January was a bit of a flop for us with the exception of SCHOOL! We had a great month filled with learning!
We are feeling a little cooped up…the wind is just brutal here and makes even short walks pretty unenjoyable. But we have high hopes for February!
This month, though, I have had many confirmations that even though there are moments when things are difficult – this is exactly what we should be doing right now in our family. I am grateful that I get to spend each day learning with my children. It’s such a blessing in my life.
JACOB
Language Arts
Jacob finished reviewing his phonics cards from his first grade year, mastered two more sight word lists, completed another spelling chart, and memorized his second poem.
He finished his reading about daddy longlegs and wrote a letter to his Grammy explaining some of the things he learned. He also began diagramming sentences {which is totally foreign to me but is actually really cool!}.
He read The Ugly Duckling and learned the difference between fiction and nonfiction.
We also read Lumber Camp Library by Natalie Kinsey-Warnock and Prairie School by Avi. We both loved these books and afterwards compared and contrasted them to one another.
We reviewed and learned some new spelling rules, worked on AIL,AIR, KN, MB, OW, and OE word families, commas in dates, and compound words.
As far as geography goes, we learned about Germany, the United States, and the Equator.
Handwriting
Handwriting continues to go well and Jacob is over half way done in his book now! WOOT!
Read Aloud
We finished reading Treasures of the Snow by Patricia St. John and absolutely loved it. It was a first for all of us and was such a beautiful book. Every day the kids were begging to read more and it was hard for me to not give in because I wanted to keep reading as much as they did. Can we just read all day long?
We are now reading Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. This book is a classic and we are all enjoying it very much.
Math
We are in our home stretch for math! We are working through Jacob’s final unit all about numbers to 100. This month we have covered place value, ten more / ten less, expanded form, multiples of ten, estimation, one-fourth, higher addition, counting on from a two-digit number, odds and evens, one dollar, dividing numbers, one-fourth of 100, the quarter, simple regrouping, and time to the quarter hour.
We should finish up his math this next month and then we will move right into his next level. We already got his new books and Jacob loves to look through them in his spare time!
History
History continues to go really well. We will finish up our book about the Vikings (Beorn the Proud by Madeleine Polland) this next week. It’s been such an exciting read.
We spent several days learning about Christopher Columbus and we really enjoyed that. We learned about other explorers, including Balboa and John and Sebastian Cabot.
We are now learning about pre-Columbian America and have studied about the Mayan Civilization. This unit has been so fascinating.
Science
This month we finished our study of maturation and sexual reproduction. We discussed the harmful effects of pornography and personal hygiene.
Check out this post to see all the goodness this unit has to offer.
This month we began a new unit about marine biology. We are LOVING this unit! We have learned so much and it has been tons of fun to boot.
So far we have talked about the characteristics of oceans, tides and intertidal zones, marine life, coral reefs and marine invertebrates.
Typing
Jacob loves typing. He is wanting to type all the things now. This program has been great – it’s simple and effective. WIN!
Music
We picked back up with our study of the Baroque Era after putting it on pause for our Christmas carols study.
We studied Johann Sebastian Bach and his Brandenburg Concerto No. 2, Mvmt. 1, Toccata and Fugue in D minor, and Air on the G String.
He was truly an amazing composer!
We dug more into what the Brandenburg Concertos were, the pipe organ, and the baroque violin. We also studied what toccata, fugue, and pizzicato mean.
Now we are studying our final composer of the Baroque Era – George Frederic Handel. We have studied Hornpipe from Water Music {Jacob LOVED this song!}. We also discussed form in music and I was really impressed by how quickly Jacob was able to hear it within the music.
Civics
We have continued our study of Colonial America. We learned about different colonial shops and schools.
This month Jacob made a hornbook – which was used by children who were learning how to read in colonial times.
We just began a new unit all about free America. We have discussed George Washington, the Declaration of Independence, and learned the history behind Independence Day.
Nature
This month we studied the winter sky! We read The Snowy Day by Ezra Keats and Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martine {two of our favorites!}.
We then made an acrostic poem all about winter!
Arts & Crafts
This month we finally did another arts and crafts project. Jacob colored and designed four different trees to show the four different seasons. They turned our really fun!
SARAH
Peaceful Preschool – Letters H, I, J, K
I’ve been feeling a little push to speed up Sarah’s preschool stuff. We’ve really been spreading it out and there was just no reason to be. Every day she wants MORE. Plus, I realized that at the pace we were going, we definitely weren’t going to be done when I wanted to be. So I went through and fine tuned what I actually thought we would do with each letter and we are moving at a much better pace – and Sarah is still loving everything!
For Letter H we read: The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton, The Little Red Hen illustrated by J. P. Miller, and Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson.
Sarah made a glitter glue H, colored a picture from “The Little House, made some bread, and made a H page for her alphabet book.
For Letter I we read: Ice Cream Summer by Peter Sis and Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni.
Sarah made a glitter glue I, made ice cream sundaes, made an ice cream cone collage, created a letter I page for her alphabet book, and made dirt cups with gummy worms!
For Letter J we read: Sheep in a Jeep by Nancy E. Shaw and The Giant Jam Sandwich by John Vernon Lord.
Sarah made a glitter glue J, drew a jeep filled with sheep, made a letter J page for her alphabet book, and made jam sandwiches for everyone in the family.
For Letter K we read: A Kiss for Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik, The Emperor and the Kite by Jane Yolen, and the poem My Kingdom by Robert Louis Stevenson.
Sarah made a glitter glue K, drew a picture and mailed it to her Great Grandma, created a letter K page for her alphabet book, and made a scratch art kite.
TGTB Language Arts
Sarah loves her “dog book”! She is picking up on the letters and the sounds they make really well. One thing that has worked particularly well with her is using the letter songs along with it. I will find her singing them daily to herself and it is adorable.
She is SO ready to read!
Handwriting
Sarah’s handwriting continue to go really well. I am pretty sure she would finish the whole book in one sitting if I let her but we are taking our time and she is doing very well.
Come, Follow Me
This last month was particularly special because we began our study of the Book of Mormon. It has already been such a beautiful and wonderful part of our day and we cannot wait for more.
This month we studied the introduction of the Book of Mormon and 1 Nephi. We focused on: the Book of Mormon being the keystone of our religion, how the Lord can strengthen us, Lehi’s dream of the Tree of Life, how the Book of Mormon restores precious truths, and how we can be a good example to our family.
“An it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father: I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”
1 Nephi 3:7
Wrap Up
I am walking away from January feeling really good about what we accomplished. We are a little behind where I would like to be – but I am also not stressing too much about it. Life is about learning and we definitely did a lot of that this month!
You can find on overview of our curriculum for Jacob here, and Sarah here.
