Week #1 of HOD Preparing and LHFHG

I know it may seem early to some but this week we started our new school year! I officially have two third graders and a kindergartner! We school almost year round, August to May is usually our long regular curriculum with weeks off for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring and a few random days here and there. In the summer we have light school, just the 3r's three days a week with lots of trips here and there and a few weeks off of everything.  We went ahead and started this year for several reasons:

 *Daddy is a ps teacher and we like him home to help ease back into routine and keep the baby while doing so AND so he can "take" the kids to school the first day. He drives them around the block, brings them in the front door, and meets the teacher.

* Once public school starts so do all of the kids activities: dance, softball, baseball, co op, AWANA. I want us in a good school groove before tackling everything else.

*The earlier we start the sooner we get out. PLUS starting earlier gives us some built in "sick" days.

Here is a cute photo of my babies before we started this morning. We won't be using backpacks at home like in the past. Those will only be used for co op but the kids wanted to take pictures with them anyway.

Monday 
They all had to fill out an All About Me sheet.I keep all of these and hope to make a keepsake out of them when they are graduated.

Ian, who is 5, is working in Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts For His Glory (LHFHG) this year at half speed. He will need more time to mature before getting into Beyond so this curriculum will take him through Kindergarten and first grade.  I added in All About Reading (AAR) for his phonics, Handwriting Without Tears (HWOT), and calendar time.

He did well today. There was a lot of whining and asking when he would be done but I think once we are back in the groove it will be easier. It took us about an hour and a half with breaks to finish today. I am still trying to find a balance and a good flow working with two guides.

Here is a run down of his day:

* We sang our calendar songs and did our number and counting actives, letter review, and writing review.
*We then worked on the letter F as part of AAR and he made some fish and colored a page along with a rhyming game.
*We then did his reading about history where we learned that all history is HIS Story and it all comes from God. We did some fun science with light and discussed how God made the light.
*We did our rhyme followed by our bible verse Matthew 19:14, and our song.
*Ian worked on his fine motor skill work: HWOT and a few pages from Rod and Staff's Do It Carefully.
* We finished with math where we worked on matching and counting.

The girls are doing HOD Preparing Hearts for His Glory. They will be doing half speed as well/ They are at the young end of the guide and though they could do full speed I would prefer them to be in 5th grade for CTC and mature in their faith a little more. Since all the kids are half speed I am hoping that our days run smooth and that there is more learning and less rushing to get done!

This is how the girls day went.

*Independent History: They read from Read, Write, and Draw through history and made some drawings of a plant and a tree.
*History reading from Grandpa's Box and Story time from the bible all with discussion.
*History Project and Research; They had to research a coat of arms and then draw a shield of faith.
*We did a kick off reading activity to discuss humor and looked at our new books.
*We used our new language books and talked about ABC order. The girls are excited to each have their own language book this year.
*We finished with math, looking at ten thousands and practicing place value.
*The girls did have some piano practice, keyboarding, and PE to do later in the day.

Overall it was a good day and took us about 2 1/2 hours to complete. It was a little hectic trying to figure out what to do with each kiddo while the others worked on something. I am sure we will find a groove by the end of the week. Tomorrow we will finish up day 1.

Tuesday: 
We finished day 1 of both LHFHG and Preparing today!! Yay!!! Ian worked about an hour and the girls worked about 2 and a half hours.

LHFGH:
*Ian did so good on his calendar skills today. I asked him to write his numbers 0-10 and he wrote all the way to 25!
*We worked on the letter Gg in AAR. It was fun coming up with g words and then playing a rhyming game. Ian got to color his G page. We are still working on staying in the lines.
*For story time we started the book The Adventures of Reddy Fox. I hope Ian enjoys it. Today I had him work on his fine motor work while I read so he would pay attention a little better.
* In math we worked on color words and color matching which is soared on!
*Fine motor skill time was spent tracing which is still very hard for him. He wants to go fast and therefore does not follow the line. This will be a slow process for him because he NEVER slows down for anything.
*I did have Ian do keyboarding today. He is also using Keyboarding Without Tears a program of HWOT.

