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Ok Girls,

What was YOUR week Like?

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WHEW! What a whirlwind it is around here - with Thanksgiving and Christmas around the corner, life is sure busy! Guess how many gifts I've bought for Christmas? ZERO . Praise the Lord for HOD - that is the one thing I feel like I am completely getting done around here. Well, this week gives us cause for celebration - with a touch of sadness. My little Riley has just completed LHFHG, so I'm celebrating the joy of his completing it and finishing strong, but I'm also a tad sad because this means he's mature enough to do BLHFHG. Wasn't it just yesterday we were doing LHTH?!? BLHFHG is a wonderful program though, so I'm excited to begin it as well - what a pile of mixed emotions I am.

LHFHG:
Very fittingly, this is my favorite assignment of Riley's this week. He had to explain what he thought he might do when he grew up. This was based on his History and Storytime readings. He chose to work the same place as my dh - how precious is that?



PHFHG:
This was so much fun - we studied schytales and how they were used as a means to pass on military secrets. My dh even got in on the fun and had to decipher the secret message on the rolling pin. I can envision this becoming a staple of our boys' playtime.


Here's an experiment we did that was so fun, and really helped my son to better visualize and learn the parts of a cell and their functions. We made a giant-sized replica of the cell, with cornstarch/water (cell membrane), a marble (nucleus), dots (mitochondria), and macaroni noodles (vacuoles). As always, the PHFHG guide had other ideas if you don't have those particular things on hand. He was so proud of his lab report, and he saved it to show my dh right when he walked through the door.




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In Christ,
Julie

What a week!! My step-daughter did not have school on Monday, so even though my dd wanted to do school she was a bit distracted by having her sister at home. The next day was much better! I borrowed a Veteran's Day book from the library and we read through it and a had a moment of silence, at 11am, to commemorate the day. Dina then painted a picture of poppies in remembrance.

For the first time ever we SKIPPED a day! I couldn't believe I let that happen. Thursday was a beautiful day here and we spent the day at the park and then at the library. By the time we got home all bets were off for getting school done. Believe it or not, we survived. I guess we may have to skip days once in a while, it was fun!

We were able to finish the unit up, because on Monday I accidently went through the entire left hand side of day four instead of day one. OOOPPPS! So we then went ahead and did day one's plans and I figured that on day four we would just repeat the lesson , but instead we played hooky! I didn't plan on playing hooky, but I think God had that planned for us.

In math we were learning the number words, which Dina pretty much nailed on the first day. She really seemed to like this week's math and looked forward to it everyday. The rhyme this week was also a BIG hit, she did it at least three times everyday.

my3sons: How bittersweet to have your little one moving up! It makes our hearts glad to see our little ones growing and learning but also sad to know that they won't be little forever.

We had a great week finishing up PHFHG unit 11. We enjoyed learning about King Ahab & Elijah. I really love the way Grandpa's Box explains the Bible. The stories that we have read before really come alive with the neat details from GB!
My girls were really excited to do our science experiment. I wish I had white store bought bread though. I wasn't about to use any good pieces(I used the ends next to the heel)!! My homemade bread wasn't soft enough! It still came out ok & we had a blast. They want to do it again with Wonder bread! lol!
Here is a quick review in pics!

our "soft earth"bread with our "fossils"-leaf penny paperclip & a key


dd11 pressing down to see what will fossilize!


sorry the pic is blurry! The paperclip came out the best & the key but that pic didn't come out at all...


this was last weeks experiment! They liked making this cell. Loved your son's Julie!

11dd's Phoenician merchant ship!


8dd's Phoenician merchant ship...they thought this was too hard at first but I told them to relax & remember that it is not supposed to look exactly like the book! They really were happy with how it came out & NO tracing!!

Zeke's baby Moses from LHTH! Unit 5


This was Zeke's letter last week, unit 4....we are making an F today....

Ladies,

I loved the peek inside your weeks! My3sons, I cannot believe your little Riley is done with LHFHG! Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that he was doing LHTH! It was also so neat to see Wyatt's cell for PHFHG. My little Shaw will be looking forward to doing that one coming up soon.

funkmama71,
I am jealous of your beautiful weather and your park day! It has been rainy, wet, and cold here!

gracelikerain,
Your kiddos' pictures of the Phoenician ship turned out SO well. It was a VERY hard one to draw! It's exciting that your sweeties did it without tracing too! Your pictures from the fossil activity and the cell were fun to see too. Looking at the pictures and comments in the weekly check-in always reminds me that before our HOD guides, hands-on activities at my house were very hit and miss (and more miss than hit)! I need the open-and-go plans in the HOD guides to help me get those hands-on types of things done.

