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What was YOUR week Like?

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I am catching up from the last few weeks. We schooled through Christmas break, but I didn't report in then since most were off. We had a week off last week and are back at it now.

Little Hearts 1/2 speed:
Little J is doing very well and having a great time. He is very ready for history, storytime, and Bible. We are going 1/2 speed becasue his fine motor skills need to catch up. Right now daddy is working with him in some Kumon books and he is doing the basic skill books from HOD. I am doing some "prereading" games and we will hit phonics this fall. We will stretch out until the fall of 2013 with 1/2 speed so we can catch up in fine motor.I didn't get many pictures of him this time
Here he is following directions given (I can't remember which week, but either 1 or 2)

We had to make boats out of aluminum and try to sink them after we read about Noah's ark. He did a good job of sinking his boat, not exactly the way I had in mind though (prior to sinking episode)


Big J loves Bigger hearts. He has declared history, math, and science to be his favorite subjects. We are learning about the explorers right now (Hudson, Smith, etc) so we had to learn how to read a compass. Here is his compass rose. He had to go to the correct location as I called it out (southeast, etc.)

Big J did a very nice job on his map for his notebooking entry. I was surprised at the detail he put into it.

We enlisted little brothers help for the bartering exercise in which the boys learned the difference between bartering and buying something with money at a store. I have to admit they were pretty cooperative barterers. I don't think the colonists always fared so well.

Yesterday Big J made the world by biting Graham crackers to form the continents. He has 4 loose teeth in various places of his mouth, so this was quite an undertaking for him but he persevered. Tucker (our dog) participated in this lesson.


Finally he did a science notebooking page a couple of days ago. He was
supposed to put the examples of mollusks on one side, but he ran out of room so we will deal with our lack of following instructions when the time comes.

CountryMom - Your son's map looks amazing! My son is in the same unit in Bigger but his map is much more abstract.

We had a good week finishing up Unit 3 in LHFHG & Bigger and beginning Unit 4 in LHFHG & Bigger. You can see pictures of our week in the posts below.

Monday - Wednesday
http://ourlittlethinkers.blogspot.com/2 ... awing.html

Thursday - Friday
http://ourlittlethinkers.blogspot.com/2 ... -snow.html

We're chugging right along with Little Hearts Unit 13

http://www.broomandcrown.com/2012/01/we ... it-13.html

Little Hearts for His Glory:
An assignment from LHFHG's Storytime plans has had Emmett espousing advice for Reddy Fox left and right ever since. Reddy Fox has not followed his Granny Fox's sage advice several times over, and it has gotten him into t-r-o-u-b-l-e more than once. Reddy's penchant for chickens, boasting, and sunshine has led Farmer Brown's boy and his hound right to Reddy's doorstep - and they aren't very happy with Reddy, as one of the chickens he took was Farmer Brown's boy's pet chicken. The LHFHG lesson had Emmett write the advice he would give to Reddy Fox. We were about to hang the paper on our fridge when Emmett said, "OH NO! I forgot to tell Reddy to watch out for Bowser the Hound too! We HAVE to write that too, Mom!" So here is Emmett's advice...


In case you can't read it, it says...
Emmett says, "Be careful of Farmer Brown's Boy!"
And watch out for Bowser the Hound!

He adored this assignment, and he has been giving impromptu advice to Reddy ever since. I'd tell Reddy to stay in his tunnel. I'd tell him he'd better listen to Granny Fox. I'd tell him I'd bring him supper. The list could go on and on. It has been fun to see him get into it, and his comprehension of the story is getting better each day. He LOVES his Storytime in LHFHG!


In math, Emmett got to show "one more" and "one less". He particularly loved the "one less" activity, because he got to eat one of the snacks to take away 1 and show one less. This is my third time through Singapore's Earlybird Kindergarten math along with HOD's hands-on activities - I love it still. All of our dc enjoy math and do well with it, and I credit the combo of Singapore math and HOD's hands-on activities for that happy result.


Fine motor skills are slowly but surely coming along for my little guy. He's young, so I'm not expecting it to be easy. He is strengthening his fine motor skills by using a pencil gripper on a Ticonderoga pencil. The bite-sized fine motor skill assignments in LHFHG are helping him ease into writing with good success. They are also teaching him to cut with his scissors, trace, paste, draw simple shapes. My favorite thing about the R & S "Do It Carefully" and "Finding the Answers" duo is the point of the lesson is never limited just to fine motor skills. Critical thinking skills are always a part of the lessons as well. Emmett had a fun time putting this mixed up puzzle together, and it was harder than it looks...


Emmett is moving along in his phonics, little by little, and I am seeing my last little one become a reader. It's bittersweet really - it is such a privilege to be able to teach my own dc to read. It opens a whole new world to them, and I am in awe when they go from once just being able to sound out letters to all of a sudden reading chapter books. I'm NOT implying this happens overnight. Oh no, in contrast, I believe many homeschool moms have learned long-suffering patience from teaching phonics (at least THIS homeschool mom certainly has ). But, that is what makes it so incredible when dc do learn to read... when they learn to LOVE to read... when they'd rather curl up with a good book than do almost anything else... and that all begins with teaching some letter sounds. That feels pretty amazing.

In Christ,
Julie

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
HOD has many times over made me long to turn back the clock and have the chance to learn myself this way in school. PHFHG makes me think that daily. There is so much learning going on, and it is just bringing out so much creativity and deep thinking in my ds, that I wish I'd had the opportunity to love learning like this. I guess the next best thing is getting to teach this way which, BTW, is also wonderful.

