Homeschool Preschool Week 14

We have gotten really Christmas-y around here this week! It is the beginning of December and we are so excited for all the things we have planned this month. This week was a great start to the Christmas season. 

We began learning a new bible verse this month: Isaiah 9:6 - "For unto us a child is born; unto us a son is given; and the government is upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Our Catechism for the month is: "How can you glorify God?" --- "By loving Him and doing as He commands."

Ellie and I got to further decorate her bedroom for Christmas by making a red and green paper chain to go across one wall. I LOVED decorating my playroom with my big sister as a child for all the holidays - especially Christmas! Ellie first wanted to play with the strips of paper making patterns. We color sorted them also. She loves building and creating and she made a city of just the paper strips. What an imagination! Then she got to practice her staple skills as we connected them together. Once connected we hung the chain up over her bed. This was such fun and really great for patterns, sorting, and meticulous method skills. 

We began our chocolate advent calendar in addition to Advent which began the most previous Sunday. We gather every night by the fire with blankets and pillows and read from three books/devotionals for our advent study time. These books are: "Jotham's Journey," "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus," and "The Dawning of Indestructible Joy." This last one is a John Piper devotional and I am really enjoying this. We drink egg-nog, tea, or hot chocolate. We pray, light the candles (One new one a week) and cuddle and learn about the coming of Christ as a baby, together. 

We made Christmas Play-Dough. Green play dough, red glitter, peppermint essential oil. Mix. Play. Ellie really relaxed with this and had fun cutting, slicing, and rolling the dough.

Ellie made magic happen in the cold Christmas land of the North Pole by using pipettes filled with red or green warm salt water to melt and decorate a massive ice block. She also added glitter and worked to use the pipettes to wash away the glitter on the ice block. 

One night, my husband, Ellie, and myself, went to my parent's house to sing Christmas carols. We then ventured inside for hot chocolate and Christmas cookies. I love these moments to learn to perform and be confident, and to also just bond with family! She was actually surprisingly happily shy and laughed a lot. She never sang but she thought it was a funny adventure. So again, just pushing boundaries and teaching her to put herself out there, be silly, and be confident. And who better to do that with than with her grandparents?!

We made some pinecone birdfeeders in preparation for next week for forest school. Pinecones, peanut butter, bird seed, yarn.

Something super and new, fun, and educational we did together as a family this week was to teach Ellie to make her own candles. These candles are to be her gifts to her aunt and uncle, and both sets of grandparents. We used beeswax, old cashew butter jars washed and cleaned out and label removed, apple pie spice oil, and wicks from Hobby Lobby. We followed some deeply detailed instructions I found on the great world of Google and worked together as a family to learn and create. 

Ellie did a lot of block building with her daddy. This is one of her favorite things....one of my husband's as well actually...and they love to do this together. They made an impressive robot and train from rectangular wooden blocks.

At Forest School, Ellie learned about evergreens and Christmas plants. We studied the origin of the traditions of Christmas plants such as mistletoe, Christmas tree, poinsettias, etc. We read many books, purchased our own poinsettia, went on a nature walk to find evergreens, holly, pines, firs, and we read poetry and studied classic art regarding Christmas Roses. We read about the legends of poinsettias in some really cute books. 

Books read the past two weeks:

We also "rowed" another book this week for our Before Five in a Row curriculum which was, "If Jesus Came to My House." We just had such a meaningful time together bonding with Jesus and bonding together. We read this precious story, dug deep into God's word as usual, and just sought to love others the way Jesus loves, and to treat people the way we would if we entertaining Jesus, Himself. Those activities can be read about, here.

"If Jesus Came to My House" - BFIAR Activities

 

I think this story has been one of Ellie's favorites. Each morning at breakfast she would grab the book and lay it out as well as our bible and memory verse chalk board and tell me to get started! I couldn't even get my coffee poured before she was asking for me to read to her!

Our Bible verse go along for this book is Matthew 7:12, "So in everything, do to others what you would have them to you, for this sums up the law and the prophets."

We also read Isaiah 41:10, "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

We also have our monthly bible verse of Isaiah 9:6.

Math:

We built with blocks and made many different structures, shapes, and patterns. Ellie was pleased to do this for a solid 3 hours one morning! We made squares, rectangles, and hexagons with our blocks. She made a linear pattern of squares and then wanted to count them. She would build one, then count the series, then add one, then count the new total. She actually also upon her own mind decided to make the letter "E" with her blocks for "Ellie" and she did it over and over. I was so proud. This was awesome fun learning for her. 

