Colors Unit

Marie is incredibly artistic. In spite of struggling with names of colors until she was nearly 5, she has always loved colors. Now that she has her colors down well, I thought it was time for a little more in depth study! Especially since she's always asking, "What does green and purple make?" (Insert any color in either spot!). We had a great time!

Check out all these ideas I found mostly around the www...

Reading:
We had no trouble finding too many books at the library.

Writing/Language Arts:
My Color Book

Lego Game

Write sentence on how to make favorite color.

Videos:



Crafts:
Make a giant color wheel

Experiment with mixing paint colors and Paint picture with mixed colors
Fingerpaint rainbows
Sandpaper tshirts
Rainbow Crayons

Rainbow Pasta

Science:
Predict what colors need to be mixed to make favorite color/color of choice. Experiment to find answer. Document.
Paper towel experiment

We had trouble getting this to work I think because the cups were too tall. So I had to  flip the paper towels around. Still got the idea and the kids loved it!

Soak 3 skittles in a bowl of water

Bible:
"A Dream of Heaven" in the Jesus Storybook Bible
Wordless bracelet
1 John 1:7
Sing Jesus Loves the Little Children

((We weren't able to get to everything so don't go thinking we're superhuman or something)).

Meanwhile, Jack worked on R is for Rainbow!

The Power of a Praying Wife GIVEAWAY

I love this book.

While trudging through a rough patch in our marriage, my mom recommended reading this book. I have read through the prayers and verses every day since then. That's 18 months to be specific.

It is not a new book. You have probably all heard of it. But if you haven't taken the time to read through it, even once, you are missing out. To make it easier for you, I came across a second-hand hard back version in mint condition that I want to give away!

Here's a little blurb in case you need some convincing that this book is for you...

"Something amazing happens to our hearts when we pray for another person. The hardness melts. We become able to get beyond the hurts, and forgive. We even end up loving the person we are praying for. It's miraculous! It happens because when we pray we enter into the presence of God and He fills us with His Spirit of love. When you pray for your husband, the love of God will grow in your heart for him. Not only that, you'll find love growing in his heart for you, without him even knowing you are praying." 

If you'd like a chance to win this book, just leave a comment sharing something you love about your husband! 

I love that Derek is incredibly patient and never raises his voice. He has never said anything derogatory to me but rather is regularly encouraging. I am very blessed! And so are you, so comment away!

((The winner will be chosen randomly))

Learning God's Word: Daniel in the Lions Den

We've reached the story of Daniel in the lions den in our Jesus Storybook Bible. This seemed like an easy one to expand on so that I did with free online resources! We also worked on the letter L (for Lion and Ladybug) in preschool because I love when everything works together.

Reading:

Daniel 6
Jesus Storybook Bible
Really Big Book of Bible Stories

The Story of Daniel and the Lions

We got this at the library. It rhymes and the kids loved it.

Verse:

Isaiah 41:10 Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Focus:

God is our protector. We can trust Him.

Watch:

Youtube video

Activities:

Order story cards
Telling time game (kindergarten)

Word Search (kindergarten)

Retell the story to each other using stick figures

Crafts:

L is for Lion

Daniel in the Lions Den Sunday School Craft

Sidenote, Marie completed her 100th day of school today! Yay!

Contentment in My Calling.

A highschool classmate recently passed away. At her viewing I commented to her mom about how much Joanna had accomplished in her much-too-short life. 

"Even if the rest of us live to be 80, she'll probably still have us beat."

Her mom placed her hand on my growing belly, with her daughter's body lying only feet away, and said,

"Being a mom is a big deal. Hold those babies tight."

I am living the life I've always dreamed of: wife and mom. But I realized that I still tend to believe the lie that there are higher callings than my own. I'm not saying being a wife and a mom is the highest calling. I'm saying me being a wife and a mom is my highest calling.

Joanna lived the life God called her to live. There is no higher calling.

There are plenty of things I'd love to do or places I'd love to go that may never happen or just have to wait, but true contentment is found in the life God has called me to. That is the life I am living and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. Colossians 3:17

May He grant you according to your heart's desire, and fulfill all your purpose! Psalm 20:4

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. 2 Corinthians 13:14

Find the printable for the above craft (along with other great ideas) HERE.

