Torah School - Beresheet

Welcome to my homeschool.  I would like to give you a glimpse (okay, a thesis) of what Torah School looks like in our home.  My children are 8, nearly 7, 5, 3, 11 months, and the youngest just got a heartbeat last week (7 weeks in utero.)  Grades are fuzzy right now, so consider them immaterial.

This week was Beresheet, so we spent a lot of time on creation.  On Sabbath, we read the Torah portion together, and then practiced our hebrew with some excellent worksheets from One Torah for All.  Even Daddy and all the grandparents did these with us.  That evening, I had them draw pictures of each day and what was created, which fit on one page.  I taught them a song that I made up years ago to teach them the days of creation.

On Day 1, we started with reading from our chronological bible "Day by Day Kid's Bible."  Then each of the kids, including the 3 year old, give me an oral narration of the story.  We start every school day with this, and a few minutes at our morning board.  Then we looked at some books (most of my books are simple pictorial nonfiction children's books that I was given or picked up second hand for 25 cents.)  We talked about vision and how we need light to see.  Then the kids drew a full page picture of what they had learned. 

On Day 2, we had a 5 minute discussion about oxygen and carbon dioxide and did some deep breathing.  Then we did some experiments with a glass of water.  We learned about surface tension, floating, sinking.  Then they drew another picture representing day 2.  Isaac's picture had a heavy man sinking in water and being chased by a shark.  There's boys for you!

Day 3, we read about some very cool tropical plants that grow on tree trunks, venus fly traps, etc.  We also perused some volcano books.  Another picture drawn, some very artistic.

Day 4 was nearly an entire bomb.  I tried to show them some photos of nebullas, etc. on a computer program, but it kept freezing up.  So we switched to a field guide with pictures of planets.  But I got so frustrated with the monkeys that I sent them outside and thoroughly cleaned and organized the whole office.  After dinner, I managed to get them to color their pictures, which consisted of colored circles.  Very exciting!

Day 5, with my newly organized office, I had categorized all my books.  So I took the time to choose three books that we actually read through all together.  We learned about crabs and fish, and read a very humorous story about a frog.  The pictures were very well done and the kids were excited to show them off.

Day 6 also went well because mommy was again on top of things.  We read about animals that live in the woods and animals that people use to help them.  The books were set out on the kitchen table and the kids copied pictures of animals for their picture.  Oh, and we sang our creation song every day, so they were able to figure out what we would be learning about that day.

Each day I also work with each child individually for their math and english. 

So that was our first week in Torah School.  I must say that it was a very enjoyable week.  I have used various curriculums in the past, and they were good.  But this time, it was me teaching my children what I knew they needed and were ready for.  The words coming out of my mouth were all mine, and I could share with them Torah, the most important thing for them to know. YHVH was in charge and I could follow His lead.  Doug was thrilled, because the kids never wanted to stop school.  They loved it.