Jacks Academy

Racism

2015-12-14T18:53:00.000-08:00

Racism is a huge topic in the world right now. People are constantly bickering about this and that, and quite frankly I see more words typed and name calling then I do people actually doing something about the issue. Talking about the issue only goes so far. Raising awareness only goes so far. I mean if people really don’t understand that there is racism going on they are purposefully putting on the blinders. As a white lady in the south I can tell you that white privilege is real. But, it’s not just here in the south, and it’s not just white privilege that’s the issue. Look around and you will see that there is racism on all fronts. This is a battle that will first be fought in the comforts of our own homes. What we teach our children will have the greatest impact on our future IMO. Of course I can go to rallies and write papers, I can post stuff on Facebook, and even write great blog posts about the subject, and I may at some point do some of those things, but I still firmly believe as a parent I can help from home first.

There’s the obvious things that I can do as a parent like, talk to the kids about how we shouldn’t view anyone in a negative light based on their skin color or ethnicity, or tell them about times in history when tragedies happened because of racism, and those things are good things to do. But I believe it goes deeper than that. When we purchase Barbie dolls or other dolls we can make sure that they aren’t all whatever ethnicity we are. In our case as a white family I have always had dolls of many colors and nationalities. We have friends of many colors and nationalities. At times I have sought out families who are different than ours. As a homeschooling family I have been intentional about studying different countries. Yes, I have taught my kids about things like, African slavery, Holocaust etc. But I have also taught about good times, times when people who are different have worked together and changed the word. I believe we should be intentional about the children’s books we read to our kids, and even the shows that we watch. Are they multi-cultural? When teaching about inventions are we teaching only one ethnicity invented everything? Or are we teaching about all sorts of people who invented things? These may seem like small things, but these are things that I feel will help the child understand that while yes, we all have differences those differences do not make one person better than the other person.

So, that’s my little thought from my little corner of the world.

Blogging Again

2015-12-12T19:42:00.001-08:00

My poor neglected blog. Somewhere in between being a mom and homeschooling I lost my love for blogging. But I was sitting here tonight thinking that it's actually something I miss doing. So, I am going to start blogging again. I think.

Book Review- The Pirate and the Firefly

2015-03-25T05:53:00.002-07:00

What a cute book! The Pirate and the Firefly is a children's book written by Tara McClary Reeves & Amanda Jenkins. This book is about a little boy who gets in with the wrong crowd. He knows that what they are doing is wrong, but isn't sure what to do about it. He gets a visit from a little firefly who helps him out. I wasn't sure if my kids would like this book, but as I read it they became more and more interested in the story, and they now ask me to read the book. I like the book because they like it, it teaches them great character straights and has great hands on applications for the family to do to further our character lessons past the book.

One Less, One More

2014-12-21T16:06:00.001-08:00

One Less, One More by crisis expert Robbie Vorhaus is a simple guide to living a happy life. In this book he outlines seven steps for lifelong change, leading you to a life of happiness.

Start Now
Come Present
Consciously choose to follow your heart, be happy, and change slowly
Choose one less negative thought or action and let in go
Choose one more positive thought or action and embrace it
Celebrate your progress
Repeat tomorrow

The Pro’s:

The premise of this book is to get you to look past your current crisis, whatever that is, and choose to move forward instead of staying there and wallowing in sorrow. I can fully respect that, and agree. We could all stand to move on and let things go. I felt like the author gave practical real life examples of despair and joy, failure and success, staying put and moving on. I agreed with the basic thoughts the author was trying to portray. Throughout this book I thought of things in my own life that are holding me back and keeping me from moving on. I was able to apply more positive thinking to several areas of my life.

The Con’s:

The thought of following your heart in al areas of your life is a wonderful thought, but the heart can be deceitful and lead you astray. It can also push aside practical things. So while I agree that we should move forward, think positive, forgive and seek joy, I don’t believe our hearts will always lead us there. The author to me seemed to not take into account mental illness and things that make moving forward more difficult. The first few chapters make it seem like all it takes is choosing. That is a wonderful thought and is true in many cases, but sometimes it’s harder than that. I also felt like the most important piece of experiencing joy was left out of the book, a relationship with God. Lastly I felt the writing was very choppy, and repeated A LOT!

Over all I did enjoy this book. I received two copies of this book, one to review, and one to give away. I chose to give this book to someone I know who is personally living in crisis right now. I am hopeful that this book will give them some practical steps to move forward.

*I received this book for free to review. The thoughts and opinions stated here are my own. I was not paid for this review.

The Hope Quotient – Book Review

2014-09-04T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Hope Quotient by Ray Johnston is set up to help you measure and recharge your level of hope. The author explores seven factors to help you with this task. These factors are;

1. Recharge Your Batteries

2. Raise Your Expectations

3. Refocus on the Future

4. Play to your Strengths

5. Refuse to go it Alone

6. Replace Burnout with Balance

7. Play Great Defense

At first I really had a difficult time getting into this book. The writing was a little choppy for me, and I read this at an extremely stressful time. Because it was a stressful time I think that may have contributed to my difficulty getting through it. This book really hit home in some areas. I ended up really liking the book and I am glad I read it. I will need to go back and read it again soon, because there were many things I took note of (in a good way) that I need to go back over and study.

One are I really gleaned a lot from was the area of recharging your batteries. Within this section it talks about taking note of what drains you. As I mentioned, when I read this is was a stressful time, so it was good for me to take note of what was draining me, and assess how I could change that constant drain. A few of the things it had me look at was;

Unhealthy people
Unkind Critics
Unbalanced Schedule
Unnecessary Guilt
Underestimating the impact of exposure

It was helpful to examine these area’s in my life. Some of the things that are a drain on me are unavoidable. So then it is time for me to find a way to make those things more enjoyable. I can’t get rid of them, so what ways can God use me in those things? Some things like an unbalanced schedule are easier fixes, but need to be acknowledged in order to fix them. There are many other examples I could give of things I gleaned from this book, but I will let you pick up a copy and glean for yourself.

