Week in Review September 22 - 26

[Nealewill]

Well, I don't think I can post a pictures because I haven't figure it out how to save them and attach them, but my family is in Topsail NC this week for vacation. My family (parents, brother and his wife, their kids and my SIL's mother) are renting a house on the ocean for the week. My son is doing Bigger this year and we had just finished reading the One Small Square book for seashores. We have seen SO many things here. We have seen the small clams that dig themselves back into the sand that are in the tide line. We saw a large sea gull (the body maybe the size of a basket ball) eat a fish that was probably 6-7 inches long with one fell gulp. We found a 4 foot dead shark that was beached and my kids all got their pictures taken with it (probably a bull shark). We have seen countless sand crabs that blend so well with the sand you almost step on them. Most of the crabs are the size of a quarter or half dollar but we found one the size of a tennis ball and that was pretty cool. We have also seen crabs dig holes into the sand on the beach and make their homes each night. We have seen pelicans and I think they look identical to pterodactyls. Very cool! There are a lot of babies with their moms.

[my3sons]

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
Emmett is officially doing all of the writing for his Drawn into the Heart of Reading 2/3 Student Book! For a few weeks, I wrote his answers for him as he dictated them to me. This time, I wrote them on a marker board as he dictated them to me, and then he copied them. It was tough for him to do, and it took concentration and perseverance, but when he was done, he was so proud!!! And I was too. Those fine motor skills take time for kiddos to build up the 'muscles' to do. I know the importance of helping dc make the transition to writing themselves more and more, just as it becomes important to help dc make the transition to reading themselves more and more. They are skills to gradually hone and strengthen, and doing it incrementally through the HOD years as the guides give such good guidance on doing helps transitions that could be incredibly difficult later be quite overall... easy. (I'm thinking of how well trained my Riley was to go into middle school work, and how well trained my Wyatt was to go into high school work. ) Here Emmett is with his all-time favorite read "Amelia Earhart" and his first official completed in his own handwriting DITHOR Student Notebook ...


Math is an area that is not a natural fit for Emmett. He has to work at it. He simply is far more interested in almost anything else... the bird out the window, the stuffed buddy on the steps, the phone ringing, really - anything. For as much as my oldest is a 'numbers guy,' Emmett is a 'people guy,' and math (at the moment at least) is not especially in his top 10 interests. God gifts all differently, doesn't He? This I am reminded of often by the diversity in my 3 sons. For these reasons, I am incredibly thankful for the 'I can do this' creative attitude towards math that the HOD hands-on activities evoke. Emmett has my sweet tooth, so anytime there are snacks in math, he is all ready to participate. In keeping with Singapore's habit of introducing multiple higher level skills throughout the year, Emmett is already working through division problems at 7 yo. From having been all the way through Singapore Math 6B with my oldest, and 5B with my middle ds, I know this is meant to be just that... an 'introduction.' I've quit sweating the fact that he doesn't totally get it before we move on. It will come back around again, so often, and in such clear yet varied ways, that all of a sudden... it clicks... and not just the steps for how to solve a problem, but also the kind of math mindset it takes to really get the 'why' behind it. Here Emmett is dividing 15 snacks among three cups...


Emmett loves reading the poetry in Beyond Little Hearts together. We take turns reading stanzas, and on the days that he gets to choose a poem to share, he does it up big, with a karaoke microphone. He summons all who are available (and even those less readily available in the far corners of the house) to come listen as if he is on a grand stage. He clears his throat, 'Uh uh hum... uh uh hum...' and then begins reading as if he is a professional orator himself. Always at the close he does a royal bow, slow to rise and quite victorious in appearance when he finally stands. He always begs to read more, and it is our habit - especially my other sons - to indulge him. He is simply too cute and convincing to resist. Another favorite activity with the poetry is the sequencing of the puzzle type pieces I've cut apart. He has gotten quite adept at it, and I love to try to stump him as much as he loves proving I cannot.


I just am cherishing this time with Emmett, as he is my last little one. It is such a joy to cuddle up on the couch and read with him, to see his crazy antics like his 'blinker winkers' and 'big eyes,' to hear his hearty laugh, to listen to him sing his Hide 'em in Your Heart CD so loudly with gusto, to watch him race around until I shout "Freeze" to breathlessly share his Bible verse... these are precious times. As "A Lantern in Her Hand" says so eloquently, the hands on the clock are sweeping away the hours... "while all the time there was that queer sensation of a wind rushing by, a wind she could not stop,Time going by which she could not say. 'Oh, stop the clock hands! Stop Time for a minute' until she could think..."

