Weekly Review – Page 15

Week in Review: September 8-12

September 13, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

This week was light on schoolwork because Rose and Beth started classes at the homeschool learning center. I also started teaching my 7th and 8th grade English students. The year started off great, but as I start my 5th year teaching this class I know from experience that getting used to the new routine is always a little overwhelming when we add schoolwork in.

So we took pictures. We school year-round and so for the last couple of years I’ve decided to have “first day pictures” during the week our outside classes start. They don’t seem to mind this at all and do great posing for me. Rose got a little silly, but I’m so glad! She’s often so serious that I am thrilled to see her lightening up a little more.

Our days are very, very full now that our schedule is complete. I’ve had to learn about balance and discipline. I certainly don’t do things perfectly…I’ll never claim that! There are some ways to make it easier though.

1. I have a plan thanks to Motivated Mom!

2. My kids each have several household chores, not just things that should be responsible for like making their beds.

3. I clearly communicate to my husband what kind of help I need.

4. I’m realistic about what I can and can’t do and I don’t say yes to anything new without carefully thinking about it.

5. I don’t beat myself up if I get behind in any area…which typically ends up being the housework.

One thing I’m trying to get better at is getting up earlier. When I do that my days are so much smoother.

So here are the girls individual first day pictures. I know they may eventually outgrow wanting to do this, but maybe they won’t. And maybe they’ll enjoy looking back. I’m raising three little scrapbookers so I think they won’t be able to help themselves!

There was our week! Rewarding and fun!

Week in Review: September 1-5

September 6, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

First…have you entered the giveaway?????

Don’t miss out on this awesome opportunity to win a copy of the Homeschool Helper App!

Last week I started having trouble getting our computer to do what I needed it to, mostly read from a flash drive, and thanks to a good family friend he got it fixed for me! It was a little nice to be computer-free for a few days in some ways, but I was thankful to get it back as much of what I use is stored on this thing.

Crazy week around here! I teach English one day a week to junior high homeschoolers and as class starts to gear up I have to once again restructure our days. The older girls also take a class while I teach so I have planned for this but our previous week and next week will be a little lighter than normal as we all get used to the new schedule. This isn’t even going to be a full week in review like I usually do and next week will be a little sparse as well.

Isn’t homeschooling great though? My kids still got quite a bit of content into their days even if it wasn’t the full-load. There is nothing wrong with doing less during a week which is intense and I’ve learned to be okay with not finishing everything on my checklist every single week. I am typically super disciplined with their schoolwork, so one or two weeks of light work is not a big deal.

Grace: Preschool

Grace is barreling through her reading books. Oh how fun it is to now hear her reading with intonation and inflection, not to mention voices for characters! I wish the picture had come out a little clearer, but you can see Grace asked if we could do her reading under a tent one day last week. She giggled the entire time we were building it and thought this was just so much fun. I barely fit, but she didn’t care. Rose is the one who grabbed my camera to take this picture. She’s so thoughtful and likes to capture “moments” just as much as I do!

She absolutely loves Fundanoodle! If you like the idea of Handwriting Without Tears, but feel like it is a bit too pricey, this is such a great option. We’re doing a letter each week, just like HOD suggests in Little Hearts, but using this along with a Handwriting Without Tears set which was gifted to us. Grace’s favorite part is the stickers!

Grace’s Perspective on the Week

Beth: Bigger Hearts for His Glory (Unit 2ish)

We went ahead and started Unit 2 in Bigger Hearts, but didn’t quite make it half-way through. She did do a lot of work in math, grammar, and vocabulary, all of which she enjoys. We’re finishing up a series of worksheets for vocabulary from Scholastic and then will move into Vocabu-Lit like her big sister. She always gets excited about grammar and just loves it. I’m so thankful because I know most kids don’t really love grammar! She finished reading The Littles and will The Storm next week. I’m really glad she’s past her, “I’m too little to read chapter books” phase. It didn’t make any sense to me because she has had this ability for over a year, but now she believes she can and it is making literature much easier to get through.

