Week In Review 11-06-08

[MamaMary]

Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory Unit 12- Part One

We had such an wonderful week with HOD. God is so good, He has worked out our schedule so that we just happen to be doing unit 14 the week before Thanksgiving. Unit 14 is the unit that teaches about the Pilgrims first Thanksgiving. Can you believe that?! As much as I would love to be a planner I'm not, but God is and He worked it out that our timing would be perfect! We are spreading unit 12 over two weeks as we took time to focus on the election and we are going on a big field trip tomorrow, co-op on Friday.

HOD Unit 12 Activity on GERMS!

Mock Mouths with tiny germs

These represent two mouths and the pink confetti is germs. One son (Colton) sneezed and didn't cover his mouth. (took his lid off) and we watched the germs go everywhere. My 8 year old son Seth covered his mouth and we saw how the germs stayed put inside the mouth. Colton my "Oliver Organized" wanted to know who was going to clean up the germs


Colton Sneezing and not covering his mouth


Look at that mess!


Seth sneezing but he did cover his mouth

Understanding the "SEASONS"[

For this HOD activity we put a flashlight in the center of the table to represent the SUN. We taped a tin foil star to the ceiling to be the North Star and then we took a basket ball to be the earth and taped an area to be the North pole and used tape to show the equator.

We decided to do this activity at night while it was dark out and turned off all the lights. Each boy walked around the table, careful to keep the North Pole pointed at the North Star. It was so cool to see how the sun was always shinging on the equator and how depending on where the earth was how some area's were turned away from the sun, representing cold and then later enveloped in the light showing the season was warm. It was a GREAT visual example.


The Sun


The North Star





The flash makes it look like we had light, but it was really dark except where the sun shone on the earth.


The Earth circling the sun while the North Pole points at the North Star



We are having so much FUN learning together! It's sad to even think that one day my boys will be grown and I won't get to play anymore

On a personal note...,



My husband and I prayed and voted. Our candidate did not win, but we decided early on that we would prayerfully support whoever the Lord put into power. There is a verse that brings me great comfort...,

Daniel 2:20-22

"Praise the name of God forever and ever, for He alone has all wisdom and power. 21 He determines the course of world events; He removes kings and sets others on the throne. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. 22 He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in darkness, though He Himself is surrounded by Light."

What an amazing and wonderful week! I can't wait to hear all about yours!

[Lori_in_Austin]

Mama Mary,

I feel really silly asking you this, but would you mind editing your post and adding which HOD guide, or guides, the activities go with
I really enjoyed seeing your pictures and cannot wait to do them ! I am anxious to know what the guide is.

Lots of Love,
Lori

[MamaMary]

Hi Lori,

Great suggestion! I am using Beyond and I edited my post!

[crlacey]

We had been having some issues with schooling a month or so ago. After much debate, prayer and thought, we decided to take a little break since we had been going at it since the spring. So this is our first week back after a month and it went great.
We are using Little Hearts for His Glory and picked up with week 16 where we talked about Christ's final days and his death and resurrection. It was God's perfect timing since DD is also learning John 3:16 this week for our AWANA club. That's even more wonderful is that God was able to use DD's lessons to enhance this week's Women's Bible Study at church where we talked about God's measureless love for us. In my head I know that God is a God of purpose and planning, nothing happens by chance or luck. But it never seizes to amaze me when God works things together like this.
My DS also has been showing an interest in letters so we gently started LHTH with him. After only 2 days, He knows that A says aa like A-A-Adam and the first part of the rhyme! And he loved the "let there be light" activity. It's great to be back on track again!

[crlacey]

Mary - I used a different verse for my team of MOPS ladies, but I like yours too! Thanks for sharing. I used Romans 13:1

Romans 13:1
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.
(The next 6 verses also deal with government.)

[Lori_in_Austin]

Mary !

Thanks for letting me know the guide. I am so glad to know it is Beyond since that is the next guide we will move into. We recently started LHFHG,so it will be a while, but I love seeing what is coming.

Lori

[funkmomma71]

We have had a great week so far! Tomorrow we will finish-up Unit 13, LHFHG. I cannot believe hos much Dina's listening comprehension as improved over the last few months, watching her grow more confident in her answers has been amazing. In the beginning, she was hesitant to answer questions after our read-aloud time or any other time for that matter now she quickly answers questions and many times she is pretty good at anticipating the question! It certainly makes our lessons go much more quickly and smoothly. For anyone who is wondering if their child will ever "get-it", hang in, it WILL happen, and you'll be amazed.

