Week 3 of MFW Exploring Countries and Cultures

This week we moved on to studying the United States.

I found this AWESOME video. The girls decided they want to make their own music video to go along with this. Stay tuned next week!

MK and H did a lot of geography map work this week. They studied the bodies of water in North America, labeled the 50 states, and are memorizing states and capitals. When the big girls are doing their geography work, T works on her Complete Book of Animals. It has tear out stories and comprehension worksheets for animals in the different continents. For the next 6 weeks she will be working on the North American animals.

I'm really seeing a breakthrough in T's reading. For the first time this week she was excited to read. I really love the Pathway reading program. It is so perfect for T. For each lesson there's a workbook page to do before reading, then the reading, and then another worksheet for comprehension. Each day there is a supplemental reading exercise that focuses on different things such as digraphs, or vocabulary. Everything is laid out nicely in the Teacher's Manual.

MK does the majority of her daily work on the computer, with the exception of Exploring Countries and Cultures. Her favorite subject is Spanish. She has been very excited to tell me all the Spanish she is learning. She is even more excited that she got BRACES this week!

I had quite a few books to go along with our United States unit. None of these are actual My Father's World recommendations, but they're all great books.

We continue our study of the United States next week!

Week 2 of Exploring Countries and Cultures

Week 2 of ECC

I have to admit I'm a little bored with ECC right now. Next week we move onto the United States, and I think I will enjoy it much more once we start digging deeper into different countries. This week we learned more general geography which included the 5 oceans. We learned about latitude and longitude. Little K had fun walking all over the map when we weren't looking.

These are Rod and Staff's bee charts that I painfully made. I learned a lesson making these: Only buy Crayola crayons. The off-brand crayons are terrible! Although these posters were a pain to make they are very helpful for addition fact families.

 I don't have many pictures this week. On Wednesday we met a friend for ice cream in the middle of the day, and Thursday we had our homeschool group classes. I think I didn't take many pictures because there just wasn't too much interesting stuff going on in Week 2 of ECC.

 The girls made a cake of the world (which we actually made day 1 of week 3). I didn't help at all. I didn't even turn the oven on! MK and H made the cake and H and T frosted it. MK didn't want to be in the picture because her hair wasn't done (teens!). Everyone enjoyed eating it.

Off to America! Looking ahead, it seems to pick up the pace a bit, so I'm looking forward to that. I think we will all really enjoy it more in 2 weeks when we move on to other countries and get our "passports".  

Week 1 of ECC & MFW K

Week 1 of Exploring Countries and Cultures and MFW Kindergarten!

We started a week earlier than planned, but I think it was time! On the first day the exterminator came during school, and we went out to lunch for a special treat (not even drive-thru!). The first day went very smoothly.

The second day didn't go quite so smoothly. I overslept and when I woke up I was panicking and also really mad at myself! I got the big girls started on an assignment and then got myself ready to go because MK had an orthodontist consultation (braces here we come!). I brought along Little E's work with us, and she completed her worksheets in the dentist office. She loved the handwriting page! She said, "This is awesome work!". We came home and started our ECC work, which mainly included a John 3:16 poster. This caused some melt downs because we only had thick paint brushes and the girls were getting upset because their painting wasn't perfect. Little K and Little E had a blast though. 

Wednesday was a normal day, at home all day (finally!). We did the backyard habitat project for ECC but our backyard is extremely boring, so it wasn't that much fun.

Thursday the girls had some classes with our local homeschooling group. Little E had a blast in her science lab class! Little K worked on her worksheets while we waited for the big girls. We didn't do anything else the rest of the day, and I think I may make Thursday's our half day.

We finished our first week with a trip to the Musical Instrument Museum. It was pretty awesome! They had a room for each continent, and in each continent there was a section for each country. We got a little sampling of music and culture from almost every country in the WORLD! What a great way to kick of ECC!

In future weeks I will probably do separate posts for MFW ECC and MFW K.

Tour of Our Classroom

I thought I would give a tour of our classroom before we officially start our adventure in My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures and My Father's World Kindergarten. Our classroom is really my dining room which is open to the kitchen and open to the living room.

Here it is! I love my space! I believe nothing in this room, with the exception of the bookcases and table, was bought new. I love to thrift shop and find deals. Keep scrolling to see details.

 This is my Lakeshore place value pocket chart. I picked it up brand new at a thrift store. The pocket chart holder is actually a clothes drying rack, that I also picked up brand new at a thrift store ($10!).

 I also picked up this handy-dandy continent map that I again, picked up at a thrift store. We will probably use this on the floor, but I needed somewhere to keep it out of the way.

 And underneath is a regular pocket chart that Little E likes to arrange her flashcards on.

 Then we have the bookshelves! These were bought at Wal-Mart for about $25 each. My super sweet husband picked them up and put them together for me. The magazine holders are from Ikea (Wait! I bought those new!)

 Next up is my calendar. I LOVE this Lakeshore calendar, and I super love it because I got it for less than $5 at a thrift store. I printed out "Kids Around the World" calendar pieces and laminated them to go along with our ECC unit. You can print them for free here.

 This is my Ikea Trofast that I found at Kid to Kid (a children's consignment shop). It stores all of my preschool/toddler items, such as board books, puzzles, headphones, and games. On top I have a filing unit (what are those called?) and a Lakeshore storage unit, which is actually supposed to be a listening center, but I found it at a thrift store, empty, and thought it would make perfect storage. It's $70 if you buy it new, which is a little much in my opinion for storage. It holds our ECC binders, my teacher binder, laminating paper, and other misc. items.

 In the black 3 drawer storage unit I have My Father's World Kindergarten recommended books in the top drawer, and other fun picture books in the bottom 2 drawers. I do not have these on the bookshelves because I want Little E and Little K to be able to access them freely without me worrying about them getting put back in the right place. On top is a small 3 drawer storage unit which holds pencils, highlighters, etc. On the far right side there is portable filing units. I have one for MFW Kinder, one for ECC, and one that I don't have a use for yet, but I'm sure as the year goes on, I will, and if not, out it goes!

 My boards look crooked here, but they aren't. The whiteboard has a big stain on it, but it was free, so I'm not complaining. Eventually I will replace it. The bulletin board will be used to hold our memory verse for the week, and a MFW Kindergarten poster for the week that can be found on this awesome blog. The numbers flashcards in the pocket chart a few pictures up are also on this page.

 Here is my cute little math storage center. I found the Lakeshore storage unit at, you guessed it, a thrift store! The little cash register was also found at a thrift store and quickly became a favorite. All my math manipulatives are stored here so I don't need to go digging for them when needed.

Last but not least, the Ikea Mammut table and chairs that I found at Kid to Kid. The perfect spot for Little E and Little K to work and play!