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What was YOUR week Like?

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In Christ,
Julie

World Geography:
The Living Library Wyatt has been enjoying is full of great living books, like "Wilfred Grenfell." The follow-up skill of writing a one-sentence summary is surprisingly challenging! To concisely give a one-sentence summary in regard to about 30 pages of reading is a great skill to learn. I can tell it is helping him with writing his topic sentence for his Essentials in Writing assignments. The guidance the WG guide gives for writing this one-sentence summary is so helpful. He has learned his sentence needs to contain the main character(s), the main action taken, any important conflict, the goal, and the setting. He must 'check' for these things in his summary, one day by circling, underlining, starring, etc. each element, and another day by writing first 3 sentences and underlining each element and then condensing it into one sentence. These specific guidelines have helped him become excellent at writing these summaries. The Living Library also has Wyatt writing a one-sentence summary in 'advertisement' form. He is quite good at this, and they are fun to read! The other follow-up to the Living Library readings is for Wyatt to give an oral narration. The back of the WG guide has excellent tips for encouraging growth in oral narrations as well. I love that HOD carefully plans meaningful follow-up skills to readings that are fresh, varied, and interesting. This is so much better than the typical 'write a report' or 'fill in the blanks.' HOD is such a breath of fresh air!!!


Wyatt's MicroPhySci kit and manual are challenging enough without being tedious. He is working through is science labs independently, and he is learning so much. Wyatt also really enjoys reading his Integrated Physics and Chemistry books. In fact, he said it's one of his favorite ways to learn about science. He finds the readings very interesting, and he often shares something he read just in passing, usually at the supper table. The follow-up assessment questions and easy to use answer key make this subject easy on me as the teacher too, and as I for one was quite worried about science and labs at the high school level - I am so very thankful!


It has been special to see Wyatt's Common Place Book grow through the years. His golden-edged journal is leather bound, and it just is a special book for him. Another special journal he is keeping is his Prayer Journal. For Bible, he is keeping a prayer journal using the Lord's Prayer ACTS model. Each day, he writes a few key words or phrases next to each letter to summarize his prayer (A - adoration, C - confession, T - thanksgiving, and S - supplication). His prayer journal is private and personal to him, and I can tell he has begun to really look forward to his prayer time each day as a way to work through all those emotions running high as a young teenage boy. He keeps a copy of the "Preparing Your Heart for Prayer" paper from the WG in his Prayer Journal, and that is super helpful, as it contains questions for all 4 parts of prayer. The Rooted and Grounded study always has Wyatt praying for different people he has read about around the world, so even this portion of the WG plans fits with the history theme and is incredibly meaningful. Here Wyatt is with his Common Place book...


"Mapping the World with Art" had Wyatt constructing an octahedral globe this week. He drew Sir Francis Drake's route on his globe, using his WG Expedition Journal as a reference. Sir Francis Drake was the first Englishman to circumnavigate the world, and his 3 year voyage was secretly backed by none other than Queen Elizabeth. The WG Living Library book "In the Days of Drake" was a real page-turner for Wyatt! He really loved that book! Watching the "Scenic Cruises of the World" on DVD was a fitting way to celebrate the beauty of CA, as Drake harbored their and explored some of that area calling it New Albion. I love how all of this works together to create a great year of studying WG!!!


I can tell Wyatt learned much from reading about Henry Hudson's quest to find a route north to reach China in WG's "A Book of Discovery." His written narration begins with "Henry Hudson prepared to sail into the unknown...". I am so thankful that Wyatt has learned to add more pizazz to his written narrations through the years! There was a time - a very lengthy amount of time actually - when he was quite dry and lifeless in his narrations. The gradual change through the years shows that he is beginning to develop his own writing style - and I love it! All of the guided practice and helps HOD has given regrading written narrations and writing programs through the years has helped him become more and more accomplished in his writing. It has been worth every lesson, every discussion, and every follow-up we have worked on together!


The outlining assignments Wyatt has been doing for his WG guide are really helping him learn to take notes well. I like the format of writing one sentence for each paragraph read. Each Roman numeral has a sentence written next to it for each paragraph sequentially. The guidance given in the WG for this assignment makes it clear what is expected and easy to correct. I can see this skill being a useful one to have for college someday too.


