Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel HSS Unit

I have been so bad at one not posting about our studies,
two I've been bad at not following through with them and providing them like I use to, three not using lapbooks or unit studies.

I understand by now I should be over the whole adjustment period of moving but hey lets just get over it already...
 Its been hard on me...

Zachary needed to have lapbooks or unit studies weekly the way we used to. Starting back this week with a unit I wanted to make sure of a few thing:

We could have fun.

It would be something that would keep his interest.

I do believe that I was able to find the perfect fit in choosing Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel from Homeschool Share. If you haven't ever heard of Homeschool Share you need to check them out. They offer free unit studies, free lapbooks, free connection pages and the best community of ladies inside their forum that you can find!! 

Find them on Facebook, On their blog or here on their site. 

Here is a little about how our adventure with Mike and Mary Ann went!

We started the unit by reading the book of course. We discussed several parts of the book afterwards just among ourselves. We then stuck to the lesson plans that are provided. We talked and learned about energy. How there are different types of energy and what it is used for. He done very well on all of these topics. 

We then moved on to states of matter. We have spoken with the older kids about this but to my surprise he understood and knew the differences without much explanation. He completed the sorting activity within minutes. We also took an ice cube out and allowed it to melt. Then placed it into a small sauce pan and boiled it. So that one small ice cube became all the states of matter. He enjoyed the lab of course.

Then we talked about being faithful in friendship, brotherhood, and in God. He has had many talked about once you start something you stick with it until it's finished. You help people in need, etc. But being loyal was something he really didn't know so I explained it was the same as being faithful. He related this back to how Mike felt over Mary Ann. I talked about no matter how hard we try we will fail and make mistakes but God is always faithful to us and forgives us when we are truly sorry. That he is the one true object that will never leave us.

In the book it spoke a lot of different landforms that Mike and Mary Ann had once helped build and dig. We reviewed them with cards and explained the meanings and referred back in the book for pictures.

He enjoyed the math story problems added in. He loves math and is doing great at it and just construction topics having math was a great addition for him. He is all boy and loves anything that is a construction piece. Last we colored some of the coloring pictures that was provided in the download.

Blessings ~