Beth’s Perspective on the Week

Rose: Preparing Hearts for His Glory (Unit 20, 1st half)

Rose has been doing great at full-pace in Preparing. I was the one who needed a half-paced week because of teacher meetings and preparation for teaching this coming week. Rose has such a sweet countenance and has been excellent in her attitude towards her school work. She helps make my day go more smoothly because she sets the tone well for her sisters.

We’re splitting up math into two different parts of the day which seems to help her feel less intimidated by it. She made the Christian fish out of apple sauce and cinnamon for the history project and it was beautiful! And then it fell and broke, so I promised we’d do it again next week. Like her sister she loves grammar and was excited to get to do some diagramming this week. She was pleased to find it was review instead of just adding in more new. She loves the history and I don’t blame her! Preparing has been my favorite guide so far, but each year I try a new one feels like it is better than the previous. Now as I am going back through them again with the younger girls I keep saying, “I just love this guide!” What a blessing to have a curriculum which engages me as much as my children!

Rose’s Perspective on the Week

I have been making bedtime reading a priority this year and it is going so well! We all love it. The girls have loved reading Winnie the Pooh and we are just starting The House at Pooh Corner. They asked if we could read the stories all over again once we finished. This is the sign of a good book! Such a good book filled with delightful passages, one of which I shall leave you with…

“Piglet sidled up to Pooh from behind. “Pooh?” he whispered.
“Yes, Piglet?”
“Nothing,” said Piglet, taking Pooh’s hand. “I just wanted to be sure of you.”

Week in Review: August 25-29

August 31, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

First of all….

Have you entered the contest yet?!?!?! Don’t miss out on your chance to win a really great book just for you! http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspot.com/2014/08/prelude-for-lord-giveaway.html

AND an awesome new giveaway is coming to you again on Monday!

I’m posting this week from my iPad, which is a new endeavor for me. Our computer is having some issues so while a friend is checking it out for us this is the backup. I love my iPad, but I’m seriously missing my nice big keyboard and screen! I can’t figure out how to make pictures smaller, so the foram will look a bit different.

This week was good, maybe not as smoothe as last week, but good nonetheless. I started a morning meeting time over the summer. The experiment was a success and they have been asking me when we get to start again. I’m going to have to figure out how it will all work when we start with the homeschool classes my girls take which start up next week. We call it pahri mani conventu which means Lighthouse Morning Meeting in Latin. The girls love the name and have enjoyed the variety of things we learn about. Throughout the week we study a Greek or Latin root, study a painting, listen to classical music, sing a hymn, learn ABC Bible verses, study about an animal, read from Answers for Kids, and much more! One of our favorite things is reading from Grammarland by Edith Nesbit. This is a gem of a book which fits in quite well with the living book philosophy of Charlotte Mason and Heart of Dakota.

Grace: K4

Grace loves her lessons so very much. All of my girls have started their schooling with the same excitement and joy for learning. While this has waned somewhat as their work gets harder, they still love learning. Grace doesn’t yet feel the pressure of more work, so her energy and excitement is fun to watch.

We are working our way through the alphabet for handwriting using Fundanoodle and Handwriting Without Tears. My first experience with HWT wasn’t that great, but Grace seems to be doing well wtih it and it was given to us, so I’m utilizing what we have.

Grace is flying through the Abeka readers faster than I expected. She is finishing up the K5 books and we will move right into the 1st grade level. Homeschooling allows such freedom with reading and I love that with both reading and math if we continue throughout the schoolyear then there isn’t need for long and tedious review.

After her lessons are over Grace enjoys playing PBS kids on the computer. Daniel Tiger is a new favorite of hers.

