Week in Review 10/19-10/23

[butterfly113]

Well, once again life kicked into high gear... LOL! I am so thankful for my HOD manual all put together for me! Between extra dr. appts, testing and evaluations, losing a family pet... it has been a bumpy road!
We started unit 9 of PHFHG last week, and are just finishing it up. I am thankful to have scheduled a few built in breaks, to catch up when life gets crazy!
Here is our week in review. While life was crazy, we were reminded of God's love, grace and mercy! No matter what, He is Sovereign!

http://joshuatreeacademy.blogspot.com/2 ... nit-9.html

[Daisy]

http://daisyhomeschoolblog.blogspot.com ... -1022.html

It reviews the last week in a half. Sorry I didn't get up a review last week.

[creativemommy]

We had a fun week finishing up LHTH & LHFHG Unit 7 (days 3-5) and Unit 8 (days 1-2). It's so nice to just "open & go" every morning when we're ready to sit down and "do" school.

There's never a boring school day with HOD and my kids LOVE it!

dd3 loved painting with watercolors on letter F (and all over the entire paper while I worked with ds6 on his work)...


ds6 spent a time on his "tapestry" making the squares in a circle & lines - not sure if this is the exact idea of it or not according to the directions in the guide, but he enjoyed doing it...


dd3 thoroughly enjoying playing in water for over an hour before she let ds6 help her change the water into "blood" stirring in the food coloring to symbolize the first plague...


ds6 helps dd3 with her Count on Me page each week (he writes the numbers while she counts the objects in the boxes) and for this week she added the "blood" around the door frames after ds6's suggestion of it...


The most fun activity of the week for ds6 was throwing "stones" at "Goliath"...

[Daisy]

What fun activities! I love changing the water to blood. AGHGHGHG.

[rainbowacreshs]

Hi all. Sorry we haven't posted as much these past few weeks. We have started into Unit 9 of CTC. History is still remaing Kasey's favorite subject now, math is the battle axe, language is getting better.
I completely understand and sympathize with you Butterfly. We too had to let go of our "old man" doberman/dalmation this past Saturday. It was a hard decision but we knew putting him down was for the very best. Our Kasey was so very brave as she chose to be with him during the last moments. It hurts so much as a parent to know that these heart hurts, there are no bandaids for.

Even though I haven't posted often in the last few weeks, just checking and reading the posts have helped me to stay encouraged.

All yall have a good week!

[LynnH]

We had another great week in Preparing. Noah finished One Small Square Cactus Desert and finished his "What things live in the desert" notebook page. Notebooking can be a challenge for him because he struggles with drawing and coloring, but he is showing so much improvement in this area. I love watching him become more independent with his work. He not only does the independent boxes by himself, but he now does his vocabulary cards with very little help and this week read his grammar lessons on his own. We are doing Igniting Your Writing based on Julie's recommendation since we don't use Rod and Staff and that has been a great fit for him. Since writing is a struggle I have been doing the start up level with him. This week he was supposed to go around gathering ideas for a paragraph, but he didn't actually have to write the paragraph. He chose to write one anyway and actually it ended up being a few small paragraphs. I was so proud of him. He also did much better with his cursive copywork this week. He is maturing so much through using this program and is now challenging himself to "take it up a notch" as he says. He was so proud of himself that he felt like he had done that in the area of writing and grammar this week.

The other activity he loved was researching the meaning of names and making his name sign. In the past he would have rushed through this activity because with his tremor coloring in the lines is a challenge. He took so much time on his sign and couldn't wait to show it to Dad and hang it on his door.

DSC_6464.JPG (49.13 KiB) Viewed 11685 times

Every week I see evidence of why God led me to this curriculum.

[my3sons]

butterfly - caterpillar's narration about Solomon was terrific! I also loved her cactus desert notebooking picture. It looked beautiful! I wish I could have been there to help eat the peanut butter and do the happy dance for the science experiment - you have got one happy dd on your hands, and you are doing an awesome job with her!

