Thoughts this Winter
Oh this winter. As I am writing this, we are in the thick of what feels like MADNESS, so I will try and reflect on the whole winter and not just our current status! This winter treated us really well in many ways. We are still, miraculously, where I kind of wanted us to be in our studies, so I am taking that as a win. December and January were great and we were in a wonderful groove. Once we hit January, we even started taking a designated day off during the week and that was working really well for me.
I’ve been saying we were year-round homeschoolers for awhile, and we have been, but I haven’t been mentally. Let me explain. It has been hard for me to break that tradition in my brain of having nine months of school with a three month summer break. I know my kids do better when we have that routine year-round, I know that is usually what we have been doing the last couple of years, but my mind still felt like it was being cheated out of a break. So I made a plan to take one day off during the week. Now a lot of the time, we were taking a day off anyway to travel to Salt Lake, but on those weeks when we didn’t, I would plan out a day off (usually in the middle of the week), and it was just what I needed. It gave me a mental break from school and let me focus on some of the things around the house that I never feel like I have time for. Plus, also some time to just feel like “mom” without any teaching involved.
Everything with that plan got totally thrown out the window in February though! We went on our trip to Disneyland the first week, two days after we got back Mark was offered his new job, and it has just been crazy ever since. We’ve tried to keep some normalcy but I am feeling stretched pretty thin. Honestly, I am just hoping the next three weeks go by REALLY fast!
family
COME FOLLOW ME
Our study of The Doctrine and Covenants came to an end and it was so special. We loved it. We felt such a closeness with those that came before us and such an appreciation for the restoration of The Church of Jesus Christ. Here were our final bullet points of goodness for the Doctrine and Covenants:
- Learning about the Spirit World
- We Believe the Articles of Faith
- I Can Be a Defender of the Family
- The Nativity
Now we have been immersing ourselves in the Old Testament. And oh goodness, it has been so good. I was really kind of worried before we started. I have always kind of glazed over the Old Testament and really was not very familiar with it. But this year I made a goal to really dive in personally and as a family and it has been incredible. Every week is just beautiful.
- You Are a Child of God
- The Creation of the World
- The Fall of Adam and Eve
- God Can Help You to Do Hard Things
- We Can Build Zion
- Noah’s Ark
- I Am Part of Abraham’s Family
- God Can Fulfill His Promises
- Rebekah at the Well
Extra Resources: The Red Headed Hostess Subscription // Book for Jacob // Book for Sarah and Benjamin
HISTORY
This winter we have been diving into the world of the reformation and history of the Bible. Oh wow. This has been so eye opening for me personally and has been such a great place for discussion for our family. We have learned about so many history heroes and I have such an appreciation for what they did.
We learned about John Wycliffe, Gutenberg and the Printing Press, John Huss, Martin Luther, Ulrich Zwingli, William Tyndale, John Calvin and Puritanism, Henry VIII and the Church of England, King James and the Bible, as well as Catholic Heroes of the Reformation. Incredible.
We also read a book called, Ink on His Fingers by Louise A. Vernon. This book was great to really dive into the feelings of the time about this new art of “printing”. I had no idea. This dives into Johann Gutenberg and his efforts to bring the Bible to the common man. It was fascinating.
In February, we started our new unit on slavery and the Civil War era. It has already been incredibly impactful on all of us. So far we dove into the efforts of the abolition of the European Slave Trade, and specifically the impact of John Newton and William Wilberforce. I had never heard about these two men before and learning about their lives has been very inspiring. Now we are shifting our focus to slavery in America. Really difficult subject, but so important to remember.
We are also reading Escape by Night: A Civil War Adventure by Laurie Myers.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful History: Year 4
SCIENCE
I feel like we are cruising through science! We finished our unit on Ecosystems and it was a favorite of mine. I am not sure why I loved it so much but we all really enjoyed it! We discussed the different levels of organization, food chains and food webs, energy pyramids and trophic levels, the interactions of living things, Earth’s terrestrial biomes, Earth’s aquatic biomes, and the ecological succession.
Now we have moved on to SPACE SCIENCE! Who doesn’t love learning about space?! Jacob and I have done this unit before but it has been so fun to revisit! We are about halfway through and studied about stars and constellations, our solar system as a whole, the sun, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, and the phases of the moon. We can’t wait for more!
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Science: Ecosystems // The Good and the Beautiful Science: Space Science
ART
We didn’t do too many art projects this winter. But we did do some puffy penguins, a rocket ship and space aliens (perfect for our space science!).
Resources: Let’s Make Art Kids Projects
NATURE
Jacob and Sarah have really thrived with their nature notebooks. They do these mostly on their own but I have been so impressed with what they have written and appreciated about nature.
Resources: The Good and the Beautiful Nature Notebook
LETTER SUBSCRIPTIONS
This has become such a Friday highlight! We are loving our letters!