F is for Fish and Frog

This week I had hoped to get a fish for our schoolroom but that never happened. I still plan to get fish as soon as we can find a really good deal on a small fish tank with a filter (so if you happen to know of one...).

We still learned about the letter F and Jack did wonderfully! The letters are really starting to click with him. Here are two things we did this week outside of the Letter of the Week curriculum that we really enjoyed...

We learned a little about the life cycle of a frog. Jack cut out (with a little help!) and pasted this chart together.

We had already done some coloring earlier and getting Jack to color more than one thing is just not worth the effort. But he loves to cut and paste!

This fish craft I found in a random little craft book I have in my stash. It was a HUGE hit!

Marie made the third one completely on her own.

Supplies:

• Construction paper
• Tissue paper
• Glue
• Scissors
• Googly eyes
• Markers/crayons/glitter/etc (optional)

Directions:

Draw the shape of the fish and have the kids cut it out and glue an eye on. Then cut out shapes (or have kids cut out) from different types of paper (we used construction paper and tissue paper) and have the kids glue them on the fish. Let them decorate as desired. Cut out strips from the tissue paper and have them glue the strips as a tail.

Hours of fun will follow this super simple craft! Who knew?

Linking up here:

D is for Dinosaur

This week in preschool we worked on the letter D. (We obviously don't do the alphabet in order! I like to incorporate things going on around us like "S is for Snow" and "V is for Valentine").

We use the Letter of the Week curriculum by Confessions of a Homeschooler. I love it! Marie worked through it, too. But when Jack is in the right mood, he could basically do everything in one sitting. So here is a rundown of what we did beyond the curriculum...

Marie helped write down some words we came up with that start with the letter D.

We colored and cut out dinosaurs (find lots of free coloring pages HERE) and put them on our heads!

Got out our Target Dollar Spot workbook...

And worked on some shapes and gluing with this cute stegosaurus craft. We also learned that the stegosaurus was an herbivore and was probably a very slow moving dino. They enjoyed playing like they were loud, slow stegosaurus'.

While I was researching ideas for this, I found that Answers in Genesis had this set on sale!

I am so excited about it! (As I'm typing this, it is still on sale!) We watched some of the video with this D is for Dinosaur lesson, but I plan to go much more in depth in the fall before we take a trip to The Creation Museum (where kids admission is free this year! Woot!)

Next week in preschool we plan to work on the letter F for Fish, and hope to get a fish for our little school area! Homeschooling is so fun.

(I found many of these ideas from Mommy Lessons 101. There is also a free D is for Dinosaur preschool pack over at Teaching Mama!)

Sight Word Target Practice

First of all, I need to apologize (hashtag sorrynotsorry) for all of the homeschool posts. This is our life right now! And we are really enjoying it. I love sharing all the ideas I spend hours searching for online, too. Maybe save someone else some time since I'm not saving myself any! :)

Speaking of, I found this sight word game idea on Pinterest awhile ago. The kids love it so I figured I'd share!

Supplies:

• Paper plates
• Marker
• Tape that is safe for whatever surface you plan to use (we used masking tape)
• List of sight words 
• Soft ball

Directions:

• Write a sight word on each plate
• Tape plates on a wall or door
• Call out a word and have your kid throw the ball at the word

Marie likes to add a little drama to everything.

Since Jack is not ready to be working on sight words but always wants to join in, Marie will point to a word and tell him what it is. Then he'll throw the ball at it. Marie gets a little extra practice and Jack gets to play! And hopefully he's soaking some of it up!

What sight word games have you been doing?

"Circle Time"

Most days we start school together and this is what the routine looks like...

Prayer time.

Bible verse review.

Songs:
Alphabet
Days of the Week (To the tune of "The Adams Family")

(Sorry for my loud voice. If I didn't jump in, this video would be ten minutes long.)

Months of the Year



Books of the Bible



Calendar.

We found this calendar at a garage sale.

Bible story.

Split for separate lessons. We usually come back together at some point to do a craft, read, and/or watch the occasional youtube video.

This gets changed up a little every once in awhile, and some days we scrap all of it but the Bible story. But I do love having them learn together. Marie is already becoming an excellent teacher!