Tag: writing

A Look At February: Planning for a LOVE filled Month

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

I will say that last month went pretty well, and our home does feel a bit more PEACEful. This month, our theme will be LOVE. We will be looking at ways that we can be more intentional in showing LOVE to others through our actions.

I’m going to take a quick look at what we have planned for the month so you can get a little idea about how all of our systems work with each other.

Calendar

My morning routine means that I check our calendar every morning, and here is what I am looking at:

  • There are few appointments that are noted, and I have reminders set in my Cozi app. One appointment is this week, so I remind my husband about it to make sure he remembers.
  • There are a couple of birthdays, and I am noting the special meals in my planner.
  • A few ‘special holidays‘ that we would like to include.
  • Days that the public school will be out for one of the older kids.
  • I also try to look for a day that will be a good time to go to the flea market or produce market for seasonal produce.

Chores

I also like to review the chores at the beginning of the week, as we have them listed by daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.

Daily chores are pretty automatic, but our monthly chores rotate by the day of the month… I try to keep things as easy as I can.

Some of our daily chores include:

  • Getting ready for the day – make beds, brush teeth/hair, get dressed
  • Animal/Garden chores – watering and feeding
  • Breakfast – see our Breakfast Routine here
  • Laundry – see our Laundry Routine here
  • Planning the day – check calendar, to-do list, meal plan, etc.
  • Morning Routine – see a sample day here
  • School
  • Lunch
  • Quick Clean up
  • Afternoon Chores – water animals, check eggs, etc.
  • Dinner
  • Clean up

If you click on the links, you can find more in-depth information about each task.

Some of my weekly chores are:

  • Home Blessings
  • Homeschool Planning – look for lessons ideas to go along with our monthly task and upcoming holidays
  • Menu Planning – check that we have everything we need for upcoming meals
  • Garden Planning – check what needs to be transplanted, seeded, started, and bought.
  • Other Planning – Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl?, President’s Day, income taxes, and possible outings/vacation; check for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries
  • Grocery Shopping & Errands
  • Desk Work/Paper Work/Bill Pay/Budgeting

Some of the monthly chores this month are:

  • cleaning light fixtures/cobwebs
  • cleaning the tops of the fridges and freezers
  • cleaning windows and doors -washing curtains and/or blinds
  • cleaning out the top cabinets and wiping all the cabinet fronts
  • deep cleaning the countertops, sinks, dishwasher, cutting boards, and dish drainer
  • cleaning under the sink, and the kitchen drawers
  • deep clean the stove and oven
  • declutter the dish cabinet and island storage
  • move and clean behind the large appliances
  • take an inventory of what we have in the freezer and pantry – incoporate things into the menu
  • clean/organize the linen cabinet
  • deep clean the vacuum cleaner, and clean/change filters for the vacuum and ACs
  • deep clean the high chairs
  • deep clean bathrooms

Some of the yearly chores for this month are:

  • defrost freezers (this can be done when we inventory the frozen foods as we can place foods outside in coolers on a cold day)
  • deep clean the porches: windows, cobwebs, sweep, clean furniture, etc.

Sometimes the kiddos are tempted to skip over chores, but it catches up to them later on when things break down or run out. We are trying to teach them important skills that they will need later on in life, skills that will hopefully make them successful in all that they do.

Homeschool

Today, I check my Homeschool Manager app for anything that I might not have added to the main calendar. I normally look over the next week’s schedule on Thursdays, after we finish our school work.

  • I note when we plan to start back.
  • I add the appointments to the monthly lesson plan calendar as well, so I can plan accordingly. I realize that I may need to alter our start date and just use that as a Home Blessing day to get the house back in order, so I just swap a few things around really quick.
  • I also go ahead and update the sites for our lessons so everything is set to go for Monday!

These quick changes will keep us from having a very frustrating week back to school… at least I pray it will.

This month, I will be focusing on adding Fine Arts tasks to our homeschool routine, so I will look over those tasks to see what I can work in with our lessons.

Fine Arts(february)

We want our kids to know that you don’t have to buy things to show others how much they mean to you. Often, handmade gifts have more meaning to the recipient.

