A Good Full Week Reviewed Jan 22-28

Monday

history, bible, math (multiplying decimals), astronomy copywork, game at gramma's, reading,  A quiet day, shorter than planned, but good

Tuesday

For Grammar, we used the story that he is writing. It's good for him to see why and how his edits are necessary.
Started Math Mammoth, pay attention a review is on the way!
Science (made a bone)  See this site.    I can't say the lad was highly enthused with this activity, but he did learn a lot about the structure of the bone.  

History, bible, astronomy (what do you remember about the asteroid belt)
Watched video on bone structure  and found a page where we could label the parts of the bone.

Wednesday: 
Foodbank, art, Canada learning about the MacKenzie river, being amazed at the caribou.  
My son and I watched a few different videos about the MacKenzie river which is Canada's largest river.  He was stunned by how wide it is.

Thursday
A good day filled with Art, Science, History, bible, math and all sorts of schooling stuff.  :)

While the lad worked on his schooling, I worked on laundry and cleaning the dining room/living room   Moving furniture and organizing...man the old papers that got tossed!   It was so good but also SO exhausting.   

I managed to get outside to take pictures of my bunnies so I could update my rabbitry website so that was great.  

Friday
Today we had three things in school we wanted to work on.
1. Art (didn't make it this far as the robotic hand took longer than anticipated)
2. Science: Icebergs, we were learning about icebergs and my lad asked this question "do icebergs melt faster in salt water or fresh water?"    So we thought we'd test out the theory.   Some elves came along for the joy of cold weather!  :)

3. STEM Science: Robotic Hand

 All in all it was a great week, with learning and growing together.

 Over the course of the week I made progress with my art project.   It's a bit wet here yet, but I have a tree in the foreground and white fluffy clouds!!! 

My lad keeps telling me how much he likes what I am doing. He gives me helpful advice and helped with cutting out the limbs for the tree.   I wanted to clip the overhanging tree branches but the lad forbade me saying "I like it mom, it makes the tree stick out more".  He thinks I should add a few green leaves to the tree, but my original plan was to just have a stark tree overshading the foreground, but "mom, it will look dead if you do that.  Dead trees don't have interesting bark!!!".   

So what do YOU think????

Homeschooling
Stem: Robotic Hand . Where we make a robotic hand.
Art Series: the Incredible Art Department.  An online free art lesson resource.
26 reasons to love homeschooling. An alphabet of reasons.
B is for Beavers.   A ABC blogging post
Exploring the World Starting with Canada.   A Virtual Curriculum Fair Post

Faith and Life
Poem: Control.  Word prompt post
Pride the Downfall of Egypt.  Devotions from Ezekiel 32.
Connections and Gratitude, Jan 25. Posts and things I am grateful for.
How do we bear one anothers burdens.   Sermon based on mental illness. 
Behold, Assyria like a cedar in Lebanon.  Devotions on Ezekiel 31.
Recipe: Lemon Cinnamon Cookies.
Hymn Study: Precious Lord, Take My Hand.
On Whom Do you Rely?   Closing service at our church

Reviews:
 The Playbook.  Using sports to teach character and life issues.

Linking up at the following:

Homeschool Highlights.
Family Friday Link Ups:
Weekly Wraps Up.
Homeschool blog and tell.
 

STEM: Robot Hand

My lad and I have been working our way through the Human Body using God's Design Curriculum.  We are currently working through the lesson on Bones.   We've been supplementing as we work our way through as it's good to take rabbit trails as we study things. 

As we were studying the bones and learning how muscles are attached to the bones using tendons, the lad looked at his hands and feet and said "mom, are those my muscles that stick out when I move my fingers and my toes or they tendons?"  I told him the lines you see are your tendons...but they help your muscles to work.  He was FASCINATED.  

To that end we found this video to help us understand how the muscles of the hand work.  It was a bit longer then what we wanted but gave us a ton of information.

 The muscles of the hand are so intricately put together its definitely God's Design.  

To help us further understand how muscles work we thought we'd put together a robotic hand.   We found one on Mystery Science that looked doable.  We liked how it showed the finger curl but disliked how it worked/didn't work as a whole unit.

