2014 Favorite Memories with Riley in Resurrection to Reformation:
Best Writing - IEW's Medieval History-Based Writing assignment the topic of knights. This writing project taught Riley so much, and by the end his finished piece was something we were both so pleased with!
Drawn into the Heart of Reading books are always winners with our kids, but a new part of DITHOR he really enjoyed this year was heading up the projects. In years past, Wyatt (Riley's older brother) took the lead on DITHOR projects, but now that Wyatt has completed DITHOR and is in high school, little brother Emmett just began DITHOR 2/3, and Riley takes the lead on DITHOR projects. He is coming into his own with it!
Most improved - Oral narrations and written narrations! Riley's oral narrations often were somewhat random before, with lots of long pauses, clearing of the throat, and losing track of what he was going to say. He also started virtually every sentence with "And then," but now he does so much better! The sequence makes sense, he has the gist of the story, and he is somewhat like a pacing broadcaster, animatedly giving his oral narrations and enjoying it! His written narrations at the start of RTR were often missing punctuation and capitalization. They also were very general and not all that informative, but he has finally turned the corner and writes with better English as well as with more interesting specific ideas important to the topic.
Riley's Favorites...
History readings from "Peril and Peace," "Monks and Mystics," and "Mystery of History" were his favorites, as well as "Forbidden Gates," "Mystery of the Silver Coins," "Ink on HIs Fingers," and "Mr. Pipes" so far from the History Storytime Set. He has begun reading these on his own and really enjoys these books!
History Projects are definitely a favorite time of day for Riley because he loves to work with his hands to build, create, experiment, etc. Here are a few favorites so far...
For Science, Riley is all about the science experiments. "Exploring Planet Earth" and "Exploring Creation with Astronomy" were his favorite science books to read so far.
Riley loves the poetry study of Emily Dickinson. We read them several times and discuss them according to the plans, but it really is the reading of the poetry that Riley adores! He tries different accents, tones, pacing, rhythm - he loves to read the poetry, and he thinks Emily Dickinson is a very clever, witty, insightful poetry writer (I do too).
The postcard research on an historical place relevant to his history readings - he always researches online with me near, and then writes his postcard to his best friend and cousin, Greyson (I get a 'postcard' addressed to me once in a great while too)
...
Shakespeare Notebooking - he loves to color the accompanying notebooking drawings to his readings!
My Favorites...
Boyhood and Beyond discussions are definitely a favorite of mine! I could talk all day about some of those crucial topics, and the way Bob Schultz tells stories to set up those awesome devotions has Riley and I retelling the stories at dinner time with the family. I absolutely love his writing style, and his advice for how we can help our boys become Christian men is right on track!
Picture Study with "Looking at Pictures" and the HOD Art Gallery - I have always loved this CM skill, and it has been such fun to do alongside this book that does an excellent job of explaining what is going on in the pictures, how the artist achieved the look and feel of the paintings/sculptures/etc., and what was going on in history at that time.
Riley's RTR Notebook - he is just one of those kids born to scrapbook, and seeing his notebook come together so beautifully with little effort on my part is a blessing!
DITHOR Student Notebook - this keeps Riley challenged and doing higher level skills in reading! Riley has always been a strong reader, but the DITHOR Student Book ensures it doesn't stop there. The skills he is learning in DITHOR are so key for prep for high school lit courses. I am thankful for every day we spent in DITHOR with our now high school student, and it makes me that more purposeful in not missing DITHOR and getting the fullest out of each lesson with Riley.
What a wonderful year of school!
In Christ,
Julie
She also is thoroughly enjoying the DITHOR books as well. Her favorite one this is year was The Children's Book of Virtues. For this child, her favorite genre out of all the genres is folk tale. I would have never guessed this to be a favorite of any of my children. LOL. What makes this funny to me is that this specific genre is my absolute least favorite 
But that is one wonderful thing with HOD. If we hadn't of studies all 9 genres in DITHOR, I would have never discovered which books she likes best - Folk Tale, Mystery and Biography. I personally am a fantasy and adventure junkie along with all non-fiction. But since we are so different, it is neat to see which books she styles is most drawn too.