A Peek at Our Week: June 1-5

We had a really fun week! School was great, but the real fun began when my sister-in-law surprised the girls by bringing their cousins to visit!

First off school...

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 16

Grace almost always wants me to allow her to read her history on her own now. She can always narrate to me about what she read so I'm allowing it to encourage her independence. I still read to her, but I appreciate that she wants to learn! This week we learned about Christ's resurrection. While she has been told this beautiful truth from history from the time she was first born, it is always meaningful no matter how many times we hear it.

Grace like her older sister loves our old Dick and Jane reader my husband's grandmother gave us. She thinks it is so much fun! She's close to finishing this book and I think she will find it sad. I've looked at getting more of these old books, but they are a bit pricey on ebay so I'm hoping to stumble upon some at a book sale sometime.

She's moving along quite well with All About Spelling. Teaching three different levels isn't as hard as I expected! I'll chat more about that later, but for now if you are looking for what to follow up with for your phonics instruction I think All About Spelling is the best choice. It take what your kids learned with phonics and helps them reverse the process while learning to spell and solidifying what they learned. My older daughters are both reading 3-4 grade-levels high with excellent comprehension and feel their solid phonics and reading instruction through the Heart of Dakota Emerging Readers set.

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 27

Beth is doing really well with her cursive handwriting. She is now working towards writing on her own in cursive without having a model. It is a process through which I have learned to be patient. I'm very pleased with how well she is doing as she finishes up 2nd grade.

This is her picture after studying imagery within poetry this week. She very much enjoyed this assignment!

Beth looks bored here, but she really loves math. Honestly, she may be a bit bored too! She's coming to the end of her curriculum and as we study money she is probably finding it a bit tedious. This is the girl who watches the purchases ring up, asks how much we are giving the cashier and tries to figure out the difference before the change comes up on the little screen. Yeah, she's math-minded! 

Creation to Christ: Unit 10

Rose is really enjoying this guide. It wasn't a huge jump for her from Preparing and we didn't even have to start at half-speed like I did with Bigger and Preparing. She really likes learning about ancient history. We talk a lot about what other cultures believed and why. 

For a girl who doesn't love math, Rose loves long division. Who knew? Somehow all those multiplication facts which couldn't seem to stick suddenly make sense to her and she really likes it. She's doing quite well and we're just moving right along. We aren't even needing to take the lessons at half-pace anymore. I think one of the biggest reasons is she received and enormous boost in confidence when she received her standardized testing scores which showed she is working 2 grade levels higher. She suddenly brightened up and math isn't quite so bad any more!

She's recently discovered the Little House books and is almost finished with her second one. I'm moving her own to a new series soon and allowing her to read these on her own time. I love how she is drawn to these books, but I try to expand her exposure to different types of literature and authors. She tends to focus in on one and devour everything in that genre or by a particular author so I feel it necessary to help her branch out. 

#LearningTogether

If you follow me in Instagram you'll see this hashtag quite a bit. My girls are all working in different guides at different levels, a true one-room schoolhouse. Yet one of my favorite blessings on homeschool is how much learning takes place together. Here are a few pictures of that taking place...

This is what my desk looked like during spelling one day. All three levels of spelling at once. Yikes! I do the main instruction separately and then call out the words. Sometimes we do this separately but on this particular day I tried out juggling the three levels at once. It actually worked quite beautifully. I'm training them to put their pencils down when they are done writing what I have called out so I am cued to give them another word or sentence but they at the same time do not distract their sisters by talking out loud. So far it is working and although I won't always do three at once, it is sort of fun when I do!And now for the visit! We had so much fun having family here. My sister-in-law was my roommate in college and we are very close. It is always refreshing to spend time together and it is so much fun to see our kids playing together. 

First the surprise! 

Then the fun!

They stayed from Tuesday through Thursday and it was a really fun diversion during the middle of our week. 

Week in Review: May 25-29

We had a great week! Our week began with a field trip to a Science Center which gave us a great start. I'm planning on more field trips this summer and will blog about them all!

Lessons went really well and we had some fun almost every afternoon at the pool!