Beth: Grade 2, Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit 1 (second half)

We finished up the second half of unit 1. She enjoyed the history activities, Bible, and poetry which we worked on this week. I think she is probably ready for full speed, but we start our classes in 2 weeks and I’d rather her get settled into that routine before trying out full-speed the first time.

We are using the tactile handwriting cards from The Logic of English along with Classical Conversations Prescripts for cursive. She is doing great and is anxious to start stringing letters together. We’ll finish up individual letters in about 3 weeks. Then we’ll move onto some copywork I think. I have to still figure out what we’re doing for handwriting next!

Math continues to be an easy subject for Beth…almost too easy at times. What I mean by that is she has started getting rather careless in her work because she thinks she knows what she is doing, barreling ahead at times and not stopping to follow directions or really think about what a word problem is asking. This is something we are working through. It does help me personally to have both my older girls working on math at the same time so I can remain focused on just that subject. Math isn’t the easiest for me and having to change mindsets in and out of math did not go well last year.

We practiced arranging the continents, locating the continents and oceans, and some other fun geography activities. Beth really liked working on writing out the continent and ocean names on her own. We also studied poetry and she told me she missed getting to guess the title of the poem’s name like she did in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. I told her we’d do that again for the next poem study.

Beth did a great job studying her Scripture verses this week. It was a much longer passage than she was used to from Beyond, but she worked really hard and had it all memorized by Wednesday. We talked our way through the devotional questions. She understood about half of what was being asked, the rest we talked about. I’m okay if she doesn’t “get” all of it right now. Bible understanding is a process and while she has asked Jesus to be her Savior, I don’t expect her to understand it all yet. I’m pleased with her progress in this area.

Here is the last bit of work we started this week. Typing Tournament is a really fun way to learn typing. I’m pleased that even though Beth is still working on the first level, she doesn’t mind that she has to keep practicing for the test. She told me she’s improving and was so happy about this! That matters a lot ot me. I want my girls to enjoy and appreciate the process of learning, not just look for high results.

Rose: Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 19

Rose is doing great. I’m trying to encourage her to appreciate the process of learning like Beth seems to. She takes her work so very seriously. Part of this is just her personality, but I fear some of it is left-over from issues she had while in a traditional classroom. She does extremely well, but the littlest mistake makes her extremely discouraged. I’m trying once again to help her work through this and pray it will get easier for her one day.

We did some of our reading outside since the weather has been so lovely. We’ve had a much cooler August than is typical here in the South. We have just loved Grandpa’s Box and I am certain Rose will be sad to stay goodbye to this lovely book in a couple of weeks when we are done with it.

Math is our big struggle area, but this seems to be going much more smoothly this year. I read a couple of great articles this week talking about brain growth and the need for mistakes. I wish I had known how to word this concept better to Rose early on in her education. It is the same sentiment I have tried to convey to her, but I think my words got in the way. I’m going to start doing this a little differently now.

Research for the history project was fun this week! She looked up information about perfume and how it was made a long time ago.

Then of course we got to make some perfume! This was so fascinating. We used rubbing alcohol as suggested and added a couple of cloves, a cinnamon stick, and a small bit of a vanilla bean. Now a week later it smells overwhelmingly like rubbing alcohol, but once you use it, that scent dissipates and what is left is just delightful. Wasn’t sure what to expect, but I’m happy with how it turned out and the lesson of how the alcohol pulls out the plant oils which old the scent.

I stepped out of the room during spelling to deal with something else in the house and when I came back my sweet girl had a surprise for me on the board! She asked me to post it on my blog, so here it is! Rose is such a sweetheart!

So that was our week…nothing really dramatic or overly exciting. It was simply a good, solid week of learning we can all feel good about in the end. I think those may be the best kinds.

Here are the girls’ weekly reviews! The novelty has already worn off. Beth wanted to write, “I don’t know what to write.” I have no idea if this feature will continue…only time will tell!

