Three Weeks Down, Many to Go.

Well, it was a pretty good week this week.  Lots of work done.

Eli was into everything as always and I caught him in the act.  Here he is searching in the kitchen cupboards for something to eat.

Uh oh!!!  I've been caught.

Preparing - Unit 29 - Week ending 31/1

Well, Shakayla is finally getting back into the swing of things.  It has taken awhile but she has worked quite diligently when she has been working.  She is ditching off when she finds something else much more exciting to do, but that is what we're going to be working on during Unit 30.

She began reading The Shakespeare Stealer for her extention history, after finishing Who was Marco Polo?  For history, she has been continuing with Child's History of the World along with Hero Tales.  We began The Wonderful Winter on Thursday for her storytime.  For independent history, she is reading Shakespeare and the Globe.

She did some research on the spice trade last week.  One part of it was to map out the Spice Trade and she chose to do it on the computer.

She has been reading Who was Leonardo DaVinci? for science.  She did a science experiment to demonstrate how the sun rises in the east.

Shakayla doing her research.  Very intent on what she was reading.

The highlight of her week was making her spice chart.  It provided quite a bit of entertainment, as all the children were up the table trying the different spices.

This was taken about halfway through the finished chart.  We had children running around like mad things when they tried ginger.  Certainly had me in fits of laughter.

BHFHG - Units 17-18 - Week ending 31/1

Beth had a fabulous week.  She really worked hard and showed plenty of endurance.  We didn't manage to do her art project, but are hoping once I get the right supplies we can do it.

We read some more about Daniel Boone and Quicksilver Bob.  She did a fantastic job on her notebooking page and her timeline, so much so that I took photos of them.

She is putting a lot more effort into her presentation which is just tremendous.  Her math is humming along as is her cursive.  We have been reading more Encyclopaedia Brown which challenges us to think about the clues and help figure out each case.

For science we have still been looking at the creatures in the woods.  She had to do an experiment of getting a piece of fruit to go moldy which gave her the shivers every time she looked at it.  

She has been learning 'Our Fathers World' as her current hymn to learn which has been tremendous. 

Beth's favourite part of the week was her Science notebooking page.  She took extra special care and did a fabulous job.

 

 LHFHG - Unit 20 - Week ending 31/1/13

James had a great week.  His reading is really coming along.  We did take him to the optometrist and so he has new specs to pick up tomorrow, which hopefully will make the reading just a little easier too.

He finally has mastered the written words for 1 - 20, so we are now able to move on in his math.

For his history, we read about St Augustine, Charles the Great and Albert the Great.  He really enjoyed these stories and I know he now has the pegs in place to hang further information as he gets older.

He has been doing a bit of opposites work.  I hadn't realised he didn't actually know what opposite meant.  Now that we've done a few exercises he is definately getting the hang of it.  

We finished The Adventures of Grandfather Frog and are now reading The Adventures of Chatterer the Red Squirrel.  James loves this series of books, so much so it was the highlight of his week.

James made a poster related to the story about Charles the Great.  He spent a great deal of time and effort doing it.  Here he is showing it off, and then sharing the limelight with Eli who had just finished his four puzzles all on his own.

Anyway, another fabulous week with Heart of Dakota.  It brings such rich learning into our home.

January is flying by!!!

Wow, it is so hard to believe that January is almost at an end.  Shakayla kindly pointed out on the 25th that is was a month since Christmas, followed quickly by the statement it is only 11 months to Christmas.  I feel this year is going to fly by. 

I thought I would start with Eli this week.  He is getting far better at keeping himself occupied without creating too many hurricanes in his path.

 Eli busy putting his cars on his truck to take them to the station.

 Eli and James playing together.

Just because he is so cute and full of mischief.  See that glint in his eye.

Here he is with his picture he drew.

LHFHG - Week ending 25/1/13 - Unit 19

 

Well, James had a great week.  We have been spending a bit of time reviewing his phonics, so his reading is really coming along.  We began reading about some of the early martyrs of the Christian Church, and Augustine was one who we read about.

 

He has been enjoying the story of Grandfather Frog.  It is great to hear him answering questions and even being able to retell some of the story back to me.  

 

 James learnt a little about Saint Valentine and made a valentine's heart by himself.

 Here is a wee sentence we wrote after reading Grandfather Frog.  His handwriting is coming along beautifully.

  This was James reenactment of the early Christians walking along the road asking everyone they met if they had heard about Jesus and his ressurrection.

So overall, it was a great week with James.  His skills are growing day by day which is awesome.

BHFHG - Week ending 25/1/13 - Units 16/17

 

Bethany and I had a great week.  We finished Rabbit Hill, and what a tremendous story.  We would highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys a lovely fantasy story.  The new story time book is Encyclopaedia Brown.  It is a mystery book and so far we are really enjoying it.

Beth has been learning about Daniel Boone this week which has been quite interesting.  I don't think she is all that keen to be his daughter though, being snatched away by Indians.  She is still learning about the creatures living in the woods which inspires her to go investigating in the forest.