I am so pleased with the World Geography guide! What a super year we are having together! Who knew high school would be this enjoyable?!?

In Christ,
Julie

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett is truly loving reading "Stories of the Pilgrims" together, and I find it very narrative to read as well as a nice length for his attention span. This week, Emmett and I read about Prudence and Endurance being left alone to tend the farm. They ended up hiding in a potato pit and scaring off some hostile neighbors by holding up their lighted lanterns. The reflection of the lanterns surprised them and scared them away. The experiment we did about light reflecting best off smooth flat surfaces was such fun the other boys had to join in! Standing in a circle, they bounced the ball to each other, backing up several steps and watching the change in the way the ball bounced. Emmett was able to see that the further they stepped back, the wider and lower the angle of the ball bouncing was. We discussed that this is how light rays bounce off flat surfaces. Then we read "God's Wonderful Works" which discussed light further. Emmett truly looks forward to all of the neat science experiments he gets to do in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. I feel good about them, as I know if I had to plan them myself they'd be pretty hit and miss.


Beyond Little Hearts... does such a good job of teaching dc how to orally narrate. The Storytime box of the plans is the perfect place to practice narrating, as the books are narrative and we are reading about a chapter each day, which is just the right amount to begin narrating upon. The genres are introduced, and we discuss different types of literature each month. We are just finishing out the fantasy genre by reading "Tucker's Countryside" - the follow-up to "The Cricket in Times Square." We began this week with some good discussion questions focusing on the story element of 'character." "Name some of the characters in the fantasy story," "If you were a character in the story, what would you like best about what's happening?", "What would you change in the story if you could?", and "Why would you change this?". On yet another day this week in Storytime, we talked about the 'problem' in the story and the 'mood' of each 'character.' I like how these discussion questions and follow-up activities use words such as these. They help dc learn those words at a young age and be more literary in their discussions about books early on.

On another day, I typed as Emmett orally narrated. Here is his oral narration, but read it knowing I gave him some help when he thought he might be done (too early), and this is more of a partnering effort than a solo performance ...

Harry the House Cat

Tucker Mouse and Chester were talking inside the stump. They were not really talking about Harry, they were really talking about the brook. Chester and Tucker went over to the Hadley’s. They came over to Harry and they saw him in a big pool of sun.

Then Tucker shouted, “What are you doing in here?”

Then Harry said, “I’m just waiting for breakfast!”

Then Tucker shouted, “What’s for breakfast?”

“I’m just waiting for eggs and bacon,” said Harry. When Harry was eating his bacon and eggs, Tucker almost dived in!

Tucker told Harry he only had some nuts and seeds last night. So Tucker, Harry, and Chester were talking at the Hadley’s house (Ellen’s). Then, Harry said, “Did you see what I had for last night?”

“What did you have last night?”

“Cocktail shrimp, some sauce, and some ice cream.”

Then Harry said, “I think I’m going to go and get a drink of heavy cream.”

Tucker couldn’t believe that Harry wanted to stay with Ellen. But Ellen took great care of Harry by giving him food, giving him some heavy whipping cream, and giving him dessert. She brushed him with her mother’s best hairbrush. She itched his tummy. Harry loved it so much that he gave a purrrrr each time Ellen itched his tummy.

Ellen said she’d take Harry out to the meadow if it didn’t rain, but when Ellen went out of the house, she knew it was going to rain. So, Ellen and Harry stayed indoors for that whole day.

Chester and Tucker were hiding in the hedge, and they were talking about Harry. So Harry said he could be a spy, he could come to Chester’s stump if he wanted to, and he was also going to be a thief of food to bring food to Chester and Tucker.


We are also studying brotherly love as meaning sincerely caring for others regardless of the circumstances. We read the key verse that match this Godly character trait in Phil. 1:9 in Emmett's Bible. Then we discussed how the characters in the book showed love, or the opposite character trait of hate. We had a very good discussion that ended with Emmett drawing a picture showing how he could be more loving - with loving hugs and kind words (primarily to ME, as he's been a little owlish these days).

