Fifth Grade, History, Set Seven

In this set of weeks we are covering 1990 - 2016. There were so many things we could have covered, but my goal was to cover the events that took place before K's birth which people refer to in every-day-life.

Presidents

• Bill Clinton by Mike Venezia
• George W. Bush by Mike Venezia
• First Family by Deborah Hopkinson -- about the Obama family

Events

• Hubble Space Telescope
• The Gulf War
• The Gulf War by Anita Yasuda
• 9/11
• September 11 Then and Now by Peter Benoit
• September 11 Through the Eyes of George W. Bush by Emily O'Keefe -- I didn't use this one now, but want to when K is older
• Ground Zero Dogs by Meish Goldish
• Seven and a Half Tons of Steel by Janet Nolan -- transitions nicely into Hurricane Katrina
• Hurricane Katrina
• Buddy by M.H. Herlong -- very good book. If you can only read one book about Katrina, read this one
• Hurricane Katrina by Peter Benoit -- just looked at the pictures
• Hurricane Katrina: Survival Stories by Jeanne Marie Ford -- a quick read, but very interesting
• Eight Dolphins of Katrina: A True Tale of Survival by Janet Wyman Coleman -- picture book; very good quick read, also
• Hurricane Katrina: An Interactive Modern History Adventure by Blake Hoena -- we always enjoy the interactive books!

• The 1990's Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan

Fifth Grade, History, Set 5/6

This section covers 1968 - 1989.

• Presidents
• Richard M. Nixon by Mike Venezia 
• Gerald R. Ford by Mike Venezia
• Jimmy Carter by Mike Venezia 
• Ronald Reagan by Mike Venezia
• Who Was Ronald Reagan?  by Joyce Milton 
• George Bush by Mike Venezia
• Notable People
• Shirley Chisholm by Jill S. Pollack -- lots of information, well presented; read bits of it 
• Jim Henson: The Guy Who Played with Puppets by Kathleen Krull -- picture book with good information and delightful illustrations
• Who Was Jim Henson?
• Henry Aaron's Dream by Matt Tuares -- picture book with good coverage of his life
• Swinging for the Fences: Hank Aaron and Me by Mike Leonetti -- another picture book 
• Bill Gates: Computer King by Josepha Sherman
• Who Was Bill Gates?
• Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak by Mike Venezia
• Elvis: The Story of the Rock and Roll King by Bonnie Christensen -- a good story of his life
• Sandra Day O'Connor by Lisa McElroy
  
• Events
• Apollo 11
• Eight Days Gone by Linda McReynolds -- story in verse
• Moon Landing by Joe Dunn -- graphic history
• The First Lunar Landing by Dennis Brindell Fradin -- starts with the history of flight and the desire to go to the moon
• 26th Amendment passed
• Roe v. Wade
• Supreme Court Cases Through Primary Sources: Roe v. Wade by Simone Payment -- I read the book, then summarized it for K. A good book for her to read when she is older. It is mostly objective, just presenting the facts. 
• Sears Tower Built
• Sears Tower by Julie Murray -- an easy read with lots of pictures 
• Camp David Accord
•  Israel and Palestine by John King -- there were two pages about the peace talks at Camp David with President Carter, however, I think this will be a good book to read at another time
• Three Mile Island
• Emergency at Three Mile Island by Aaron Feigenbaum -- good book, lots of pictures, solid information about the incident, talked about people who were involved
• Olympic Boycott
• The 1980 U.S. Olympic Boycott by martin Gitlin -- this book gives the stories of three people - a soviet athlete, a USOC member, and a U.S. athlete - to understand their perspectives on the boycott.
• Mount St. Helens
• Volcano: The Eruption and Healing of Mount St. Helens by Patricia Lauber -- we read portions and looked at the pictures
• Will It Blow? by Elizabeth Rusch -- we didn't use this book. If you are studying volcanoes, this would be a good book to use. It allows to to look at the evidence and clues the scientists had to figure out if the volcano would erupt.
• Iran Hostage Crisis
• The Iran Hostage Crisis by R. Conrad Stein -- we read portions and looked at the pictures, so K. would have a pretty good idea of the cause, duration, and solution.  
• Grenada Invasion
• Grenada by Guek-Cheng Pang -- pages 38 - 41 
• Challenger Disaster
• The Tragedy of the Space Shuttle Challenger by Henry M. Holden -- we read bits and portions
• Exxon Valdez Disaster 
• The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill by Peter Benoit
• The 1970s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan -- we looked through it reading the captions by photos of events/people that we had not already read about