Some ways we are doing this are:

  • Art Studies:
    • Study sacred art and music
    • create art projects inspired by Bible stories or verses
  • Hymn Studies:
    • study hymns and music that appreciate the beauty of GOD’s creation
  • Research gifts and talents from GOD:

Devotional

We have a new devotional for the month as well – I did make it for 31 days, so it could be used at any time of the year.

A Love That Never Fails

Bill Paying

I usually sit down to pay bills on Fridays.

  • Pay the bills due, pay more if money allows
  • Check accounts to see what payments have cleared, and highlight them on the worksheet
  • Note any bills still left to pay

I usually do this first, so I know what I have left to spend. My bill pay worksheet makes things much simpler as I can see what I have paid, and what needs to be paid.

Meal Planning & Grocery Shopping

I normally do my menu planning on Wednesday or Thursday. I print out a couple of meal planning sheets and a grocery list so I can fill them in as I look over our Winter Meal Plan.

  • I write in the birthdays and special holidays for the month, and then add those ingredients to the grocery list. Clicking on the link will give you a ready-made list of holidays for the month and links to recipes and menu ideas to make them special.
  • I look over the planned meals and pencil them in.
  • I note the days when we have appointments and swap those meals for easier meals, if needed.
  • I check the grocery list that the kids have been filling out on the fridge, and add items to the main list.
  • I also check my pantry restock list to see what I need to add to the list, if money allows.
  • I make sure I have the ingredients to preserve the produce that I plan to pick up this month as well. I will add supplies to the grocery list, if needed. Some of these posts have not been published yet, but you should be able to find the printables in the library.
  • I will either schedule a time to go shopping or place an order for groceries and set a delivery or pickup time that works for us. When I go to town, I usually plan to take care of several errands at once.
  • At the beginning of the month, I will also place a Sam’s Club order for bulk supplies to be shipped, as well as any supplies we need from Amazon.

Special Holiday Meals: February Edition

Some of the pantry restock items I added to list are:

  • Yeast
  • Salt
  • Pasta
  • Pasta Sauce
  • one other item that I choose

Some of the produce I’d like to buy for preserving:

  • Cabbage
  • Broccoli/Cauliflower
  • Dry beans for canning

If money is short, we can skip the restock and the preserving items until next month. I don’t like to skip things too often, but we do have our pantry pretty well stocked, and as long as we replace what we use, we should be fine.

Garden & Animals

I usually try to get feed and garden supplies once a month to cut down on the number of trips I make to town. The feed store is in the opposite direction of our normal grocery store, and I need all the space in the back of the van for feed, so I can’t really combine these tasks, or I would.

I go out to the greenhouse and garden just about every day, so I keep a running list of things that I need. I will also check my monthly list of tasks that need to be done. I went over my lists this weekend, and I have:

  • placed online orders for seeds and plants

I need to:

  • get some more seeds started for the Spring
  • finish putting together the new raised beds
  • get the pile of mulch/soil into the new beds
  • transplant some of the cool weather crops out to the garden beds
  • set up bird feeders
  • deep clean the coops/pens
  • work on bed layouts/Rotational Planting/Companion Planting
  • sift the vermicompost to make potting soil for the new seeds – I actually tried a new seed starting mix that you can see here:

Some of the tasks are also listed with my yearly tasks to make sure that I don’t forget them 🙂

I also check with the kids to see what animal feed we have, check that against my master inventory list, note down what we need in my phone, and then I will make time to go get the feed. I try to combine a few tasks during the same trip.

When I go to get the feed I will:

  • get feed and animal supplies
  • pick up seeds or plants at the Farm Center
  • check with the nursery to see what they might have available
  • stop at the grocery store, if there is anything we need before the next grocery order
  • fill up with gas on the way home

When I get home, I always have the kids unload the feed right away, mix anything that needs to be mixed, and put the surplus in the old freezer that we use for storage. Once the feed is taken care of, they will clean out the back of the van 🙂

I try to make sure to do this mid-week, as Fridays & Saturdays are a bit crowded at the Feed Store. It’s always a bit stressful when we get too low on feed as well, so by making sure we have a regular schedule, we can alleviate some of the stress and replace it with PEACE, as we know we have what we need. We can also use these tasks as ways to show LOVE to one another.

