heartofdakota.com

I know there is a thread here from 7/1 - 8/1, but since more of us seem to have started, I thought I would post week by week again. Hope this is okay with everyone.

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!

I am so excited to make my first check in post of the new school year! It has been a long summer for us and we were all ready to get back to HOD and our daily sweetness.

I will start with RTR. My 12yo 7th grader is doing RTR without extensions (due to his age). We are already loving it! He actually has just finished his 2nd week, so this will cover both weeks of his work.

Our favorites thus far are the storytime book "Forbidden Gates" and the Boyhood and Beyond book. Of course, those are the ones we do together which is probably part of why they are *my* favorites. This year, ds is doing the guide 5 days a week as we both really want him to do all of the guides by the end of his schooling. It warmed my heart to know that he wanted to do that! If we tire of it, we can always slow back down...but this is the plan for now.

Here are some samples of the great work he is doing this year:

Science: He created the solar system using balloons



And a really cool solar eclipse!



He had written 2 good narrations, which is something new this year. In CTC, he was doing written narrations in History only. In RTR, he is writing them once a week for each subject.



And done some cool notebooking:




In History, he has been working on his notebooking pages:





Doing some neat projects:



and making some beautiful artwork:





We opted to do the Shakespeare study this year and he is really liking it so far! He takes his time and actually really enjoys coloring the pictures. He enjoys anything that can be considered "artistic."



He is even using his creative juices in Bible study with Phillipians!



And I think he made a wonderful jump into the IEW Writing lessons." His first piece was pretty good and, of course, he drew the picture (as suggested in the book) for extra credit. Haha!



Pardon the overload of pics...can you tell I am one excited momma???!! Unfortunately I will not have anything to post for my 12y/o for the next few weeks because he is off with his dad until the 15th of August. I will have some to post for my little guy though! Bigger Hearts week in review to follow!!

Bigger Hearts - Week 1

Bigger Hearts is a big step up for sure! My almost 8 y/o is capable, but we are going to have to work our way up to him doing it exactly as he should. Right now, I am doing some of the writing for him (DITHR, and some of English), cutting down the number of vocabulary words he has to write out, and helping with some of the drawing. I look forward to watching his independence grow this year.

Here are some samples of the work he has done this week:

DITHR

I moved him up to reading books that I know are on his level, but a little tougher read than he is used to. He is not thrilled. LOL But he is being a trooper and working hard at reading "Hank the Cowdog" with me. For his DITHR workbook, I am doing some of the writing for him as he dictates the answers to me. He did all of the artwork.



We settled on "Cheerful Cursive" and that is going well. Ds is very eager to learn cursive and did some practicing over the summer with handwriting books from wal-mart.



Dictation is a change this year too. We did spelling list #2 last year with Beyond. Ds is getting the hang of how it works and that it is okay to miss something, but he sure was disappointed when he transversed the letters in "does" and had to re-do the passage the next day.



Math is going well. We spend the summer doing a "Summer Bridge" workbook that included math, so he kept his skills sharp.



He began his timeline today by adding Columbus to it.



So far, Science has been his favorite. We are reading "One Small Square: Seashore" and he did this notebooking page almost all on his own. I am not having him write out the verses just yet, though. This page came from another homeschool momma - I think it works very well for younger kiddos!



We also did an Experiment this week in science and he did his first ever "Lab Sheet." I had the preparing manual on hand, so I actually copied the lab sheet from it to use for this year.

Awesome! We will start Preparing tomorrow (for my 9yo) while my son is at scout camp. Next week, my son will start RtoR!

HI! I'm new here and am so excited to learn how to best use this curriculum for my son. We just finished unit 4 in LHFHG and we are both LOVING it! The best part of this last week is when he learned to do addition in his head!! We're doing Singapore 1A right now and the look on his face when he got the right answer....I wish I'd had my camera ready.

Your kids did beautiful work, Rebecca!

Hi, You can see my updates at my blog
http://anne-homeschooladventures.blogspot.com
We are still trying to work out our routine but we have got heaps done. The kids are really enjoying the history books and hands on plus the science.

Ladies,

I am enjoying reading about your weeks! I'm so proud of you for being underway with your year. We pray that you will love your year with HOD and will draw ever closer to the Lord!

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedules to share!

Blessings,
Carrie