Sunday, November 23, 2014

Sonlight Core G Week 6 Nov. 17-23, 2014

Sonlight Core G 
Week 6 
Nov. 17-23, 2014

(First a few pictures, and then our homeschool work is listed.)


Dd received her cloak!  Giz sewed up for her--it has camo fleece on the inside, and an olive green outer fabric, and a hood (that needs some tweaking).

I asked her to show the inside of her cloak for this picture.




The cloak trails behind her as she walks, and wants me to hem it up a few inches. She says it is very warm!


We had bought Sophie, our dog, a "Thunder Vest" to help her anxiety in thunder storms and fireworks, but it also came in handy this week, as I put two layers of wool and canvas to keep her warm.  You can see it sticking out in this picture.






One of my favorite things to do, is to lay down and look up through the trees.  It is even more fun to do it in snow!  Dd is happy to join in with me on these hikes, in laying down and listening to the sound of snow falling, and absorbing all the amazing things around us.




I just loved how blue the sky was, and made such a wonderful contrast with the white snow.







Pappa was still at the farm on Monday and Tuesday, returning 8:20 PM on Tuesday night, from his successful hunting trip.  He got to return to the family farm in southern Indiana.  He has been hunting with his friend, Mark, together there for 27 years!  They both got a deer from the farm grounds.  He hadn't been there since last years hunting season.  It is difficult with family relations when so many different people all "share" the same place.  I'll leave it like that, and just share that Lord must be guiding us to finding a little place where we can hunt without getting permission.  It is usually pretty clear when the Lord is guiding you away from one thing and pointing you towards a new direction...as you can almost hear the doors closing.  It is sad, but I am hoping that He has something special in mind for us.

I think it was Sunday that the SNOW started falling; and didn't stop until Friday!  It has been hard finding the exact amount of inches we rec'd on the news up here.  I guess b/c we are so close to the coast of Lake Michigan, and the amount of inches there are so much higher than in Grand Rapids.  But, I'd guess our accumulation was around 40-45 inches.  It was a real winter wonderland!!!  Each day, but Wed. and Friday, we went on Snow Hikes together (Dd and I).  I think Dd went by herself on Friday, as she went on extra hikes without me, even on the days we went together.  She really LOVES hiking around, especially in snow!  Plus, Giz (Dh's mother) sent back with him the cloak she asked her to make.  This cloak is amazing!  She says it is very warm too.  It seems each week we have an excuse for not getting the books completed that I have planned...but, "Snow Hikes" is my favorite excuse!!!!







Friday I had another massive migraine---the second worse one, the only one that has been worse was the one I had to go to the ER about.  I tried to drink some coffee in the morning, but that turned out to be a bad idea!  I went back to bed, and stayed there all day.  Around 6:30 PM, I was finally able to get out of bed and sit in a recliner for a few hours.  I've been working on teaching Dd to do her lessons without me, and for the first time, she literally did all her work and her chores without any words from me.  I could hear her cleaning her bathroom and getting her things done, independently!  That really was terrific.  

A few months ago I started making her, her own schedule, in her own three-ring binder, with everything in it--including her daily chore list.  She has done SO well with it!  It makes me wish I would have done this sooner!!  I have printed out lots of copies of Sonlight's "Additional Scheduling Page" and use that for both her and I.  We each have our own binder too.


Snow!


Saturday and Sunday (22nd & 23rd) we went and viewed our first Michigan homes that are for sale.  Both houses amazed us in how great the photo's looked, and yet the homes were no where near what the pictures showed!!!  The home on Saturday had asbestos around the pipes in the basement--that is scary!  But, I guess that is normal for homes built in 1909.  I would have thought that the owners would have changed that by now!!

Now, let's look at what we did with books!

Bible:
The BEST thing about our bible these past two weeks, was that we are reading God King, which is set in the time/place of King Hezekiah, and in our bible--we have spent the last two weeks getting to read about King Hezekiah too!!!!  It has been so neat to read parts of God King that match up with what we've been reading in the bible.  We did a lot of internet searches on the tunnel King Hezekiah had carved out of rock to bring water into his city of Jerusalem--and that is always great to actually SEE what we are reading about.  In our Indiana home, we didn't have a computer in our lessons room/ library; so we couldn't do quick searches as we were reading.  In our tiny apartment, our "library" is also my desk spot, so everything gets done in an area about 10' x 12' .

