Signing Time: Review and a Freebie!

Grace-Filled Writer

When my oldest daughter was about 8 months old she finished her puffed star snack, looked directly at me, and started touching her finger tips together. I found this a little odd because she seemed to be trying to tell me something, but for the life of me I didn’t have a clue! My husband walked into the room and said, “She wants some more snack.” When I questioned him on how he knew what she wanted and what in the world it had to do with her hands he explained that the pair of sisters I had been teaching piano to had been teaching her signs. I would teach one piano and they would teach her sign language. I was shocked and delighted! I had them teach me a few basic baby signs and we used just the basics with my girls from about 6 months on: more, yes, and all done. I think there may have been more, but those are the ones I remember! This picture of Grace saying, “All Done!” Very emphatically with her hands after taking one bite of carrots at about 9 months!

My oldest daughter has been asking me to learn more about sign language. When Two-Little Hands gave me the opportunity to review Volume 13:Welcome to School I was excited and so were my girls! This DVD teaches many of the common signs of things found in school. The signs formally taught on this DVD are: Crayons, Scissors, Paper, Glue, Pen, Pencil, Table, Chair, Backpack, School, Line Up, Pay attention, Learn, Remember, Smart, Principal, Teacher, Class, Student, Name, World, Numbers, Count, Draw, Paint, Read, Quiet, and Rest. In addition to these formal signs Rachel, the Signing Time teacher, uses a number of other signs as she talks and sings. Rose (seven-years-old) picked up on a lot of those while Grace (three-years-old) and Beth (five-years-old) mostly focused on the formally taught sings.

The first thing that struck me about the DVD was how quickly it engaged my girls. Like many families we choose to limit the amount of time our girls are focused on a screen. There are many reasons for this, but one in particular is the lack of participation and interaction required is typically minimal even with educational shows. With signing time my girls all worked hard to sign well and talked with one another as well. Rose especially encouraged and helped her younger sisters.

Principal

The girls asked to watch this every single day. I’m not kidding! They love it that much! Not only that, they started signing to one another and to me to ask for things. It has been a really fun thing to watch.
Scissors

It’s really neat to see my seven, five, and three-year-old learning together and able to successfully learn at the same time. It is also rare to find a DVD which all three enjoy equally. Usually what interests one bores the other. All I have to say is, “It’s Signing Time!” They run and sit as quickly as they can while they wait for me to get it started.


Table
The girls also really enjoyed the extra features as well, especially watching the voice-over recordings. It was a good experience for them to see the production side of programs. I also like the extras include more signs to learn. Rose is really into Bonus Features right now!

This is a quick video of my girls’ completely absorbed in Signing Time! Take a minute to watch and you’ll see just how fun this has been for them!

 

And NOW for the freebie! As an exclusive gift for my readers is the Homeschool Guide e-book! Click the image to start your download! This exclusive guide is a great start to help you see just how easily Signing Time can fit into your homeschool day. 
Disclaimer
I received Signing Time: Welcome to School in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

Week in Review: May 13-17

Grace-Filled Writer

This was our last week of Heart of Dakota for the year!!!! Well…sort of. I’ve held off with Grace and Little Hands for a few weeks. I’ve had something unexpected come up for this summer and I wanted to get school done sooner than I originally planned. So I bumped everything ahead and we have been doing two units of Heart of Dakota in a one week time period. This seems like a lot…and it is! Keep in mind that I do skip a lot of science due to the fact that my daughter takes a three-hour science class each week.