Rose (9-years-old)

Beth (7-years-old)
Grace (4-years-old)

Week in Review: August 18-22

August 25, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

Phew! Week one down and many, many, many more to go. It was a great week, incredibly hectic, but great. I’m so proud of myself! I struggle immensely with keeping organized and especially keeping up with grading. Because I work from home for 2 1/2 hours every day I had to come up with a way to keep all this under control and I think I have found what works for me. I’ve tried several things including weekly grading (disastrous!), as soon as an assignment was finished (distracting!), and grading the following morning (Do I even need to say how horrible this was?). This past week I chose to do grading while my girls were having their alone quiet time and it is perfect. Grading was done promptly, I went any issues with my girls the following day before our lessons, and I am under less stress.

The Homeschool Helper App has been my best friend this week! I used it a lot last year, but I didn’t really utilize it to the maximum of it’s potential. I’m thrilled with how well it is working for me this year. I’ve also fallen in love with Motivated Moms all over again. My housework is getting done (mostly!) and there is a calm and peacefulness surround us because of it. If this is an area you need some help with, don’t hesitate to give both of these apps a try! You can click on these links (Homeschool Helper and Motivated Moms) to see my full reviews from last year. Yes, that is a cup of hot cocoa…I like to reward myself for a job well done!

Now, on to my girls’ week!

Grace: Preschool and Awaiting the Next Heart of Dakota Guide
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Grace has just blossomed with her reading. I first want to say I have not pushed my daughter into reading early; she wanted to…begged me to. I think it is imperative for parents to only teach reading when their children are fully ready whether 3-years-old, 8-years-old, or even later. Homeschooling provides such wonderful room for learning at correct pacing and I hope you embrace this as you walk your own journey.

Grace is reading through her big sisters Abeka readers from her year at Christian school and is doing great. She almost always forgets what the silent e does on her own, but as soon as I remind her to think about this rule she gets it. My only issue with her right now is she doesn’t see a need to read with me. She wants to do it all on her own, which clearly doesn’t work out well sometimes.

We are using Fundanoodle for handwriting this year. I reviewed it last year and fell in love with its structure and format. We will also be using some Handwriting Without Tears workbooks. I’m not quite as big of a fan of this one, but a dear friend gave us the entire set which she no longer wanted. I’m all about utilizing free! It is good and goes well with Fundanoodle’s structure.

For math we are using the old books from Singapore which are out of print. We do not have the ones used in the HOD guide and I’m not sure what I’ll use for K5 math when she is done. I’m considering Fundanoodle for this as well.

All three of my girls loved the Rod and Staff ABC series. Grace finished up Book C and is soooooo excited to be on Book D now!

For Bible we are using Rod and Staff’s Bible story book and coloring book. Grace loves this as well. There isn’t anything flashy or enticing in and of themselves, but this series does its job and definitely engages my daughters.

Beth: Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit 1 (1st half)

Let me assure you Beth is not as miserable as she appears! She is actually quite focused. I have seen many recent conversations in the facebook group about kids having a hard time with the history readings in this guide. This was only our first week, but we completed all the history readings and so far she has been fine. I remember the same struggle expressed with my oldest until about half-way through, but so far Beth seems to be doing great. My advice is to keep at it. I like my girls reading older history readings for several reasons. I do like that it was written closer to the historical source, but I also think it helps kids develop their reading skills.

Contrary to what I expected, Beth actually loved looking words up in the dictionary for her history vocabulary. Let’s hope this continues all year!

I have another die-hard fan of Life of Fred in the house! She thinks he is so funny and I find it a great addition to our regular curriculum.

Of all my kids, Beth is the most apt to learn anywhere but her own seat. Sometimes on the floor beside me, sometimes on the porch swing, sometimes in her bed, sometimes in the living room…I even found her under the table in the kitchen a few times last year! Here she’s working on math. My only rule is she has to sit at the table for formal handwriting. She’s a little wiggle waggle and I try to give her the freedom to move as she needs.

