Yes, it is. We've complete Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory by Heart of Dakota, and we really enjoyed it! I think our favorite part was the book American Pioneers and Patriots. We just loved the short stories about the pioneer children and the "How they ..." pages that told how they made butter or soap or log cabins... or even how they lived on a sailing ship!
We had a change in math programs part way through the year due to my ds7 being diagnosed with a color deficiency. We opted to stop using Math U See (which I had been using successfully with all my children except this one.) SO we switched over to the (recommended by HOD) Singapore Math US Edition. Because it is a totally different way to teach math, I thought we would do best if we started at the beginning... so we went back to the beginning of first grade with both my ds7 and dd8. Alot of it was review for dd, but I'm okay with that. We are now about 1/3 of the way through the second book, and we'll work on it all summer so that we can start book 2A in the fall. This will put dd a bit behind, but I think that will be okay if she can work at her own pace, she may even catch up at some point.
Besides math, over the summer months ds will continue to read through the Emergent Reader set in Beyond. I added in the alternate books, so it is taking quite a bit longer to get through the books than it normally would. This is okay, because ds is progressing nicely and enjoying his reading time. He is even choosing to read on his own to himself some days! I had a Little Bear Treasury book that he completed independently! I'm so proud of him! My dd is also continuing reading over the summer, but she'll be reading some of the storytime books that we haven't yet read. The list is full of so many good books!
I've already started preparing for next year. We'll be starting Bigger Hearts for His Glory, and I'm super excited about that! I've already got every book we'll need, except three from the Extension Pack... which I'm not even sure we'll need, but want to have, just in case dd needs a little extra challenge. I've been organizing and preparing notebooks, binders and the like! While out with the family today, I happened across a 20 pack of page protectors for $1.50! I bought four packs, enough for history notebooking for both children. After I was home, one of our older children told me what a steal I had gotten, that generally these page protectors are closer to $4 a package! Woo-hoo! Now I realize I'll need at least 12 of these packages - I'll have to go back for eight more! Here's the real question... do I really NEED them? Can the children do a notebooking page on a piece of copy paper and then three hole punch it to fit in a binder? Or will that be sloppy? We've done lapbooking, but never notebooking... so this is a new journey for me!
I decided on separate composition notebooks for the vocabulary work we'll be doing in Bigger. And then dd will need another notebook for her Dictation work... or I can have her do that on loose leaf paper, and then put it in a Language Arts binder for her. She won't be doing spelling like ds. He gets 340 note cards and a special box to hold them all... I got a box that will hold them all for $1.25 at the same store as the page protectors. I've never seen a box that will hold that many, so I'm glad I found it! He'll be learning cursive this year with Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting book D. I'm hoping that jumping book C will be okay. His penmanship is very good, so I think he's ready. My dd has already learned cursive, so she will be doing copywork of the poetry selections in Bigger. For her I have the poems printed in the Getty-Dubay cursive font (I used the StartWrite program to do this) and put in page protectors for her. She'll then copy a portion of the poem onto loose leaf paper which will go into the page protector as well, and we'll have a nice poetry copywork binder at the end of the year.
I'm thinking two binders for each kiddo. One binder to hold all the Language Arts stuff (dictation/spelling, copywork, grammar - maybe even a pocket for the vocab book) and another to hold the History and Science notebooking pages.
Now to figure out how to make this work with the oh-so-organized-Workboxes!
*Ü* Blessings,
Showing posts with label "heart of dakota". Show all posts
Showing posts with label "heart of dakota". Show all posts
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Our First Book Project
Good day, my friends!
I hope you are all well...we've been busy getting back to the business of school. We're using Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory now, and enjoying it quite well. Along with it, we're using Drawn Into the Heart of Reading by the same author/publisher: Heart of Dakota.
We've finished our first genre, folktale, and started on the next one, historical fiction. For our end of the genre project, we decided to do a project from the book: "Book Projects to Send Home - Grade 2". This is a great introduction to "book report" type projects. B loved this activity:
She had to come up with four words to describe the main character, three more action words for the character and then write out a diamante poem using those words. Then she had to create what the book called a mobile (I'd say a paper character). As you can see from the photo, it came out really cute, and she was so excited to do this project!
In other parts of school, I've gone round and round with spelling...she is a fantastic speller, so this has been hard...I finally decided to just use the words in the back of the Beyond manual and give a new list (there are 2 for each week) daily until we come to some words she has trouble with...and go from there. I'm also considering a series called Sequential Spelling...has anyone out there tried this? Please let me know how you felt about it!
Both kiddos are chugging right along in Math-U-See. Ben is learning the +1 addition facts...he loves using the wrap-ups I bought for this...he will practice 10 or 12 times in a row! B is working on her subtraction facts and working in both Alpha and Beta concurrently.
We're also enjoying the history/science parts of Beyond...B and I take turns reading the history portion, and the activities that follow for science, history or geography are quick, easy and fun to do!
My little guy's readying is also puttering along...we've been working on some sight words, before attempting to tackle long vowel words. He will read, but it is not his favorite thing to do right now.
Well...that's my update for now!
*Ü* Blessings,
I hope you are all well...we've been busy getting back to the business of school. We're using Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory now, and enjoying it quite well. Along with it, we're using Drawn Into the Heart of Reading by the same author/publisher: Heart of Dakota.
We've finished our first genre, folktale, and started on the next one, historical fiction. For our end of the genre project, we decided to do a project from the book: "Book Projects to Send Home - Grade 2". This is a great introduction to "book report" type projects. B loved this activity:
She had to come up with four words to describe the main character, three more action words for the character and then write out a diamante poem using those words. Then she had to create what the book called a mobile (I'd say a paper character). As you can see from the photo, it came out really cute, and she was so excited to do this project!