You can pick up a copy at your local Christian book stores and from http://www.thomasnelson.com/the-hope-quotient

*I was given this book in exchange for my honest review. The thoughts expressed here are my own.

The Diva Diaries – Book Review

2014-09-01T17:54:00.000-07:00

The (Desperate) Diva Diaries by Angie Spady is a book very similar to Dork Diaries. If your a believer and your daughter likes Dork Diaries you will be thrilled to have this as a replacement book. It is written in diary format which the kids love. It has the same over emotional tween girl flair, with a positive spin. Books like this typically encourage braty thoughts towards parents and siblings, but in this book you hear her thoughts as she is led by the Lord to be patient with her younger brother and respectful to her parents. As a mom of a tween girl I am thrilled to have this as a replacement for other books of it’s kind.

What did my tween girl think? Let’s find out.

Hailey age 11 says, “I give this book a five star rating. It was so amazing I couldn’t put it down. I loved that it talked all about fashion designing and that the main character had confidence in her designs even though there were mean girls who made fun of her. She helped the mean girls change and they became best friends. I liked that since there are some mean girls out there. I like that she never gave up her dream. I like that she started being nice to her little brother, some of the scriptures will help me be nicer to my little brothers. She had a best friend who was cool and stood up for her. It’s good to have a friend to help you through problems and who will tell you the truth even when it hurts. If you are a girl my age I think you would love this book. I really hope my mom buys me the entire series.”

So there you have it. This book is worth having for young girls. You can purchase this book at http://www.bhpublishinggroup.com/a/angie-spady/

* I was given this book in exchange for my review. The views posted here are my own.

Wine and the Word – Book Review

2014-08-17T11:08:00.001-07:00

Wine and the Word is a book written by Kurt Senske. Through this book Senske makes a connection between the vineyard and Christian living. The grapevine is mentioned in the Bible 205 times. References to wine or the vine are somewhere in the number of 521 times. Because the vineyard seems to hold great significance in the scriptures Senske set out to help us understand how to apply it to our lives.

Wine in the Word covers many topics such as family life, generosity, spiritual healing, and much more. Because the book covers such a wide variety of topics this book could easily be used as a daily devotional. The chapters are short and easy to read. Although the chapters are short they are full of valuable thoughts and scripture.

If you have an interest in wine you will really enjoy this book, if you don’t you will learn a lot about wine and the process of making wine that you likely didn’t know. I don’t have a particular interest in wine and really wasn’t sure that I would care to read all about it. However, I found the practical connection between the process of wine making and our day to day walk with the Lord easy to understand, enjoyable, and relevant. I could see this book being used in a small group setting.

Overall I did like this book.

You can find out more about the author and this book at www.kurtsenske.com

I was given a copy of this book for free to review. I was not given money in exchange for this book. All of the thoughts expressed in this review are my own.

HOD Little Hands to Heaven Week In Review – Unit 1

2014-07-19T16:25:00.001-07:00

This year I am using Heart of Dakota’s Little hands to heaven for Liam and Sammy. Sammy is in Kindergarten this year so I will be adding a few things for him to ramp it up a little. I tried to use this curriculum last year, but neither of them seemed ready, so I have picked it up again this year. We had a really great week.

We love the masking tape A. For this activity the boys were to take animals and have them walk the lines of the A. Sammy said, “No”, but Liam did it and he also used these Jenga pieces to outline the A. He also got the tape and made an A on his own.

The counting activities are counting 1-10. Both boys can already do that and they recognize those numbers, so I pulled out our Team Umi Zoomi Math Cards and Sammy chose a card. The Card had us counting objects found in the house. After doing that I decided to take out the counting bears and do some basic addition and subtraction. Both boys did great, and they really enjoyed free play with the bears.

Both boys enjoyed the Hid and Seek ‘A’ activity.

This was build an ‘A’ activity we did.

Our bible stories this week went quickly through creation and focused on Adam and Eve. The boys took well to The New Bible in Pictures For Little Eyes. I felt like this little book was great for Liam age 3, but a little young for Sammy age 5. That said Sammy seemed to like the stories and participated in discussion. I may read to him the same stories from our family bible just to add a little content. I had them watch this video and they really enjoyed it.

We talked about temptation and they played a little game where they walked over a snake that was lying still (a belt), and then had to jump over it while it was moving and try not to get bit by the snake (temptation). They had a blast and played this all day.

Sammy worked on Handwriting. In the coming weeks will will add more pages, but this week we kept it simple and did only a few things so that we didn’t overwhelm him. He did great.

They did this art project where I drew pictures like fish, trees, people, etc. in white crayon and then when they painted over it with black water color paint and the pictures were to be revealed. This was to illustrate how in the beginning there was nothing, but when God spoke things appeared.

This is just an overview of this sweet curriculum. We had a great week. I was able to asses where I needed to add for Sammy, and will add accordingly. In addition to these things they played games on www.starfall.com and www.abcya.com . We also watched a Magic School Bus episode about Molecules and discussed it.

Third Grade Curriculum Choices 2014/2015

2014-07-13T18:22:00.001-07:00

I am excited about our third grade year this year. We are continuing Heart of Dakota. This year for Christopher we will be using Bigger Hearts for his glory.