Letters from Afar
This winter we explored Slovenia and the Predjama Castle as well as the Kiso Valley in Japan. Needless to say, we all want to go EVERYWHERE!
Writings from the Wild
In the animal kingdom, we learned about the barn swallow, the narwhal and the Atlantic puffin.
American Heritage
Within America history, we learned about two greats – Will Rogers and Mercy Otis Warren.
American Heritage Adventure
And in America we “traveled” to Acadia National Park, the Gates of the Arctic, and the Mississippi River.
JACOB {4TH GRADE}
LANGUAGE ARTS
Jacob is FLYING through his language arts. He has loved the independence this year with his school work (and I am not complaining too much either!). I am grateful we still come together at the end of the day to go over these independent subjects just to make sure he is understanding but it has been so awesome for both of us.
This winter Jacob covered more sentence diagramming, commas in a series, maps, prepositional phrases, parallel construction, adverbs, abbreviations, homophones, how to judge books, run-on sentences, verb tenses, compound sentences, and helping verbs.
In geography he studied Luxembourg, the United States of America, Washington, DC, US National Parks (including about Clare Marie Hodges), and Prince Edward Island.
He continues to work with pastels in art and had two projects this season: an apple and a tennis ball. He also learned more about the art from Albert Bierstadt.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts: Level 4
READ ALOUDS
This winter our read alouds were so good. Jacob and I were totally enthralled.
- The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare: I LOVED THIS BOOK! This was easily up there in one of my all time favorite books I have ever done as a read aloud. I had to resist the urge to secretly read this at night because I was so invested! This story is so compelling. It takes place at the time of Jesus, who is a character in the book, but not a main character. It follows the story of Daniel who has a deep hatred for the Romans. It is fascinating to read of this time period and get a greater sense of the culture and views of the age and how that wove into the teaching of Christ. It was amazing and inspiring and we loved it! 100% recommend!
- The Lost Kingdom by Chester Bryant: Jacob really enjoyed this book! It takes place deep in the rainforests of India and follows the story of a thirteen year old boy named Rodmika. He has a special connection with the jungle and it’s many mysteries. This story has adventure and heart and was a great read. I think boys would especially enjoy this one!
CLICK HERE for Jacob’s full read aloud list this year.
HANDWRITING
Jacob’s handwriting continues to be oh so pretty. He has learned how to make all of the letters in cursive and is now writing words in cursive. He is over half way done with his book.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting: Level 4
CREATIVE WRITING
Jacob’s writing has grown by leaps and bounds this year. I would attribute that mostly to The Good and the Beautiful’s gentle approach to writing in language arts. But Jacob has surprised me and really enjoyed adding creative writing this year. Sometimes slow and steady really does win the race.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Creative Writing Notebook #1
MATH
Math is going well for Jacob. This year has definitely been a big step up in concepts but he is working through it and I am proud of him. This winter he has learned: LOTS of perimeter and area, exponents and perfect squares, comparing fractions, associative property, order of operations, LOTS of long division, multiples and factors, graphs, fact family logic, symmetry, Fahrenheit and Celsius, fractions of a set, collecting data, graphing data, prime and composite numbers, improper fractions, finding missing factors, types of triangles, two-step story problems, multiples of 10, quadrilaterals, geometric transformations, and rotations.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Math 4
TYPING
Jacob is just a handful of lessons away from finishing his final course in typing. He is really excited to “learn the computer” more and he is really starting to see some progress in his speed.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Typing 3
DRAWING
This winter Jacob finished his Vintage Drawing Level 3 book and is now working through Level 4. It continues to be more challenging but it has been neat to see Jacob really slow down and work through it. He continues to be an art kid through and though.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Vintage Drawing Level 3 // The Good and the Beautiful Vintage Drawing Level 4
PIANO
Jacob is doing well with his piano. He and Sarah did a Christmas recital in December and he did really well. He continues to work in Level 2A.
Resources: Faber Piano Adventures Level 2A
sARAH {1ST GRADE}
LANGUAGE ARTS
I believe I can share now that Sarah was able to participate in the pilot program for a new version of language arts from The Good and the Beautiful. It was a little stressful having to stick with a strict schedule but I am proud of Sarah for putting in some extra work. The new program is fantastic and I am excited for everyone to use it!
She learned: homophones (too/two/to; be/bee), blends BR, TR, DR, ED, ING, AI, OO, ER, UR, IR, WH, WR, AW, AU, about Beatrix Potter and nature, the different sounds of /Y/, parables, subjects and verbs, what a sentence needs, how to edit, Aesop’s Fables, adjectives, spelling rule #1, words with open syllables, common and proper nouns, poetry called “The Valley of Grump”, and that A can say /UH/ and /AH/.
She also did a writer’s workshop where she learned how to write thank you notes and she wrote the sweetest letter to Lydia.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts Level 1
READ ALOUDS
I don’t know why this year feels different, but our read alouds have just been AMAZING! We’ve really loved them.
