heartofdakota.com

Beyond Unit 9


I love this picture. It shows why HOD is the perfect program for our family. My second born son participates in Beyond by helping me co-teach the little boys. Because he has worked so hard on learning to read this is really his first time being immersed for a whole year in one particular study of history. I have to tell you it's almost more fun teaching to the older because he takes what he's learning and really runs with it. The discussions we are having really fill my cup and warm my heart. God is so good!

We are doing unit 9 over two weeks. This week I have Dr Appointments and my husband was off on Monday so it threw us. I blogged our full experience in complete detail. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MamaMary/598062/

This week was a good week...we got 4 full days of work done. That doesn't mean we finished 4 days of Bigger...rather, we put in the 'required' amount of hours for us and I've decided to let that be enough. We will get to the end in due time, and I think it is best if I relax a bit and not be a "slave to my guide". For me, this is BIG, because I am very much a 'follow the plan' kind of person, and it's hard for me not to 'finish'. So, I'm excited, and I know God will bless us in our efforts...we will still work diligently each day, just at a little slower pace.

This week, we started reading about Seabiscuit in Come On! Seabiscuit and the pilgrims in Almost Home (extension pack). We also completed our page for Invertebrates/Vertebrates. The kids have really enjoyed reading about, drawing, and coloring the different animals in each category. We are also having fun learning about the various explorers in our extra(extension pack) history reading for Bigger. Miles Standish was the one for today. We continue to grow and learn with our Bible study and memory verses, and enjoyed learning O For a Thousand Tongues this week. I've loved hearing all my kids sing and hum Holy, Holy, Holy! over the last several weeks, but I'm happy to add a new tune as well. Our poetry is always fun, and the kids like to try using their best handwriting while copying the poem each day.

We started Igniting Your Writing this week with my ds 10. We did one whole lesson this week, taking 3 days to work on it, and I feel my son did a great job. His story ended up being very silly, which the manual said was okay, and he had fun with it! It was not a chore for him (at least not that he voiced) and he really learned something. I'm very excited about that, because we've tried writing before and it was not a favorite activity. Logan was proud of his writing, and actually brought it to show Dad when he got home today. I'm looking forward to doing the next lesson!

That's about it for our week. We had 2 partial days out of the house again...had to show the house again, and then dentist appts. for myself and all the kids today, so I feel we got quite a bit done. We also worked on a bit of co-op 'homework' so I feel we accomplished a lot. I'm looking forward to 'hearing' how everyone else's week went.

We had a great week with LHTH!

My daughter made the art project of Joseph's brothers not recognizing him.
(...and I love how she drew the cup in Benjamin's sack!)



Dd is really loving LHTH - especially the rhymes/fingerplays!

We finished unit 5 & started on unit 6 in Preparing this week. Luke was really glad to get back to the "Grandpa's Box" book. He said he missed it and doesn't want to take any more breaks! We're both enjoying Tirzah.

You can see our week here: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wdworkman/

For the last couple of written narration days, I've let Luke type instead of write his paper. What a difference! Instead of a looong struggle & frustration, it was done in a matter of minutes with very little help from me. I did write out the sentences he narrated to me on a white board, but then he went to the computer by himself and came back with a printed paper (no errors) in a matter of minutes. I've been debating for several years about whether his dyslexic & dysgraphic tendencies were something that he would outgrow. Now, at 10 yo, he seems to have overcome most of the dyslexia symptoms, but he's still displaying every dysgraphia symptom on the list! Sometimes it actually seems to be getting worse. (That may just be because he's moving on to a harder level of schoolwork in other subjects while his writing isn't keeping up.) I ordered a copy of Brain Integration Therapy Manual today to see if that helps. Has anyone had experience with this book?

I'm so grateful that HOD allows him to move on in history, science, etc. in other ways. Six weeks into school he's still happy and learning. I know that a workbook type curriculum would frustrate him to the point of tears everyday!

Here is a link our week in review on my blog.

Gina

http://beandipblog.blogspot.com/2008/10 ... eview.html

We had another great week. Learning so much! This time I was sick though! It finally caught up with me But even with me sick we got all our work done! Then on Thursday my oldest baby turned 11! She is really growing up into such a lovely girl. We take a vacation day for birhdays. We went to a local farm & had a blast! Thankfully, I felt better by then.

We finished up unit 5 in Preparing. The girls love doing the drawings & had fun with the sarcophagus. Sometimes they trace it & sometimes they follow the guide. Depends how hard it looks! Either way they are learning so much & love to look over their work each week. I see how good it makes them feel & that is so nice. Their cartouches came out nice & we will paint them tomorrow. Oh & we finally made our cave art paintings & I used Arizona Ice tea. So I thought that it should be a darker brown so, I thought hmmm soy sauce! Well, it didn't do anything but make them stink like soy sauce so don't try it! LOL! They came out nice & I am still waiting for dh to tell me how to post my pics!
Loving, Tirzah. We loved the 5,000 year old Puzzle too!
Thanks, Carrie for such great book selections!

Looking forward to next week!
Love HOD!

Oh Georgette, I can't wait to see your pics. I loved what you said about still getting school done, even though your sick. HOD really makes everything doable.

Gina, how cool that we are together! I did week 9 part one because of our schedule this week and will do part two next week. So we will be on the same unit. If you didn't live across the country we could get together and do the crafts

Janet, I so enjoy your blog. Your Luke sounds like such a good boy. You do such a wonderful job homeschooling him. Can I make one little suggestion? Would you give us specific links to your blog, instead of the general link? If I want to go back and check out a specific week or unit you guys did I have to dig through your whole blog. (which I don't mind because I love your blog) But I am finding that when I know someone is doing a program ahead of me I look forward next year to going to viewing your pics/comments as I do my planning.

