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What was YOUR week Like?

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Missions to Modern Marvels
Wyatt is cruising along with MTMM - I cannot believe we are already going to be on Unit 25! This year is flying by. Each day I am reminded of what a blessing it is to have this precious time with my teenager. I feel we need every moment to stay in tune to each other, and I am thankful that there are times my two other dc are playing somewhere else in the house so Wyatt and I can talk very privately. Mainly our talks stem from the "Who Am I?..." Biblical worldview study, but also, modern history has given us many things to discuss. I depend on these times when it is just the two of us to share more mature things with him and to patiently answer his questions. I want to slow time down and be able to spend as much time training him for this world before college comes his way. For this reason, I will be doing the 4 high school guides from HOD over 5 years. We'll complete 28 weeks of plans each year. I won't be counting credits until his second year when he starts by finishing the 7 last weeks of the HOD Geography guide. Wyatt was set to graduate a year early, but after much prayer and consideration, I've decided that should he want to start college directly after graduating, I don't want him to do so at 17 yo. Not that he couldn't handle it academically, but that I am selfish with our time together and want as much as possible before someone else becomes his teacher. He is a go-getter and didn't like the idea of not completing a guide a year, as he always has in the past. However, when I explained he will have more time to work at his part-time job, have more free time, and have more time with me and a bit longer before beginning college coursework, he came around to the idea rather quickly.

Looking ahead to high school and all of its writing requirements, I feel HOD has set Wyatt up beautifully for success. Doing R & S English methodically through the years has been worth every single moment we have spent on it together. I am glad HOD paced it out over the years though, going half-speed some of the time. I'm also glad for the tip to do a good portion of it orally or on the markerboard. Genius! These few suggestions have made doing R & English year after year quite easy to do. Wyatt has enjoyed pulling out his IPod to use his Merriam Webster app to look up synonyms and antonyms this week in R & S English. This is a great skill to learn, as he has already spent ample time using dictionaries and the thesaurus in book form...


Another good use of markerboards that HOD has suggested through the years is with Singapore Math! We usually have a couple markerboards going on at the same time, and it is helpful at this stage of the game to have several different colors of markers too. Discovering Mathematics is definitely challenging enough, and it is a very appropriate follow-up to Singapore Math 6B. Today we were learning about the order of operations. I listed them out in order on one markerboard, and then we each wrote out each problem on our own markerboards. I suggested using a different color of marker to show the parentheses, as this is the first order of operation. It really helped! We then each work out the problem, and I have the answer key with the fully worked solutions to refer to as needed. I have found my staying by his side and working alongside him to be pretty important now. He is thriving with these methods!


Wyatt's science lab sheets have helped him to express the results of his science experiments via the scientific method quite manageably. He really gets the flow of the method thanks to this lab sheet. He has done his science completely independently, and it is intro to chemistry. I cannot thank HOD enough for writing the science to be done successfully independently!!! I shudder to think what my other 2 dc would be receiving for schooling right now if I had to spend the hours I know other moms not using HOD have had to spend getting science labs together. Everything is planned so well, and it is tough enough. Wyatt continues to love science, of which I am also very thankful for!


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

Creation to Christ
We has so many picture perfect moments this week that I went a little nuts taking pictures! Forgive me please for all of these pictures I am going to share - I just have to share them with you ladies - you are who I share with! There is no one else, so feel free to skim!!!

The King Nebuchadnezzar cookie statue was awesome! It was a blast to make, a neat Bible linked project, and a real treat to eat for the entire family! I like how HOD spreads the projects out over several days so Riley gets his hands-on needs filled daily without it taking forever to do. The plans are logically written in easy to follow steps, so usually he does his projects mainly independently. I had to get in on this one though - cookies, right? Who can resist that! We made the different colors of dough, formed the statue and carved the markings together, baked it, and prepared to share it with everyone at supper for dessert. It was neat to have my husband here Riley read the Bible and explain Nebuchadnezzar's dream so well. Then he broke the clay feet with a ball (our rock) to show his kingdom would fail, but there would be a king that would reign forever in a kingdom that would last forever. Praise the Lord for King Jesus!!!


The CTC Student Notebook has made everything so easily organized this year, and it is proving to be such a lovely keepsake of our year together in CTC. The cookie statue I mentioned above has a helpful visual in the CTC notebook that made it easy to see what we were aiming for in our cookie creation. You can see it in the bottom left corner of the notebook picture below. Riley has been learning to work within boxes and to check his writing for editing by reading it aloud. This is a super tip HOD suggests that has done wonders to help our dc edit their own work before I step in with the final changes.


Riley has really been getting into the artistic side of his written work lately. He especially enjoyed the Travel Log for his Geography of the Holy Lands assignment. He also enjoyed his science experiment lab sheet! I am so thankful he is not filling in mindless fill-in-the-blank, true/false, or multiple choice worksheets. This kind of assessment reveals so much more, and he can't guess his way through it! I also love that his work looks different than my other ds's work looked back when he did CTC...


Here is the egg finale from last week's experiment too..


The watercolor painting in CTC has been such a growing experience for Riley, just as it was for my older ds, Wyatt when he did CTC. Riley is really getting better at painting, and he is learning it is pretty key to follow directions in order and carefully! I like how Robert Frost's poetry is tied into the paintings. It sets the mood for the painting and stirs up emotions that match what is trying to be conveyed in watercolor. Sometimes his paintings look good and sometimes not so good, but always he is learning how to follow directions, how to share mood artistically, how to connect poetry to painting, and most importantly how difficult painting well is - he has an incredible appreciation for artitsts' work and talent now!!! I love that we will be able to walk into an art museum together and have something to say about what we say - all thanks to HOD. He is going to love the art gallery and study next year in RTR!