I also just finished up the history readings for Little Hearts for His Glory. It bothered me at first not to do all the activities and I may go back this summer and do some, which would be a lot of fun! I’m not bothered by it anymore though. I know there are times I have to be flexible and homeschooling allows for that. No matter how much I plan and schedule, my good intentions will inevitable be interrupted by sickness, unexpected life events…sometimes even surprises and amazing once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. I like those interruptions best! 
Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Units 33 and 34
We have loved our time in this guide. Rose had learned so much and grown an incredible amount since we began in July. While I intended to do this guide half speed over two years, but after four units I realized she was more than ready for full-speed. Rose’s favorite set of units was the ones about The Wright Brothers and their Sister. She enjoyed this history so much I had to stop her from moving on! 
This week she studied more about the Panama canal and we looked at why it completely changed travel and commerce between the west and east coast. Since our studies have focused on American History she completed a map of the United States and its surrounding countries. She did a fabulous job! The proportions are a little funky, but I think this is great for a seven-year-old 2nd grader. 
She also finished up 2nd grade math from Rod and Staff and Wordly Wise 3000 book 2. There is something  incredibly satisfying about finishing a book for all of us. We came to that point in the year when staying focused was difficult. I remember this all too well from my full-time classroom teacher days, but honestly didn’t expect it with homeschooling. I think it may have to do with seeing an end in sight. We feel antsy and are so anxious to get to the end that it’s sometimes hard to stay the course. 
We are looking forward and excited to start Preparing Hearts for His Glory in August! 
Little Hearts for His Glory: Units 33 and 34
This is my second time through this guide, but I have enjoyed it immensely more. The first time I used it for K-4 as I anticipated never homeschooling my daughters. I really don’t recommend this unless you have an incredibly advanced child. Even then I’m not sure I would ever recommend this! 
This time as a K-5 curriculum Little Hearts was a fabulous fit. Beth really started to enjoy history and began asking questions and wanting to know more on her own. This was one of my goals for homeschooling. Learning for the sake of passing a test is not what we want for our children. Yes, I want them to do well as they go through school and remember what they have learned, but more than that I want to encourage a heart for learning and desire to know more. Heart of Dakota is just so good at that! 
Since Beth finished up the 1st grade reading curriculum I’ve just been having her read books at or slightly above her level and narrating for me. She has really enjoyed this and got  handful of books from my parents which I read at her age. She loves that they were once Mommy’s books!
We’re looking forward to Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory next year!
Little Hands to Heaven: Off Week
Like I mentioned I took a break from this guide with Grace this week so I could get through everything else with my older girls. She was not happy. My little sweetie loves to learn! I found out this week she has learned to read colors because of spending so much time with a small book about colors. I knew she loved it; I had no clue she was learning words! I plan to start Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons soon and I’ll be highlighting our language arts plan at this point. 

I kept her as busy as I could with fun activities, but it seemed I couldn’t keep her busy enough! She’s enjoyed her year with Heart of Dakota so very much. I plan to finish the guide throughout the summer and we’ll be using it again next year for her K-4 year along with reading, pre-K math, and the Rod and Staff ABC series. 

We’ve also enjoyed reviewing some really great stuff! 
Art… (Review Coming Soon)
Games… (Review Coming Soon)
Sign Language…(Click for Review!)
Be on the lookout for some really run reviews over the next few weeks! 

Big Book of Earth and Sky: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

I typically don’t teach science in our homeschool because we utilize a learning center which provides classes for homeschoolers. One of those classes is science and it is incredibly thorough and advanced in what they learn. I do, however, like to provide my girls with science resources so they can explore on their own terms. We love looking up information when we have a question and I want to provide materials which point my girls to God as the Creator.

The Big Book of Earth and Sky from Master Books, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group, by Bodie Hodge and Dr. Carolyn Reeves (View her website here!) grabbed my girls’ attention as soon as I opened it! I put it on a shelf intending to leave it there until I had a chance to look at it with them, but I kept finding one or another reading it and learning on their own. The gigantic, colorful poster/book immediately draws the students (and teacher!) into curiosity mode. The illustrations are beautiful and written content is concise and clear.

By the time I started using this with my daughters I was happy to discover that a teacher’s guide had been published. You can purchase this separately or go follow the link to download it for free. While there are many ways this book can be used and incorporated into your current studies, I like having the teacher’s guide to give me a starting point. This guide includes a section on a variety of topics and provides a glossary of words for each topic as well as suggested activities. The topics included are caves, oceans, meteorology and paleontology. The book is designed to be a springboard for learning and the teacher’s guide greatly aids this process. There are also corresponding charts for students to fill in as you study. My oldest two really enjoyed this part!

If I had the space I would have hung it up on the wall with the land starting at the floor. You can watch the video below to see how this works. I don’t have a good spot to do this, so we stretched the entire book and I thought it would be fun to show how it compares to the height of my girls. They all thought this was fun, but Grace especially got a kick out of it. She’s at the bottom with the biggest smile of the three! The top of the chart starts with the uppermost layers of the atmosphere. It then systematically moves through meteorological and geological information all the way to the earth’s core.

