Week-In Review 3-15-10 to 3-19-10

[Mom4Him]

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!

[Mom4Him]

It has been another great week at our house using HOD! We are continually blessed with the activities in LHTH that can be super short when need be, or can be very lllooooonnnngg! I was very encouraged this week by how well everything went. These last couple of months since my now 2-year-old stopped taking his morning nap, have been a bit more challenging- as I miss that sweet time just with my 3 oldest to do LHTH each morning. I love my little boy dearly, but he is definitely a boy, & when he is around it is hard to focus on the others that also desire my attention. So... this week I tried having him play in his crib/room a little bit longer- so that I could do about half of LHTH while he was out of the room & then I brought him in for the rest (which he thoroughly enjoyed )- even my girls would say- "let's have him come in for this part, because he would really like it" - instead of "he's too loud, or won't sit still, etc..." So, we are happy to have found a routine that works well for us!!
We were on Unit 23 this week in LHTH & talked about some of Jesus' miracles!
Some of our favorite things from the week were....
*finding our heart-beats (pulses)...exercising...& then finding our pulses again to see how much faster our hearts are beating...

*gluing string on the letter "S"...

*playing "doctor"- aallll morning! ...

We also really enjoyed making letter "S's" in syrup, pretending to be storms, & making storms in a container. It was so much fun & lots of great learning!
I look forward to hearing about everyone else's weeks!
Jessica

[moedertje]

Bigger

This week with Julie's encouragement and assistance we began our journey of independence. Elijah now gets together the material for school after doing his Chore Pack. He was very excited and did great all week. For training we used the white board this week and next week we can do our laminated sheet.


We are studying Science in Colonial America and how it was very practical. In this we also learned about how to clean germs off by washing with soapy warm water, not cold water rinsing or wiping with a paper towel. The experiment was super cool, using body lotion and glitter. I absolutely love that the children get to make their own guess and see why or why not it was correct.
Learning how the North Star can be used as a guide for travelers was a hit. We can not wait to have a clear night and go outside to see the Big Dipper and the North Star. My son instantly remembered it from reading "The Drinking Gourd". (Check out the extra Emergent Reader books that Carrie recommends).


Map skills are a challenge! Again I can use my BIG excuse. I am from South America!


I was super surprised at my son's drawing without modeling while I read him the poem. Have him do the imaginary scene. He is not quiet the artist, but growing into it! His coloring skills are now developing to the point that he can color in the lines, most of the time


The time line is turning out so beautiful. This year I listened to the advise from Carrie and Julie to have your child do the drawing so that they remember it and can be excited about THEIR work and therefor remember it better. and so that you can see the progress over time. not Mom's "perfect" pictures from a computer disk in THEIR time line.


We continue to love English! I keep saying Language Arts to be corrected every single time


After a hard week of school Elijah took a nap on Friday afternoon, first he read a stack of books and than he crashed.

[my3sons]

Mom4Him: I just love to see your little ones soaking up LHTH! They looked very professional in their doctoring , and finding the heartbeat was a fun activity I still remember doing. I am really glad you shared what worked for you once your little guy dropped one of his naps. I think you had a great idea to try when you reflected on a change in your home. I've found we need to do this kind of reflecting more often then just in between school years. Things like a toddler dropping a nap can make a big change in the school day. I love your idea of having your toddler have a little independent time, which in return gives you and your dd's time alone, but then you blend him in for the things that fit him well. What a wonderful fix to a big change like a toddler dropping a nap! I just know others are going to benefit from this tip. Thanks for sharing it here!

Moedertje: I am so proud of your little guy! He did a super job of getting his materials together, and his smile shows how happy he is about proving he can do it. Starting with a marker board and then laminating your routine next is such a wise thing to do. There are so many times I've done the laminating first and then ended up redoing it later because of the changes I realized we needed to make. I love your son's timeline! It is turning out very well, and I am glad he's making it himself. I think your ds's coloring looks really good! My oldest ds just disliked coloring like crazy - in fact, he first scribbled over everything in black. He's 10 now, and he's come a long way, but coloring probably will never be a favorite of his. Then, my second ds loves coloring, and just does a lovely job of it on his own. I think coloring must be one of those things some dc just love and some dc just learn to do. Anyway, I don't know a lot of grown men that enjoy coloring, so I guess our boys will fit right in. The glitter/germ experiment is such a fun one - I'm glad Elijah enjoyed it. You can feel so good about your week - you are doing such a wonderful job of creating a happy homeschooling home for your ds! Thanks for sharing your week here.

[my3sons]

Creation to Christ:
Wyatt had to fly solo more than usual this week with CTC. My middle ds has pneumonia, and requires nebulizing every 4 hours, as well as a bunch of meds. My littlest guy had a bad cold/ear infection, which appeared to be developing into bronchitis, so he also has required nebulizing every 4 hours, and has a bunch of meds too. God is good and took care of us though. My oldest ds is healthy, and I've been healthy as well. My dh has been gone, so I depend fully on my oldest ds. He is such a blessing to me. There is no way we could have accomplished what we did this week in homeschooling, with any other program than HOD. It made it easy on me, even though the rest of our life was chaotic.

