On To Week Three of First Grade!

Week three has been a good bit smoother than the first few.  Emma is really reading well.  I keep telling her that I am sick of her growing up!  Then she recites her number facts with a sort of "I'm growing up and there is nothing you can do about it" smile.  I jokingly and playfully place my hands over my ears in denial that our little Emma is becoming not so little.

There is a reason that we teach our children - an overarching goal for education.  We want our children to be life long learners.  School is simply a means of building the necessary foundations for a life of thoughtful, God-glorifying learning.  Because we are created in the image of God, we have a deep desire to know more about Him as well as the world He has created.  Learning more about Him leads to loving Him more.  And as we learn about and love God, we are able to love others as well.

Our motto at "Moore Academy" is We Learn More So That We Can Love More.

Now, on to what we are learning!  Emma is learning a lot about the history of the world.  We have begun learning about ancient civilization of Egypt.  She knows now that the Egyptians began to write upon stone; and that this is what we call hieroglyphics.  Similarly, the Sumerians wrote on wet clay (to make it easier), which is called cuneiform.

One day her friends came over for a school project.  They built Egyptian pyramids out of sugar cubes!

Jude, however, had more of an appetite for eating the pyramids than a desire to build them!

In our reading class, we are reading The Story for Kids.  This is a great book that simplifies the Bible for kids.  Every day two chapters are read and Emma is required to "narrate" the main things that she learned from the story.  Because we are flying through this book, I went to the library yesterday to get more.

The classical curriculum introduces children to the classics at an early age.  Soon we will be reading Homer and other ancient works.  By reading the simple versions of these books now, the students will be less threatened by them when they get to read the actual works in high school.

Jude continues to be adjusting to the schedule well.  He likes to color and cut paper.  Then he usually joins in on the reading.  He can't sit still for long though before he gets a little bizarre...

Emma is also required to read and memorize four poems throughout the year.  She has memorized the first one already - I think its called the Caterpillar or something.  You can watch the video here.

What is pretty awesome is that yesterday at breakfast Jude recited the Caterpillar too by himself!  That kid!

Okay, that's a wrap!  More to come next week...