Science: Geology

Here is a list of books we used in our unit on Geology. I used the Geology badge in American Heritage Girls as our outline, so I'll reference the requirements, just in case your daughter is an Explorer in AHG, also.

Identify 10 rocks (requirement #8)

• Can You Find These Rocks? by Carmen Bredeson
• Rock Study: A Guide to Looking at Rocks by Steven M. Hoffman

Do a Perc Test (requirement #9)
Learn about the water cycle (requirement #10)

• The How and Why Book of Weather by George Bonsall --pages 23 - 25
• Understanding Cycles and Systems by Andrew Solway -- pages 14 - 15

Grow crystals (option #11)

• Here's the recipe we used 

Learn about sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks (option #12)

•  How do Water and Wind Change Rock?: a Look at Sedimentary Rock by Ellen Lawrence
• Baking and Crushing: a Look at Metamorphic Rock by Ellen Lawrence
• How do Volcanoes Make Rock?: a Look at Igneous Rock by Ellen Lawrence
• These books are park of the Rock-ology: the Hard Facts about Rocks series. I would highly recommend reading all the books in the series. They are easy reads with lots of photos and other illustrations.
• The Beauty & Mystery of Water by Hans Walter Silvester -- lots of pictures to look at and marvel over

Learn about caves, etc. (options #13)

• Exploring Caves by Melody S. Mis
• The Science of a Sinkhole by Robin Koontz
• Caves and Caverns by Gail Gibbons
• Caves: Mysteries Beneath Our Feet by David L. Harrison
• Into the Earth: the Story of Caves by Meredith Costain
• Caves by Marcia Zappa
• The Secret Cave: Discovering Lascaux by Emily Arnold McCully
• Virtual tours of caves/caverns
• Ohio Caverns
• Carlsbad Caverns
• Lascaux Caves

Here are some other books that may enhance your geology unit.

• How Do People Use Rocks?  by Ellen Lawrence
• What are Rocks Made Of? by Ellen Lawrence
• Crystals by Richard and Louise Spilsbury
• Landslides, Slumps, & Creep by Peter Goodwin
• Investigating the Rock Cycle by Mary Lindeen
• Erosion and Weathering by Willa Dee
• Earth Evidence by Michael Martin
• Erosion: Changing Earth's Surface by Robin Koontz

Science Ideas

I'm starting a list of books that I think would be great to use for science.

• 50 Gardening Projects for Kids by Clare Bradley
• Understanding Cycles and Systems by Andrew Solway

Fifth Grade, History, Set Four

We covered 1957 - 1967.