Finally, for Storytime this week, Emmett gave an oral narration by using his toys to create an important scene from his reading. He chose to re-enact the children and Chester Cricket, Tucker Mouse, and Harry Cat protesting the building of an apartment complex in their lovely meadow. Riley, Emmett's big brother, asked to join him as he listens to me read to Emmett while he does his math. They had a blast acting this out together, and I made sure that Riley understood that Emmett was in the lead and the 'star of the show' during the narration. What fun, varied, and important assessments the Beyond guide has for the Storytime box of plans!!!


What a good week in Beyond together!
In Christ,
Julie

Resurrection to Reformation:
Riley read about Genseric, the Vandal king, in "Famous Men of the Middle Ages." He thought it was interesting that the word vandalize came from the Vandals plundering cities. Riley couldn't believe that Genseric was actually invited to enter Africa by the Roman general Boniface. After conquering much of Africa, Genseric went on to make Carthage capital city. Researching Carthage and writing a postcard about his research findings was an assignment Riley really enjoyed. He researched when Carthage was founded and by whom, what Carthage was known for, when it was destroyed, how it was rebuilt only to be destroyed again, and what modern day city is near the ruins of Carthage. He really enjoys putting his research findings into a postcard with beautiful pictures of the place he researched. I love that HOD puts skills such as researching an important historical place and summarizing that research into the plans in such creative ways! So much better than 'write a report'.


After reading about Attila the Hun, Riley labeled pertinent rivers and places to note the vast extent of Attila the Hun's Empire. The Map Trek CD HOD had made especially to match "Resurrection to Reformation" helps Riley visualize more globally what happened in history, and gives him a bird's eye view of where things were taking place in regard to his place in the world. The maps are colorful and are helping him learn map reading skills, as well as map labeling skills. He likes to see his finished maps and enjoys looking ahead to the maps to come (as I have them all printed and ready to go in his binder for the year). The World History Atlas is another nice addition to his geography studies this year. It had him tracing the path of the Visigoths, the Vandals, the Burgundians, the Angles and Saxons, and last Attila and the Huns.


Riley's RTR Notebook is special to him, and he tries his best to do good work because it seems like those beautiful pages deserve that. The colorful maps, pictures, paintings, and portraits all work together to make a memorable week. He enjoyed jotting some facts of his own choosing about Attila the Hun this week...


In "Boyhood and Beyond" Riley and I read about how slothfulness happens one small decision at a time. Bob Schultz gave the example of how sleeping in 1 minute after your alarm goes off seems harmless (and probably is), but that sleeping in 1 minute one day, 2 minutes the next day, 3 minutes the next day, and so on and so forth results in several months sleeping in for hours. This was timely for us as getting up at this time of the year on time can seem difficult! We had a great talk about how the same is true with the house. We leave one thing out, and another thing out, and another thing out - and we wake up some day to a totally messy house! I just talked to the boys about this, and I was thankful that this lesson addressed this same thing from a Christian man's perspective. Riley shares a room with his little 6 yo brother, so keeping it picked up can be a challenge for the two of them. After reading this devotion, I've seen a change in Riley's perspective on this. He is beginning to view himself as a boy becoming a young man needing to take the reins a bit more for his actions, as well as needing to take responsibility for helping his little brother.

In science, Riley has been reading "Exploring Creation with Astronomy." One of his favorite activities was creating his science notebooking paper. He used the pictures in his science book to draw and color a picture showing what the surface of Venus may look like. He labeled his picture with words like volcano, lava, molten rock, sulfuric acid atmosphere, cooled hardened rock, etc. I love to see his creativity shine through on assignments such as these, and I also love that he pulls out his Bible to copy Bible verses that show God's handiwork in Creation for them too.


What a good week with my sweet Riley!
In Christ,
Julie

Julie, thanks for your updates. I so enjoy reading about your week and appreciate the details. If only I could still write like that! I do love the sneak peeks ahead.
We have had so many things get in the way of our school in the past two weeks. We are behind where I planned, but despite that my boys completed (or is completing now) their units.