In other parts of school, I've gone round and round with spelling...she is a fantastic speller, so this has been hard...I finally decided to just use the words in the back of the Beyond manual and give a new list (there are 2 for each week) daily until we come to some words she has trouble with...and go from there. I'm also considering a series called Sequential Spelling...has anyone out there tried this? Please let me know how you felt about it!
Both kiddos are chugging right along in Math-U-See. Ben is learning the +1 addition facts...he loves using the wrap-ups I bought for this...he will practice 10 or 12 times in a row! B is working on her subtraction facts and working in both Alpha and Beta concurrently.
We're also enjoying the history/science parts of Beyond...B and I take turns reading the history portion, and the activities that follow for science, history or geography are quick, easy and fun to do!
My little guy's readying is also puttering along...we've been working on some sight words, before attempting to tackle long vowel words. He will read, but it is not his favorite thing to do right now.
Well...that's my update for now!
*Ü* Blessings,
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Recent Happenings
Recently we've done some yard-saleing, and have found some great treasures.
I found a science experiment book for ds, and he just loves the neat stuff he can do with it. Here are a couple pictures of the experiment dealing with gravity, air resistance and drag...a clay dinosaur goes for a parachute ride:
We also found an Easy Bake oven. I swore to myself I would never buy one of these since they are such a huge waste of money...but it was only a dollar. Big sister splurged for it...it was meant to be a sister bonding thing. As it happens, the one we bought had all the parts, except the pans! Ugh! A couple weeks later, another yard sale, and another dollar yielded a second Easy Bake oven, this time with said pan. So, yes, now we have 2 ovens and only one pan...but we've only shelled out $2 rather than the $27 they go for new...so not such a big waste...that is until we went to buy mixes for it. What a sham! Nearly $6 later (three times what we've paid for the oven & pan!) We have the mixings for just 4 three inch brownies! Personally, I think the brownies were the best deal...you get to make 4 of them, verses two with the cake or cookie mixes. Still...when it is all done, we'll be using an ounce of REAL brownie mix rather than buying more itty-bitty mixes! Here's dd with her oven and treat:
Lastly, I have to share the fun we had in school today! Can I just say I LOVE my Heart of Dakota curriculum! We are using Little Hearts for His Glory, and finishing up the last few units we did not get done last year. Because I am homeschooling dgd three days of the week, we are doing 5 days of Little Hearts in 3 days of school...this makes for some fun days! We sometimes have to push a couple history lessons together...sometimes a couple art activities! Yay! Right now we are learning about the American Revolution and George Washington. Today we made tri-cornered hats, and added white "wig" curls to the sides...they love these hats! And look how cute they are:
Aren't they adorable? If you haven't looked at Heart of Dakota yet, I highly recommend it!
*Ü* Blessings,
I found a science experiment book for ds, and he just loves the neat stuff he can do with it. Here are a couple pictures of the experiment dealing with gravity, air resistance and drag...a clay dinosaur goes for a parachute ride:
We also found an Easy Bake oven. I swore to myself I would never buy one of these since they are such a huge waste of money...but it was only a dollar. Big sister splurged for it...it was meant to be a sister bonding thing. As it happens, the one we bought had all the parts, except the pans! Ugh! A couple weeks later, another yard sale, and another dollar yielded a second Easy Bake oven, this time with said pan. So, yes, now we have 2 ovens and only one pan...but we've only shelled out $2 rather than the $27 they go for new...so not such a big waste...that is until we went to buy mixes for it. What a sham! Nearly $6 later (three times what we've paid for the oven & pan!) We have the mixings for just 4 three inch brownies! Personally, I think the brownies were the best deal...you get to make 4 of them, verses two with the cake or cookie mixes. Still...when it is all done, we'll be using an ounce of REAL brownie mix rather than buying more itty-bitty mixes! Here's dd with her oven and treat:
Lastly, I have to share the fun we had in school today! Can I just say I LOVE my Heart of Dakota curriculum! We are using Little Hearts for His Glory, and finishing up the last few units we did not get done last year. Because I am homeschooling dgd three days of the week, we are doing 5 days of Little Hearts in 3 days of school...this makes for some fun days! We sometimes have to push a couple history lessons together...sometimes a couple art activities! Yay! Right now we are learning about the American Revolution and George Washington. Today we made tri-cornered hats, and added white "wig" curls to the sides...they love these hats! And look how cute they are:
Aren't they adorable? If you haven't looked at Heart of Dakota yet, I highly recommend it!
*Ü* Blessings,
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Gearing Up for Another Year
Yep, it's that time again...I'm looking forward to this year and Beyond...well, that's a play on words if I ever heard one. I meant "and beyond this year" however, I am also looking forward to using "Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory" (from Heart of Dakota) this year! Too funny!
We haven't quite finished with Little Hearts, so we'll start with that, then turn to Beyond when we are done. In addition to Beyond, we'll use the program (by the same publisher) called Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (DITHR). I was able to get my book brand new but used...so at a wonderfully reduced price! Yay! The teacher's book is so much bigger than I thought it would be! It is about the same size as the Beyond manual. In DITHR, the parent guides the child through nine different genres: biography, adventure, historical fiction, fantasy, folk tales, non-fiction, humor and realistic fiction. The manual is good for grades 2-8, so you do get alot of use from it. The student books are full of worksheets, graphic organizers and reading planners.