In Christ,
Julie

[LynnH]

Here is a link to our week with the WG guide http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2014/09 ... 62014.html

[Homeschooling6]

Here is our week using WG, MtMM, Rev2Rev, CtC, and a little bit of Preparing : http://training6hearts4him.blogspot.com ... -week.html

[MelInKansas]

Thanks all for the detailed summaries of your weeks! Homeschooling6, that you did school is impressive, your post with all the photos was really neat and I enjoyed reading it.

This week was shortened. My kids got to spend 2 days with my in-laws. They had a great time and I had a great time without them, getting a few things done and starting to prepare for Bigger Hearts which will start next week! We had 2 days of school to get in and my oldest worked on Preparing unit 28, my 2nd finished up Beyond unit 34, and my 3rd daughter finished LHFHG unit 5.

I am finally catching up on concurrently reading what my oldest is reading in Preparing. She is reading about Columbus from D'Aulaire and Pedro's Journal. I loved that we read about explorers in Child's History of the World and then we traced their path on the globe. I was impressed that my daughter knew all the originating countries and found them very quickly. The Geography activities are so simple, and I know she's done other reading that has made her learn about different countries. I think she is really learning and remembering the things this way, and I know I am learning a lot! This is an exciting part of history to be studying! The Bible activities for the History project are really good too and I hope she is remembering what she is learning from those.

We finished up Beyond and it is bittersweet. We have enjoyed our trip through early American history and she has grown so much this year. One of the biggest things she has been able to do is to grow in her handwriting, with the poetry copywork. Her work for the final weeks is really good, she shows good attention to detail and really likes to make it look nice. I really enjoy the pictures she has drawn with her poetry also. They are keepsakes and I will look forward to putting her Beyond notebook in the archive and looking at it again someday. She is ready for the added challenge of Bigger, I just pray we can make a good go of it right now in a busy season that we are having. I plan to start her 1/2 speed next week and then ease into full speed pretty quickly after that. We will see how she does! I am almost saddest about losing her ability to play with and entertain her baby brother during the morning as much as she used to do. They both really love that time!

My 3rd born is still doing really well with LHFHG and all of the stuff that goes along with it. She is doing The Reading Lesson and sometimes I fear we are doing it too fast because I don't want to push her ahead too quickly. She still is not super great at blending sounds and I often have to help her with that. If I do an example she picks it right up, because she is listening to me do it, but I do want her to get it on her own. She needs to work on listening to herself as she's sounding out, to figure out the word. But she does very well so in one sense I do want to let her progress and see how she does. We finished up Lesson 3 this week. Her handwriting is really good too. The practice with numbers in the math workbook plus twice a week handwriting, and Do it Carefully, are really a great combo that are spurring her on to growth in writing. Overall I am so proud of how she is doing!

My 2 year old is always fun and such a joy to have around. He seems to be settled into his routine now too, though I know that the chance to go outside a lot right now really helps. He loves the outside and really needs the space to roam and stretch his legs. I hope the nice weather holds!

Blessings to all!

[my3sons]

Resurrection to Reformation:
Riley is thoroughly enjoying "The Little Duke" in Drawn into the Heart of Reading. He can relate to him in many ways... he's an outdoorsman, he loves adventure, he loves his father dearly, his father is named Richard - and naturally Riley would love to be from a royal family bloodline (no such luck there ). The comprehension questions stretch Riley. They are not easy, and they require application of new terminology learned, such as setting, point of view, character traits and profiles, etc. He has to think hard to answer them correctly and apply what he has learned. I appreciate the ebb and flow of skills in DITHOR. So, more difficult skills with new terminology rotate with more creative type thought processes, such as the collage Riley made for Richard, the Little Duke. He had such fun selecting pictures from a magazine that summed up a character profile for the Little Duke. Some of the items chosen were hunting dogs, a royal robe, a crown, a trophy buck, classic books to read, a throne, a hunting knife, and a bow and arrow. I think it turned out so well!