Daisy - Buttercup's history projects turned out so neatly! I bet your younger child DID love hearing her act out the crossing of the Jordan River. Her student book is looking so lovely. My ds's writing goes up and down like a bit of a roller coaster - your dd's is so nice and straight - that's something for us to work on. We are loving Write with the Best too. We're a unit or 2 behind you, but we're getting started on the description of a place as well. I think it's going to be fun! My favorite part was listening to your dd recite the Robert Frost poem - she did so well, you must be soooo proud! I LOVED the way she said these lines...
"I shan't be gone long...
you come too"
very Robert Frostish of her!
Dragonfly is doing so well with his BHFHG! I liked his Native American dwelling, and it sounds like he did a good job on his Benjamin West project. Smart little guy remembered so much - way to go, Dragonfly! My favorite part was the picture of your dh reading Snow Treasure with him. That's pretty special - I'm glad you snapped a picture of it.

creativemommy - the watercolor "F" looks great, and I like the tapestry is so colorful! That's so neat that older ds helps dd with her Count on Me page. Can you believe how tall Goliath was?!? That made a big impact on all of my dc. Your dc look just precious!

Lynnh - I'm so glad Noah is liking his Igniting His Writing - I was so hoping he would! I love to read about Noah. I had to smile when I read his challenge to "take it up a notch" - that is just so Noah, isn't it? He is truly an amazing kid. I'm so glad his vocabulary is going well - that took a long time for my ds to become truly independent with. His name turned out great - I bet your dh was so proud of him too. I know he'll continue improving in his notebooking - he has such drive. You should be so proud of him!!!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Creation to Christ:
We just began "Boy of the Pyramids" for Storytime, and we can hardly wait for the next day's reading! It really makes us understand why people behaved the way they did, and how some people had compassion and others did not. Wyatt made a column like those found in Egypt in the Temple of Karnak. He really did a nice job with it and was excited to use glitter:



One big growth I'm beginning to see is Wyatt's ability to give a good summary oral narration. This has been an excellent skill for him to work on, as he was very good at giving detailed oral narrations but had a harder time giving shorter, more concise ones. I like that he is learning many different ways to orally narrate now, but I'm glad we didn't do it earlier. This is the perfect time to introduce these new oral narration skills. Likewise, he is beginning to do very well with his science narrations as well, and is working on including more of the bolded words in his narration.

He is especially loving Write with the Best. I am truly amazed by this as writing has never been his thing. He really enjoyed reading the excerpt from A Christmas Carol, and circling the specific nouns, and underlining with various colors the adjectives, adverbs, and verbs. When we did this with the first selection in Write with the Best, he didn't like it nearly as well and didn't do nearly as well with it as he did this time. I'm so happy with his growth already! One other thing I'm very pleased with is his understanding of measurements in math. It really is a difficult concept, and yet he is doing so well with it.

Wyatt loved trying to stump me with his animal tracks book and imprints he made, but he did them so well I figured them all out!



In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory:
Riley is really enjoying seeing his timeline grow, and he loves hearing the stories from Boys and Girls of Colonial Days.


His grammar lesson really helped him make sense of common and proper nouns too, and he even pointed out a proper noun in his poetry. One of his favorite things was measuring out our living room/dining room as was done during colonial times. Another favorite thing was doing the Indian dance and having his brothers join in (they couldn't resist). He also loved making his garden scene:


Some areas of growth for him have been in understanding multiplication, knowing his spelling words more quickly, and reading with more expression. While I am proud of this academic growth, Riley is having attitude/heart issues to work on outside of school time though. My dh is traveling so much right now that I am sometimes exhausted and let too much go. I've prayed about this and am trying to get back to having high expectations for my middle ds obedience-wise as I did for my oldest ds at his age. Anyway, we continue to work on first-time obedience, a cheerful attitude, and patience with his little brother. I know these struggles are worthwhile, but oh, they can make a gal turn grey! School was definitely the bright spot this week - thank the Lord for HOD!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Little Hands to Heaven:
My little Emmett thinks he is very big stuff doing his school time. In fact, today is Sunday, and he was very perturbed we were not doing school today. One of his very favorite things to do is the Fingerplay. When I do the crawling stuff on the floor, he cannot wait to hop on my back and catch a ride. He thinks it's hilarious! My oldest ds thought it was so funny, he snapped some pictures of it:



