A little rain wouldn’t ruin our week as the Garden students proved some umbrellas and boots were the perfect solution to a wet morning. Meanwhile, the Seeds learned more of the New Testament song, and the Oaks continued to practice singing a worship song with Mr. Jean.

SUGGESTED AT-HOME READINGS VARY PER PROGRAM. PLEASE GO TO THE SECTION OF YOUR PROGRAM TO SEE THE SELECTED PAGES.

The Garden

This week we all continued to shine our lights on each other by being kind, loving and sharing. (Galatians 5:14 - “Love your neighbor as yourself.”) We sang, “This little light of mine” and “I am the light of the world” during our song time. We continued learning that everything that God made is good and we should follow His commands so we can become more like him.

During activity time we were able to paint our garden hats but first we asked the question, what kind of things can we find in a garden? The kids said, flowers, vegetables, fruits, bugs and pollinators like bees and butterflies that help the garden grow. They each decided what they would paint on their hat and enjoyed it very much. We also had fun building with blocks and enjoyed using the water tables indoors pouring and finding beautiful gem beads inside the water. Our story this week was - Does God learn his ABCs?

The Seeds Program

We are drawing near to the “fullness of time” as we are almost done with our exploration into various Old Testament prophecies that told of the coming Seed or Messiah. We’ve learned that he was to be born in Bethlehem, born of a virgin, ride into Jerusalem on a donkey, be pierced for our sins, and this week, we learned that he would be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. His body would not see decay and there would be no end to His kingdom. What amazing truths that we know have already been fulfilled in the New Testament. Keep practicing your song! We have covered Matthew through Philippians already and introduced our new memory verse from Romans 3:23.

BIBLE Readings

Prophecies of the coming Messiah
- Micah 5:2
- Isaiah 49:6
- Psalm 22:18
- Isaiah 9:6-7
- Malachi 3:1
- Psalm 16:9-10

SCIENCE

We continued our study on the senses, focusing on the sense of smell. We learned that the odor molecules travel into our nostrils where they are met with the olfactory bulb and receptors. I explained that although scientists don’t know for sure, they believe that the sense of smell works like a puzzle. Certain particles “fit” into the receptors and that sends the signal to the brain to know which smell it is. We also put our senses to work by smelling different cotton balls with various smells and the students had to smell and identify the smell. On Friday, we watched The Magic School Bus episode on the sense of smell as a fun way to reinforce what we had learned.

SCIENCE Readings

Encyclopedia of the Human Body
- pgs. 12-13

History

In History class this week, we learned more about scrolls and how they were used to transmit letters and other important documents during the Roman Empire. We saw how the Apostle Paul wrote many letters on scrolls to the churches throughout the Roman world, and we also learned a bit about another writer named Virgil, who is credited with writing the Aeneid, an epic poem that told the story of the price Aeneas and which was thought to trace the Romans to their ancestors in the ancient city of Troy. Finally, we learned how the names of the months we use today came from Roman times and we did an activity creating birthday posters with our students.

HISTORY Readings

The Roman Empire
- pp. 10-11: From Emperor to Slave
- pp. 12-15: Clothing
- pp. 44-45: Theater
- pp. 34-35: Roman Gods
World History / Ancient World

p.91 / p. 81: The 1st Emperor
p.97 / p. 87: Drama

Studio Time

During our studio time we began to color and cut out the pieces for a model that will help us learn about our senses. We colored in the brain and the sense organs for the sense of smell and placed them on a face template. We also colored in another sheet that will be placed on top and will have small windows to “see” under the skin. We will slowly work on this during the next few weeks as we explore each one of the senses.

The Oaks Program

We continue to go through our book “More than a Carpenter” and focused this week, not only on how the names and attributes of God are given to Jesus in the New Testament, but also on the specific witnesses, like Peter, Paul, Thomas, and many others that claimed in their own words that He was truly the LORD. In fact, we began looking at verses where Jesus himself affirmed these claims and did not deny them. This helped us to see more specifically how we can find evidence in the Scriptures for the things we say we believe in.

Science

This week in Pre-Physics, the students had the opportunity to demonstrate Newton's three laws of motion using some toys. The students explored the Law of Inertia by placing a ping pong ball on the table and either letting it sit still or blowing on it. To demonstrate the Law of Force, Mass, & Acceleration, the students used a toy shopping cart, mini groceries, and packs of pennies. By adjusting the force used to push the cart or adding or decreasing mass in the cart, the students explored how the two factors affected the cart's acceleration. And for the Law of Action & Reaction, the students bounced a bouncy ball using varying force and also propelled Hot Wheels cars using launchers.

In Chemistry, the students reviewed the periodic table and also learned about the beginnings of how our modern periodic table was developed with Dmitri Mendeleev making the breakthrough decision to group elements based on the order of their atomic weight and also chemical properties. The students also learned how to determine the number of electrons and neutrons in a neutral atom based on the information provided by the periodic table for a specific element.

History

Our History readings gave us more insight into the rise of Caesar Augustus, the first Roman emperor. We learned that despite being the adopted heir to Julius Caesar, he faced competition from Marc Antony and Cleopatra of Egypt. Although they had once been allies under the Second Triumvirate, they became rivals until Antony’s armies were defeated and Augustus rose to claim the power of the Roman world. This power struggle and change of regime was the context into which soon the coming Messiah would be born.

As always, we enjoyed our time outdoors and it was nice to see the entire group bonding over some volleyball in the park.

HISTORY Readings

Streams of Civilization
- pp. 186-187: Literature

Memory Verse

“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God”

— Romans 3:23

Finally, we were so excited to begin our Arts Academy classes, which include a Dance Workshop for Actors, several Drama clubs and a Lego Club for the fall semester.