To-Do List

I also like to start a To-Do List because things always pop up that I can’t fix right away. I also find things when I am out in the garden that need to be taken care of, I will usually snap a photo and then add it to the list if it can’t be taken care of right away.

This is our list so far:

  • Master Bathroom
  • build new garden beds – we finished the first ones, but then bought more
  • add solar lights to chicken coops
  • finish chicken tractor
  • hang cameras
  • put the StarLink on a pole
  • add trellises to garden beds
  • create a sensory garden and/or integrate sensory-themed activities into our existing garden

It isn’t too long yet, but it will grow longer the further we get into the year… hopefully, we can stay on top of it.

This is just a quick look at my weekly plans… I have all month long to work on some of them, and I will try to knock out as many as I can. I know that by handling the smaller things now, it will free up time I might need in the future for BIGGER and BETTER things. A little maintenance helps to keep things running nice and smooth… it also helps us to appreciate all that we have been BLESSED with.

I pray that you will find something useful in these links.

God Bless!

A Look At January: Planning for a PEACEful Month

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

We’ve had quite the month already, and we aren’t even a week in yet, but it’s OK. There has been a sense of calm in our home, and things have been pretty PEACEful, which is our goal for the month.

I’m going to take a quick look at what we have planned for the month so you can get a little idea about how all of our systems work with each other.

Calendar

My morning routine means that I check our calendar every morning, and here is what I am looking at:

  • There are few appointments that are noted, and I have reminders set in my Cozi app. One appointment is this week, so I remind my husband about it to make sure he remembers.
  • There are a couple of birthdays, and I am noting the special meals in my planner.
  • A few ‘special holidays‘ that we would like to include.
  • Days that the public school will be out for one of the older kids.
  • I also try to look for a day that will be a good time to go to the flea market or produce market for seasonal produce.

Chores

I also like to review the chores at the beginning of the week, as we have them listed by daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.

Daily chores are pretty automatic, but our monthly chores rotate by the day of the month… I try to keep things as easy as I can.

Some of our daily chores include:

  • Getting ready for the day – make beds, brush teeth/hair, get dressed
  • Animal/Garden chores – watering and feeding
  • Breakfast – see our Breakfast Routine here
  • Laundry – see our Laundry Routine here
  • Planning the day – check calendar, to-do list, meal plan, etc.
  • Morning Routine – see a sample day here
  • School
  • Lunch
  • Quick Clean up
  • Afternoon Chores – water animals, check eggs, etc.
  • Dinner
  • Clean up

If you click on the links, you can find more in-depth information about each task.

Some of my weekly chores are:

  • Home Blessings
  • Homeschool Planning – look for lessons ideas to go along with our monthly task and upcoming holidays
  • Menu Planning – check that we have everything we need for upcoming meals
  • Garden Planning – check what needs to be transplanted, seeded, started, and bought.
  • Other Planning – Valentine’s Day, Super Bowl?, President’s Day, income taxes, and possible outings/vacation; check for upcoming birthdays and anniversaries
  • Grocery Shopping & Errands
  • Desk Work/Paper Work/Bill Pay/Budgeting

Some of the monthly chores this month are:

  • deep clean the coffee maker
  • restock/reorder coffee supplies
  • declutter/organize coffee bar
  • clean out the lower cabinets
  • declutter/organize food containers
  • declutter/organize pantry
  • pull out any foods that need to be used up- work them into upcoming meals
  • deep clean stove top
  • clean stove hood
  • scrub high chairs

Some of the yearly chores for this month are:

  • take down the Christmas tree
  • check garden beds for any repairs needed
  • pruning anything that needs it
  • gather information for income taxes

Sometimes the kiddos are tempted to skip over chores, but it catches up to them later on when things break down or run out. We are trying to teach them important skills that they will need later on in life, skills that will hopefully make them successful in all that they do.

Homeschool

Today, I check my Homeschool Manager app for anything that I might not have added to the main calendar. I normally look over the next week’s schedule on Thursdays, after we finish our school work.

