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What was YOUR week Like?

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Good week

Preschool - Done with LHTH and patiently waiting for the maturity to start LHFHG


1st Grade - Beyond Unit 15


3rd Grade - Preparing Unit 9 (2nd half)

Last week started with a huge struggle, but in the end, was a great week. Now, if I could just get rid of these migraines and regain my memory...we might make it through the year!

Here is the link to my blog post for last week. I enjoy seeing everyone's pictures and wish I could figure out how to include ours.

http://bloomingoodlife.blogspot.com/201 ... -mtmm.html

World Geography:
I had all these great pictures I somehow deleted, so this one will be picture free. It has been quite a week, but amidst dealing with the loss of my Dad and our dc's beloved Papa, there were some good things too. We came to exponents in Foerster's Algebra 1, and that has been a shorter skill to cover that Wyatt took to right away. The textbook is so clear. I appreciate going back to the examples and remember that the examples are often what is lacking in upper level math textbooks (my Finite Math in college in particular comes to mind - Foerster's Algebra 1 sure is a fresh breath of air compared to that ).

Wyatt has been orally narrating on "The King's Fifth." It has been interesting to hear him narrate, as he has taken on the first person "I" as he narrates, naturally mimicking the point of view the book is written in. More and more his narrations ebb and flow from paralleling the styles of the authors, to forging his own unique style of storytelling. They are fun to listen to.

Wyatt's topic for his Essentials in Writing needed to be changed, and I felt bad about that because he'd already written multiple paragraphs about it. I should have really talked to him about it and read it carefully earlier. He was supposed to write a persuasive essay, and he chose trying to persuade his parents to move to the country. One of the problems is we already live in the country, so he was writing it from the standpoint that he was already there. A second problem was he said things like "some people should live in the city, and some people should live in the country, and you should heavily weigh that decision before choosing" and "either could be good for you depending whether you are sedentary or active." As we talked about it, it became obvious the best thing to do would be just to change his topic to something he really wanted to persuade someone about. After much thought, he came up with 'hunting is a necessary and important part of life." Something near and dear to his heart. He was quickly able to come up with reasons why and support them well. This entire writing process we went through reminded me once again that often the choosing of the right topic and prewriting stages are the most important stages of writing and the ones I need to be ever present for to assist.

We made cards for Wyatt to study for Spanish, and I started requiring 10 minutes of study time either on the computer with the audio or with his cards (HOD suggests studying with the audio, etc.). That has helped him so much. Having speech therapy very early on in his life, I knew he might have some difficult pronouncing things correctly. The audio on the computer has been so helpful! He mentioned that he has also been listening to the provided commentary on the website as well, and he really likes it and finds it interesting. So, I guess that's an added bonus!

Wyatt finished his Level 8 dictation. Hooray - way to go! I have been incredibly impressed with how moving through the incremental levels of dictation in HOD has helped Wyatt become an excellent speller. It truly has been a great surprise! He just rarely misspells things, and I credit it to HOD's Charlotte Mason style dictation levels.

In Christ,
Julie

Resurrection to Reformation:
Riley started RTR half-speed with full-speed math. He is enjoying easing into it, and this has helped me start full-speed Beyond with Emmett. With all that we have had going on with my parents, this flexibility HOD offers has been such a blessing. Riley liked his history project of the Roman arch, and now he's on to the cross in the stained glass window. This really fills a need for him. He loves to be creative, and he takes his time with coloring, creating, building, etc. - quite different than my oldest ds when he did RTR. However, both needed RTR's history projects for different reasons. Riley - because he loves to be creative and it is a great way to respond to his history readings; and Wyatt - because he needed to stretch himself to be artistically creative and respond in a more hands-on way to what he read. For both, completing a project from start to finish, and learning to follow multi-step directions was an important skill to learn and practice.