He also loved doing his flashcard review and is really getting into his letter sounds already. He also enjoys watching Leap Frog Letter Factory, and it is a perfect tie-in to LHTH:


Ever since we did our first day of art in LHTH, Emmett has painted. He loves it! I can't tell what he's painting, but he sure is happy. One way he's shown growth already is being able to listen to the Bible story and answer a few of the questions. He also loves to count. I'm so glad we are doing LHTH! Doing it half-speed has been the perfect way to spend time with him without adding a ton of time to our day.

In Christ,
Julie

[Shimmer]

We didn't get very far on LHTH this week as we had family leaving from their visit and I kept a neighbor's kids one day. We also did a catchup day to pick back up some boxes we had missed and get back into our routine after being off a few days. We finished Unit 8 with the Letter G. The girls were very happy to make gingerbread cookies again for some extra fun. They had a great time with acting out the Bible story from Day 5. I used marshmellows for the "manna" for them to find. They love marshmellows!

One of my challenges this week was my middle child starting to drop her afternoon nap. That's when I do the oldest's K work. I'm working on training my middle one to have "rest time" with the lights off/no toys to see if she needs to rest that day while I'm getting the baby down for her nap. If she is still awake when I'm done she can have the lights on and play quietly in her room while I get any of the more involved parts of the oldest's school work done. Then she can come down and play in an adjacent room while we work or join us if it's feasible. We've had some bumps this week while I was figuring out my plan and starting to train her to know what is expected, but I think it'll go better this week.

This picture was during our Kindergarten time when the big girls were together. My oldest was reading her reader to her sister. I loved it!



Love reading and seeing everybody's weeks!

[Daisy]

I love reading all these weekly reviews! It really helps me stay encouraged. Thank you all.

Julie, I hear you on the heart issues thing. Sigh, we've been working a bit on that a bit also. Nothing to do with school. As you said, that is the BEST part of our day. I find myself being a little lax on discipline since we were all sick. Definitely time to get back into good habits! I'll say a prayer for your upcoming week.

[my3sons]

Julie, I hear you on the heart issues thing. Sigh, we've been working a bit on that a bit also. Nothing to do with school. As you said, that is the BEST part of our day. I find myself being a little lax on discipline since we were all sick. Definitely time to get back into good habits! I'll say a prayer for your upcoming week.

I'm glad to hear I am not alone in this - and thank you so much for your prayers! Riley and I both need an extra dose of patience with each other, and I need to buckle down and give a little tough love that is more consistent.

In Christ,
Julie

[Carrie]

Ladies,

What a blessing to pop back in this evening and read your weekly check-ins. I know I'm ever so late in responding but wanted to let you all know what a terrific job you're doing with your kiddos. What a blessing to be in God's word every day and to be so instrumental in training up your kiddos in the way the Lord desires for them to go. I know it's no easy job, as I have daily proof. But, I am applauding each of your diligence in working through school with your kiddos as a team. I love to see their progess.

Jasmine,

I also wanted to mention to you how much your weekly check-in about Kasey a few weeks ago touched my heart. I had tears of joy for her with her progess. Thank you so much for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Tree House Academy]

Sorry I am late this week. I don't have a great check-in this week either. We have been plugging along, but I have been a bit down in the dumps lately, so struggling a bit to enjoy school this week.

We are currently working on Unit 7 of LHFHG. We are really enjoying the Bible History. Our reading has led to a lot of really good discussions. My son's ultimate favorite, though, is the Frog and Toad from Beyond's Emerging readers. He just loves those stories and his reading is coming along SO well.

I enjoyed reading everyone else's updates.