I gathered all the books I've collected so far, and took photos! This is the set of books that I will read aloud to my kiddos, as part of the story-time aspect of Beyond. These books do also coincide with the genres in DITHR, but if I chose not to use DITHR, I would still be reading these great books:
I've collected some books from more than one category choice. (Heart of Dakota has choices for boys, girls and classic - sometimes I just couldn't resist getting them all! lol)
I have: Helen Keller (this was my book when I was a child!) Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims, Sword in the Tree, Little House in the Big Woods, (not pictured, but on it's way is The Cabin Faced West from Paperback Swap). Also I have The Cricket in Times Square (brown book) Charlotte's Web (isn't it a great size? Goodwill for 99 cents!), Ginger Pye, The Key to the Treasure (on it's way from Paperback Swap), The Railway Children (a gift from my good friend to my daughter for her 1/2 birthday - see this post for that story.) Oh, let's see...we also have In Grandma's Attic, A Bear Called Paddington, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The House at Pooh Corner (big blue book - yard sale 50 cents!) and All-of-a-kind Family - I couldn't resist reading the first two chapters of this one! I also have Phoebe and the General, which has since been renamed to Phoebe the Spy and was removed from the book list because it is out of print...but I have it! I also have Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle...this one is not on the list at all, but I think it will be fun to read.
Then, for dd to read-aloud to me, we have these books:
Amelia Earhart: Young Air Pioneer (this was gifted to me by a lovely lady on the Heart of Dakota forum who had finished with it! So Sweet!), Stone Fox, Dolphin Adventure, Hannah, Pioneer Cat, The Littles, The Storm, Treasure of Pelican Cove (on it's way from Paperback Swap) and The Secret School. Books I still need are Capyboppy, Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? (will borrow this one from my good friend) and One Small Square: Backyard (may substitute this one as it is hard to find free! lol) The two books that are recommended for the folk tale genre I decided not to use...I have a large workbook that is all folk/tall tales and I think we will just finish that, even though the stories are shorter...we could do one each day, I think.
Now here is a question for all you HOD users out there...when you have two kiddos the same age who are supposed to be doing the read-alouds...do you have them take turns? read separately? OR since my granddaughter can read at home to her parents, should I send the book home and have her read there? I'm curious what your answer would be...please leave a comment.
*Ü* Blessings,
We haven't quite finished with Little Hearts, so we'll start with that, then turn to Beyond when we are done. In addition to Beyond, we'll use the program (by the same publisher) called Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (DITHR). I was able to get my book brand new but used...so at a wonderfully reduced price! Yay! The teacher's book is so much bigger than I thought it would be! It is about the same size as the Beyond manual. In DITHR, the parent guides the child through nine different genres: biography, adventure, historical fiction, fantasy, folk tales, non-fiction, humor and realistic fiction. The manual is good for grades 2-8, so you do get alot of use from it. The student books are full of worksheets, graphic organizers and reading planners.
I gathered all the books I've collected so far, and took photos! This is the set of books that I will read aloud to my kiddos, as part of the story-time aspect of Beyond. These books do also coincide with the genres in DITHR, but if I chose not to use DITHR, I would still be reading these great books:
I've collected some books from more than one category choice. (Heart of Dakota has choices for boys, girls and classic - sometimes I just couldn't resist getting them all! lol)
I have: Helen Keller (this was my book when I was a child!) Squanto: Friend of the Pilgrims, Sword in the Tree, Little House in the Big Woods, (not pictured, but on it's way is The Cabin Faced West from Paperback Swap). Also I have The Cricket in Times Square (brown book) Charlotte's Web (isn't it a great size? Goodwill for 99 cents!), Ginger Pye, The Key to the Treasure (on it's way from Paperback Swap), The Railway Children (a gift from my good friend to my daughter for her 1/2 birthday - see this post for that story.) Oh, let's see...we also have In Grandma's Attic, A Bear Called Paddington, Mr. Popper's Penguins, The House at Pooh Corner (big blue book - yard sale 50 cents!) and All-of-a-kind Family - I couldn't resist reading the first two chapters of this one! I also have Phoebe and the General, which has since been renamed to Phoebe the Spy and was removed from the book list because it is out of print...but I have it! I also have Hello, Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle...this one is not on the list at all, but I think it will be fun to read.
Then, for dd to read-aloud to me, we have these books:
Amelia Earhart: Young Air Pioneer (this was gifted to me by a lovely lady on the Heart of Dakota forum who had finished with it! So Sweet!), Stone Fox, Dolphin Adventure, Hannah, Pioneer Cat, The Littles, The Storm, Treasure of Pelican Cove (on it's way from Paperback Swap) and The Secret School. Books I still need are Capyboppy, Who's That Stepping on Plymouth Rock? (will borrow this one from my good friend) and One Small Square: Backyard (may substitute this one as it is hard to find free! lol) The two books that are recommended for the folk tale genre I decided not to use...I have a large workbook that is all folk/tall tales and I think we will just finish that, even though the stories are shorter...we could do one each day, I think.
Now here is a question for all you HOD users out there...when you have two kiddos the same age who are supposed to be doing the read-alouds...do you have them take turns? read separately? OR since my granddaughter can read at home to her parents, should I send the book home and have her read there? I'm curious what your answer would be...please leave a comment.
*Ü* Blessings,
Monday, January 12, 2009
Rabbit Lapbook (Fox too!)
Hello Friends!
We finished our rabbit lapbook today to go along with the Thornton Burgess book "The Adventure of Peter Cottontail." In looking back, I realized I never posted photos of our fox lapbook for the "Reddy Fox" book...so I'll add those here too! Next we'll be doing a mouse lapbook to go with the book "Danny Meadow Mouse."
