We had a FULL week! One of our dear friends from when you lived in Florida came to stay with us for a few days. Mrs. Kate is a folk singer who is also a pastor's wife in our denomination. While she was here my dear Rose was able to work for her as her roadie! She had a great time and learned so very much. We were able to be there for a couple of the shows and that was a great experience too. Our week was crazily off schedule, but we still got through all of our work.
Grace - 2nd grade: Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit10
I know every week I say how easy Grace is to teach. She just really is! She loves to learn. Her latest "favorite" (according to her) is grammar! We are just using the standard Rod and Staff. I've used it with all three girls and it is incredibly solid. There aren't frills, but that has never been a problem. We usually complete 2/3 of the lesson orally as suggested by Heart of Dakota. This is the key to its success I think. Too much writing and you just kill the lesson. They only have a small portion to actually write. For my older girls this is usually 5-10 sentences diagrammed. Now, current trends say that diagramming has zero value. I completely disagree! Current trends also say learning math facts shouldn't be about memorization and I disagree there as well. And so we have an example of why homeschooling is beautiful for us. We don't have to follow the trends!
She continued with her history study of Benjamin Franklin this week. I'm pleased with how her oral narration is coming along. Of course this is my daughter who loves to talk so I'm not really all that surprised she is able to narrate beautifully. Her reading comprehension is off the charts so this is a super easy area for her. Handwriting is the only area she seems to dread. Although she never complains I can tell it is her least favorite part. We are plugging away at cursive anyway!
Rose - 7th Grade: Revival to Revolution Unit 2
This is what Rose was doing most of the day! She worked with Mrs. Kate at both preschool and senior shows and had a blast. I love that she is so comfortable with people of all ages. I'm not going to say this is because of homeschooling because I think it is much more from being a part of a multi-generational church that is small enough for her to get to know everyone. We also worship all together as families. These factors give her opportunity to build relationships with people of all ages, stations of life, and ethnic backgrounds. Homeschooling did, however, allow her the flexibility to do this where traditional schooling would not have.
My girl also learned that she can work ahead if she wants. The history and literature portions were the easiest to complete ahead of time. She then asked if she could work ahead other times. I told her of course and she lit up! She is beginning this guide with early American per-revolutionary history, one of her favorite periods to study. This is also fun because Grace is studying the same period.
She also got through all of her other language arts and mathematics work for the week!
Beth - 5th Grade: Creation to Christ Unit 16
Beth had a great non-complaining week! Perhaps simply being back on track wit our schedule is enough to keep her complaint free. We have been practicing better responses and that has helped.
She is studying ancient cultures still and is doing very well. I think she will enjoy the next guides more having seen Rose go through them. She has particularly enjoyed that I'm scheduling foreign language studies. they all three work on sign language (pictured here) and a language of their choice. She has chosen French and is using DuoLingo. I can't rave enough about how great that program is!
Mathematics continues to be a breeze and she sails through her studies without any trouble. She has the mind of an engineer although she doesn't really have any interest in it. I found out this week that in Sunday school class they used straws to see how high of a tower they could build while studying the Tower of Babel and she was able to build the tallest! Their class is mixed of all ages and several of the kids are older than her so that impressed me quite a bit. It's a skill in which she succeeds, but since she doesn't find it interesting it is hard to know how to nurture it. This is something I'm going to be considering.
I, myself, would love to learn sign language and have my kids learn too. What program are you using? We use Heart of Dakota as well. I saw your post on there and that's how I found your blog.
ReplyDeleteHi Brooke! We are using Signing Time. It's video based and fabulous for elementary and it focuses on vocabulary and short phrases. They have recently made a conversational DVD that we also own which is great for older kids. It's more informal learning for us. I'm not grading it or testing them, but wanting to expose them to it. I hope that helps! Thanks for stopping by :)
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