Maths update

Well Eden is into long division, and seems to be doing sums that are a lot more complicated than I ever remember us doing when we learnt long division. Did we ever have to divide numbers like 863,458 by 232 by long division?? When she first saw it she took a gulp, but upon doing it through the mathusee graduated way she is really learning to master it, and enjoy it too. It really was music to my ears today to hear her say "Maths is soo much fun", and not because that is how I view Maths, but because it is lovely seeing children enjoy learning so much. I normally mark her work soon after she has finished it so we can go over any problems that she has got wrong, and I have to encourage her not to get despondant if she gets any wrong, she gets upset if she gets two wrong on a page(which in school would be a good grade), but thankfully she does bounce back quickly and is enthusiastic again the next day. I have found this site really good for printing off all manner of long division worksheets as additional practice for her:

Maths drills

Jude is definitely mathematically brained. He pages through our Study Bible daily so that he can count the pages into the thousands. He speaks about time and watches the clock throughout the day. He asks me continuous questions about addition and subtraction, and place value and how many days in a year type questions. If the timer is on, he watches it count down so he can understand time better. He loves his Alpha mathusee, and every time we start a new lesson I think perhaps he is not old enough to grasp this, but he grasps it straight away and even has to skip the dumbing down questions as they frustrate him. There is an introduction to basic algebra in this book, and it is so sweet to hear him say, mommy can I do al be gra now?

Unit Studies

We are all well immersed in Viking History and their way of life. The girls have written their own Viking Adventure stories and Eden has written a poem/song. We have read novels and non fiction, and have thoroughly enjoyed learning about them. The children haven't done as many crafts and illustrations as they normally do, but they have gleaned a lot from books(which they normally do anyway), but that is what makes the studies so interesting in that we never have exactly the same approach.
This will be our last Unit study for some time now as December will be taken up with Christmas crafts and Bible Study, and then we are off to SA. Eden has wanted to learn about rocks/crystal/fossils for a while now, they excite her tremendously and she has bought a few specimens. Uncle Grant will well remember how hysterically excited she got down by the beach when he broke open a granite rock to reveal crystal inside, and Aunty Lindsey gave them a great little science lesson on how crystals form. So that looks like the new Unit Study, perhaps we will be able to get to a cave whilst we are in SA.

Making a Viking Longship

Creating the sides of the longship and the holes for the oars to go in.
Eden learning how to use/getting frustrated with a compass to make many shields to go over the sides of the Viking ship.
Niamh creating the nice wood effect on the boat.

Making an ice table decoration

Eden is working towards her hostess badge for Brownies and had to make a table decoration as one of the requirements.
We picked some winter berries from our garden.
Fill the bowl with water and place berries and leaves in the water.
Place a smaller bowl in the middle, and place the bowl in the freezer.
Once all the water is frozen, remove the inner and outer bowl.
Place frozen table decoration on a plate with a candle in. The effect of the light on the ice doesn't really come through on the photo, but it does have a lovely Christmassy feel about it.

A farm study and lots of painting for Ciara

Ciara asks every day if she can paint, but I definitely don't get the paints out everyday. This week she had her fill of painting though as she had a lot to do for her farm theme. She enjoyed drawing this pig below, while I told her to draw the head, body, ears etc. She then had her first experience with watercolour when she got to pain it in, this allowed the crayon to show through.

In her painting element.
Painting a tractor, blue seems to be the favourite colour for all our children at the moment.
And a pig paper plate.

Jude reading his Bible Book

A little snippet of Jude reading his Bible Book. He is very enthusiastic about reading it, and I think he would carry on all day if I didn't stop him(reading to me that is, he won't read it to himself that enthusiastically).

Busy Ciara

Ciara enjoys painting, and loved painting in the outline of her name!

Making a "Honey Loop" necklace.
We are covering a farm theme together, and Ciara got to make this cotton wool sheep.

Ciara drew this sun by herself and then came over to show me her "Mad Sun"!!

Viking Helmets finished

Once the paper mache dried, we popped the balloons and they had formed really nicely.
Jude painting his helmet metallic.
Eden's finished helmet.

A Viking Helmet - adventures with paper mache

I figured the children were old enough to have a go with paper mache. Niamh is busy mixing the glue while Eden tears the strips of newspaper.

Erm, I think Eden got a bit carried away.
Right, we didn't expect it to be this messy. Strips of newspaper dipped in gluey water and attached to half of the balloon.
Niamh should just be called Neat Niamh, what a perfect outcome. As soon as the paper is dry, the balloons will be popped and the top part of the helmet will remain and be hard.
They all turned out quite well. We will decorate them when they go completely hard.

Bible reading

Eden has recently finished reading through the New Testament. She has also been keeping a bible journal for all her readings. Each chapter she reads, she illustrates, writes about, or chooses a verse that she found helpful. She was pleased that as the last chapter of the New Testament finished so did the last page of her Journal get filled in. She has since started the Old Testament and a new journal.
Niamh has been reading through the Ergemeier's Bible Story Book and also been keeping a Journal, she started in the Old Testament and is now on the New Testament.
Jude has been thoroughly enjoying reading through The Beginner's Bible. The girls also read through this book at the same age, and it has been very helpful for them when they move on to more difficult bible books as they are so familiar with how to read the more difficult Bible names.
And while we are on the subjects of Bibles, we are reading Gofors and Grumps together and we highly recommend it. A lot of sound applications are brought out as each short chapter deals with a Bible character.