Harvest Study

Prior to Thanksgiving we had some time to study Harvest. We gathered some books from the library. We did some apple art. But, best of all we were able to observe crops from our very own garden. We had tomatoes, peas, and pumpkins growing. Yummy!

At the same time our church was hosting the Missions Festival and we were able to meet many of the missionaries that we support and pray for. We heard about and talked about the type of Harvest God looks forward to and the work these missionaries do to help plant the seeds.

Our verses: Matthew 12:33-35; Matthew 13:1-9 & 18-23 Parable of the Sower; Matthew 13: 24-30 Parable of the Weeds.

Being a "Supporter" and "Encourager"

Micah was extremely enthusiastic to support three of his favorite people.
First, his friend Ross. Micah attended Ross' soccer game on Friday November 6, 2009. Go Ross!

Second, his Dad. Micah made posters and encouraged his dad during his Tour De New River bike event on November 7, 2009. Matt rode over 70 miles that day.

Third, his friend Ryan. Micah attended Ryan's swim-a-thon, Saturday November 21, 2009 and financially supported the swim team. Ryan swam 100 laps that morning.

Thanksgiving Feast

It was a beautiful day at Cactus Park celebrating Thanksgiving with our Eastside Explorer friends. Micah made an apple, marshmallow turkey; we had yearbook pictures taken; we ate; and everyone played! What a terrific co-op. Thank you friends for a great first semester together.

God's Kidz Performance - Micah

On the last day of Bible Study, 11/17/09 the God's Kidz perform songs for the Moms. What a beautiful sight and sound to see and hear some of the things Micah is learning in his Tuesday class. His favorite thing this semester - acting out the events of Biblical history. His favorite characters to be - Abraham (when he was sacrificing Isaac) and Boaz.
We'll be starting again in February.

Nana & Papa Joe's Visit

We didn't officially sit down and do "school" time during Nana & Papa Joe's visit. But I wouldn't say Micah didn't learn anything. They played lots of games, had some valuable relationship time, and there were lots of field trips.

*Trips to parks; *Phx Zoo - opening day for the Komoto Dragon; *Out of Africa; *Preparing for Dad's and Lilly's birthdays; *An Eastside Explorer field trip to Fry's Marketplace

"Maybe one day I'll be an author."

After storyboarding his Illustory book, hanging up the draft pages and illustrations, Micah said "Maybe one day I'll be an author." He really does enjoy creating books (writing and illustrating). He does a lot of them while I'm putting Lilly down for nap. This one we're going through the full process and sending it out to be published in hard book form. What a sense of accomplishment when he holds that in his hand.

Milestone Celebration

What better way to celebrate our 50th "recorded" day of school than with a bowl full of candy! Micah dumped the Halloween candy on the table and began sorting, counting, graphing, ...

Coins from around the world

Last night at Home Fellowship, Jim T. shared some of his coins that he's collected from around the world. He and Micah sat at the kitchen table with a world map and placed coins "around the world". Jim told Micah where they were from, they found it's location, and Micah learned how much each coin was worth. One coin was worth the amount of 2 American pennies.

Micah's Marketing Question

While enjoying fruit snacks in the back seat one day, Micah was being quite aware of the details contained in the snack bag. "Mom, do all the bags have the same amount of fruit snacks?" (He now has a little sister also getting snacks who is aware of how he might be sharing ... or not sharing.) "Mom, do all the bags have the same colors/shapes?" "Mom, why did I get 2 blue ones and Lilly didn't have any in hers?"

So, we bought a box of fruit snacks - Turtles. We read the box '10 bags per box. Weight of each bag .09 oz. Total weight in box .9 oz.' That is significant information when we get done collecting our data. I printed out blank graphs and Micah wrote the color names (alphabetically) for the x-axis and put numbers for the y-axis. We had 10 graphs (1 per bag). I opened each bag independently and he counted each color and graphed it. Then they collected in a container. Once all the snacks were collected, then Micah sorted them by color, counted them, and graphed that total number. While counting (even though he could easily count them), I had him use the base-ten blocks, 1 per snack, and then make trades for rods (group of 10) to confirm his answers.
Results: bags contained 8, 9, or 10 fruit snacks per bag. Majority were 9. Some snacks were larger than other, thus allowing for a difference in total count per bag - since the weights were the same. There were hardly any red snacks in the box and LOTS of green ones.
How would that data compare to another box???? Hmmm, interesting!!

Lilly's participation, putting like colors of crayons on the piles of snacks. Of course, she also enjoyed eating some ... once our counting was done.

Micah's Market "Grand Re-Opening"

Micah's Market now takes cash!! Please note the sign ... it took lots of time and energy. It is completely all Micah's work. Micah brainstormed categories for his market, wrote the words for handwriting, cut and pasted them in alphabetical order, copied them onto the posterboard (after measuring equal amounts for the number of items being listed), gave each item a cost (choosing between 1-10 cents), and then stamped how that amount could be paid (using pennies, nickels, and/or a dime). Then it was time to PLAY!!! Our wallet (for the customer) contains paper coins and the cash register also (for the store clerk).
It's sooooo fun!! (I think I mentioned before that playing store and restaurant are on the top of my list of fun things to do.) Come on over and shop (limit 5 items right now).