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!

Creation to Christ:
We are enjoying CTC so much, and I am thrilled with the growth my ds is making this year. He has never been one to enjoy drawing very much, which I was so pleased with his Draw and Write picture of a Greek soldier this week:


He did it totally on his own and couldn't wait to show it to me. Draw and Write has such clear step-by-step directions, that it is literally a drawing class in itself. I'm so glad it will be a part of the next HOD guide as well.

For DITHOR this week, he worked on his project, which was a character mobile of Buffalo Bill. I'd been talking to my sister about how she gets her dc to make these incredible projects in their free time, and how they even know how to do those projects, and she told me that it was pretty much all due to DITHOR and the projects they've done there. She said she really takes her time and shows them how to do these projects well, and that they then repeat those things they've learned in their own projects. I don't know why I hadn't had this thought before, but I hadn't.

So, this week, I decided I'd really show Wyatt how to draw a person well from top to bottom, as well as how to outline, shade, and color well. I am by no means an artist myself, but I do have a very basic understanding of these things, and I have not really ever sat down and showed him how to go about this. He did ALL of this on his own, with me modeling steps on marker board or on typing paper. He was so excited by the results, and I am too. Here are a few pictures of Buffalo Bill:


Wyatt has gotten his last 5 dictation passages right in a row. We talked awhile about how to study for dictation earlier because he had begun to miss a bunch in a row. That how to study talk really paid off! He also finished his Singapore Math 3B this week. He got an "A-" on the final review, so I was very happy with that. He will be starting 4A on Monday and can't wait!

I hope you had a great week, and can't wait to hear about it here!
In Christ,
Julie

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
Riley is 1 week from being done with Beyond - where DID the time go?!? He has grown so much since we began Beyond half-speed over a year ago. He started off only being able to copy 1 line of poetry a day, and now he's happily copying the entire poem in 2 days, and taking the next 2 days to decorate it:


For anyone just beginning Beyond, I would encourage you to do the poetry copywork from the start, even if it is just one line a day. It is excellent training for the copywork to come in Bigger Hearts. It also is a wonderful way to have dc copying quality material as CM advocated.

Riley loved making his lima bean seed along with its parts out of playdough:


I cannot believe the growth Riley has had in his spelling with CM style lessons. This week he had to do the days of the week and the seasons ("autumn" included), and he had them all down the first day. He even alphabetized them and did well with that:


We have enjoyed reading about the California Trail in history, and here he is making a playdough house replica of the sod house (little brother had to help ):


One of Riley's favorite projects this week was the "He's got the whole world in His hands":


We are sad to be finishing Beyond, but excited to begin Bigger Hearts in a week! We'll start it half-speed and take it from there.

In Christ,
Julie

Little Hands to Heaven:
Emmett learned the letter and sound for "E" this week. He has started to love to glue! He will glue anything and everything.


He plays on the masking taped "E" long after we do the activity with it, and then he loves ripping up the tape when he's done.


Emmett enjoys his Bible so much, he asks to read it first thing in the morning. This works so well, as I have Wyatt doing his CTC Bible then, and Riley reading his Bible then too. Here Emmett is with his beloved Bible:


We've been learning about Joseph for awhile now, and Emmett enjoyed his art project this week so much:



What a fun week!
In Christ,
Julie

I'm feeling adventurous this week, so thought I'd post a pic! This is my first time on the weekly check-in

We enjoyed week 19 of BHFHG left side, plus a variety of right sides. I'm really realizing how much my kids have learned and grown this year! Middle dd, especially, has grown in her writing and reading so much, and no longer hates school! Oldest continued on her poetry kick with PH, now writing poetry in her free time. And my youngest enjoyed a break from our regularly-scheduled phonics lessons to just read books, which encouraged us both as it really showed his progress.

This geography activity was really fun, and helped them see why Lewis and Clark would travel along the Missouri River.

Looking forward to seeing other people's updates. Julie, it looks like you have such a great time with your boys and they are learning so much!

Great updates!

Here's ours. Man, I'm tired this week. Feel like the kids dragged ME to the finish line.

http://daisyhomeschoolblog.blogspot.com ... 12210.html

My kids completed Unit 17 in LHTH & LHFHG! I cannot believe we're at the halfway point already! They're both learning so much and most days they fight over who gets to "do school" first with mommy.

Early in the week, my dd3 "filled in the cracks" of the wall of the temple with her "paste" (cornmeal & water).


She also loved searching for the figures in the oatmeal saying "No! No! Worship only God!" each time she spied an "idol" the Israelites should not worship.


She had a bit of trouble remembering "N's" name - she kept calling it "H" each morning. Finally today she said "N" when she told daddy what her letter was during dinner tonight. Yeah! Here's here completed "N" formed with Play Doh - purple was her color of choice that day.


