Kindergarten Week 2: Creation unit continues
Our study of God's creation continued this week. This is a chart we made. (Quinn drew all the wonderful, colorful straight lines! He likes to feel big and participate in school, too.)
Our songs this week included:
BINGO, Old MacDonald, and the B-I-B-L-E
I found some fun felt pieces online at Etsy.com, the kids loved to take turns putting the pieces up. (Did I say take turns, oh--a better way of describing felt time is that they squabble over whose turn it is...) Gabe is a little bit "over" the whole preschool song thing, but we do songs mostly for Quinn who is still learning letters.
Gabe is going through a "get that camera away from me" stage.
This week we completed our creation timeline and Gabe finished the illustrations for his creation book.
When he was listening to the bible's account of day two's creation, he got all confused. And so did I. Have you ever REALLY read the description for day two?
It's all about creating the sky....separating water above and below the sky....but the actual creation of the seas does not occur until day 3. Ummm....CONFUSING!
So, as we read the story from the bible for day 2, Gabe illustrated it complete with a sea.....
and what is a sea without jumping fish? And sunken treasure???
He was surprised the next day, day 3, when we read that the sea was formally created. And then again surprised on day 5 when sea creatures were created.
So, now he tells people: "And this is day 2 of creation, but nevermind the fish I drew--there were no fish yet on day 2--I was losing my mind!"
The front of the creation book:
Our completed creation timeline:
Why teach creationism?
There are many theories out there on "how" the earth was created. Molecules piggybacking on crystals, aliens planted life here, you name it! I am very big into apologetics lately. I spend lots of time listening to podcasts on scientific evidence relating to creationism. I do not teach my son creationism as a way of shielding him from the world. I teach him creationism because it FASCINATES me, it is more than wishful thinking--it has scientific support. (A great movie on this subject is "No Intelligence Allowed" starring Ben Stein.) I will most definitely be teaching my children other theories as well, such as evolution and the big bang theory. I believe it is critical for them to see all the evidence and know what the world is selling. But all of that is shelved until future years and maturity. We are starting with the solid, and I believe truthful, foundation of creation as seen through the eyes of a magnificent God!
But my absolute favorite part of homeschooling thus far, has been the blessing of allowing Gabe the luxury of unstructured time. Time to pursue those playful pursuits of childhood! This week he was a LEGO maniac. He spent HOURS building glorious creations!
Once he felt a project was complete, he would summon Quinn and say, "Want to play with my LEGO house?" So the two of them would pick out little Lego dudes and spend the next hour in pretend-Lego-world together, jumping from towers...hiding treasures...falling through trap doors....
There were moments this week when I had small amounts of time just peeking at them, watching them play together and laugh together!
And that is so precious.
(Gabe concentrates as he adds the final touches to his latest LEGO creation.)
This week Gabe also started fall swimming lessons. This is his second swimming class, and he loves it! It will be interesting to see what he learns this session....sometimes I wonder about the value of swimming lessons at such a young age? I mean, really--do they learn survival skills?? Mostly it seems they learn to be comfortable with the water. And I supposed that is important. Gabe begged me to sign him up for swimming again; he really enjoys having time in the warm water, having a teacher other than mommy, and being able to splash around with other kids. I also see the value in that, so we forked out the $30:)
Mommy time!
I spent Thursday evening at a wonderful homeschool kick-off event hosted by F.I.S.H, the support group that I am a member of. I attended a few great seminars, and scored an armful of inexpensive books at the used book sale! I got to socialize with a few wonderful homeschool mommies:)
By the way, did you know that Dr. James Dobson (formerly of Focus on the Family) is a HUGE homeschool fan and supporter?
Check out his new family talk program!
Follow the link to hear some great podcasts regarding the modern homeschool movement.
Dr. Dobson now has a radio show that he hosts along with his son Ryan Dobson, and Ryan's son Lincoln will be homeschooled!
Next week.....looking forward to starting phonics once again!
It will be a full week. Hoping to have time to blog about it?
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