S is for Sun

"Jesus is the light of the world." 

These were Liberty's "words to remember" last week.  When I asked her what these words meant she answered, "You are walking in darkness.  Jesus comes and He asks "Do you want to be in darkness or in light? If you want to walk in the light, then follow me."  I thought this was a great 5-year-old interpretation of the verse.

We learned about the sun and how its light, heat, and energy make it possible for life on Earth and we compared the sun's attributes to Jesus' life-giving light.  It was very difficult to teach lessons about the sun and complete our science projects when it has rained for 3 weeks!  We did have a little sunshine on Sunday, so we seized the opportunity to make a sun dial.   Liberty letter for the week was S.  She has been writing her letters for about a year, so this week we really focused on good handwriting.  For some reason the letter S is difficult for her, so she practiced writing it everyday.

S mosaic

Sun Painting

We are still in the process of learning how to structure our learning time.  Liberty's concentration and attention span varies daily, but I have learned that she is able to tolerate about 60-90 minutes of instruction at a time.  This should be perfect since out curriculum is designed specially for that amount of time.  However, the first few lessons have been way too easy and I have had to make some adjustments to ensure we are getting the most out of our time together.  She is doing great.  Adjusting to specific instruction has been her biggest problem.  She wants to do things her own way instead of the right way.  In some cases this isn't a problem.  As long as the end result is the same it really doesn't matter.  However, in other situations it is important that she learn the correct procedure or correct order of things.  This is where we sometimes run into problems.  She is getting better though and beginning to realize that our school time is a structured learning time, not just play time.