LITTLE HANDS TO HEAVEN:
Monday we did unit 32, day 2. She really enjoyed the leaping and skipping and praising God - which she did quite LOUDLY. that was part of the Active Exploration and Bible activity. We stopped in Unit 33, Day 2. Although we will probably do some tomorrow. She loves it that much and it makes a great devotional time for the 2 of us.
Another favorite day was the last. She and an older brother acted out the Bible Activity with stuffed animals, while I played the narrator for them. She loved having a sticker and got her directions right each time, by following this way. In fact, as I type, she brought me a sticker so I "could play".
We are nearing the end and have never enjoyed LHTH more than we have the last few weeks.


BEYOND LITTLE HEARTS for HIS GLORY
My DS completed unit 10, that he had started last week. He enjoys the Stories of the Pilgrims, especially when he hears about Captain Standish. I wish he had great narrating skills, but he doesn't understand as well unless he sees or reads it for himself. ( He is a very visual learner)Basically, at this point I give him a chance, then demonstrate for him telling my version. Sometimes I allow his brother a chance - he is a great oral narrator and remembers Beyond fondly, and lil bro enjoys when big bro joins in.
He continues to excel with spelling and grammar - we are far ahead in that; he actually tests out in the 2nd grade.
He hates math- unless there is a game. He doesn't grasp the concept of the snacks - just thinks they are for him to eat but the games are a totally different story!

PREPARING HEARTS for HIS GLORY
This week, because of the interruptions, he really struggled to get things done. It certainly wasn't the concept as Unit 19 is about Jesus' death and resurrection. He has done an excellent job with all questions and oral narrations, and a passable written narration. We had to lay aside DITHOR for the past 2 weeks, but I hope to get back to it next week. He does far better than I ever expected in that. He has also greatly improved in English with Rod and Staff. One day we even got 2 lessons done in less than the allotted time - which is great since he is a bit behind. There was a lot of drawing, so he has fun with that. All in all he is doing very well, and I am about to bump him up to a bit more writing.

Have everyone has a great weekend!

I have so enjoyed your week in Reviews. I am doing Beyond and RTR just like Julie. I have never done a review, but have been so delighted with my daughter's work in Beyond especially this week in unit 28. Sorry no pictures. For storytime we finished A Lion to Guard Us and started All of a Kind Family. My daughter eagerly anticipates and predicts what will happen in the story and mentions the characters and storyline throughout her day. This is the same daughter that had language delays resulting in difficulty understanding what was being read, and she just couldn't sit for too long. She has displayed so much maturity this year. So excited to see it!
On the last day there is a gentle grammar lesson. She loves this! I was nervous about R&S grammar in Bigger, but I know she will be ready. She confidently shouted the correct answers! One of the areas to be addressed at home following our withdrawal from speech therapy was verb tense. Well, this week in phonics she learned about adding S, es, and ies to indicate more than one. Grammar lesson had her id if she needed to have is or are in the sentence. It all tied together, met a speech goal, and was fun!
The Bible study from Morning Bells was about bearing one another's burdens. The next day also addressed how we can bear another's burdens. To explain to my daughter I explained how she is a burden to me when she runs around the church and I must find her. It totally clicked! That night we were going to church and she stated she was not going to be a burden. She did not run around after her class! I know it is a struggle as she gets "bored" waiting for her brother whose class finishes 1 hour after her class. Love how such a little book like Morning Bells really has an impact on her.
For science exploration she learned the parts of a gun. She loved carrying around the home made gun. She