One of the science projects this week was baking bread, and boy did I ever mess that up! I wanted to be "healthy" so I used ALL whole-wheat flour, which was a big mistake. The dough was hard to knead and never rose, OOOOOPS! So, now we will do it tomorrow, with regular flour. LOL Dina had a blast though helping me in the kitchen and if it hadn't been for the lesson plans I would NEVER have tried to bake bread from scratch, so I still rate it as a success.

We bought an elementary journal book to go along with the weekly read-aloud activity of filling in a sentence and doing art work to go with it. I only wish I had thought of it sooner.

Mama Mary- Thank-you for sharing your pictures, it looks like you had a ton of fun this week! I can't wait to get where you are.

Crystal- Thank-you for your testimony on waiting on God and His perfect provision, very inspiring and humbling.

[spidermansmum]

We are working through week 13 of LHFHG[I think in my last post on WIR ,I said we had done week 14-I obviously typed it in wrong]
Anyhow This week we have been learning about the miracles of Jesus. we did the loaves and fishes and by chance we had found some fresh rainbow trout on offer in the shop so we had that for dinner which was wonderful because although it was cleaned and gutted it had its head on was left pretty much intact which meant DS could get a good look at the scales and the skeleton and he loved that[The kids all liked the dinner too]We also had to make a boat[box] and the sea[blue silk] to re inact peter walking on the water and getting scared....
We really went to town on the Jesus walking on water pictures.I must try and post some pics.We had great fun following the masking tape of Jarius' path to Jesus.I was amazed at my 5 year old solving the puzzle of the written number to the digit,he did it so well despite not covering this before.

We are enjoying danny Meadow mouse and Im often surprised that despite the fidgetting or fiddling he really is listening and answers the questions thoughtfully.
On a side note my 21 month old is loving the art and craft ideas and the songs

[my3sons]

Hi Ladies! I got very "picture happy" this week; it seemed like everything was a "picture" moment this week. We are just really enjoying this stage of homeschooling so much with HOD. My oldest ds is immersed in learning about the Cactus Desert in science. In history, we are reading about the Israelites' Exodus through the desert. Learning about how difficult life in the desert can be has really made my ds and I appreciate God's greatness in providing for the Israelites for 40 years in this environment! We read Tirzah for Storytime, and my ds has now confiscated it and read it through 2 more times in his room - he loved it that much. I felt like between Tirzah, Grandpa's Box, CHOW, and the Bible we have an incredibly rich understanding of that time period now. I am enjoying it every bit as much as my ds is - what a blessing to learn in this way!

PHFHG:
When it rains in the desert, it is often so hard and dry that the heavy, fast rains that come are unable to soak into the ground. Here we've spread peanut butter and pushed cereal pieces into it to hardpack it. We poured on the rain through a strainer and it ran right off.




This is Wyatt's Cactus Desert notebooking assignment. He was so proud of it - it was the first thing he showed my dh when he walked through the door. He has come to really enjoy showing what he has learned through notebooking.



LHFHG:
In LHFHG, we are on our last week, and it has been so exciting to see the leaps and bounds my ds has made in his learning. I went a little crazy with pics this week for him - probably because we are winding down with LHFHG, and I'm a bit wistful to hang onto it. Here is Riley showing the chain and anchor he made for his battleship the U.S.S. Constitution. Next, he's being pushed in his boat with a flag (big brother was dying to join in, so he's doing the pushing). As they pull into Boston Harbor, they shout "Land, ho!" and throw down the anchor. They landed multiple times!



Texas gals, you'll love this one! Here is my ds making an edible TX flag with colored milk and bread. We read about the Alamo, and he enjoyed eating his TX flag. Just for fun, we looked it up on the Internet too.



Here Riley is buying his treats in math. It's amazing how quickly he picked up the concept of the value of money this way! The marshmallows cost 1 cent apiece, the tootsie rolls cost 5 cents a piece, and the dots cost 10 cents a piece. He was given different coins and could spend them as he wanted. He was counting and strategizing in no time, and he loved it so much. I did let older brother jump in with a quarter and join the fun too (a good review of the value of money and exchange, right? ).


