Week In Review Sept 19-23 2011

[blessedmomof4]

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!

[blessedmomof4]

Had to drop back to half speed this week. We had a lot of excitement with the triple-baptism as well as a generally busy week. Hoping to get back to full-speed next week, at least for Monday and Tuesday, because dh and I will be singing at a temple all day for Rosh Hashana on Thursday and Friday next week! The girls are working slowly but diligently. Keri is truly loving having her own work, and Tamara is beginning to bloom even more as she is encouraged to be more independent. I am still trying to figure out how to get pictures on here, I've forgotten Keri is making lovely timeline entries-they are little works of art Tamara is making great paintings for poetry. Their oral narrations have gotten really great. Keri especially likes the state study, inventors study, and science projects. We couldn't believe how big the glider is! Tamara is also a fan of science projects as well as history. She found the stories of the pharaohs to be very interesting. I LOVE the notebooking pages for both!

[rogmisbailey]

Here is a link to the past 2 weeks of school, I was a little behind . Hope everyone has had a great week!
http://mymimishouse2.blogspot.com/2011/ ... -23rd.html

[rainbowacreshs]

Hi all, I know its been quite a long times since I posted on the board. We are into Unit 3 of Res. to Ref. and my Kasey is loving it. Already she finds the writing a challenge, but in a good way. LOL she groaned when she learned that we have to 'BAN" certian words from our vocabulary. Its still early yet and we are just getting into gear...really looking forward to this school year.

[mater est laetus]

We are 11 weeks and 8 Units into the year and I feel accomplished! Hah!

We've been having super quick and easy days and then long kind of days but I figured out how to make it quicker and easier on myself. I've been using the Bible instead of the scheduled story Bible but the references given to span the large periods of time sometimes covered in one day have been making it feel very disjointed and I've been having to add passages and explanations to provide context so DS understands what is going on instead of staring at me blankly and as wonderful as those conversations have been I decided I need to get one of the listed story Bibles to help me out here. It should be here next week and I am eagerly awaiting it. Meanwhile, the spelling we added has been going really well. I'm very pleased that I made the change. The plan is to pick up the Emerging Reader's schedule at Unit 10 and meanwhile we're reviewing phonics. DS is still loving the Thornton Burgess books - that's his favorite part.

[LynnH]

Here is a link to our week in review http://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2011/09 ... 92011.html

[Mom4Him]

Hello everyone!!
I have missed popping in here now & then to see how everyone is doing. What a joy it has been for me today to peek around a little bit & remember that this is one of my favorite places to be!
We have been really enjoying school at our house. Our days are very full with now 2 first graders doing Beyond, a kindergartener doing Little Hearts, & 3 little ones along for the ride (ages 3 years, 2 years & 3 months). Yet HOD has helped tremendously to make our homeschooling experience happy & fun for all!
Here is a link to our "typical" homeschool day for the past month or so, as we have just finished up Unit 5 in both guides!
http://ourfamilyforhisglory.blogspot.co ... -days.html
How has everyone else been?
Jessica

[my3sons]

Little Hands to Heaven
We had a very special LHTH activity we did this week. We read about The Last Supper, and my little Emmett has begun to understand the sacrifice Jesus made for us. We read from the story Bible "The New Bible in Little Pictures" first, and then for our Bible Activity, we read from our family Bible. As we did so, we reenacted The Last Supper, from the Jesus' washing of the disciples feet, to the breaking of the bread, and the drinking of the wine (juice), which helped my Emmett begin to understand why we do Communion. I had the other boys join us, and the mood was appropriately reverent. After this, Emmett began to ask many questions -
Where is Jesus now? Why did He have to die? Why did God let Jesus die? This was not a one-time discussion. Over the last few days he has continued to ask more questions like this, and I am just so thankful that HOD sparks this kind of talk between us. What a blessing to be able to teach to our dc's hearts as well as their minds!


We also read about the prodigal son this week, and how the father welcomed him home with open arms and clothed him in fine clothes immediately. The activity had Emmett buttoning and zipping different jackets. This is a hard skill for little ones, but he practiced and became better and better at it. Wyatt helped him finish out this activity, and we all had a laugh at Emmett's favorite attire - my dh's fleece shirt.


Emmett has started phonics and is already reading simple patter words and simple books with those pattern words quite well. LHTH's method of teaching letters with sounds and actions has made the transition to phonics easy. What a good week!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
One more week, and we will be done with Bigger Hearts and on to PHFHG. I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. Sad, because we loved Bigger Hearts and Riley has become so competent at doing it all so well, but excited, because there is such a great feeling of accomplishment in completing the guide and a new sense of adventure in beginning a new guide.

