Bible Memory Verse for July 2012: Inspired by Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel ;)

We "rowed" Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel last week (does three out of five days still count as "rowing" though?!) and have also taken on this Bible verse for memorization and application (I got this idea from another homeschool mom's blog post about what they did when they "rowed" the book — but I've forgotten the link, so I'll just add it when I can find it, LOL!):

Image source here.

I am amazed at how Tim has been able to recite this when I ask him to — though he does not do so word for word yet, but he always manages to say the gist of it. :) I just hope and pray that he, and the rest of us in the family, will really strive to live by this verse, and Matthew 6: 33, of course, which is the anchor verse for our homeschool. :)

To God be all the glory!

The month in review: June 2012 at The Kingdom-Seekers Academy

I am trying to be more consistent in keeping records of what we do in our homeschool, so here's a quick review of what we did this month of June:

Kids playing with lights :)

• First day of school: Orientation on rules - 1. Pray always. 2. Obey right away. 3. Work hard. DO EVERYTHING IN LOVE.

• Books "rowed": Clown of God (bought it from The Learning Basket! Looooove their selection of books!); The Chair King (inspired by The Learning Basket's unit study here); The Story About Ping (a steal from Book Sale for only P5! With minor damage, though.)

The Story About Ping and go-along books 

• Additional books read: Fly High, Fly Low (because Tim was SOOO excited to read it! Got it at National Bookstore for only P100!); Books in preparation for Philippine Independence Day (June 12); Katy and the Big Snow (we were supposed to row this, but we didn't end up doing so! Haha!); The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin; My First Book of God's Animals and Other Creatures; Animals Under Water; Danny the Duck; Birds; different books on Kangaroos (Rysse chose a book on Kangaroos during our last trip to the bookstore) + many, many more! (in between "school" time)

Rysse chose the book "Life Cycles: Joey to Kangaroo" by herself. She initially chose "Life Cycles: Pup to Shark," actually! Hahaha! :)

• Topics covered: 
• Social Studies: 
• Respect for Elderly - Timothy named elderly/older people whom he is friends with (his grandparents on both sides; one of his dad's co-workers; Lolo Tony {our godfather from India})
• Geography - Identified locations of Sorrente, Italy; India; San Francisco, USA; the Yangtze river in China; and the Philippines on our atlas
• Thankfulness - We talked about being thankful for the blessings we have - We don't have to "beg our bread" and "sleep in doorways." We also talked about being grateful that kids during his time were "free," unlike the kids we read about in our Independence Day books.
• Dealing with difficult people - We talked about how we should forgive and understand others when they are being difficult and how there will always be people who will give us a hard time, but we must be patient with them.
• History - We discussed {very} briefly the Renaissance period and related it to some of our books that described the Philippines during different periods (in preparation for the Philippine Independence Day). We also talked about Philippine national heroes Jose Rizal and Andres Bonifacio and the struggle for independence.
• Responsibilities - (From Katy and the Big Snow) Each person has a job to do; a task to fulfill, including in our home. 
• Relationships - (From The Story About Ping) We talked about the importance of discernment (what is "good" and "bad," etc). We also talked about obedience. 
• Writing: Tim wrote down the names of the people we are thankful for. He also reviewed writing the letters A-Z. (Writing is NOT one of his favorite activities, LOL!)
• Phonics: We reviewed all the letter sounds via Sing, Spell, Read, Write (SSRW) + did A LOT of Phonics practice via Easy to Learn workbooks, Starfall and other websites :)
• Reading: Tim practiced reading 72 words - Words with the middle "a" and "e" sounds (36 each, using SSRW). And sight words using Easy to Learn workbooks + more! :)
• Foreign Languages: We learned a few Spanish words (from Si Segunda, Noong Panahon ng Mga Espanyol). 
• Math: Tim learned to count by 5's up to 100 (he's still mastering this, though). He also practiced writing his numbers (Told you, writing is NOT a fave around here! Hehe!). He also practiced adding (all of Ping's family members).
• Religion: We always try to read at least one story from our children's Bible every day and discuss the lessons we can glean from it. On Corpus Christi Sunday (June 10), we also talked about Jesus being present in the Eucharist; I used a book on The First Holy Communion (Book Sale for P65 {I think!}) and My First Mass Book (Books for Less, P25).

