Unit One Celebration

Oi!  I had high hopes of a beautiful post here with pictures and details of the yummy brunch we had a few weekends ago to celebrate Isaiah and Marian's first unit of 2nd and 1st grade homeschool this year.  That dream post isn't happening....  

Just for my own record-keeping, here's a quick list of what they learned... some of which showed up at the "museum" on the dining room table or in a sweet performance for Grandma and Grandpa and two "uncles" that our kids also love.  

Psalm 135- Isaiah and Marian recite it beautifully together.  A perfect passage to memorize to remember the Lord's sovereignty over Egypt, all the idols of human hands...

My Shadow- recited by Marian, Ships Sail on the Ocean- recited by Isaiah

Landform map- we made it out of salt dough in August I think.... it's pretty crumbly now!

Science art book-  we studied creation, land (continents) and water (oceans and irrigation and canals), our bodies- major organs, five senses, and we began studying the animal world with insects....
Tirzah book report.  My Help, song from Michael Card.... like the song of hope that Tirzah ends the book with.

Seder Dinner poster, 10 commandments and Ark of the Covenant

Ziggurat and pyramid clay models

Sumerian Cylinder Seal (out of a toilet paper roll)

Ancient peoples of the world book- pages for Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Egyptians, Sumerians, Harrapan, Ancient Chinese, Ancient Americans (3 groups- Mound Builder, Inuits, and Maya)

History timeline, Veritas Press and Classical Conversation cards, creation through ancient Americas, except Greece which we will do in our third trimester

I read several books aloud to them (including their main book report book, Tirzah- a spectacular book!-  but now I don't even remember all of them....   Brave Keepers, Little Pear, Caddie Woodlawn, Five Children and It, A Door in the Wall, and I think there were more...  (The kids fell in love earlier this year with Dahl's James and the Giant Peach and especially Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).  Matt also reads to the kids in the evening...  finished all the Chronicles of Narnia earlier this fall and now they're into the second book in Andrew Peterson's The Wingfeather Saga.  

Isaiah and Marian each also read to me every (or near every) day...  Isaiah:  Boxcar Children 1-2, Bears on Hemlock Mountain, Eat my Dust:  Henry Ford's First Race, and several more...
Marian:  Progressive Phonics #8-11 plus several short readers at home.  (I do love Progressive Phonics for the short, focused, humorous lessons.... and it's free!  5 stars!)

They didn't report on or share their math b/c their textbooks are all in Chinese and I can't help them present it very well!  But I love the Chinese materials they've been studying.  Both our kids run with math lessons quite quickly and easily.... such a grace.  They both love doing "number games" as we call them, problems in their heads.   I'm writing this a few weeks into our second unit, when we are using Math Mammoth in English, and they are both flying fast through the lessons one year ahead of their grade level.  

May the Lord be praised in their continued growth, their character development and their love for learning..... all by His help and for His glory.