A highlight of this week was the history project that had Riley and his brothers going on a Crusade. Our Crusaders went on a Crusade by trekking through the Holy Roman Empire (our house). Riley began by donning a red cross place in his Bible. His brothers then joined the Crusade with gusto. They trekked to the Danube River (a.k.a. our faucet), they took cover as they were under attack in Hungary (a.k.a. our living room closet), they wearily traveled across Bulgaria (a.k.a. our bed in our bedroom), they headed to the big city of Constantinople (a.k.a. the biggest room in our house), they crossed the Black Sea (a.k.a. our shower where water flows), and finally arrived at Jerusalem. My, my, my - what fun they had! They all immediately begged to do it again!




Another favorite of Riley's this week was the science experiment he did. Can you see a pattern of favorites here? Riley is 100% my hands-on loving son. He adores all things creatively done hands-on, and he is a very bright boy that shines when he gets the opportunity to be assessed in this manner. I am so thankful HOD includes this important form of assessment in its daily plans! I know the important of doing the hands-on portions of the guide, and I also know if I were the one doing the planning I'd fall short on including them on my own. They are by far the most retained information in regard to a history reading that Riley remembers - for days, months, years! He can retell a science experiments results quite eloquently after much time has passed. It is how he remembers. It is also how he explains things. This week Riley was experimenting how clouds are formed on gas giant planets. He realized that gases rise from a gaseous planet's hot core, that they are then cooled and turned into liquids due to the icy atmosphere, are next changed into solidified crystals, and last they become chemical filled clouds. He did this experiment again and again and again.


In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

World History High School:
This week had Wyatt reading about the Expulsion of Hysksos, and writing about the Babylon King Hammurabi's famous law code. Wyatt's written narration shows Wyatt's respect for decisive plans, organization, and justice. A few of my favorite lines from Wyatt's penned written narration are...
King Hammurabi's name's meaning can be translated as "Abundance of the People," and he would live up to his name.
With one long and considerably deep formal proclamation, Hammurabi installed the system that would ensure that his name lasted all the way down to us in our modern age.
Trying to rule fairly, Hammurabi unknowingly was following the life principle of the prophet Samuel, "He who rules must be just."
This law code was one of the first, probably installed around the same time as the 10 Commandments, and used the eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth mode of settling disputes.

I cannot say enough good about the results of consistently implementing the Charlotte Mason technique of doing written narrations. HOD's gradual increase of length and use of written narration editing steps have helped Wyatt become a good writer. The constant diet of excellent living books that he has read through HOD, as well as the varied writing programs he has used through the years within the guides, have helped him expand his vocabulary and develop his own writing style. It is now a joy to read his written narrations!


The World History Fine Arts study is God honoring, intriguing, and full of depth. Wyatt is learning many important skills from this course. One of my favorite skills is simply that he is learning to take excellent notes as he answers higher level questions while listening to Barry Stebbing's art narration on DVD. The art is beautiful, and the story behind it told by art master Barry Stebbing makes it even more fascinating. Here is a portion of his written answers to the questions in his Art Gallery Notebook...


Curling up for a good read with a timeless book is just one of the many joys of doing high school with HOD Charlotte Mason style. I'm so glad Wyatt is reading "Pilgrim's Progress" now. It is a book that a boy on the verge of becoming a man needs to read. It requires a maturity of faith and quite some knowledge of the Bible to be able to fully comprehend its integral connections to the Bible. He would not have taken as much from it had he read it earlier. It has been so worth the wait. Reading the younger version of it earlier on within HOD was also good preparation for this year. He is enjoying it, yet with an appropriately serious outlook as he reads. It IS serious business... this spiritual warfare we are all in - and not one to be taken lightly. I'm glad for his mature response to his readings and material discussed in "Pilgrim's Progress."


Wyatt is enjoying his Biology readings, as well as the vivid filming and interesting narratives on the Biology DVD's. There are many questions to be answered each day in response to his readings, and the answer key makes it easy to correct work and assign grades. Though much information is covered, and extensive vocabulary terms are introduced, I think this is one of the most narrative treatments of Biology that I've seen. I'm thankful, as it helps Wyatt better connect with and remember the information covered.