Rysse "reading" one of our Golden Books about God :)

• Arts and Crafts: Made the Philippine flag (OK, we're not artsy-craftsy people here, haha!); "freestyle" painting in the bathroom

Making the Philippine flag

• Science: We discussed different kinds of birds; the life cycle of the kangaroo; different kinds of baby animals; why ducks' feet are webbed
• Language + Writing + Art: Tim tried making his own book (with some help from me!) and we're currently working on another one (titled "Ping Meets Timothy"). :)
• Music: I taught the kids to sing This Little Light of Mine, and they enjoyed "making music" with their Kindermusik instruments + other instruments (including "drums" made out of some of their books) to its tune, plus the tune of Every Move I Make.  

Instant "drums" using books from our home library!

At Kindermusik

• "Field trips" and extra-curricular activities: 
• National Bookstore Main Branch - The kids had a blast looking at the wide selection of books there!
• Movie time with Lolo Mon! :)
• ROCKERs Kindermusik session and pre-Father's Day activity
• Father's Day celebration 
• Lolo Mon and Lola Tita's visit + outdoor play time with them! ;)

The kids HAD A BLAST playing with my parents! :) Thanks for visiting us! :) We love you!

• LOTS of "socializing" with our neighbors (their cousin's cousins from the province) + my in-laws + other people, including Ate Dolor, the secretary at Kindermusik with Teacher Suzette and Friends

I was SO surprised at how these three became "fast friends"! :)

• Puzzle play + blocks + outdoor play + imaginative play + (most recently!) SAND play (thank you, Mariel, for the gift of sand for our sand boxes!)

Puzzle time! :)

I'm a princess! :)

I'm a superhero! :)



Thank you for the sandbox idea, Rosanne! :)

Whew! :) This is a pretty long post already, so I'm going to stop here for now. :) We did more than what's described here though, and admittedly, the kids also watched a lot of their DVDs and Tim played a lot on the computer, too! (Shockingly enough, yes, we do let our kids watch TV and use the computer!)

We're enrolling Tim in Kolbe's Kindergarten program this week (they follow a K-12 curriculum, which works well for us, since DepEd in the Philippines is now officially doing so, too) but plan to keep doing what we're doing while waiting for our materials. (And probably even after that!)

So what did you guys do last month? :)

Teacher Mama Jen on Using Five In A Row (FIAR) — With a Free Printable! :)

We've recently started using Five In A Row (FIAR) in our homeschool, mostly due to the influence of fellow ROCKERs mom Mariel. I LOVE using it, especially since it doesn't take much preparation time (perfect for a "lazy" homeschool mom like me, LOL!). :)

I actually read about FIAR on other homeschool moms' blogs, one of the more memorable ones was Forever, For Always, No Matter What. The mom behind it, Jen, left a comment on my other blog last year, when I posted about adoption.

Image from Jen's FB page

I was SUPER inspired by Jen and her family and their adoption story! :) So much that I even asked Jen to write a guest post for me on Truly Rich Mom (check it out here!). I also got more inspired to try out FIAR. :)

Anyway, Jen recently wrote a great post about using FIAR and even shared a free printable planning page over at HomegrownLearners.com. :) I highly recommend it to everyone out there, especially those who are looking for curriculum or just an excuse to buy superb-quality books for your kids! :) Click here to read her post. :) Have fun! :D

P.S. For Philippine-based readers who wish to try FIAR, I HIGHLY RECOMMEND you check out Mariel's blog and FB page. :)

If you're anything like me, you will find yourself falling in love with children's books (all over again for me!) and wanting to collect the very best titles for your children! :) Hehehe! :) Oh, and in case you want to see The Learning Basket ladies in person and hoard view their books, they'll be at the Medela House this Saturday for the ROCKERs June meet-up! :) Come join us, if you like! :) Just make sure you register online first here or leave a post on my Facebook page! :) Hope to see you!