Peek at Our Week: March 20-25

I've skipped blogging about our studies with Heart of Dakota last week. We did them, but I focused on our field trip instead. This week was uneventful. Yay! It was just a good old standard week of homeschool. I really don't feel like we get enough of those.

Grace (1st grade): Bigger Little Hearts for His Glory Unit 2 

I don't fully understand the reason, but Grace has easily glided into Bigger with no apparent struggle with the jump in work-load in any way. My older two did not have this blessing! We are completing everything without any trouble. Being the youngest in a homeschool family has its benefits for certain. One being she will almost always be done with school before her sisters so she doesn't really feel like she's spending extra time working. She had already been asking for more work recently, maybe because she is such a little extrovert and felt left out since her sisters were still completing schoolwork an hour or more after she was done. Whatever the reason we are now completing full units in Bigger Hearts. I took four full units at half-pace with my older two before we jumped into the full load!

 We are studying early explorers. One of the activities was making a little paper boat and following the explorers' routes on the globe. Grace loved it!

 The verses are a bit more demanding this year. She loves to memorize so this is not a challenge at all. 

 Poetry is a favorite for everyone. This year we learn about rhyme scheme. The best way I've found to teach this is to have the girls underline the rhyming words with the same color. Then we follow with the corresponding letters. This has been a great visual for learning rhyme scheme. 

Rose (6th grade): Resurrection to Reformation Unit 27

We are closing in on the end of our guide We have about 8 units left so I'm beginning to piece together the next guide. I buy all of the guides and notebooking pages new from Heart of Dakota every year. I really want to support this small family business and this is a way to do so. The rest of the material I try to find used. I have a big spread sheet my husband helped me make. I have all of the books listed along with the best price I can find new. I scour multiple websites to find these prices. Then I scour for used books. I aim for at least half the cost of the original, but sometimes that is hard to find. Sometimes the best used price is more than the new prices I find! It's a great way to save money and honestly I enjoy the hunt!.

 I've been pleased to see the effort Rose is putting into her notebook this year. We did go through a season last year of minimal effort, but thankfully this seems to have passed.

Math continues to be her most challenging subject. I try to reiterate to her she understands the concepts. The breakdown comes in little mistakes in the steps. I'm not sure how to get her through this besides just plugging away. If anyone has any ideas I'm open to them!

 Our weather has finally warmed back up again! We had a beautiful, warm, and allergy filled February only to be greeted with a March snowfall! I went on the porch for a little while one day, but with pollen season well under way I couldn't stay out very long! It was nice to complete dictation out there though.

 Beth (4th grade): Creation to Christ Unit 8

Beth is taking longer to finish her work these days. I'm finding her focus is drifting some. I remember Rose getting to this point as well when the CTC had worn off its "newness" but we also weren't very far along into it. She gets it done eventually, but she is currently the last one finished and not very happy about it! I'm trying to find ways to help her see that if she would just buckle down and get things down she wouldn't have to be last!

Little miss math whiz does not like it when we have to explain a new concept in math to her. She feels she can handle it on her own...which she probably could if she actually read all of the directions! Several times this week she came to me frustrated about not knowing how to complete a math assignment. "Did you read the directions?" Her answer was, "No," every single time! Hopefully this is a season we move through quickly. 

 Penny likes laying in the sunshine so the girls often sit by the front door with her to work. Beth is reading her history assignment here.

We had a magical cure for Beth's handwriting this week! She has very nice handwriting, but rarely wants to use it. Then she received a pen-pal letter from her cousin. Poof! we suddenly have great effort being expended into her handwriting once again. 

There is our week in a nutshell! How was yours?