And when we weren't playing, here is what we were learning...

Grace: Little Hearts for His Glory Unit 15

Rod and Staff is the best for thinking skill type workbooks. I've used them with all three of my girls and all three have loved them. Grace  is in the G book. She began with these when she was 4 and we have just moved through them steadily. She has gotten to the point where she will read the directions ahead to herself, so I have to watch her and make sure she is doing it correctly! She sometimes has trouble identifying some of the pictures as the words intended for activities such as rhyming. It's been a neat way to introduce her to some things we don't have around our house as well as synonyms. 

My little girl isn't so little anymore! Look at her being all grown up and working on 1st grade word problems for math! I am not one to rush my children in their academic abilities, but neither am I one to hold them back. My little smarty pants was begging for more math so I tried out 1st grade an I'm so glad I did. She is learning at her own pace and just moving right along so smooth like a hot knife through butter. 

She's seeming rather bored with our Abeka readers. Maybe bored isn't the right word, but Grace is definitely not being challenged. I believe we will be starting with the Emerging Readers from Heart of Dakota. We may skip the Bible which comes first because she has read this over and over both with our family devotions and during her afternoon quite time. 

Beth: Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit 26

Do you remember how much I said my girls loved their Rod and Staff ABC books? Well Beth is finished up one this week. I intended her to only use them through 1st grade but when Beth figured out there was a new one, she begged me to buy it! She spent some time finishing up her last workbook this week. I find it really sweet that she loves them so much. 

Math is always easy for Beth, but she has recently begun making hasty mistakes. What I mean by that is she knows what to do, but does not take the time to carefully make sure she isn't making errors. I'm working to correct this with her by making her redo the problems she misses. We'll see how quickly she moves past it. 

History! We have moved on to the Civil War. One of our next field trips will focus on this time during history, especially slavery. Beth is more familiar with slavery because of our previous field trips and listening to the discussions I've had with Rose over the last couple of years. This week we looked at the states which sided with the Confederacy as well as some of the things which led to the war. 

Rose: Creation to Christ Unit 9

We are very much enjoying Write With the Best. I've seen some threads recently that some do not like it. I have not come across anything I dislike yet as we are about to finis up unit 2 this coming week. I also am looking at it from an English teacher's perspective. I love how classic writing is analyzed and then used as a model for her own writing. She still has some editing to do, but I will share her completed piece next week.  

Math is flowing along swimmingly! We started long division like it was an afternoon spring breeze. That's right, believe it or not, my Rose said to me, "Wow Mommy! This is pretty easy!" How sweet and beautiful those words were to me after the many struggles we have had. I cannot attribute this to anything except prayer, patience, and finding a math program (through prayer and patience!) that really works for us. 

One of the reasons I don't have as many pictures of Rose this week is that my little studious worker got up early two days and began doing her schoolwork while I was getting ready for the day. Having a checklist and giving my girls access to it has allowed them to be independent which is great. 

And now for my favorite photo of the week...

This is pretty normal study habits around our house. Beth especially loves reading outside on our front porch. Grace has also been begging me to read her history alone most days. How beautiful is this? Here are my girls studying together independently. Our one room schoolhouse is just beautiful. 

Week in Review: May 4-8

Happy Mother's Day to you all!

We had another good week although we got a little off track towards the end. Some unexpected doctor's appointments came up and we had to compact our days a bit at the end of the week. I also only remembered to get my camera out one day, just so you don't think my kids wear the same thing every day or something!

Before I go into our week...how about a giveaway?!?!?! Just click on the CD cover below to see how delightful this CD is! (You'll also get to hear my three darlings sing!)

Now me as we review our week!

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 14

Grace begged me to read her history this week. She reads aloud which is good because I can make sure she is understanding what she is reading. Her favorite story this week was when Jesus had the children come to Him even though His disciples said He was too busy. This is such a good reminder for me too. In the busyness of our days I can't forget that Christ made children His priority and made sure they knew it. I need to follow His example in this more fully.