Riley's been begging to do the next Viking series book and now he is from the DITHOR 5/6 Boy Pack. He is loving it! In math, long division has finally clicked. The boy can do it with no problems now! It just took some practice. R & S English 4 has also become easier. I remember this with Wyatt too - the transition from CTC to RTR is a lovely one. It is like all that teaching and skill-building with new things in CTC comes to full harvest in RTR.

"Boyhood and Beyond" was such good lesson for us this week. It was about telling the truth - even when it's hard, and even when it might get you into trouble. It was about telling the truth right away, instead of waiting. Bob Schultz's examples just hit home. Hitting a parked car and having his friends tell him to quick drive away, but deciding to knock on the door and tell the man he hit his truck - what a great example. We could both relate and had stories of our own to tell. I love this sharing time. I don't get it very often with my boys, as boys in general just don't naturally bring up many heartfelt, deep things to share. I am looking forward to a great year in this book with Riley.

Riley has really taken to the 'symbols' for his key word outlines in his Medieval History-based writing. He likes to take notes with them, and he is quite good at it. I like that the subject matter correlates with the historical time period we are studying. He is enjoying this method of writing. WWTB 1 taught him so much last year. This year is building different kinds of writing skills. I like how HOD includes a variety of writing programs. Writing is such a strength as a formal writing program is scheduled each year (with CTC on up). Each writing curriculum hones in on different things, and at the close of the last HOD Hearts for Him Through Time guide - that adds up to a lot of amazing writing skills to have learned and a pretty great writing overall (at least that's been my experience so far).

In Christ,
Julie

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett is officially at full-speed for Beyond now! He is dong well with it, though I have come to realize he is dawdling through his poetry copywork. Setting the timer cued me in on this, and I was glad I discovered it. I forget how with little ones, I need to be responsible to keep checking on them, and to stay very near or right near their side. Emmett still loves to play, play, play, so I alternate play time, work time, play time, work time, play time. It has worked well! He simply is not able to do it all in a row right now. We usually finish the right side of the Beyond plans the first work time, and the left side of the plans the second work time.

"Stories of the Pilgrims" is something Emmett looks forward to me reading each day. He seems to remember more and more of it - I can just tell by what he says at the supper table. His projects are looking better too. He doesn't have the love for creativity that my middle ds Riley has, but he doesn't have the aversion for it that my oldest ds Wyatt had either, so I guess he's somewhere in the middle. He is a very hands-on boy, so I'm so thankful for all the hands-on work provided in Beyond. One of his favorite things to do is the Bible verse memory work. Doing sit-ups, or running until I say "Feeze!", or doing push-ups, or hopping forward and backwards, etc. - and then saying his verse and getting to do it all over again 3 times - that is pure bliss for Emmett!

Storytime has been especially fun this week! Emmett cannot get enough of "The Cricket in Times Square." He laughs and laughs and begs me to read more. His brother Riley is always working on his math at that time at the table near us as we read on the couch, and Riley is laughing and laughing too! It really is a great book. I like to make voices for each of the characters, and the fact that we have 7 outdoor cats that we count as our closest pets helps make Harry Cat all that more believable!

Patterning in math made sense to Emmett this week. Last year, not so much. I'm glad to see how these skills come back around and have learned not to sweat it if they don't first seem to master it. Reading the pattern out loud and cupping his little hands around each sequence of the pattern helped him so much. HOD has great ideas for hands-on math activities that are simple and that work!

In Christ,
Julie

Well, last week was a wash for us school-wise. We accomplished 1 day of Preparing and no other work in our HOD guides due to me having bronchitis and the kids also having the cold that caused me to get bronchitis (but praise be to God, only the littlest one had a secondary infection and his was an ear infection, which improved dramatically once he started taking antibiotics).

We started unit 4 of Preparing and have been enjoying continuing on in it this week (which I guess I will share in my week-in-review once this week is over).

Melissa - I am so sorry you had bronchitis! That can really wipe a person out! I have prayed for your full recovery and hope your next week is better! I appreciate your presence on this board very much - thanks for all you do to encourage and help other homeschool moms here.

In Christ,
Julie