heartofdakota.com

Hello HOD Homeschoolers,

What was YOUR week Like?

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Yay! Had a chance to write about our week again finally!!!!

http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspo ... ber-4.html

Little Hearts: Unit 33
Preparing Hearts: Unit 7 (FULL SPEED!!!!)
Creation to Christ: Unit 27

Here's our week.
http://wonderfilleddays.com/bigger-hear ... y-unit-12/

Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
In science this week, we learned about different types of owls and their wingspans. For one of our experiments, Emmett and I measured different lengths of wingspans for different owls. He couldn't believe there was an owl (the pygmy owl) with a wingspan of only 15 inches. He also couldn't believe there was an owl (the great horned owl) with a wingspan of 60 inches. For each owl we talked about, we measured its matching length of wingspan using yarn and a tape measure. His favorite part was the end where we measured his own 'wingspan!' He finished his lab assignment by drawing his procedure and writing his conclusion.


Emmett loved his One Small Square Science book so much, that he wasn't sure about moving on to "The Pioneer Sampler," but it turns out he loves that one just as much! Reading about how pioneers lived and seeing all of the neat illustrations just pulled him in. He especially loved the experiment he got to to with candles needing oxygen to burn. This was in response to reading about how careful pioneers had to be cooking near their open fires. Smothering flames with wet quilts and cleaning soot twice a year from the chimney helped, but fire was still always a present danger. The little 'soot' that could be seen on the plate after we used it to cover the candle flame and put it out was so exciting to Emmett that we had a fair amount of 'soot' on the plate when we were done (probably because he did the experiment multiple times just for fun ).

Reading about the hens and roosters was also fun for Emmett, especially as there are stories about pioneer children his age doing these chores. Eggs were an important commodity, and after the family had gone all winter without them, it was quite exciting when the hen finally laid an egg. I think Emmett would have liked the pudding they had for dessert too!


In History, Emmett and I have been reading about Thomas Jefferson being elected the 3rd President of the United States. I liked the stories we read about Jefferson, and how they showed different periods of his life. Emmett especially liked reading about Lewis and Clark's expedition of exploring the west. He liked how Jefferson enjoyed working alongside his friends, as well as being less formal so those he was close to would be comfortable around him. The patriotic 3D star Emmett traced, colored, cut, and put together was such fun for him! He was so proud he showed it to his brothers right when he was done!


In Christ,
Julie

Revival to Revolution:
Map Trek has Riley becoming quite adept at map reading and making skills! I really like how Geography in RevtoRev includes close-up maps Riley is making specific to events he just read about, but how it also has him referencing the globe, the world map, and the U.S. History Atlas. This gives him both the bird's eye view and the global view. This is so much more meaningful than the way I learned geography, which was simply memorizing places, being quizzed on them, and forgetting them. With no historical context, geography loses its greater meaning. I'm so glad that Riley has 'context' for the maps he is making! They mean more to him because he can picture what was happening there in history as he makes the maps...


For research, Riley uses "The Signers" book to research the signers of the Declaration of Independence each week. This week he researched John Morton and George Ross. The portrait cards help Riley put a face with each name. I like that he is able to pick and choose what he finds the most interesting about each signer, within the structure of the provided categories of occupations, facts, hardships, and how independence was furthered thanks to each signer. This makes the research personal, memorable, yet structured enough to hit upon the important connections we want him to make...


Reading primary source documents and discussing them together has been a higher level skill that has challenged Riley this year. He is learning how important it is to be aware of the context of the document - what was going on around the world at the time the document was written, who was writing the document and what their opinion of the event was, who the document was addressed to and what its purpose for being written was, and so on. All of this works to delve deeper into the underlying meaning and tone of each document...


Definitely a favorite of everyone this week was the history project that had Riley making hasty pudding! It was really good, especially with a dollop of whipped cream - mmmmm!


In Christ,
Julie

United States History 1 High School

We are settling into our new guide nicely, and we now have a new schedule tentatively mapped out for it. It is quite similar to the schedule we enjoyed with the previous World History guide, but we moved a few things around that we wanted to be sure to discuss/correct during our teacher block times together. One of the things I am most looking forward to discussing with Wyatt is Bob Schultz's "Everyday Battles." We loved "Boyhood and Beyond" and "Created for Work" by this author before, and I can tell we are going to love "Everyday Battles" too. Reading the introduction made us sad, as Bob passed away at a Homeschool Book Convention not long ago. His daughter published "Everyday Battles" from all of his notes, exactly as he'd written them. How I long for Bob to still be here passing on wisdom for how to raise my sons - but then the Father has the ultimate wisdom, and His plan is never wrong, so there was a purpose for Bob's passing. Wyatt's annotation next to the news of his passing was 'You will be greatly missed!' He will. But, his words live on and for that we are all thankful! My time with Wyatt in "Everyday Battles" will be in a special private time, that I will not rush through. I can tell. It's one of those things to pay attention to and devote real time to.

For Bible, Wyatt was glad to see another book by Joni Eareckson Tada and Bobbie Wolgemuth. The Hymns for a Kids' Heart series we used in HOD previously was a favorite, and this study of 12 hymns has a very grown-up feel to it that takes the study to a new level. Returning to "The Most Important Think You'll Ever Study" was also a welcome subject - Wyatt learned so much last year, and he is looking forward to the New Testament this year. His Prayer time "Preparing Your Heart for Prayer" gives great starters for each part of prayer as he reflects on what he wants to pray. His prayer journal is private and special to him, but I do have him 'flash' it for me once a week, just to see he's doing it. He decided to highlight his prayer starters each day, so he remembers to use each one. I thought that was a good idea!


Wyatt has already told me "The Robe" is probably going to be a favorite book of his. He is reading it for American Literature, and I can already tell from his oral and written narrations, it is going to impact his faith deeply. I want to read it too! I really like to see his annotations and go through the 'reflection' part together. Great discussions come from these plans!
One thing we came back to this year was the Book of Centuries, which is going to be such a neat compilation of his high school history studies...


Here are some pictures of the mapping and the written narrations too...


In Christ,
Julie