BIBLE:

Memory Verse:

I printed the second page of our Psalm 23 Bible Verse Tracer for the boys to work on this week.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

The boys traced and illustrated their worksheets.

Later, we cut apart the tracer and they glued it together like a puzzle.

Leading Little Ones:

This week we read about Jesus’ death and resurrection.  Afterwards, the kids made angel sun catchers.

I laid out contact paper and a construction paper angel outline.  They added gold and silver sequins.

Then they laid tissue paper squares over the entire body.  They spread gold and silver glitter before we sealed them.

We taped them to the playroom window, but we haven’t had much sunlight lately.

Winter Wreath:

We worked on our Advent lessons over Christmas break and will continue to add any remaining items to our “WINTER wreath” during January!  It’s like the scent of Christmas lingering in the home.

Generosity:

We read Jesus and the Rich Young Man and talked about how the young man wasn’t willing to give up his riches.  We talked about the beauty of generosity.

I gave the kids some M&Ms and asked them to divide them equally.

While sorting through the candies, they realized someone was going to have one less than the rest.  Bub quickly offered to be the one with less.  That made me smile and I thanked him for being generous.  After he handed everyone their share, I gave him the one he lost and a few more!  It pays to be generous 🙂

Haley added candy to our wreath that day!

Forgiveness:

We started our forgiveness lesson by making soft pretzels.

Jordan is my go-to chef.  He gathered the ingredients.

He measured and added them in the bread maker, and we set it on the “dough” cycle.

Later, we formed our pretzels.  I rolled most of them myself, but reserved some dough for the kids. They love to make their own creations with dough.

We put them in the boiling baking soda and water mixture.  We baked them to a golden, delicious brown and everyone DEVOURED them!

Later that evening, we read the Bible story about the two debtors.   We talked about having a “soft” heart, like our soft pretzels, and forgiving others like Jesus forgave us.  Jordan added a pretzel to our wreath.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Kate & Mack:

Around the World with Kate & Mack:

We continued lapbooking around the world with Kate and Mack.  This week we were learning about Russia.

Everyone was a bit bummed Christmas was over. I brought a little Christmas cheer to the table in the morning!

December 7th is the day children in Russia celebrate Christmas! Everyone had little goody bags to open!

After breakfast, we headed to the playroom.  I set out an invitation to create a snowflake.

I chose The Story of the Snow Children to pair up with this craft.

The kids created their snowflakes while I read the story aloud.

Each snowflake was sparkling and unique with no two alike.

This was a wonderful way to add a dash of fun on our first day back from Christmas break.

Later the boys colored their Russian flags and sketched elements from this weeks reading.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

I created a Read, and Color worksheet for our I Can Read It Lesson #18.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Parker used many dot paint colors for this week’s Christmas themed worksheet!

Hot Cocoa Contractions:

This week Parker was learning about using apostrophes used in contractions.  I printed a copy of our Hot Cocoa Contractions pack.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.  There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!

First, Parker matched the marshmallow words with the hot cocoa contractions.

Afterwards, he used his dot paint to complete the  worksheet.

Later in the week, Parker completed another Hot Cocoa Contractions worksheet.

Build-a-Word:

This week I made a Wanna Build a Snowman? Build-a-Word worksheet for Parker.

You can download your FREE copy here at our TPT Store.

Parker used the snowflake letter tiles to build words snd fill up his worksheet.

Owl Vowels:

I created a Winter Owl Vowels pack for Parker to work on matching the middle vowel sounds.

You can purchase it here at our TPT Store.  There’s a bonus FREEbie in the Preview!

First, I laid out the CVC word and picture cards face down for a classic match game.

Next, he used his dot paints to color all the vowels on his Owl Vowels Find & Color worksheet.

Next, I laid out our Owl Vowel cards and gave him the stack of CVC snowflake picture cards.  He said each word and sorted them by the middle vowel sound.

Last, we followed up with our Owl Vowel Color by Code worksheet.  This was a great “vowel review”  as well as a “slow down and listen” exercise.

MATH:

Calendar Work:

I created a January Calendar page for the boys to work on.

First, they numbered their 2019 January calendar.

Then they answered a series of January-related questions.

SCIENCE:

This week we started our new science book about the human body.

Just for fun, we brought out our human bodies we made during our FIAR Madeline Row last year.

They practiced using their “brain” to control the digestion process as well as telling their lungs to breath :).

Wacky Cells:

We brought out our tub of Crazy Aaron’s Thinking Putty after school for some sensory play.

I opened up our Usborne Human Body book as a reference and we all made little cells.

It’s fun to sit around the table, chat and play.  I seem to always be on the go, cleaning and picking up after school, but it’s fun to slow down and enjoy these moments while we can.

Everyone joined in on this activity and even asked to bring them out the next day too!

Hot Cocoa Science:

Hot Cocoa wasn’t REALLY part of our Sonlight curriculum this week, but I wanted to incorporate it as a fun science activity that Parker could use for his creative writing assignment this week.

This is a fun chemical reaction that your kids may not suspect as being a science experiment and can be a cute and festive “prank” to pull ;).  I layered the bottom of a mug with baking soda then added a layer of hot cocoa over the top.  I used a flavor no one liked, so not to “waste” any precious hot chocolate!  I served it on a plate with a spoon and a dispenser of hot water (laced with citric acid instead of vinegar, so no one would suspect anything).

Parker wondered why we were using hot water instead of hot milk (which is our usual choice), but I reassured him that you could use either hot water or milk with instant hot cocoa.  He accepted this explanation and proceeded to add the hot water, suspecting NOTHING! (hee hee)

“Um, that’s weird.” was about the response he got when he saw his mug erupting with cocoa bubbles.

Then he started giggling and laughing as he added more “water” and it REALLY erupted!

I let him in on my little secret and he was tickled by this winter prank!  I told him all about the science behind it….the base (baking soda) reacts with an acid (our citric acid

He got the steps down and practiced with his big brother…

And again with his big sister, who knew it was coming, but still played along.

He typed it up all by himself and we reviewed it together.  He really took his time writing an introduction then putting down each step of the process.  Great job Parks!

Looking forward to more fun next week!