heartofdakota.com

]Did I write the date right? We have it as day/month/year here .
Well hello. Thought it was time for an update. We have been away a while. This week we have been doing Beyond week 16/17 with my 8 year old and Singapore 2A. Its lovely to hear the 12year old express how much he remembers and enjoyed using this curriculum to his younger brother.Here is our week in review.

http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.co. ... ew.html?m=

Week 20 of Preparing .
The best thing about this week has been reading Grandpa's Box. We are nearly finished and it has been such a lovely book. And he is making great progress with Rod amd Staff3. Finally his writing is getting easier for him .We made a fish symbol from salt dough instead of apple sauce .The only sauce we have here is lumpy and I didn't think that would work. I am interested to see others though.
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.co. ... w.html?m=1

And finally LHTH week 2
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.co. ... 2.html?m=1

Hello!

We finished unit 21 of Beyond this week (3/16-3/20). I have two kids combined: Brendon, my 8 year old 3rd grader and Summer, my 6 year old 1st grader.

We read about the French Pioneers settling Detroit. The clay canoe art project was a big hit!

Both kids got really into the memory verse this week since the song was such a match. (Philippians 4:8) They even listened to it while they were falling asleep for the night.

My daughter had a grumpy mood hit at one point and she missed the science experiment we did about types of bird beaks. But Brendon and my youngest (3yo) enjoyed the experiment thoroughly!

Both kids enjoyed drawing clouds on blue paper with chalk. We had fun looking at clouds the next day in the sky including an incredible sunset with lots of cirro-cumulus clouds!

They also had an assignment to write an encouraging note (or make a phone call) to someone and share the verse Phil. 4:13. I'm glad we did that! Summer chose to write a card to Daddy. Brendon chose to write a card to our friend whose brother just died. It was time well spent writing those cards, and I would have not thought to do it!

It has been a few weeks since I did an update. The loss of my mom caused things to slow down some, but we are back so here is our week in review http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2015/03 ... -2015.html

LynnH I am so sorry to hear about your mom! My prayers are with you and all her loved ones. That would mess up anyone's schedule.

We are back kind of into the swing of things, with my oldest starting CTC at the beginning of March (but we are just finishing unit 2 as we did 1/2 speed), and my 2nd born in Bigger and my 3rd in LHFHG. This week we did part of Unit 2 of CTC, Unit 11 of Bigger, and Unit 17 of LHFHG.

CTC is great but it is still running long. We just switched from 1/2 speed to full speed and she is generally done around 3:00 each day. Part of this is her lack of staying on task, and part is still the learning curve. She often doesn't know what to do, or I haven't printed out a sheet for her to finish, or something like that. She seems to like it, but the length of the days is discouraging for both of us right now. We keep plugging away and do it, but hopefully things will get into more of a good routine here in the next few weeks. She also had a lot of adjusting to do since she had a much lighter school load from the beginning of December to the beginning of March. That's 3 months of very light school and then back to a full load. I have never taken that long off before, and while she wasn't completely off, she was enjoying having more time to pursue her own interests, though I did have her doing housework and cooking and things like that. She likes the watercolor projects, but I am struggling with 1) not knowing myself how to use the tube watercolors and what's expected and 2) perfectionism, or some kind of balance between my interpretation of the directions and letting her have freedom of expression. I know that part of all of these boxes is her learning how to follow detailed directions so I am trying to emphasize that she needs to do a good job of that. There are a lot of instructions to follow since she is doing so much more of it independently now. I'm sure I don't always check on her like I should.

