The Creation

Who knew that you could stretch out a small chapter in the Bible for so long? So far we have accomplished 3 weeks of school, and have only covered Day 2 of the Creation story. Here's why!

I'm using it as an association for a LOT of their geography for the first half of the school year. We have read the story several times in these 3 weeks, but each time I'm emphasizing with my voice different key words as they listen, then we transition into our geography lesson about the emphasized part.

For instance, starting with just reading the story, it introduced the concept of a 7 day week and we reviewed the days of the week. -Another day we reviewed the days of the week and expanded with the concepts of "Today, Yesterday, and Tomorrow." -Another lesson was about the description of what was created the first day, dividing the light from the dark, naming the day and the night. We transitioned into our discussion of the Earth rotating, the sun rise and sunset, and the other places in the world that are night when we are day.

We just wrapped up Day 2 of the creation, learning about the firmaments above and the firmaments below, with lots of cool science experiments about liquids, condensation, cloud formations, and separating firmaments of our own like with oil and water. We also talked about some of the physics of the world that God created to govern all forms of life, such as gravity. When you break each day down, you can really stretch it out to relate to so many subjects.

Next week we're heading into Day 3, discussing the dry land being divided from the sea, so we introduced land/sea into our geography. We are narrowing down our specific studies to the USA this year, but first we talked about continents, which one we live on, and how many countries there are on it.

We rolled out some blue playdough, then put it on a paper plate, using a kid's cereal bowl to press and make a round shape. Next we rolled out green playdough (on the vinyl table cover), and I gave them a map of the world like this one you can print here . Then they took a paper clip opened up to poke holes around the continent of choice to their playdough underneath. Having them recognize which continent you are studying helps to associate the lessons they've had. Once they're done poking all around the continent, the shape separates from the extra, and we placed it on top of our sea of blue.

After it dried, we also labeled N,S,E,W on the plates. Next week as we dive into learning about the names of the oceans, types of bodies of water, and land differences we'll add some detail to this simple project.

Other ideas for days of creation study can include:

• Day 2- Firmaments above and below- evaporation, gas, liquid, weather
• Day 2- Firmaments above and below- atmosphere
• Day 2- Firmaments above and below- physic laws that govern
• Day 3- land and sea- types of terrain in parts of the world
• Day 3- land and sea- solids and liquids
• Day 3- land and sea- names of continents, and names of the 4 oceans
• Day 3- land and sea- tectonic plates, latitude and longitude, volcanoes
• Day 4- Plants- types of things in the garden
• Day 4- Plants- Herbs
• Day 4- Plants- seeds, photosynthesis, soil, composting
• Day 4- Stars in the heavens- astronomy
• Day 4- Stars in the heavens- seasons
• Day 4- Stars in the heavens- navigation
• Day 4- Stars in the heavens- signs
• Day 5- Fish and Fowl- oxygen, lungs and gills
• Day 5- Fish and Fowl- migration
• Day 5- Fish and Fowl- laying eggs, circle of life
• Day 5- Fish and Fowl- grouping (flock of birds, school of fish)
• Day 5/6- All creatures- classification (mammal, fish, fowl, reptile, marsupial, amphibian)
• Day 6- All creatures on land, predators or prey
• Day 6- Man- family tree
• Day 6- Man- male/female, boy/girl, mothers/fathers
• Day 6- Man- our uniqueness as individuals, features, personalities
• Day 6- Man- responsibility of dominion over all the earth
• Day 6- Man- relationship to God and Jesus Christ
• Day 6- Man- genealogy, journal keeping
• Day 7- Rest- worship, service, charity, commandments, community, work ethic, accountability, appreciation, patience, so-many-virtues can be taught here.

We're keeping track of our learning in our Creation Lapbook that we're making throughout the weeks to come, with ideas using Christian printables about the creation here , Creation lapbook artwork here, and some projects from Galloping the Globe of the USA relating to our location on this beautiful planet our Heavenly Father created for us.