  • I note when we plan to start back.
  • I add the appointments to the monthly lesson plan calendar as well, so I can plan accordingly. I realize that I may need to alter our start date and just use that as a Home Blessing day to get the house back in order, so I just swap a few things around really quick.
  • I also go ahead and update the sites for our lessons so everything is set to go for Monday!

These quick changes will keep us from having a very frustrating week back to school… at least I pray it will.

This month, I will be focusing on adding Biblical-based Financial Literacy tasks to our homeschool routine, so I will look over those tasks to see what I can work in with our lessons.

Financial Literacy (January)

We work on our family budgets and get our Bills organized in January, so it just makes sense to use this as a teaching moment for the kids.

Some ways we are doing this are:

  • Biblical Stewardship:
    • teaching financial principles through a biblical lens
    • emphasis on the fact that EVERYTHING we have belongs to GOD
    • learning to FAITHfully manage our resources
  • Budgeting & Generosity
    • researching what the Bible says about charity, giving to the poor, and tithing
    • creating budgets that allow us to give to others in need
  • Bible verses related to contentment, greed, money, and giving

Bill Paying

I usually sit down to pay bills on Fridays.

  • Pay the bills due, pay more if money allows
  • Check accounts to see what payments have cleared, and highlight them on the worksheet
  • Note any bills still left to pay

I usually do this first, so I know what I have left to spend. My bill pay worksheet makes things much simpler as I can see what I have paid, and what needs to be paid.

Meal Planning & Grocery Shopping

I normally do my menu planning on Wednesday or Thursday. I print out a couple of meal planning sheets and a grocery list so I can fill them in as I look over our Winter Meal Plan.

  • I write in the birthdays and special holidays for the month, and then add those ingredients to the grocery list. Clicking on the link will give you a ready-made list of holidays for the month and links to recipes and menu ideas to make them special.
  • I look over the planned meals and pencil them in.
  • I note the days when we have appointments and swap those meals for easier meals, if needed.
  • I check the grocery list that the kids have been filling out on the fridge, and add items to the main list.
  • I also check my pantry restock list to see what I need to add to the list, if money allows.
  • I make sure I have the ingredients to preserve the produce that I plan to pick up this month as well. I will add supplies to the grocery list, if needed. Some of these posts have not been published yet, but you should be able to find the printables in the library.
  • I will either schedule a time to go shopping or place an order for groceries and set a delivery or pickup time that works for us. When I go to town, I usually plan to take care of several errands at once.
  • At the beginning of the month, I will also place a Sam’s Club order for bulk supplies to be shipped, as well as any supplies we need from Amazon.

Special Holiday Meals: January Edition

Some of the pantry restock items I added to list are:

  • Honey/Syrup
  • Flour
  • Jelly
  • Peanut Butter
  • Toilet Paper

Some of the produce I’d like to buy for preserving:

  • Broccoli/Cauliflower
  • Dry beans for canning

If money is short, we can skip the restock and the preserving items until next month. I don’t like to skip things to often, but we do have our pantry pretty well stocked, and as long as we replace what we use, we should be fine.

Garden & Animals

I usually try to get feed and garden supplies once a month to cut down on the number of trips I make to town. The feed store is in the opposite direction of our normal grocery store, and I need all the space in the back of the van for feed, so I can’t really combine these tasks, or I would.

I go out to the greenhouse and garden just about every day, so I keep a running list of things that I need. I will also check my monthly list of tasks that need to be done. I went over my lists this weekend, and I have:

  • placed online orders for seeds and plants
  • ordered some new garden beds
  • made a list of seed starting materials that I need to pick up.

I need to:

  • get some seeds started for the Spring
  • get the heater hooked up in the greenhouse
  • transplant some of the cool weather crops out to the garden beds
  • replace the broken beds with the new beds
  • order mulch/soil for the new beds
  • sift the vermicompost to make potting soil for the new seeds

Some of the tasks are also listed with my yearly tasks to make sure that I don’t forget them 🙂

I also check with the kids to see what animal feed we have, check that against my master inventory list, note down what we need in my phone, and then I will make time to go get the feed. I try to combine a few tasks during the same trip.