I'm so pleased with the way Wyatt's Student Notebook is coming together. Though not everything is perfect about it, I love that it is all his drawing, his writing, and his work - rather than a lot of cut and paste or stickers of premade things. One of my favorite things about HOD is that each of my dc's portfolios of work looks different. It makes it their own, and it also makes it more fun to reteach guides, as the finished product always looks different. Here are a few pics of it:


I realized I have not been referring to the Written Narration Tips like I used to the first half of the school year. I decided we're far enough into the year now (we only have 8 weeks left) that Wyatt can have his own copy of the list and check it himself before giving it to me to check. I took about 5 minutes and just briefly summarized the numbered items, and I asked him to be his own editor and check for those things first before he gave it to me. I would not have done this earlier in the year, as it would have been overwhelming and too much information, but since we've worked through each of the things now slowly throughout the year, he is ready for it. He wrote an awesome narration! AND, it had no spelling errors. HOORAY! Usually there are at least a few, as the written narration is full of new names and places he learned reading his ancient history. I think he felt empowered about checking it over himself, and it was a good reminder of what I'm looking for, as far as editing goes. I ran it off and stuck it in a plastic sleeve for him to refer to when he does his narrations I think this is going to work well for the end of this year.


We had a good week in spite of some health concerns, and I'm so thankful he was able to continue enjoying his school in the midst of all of his helping me with sick dc. HOD always makes us happy with what was accomplished during the week, even if it is the only thing we accomplished.

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Bigger Hearts for His Glory:
My little Riley was one sick pup most of this week, but praise the Lord he is pulling out of it! Just today, he finally seems more himself. He still wanted to do school, and I let him all but one day, when I thought he needed to stay in bed all day as he was quite ill. I'm so glad he still looks forward to doing school, even if he's not feeling well.

Riley loved the science experiment that had his guess which water would evaporate first. We watched it over several days (quite a few days longer actually, since he was sick), and he kept grinning from ear to ear as his salt water evaporated first and left salt behind. He's walk past and say, "Look, Mom! I was right! That salt water is evaporating more quickly. I knew I was right!"


Bartering was a BIG hit! This was a history activity linked to John Smith's bartering to help the people of Jamestown survive. My boys took to it like a fish takes to water. Of course, it involved snacks - so that's always a hit, but it really taught them a lot about thinking about what they really wanted and what was worth trading for. They were both very happy at the end. Wyatt was happy with quantity (he is my oldest boy who is definitely going through a growth spurt leaving him hungry all of the time ), while my middle ds was happy with quality, as he ended up with much fewer things, but they were the things he really wanted.


I'm so glad the nibbling of the continent graham crackers activity was today, as Riley's tummy was more settled and he was fully able to enjoy the eating of the crackers as he made his continents map:


It was a good week homeschooling, and I was very glad to see Riley display some good character qualities of diligence, hard work, and cheerfulness - even in the midst of not feeling well. I guess those character quality lessons in BHFHG are paying off in a big way!

In Christ,
Julie

[my3sons]

Little Hands to Heaven:
We had a good week with LHTH, even though my little Emmett was feeling sicker and sicker as the week went by. We did a bit less than usual, but what we did made his little face smile. He loved cutting and gluing for his #10 page, and if you count all of the guys on the front and back of the page, there are 10.


We enjoyed reading about Joshua and Caleb, especially acting out the carrying of the BIG grapes. He was always "Joshua", and I was "Caleb". He keeps getting better and better at saying more and more of his fingerplay. He loves the fingerplay, but he used to kind of get about every other word right - now he gets most of it right and the actions too. It is too cute!

Riley turned 3 this past weekend, and I have to share how his cousin Cole made a tractor book for him, complete with pictures of real tractors. Emmett has not stopped reading it since he got it. He even takes it to the potty chair. Thank the Lord for cousins!


While my little Riley is on the mend, my little Emmett is getting worse. Please pray for him to get better and be healthy again! Thanks, and while the rest of our life was tougher this week, HOD was just right. Thanks HOD for making it easy for me to homeschool in the midst of our less than perfect life.

In Christ,
Julie

[John'smom]

Mom4Him: How sweet to hear your little girls say, "let's have him come in for this part, because he would really like it". They're enjoying sharing something special with their little brother and he's enjoying doing things with everyone else.

Moedertje: You guy looks so happy!!! I loved seeing his timeline. A timeline is something I've wanted to do for awhile with my dc and have never implemented (always seemed like an extra thing). Can't wait to be doing timelines with HOD.