Bigger and LHFHG are like a pair of well worn, comfy slippers and it is nice to keep going with those. We had started back up with those in February sometime, and had done some in January before my 5th LO was born so there was much less of a break there and the girls both slipped back into them with ease. We have gotten better again about doing all the projects and making the most of those, because the kids love them and they are great learning opportunities. LHFHG is in Acts, which my DH is also reading to the kids before bed each night so we revisit those stories a lot. It makes for really good discussion, and she answers the questions in the Family Time Bible very well. My LHFHG daughter also did a really nice oral narration over Grandfather Frog today. She remembered a lot of details and described them well. In Bigger we are reading John Audubon and learning about Benjamin Franklin's inventions. I think she will remember Benjamin Franklin for sure, while there are some smaller stories we are reading that I'm sure she won't remember as specifically. Also the geography activities have been really helpful. I see her learning about the world and places around us, and how the seasons and weather work and it's so fun that she is gaining this knowledge at such a young age.

My 3YO and baby are a blessing and we are soaking in the time with them as much as possible. My son is talking more and more all the time, and boy does he have something to say! He talks about every little thing. And the baby is smiling and adorable, of course. We are so thankful for these days and for the blessings of our family.

Welcome back Melissa. I do hope you have been getting some sleep Glad to hear everyone is doing so well.

Bigger Hearts for HIs Glory:
The Godly character study in the Bible Study part of the plans in BHFHG is always so timely. This week we have been studying being 'industrious.' This is a toughie for Emmett. He has only a few chores to complete each day, and he has the habit of beginning a chore, stopping it in the middle to play with his beanie balz, and then forgetting to complete it. Talking about being 'industrious' has been such a help! Talking about the ant being industrious as opposed to being a sluggard in Proverbs and working on memorizing those verses this week has been timely. I find that having the Bible as a support system is incredibly important. We discussed how my dh and I view our dc as being a HUGE and NECESSARY part of our team we call FAMILY, and that if each family member doesn't do their part to help out, the whole thing falls apart. I told Emmett that we need him to do his chores, to pick up after himself, and to do the things that are asked of him because he is an important contributing member of the family. Our expecting much of him is a compliment to him because we think highly of him. I then told him about a tv show I saw where the parents had their young ds just sit on a chair in the middle of the room while the rest of the family worked on chores, house upkeep, etc., because they thought he was no help and would just get in the way. (Isn't that sad BTW?!? ) I asked Emmett if he would rather we viewed him that way and asked nothing of him because nothing could be expected of him. That really hit home with Emmett! He is beginning to realize that he is an important, needed person in this home, and that his contributions though they seem unimportant to him really are something we depend on and appreciate.

As a result of this Bible Study, Emmett began making all of our beds as a surprise in the morning. He did it all week, and it was such a nice surprise! He struggled with his regular chores though, which are not as flashy as they are routine. Taking out the garbages from all
the bathrooms and kitchen and consolidating them in one bag is not as fun as it is routine and expected. So, I enlisted my ds Riley's help, as this used to be his chore. So, now Riley sets the timer for 10 minutes, Emmett does his garbages and tries to 'beat the timer,' and then Riley checks his work. If he didn't do them all right, Emmett has a 5 minute time out in the corner. Then, he has another 5 minutes to finish. If this doesn't work, it's back to time out for 5 minutes, and I am to be told. They are getting into the routine of this, and it is helping Emmett to be more focused on his morning chores in an 'industrious' way. Emmett is learning to take pride in good hard work, though the 'call' of his Beanie Balz to be played with is ever-present. It helps that he earns $1 each week as an allowance, and he often saves this to put toward a new Beanie Balz purchase. I snapped a picture of Emmett's Bible verse he copied, but he apparently held up the wrong one. Ahh, well love and faithfulness are pretty important too.


In history, Emmett loves to add to his timeline and see it grow. This week we have read about Thomas Jefferson, and he has made many connections to the Storytime we read before entitled "George Rogers Clark." Riley is learning about some of the same people and events right now in RTR, and the boys are having some great discussions together about it. I love that they each are the 'stars' of their own age appropriate guides, and yet so much family sharing about learning takes place.