I printed out my teacher’s guide and made the girls their own packets to study with. I used the same picture from the teacher’s guide to make the cover. Beth especially liked this because she felt very grown up having her very own packet to complete.

We started at the top with the layers of the earth’s atmosphere. One of the reasons so many of my friends give for why they couldn’t homeschool is because they aren’t smart enough. While I think each family must choose their own educational course, I try to encourage them that they don’t have to know everything. Wonderful resources like this are available so we can learn alongside one another. I’m sure at some point I had to learn the layers of the atmosphere during my education, but they didn’t stick. I loved how not only were the layers labeled in a vivid way, but they also included the types of things you would find in that layer. Our local children’s museum has a wonderful hands-on weather exhibit. I plan to take this with us the next time so we can look at some of the information along with the displays!

We moved a little farther down and took a look at the mountain zones. We live in the area of North Carolina known as the Piedmont, or foothills. We had a wonderful conversation about our location and how that relates to our family who lives in the mountains of North Carolina. Beth loved that there was a snow zone. The girls love snow even though we don’t see it very often!

The last area we looked at (on this day!) was the core of the earth. Rose studied this in her science class and told us lots of information she had already learned, which inspired Beth to become more interested in reading more on the page. You can see that this folds up nicely so if you don’t have a large floor space it is still easily usable and enjoyable.

This is a fabulous resource with a years-worth or more of curriculum ideas. For me, the best part is I know I can trust what is written within these pages to engage and enlighten my girls while staying within our beliefs that all living things were created by God within a literal 1-week period. I know this makes our family in the minority within our culture and I am forever grateful to New Leaf Publishing for providing amazing resources like this one to teach my girls.

Read the book release blog here and take some time to watch this fun video to see even more of The Big Book of Earth and Sky!


You can read more reviews here!

Disclaimer
I received The Big Book of Earth and Sky in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received.

Week in Review: May 6-10

Grace-Filled Writer

The beginning of May is a whirlwind around here! We finish up with Deerstream Learning Center and I finish up teaching piano lessons. Life feels crazy and then there is a sudden and wonderful calm. It hasn’t arrived yet, but it will next week after my piano recital. With the craziness we try to squeeze in a bit of fun like New Orleans Style shaved ice! (Yes, it’s pouring the rain, but boy was it a memorable visit!)

Some things have come up for us that has made me feel like I need to finish up school for the year in the next couple of weeks. Because of that I’ve made a few changes. Grace is going full-out fast-paced through Little Hands to Heaven. I’m doing 2-3 units a week. I want to get through this guide so she experiences the poems for each letter and we’ll be doing it again next year for k-4. I’m only going to be reading the history and finishing the last several units with Beth by the end of next week. She is already into her 1st grade math and reading so I’m okay with moving more quickly. Rose will be finishing the last two units of Bigger next week.

The following week Rose and Beth will be completing their required state testing. Testing is one of the few requirements in our state for homeschooling and it is required to begin the school year when a student turns eight. I choose to test earlier because I want them to feel comfortable with testing in a comfortable environment I can control and I am covering my bases for the state. With the way educational requirements change so frequently I want to make sure I have done everything possible in order to show I am providing my girls with an excellent education.

In between all of this I have found time to still squeeze in my reviews! Make sure you check out the review of Trailblazer Books. They are offering a free e-book to my readers for this month only! More reviews will be headed your way soon!

And here is our week…

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 19
We studied the letter P this week…mostly in one day to be completely honest! Grace did other work the other days, but we spent mostly 1 day focusing on this letter. I really enjoy adding in Do-A-Dot pages to coordinate with these. So does she! I let her pick the colors and then she has fun dotting the pages. To find these and others like them simply google “Do-A-Dot alphabet pages”. You’ll find more than you can ever use!

She opted to do her work in the hallway. Grace has been clearly trying to become her own person recently. This has sometimes played out in some rather defiant moments, but also has shown itself in small ways like when she says, “Mommy, can I do lessons on the floor?” As long as there isn’t a good reason I’m trying to allow her some flexibility. I am having to say, “No!” to her so often at the moment that anytime I can, “Yes,” it is a relief.

Her favorite part of the lessons is almost always the finger play which goes along with the letter for the week. She really gets into this and it typically involves her entire body, not just her fingers!