• Vietnam War
• Tough Choices by Nancy Antle -- this is in the Once Upon America series
• The Vietnam War by Michael Burgan -- an interactive modern history adventure
• Sing for Your Father, Su Phan by Stella Pevsner 
• The Vietnam War by Tom Streissguth -- we did not read the whole thing, because I felt the interactive book had covered most of it
• Patrol: An American Soldier in Vietnam by Walter Dean Myers -- a picture book that portrays the uncertainty of knowing who was the enemy 
• Civil Rights
• Riding to Washington by Gwenyth Swain -- a picture book about the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s speech.
• The Bus Ride That Changed History by Pamela Duncan Edwards -- a picture book about Rosa Parks, the bus boycott, and the supreme court ruling
• Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have A Dream Speech in Translation by Leslie J. Holland -- because the speech is so long, we mostly just read the translation
• As Fast As Words Could Fly by Pamela M. Tuck -- picture book about desegregation 
• Who Was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.? by Bonnie Bader -- I had K. read this book on her own because she really likes this series
• Mayfield Crossing by Vaunda Micheaux Nelson -- this is a really good book. It is about prejudice, desegregation, baseball, and is very well written and was enjoyed by both student and parents.
• Witness to Freedom by Belinda Rochelle -- we started reading this book before, and I wanted to read the whole thing, but we didn't get to it
• What Was Your Dream, Dr. King? by Mary Kay Carson
• Life in the Time of Rosa Parks and the Civil Rights Movement by Terri DeGezelle
• The Passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Xina M. Uhl
• The Civil Rights Act of 1964 by Jason Skog 
• Space Race
• Godspeed, John Glenn by Richard Hilliard -- picture book about John Glenn, the space race, NASA, and more
• NASA by Marcia Zappa -- the history of NASA
• The Race to the Moon by Allison Lassieur -- this in an interactive history adventure
• John Glenn, Young Astronaut by Michael Burgan -- this is in the Childhoods of Famous Americans series
• Race to the Moon by Steve Parker
• Alan Shepard by Tamra B. Orr 
• Thurgood Marshall
• A Picture Book of Thurgood Marshall by David A. Adler -- this is another really well written and illustrated book in Adler's Picture Book Biography series

• John F. Kennedy
• The Brothers Kennedy by Kathleen Krull -- a picture book with a lot of information about the Kennedy brothers, Joe, John, Robert, and Edward
•  John F. Kennedy by Mike Venezia -- these books are always full of good information and enjoyable to read
• Who Was John F. Kennedy? by Yona Zeldis McDonough -- K. enjoys this series, so I had her read it on her own
• Jack's Path of Courage: The Life of John F. Kennedy by Doreen Rappaport -- another picture book, but I thought we had read enough about him, so we skipped this one
• The Cuban Missile Crisis by Gary Jeffrey -- this is a "graphic" history
• Lyndon B. Johnson
• Lyndon B. Johnson by Mike Venezia -- interesting to read about his life
• Lady Bird Johnson by Joanne Mattern

• Other events
• Miranda Rights
•  Miranda v. Arizona by Michael Burgan -- I read the first part of the book, then told K. about the issue and how it came about that they always read the person their rights on Adam-12.
• The Beatles
• The Beatles by Mike Venezia -- good book to learn how this music group came to be and became famous
• Escape from Alcatraz
• Breakout!: Escape from Alcatraz by Lori Naskins -- this is a Step Into Reading book, so is well illustrated, easy to read, and interesting
• Super Bowl
• Super Bowl by James Buckley, Jr. -- we read the parts about the beginning of the Super Bowl
• The 1960s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan -- these books are always good to page through. Usually we have already covered everything in them, but sometimes there is something we haven't read about.

Fifith Grade, History, Set Three

In this Set, we are covering 1945 to 1956.

A Child's History of the World, chapters 88 - 90

Topics and the books we used (or may use at another time):

• Philippines Independence
• All About the Philippines by Gidget Roceles Jimenez -- pages 8 and 9
• Jackie Robinson
• Who Was Jackie Robinson? by Gail Herman
• Jackie Robinson by Josh Gregory -- this is in the A True Book series; we didn't read it because the book in the Who Was...? series covered his life thoroughly.
• The Roswell Incident
• UFOs by Judith Herbst -- only read the section about the Roswell Incident
• The CIA
• The CIA by Brendan January -- read about why the CIA was started
• Truman Doctrine
• Harry S. Truman by Jim Hardgrove -- we read only that pages about the Truman Doctrine
• Invention of the Polaroid Camera 
• Edwin Land: Photographic Pioneer -- actually read most of this book. After he invents the Polaroid camera, he goes on to other things, but we stopped there.