Also, this week we were suppose to just read 2 Kings 17, and 2 Kings 25.  But, I didn't want to leave all out the chapters between 17 and 25---so we are still working on that,  we got it all read in our bible, but still have a few pages left to read in our Believer's Bible Commentary to meet MY expectations.  I am really enjoying going above and beyond the assignments, especially when it is so interesting.  We had not spent a lot of time on King Hezekiah before, so I am really dissecting it as we go.

Veritas Press Bible:

Card 74: Israel and Judah Fall
(II Kings 17, 25) 722 B.C. - 586 B.C.

Bible:
II Kings 17-25 with our Max Lucado Study Bible, and the Life Lessons that went along with those pages.
Product Details

Believer's Bible Commentary   [BELIEVERS BIBLE COMMENTARY -SS] [Hardcover]

Mar 31, 1995
by MacDonald, W.(Author) ; MacDonald, William(Author); Farstad, Arthur L.(Editor)

Believer's Bible Commentary: II Kings 17-20 

Product Details

The Greenleaf Guide To Old Testament History

Sep 1, 1994
The Greenleaf  Guide to the Old Testament:
Lesson 147: The Destruction of Israel by Assyria

I've added in a new bible book to go along with our studies:
Lamps, Scrolls, & Goatskin Bottles by Julia B. Hans
pg.1-19


 


Read Aloud:

Product Details

God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah (Living History Library)

God King's review by Amazon.com:
 A never-before published tale by the author of the best-selling Hittite Warrior, carries the reader back to Ancient Egypt and biblical Jerusalem. It is 701 B.C-rule of the Kushite dynasty in ancient Egypt. Young Prince Taharka, a very minor royal son, succeeds unexpectedly to the throne of Kush and Egypt-a divine rulership.
It's not long, however, before a treacherous plot pushes him into sudden exile and into the hands of Amos, an emissary of King Hezekiah seeking help against the Assyrians. Posing as a medical assistant, Taharka journeys with Amos to Judea where he encounters two kings in conflict. His true identity suddenly uncovered, he must choose with whom he will fight-the mighty Assyrian, Sennacherib, promising alliance or Hezekiah, the Jew who trusts in Yahweh.
A novel inspired by research on the historical King Taharka and his period.

Mapping and Timeline:
We finished SL's Week 5 & 6's work!  So enjoying this!

Product Details

The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to...

Apr 17, 2006

Product Details



The Story of the World, Activity Book 1: Ancient Times - From the Earliest Nomad to the Last Roman Emperor

Nov 17, 2006 
Story of the World: Ancients: 
Ch. 15-17
Plus, I've been using the Activity book questions for each chapter, and doing the mapping assignments they recommend on their maps, and coloring some of the fun pages too.  I had always hoped to actually do all the things the Activity Guide asks us to do.   This week, we continued with what we were doing last week, and focusing on our SOTW books, we did the review questions/maps/pages from Ch.'s 9-17--that took a while! We aren't doing the craft projects though.

Product Details
Reader:
Greek Myths

 We are *suppose to be reading* this one, but Dd decided the book by Coolidge had more new-to-her stories.  She has been reading Greek Myths for over a year now, and definitely earned the right to choose her preference on which Greek Myth book interested her.:

Product Details

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths

Mar 1, 1992
by Ingri d'Aulaire and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire



Here is Dd standing on top a pile of snow.  The maintenance crew brought even more snow there the next day...it made that spot a lot of fun to climb!

Product Details

Favorite Poems Old and New: Selected For Boys and Girls

Sep 1, 1957
by Helen Ferris and Leonard Weisgard

Favorite Poems Old and New:
380-381



 
Product Details

Trojan War:
Part 3, Ch. 4 & 5

I took a picture of this table a few days back, and now it is even more covered in snow!
Product Details

The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia (Kingfisher Encyclopedias)

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia:
pp. 16, 23, 28 & 29,  36 & 37




Math:
Math U See: Pre-Algebra 
14C, 14D, 14E, 14F  
Science:
Product Details

Apologia Chemistry & Physics:
pp. 128-144



Product Details
The World of Biology by Tiner
Ch. 8: Insects (and quiz)






Icicles--beautiful and a bit scary to think of them falling down on someone!




Language Arts:


Product Details
All About Spelling 6:
Step 19: in process
We've been doing a lot of reviewing, starting back with Step 1 and have gotten up to Step 6 reviewed.



SL Week 5's work--which was focusing on COMMA'S, so we went to youtube to see some video's on the subject:

Semicolon vs. coma by Emily Mitchell

Chapter 10 Part 1 - Commas and Semicolons by Melissa Brega



Product Details
Daily Grams 7:
pp. 163- 167


Dd and I both got new hats a few months back; mine is all wool and super warm.




