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!

Here are our posts from this week...we did Unit 8 in Bigger & LHFHG.

I saw a lot of spiritual growth in my son this week directly related to what we studied about our verse each day! And we really enjoyed reading the story of DANIEL today. No SMELL of smoke! Like the praise song says, "Our God is GREATER!"

http://ourlittlethinkers.blogspot.com/2 ... ampum.html

http://ourlittlethinkers.blogspot.com/2 ... -pots.html

http://ourlittlethinkers.blogspot.com/2 ... -week.html

Here is the summary of our week in LHFHG. Check out my daughter's face when she did the sweet/bitter taste test!

http://www.broomandcrown.com/2012/03/we ... it-19.html

Here is week 23 http://training6hearts4him.blogspot.com ... ek-23.html. If you would like to read more about our week, hit the 'home' button and scroll down. I blog practically everyday .

No blog update yet, as we had a busy week and tonight I went to a cooking class (MMM), but we are ALMOST done with Unit 13 (Jesus' Miracles). The kids are doing great and learning lots.

We're having a little bit of attitude problem, as Shana will say she doesn't want to "do school." Right now I tell her we have to work before we play, and I remind her she always loves it when she gets it done.

I'll try to include an update on my blog for posterity's sake.

Even though we did not finish our week because of my kids and I getting sick, we still learned a ton of great information and had a very good week. Here is our week in review!

http://nutbugs.com/heart-of-dakota-bigger-week-20/

Kristin, it looks like you had such fun. In fact, it looks like everybody is having such fun. That is what I love about HOD is that we are having so much fun, yet we are learning so much more than we were before. I will get around to blogging, but it may not be until tonight.

Revival to Revolution:
We had a fun authentic Civil War soldier's meal this week! We had soldier's bread, beans, tea and coffee, and beef/bacon. We had a blast with it! Emmett especially loved the soldier's bread and asked for it every single meal, every single day, until the pan was gone.


Wyatt's written narrations are such fun to read these days. Actually, I have him read them aloud to me, as this is an excellent editing tip HOD suggests. He usually finds an error or two this way, which only makes my job easier when I go to correct it for any additional errors. There are usually no errors, or just a few, by the time I go to correct it. He has been doing written narrations since PHFHG, which has been a total of almost 4 years now. The improvements I've seen are significant. I am convinced written narrations provide an incredibly successful method to teach dc so many important things - how to retell a reading passage with clarity, how to add personality to retellings, how to write in a sequence that makes sense, how to write carefully so as to have as few errors as possible, how to mimic the flair of a favorite author, how to edit writing, and how to have a finished piece that is something to be proud of.


The history notebook in RevtoRev is just beautiful. It is going to be such a lovely keepsake of our special time together in RevtoRev. I especially love the paintings and primary source documents, as they really make us feel like we have been transported back into time...


In Exploration Education, Wyatt is starting to build his Uno-guitar. He has just learned so much in physical science this year, and had such fun doing it! Rockets, racers, etc., and now an Uno-guitar - I would have loved learning science like this...


In DITHOR, Wyatt and Riley each had to identify 3 major events from the DITHOR book they are reading. They wrote a one sentence summary and drew an accompanying picture on the other side of the index card for each of the 3 events. Then, they mixed up the order, and switched cards with one another. Each tried to sequence the other's cards in an order that would make sense. We then had a good discussion about clues to find and logic to use when trying to properly sequence events. We put on our Christian praise music as they were making their cards, and they were smiling and having such fun with this activity. It is such a blessing to homeschool my dc in this manner.


In R & S English, Wyatt wrote a friendly letter to his cousin Rachel, and he wrote 4 pages. I love that he gets to do things like this right during his school time. The 2 of them were born on exactly the same day in the exactly the same year, so within a few hours of one another, they are exactly the same age. Writing letters off and on through the years has been a great way to stay in touch, as Rachel lives 12 hours from us.


This is a common way for Wyatt to say his memorized Bible verses for me. Emmett loves to curl up on his chest and listen in awe. Wyatt can say 33 verses from Hebrews 11 now!


Wyatt's Bible Quiet Time with Hidden Treasures... has been so good. He does it every morning in his room, and he is enjoying it. I like that he is forming the habit of having his own personal quiet time. This was something I struggled with starting as an adult. I now enjoy my quiet times very much, but it sure would have been easier to start it if I'd started it when I was young. The student book Wyatt is doing along with his Bible study has varied activities and excellent thoughts on the readings that Wyatt enjoys...


I hope everyone else had a good week! It is such fun to come read about your week here. I look forward to it!

In Christ,
Julie

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
Riley and Wyatt each did a nice job on their sequencing of events in DITHOR, but this was a harder skill for Riley. I expected this, as he is younger and has not been working on the reading skills in DITHOR as long as Wyatt has. We had a good talk about looking for clues to be able to sequence events, and he understands it so much better now. I am very thankful for all of the important reading skills DITHOR teaches. Riley is an outstanding reader, and he can read virtually anything you put in front of him with ease - but it is the reading skills part of reading that dc just don't learn on their own. I am so glad for DITHOR!


