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Ok Fellow HOD Homeschoolers,

What was YOUR week Like?

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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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Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett is learning all of the continents and oceans, as we read about explorers like Columbus and Cabot in our Eggleston books. He always wants me to read more, as the stories are just so attention-grabbing. His oral narration this week was better than last week. I had him orally narrate on one page at a time, and breaking the narration into smaller sections seemed to help him. I'll stretch them out to be over the entire reading over time, but for now, this fits his age and narrating ability well. For one of our activities, we used a globe to locate all of the continents and oceans. He then wrote cards for each of the continents and oceans and had to tape them on the approximate location on our big exercise ball. It was harder to do than it looks! Dc are not very spatial at that age, but he got better and better at figuring out where to tape each one as we worked between the globe and the ball. I wrote all of the continents and oceans on a marker board for him to copy. One of the most used school supplies we have is the marker board. I use it for everything he needs to write! That way he can focus on orally giving good answers first, and then when he is writing, he can focus on writing neatly, as he doesn't have to worry about proper spelling/grammar/usage. Plus, he is 'seeing it right' all of the time, which then in turn helps him 'write it right' when he has to later.


With 3 active sons, one of the many things I appreciate about HOD is how there is a bodily-kinesthetic element every day. With childhood obesity being more and more of a concern these days, getting up and moving in school is a wonderful idea! My other sons often join in on Emmett's calisthenic type exercises he does for his Bible Study box in BHFHG. They like to hop in, get their heart pumping, and encourage the little guy! Here they all are doing their sit-ups, and then listening to Emmett say his Bible verse and clapping for him. Three rounds of sit-ups, and they were back to their own work. I love these 5 minute together things once and awhile. They join in for a quick 5 minute something, to encourage whoever's guide they are joining for a bit, making sure to let that person be the 'star' of the show, and then they happily return to their own work that is an exact fit to what they each need. These quick together times are just plain fun and not too distracting as they are short and purposeful with an exact end, and then they get to return to what fits them each best. What fun!


After writing 2 of Emmett's R & S English answers as a model, I let Emmett finish out the exercises. He was able to continue doing it in the manner in which I had, numbering his lines, skipping lines, and writing neatly. He was so proud of his work at the end!


In science, Emmett and I are reading OSS Seashore, which goes so nicely with us learning about sailors at sea in history. We are starting a note booking assignment that he will add to over the next several weeks. I drew lines for him to write the title and columns headings. I sectioned off the Bible verse he had to copy with sticky notes in his Bible. I also jotted his column headings on a marker board for him to copy. All of this helps him learn how to set up a neat note booking page. Then, I had him draw each of his insects/animals, looking in his OSS book, with pencil. He then traced them with my black gel pen, labeled them, and colored them with colored pencils. I have found it is important to help with each step like this when our dc are learning note booking skills for the first time. They need help in how to organize their paper, how to write in an appropriate size lettering, how to write neatly across the paper, how to know where to draw pictures, how to first draw in pencil so mistakes if made can be easily erased, how to trace with pens or fine tipped markers the edges of things before coloring, and then how to choose which kind of thing to use to color (i.e. markers for big areas, fine tipped markers for outlining, colored pencils for little areas, or crayons for medium areas). I'll have to snap another picture when he gets closer to finishing!


In Christ,
Julie

Resurrection to Reformation:
An exciting development as we near the end of RTR is the fact that Riley now consistently writes with proper capitalization and punctuation, as well as spelling being correct with the exception of a few new words now and then. I 100% credit dictation. He is now nearing the end of Level 5 dictation, and he has worked through all of the previous levels 2-4 in the previous years of using HOD. He always was a good speller for the most part, but remembering punctuation especially was difficult. For the longest time, his only punctuation would be at the end of the last sentence of a paragraph. When he would read his written narrations aloud to me, he would pause the right places, but they didn't have punctuation marks. So, as he read, I would have him add in the punctuation each time he paused. He didn't like this, but careful editing like this together, alongside consistent dictation using the systematic system HOD uses, has helped him become a much better writer. Dictation is the best 5 minutes we have spent in LA in the past 4 years. For the little amount of time it takes, it has really helped him make incredible growth!