Current Events:
Weekdays we watch CNN Student News.com
http://www.cnn.com/studentnews/


The path through the woods was so deep the snow got up to our knees!
Product Details

The Long Winter (Little House)


(narrator: Cherry Jones)

 Audio:
The Long Winter by Laura Ingles Wilder; 
which we have listened to this audio nearly every winter the past few years!  I'd guess we've heard it 4-5 times now.  It is just SO good!  Every time we hear it, it amazes me how my daughter seems to be more willing to do her house cleaning chores with almost a smile on her face!  The good attitudes and behavior from those Ingles girls always rubs off on my dear daughter!  The snow falling all day here, make this audio an easy pick!

Music:
youtube listening to Yo Yo Ma
especially my favorites: Yo Yo Ma Plays the Prelude From Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 (repeatedly!)
Yo Yo Ma; Elgar Cello COncerto 1st Movement, etc.

Keyboarding:
Dd has been playing these songs this week:
God Rest You Merry Gentlemen

Jingle Bell Rock
Piano Man (Billy Joel song)

Busy Hands:
I'll try to make a new post to show what all she has been working on.  She has been doing a lot of little projects; like making Duct Tape Bracelets--one for Camp Half-Blood, and another Camp Jupiter!  She has been working on the red poncho (crocheting) for Aunt April, and she has been on a crazed rubber band bracelet obsession!  She has really loved doing those.  Giz gave her a new thing that makes the bracelets into a solid cord, and she is loving it!   She also took her bow and arrow out into the woods--she shot at our old pumpkin!  Just another excuse to be outside---again, I am so thankful for the woods beside our apartment building!  It has been so much fun! 



This isn't the best example, but the apartment buildings had icicles hanging down past the balcony's! 
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George Washington Carver quote on nature:

George Washington Carver quote:  


"I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting system through which God speaks to us every hour, if we will only tune in."

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Tuesday, November 18, 2014

November 18, 2014 SNOW!

November 18, 2014 SNOW!

We went for a snow hike yesterday, and today!  Lots and Lots of snow---and it still continues to come down.



























We had a RED BELLIED WOODPECKER at our feeders today! This picture has him on the tree b/c he kept landing on the side of the feeder that I couldn't see him, so I could only manage this shot.  But, he actually would fly onto our feeder and get sunflower seeds!!!  The Downy Woodpeckers were also coming to our feeders--we never had that happen at the farm in southern Indiana.  So, I was really surprised.







We saw 7 or 8 Cardinal pairs at our feeders...at once!


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Sunday, November 16, 2014

Christmas Birds 2014

Christmas Birds 2014

This is where my birds are at present---I still have 40 days to spruce them up and add some more-- they will be Christmas gifts.



This is three pictures of these 2 yellow birds, so you can see how they look all around.
 




 




 My MIL found a green wool sweater for me to use to make birds; green isn't the ideal color to use to make birds, but I had so much of it that I had to use it!  I have a few scraps of red that my friend Heather L. gave me, I plan on making a couple of Cardinals with that if I can.



 The blue birds and the sparrows (below) are not at all done; just started.  I just thought to show them at mid-way.









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Sonlight Core G Week 5 Nov. 10-16- 2014

Sonlight Core G 
Week 5 
Nov. 10th - 16th,  2014

I've mixed in pictures from our Nature Hikes and pictures of the birds eating at our feeders beside our porch, and the satchel Dd made, and put them throughout this post!
Snow, Snow, Snow!  Welcome to Michigan!


We had a pretty uneventful week; with no 'outings' (unless two grocery stores on Saturday count!).  I contemplated going down to Indiana on Friday, but I could never get myself feeling up to par.  By Sat. Dd had a fever, though I'm not sure she got that from me.  But, I went back and forth between feeling a tiny bit better, and then losing ground the next day.  I've got a "new patient" appointment the last week of November, and am trying to wait until then to go to a doctor.  I called my Indiana doctor for an antibiotic, and they said 'no', and told me to go to an immediate care for help.  I don't know about you all--but those quick visits cost an arm and a leg!  When I had a massive, days-long, migraine two months ago, we tried to go to an Immediate Care, but couldn't find it, but did find the ER.  That quick visit was almost $800.00---YIKES!  I could take this opportunity to discuss how many thousands we spend on medical fees each year; but will just move on and not go into how difficult it is to live in this day and age with health problems!!!  I am hoping Dd and I can get healthy this week.

It took Dd two days, but with the help of my Kindle, she got her Lego Millineum Falcon back together.  Dd accidentally dropped it during our move to the apartment.  Now, it is all back together!!




