School- Updated and Revised.

I don't know what happened to this post.  It was so long and took me days to right it all out (sorry it's so long!) and then after I posted it I realized half of it somehow vanished.  Anyways, here it goes, round 2!

We have loved every minute of our curriculum this year.  It's so exciting to see them so engaged and even little Evie Kaye doing and being a part of everything.  Because the kids are so close in age, I really could not see myself trying to keep up with three different (and then soon four!) levels of curriculum.  One would be study frogs and South America and weather while another on rocks and Native Americans and electricity and yet another on all different subjects!  So after lot's of research we chose to go with a one room schoolhouse approach to our curriculum.  Each lesson/activity starts off as a group and then each child does an activity/assignment that is appropriate for their level/age.  And this curriculum is Bible based but it is pretty much all inclusive of subject matter.  What ever bible lesson we are studying, the science, social studies and even reading and writing are pulled from that story.  We supplement for phonics and math, and I still try and incorporate that in as well.  So far we are all loving it!  It is all extremely hands on and we do a lot of projects, experiments, timelines and many outings in our town to see and learn about the things we are talking about. 

Of course I don't have to coax Ethan Jay to do art.  He is constantly building something!  I seriously have to hide tape and bamboo skewers from these kids!  Here is one of the many, many kites that he makes!

I distinctly remember my Momma taking a photo each and every year of us on the first day of school.  Usually in the front yard by one of her pretty bushes.  So I couldn't stop that tradition now could I?!?!  So here we are the first official day of school with no hair fixed and my sweet girl has her dress on backwards!  Gotta love it!

There's a 2-K, right?

Well she felt super proud of herself, and that's what's important!

And on the first day of school you always bake cookies, right!

And lick the batter!

One new tradition that we have started is sitting down and reading a chapter book each night together as a family.  We have started with the Little House on the Prairie series and it is super awesome!

The book started off describing their home and how they live and we drew a picture of it.  

Some more of Ethan Jay's creations.

A bird house made out of a ziploc bag box.  Idea and creation all on his own! 

Another super duper kite!

We studied the story in Matthew about whether to build your house on rock or on sand, so we tried it out with our own wind storms.

We also took soil samples from three different areas near our house and studied them to see what they consisted of.  

We also saw what would happen when we wet the water.

Compaction!

These kids love dress-up!

We also studied how Jesus was teaching about being a disciple and being wise and making sure you have enough money before you start a project.  So I gave each one of them two bags, one with a little bit and another with a lot.  So they saw how far each of their houses would go.  

We also studied ice formations and made an igloo.

Ethan Jay also came up with this balance beam using a ruler and his sugar cubes.

Now to figure out what we are going to do with all of these sugar cubes!

We also studied light and electricity.

We discussed the verse "You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill can not be hidden."  Matthew 5:14.  We talked about how cities, such as Jerusalem were often set up high on a hill and travelers approaching could see the city lights from far off to guide them in.  So if we have Jesus in our heart, it will shine for all to see and cannot be hidden.

We lit a candle and went into a dark room and put it up high on a shelf to mimic this.

We also put this candle in a jar and saw what would happen when we put the lid on it and discussed all the things that a fire needs to burn.

We also studied the types of lamps that would have been used during that time and made our own.

We made up some homemade clay.

And then rolled it and formed our lamps and baked them.

Then we painted them.

The kids all love doing our Math curriculum.  This frugile/cheap Momma only bought one book and we use a overhead transparency and dry erase markers as to use it over and over!  Ethan Jay often times does a little more and Evie Kaye does a little less so it all works out.

They love unifex cubes.

And they made drawings of their skeletons.

I love Emma Ann's hue hips!

I love this of Ethan Jay.  He always sticks his tongue out like this when he is concentrating!

We had a scavanger hunt around the house to find gold coins with our Bible verse on it.

Ethan Jay found the last X.

And the treasure!

We typically play one game a day.  Either a group game or a big floor puzzle or matching game or even connect four.  They love it all.  Even the baby loves hanging out with us!

The kids have been learning my cell phone number and Ethan Jay practiced dialing me off the house phone!