We learned about the butterfly's life cycle in science. We glued sesame seeds on a leaf to show "eggs", put a pipe cleaner piece for the caterpillar stage, colored a cotton ball with green chalk for the next stage, and cut a butterfly out of wrapping paper for the last stage. It turned out so neat. He was very proud. I'm so thankful for the easy, neat hands-on projects in HOD.



Now, how was your week? I can't wait to read everybody else's check-in.

In Christ,
Julie

[Susan]

This is the first time I have posted on a weekly format, so I'm not sure how to start. I hope I'm doing this right. This is a little old, but I was so excited when my dd responded the way she did. In Bigger we have been studying about Ben Franklin and our family was watching the World Series which was being held in Philadelphia. All of a sudden the TV broadcaster showed areas of Philly and my daughter said,"there is Benjamin Franklin and the Liberty Bell." The TV had shown a statue of BF. I thought, wow, she really did absorb all the facts of BF as she recognized Philadelphia sights!!
Susan


Susan,
That is so neat! I love to see those little mind making connections. Just when we think they're not taking any of it in, they surprise us!
Thanks for sharing! I'll just move this post under this week Weekly Check-in.

Blessings,
Carrie

[Kathleen]

Oh, I've loved reading about your weeks!!

Mary - the activity with "germs" was great! (It'll be a couple of years before I get to do Beyond...but we could use a little coaching on covering our mouths when sneezing or coughing. ) I love how Colton was worried about cleaning up the germs. I don't have a child worried about cleaning up yet.

Julie - Your pictures were great!! (I have to tell you that Grant loves to read over my shoulder and check out what Wyatt's doing in Preparing. I've told him that that's what he gets to do next year, and he loves the "sneak peek". ) I definitely think everything you showed was picture worthy!! Sometimes I wonder if I'm slowing the activity down by snapping a few pictures, but the kids really do love to "remember" what they've done by looking back through them. Last year the only thing I really took pictures of for LHTH was unit 8 about Moses, which is where we're at now. This was the first time on our way back through that she said, "Oh, I remember doing this before!" I think it's because we took pictures of it and she's seen them through the last year. So, I'll keep snapping away - I LOVE the memories we're making!

Spidermansmum - I loved your story about getting fish for dinner! That definietly would bring the story to life! (I couldn't see your pictures, but I imagined a great one! )

Funkmomma - It sounds like you're making great progress in LHFHG! Way to go! You've got me hungry for fresh bread now. (I make dough in my breadmaker.)

OK...on to our week(s). I didn't post last week, so I'll just put it all here. We are sailing along with BHFHG and LHTH. It seems that we've had more "extras" in the last 2 weeks that normal - a lot of outside activities - but even then, HOD is really making it easy for us to keep going along with school. (I'm sure that it's because it's just so much fun! ) We've had several days where we couldn't do everything, but we did half a day and then the other half later. I love that we've been able to keep moving forward!

BHFHG - We finished Unit 8 and did Unit 9.

Grant finished reading his adventure books for DITHOR. For his project, he did the "Lit Kit" from Book Projects to send home. (This one was actually reccommended for the Fantasy Genre, but we chose it anyway. He was planning to do a talk for 4-H on reading and this was a great way to retell the book!) He chose to do his Lit Kit on Dolphin Adventure. He has a diving mask, a dolphin, "blood", a fishhook, a knife, and a shark.

Our study on "thriftiness" has been timely. The day before we started it, Grant spent a long time following me around talking about wise ways to use his money. (I'm glad that he's concerned about using it wisely...but he came up with quite the list of wants that he's looking to spend money on or put on a Christmas list!) So, talking about thriftiness has been great for helping him see that he can be content with what he has and not always looking for "more". It's so rewarding to see him at the age where he's getting an eternal perspective on life. He was able to say this week as we were talking about our memory verse, "Things won't last forever. God will, and it's fearing Him and trusting Him that's most important. I'm thankful for the nice things we have, but I'm most thankful that you and Daddy know God and could tell me about Him and that we can learn from the Bible. 'Cause that's really improtant."

We are loving our study of Benjamin Franklin! Grant is enthralled with electricity! He loves learning how it works. He said that he didn't mind reading about the printing press and all the books Ben read, but what he really liked reading about were all the science eperiments he did! He said that he wanted to be like Benjamin Franklin and discover new things by experimenting. (He's worried that too many things have already been discovered though. ) Here is our "potato printing press".