Every subject will be guided by the HOD teachers manual. I have one big binder that holds all of his handwriting, notebooking, copy work etc. I will take out six weeks worth of work and place it in his student binder which is separated into sections with tabs. This make it easier for him to get out exactly what he need. For instance I can say, Go get your red binder. Now open to the tab that says poetry. Now take out the paper that says Unit 1 on it. And he can get exactly what he needs. I am hopeful that this will help him gain some independence with his schooling.

History / Geography

I love the history in HOD. It uses a living book approach. The HOD teachers manual gives us a great history project every unit to help history really come alive. Geography is woven into the history, and there is usually a hands on geography experience for the kids each week. I added Drive Thru History for him to watch while I do some things with his little brothers.

Heart of Dakota Teachers Manual
First Atlas
A First Book in American History
Stories of Great Americans
Journeys in Time
The Wright Brothers
Drive Thru History America DVD’s

Science

I absolutely love this hands on living book approach to science. Especially in these younger years. Every week there are experiments and great stories and notebooking laid out in the manual. All of the books are so rich with information.

One Small Square Sea Shore
One Small Square Woods
A Pioneer Sampler
Science in Colonial America
So You Want To Be An Inventor
Thomas A. Edison
John Audubon

Math

I’m of the mind set that if it’s not broke don’t fix it so once we complete book 2 we will move into book 3 of Abeka Math. It works well for Christopher.

Language Arts (Writing, English, Vocabulary, Spelling Copy Work)

We will be using the teachers manual for the majority of this work. The spelling lists are in the manual and go by a phonics rule or two. Copy work will be done through copying proverbs and poetry. Vocabulary is also laid out in the TM. We are going to be using Rod and staff for English we will do this mostly verbally. There is supposed to be dictation used in this level, but I’m going to SLOWLY see if we can make that work. I haven’t pushed dictation due to his working memory delay and it causing frustration. So I will not push it.

Art/Music

There are art projects each week in the teachers manual that are fun a teach basic art concepts. We will also do some picture study. I am excited about the Hymn study we are doing for music, I will also be adding Tin Whistle instruction. The tin whistle hasn’t arrived so I do not have a photo of that.

Cursive Handwriting

Read Aloud

It’s not always easy to fit in. But I love having reading time with each child. We sit on the couch snuggle, and then discuss what we read. It’s just a great bonding experience, plus it is great for the children to hear me read out loud.

The Whipping Boy
Rascal
By the Great Horn Spoon
Balto and the Great Race
Concord Cunningham the Scripture Sleuth
The Indian in the Cupboard
Justin Morgan Had a Horse
George Rogers Clark
Snow Treasure

Literature

We will be working through Drawn Into the Heart of Reading level 2 this year. I will be working with him to complete the activities. He will read the books independently.

Drawn Into the Heart of Reading TM and Student Pages Level 2
Dolphin Adventure
Hannah
Pioneer Cat
The Littles
The Lighthouse Family: The Storm
The Secret School
McBroom’s Wonderful One-Acre Farm
Amelia Earhart
The Treasure of Pelican Cove
Stone Fox
Capyboppy
Who’s That Stepping on Plymouth Rock?
Sammy and His Shepherd
One Small Square – Backyard

He will continue with his Torah School classes, and will be running a race a month, and I imagine he will spend lots of time building and spending time in nature.

Bible

We will attempt scripture memory. I am excited about the character study in the curriculum.

Sixth Grade Curriculum Choices 2014/2015

2014-07-13T15:10:00.001-07:00

I can hardly believe we are ready to start sixth grade surreal how fast they grow. We have a very full year planned. I plan for the entire year to make it easier on me in the long run. Though you will see many “plans” know that we are also relaxed schoolers and will slow down if the need should arise. Last year was our first year using the Heart of Dakota curriculum. We really feel that the Lord led us to this curriculum. It has been a perfect fit for us. I love that it’s all planned out, yet flexible enough for me to not feel boxed in. I can change things and add things, but I know that I can pick up the manual and use it as is and we won’t miss a thing.

This year Hailey will be working her way through Heart of Dakota’s Resurrection to Reformation guide. With each category we will use the plans in this teaching manual. I have all of her notebooking pages and math pages organized in a large binder, and I pull out six weeks at a time and place it in her smaller student binder. All subjects are separated by tabs (shown below). She will reference the teachers manual for daily instruction.

Math

This year we will be working our way through Saxon Math 6/5. We will also utilize many online resources to help teach concepts.

Saxon Math 6/5

History / Geography

We were very excited about history. Both Hailey and myself really love history so we have loved using a history based curriculum. Geography is woven beautifully in with history in this guide. We will use the following resources to learn about this time period.

Reading About History

These book are living history books that add so much to our curriculum. I read these over the summer and am excited for Hailey to read them.

Language Arts (Writing, English, Latin/Greek Roots, Spelling)

Language Arts is one of the areas I have done some tweaking to fit our needs. HOD chose a different writing program. I didn’t feel like it was a good choice for us. I chose Essentials in Writing because it was a more step by step program and because of the DVD instruction. If it works out we will stick with this writing program for the duration of her schooling. HOD uses it in 9th grade anyways so it will be a smooth transition to high school writing. At least that’s my hope. We added spelling for additional advanced phonics instruction. I am not sold on the addition of English from the Roots up, and I was going to sell it because we already have such a full schedule I didn’t want to overload her. Well, she has been doing it on her own. So this is not something I will enforce, but as long as she’s interested I won’t stop her.

Bible

I’m excited about the studies and devotions this year.

Heart of Dakota TM
The Hidden Treasures in Philippians
What is God’s Design for My Body?
Beautiful Girlhood
The Companion Guide to Beautiful Girlhood
From Girl to Woman
Scripture Memory
Classes at Torah School

Science

Heart of Dakota TM
Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy
Our Weather & Water
A Child’s Geography Vol 1

Literature

Along with her reading material Hailey will be doing a Shakespeare study. We are both really excited about that.