In Christ,
Julie

Resurrection to Reformation:
We are cruising through RTR with Riley now, as we are in the final 4 weeks of the guide. This is always such a great place to be. All of the hard work of the year comes to fruition, and everything is just firing on all pistons. Riley can do everything in RTR well now, and he is in a great rhythm with it. He often chooses to do some of his independent work for the next day during his quiet time in his room the night before. This lets him sleep in a little longer in the morning, as well as have his later afternoons and early evenings free. With sunshiny days headed our way, this is perfect timing.

Riley has been reading about Louis XIV's extravagant living and hunger to fight for more land, which both cost France dearly. I see more and more of a writing style being developed in Riley's written narrations, which is fun to see. His first line of of his written narration about his Louis XIV's reading from "Mystery of History" read... Louis XIV was an amazing and important man in the web of French history. A few other lines I enjoyed were... After two of these nasty revolts, Louis came back to Paris to rule with authority. and... Therefore, with money pouring in, he built a huge and extravagant palace that was longer than a quarter mile. Yet, because of the palace, he began to forget about the commoners, who were starving. Therefore, after a 72 year reign, he died leaving France poor and broken. This is such a growth period for Riley, especially in narrating, both in oral and written narrations. It is exciting to see it coming together!


For "Draw and Write Through History," Riley enjoyed drawing a musketeer. He learned that Musketeers were formed in 1622, and they bravely fought on foot in the infantry and on horse as dragoons. Their reputation gained them respect and entrance into court, as well as favor from royalty...


For Shakespeare, Riley read "Othello" from Tales from Shakespeare. I am so thankful for this introduction to Shakespeare. It doesn't go over the top and lay the heavy weight of lengthy follow-ups on his shoulders, but rather lets him enjoy the reading and then enjoy the follow-up without pressure, pressure, pressure. Most students view Shakespeare with dread, as the way he is studied is often stress-producing. I love that my dc already love and enjoy Shakespeare, and it is due to the way it is done in RTR. When I mentioned to Wyatt he'd probably be doing some Shakespeare in high school, he said he was looking forward to it. THAT is unusual. THAT is a blessing. THAT is due to RTR and the manner in which it introduces children to Shakespeare. Here Riley is with his lovely Shakespeare notebooking entry...


In Christ,
Julie

World History High School:
Wyatt has been learning to paint in the style of Marc Chagall for his Art Projects DVD project "Dreams of Joseph." Using tempera paint and painting in the kind of dreamy style of Chagall has been interesting for my logical, step-by-step oldest ds. He has really enjoyed learning different styles of art, as well as using different mediums this year. I mean to ask him his favorite when he is done with the study. I would guess from the amount of time he spent trying to touch up and get this painting to look just so, this one will be one he remembers but not his all-time favorite. I love how this art study is teaching Wyatt to appreciate art in a whole new way. He is in awe of these artists' work, and he is developing some opinions on which artists and which styles of art are his favorites.


In "Short Lessons in Art History," Wyatt has been studying Picasso's work. He studied "The Tragedy," "Still Life," and "Family of Saltimbanques." He then completed a word puzzle and writing project about Picasso. These assignments have been easy to correct, and they have been a good follow-up to the readings and studies of art.


Wyatt has been working largely independently in WH this year. He is doing such a good job! He has projects he has to plan out on his own, both for EIW and for Total Health. He also has had to plan out his math pages in Geometry, so that he has completed the book by the end of the year. He is about 1 month ahead in Geometry right now, so no worries there. The EIW writing projects have also gone well, and I have enjoyed reading his essays upon completion. "Total Health" offers a variety of projects that Wyatt gets to choose from throughout the year. He really enjoys this! He has to spread the work to complete the project over a set number of days, figure out the steps/process for completing the project, and then implement his plan. Carrie and I discussed the need for this skill to be taught prior to college, so she has included it in each HOD high school guide so far. I don't do anything for this except show up for the presentation, which has been fun. He is choosing another project this week. Should be fun!

In Christ,
Julie