In history, Riley is learning about the barbarians, Vikings raids, and Mount Vesuvius burying Pompeii. Exciting history! It's fun to see Riley's timeline growing each week, and he takes such care with his timeline card sketches and coloring...


His laurel crown he made for his history project turned out so neat. Everyone wanted to wear it!


Researching brooches was interesting, and here is the start of Riley's brooch he is making for his history project...


In science, Riley's book of constellations is coming together so well. He is often staring at the night sky, trying to identify constellations now...


This experiment helped Riley understand how the moon does not have light of its own, but rather the sun's light reflects on the moon's surface. Riley LOVES science, and some of his very favorite days are the science experiment's days! In this experiment, the mirror represents the moon's surface, the flashlight represents the sun's light, and the ball represents the earth. He did a nice job on his scientific method lab report - he has come so far in being able to do well with his lab sheets! HOORAY!


His notebooking of the coral reef was neat. I like that the Bible in included in so much of what he does. He gets his Bible out for virtually every subject of school - he really has taken ownership of his Bible. It is personal to him already at 9 yo. I didn't love my Bible like that until I was older. I am so thankful for HOD being Christ-centered! This education my dc are receiving is full of wisdom that is real, important, and lasting.


RIley loves poetry - LOVES it. This week he was to read one of his favorite Robert Louis Stevenson poems for all of us. He began reading and it was not until halfway through that I realized he was reading his own pome he wrote. Riley laughed and laughed and said, "See, Mom, I am BECOMING Robert Louis Stevenson! This poem is my favorite!" I laughed and said, "Well, of course, YOU wrote it - it would be your favorite!" He then read RLS's poem, and enjoyed that too.


Here is his latest poem about Monster Trucks...


In Christ,
Julie

Little Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett's understanding more and more of our Storytime books now, and we had some BIG laughs together as Peter Rabbit tricked Reddy Fox this week. Emmett's favorite trick was when Peter Rabbit hid under Farmer Brown's boy's old straw hat and hopped across the cabbage patch right toward Reddy Fox. Reddy Fox thought the hat was some kind of monster and raced away with his tail between his legs. After all of Reddy Fox's schemes, Emmett thought this was quite funny. As the follow-up writing activity, Emmett had to write a message of his own. Emmett's birthday is this week, so it was fitting he write this message...


Speaking of writing - here is Emmett's latest handwriting page - I think he made some pretty perfect p's! Slow and steady progress...


The fine motor skills taught in the R & S Workbooks have been so helpful in developing these skills in Emmett as well too. He really likes these pages, and he continues to improve in his ability to maneuver a pencil...


Emmett's phonics is progressing nicely, but sometimes the page of words he is reading gets long. When this happens, I have him take a few running laps around the living room to rev up to read more - which he loves! Then he comes back ready to read some more...


A highlight this week was the Bible activity. After ready about David defeating Goliath with his slingshot, we got to hang a picture of Goliath on our wall. Goliath was about 9 feet tall, and we have 9 foot ceilings in our living room, so where you see Goliath's head is actually how tall he would be. Emmett took 5 pairs of rolled up socks and got to toss them at Goliath, just as David had 5 smooth stones, to see if he could hit the target. He LOVED this and did it over and over again. In fact, everyone had to come take a try at it...


In Math, Emmett is continuing to work on patterning. He is understanding this well now, and can cup his hands around the patterns, as well as predict what would come next in a pattern...


I just thought I'd share that while I am working with my 2 older sons on their HOD guides, Emmett continues to do stations. We've narrowed it down to these simple stations in this order: puzzle, coloring page, book on tape. A later "station" is an independent playtime near us with a rotation of toys set out, and this last station he enjoys for 40 minutes now. In fact, if I get him too early, he complains. Great progress from a child who did not do anything independently a year ago!


In Christ,
Julie

Long time no see!

I haven't posted here in ages. For some time, Picasa was not working on my computer and then I just got out of the habit of updating. I thought I'd just post various pics from the last few months with RTR. Hopefully, I will frequent this board more again in the future. We've been enjoying RTR a lot!

Making noodles, a dictation, and doing R&S English in Pirate attire.

Keeping the littles busy in the next room.

More samples of his notebook and dictation.

We just finished our first week with Little Hands To Heaven with Little Man. (4 yrs)
We had a great time. I was surprised how much my two older kids enjoyed the finger plays and activites as well. Each time Little Man and I went off to work on his school work, one or both of my older kids followed or ended up joining in. I Love how much the kids enjoy doing together, even when it's just "little boy" school.

I am looking forward to ordering and starting Beyond with my 7 yr old son and Creation to Christ with my 10 yr old daughter. I can only imagine how much fun we will have with all three programs.

Here is our first weekly post on our homeschool blog.

http://learningthethreersathome.blogspot.com/

Amber

Hi All!

I'm new here, but am excited because I have something I can share My almost 3 year old and I are doing LHTH at the moment, at his pace and modified to his level, and we enjoyed our first week. Here is the link on the very new blog too:http://meandmy3treasures.blogspot.com/2 ... eview.html

This section is my favorite as I love seeing all the learning in action. Even the big kids

~Bea