Little Hearts for His Glory: Units 28-29

I have several units to finish this coming week, but that’s okay. I need to finish and so we’ll make it! Beth love the GHI series from Rod and Staff. This is the new series Carrie Austin has chosen for Little Hearts for His Glory since Thinking Skills for 1st grade has been discontinued. We were using them already because Beth finished the Thinking Skills book in about a month. She kept sneaking it into her room during rest time and working on it when I didn’t realize it! I have to say I am very pleased with the switch and find these to be more challenging and fun than that Thinking Skills book was.

Since she finished up her reading books last week I’ve just been having Beth read books to me and I’ll ask 2-3 comprehension questions at the end. Her favorite book a Dick and Jane reader given to her by her great-grandmother. It is very simple for he at this point, but she loves it so much and at this age, reading is reading! I love our time cuddling on the couch while she reads to me. It is such a blessing!


Beth continues to use Math Rider in addition to her Rod and Staff math. This has improved her already strong math facts and she loves it! If you haven’t heard of it, take some time to check out my review. It has been a wonderful blessing to our homeschool curriculum!


Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Units 31 and 32

When I told Rose we were going to move more quickly through her curriculum, she said, “Oh. I guess I’ll just have to be more diligent!” What a sweet answer! We’re already on target to finish grammar and math next week without speeding up pace. Rose worked on practicing alphabetizing this week in her grammar book. This was very simple for her since the vocabulary with HOD gives her a chance to practice alphabetical order.

She was very excited to study two poems this week! Both poems for the week are on the page so it was easier. When studying rhyme scheme I have her first highlight the rhyming lines and then add in the letters. This has been a great way for her to visually see the rhyming pattern. I love that Heart of Dakota incorporates poetry from the very first guides. They are developing and appreciation for poetry and Rose has even been chosen for publication recently for a poetry contest! Her inspiration to write poetry definitely came fro her studies each week.

I often let Rose read her history on her own by her choice. Her narration skills have improved so much and I’m so pleased with her progress! She will many times read in the living room while I teach her sisters in the school-room. I will usually find her snuggled under a blanket completely drawn into her reading assignment. This week she finished up the entire book about the Wright Brothers. I didn’t intend for her to, but she got so excited about finishing she didn’t realize she was supposed to stop! You know you have an excellent history program when a child is so absorbed they completely forget to end their assigned reading for the day.

One more subject we have added to our week is typing. Rose has been hounding me to let her learn how to type. When the opportunity came up to review Typing Tournament I was so excited! Check out this really fun program for typing lessons for kids and adults. My husband said that if he’d had this to use to learn about typing when he was in school he might have actually learned the first time around.

That was our week! We’ve has a busy and full weekend with a fun surprise coming for the girls next week! I can’t wait to share it with you!

Here is a hint: They Glow 
Any guesses?

Papa’s Pearls from Homefires: Review

Grace-Filled Writer
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One of the few things in my life I regret is not having my grandparents around. I don’t even know if I can qualify it as a regret since it isn’t anything I had control over. I am blessed to know I will see them again one day, but since they died when I was young I missed out on all the wisdom I know they had to give me. I become so frustrated when I hear of families treating their grandparents as a burden or unimportant. Our society does not value their elders anymore and there will come a time when our society will truly regret it. 
photo papaspearls_zps509cd1df.jpgPapa’s Pearls is a collection of sayings, stories, and wisdom passed on to his children and grandchildren by way of his daughter. Dianne Flynn Keith artfully tells the stories of her childhood in such a way you feel as if you knew Papa (Carol Joseph Flynn). Each chapter is titled with one or two of Papa’s signature sayings and includes stories from his life which build off of them. As I read through these various quotes and stories I couldn’t help but be reminded of my own grandparents and the things they used to say.

One of my favorite stories was of Papa working in the sewer. He would have to wade through sewage in order to do his job as a plumber. I’m sure it was a thankless job, but he did what he had to do in order to provide for his family. The same value was passed down to our family by our own grandfathers and fathers.

My own grandfather worked for years in a coal mine, scrimping and saving each penny in order to be able to purchase land for a farm when he was able. This was certainly not a job he loved, but he worked hard. My great-grandfather sold pies made by my great-grandmother in order to provide for his family when he was laid off during the Depression. My husband worked a variety of jobs in high school and college including mowing lawns, fast-food, pizza making, working at a grocery store, and more in order to save and pay his way through college to end up without debt on the other side. A good work ethic is not taught as it once was and I hope to instill the same ideas in our girls.