When I go to get the feed I will:

  • get feed and animal supplies
  • pick up seeds or plants at the Farm Center – I did grab a few seeds
  • check with the nursery to see what they might have available – I didn’t stop this month
  • stop at the grocery store, if there is anything we need before the next grocery order
  • fill up with gas on the way home

When I get home, I always have the kids unload the feed right away, mix anything that needs to be mixed, and put the surplus in the old freezer that we use for storage. Once the feed is taken care of, they will clean out the back of the van 🙂

I try to make sure to do this mid-week, as Fridays & Saturdays are a bit crowded at the Feed Store. It’s always a bit stressful when we get too low on feed as well, so by making sure we have a regular schedule, we can alleviate some of the stress and replace it with PEACE, as we know we have what we need.

To-Do List

I also like to start a To-Do List because things always pop up that I can’t fix right away. I also find things when I am out in the garden that need to be taken care of I will usually snap a photo and then add it to the list if it can’t be taken care of right away.

This is our list so far:

  • Master Bathroom
  • build new garden beds
  • add solar lights to chicken coops
  • finish chicken tractor
  • hang cameras
  • put the StarLink on a pole

It isn’t too long yet, but it will grow longer the further we get into the year… hopefully, we can stay on top of it.

This is just a quick look at my weekly plans… I have all month long to work on some of them, and I will try to knock out as many as I can. I know that by handling the smaller things now, it will free up time I might need in the future for BIGGER and BETTER things. A little maintenance helps to keep things running nice and smooth… it also helps us to appreciate all that we have been BLESSED with.

I pray that you will find something useful in these links.

God Bless!

Moving Forward in 2024

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

Hey everyone! I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve actually had a chance to sit down and do anything productive. The past month has been super crazy busy around here and I definitely didn’t get as much done as I wanted to but LIFE happens and we are always getting thrown curveballs when we least expect them.

We did get to see some family that we haven’t seen in a while and we had a WONDERFUL time with them but it was over before we knew it and we had to say GOODBYE. We also had a WONDERFUL Christmas and we were able to complete most of the homemade gifts despite the ongoing oven issues. Bonus: I learned that I can bake in my NuWave!

Unfortunately, we did end up in bed for most of last week with the dreaded C word… not fun at all but we are on the mend now and the kids are definitely feeling better as they have been SUPER LOUD the past few days. My poor head is still hurting and so is my body but I know that this too will pass. I also hate to admit it but I was not in the best of attitudes over the past several weeks for many reasons but after reading this post about the OPPOSITE OF THE PROVERBS 31 WOMAN I am committed to making some changes.

Continue reading “Moving Forward in 2024” →

Cocoa and Cookies

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

It’s that time of year when the cooler weather seems to make us crave some hot cocoa. We have set up our ‘Beverage Station’ at home and the kids asked for cocoa. It just happened that we had some packets in the cupboard so I added them to the assortment of things they could choose from along with some marshmallows in a jar for them to use.

These recipes would be great for taking along with you on a car ride to look at Christmas lights. Many of them could even be used to make Gifts in a Jar to give away for the holidays. These would even be good to sip and snack on while snuggled up with your favorite book on a cold winter evening… mmmm.

You can create some really wonderful memories with your kiddos or grandkids as well by letting them help to make cookies and cocoa… these would be memories that stick with them!

Here are some of our All-Time Favorite cocoa recipes:

Cocoa In A Crockpot

Hot Cocoa (Powdered)

Single-Serve Hot Cocoa

The Best Hot Cocoa

You could easily replace the sugar with another sweetener if you are trying to eat healthier.

Continue reading “Cocoa and Cookies” →

Little House On The Prairie Adventure Week 7 Lesson Plans

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

**Although I try to provide as many FREE resources as possible this post may contain affiliate links alt no extra cost to you. We may earn a small commission, if a purchase is made through these links, which helps to support our blog and our family. Thank you!

Mornings:

We Start every morning off with our prayers and the Pledge of Allegiance. Below is a picture of the prayers that we say and a video of the Pledge of Allegiance.

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Not the prettiest example but that’s what we’ve been using for the past few years.