R & S English is another area of LA that is teaching Riley so much. He doesn't love it, but that's ok. Every single subject area is not meant to be loved. Some things are just meant to be learned in a less flashy fashion, as Charlotte Mason would say, because they are 'disciplinary' subjects rather than 'inspirational.' Her suggestion of alternating interdisciplinary and inspirational subjects is a good one, and HOD has a balance of these already planned in the guides, so it is easy to do. One thing I do occasionally if we are behind or short on time because we have an appointment or something like that, is photocopy a portion of the R & S English pupil textbook for Riley to complete the editing right on the page. I don't do it often, but in a pinch, it is a time saver.


Riley's RTR Student Notebook continues to grow, and he is now in a great routine of knowing how to complete each portion of his notebooking assignments. Reading about Queen Elizabeth in his Mystery of History book, and then also reading about her in the beautifully illustrated "Good Queen Bess" was a neat way to mesh two different resources of learning together. He also read about Elizabeth's half-sister, Mary. He loved reading about the big sea battles and the intrigue of becoming a queen and the power that held. He also read about John Knox in Scotland, and his bravery and his devotedness to his Christian beliefs were an inspiration.


Riley's Common Place Book is special to him, and he continues to add quotes and verses to it throughout his journey through his HOD guides. "Boyhood and Beyond" quotes, Scriptures, and Emily Dickinson's poetry are a few of the special things that adorn the pages of his Common Place Book this year.


Riley's science assignment had him learning about time zones. He was very proud of his final project, and he did it 100% on his own!


What a good week!
In Christ,
Julie

World History High School:
One of our favorite activities from this week was seeing Wyatt's Fine Arts project come to completion! Wyatt reads about artists and studies their work through a great variety of excellent resources like "Short Lessons in Art History," HOD's Art Gallery Notebook, "God and the History of Art" DVDs, and "Exercises and Activities for Short Lessons in Art History." But, the most highly anticipated part of the Fine Arts study happens once each week with Pat Knepley in her Art Projects DVDs. This is somewhat surprising to me, as Wyatt has never been one to really dig into art and love art projects. He has done them, enjoyed them for the most part, and learned a ton from them in past years, but reading inspiring history books, reading great books for DITHOR/Lit, doing test tube type science experiments, doing something physical - especially if it is a goal-oriented project, working through a tough math problem, these have always been the top runners in his school days. Well, that was until Pat Knepley's Fine Arts DVDs. Now, he looks forward to this so much, though I don't think he wants to admit it. He loves seeing each project come together, and the results (IMHO) are terrific!

There is absolutely no way he could do this well with this high school level fine arts if he'd not had the gradual art training for the past 10 years from LHTH through WG guides. HOD never leaves art out of learning. Art projects start right away, and they focus on the student doing the work at a level he/she can actually do, rather than having mom/dad step in to take over the project. I love that! This unit's art project was "Repeated Sweets," and Wyatt has my sweet tooth, so he was excited about it from the start. Step by step, Pat Knepley taught him how to use watercolor paints to create his repeated sweets project. Wyatt's past experience watercolor painting in CTC certainly was of benefit. Here are some pictures of this project...


For World History, Wyatt has been learning about Francis of Assisi, Dante, Thomas Aquinas, Wycliffe, and Hus. He has been reading "Trial and Triumph," and the people whose lives grace those pages are incredibly inspirational, and devoted to the Lord at a level that we almost cannot fathom because of our freedom and ease of worshiping Him today in our country. Elizabeth of Hungary came from royalty, but she still gave everything she had away in service of the King of heaven. Francis of Assisi was her source of inspiration, and he was known for his love, humility, and service. Wyatt also read about John Wycliffe, and how his desire to help reform the church and translate the Bible into English resulted in an order against him to be tried for heresy.

Wyatt read about each of these people and others in various resources, which I love as it gives a fuller picture of history. Multiple resources share some of the same things but also many different things, and this rounds out history to be more balanced. Wyatt gave a "Recorded Narration" this week from "Trial and Triumph" about John Wycliffe. He recorded it on his IPod and then typed it to be included in his HOD World History Journal. I am so glad that Wyatt is doing his own thing for high school. Trying to combine him with his younger brothers with content as mature as this would not work. What a great week we had in WH together!