Grant also got to draw his room to the map scale of 1 inch = 1 foot.


We started reading Justin Morgan Had a Horse this week for storytime. And I peeked into next week and noticed that in Science we're going to be starting John Audubon. (I'm so excited, and I'm sure Grant will be too!! He's going to be fun to read about, and we love anything that has to do with nature and exploring in the woods!)

Kathleen

[Carrie]

Ladies,

My hubby and I are gone this week on a planning/much-needed alone-time trip. My dear mom and dad and wonderful sister and brother-in-law have been taking care of our kiddos and keeping their schooling going too! They all report that the kiddos had a great week with HOD and that they hardly miss Mike and I at all!

I've been quite impressed that they've been able to keep our kiddos moving forward with HOD, especially since my dad did the teaching for a day with my two oldest boys on his own! My sister also kept her kiddos and my younger ones moving forward too. This is a true test that HOD can be easily used by anyone and that multiple levels can be taught at once.

I've enjoyed reading your posts this week and loved to see your kiddos happy faces. Thanks for sharing!

Blessings,
Carrie

[Kathleen]

I got really picture happy with my LHTH'ers this week, so I decided to make a seperate post. (I wasn't sure how many pics I could put in one post. ) Then when I was putting my last picture in...poof! I hit something wrong and it's gone. Where, oh where do those lost posts go? (If anyone ever finds them, I think I have several there!! )

We are really enjoying the life of Moses, and God delivering the Israelites! These are exciting stories (that it sounds like we get again in Preparing)! What it would have been like to live then...
My little ones enjoyed following my directions - remembering that God led the Israelites.
Tiptoeing around the toy.....and Jumping over the bus...

Climbing over Mommy's bed....and Hopping through the doorway.


We have a tie for favorite activity this week. It would be between the reenactment of the Red Sea Crossing and gathering "manna". We let Grant join in the fun when we "crossed the Red Sea". The kids had a LOT of fun doing this and took turns playing each role. We had "Moses", "The Isrealite", and "The Egyptian Army".

(Their favorite part was "drowning" in the Sea.)


Allison and Garret also really liked painting the Red Sea with the path through it.


Now, the "manna" activity. They had such fun pretending to sleep...

and then wake up amazed at how God had provided food for them!

Gathering their "manna"...


We're continuing to enjoy and learn from the letter activities, too. I love how LHTH is giving Allison such a successful experience with learning. She can confidently complete all the "work" by herself and she LOVES that she knows how to do it!! I'm so glad that we're doing it now when she's 4 because she understands everything we're doing - the counting, letters, their sounds. She loves that she's so good at it! (I have to add that today she asked us in the truck, "Mommy, how do you and Grant and Daddy know how to say which words with the pictures in books?" She wants to learn to read! And, I think she's ready to start a little. )
Here we're cutting yarn to glue onto our G.



Cutting out jewlery for our Number 8 page.


Our Tape Day this week was driving vehicles on Letter G. (I think we have some vehicles that actually say, "g-g-g". )

And, I just have to share that when I came upstairs on Wednesday evening to fold laundry, I found this...

By the time they quit the whole room was full of tape and Alli had managed to make every letter that we've covered so far! She was so proud of herself! And she and Garret had a great time playing on the letters. I told ya that Tape Day was like a holiday for us!

We've had a great week! And I want to leave you with one more picture that was a surprise blessing for us today. We got to ride along with Daddy as he went to feed heifers down in the pasture...and then to a dairy further south in the county to get some supplies to fix the milkers in the barn. On our way home on a beautiful "scenic" road - that you wouldn't drive on if it rained - we found a whole hillside of bittersweet. It was beautiful!!


Kathleen

[gracelikerain]

Hey everyone!

I just LOVED seeing all the wonderful pictures this week!!

We finished up week 10 in PHFHG. The girls really enjoyed learning about the Spartans, the olympics & the founding of Rome. They are doing beautifully with their scripture memorization. As for writing their poems that has been a little frustrating. Some weeks they do fine. Other weeks they aren't that motivated & have trouble being creative. I was the same way as a kid. So, I try to help them a bit. I'm getting better at doing school first with my younger ds. He really loves his school time & we do 2 days at a time some days.
No pics this week. I'm too tired!!

Bless you all!!

[Rebecca]

I LOVE reading everyone's week in review!

Thank you all for sharing!
Rebecca