Bigger Hearts for His Glory- Unit 22

This week in Bigger Hearts for His Glory we learned more about John Audubon.  Our character trait for the week was diligence and we discussed how Audubon diligently continued with his book of bird paintings even after rats ruined years of hard work.  He didn’t give up, but started over and determined to make better paintings than he had the first time.

We also learned that Audubon was a good shot with a gun.  We read that some hunters at that time could shoot the wick off a candle.  We had a fun history activity where we used a bean bag to see how good our aim was by trying to hit a hat when it was thrown into the air. Then we tried to knock a small object off the top of a spray can without knocking over the can.  Kevin always enjoys when we can take a break from school work and do something fun and active.

We also read about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  We learned how he was also diligent in writing poetry.  He wasn’t a great poet to start out with, but, with practice, he wrote poems that are still enjoyed today.  Kevin made a notebook page with one of Longefellow’s poems, “A Psalm of Life”.  This was a lot of writing for him, but he did great.

He also made a footprint painting to symbolize the footprints we’re each leaving behind us like Longfellow talks about in his poem.

Footprints, that perhaps another,

   Sailing o’er life’s solemn main,

A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,

   Seeing, shall take heart again.

For science, we continued reading in Pioneer Sampler.  We read about how Grandma and Grandpa came over on a boat from Scotland to America.  We discussed why the inside of a boat stays dry and we did an experiment with a tissue and a glass, showing how the air trapped in the glass kept the tissue dry even when we pushed the glass underwater.  Kevin also made a notebook page about the honeybee.

We also read about how most pioneer families kept a family cow for milk, butter, and cheese.  We were supposed to make butter, but we didn’t have cream in the house, so maybe we will do this later.

We did something new this week for us.  We went geocaching for the first time.  If you haven’t tried this with your children, you really should.  Geocaching is when you look for containers that have been hidden by other people.  You use GPS coordinates and clues to find the container.  Once you’ve found it you sign a log book (or paper) inside with the date.  It’s like a little treasure hunt and a great way to get out of the house and discover places you’ve never been to before.

Signing the log at our first Geocache.

We take Kevin to speech therapy twice a week and the teacher told us this Friday that he’s really been doing great the last couple times.  It’s encouraging to see the progress he’s making.

Thanks for stopping by.  How was your week?