We are very excited about our year. Extra Curricular will be taken as it comes. I am getting into a therapy swimming class so that will take up a lot of her time. We will continue with Torah School classes and American Heritage Girls. Art is woven into the teachers manual, and she will be learning to use a sewing machine. We will be busy bee’s.

Book Review - Raising a Princess

2014-05-23T18:57:00.003-07:00

John Croyle was a former Alabama defensive back, and is the owner of Alabama child safe haven Big Oak Ranch . Mr. Croyle used his experience parenting children and teens in crisis, as well as his own biological children to write his book Raising a Princess. His book focuses on the importance of raising Godly women through a biblical foundation. This book is organized around eight essential virtues a parent can build in his or her princess: - Praiseworthiness - Righteousness - Initiative - Nurture - Character - Empowerment - Servant-Heartedness - Stability I enjoyed reading this book. I felt like it was very well written from a man's point of view. Raising my own daughter I took note of some of the tips and things that he used. This is a book that is beneficial to both a mom and a dad. Girls need to know that their parents are there fighting for them, and standing behind them, but that is not always easy to navigate as a parent. I felt like this book was great about giving practical advice to parents from a biblical stand point. You can purchase this book straight from the Big Oak Ranch web site, http://www.bigoak.org/raisingaprincess The Big Oak Ranch is an amaizing ministry that has reached many children throughout the state of Alabama. I have had the privalige of attending a service at the girls ranch as well as participating in a few ministry projects associated with The Big Oak Ranch. If you are not familure with the ministry please visit this link to find out about what they do. http://www.bigoak.org/our-ministry/ http://youtu.be/NejPXxghkgc http://youtu.be/7vRtsIQ-oeI

RESTLESS Bible study review

2014-04-29T06:17:00.000-07:00

A little while back I was given the opportunity to review RESTLESS a DVD based bible study by author Jennie Allen. This bible study is geared towards women. Here is a small snippet of the description. "What would happen if God got bigger than your fear and insecurity, and you spent the rest of your life following after his purpose for you?" I really feel that statement is the very heart of this bible study. I'll get down to the nitty gritty real quick before I tell more of my thoughts. *RESTLESS is an 8 week DVD bible study *It cost $59.99 for the kit, but you can purchase indevidual peices seperatly *It comes with A DVD containing 8 video presentatios pertaining to the study, a leaders guide book which gives tips for leaders and discussion prompts etc.,A week by week study guide and a set of conversation starter cards designed to specifically fit with the lessons. My Thoughts: The DVDs are put together really well, and of good quality. I was able to go through all eight weeks of the study, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At the time I received this study, I was really struggling with some things that the Lord had placed on my heart. Some dreams, visions, goals. I was struggling with fear, and becoming restless. This bible study really helped me dig into the word of the Lord. It helped me lay some things down that I didn't know I was holding on to, and pick some things up that needed to be picked up. I am so thankful to Sara Prince at www.sheltoninteractive.com and to Jeannie Allen for giving me the opportunity to view this bible study. If you are running a small group, or a woman's bible study, or looking for something for personal use, RESTLESS is a great choice. Restless can be purchased at you Christian bookstores and wherever you purchase your bible studies. Thomas Nelson Publishing is a good place to pick up this set.

K5 Learning–Review

2013-12-21T05:31:00.001-08:00

I cannot say enough good things about www.k5learning.com . I was very excited when I was asked to review this program. I needed something to add to our current schooling that was computer based. This program fit the bill.

What is K5 Learning?

K5 Learning is an online learning program which helps kids Pk-5th grade with Reading, Math, Math Facts, and Spelling through interactive games.

What I like?

I can assign lessons
The placement tests allow for adjusting levels where needed, so if one child is in second grade math but third grade reading your can set it up that way.
Games are simple yet fun.
Each student has their own log in
The parent dashboard is great. I can view how they are doing, how long they are spending on certain subjects, and easily adjust levels.
The kids love it.
The lessons are quality lessons.

What do I not like?

While I can load my own spelling words and they are used in the lessons, it also goes through their spelling words.
I do not care for the Pk section. It is lacking in comparison to Starfall.

That’s it. As you can see we love www.k5learning.com . Sign up for you 14 free trial today and see how your family likes it.

K5 Learning

2013-10-13T15:01:00.001-07:00

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students. I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program. If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.

I can’t wait to share what we think.

Fire Station Field Trip

2013-09-03T16:03:00.001-07:00

Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory Unit 3

2013-08-28T17:53:00.001-07:00

I do not have many photo’s for this Unit, but I wanted to give an overview of what we learned anyway.

Reading About History / History Activity

For this unit our readings came from Stories of the Pilgrims. Christopher seemed to enjoy this book more that the previous one, which is funny because I prefer the fist book American Pioneer’s and Patriots. Here are some key points from our stories.

The Brewster family ran an inn in England. The king’s messenger’s came to let William know that Queen Anne was coming to stay at the inn on her way to her new home.
Patience talked to the Queen in the garden. She told Queen Anne about the secret church meetings that were held at the inn, and queen Anne told her not to tell that secret.
King James ordered the people of Scrooby to go to his church. He did not want them to worship on there own. He sent a soldier to find out where the secret church meetings were.
King James caught the people worshiping in a barn and put the men in jail. The people wanted to be free to worship God according to the bible so they secretly planned to leave England and move to Holland in autumn.
The pilgrims at that time wanted to so what was right in God’s eyes. They were more worried about God than King James.

Christopher played a game with his siblings called King James. They stood in the middle of the room. The front wall represented King James’ court. The back wall represented prison. Each roll of the dice represented something that would either take them closer to prison, or closer to King James’ court.