 Bethany painted this beautiful watercolour of an island in the foreground, with the sea and sunset and a boat sailing away.

 Bethany reading aloud Toliver's Secret to her new friend Lucky.

Beth painted this tree and that is Daniel Boone swinging from it so the Indians lost his track.

Overall it was a great week, with her making great strides with her math and her narrations.

PHFHG - Week ending 25/1/13 - Unit 28

 

Well, it has been a bit of a challenge to get Shakayla focused on her schoolwork especially as most of her friends are still having their summer holidays.  But we are getting there.

 

She has been reading about Marco Polo and his travels, Christopher Columbus and his travels, and some of the other well known explorers of the time.  I love that all the books she is reading is of the same time period so give her a bigger glimpse into the time period.

 

She has been producing some great work when she sets her mind to it.  In poetry this week, her creative writing task, was to write a poem or paragraph that followed the life cycle of a creature or another part of nature.  She did a terrific job and has a poem that would knock your socks off, but I've suggested she keep it to enter into a poetry competition next time we see one.  It truely was a magnificent piece of work.

 

Whoops, I only got one picture of her this week.  This is her reading 'The Secret Garden'.  She is reading it as part of our reading programme, Drawn into the Heart of Reading.  

It was a good week, and both of us felt she had accomplished well for the week.  Hopefully this week our days won't drag out quite so long.

We ended up with a busy and social weekend after our busy week.  It was great to catch up with some friends who have moved away, and others who are nearby.  Our church family celebrated the baptism of two wonderful members.  It was a joyous occasion, and involved a fabulous shared picnic up at one of the local gorges.  We feel so blessed to be part of our church, and a part of our community in general.  God is so good to us.

 

Cracking into 2013!!!!

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted.  There is a reason I've not been keeping this up.  We had a pretty busy year last year.  I ended up with two surgeries, one after a year of health issues which I thought were all in my head but resulted in the implantation of a pacemaker at the beginning of December.  The cause of everything that led to that is to be dealt with this year we hope and pray.  We also moved mid year into our own home, which was something that surprised us completely as we had only been talking how neither of us felt it was a great idea for us and our family.  But God led the way, and opened the doors and even now I wonder how it all happened, but it is a wonderful and fabulous thing.  We are back in what we class as our home town, and are in a great spot where anyone can call in when they are out and about.  We have also started a home group here, and church is now just down the road.

Anyway, despite all the craziness of last year, it was a year that completely blessed us as a family, and this year I'm sure is going to be just as great or better.  God is certainly keeping us and guiding and teaching us.

PHFHG - Week beginning 14/1/13 - Unit 27

Shakayla finished up Unit 27 this week.  It has been such a joy to work through Preparing with her.  She has gained such independence since she started this. She finished reading Adam of the Road for extension history, and began Columbus for science.  She is continuing with R&S English 5.  She is working through Singapore Math 4B at the moment, but is working at her own pace as she has done most of it over the years, but I wanted to make sure she covered the bits she had missed, so I would imagine she will likely be starting 6A before the end of the year.

Shakayla working on grammar.

Shakayla's History Project.  A stained glass window.

BHFHG - Week beginning 14/1/13 - Unit 15/16

 

Bethany is now doing Bigger Hearts for His Glory, after we found she was floundering a little too much for my liking.  She has flourished with this guide.  I think she also likes the time that she gets with me.

 

She is working through R&S English 3 and is now doing Singapore Math 2B (again that was due to me wanting her to fill in bits she has missed).  She is nearly into Singapore Math 3A and is working well at her own pace.

 

We have been reading a wonderful storytime book called Rabbit Hill.  It has been a fantastic example of the fantasy genre, and we have talked about various things within the book, and why and how it is a fantasy book.  We both really love this time together.  She has been learning more about George Washington which has been really interesting for both of us, as I can't say I know a great deal about him.  She is just beginning to learn the states of the US and their abbreviations, not overly necessary for a kid from NZ but the skills she is gaining through this guide are too many to name, and too beneficial for her overall learning.

 

In science she has been learning about the creatures and plants in the woods.  It is just amazing learning alongside her, as much she learns, I do not know.   It just encourages my love of nature and of learning in general.

 

Bethany keeping Eli occupied while I was working with James.

They had a great time pretending to be the puppets.

  LHFHG - Week beginning 14/1/13 - Unit 18

 

James and I finished Unit 18 this week.  It was great to get back into it.  We were learning about the early Christian church.  It was great fun.  James is doing great with his reading and is progressing well through The Reading Lesson.  He is doing a terrific job with math and is doing Singapore Math 1A.

 

We really love the hands-on activities in this guide.  It really appeals to James style of learning.  He is also gaining incredibly on his ability to listen to stories and to verbalise what has happened in the story.  This is a really hard thing for James so any gains is a huge thing.  We are loving reading about Grandfather Frog and his adventures.

 

  James reenacting the prison falling down around Paul and Silas.

Anyway, overall it was a great start to the year, and we pray the rest of this year will be a relatively smooth run through these guides and into the next ones.