We have been reading about dinosaurs, and Riley loved this activity of constructing his own. The lab sheet is such a good way of organizing his thoughts throughout the various stages of the experiment, and it provides an excellent recap of what was learned as well.


The five comprehension questions and Biblical application were a super way to recap his science reading (not to mention they are teaching him to read carefully, look up key words for his answers, and write in complete sentences) ...


In history, we have been enjoying CHOW so much, and the Storytime book "A Triumph for Flavius" is excellent reading side by side CHOW. The description of the triumph Flavius' father Mummius participates in, and the growing understanding Flavius has of how his family's interpretation of that event is completely different than his Greek slave Ariprhon's interpretation of that event, has us understanding how deep the emotions ran for each when we read CHOW. We are simply loving these books.

Riley's oral narration of the battles between the Greeks and the Persians have been captivating. He remembers them play by play, and retells them with great animation. Though there are still many things to work on within the skill of orally narrating well, I am one pleased mama with the inspiration Riley has taken from the history readings and applied to his oral narrations. All of this works together so beautifully. The research and the history projects add to Riley's capability to understand the history well, and this week's history project was another bit hit. After Riley researched triremes (which coincided perfectly with the CHOW reading), he got to build a trireme for his history project... AND, then he got to sail it. Bit hit. Major hit. In fact, all the boys had to help that trireme get some wind beneath its sails to set set sail...


Riley's written narration of Horatius was one of his finest thus far. He really was into this story, and for a good reason - it was inspiring!


Learning about the Silk Road was so interesting as well. Riley could not believe how silk is made when he read it. He had to tell me all about it. This sequencing activity was a great one, and he retold the silk making process using his cards with true amazement...


Here is Riley's Draw and Write Through History panda drawing, which he enjoyed and worked hard on...


This boy loves poetry - thanks to PHFHG. He just thinks Robert Louis Stevenson is a great poet - he's right. Here Riley follows RLS's lead for his PHFHG creative writing lesson, and tried his hand at adding a few stanzas of his own to RLS' poem. Tonight he read it for my dh at the supper table. He was so happy with how it turned out!


WOW - what a great week! Hope you had one too!
In Christ,
Julie

Revival to Revolution:
RevtoRev's history evoked a gamut of emotions this week in Wyatt and me. On the one hand, the Storytime selection was "Only the Names Remain", and it has been a sobering look at the Cherokee Indians' struggle. On the other hand, we read about the rules posted for the Wells Fargo coach passengers' behavior, and that had us laughing to the point of tears. This time period is full of such varying events, and they truly are making a lasting impact on my ds. A few of our favorites Wells Fargo coach rules were... "Don't snore loudly while sleeping or use your fellow passenger's shoulder for a pillow; he or she may not understand and friction may result" and "In the event of runaway horses, remain calm. Leaping from the coach in panic will leave you injured, at the mercy of the elements, hostile Indians, and hungry coyotes".


Wyatt did a nice job on his timeline this week, and I enjoyed reading his written narration as well...


His mola for his history project was a lot of fun for him to create, and it turned out well...


The research Wyatt is doing on the signers of the Declaration of Independence has been fascinating - he really loves the resource "The Signers". The portrait cards he is completing look so neat, and I like that the facts on the back are pertinent while also allowing him to choose what he found most poignant...


Map Trek and US History Atlas paired assignments continue to both challenge Wyatt as well as help visually explain a more aerial view of what was happening in history...


One of my favorite things Wyatt wrote this week was his Creative Writing assignment. He wrote a description of his favorite restaurant, utilizing his senses and vivid description. It's not error-free, but it's sure a neat writing piece - in fact, it makes me want to eat at Cracker Barrel right now just thinking about it.


We had a blast this week with DITHOR! We got to do the final project and the new unit's kickoff both, and it was such FUN! For the project, the boys made board games for each of the books they read using "Book Projects to Send Home". Each of their board games used their individual book's theme. The background was the book's setting, the challenge cards were the challenges the characters faced in the book, and the "boost" cards were the helps the characters had in the book. The start and finish represented the goal or purpose of the book. The boys had so much fun playing with each other that I see they have now added their games to their board game shelf in their room to keep for future play. Ironically, each won the game on the other's game board. Emmett (the little guy) helped cheer them on and moved their game markers for them.


For their new genre kickoff in DITHOR, we read the folk tale "Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock". We added actions for certain repetitive phrases in the book, and every time the phrase was read, the boys did the accompanying action. Our actions were for "KPOM!" = fall down on the floor, "walking, walking, walking" = walk around, "moss-covered rock" = jump and shout 'Oh no!', and "Do you see what I see?"= point at bulging eyes. This was so fun!

KPOM!

Walking, walking, walking...

Do you see what I see?...

moss-covered rock...


What a good week - hope you had one too!
In Christ,
Julie

My week is up http://training6hearts4him.blogspot.com ... ay-86.html. I blogged daily so my week in review is pretty short. If you would like to read more one can hit the 'Home' button and scroll.

I really must get back to posting updates and blogging.Stanley started LHFHG.My baby..starting 'proper school' .I really love that I am doing LHFHG again .Stanley is pages ahead in do it carefully .I really need to keep a closer eye on him when I am teaching his brother maths ..
Here is alink to my blog
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.com ... ining.html

Nathan has been working through week 7 into week 8 .....I really should take more pictures His piture in his science notebook of the planets was really good.He really responded well to being given a hardbacked artists sketchbook and being able to use the" proper art pastels" to decorate the pictures.He really enjoyed measuring out the planets too.

Here is our link to another good week in RTR http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2012/01 ... 11612.html

Here is my Weekly Wrap Up for Bigger Unit 18 http://ourhomeschoolreviews.blogspot.co ... de-17.html