heartofdakota.com

I posted a link to my blog over in the week in review section, but I wanted to post here to say our first week went so smoothly. We took our oldest up to college this past weekend and it was so very emotional. I wasn't sure I had it in me to start school on Monday, but figured that was the best way so ds and I wouldn't focus too much on my dd being gone. It was such a blessing to have a curriculum that we were so familiar with that my ds could just jump in and start numbering his boxes and figuring things out and yet enough new and exciting things that it made things fun. I am just so thankful to Carrie for writing such a wonderful curriculum. Once again at the end of the week my ds said how much he enjoyed his first week of school. He also told me that he thinks the bible study this year will challenge him and help him to go deeper into scripture. Makes me a happy momma.

Awesome! I love how your son is really looking forward to the Bible study and growing deeper in his faith this year through it. What more could a momma ask for than that? !

What a bitter sweet week you have had! I'm sure that had to have been tough taking your first baby to college. I can only imagine. I'm so glad that your week went so well and you were able to slip into a familiar routine with HOD.

I love it, Lynn!! Your blog is so helpful in inspiring and encouraging those of us who are doing HOD along with you!

I like your ideas for narrations and typing some of it out. I may have to try that this year, since our dd is "allergic" to pen-and-paper writing, LOL! (But, she doesn't mind typing.) She's also a person "of few words" like your son, so I also need to work on drawing out longer narrations, explanations, conversations, etc. here, like you.

We had a great first week with MTMM also. SOTW has always been a hit at my house (although we have always chosen to skip volume 1). My oldest daughter liked the IPAC science and the Fundamentals in Literature from the Geography guide (She is doing the MTMM history with her brothers.) We also used the Chem 101 videos on Friday, and that was a big hit. We are doing something different on Fridays this year. We have movie morning. We use a That the World May Know DVD for our family Bible, then watch a CHEM 101 DVD, and then an American History DVD segment. We go upstairs next and do any experiments that we saved, and then I do IEW (substitute writing program) with the two boys (DVD part). My daughter is doing the IEW (Geog. guide). Then the children do math, a journal, any part of the project we saved, and they are done (unless they are behind on something). It worked well! It also gives us time for cleaning. My children have the best attitude toward starting school that I have seen. We are making some changes in our home and really trying to do a better job of giving God our best. I am allowing them to type some of their summaries and experiments this year as well. That was a good decision as well. I am wanting the children to at least copy the New Testament in their best handwriting before they graduate. Since I want them to do that, I am allowing them to type some of the HOD handwriting work. My little girls were also excited to get back into Beyond (We did not get as far as I had planned last year.) I really struggled to get excited about starting school this year (age, years of homeschooling, broken collar bone, church change), but I am actually pleased now with our great start, and I am building my enthusiasm.

We will be starting our first week of MTMM after the Labor Day weekend. We are using it with our ds (9th grade - beefed up) and dd (8th grade - as written) and I am looking for suggestions for how to practically implement the beefed up components. We are adding Chem 101 DVDs and Carbon Chemistry for a whole credit. We are also adding R.C. Sproul Jr.'s Biblical Economics to complete the .5 credit for economics. Does anyone have suggestions as to how to add these in over the course of the year? We will be using an online course for the first half of the year for literature and utilizing DITHR for the second half of the year. I am also looking for book suggestions that have worked well for boys who don't just absolutely love to read. Thanks so much.

Lynn, I'm going way off-topic here but I appreciated your comments on this thread and then went to your blog, which is wonderful! I'm homeschooling my 7th grader for the first time (she was in ps and then private Christian school) and using Rev-to-Rev, so it was neat to see your comments about all the materials. But my bigger question is that I noticed that your eldest went to ps for a year and then came home. Did you initiate or did she? My oldest dd is going to be a 10th grader in ps and I don't like what I see in the changes in her. Summer at home and she's back to herself -- but then being around peers in ps and she changes. She does not want to come home (even though she hates school!). I'm praying that God will work on her. So glad I found your blog. Thank you for sharing your experiences!

Amy
Married to DH for 19 years
15 DD in PS
12 DD using Rev-to-Rev
6 DD in private school

Amy,
My dd chose to come home at the end of 9th and it could have only been due to God. I brought my ds home when dd was in 8th and she said "Don't ever think you are going to homeschool me!". By Christmas of her 9th grade year she said she might want to come home for 10th and by spring break she was sure that she wanted to come home. I saw the same changes that you describe when she was in public school. The reason she chose to come home was the bullying and harassment she endured. She is very outgoing and a blond, pretty girl so you wouldn't think she wouldn't get bullied, but I guess some girls saw her as a threat.

Once home her entire personality changed. She was no longer under peer pressure so she felt free to be herself. She will tell you she learned to be ok in her own skin. She went from barely giving God the time of day to really reading the bible, praying and loving church. She just graduated and is now at a Christian college which so far she loves. She says all the time what a miracle God worked in her life by bringing her home for school. Our relationship significantly improved once she came home as did the one with her brother. She went from hiding out in her room when she was in ps to loving family devotional time at night and our family nights of watching The Andy Griffith Show. She used to say she couldn't wait to move out and go to college far away. That changed also. She is going to a college only an hour away and it was really hard for her to leave us. She calls almost every day and text me throughout her day. When she was in ps if you would have told me that would be the case I would have never believed you.

Lynn, thank you so much for the encouraging words. My 15yo dd can't believe we're homeschooling our 12yo dd. We're only three weeks in and things are going well, although my dd still wants to go to private school. I can understand -- it's a quiet day at home while her other sisters are at school. I know she misses her friends and the "busy-ness" of school. But I love the HOD curriculum and the one-on-one time that we're getting. As you said with your older daughter, it's like we're getting to know her all over again. Right now I don't believe there's any scenario under which my eldest would want to leave public school and come home... but I can keep praying. I'm doing Rev to Rev with my 12yo so it's wonderful to read your son's experiences doing it last year. Since we're new to homeschooling we still don't have a routine schedule -- but we're getting there!