- Abigail Adams by Jean Brown Wagoner: We have read a couple biographies from this series and I have really enjoyed them. I love that they are a little different from a typical biography and focus almost exclusively on the childhood of the individual. Sarah grew to LOVE Abigail Adams. Before we started, she had never heard of her but became so inspired by her. She was intelligent, kind, witty, and loved by all who knew her. Would definitely recommend it!
- Gold Mountain by Gwendolen Hampshire Hayden & Pearl Clements Gischler: This is a great history read aloud. I actually read it with Jacob last year in history when we were studying the westward expansion. It follows a young family who are moving from the Willamette Valley in Oregon EAST to eastern Oregon. They end up finding gold and a whole town they lovingly name “Muslin Town” erupts. It is a neat glimpse into a time when these little mining towns would pop up and what life was like for them there – especially for two young children!
- The Courage of Sarah Noble by Alice Dalgliesh: An easy read but OH SO GOOD! It follows a young girl named, Sarah (so my Sarah was ALL ON BOARD!) in the early 1700s who goes with her father to settle land in the wilderness of the eastern United States. Sarah reminds herself to have courage throughout the book as she meets and befriends Native Americans in the area and adjusts to life in the wilderness. Such a sweet and inspiring book.
- Primrose Day by Carolyn Haywood: The author does such a good job writing for this age group. This is a fun story about Merry, who is a young girl from London, who goes to the United States during World War II to stay with family. It follows the adventures she has traveling and then with her cousin, Jerry. This just promotes sweet family relationships and all of the good that childhood should have.
- In Grandma’s Attic by Arleta Richardson: This is the first book in a series that is well-loved in our home. This series is a little different in that there isn’t a storyline that goes throughout this book. It follows a young girl who loves to hear stories from her grandmother about when she was a little girl. So they find little things in the house that remind her grandma of different stories. Each chapter is a new story, and they are so sweet and funny. Sarah giggles frequently while I read. I have a feeling more books from this series are going to be read.
CLICK HERE for Sarah’s full read aloud list this year.
HANDWRITING
Sarah continues to practice her handwriting. It is getting better, she just like to write FAST!
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Handwriting Level 1
MATH
Math continues to be Sarah’s favorite subject. This winter she learned about: LOTS of addition story problems, pairs, counting on, LOTS about calendars, spelling number words, MORE subtraction, one less and one more, LOTS about fact families, identifying shapes, hundreds chart, writing numbers 50 to 60, LOTS of counting in the hundreds, quarters and counting by 25s to 100, writings cents, bars graphs, copying and extending patterns, morning, afternoon, evening, night, and tally marks to 50.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Math Level 1
DRAWING
Sarah is REALLY close to finishing her drawing book and is doing so well with it. It’s a nice, relaxing activity for her to do during her day.
Resource: The Good and the Beautiful Vintage Drawing Book 1
PIANO
Sarah and Jacob both put on a Christmas recital in December. She did fabulous!
Curriculum: Faber Piano Adventures Level 1
BENJAMIN {PRESCHOOL ii}
PRESCHOOL
Benjamin is still not really interested/excited about preschool. I’ve been a little discouraged at times but I remind myself that his feelings today don’t mean those are going to be his feelings forever. I think we are just going to have a really gently beginning. In my experience with kiddos in general (and let’s just put adults in there too), no one likes to be pushed into something. And even if you do, they usually don’t have a very positive feeling about it. So while I don’t believe just putting preschool completely to the side is right for us, I also think we are just going to move at a pace that works for him.
This winter we worked on letters E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L. We are currently working on M, N, O, P and then I think we will take some time to really solidify this first half of the alphabet before going on. He’ll get there!
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Preschool Course
HANDWRITING
Benjamin finished his first book of handwriting and did really well. He worked on hearts, stars, and letter shapes. In his second book, he is continuing to work on shapes and strokes. He has pretty awesome pencil grip and is getting those fine motor skills better and better.
Curriculum: The Good and the Beautiful Pre-Handwriting Part I // The Good and the Beautiful Pre-Handwriting Part 2
Final Thoughts
Despite our last month of winter being a whirlwind of crazy, we’ve been able to keep learning going in the Berning house. My multitasking abilities are just getting more and more fine-tuned! But I am proud of these kiddos for all of the hard work that they do to learn and for their attitudes to enjoy learning. It will be exciting to get into a new groove with out learning this next spring in our new home.
Thank you for the thorough overview of the kids’ curriculum and how each are doing. We are proud of each of them. Sometimes it’s hard for the littler ones who see what the older ones can do and not feel scared or intimidated. They weren’t around when the older ones were learning new and very basic things. We will continue to encourage Ben. He needs that support. Grateful to know how each is doing in school.
Elise, you always amaze.
A really good perspective. Thank you! 💛