Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

This forum is for sharing what your week was like with Heart of Dakota. The goal is to post on Thursdays. You can share a picture, a blog link, a written synopsis, your favorite memory, or anything you want that shares your HOD excitement.

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Nealewill
Posts: 1611
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:08 pm
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

Post by Nealewill » Sat Sep 17, 2016 3:06 pm

Ok Ladies,

What was YOUR week Like?

You can post:

a- A picture
b- A blog Link
c- A written synopsis
d- Your favorite memory
e- Anything you want that shares your HOD excitement!

Important Note: If you are linking us to your blog, please make sure it's not just a general link, but to your specific post of HOD. That way if someone reads through these a year from now they can find your share without needing to hunt!
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

Nealewill
Posts: 1611
Joined: Sat Sep 14, 2013 5:08 pm
Location: Cincinnati, OH

Re: Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

Post by Nealewill » Sat Sep 17, 2016 3:11 pm

My kids are having a blast this year! We are four units in and by far, my oldest and son's favorite subject is science! They are both doing the intermediate level of science from Rev to Rev and they do that subject first every day. I have been so impressed this year also with how much my oldest is able to help her brother to build their projects ...... alone. And I have been overwhelming impressed with how well my son has been able to help his sister to understand the directions for her science projects and for the history project box. I can see how doing 3 years of HOD prior has really prepared them.

And I must say - we are really enjoying the story time books for RevtoRev. I have already cried in Amos Fortune - not because it is overwhelmingly sad or anything but his life has really amazed me. We loved Song Bird too and are looking forward to the many books to come.
Daneale

DD 13 WG
DS 12 R2R
DD 10 R2R

Enjoyed DITHOR, Little Hearts, Beyond, Bigger, Preparing, CTC, R2R, RevtoRev, MtMM

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

Post by my3sons » Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:08 am

Preparing Hearts for His Glory:
We are off and running with PHFHG with our little Emmett! This year, I truly put some thought and time into making our schedule. I met with each of our children and talked about their mornings, afternoons, and evenings, and how they felt about doing school during each of those times. My little Emmett is not a morning person nor an evening person, so he opted to start his day slowly and not do any school in the evenings. This works just fine, as he is doing PHFHG, and he can easily complete this guide within the times he enjoys working the most. Emmett also said he LOVES doing some school with me first thing in my room on my bed. He is slow to wake up, and this appeals to him. I'm an early morning person who loves to get up early but quietly and slowly. So, this was easy to accommodate! :D We put his Bible Study and his Poetry first thing in the morning with me when he gets up. Emmett also said he loves to be read to on the couch. This was easy to accommodate too! I just put his Reading about History and his Storytime there after breakfast. He also needs to brush up on his multiplication facts. So, the only thing we added for him to his PHFHG guide is time to sing with his Bible Heroes Skip Counting CD and do his flashcards. He does the 6's on Monday, the 7's on Tues., the 8's o Wed., the 9's on Thurs., and he chooses which of those he wants to do on Fri. The only tough part of his schedule is the last hour. He is adjusting to his day being longer than last year in BHFHG. I know this will get easier! Other than that, we had an awesome first week of school with our little Emmett! I hope you are off to a super start too! :D :D :D
Image Image