I’ve introduced dictation in addition to our All About Spelling work. She’s half-way through AAS level 2 and doing great. Dictation will be a learning process, so I’ll let you know how it is going later.

Ahhhh grammar! This is one of the subject Beth asks to do right away. My girls love it and I love that they love it! Rod and Staff grammar is incredibly solid which I’m seeing even more now with my oldest. Rose fixed a writing assignment on her own to make the verbs match tenses without my saying anything about it! This is huge in my estimation.

I like giving my girls something a little extra for vocabulary every day to help them in preparation for required standardized tests at the end of the year. In addition to grammar and vocabulary she is also reading The Littles and loving it!

Rose: Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 18

Starting back in Preparing with Rose was easy peasy! She had been asking for a while to read Grandpa’s Box this summer and was thrilled when I pulled it off the shelf on Monday. She loves history and this guide has been such a joy to teach. We’re going full-speed and I hope to be finished in December or January. Right now history is focusing on the Roman occupation of, well, everywhere within the context of the life of Christ. We’ll be quickly moving on though.

I love the timeline cards she is making on her own. A lot of people print pictures or buy cards, but this has been a fun experience for her in each guide.

Math is getting a little easier. Thanks to some wonderful advice from my sister-in-law who also homeschools we are breaking her math assignments into two parts each day. She likes this idea and is able to handle the assignment better than when we try to do it all at once. We are continuing on with Math Mammoth and I am very happy with the scope and sequence of this program.

Rose is into All About Spelling level 4 and doing fabulous! I love this program as well and it is helping me become a better speller in addition to my girls! We’ve moved onto the next level of dictation and she is showing great maturity.

Learning Together

We learn all together. Sometimes on the same subject, sometimes not, but all together. Here are some pictures of what it looks like practically.

All About Spelling Levels 2 and 4

Grace and our neighbor’s daughter reading together.

Grace and I doing Bible while her sister finish math.

This year I’m doing something a little different and giving you a chance to see what my daughter’s had to say about their week as well! This is a great way for them to participate, practice typing (except Grace who isn’t ready yet), practice editing, and actively participate in this blog. I hope it lasts, but we shall see. You can click on each name below to see what they had to say about this week on their very own Grace-Filled Kids Blog!

Rose

Beth

Grace

Did you have a good week? Did you have a rough week? Either way, I’d love to hear about it!

Week in Review: June 16-20

June 24, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

Summer is so wonderful and free of restrictions…and sometimes summer drives me absolutely loopy! I do well with structure and so do my girls, but we all like the freedom of summer. As we move forward through our third year of summer vacation while homeschooling I’m trying to figure this entire thing out and here is what I’ve come up with:

1. Keep a plan, but keep it loose. I want to have time to say, “Yes!!!!” when a good friend invites me to the museum or invite them to the pool. I want to say, “Yes!” to playing Dutch Blitz for the thousandth time. So far this is working.

2. Remember morning is best for outside time. It gets crazy hot sometimes here in the south in the afternoon, not to mention our rather predictable mid-summer thunderstorms! I’m still working on this, although I forget sometimes.

3. It’s the time to try new things! I get some great ideas during the school-year, but can’t always figure out if they will work practically. Summer is the perfect time to try them out. This is going really well!

So we’re doing some math…

Reading some literature…

Learning from God’s Word…

And trying out some new pastimes…

And we’ve been learning some Greek! The dollies are joining us too. You can read my full review here!

Week in Review: June 9-13

June 15, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

Well, this week started out how last week ended, so to be honest we didn’t get a lot done. The girls needed to recuperate and so we pretty much didn’t do anything except rest until Thursday. I’m so glad this week of illness is past us! Fevers are gone and appetites have returned with voracity.

