Tag: preschool

So this week had some challenges…with my camera that is! You can probably tell I’m not trying to win any photo awards with this blog. I use a little $100 point-and-shoot, day-after-Thanksgiving sale camera to document our life. It serves my purposes just fine, until it breaks…which it did. Well, not completely, but the battery casing won’t stay closed. So now it is taped shut, but it took a couple of days for me to get around to that, so the majority of my pictures are from only one day. At least it was a really good day!

Preparing: Unit 10 (2nd half)

I’m super excited bout how well our week went with this guide. Rose has been begging me to do more work each day (yay for our beginning-of-the year bumps being worked out!). So I told her we’d try the last 2 days at full-speed this week to see what happened. My girl was such a champ and finished her work in record time. When I asked her what the difference was she said, “Well, I just decided I should work diligently because it is the right thing to do.” I’ll take it!

I really love using the ancient maps from Map Trek. I purchased them last spring during a sale and have found them to be quite useful, especially since the used copy of one of our history books is missing some of the maps. In Preparing we look at where specific locations on historical maps and then locate those same places on a modern  day globe.

This week part of Rose’s assignment included reading  particular verse and discussing it with  grown up. She chatted with her Grammy who lives in Florida which was really nice.

Beth is my little mathematician and she is very much enjoying Math Mammoth. We’re filling in some gaps from the old 1st grade curriculum before we plunge ahead into 2nd which should be fairly soon. I really like the self-directed option with this math. While Rose prefers staying close, Bet likes to figure things out on her own. She comes and asks for help when needed, but she does well moving through the work on her own at the moment.

We studied Jesus Bids Us Shine this week for poetry and Beth chose to illustrate the poem. We were blessed to see a chalk pastel presentation over the weekend which inspired all of my girls to be artistic this week! Beth created a lighthouse scene using our own chalk pastels. She spent a really long time working on this piece and was very particular about her shading and blending.

This may be my favorite picture from the week. So relaxed and focused! Ralph S. Mouse was a huge victory for Beth. She has now fully moved into chapter books. At the end of the week she started reading a young reader’s version of Anne of Green Gables, one of my all-time favorite novels!

Preschool: Patiently Awaiting the Next HOD Guide!

So sweet little Grace got the short end of the deal concerning the photos. It’s actually funny because she’s typically my little model. She loves getting her picture taken! I took more than this, but because of my battery casing issue they didn’t save. Grace finally adjusted to the “new” way the words are written in Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. She is gradually becoming more fluid as she reads. She’s enjoying it so much that on Friday she asked to do a second lesson so she could see what happened next in the story!

We rarely take breaks from Heart of Dakota, and when we do school tends to go well for a few days, then the girls start begging for their regular “stuff” again!This is where we were last week and we’re back to our more rigorous routine which all three genuinely missed! This is spelling time. Rose and Beth are in levels 2 and 3 of All About Spelling and Grace practices spelling with cards and magnets. I’m enjoying and appreciating the benefits of learning subjects together even if on different levels. We’ve been doing this some with math as well with Rose and Beth and I’ve liked it. It has helped me be able to stay more on target and focus on the subjects easier.

We’ve been doubling up on grammar for a few weeks and Rose is doing so well! We had a great conversation this week about why grammar feels easy to her right now. I explained not everyone uses proper grammar, but we shouldn’t correct them when they are speaking to us. I also told her the reason she finds it easy is because her daddy and I both speak with correct grammar for the most part and so she is used to hearing what is correct.

This week Rose said something which surprised me…she said she really likes history vocabulary! She always likes learning new words, but looking up the definitions, drawing pictures, and writing sentences seemed tedious to her. I’m so glad she enjoys it now!

Beth was so so so  excited to be reading Stories of the Pilgrims again. It is really interesting to me that so many who try Beyond say they get tired of the focus on the Pilgrims. I really appreciate this focus on one group of early settlers and how they stood strong in their faith, faced persecution in England, then hardships, hunger, and death because they wanted a place to worship God the way they felt the Bible taught. Neither my oldest or Beth tired of this for history and I expect when Grace reaches this guide I’ll find her enjoying it just as much.

Beth does different things while I read history. Sometimes she snuggles with me on the couch, sometimes she asks to take a turn to read, sometimes she acts out what I read, and sometimes she colors. This week she wanted to work on the coloring page in her cursive workbook and each day did a little more. My girl loves coloring more than anything. She is very detailed oriented and will work for hours on a single picture to get it just right. 

Although poetry is one of my favorite aspects of Heart of Dakota, it has taken Beth a little more time to warm up to a more formal study of poetry. I should use the word formal rather loosely because even though we have a poem we study each week, it just feels like a bunch of fun! She’s finally gotten a little more excited about it, which is the point. It isn’t really so much about analyzing the poetry, but learning to appreciate and understand it. I often lament how most children aren’t regularly exposed to poetry until much later in their education. 

This week I used a white board for spelling and Beth liked the change. The girls never complain about using the All About Spelling tiles, but sometimes there are so many words to build it can get a bit tedious for me as I work through 2 different levels. I’m trying out some new strategies now as I anticipate three levels at once in the coming years. 

Beth is almost finished with Ralph S. Mouse. Similar to poetry it has taken some time to convince her she is ready for a book this size. She’s been ready for several months now, but was so very certain she wasn’t “old enough” to be reading large chapter books. Now the world of books is wide open to her! 

Grace has become very cooperative over the last few weeks. She always wants to know when we’re going to do her lessons, but she’s been great about letting me get some things done with her older sisters first. I’m trying to switch it up so she isn’t always last, but she’s been such a good sport! She does get frustrated if something takes longer than she would like…for instance finding the right letters for spelling! But she does like that I give her “spelling” words now. It isn’t anything formal, but it is reinforcing her knowledge and reading ability. 