The point was to show that King James persecuted anyone who did not believe as he did.

Artistic Expression

This is a wall with rose vines growing on it.

Bible Study

Memory Verse for this unit was 1 John 4:15-16 “If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God. ¹⁶And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”

A few things we discussed about the memory verse; (I record his answers because I like to remember what he says, but rest assured I do explain things to him)

If you believe in Jesus HOW does he live in you? His answer – He lives in me by my heart
How can we live the way God wants us to live? His Answer – By obeying him
Can we be good enough to earn God’s love? His Answer – No
Why does God love us even though we sin? his Answer – Because he’s always in our hearts and because he just loves us very much. He created us and loves us.
What are some ways you can show love to others? His answer – Thank them, forgive them, protect them
What are some ways you can show God that you love him? His Answer - praying to him, thanking him,
Who did God send to earth as an example of his love? His Answer – Adam and eve were the first two people to live on earth. (ha)
How can you be more like Jesus? Hos Answer – reading my bible, feeding hungry people,

Science

We learned about how bees pollinate.

Poetry

Up-Hill

By Christina Rossetti 1830–1894 Christina Rossetti

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?

Yes, to the very end.

Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?

From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?

A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.

May not the darkness hide it from my face?

You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfarers at night?

Those who have gone before.

Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?

They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?

Of labour you shall find the sum.

Will there be beds for me and all who seek?

Yea, beds for all who come.

I read this poem to Christopher without telling him the title and then had him think of titles for the poem. So without making you wait any further here they are.

The winding road
The dark winding road
The Hotel

Reading/ Story Time

I have not been following the story time schedule and instruction in the HOD manual. I regularly read aloud to the kids. We do what is called 20 minute read. I read to them for 20 or more minutes a day. We are currently reading The Wright Brothers.

I am still thrilled with the Bible reader that Christopher is working through. I love to hear him read the stories in the Bible.

Math

This week we really worked on Addition Facts for memorization. New concepts this week was Adding money, adding a string of numbers like 2+4+9+6 =

Language Arts

We worked on spelling words he basically knew the ones for this unit, so we worked on using the words in sentences, and I taught him about looking the words up in ghe dictionary on his iPod. It has a function where it will read him the definitions if he can’t.

Geography

This lesson was a HUGE flop. Sort of. We talked about how people used to think that the world was flat. I took out a map, and showed what would have happed to Magellan’s crew if the world was flat and they kept on sailing. And we talked about several other things pertaining to the world being round instead of flat. Even looking at the horizon etc. At the end I asked him how we know that the world is round and not flat and he says, “Because you can see it from space, duh! That’s a silly question!” So there you have it. He is HALARIOUS!

Beyond Little Hearts for his Glory Unit 2

2013-08-26T08:48:00.001-07:00

I want to first say that we are loving this curriculum. I am so thankful that the Lord led us to Heart of Dakota.

History/Reading about History:

Our history readings this week came from American Pioneers and patriots. This is not Christopher’s favorite time, but he listens and answers the questions. A few key points from our reading were;

Men settled in Jamestown to find gold.
Sally could knit, mend, and babysit. She was a good helper to her mother.
Sally prayed for God to help her.
The pioneers could have given up and gone home but they persevered.

For the history project this week we talked about timelines. I drew a time line on a marker board and he learned how timelines worked. We talked about Jamestown being settled in 1607, and we added that to our history timeline.

Bible Study:

This weeks Memory Verse was Galatians 6:9 ^“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

He worked on this verse in several ways, repeating three times, Saying it while doing push ups, playing scripture verse freeze, and through song.

Here are a few things we discussed;

What does it mean to grow weary or to give up when you are doing good things? his answer – “well, I give up sometimes and sometimes you make me do it anyways. What if I had a race and gave up? then they would win”.
If you don’t give up you will reap a harvest.
Will things always go well when you are trying to do good? his answer - “No, but sometimes it will”
How can this Bible verse comfort you? his answer- “It won’t, but if we read it we might learn a lot of stuff about God or something.”
What are some jobs that you do at home? his answer – “Cleaning my room, watch Liam, clean the living room”
How well do you do those jobs when no one is looking? his answer- “Like super well…… Well, actually I don’t usually do them if no one is looking”.
How can you be a better worker? his answer- “By, obeying God, obeying your parents, following Jesus, Cleaning when I’m told to.”

Science Exploration:

For this activity we talked about how the pilgrims did not know what type of animals they would find where they were going. I had him name animals from different parts of the world. We read about different animals in different climates in God’s Wonderful World. Then we played a game using beanie baby’s. I named a place like “The Rainforest” and he would try to name an animal from there. Then I would pull that animal out of my bag. After we named several animals he and his brother played with them and put on a little play which consisted of the alligator eating all of the other animals until the hippo stomped on him. (I know violent right? LOL)

We also learned about flying squirrels. We watched a video, and then read a section of god’s Wonderful Works about flying squirrels. I had him stand on a stool and drop a crumpled sheet of paper, and a flat sheet of paper to demonstrate the way the squirrels glide.

Poetry & Rhymes:

We Thank Thee
By: Ralph Waldo Emerson

For flowers that bloom about our feet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For tender grass so fresh, so sweet,
Father, we thank Thee.
For the song of bird and hum of bee,
For all things fair we hear or see,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For blue of stream and blue of sky,
Father, we thank Thee.
For pleasant shade of branches high,
Father, we thank Thee.
For fragrant air and cooling breeze,
For beauty of the blooming trees,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.
For this new morning with its light,
Father, we thank Thee.
For rest and shelter of the night,
Father, we thank Thee
For health and food, for love and friends,
For everything Thy goodness sends,
Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

Christopher made a list of things he is thankful for.

