Fun with Grandma and Gramps

Adam and I helped out with Disciple Now weekend at church this weekend.  Adam went to stay with the 7th grade boys, and I hosted a houseful of high school girls.  We both had a great time with the kids.  While we were having fun, Samuel went to Grandma and Gramps’ house for the weekend.  He got to go to Day Out with Thomas, the Aquarium, and Chick-fil-a, so he was happy.  Here’s a few pics mom sent me of the fun they had.

PreK – Week 26

This week we started Unit 5 - The Exodus out of Egypt.  For history we read about the Passover, the Israelites leaving Egypt, and the parting of the Red Sea.  Samuel loves the story of Moses, so we had a lot of fun with it this week. We read about how God led the Israelites with a pillar of fire at night and a cloud by day. We used a flashlight to be the pillar of fire leading the Egyptians and took turns following each other around the house.  For science we read some books about clouds, and then we did a little science experiment about how clouds carry water and then when they get too heavy they rain.

For our bible verse we started learning Matthew 22:37 - "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the first and great commandment.  And the second is like it: you shall love your neighbor as yourself."  This is the longest verse Samuel has had to learn to date so we'll see how he does.

We've continued reading about Reddy Fox and this week he got himself into trouble because he disobeyed Granny Fox's instructions.  We only have a few more chapters of the book left and Samuel's getting excited about finishing it.

In math, we've begun learning nonstandard forms of measurement.  We got to  measure books and other objects using Legos.  We also ordered objects from longest to shortest and vice versa.

This week we learned to read and write the letter K.  Samuel has some trouble making a K.  He can't seem to remember to make the arms meet in the middle which makes his K look more like a bracket of some sort.  He'll get the hang of it though.  He always does.

Samuel's been moving right along with his reading also.  He surprises me every time we're out by reading a sign, or label, or something that I didn't think he could read.  At this rate, we'll have Hooked on Phonics finished up early this fall. 

Working on his K letter sheet

Showing off his “cloud” – a cotton ball.  We felt it when it was dry, and then soaked it with water to see if it would “rain”, and…

…it did!

Swimming Lessons

Samuel has been taking swimming lessons at the community center for the past couple of weeks. The class is really just to get them more comfortable in the water, than to actually teach swimming but he has had lots of fun. One of his friends from church has taken the class also, so he has really enjoyed getting to see her a couple of extra days a week. He only has 2 more classes left and then he’ll be done. I’m not sure if I’m going to try to find him another class or move on to something else.

Happy Easter!

This year we've been super busy and I didn't do as much for Easter as we normally do. We had to be at church super early on Sunday because Adam and I were both in the Easter musical and we had to be there to practice. Then, we were going to Wendy and Kevin's house for lunch with Adam's family. We made a brief stop at the house in between church and lunch so we could give Samuel his Easter stuff.

I'm a slacker and didn't even do a basket this year :( But we did get him a 1 lb chocolate bunny that he was very excited about.


And, we gave him a Bible. All he's had up till now are story Bibles so he was excited about getting his very own "real" Bible. It's in the NIrV and he can read it himself. Now I need to start teaching him the books of the Bible and how to look up passages.




After that, we headed to Wendy and Kevin's house for lunch. Adam and I have suspected for about a year and a half now that Samuel is allergic to animals. He's been to the allergist and been tested and supposedly is only allergic to dust and pollen. However, we hadn't been at Wendy and Kevin's more than 45 minutes or an hour when he had a major allergic reaction. We rushed home, gave him some Benadryl and a bath and he was fine, but I'm definitely going to be taking this pics with me when we go to the allergist on the 15th for his follow up appointment. I'm going to ask them to have him retested. This is the 4th time he's broken out around animals, but this is by far the worst it's ever been.

PreK - Week 25

This week we finished up Unit 4 - Jacob's Family in Egypt. We read about Moses and the burning bush, Moses returning to Egypt to tell Pharaoh "Let My people go!", and about the 10 plagues. Samuel made a book where he drew each of the 10 plagues. He had a lot of fun with it and did a great job.

In science, we read about plants and what they need to survive. We talked about how it was amazing that the burning bush was on fire but did not burn up. We also talked about living and non-living things and what living things need to survive. We went through each of the plagues and figured out if they were living things or not.

We continued learning Proverbs 3:5-6 and Samuel was able to say the entire thing. He was so proud of himself for learning it all.

We're still reading Reddy Fox. This week Samuel had to write a warning to the animals telling them that Bowser the Hound and Farmer Brown's boy are coming and they need to be careful. He even drew a picture to illustrate it.

We learned the letter N in language arts. Samuel did a great job on his handwriting. I think he's looking forward to getting through all the letters in a few more weeks though. Our LA curriculum is very repetitive each week and I think he's getting bored with it. He's doing a great job with reading though and is progressing through his Hooked on Phonics books.

In math, we finished up patterns and we've started working on the terms small, medium, and big. We've been looking at different groups of items and talking about which one is the biggest, which is the smallest, etc. Samuel already knows this so it's mainly just review for him right now.

Writing the letter n

Making his Nn letter sheet

Figuring out patterns for math

Samuel being a bush

Water & sunlight make him grow big and tall

The burning bush

Drawing his warning to the other animals from his Reddy Fox book

Working on his book of the 10 plagues