heartofdakota.com

Ok Girls,

What was YOUR week Like?

You can post:

a- A picture
b- A blog Link
c- A written synopsis
d- Your favorite memory
e- Anything you want that shares your HOD excitement!

Important Note: If you are linking us to your blog, please make sure it's not just a general link, but to your specific post of HOD. That way if someone reads through these a year from now they can find your share without needing to hunt!

So here is our week! I did a post for Carter LHTH and then one for Olivia and Caden combined LHFHG and BHFHG

http://mycrazybutjoyfulandblessedadvent ... -1014.html

http://mycrazybutjoyfulandblessedadvent ... -1014.html

Emily,
Looks like your kids are having a great time in your first year homeschooling! Congrats!

We finished Unit 2 of LHFHG. My kids are LOVING the rhymes in motion, playing catch while practicing memory verses, and all things hands-on. My 2 year old has learned the verses from Unit 1 and Unit 2 right along with her big sister. They're also learning the location of the continents thanks to week 1's Rhymes In Motion (which we still do twice every day ).
I am so happy I didn't stick with a lit-based curriculum that was all reading, all the time. We love books, but we love action, too.

Most of my post is in my blog link, but I have one extra picture I didn't post on the blog, because it has my daughter's name on it (for some reason, I feel like I should use pseudonyms on the blog, though I miss using their real names). I like the drawing of Reddy Fox, with" a yelling mouth" and a band-aid on his boo-boo.



Here is the rest of it: http://www.broomandcrown.com/2011/10/we ... ading.html

We have been looking at Egyptian civilisations in Preparing. The kis enjoyed making their cartouches.

Come take a look at http://www.anne-homeschooladventures.blogspot.com

Anne

Little Hands to Heaven:
My little guy has asked lots of deep questions this week. We read about Jesus dying on the cross, and how He did this for us, to be our Savior. I love how LHTH's lessons lead dc to the right emotion for each part of this incredible act of love. My little Emmett was very sad and somber as we read about Jesus dying on the cross, and as we did the activities and discussions that went along with that. But then he was very happy and smiling from ear to ear when we read about Jesus rising from the dead and going to heaven. He asked lots of questions - and continues to - and I think he truly understands the basics of this now. He has been saying statements followed by questions for reaffirmation, like...
"I LOVE Jesus so much, Mom." Pause. "Why did He have to die?"
"Jesus AROSE!" Pause. "How did He get up there though?"
"Jesus is in heaven, and you and I will get to go there too." Pause. "What will we eat there? Are there cookies in heaven?"
"Jesus died on the cross." Pause. "What is a cross again?" Pause. "Is it still there?"

I can tell the wheels are really turning. I am so thankful that we get to share the Good News of Jesus with our dc every year within HOD somehow, and that it is somewhat a different way of sharing each time. We cannot share this enough.

We are on letter "X" of the alphabet, and Emmett is liking our fingerplay "X Marks the Spot". Here he is with his painted "X"...


Emmett always wants to find ALL the letters in the review of the Hide and Seek pages, so I write each one in a different colored marker, and he finds them all (the "mommies" and their "babies", a.k.a. capital and lowercase letters). ...


He's skip counting by 3's for his Count on Me page now, and doing much, much better at drawing smaller in the rectangles provided...


I've been having Emmett practice writing his name. I write it on a line in black permanent marker. Make a line below it for his work, write his name lightly in pencil to be traced, and give him a start dot on each letter. I sit near him and pretend write each letter with my finger before he does it. He is writing his name quite well now! LHFHG here we come!!!


What a great week - I hope you all had a good one too!

In Christ,
Julie

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
Riley is just shining in PHFHG - he took to it like a fish takes to water. He absolutely adores the "Draw and Write Through History" drawings he gets to do. He pours over them, and I often see him trying out different shades of EACH colored pencil on scratch paper before he chooses the ONE to use - for each section of the drawing. Let me introduce Adam and Eve...


It was wrap it up time with our Biography genre in DITHOR this week. Wyatt and Riley both wanted to do a Book Projects to Take Home project, but they wanted to do different ones - so they did. I love that they can work together or separate, and based on their individual interests, they sometimes do and sometimes don't. Here is Riley's quilt square for "Jed Smith" (which he thoroughly enjoyed - especially the bear fight)...


This art project of warm and cool colors turned out so neat. It is a collage for each of them, and he enjoyed choosing the colors, cutting them out, and gluing them carefully on. I enjoyed helping him with this too...


I have already seen a huge improvement in time management skills as we started using the timer. I think we'll be able to phase it out next week, as he's just doing so well now. One thing that we need to keep working on is answering questions with specific answers as opposed to very general answers. When we are discussing the Bible verses, there are some very deep thinking questions, and he often answers them either by reading the entire Bible verse to me, or by saying something very general that could be an answer to almost any question about the Bible (i.e. "Because it was the right thing to do" or "Because God loves us", etc.). I was alright with general answers like that when he was younger, but now it's time to put on his thinking cap a little more and dig a little deeper. So, that will be a goal for these next few months.

