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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!

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Alright, I realize that most of you are FINISHING your school year right now [HOORAY!!!], but we are beginning a new adventure. This was my first week of homeschooling *ever* and I am exhausted but thankful. My ds and I began CTC and I believe it is a very good fit for his abilities and maturity. That means, it's more challenging than he'd like and the right kind of challenge from my perspective. We only got through 3 days of the guide in 5 calendar days, but that's because we weren't able to dedicate every day to the guide and this is a LOT of figuring out for a nearly 40yo mom and an 11yo boy for which narration and dictation (etc.) is a new experience.

I hope it's o.k. that I'm going to "process" my week here by thinking through a few of the boxes in our CTC guide.
Bible Quiet Time
I LOVE this - my son is reading his Bible daily and being coached through personal prayer - and I'm not the one telling him what to do. He is also being guided in memorizing Phil. ch. 2. He is totally freaked out over memorizing a whole chapter, but I am reminding him that one verse/week is not difficult at all (he's great at memorizing, but gets overwhelmed by the big picture). I actually just heard him bragging to his grandma that he would be memorizing the whole chapter - so I guess he's just saving the worries for mom.

Bible Study/Geography
Another one of my favorites! I am big into inductive Bible study and I was concerned that Genesis: Finding Your Roots may just be commentary, but it has just the right amount of teaching vs. marking the text/study for my son. We're having great discussions over the Bible and that's the best!

For Geography, it begins in Turkey and that is where my dh spent a year missions trip before we got married. So, it was a special time to pull out dh's photo album next to the geography book and my ds was enthralled.

History Project & Independent History Study
O.K., I honestly thought my ds would not want to do the projects, but he loved it this week and did every bit with quality work! I know he'll love next week's too b/c it involves making clay. We have loved listening to Diana Waring - she is a delight to listen to! And I love that my son is writing out prophesies and answers (only one so far). Hooray!

Poetry
Well, my ds did not enjoy the poem, but it was a lifesaver to have the watercolor connected to it. That was what he was looking forward to and so he was willing to read the poem/discuss it in order to get to the painting. ha! Here's a pic after he finished it. We'll be doing day 4 on Monday, so we'll see how enthusiastic his recitation is. Language Arts
It'll be a while before we get a hang of dictation, but we're getting there. Grammar is a chore for him, but I'm actually enjoying it (who would have thought!). We're using a different writing program (IEW) as I believe my son needs more nuts/bolts right now. Then, DITHOR is just as wonderful as I had hoped! We're starting out with non-fiction with a book on the Titanic. I love the character connections - obedience & attentiveness - perfect for us as we begin homeschooling!

Story Time
We really are having a good time reading through the Dinosaurs of Eden book. I was afraid it would seem too childish to ds, but he has appreciated all of the good questions/answers that are tackled in the book. It has been fantastic.

Math & Science
These have been the most difficult for me, but we are doing a different science program (the one my ds begged for us to do - but honestly too much work for me - hopefully I'll last!). They are both a good amount of prep time for me b/c they are my weak areas. The blessing is that my ds truly eats up our time in these subjects, so at least I see my time/work of investment being appreciated and used for good. I only pray it continues to be that way.

Reading About History
I'm posting this one last as it has been the most unexpected challenge for us this week. Narration is not coming easily - yet, we are only a few days into it and he's a good writer generally, so I'm not concerned. The more unexpected challenge is that I am struggling with The Story of the Ancient World. It seems to tell the stories of the Bible with quite a bit of extra details (that aren't in the Biblical text). Perhaps I sound strange to be bothered by this - perhaps there are other sources that give these details, but I'm not comfortable with it. So, until I can have a more settled perspective, I'm just sticking to the Bible text since that's where we are in History anyway. Right now I am thankful for so many things, that this is just one hiccup and I know the Lord will direct us to the best way to approach it.

That's all for now! Thanks for "listening!"

Hi Trudy, your son's painting looks great, glad your first week is going well!

We just started Preparing with my 9yo this past week. We didn't get everything done due to unscheduled things like having to call the plumber to remove the plastic dixie cup my 2yo flushed and other things like that... Preparing is just right for her. Bigger was great but I probably should have had her in Preparing all along. She is excited about all the wonderful books she gets to read for the next school year. We will get about 5 units done before we break for summer and then hopefully do a few weeks worth spread out over the summer to get a jump on the next year.

Trudy, great post! Sounds like a great start.

We finished Unit 27 in Little Hearts, despite preparing for an out of state move in less than two weeks. Doing school keeps some normalcy in our house when all else is going crazy.

Our highlight of the week was making George Washington hats. Here is my 5.5 year old proudly showing off her distinguished hat and curls.



Little sister (3) wanted to make one too. She kept looking askance at her curly curls, then bursting into laughter.



We're looking forward to next week.

How very cute, Kristin!!!

We are finishing up Unit 17, about Jesus' ascension, Pentecost, and Great Commission; not in that order.

I am calling the end of Unit 17 the end of Kindergarten. We are going to continue to work slowly over the course of the summer to progress into first grade. Shana was super excited about doing the flames of the Holy Spirit for Pentecost.

I'll get to our blog. I've been overwhelmed and exhausted lately (and no, I'm not pregnant )

Good Morning!!
I have had Hod Supplies in my Room for about a month now and just waiting for the time my Darling Daughter is ready to begin! She is 6 is so ready! She is doing The Reading Lesson and I love it for her! It is a great approach! Also, she was so eager to begin! We did Sonlight and it was too much for her and not enough activities. She is a doer and HOD, I think is great! The rest is Beyond that she does. Yesterday we only did 4 boxes and then today we will do the rest of them. Also, we will have Handwriting. Her copy-work and Handwriting we be together. We are schooling on a 4 day week Schedule and slow is good. My Plan is to do half speed till August when we start full time school, right now we are just doing it when she is ready!

I asked her yesterday what she thought and she loved the activities that went with the program! I hope this keeps going! It was this time last year when we started Kindergarten! Plus, we have a flower Bed and a Vegetable Patch, we planted!

So we have had a busy week! I hope you have a great week as well!

Becky