HIEROGLYPHICS AND CUNEIFORM

Here is Carter with his completed Hieroglyphic scroll. He chose to pain random letters instead of his name or some sort of message. As you can see, he is particularly proud of his creation. As for the hoodie, that is the "Shawn White" jacket that we have been unable to keep off of him since we purchased it. He is also particularly proud of that jacket!!
Here is Cooper's Heiroglyphic scroll. Cooper chose to write his name in heiroglyphics and even though it is upside down, you can see a little of it, right?
Here are the boys Heiroglyphic Scrolls and their clay tablet with Cuneiform writing of their names. Carter completed his cuneiform (from our guide) with no help at all. Cooper needed a little help using the wedge that we used to carve the symbols. The boys though it was so cool that they got to "write like an Egyptian". We should totally make a video and use that as our song. HAHAHA!

HEIROGLYPHICS

As we continue our study of Ancient Egypt in The Story of the World, our activities have become more and more interesting to the boys. The two pictures (above and below) are of the boys writing on their "Heiroglyphic Scrolls". We had a guide to heiroglyphics and the boys did their absolute best copying them to create a message.
As you can see, they are working hard. For those of you who know me, art is my Achille's heel (I'm sure we will learn about him later). Anyway, I am proud that we even attempt art projects since I am so inept in this area and am even more proud when they turn out great. Read the next post to see how their works of "Heiroglyphic Art" turned out!!
There is really nothing particularly special to tell you about this picture. I just saw Carter working hard on his penmanship practice one day and with the light shining through the blinds and him working so hard, I felt a wave of pride sweep over me and just wanted to share it with you all!!

TENNIS

Carter and Cooper are taking tennis with the Savannah Area Tennis Association. Their teachers are really good. In the picture above, Cooper is listening to his teacher about how to take a swing with his new racket. The boys were so excited!! The teacher said that Cooper had great hand - eye coordination.
Here is Carter doing what I believed they called "bounce ups". It is supposed to help with their hand - eye coordination. Tony and I have been playing tennis at the courts near our house. The boys were both psyched to have their own rackets and be able to play "doubles" with mom and dad. I think Carter was the most excited about getting to play with the grown people!
At the park where we play tennis, there is a great biking / walking trail around a lake and it is also really wooded. It is a great place for the kids to play before and after tennis practice. Here, the boys were practicing their balance by walking across some logs above a small creek. It is so great to see them do things like this. They love the outdoors!!

THE NILE RIVER

We have been studying Egypt in our history and geography text, The Story of the World. This is our model of the Nile River. The first picture is of when we first "planted" our river. The second picture is after about a week. As you can see, we have had a little growth of our grass along the river. As you all probably know, before the Aswan Dam was built, the Nile River flooded each year. With this project, the point is to fill the middle area, the "river", with water and have it overflow the "banks" of the "river" to simulate how the Nile River used to flood. Can you tell that the far side of our model is the Nile Delta? Anyway, the boys think this project is awesome. I have to admit, I do too!!

LAPBOOKS A - D

This slide show shows all that Cooper and I have accomplished in regards to lapbooks in the past few weeks. Cooper really enjoys doing the work for the books and I think that they are a great way to keep his alphabet work:) If you would like to do any of these lapbooks, please visit the following links:

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2008

The picture on the top is Carter and Cooper on their first day of Kingdom Builders Co-op 2007 and the picture on the bottom is Carter and Cooper on their first day of Kingdom Builders Co-op 2008. As you can see, they have grown tremendously. Carter is now in 2nd grade at co-op and Cooper is in Kindergarten. Carter, our resident BIG BOY requested "skate shoes" to start school in this year, and as you can see, he wore them on the first day of school.
Carter is studying the Election in co-op this year. They will not be delving into the politics of the election, just the process. The will be voting on different ice creams as their candidates. They will campaign and debate on their particular choice. How creative!! Carter is taking two clubs in the afternoon (1) Art and (2) Lego / Board Games. Cooper's class will be studying their ABC's and math in the morning and will be doing a study of countries in the afternoon. The first thing Cooper said when I picked him up from his class (as he was wearing a macaroni necklace) was, "Mom, Italians like pasta". I was impressed!! He also knew where Italy was on the globe!! WOW!!

SMITH FAMILY ART!