• Truman/Dewey Election Upset
• Harry S. Truman by Heidi M.D. Elston -- pages 24 and 25

• Cold War
• The Alger Hiss Trial by Doreen Rappaport -- saving this for high school
• Candy Bomber by Michael O. Tunnell -- also for high school
• Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot by Margot Theis Raaven -- very good picture book story.
• The Berlin Airlift by Michael Burgan -- did not read all of this. It seemed we were repeating ourselves.
• A Night Divided by Jennifer a. Nielsen -- I read this, it is scary in some places and sad in others, but is very good. Saving it for high school.
• Korean War
• The Korean War: An Interactive Modern History Adventure by Michael Burgan -- very good

• Civil Rights Movement
• Witnesses to Freedom: Young People Who Fought for Civil Rights by Belinda Rochelle -- I highly recommend this book. We did not get all of it read, so we are continuing it in Set 4.
• Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka by Sharon J. Wilson -- covered in Witnesses to Freedom, so didn't read this book

• Peanuts Comic Strip
• Charles Schulz by Jim Whiting

• Dwight D. Eisenhower
• A Picture Book of Dwight David Eisenhower by David A. Adler
• Dwight D. Eisenhower by Mike Venezia 
• Polio
• Jonas Salk: Creator of the Polio Vaccine by Salvatore Tocci -- maybe in high school
• Close to Home: A Story of the Polio Epicemic by Lydia Weaver -- good book. This is in the Once Upon America series.
•  McDonald's
• Brands we Know: McDonald's by Sara Green -- this book has more about the McDonalds brothers.
• Ray Kroc: McDonald's Restaurants Builder by Joanne Mattern
• First Kidney Transplant
• Joseph E. Murray and the Story of the First Human Kidney Transplant by Joanne Mattern -- we read snippets from this book
• Interstate Highways
• Just Fine the Way They Are by Connie Nordhielm Wooldridge -- picture book about the growth from dirt roads to interstate highways in the U.S.

The Present Moment - April, 2016

The mind would rather fret about the future or pine over the past -- so the mind can cling to its own illusion of control. But the current moment? It cannot be controlled.

Ann Voskamp, One Thousand Gifts Devotional

Our God is the great I AM. God in the present moment.

Only at the present moment can I come into the presence of God. Only at the present moment can I teach my child. Only at the present moment can I submit to His will. Only at the present moment can I give thanks. Only at the present moment can I slow down and savor my blessings. Only at the present moment can I be faithful. Only at the present moment can I build my cathedral.

I want to encourage you to not rush or merely get through your day, just checking things off your list, but to live in the present moment. Savor each moment. You are building a cathedral.

Embracing His Instructions - February, 2016

We have just completed the first week of our new school year. (Fifth grade. Where does the time go?) We had a lovely first day. On day two, however, K. became belligerent during Bible and then decided she was not going to do her math. This was not the way I had planned my day.

I am being reminded in Sarah Mackenzie's book, Teaching From Rest, that "whatever that intrusion into your grand plan for the day is, it's also an opportunity to enter into rest."

I should not expect the day to go as I have planned. I should expect that we will experience struggles with her studies and antagonistic attitudes, after all, I am teaching K. new things and we are both sinful humans.

When things don't go as I have planned, it isn't a stumbling block in the schedule, it is God imparting the instructions for the day.

When I embrace those instructions, knowing we are right where He wants us, I experience unshakable peace (rest), and am able to give K. the love she needs and guide her with grace.

However, when I fight His instructions, bulldozing over my daughter to get to my grand plan so I can check off the lessons for the day, I crush her spirit and miss teachable moments. After all, God does not ask me to check off everything on my to-do list. He asks me to be faithful.

I pray you will embrace His instructions for you and each of your school days and experience His unshakable peace as you are faithful to Him.

Fifth Grade, History, Set Two

This Set, we are covering World War II. Here is a list of books we read, books I really wanted to read, and books that would have been nice to read, if we'd had the time.

