I decided to start our row at the end of the school year, light row during the summertime, and pick it up again in the fall.

READY TO ROW:

Kick-off Lunch:

We kicked off our row with a clam chowder lunch!

We set up a fishing net and filled it with stuffed sea creatures.

At the end of the school year, we kicked off our summer with patriotic pancakes and a Hardy Boys book for reading! We resumed this row near the end of summer.

Cover Art:

I decided to combine our cover art with our art lesson, learning to draw ships.

Parker used an art tutorial while Jordan grabbed inspiration from Pirates of the Caribbean.

BIBLE:

Bible Verse:

I created a Bible verse pack for Arabella.

You can purchase your copy here. There’s a FREEbie in the Preview.

Jordan used the copywork format while Parker used the tracer page.

Faith:

There are no snap-shot moments during some of the most precious FIAR lessons. I just love the gentle discussion points provided in the Bible supplement.

Jordan and I sat together to discuss faith. We talked about how God uses our failures to teach us. He also uses difficulties to draw us closer to Him. Each time God helps us or answers our prayers, our faith grows. Those moments are a deposit in our faith bank.

While God seeks to strengthen our faith, the devil tries to weaken it. He uses doubts and fears to trouble us. If our focus is on us instead of the Lord, we begin to sink like Peter. Instead, we can bring our thoughts, doubts, and fears captive to the Lord and leave them there.

Personal chats like these are precious moments. The Lord reminded me how influential my faith is. My faith in the Lord impacts and encourages my children to trust in the Lord.

Days of Creation:

I decided to work through our Days of Creation pack.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

First, I printed the boys a copy of The Days of Creation match worksheet so they could see how much they remembered. They actually worked together to figure it out.

Day 1 – Day & Night:

Parker did most of the experiments on his own since Bub had already conducted many of them the last we worked through this pack.

After reading about the first day, Parker completed the Day 1 worksheet.

He did the experiments and recorded his results.

Day 2 – Sky & Sea:

After reading about the second day of creation, Parker completed the water cycle on the Day 2 worksheet.

We also read The Earth is Mostly Ocean.

Day 3 – Land & Sea:

Given Grandfather lived on his own island, I thought that would be the perfect topic for the third day of creation.

I made blue-tinted Cream of Wheat with a pancake island. After breakfast, we read The Little Island.

After reading about the third day of creation, Parker ccompleted the Day 3 worksheet.

Parker worked on creating a world map, marking the continents and oceans.

We also learned about different types of island and famous islands around the world.

Day 4 – Sun, Moon & Stars:

After reading about the fourth day of creation, Parker completed the Day 4 worksheet.

While discussing the phases of the moon, I printed a few worksheets from our I See the Moon science pack.

The boys completed their worksheets about the moon.

Day 5 – Exploring Birds & Sea Creatures:

We read about the fifth day of creation and the boys completed their Days of Creation worksheet.

First, we explored shore birds in our Usborne Oceans book and excerpts from Clam-I-Am. Afterwards, we added a “shore birds” insert in our lapbook.

Next, we read about dolphins, whales, and porpoises in A Whale of a Tail. Afterwards, we labeled the parts of the dolphin and whale.

Day 6 – Exploring Land Animals & Humans:

We concluded our reading on the Days of Creation.

The boys completed their last worksheet about the different classes of animals. We used this opportunity to cover our Language Arts lesson on lists.

We gave a special nod to Grandpa, a wonderful human character in this story.

Days of Creation Tree:

I brought out our Days of Creation disks that Haley made while we rowed. I figured it would be a beautiful reminder of God’s handiwork.

We continued adding disks to our Days of Creation tree.

I love the disks Haley made. The tree looks so pretty when it’s complete.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Living on an Island:

We read Islands and Surrounded by Sea together. We talked about what it would be like to live on an island.

I printed a few island worksheets from our Story Review. We talked about the different kind of islands and located famous islands around the world.

Parker and I read Island Boy, which was a really sweet story.

Florida:

We read Florida from the Rookie Read-About Geography series.

The boys found Florida, its capital, and learned a few fun facts about this state.

Sailing:

We read Busy Boats which imparted a great deal of boating knowledge with a small glossary at the end of the book.

I bought a knot kit so we could learn how to properly tie knots. We practiced many times throughout our time rowing Arabella.

Disabilities:

We covered disabilities, in regards to wheelchairs, while rowing Grammas Walk; however, this was a timely lesson since the kids’ grandma was currently undergoing physical therapy so she could walk more independently.

This book discussed many reasons why people use wheelchairs. In addition, we watched an edited version of Regarding Henry. For our family, this was a great lesson about rehibilitation.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Story Review:

I created an Arabella Story Review.

You can purchase your copy here at our TPT Store.

Vocabulary:

We reviewed the vocabulary words using the w worksheet from our Story Review.

Figurative Language:

We reviewed alliteration, metaphors, and similes.

Afterwards, the boys completed their worksheets.

Reading:

I kept our reading shelf stocked with many ocean-themed books to last us through the summer.

During this row, I read aloud Pippi Longstocking while Jordan read Swiss Family Robinson it.

Grammar Ace:

More Verbs:

I set out the elements for our “More Verbs” page layout.

First, Parker added the title with our alphabet stickers.

Next, Parker used dot paints to create an underwater background.

Then he matched the sea creature terms with the “in a nutshell” definitions.

This week’s page layout was swimming with life!

Gerunds, Participles & Infinitives:

I set out the elements for our “Gerunds, Participles, & Infinitives” jellyfish page layout.

First, Parker added the title with our alphabet stickers.

Next, Parker used dot paints to create an underwater background.

Then he matched the sea creature terms with the “in a nutshell” definitions. He also added corals and sea grass accents.

This week’s page layout was swimming with

MATH:

Calendar:

We read the May poem from A Child’s Calendar.

Parker added dates, birthdays, and holidays on his calendar worksheet.

Later in the summer, we read about the summer months and the boys completed their calendar sheets.

After returning back to school, we completed August, our last summer month.

Seasons:

I printed off a few sorting activities and worksheets from our Months of the Year Math Pack.

We talked about dividing the year into quarters, or seasons. I had Parker sort the month cards by season.

Afterwards, I asked Parker to sort the months by the number of days.

Last, the boys completed their months of the year worksheet.

SCIENCE:

Human Blood:

We studied human blood a couple of years ago. We had fun making candy plasma using some colorful index cards I created.

This time around, we read about our circulatory system in the Usborne See Inside Your Body book and reviewed our index cards.

Coconut Life Cycle:

We read about the life cycle of the coconut palm.

We peeled the outer layer of the coconut, poked a hole, and drained the coconut water.

The boys enjoyed a refreshing drink!

Since this was a young coconut, the flesh hadn’t fully developed, but it was strangely deli-meat-like consistency and tasted nutty.

Hurricanes:

First, we talked about extreme weather that occurs near the ocean. Then we watched a great clip about hurricanes from National Geographic.

The clip explained what causes the various parts of a hurricane, how they are formed, and more.

ARTS, CRAFTS & FUN:

Sea Creature Sketches:

Everyone grabbed an ocean book and began to sketch sea creatures.

Ocean Stop Motion:

The kids worked together making backgrounds, props, and selecting characters to star in their ocean layer stop-motion movie.

HELPFUL LINKS:

Pinterest Board:

You can find most of the activities, ideas, and printables from this post on our Arabella Pinterest Board.

Youtube Playlist:

As with our other rows, we created an Arabella playlist with read-alouds, music, science, and other clips.