Reading: 

In addition to the book, we also did so much other reading. We are daily in the word of God and this book made a really neat connection to that time. We finished the book of John and moved into the book of Acts this week. We were deeply focusing on the characteristics of Jesus and what it is to be Christ like and to serve and love others above ourselves. It is also December and we are doing nightly Advent reading from "Jotham's Journey," "The Dawning of Indestructible Joy" by John Piper, and "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus." Advent is a time to celebrate, pursue, and prepare for the time in which Jesus came to us on Earth. Which so ties in with this story this week. Pursuing, entertaining, and loving like Jesus. I am very happy we chose to row this book at this season. 

We also have a practice in our household of reading poetry by the fire in a cozy pallet of blankets and pillows with candles and tea (hot chocolate and egg-nog a few of these nights). In the book, Jesus and the boy gather by the fire and enjoy tea so again it was literally just perfect that we already had this family habit. We read a poem to go with the story by Robert Louis Stevenson, "My Shadow." So we had tea by the fire as they did and delved into a poem discussing a shadow which the boy is timid of if not for the presence of Jesus. 

We also had a few other Christ faith focused stories to read to go along. Here they are:

Activities:

We made shadow puppets in the dark bathroom with Ellie's flashlight. This was fun! We made alligators, geese, spiders, people, bunnies, and Ellie made up stories to go with them. Shadows can be fun, not scary!

Another shadow project was to make "shadow cookies." We rolled out sugar cookie dough and used a gingerbread boy cookie cutter to make a human figure. Once we rolled them out and cut them and baked them, we let them cool and then frosted them with chocolate icing so they were dark like shadows! Ellie totally got the concept and could not wait to eat some cookies.

For a snack, Ellie ate apples as were offered to Jesus. We actually also have our own small young apple orchard which was a fun connection for Ellie, though our apples were not from our orchard. She said she could take Jesus to her orchard, too! 

We do a monthly hospitality or service project to love others as Jesus calls us to do. The book emphasizes this importance as well. This week I will simply only say that we helped a friend in need. There's nothing else that needs to be said. I think the important take away here is that we daily love and serve others, and care for those in need as Jesus would and does. It is so important to teach our children this. 

We also went hiking and found a new waterfall and we relished in the creation of God and had quiet time with Jesus in His beautiful creation. We can spend time with God even if we cannot see Him and we can hear Him, witness His goodness and beauty, and talk with Him. 

We discussed how we can communicate with God and have a relationship with Him: Reading His word, Praying to Him, Seeking Him in His creation, serving others. We discussed how we can glorify God: by loving Him, keeping His commandments, and loving others. 

This week was a really awesome week of bonding together and bonding with Jesus and just taking time to be quiet with Him. I hope rowing this story will be as big of a blessing for your family!

Reedy Branch Falls Trail Guide

The easiest hike ever with such an awesome payout. Reedy Branch Falls is only 1 hour away from Easley.

Length: .4 miles total

Type: Out & Back

Terrain: Rocks, dirt, straw, foliage

Difficulty: Easy

Address: In your GPS just type, "Reedy Branch Falls Trailhead Long Creek, SC." This will take you directly there. 

Pet friendly

*Notes - Now, this trail is not marked on the road nor on the trail itself. Luckily, GPS gives no trouble whatsoever. Coming from Westminster, SC, the trailhead parking is on your left. The parking is a pull off along a very beautiful stone retaining wall and stone gate. It looks like private property but it is not. There are no signs at all except for a post marker labeled "2751." 

Park in the gravel just off the road side next to the stone wall. You will see ahead of you a closed gate and an open stone wall way of entrance. Go through that and start down the trail. 

At about .2 mile in, you discover the waterfall. It is obvious there used to be some sort of bridge crossing over a small creek to get to the other side. However; not to worry....if it is summer, just cross through the creek and get your feet wet. If it is cooler weather, just continue down the bank towards the falls and you will be able to cross over using a fallen tree trunk and/or rocks.

Above: continuing along the bank after seeing the bridge is gone from over the creek.

Above: Missing bridge at the creek bed

Above: The tree trunk we used to cross the creek. Again, if it is warm, just put your feet in the water. No big deal! 

It is not necessary to cross the small creek to get to the falls but it does bring you closer and to a great spot for playing and a pic-nic. When done, just exit the way you came! Enjoy!