I was surprise at how much I actually fit into this rabbit book! We did some vocabulary work, though it isn't in the lapbook...we learned that a buck in an adult male, a doe an adult female and a kit is a baby bunny...a whole litter is referred to as kittens! Rabbits live in a warren and are herbivores. The latter two words are in our lapbook...the first three were just interested things we thought quite funny.
In our lapbook is a bit of poetry copywork and some math - addition and tangrams (I'll do tangrams in each of the animal lapbooks.) We made a little puppet and poem, a lifecycle wheel, and what rabbits eat as well as who eats them! Rabbits are found on every continent except Antarctica, so I didn't feel the need to do any mapping of their location. We did a fact layer book as well as a pre-made fact shape book. Most of the things were found on homeschoolshare.com and some things I made myself. Because I used Jan Brett's mask of a fox face for that lapbook cover, I decided to do the same with this lapbook for a rabbit...I know she also has a mouse mask as well as a bear mask...not sure what I'll do for a frog or squirrel yet...we'll see.
Here is dgd with her lapbook:
the inside:
And dd with hers:
and her interior:
You can see they are both a little different in layout and colors...they picked their own, and they helped with layout as well. In the very middle are mini match books with a number on the top...inside are images or rabbits, and the girls had to decide upon a number sentence for each group of rabbits...here is a close up of one of the books:
We had alot of fun with this lapbook, and actually I have already begun sketching out and planning the mouse lapbook...I'm hoping to be a little faster with the other lapbooks! I was anticipating them only taking a week or at most 2 to finish...but they've taken a bit longer...though we did have some holidays and vacations to deal with in between this one and the fox one...still I wish to be faster!
Here is a quick picture of our fox lapbook:
*Ü* Blessings,
We finished our rabbit lapbook today to go along with the Thornton Burgess book "The Adventure of Peter Cottontail." In looking back, I realized I never posted photos of our fox lapbook for the "Reddy Fox" book...so I'll add those here too! Next we'll be doing a mouse lapbook to go with the book "Danny Meadow Mouse."
I was surprise at how much I actually fit into this rabbit book! We did some vocabulary work, though it isn't in the lapbook...we learned that a buck in an adult male, a doe an adult female and a kit is a baby bunny...a whole litter is referred to as kittens! Rabbits live in a warren and are herbivores. The latter two words are in our lapbook...the first three were just interested things we thought quite funny.
In our lapbook is a bit of poetry copywork and some math - addition and tangrams (I'll do tangrams in each of the animal lapbooks.) We made a little puppet and poem, a lifecycle wheel, and what rabbits eat as well as who eats them! Rabbits are found on every continent except Antarctica, so I didn't feel the need to do any mapping of their location. We did a fact layer book as well as a pre-made fact shape book. Most of the things were found on homeschoolshare.com and some things I made myself. Because I used Jan Brett's mask of a fox face for that lapbook cover, I decided to do the same with this lapbook for a rabbit...I know she also has a mouse mask as well as a bear mask...not sure what I'll do for a frog or squirrel yet...we'll see.
Here is dgd with her lapbook:
the inside:
And dd with hers:
and her interior:
You can see they are both a little different in layout and colors...they picked their own, and they helped with layout as well. In the very middle are mini match books with a number on the top...inside are images or rabbits, and the girls had to decide upon a number sentence for each group of rabbits...here is a close up of one of the books:
We had alot of fun with this lapbook, and actually I have already begun sketching out and planning the mouse lapbook...I'm hoping to be a little faster with the other lapbooks! I was anticipating them only taking a week or at most 2 to finish...but they've taken a bit longer...though we did have some holidays and vacations to deal with in between this one and the fox one...still I wish to be faster!
Here is a quick picture of our fox lapbook:
*Ü* Blessings,
Friday, December 5, 2008
This Week at Our House
This picture was actually taken last week, but I wanted to include it here. This is our Thanksgiving Tree all finished. The whole family participated to some degree, but dd6 was the most faithful...she really enjoyed watching the tree "grow"!
This week we started up again slowly after having the week of Thanksgivng off...I hope we are a bit faster getting back into the groove in January after Christmas break! My printer is out of ink - again! So for our calendar pieces, I suggested the kids make one each day...they loved this idea! Here's a picture of ds4 holding the flag for the pledge, and another of the kiddos making the calendar cards...
We've started reading the New Testament in history (Heart of Dakota, Little Hearts for His Glory) - I thought "perfect, just in time for Christmas" but no, it moves very quickly, and we are already on the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. This week's art expression was to "paint" with water then add one drop of food coloring and watch the picture emerge. This tied into the story of Jesus turning the water into wine, and I asked the kids if I had just turned water into wine...no. Why could Jesus do it? Because He is the Son of God. I know I've said this before, but I really like the way Carrie (author of Little Hearts) ties everything back into scripture.
Speaking of scripture, this week is a review week of the last 5 verses we've studied, and the kids are doing great remembering them all!
Yesterday we read the story of how Jesus met Andrew and Peter while they were fishing and told them to throw their nets to the other side of the boat, and how the net was so full others had to help them pull in their catch...to which Jesus responded "Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men." Little Hearts then had us on a "rabbit trail" regarding fish and how they breathe and move...we created these fish with gills and fins:
So far, we've had a good week. The kids have done well doing all I ask of them. We skipped spelling this week (no ink in printer, remember?) But our math, phonics (Explode the Code) and handwriting has been accomplished lickety-split! They have been enjoying playing out in the yard even though it's averaged 35 degrees here daily (brrr). We finished the second "story-time" book and I am preparing a lapbook on rabbits for them to do...but again I'll need ink to print those things. The next animal storybook is about Danny Meadow Mouse...I think I should start gathering things now for that one! The idea was for me to have the lapbook ready when we finished the book...but that hasn't happened yet...maybe next time.