In Christ,
Julie

Here is our week in WG http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2015/01 ... 02015.html

Just thought I'd share a little bit about how Rev2Rev is going for my son. I do see so much growth through the years thanks to the wonderful curriculum in HOD.
It has made my teaching so easy. Open & go! Some highlights of carryover from other years.
This history has resonated with my son. He likes the Signers, and will tell me interesting facts. Same with the 50 states study. He struggles with memorizing though. He had a unit review. I told him he could look at the book rather than memorize 1-27 states. He likes the fill in blank book and writing bullet points for the signers.
My son can do Drawing through History with ease. He pointed out the discrepancy from what he read in history and the DTH book about Sacajawea. He drew a steamboat this week. Sorry I can't figure out how to post a picture. This is the son who couldn't remember details he notices discrepancis between sources.
We are reading Seaman now. He likes to look at the pictures and comments on details, which is a skill he learned last year.
This year's writing is back to creative writing, which he prefers. This week's assignment was a 200 word story. This is another area he shines. Initially, he groaned and said it was too much. In 15 minutes he had 212 words. They were descriptive and included everything the directions said to include, like the 5 senses. A visit to the zoo with a walk through the hot tar in the parking lot, the squeals of children on rides, the sweet smell of cotton candy, and popping popcorn so aromatic one could taste the butter in the air. The animal he saw was a peacock with blazing teal blue, brown, and golden yellow.
This week he started R&S 6. I took a gulp, because I feared how challenging it would be. Well, glad to say it was easy. R&S has been a favorite of my son's. It comes naturally. Spelling is another story. Dictation has helped improve spelling. I do have a question whether I am doing it right. This is one area that my son struggles with. He does not want to repeat a lesson the next day. He very slowly writes the section a few words at a time. I tell him the sentence has ended. Maybe this is wrong. I know he is suppose to correct/check with original, but I found he didn't notice when something wasn't right. Now I check when he is finished.
His favorite part of the day is EE science. I always thought he liked chemistry, but the hands on physical science has really brought joy. He has been careful following directions. He is usually not so careful.
The truly fun thing about this year is doing Bigger and Rev2Rev. Each week they are learning similar things. I really get to see those pegs as each child learns about the same thing just different depths of learning. Both learned about the Star Spangled Banner. I have complemented learning with a music CD called Wee Sing America. It is chocked full of patriotic songs including Battle Hymn of Republic (last week) and Star Spangled Banner. Sometimes you just need it!
I told hubby since both are studying American History we need to go visit some national monuments. Other than Maine, I have not been to the east coast or Washington DC.

Tammy I think it's great that he is trying so hard to not have to repeat dictation passages, but no you aren't supposed to tell him when the sentence ends. That's a pretty important skill for him to know and be able to figure out. Also make sure you aren't cueing him to indent. Maybe if you tell him that he is expected to have to redo at least one passage a week that it will help him not stress out over it as much. If he struggles with memory issues then it's ok I think to shorten how much you read to him at a time. My ds has short term memory issues so I read probably 6-7 words at a time or maybe a few more depending on the sentence. If memory isn't an issue then I would read a phrase at a time so that he learns to picture it all in his head.

Lynn,
Thank you for your feedback about dictation. I will be leaning on, "We can do all things, through Christ who strengthens me." My son does 3 words at a time. If I give him more words he mixes up the order or forgets words. Then they are spelled wrong or written wrong because of trying to remember. This makes for choppy sounding sentences. Perhaps as he reads back the dictation he can hear where the sentence ends. Then he can erase the letter that needs capitol and squeeze space between next sentence. Memory is a huge problem, and so is internal voice.

Tammy,
One thing my ds used to do was he would write the word that came before the punctuation on the white board and write the punctuation with it. This helped visually cement it in his memory. He also would say the words out loud that had punctuation with them so he would say the words house comma, or hope period. This also helped his memory. Just wanted to to throw that out there in case those strategies might help. I know when there are learning challenges you just have to adapt it the best you can and find what works for your dc.