Parents
Food
Grandparents
Food
Toys
Food
God
Food
Oh yeah FOOD!

Geography:

I will explain this drawing in grave detail, but I feel it is important to note the intricate way Christopher’s brain works. It far exceeds my feeble mind. I only wish you could all hear him explain this, but he will not explain it on video.

I think one thing is clear. This lesson was about maps. Ok, here were the instructions.

Read the first six paragraphs from our history book (won’t give everything away lol)
At the bottom of your paper draw a brown rectangular wall
I the middle of your paper draw green rows of corn
At the top of your paper draw a forest of trees
Make a gate in the wall leading to the cornfield
Draw footprints on your map to show where Richard went
Draw red strawberries to show where Sally found Richard

And now you understand to map.

Artistic Expression:

This was going to be a really cool craft where we made bundles of grain etc. However, after explaining this to Christopher he decided that he was not going to do that, he wanted to color instead. this was not a battle I was going to fight.

Math:

We are continuing with Abeka math. This week we really focused on math facts and measuring. We introduced three digit addition.

Language Arts:

We used many different activities to practice his spelling words. His favorite was using the white board on his ipod. We also did a lesson in First Language lessons Level 1 about common and proper nouns.

Reading:

Christopher is still reading through his Bible book. I am so pleased with how well he is doing. Several times this week he asked if he could read the Bible study for that night. He is really starting to develop a love for reading.

That pretty much concludes our week. We had a blast!

Letter Cc

2013-08-22T10:48:00.001-07:00

Letter Cc for Colors of course! What better books than Harold and the Purple Crayon, and Dog’s Colorful Day?

I had intended to put up long sheets of plain white paper for the kids to color pictures on, but I found 50ft crayola color pages in the dollar spot at Target. The kids had a blast coloring on the wall.

We had a little fun with these giant Crayola sticker books we found.

Of course we needed a snack and “C” is for Cherries. YUM!

We set up C shaped race track for the boys to play cars on because “C” is for Cars you know.

The boys each located the correct color spot for Dog as I read the story Dog’s Colorful day.

The boys each made paper bag color books

In addition to these fun activities we read Harold and the Purple Crayon at least 10 times. Sammy also worked on www.Starfall.com letter B

For more fun tot schooling posts check out 1+1+1=1

HOD Creation to Christ Unit 2

2013-08-02T07:22:00.001-07:00

We continued to love the layout of the teachers guide. It seems to be a perfect fit for our family. Hailey is able to work fairly independently, and she is liking that. In Unit 2 Hailey did many fun activities.

History

For her reading about history section she is continuing to read The Story of the Ancient World. This week she read and studied about, The Tower of Babel, and The First War. It was really great to dig into these stories and where they fit in history. She learned all about the Cushites, their language, and about their lifestyles etc.

Hailey enjoyed her projects for the week. She made salt dough and use it to create a signature seal, and a tablet which she etched cuneiform letters on and then used her signature seal to sign her name. (instead of the standard signature seal Hailey made a snail)

For her Independent history she continued to listen to her What in the World discs. The delved into Noah and his descendants, Sources and Evidences of Noah and his descendants, Prophecies about Christ and their fulfillment, The oldest cities, The 10 generations from Adam to the Flood and 10 more from Noah to Abram. And she completed a few pages in her History notebook.

Reading/Story Time/Language Arts

For story time in Unit 2 she continued to work her way through The Golden Bull. She is loving this book. She is doing great with her narrations, and is loving making story connections with Proverbs. We started our first book for Drawn Into the Heart of Reading. A biography. Caddy Woodlawn’s Family. We are liking the layout of the study components for this genre. She also worked in Rod and Staff Following the Plan, and Write With the Best.

Bible Quiet Time/Bible Study

Hailey truly treasures this time each day, and I am so thankful to help her foster this part of her relationship with the Lord. I have no photo’s as she takes the guide and everything she needs for this up to her room so that she can really focus. In Unit 2 she memorized Philippians 2:2. She is not really liking the CD’s that go along with memorization so we ditched that. She read, Day 1 – Gen. 10:8-12, 11:1-9 Day 2 – Job 1; 2:1-10; 42 Day 3 – Gen. 12 Day 4 – Gen. 13; 14:11-24; 15. Each week it guides her through prayers of adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplication.

For Bible Study Hailey and I are going through Genesis Finding Our Roots. We are really liking this book, and our study time together.

Science

Hailey is working through Apologia’s Land Animals of the Sixth Day. I have loved the schedule laid out in the HOD manual, it has kept us on track, and we don’t leave out the fun make it stick stuff. In this Unit Hailey created an animal tracks book to be used throughout the next few units. She added dog tracks to the book that she made. Here are a few key points that she learned this week in science. (I couldn’t begin to record it all)

*Mammals are animals that have hair, are warm blooded, have a backbone, and breath oxygen. They must sweat to cool off. They also nurse their young.

*Within the order of Carnivora there is a group called Carniforms. These include animals like; bears, dogs, raccoons, red fox, and coyote. Wild dogs change over time through breeding and natural selection, but the KIND of creature will remain the same.

*The Alpha Male and Alpha Female are the dominant pair in a pack. This pair has puppies, which are cared for by the pack. A “pecking order” is established among the rest of the pack. The pack hunts.

*Dogs have a sensitive sense of smell, often human’s sense of smell is affected by sight.

I do not have a photo, but the experiment for this was really neat. Hailey took two cups of orange juice. She added red food coloring to one cup and left the other plain. Then she took the two cups and served them to her brother. She first had him smell each cup to guess what was in the cups. He said one was orange and one was strawberry. He then drank each one to see if he was right. He again said one was orange juice and one one strawberry. The conclusion was that sight can in fact affect taste, and smell in humans.