Those were a few memorable moments from this past week. Each day I am thankful we have chosen to homeschool through high school. It is not due to each day being incredibly easy. Rather, it is due to the time we are sharing with each other, and the Christ-centered material HOD provides. It is not every mom that gets to spend this much time with her teenager, and though it is a commitment that takes real time, prayer, and dedication, it is maybe one of the most important things I'll ever do in my lifetime. Being a mom is forever. Being one through these teenage years is powerful - we can have such an impact on our dc at this stage in their life. God and I are building a man together - a wonderful Christ loving, family centered, hard working - yet sometimes moody and unpredictable young man. It is an honor to see what God is doing in my son's life.

In Christ,
Julie

[lissiejo]

Awesome week and thankful for the flexibility of homeschooling!

http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspo ... 22-26.html

Preschool
Bigger Hearts Unit 4
Preparing Hearts Unit 23

[Homeschooling6]

I enjoyed reading all the post ladies, thank you for sharing.

[snadig]

Hello wonderful ladies.

My older two started their new guides, and my son is really close to the end of Bigger.

Gabrielle is doing WH. Praise the Lord for His amazing grace! He knew better than me what she needed. Even though we only did our first week, she did a great job. It was stretching her, but just enough. We have few adjustments to make like starting on time. But over all she is really liking it all. Her narration was great and she is just working right along. She did say it was a lot more reading than she thought it was going to be, but she didn't seem to get behind. She also was reading some of the geography books(4) on her break. We kept most of the Geography stuff, knowing it would get read and used by my other two. So we are off and running.

Oh had a question regarding spanish-I will post it to the other board.

Ashley is doing RTR. She was very worried it was going to be a lot of work and she couldn't do it. She tends to see the mountain and not the path to get to the top. So we had to talk about the process. She also gets worried about being to old for this guide and doing "little kid things". I have to remind her that she is right where the Lord wants her to be, not behind or ahead. So we got through the first week. She did amazing and even surprised herself. So we are going to go forward, and we will check and make sure everything is fitting. This could be the year she just grows a ton in time management, maturity, and confidence. Thank you Father for answered prayers.

Isaac is finishing Bigger- He is so ready for more, mostly. I asked him if he wanted to just stop where we were and start Preparing. First he said yes, then he said wait I want to finish my story time, history book(wright brothers). He said lets finish those before I move up. So that is what we are going to do.

It has been a great week and now we are into another. So much fun!
Stacey

[quiverfull]

We had a good week over all. The older kids (PHFHG, Res2Rev, Rev2Rev) again finished their Unit in 4 days, so they enjoyed a relaxing Friday. This really seems to motivate them. They love having that day off from school.

The children in LHFHG and Bigger are dependent on me, so we don't usually finish a whole 5 days in one week. There's a day that carries over to the next week for the most part. I do try to do at least Math and English with them everyday. I'm not too worried about it though. I'd rather not skip anything just to be on the "right" week. We finished "Snow Treasure" and my son was disappointed. He wanted the book to tell what happened once they got to America Now we are reading "Toliver's Secret" and he is always asking me to read more. I'm not really good at timing the Storytime box. I finished the Biography way too early, so I read "Snow Treasure" in the gap till we started the adventure genre in the guide. Anyway, we are reading two adventure books, I guess. No big deal, right?

My daughter who is doing Preparing does 90% of it independently because she is older. I planned it this way, knowing I wouldn't have a lot of time with her, one on one. She is absolutely loving it! I do R&S with her and Math, but the rest she does on her own. I think more people should do this, it's really working well. Her work is beautiful and she is building such confidence. One thing she was struggling with was getting into book "Tirzah". I had read on the fb group that a lot of people didn't enjoy this book. Because of this, I offered to read it aloud to her. I have to say, I am loving this book! And so is she, now that I am reading it to her I tend to really get into the books I read aloud The other kids are now joining in.

I'm really seeing an improvement in all of their writing. I think it is because of all the written narrations they have to do. I'm really pleased with this. I did switch out the Rev2Ref Medieval writing ( I hope it's o.k. for me to say that). It just was not a good fit for me or my child. We are trying something else now, and so far I love it. This child has grown leaps and bounds in his time management. He REALLY wants to have that 5th day off, so he works very hard for 4 days.
It helps SO much to have the guides. My children know exactly what to do and what is expected. No more waiting for mom to type out the lesson plan for the week!

It was such a relief, on Sunday night, to know that everything was ready for Monday!

I still can't figure out how to scale the pictures. I've tried in iPhoto with no success. I'm sure it's not difficult, I just don't have the time right now to figure it out.

Hope you are all having a great week!

~Renee