Week in Review: August 26 - August 30

Phew! I'm one tired mama! I'm always tired by the end of the week, but it is a good tired. Can you relate? This week has been good, a bit more relaxed and felt more in routine. We have one more week before Rose and Beth start classes at Deerstream Learning Center and I'm enjoying the slower pace.

One of my major goals this year is to make story time with the girls a priority. Until this year I have found it very hard to have a consistent story time. Not only am I doing the girls' individual story times with their own guides more consistently, I'm also trying to do group story time. I let them color, draw, build with legos, or whatever else to keep their little hands busy. Right now we're reading through the Felicity American Girl books in anticipation of a trip to Williamsburg coming very soon!

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 22

Sooo...I forgot to take any pictures of our Heart of Dakota work in Little Hands to Heaven this week! Our letter was R and Grace enjoyed the Bible stories about Jesus as a boy and the early part of his ministry. We also continued with reading lessons. Some days are easier than others, but she's doing great. The biggest challenge is that she is convinced she can already read after 10 lessons and sometimes balks at doing a lesson each day!

We got a chance to review the sweetest little book about safety while crossing the road. All three of my girls loved it even though I think it was geared more towards Grace. You can read my full review here.





Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 4

Beth has matured an amazing amount from last year to this year.  A lot of this just has to do with age, but I also credit Little Hearts for His Glory. The beauty of Heart of Dakota for my goes far beyond the wonderful history readings and delightful activities. It reaches farther than the outstanding weekly poetry selections. Heart of Dakota has been a wonderful asset as we teach our girls of the grace of God. Beth accepted Christ as her Savior just a couple of weeks prior to beginning her kindergarten. Our curriculum's primary focus is pointing our children back to their Savior. Yes, academics are major, but seeing my girls' hearts seek after Christ is primary.

I clearly got distracted this week and flaked on taking pictures! Beth's handwriting is becoming quite lovely and I am so happy with her efforts! Spelling is also going smoothly. Our pretest usually reveals a couple of words she needs to work on, usually rule breakers, and this has been going well. I tried orally quizzing her on her words this week, and this didn't go so well...and back to our original quizzing it was!

Preparing Hearts for His Glory; Unit 2 (second half)

Rose is loving this year's guide! I am seriously having trouble holding her back in history. I am going to go with at least one more week at half-speed, however, as we adjust to the schedule once her science class starts. As we move through our sweeping look at history we have continued to focus on the Ice Age.

She is enjoying every subject this year...except math...until this week! I am not a fan of changing curriculum for math or reading. There has to be a rather big problem for me to be willing to make a major change. The reason for this is because although math and reading are fundamental, no one curriculum teaching in the same way or order. I am, however, more than willing to try something new to supplement. Enter Life of Fred.

In addition to shortening the amount of work she does each day, Rose also has been reading a chapter (or more!) from Life of Fred. This is a very unique approach to mathematics instruction. While inteded to be a stand-alone curriculum I am choosing to use it as a supplement. Math is no longer an issue. In fact, for the first time in I'm not sure how long Rose is now asking to do her math lesson first each day. I typically find her giggle over something she's reading about Fred. I'm not sure how far we'll continue with Fred, but I'm thrilled he is now part of our homeschooling!

And so ends another good week. The girls are right now having their weekly slumber party in their playroom. I'm so blessed our girls enjoy one another. Today they told me they'd formed a club of which they were all a part. My girls are truly friends, not merely just sisters. Do they bicker? Yes. Do they get tired of each other sometimes? Absolutely! Yet, at the end of the day, there is a love and a bond which cannot be missed. I frequently pray their relationship continues to grow as they grow up.