Unit 14: Horse

I've debated the last few weeks whether I should keep the same pace or speed it up. I am wanting to go straight into My Father's Worlds (MFW) 1st grade curriculum. I am not certain starting the 1st grade program after the new year will give us enough time to finish everything before the regular school schedule starts in August 2014. Next year when I legally have to inform the state of my decision to homeschool we will belong to a homeschool group that will maintain all of our records and sessions start at the same time as public school. Additionally, Caleb is an only child and we get through a days work quickly and he has mastered the art of sitting and doing his work with little to no complaining. From now on you will see us completing 2 units in one week. I have found Caleb is more than capable of getting the work done especially since he knows school is not optional. Monday's/Tuesday's and Thursday's/Fridays we will complete MFW lessons. Wednesday's he will go to Learning Planet K-5 program while I go to women's bible study. We should be finished in 5 to 6 weeks and I am excited. Now for the review.

Unit 14 in all about the letter Hh and horses. Caleb learned one of my favorite bible passages for children; Children, obey your parents in everything for this pleases the Lord. Colossians 3:20 NIV. Once trained, a well-behaved horse obeys right away with no hesitations. God wants us to do the same. We learned how Noah obeyed Gods command immediately while Jonah tried to run away and suffered the consequence of his disobedience.

Just beautiful. I am well pleased with his writing.

Finally, he agreed to color the pictures starting with the letter sound. I would get confused between his x marks and check marks.

Cut and paste page. The word hill was challenging for him. So we worked through sounding it out.

  Math page distinguishing between heaviest and lightest and largest to smallest. After a series of questions the smallest horse had to end up in the barn.

Cut and paste page 2. We reviewed the sentences together and then he pasted them in the right spot.

Dictation page. His writing is difficult to see, but it is beautiful near perfect. I couldn't praise him enough for a well job done.

I love all the review and repetition of words. Caleb's ability to recognize and read words grows daily.

We read Fritz and the Beautiful Horses. Such a delightful book. We read a couple of books from the library too selections were poor this time.

 Caleb had to compare a horse and car identifying all the differences. It was neat to see in one of our books fire fighting horses that pulled the equipment unlike our motorized fire trucks of today. Caleb loves fire fighters and believes he will be one in the future. We were also supposed to make a clay model of a horse. That turned out to be a dud and scrapped the project.

Unit 13: Cow

Unit 13 is all about the letter Cc and cows. Caleb learned that in order for him to grow in his salvation he must learn to crave pure spiritual milk (the word of God) like a newborn baby. What a great lesson for me too. I must foster a love for learning in him. The words to remember this week were "God's Word helps me grow."

Caleb tried to memorize The Purple Cow poem by Gelett Burgess. We didn't put enough work into the memorization. I had to trace the cow badge and then let him color it purple which worked out great for the both of us.

Handwriting page. He is still working on placing his letters in the correct location.

Sound discrimination page. He can do this independently now. No help from mom.

The math page is a little challenging this week. He had to circle more than 2 cows and less than 3 cows. I am not sure he got the concept.

Cut and paste page. I review any words he has trouble with and then he pastes onto the page. He is still figuring out how to sound out words. He loves to get in a hurry just to have the activity over with and wants me to just tell him the word. I resist the request and tell him to sound it out.

Dictation page. He is getting better at identifying the middle vowel sound now and has started the good habit of repeating the word to himself so he can hear the sounds.

Cut and paste page 2. I love how Caleb tries to read these one his own before he asks for help.

Caleb's drawing of a cow, cooking, can and a comb. Someday he'll include more color.

We read a ton of books related to cows. Ferdinand came with program and was cute. However, if you want a book both you and your child will love try Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type. Written by a lawyer it was a favorite by both of us. Cows go on strike then the chickens refuse to lay eggs. The farmer demands milk and eggs, but not without an ultimatum. Oh, and the ducks get in on the action too. This is a keeper and one I plan to add to my personal library.

Unit 12: Goats

Unit 12 is all about the letter Gg and goats. Caleb learned that before Jesus died on the cross for our sins goats, sheep, and other animals were given to God for people's sin. Our words to remember were "Jesus died for my sins." 

I introduced goats; these look much different than the ones we see in farms. We were supposed to compare the taste of goats milk with cows milk, but it's too expensive to buy and goats milk does not come in little tiny cartons. Instead Caleb had a great time singing Old MacDonald Had a Farm using his farms animals on a stick.

 Caleb would have to hold up a farm animal and say it's sound. He loved it! 

Do you see the mistake? Caleb had to match the baby farm animals with the adults. I thought for sure he misplaced two baby farm animals.

It wasn't until Caleb was putting his Baby Farm Animal Book together that I realized lamb and kid did not go together. Sigh! I had to look it up on the computer. Now I know kid goes with goat and lamb goes with sheep. Yep, as simple as it sounds I (Mom) learned something very basic. The best part Caleb was able to read his little book all by himself. I mean he really read the words. I was thrilled and still am. We also practiced finding rhyming words like goat and coat or pig and wig.

 Handwriting practice.

Recognizing the as a sight word and reading the sentence. They are all words he has learned in previous lessons. I love how My Father's World build's on previous lesson to give a strong foundation. 

 Sound discrimination page. Caleb now has a system where the x represents a non Gg sound and the v (aka, check mark) has the Gg sound.

 First we review the words and then he has to match the words with the pictures independently. I check his work and then he gets to clue. 

 Dictation page. He must tell me which vowel sound he hears first before identifying the first and last letters. I have to really emphasize the middle sound otherwise he doesn't seem to hear it. I'm hoping by asking him to repeat the word to himself it will start to click.

Following directions. I will say, "with your purple crayon circle the word gas" and he does. Two through five are covered with blank sheet so he doesn't get confused with all the other words on the page. He likes to anticipate what I am going to say next and get in a hurry sometimes. I remind him that hurrying does not mean better and lots of mistakes can be made. 

Math this week was learning to tell time and how to write it. 

I thought this a was cute picture of him sitting on his foot and using his wooden clock to help him.

We finished our studies by reading "The Year at Maple Hill Farm." A delightful book that walks through the seasons and how all the farm animals change.  

Caleb carefully studying the month of September since that is the month we are currently in. 

Caleb's rendition of the month of September. He still does not like to try and draw what he sees. Most of his drawings are abstract.

In the book it talked about how the horse had to be shod. Caleb wanted to know what it meant. I said, "it's when the horse receives horse shoes." Just to make sure I was right we looked it up in the dictionary. He is pointing to the word "shod" meaning shoe. Caleb will know how to use that dictionary in no time. Every time he asks me what does that word mean we look it up. What a great easy way for a child to learn. To him the dictionary is big story book like the Bible. Too cool!