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What was YOUR week Like?

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We started back with Bigger Hearts this week, and I am so glad! We have missed it! Here is our week, Unit 15 in Bigger:

http://myfullhandsandheart.blogspot.com ... r-his.html

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
This week we have been learning about the "Rough and Ready Andrew Jackson." What an interesting man to read about - a jack of all trades! Though I knew him best as a general and president, he also was a farmer, a lawyer, a storekeeper, a judge, a Congressman, and a senator! Though often in poor health, he pushed past that and became an incredibly strong military general and leader for our country. He also overcame poverty, and I have to think his pension for a fiery temper probably helped him be strong enough to become the man he did. Our Biblical character trait of "decisiveness" fit so well. Andrew Jackson was very decisive about what he believed, and fiercely loyal to his friends, family, and beliefs. HIs name "Old Hickory" showed how he was rough on the outside and tough on the inside. For Emmett's artistic expression, he made a had just like the one Andrew Jackson was pictured wearing in "A First Book in American History." Emmett wore it and marched around the house long after school was done.


One thing Emmett especially loves to do is bake! So when he read about the pioneers baking Johnnycakes, and he got to make them himself, he was thrilled! After reading all about the importance of corn to the pioneers, and how one of its uses was to be ground into cornmeal for baking, Emmett was ready to try his hand at them. They turned out so good! The boys all enjoyed eating them fresh out of the oven with butter and honey...


Emmett's timeline continues to grow, and his pictures are getting better and better!


Emmett's vocabulary cards and recipe box of alphabetized cards also continues to grow, and this is now an activity he can largely do independently! I love being 2/3 of the way into the guide!


Counting money, writing dollar amounts, and making change is becoming easier and easier for Emmett, as is cursive...


What a good week!

In Christ,
Julie

Revival to Revolution:
This was a short week of school, with Christmas and the New Year, so we only completed a few days of plans. This week Riley has been learning about Napoleon's rise to power and him crowing himself emperor. Learning about Napoleon as a young boy was interesting and shows that often boyish interests can be an indicator of manly pursuits. Napoleon even as a young boy loved to organize building snow forts on a grand scale, as well as to organize battles of which he was the general for both sides. For Riley's timeline, he had entries about Napoleon defending the Tuileries, fighting in Egypt, and crowing himself emperor. Unfortunately, Napoleon did not attribute his success to Whom it came from, which was ultimately God...


Rod & Staff English has been teaching Riley to take notes and organize them neatly in an outline. It is for writing skills such as this that I think R & S English is hands-down the best grammar program available! These writing skills taught within the context of grammar are used in cross curricular subjects, such as history and science. Being able to take notes and outline them well is a skill that I used repeatedly in college classes, and good notes and outline are what were often needed for me to be able to memorize the massive amounts of information I had to for quizzes and tests. I am so glad these skills are a planned part of English in HOD!


Riley continues to enjoy his State Study of the 50 states. It is full of interesting and witty stories, as well as filled with colorful cutouts that create a scrapbook-like final product. He always has something he has to share with me about what he has read about each state, and what he shares is always interesting.


Riley's signers' research has him reading information from "The Signers" and taking notes about each signer on the back of portrait cards. Here are his latest notes...


In Christ,
Julie

United States 1 High School:
In history, Wyatt has been reading about the Rhode Island and the Maryland colonies, as well as about Puritan life. He is really enjoying the book "America: The Last Best Hope" by William Bennett. This resource has a very living feel to it, and it is written in such a way that is memorable. Wyatt's "Topic Narration" includes 5 different topics from his readings, which he used Roman numerals to indicate. Then, behind each topic, he included the notes he wanted to share. Finally, he used his notes to read his narration aloud to me. He did such a nice job on this! I can already see improvement in this kind of narration since the start of this school year!


For Wyatt's Living Library reading, he is in the middle of "Anne Bradstreet: Pilgrim and Poet." He was surprised to read how young she was when she got married and moved away from her family. Our children have more time to grow up these days than they used to. He is enjoying this book. He likes Anne's poetry, and he commented on how much he prefers her style of rhyming as opposed to free verse. A member of Anne's family upon receiving her poetry took it to have it published unbeknownst to Anne. She therefore was unable to first edit it, as she might have had she known it was going to be published. However, she was honored by its publication. The double-entry format that Wyatt is using to respond to his Living Library readings is a favorite style of assessment this year. In the first column, Wyatt copies a favorite passage or quote from his reading, and then in the second column he writes his reaction using contextual information and personal comments. Wyatt likes to write the first column in cursive, his way of showing he finds it to be 'special,' and his second column in print. He likes being able to choose what struck him personally to journal upon, and he also likes being able to share his own opinions and reactions to his selection...


"The Robe" is definitely going to be one of Wyatt's all-time favorite books he has read. He is reading it for his American Literature course. I like the fact that he often is asked to look up passages in his Bible as he does the "Reflect" portion of the assessment. His Literature Journal is a joy for me to read, and it is a window not only into his understanding of the book, but also into his own personal worldview...


Another favorite for both of us this year is the Bob Schultz book "Everyday Battles." We are really enjoying going through this book together! This week's chapter was on confrontation, and it has come at a timely moment. Wyatt reads and annotates the chapter first, and then I do the same right before we meet to discuss it. Prior to discussing it, Wyatt always likes to read my written annotations first. It has become kind of a neat way for us to communicate our inner thoughts about some tough topics.


In Christ,
Julie

I thought I was probably the only one who did school last week.

Welcome back Megan! We're on the same week so it was fun seeing what you did.

http://wonderfilleddays.com/bigger-hear ... y-unit-15/