The big boys are using My Father’s World Kindergarten curriculum and they are loving it just as much as their big sis did! Last week we learned about apples and we had SOOOOO much fun!
We had an apple taste test and tasted ten different apples. (There were even a few that I had never even heard of!) I was really surprised at how serious they were about it all! It was actually kinda cute seeing them carefully taste eat apple!!!
We used the Taste Test Accordion printable form Homeschool Share to record the data from our test! Rather than making the accordion, we cut it apart and glued our results to one page. Big sis wanted in on this activity!
We bobbed for apples. This was h.i.l.a.r.i.o.u.s!!!
We used our super-duper-juicer to make apple juice.
We followed the instruction in Apples to Applesauce to made our own applesauce.
We followed the directions in this book to make Apple Muffins.
Now, before you start to think that all we did last week was cook and eat, here are a few of our non-edible activities.
Our “words to remember” for the week were, “If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit.” We also talked fruit could “grow” on them…i.e. the Fruits of the Spirit. They did their Words to Remember Copywork page and stamped apples onto it. They were excited to see the little stars/flower shapes.
I did decide to go ahead and teach the boys cursive. I was VERY surprised at how well they took to it! So far we have covered all of the lower case letters and have begun to work on the capitals. We use Cursive First.
We talked about the parts of an apple and the boys colored and labeled this apple. {Sorry, I could find where I downloaded this printable. I printed it when my daughter was in kindergarten and saved a copy to use for the boys.}
The boys used one of our many children’s dictionaries to help fill in the “A” pages in their Picture-Word Journal. {I will post more on this later.}
We read the story “A New House” in the book Grasshopper on the Road by Arnold Lobel and they boys made their own version of what they thought worm’s new house would look like.
Our final project was making apples dolls. We followed the directions from The Apple Doll and this is what we came up with! Big sis wanted in on this too! {I will post more about our apple dolls later.}
Here are some of the apple books that we used this week:
The boys are trucking along with their Singapore Essential Math books. Right now, everything is pretty much review, but they still love it! The boys also started their very first spelling list from SWR this week. I was a little bit skeptical about how they would do, but they are loving it and are doing really well! They are so excited to have their very own learning log!
Well, that about wraps up our week of apples! FYI, I do plan to go back and post from our previous weeks of school…eventually! 🙂 Be sure to visit Jolanthe at Homeschool Creations for Preschool Corner {and 5K too!} to see what other homeschool families are doing with their preK and Kinder-kids!
Thank you for your kind words and for sharing the Mrs. Nelson’s website. It looks like a great site with tons of apple ideas!
Tracey~
No, I don’t have a SWR review posted on my blog. We like it, but I DID attend a seminar which helped me immensely! As for the cursive, if you think your daughter is ready, I would try it! I have often heard that cursive is easier for a child than manuscript b/c their natural inclination is scribbling, which is connected…like cursive, as opposed to manuscript. I didn’t start any of my kids with cursive, but I did teach it to them in kindergarten and they now write everything in cursive.
Oh, BTW, I think we ARE going to try out Sonrisas Spanish! I will let you know how it goes!
Did the apple part worksheet come from Mrs. Nelson’s class website? Here is the website address: http://www.mrsnelsonsclass.com/teacherresources/thematicunits/apples.aspx. If not, it looks like a great replacement. I bookmarked your post and hers for our MFW K apple unit. I just need to look back at my old posts to see what we already did … not that repeating activities would hurt. I must say I l absolutely love your copywork activities. My daughter will enjoy using those this year. Thank you for creating them and making them FREE. Those apple muffins look tasty!
I would love to hear your thoughts on SWR. Do you have a review of this curriculum? I have also been thinking about teaching Alyssa cursive letter formations. She has already mastered writing all her letters both capitals and lowercase. I have also noticed her reading some words and sentences in cursive.
Just come from the store, and bought a bunch of different apples. We’ll be taste-testing this week! Thanks for the idea. I posted a “parts of an apple” freebie on my blog.
Looks like fun! I think we will be digging into apples next week. Thanks for the ideas! I made apple dolls when I was a kid. I had forgotten about those. Can’t wait to do this with my kids!
Apples are one of my favorite foods! I loved seeing what you are making in the kitchen with your kids. Because we got our two guys in the kitchen when they were young, today they are very good cooks and love to make things for others! Press on…it will pay off for everyone!
A thought that came to mind the other day regarding apples was that the “seeds” are the only part of the apple that doesn’t taste good and so we don’t eat them. How smart is that of God?! He knew the seeds would be needed to fulfill His command to all men, “be fruitful and multiply”!
LOVE the apple doll! Thanks for sharing! Kerri
Jenn, I love it all! Such a sweet, hands on, fun filled, delightful learning week! I love the worm house drawings ~ how very clever! And I love the verse and that you can see the star on the apple prints. And those dolls are too cute. Looks like you had so much fun. Great job, Mama! *Ü*