Basic Information on the war:

• A Child's History of the World -- chapters 86 and 87
• An Interactive History Adventure Series
• World War II Infantrymen by Steven Otfinoski
• World War II by Elizabeth Raum
• World War II on the Home Front by Martin Gitlin
• World War II Spies by Michael Burgan
• World War II Pilots by Michael Burgan
• World War II Naval Forces by Elizabeth Raum

People:

•  Who Was Winston Churchill? by Ellen Labrecque
• Franklin and Winston: A Christmas That Changed the World by Douglas Wood -- picture book style with lots of good information
• War Dogs: Churchill & Rufus by Kathryn Selbert -- picture book style book that takes you through the war with Churchill and his dog.
• Douglas MacArthur by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson -- History Makers Bios Series; this was the first book we had read in this series, and I really liked it. The author presented his life story with a lot of detail without getting bogged down or boring.
• Dwight D. Eisenhower by Elaine Marie Alphin and Arthur B. Alphin -- also a History Makers Bios Series
• Harry S. Truman: Thirty-third President by Mike Venezia

Japanese Internment and Racial Discrimination

• Barbed Wire Baseball by Marissa Moss
• Paper Wishes by Lois Sepahban
• Sylvia & Aki by Winifred Conkling

Books we didn't get to, but I really wanted to:

• Pearl Harbor by Andrew Santella
• Why Did the Whole World Go to War? and other questions about . . . World War II by Martin W. Sandler
• World War II: Early Battles by John Hamilton
• The Great Depression and World War II: 1929 - 1945 by Susan E. Hamen
• World War II by Sean Connolly -- Witness to History series
• Escape from Warsaw by Ian Serraillier
• A Father's Promise by Donna Lynn Hess

Other books we didn't read:

• Hiroshima: The Shadow of the Bomb by Richard Tames
• Dwight D. Eisenhower: A Man Called Ike by Jean Darby
• World at War: Battle of Okinawa by R. Conrad Stein
• Dead in the Water by Chris Lynch -- historical fiction dealing with racial discrimination
• European Land Battles 1944-1945 by Trevor Nevitt Dupuy
• Blitzkrieg by Wallace Black
• Along the Tracks by Tamar Bergman -- Jewish family fleeing Nazis
• Behind Barbed Wire by Lila Perl
• The Tuskegee Airmen by Philip Brooks

Fifth Grade, History, Set One

Here is a list of books and videos we used or will use when we visit this time period again.

1920s

• The 1920s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan -- excellent way to have an overview of the decade 
• Amendments: 18th, 19th: The Constitutional Amendments by William Loren Katz -- I'm still thinking of buying my own copy of this book. It gives such a good synopsis of each amendment.
• The History of Radio by Joanne Mattern -- interesting and well written; because we were learning about the invention of radio, we only read the parts of the book that pertained to that subject
• Inventing the Radio by Marianne Fedunkiw -- we did not get to this book, but it looks like it has more detail, so I plan to use it when K. is older
• Warren G. Harding: Twenty-Ninth President by Mike Venezia -- good book
• The Story of The Teapot Dome Scandal by Jim Hargrove -- we did not read this book; I decided that for 5th grade, we had read enough about the scandals in the book about President Harding
• Calvin Coolidge: Thirtieth President by Mike Venezia
• The Scopes Trial by Arthur Blake -- I really like how this book was written. It was an easy read for me (about an hour), then I told K. about it. The author did a good job of handling the subject objectively.
• Inherit the Wind movie about The Scopes Trial -- This movie is not factual, but is interesting.
• Charles Lindbergh by Lucile Davis -- good book. Touched on controversies, but did not go in depth
• The Boy Who Invented TV: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Kathleen Krull -- excellent book with lots of illustrations
• The Television by Richard and Louise Spilsbury
• The Jazz Singer
• Herbert Hoover: Thirty-First President by Mike Venezia
• The Wall Street Crash: October 29, 1929 by Alex Woolf -- I only read the parts about the crash because we have other books that cover The Great Depression and The New Deal.

