Week 2: Pharaohs and Pyramids

 This week I have learned how to spell Pharaoh.   I have written it so many times. Our weekly copywork assignments were sentences about Ancient Egypt from the Happy Scribe series, Westvon publishing. http://www.thehomeschoolshop.com/sh-happyscribe.htm


Pharaoh's Crowns:  Cameron would want you to know that the war crown was blue.


Lego pyramid: It is just as well I'm not a structural engineer.  What was supposed to be quick and easy turned into a long project because the pyramid kept falling apart.   I guess we could have solved the problem by building a smaller one but I don't like to be beaten.  Eventually we worked out how to stabilize the inside so it would stay in one piece.  Damien even got in on the action and made a large pyramid with three accompanying 'ladies' pyramids.  Unfortunately he destroyed it before I got a photo.

Christ the King is born!
Heralded by angels
Ringing out their praises
In heavenly song.
Shepherds came to worship,
Telling what they witnessed:
Mary and Joseph watchful
As in a manger lay the
Saviour of the world.

Our Learning Space - Part 2

Most of our school time is spent in the family room.

The boys work at a card table for their writing and drawing and pasting work.

We often sit in the bean bag or rocking chair to read.

There is also a child size desk that is mainly used by Damien.

 As you can see we are often surrounded by toys but the workspaces and shelves are keep neat for working.  Both boys also like to use the computers which have password protection on them.  Cameron is allowed to use the internet but is limited to a white listed set of pages including mathletics and reading eggs.

Week 1: Curtain Rises on Egypt: Gift of the NIle

This week the boys made maps of their own made up countries showing geographical features.  I'm afraid they got a little carried away with the decorations but they had a great time nonetheless.

Cameron's map with geographical features labeled.  Some of the licorice is river and the rest is bridges.  As the project went on there were wars between the mainland and the islands.

Damiens country was covered in snow and mountains .

 



We also made Egyptian paddle dolls which took a couple of weeks.  Damien got distracted from the instructions and ended up making his own creation.  Cameron was very careful to follow the pattern in  the book and is very proud of his work.

Happy Birthday to me!

Aside from the fact that I am still getting used to blogging, I got a new computer for my birthday and I have been busy putting things back the way I like them.  My CFS is bad at the moment and I am readjusting my outings, homeschooling and houseworking accordingly.  Hopefully I'll have some fun art projects up here soon.

Our Learning Space

We are blessed to have two living areas and a separate dinning room in our house.  One living area we use for watching TV and working on the computer.  The other is the homeschool area and the kid's play area.

The bottom shelf holds textbooks, workbooks and this weeks reading for both children.  The next two shelves hold the children's folders, flash cards and craft materials that won't fit in the drawers.  On top are pencils, textas, scissors and glue.







The craft drawers.  Mini Glad Bags hold a label with the week the supplies will be needed.  The drawers contain any craft supplies needed for the week that are small enough to fit.

The other craft supplies are in the "homeschooling cupboard" in the living room and the rest of the books are on a homeschooling shelf in the living room.

Why Blog?

It seems rather strange to me for a person who can't keep a journal for more than a couple of weeks to start a blog.  But here I am.  I have decided you can't be a 'proper' home educator without sharing your children's creations with the world.  So this is it.  A blog mainly about our experiences with Tapestry of Grace or TOG.  Partially for family members who are far away.  Partially for my own records.  And partially because everybody else is doing it.  :)