Three Down!

Today we finished Growing with Grammar Level One!

A week or so ago, we finished Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day!

Last week we finished Alpha Math-U-See!

My focus remains on learning rather than finishing books, and I'm trying not to let the satisfaction of completion skew my purpose...but it sure feels good to knock 'em out!

Still to finish: Writing with Ease Level 1, Story of the World Volume One, and Mind Benders Book 2.

Ongoing: Math Drills (great link for drill sheets no matter what program you use) and Spelling Power.

Biblical Science

We don't use strictly "Christian" curriculum. I'll leave it at that for now since the reasons would be more adequately presented in a lengthy post...which I don't have time for.

However, one subject I really like to keep Biblical (to me, Biblical is a more appropriate adjective than Christian in this discussion) is science.  Evolution permeates every natural-science-related book, video, or TV show. The kids learned at an early age to say, "That's not true" every time they heard or read something that said, "millions of years ago..."

History is largely the study of human behavior and accomplishments, and language arts is the study of human communication, but science is the study of God's creation.  The more we  understand about natural science, the more we realize how little we understand of God's power.  I like a science curriculum that acknowledges and even proves that creation is true (for my kids' and my benefit).  If evolution is so widely accepted as fact that dinosaur board books for babies advocate it, I want my kids to be grounded in the truth of creation while they are homeschooled because they are not going to get it anywhere else.

By the way, we used Exploring Creation with Zoology I, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day this year and have thoroughly enjoyed it. The text book is worthy of reading just for fun, and the notebooking journal is fun for the kids and easily prepared (as in no prep) by Mom.

Another by the way: this post is strictly my opinion and was written on my own incentive. I did not and will not receive any compensation for it.

Notebooking Confession, List of Insect Photo Sites, and a Moral

Instead of drawing pictures to go along with all the narrations in our Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day Junior Notebooking Journal (Apologia), we print photos from the Internet.

Just in case someone else out there has a first grade son with a slight pencil allergy...and just in case that someone needs permission to take a shortcut for the sake of a parent/child relationship, here are a few good insect photo sites:

National Geographic
The best way to search for an insect or animal photo is to use the search box in the top right corner.

InsectIdentification.org
We found a great picture of a molting cicada.

Alex Wild Photography
Our favorite. Before I printed, I checked their conditions for image use, and it specifically allows students and teachers to use the photos for educational purposes.

To print the photos, I use the Windows Snipping Tool, save the photo in a folder I labeled "insect study," then print in wallet or contact paper size, depending on the space in the Notebooking Journal. Very simple.

Finally, the moral: Thing1 began illustrating some narrations without complaint after we began printing most of the pictures. It is amazing how much a kid (and his mother) can accomplish when he (or she) is not overwhelmed.

A Mosquito Named Thunder

This first grade homeschool business is crazy. It is changing me.

I have never ever intentionally stored an insect in my refrigerator until last week. I have never ever been excited to find an insect inside my home until today.  In my past, the mosquito lounging on my dining room wall would have horrified me until it was flattened. Not anymore. Life is our schoolroom, right?

I did not flatten the mosquito. I hollered for Thing2 to stand still while I [ran and] retrieved our bug-catching jar out of the science lab kit. Once captured, Thing1 inspected it, concluded that it was indeed an insect (Yep. There are six legs, a head, thorax, and abdomen.) and promptly went back to his Peter Pan audiobook. However, Thing2 and I ogled it with magnifying glasses, discussed the intriguing feature we noticed, and confirmed what we had read in Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day. In fact, Thing2 affectionately called him (or her) Thunder after spending about an hour with it.

It thrills me that I am not the only one in the house who appreciated a live captive mosquito.