My ds6 loves the crucifixion and resurrection story each time we talk about it or read it so this week he especially enjoyed the activities that went along with the stories each day. He did not want to paint his hand for this project below, so I decided to draw one of his hands and have him paint inside the outlined hand with a lot of paint to make the "copy" on the other side.


He really enjoyed this science discovery yesterday...for some reason the raisins didn't rise after we waited over 5 minutes (I blamed myself since I'm not a science person ) so I added a bit more vinegar and then we saw some action. He LOVED it! Even dd3 came over to the table to watch the action when it finally happened.

We look at the calendar each day and talk about what is going on. I started doing stickers now that Gwendolyn is with us during school (don't you hate when little ones drop their morning nap?). I keep the calendars put up and she loves it when I get hers down to put a sticker on. I'm happy if it hits the paper. One day we'll work on getting it on the right day. lol...


We did U18 of LHTH and started U19. It was a good week.

Susannah is on Lesson 70 of 100 Easy Lessons. We added in a book called Otter Everywhere which is a Candlewick Press Brand New Readers book. I had picked it up from the library since it fit the letter O week. We really liked it. It had four stories in it. I was planning to spread it out over the week, but she read them all the first day. She's been reading it to her sisters and her ponies. It was neat to see her read a library book in addition to what she reads in 100EZ and her LLATL books. Our library has many of the books so I picked out one about a porcupine for next week. She was excited when she saw me reserve it online. She said she wanted to read it this weekend and not wait for school next week.

I am so loving Sinapore Earlybird 2A. I love how hands on it is from their suggestions and Carrie's guide in Little Hearts. I'm so glad we switched! Here she is measuring out how many mugs of water it will take to fill the bowl.

threegreatkids - The map your dc made with masking tape looks neat, and the 3 of them are just precious! I'm glad I can put their faces with your posts now. Taking time to notice our dc's growth is such an important thing to do. It sounds like your dc have grown so much and that is something to truly celebrate - thanks for posting here and letting us celebrate it with you!

Daisy- Happy B-day! The gift you got would have been a perfect one for me too as my favorite thing to do is steal away to Starbucks for a latte when there's time. I hope you had a good birthday! The cherry tree turned out so well, and I think your dd's CTC Student Notebook is beautiful. Her bird turned out well too, and how neat she's identifying birds from her study as well.

Creativemommy - Isn't it a super feeling to reach the halfway mark? Way to go! The second half is always such smooth sailing because a routine has usually been established. Your dd's purple "N" turned out great, and I bet your ds enjoyed seeing those rising raisins as much as mine did when we did that experiment! I loved the pictures!

Shimmer - your little one just looks so angelic! I remember when my little guy gave up his morning nap too, and that always does force a readjustment in the schedule. We are having it with my almost 3 yo now as he is starting to give up his afternoon nap. Does this happen already now? I can't remember when my other 2 gave up their afternoon nap, but this feels EARLY! Anyway, sounds like your dd is doing so well with her phonics and reading, which is such a blessing. I remember that measuring water day in Singapore too, and my ds loved it as well. The HOD hands-on math is one of my favorite parts of the day - short, fun, hands-on, and it seems to stick well with the dc. Looks like a super week - thanks for sharing the pics!

In Christ,
Julie

We have been thoroughly enjoying our school year...and I just haven't been able to carve out any time to get on here and post about it. (I really like to because I can relive these happy days, too. ) Anyway, I was all set to post about last week when we had to rush off to the emergency room with Allison. She had her appendix removed - thankfully before it ruptured! And we got home on Monday. Now that we're well into Preparing, it was such a blessing that Grant was able to do almost the whole day by himself while I was at the hospital with Allison.

We're getting oh-so-close to the end of Grandpa's Box, and we will be sad when that book is done! It has been a wonderful, fascinating, fresh look at the whole Bible. We're also almost through Fountain of Life. We have loved the perspective that book has given of Jesus' life and ministry.

Grant has been loving his study of the stars for science. Here are a couple pictures of his experiments. He's watching the sun "move" through the Zodiac. And, the man on earth is seeing why the constellations appear to rise and set.


His cousin got a projector that puts the constellations on the ceiling when we were visiting right after Christmas. Grant couldn't wait to see it, and was pointing out all the constellations. He's learned a lot with this book!

Since I posted last, Grant finished his DITHOR project for Dragons of the Deep. He chose to make a version of the "Nature's Wonders Accordian Book". I had him pick 6 of the creatures to draw and write facts about. He was captivated by that book, and remembers way more than will ever be necessary about all these creatures!


He has since also read Buffalo Bill, and is planning a play acting out a scene of it with his little sister and brother.