Geography:

Hailey is going through the book A Child’s Geography Vol. II. She is learning so much about Turkey right now and it’s connection to History, and Biblical history. Here are the key points she worked on this week.

* Practice finding and recording the locations of various places on the map of Turkey.

*Share three sights from Turkey

Math:

Hailey continues to work on her Times Tables. (almost there)

Poetry/Art:

Hailey is really enjoying her Robert Frost poems, and studying them. This week she completed a water color project to go along with the poem. This is one of her favorite things about this section in the manual.

The Pasture

I'm going out to clean the pasture spring;
I'll only stop to rake the leaves away
(And wait to watch the water clear, I may):
I shan't be gone long. -- You come too.
I'm going out to fetch the little calf
That's standing by the mother. It's so young,
It totters when she licks it with her tongue.
I shan't be gone long. -- You come too.

Robert Frost

Letter Bb

2013-07-29T11:43:00.001-07:00

We had fun with Letter Bb. Though we are going to continue using Heart of Dakota’s Little Hands to Heaven, we really did not focus on that for this unit. The boys are loving the themes.

This week we did Batman/Bugs

Sammy and Liam both enjoyed the Batman Pak I printed for them. Hailey tried her hand at instructing them and the responded really well to her. We may do more of that.

After we completed our Batman pak we changed to a bug theme. The boys love bugs and were thrilled with the activities. We kept it simple and fun. We started with a fun game of Swat the “B” Bug.

And that game turned into hide and find the bug letters.

I thought a little sensory play would be fun.

After the boys found all of their hidden bugs we counted them, then separated them by color, then by kind. Then they played freely with the bugs and sand. One word to the wise, DO THIS OUTDOORS. I’m still sweeping up sand. LOL.

Last but not least we read the letter Bb section from our many many alphabet books.

Simple but fun!

FOr more Tot School Ideas visit 1+1+1=1

Organizing Heart of Dakota’s CTC Materials

2013-07-27T17:14:00.001-07:00

I received a few requests for me to explain how I have organized our Creation to Christ teachers manual so here I go. First thing you should know is that there really is not any need to do the things I have done. You can basically pick up the manual, open it, and begin teaching. (as long as you have the books of course)

The first thing I did was cut the binding and put the manual in a binder. This is not necessary, it’s a personal preference. Then I put a tabs and labeled the different sections in the back of the manual so that they were easy to locate and turn to. (ie; Poetry)

Next I put a tab at the top of the page we are currently on. This tab is moved each day so that we can know exactly where we are. This is very helpful to my daughter. Now, I will say that if my daughter was not so good about taking care of the manual I would remover a few units at a time and place them in page protectors.

Next I printed a materials list for science and history that I found on the Yahoo group I think, and put it in page protectors and put it in the back of the book.

The end!

Happy homeschooling!

Science Camp

2013-07-15T18:39:00.001-07:00

This year I assisted a friend of mine to host a science camp. We had a blast.

Day 1: Solar Power

Day 2: Volcano

Day 3: Liquid Density

Sink float

Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory Unit 1

2013-07-15T17:57:00.001-07:00

What a fun week we had with unit 1. We are very pleased with this curriculum so far. So here are some highlights.

Reading/Literature:

The first reader that Christopher is working through is The Early Readers Bible. He surprised me with how well he did with the weeks reading. One evening he read the story of Noah’s Ark for our family devotion time. It made me cry. (in a good way)

For literature (Story Time) we focused on learning about different Genre’s. Unit 1 focused on Biography. We are reading Gladys Aylward. We completed a fun activity to start our conversation about biography’s. I gave Christopher 2 minutes to gather 5 items that tell something about him. Then I had him show me the items and tell me what they said about him. Then I told him that a biography is a true story about someone told by someone else. We learn all about someone just as we learned about him as he told us about the items he chose.

Bible Memory/Study/Music:

Psalms 4:8 “I will lie down and sleep in peace, for you alone, O Lord, keep me safe”.

We talked a lot this week about how God keeps us safe, and that we do not need to worry.

Christopher is loving the Hide ‘Em in Your Heart CD that goes with the scripture. We listen to one track each week to help him memorize his scripture. He always wants to do this first.

Math:

This week in math he had several new concepts.

*Half Past, 15 after

*Pints, Gallons, Cups, Quarts, and how many of each equal the other.

*Half a dozen

*Two digit multiplication

Language Arts:

This week Christopher worked to complete his Explode the Code book 2. He was so excited about it. At the end of the book they get a little certificate and he was thrilled. He also worked on his spelling words using several multi sensory outlets. Music, Jumping Jacks, push ups, trampoline, chalk, dry erase board.

Geography:

We stepped outside and he drew the earth with chalk. I then helped him locate where the seven continents were and he placed a card with the name in that area. We then did a little Simon Says game to help him learn the continents. “Simon says, jump up and down on Asia”, “Simon says, put one foot on Africa, and one foot on Europe”.

He along with his sister open up a Little passports package from South Africa. We talked about this being one of the seven continents.

Science:

We talked about how God made the seas and that the earth has five oceans. He located those on the map in his book. We talked about how the ocean has currents. I do not have photo’s but we filled a bucket with water, and put his little toy canoe in the water, then I had fill a squirty toy with water and hold it under the surface of the water behind the canoe and squeeze to create a current.

We talked about some of God’s amazing sea creatures and how some sea creatures like the dolphin have blubber to help keep them warm. I filled two small ziplock bags with vegetable oil and then put those two bags inside one bag. He put one hand in the bag with the oil the oil bags fit like a glove of sorts. He stuck the “gloved” hand and the free hand in a bowl of ice water to see which hand got cold. Naturally within seconds he removed his free hand from the water. So we talked about how blubber works.