1930s

• The 1930s: Decade in Photos by Jim Corrigan
• The Empire State Building by Lisa Bullard -- good with lots of photos
• Building the Empire State Building: An Interactive Engineering Adventure by Allison Lassieur -- we really enjoyed this book. It has three story paths, and we read all three. I was going to stop with two, but K. asked if we were going to read the third.
• Amelia Earhart
• Amelia Earhart by Tamra B. Orr
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom by Kathleen Kudlinski
• A Boy Named FDR by Kathleen Krull
• First Dog Fala by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk
• Franklin D. Roosevelt: Thirty-Second President by Mike Venezia
• Amendments: 20th, 21st
• The Constitutional Amendments by William Loren Katz
• New Deal
• Climbing Out of the Great Depression by Sean Price
• Dust Bowl
• Angels in the Dust by Margot Theis Raven
• Voices of the Dust Bowl by Sherry Garland
• Survival in the Storm by Katelan Janke
• Social Security Act
• Social Security Act by Richard Worth
• Hindenburg Disaster
• The Hindenburg by Marc Tyler Nobleman
• Golden Gate Bridge
• The Golden Gate Bridge by Jeffrey Zuehlke
• The War of the Worlds
• We listened to the original broadcast on You Tube
• The War of the Worlds adapted by Kathryn Lay

Keepers of the Springs - December, 2015

I've been reading the book, Mr. Jones, Meet the Master, which is a collection of Peter Marshall's sermons and prayers. Near the end of the book is a sermon titled "Keepers of the Springs". I don't know exactly when this sermon was given, but it was before 1949. Below are a couple paragraphs, which I thought quite interesting and appropriate for us as homeschoolers.

Let us not fool ourselves--without Christianity, without Christian education, without the principles of Christ inculcated into young life, we are simply rearing pagans. Physically, they will be perfect. Intellectually, they will be brilliant. But spiritually, they will be pagan. Let us not fool ourselves. The school is making no attempt to teach the principles of Christ. The Church alone cannot do it. They can never be taught to a child unless the mother herself knows them and practices them every day.

The twentieth-century challenge to motherhood--when it is all boiled down--is that mothers will have an experience of God...a reality which they can pass on to their children.

Isn't this why we homeschool? To persistently instruct our children in the principles of Christ. But, as Peter Marshall points out, I cannot pass on to my children what I do not experience, know, and practice.

Sitting down and reading the Bible, praying, praising God -- that's the easy part. Living it, practicing it, having our mothering and teaching transformed by it -- that's hard, but that is what we pass on to our children.

Doing Irrational Things - October, 2015

Last night while we were doing the dishes, Kim asked if we could "keep listening to the tape of that lady." I had started listening to a series of cassette tapes from a Sally Clarkson conference. I was rather surprised, but pleased that she was interested in listening to Sally talking about godly motherhood.

One thing Sally said on that tape was, "Faith is what ignites us to be able to do irrational things."

How many things are you going to do today that, from the world's view, are irrational?

• homeschool
• care for aged parents
• disciple our children 24/7
• live on one income
• honor our spouse
• I'm sure you could add to the list.

Why do we do these irrational things? Because we have a personal relationship with the creator of the universe, Who tells me that He will

• equip me for the tasks of each day
• faithfully supply our needs
• provide me with the strength for each day
• impart His wisdom to me
• show me new mercies every morning
• make my labor not be in vain

and, by faith, I believe Him.

Intentional Togetherness - August, 2015

I've just finished reading Six Ways to Keep the "Little" in Your Girl by Dannah Gresh. In the book she uses the term "parent-child connectedness" and defines it as being closely bonded by common traditions and frequently occurring activities, or intentional togetherness. I scored pretty high on the Connection IQ quiz, but there are a few areas I need to work on.

One is talking about Kim's inner strengths. If I step aside and look at myself, I see that a lot of the time I act as if I have blinders on. Going through the day, seeing only the finish line. Not stopping to look around, delight in my surroundings, and enjoy Kim at this moment. I've tacked up a note to myself, "How did Kim surprise me today?"

Another area I need to work on, is to tell Kim stories about my childhood. I feel like the stories from my childhood are rather boring compared to Richard's. I never caught a snapping turtle in the creek or tried to start the lawn on fire. I pretended the drinking glasses were a choir and the living room rug was the ocean.

Then there is, "spend at least half an hour a week doing something we both enjoy". That would be reading or watching a video or eating or swimming. I'm exposing her to different handicrafts, hoping she will decide at least one is really fun and pick it up as a hobby.