In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

Post by my3sons » Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:21 am

Missions to Modern Marvels:
I met with Riley, and he is more of a night owl. He likes to do some of his school at night. He can always get a few subjects in at night, and sometimes he works through even more. I am NOT a night person. I tucker out and am no use at that point, so the subjects scheduled at night need to be independent. We decided together to put just a few subjects standardly at night, and then if he has more time at night, he does some of the independent subjects scheduled first thing in the morning. He can get up in the morning, but not so early, and if he has time at night, he typically will do a subject or two scheduled first thing in the morning, so he can sleep in until he meets with me. He bases this on what he has going on the night before. We do have the rule that schoolwork done at night must be done the night before, instead of saving the day's work to be done at night. This means he does school on Sunday night for Monday's school, etc. So, I put Riley as my second child to meet with in the morning, and then again one more time at the end of the morning block before chores, as he has more work done to be discussed/corrected. He also said he loves to meet with me first thing in my room. So, we meet there first. We have loved this! The sun is streaming in, we are snuggled up in bed, he even brings me a coffee - what a lovely way to start our school day together! He also said he finds it stressful to do dictation, grammar, math, and DITHOR all in a row. This is something I did with my oldest son always, which he liked. But, it is not a fit for my Riley! All of those subjects are somewhat disciplinary instead of inspirational, and my Riley needs disciplinary smattered with inspirational or he gets too stressed. So, we spread those out this year. He has slipped right into doing his MTMM guide after having completed RevtoRev last year. It has been smooth transition, and he is enjoying his guide so much already! It is especially fun we are doing the President's Study during an election year! He is doing all of his MTMM guide, and I've added nothing to it. What a super start to school for Riley! :D
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In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

Post by my3sons » Wed Sep 21, 2016 9:42 am

US1 High School:
When I met with Wyatt to discuss his school year, it was no surprise to me that he wanted to get up early to start his school. He is definitely an early morning person, and he always has been! He loves to get up and start his school while the house is still quiet... while the house still 'sleeps'. :D He is somewhat like me, as he likes to start his day quietly in his room. He sets his things out the night before, so he can start in his bed right away. I have a chair I bought him that he never uses. He instead likes to prop up pillows and turn on his desk lamp attached to his headboard and do school in his bed. He also told me he likes to read in his room before bed at night. He has always been an avid reader, and usually has read before he goes to bed (a habit we started with him as a child as soon as he could read). So, he asked for some of his living books to be scheduled at night. We chose from 8:45 to 9:30 PM, but if he has something he wants to do at that time at night, he completes the work earlier in the afternoon/evening instead. If it's not done by 8:45, then he goes up to complete it. He would rather not meet with me very often, and it is tempting sometimes just to let him fly solo, because he is so very dependable at doing his school well independently. However, last year I felt like I didn't get my correcting done as well as I would have liked to. It doesn't work for him to meet with me once and pile the rest up for me to correct. So, this year, I had a novel idea! I put time to correct each child's work right in my schedule. I cannot tell you how much this has helped!!! I now have the suggested time allotments for the kids to complete their work in the schedule along with added time for me to correct their work at the end of each teaching session. At the end of the school day by early afternoon, everything is already corrected. We correct last night's work first thing in the morning during our teaching sessions. We all LOVE this! No more piles of things setting out for me to get to later, and no more editing/mistakes to fix long after the assignment was completed.

Wyatt also is ahead in his guides. He is a junior in high school and already completed 1/2 of his US1 guide at the end of his 10th grade year. He was going to graduate a year early, but at the start of last year decided to slow his remaining guides down, so he could work more to earn money for college, and also so he could help me 1 day a week with homeschooling the other boys. He is a natural teacher! So, this is a huge help to me one day each week, as I'm working part time too. The only thing that has been a little hard is Wyatt adjusting to me correcting his work with him each time. He used to kind of flip subjects around as he wanted throughout the day, and this doesn't work with me correcting them each teaching time. However, I am thrilled, and he'll get used to it. I am carefully correcting every single subject in his US1 guide now, and I am doing it by the end of my teaching time after lunch. It is a weight off my shoulders, as I never am scrambling to correct it late at night (which, remember is NOT a productive time for me). :D He knew his guide well, and he is off to a fantastic start! It is amazing the quality of work he is turning out! I'm 100% confident about him doing college level work in a few short years. He is ready now, but we are not rushing it. We are savoring this time together! We have decided to let high school be high school, and college be college. No dual enrollment/clep tests other than maybe at the end of his senior year. Instead, 2 wonderful last years together enjoying our time without double the pressure. Two amazing years to enjoy my son as a high school student, as my right hand 'man' when my dh is gone, and as a fantastic big brother to his little brothers who absolutely adore him. Oh that time would slow down now! Where did the time go?!? For those of you starting your little ones in LHTH, enjoy and savor those precious years! They are gone in a blink... and suddenly you have a 6' 2" grown up 'man' in front of you nearing graduation. A proud/happy/sad moment all rolled into one! Yes. I am that age where emotions run amuck - can you tell?!? :D But mostly, I'm just so thankful for the journey. The journey we've made through homeschooling from start to (almost) finish together. It will be, more than likely, the biggest best most God honoring thing I've done with my life when I look back - and I like that.
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In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