History:

We read some great stories from American Pioneers and Patriots this week. We started a timeline which I do not have photo’s of. on the timeline we added St. Augistine 1565, and Columbus 1492.

Art:

Christopher made this shield to represent Psalms 18:1-6. Key idea- The lord is your shield. When you are scared you need to trust God to protect you.

And that was how we did Unit 1.

CTC Unit 1

2013-07-10T13:43:00.001-07:00

I can honestly say that Unit one in Heart od Dakota’s Creation to Christ curriculum was a breath of fresh air. Hailey was was excited to learn all week. It wasn’t a bunch of boring books, or a ton of sheet work. There were many times that she came running in saying, “Mom, you have got to hear this, (see this, do this etc.)” She even asked to break out her guide on Sunday.

Bible Study/Quiet Time

I loved that this curriculum not only encouraged Hailey to have a “quiet time” with God, but gave her direction. Her quiet times had a scripture focus, a Prayer Focus, and her scripture memory time.

Reading: Gen. 1-9

Scripture Focus: Gen. 1:26-27, Gen. 4:6-7, Gen. 6:9, Gen. 8:21

Prayer Focus: Prayer of Adoration, Prayer of Confession, Prayer of Thanksgiving, Prayer of Supplication.

Independent History Study/Projects/Reading about History

She has been listening to the What in the World? discs from Answers in Genesis and really liking them. She was particularly interested in the lineage lists, and how old the people were. Like me she realized that because of how long people lived then, people in the stories of genesis are much more closely connected than we think. Like; Noah lived at the time of the Tower of Babel, the Pharaohs, and the building of Babylon. Completed several activities in her History notebook.

For the Reading about History section this week, she read several chapters of The Story of the Ancient World. This is a biblical history book. I read this book in May and REALLY liked it, but I was concerned if it might be to dull for a child. I am happy to report that she loves it as well. Everything she learned in history this week complemented her bible time, and also made history connections to biblical history.

Story Time

For unit 1 we read Ken Hamm’s book Dinosaurs of Eden. Hailey LOVED!!! this book. She did not want to put it down. I enjoyed the book as well.

Science

For the first few units we will be using Apologia’s Land Animals of the Fifth day. I have discovered that Hailey is very interested in animals right now. She has a light in her eyes as she learns new things.

She learned about Animal classifications and watched a great video to help her memorize the categories.

She did a fun project to talk about camouflage and how animals use this for protection. This is supposed to be done using M & M’s, but we couldn’t find the ones we had gotten, so we gummy fish. It still worked using the fish but would have been better using the other. What you do is take three different colors of construction paper (several sheets) and cover the bottom of a laundry basket with the crumpled paper. Then you dump in the four colors of M & M’s. She then had to find and many as she could in 1 min. The goal is that she will find more of the ones that were a different color than the papers.

Geography

Hailey has enjoyed the book A Child’s Geography Vol. II. It has taken her in a journey into Turkey Mesopotamia and a few rivers. The book made several biblical and current connections to those land marks. Hailey worked an mapping skills, and and really enjoyed the activities provided. She also opened a Little passport from South Africa.

Language Arts

We are working with Rod and Staff English, and Write With the Best. We are liking both of these programs, and Hailey likes that the lessons are short and to the point. No photo’s.

Math

Math, what to say about math? Well, we are working on multiplication facts nothing real fun this week, but I am working on some games to help her with this.

Poetry/Art

We love Robert Frost poems. Each unit we are focusing on one of his poems. They are supposed to complete a water color to go along with the poem, but we started school before we had gotten all of our supplies, so we will have to do ours at a later date. I will leave you however with these words.

A Late Walk

When I go up through the mowing field,
The headless aftermath,
Smooth-laid like thatch with the heavy dew,
Half closes the garden path.
And when I come to the garden ground,
The whir of sober birds
Up from the tangle of withered weeds
Is sadder than any words
A tree beside the wall stands bare,
But a leaf that lingered brown,
Disturbed, I doubt not, by my thought,
Comes softly rattling down.
I end not far from my going forth
By picking the faded blue
Of the last remaining aster flower
To carry again to you.

Robert Frost

Aa Apple

2013-07-09T19:11:00.001-07:00

We started school last week. We decided to use Heart of Dakota’s Little Hands to Heaven this year with Sammy (4) and Liam (2). I have several goals for them each this year, and I thought that the curriculum looked great and fit with our goals. Though we did get a curriculum for the boys, I will not be pushing them. That is actually something I like about the curriculum.

This week we focused on Creation. We decided to make a creation book. We completed 2 pages. I only have photo’s of 1 of the pages for some reason. Oh well.

Day 1 of creation we talked about how God made the heavens and the earth, but we talked about how God made something out of nothing. for the art project I drew the sun and a moon, and some starts on a piece of paper paper with white crayon, and then they painted the paper with black water color to reveal what had been drawn on the paper.

Day 2 he separated the waters from the waters.

We did an Aa is for apple theme, and completed many different cute activities. I was very proud of Sammy’s coloring sheet. He did more that just scribble. This was AMAZING for him.

Both of the boys had a different agenda than I did this week. I wanted to do the lessons in HOD. They wanted to do Busy bags. They won. LOL

We did work through our HOD Unit 1 the best I could. The boys really were not interested in anything but Busy bags and playing outdoors so I do not have any photo’s I just tried to get the lessons in while they were playing or we skipped them. I am hoping to have more HOD stuff to record next week.

I almost forgot we read the read several alphabet books and focused on the letter Aa. Sammy worked on tracing the letter Aa with his finger.