Oh, and one more great bit of news is that you’ll be seeing some really exciting things from Adventures in Odyssey! I’m a huge fan of this radio drama series from Focus on the Family. I’ve listened since I was a little girl in the 80’s and our entire family still enjoys them now. Be on the lookout for updates and fun activities from the new Odyssey Adventure Club! The first activity is already posted here.

Beginning of the week…

End of the week… Not a lot of details. I’m just glad we got through a couple of days of work and the girls were feeling better!

Week in Review: June 2-6

June 7, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

So this week started out so great! And then things quickly spiraled…but I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with the awesome beginning, because it was really awesome after our previous week of testing.

Last year as part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew I had the wonderful opportunity to review an e-book from Prechoolers and Peace called Circle Time. I had every intention of using this throughout the year, but with some health issues which came up our year got a little crazy. We got through our school year successfully, but without many extras I wanted to include. I am determined to change this! There are many, many things I want to teach my girls and let them experience. Homeschooling offers so many opportunities for this and I don’t want to miss them!

This week we started phari mane conventu (Latin for Lighthouse Morning Meeting). The girls were a little unsure of what I had planned when they saw me pull this bored out! Thankful for my time planning last year it took very little time to implement what I had in mind. Each morning I have a handful of things we go over all together. We’ve never done anything like this and I had no idea what it would look like in practice!

It only took us about 30 minutes each morning. Some of the things I’m including are calendar time, hymns, Greek and Latin roots, artist study, composer study, state history, Scripture memory, and more! Some of this will change as the girls grow up, but having this time together did something I didn’t expect. It started our day in such a truly peaceful way that the rest of our day seemed to flow with ease. I’m excited to continue this habit!

For the rest of the week I had planned for lighter work. I like schooling year-round, but during the summer our schedule is much lighter so we have time to enjoy summer fun. This means we do math and language arts, but set aside our regular Heart of Dakota studies for a couple of months. We miss them, but try to still keep a Charlotte Mason feel to our day as much as possible.

Grace – Preschool

Grace is charging right on through the preschool Singapore books. They are the old versions you can’t get anymore. I don’t have the old Kindergarten set so I’m looking at what to do when she is done with these. The mathematical concepts are ones she completely understands and she really likes math!

“Mommy, can I do my counting with my foot?” Why not? So Grace counted farm animals with her cute little painted-pink toes. Win for homeschooling!

I planned on doing one of the Abeka reader’s books each week with Grace, but she is flying through them so much faster than I thought! I like following Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons with Abeka readers to cement the concepts taught and I’ve found it works really well.

Our Rod and Staff ABC books also cover some math and she really likes them. My girls have all enjoyed these books. I’m so glad we found them!

Beth – 1st grade

We’re super close to being in the next grade-level and actually already are in most areas, but we don’t officially move up until July. Right now Beth is working through some vocabulary worksheets I got from Scholastic. My girls love worksheets, probably because we don’t do them constantly. She’s also found out she loves the Imagination Station books from Focus on the Family. I’m so glad she isn’t still telling me she’s too little for chapter books! She’s had the ability to read them for well over a year now, but it was a struggle to get her to want to.

I went ahead and started Beth in our 2nd grade grammar book. She told me she was nervous the first time she saw the book! We use Rod and Staff grammar and we do at least 2/3 of each lesson orally. She said she really liked grammar after the first day!

Continuing our cursive writing! I really like this book from Classical Conversations, but I’m not certain where we’ll go after this. We’ll have to look at all our options.

This is my $1 abacus from a yard sale in FL while we were there. What a great buy! I’ve been wanting to get one for Grace, but Beth’s math lesson this week incorporated it easily. I wish now I had bought the other one there.

This was such a great way to teach addition with bigger numbers. Math Mammoth has been such a great curriculum change. I couldn’t be happier after several years of feeling like I was floundering.

Rose – 3rd Grade

Rose is super-duper excited to be finishing up her 3rd grade math and moving right onto 4th grade. We now only rarely have tears with math and this is a wonderful, wonderful change! She’s also becoming less serious which I love. She likes being silly right when I’m about to take a picture!

