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Ok Fellow HOD Homeschoolers,

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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Resurrection to Reformation:
In history, Riley began reading "Gabriel and the Hour Book," which is a beautiful book about the making of an "hour book" as a wedding gift from King Louis of France to Lady Anne of Brittany and the blessings it brought to little Gabriel, Brother Stephen's color grinder, who managed scrawl a note that saved his family. Riley enjoyed his RTR notebooking entry on this, and he is loving reading reading this book.


RTR's notebooking had Riley researching Madrid and writing his postcard with his findings; doing his timeline John Calvin, Loyola and Xavier, and Ivan the Terrible, and writing his written narration about the Order of the Jesuits. He also wrote about John Calvin, and he located where Ivan the Terrible lived with his class of secret police.


We had an exciting week in Drawn into the Heart of Reading! Riley and Emmett shared their museum exhibit project for their nonfiction genre, and they had their kickoff for their new realistic fiction genre. They also received their new realistic fiction books to read, which is always highly anticipated! For their museum exhibit, they were to choose a nonfiction book they both read, and create museum exhibits. Riley set up and told about 3 exhibits, and Emmett set up and told about 2 exhibits. Ironically, they chose their favorite nonfiction stories from "American Pioneers and Patriots," which they both 'read' for Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. Emmett has been rereading the stories we have already read in school for fun, and Riley reread the entire book last summer for fun. So, I guess I can confidently say that "American Pioneers and Patriots" falls under the 'living book' category! Sod houses, a horse ride announcing George Washingon's presidency, the Bible that George Washington was sworn into office upon, Pedro's knife that was used to block the door so seawater wouldn't seep in, and other 'exhibits' they each told about made this great fun for the rest of us on our museum visit.


For the kickoff, Riley and Emmett pretended to do their own version of the Battle of Bunker Hill. After doing this, we had a good discussion of how this could really fall under the genre of historical fiction as well, though they did their own version and it wasn't historically accurate, so possibly it could be under the realistic fiction genre as well. They had such fun narrating their made-up 'battle,' and even my dh watched this, as he happened to be home.


Riley began his new Realistic Fiction book "Just David," and Emmett began his new Realistic Fiction book "The Secret School." They were both excited to get their new books, and they did a nice job on their DITHOR Student Books. I still write Emmett's answers for him on marker board, but he now copies them all and does all the writing in his DITHOR Student Book. So, great progress!


In Science, Riley has been reading about shifting plates that make volcanoes and earthquakes in "A Child's Geography." He learned the new vocabulary words "magma" and "geothermal," and he used the context of his science readings and the dictionary to locate the words and their proper definitions. He wrote a 5 sentence narration on his printed postcard, and he drew pictures ton the postcard to match his narration. He chose to describe the good things that God designed volcanoes to produce.


For Storytime, Riley is loving Mr. Pipes and Psalms... His ring of index cards of special LA things to locate in his readings is growing. This week he added to his index card entitled "Great Lines," which has him selecting and noting a memorable line from his reading. He also added to his "Life Lessons" card, and that was my favorite! He noted that Mr. Pipe's said that only God can save a person - a person cannot save another person (spiritually). How important to know!


What a great week back!
In Christ,
Julie

World History High School:

Wyatt has been reading "King Alfred's English" and "Trial and Triumph" this week. He is enjoying both! One of his history activities was to read from each of these resources and complete his World History notebooking assignment about what he gleaned from what he read. He learned so much from these readings, and I appreciate that it is easy for me to discern what he's learned by reading his answers to his questions in his notebook:


"The Son of Charlemagne" is Wyatt's current Living Library book, and that partnered with his readings in "Trial and Triumph," "In Context," and "People, Places & Events of World History" - along with listening to his "You Are There!..." audio about Charlemagne gives a very intriguing and detailed picture of the many facets of Charlemagne. I love the meshing together of different sources and points of view about a person/event that WH is providing, and I also love then to read Wyatt's written narrations about the topic. He is learning so much and then connecting it all together to form and support his own opinions, and then he is writing about his findings and opinions within various formats. This is teaching so many important skills all at once! He is becoming a strong writer, as well as adept at expressing and supporting his opinions with relevant details. Hooray!


Learning about the Feudal System was interesting to Wyatt. He could sense the frustration of being held back in life based on what class you were born into, as there really was not a way to rise above your given station in life. The critical thinking questions he is answering have him thinking deeply about topics such as these, as well applying what he has learned to write answers to given scenarios that were prevalent at that time in history. This week, Wyatt had to answer the question if he could have foreseen himself becoming a knight when the Feudal System was intact (box 5 of his Student Notebook). He also responded to the critical question regarding the role of education during Europe's Dark Ages (box 4 of his Student Notebook). I really enjoyed reading his responses!


