Abel Academy

Sydney's Rainbow
Zach's rainbow
Ashley's rainbow
Our homemade lighthouse- it really lights!


Our classroom being put to use
If you know my husband, you know that he is an awesome encourager!



Our homemade candles.
Ashley's drawing of a light bulb
Syd's drawing of a light bulb
Zach's drawing of a light bulb

So do you see a theme?? When was the light bulb invented? Who invented the light bulb?How does a light bulb work? What is the wire or metal called in a light bulb? Why did people use candles? What are the colors in the rainbow or spectrum? What is a prism? How does a lighthouse work? Why do we have lighthouses?
Get it, now?
Well all of my children can go into detail about all this and more, like who our highest authority is, and who is light, and what/who guides us through life...
We have had so much fun learning this first two weeks. We are wrapping up our first unit study on lighthouses. We are getting a routine down. We start the day off with chores, go right into school, and by lunch we are usually done with the academics- in the afternoon we try to do a fun project that goes along with what we are learning. That is what is pictured. We made candles by melting paraffin and added color by melting broken crayons. We each made one- pouring them in our empty ice cream quart molds. The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever. So we ate lunch by candle light the next day.
Another project we did was based on the color spectrum- so we drew rainbows- remember
ROY G BIV. Learned that rainbows have order and who saw the first rainbow...and what that means from our bible time. Learned about prisms and Isaac Newton.
We learned about lighthouses and made our own with a working light. The kids were impressed with that too. We waited for Dan to come home so he could be part of the fun. And of course the drawing of the light bulb- Ash, Syd and Zach can tell you what filament is. It is hard to see in their pictures but they really had great detail- I wasn't going to make Zach label the parts but he wanted to.
So needless to say you can see I am just as excited about what they are learning (and honestly I am learning a lot) I am being reminded what a simple, compound, and complex sentence is, what a prepositional phrase is, all that good stuff. It will help me keep my mind sharp. And Dan I know he is enjoying it- he loves to come home and see what we created and he walks through each subject with the kids. He is so great to me - with encouragement for each new day. He bought those flowers for me and had wonderful things to say, that really put my first day at ease. I think we are really gonna like this. Granted there are a few things I am working through that will just come to me as we go- and the comfort of home can lead to a laid back "working" attitude. But the flexibility of being home is great. So it is those balances we need to find.
There is so much I could go on about how amazing this way of teaching and being so involved in their learning is- but I won't do that to you. It is just great to see Syd so verbal, eager to share what she knows, and Ashley not wanting to put down her reading book, or being so willing to help the others, and Zachary how he is soaking it all in- some things on Ashley's level- he gets it, and his eagerness to read, and do math. It is crazy I say. Thanks for thinking of us and your encouragement with the things you've said and through your prayers. I will fill you in as soon as we have more projects underway!