Week in Review: October 12-16

The beginning of this week was a little harder than usual. My husband was away at his annual District Conference for all the pastors in our district of the Christian and Missionary Alliance. We did just fine on our own (It was only one night after all!) but my husband is a very hands on dad, so even just a night away left my girls missing him a lot!

We kept our routine as usual for the most part. Daddy did come home with a cold that is now making its round among the rest of us. Thankfully it doesn't seem all that serious so we're hoping to bounce back soon.

Here is a peek at what school looked like this week...

Rose - 5th Grade: Creation to Christ Unit 22

Rose has really enjoyed the notebooking pages in Creation to Christ. We really like the erasable gel pens from Frixion and there are often coupons for these in the Sunday paper. For coloring pictures and the timeline portion we use sharpie markers. We have worked towards neater handwriting without lines as well as proof reading. One of the best ways we work on that is for me to read her work out loud phonetically. This helps her hear both her grammar and spelling mistakes...and sometimes it gives us quite a giggle! This is also a little secret way I'm helping my perfectionist daughter treat her mistakes a little lighter. When we can laugh about it together she doesn't take it so seriously. 

We started reading about Cleopatra this week. Rose reads her story time assignments to herself. Running three guides and a part-time business from my home teaching piano every afternoon means we have made a few changes to how the Heart of Dakota guides are done. I don't mind because we still discuss the reading selections. I like how much my girls are learning independently. 

Here are my girls working on their weekly history projects. They were so sweet chatting away as they worked. Rose kept telling Beth how much fun her project was going to be. My girls get really excited about seeing one another do things. I used to wonder what it would be like when the were all doing projects and if they would wish they were doing each other's. I certainly would understand that, but they seem to just take it as a matter of "this is how we do things around here". They also are really great about complimenting each other's efforts which is sweet to observe. 

Beth - 3rd Grade: Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 5 (1st half)

Beth never really seemed interested in art until this year. She was not at all excited when we first began Draw and Write Through History, but now she really seems to like it. She takes more time with her drawings and I even catch her drawing the same thing later on just for fun sometimes. 

 

Cursive is getting much, much easier. It's just a matter of time. Her letters still seem a bit awkward, but I know it will come. Her printing seemed to improve overnight this summer and we will keep plugging away at cursive!

Here she is working hard at her Egyptian hieroglyphics project. She was frustrated at first because it wasn't turning out like she expected. So I helped her see how best to etch in the hieroglyphics, she smoothed out my work and did her own pretty quickly. And yes, her body position is just about as awkward as it appears in this picture! The way my kids contort themselves while they study amazes me, but I'm glad we have the freedom for this. Beth is typically the one wanting to work on the floor. Rose likes to sit at a table Grace would rather dance her way through her work!

Grace - Kindergarten: Little Hearts for His Glory Unit 28

I love this picture! While Grace and I were working on Spelling Beth couldn't help but listen in. She was supposed to be doing her copywork I think, but I didn't really mind. Every time Grace spelled something correctly she would say, "That was good!"

    

I have a favorite handwriting program (Fundanoodle!) but, when you are gifted a handwriting series for free, you say, "Great!" and fly with it! My girls have honestly all used something different and they've all done fine. Grace is now in the second handwriting book for Handwriting Without Tears. I was having her do 1 page a day, but she has been asking to do more, so I think I may plan more for this coming week. 

Grace is so excited about her history now and sometimes enjoys reading it on her own. I have a feeling watching her big sisters do this is part of the reason, but I'm grateful she finds so much joy out of learning on her own. We actually call her our little dictionary because she loves to define words and if she doesn't know what something means she's quick to ask. She is always thinking and driven by curiosity. Her eagerness to know more is contagious!

Did you have a good week on your own journey through Heart of Dakota? We'd love to hear about it! Don't forget to link-up below!

An InLinkz Link-up