Wyatt's Fine Arts study has him learning so much about artists, their backgrounds, their techniques, what they are famous for, and the context of history at the time of their career. "God and the History of Art" teaches so much information in an interesting way. Pat Knepley's art demonstrations on her DVD alongside her assigned hands-on art projects provide an excellent way to have a successful, independent, meaningful, and God-honoring 'hands-on' component to this fine arts study (no easy task to accomplish homeschooling IMO ). "Exercises and Activities for Short Lessons in Art History" make it easy for me to assign a grade for written work, as he is answering short answer questions, multiple choice, etc., as well as writing out answers to questions on notebook paper. Here are his notebook answers from this week...


I was talking with him about his written work this year in World History, and he was sharing that one of the biggest assets he has learned is to simply begin answering his essay questions and critical thinking questions by restating the question. The WH guide teaches this skill well. He has also learned the importance of having a 'hook' in the opening sentence that draws his readers (ME ) in. He was saying he always lays forth the plan for the upcoming paragraphs within his first paragraph, utilizing the techniques taught in Essentials in Writing. He restates his introductory sentence in his closing sentence of his first paragraph, and then he moves on to dedicate a paragraph to each of his ideas. Finally, his last paragraph wraps it up by restating the answer to the initial question, as well as reiterating what was set forth in the introductory paragraph. This is a very effective way to write! When I used to have to correct essay answers/writing prompt answers for standardized testing back when I taught in public school, the number one mistake dc made was to not ever truly, clearly answer the given question! Restating the question and sandwiching the thoughts that best answer the question at the start and the finish of the writing assignment make it clear the question was actually fully and completely answered! I see in Wyatt this year the culmination of the strong LA education he has received within HOD using DITHOR for reading instruction, various formal writing programs through the years, R & S English for editing purposes, and written narrations CM style for developing personal style. This is just plain fun now! These techniques can be seen in his Box 2 Unit 15 written narration pictured above about Charlemagne.

Another super week with WH with Wyatt!
In Christ,
Julie

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
In "American Pioneers and Patriots" Emmet and I have been reading about the building coast to coast of the Transcontinental Railroad. The contest between the Irish builders and the Chinese builders to see whom can lay the most miles of track each day was building, to the point where the Chinese were able to (manually!) lay 10 miles or railroad track in one day! It was exciting, and the excitement was caught by Emmett (and brother Riley) as they got to reenact the race together. Each had 10 pairs of socks, a starting line, and a laundry basket to run and put their sock pairs in one by one, running back and forth until they'd used all 10 pairs of socks. They loved this activity so much that that chose to leave it out and redo it of their playtime together! I was glad they each one some of the races, as that made it especially fun for each!


Emmett's timeline is coming together, and it is hard to believe we are on the last week of Beyond!!! My time flies when you are having fun! You can see by looking at his timeline that he has grown so much in his drawing, coloring, and writing skills since the start of the timeline. The 1800s are looking much better than the earlier years! I still draw some examples for him on marker board, but he does all of his own drawing and writing, and he has learned to work within the given space of the box. He is so proud of his timeline!


I already shared about the exciting week we had in Drawn into the Heart of Reading in my post about Riley, but here is Emmett's DITHOR 2/3 Student Notebook entry, which I was very proud of him for completing all of the writing for...


Emmett is a visual learner. I have found if I highlight his Bible verse for his Scripture memory work in his Bible and have him read it a few times, he generally has it memorized. He is SUCH a visual learner that he will even say the numbers pictured in the Bible as he says his verses (i.e. 13... 14...). He loves all of the bodily kinesthetic things the gets to do between practicing his verses too. Here he is getting ready to skip before sharing his verse!


In science, Emmett learned that molecules in hot water move more quickly than molecules in cold water. He put food coloring drops in glasses of each, and watched how the red food coloring was quickly dispersed with moving molecules in the hot water, and much less quickly dispersed in the slowly moving molecules of cold water...


For his LA English activity, Emmett had to alphabetize his spelling words on an ABC line taped to the floor. He learned to look to the second and third letters as necessary, and he did a good job with this difficult skill (I think because of this neat activity). Of course, he had to have Flash, one of his favorite Beanie Balz help him.