If you didn't catch it at the beginning of my post, dd turned 6 this week! She lost her first tooth on Saturday, and turned 6 on Wednesday...I can't believe she is growing up so fast! I did a scrapbook page for her tooth:
For Christmas, I am still knitting the sweaters...the big pieces are all done on the last one, so it's just the ribbing that goes up the front for the buttons, and then put it together and add the neck ribbing and buttons on both...if I took the time, I could finish this weekend...we'll see. I have a special day planned for tomorrow, so I am not sure how much time I'll devote to knitting. Tomorrow will be my family's "second annual ladies shopping trip". Last year my two oldest daughters, and my mom and sister all went, it was great fun. This year, sadly, my daughters can't make it. :o( I'm sure I'll have fun with my mom and sister...but we'll all miss the "family" time.
I've got to run and get school started! Have a wonderful day!
*Ü* Blessings,
This week we started up again slowly after having the week of Thanksgivng off...I hope we are a bit faster getting back into the groove in January after Christmas break! My printer is out of ink - again! So for our calendar pieces, I suggested the kids make one each day...they loved this idea! Here's a picture of ds4 holding the flag for the pledge, and another of the kiddos making the calendar cards...
We've started reading the New Testament in history (Heart of Dakota, Little Hearts for His Glory) - I thought "perfect, just in time for Christmas" but no, it moves very quickly, and we are already on the beginning of the ministry of Jesus. This week's art expression was to "paint" with water then add one drop of food coloring and watch the picture emerge. This tied into the story of Jesus turning the water into wine, and I asked the kids if I had just turned water into wine...no. Why could Jesus do it? Because He is the Son of God. I know I've said this before, but I really like the way Carrie (author of Little Hearts) ties everything back into scripture.
Speaking of scripture, this week is a review week of the last 5 verses we've studied, and the kids are doing great remembering them all!
Yesterday we read the story of how Jesus met Andrew and Peter while they were fishing and told them to throw their nets to the other side of the boat, and how the net was so full others had to help them pull in their catch...to which Jesus responded "Come with me, and I will make you fishers of men." Little Hearts then had us on a "rabbit trail" regarding fish and how they breathe and move...we created these fish with gills and fins:
So far, we've had a good week. The kids have done well doing all I ask of them. We skipped spelling this week (no ink in printer, remember?) But our math, phonics (Explode the Code) and handwriting has been accomplished lickety-split! They have been enjoying playing out in the yard even though it's averaged 35 degrees here daily (brrr). We finished the second "story-time" book and I am preparing a lapbook on rabbits for them to do...but again I'll need ink to print those things. The next animal storybook is about Danny Meadow Mouse...I think I should start gathering things now for that one! The idea was for me to have the lapbook ready when we finished the book...but that hasn't happened yet...maybe next time.
If you didn't catch it at the beginning of my post, dd turned 6 this week! She lost her first tooth on Saturday, and turned 6 on Wednesday...I can't believe she is growing up so fast! I did a scrapbook page for her tooth:
For Christmas, I am still knitting the sweaters...the big pieces are all done on the last one, so it's just the ribbing that goes up the front for the buttons, and then put it together and add the neck ribbing and buttons on both...if I took the time, I could finish this weekend...we'll see. I have a special day planned for tomorrow, so I am not sure how much time I'll devote to knitting. Tomorrow will be my family's "second annual ladies shopping trip". Last year my two oldest daughters, and my mom and sister all went, it was great fun. This year, sadly, my daughters can't make it. :o( I'm sure I'll have fun with my mom and sister...but we'll all miss the "family" time.
I've got to run and get school started! Have a wonderful day!
*Ü* Blessings,
Friday, October 3, 2008
LH4HG Week 5
Hello Friends!
Week five of homeschooling has drawn to a close. I cannot believe how fast the weeks are going by! How is your homeschool journey going?
We've finished "unit" 5. The kids had a hard time learning the Bible verse, but we've sung it everyday and then some...I think it is just too long. We learned about Moses and the Israelites. We concluded today's history lesson with some "art". Edible art. Little Hearts for His Glory had us make homemade playdoh...well, we ran out of peanut butter, so instead we used a jell-o playdoh recipe (I'll share it later.) The dough was easy to make, and didn't take long to cool. We read the Bible story of how Moses comes down from the mountain and sees the people worshiping the golden calf. Did you know that to teach the Israelites a lesson, he melted the gold and made them DRINK it?! I had never read that tidbit before! So our "art" lesson was to make a "golden calf" from our edible playdoh and then eat it.
Here's the recipe I used:
1c flour
1/2c salt
1c water
1T oil
2t cream of tartar
1 pkg jell-o
Mix together (I wisked the flour and water together first - like gravy - to make it "lumpless") cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it becomes mashed potatoe consistancy. Let cool. Knead with floured hands on floured surface until dry. Cool completely before storing in airtight container.
We had a grand time. We truly have been enjoying our LH4HG experience.
Last week we introduced spelling, and went through the process of dictating a sentence, and having a "spelling test" and all that. It went well, so this week we did it for real. I have an Evan-Moor Grade 1 Spelling book that we are using. We actually began half way through...the first 13 units were all 3 letter short vowel words. So we had our real spelling test today, and the girls both got all the words correct. They were allowed to choose a sticker to put on their paper as a reward. (Oh the joys of homeschooling little ones! lol)
New this week also, ds4 wanted a calendar notebook like the girls. So mommy made him one...he has carried it around much of the day! He is very proud to have one. Of course I didn't include all that I do with the girls, but just encourage him by telling him that next year he will have all of that too...he doesn't write much yet, so instead of writing a number in the calendar boxes, he just colors our pattern...this month is an AAB pattern, so he is coloring the boxes red, red, orange. It is so cute to see him so excited.