My husband use to do most of the cooking, but with his new job, and probably the size of our "kitchen", he doesn't seem to be very interested in cooking here....SO, Dd and I are really stepping up our game, and cooking 90% of the food we eat.  I'm really impressed with how much of a natural she is with cooking.  This week she made Tortilla's from scratch--whole wheat instead of white flour, she made "Prairie Tea Cakes", which was like cupcakes, but super heavy and they had a wonderful lemon icing/glaze.  She has a new concoction for making baked chicken--roughly based on how Heather "L." makes hers--she made that dish on Tuesday and on Saturday.  She made a chicken stir fry with broccoli, carrots, noodles, and  potatoes.  Then on Sunday she made a chocolate cake with chocolate chips inside (instead of frosting).  I rocked the house with my Aussie Cumin Potato wedges twice this week, and many, many, "Super Salads"!





 Bible:

Veritas Press: Chronicles Through Malachi
Card 73: Hezekiah Trusts the Lord: Completed!
II Kings 18-20




 Bible and Believer's Bible Commentary:
II Kings 18-20

Downey Woodpecker




Survey of the Bible: pg. 114-117

The Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament:
Lesson 150, Ch. 18: completed
Lesson 150, Ch. 19: completed

Male Cardinal, we had THREE PAIRS of Cardinals at our feeders yesterday!  One male was actively trying to chase off the other two males.  It took a while for the females to come to the feeder, but the males were up for a visit right off the bat.     Yesterday we had: Dark-Eyed Junco, Mourning Dove, Downy Woodpecker, Squirrels, lots of Chickadees and Sparrows, the Cardinal crew, and a Bluejay!  I haven't seen the hawk that I had been seeing so frequently.



Journey Through the Bible: pg. 166 & 167

Archaeological Study Bible:
*Archeological Sites: Hezekiah's Tunnel
*The Death of Sennacherib
*The Lachish Reliefs
*The Sennacherib Prism








Men of the Bible by Ann Spangler (the back cover shows she lives in Grand Rapids, MI.)
We read the whole chapter about Hezekiah pg. 235-243


 


Google Earth:
Various searches; like: Babylon and the Hanging Gardens, Ur, and Canaan- so interesting to look at Google Earth with these ancient locations--highly recommend.

Searches on Hezekiah brought up a really neat site: www.angietravels.com; which showed Hezekiah's Underground Tunnel; with LOTs of really cool photo's of it.  High recommend.

We did a lot of searches this week on "Hezekiah" and "Sennacherib"--as those were my two focus points.

Dd completed the worksheets for Card 73

I *think* this is Charlie.  We had two squirrels at our feeders yesterday.  I saw Nutty a few days ago, and she was literally the 'fluffiest' squirrel I have ever seen.  She must really be prepared for a serious winter!  She has lots of insulation.

 Psalms of the Week:

Psalm 90
(The Believer's Bible Commentary said that this Psalm is the only Psalm definitely written by Moses)

Psalms 90–106

Psalm 90

A prayer of Moses the man of God.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    throughout all generations.
Before the mountains were born
    or you brought forth the whole world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
You turn people back to dust,
    saying, “Return to dust, you mortals.”
A thousand years in your sight
    are like a day that has just gone by,
    or like a watch in the night.
Yet you sweep people away in the sleep of death—
    they are like the new grass of the morning:
In the morning it springs up new,
    but by evening it is dry and withered.
We are consumed by your anger
    and terrified by your indignation.
You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
All our days pass away under your wrath;
    we finish our years with a moan.
10 Our days may come to seventy years,
    or eighty, if our strength endures;
yet the best of them are but trouble and sorrow,
    for they quickly pass, and we fly away.
11 If only we knew the power of your anger!
    Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due.
12 Teach us to number our days,
    that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
13 Relent, Lord! How long will it be?
    Have compassion on your servants.
14 Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love,
    that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.
15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    for as many years as we have seen trouble.
16 May your deeds be shown to your servants,
    your splendor to their children.
17 May the favor[a] of the Lord our God rest on us;
    establish the work of our hands for us—
    yes, establish the work of our hands. 


Can you believe all this great wild wonder is right beside our apartment building!




Psalm 91

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”
Surely he will save you
    from the fowler’s snare
    and from the deadly pestilence.
He will cover you with his feathers,
    and under his wings you will find refuge;
    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
You will not fear the terror of night,
    nor the arrow that flies by day,
nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
    nor the plague that destroys at midday.
A thousand may fall at your side,
    ten thousand at your right hand,
    but it will not come near you.
You will only observe with your eyes
    and see the punishment of the wicked.
If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
    and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
    no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
    to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
    I will be with him in trouble,
    I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
    and show him my salvation.”