Another activity Flash helped Emmett with was his balancing activity has he raced to get free land, like Hilda and her family did when they came to the Great Plains because of the Homestead Act. As he raced holding his frisbee and Flash like a waiter balancing a tray of food, he remembered to put Jesus first by stopping, kneeling, and saying "Jesus Christ Is Lord!" every time I said the word "Jesus." He loved this activity!


I'm so sad to be nearing the end of Beyond..., but I am excited to begin Bigger! Mixed emotions this week, as my little one is growing up before my very eyes. Hope you all had a great week!

In Christ,
Julie

Here is a link to our week http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2015/01 ... 92015.html

http://bit.ly/1IBADrO

Week in review for...

Little Hearts: Unit 2
Bigger Hearts: Unit 13
Preparing Hearts: Unit 31

Great 1st week back after the Christmas break!

This week actually turned out to be a good first week back. My oldest was a little rough because she just wasn't ready for the schedule. And my younger two kids have had a stomach bug - particularly my middle child has been sick off and on for the last 7 days and is on liquids only tomorrow) - but other than that, he actually has gotten a lot of school done too surprisingly.

I actually took pictures of my kids this week! Here is a picture of them all spending the morning quietly getting things done:


The first picture is my youngest daughter who is in LHFHG. She has a lot of time on her hands and she likes to read. This particular child has been reading a lot of chapter books but has lately not seemed so interested in them. I had read a thread recently (but the thread was old) and Carrie talked about getting kids encouraged about reading by having them read picture books. And that is exactly what I did . She is really enjoying them too. With this particular book, there is some challenging vocab and she was reading it quite nicely. This child also hasn't started DITHOR yet because I just don't know if she is mature enough to hand the schedule of it. Honestly, if you could just pray about her for me that would be great! She doesn't like to be told to do anything (who would right?) but she can do and does a lot on her own. For example, if I ask her to read story time book to herself, she complains. But if I tell her she can't and that she needs to wait for me, she will go and read 3 chapters LOL. If I want her to do math, she tells me no. But if I tell her I don't have time to help her with math and that she has to wait for me, she will get her math workbook and do 2 lessons (correctly). Even with coping things. I am having her copy some things for handwriting practice and she doesn't like to. However, she went and got the book the Magic Puppy and copied a portion of it in a play notebook that she has and she literally filled up 2 whole pages of copywork. She did that in 1 sitting! Needless to say she is strong willed! She will be 7 in February and I am hoping that she might outgrow this attitude a little bit more?!?! My older two kids had this attitude some but not so severe. Believe me, I can force my way and I have. But as she gets older and I get older, I am just praying about the healthiest way to handle it. And she is a good kid. If I say don't do something, she doesn't. It is mainly only school where I get an attitude and where she is wanting to run her own day.

The next picture is my oldest dd. She is listening to the Where in the World CD. The last picture is my son listening to Hymns for a Child's heart. All of my kids got headphones for Christmas this year! My kids like to be around everyone but but every day they need to spend time listening to a CD. They all already have old phones that we use as iPods (family members and us have given them old devices at upgrades) and over the break I had my husband burn all of their songs and discs onto their device. It has worked out great! Now they can listen to things when they need to and still be near us. We just ask that they whisper when they sing along and they do a pretty good job of it.

This is my first review since coming back to HOD in November. Hopefully I will eventually have some pictures. We just finished unit 4 in Bigger, and I can indeed say this is starting out to be a more pleasant journey than when we did part of Bigger two years ago. Our homeschooling is so much more relaxed and I know Angie is absorbing so much, even though we are repeating the first portion of Bigger. On Friday, she enjoyed doing the acrostic for POCAHONTAS. That was so good for her to get thinking about what was read in history. She is doing very well in her reading. She is finishing the ER books and is currently reading the CL Nature Reader. She enjoys that book because she loves animals and the outdoors. Her comprehension is pretty good when she reads. Because we had done part of Bigger previously, I had decided to skip the Seashore book. Angie picks up science topics pretty well, so I know she learned that well the first time. We are almost past that book, so in a couple of days we will be utilizing the Bigger Science books. Our HOD school day has not felt complete since we weren't doing the science. I'm looking forward to seeing what Angie will learn as we get into the science books. I don't want to forget to mention the Bible and character training. How the Bible ties into the history stories is so good. When we were doing the POCAHONTAS acrostic, Angie came up with the words 'humble' and 'trustworthy'. Those are two character traits that she has learned since working in Bigger. This is what HOD is all about. This is why we came back.

That is a wonderful review psreit! That is so exciting to see her pulling it all together