Rose helped Grace with her handwriting on this day, helping her make sure she formed her letters correctly. We still love Fundanoodle and Grace is much happier now that we are moving more quickly. I would have her practice the same letter more than one day in this book at first because she needed shorter amount of practice in order to stay neat, but she has matured past this and does one letter every two days with Handwriting Without Tears on the in-between days.

We are moving right along with All About Spelling, level 1. She reviewed her phonograms herself some and did a great job with that, so we moved onto segmenting words by each letter. Well be moving on to actually using the tiles next week which she is very excited to do.

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 25

Since we had to catch up some during the week Beth read this history assignment by herself. She loves finding each of the numbers on the map in the Journeys in Time book for each reading. This is her favorite of the history books.

 Beth does not care to read A First Book in American History herself so she will often color a colonial coloring book while I read to her. I'm fine with her coloring or drawing while I read as long as she can accurately tell me what I read to her afterwards. If she cannot, then she has to read it on her own again and then tell me about it.

I love this picture. Beth twirls her hair all the time while she studies. This is just her normal thinking state. She also tends to pace while she recites verses for homeschool or for Awana at church. She's very studious these days and works hard to finish quickly most of the time, which is nice as I think ahead to Preparing next year and the big jump it is to that guide.

Creation to Christ: Unit 8


We started off the week with Arithmetic Village and King David Divide to practice more division and learn about remainders. These sweet little books teach the concepts behind the traditional math so clearly. Rose is 9 and I wasn't sure she would want to use this, but when I asked her she was really excited.

Rose still completed her Math Mammoth pages. I'm very excited that she finally realizes she is not "bad" at math. This has been something I have been trying to help her understand since we started homeschooling in 1st grade. Because she struggled with the pressure of timed tests she believed she wasn't good at math. At some point in the last couple of weeks she looked up at me during her math lesson and said, "Mommy, maybe I really am good at math. What do you think?" Oh yes, sweetheart! You are very good at math! I'm so grateful she has finally realized her ability is not measured in a timed test.

For story time this week Rose read the Book of Ruth. We used I Am Ruth, an incredible book from New Leaf Publishing which includes amazing photography as well as cultural and historical background information on each chapter. The entire book from Scripture is included. I had Rose look at the pictures before she read the chapter and she really enjoyed it.

I love, love, love how independent Rose is becoming through Heart of Dakota. I still oversee her learning and we discuss what she is learning, but as a 9-year-old 4th grader she is becoming more and more in charge of her own knowledge. I'm merely a facilitator. What is really cool is that she now knows how to find out information on her own when she has a question. She understands to look words up in a dictionary, information in an encyclopedia, and even more details in resource books using the index. What is even better is that it is her idea to look things up instead of just asking me the answer. I'm more than happy to help her, but seeing her mature in this way because of Heart of Dakota is such a blessing.

Here is our history project for the week. She loves the projects. Rose parted the red sea with paper. I love that I just give her the guide and the materials and she can usually figure it out on her own. Learning at its best! 






I had some great health news this week as I anticipated the possibility of another thyroid surgery. It was heavy on my mind and made it hard to focus. I also had some news about a good friend that grieved my heart. Our neighbor from Florida and one of my students when I was teaching full-time early on in our marriage lost her baby unexpectedly a few days ago from either SIDs or a medical complication. My heart grieves for this family. If you have a moment, pray for this family as they grieve the loss of their beautiful baby girl, Ella.

Week in Review: April 27-May 1

Two weekly reviews in a row feels great! This week went very well. We didn't get through quite everything I wanted to and got a little sidetracked by some some health issues, but I feel good about the week. We had some really neat experiences in addition to our regular lessons I'll share at the end.

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 13

Grace thoroughly enjoys all of her history, Bible and poetry in her guide. She really likes having her own readings and focused attention at her own level. We will continue through the summer and probably start Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory in the fall even if we haven't finished Little Hearts.

For handwriting we are using Fundanoodle. This is a program I reviewed with The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew a couple of years ago and we absolutely loved it. It has the same type of feel as handwriting without tears, but is more affordable. I love that Grace builds the letters on a magnet board before writing them. She has worked through all of the upper case letters and is now doing lower case. My younger two daughters both used A Reason for Handwriting, which was good and did the job, but I really like the tactile nature of this program. She uses this one day and then practices the same letter in the Handwriting Without Tears book the next day.