On a positive note, it has the lad looking for a version that he thinks will work better!  :)  He's been scouring youtube videos for the rest of the afternoon, rejecting various ones.  He did find one using black tubes with wire that he thinks will work pretty good, just need to find the components... but he's continuing to look in case he find something better. 

I am thrilled that my lad's disappointment with this project hasn't stopped his enthusiasm to learn and to find something he really thinks will work well.  I really hope he finds something, but in the meantime, he'll be learning and that is a good thing.

Blog Tour: The Playbook by Kwame Alexander

 Remember I told you I was going to be part of a blog tour?   Well, today is my day to talk to you about this interesting book.  The Playbook: 52 rules to aim, shoot and score in this game called life. It has been written by Kwame Alexander.

Kwame Alexander is a poet, educator, New York Times Bestselling author of 21 books, and recipient of the 2015 Newbery Medal for his novel, The Crossover.   He as founded two organizations, Book-in-a-Day and LEAP for Ghana.   He is a literacy advocate and regularly travels to promote literacy.  He has served as Bank Street College of Education’s first writer-in-residence.  You can learn more about Kwame here.

If you are interested here is a link to interview and a reading from his previous book, Booked.

52 Rules.   Broken into four quarters: Grit, Motivation, Passion (halftime), Focus and Teamwork.   Each section is broken into training and words of encouragement from a variety of athletes that span all sports: basketball, Olympians and more.  Even quotes from Nobel Prize winners and poets. 

Rule 30 "There is not single formula for winning but you must have a game plan".
Rule 16 "You may not be a starter but always be star in your mind ready to shine at any time"
Rule 42 "Be unselfish, share the ball, work together, win together".

Filled with stories from his life and the lives of  athletes, this book is bound to appeal to the athletes among us, from children up to adults,though it is geared to youth aged 10-12.  There is much wisdom to be gained in the reading of this book, all from a sports mindset. 

I have to admit, I loved the graphics in this book.   Being a non-sports minded person sometimes I got a bit lost in the jargon, but I enjoyed the set up of this book, how it was divided into quarters, covered half time and was simply filled with encouragement for the young athlete to be a person of character as they play the game, whatever game that might be.  To see the character encouraged in the larger realm of life as well.

I can so easily see this book becoming the basis of teaching in a sports camp, or used by a coach with his team.  
 

The Playbook: 52 Rules to aim, shoot, and score in this game called life.
Author: Kwame Alexander
Illustrator: Thai Neave
Pages: 176
Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Ages: 10-12 years old.
Reviewed for: Raincoast Books

Here is Kwame at a Time for Kids interview.

Here is Kwame at an awards banquet, for the 2015 Newberry Award. He is so excited in this video.  It's just fun to see.   It's for a different book, but matters not.  Shows he has some fun and style in writing.

Other people participating in the blog tour can be found here:
The Book Wars.
Lost in Great Book.
Cherry Blossoms and Maple Syrup.
Fab Book Reviews.

Poem: Control

 Control

Child young

trust the folks

mostly

get a fright at

God loss

Keep control

for fear at bay

Control paramont

to not being 

noticed.

Teenager control

I fought

I yelled

God and I

battled

head to head 

feeling daily.

Young Adult Control

I made choices

I stayed away

I strayed

I fought.

God stayed constant.

I frowned .. A LOT.

Gradually.

Surely

God gained Control

Middle age

I fight

I struggle

I give way.

I learn.

And so control 

Is given away

And a peace 

a contentment

is found.

Less frowning.

less struggling

more surety

more security.

Control isn't mine

Control is where it belongs

God.

⁶ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, ⁷ casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. ⁸ Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹ Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. ¹⁰ And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. ¹¹ To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.  1 Peter 5.
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Kate Motaung hosts a word prompt every Friday.   She gives us a word and a whole whack of people write for about five minutes.  A free write on a Single Word Prompt and it's fascinating to see where it takes people and how they approach it.    THEN the most amazing thing happens, people take the time to read what each other wrote and be an encouragement to each other.   It's great!   It's no small wonder that we keep coming back.  Won't you join us?   Today the word is CONTROL.

Bless my dear friend Lori who put the graphic together for me.  WONDERFUL job.  :)  THANKS!