Julie: It's a blessing to hear what a help Wyatt was to you when your other dc are sick and your dh is out of town. It's an encouragment to me to continue putting into my children, so when they are older they can be a blessing to others. (Galatians 6:9) Praying for you two little guys that are sick. Hugs to you and them.

[annaz]

You all look like you're having a fun week! I love the CTC notebooking pages! They look great!

We're almost finished with Unit 19. We created the 3-d star, but between dd's star and my directions, we messed it up.

We got to begin Pioneer Sampler this week too, which I am excited about. It's such a great book and dd enjoys it too. DD loved the rooster....there was a blurb in the story about it, which dd found hysterical...you'll see "her" blurb in her picture:


DD loved the candle experiment as well. Of course dh got in the act and had to smother the flame with other things....We won't go there as it was a good teaching moment on what NOT to do.

[Tree House Academy]

We had a wonderful week with Little Hearts! Our rhyme this week was to the tune of "If You're Happy and You Know It" and ds absolutely LOVED it. When I'd finish, he'd beg to do it again. He took the leaping and skipping around to an extreme and utilized the entire room as his moving space.

In History, we learned about Martin Luthur, the Reformation, and read a story about the Queen. There is this really neat drawing of her in History Stories for Children and my ds said, "wow ...that queen sure is fancy." I had to giggle. He is so funny!

Good ol' Chatterer got caught in a trap this week and has now been reduced to life in a CAGE. Oh boy, little man was begging me to read ahead and see if chatterer gets to go back home or if he has to live the rest of his life in a cage. During his journal time, little man said he was afraid of spiders...but only "big hairy ones." Hmmm...ME TOO Kiddo!

[Tree House Academy]

Sending prayers for your little guy, Julie. It is so hard to see little ones sick.

[moedertje]

Little Hands to Heaven

It was great fun making our painting of the parting of the Red Sea, and this week writing the upper case G was a little harder for Luke, but he did not get upset about it. Since our last name begins with G, we will start practicing it more.



Acting out the "Parting of the Red Sea" was cool. Charlie Church Mouse was Moses and the other stuffed animals he picked as Israelites. The rubber animals in the back were the Egyptians on the chariots. It was neat to see how Luke acted this out and brought the side of the blanket to cover the path. He even picked a fish toy yo put in the water.



This week we learned about the miracle of God's provision of Manna for the Children of Israel in the wilderness. Luke and Annagrace had such a wonderful time collecting Manna (pulled apart cotton balls). He had to count up to 20 and she just had to pick them up one at a time. It was so cute, because she did not miss a beat counting hers as well. Luke said his favorite drink was water and his favorite food pizza. He did not think he wanted to eat it for every meal, but after I explained the miracle of God and His provision, he decided he would not complain about his food anymore or be upset if he had to eat pizza all the time if he was really hungry and that was all there was.


My little Annagrace told Daddy one of the stories: 'people putting blood on the door and the son of the mean man died"! That was so cool that she remembered and narrated back the Passover story. She and Luke had earaches this week so it was a bit of a rough one. I ended up taking them in on Friday, after trying prayer and the natural remedies. They both had ear infections and are now on antibiotics. Nevertheless they enjoyed school and did well.

[moedertje]

Julie, I will pray for your kiddo's to heal quickly and wish Emmett a Happy Birthday from us!

[rainbowacreshs]

Julie we will be praying for you and your family's health.
This past week was rough as my mother was in the hospital from a week ago Sunday till this past Saturday with pnumoina and an infection. She is much better now, but we still have such a long road ahead of us with follow up appts and soon 4 months of Chemotherapy. God is good and He will see us through.
Thank you Julie for being a "sounding board" a couple months ago. Slowing down to half speed has been the only way we manage to get through our days right now.
Kasey wrapped up unit 16 CTC this past week. I truly loved her Hanging Gardens picture, she ended up drawing it on an 8 1/2 by 11 piece of paper. I am considering matting and framing this one. We are encouraging her to keep working on the shading and fine tune the small details. By far this is the best piece of art work I have seen her do.
She glanced ahead and announced "Hey we are almost done with SOTAW!" The awe and satisfaction of completing a "text book" just made her smile! In truth I don't think we have ever "finished" any of the curricula we have bought through the years. We may have finished portions but never a whole book. So its really a neat moment for us! I think when she is through the last chapter of SOTAW I'm going to print out a certificate and get her a $5.00 gift card to Walmart as a reward. Make a big deal over it and hopefully she'll take heart that we are progressing forward!

I love reading about everyone's daily adventures, accomplishments and snippets of family life. Its wonderful to be connected with other families.
May God bless each of you this week.

[LynnH]

I am late to the party this week. My mom fell down the stairs over a week ago and has been in intensive care, so that has made things a little tough. I say this on my blog, but I love how HOD made it possible to keep schooling even though my mind was not totally on schooling. I think with any other curriculum we would have taken the week off. So here is the link to our weekhttp://graceandfur.blogspot.com/2010/03 ... 31510.html