Don’t have a flag? Grab one HEREand print it out to put up somewhere… you could even let the kids make a flag to proudly display. Amazon also has some little ones like this one HERE and HERE.

After this we have our calendar time also where we go over such things as the Days of the Week, the months, and some basic math.

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This one came from Lakeshore Learning.

We also like to use this song during our ‘Morning Time’ to help the kids learn the 50 States. 

Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter or topic simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21 (Mr. Edwards Meets Santa Claus, A Scream in the Night, Indian Jamboree )

Here is our lesson plan for the week:

Language Arts

Reading:

Read Chapters 19, 20 & 21

Discussion Questions:

Chapter Nineteen:

  • What holiday was coming up?
  • What did Pa bring Christmas dinner?
  • Why did the girls think Santa couldn’t come?
  • Who did Mr. Edwards say he had saw? What had he sent for the girls?
  • What did the girls find in their stockings?

Chapter Twenty:

  • What games did the girls play with Baby Carrie?
  • What did they hear? Who did Pa think it was?
  • What was really screaming?
  • Who killed the panther?

Chapter Twenty-One:

  • How long was Pa gone?
  • What did Pa trade the furs for?
  • Why did Pa give Mary her package first? What had he brought for them?
  • How did the Indians feel about the settlers?

Additional Reading:

Each child would complete a reading lesson from our McGuffey Primer Books or other reading materials that we chose for the day.

Younger kids will also be doing one lesson a day from Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

Vocabulary/Spelling:

Older Kids:

Parents click HERE for the answer key.**see instructions at the top of the page.

Younger Kids:

Handwriting:

Using  Spencerian Penmanship go over the instructions on p. 11-13

Writing:**

  • Describe a favorite holiday meal that you had with your family.
  • Continue working in your workbook.

Other Activity:

Group:

Older kids:

Younger kids:

Math

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21

You can work on a lesson in your Ray’s Arithmetic Books or other math workbook. (The lessons below reflect what we worked on.)

Group:

Rotate through these activities:

Older Kids:

Younger Kids:

 

Geography and History

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21

1. State Study

  • This week we will study Nebraska.
  • Complete your notebooking pages.
  • Older kids can write a report about the state.

2. Continue to Research Native American Indian Tribes

  • Do some independent research.
  • Be sure to take notes for your report.
  • Watch this video about some interesting facts:

3. Take a tour of a Prairie homestead

Science

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21

1. Continue to Research Prairie Animals.

  • Discuss what you learned.

Listen to these sounds:

  • How would that make you feel?

2. Continue learning about simple machines.

We will be using Explore Simple Machines!: With 25 Great Projects for this study.

What are wedges? Not the shoes.

  • Read pages 57-62 of your book.
  • Write down these words and their definitions:
    • ravine
    • caravan
  • Can you name four uses of wedges? p.59 Write them down.
  • Do one of the activities on pages 63-67.

Watch this video for more information:

  • Discuss what you learned.

3. Get to know your galaxy.

  • Discuss what you learned.

Extra:

Life Skills

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21

1. Just like the settlers the Indians also had routines for their lives.

  • Name some of the things they may have had routines for.
  • Some routines are flexible while others need to be completed in a step by step order.
  • Watch this video on how they tanned the hides:
  • Discuss what you learned.
  • Name three things they may have used the hides for.
  • Write out a Sequencing Worksheet for the tanning routine.
  • What would happen if someone did the steps out of order or forgot a step?

2. Ways to help around the house like Laura

Dusting is a necessary chore as dust can build up quickly around the house. I always loved it when my Mom-mom let me help dust. I was always so very careful with all of the knick knacks she had because I didn’t want to break anything.

Below we will also learn about wiping up smudges which can be done at the same time as dusting.

How to dust:

  • Gather your supplies:
    • Duster, mitt, cloth, or other tool
    • Dusting spray
  • Spray the dusting tool with spray.
    • Be careful not to spray yourself or someone else
  • Dust each item carefully but thoroughly.
  • Items you can dust:
    • coffee table
    • end tables
    • lamps
    • booshelf
    • TV
    • Window sills
    • pictures
    • other items as directed by your parents.
  • Check the room to see if you missed anything.
  • Put away your supplies.

