Creation to Christ:
I am not sure how we have our youngest son, Emmett, starting Creation to Christ- where has the time gone?!?
CTC is such a grown up guide, and I was a little worried about the transition Emmett would make, but it has gone well! The hardest thing for Emmett this week has been getting up in the morning on time, but by the end of the week he learned to set his alarm and has done better.
One of Emmett's favorite things is science. He is really enjoying his Land Animals... book, and his first experiment involved M & M's (of course a BIG hit)! Emmett learned about camouflage and had to search for certain colors of M & M's among crumpled paper. I remember from my last 2 times of teaching CTC to my older sons that this is one of the few experiments that needs outside things to gather (i.e. M & M's), but it is a great way to learn about camouflage in a fun, memorable way. Here Emmett is searching among the habitat for his M & M's...
The poetry appreciation study of Robert Frost this year has a focus on watercolor painting in response to reading Frost's beautiful creation-focused poetry, and painting has always been a favorite past-time of Emmett's. He cannot wait to break out his paints and paintbrushes, and I've learned from years' past of teaching this guide not to slip into my perfectionist personality type tendencies and overtake the project to make it look "just so" (guilty of this with earlier sons). It's art! And as such it's creative, and meant to encourage individual expression, I've learned to bow out once we've talked through the steps of the project. He was so proud of his tree when he was done (much more proud than my oldest son was of his tree when I overtook the project and made it look "just-so"!
We've started The Little Duke for the biography genre of Drawn into the Heart of Reading. It was tough at first for Emmett! Emmett is my doer in the summer, not my reader, and I probably need to have him have a set reading time next summer to ensure he's still reading. He loved the kick-off, where he found 5 items around the house to tell about himself and we then connected this to the genre biography. I think I'll split the readings of the chapter for him into 2 sections next week, having him do some on his off day to help him ease back into reading after the summer break.
Emmett has seen his older brothers' full color notebooking pages and was super excited to have his own this year! He was crestfallen when I had to point out he'd mixed up his timeline order, putting box 2 in box 1, and box 1 in box 2. But, he was able to get past it and move on, and he has been reading his directions more carefully ever since...
In Christ,
Julie