Following directions step by step is a skill we have worked on our last 1/2 of Bigger Hearts especially. I started having Riley read each box of directions in the guide before we began. He had to learn not to just read the first step and then skim the rest. He had to learn to picture each step of the project, so he could see in his mind how it was to turn out. This was important, as otherwise the chance for doing a step incorrectly (like cutting the wrong place, gluing the wrong place, making it the wrong size, etc.) can result in the project not turning out right. He learned so much from this, and I think he will be ready to follow the step-by-step directions in PHFHG well. Here is the shield he made while I was gone, and my mom was overseeing the dc's homeschooling. He did it on his own for the most part, and I think he did a good job of following the directions and trying his best...


Riley continues to call math one of his favorite subjects. I am amazed how he has his facts down well now, at the end of 2B. I remember this with Wyatt - it just took some time, but then he really knew them well. This week, Riley enjoyed the graphing activities we did. This one was a graph of knives, spoons, and forks. The Key he made was to show the dot circle symbol = 2. He thought it was fun to use an index card to half the dot stamp for odd numbers...


We all joined in the fun of the paper plane making activity. That was so much fun! First, Riley and I experimented with them together. He decided to try different kinds of papers, different numbers of folds, and different amounts of "weights" in the form of paperclips. He found that the plane that flew the farthest was made of cardstock, had 3 folds to the interior fold, and had paperclips weighting down the wings. This plane flew clear across the dining room, through the door, and across the entire kitchen, stopping only when it hit the other door . He dubbed this plane the winner, in first place...


The plane that flew the next farthest was made of lighter weight copy paper with 2 folds to the interior fold, and no paperclip weights for drag...


The plane that was more of a dud was the one made of construction paper with 2 folds to the interior fold and no drag...


Here you can see the blue kind of dud of a plane crashed on the floor very close to its starting point, and the white cardstock plane flying far across the the kitchen...


Of course, all the boys wanted a turn at trying their had at flying the planes...


Our sons reminded me of the Wright brothers this day. They loved the adventure of experimenting with making a plane fly. Riley loved that book so much, and so did Wyatt. I see they have confiscated it and taken it up to their room to take turns reading now that we are finished with it for school. Ahhhh, what a wonderful way to learn.

Another highlight this week was the science experiment with fizzing white vinegar and baking soda. He performed this experiment several times for his ooing and ahhing brothers. We also talked about how Thomas Edison was brilliant, but it had not been a good idea to have his friend test liquid chemicals by drinking them, as some of them were acids...


What a great week!
In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Revival to Revolution:
We are about 3 weeks into RevtRev now, and I can always feel a change when we hit about that time in the guide. Wyatt knows how to do each box now! HOORAY! All of that carefully going through each box of plans with him at first has paid off, and he now is into a great routine. Time is literally falling off our day now - he is clipping along beautifully, and managing his time so well. This is the result of doing 7 previous years of HOD guides. He just knows what to do! I remind myself of this benefit of doing all of the guides carefully and completely each year as I teach my 2 younger sons. Boy, does that make homeschooling easier from year to year!

One of the many things I love about HOD guides is the VARIETY. The fact that Carrie looks at each year's body of knowledge and skills to be learned with a fresh eye, choosing whichever resources fit the particular needs for that year best, helps keep a refreshing variety to both my dc's work and my teaching. There is a familiarity to the new guide, because skills are incrementally built upon from year to year, but there is also a freshness to the new guide, as the resources and activities are varied. The familiarity makes it possible for my ds to get back into the routine of doing school efficiently and successfully fairly quickly, and the variety makes it possible for each year to have new and exciting things to do. I am so thankful that HOD doesn't just schedule "the next one" of everything. I am especially thinking of history, science, Bible study, poetry, music, devotions, storytime, reading, and writing here. Having different living books by different authors and/or different follow-ups from year to year in these subject areas keeps things new and exciting. Likewise, I am glad for the routine of doing "the next one" of subjects that really do need that continuity for skills to progress from year to year - like R & S English, dictation, and math.

