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!

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
I cannot believe we are nearing the last 4 weeks of PHFHG. This year has flown by! One thing that struck me is how much my ds has learned to memorize bigger quantities of material this year. The Bible memory work Wyatt has done this year has put my own Bible memory work to shame. He is already better at memorizing Scripture than I am - which makes me proud of him, and not so proud of myself. I think because HOD has had him memorizing more and more Scripture each year, and also because HOD has had him practicing getting more and more proficient at oral narrating, that his memorization skills have just gotten better and better. Looking ahead to college (if that's where God leads), I'm thrilled that HOD will continue to have him improving his memorization skills - I know that will help him so much for tests, etc.

This week was a hectic week, and there were several days that my ds ended up having to be on auto-pilot with the PHFHG plans. He did very well! He has become adept at using the manual himself on his "I" (Independent) boxes, and also for his parts of the "S" (Semi-independent) boxes. It was then easy for him to do the "T" (Teacher-directed) boxes as well. I do NOT want this to become the pattern, but it was a wonderful feeling knowing that school didn't come to a halt just because I had a crazy day or two.

Wyatt enjoyed his engraving project for history. He made a scene of David an Goliath. I love that he often chooses Biblical scenes to depict, even when the plans don't say it. The BIble is just that much a part of his day. I would have never dreamed of choosing a Biblical topic for my school projects as a child. I'm so glad his education doesn't leave God out in the cold - but instead, keeps Him close the heart at all times. It was a good week, and I can say that Wyatt is now able to do all that is asked of him in PHFHG. It's a good place to be as we're looking ahead to CTC next year. I've found if I just do the HOD guides as they are intended to be done, they do a great job of getting him ready for what is to come next. The picture is of Wyatt doing his science experiment. We are waiting on the results of it - but it is linked to Pasteur's research, and should produce some interesting mold on various slices of bread. My ds can't wait to check his results next week!

In Christ,
Julie

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
Riley cannot get enough of his "Stories of the Pilgrims" book in history. His favorite of this week's readings was the one about the 2 little Pilgrim girls that held up the pumpkin lanterns to scare away Indians on a warpath. He was impressed with their solution to that scary situation! I couldn't believe the parents left the little girls home alone overnight, and had them "tend the fire" (in an all WOOD cabin) as well. Children sure used to have more responsibility (in some things) than they do now.

In math, Riley enjoyed putting his black birds (chocolate chips) and brown birds (cereal pieces) on a fence, and acting out 1:1 correspondence, more/less, etc. with them. This made his Singapore workbook pages very easy for him, and of course he loved eating the "birds" when he was finished.

My favorite activity this week was when Riley acted out his retelling of our Storytime book - The Trumpet of the Swan. It was absolutely hilarious! He was really into it - very melodramatic, changing his voice, and doing wild actions as he retold the cob's flying to the store to return the money for the trumpet he'd taken, everyone arguing over the money bag, and my personal favorite - the ambulance (driven by my ds's stuffed cat) racing in as a woman from the town (a small stuffed puppy) shouted "SOMEONE GET AN AMBULANCE" over and over again. The ambulance then roared away with the cob (a parrot) in it. Of course, it added to the fun that my ds chose a KNEX model car with an actual motor in it to have them race away. Too cute!




It was another great week!
In Christ,
Julie

We had a wonderful week with Little Hands For His Glory week 27[only a few weeks left]
We learnt about Nancy Hart [Nathan loved this story and re told it to his sisters and his daddy] but the best activity this week was milking a cow .We had been learning about Cynthia's cow Free'n'equal.
.I love how much Stanley gets to do because we are homeschooling

Other blogs about our week
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.com ... -tree.html
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.com ... eting.html
I allowed Nathan his first EVER piece of gum after we made this display -we had been learning about Alexander Hamilton planting 13 gum trees


I think the highlight of our week was a trip to the American History Museum.We bought an annual pass.
http://stanleysmagicgarden.blogspot.com ... useum.html

Yikes! It was March the last time I shared about all our fun. I just have to pop in here with an abbreviated month-in-review. We're down to our last 5 weeks now...and you know, I'm going to be a little sad to say good-bye to Bigger and LHTH. We have had a great year, and made tons of great memories!! (I think maybe I like sharing here because I can come back and remember what we were learning. I know that I come back and steal great ideas from all of you. Georgette, Julie, I'll be here peeking at all the Preparing posts in July. )

Grant had great fun with his cattle drive across the prairie (aka dining room table). There were coyotes, hail storms, and other stampede-causing obstacles that sent those jelly bean cattle scattering! Grant's take on the cattle drive..."It's harder than it looks!"