Sorry, I lose posts so much...
She had a birthday party on Sunday and got a nerf gun. She was able to look at how this operates, and we both shot it to see if we would kill a wildcat. Nope, we missed! Earlier in the week she learned about sheep wool. I had some alpaca fur I purchased at Christmas tree cutting. She was able to card the "wool" using her Barbie brush, clean the "wool", and spin the "wool". What a connection was made. I had purchased wool felting so we made a small project with it. She looked at projects her sisters made 7 years ago. She recalled the spinning on a real wheel during a field trip we took in the fall. We looked a deer antlers we had found on a hike. We found items made from wool. Who needs anymore than this simple science exploration. This has been a thorough exploration and a lot of learning is going on!
Finally, the poetry has been a hit! This really ties in with the story. "Good-Bye, Good-Bye" just like the story of Molly and her family leaving their farm to travel on the wilderness trail. In our co op we studied Kentucky and the Wilderness trail. So many connections. My daughter loves art and it shows on her timeline. She was suppose to draw an X for the Wilderness Trail. Well, she just had to draw a map including the Cumberland gap, mountain, and an X where Molly was. I love how the X tied in with an activity earlier in the week. I love how mature my daughter has become in Beyond. I know she will be ready for Bigger in 6 weeks. I know I won't! It's hard to see my baby grow up. Thank you Carrie for such a delightful guide. Simple, yet full!

It's so much fun reading everyone's weeks in review! I began babysitting for 2 different friends from church about a month ago and have one extra little guy M-Th from about 10-2pm and then have a little girl on Tuesday evenings. They are both about 4 months old and it's been such fun having babies around. It's also been good practice to see how homeschooling with a little one will work out since we are currently on the waiting list for another adoption.

I haven't had a chance to post one a week in review in a few weeks but we are still trucking along double speed with Beyond and it's going great. I am continuing to see my son's love of learning return and see him excited about doing school each day. We are about to finish Unit 9. We are so glad that the Pilgrims finally made it to America in our history time. We have had such fun with the art projects, geography, science experiments, etc. Samuel always wants to do them over and over again.

In storytime, we just finished King of the Wind (my son has declared it his favorite book ever!) and have started The Cabin Faced West. I am loving the simple introduction to all the literary elements in the storytime boxes along with narration. I also really like the Godly character traits that are brought in with each genre both in storytime and in DITHOR. They have led to some great discussions between Samuel and I. We are doing DITHOR at normal speed and we have finished our biography of Alexander Hamilton and just started into adventure with Dolphin Adventure. He's doing a great job with his reading!

I am also really loving the Bible box. We work on memorizing the verse each unit, but don't always get it down since we are going through so quickly. But I love the discussion we have about each one and what they mean. Just today we were discussing what it means to "work heartily as unto the Lord" - very timely for us since Samuel has been struggling with getting his chores done and dawdling over tasks.

I am so glad that we decided to go ahead and switch curriculums in January instead of waiting till next year. HOD has been such a breath of fresh air and I feel certain that we have found our home for the rest of our years of homeschooling!

Wow, you all put up your week in review quickly!

I have so much to be thankful for this week. In spite of some circumstances, we almost finished our 4 full days of school. My oldest did most of Unit 6 of Preparing, my 2nd did Unit 15 of Beyond and my 3rd didn't get much LHTH in for various reasons.

Preparing has been so much fun. We were back to reading Grandpa's box, doing activities about ancient Egypt still, reading Tirzah (which is getting more and more interesting by the day). My DD struggles with dictionary work and R&S had her looking up words in the dictionary to discover the correct spelling. She struggled with this, because of having to kind of guess at the spelling and read through quite a bit of the page to find the right word. We fought through it but it made that day kind of long. She has gotten much better with the vocabulary and is doing well with that now. If R&S is going to be doing the spelling/dictionary use for a while I am going to have to figure out how I can help her without doing it for her.

My 2nd born is still doing very well with Beyond. She is so eager to begin every day it is all I can do to hold her back. She finished the Bible selection for Emerging Readers and is now in Frog and Toad all Year. I am so enjoying watching her read these books and enjoy them (though sometimes we do have to stop looking at the pictures and get back to reading the words). Strengthening her reading has helped her grow in other areas too.

We had the opportunity to help out two friends who are having health problems this week by watching children and we enjoyed the chance to have guests and play with friends. That is the main reasons LHTH got put aside, I think we did 1 day of it this week. But we will get back into it soon, and I look forward to enjoying it with my daughter again.

Blessings on others who are working so hard to train and teach their children!

http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspo ... 24-28.html

Little bit late this week Can't get my photos to post small either! Great week though

Preparing: Unit 10 (first half)

Beyond: Unit 17

Preschool: Awaiting the next HOD guide