The history projects have been essential for teaching my ds how to complete projects step by step, with greater difficulty and maturity, from year to year. I cannot express how thankful I am for these! They have helped my ds become adept at many life skills - like cooking, creating artistic projects, building things according to a set of directions, constructing ways to test the speed/strength/etc. of something, planning for a social gathering at our house, leading a get together by reading/presenting something orally, breaking a project down into steps and seeing it to fruition, etc. HOD's history projects are helping him be successful in so many life skill areas. Plus, they are fun! Here is Wyatt's pottery he followed the directions to make the dough for, bake in the oven, and paint with a specific design...


I see it rests in the beloved place saved only for his favorite projects - on his dresser. I know I said this last week, but I am struck by how many things just clicked right away this year. For example, R & S English 5. I have to say I was wondering how doing this daily would go, as we had done R & S English 4 half-speed for the last 2 years. I wondered if he'd have a hard time with daily English, especially level 5, as its plenty difficult. No worries. He is clipping along, and doing just fine each day. He remembers the answers to the oral English review questions well, and he picks up the new concepts quite easily. Another thing that clicked right away was Singapore math. He just is kiting along in 5B, and we have not had one lesson he's struggled with at all yet (knock on wood). Dictation - well, that's getting harder and harder as he goes. He misses one about every other day or 2, but he is not so upset about missing them anymore. He gets they are getting harder. He also gets that when he finishes Level 8 - whenever that is - he is done with dictation. So, he's motivated to pass as many as possible. If you haven't shared this with your older students doing dictation yet, you may want to - it's very motivating to keep passing those dictation passages with flying colors. Creative writing - he is using many of the mini-lesson type skills he has learned through the varied writing he's done with HOD in the past to put forth his best effort in his creative writing this year. It is like it is all finally coming together for my ds who was not naturally into creative writing to begin with, but who has now decided it is pretty fun to do.

"Who Is God? And Can I Really Know Him?" - WOW! This is a great Bible study. Wyatt and I are having the best discussions. We have both LOVED HOD's activity of having us share a point that struck each of us from each section. We have really had some deep discussions about this already. We both look forward to these times together. We both are also enjoying his Composer Study, lapbooking. Bit by bit, it is coming together, and we can both see it's going to be really neat when he puts it all together. We have tea and coffee together during this time. He likes tea with milk and sugar, and I like my coffee - strong and black. My Grandma used to drink tea with me when I was Wyatt's age, and it makes me feel like a little piece of her is still with me when he and I have tea/coffee together. We actually started this after a history project when we had tea together. He loved it and asked if we could put it in our time together some time - I thought that was a FABULOUS idea! I am not sure I could ever have too much coffee or tea in a day, though my doctor tells me otherwise.

I could go on, but I know this is getting long, and for those of you who have managed to keep reading - you can tell - we are really enjoying our time together in RevtoRev. I pray you had a good week with your dc as well!

In Christ,
Julie

[KristinNitz]

We are working on Week 3 of Bigger and we visited the beach once again to look at the tide pools! Here is the link to our blog post with lots of pics from the beach. In Orange County, CA we had a very unusual occurance. Lots of sea creatures washed up on shore.
http://nutbugs.com/heart-of-dakota-week-3/

[Tansy]

http://gardenforsara.blogspot.com/

Here is our blog. Hubby is away raising support and I been single parenting it this week. Sticking to the schedule is really really helpful.
Girls had a great time this week even DD1 Did her Columns project with minor instruction from me. Her Column actually spells her birth name in hieroglyphs. I found some because both of them were begging to know what they meant. So Lately I have all these "I love you Mom" notes In hieroglyphs all over the house. They are discussing the Long e and the short e and which hieroglyph fits the best... Hey phonics lesson as well

[tjswaine]

Here is a post with a few highlights of our first few weeks.
http://jessatinchristalone.blogspot.com ... -2011.html
We had a beautiful day here today and were able to head to the beach with a fellow HODer who's using Bigger too. The kids were excited to find moon snails and sculpins!
Enjoy your week everyone ...

[gotpeace91]

Resurrection to Reformation Unit 7

We had a great week for Unit 7. In fact when we were wrapping things up last week on our last day, my son piped up and said, "I can honestly say we've had a great week mom!" Yay!!! I think we are starting to find our groove. The biggest hit of the week was the volcano in Science! We were very impressed with that, and he proudly re-demonstrated it for his friends later in the day and also did it again for his dad when he got home. Everybody thought it was very cool! Here is a picture of his history project this week:


Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 7
My daughter was sick with a sore throat during Unit 7. She wanted to continue with school so I scaled things down to a bare minimum for her the first couple days so it would be easier for her. She would never cut out the art in Draw and Write though so here are a couple of her drawings. I thought her plump little quail was so cute!