us all we need to do so.
Paul tells us in Galatians 6:9 not to become weary in doing good because at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. And in Colossians 1:10-11 he tells us that we can please God by bearing fruit in every good work and that we can be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that we will have endurance and patience. In everything we do, we need to do it in the name of the Lord and for the glory of the Lord (Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians 10:31). That's the goal of my parenting and my homeschooling. I hope the Lord is pleased with my efforts and that my children will adopt this same belief and strive to please the Lord in all they do.