I also liked the multiple times that the author referenced her father’s positive outlook on life, no matter the circumstances. It is so easy to fall into a woe-is-me type of attitude when things get difficult, but our children are watching us. Do you say you are joyful in Christ, but neglect to show it to your children? I can become guilty of this at times and I was challenged to make sure I am living out those important parts of my faith which I want to pass on to my children.

I did choose not to read this aloud to my children. This is much more suited for older students and their parents. Since my girls are younger (ages 7, 5, and 3), they would probably not have gotten very much out of the stories. We are not catholic, but Papa was and some mention of this and some catholic practices in the book. This would not have been something I would want to explain to my girls at such a young age, but it would probably not have been as big of a deal for older children. Although I still highly recommend this book I think this is important to be aware of this fact. It can be purchased directly from the website for $21.97 (this includes shipping) or Amazon.

Don’t forget to check out the other reviews from my Crewmates!
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Trail Blazer Books: Review and Free Book offer!!!!

Grace-Filled Writer

One of the great needs of our children is to know and understand the Christian heritage they come from. Our family loves great literature and especially literature which draws my children in and causes them to want to learn more about the characters and history which make up the story. Rose in particular is beginning to very much enjoy historical fiction and so I have been searching for new stories to excite and engage her.

I was very excited to have the chance to review Trailbazer Books written by Dave and Neta Jackson. I first saw them online at a Christian supply website, but they were out of stock. I was very interested to have historical fiction which incorporated important figures from Christian history. Some of these books are now out of print in hard copies, but they are all available as ebooks! My daughters love ebooks because that means they get to use my Kindle. Although each book is available individually at http://www.trailblazerbooks.com/, they can also all be purchased on a CD for less than $1 each. This is a great price for excellent literature.

There are also several teacher’s guides available which incorporates several disciplines of learning. Included are the expected study of literary elements, vocabulary, social studies, and a variety of activities to engage student beyond the words written on the page. I like that there are connections to so many other areas of learning and that the guides are broken down into 2 chapter sections. Many other literature guides I have used take the book more as a whole rather than its parts. Since I typically like Rose to read at least two chapters a day when we study literature this is a nice setup.

I let Rose choose which book she wanted to start with and she liked the sounds of The Bandit of Ashley Downs. The story centers around a homeless orphan who gets into trouble after trying to steal some money and ends up being taken in by George Muller as one of his orphans. The twist is the money he stole actually belongs to the same orphanage!

Rose loved this book from the start! Before we had a chance to begin discussing the book she asked me, “Is this really a true story?” This was a great opening to talking about historical fiction as a genre. She said how much she loved the adventure and I loved that she learned about George Muller and his legacy of trust in God and prayer.

There are many great works of literature she will study and read throughout her education. Giving her opportunity to learn of her Christian heritage through excellent literature is even better. I look forward to exploring Christian history with her through the Trailblazer Books.

And now for a great gift for my readers directly from Dave and Neta Jackson! For the entire month of May you can get Drawn by a China Moon, a story about a young southern girl who goes to China with her parents to aid Lotti Moon and her work, for free!!!! Just click the cover to the left for your free e-book!

Don’t miss out on this offer and share it with your friends!


Disclaimer
I received the CD Rom of 40 e-books in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Typing Tournament v2: Review

Grace-Filled Writer

(There is a freebie offer for everyone at the bottom of this review!!!!)

My daughter has been begging to learn how to type for months. She has already been typing each week, but you can see her method was one finger, hunt and peck. It was a good start, but she kept at me to learn how to type like I do, so the search began for an affordable typing program which she found enjoyable and was effective.

I was very excited to try out Typing Tournament v2 from EdAlive Educational Software. I loaded it on the computer after the girls went to bed so I could try it out as I usually do before giving the girls a chance to play new games. The thing was, I was having fun! Then my husband saw what I was doing and wanted to try it out. He was determined to beat my score, but couldn’t! Believe me, if there is a typing program that intrigues my husband enough that he wants to use it, there is something special about it.

The 16 levels progress the student forward at their own pace starting with beginning typing skills. The practice isn’t anything that different from other programs I’ve seen, except that it places the student in the frame of being a knight in a tournament. The graphics are cute and engaging.

