The Week That Was... Week 2

Our second week started with the introduction of a couple of extra subjects, in an attempt to make the beginning of our school year gentle and not too "scary" for the kids, particularly Micah who would like everything to stay exactly the same all the time!  So in addition to Hebrew and our "fun" Read-Aloud, we began our Bible Study, Missionary Story and Copywork.

So what did we actually do this week...

Bible:  We started the first lesson in our study of James, using "Boy, Have I Got Problems!" by Kay Arthur and Janna Arndt.  Atarah just loves the idea of reading the Bible and working out the answers.  Previously we have just read from the Bible and I  had them narrate back to me.  Now we are trying to do an indepth study of the Word and see how it applies to us today.  The lessons are long so we will take much longer than suggested to complete the book.  But that is okay.  We only did it one day this week, but hope to do it twice a week in the future, alternating days with our Missionary Stories.

Missionary Stories:  We began reading "George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol's Orphans".  We have only read the first two chapters and Atarah keeps asking, "How does this guy who lies and steals become a missionary?"  So, we are looking forward to continuing with the story next week to see how God starts working in his life.

Hebrew:  Micah and Atarah have progressed well this week.  They have added ד (dalet) and א (alef) and a couple of vowels to their repertoire.  A couple of the lessons were longer and required more reading, so we didn't cover as many letters as I had originally planned.  But they are reading well, so I think it is better to take it slower and provide more opportunities for practice.  Hopefully this will help them retain what they are learning.

Copywork:  Last year I typed and printed copywork passages (poems and scripture verses) from whatever we were learning at the time.  I always felt disorganised and did not have a system for teaching cursive.  This year I have decided it will just be easier to have an open-and-go workbook to do all that for me.  The kids started their "New American Cursive: Workbook 2" books, doing 10 minutes each day.  Atarah loves the style and has progressed quickly.  Micah has been reluctant to move away from printing, but is perservering and making steady progress.

Read-Alouds:  We finished our latest Roman Mystery (The Colossus of Rhodes) in the series of "The Roman Mysteries" by Caroline Lawrence.  The children have enjoyed this series immensely but we will take a break from these books now and will start reading books connected with our History studies instead.  I've enjoyed the books too, but I am looking forward to a change as well :)

Tirzah:  This week Tirzah's was in the Jungle, learning about jungle animals and plants.  We watched the movie "Tarzan" and read a couple of folk tales from Puerto Rico about Tiger and Rabbit.  She also learnt the letter B, the letter ב (bet), the colour green and the number 2.  She had a fun week painting, cutting and pasting.

To top off a great week, Abba (Aaron) returned from Hong Kong on Friday loaded with gifts for the kids.  Christmas came early this year :)

Alive & Well in Hong Kong

One of the many facets of Aaron's job is to teach Bible.  This is a part of his job that he really loves.  However, sometimes teaching Bible also includes alot of travel and promoting the work that we do in Israel.  His latest trip took him to Hong Kong and Shenzhen in Mainland China.  He was able to provide indepth teaching of the Bible from a Jewish Roots perspective and give encouragement to the believers there.

Inbetween teaching, Aaron was able to visit the Hong Kong Museum of History to see the army of terrocotta warriors

visit different areas of Hong Kong

and eat many exotic dishes.

One thing that we (the kids and I) did enjoy this time that hasn't happened previously, was being able to watch Aaron teach in Hong Kong via LiveStream on the computer.   I was so proud of him and when I figure out how to add a video to my blog, I will put up a couple of his teachings.
Even though it was a "successful" trip, we are very happy to have Abba home again.

The Week That Was.... Week 1

Well, we have successfully completed our first week of learning for the new school year.  We have been reading a chapter or two from The Roman Mysteries by Caroline Lawrence.  This is a series of novels we started last year while studying Ancient Rome and the children love them.  So, until we start our Middle Ages History stories, we will continue with these books.  Then the kids can read them in their own time if they want to finish the series.

Micah and Atarah have been doing Hebrew for 1 hour each day.  This includes one lesson from their reader where they learn a new letter, practice reading and hearing the new sounds, and reading a small text in English about Israel.  Then they have two small workbooks where they learn to write the hebrew letter, practice more reading and have a fun exercise to reinforce what they have already learned.  So far we have covered the letters:  ש (shin), ב (bet), ת (tav), ל (lamed) and מם (mem, mem sofit), with the "ah" and "oh" sounding vowels.  They are reading the letters well and get excited when they sound out words like Shabbat and Shalom!

Tirzah has been sitting at the table (painting, drawing, play dough...) while we do the Hebrew lessons and copies the Hebrew sounds that she is hearing (sha, ba, la, ma...).  I'm sure she will be speaking the language as fast as the other kids, with the reading and writing coming later.

We also began her "lessons" from Brightly Beaming Resources: Preparatory Curriculum. This week we had the Theme of Cows, so we painted pictures of cows, sang Old MacDonald had a farm and  Hey Diddle Diddle, learnt the letter A, the letter א (alef), and the number 1 and the square shape.  We read stories with cows and made a picture of a cow out of squares.  It was a fun week and Atarah loved helping me "teach" Tirzah.