Lastly, when Kim has friends over, I need to play with them sometimes. I usually view this time as an opportunity to do something I want to do because what they are playing just does not look like fun. I need to change my attitude and appreciate that Kim is still pretending and role-playing and appreciate the opportunity to get acquainted with Kim and her friends on another level.

I'm so thankful that God's mercies don't fail and He is faithful because I know I'm going to mess up and need His mercies to be new every morning. What are you working on changing this year? Remember that since God's mercies new every morning, each day is a fresh opportunity to rely on His mercy and grace.

Lessons on Grumbling - June, 2015

The other morning, Kim was happily spreading butter on her toast when I had a flashback to the morning, some weeks previous, when we switched from margarine to butter. To put it mildly, Kim was not happy. She grumbled and complained, sure we cared nothing about her or what she wanted or what was best for her.

I was seeing the humor in the situation when the Lord said to me, "You're just like that. I bring changes to your life because I know what is best for you but you grumble and complain because you don't like changes or to be made uncomfortable."

So, grumbling had been on my mind when I came across Exodus 16:8 in my devotions. The last part of the verse says,

"...your grumblings are not against us,

but against the LORD."

My thoughts went back to a grumbling spree I'd had a few days earlier when talking to my oldest daughter. It doesn't matter how frustrated I was with a situation, God placed me there, with that person, who was behaving in that way. In reality, I wasn't grumbling against that person. I was grumbling against the Lord.

I Thessalonians 5:16 - 18 says (New Life Version) "Be full of joy all the time. Never stop praying. In everything give thanks. This is what God wants you to do because of Christ Jesus."

Being thankful is a choice, just as grumbling is a choice. Many times, every day, I have to make a choice whether to be thankful or to grumble.

It doesn't matter how difficult a situation is, God is in control and He has me in it. My response to the situation shows whether or not I am trusting Him with my life or telling Him how He should run my life.

Isn't it interesting that Paul's admonition to pray all the time is sandwiched between telling us to be full of joy and to give thanks. So being in communication with my Heavenly Father probably makes the choice to be thankful easier.

I need to pray more.

Course of Study - Grade 5

Bible

• Bible Memory
• Philippians chapters 2 and 3
• Psalm chapters 5 and 8
• Devotionals
• The One Year Mother/Daughter Devo by Dannah Gresh
• Secret Keeper Girl Bible Study: My Best Friend Jesus! by Dannah Gresh
• Frieda B. Herself by Renata Bowers (earning patch with American Heritage Girls)
• Great Dates for Moms and Daughters by Dannah Gresh
• Character Growth
•  Our 24 Family Ways by Clay Clarkson
• Catechism
• #110 - 126
• Hymns
• Thankful Journal
• Prayer
• Window on the World  

Math

• BJU Grade 5 Math
• not planning on just working through the book; Mondays we will review previous concepts, then spend one or two days playing games to introduce or renew the concept we will be spending the rest of the week on.

Reading

• Little by Little by Jean Little
• Other books by Jean Little
• Books assigned for book club; I have found free study guides for most of them
• Caddie Woodlawn

 Grammar

• Easy Grammar, Grades 5 and 6

Writing

• From Heart to Page by Michelle Van Loon
• Celebrating Our Family Through The Seasons by Ruthann Winans and Linda Lee

Spelling and Vocabulary

• BJU Spelling 5
• Begin a vocabulary card file

Science

• Using books I've picked up used, we will work on one subject each set of weeks.
• Ecology
• Physics
• Anatomy
• Botany
• Astronomy
• Oceanography
• Zoology

History

• 1920 to Present
• A Child's History of the World by Hillyer
• Library books
• California History 
• California Weekly Explorer
• U.S. Government
• How the U.S. Government Works by Betty Debnam

Fine Arts

• Series of Books - A First Look at Art; 4 books: Creatures, Families, Places, Portraits, Myths, Weather, Celebrations, Journeys; contains famous works of art, projects, art tips, and picture hunts; by Ruth Thomson; J704
• Art Adventures in Narnia - Downloaded from CurrClick;