We also did our first CalcuLadder drill. Well, just the girls. They did level 2 which is simply adding 1 to a number. We did a trial run to show them how it is done, then did an actual drill. They completed the page and still have 15 or 20 seconds to spare! Wow! Was I impressed. They got a little reward certificate for their efforts.
My sweet brother bought for his daughter 6 or so years ago, the Phonics Game. We brought that out to play with during quiet time this week. The games are all played the same it seems...but that's okay, the kiddos have fun playing and learning anyhow.
Oh! I almost forgot! We also instituted a new "responsibility chart" into our home. I was blessed to get it at nearly half price used from another homeschooling family that had outgrown it. We are loving it. The two little ones get up each morning and follow the cards on the chart and earn a "ticket". They go about the homeschooling part of our day, and follow the cards as needed to earn another ticket in the afternoon. Then at bedtime they follow a few more routine cards and earn a final ticket. If they earn 3 in a day, they earn a sticker towards a long-term reward - a special date with mom or dad. The program is SO AWESOME! It's called Accountable Kids and I have to say things are so much smoother at my house! If I have a child who just isn't being obedient, I can warn them that they will lose a ticket; if the behavior continues, I ask them to bring me a ticket...they hate that! They use their tickets to "buy" special privileges that they have had all along - riding bikes, watching tv or videos...but I also added playing a game from our game closet and playdoh...things I don't usually let them do unsupervised. They can also earn a special "Privilege Pass" for a targeted behavior that they can use to buy computer time. This has been an amazing incentive for my ds4 who was still messing in his pants. This is week 2 of doing the program and the messing happened only once since we began! I am totally amazed...I had offered the incentive of computer time...but for some reason the idea that he can earn the card that he can use to buy computer time just worked better...I don't get it! But, I am not going to question a program that works!
Blessings,
*Ü*
Week five of homeschooling has drawn to a close. I cannot believe how fast the weeks are going by! How is your homeschool journey going?
We've finished "unit" 5. The kids had a hard time learning the Bible verse, but we've sung it everyday and then some...I think it is just too long. We learned about Moses and the Israelites. We concluded today's history lesson with some "art". Edible art. Little Hearts for His Glory had us make homemade playdoh...well, we ran out of peanut butter, so instead we used a jell-o playdoh recipe (I'll share it later.) The dough was easy to make, and didn't take long to cool. We read the Bible story of how Moses comes down from the mountain and sees the people worshiping the golden calf. Did you know that to teach the Israelites a lesson, he melted the gold and made them DRINK it?! I had never read that tidbit before! So our "art" lesson was to make a "golden calf" from our edible playdoh and then eat it.
I have to say here...our playdoh was pink because we happened to have strawberry jell-o on hand. We also had orange, and in hindsight I realize now orange would have been a better choice...more "golden"...but I didn't think of that when I was looking at ingredients, I just thought "oh, strawberry will taste better than orange" duh - oh, well. The kids loved the softness of the playdoh, and making any animal is tricky...so I helped a little. Here is dgd6's response to "drinking the golden calf":
Here's the recipe I used:
1c flour
1/2c salt
1c water
1T oil
2t cream of tartar
1 pkg jell-o
Mix together (I wisked the flour and water together first - like gravy - to make it "lumpless") cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until it becomes mashed potatoe consistancy. Let cool. Knead with floured hands on floured surface until dry. Cool completely before storing in airtight container.
We had a grand time. We truly have been enjoying our LH4HG experience.
Last week we introduced spelling, and went through the process of dictating a sentence, and having a "spelling test" and all that. It went well, so this week we did it for real. I have an Evan-Moor Grade 1 Spelling book that we are using. We actually began half way through...the first 13 units were all 3 letter short vowel words. So we had our real spelling test today, and the girls both got all the words correct. They were allowed to choose a sticker to put on their paper as a reward. (Oh the joys of homeschooling little ones! lol)
New this week also, ds4 wanted a calendar notebook like the girls. So mommy made him one...he has carried it around much of the day! He is very proud to have one. Of course I didn't include all that I do with the girls, but just encourage him by telling him that next year he will have all of that too...he doesn't write much yet, so instead of writing a number in the calendar boxes, he just colors our pattern...this month is an AAB pattern, so he is coloring the boxes red, red, orange. It is so cute to see him so excited.
We also did our first CalcuLadder drill. Well, just the girls. They did level 2 which is simply adding 1 to a number. We did a trial run to show them how it is done, then did an actual drill. They completed the page and still have 15 or 20 seconds to spare! Wow! Was I impressed. They got a little reward certificate for their efforts.
My sweet brother bought for his daughter 6 or so years ago, the Phonics Game. We brought that out to play with during quiet time this week. The games are all played the same it seems...but that's okay, the kiddos have fun playing and learning anyhow.