Smudges happen a lot in our home. It seems like no sooner do we clean them up then I see even more here and there. We go through the house about once a week, after we dust, and wipe down the furniture, light switches, and door knobs. This helps to keep everything looking nice and clean.

How to wipe smudges

  • Gather the items needed:
  • Spray a small amount of cleaner on your rag.
  • Gently but thoroughly clean items with smudges:
    • telephones
    • TVs
    • remotes
    • light switches
    • knick knacks
    • doorknobs
    • handles
    • mirrors
    • other shiny surfaces
  • Check to see if you missed any spots.
  • Move from one item to the next.
  • Put away the supplies when you are finished.

3. Character

We will be focusing on OBEDIENCE this unit. If you don’t have the book we used you can go HERE and download a lesson plan guide to use in your home.

Memorize: Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord. – Colossians 3:20

We will be studying obedience during this unit. What is obedience?

  • Review what we have learned.
  • Have there been times over the past week when it was hard to obey but Jesus helped you?
  • Have you been remembering to pray?

Watch this video about someone who disobeyed God:

  • What did Samuel tell Saul that God wanted him to do?
  • Did Saul obey?
  • Did his disobedience make God happy?
  • Did Saul repent?
  • What happened to Saul because he disobeyed?
  • God wants us to obey Him. He also wants children to obey their parents.
  • Pray for God’s help to obey.

4.Manners

Continue to practice your good manners everywhere you go.

Print out a list of Important Manners HERE. Post it somewhere you can see everyday.

 

5. Memory Verse

We will be memorizing Psalm 8 during this unit study. Print it HERE.

  • Work on memorizing a verse during the week for a special prize.
    • Verse 7: All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;
  • Older kids can copy the memory verse down in their notebook.

6. Fun Activities

  • Help plan a holiday meal and make a grocery list to go with it.
  • Show someone how you are good neighbor by doing something nice for them.
  • We read the word ‘bootjack’ in this section. Do you know what a bootjack is?

7. Bonus Skills — Choose one or two to work on

Practice these until you finish this unit study and then we will move on to another new skill.

Kids Cook Real Food 

  • Work on: Bonus Lesson: Potato Salad

  • Help to prepare a meal using your new skills.

Skill Trek:

  • Work on at least one task a week.
  • Practice your new skill this week.

Memorize the books of the Bible:

  • Try it now without the teaching:

Learn about camping.

  • Learn how to build a campfire and give it a try, with your parent’s permission.
  • You will need to gather your own tinder.
  • Build and light your fire with supervision. NEVER light a fire without an adult present!
  • Extra Points for building two or more different types of fires.

Here’s a video to get you started:

Learn about Herbs.

Mullein: The Ear and Lung Herb

  • Discuss what you learned.
  • Be sure to jot down some notes.
  • Research some herbs that the Indians may have used in their cooking.

PE, Health & Safety

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21

1. Wild Animal Safety

When they heard the scream at night Pa thought it may have been a neighbor needing help. He soon realized it was a panther and came back home quickly.

  • Wild animals can be dangerous. Do you know what to do to stay safe if you encounter a wild animal?
  • Discuss what you have learned.
  • What kinds of wild animals could you encounter where you live?
  • How will you keep yourself safe?

2. Games/Outdoor Play

Laura and Mary played games with each other and Baby Carrie. Try any of the games listed below or choose your favorite game to play. These would be really good games for when you are stuck inside the house.

You can find more games and activities in this book:

Pioneer days: Discover the past with fun projects, games, activities, and recipes (American kids in history)

Music, Arts & Crafts

You can find more Native American crafts and activities HERE , HERE, HERE and a FREE printable coloring book HERE.

Week 7: Chapters 19, 20 & 21

Crafts:

1. Make musical instruments:

 

2. Christmas

Art:

  1. Santa Claus coloring page
  2. Christmas coloring page

Music:

Some more Plains Indian Music:

 

 

**BE SURE TO SAVE A FEW SAMPLES OF YOUR WORK FOR YOUR  PORTFOLIO!  TAKE PICTURES OF BIG PROJECTS!