She’s continuing to read Treasure Island (the original) having already completed a young readers version. I taught her how to utilize the tablet dictionary while she reads and her vocabulary is very quickly expanding!

The girls work so well together on different things. We truly have a one-room schoolhouse style going on and I like it. Rose is studying her vocabulary here. Vocabu-Lit is still the curriculum of choice and I’m happy with how much Rose loves it.

Both Rose and Beth are working on their writing skills with another Scholastic book I found during their e-book sale. I really like the way it presents laying out your thoughts for formal writing. I’m still completely sold on the Heart of Dakota writing path, but I like utilizing this as well. Sometime they get frustrated with the writing process, but having taught middle school for several years I know so many kids in this age range have no idea how to organize their thoughts. This is an excellent way to begin the process.

Something new I’m trying is having all three girls work on the same subject at the same time even though they are on different levels. This has helped me as their teacher be able to focus better on the subject I am teaching them.

That was what Monday through Wednesday looked like…then it started to look more like this…

Yup. a fever came to our home and knocked all three of my little sweeties down! Bummer, right? It hit them hard and fast. They’re still not feeling themselves, but they’re starting to feel some better. Lots of sleep, popsicles, gatorade, water, and movies have helped quite a bit!

Hoping lessons are back to normal starting Monday!

Week in Review: May 26-30

May 30, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

This week was our week for standardized testing which is required by our state. I wouldn’t say this is our favorite part of the year, but it isn’t too bad. I do like knowing where the girls are academically and since I know testing is just going to be part of getting them ready for college I look at it as preparation. I encourage them to do their best, but try to downplay the importance.

We tried a new test this year which included a full battery. I’m not certain I will do more than the required math and language arts next year. The extra tests did not seem to be extremely useful in my opinion. I did like the layout of this one better than what we have used previously.

If you are looking for a company to order tests from I highly recommend Seton Testing Services. They are an excellent company with excellent service. We receive our tests promptly and the results quite quickly. I plan on using them for the foreseeable future.

So here is a little of what our week look liked with testing. Grace spent a few days with Daddy at the church office while Beth and Rose took turns taking their tests.

Beth took one day to finish her test. She did great and didn’t seem to mind the testing at all. She takes most things in stride anyway and did great! We took several breaks to stretch and swing in the backyard and just take a break.

Rose did really well this year taking her test although being in 3rd grade meant for a longer test that we took over the course of 2 days. She has struggled in the past with anxiety over timing so I kept that part to myself. She did wonderful and didn’t seem nearly as anxious our previous two years. I’m glad I did tak the time to explain before the test about the “None of these” answers as she has not seen that before.

When we weren’t testing….

We played a little ping-pong in the kitchen…

Hung out at our neighborhood pool…

And got a couple of new pets! Meet our apple snails, Shy Guy and Merida. Our fish tank has Glofish which are really cool and now we have a couple of neat snails!

Here’s another picture of our cute little apple snails!

So there’s our week. Nothing too exciting, but a good week nonetheless, not to mention how exciting it is to be done with testing! Next week we’ll start back with school following a lighter summer schedule. See you then!

2 Weeks in Review: May 12-23

May 23, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

Two weeks is better than four, right? This time I had a little better reason…we were on vacation! We left after church on Mother’s Day for Florida and had a wonderful time on vacation. Here are some of our highlights…including an awesome field trip!

Disney!!!! No, this is not the field trip I mentioned, although it was awesome. We saved up for a one-day trip to the Magic Kingdom. The girls had a great time and had amazing attitudes considering our crazy our day was. We arrived before the park opened and left just 30 minutes before it closed. We managed only one melt-down which occurred just a little while before we left and didn’t last long at all. They were patient and kind with one another and thanked us frequently throughout the day for bringing them. All of the stuff we did was fun, but for me the best part was having everyone get along so well!