Reading has become more frustrated for Grace as we’ve moved from the phonetic script to more traditional typing. She prefers the phonetic script, but is adjusting to the new way of writing the words and learning more formal rules like silent e. 

Just as with her older sisters I’m letting her complete her math book at her own pace. There are times when I have to limit her, but she often does 3 or 4 pages each day. I treat her ABC Rod and Staff books the same way. Her 4-year-old attention span keeps her from moving too quickly. We’re holding off on formal handwriting until she turns five. I’ve learned not to push her formal writing until her fine motor skills are there. Rod and Staff will help us get there! 

We had a calm week and I’m content. We seem to have finally and genuinely settled into a groove. I never thought it would take more than half a year to get here, but here we are. I’ve learned so very much along the way…extending grace towards my girls and myself, adjusting my expectations, taking breaks when needed, loving the process over the schedule…just so many things. Now, six months into our year, I feel we have grown closer, my girls and I. I have more patients with them and they are laughing and we are closer.

Grace loves our new routine even though we both miss Little Hands to Heaven! She drags her bag of books out and brings them to me with eagerness. She simply smiles and waits for me to tell her to either open up her reading book or play a little longer until I can get her sisters settled in with their independent work. I struggled with Grace a bit in the beginning of this year. Her frequent temperamental moods were becoming more and more frustrating, but suddenly in the last couple of weeks she has calmly accepted my need to teach her sisters. Thoughtful consideration and prayer led me to the same conclusion every time: She felt I was pushing her away instead of understanding why I needed to work with her sisters. I’ve been trying to gently help her see this and I think she’s finally there for the most part. She seems to have more fun playing on her own with a variety of toys and learning games. This little computer has been with another family for a few months and she was excited to play with it this week since the last time she had it she wasn’t reading yet!

And yes, she is wearing a pumpkin shirt. It is one of her favorites no matter the season or weather!

Beth has started to become more anxious to finish her work each day. While she doesn’t argue with me and seems to really enjoy the work we do, she frequently cheers when the school day is over and gets a dejected look when I remind her of a forgotten assignment. I have no idea why this change has occurred with her, but since it isn’t seeming to affect her attitude during her work I haven’t addressed it yet. Is this maybe just exerting her independence? Since she gets several breaks each day and total only spends about 45 to 60 minutes doing school work I know it isn’t the amount of time!

Rod and Staff came out with a new book in their ABC series this year which completely thrilled my sweet Beth! Just Thinking and Choosing is now one of the highlights of her day. Cutting, pasting and coloring in Beth’s world are as good as life gets! 

Cursive is such a beautiful thing. It’s beautiful to read and a lot of fun for my girls to write. There are numerous studies out about the benefits of cursive. I begin cursive instruction much earlier than HOD suggests in 1st grade. I have found cursive to be less frustrating for my girls than print and they love how artistic their handwriting looks. Beth is progressing slowly through Classical Conversations Cursive and really enjoys it.

Beth’s art project for the week was weaving a Native American blanket. I’ve struggled this time around our history books using the word Indians. I’ve talked with Beth about why they were called this because of confused early explorers and explained why Native American is a more respectful term. So now as I read aloud I just replace Indian with Native American. Anyway, we used felt to do the project so she could use her blanket with her new doll from Christmas.

Preparing Hearts for His Glory: Unit 9 (2nd half)

Rose is hard at work with her times tables! She is nearing the finish line and then we’ll start with division. For whatever reason she much prefers multiplication over addition and is doing really well.

Math Rider is a huge part of times tables sine I can adjust to have her practice specific numbers.

There are so many things which make Heart of Dakota so wonderful, and the integration of history and geography is one of them! Subjects learned independently of one another do not have the same meaning as those learned incorporated with others. This week Rose found where the locations concerning the Trojan war are located now. We have a very old copy of A Child’s History of the World which means some of the expected maps are missing. I use historical maps from Knowledge Quest I purchased a few months ago and like them very much. I don’t print them, but we view them on the iPad and it has worked out quite well. 

Rose really enjoyed the story of Troy. I very much appreciated how Greek mythology and poetry was presented in this curriculum. The history reading explain it as fairy tale gods and imaginary things rather than true, like we know the One True God to be. It is wonderful to know how exactly to present this information to my very sensitive daughter. She has such a heart for the world to know about Jesus and how wonderful of a Savior He really is. At one point she thoughtfully asked me, “Mommy, why wouldn’t they want to follow God? Why would they rather follow fairy tale gods?” We had a wonderful discussion about this which I was more prepared for because of the reading and study I’ve been doing on my own with resources from New Leaf Publishing. I’m glad she asks these questions and I have the opportunity to answer. 

This is a portion of the art project for the week. She made a creative poster about her name and things about her. She had a lot of fun with this! 

Cursive is going really well for Rose as well. For her the main issue is remembering how to write certain letters, but this is getting better gradually. Her written narrations are just lovely and improving all the time!

All the girls joined in with Beth’s project this week. They had a lot of fun and even Grace was able to join in and make little blankets for her baby twin dolls. 

When I think of the great responsibility I have been given to disciple my girls I can’t help but feel inept to the task. Only by the grace of God am I up to the task. I feel unbelievably blessed to have found a curriculum which enables me to do this task. I also feel blessed my girls can learn alongside one another. It’s not without its bumps ad frustrations, but overall our family feels very peaceful. It was a good week…a very good week!