Blessings,
Carrie

This week in LHFHG, Greyson's favorite activity was putting raisins in a glass of water (along with baking soda and vinegar) and watching them rise and fall. This went along with the story of Jesus rising up into the air to return to heaven. Greyson also enjoyed making a red, orange, and yellow construction paper fire, which was to be the Holy Spirit. He had to hold it over his head and make a blowing sound whenever I named something that has an eternal Spirit. I could tell Greyson was really thinking about the difference between man and the rest of God's creation.

Greyson has really come a L-O-N-G way as a listener when we read-aloud. Now that we are on week 18 of LHFHG, he can almost always answer the questions and is MUCH better at retelling. We are enjoying reading about Grandfather Frog's stubborness as he goes out to see the Big World. I love the way the Thornton Burgess books bring up character traits that kiddos often show. It is very convicting to my kiddos to recognize some of those same traits in themselves (and to see the consequences from that kind of behavior)!

Greyson is finally starting to come along with his fine motor skills. He's getting better at forming his letters and writing words. He is also really coming along as a reader, especially now that I have made sure I am consistent with his phonics instruction every day! I am thrilled to say that Greyson loves his school day and that he never complains when it's time for his lessons. My favorite time of day is when we sing our memory verse with the Hide 'Em in Your Heart CD. I love hearing his sweet little singing voice.

This week in PHFHG, Shaw finished drawing his cactus desert scene for science. He was so pleased with the way it turned out, and so was I. He also loved testing out how the design of a seed helps it travel. He is getting much better at following the directions in the PHFHG for science, so now his science time is VERY independent.

Shaw is very private about his quiet time with the Lord, which is scheduled in PHFHG once each week to do on his own. I love to hear him singing and praising Jesus with the Lead Me to the Rock CD. I even catch myself singing the songs throughout the day.

For DITHR this week, Shaw finished recording his radio drama to end the Mystery genre. He got really creative and added classical music in the background to match the mood of the story. He used many different voices and sound effects too. My little Greyson especially loves listening to anything recorded by his big brothers!

In PHFHG, Shaw is also really enjoying Grandpa's Box and the way the Bible stories are told. He is making so many connections among the stories in the Bible. It is a joy to hear his narrations and to see his oral narration skills transferring to his written narrations. The two skills really build upon one another, and after years of orally narrating, the written narrations just flow.

I just wanted to mention that if your kiddos are struggling with either oral or written narrations, it really takes time to develop these skills, but it is SO worth it. So, I'm encouraging you to keep going with the plans that teach those skills in each of our guides. It is a skill your kiddos will use over and over throughout life... as they retell a book they've read, a movie they've seen, a phone conversation they've had, a Bible-study session they've attended, a sermon they have heard, a meeting they've had at work, etc. It is a real-life skill that will come to their aid on a daily basis. It is a way of filing information in the mind to recapture and express later.

Blessings,
Carrie

Hi Sweet Girls,

Oh how I am enjoying sitting her tonight reading through your week in reviews. I have missed my HOD family. I had two major events that required us to go into what I now am officially calling our, "barebones mode". Math!

1- Annual homeschool support group tea. We had just under a hundred moms sign up! It was one of my favorite meetings of the year because I was able to sit and talk with the moms. We shared what were thankful for and talked about homeschooling, marriage, the Lord, etc..,

2- I turned 40! We had a week of festivities! You'll have to visit my blog to catch up, LOL!

Julie, how bittersweet that your little one is moving up! I loved how your little one wants to be just like his daddy when he grows up. (((Mama smile))) Your cell was AWESOME!

Funkmomma, good for you for going to the library and park! We don't want to make that such a habit that we're not responsible, but those occassional moments are exactly why we homeschool.

Georgette, I loved your pics of your "soft earth bread". Great fossils

Carrie, I can't wait to do the raisin project. I know my boys would LOVE that! I also have noticed my boys all becoming better listeners.