Learning about Africa...

Our safari unit is moving into learning more about the continent of Africa this week! Mother Goose Time has the kids are learning more about the African culture (in a very broad sense), and they are enjoying it immensely! There was one day in particular that they really enjoyed... The day they learned about African beads and jewelry. Hope was in absolute heaven!

The art project was so cute this day! They made their own necklaces like the one in the photo. I used this opportunity to use our paint sticks and the necklaces turned out beautifully! Watching the kids dance to the safari unit music was so darn cute.

To get our writing in for the day, I had the kiddos practice writing their numbers 9 and 10 in the journals provided. They are getting better and better!

Still working on that grip!

MGT had a really neat reading activity this day. The kids created rhyming words with these bands. This was SUCH good practice for Jonathan!  He was able to sound out the words and realized they rhymed. Hope kept right up with the participation and "read" the words as well.  I was very proud!

The pattern bead activity was by far their favorite! They were both begging to play with beads later in the day. This is a WONDERFUL activity for their fine motor skills, so I of course pulled out all our beads and let them go to town! Jonathan made a pattern with his beads, and Hope made one that was all purple.  Hope's favorite kind of play is dress-up, especially with jewelry, so she LOVED this activity.

We closed our school time talking about our brothers and sister in Africa. Our family sponsors three children from various countries in Africa, and we were able talk about how we provide for them and pray for them. This was a very sweet moment for this mama heart.  We will be writing letters to them later this week.

Jon was able to visit our sweet Hellen in Uganda a couple years ago.

Patterns, Zebras, and Big Cats!

We are continuing our safari unit and I have never seen the kids more excited! They are absolutely LOVING this unit! One of our favorite days was the "zebra" day, where the kids spent time learning about the ABCD pattern. We also took this opportunity to visit an amazing "big cats" preserve only 45 minutes from our house. 

On the day we studied zebras, Mother Goose Time had us learning about the ABCD pattern. Our calendar this month was a perfect tool for this! The figures on the calendar are in the ABCD pattern and the kids had so much fun showing me that they new what would come next in the pattern.  Jonathan especially, was very good at this one and I got a couple great videos of him saying the order of the animals and then the corresponding letters. Hope was very good at naming the animals and telling what came next, but definitely didn't understand how to "label" them with letters. She'll get it with more practice, but in the meantime she was so darn cute!

Mother Goose Time also included practice with the ABCD pattern with different animal prints. The kids had fun showing off what we had learned earlier in the day. We also used our counting bears to make the ABCD pattern.

We made our own zebras with chalk and black paper! Jonathan informed us that every zebra has a different pattern, and that is how they recognize one another. We took this moment to talk about how God has made us to look different and special as well. Such a sweet moment!

Everyday I try to make sure the kids are practicing their writing. MGT provides these awesome journals where they can do their letter writing and picture drawing.

Mother Goose Time has an activity every month that I love so much! The kids put together little "puzzle pieces" to make certain letters. In this lesson, the kids had zebra print pieces and made the letters "S" and "R." When those letters were complete, the kids made some letters of their own. A wonderful hands-on activity for these busy kiddos.

Our favorite part of the week was visiting Project Survival's Cat Haven where we all got to see the large, exotic cats from around the world. The tour was so great and the kids were so fascinating! Jon even got to attend with us! Here are a couple of highlights of our trip.

Going On Safari!

It is a new year and a new unit in our homeschool world! We are having an absolute blast with this unit and I cannot wait to share it with you all. Our favorite day so far has been the "Game Reserve" lesson in which the kids pretend to go on an African Safari and spy out animals... So cute!

 

The first activity in this lesson is to sing a song about the animals we might see on an African safari. We wrote down our ideas first, and then sung a song to the tune of "The Farmer in the Dell." This was an excellent time to talk about the animals that live in Africa, and animals that don't live in Africa. They were totally on board and so attentive during this part! I got a great video of them singing the song (please excuse my singing behind the camera).

Another activity had the kids making their own binoculars to "spy" the animals on their safari. The kids had SO MUCH FUN walking around and spying the animals and checking them off on the checklist. I had them wear the hats we made the day before and they carried their binoculars with them as well.  They actually asked to do this activity over and over again, and I was so bummed that I didn't laminate their checklists so they could be used more! This was another great time to challenge Jonathan in his reading as he was able to identify the animals on the list.

Mother Goose Time included a wonderful book called "Sock-Fari" in which the characters go on a search for some missing socks using their imagination that they are in a jungle safari. The kids loved the story and were able to read a few of the words in the book. So cute!

They also filled in their My Little Journals for the month. Jonathan and Hope wrote their names and drew a picture of a safari animal on the front. I especially love these journals because it provides such wonderful writing practice for the children. I also got the sweetest video of me helping Hope write her name.

Jonathan drew a giraffe :)

My children have already learned so much this year and I am so surprised at how much Hope is able to participate. She is one smart cookie! Jonathan is already beginning to read and is being challenged everyday to learn more and more about our world. I am so proud of them both!