For reading Grace is using the 1st grade readers from Abeka and a Dick and Jane book her great grandmother gave her. She loves the stories about Dick, Jane, and their little sister Sally. She actually likes it better than the Abeka books. If I could find more Dick and Jane reasonably priced I would probably just stick with that. After we get done with the 1st grade readers we'll move onto the Emerging Readers set from Heart of Dakota. She could probably handle them okay now, but I like the idea of building her retention and comprehension before moving onto those too quickly.

Since she is reading really well, I let her call out sentences to Beth this week for her dictation in All About Spelling. She really enjoyed this and felt quite grown up. Her older sisters quite often help her with various subjects so this was a nice change for her.

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 24

We only have 10 more units left in Bigger! I may just do the history activities when summer comes because I want to start Preparing as she is entering 3rd grade. She may only go half-paced as her older sister did, but I feel she is definitely ready to move ahead in the guides.

As Beth has progressed I am encouraging her to read some history on her own as well as do some of the activities with little guidance from me. I now give Beth the guide and she works on her timeline alone. She is free to ask questions or ask for help, but this is one way I am helping her become more independent.

This week we had to catch up with four units on the timeline. Sometimes this box gets left out, but it's something I always make sure to go back and catch up all the way. She has very much liked reading Stories of Great Americans and she can easily read and comprehend this book. I like giving her the freedom to read on her own although I do still read it to her sometimes.

Isn't this the best picture???? We are working on math. Ha! The thing is that both girls are doing well with math, even Rose who has struggled some in the past. They weren't upset or anything, just a bit tired and ready to be done. But hey, I felt the same way they did at this point that day!




Creation to Christ: Unit 7


Although it is a little strange to have started this guide mid-year, it's working out well. The level of work has increased, but not too significantly. Rose really likes the notebooking pages and has done well to transition to using cursive all the time. She forgets sometimes, bu these erasable pens recommended in the forum and facebook group have been excellent. She loves having a special pen just for her to use.

Here she is listening to the "What in the World?" CD by Diane Warren. She absolutely loves this and I'm excited that she'll get to use the next 2 CD sets in the upcoming guides.

I love learning about grammar, but I never expected my kids to! I'm so thrilled they love it. Yes, Rod and Staff can be a bit tedious, but the more you can do aloud, the better. I usually leave the written work for diagramming. I know diagramming can seem old fashioned and unnecessary, but I do see a benefit in being able to identify and classify the part of a sentence not only for school studies but for language study in the future. I don't know what language she will study, but when she does having a solid grammar base will help her tremendously.



Other exciting opportunities...

I know other families have the same opportunity to do fun stuff that we do, but I think it is sometimes a little easier to fit into our lives because we homeschool. Here are some fun things we did this week.

This week was the Deerstream Learning Center Art Show and Exhibition. Each students has several pieces of art showcased. These are just a couple of pieces my girls had in the show. Grace is very excited to be a part of this next year. 

You can listen to the radio drama my English students recorded and produced for the art show by clicking here!

Another really cool thing is that these...

Hatched into these! 

This has been an amazing observational experience for them! They check on the little babies daily and have named them. They are at ground level inside an old plastic filing cabinet and easy for the girls to see without disturbing the chicks or their mama. 

Our final really cool experience was skyping with my aunt while she was in Haiti. My aunt takes a yearly trip to Haiti and works with a school there. We arranged for the girls to Skype with students in the second grade class there. They sang Jesus Loves Me and the girls sang Amazing Grace. We showed them around our schoolroom. It was really cool! 

I also enjoyed International Scrapbook Day and purchased some digital scrapbooking supplies on sale and completed a few layouts. This is one of my favorite leisure activities. I love preserving our family memories and I like the creativity of scrapbooking. I'm working on our 2008 album so Rose and Beth are quite little! Grace was a little confused that she wasn't in any of the pictures, but very much enjoyed seein gher big sisters at play. 

So there was our week. Pretty smooth and lots of fun!