O.k., so I had already decided that art would be THE gaping hole in my children's education at home. While I am crafty, I am by no means any type of artist. I cannot draw, paint, etc.. So, I purchased a book called Draw Write Now at a book sale because I saw that it was a step by step method that I could maybe do with the boys. Let me just say that this book is AWESOME!!! The picture above is the first picture in the first volume. The page before this one in the book begins with a shape by shape diagram of how to draw the hen.


Here are the boy's masterpieces. They are not copied, they are true representations of Cooper (top) and Carter's (bottom) work. I was so amazed that the pictures even closely resembled the model picture!! This was not because I have little faith in the children's abilities, but because I know that I am NOT equipped to teach art. Anyway, as you can see, the book has done wonders. My kids can draw a hen and her chicks - so far. Carter will be taking art and drawing in co-op this year as well, so we will not be relying solely on Draw Write Now for art education!! WHEW!

HOME DEPOT LEARNING!!

Our Home Depot has Kids Workshop classes on the first Saturday of each month. While I shopped for groceries, Tony took both boys to Home Depot for some male bonding; including hammering and nailing and other testosterone filled stuff. As you can see, they both made ESPN College Game Day Goal Posts. They were so proud. They also got a paper football to flick between the uprights, which they thought was awesome!!
This was both boys second time doing the Home Depot Kids Workshop. Their first project was a castle that had storage underneath the top part. They look so cute in their aprons, huh?

FIRST LAPBOOK

This is Cooper's lapbook. It is our family's first ever attempt at a lapbook. I am only posting Cooper's lapbook as Carter's book is basically the same. Below are ALL of the websites we used for this lapbook and our Unit Study on the Olympics:

http://www.tooter4kids.com/china/activities_to_do_at_home.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/chinese_zodiac_game.htm

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/summer_olympics_2008_lapbook.php

http://www.first-school.ws/theme/coloring-pages/olympic-games.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/summer_olympics.htm

http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/china_for_kids.htm

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/social_studies/places/asia/china/

http://www.currclick.com/product_info.php?products_id=23340&it=1

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/theme_units/sports/olympics/

http://homeschooling.about.com/od/freeprintables/qt/summerolympics.htm

We had a great time doing this unit! We hope you have enjoyed watching us have fun and seeing the fruits of our labor:) Now, on to the business of learning to read and spell and more fun stuff:)

CHINA!

We have learned many wonderful things about China in our study of the Olympics. We have also created several crafts associated with China. One of the boys favorite crafts were chinese lanterns. As you can see, they decorated their lanterns and then we hung them on doorposts and from our chandelier. Carter's lantern is orange. Cooper decided that he would get more creative and added extra elements to his lantern, which was purple. The best thing about these lanterns was that we went out to eat at a Chinese restaurant later that week (home school field trip - haha) and there were lanterns hanging from the ceiling. Carter was so excited when he saw them and recognized them. He then told Tony all about Chinese lanterns. How great is that?!!
In studying the Chinese culture, we learned that they have over 200 different characters in their writing. The boys wrote their name in Chinese, which you will see when we complete their lapbook, and they also wrote the Chinese Numbers from one to ten. We had seen the characters for the numbers on the Olympic Opening Ceremonies and since I had recorded the Opening Ceremonies, we replayed the countdown and they got to see the Chinese numerals before they wrote them. The picture above is an example of both boy's work! I think they did great. I tried to copy the numbers and it was a difficult task!!
I forgot to put this activity on the previous posts and I thought that it was a really neat one. I was struggling to figure out how to explain to the boys the significance and reasoning behind why time is denoted as B.C. and A.D.. In the book, Ancient Greece! 40 Hands - On Activities To Experience This Wondrous Age, I found this activity. You make a chart that details the events before the child's birth. We are lucky, in our case, as Carter and Cooper's initials correspond with B.C.. So, these are the events Before Carter / Cooper. (or B.D. if your child's name begins with a D). You explain that these are some of the events that took place before his or her birth and that is why they are labeled B.C.. Then you explain that in the modern world, all events before the birth of Christ are labeled as B.C. or Before the birth of Christ.
Then, you make a chart that details several key events that happened after the child was born. I made the label read After Delivery (A.D.), but the book did not say to do that. I just thought it was funny! You then explain that all of the events that took place after the birth of Christ are labeled A.D. meaning Anno Domini (In The Year of Our Lord). I told the boys that after Christ was born each year was the year of our Lord and will be until he comes back:) I think this was a really easy (and fun) way of explaining these designations.