A is for Apples and Attitude

Three disclaimers before I launch into this year's homeschooling blogs:
1. Our fall activities haven't started yet, so I had a lot more time on my hands than I normally will.
2. I do not in any way foresee this level of activity as being sustainable. We're starting with a bang that will most likely fizzle over time.
3. My toilets are filthy and we went out for dinner tonight. I can't always prioritize school like this.

School for Levi and Owen this year has two main parts: a letter-of-the-week theme, and a character trait with the same letter. We did start with A, but I'll not be going in alphabetical order (because, really, M for Marshmallow needs to be in December). My letter ideas have primarily come from two blogs (though I grab ideas wherever I find them): Oopsey Daisy and Walking by the Way. The alphabet character traits are a curriculum I purchased in a bundle of e-books, The ABCs of Godly Children.

(Besides those two main school objectives, Levi also does math, handwriting, and piano lessons. Owen also does one-to-one counting activities and general shape and color review. I seem to have no problem finding and executing fine motor skill work, but I have to intentionally plan gross motor skill activities. That's definitely my own sit-and-read-a-book personality coming out!)

A is for Apples and Attitude
Bible story: Cain and Abel (with a focus on Cain's angry attitude)
Focus Scriptures: Genesis 4, Ephesians 4:31-32, Galatians 5:22-23
Book: The Seasons of Arnold's Apple Tree by Gail Gibbons
Craft: Fruit of the Spirit apple garland, apple painting
Blessing others: apples for Abby, Alex, and Allison (friends at church)

Putting stickers on the letter A: fine motor, letter recognition.

The character curriculum suggested making an "attitude box" to "take captive every thought" (2 Cor 10:5). Given Levi's current whiny/bossy/sometimes downright defiant attitude, this was very practical, and he really got into it. Whenever I called him out on a bad attitude (which, the first day, included whiny, bossy, selfish, unkind, and ungrateful), we wrote it down on a piece of paper and put it in the box. After the second or third time, he took responsibility, and started telling me, "I need to go put that in the attitude box." It's just a shoe box covered in brown paper and packing tape, but it's helping him gain awareness of his attitudes!

Coloring the lid of the Attitude Box

Puzzle with hinges: fine motor, animal recognition.

After we talked for a while about what attitudes we DON'T want to have (Ephesians 4:31), we started talking about what attitudes we DO want to have (Galatians 5:22-23). I spent a while looking up kids' songs about the fruit of the Spirit on youtube, and let me tell you -- there are some really dumb songs out there. Wow.

Ripping paper: fine motor. (Levi did this as well.)

Sticking the ripped paper onto contact paper. I cut out the apple outlines earlier in the week.

PSA: contact paper can be found with the mopping supplies in Target.

Impossible to take a picture into a window, but here's our apple garland.

Up close: I wrote each fruit onto an apple and hung it up with string.

More preschool for Owen: he got his first taste of Starfall, looking at the "A" pictures and listening to the short "a" song (which Silas now sings regularly throughout the day). We worked a little bit on sorting upper and lower case Aa.

For math, he'll be working on this apple number book for several weeks. I know he can count objects accurately up to three, so we completed the first three pages this week. Once we get beyond three, though, he needs help with the one-to-one counting, so we'll start in earnest with number 4. He was extremely excited about using a glue stick!

We painted with apples, which never works quite as well as I think it's supposed to. I guess you have to get just the perfect amount of paint in order for the star shape (from the seed holes) to show up. Oh well. If you saw my Facebook post this afternoon, you know that the whole activity quickly blew up (almost literally, in terms of paint splatters), and was therefore fairly short-lived. Again, oh well.

As if we hadn't done enough with apples yet, we also tried a science experiment (in the sense of "let's observe how nature works"): I put out two apples slices, covered one with lemon juice, and let them sit out all day. I fully expected to be having a "this is why one is brown" conversation by the time we finished dinner, but after eight hours, they still both pretty much looked the same. Eh, who needs science.

We finished up our week with a trip to the zoo, which has nothing whatsoever to do with apples or attitude, but our usual Friday morning Cracker Barrel breakfast was cancelled and I desperately needed to get out of the house. So I made a point to visit the alligators and the new Africa exhibit. I also brought a paper along for Levi to record the names of the animals that begin with A, but it turns out there really aren't that many. 

Thanks to Dr. Seuss, we know that A is for Alligator. Aunt Annie's Alligator, to be precise.

Token picture of the non-schooling child with the prettiest eyes.