Another goal will be for him to learn to control his body and sit more still during oral narrations. I have noticed when he is jumpy, and moving all over, so do his oral narrations. Stop... start... sputter... p - a - u - s - e to ponder the couch pillow and hug it... stop... start... sputter... p - a - u - s - e to hop to the window and marvel at the bird at the bird feeder... stop... start... sputter... p - a - u - s - e to flip backwards off the couch and attempt to land in a standing position to balance on one foot... We had a talk about this being extremely distracting - to him as the narrator - and to me as the listener. I demonstrated (no, not the flip backwards with the landing in the standing position to balance on one foot ), but rather the stop/start/fling myself about/pause as I attempted to narrate etc. He was looking at me like I was an alien and then he burst out laughing. "I know, nuts, right?" We had a laugh, and he has done much, much better now. He is sitting quite still and his narrations have already become much more coherent and smooth. We'll keep working on this.

What a good first few weeks with PHFHG - we are really enjoying it so much. "Grandpa's Box" and "Life in the Great Ice Age" are definitely favorites around here right now. I hope you all had a good past week as well!

In Christ,
Julie

Revival to Revolution:
Wow are we putting weight on around here these days - which is good for my skinny guys, but not so great for the not-so-skinny me. RevtoRev has got Wyatt cookin' up a storm, and we are all loving his sweet creations. There is an ongoing battle about whether "English Tea Cakes" or "French Tea Cakes" were the best. I like them both, naturally. Here are the English tea cakes...


(And a "no" to the tea as a protest - in history - that went along with the tea cakes - check out the angry little guy - yikes - I wouldn't dare serve him tea) ...


And here are the French Tea Cakes...


For Wyatt's DITHOR project for the Biography genre, he chose to do a newspaper report on Emma, the undercover spy from "Behind Enemy Lines". He did so well! He worked hard on this. It really was a wonderful book. Riley and he chose to do different projects, and they are both sharing them this weekend for one of our "Family Nights". It should be fun!...


I had a few rookie mistakes in starting RevtoRev - because I didn't read the directions carefully enough. One of them was to tell Wyatt the hard plastic axle was a glue stick for his Exploration Education racer he was building (no, the axle WILL NOT melt, and he sure gave it a good try ). I didn't remove the State Study answer key, and Wyatt thought he was supposed to look up the answers in the key - yeah, a stretch - but I believe him because he told me he loved his state study because it was so easy just to look up everything on that "one" sheet. I have since removed the key. Wyatt was memorizing the wrong part of Hebrews, and I didn't catch it until a week in - but the good news is those verses showed up in his "Who Is God?..." study. Being the good natured son he is, he said, "Hey, Mom, these are the verses I memorized that I wasn't supposed to, but look, I needed them here anyway!" I smiled and told him the Bible is like that - every verse is good to know. I also didn't notice the different names for the music CD's for Music Appreciation. I sure confused my ds there. Anyway, I am hopeful I've got things ironed out now. I always find with a new guide I need to learn a few things myself. I'll be a real pro by the time I'm doing RevtoRev with Emmett.

Hope you are getting into a good rhythm too!
In Christ,
Julie

Julie, I just love seeing Wyatt's work. He is an awesome little writer! I can't help but look at his work and wish my son had the same flare for writing sometimes...like I did as a child. However, I know each child has their own talents and my ds sure has come a long way! The IEW writing we are using in RTR has really helped him along!

I am so sorry that I have not been updating like I should this year. I have been under a lot of stress and constraints and I have taken on lots more responsibilities than I had before. This leaves me short on computer time! There is not a night that I don't have one obligation outside my home! Couple that with trying to do school with a hormonal (soon-to-be) teenager and well......

This week, ds12 finished Unit 12, Day 2 in RTR. He is doing well with everything, but there are times he really wants to give very little effort. He is forever giving me a paragraph that is 5 sentences long when it should be 8-12 (and, of course, having to re-do it). He didn't do that last year and I really think it is the "middle school laziness" creeping in. RTR is a good step up from CTC in all of the writing that is required. Since this is something that doesn't just come easy to him, I think he tends to struggle a bit more with it.

Now that I have "complained," I will brag on him. His writing has come SO FAR using the IEW lessons. He is learning a ton in History and is absolutely loving his Science.
And...his model of Saladin absolutely had us ROLLING with laughter.

Ds7 has been doing a beautiful job with Bigger. We are having wonderful days and I am seeing a lot of improvement in his skills - especially handwriting - as we go through the year. We finished Unit 10, Day 3 today. He has had a great time learning about Ben Franklin and has done some wonderful notebooking pages as well.

Here are some pics of his work.

Beautiful copywork


One of the last math reviews before we start multiplication!