Alright ladies, I'm late to the weekly check-in, but we have our first full week back under our belt! My little Greyson has just turned 6 now and is working full-time in Little Hearts. He did it at half-speed last year. This year he is ready for all of it and feels like such a big boy! I am also ready to work daily to get him reading well. I dabbled in teaching him to read last year, so he can read the first 2 levels of Bob books, but I need to get serious now and get him through the rest of his phonics and reading more steadily.

Greyson comes down in the morning asking what his "project" in LHFHG will be for the day. He loves anything movement or hands-on. One of his favorites this week was the rhyme "This is My Son". He loved to say the whispered lines. Greyson also enjoyed painting the water, dripping food coloring on it to look like wine, and then seeing that it really did NOT turn to wine (as only Jesus can do that miracle). We also made a fish with gills and fished with a towel net like Peter, and experimented with water to see what shape it takes in various containers. We talked about Jesus being the living water.

It was a review week for our Bible verses, and I was surprised how many Greyson remembered from last year. He was excited to be back to reading the Bible stories from the Family-Time Bible too.

Shaw began Preparing Hearts for His Glory, so this was a training week, on how to follow directions and how to do the "new" level of activities required in Preparing. We had a good week, finding that the skills in Bigger Hearts really helped him to jump into Preparing Hearts. Shaw especially enjoyed the research questions and looking for the answers. We researched what a coat of arms is this week, and then researched some of the various flood stories retold around the world. Shaw loved applying the research to his history project and making his shield of faith.

He is adoring Grandpa's Box and doesn't want to stop reading. Although, he is equally loving Life in the Great Ice Age that we started in Unit 2. His favorite activity right now is the sketching for Draw and Write Through History. He really enjoys sketching ever since doing the bird sketches in Bigger Hearts for John Audubon in science last year!

I am thankful to be doing the Psalm study with him. I actually teared up a couple of times while we were memorizing Psalm 1:1-2 (and I'm not one who cries easily)! It is wonderful to sing and learn the verses along with him!

For Drawn into the Heart, we began with mystery. Shaw is really getting into trying to solve the mystery this year, instead of just reading it. He is getting SO much older (and writing in cursive too)! It's hard to believe.

My oldest son, Cole, had a great start to his year as well. He is busy reading and testing the history readings and extension pack readings for our new Ancients guide. I have already had some wonderful written narrations from him on the content, and he says he's enjoying the readings, which is a great sign!

Anyway, I'm off to plan. Saturdays are wonderful days to really dig into planning for our new guide. I'm brainstorming the science today.

Blessings,
Carrie

Oh Carrie,

I love reading your updates. You are not just our author, but a dedicated homeschooling Mama as well. I was waiting to see what you would share about Cole with the new program. My favorite part of HOD when we were doing Bigger was science. Your Greyson and my Jacob are the same age. I love 6. They are so full of excitement about school and learning and the look on their face when they get it, melts my heart every time. Thank you everyone for your shares.

Hi Ladies!
It is so fun to read about everyone's week!

Here is a look at our week:
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/pazzaacademy/600413/

Have a great week everyone!!
Laurie

I am way behind on posting here! I'm going to blame it on my dh because he took my camera on a 3-wheeler trip with the boys last week! O.k. , quick updates:

Preparing Hearts: These first 2 pics show my ds making his ancient map and putting in the Great Wall of Ice. He LOVED doing this, and I loved that he could do it all on his own, and I could just clap, and oooooh, and ahhhhh at the end when he showed me. Bigger... really did prepare him to do Preparing...



LHFHG: Here my little guy is showing his vest he made for history. We forgot to fringe the bottom, I remember now. It still turned out pretty great - he is my artsy ds who adores to paint!


LHFHG: Here my ds is showing off his Monticello creation - all red, of course! Notice Thomas Jefferson hanging out on the roof, enjoying his trees below.


LHFHG: Here is my ds pointing out his "gum" trees he made. He kept saying, "I'm Alexander Hamilton, mom. I am VERY busy planting my gum trees today."

Julie, I LOVE your update and your pictures! Your boys are so cute

I know I'm maga-late here, but I really had a very enjoyable week and I'd love to share it.

Last week my little 2 loved learning about Joseph. My 4 yo and I had some great discussions about getting along with brothers. They LOVED painting their beautiful "coats" on papertowels.

Grandpa joined us for lunch the day we made these, so they were able to sufficiently show them off. Garret explained that lines were too hard for him, so he just did dots. (He has the cutest little shoulder shrug that he does when he explains things right now. It was fun to see him explain this. )

Tape Day was a hit as usual. Our pillows didn't slide well on carpet so I bounced them around the letters, which they thought was great! (Whew! It was a workout for me though!)

Allison loves to find the letters on the hide & seek page. (Garret just likes using the scented markers. )


Meanwhile, Grant was hanging out and doing Bigger...


Our favorite project was creating a picture to show what we imagined while reading our poem Each in His Own Tongue. This project did a great job explaining imagery! Grant's imagination is always very vivid, and while he hasn't always enjoyed artsy things he's really started to, and LOVED this project. We used watercolor crayons, and the pictures turned out beautifully.

(Grant's is on the left, and mine is on the right. It looked like too much fun not to join in.)


Our favorite activity for the week was the jumping game! We learned that William Penn made a lasting peace treaty with the Indians in Pennsylvania. (Grant decided he'd try to make a "peace treaty" with Allison... She wasn't interested. Honestly they get along very well most of the time. He just thought it sounded like a good idea. ) Anyway, William Penn went to visit the Indians once while they were having a jumping contest which he joined and won. We ALL had a great jumping contest in the living room. (We let Dad do it at lunch when he came home.)


Well, that's the highlights of our week. I LOVE reading what everyone else did. It's so much fun to share the journey.
Kathleen