The SATCHEL Dd made this week.  Rachel L had given her this burlap bag about a year ago, and so took it and attached a handle that she crocheted for it.  It looks even better on her!





 Now to our Sonlight Lessons!

Read Aloud:

God King: In Process
I am really enjoying this book a lot.  I know the new king is headed for troubles, but just keep wondering when and where they will happen!  The real, super-big bonus for us is that it is set in KING HEZEKIAH'S time!  We focused on Hezekiah this week in bible and history!  I LOVE it when two subjects overlap!

Children's Bible Field Guide: Ch. 5: Completed
Even though we are using Veritas Press for our Bible program, we are still reading this book as it is assigned.  So far, I hate to say, I haven't been very impressed...maybe as we get further into it?!?

Reader: 
Greek Myths by Jennifer Coolidge: in process
Dd decided she preferred this book, rather than the D'audlaire book that SL suggested.  

Reader:
Trojan War: In Process

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia:
in process: some of these books are spread out throughout the whole year, like this one!

Timeline & Mapping for Week 5: In Process
T: Egyptian Middle Kingdom
Hykos Rules Egypt,
Egpytian New Kingdom
Queen Hatshepsut Rules Egypt
Akhenaten Worships One God
 Moses Frees Israelites From Egypt

Map work:
 Kush/Nubia, Napata, Meroe, Greece, Bosporus Strait
Thebes, Palestine, Euphrates, Zimbabwe, Assyrian Empire, Ethiopia, Punt, Thebes, Israel, Dongola


SOTW: Story of the World
WELL, I was asking some questions about our SOTW from previous chapters, and Dd couldn't remember the details, so I did something drastic---I re-read everything we have already read a second time and we talked more about it as we went.  We really focused on SOTW this week, and the Activity Book/Pages and Maps.  Our assignment was to read Ch.'s 12-14; which we did; but we also re-read Ch.'s 1-12.  It was a lot, but I'm glad we did it!





Language Arts:
Dd is re-writing her story, her sequel to the Percy Jackson story.  It is going well, and she is doing a great job.  She is also continuing to find her favorite quotes from Rick Riordan's books and writing them all down in her notebook.

All About Spelling: 6:
Step 18: completed

IEW Fix-It: Frog Prince:
Week 19: Completed

SL LA--continuing to work on Week 4's assignment

Daily Grams 7:
pg. 158-162

Youtube:
"Topic Sentence 1" by strategiesforwriting
"Topic Sentence" by sharmans18s
and a few other, not so good, video's on Topic Sentences.




 Keyboarding:
Christmas Songs!


Nature Hikes:
Two by herself, and two with me...we are really so blessed to live right beside a fairly big wooded area beside our apartment building! 


LAMPLIGHTER:
This week we listened to an audio by Lamplighter;
 Sir Knight and the Splendid Way
This story is VERY similar to Pilgrim's Progress.  If you liked Pilgrim's Progress, then you should really enjoy this story too!  This was a fantastic story!  High recommend!


Math:
Math U See: Pre-Algebra:
3D, 3E, 3F, 4A, 4B



Science:
We have been doing the Tiner books together, and having Dd do the Apologia reading and note-taking by herself.  She currently plans on being a doctor, so I am working hard on making sure we fit science into each week.
 
Exploring the World of Biology by Tiner:
Ch. 6: Digestion (and quiz): Completed

Ch. 7: Plant Inventors (and quiz): Completed


Apologia Chemistry and Physics:

pg. 118-127 and writing notes to go along: Completed









AND, we fixed a clogged sink.  We took the U off under the sink, and used a coat hanger to grab the offending muck, and then put everything back together.  I wish I could say it was easy, but you know how things never want to go back together after you take them apart!  But, in the end we did prevail!  She got to bring out her tool box--I didn't bring MY toolboxes to the apartment, but SHE did!  Good for her, or we wouldn't have been able to get the job done (without having to call maintenance! )


Sewing---I will show pictures of her new accomplishments.  We have sewn and created all week, and had a lot of fun doing it!

This is a "hunting knife" Dd made this week out of bamboo skewers and duct tape.

This is the crochet piece Dd started working on last week; she has been wearing it each time we go for a hike...isn't it nice!

This is the chicken dish my Dd made twice this week...YUM!

Dd made Prairie Tea Cakes, here is a close-up.  The lemon glaze was really tasty!

Dd made tortilla's from scratch this week


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