heartofdakota.com

Ok Girls,

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!

Important Note: If you are linking us to your blog, please make sure it's not just a general link, but to your specific post of HOD. That way if someone reads through these a year from now they can find your share without needing to hunt!

Here's out week with Bigger.
http://wonderfilleddays.com/bigger-hear ... y-unit-19/

I have not posted an update in a long time. I will do a quick one as I have not had time to take photos of the kid's work lately.

Melody is doing great in RtR and completes about 7 boxes a day so we are done with a Unit in 6 days now. Written dictations are still hard for her. She struggles with the history one but does much better with the science one (as she loves science). We are almost complete with Unit 11.

Steven is loving Bigger most of the time. We just studied about his favorite person....George Washington. Half of his work is sloppy yet, but we are working on that! We are half way though Unit 13.

Clarence is doing well with his work. He sits much better when listening to stories (history and storytime). He still does not know his letters, so that is a struggle. He is doing well in math. He loves the workbook 'Going on Eagerly'. He is half way though Unit 14.

I plan to continue to school though out the summer as I would like the boys to be able to move up in the fall sometime (many times we do only 4 days of HOD in a week so that is slowing us down). Melody will move up whenever she completes the book...I suspect some time in Oct-Dec.

Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett continues to build his repertoire of Bible verses he had memorized. He likes to highlight them in his Bible, write them on his cards, and add them to his ring of index cards. He has gotten much faster at memorizing them, and the idea of adding hand motions has definitely helped him remember them better. We love to sing our Hymns for a Kid's Heart songs together right after breakfast too. It is especially fun when our church ends up singing one of them Emmett and I have been practicing!


Emmett and I read about the Gold Rush, and he especially enjoyed reading about Dame Shirley who went on a somewhat perilous five month journey to San Francisco with her husband in search of gold. All of the boys had such fun with the activity of staking claims, seeing what 'gold' was in each claim, 'working' to earn it, and then trading it in for pitifully expensive food that was quite sub-par! Wyatt and Riley were glad to join in on this activity, as food was involved.


Alphabetizing is NOT an easy skill! Emmett and I have been working on it in R & S English 2, and it even goes to alphabetizing by the second letter. He is really good at singing his ABCs now, and thought this has been a tough skill to learn, I am happy with the progress he is making!


Emmett also read about Samuel Morse and the Morse Code. He learned to write a message in Morse Code and to decipher it. He was very proud, as ironically, big brother Riley in RevtoRev was studying the same thing!


In science, big brother Wyatt helped Emmett make an airtight pouch for water. They had fun folding it and testing it out. It worked! Not a drop dripped out!


In Christ,
Julie

United States 1 High School:
Constitutional Literacy is a course that has Wyatt delving into various court decisions. He is often asked to research a topic and explain its verdict in light of what the Constitution says. He is starting to even be able to speak the ‘lingo’ of the court systems, and I can see this appeals to his strong sense of right and wrong, and of what is just. I think he could be a lawyer someday, though I imagine he’d never want to attend school that long. In reality, I think he’ll become a man who understands the Constitution well, who weighs carefully what is right and wrong, and who ultimately sees the Bible as the final ‘document’ to use to make decisions. Here is his latest written assignment…


In history, Wyatt finished out Unit 7 and did about half of Unit 8. His history notebook shows all of his hard work and is so visually appealing. I enjoyed reading his typed written narration as well. HOD teaches LA skills so well through the years, that it is now quite easy for Wyatt to sit down and write a solid written narration – hooray!


For Literature, Wyatt finished “The Prince and the Pauper” and completed his Literary Analysis Sheet on it. He understood it very well, and he enjoyed reading it. I’m glad that his love for reading is intact through high school – mine was almost destroyed when I was back in high school, and certainly in college. The Charlotte Mason approach as opposed to the textbook approach has been such a refreshing way to teach…

One of my favorite things to see is Wyatt simply reading and studying his Bible within the school day. This is a blessing! His Bible is special to him, and he sees it as a necessary resource for doing school as well as for living life. Because HOD has had him pull out his Bible for virtually every subject through the years, his Bible has really become his ‘own.’ I love this!


Homeschooling has much of it’s appeal in the fact that we are able to do it at ‘home.’ We love the ‘niceties’ this affords, and when one of our kittens is needing some love and attention on a cold wintry day, it gives Wyatt great joy to take a break from the heavier aspects of high school work to simply hold her for a bit. Turning on the fireplace, a cup of hot cocoa, a hug, a prayer, a playtime with a brother, a long outdoor sledding expedition in the middle of the day – these are a few of our favorite things right now.



In Christ,
Julie