Here are a couple of pictures of Tirzah's learning board and some of her artwork.

Curriculum for 2012-2013

Micah & Atarah are learning together for most subjects, just on slightly different levels of difficulty.  Here is a list of the subjects and resources we plan to use this year.  I am hoping we don't change too much as the year progresses.  I will add a separate list of books for the children to read independently for History, as well as pleasure, and books I read aloud to them.

Bible:  “Boy, Have I Got Problems!” by Kay Arthur & Janna Arndt.  A study of the book of James.

Scripture Memory Verses: taken from the Book of James.

Christian Heroes: Then & Now.  Missionary stories.  We will start with “George Muller: The Guardian of Bristol’s Orphans” by Janet & Geoff Benge.

Maths:  Mathsonline.  http://www.mathsonline.com.au/  An Australian online Math curriculum.

Math Drill:  Practice Math facts on the iPad using the “Math Drills Lite” App.

Copywork:  “New American Cursive: Workbook 2”, Penmanship Program by Iris Hatfield.

Language Arts:  “Successful English 3A & 3B”.  Australian Homeschooling Series by Valerie Marett.  Workbook combining grammar, creative writing, poetry, comprehension.

“Revise Your Phonics 1”.  Australian Homeschooling Series by Valerie Marett.  Exercises to review phonics and rules.

Spelling practice on the iPad using the “Montessori Crosswords” App to reinforce the sounds  introduced in “Revise Your Phonics”.

Hebrew:  “Tiyulim - Journeys: A Hebrew Primer” by Torah Aura Productions.  This includes the Reader/Text plus the “Classroom Workbook” & “Home Workbook” to practice reading and writing.

“Hebrew in a Month” App on the iPad to increase and practice vocabulary.

World History:  “The Story of the World.  Volume 2: The Middle Ages” by Susan Vise Bauer. Plus the Volume 2 Activity Book to supplement the lessons with hands on activities and Map Drill.

   

Social Studies:  “Succeeding in Social Studies 4”.  Australian Homeschooling Series by Valerie Marett.  Geography of the Australian States and early explorers of the World.

Geography:  “Around the World in a Hundred Years” by Jean Fritz.  Stories of World Explorers.

Map Drill:  Included in Story of the World (Europe) & Social Studies (Australia).

Science:  Aha!Science  http://www.learning.com/ahascience/   Online Science Curriculum.  Interactive lessons with option to print worksheets and experiments.

Nature Study:  Christian Liberty Nature Readers

Typing:  BBC Typing Mat  http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/typing/  Free online typing instruction.   And “Typing Tournament” App  available from the Mac App Store.

Composer/Orchestra Study:  “World’s Greatest Composers: Vol 1” from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/  We will start with an introduction to the orchestra followed by 8 composers to make a Composer Lapbook.

“The Story of the Orchestra” by Robert Levine.

“Stories of Great Muscians” by Kathrine Lois Scobey.  Ebook on the iPad.

Artist Study:  “World’s Greatest Artists: Vol 1” from http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/  We will learn about 8 Artists, learn to recognise their work and experiment in art using their techniques to make our own masterpieces!

Art/Drawing:  Nature Study pictures and activities from Artist Study lessons.

Music:  Piano lesson from YouTube "freepianolessons4kids" and Recorder "Nine Note Recorder Method" by Penny Gardner.

The New School Year Begins...

We are entering our 6th year of homeschooling, so you might think that we have it all worked out. But each year brings something new and adds a new dimension to our learning process.
This year we have Micah in Year 5,

Atarah in Year 4
and Tirzah wanting so badly to "do school" too, so we are starting some Pre-School things with her.
















We are having a soft start to our school year, starting with just Hebrew lessons for Micah and Atarah for the first 2 weeks.  We willl add in a couple of subjects each week so that by the beginning of September we should be covering all (most) subjects.
For Tirzah, I am loosely using "Brightly Beaming Resources: Early Childhood Resources for the Home"... the Preparatory Curriculum for Ages 2-4.  http://www.letteroftheweek.com/Preparatory.html

We have only been going a few days, but so far it is working out well.  My plan is to post weekly updates about the kids progress and school related things (such as curriculum and schedules...), as well as other posts about our life in Israel.  Well... that's the plan :)

Living in Israel is never dull.  We have been here 12 years now and are constantly amazed at some of the things that happen, the way things happen and the interesting people we meet.

So who are we?...  We are an Australian family living, learning and working in Jerusalem, Israel.  We are involved in the work of Christ Church in the Old City of Jerusalem,  the oldest Protestant Church in the Middle East.

We home educate our 3 kids and love having Israel as an extension to our classroom.  We enjoy opening our home to visitors from all over the world, sharing the blessings that have been given to us.

So, join us as we continue our adventure here, living life.... one day at a time.