my3sons
Posts: 10698
Joined: Sun Aug 26, 2007 7:08 pm
Location: South Dakota

Re: Week in review: September 12 - September 19, 2016

Post by my3sons » Wed Sep 21, 2016 10:04 am

Mom:
Yes, I am posting a 'mom' weekly check-in! :D I actually put real thought in how I like to start my day, do my teaching time, end my day, and work in meal prep, exercise, Bible time, work, etc. This is the best schedule I've had! I realized I like to get up early, but I like it to be quiet when I get up. I go downstairs in my pjs, get my first cup of strong coffee, and tiptoe back upstairs to my room to do my Bible Quiet Time. There will be a stage in my life where I take more time to do my Bible study, but for now 15 minutes is realistic. And I decided it was time to be realistic with my schedule this year. It is working so well! I am starting my day with time with my Lord and Savior, in a quiet house, cuddled up in my bed with coffee by my side, and it is wonderful! Then, I open the shades, and in comes each of my sons one at a time, for me to hug and start my day with, connecting with each individually. Coffee #2 gets delivered by my dear son Riley, and after a few more rounds of teaching/correcting, I am in my workout clothes and down to make breakfast, another thing I love to do - cook for my boys. :D At this point, loud Christian praise music is playing, and the house is full of light and hustle and bustle! Breaks such as chores, breakfast, lunch, recess as well as working in different places in the house (i.e. my bedroom, dining room table, kitchen table, addition table, living room couch, addition daybed, etc.) keep things fresh and moving. I like to move, and so do boys, so this works well! :D To save on teaching time, I put several 'round table' teaching times in the day. This works well for math, grammar, DITHOR, and writing. :D

I also really do need to exercise, due to my thyroid basically not working, or the weight just comes back on. So, each day I get dressed in my exercise clothes, and as soon as my teaching is done after lunch, I exercise. If it's nice outside, I run and love enjoying God's creation. If it's not nice outside, I run on the treadmill in the basement and watch a DVD of something for fun. It is my time to myself after teaching and before work, and I look forward to it so much! Then it's a quick shower and racing off to work. To make this happen, the night before I set out my exercise clothes, my clothes for work, any breakfast prep ahead of time, my Bible, and my morning thyroid meds/water bottle. I also have Emmett's school books in my room along with my teaching schedule/folder. I do supper prep during lunch prep, and that way I can usually have supper partly or all done by the time I get home from work. It is a busy day, but it is working so well! We have also moved all of our laundry to one day, Saturday. It is one gigantic laundry day, but we attack it as a family, and then it's done for the week. I make the menu and grocery list on the weekend. I do online grocery shopping, so all I have to do is pick up the groceries on Sat. when I'm doing errands. I also have Thursday as my designated appointment day, as I don't work that day. Every other week we go out to eat with family after our chiropractic appointments as a family, and once a week (usually Sat.) I go on a date with my dh. Hooray - happy times planned ahead = things to look forward to! We also have on the calendar everything we know is coming... vacations, my dh traveling, my dh's hunting/fishing/business trips, my job's conventions, my mom's doctor appointments, holidays, breaks, family visiting from TX, etc. Then, I have the days marked we are doing school for the year accordingly. We are right on track so far! But, I planned some 'grace' days if we get off. :D It is shaping up to be an awesome year!
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In Christ,
Julie
Enjoyed LHTH to USII
Currently using USI
Wife to Rich for 28 years
Mother to 3 sons, ages 23, 20, and 16
Sister to Carrie

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