Here is Grant's notebooking page about John Muir. We loved reading about his "botanizing" (one of Grant's favorite new words and passtimes). He wants to visit all the National Parks now.


Grant also really enjoyed drawing what he pictured from the poem The Things I Prize. I love that he gets to be creative on a regular basis - something I would not get done without help from the HOD guide! But if it's in the plans, we do it.


We're now well into The Wright Bothers adventures for history. Definitely inspiring! Actually, they've been so inspiring to me, too. Mother Wright was such an encouragement to her boys by answering all their MANY questions and letting Orv make a huge mess of the kitchen with all his "projects". (What if she had wanted more quietness and a clean kitchen?!? ) Here are some of our experiements with lift and air force.


Kathleen

I thought I'd start a new post about LHTH with Allison and Garret. We have been learning about Jesus and his miracles and parables over the last 4 weeks. Such great stuff! I love seeing them amazed with HIM and trusting him for things in their lives.

We talked about Jesus healing people. (And played Dr. with dolls and frogs. )


We talked about Jesus raising Lazarus and the sick girl from the dead. These were such special lessons to me as we had several opportunities to talk about people we love that have already died. My mom passed away after a struggle with cancer just a couple months after Garret was born. Neither Garret nor Allison have any real memories of her, and I love the chance to help them know who she was and how much she loved them and would have loved to see them grow up. The wonderful thing is that she is in heaven and we will see her again!!
They were intrigued with finding their heart beats...and exercising to make it beat faster.


Jesus feeding the 5000+. No matter how we divided our 5 pieces of bread, we still had 5.


Jesus walking on water and calming the storm. (I had a squeaky clean kitchen floor after this fun. )


We LOVED this craft for Jesus walking on the water. Alli and Garret had great fun with the little faces on thier fingers.


Being a "Good Samaritan" (and practicing a little coordination, too ).


When we read about the famer sowing his seed, we experimented with different objects to see what dropped and what glided. Here are our resluts.


The letter activities continue to be hits here at our house even as we near the end of the alphabet.


We're having fun putting together our color books, too.


26 weeks down, and I can definitely say that LHTH is THE BEST preschool curriculum I've ever seen! All of it is teaching my little ones about God, we're covering all the skills they'll need as they grow into older school work, and it's just so FUN!
Kathleen

I am so excited to be back to posting a week in review! With packing, moving, and getting settled it seems like we haven't done school in forever. This week we finished Unit 13 in LHTH. You can read about our week on my blog http://cherish-each-moment.blogspot.com ... it-13.html

Sam - Those gum trees looked great - I bet Nathan loved his first piece of gum. I remember the milking the cow activity after reading about Nancy Hart. In fact, Riley just brought that up this week. He got this faraway dreamy look and said, "I remember when I got to milk that cow like that Nancy gal when we did that red book (LHFHG) - I sure loved that." That was a surprise because I'm always just assuming those little ones won't remember much.

Kathleen - about Grant... looks like he's getting into that cattle drive, having fun and yet realizing - it IS harder than it looks. His notebooking on John Muir looked so neat, and his drawing that went with his poem was beautiful. He really is a blooming artist. This seems to be one of the talents God has blessed him with - I always love to see Grant's notebooking. I also remember being inspired by the Wright Brothers and thinking - I'm no Mother Wright - letting go of the neatness and order is something I can struggle with. Like you, I appreciated hearing that her patient answering of their many questions prompted them to be creative and imaginative; I SO hope my many, many answers to countless questions by my ds Riley results in that as well. It gives me hope, and a bit more patience.

Kathleen - about Allison and Garrett... I cannot believe how much Allison and Garrett are growing up! Their faces just look older - how quickly that happens. They made some very dedicated doctors, and I loved the pictures of them being farmers sowing their seeds in different ways. You have got a knack for clicking that camera at just the right time - too cute! I also am glad you had the chance to talk to your dc about your beloved mother. Those conversations are so important. They are a window into how even through sadness, as Christians, we can have hope and a will to go on. The promise of heaven is a great one - and the thought of seeing our loved ones again it what pulls us through losing them. I'm so glad you shared your heart about this with your dc. I agree - LHTH is a fantastic preschool program!

Stephanie - I'm so glad you are all moved and settled back into life's routine. Samuel did such a great job on all of his activities as he learned about David. I love the picture on your blog where he's holding up his craft of David in the field with his sheep - he's so proud of it! He did a good job of searching out those "K"'s. I love that activity because it is so simple and yet it teaches left to right directionality, a great precursor for reading. Our dc loved the big masking taped letters when we did LHTH too. It was fun to see them redoing that activity over and over later, just for fun, and I liked it taught them to "write" their letters without having to hold a pencil. It looks like Samuel's doing great!

In Christ,
Julie