After finishing the lesson students can play a variety of games which are really fun! My husband and I really enjoyed these. Rose prefers the lesson! At whatever point the student feels ready they are able to take a test to see if they are ready to move on to the next level.

Rose is progressing slowly…a pace I expect from a 7-year-old! The fact that she is improving and learning typing at all impresses me at this age. She enjoys the practice and is starting with real typing skills. In the technological world she is growing up in, typing will be a necessity. The fact that she can learn to type in a fun way is exciting. My typing courses were never fun. They were dry, dull, and simply a means to an end. I’m thrilled that we have found something more enjoyable for the girls to use as they begin to learn to type the proper way. The one area she really needs to improve in is not looking at her hands. This is tricky for her, but since I require the same for her piano lessons I know she’ll get there eventually!

The program costs $49.95 which seems very reasonable considering the wide scope of typing skills which are covered. In addition they quite frequently offer discounts and deals through their Facebook page.

Check out this promo video to get a better look at the program! 

EdAlive Educational Software has lots of great things to offer in addition to Typing Tournament v2! Click here and sign up for their mailing list. You’ll gain access to a free math program! 

Disclaimer
I received Typing Tournament v2 in exchange for my honest review. I was not required to write a positive review. No other compensation was received. 

Week in Review: April 29 – May 3

Grace-Filled Writer

School is starting to wind down and everyone is getting a bit anxious for a break. I remember coming back from spring break when I was teaching full-time was always difficult and the same seems to be true for homeschool! The excessive pollen which is still floating around isn’t helping either! Still, we are making it through our curriculum and finding fun things to do along the way. Check out our break-from-the-ordinary field trip by clicking on the picture.

We have been reviewing a lot of really great things from several companies! In case you’ve missed some here is a list of our most recent reviews:

Advice for Seekers by Charles Spurgeon
Composers Activity Pak
Dr. Craft’s Active Playbook
Tower of Babel: The Cultural History of our Ancestors

Look for many more to come in the coming weeks!

Little Hands to Heaven: Unit 18
Grace is so incredibly impatient with me if we don’t do lots of school! I’m trying to teach her that sometimes she has to wait and sometimes we won’t do everything. She doesn’t like either of those truths, but I do try to make it up to her another day and do more!

Our letter of the week was O. All of our magnet letters are stored in this large tin. We play a search for the letter game sometimes on the lid. I didn’t realize until after I took this picture that I had put the O’s all together! But Grace didn’t mind, and didn’t even notice to be honest.

She has moved on to the C book of her About 3 series from Rod and Staff Publishing. These books have progressed her thinking skills and handwriting to a really good place as we finish up her K-3 year. She is one of those kids who would either start Kindergarten as a 4 year-old or wait and start just before she turns 6. While I completely hated the idea of her older sister starting Kindergarten just as she turned 5, I knew academically it was the best thing for her. Now I don’t have to worry about those problems! I can challenge her academically without the added stresses of needing to mature somewhat.

I did a fun new activity I found on Pinterest. I actually combined a couple of activities. I put a dice into an empty baby-food jar. She shook the dice, then she put that many noodles in one of the cubes in the ice cube tray. This occupied her for a full 30 minutes. Win!

Grace enjoys these types of activities and she’s still at an age that she thinks it’s a new activity if I change from noodles to dry beans or beads! It’s also really nice to be able to give her these small things and know she’s not going to try and eat them and choke. She really likes to use Cheerios  but ends up eating more than she counts.

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 27

Beth is working hard and getting close to finishing up! Since our allergy attack last week knocked us off from finishing up Unit 27 we just picked up where we stopped last week. We finished up the history readings which she enjoyed as usual.

Since finishing up her handwriting book we’ve moved on to a phonics practice book which also incorporates handwriting. She really likes these activities and it has not only helped improve her handwriting, but it also incorporates critical thinking, spelling, rhyming, and reading. Yay for Grandma fining this for her!

Beth also completed her first math speed drill! Rod and Staff is a very traditional mathematics curriculum without any frills. It’s no-nonsense approach has been a good fit for my girls and they do quite well with it. I’m not actually doing the speed drills exactly as they are intended yet because she has moved on to 1st grade level math very quickly. I told her to do them as quickly as she could and I just kept track of the time. I was very pleased that she finished all 18 problems in only 65 seconds. She knows the answers quickly, but is sometimes slow about writing the numbers because she wants them to look neat.