Kathleen

OK, I have to edit this to add Grant's poetry from this week. He still really looks forward to this every week. Preparing's creative writing lessons based on Robert Loius Stevenson's poetry have been perfect for him, and I'm loving the results! And, he really gets into it because he's doing the creative part and I'm copying it down for him. (And then he types it up later.) He wrote about rain this week - I was sure he'd choose fog because that's all we've had for the last week! Anyway, here it is.

The Rain

I saw you slap the window pane
In an angry mood that day you came.
You spit in my face, and pushed and shoved,
And thundered and flashed from up above.
O rain, you come in many ways.
O rain, you bring refreshing days!

I saw you come on a cheerful day.
You splashed in the puddles as you came out to play.
You danced your way down from the clouds,
And drummed a rhythm. It was loud!
O rain, you come in many ways.
O rain, you bring refreshing days!

A refreshing shower on a hot summer day
Felt oh so good to us, I’ll say.
You gave a peaceful bath to the garden leaves,
And a nice long drink to the big tall trees.
O rain, you come in many ways.
O rain, you bring refreshing days!

Grant Michael Fincham

Allison and Garret have been enjoying our slow trip through LHFHG. During the last couple weeks we've been in Unit 6. I have to share one picture from the end of Unit 5 though...we had a lot of fun making the peanut butter calf/idol. They couldn't believe that anyone would think something you made was God!


In Unit 6, we've been talking about the Promised Land. They loved the lesson on soil layers after we read about the rich land God was leading the people to. Here is our "soil". They thought this was a great treat! (Although it was a little messy...)


Their favorite story in this unit was about Balaam and his donkey. What's not to love about an angel with a sword and a talking donkey? Here's our obstinate donkey (Allison). Garret is being Balaam and "beating" on her. Then later he took a turn as the angel. (We always have to act out everything 3 times so we all get to play all the roles. )


We finished reading Reddy Fox last week. The kids are really getting into these books now. Sometimes I wonder if Garret is getting anything from them (because I know he's young for them). He doesn't just look like he's going to launch himself off the bed or couch - he actually does! But, then he'll tell Dad about them sometime in the evening totally unprompted, so I know something's going in. Here they are with Reddy the day we finished.


Now, Peter Rabbit/Peter Cottontail has been especially inspirational to Garret. He's decided that he wants to change his name to Buck.

We have had a lot of fun with the math activities this week. We were practicing with ordinal numbers. In these pictures we took turns hiding a penny under an animal and asking, "is it under the first animal??" Etc... They loved this!


Although they may have loved making a snack line-up even more!! Of course I got to direct them which snack to eat (using ordinal numbers) at the end. Great activities!


Kathleen

Kathleen - I loved catching up with you and your dc! Grant's poem on rain is amazing - you can be so proud of him. You'll have to tell Grant we'd like more of the refreshing rain than the angry slapping rain we've had as of late here in SD. I loved his DITHOR project - he does such neat work. I've been praying for little Allison after her appendix removal. I hope she's recovering well, and praise God you made it to the hospital when you did. I'm also praying for your health right now, Kathleen - you're officially in our prayer journal.

Allison and Garrett are growing like crazy! They make the perfect donkey and angel - too cute - I've never seen a prettier donkey or a more commanding angel. The golden calf looked yummy to eat, and I remember it was! I agree that was a good lesson about how silly it is to think we can fashion "God" with our hands. I'm so glad things are going super, and I remember being sad to be done with Grandpa's Box. We'll both get to do it again though in a few years - and I know I'll love it then too. Thanks for all of the pictures - I'm considering making a photobook for DITHOR and love Grant's accordian book. I may have to try to get that together!

In Christ,
Julie

We were out of pocket last week. But so glad to be back to our regular routine. Bring on the HOD . I wanted to share my 10 yo ds's reptile report for R&S. He wrote it week before last, but I just had the chance to really review it with him today.

Reptiles are very remarkable. Did you know that reptiles are the living relatives of the dinosaurs? Reptiles do weird stuff like lick their eye! The armadillo lizard is a reptile. He rolls up and pokes out spikes. Some slow reptiles are turtles. Reptiles are cold blooded. They try to find warm temperatures. Some reptiles, like crocs, have scaly skin and lay eggs. Some reptiles have short legs. So, reptiles are cold blooded, short legged, eye licking, relatives of dinos that really rock!

I also wanted to share just what a joy it is to have my ds's begging to read another chpt for our storytime every night. I kid you not. We have not read abook this year that they have not asked for more. They are truly dissapointed if we are not reading their read aloud for the night. My 10 yo today even opted to skip t.v. to go finish his DITHOR book early. !

A bit late in posting but finally got a chance to finish my blog entry.

http://soaringeagle91.blogspot.com/2010 ... eekly.html

Once again I'm a little late, but here's my post about last week of school

http://cherish-each-moment.blogspot.com ... ek-19.html