heartofdakota.com

Ok Ladies,

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!

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
This week we studied Rome Rising and Greece Falling. I love how the PHFHG plans keep Christ at the center always! At a time when it seemed bleak for Christians, God was still at work having roads, aqueducts, laws, culture, art, etc. being built. 'All roads lead to Rome' also meant practical ways for the Good News to be spread. I am hopeful for our country that the same kind of spreading of the Good News can take place amidst what seems like dark times for Christians! Our family is in constant prayer for our country, our country's president, and our country's leaders. What a tough job they all have ahead of them, but then with God, truly nothing is impossible!!! Emmett and I started a new story time book, Fountain of Life. It is wonderful! Emmett is flabbergasted that the spiritual leaders of that time met Jesus, saw His miracles, heard Him speaking, and still didn't believe - but instead plotted to kill Him! He is so bothered by it. As I am reading, he'll often say - "Oh come on! How can they think that about Jesus? That is so sad, mom! Why would they want to do that to Jesus?" It is sad. And it is still going on today. Many people have 'religion', but they don't have Jesus. Oh that Jesus would open the hearts of those lost and weary souls to His love and hope! Oh that we may be His tools in some small way to help do so!

Emmett is loving his science experiments. He often dons his 'man' apron (he won't wear mine ) to get into his science mode. He is often humming a tune and happily mixing this or that, concocting his experiments like a 'real scientist' would. What joy to see my happy little boy loving school!!!


Dragons of the Deep is Emmett's DITHOR nonfiction genre book. He love to pour over the pictures and is finding the reading so interesting!


Emmet enjoyed making his star, painting it, and writing his Bible verse on the back...


He is getting better at finding places we are studying on the globe (he would say his crab helps him do better ). He also is grasping hemispheres, Prime Meridian, longitude, latitude, etc. well..


In Christ,
Julie

Missions to Modern Marvels:
Riley studied Pearl Harbor, the Flying Scotsman, and Watchman Nee this week in school. I really enjoy hearing his oral narrations these days, as this is a topic he is passionate about. One of his favorite board games to play with his brothers and nephews is Axis and Allies. WWII is also a topic he loves to free read about, and he's always been into airplanes. He has a good grasp of what led up to WWII, what caused the U.S. to get involved, and what countries were on each side and why. Roosevelt's speech we read and discussed for our Socratic discussion in Worthy Words was especially interesting. He definitely got right to the point, as he asked Congress to declare war on Japan, and his explanation of Pearl Harbor being bombed as the Japanese were meeting with the U.S. vowing peaceable times was especially disheartening. Hearing Winston Churchill's speech online was powerful! Reading about the courage of Eric Liddell, Watchman Nee, and Gladys Alyward as missionaries/spokesmen for Christ was all so inspirational! Again, we can see God's hand moving in history looking back at a time when things seemed hopeless. We also began reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his involvement as a Christian in the resistance movement to overthrow Hitler. What brave souls the Lord called into action!!! I'd not want Riley to learn about WWII in any other way. Can you imagine studying it in a dry textbook? Can you imagine not learning about any of the amazing heroic acts of Christians alongside it? How hopeless it would be! And what a small piece of the big picture. I am so thankful for MTMM and how everything is woven together with outstanding literature that makes the events, the people, and the times come alive! But I'm most thankful Christ is at the center of it all!

Here you can see Riley's note booking as well as the 'swamp' in our backyard from warm weather after a heavy snowfall!


At a time when we have just elected our new U.S. President, how exciting Riley is doing MTMM's President Study! He is really enjoying this!


In Christ,
Julie

U.S. History I High School:
We had something exciting happen this week! We watched the inauguration of President Trump together as a family, and while we were watching, one of the men at the podium began to read a letter. It was the very letter Wyatt had just read, right before we began watching the inauguration, in his history book Great Letters in American History!!! What are the chances of that?!? He ran and got it and began reading it along with the man at the podium. It was the letter of a soldier to his love, Sarah, written right before he gave his life for our country. It just brought tears to my eyes! God plans to be part of our homeschooling at the most unexpected moments that bring me as a homeschool mom the greatest of joys! We stood and sang the national anthem, hands over our hearts, and prayed along with all those that prayed for our country, for its leaders, and for our new President. In these tumultuous times, we know Who chose the President, Who chooses every President for His good and faithful plan to be worked according to His purpose. And we pray, pray, pray for America.


I am so enjoying hearing Wyatt give his oral narrations and read his written narrations! Charlotte Mason was on to something amazing with the thought to use narrations for assessments!!! It has been so exciting to see Wyatt grow into a good narrator with his own style these past many years under HOD's tutelage. Improvements seemed to happen a little at a time, but the end result has been amazing!!!


Studying Government and Constitutional Literacy are such timely courses for Wyatt to be taking right now! At a time where the meaning of the Constitution and how it should be carried out is under constant scrutiny, these courses could not have come at a better time. Wyatt is incredibly interested in these studies, and he looks forward to learning more about them each day.


Wyatt's mapping skills that he is learning alongside his history readings help bring history more into focus geographically and show how America has overcome much division in the past and can hopefully overcome it in the future...


In Christ,
Julie

We are just finishing up our study of WWII in MtMM. I agree with you Julie that seeing God's hand during a time that felt so hopeless was amazing to read about. We have loved hearing the history as told through the stories of so many great and brave believers. Truly, this is the way history comes alive. I'm so thankful we are learning it in this way too! We are also loving our study of Greece! I really appreciate the spines and how it all ties together so beautifully. Here is a peek into our weeks in CtC and MtMM.

CtC Unit 20
http://www.monarchroom.com/2017/01/hear ... it-20.html

MtMM Unit 20
http://www.monarchroom.com/2017/01/hear ... it-20.html

I've been doing a much better job at blogging since November, I just forget to post here!

http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspo ... 16-20.html

Beyond - Unit 28
CTC - Unit 1
Res to Ref - Unit 20