She also finished up her reading curriculum this week. Now that she has completed through 1st grade Abeka phonics we’ll move on to the emerging readers set used in Heart of Dakota. I’m not sure if we’ll start them next week though. For now I think I will just have Beth do some reading and narration each day.

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 30

Rose started off the week with an art show at Deerstream Learning Center. She created her own national park complete with unique land forms. She was so proud of her project and her grandparents were able to come and see it. Homeschool classes have been a great addition for Rose. Beth gets to start taking classes next year and she is looking forward to joining her big sister.

Rose has adjusted well to completing all three of the vocabulary words which encourages me that she is completely ready for the next guide from Heart of Dakota, Preparing Hearts for His Glory. She does tend to get a little sloppy with her handwriting at times. Her original sentences were excellently written with good context, but were not nearly as neat as I knew she could write. I decided to have her rewrite them. She wasn’t thrilled at first, but when I asked her if she thought she had used her best handwriting, she gave me a guilty smile and didn’t say anything more!

We have added an official typing program which Rose begs to use frequently! I’ll have a review of this program coming up soon. It’s one of the most fun I’ve used and is quite affordable. She has completed 2 lessons and is working on her write hand letters. I honestly wasn’t certain how well she would do but I have been pleased with her progress!

Another great week and looking forward to just a few more in our guides!

Field Trip: Home Depot Project

Grace-Filled Writer

When free field trip opportunities come our way we jump at the chance. I’ve seen these projects at Home Depot advertised for a couple of years, but we hated to take one of the girls and not both. I thought this one looked like a lot of fun so my husband called to check on the ages and they said that even though there is a suggested age range, everyone is welcome! So we packed up the girls on this usually cook Saturday morning and ventured to our first Home Depot Kids Project Workshop!

The workshop area is set up outdoors, but is enclosed with an orange barrier and underneath the cover close to the store. I appreciate the care taken to make this as safe and enjoyable as possible. The only downside to the morning was the store had not received their order of kids’ aprons. Since this project involved painting that would have been really nice. We hope to get one next time!
The nice Home Depot employee gave the girls a variety of colors and our girls were thrilled to have their favorites as choices! Beth picked pink, Rose purple, and Grace blue. Beth liked painting, but did not appreciate the cold wind that was blowing. May is usually very warm in the south so we anticipate warmer weather next month.  She liked handling the screwdriver although she did need a little help from us to get it tight enough. She loved the color of pink paint and happily painted the back of her planter pink once she finished up with the screwdriver. 

Rose loves working with her hands and likes to make crafts. Before we even started she asked excitedly, “Can we come again next week!?!?” Her only frustration is she likes to do everything on her own and doesn’t always like to wait on help from one of us. She did quite well getting the screw in place for the project and only needed a bit of help getting it started. Her favorite part of the project was planting the flowers for the planter. 
Grace jumped into this project without any hesitation! She knew right away she wanted to paint it blue and went at it with gusto. She did want to mix the colors more than she wanted to paint at first though. I liked that the brushes the girls used were sponge brushes. They easily painted on the wood and did not give such a think coat that it took a long time to dry. Grace is still young enough she doesn’t mind extra help from her parents. She was younger than the target age, but had a lot of fun and did a great job! 
Finally the girls were ready to get flowers for their planters! 
Everyone was so kind and engaging with the girls. I can imagine there might be times when this could be a rather thankless job, but the employees were all very patient and pleasant, directly instructing the girls and allowing them to fully participate in every aspect of the project.
Grace wanted to add a lot of dirt! She was just tall enough to reach the into the cart and scoop out some dirt for her pots. 
Beth has always loved playing int he dirt and really enjoyed this part as well. I liked that the project included more than just the building and incorporated gardening as well.
The girls were allowed to pick which flowers they wanted in the planters. Each chose one red and one purple. We’ll make sure these get hung in a nice sunny spot outside! 
This is definitely a great way to give kids a hands-on project with no cost to your family! In addition to the project the kids each get a project apron (getting ours next time!) and a project pin to place on their apron. Collecting a variety of pins is just one more fun aspect to this outing! We look forward to participating each time one of these activities is available!
Family Friendly: 10
Kids Engagement: 10
Likelihood to return: 10