Oh! I almost forgot! We also instituted a new "responsibility chart" into our home. I was blessed to get it at nearly half price used from another homeschooling family that had outgrown it. We are loving it. The two little ones get up each morning and follow the cards on the chart and earn a "ticket". They go about the homeschooling part of our day, and follow the cards as needed to earn another ticket in the afternoon. Then at bedtime they follow a few more routine cards and earn a final ticket. If they earn 3 in a day, they earn a sticker towards a long-term reward - a special date with mom or dad. The program is SO AWESOME! It's called Accountable Kids and I have to say things are so much smoother at my house! If I have a child who just isn't being obedient, I can warn them that they will lose a ticket; if the behavior continues, I ask them to bring me a ticket...they hate that! They use their tickets to "buy" special privileges that they have had all along - riding bikes, watching tv or videos...but I also added playing a game from our game closet and playdoh...things I don't usually let them do unsupervised. They can also earn a special "Privilege Pass" for a targeted behavior that they can use to buy computer time. This has been an amazing incentive for my ds4 who was still messing in his pants. This is week 2 of doing the program and the messing happened only once since we began! I am totally amazed...I had offered the incentive of computer time...but for some reason the idea that he can earn the card that he can use to buy computer time just worked better...I don't get it! But, I am not going to question a program that works!
Blessings,
*Ü*
Sunday, September 14, 2008
LH4HG Week 2
We're making progress, and it is so fun to see!
Last week we missed the art project, and I really didn't like this weeks, so we did last weeks instead! I love the flexibility of Little Hearts!
Here are the kiddos doing their art work:
This week our science discovery revolved around floating and sinking with regards to Noah's story. Well, we had covered that concept a while ago...so I decided to add onto it by having the kids guess or estimate how many counters their "boat" could hold before it would sink...we brought our white board into the bathroom (convenient low sink for this kind of project...and counters to sit on, too!) Here's a shot of the silly kids:
and one more serious...note the guesses or estimations on the white board:
Now, here are the photos I know you have been waiting for...drumroll please...the sinking ship:
And you really can't see it very well...but this is their reaction to the sinking...lots of giggles!
Of course that is not all we've done. The kids have all learned thier bible verse, and can recognize the tune when it comes on the tape in the car - lol. They enjoyed writing a letter to Reddy Fox to warn him of the danger to come. We are learning about coins this year too, so the penny and nickel have been introduced, and the girls are quite adept at counting on from 5 which is a BIG learned skill that they could not do last year. We learned a new rhyme in motion, that they really enjoyed, and I'm curious what next weeks rhyme is.
On Monday as we did calendar, I gave the kids each a piece of yellow paper to put their names on, and I wrote underneath is "thinks Isabella will come today." Then we each put our card into a pocket of our pocket chart calendar. We had to change a couple as two of the kids guessed the next day and the day after...finally we each had a decent guess...Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and her original due date...Isabella surprised us all by coming in between our guesses on Sunday...that's right, the little bundle arrived today! Yipee! We are all so exc ited, and my dgd6 is the most excited:
We get to add baby Isabella's name to our birthday calendar for this month.
I hope you all had a wonderful week as well!
God bless,
merchi
Last week we missed the art project, and I really didn't like this weeks, so we did last weeks instead! I love the flexibility of Little Hearts!
Here are the kiddos doing their art work:
This week our science discovery revolved around floating and sinking with regards to Noah's story. Well, we had covered that concept a while ago...so I decided to add onto it by having the kids guess or estimate how many counters their "boat" could hold before it would sink...we brought our white board into the bathroom (convenient low sink for this kind of project...and counters to sit on, too!) Here's a shot of the silly kids:
and one more serious...note the guesses or estimations on the white board:
Now, here are the photos I know you have been waiting for...drumroll please...the sinking ship:
And you really can't see it very well...but this is their reaction to the sinking...lots of giggles!
Of course that is not all we've done. The kids have all learned thier bible verse, and can recognize the tune when it comes on the tape in the car - lol. They enjoyed writing a letter to Reddy Fox to warn him of the danger to come. We are learning about coins this year too, so the penny and nickel have been introduced, and the girls are quite adept at counting on from 5 which is a BIG learned skill that they could not do last year. We learned a new rhyme in motion, that they really enjoyed, and I'm curious what next weeks rhyme is.
On Monday as we did calendar, I gave the kids each a piece of yellow paper to put their names on, and I wrote underneath is "thinks Isabella will come today." Then we each put our card into a pocket of our pocket chart calendar. We had to change a couple as two of the kids guessed the next day and the day after...finally we each had a decent guess...Saturday, Monday, Tuesday and her original due date...Isabella surprised us all by coming in between our guesses on Sunday...that's right, the little bundle arrived today! Yipee! We are all so exc ited, and my dgd6 is the most excited:
We get to add baby Isabella's name to our birthday calendar for this month.
I hope you all had a wonderful week as well!
God bless,
merchi
Friday, September 5, 2008
We Finished Week 1
Well, week 1 has come to an end...we did alot! I can't believe how little it looks like on paper, but we really did do quite a bit. I love Little Hearts for His Glory so far, and don't think I'll be dissappointed in the long run...it will save me so much time and energy! Plus it is so neat how it all centers on God...I love that.
Earlier in the week, we did a little activity, acted out the earth's orbit around the sun, then singing "happy birthday, dear Earth" after one rotation...later when I asked the kids how long it took for the earth to go around the sun, they didn't have a clue! Hmmm...I thought, what did I do wrong?? So today, we redid that activity - but this time, with each step we took around the sun, we said a month (well, we actually sang the months) then when we got back around to where we started, the "sun" told us happy birthday.
