Week 3 - Ancient Egypt and Rock climbing

Looks much prettier on the blog http://pure--essentials.blogspot.com.au/

Week 3 was very busy although I have been a little slack with taking photos.

In Bible Study we continued with creation. So far this is Danny's favourite subject, he has really enjoyed making the creation book.

The boys are progressing very well in English and Math.

Daniel started learning about number bonds as well as simple addition. We used many different methods to solidify the number bond concept. From blocks and pebbles to a sophisticated clothes pegs and hanger.

 

Reading is going well, although it is still hard work for him at this stage. He works at it and is moving up to more difficult material.

This weeks readers completed by Daniel additional to his lessons.

And Kayden's. Kayden gets chapter books so we do sometimes spit the longer once over 2 days.

Kayden too has been able to use a number of methods to help make the English and Math lessons more fun and exciting.

He enjoys the variety.

  And it's beginning to show. We did a few review during the week. Math 97% Wahoo!!! And here is the spelling tests. Double Wahoo!! 

 

In History we began covering ancient Egypt. 

The boys have been learning about the river Nile and ancient methods of farming. We have read how the Egyptians relied on the Nile river flooding every year to improve the fertility of the land. We also watched a few short documentaries.

We have also made our own river Nile, we planted grass seeds on the delta and on the river banks. The boys flood the Nile in order to water their seeds :-)

In Science we had fun demonstrating "Energy Conversion" with an experiment. 

The boys have learned one of the most important concepts in science - The Law of Energy Conservation 

"Energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be converted from one form to another."

In Geography we had way too much fun to call it school. We learned the continents and oceans of the world, whilst hopping around on a giant felt map signing "The continent song" from our Geography Songs CD. 

The boys have begun working on their Continents and Oceans lapbooks and we also beginning basic Mapping skills.

During Art we looked at how artist look at nature by chatting about Robert Vonnoh "In Flanders Field". Kids thought it was lovely.

The boys then searched the garden for 3 things from nature that they could draw.

We also a super cool outing with the other homeschooled families. We went to "The Rock" indoor rock climbing. 

Daniel was a little apprehensive and would not climb too high. But Kayden really persisted and pushed through the fear. Once he rang that bell at the top!!!!!.. there was no stopping him!

Kayden loved every minute of it and was very disappointed when it was time to go home.  We will definitely be back! Great fun!

Week 2 - From Nomads to a spin around the Earth!

Week 2 Started off with a bang.                 http://pure--essentials.blogspot.com.au/

We were lucky enough to attend the "Its Atomic" workshop at the Brisbane Science Center.

The boys did 2 hour hands on introduction to chemistry. They learned about basic atoms and molecules. They compared different elements and made different molecular structures. It was awesome. The program is run in 4 parts so we will be attending part 1, 2 and 3 later on in the year.

Daniel made a water molecule.

Boys with a molecule of a amino acid.

At the end of the workshop they comfortably recited to me what a atom is and how a molecule is formed. They knew a few basic elements on a periodic table and could tell me what symbol represents Gold, Oxygen, Nitrogen, Carbon and Hydrogen. Pretty good start!

In Bible study, we have been working on our "Creation books", the boys have had a lot of fun with these.

Daniel and Kayden with Day 2 and Day 3 of their Creation book. :-)

Powering on with Math and English.

Science this week continued with the "light" theme. Where last week we covered reflection, this week we did experiments with light absorption.

Here are their Science Journals.

Yes, I know! We need to work on the correct spelling of the word "colour".  Perhaps we can slot it in for next week.

We also did experiments to demonstrate different types of energy. We covered radial energy, chemical energy, mechanical energy and thermal energy.

History was a blast, we learned about the earliest people. How Nomads lived their lives and how they slowly became farmers.

The boys learned about early paint making methods. They also watched a short documentary about the most famous cave paintings.

Then they proceeded to make their own :-)

They also spend 4 hour, building a Nomad home with the only materials that could be found around the garden. I'm sure this was their favorite part of the lesson.

I was amazed with the results!! My little boys!

Isn't that FANTASTIC!!!!

 

 We finalised this weeks History learning about early farming and irrigation systems. The boys learned about the 1st water irrigation design, called the "Shaduf".

  

They also helped make their own hunter gatherer bags! LOL

Staying with the this great subject we also read "The first dog" what a lovely story.

In Geography we learned about "Day and Night' and the four seasons. We played hands on games, watched some YouTube movies and read about the subject.

Daniel as Mr Sun and Kayden spinning the earth,

In Art we looked at Marc Chagall's " The Birthday", we chatted about how the artist used his imagination to compose this piece of art.

The kids then had a chance to experiment using water colour crayons and made their own masterpieces!

We also read "Green Eggs and Ham" by Dr Seus,

which of course, led us to this creative breakfast! ha ha ha

A perfect opportunity to learn some basic cooking skills.

Green eggs and ham (well bacon) for breakfast and.......

some very happy boys!!!

The boys have also requested their own set of atoms to build molecules, so we set off to work. The project is still in progress :-)