Ben Franklin Kite Experiment notebook page


Ds's own invention: A robot to do school for him so he can play Nintendo 3ds.


Science experiment about how birds fly. I think he did such a cute job on the drawing.

Thanks everyone for the great updates! I have a few photos this week, but I don't know if I will get the hard drive out so I can share them. It's almost time for bed!

We did Unit 10 this week in Beyond. The rotating box activities seemed really involved this week, but we have enjoyed learning about the water cycle by putting a ziploc bag of water on our window, watching the water evaporate, condense, and run back down. The readings in the science book were really neat too, how God made the water evaporate so we could have fresh water. It's really neat to explore such real-world and interesting things with my children. We built Plymouth Bay one of the days, which was also a fun project.

Between reading about the Pilgrims landing and finally deciding to build at Plymouth and reading Little House in the Big Woods for our Historical Fiction selection, we are really getting a taste of what it was like to have to do and make almost everything yourself. I have had some very interesting discussions with my children about the fact that things are so easy and convenient for us, but in other times and in other places even now, people have to work a lot harder because they don't have things already made for them, or they don't have nice stores where things are cheap enough to buy instead of growing or hunting for all of your food and other materials. My children are captivated by Little House, just as they have been with our other storytime selections, and the activities have helped us learn some valuable things from it along with enjoying the story. Narration is still difficult, I suppose at 6.5 its still supposed to be. When asked to tell from start to finish what happened in the day's reading I have to give several prompts before she can remember and move along to hit the major points. I hope this will change. I think I am personally very weak in this area, whereas my husband analyzes and remembers things much better than I do.

We all had quite a hoot as my DD read Owl at Home for her Emerging Readers. That Owl is a pretty silly bird, we all had good laughs at his mishaps. She's been reading to both her sisters and me, and she and my 4.5YO work together to answer the questions. It has really been a lot of fun. She was excited and asked "what will I read next?" I'm sure Frog and Toad All Year will be just as silly and fun.

Just some of the fun of our week. The harder parts were my husband finally being diagnosed with walking pneumonia, and put on a very strong antibiotic, which even with side effects has him feeling much better a few days later. I became concerned for the rest of us and took my middle daughter to the Doctor, and myself, today. Thankfully no lung infection for either of us. Now to just focus on mending, even though we always have busy weeks and weekends.

God bless!

Julie - I can totally see my 6.5 YO DD being a lot like your Riley with narration. She is squirmy and wiggly and gets distracted by the simplest things. At this point I'm just trying to get the information out of her, so I haven't addressed the wiggles yet... though I'm sure I will have to.

Tree House Academy wrote:Julie, I just love seeing Wyatt's work. He is an awesome little writer! I can't help but look at his work and wish my son had the same flare for writing sometimes...like I did as a child. However, I know each child has their own talents and my ds sure has come a long way! The IEW writing we are using in RTR has really helped him along! ...

Thanks, Rebecca, but I have to tell you I had to have a little chuckle when I read this because I often wish MY son drew as NEATLY and NICELY as YOURS! The art projects and painting projects you have shared that are your ds's are often so beautiful. I look at your ds's art projects and wish my ds had the same flare for creating sometimes... like I did as a child. But you are right, every child has his talents, and they each do keep making progress even in the areas that aren't quite so much their talents - PTL! IEW in RTR really helped Wyatt's writing along too - in fact, I'd say he made the most gains between WWTB and IEW that he's ever made in writing. Your ds is making good progress and will surely continue to as well! I have MISSED you here - I was so glad to read your post here. Take time to relax too, ok? Life sounds b-u-s-y right now for you, be sure to have a bubble bath or an early night to bed once and awhile too. Take care!!

In Christ,
Julie

MelInKansas wrote:Julie - I can totally see my 6.5 YO DD being a lot like your Riley with narration. She is squirmy and wiggly and gets distracted by the simplest things. At this point I'm just trying to get the information out of her, so I haven't addressed the wiggles yet... though I'm sure I will have to.

Good to know there are at least 2 wigglers out there! It's a catch 22, isn't it? I love his joy and exuberance for life, but there are moments to contain it and focus too. Narration is one of those moments! He's not going to be able to "narrate" someday to a group of fellow work colleagues while hopping on one foot and shouting out "Hey, did you see the bluebird outside?" I figure we better foster moments of focus now to help him be able to function better then. Anyway, improvements are happening. I think I can... I think I can... I think I can...

In Christ,
Julie

I love reading about everyone's weeks. Julie I love seeing all that Wyatt is doing. Already has me excited about next year. Rebecca it is good to read your updates since your ds is just a few units ahead of mine. The writing in RTR is a big step up and my ds finds it challenging also, but I am seeing growth using the IEW program just as you are.
Here is a link to our week with RTR http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2011/10 ... 01011.html

We finished Unit 9 in LHFHG. It was a great week
http://mymimishouse2.blogspot.com/2011/ ... -14th.html