We love markerboards here! One great use of them with Riley has been with his CTC Research. If I am working with another child and cannot hear his answers orally right away, I'll have him jot a few phrases as he finds the answers for his research to jog his memory when I meet with him. Then, when we meet together and I ask him the research questions, he can go off those notes and explain them more fully orally. Works great!


WHEW - I'm done sharing about this little guy for this week! Thanks for letting me share ladies!
In Christ,
Julie

Little Hearts for His Glory
Emmett and I read about Washington's crossing of the Delaware at Christmas this week. I love that story! It stirs the American patriotism in my heart, and I know my other sons were listening as they were in earshot and love that story too. The "History Stories for Children" book is full of stirring stories - love that book! When it came time to act out the ships navigating their way through the ice to cross the Delaware, everyone had to come be a part of that activity!


Another exciting story we read this week was about Nancy Hart serving the Tories dinner and taking their guns while she did it. The boys loved acting this out along with eating the snacks, of course! My oldest ds, Wyatt, often helps with one of the LHFHG activities each day, and this was the one he helped with on this day.


We studied the seasons in science, and then we played a game where Emmett had to go to the right corner when told a direction. Wyatt chose this activity to do with Emmett on this day. You can tell this does my heart some good as I never miss snapping a picture of the two of them together! Too cute!


Buster Bear is the hero thus far in Storytime, and Emmett squeals every time we get to read about him. He LOVES Storytime! Here is his written response for this week - not perfect, but pretty good if you ask this mama!


Emmett has begun to actually ENJOY coloring! My oldest ds disliked coloring a lot, my middle ds loved coloring a lot, and the jury was still out for the last little guy. Well, today at least, he likes coloring! Especially in one color of marker...


What a super week!
In Christ,
Julie

We are done with the week since I am giving myself a birthday gift tomorrow of no school, but a play day.

In LHTH we did most of Unit 5
My dd really got into it this week. So did her brothers! I also had to get her a math workbook so she can do 'maf' like her brothers.

In LHFHG we did Unit 11
For some reason he had a hard time getting into it this week. I don't think it was the lessons, it was my ds.
He is advancing very well in fm skills, math, reasoning, reading, etc. The only thing he struggles with is rhyming words.
He truly is very gifted in the academics. We had to start a copybook this week, he loves this! (and he hates handwriting books, where
you copy and trace on large lines, he likes to write small) We started the Danny Meadow Mouse book, and of course, he enjoys his storytime.

Bigger Unit 22
We reviewed about John Audubon, and touched on a story about Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. My ds was a bit unhappy that there was no more history
stories than what was scheduled. I think that is a good problem to have! This week he actually copied his poem without a word of complaint - vast
improvement. We are having to go slow in R&S and his Singapore so we are not following the plans exactly. I believe he made good progress in those
areas as well. Being artistically inclined, he loved painting on day 4; we used my old dolls feet, so the footprints would easily fit onto the page.
It's amazing to see the progress he has made over this past year - in every area. I thank HOD for most of that!
He is now doing Bigger full-speed. I hadn't planned on that this school year.

Here is an update for Rev to Rev http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2013/03 ... ruary.html. I wasn't good about blogging during February, hopefully I will be better in March.

Here is our week! http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspo ... rch-1.html

LHTH: Unit 14
LHFHG: Unit 20
BHFHG: Unit 22

Okay...this will be my first weekly check-in, and I'm excited about it! Newbie alert, lol.
Sorry about the size of the pictures...I will keep working on my picture-uploading savvy.

LHTH
Unit 2
Noah's Big Boat

We were excited to move on to a new story this week, but DS mourned for A-A-Adam so much we are still doing that...and B-B-B as well

We made a big B on the carpet and covered it with blocks. So simple, yet so fun! We spent the better part of an hour just placing the blocks, taking them off, and placing them again until they were just right! I think my little boy may be a little bit perfectionist.


We pretended to be Noah and the animals coming out of the ark...which also happens to be our rocking chair


We made a B on paper and glued things to it. We talked about Noah and God's care for him. We wrote B's and 2's on the whiteboard. We read about peacemakers in the ABC devotional. Whew! I think we've got B down now! Wish I had more pictures!

This is my 5-year-old doing her math...with the baby's help Toddlers are so curious!


I resized the pictures, and only the first one seems to have worked *sigh* Be patient, I'll get them down to normal one of these tries.

Thanks for looking! I'm happy to be a part, and so is my little guy, who gets excited every day to do his school! Can't wait to start Beyond But I have to be patient and save up for that

RestInHim wrote:Okay...this will be my first weekly check-in, and I'm excited about it! Newbie alert, lol.

Yay for starting out! There is just something so exciting about getting started with HOD Welcome and enjoy the journey!

The last 2 weeks in Beyond Little Hearts:
http://mimishouse2005.blogspot.com/2013 ... h-and.html

[quote="RestInHim"]Okay...this will be my first weekly check-in, and I'm excited about it! Newbie alert, lol.

I used Little hands to Heaven with my daycare girls and the B week was their favorite!! You will LOVE Heart of Dakota!