Then we headed further south to my husband’s parent’s house. The girls had a great time in their pool.

It is a tradition to always get Dairy Queen when we visit with Grampy! It is his favorite. This is the first of two different DQ visits.

Here is our field trip to Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. It was sooooo much fun! Make sure to follow the link to see more pictures from this visit.

There was a lot of playing and just plain fun! I spent a lot of time reading and working on my scrapbooks. No pictures of that to show though!

We’re back home now and life is settling back down. Next week will be another week off from regular lessons as we work through standardized testing. I’ve got some field trip plans in the works for the summer and hopefully some of those will pan out soon.

4 Weeks in Review: April 14-May 9

May 17, 2014 Grace-Filled Writer

Trying to catch up on my weeks in review, but seriously…4 weeks? Oops! The end of April and first week of May are always beyond chaotic in our lives. I am wrapping up my literature class at Deerstream Leaning Center as well as gearing up for my piano recital. I manage to squeeze homeschooling in, but just barely and for all my good intentions something has to give. This year clearly it was my blogging!

So here is a bit of our life from the last 4 weeks…seriously, has it really been 4 weeks???? Oy, I need to get back on track!

Preschool: Patiently Waiting to Begin Little Hearts for His Glory

Okay, so patiently may be the wrong word at this point. Grace is seriously chomping at the bit to “do history” and “have activities” like her big sisters! I can’t complain though. Having daughters with insatiable curiosities is a blessing for homeschooling and thankfully Heart of Dakota only increases their hunger for learning, never satisfying it! Sometimes the constant why-factor can become a bit tedious, but I take a moment to breathe and thank the Lord I have girls who want to know more about the world around them!

Since we finished up Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons we moved into the Abeka Kindergarten readers. I have these already because of my daughters one year in Kindergarten at private school. I’ve found these to be an incredible follow up to Teach Your Child.

So far it hasn’t felt redundant for her and we’re zipping through the books rather quickly at one or two a week. Following these we’ll move into the 1st grade readers and All About Spelling.

I love this picture! It captures my sweet little Grace so well. She craves to learn, begs to learn, but she’s every inch a preschooler holding lambie and blankie close while she’s learning. The really cool thing about homeschooling for me is that I can let my Grace move ahead academically at whatever pace she’s comfortable, but allow her to stay where she is emotionally, psychologically, and developmentally. I want to make certain as Grace is excelling beyond her age in academic expectations that I don’t push her too quickly ahead through childhood, if that means a few extra friends join us then so be it.

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory: Units 23-26

Beth is finishing up the review workbook for 1st grade with Math Mammoth. I’m so happy with this math curriculum. I feel very confident teaching math now, something quite new to me!

I love how it uses real-life to teach mathematical concepts. For instance while reviewing graphing I sent Beth up to her room to graph her stuffed animals! Talk about fun!

We’re pressing ahead with All About Spelling. I’m trying to figure out how to manage three levels which will happen in a few months. Hopefully it won’t be too big of an adjustment.

And in the craziness of our last few weeks I didn’t remember to get a single shot of our history! I do need to mention our history lessons though because nearly every day she asks, “Do we get to read history now?!?!” She loves it and gets so excited when we read or see something that relates back to our history readings.

Preparing Hearts for His Glory: Units 15-17

Here is my seriously little learner, Rose, always the studious focused one…

But she does get a little silly sometimes!

And here is one of the main reasons I’m loving Math Mammoth. Rose still feels self-imposed pressure with math and needing to be perfect, but she’s enjoying learning about it a little more. I gave her a bucket of water, a bunch of measuring cups and off she went to learn about liquid measurement!

Rose thoroughly enjoys all our history projects. We’ve had to skip a few because of our busy schedule, but I’m getting better at making sure they happen. This boat was particularly impressive and fun…especially since it floated!