At first I was the sun, and the kiddos were each an "earth"...but for this activity, someone else was the sun, so I could show them how to move taking one step for each month...I took a video so you could hear the tune of the song, and see how we did it...just in case you wanted to do the same...though perhaps your kiddos got the whole earth goes around the sun in one year thing right off the bat? lol (Okay...perhaps I should explain the blanket and pillows...we picked up our reading area pillows because even though they are square, they are blue and have waves of water and people on them like the earth! - and the sun? no, it's not yellow...but an orangy-yellow...and it does have little suns on it...and the fringe of the blanket is kind of like rays of the sun, right? right? well, I thought it was a good idea, and it worked for us.)
We also started a creation book...it's not really a lapbook...but it is on a video around somewhere...the quarter circle one that opens to a full circle...one quarter circle for each day. The girls are enjoying that, and I wanted them to understand the creation story most fully.
My ds4 has been learning to read using Reading Reflex...we're only on day 2, but we had done bits and pieces of this earlier, so he does have some knowledge...but he is beginning to put 3 sounds together without my help! It's so exciting to watch this happen!
I trust your week was just a productive, and I'll leave you with our "earths" orbiting the "sun" photo:
Blessings,
*Ü*
Karen
Earlier in the week, we did a little activity, acted out the earth's orbit around the sun, then singing "happy birthday, dear Earth" after one rotation...later when I asked the kids how long it took for the earth to go around the sun, they didn't have a clue! Hmmm...I thought, what did I do wrong?? So today, we redid that activity - but this time, with each step we took around the sun, we said a month (well, we actually sang the months) then when we got back around to where we started, the "sun" told us happy birthday.
At first I was the sun, and the kiddos were each an "earth"...but for this activity, someone else was the sun, so I could show them how to move taking one step for each month...I took a video so you could hear the tune of the song, and see how we did it...just in case you wanted to do the same...though perhaps your kiddos got the whole earth goes around the sun in one year thing right off the bat? lol (Okay...perhaps I should explain the blanket and pillows...we picked up our reading area pillows because even though they are square, they are blue and have waves of water and people on them like the earth! - and the sun? no, it's not yellow...but an orangy-yellow...and it does have little suns on it...and the fringe of the blanket is kind of like rays of the sun, right? right? well, I thought it was a good idea, and it worked for us.)
We also started a creation book...it's not really a lapbook...but it is on a video around somewhere...the quarter circle one that opens to a full circle...one quarter circle for each day. The girls are enjoying that, and I wanted them to understand the creation story most fully.
My ds4 has been learning to read using Reading Reflex...we're only on day 2, but we had done bits and pieces of this earlier, so he does have some knowledge...but he is beginning to put 3 sounds together without my help! It's so exciting to watch this happen!
I trust your week was just a productive, and I'll leave you with our "earths" orbiting the "sun" photo:
Blessings,
*Ü*
Karen
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Little Hearts for His Glory - Day 3
I so wanted to greet my munchkins with a surprise for the first day of school...and since that didn't work out, I did it on day 3.
Another homeschooling mom had made these really neat little "welcome to 1st grade/preschool" cards placed on top of a pile of school supplies for her little ones, and I was so touched by that it made me want to do the same for mine...so I did:
They were very excited...I asked them to hold up their favorite item, and they smiled so nicely for the photo op:
Today we enjoyed our calendar wall again, and then went outside for the "Rhymes in Motion" portion of our day...which if you are reading my posts remember from day 1 as being a favorite of dd5. At first she did not want to go out doors, but rather wanted to stay in for school...but when I reminded her what we were doing, she was very excited. Again I drew the continents on the driveway:
The girls loved leaping, stomping, hopping, crawling, waddling etc. to the different continents...then I added waves for water, and we went over the names of the oceans that we had learned in our Noah's Ark Lapbook. LHFHG has the kids jump from brown paper to blue paper as the parent calls out a land or sea animal...but my plan was for them to jump onto a continent or into the ocean...instead they began to draw the animals onto the driveway in the appropriate places...and called upon me for some help. It was quite cute!
My dd21 decided to bake today, and since she really enjoys doing this I thought it would be a good way for her to take part in the homeschooling. I had planned to bake with the kiddos every Monday...so now dd21 will do this instead! One less thing for me to remember to do...and a little break for me too. Today she made bread with the kiddos, and we had a "European" lunch (think Heidi) of fresh bread with butter and jam, cheese, apples and milk...yum! yum!
Well, that pretty much sums up our day!
Another homeschooling mom had made these really neat little "welcome to 1st grade/preschool" cards placed on top of a pile of school supplies for her little ones, and I was so touched by that it made me want to do the same for mine...so I did:
They were very excited...I asked them to hold up their favorite item, and they smiled so nicely for the photo op:
Today we enjoyed our calendar wall again, and then went outside for the "Rhymes in Motion" portion of our day...which if you are reading my posts remember from day 1 as being a favorite of dd5. At first she did not want to go out doors, but rather wanted to stay in for school...but when I reminded her what we were doing, she was very excited. Again I drew the continents on the driveway:
The girls loved leaping, stomping, hopping, crawling, waddling etc. to the different continents...then I added waves for water, and we went over the names of the oceans that we had learned in our Noah's Ark Lapbook. LHFHG has the kids jump from brown paper to blue paper as the parent calls out a land or sea animal...but my plan was for them to jump onto a continent or into the ocean...instead they began to draw the animals onto the driveway in the appropriate places...and called upon me for some help. It was quite cute!
My dd21 decided to bake today, and since she really enjoys doing this I thought it would be a good way for her to take part in the homeschooling. I had planned to bake with the kiddos every Monday...so now dd21 will do this instead! One less thing for me to remember to do...and a little break for me too. Today she made bread with the kiddos, and we had a "European" lunch (think Heidi) of fresh bread with butter and jam, cheese, apples and milk...yum! yum!
Well, that pretty much sums up our day!
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