Preparing
The girls got to work on some independent work while I did school with Ian. It went okay and I know it will get better with time and practice. They want me to tell them exactly what to do! It may not look like we did a lot but we did! 

*Science: The girls read about the Arctic Tundra on their own. They then copied a verse in cursive and followed directions to find the tundra on a map and color it. 

*The girls did xtramath on the computer and piano practice while I finished up Ian's work. 

*We did day 1 of DITHOR today. I let today be a little more independent but did question them on their reading and check their work. We are working with the humor genre and using the alternate plans in the back of the 2/3 student book. 

*For bible we are working on Psalm 1. We read and discussed and then heard our song. 

*Poetry was done today with the poem The Swing by Robert Louis Stevenson.It is a cute poem and the girls caught the imagery. We did a fun writing project by adding in our own lines. This was an HOD assignment not something I came up with. Sorry the picture is side ways! 

* In language we worked more on our dictionary skills and filling out our own paper. The girls and I decided to keep loose leaf assignments and paper in the binders instead of the clipboard. The clipboards only hold note booking pages to be added to the binder when completed. 

*Math was spent working on place value with thousands and the girls got everything right the first time around! 

*Ally did a dictation passage and Audrey did a lesson in ASS level 1. Audrey is not a strong speller and dictation did not help her very much last year so we are trying something new. She seems to be enjoying time with just mom ; ) 

Wednesday 
What a day! It was a long day, not difficult but LONG!! When we spend over 3 hours on school life is rough! 

LHGHG
*Ian is doing well on calendar. He keeps me on my toes and helps me remember what to do each day!
*Phonics: we worked on the letter H. Ian's baseball team is the Hitmen, so he was pumped to work on the letter. He did great writing his letters and remembering his sounds
*History: I read about Jesus and how he was born and that was part of history. Ian is listening okay but he had to be working on something. He did his fine motor work while I read.
*Bible: Matthew 19:14 is our focus. We spent some time tracing part of the verse and also played a game. We tossed a ball and if we scored we got to say part of the verse.
*Art: We made a collage to represent that God is the start of everything. Ian enjoys his art days.
*Math: We did matching patterns. We worked on drawing straight lines and finding things that are the same.

Preparing 
*Vocabulary: Oh MY Word..this took the girls about 45 minutes to get done! We did it last year and it NEVER took that long! I am praying that it goes smoother as we go through the year. Here is a photo of the finished product. I am proud that it was neat.
*Reading: The girls read their assigned pages and then had to write 8 funny sentences about things that happened. They also had to give me a mini oral report about their book.
*History Project: Coat of arms...we are still working our way slowly through getting these done. We should have them next week.
*Independent History: WOW!! Audrey does not like to draw and this is very challenging for her. She is to try her best, follow the directions, and go slow. That is all I require, you would have thought I asked her to recreate the Mona Lisa! The girls had to draw and color a dinosaur. This is how they turned out.
*History/Story time: Due to the vocabulary and history project drama I read while the girls took a much needed break and just listened! They did have to answer questions and participate. We read about Adam and Eve and how sin entered but that God knew this would happen and had a plan all laid out. Satan never won!
*Language: I did this orally to give the girls a little longer break from using a pencil. We reviewed what a complete and incomplete sentence are.
*Dictation/Spelling. Ally did passage 2 on level 3 of dictation and Audrey is on lesson 4 of AAS. Here is a picture of her working.
*Math: We compared numbers with thousands and place value mattered! The girls were not tripped up and sailed through their workbook pages.
*Piano Lessons/Archery at church! 

Thursday

Today went a lot smoother and was a little shorter than yesterday! My little helper and I managed to get tons done with the kids today! She loves to sit and tell the kids what to do. 

LHGHG 

*Calendar is going smoother and shorter each day and Ian is retaining what we are doing very well. 

*We did the letter Ii in phonics today and of course that is always easy for my Ian : ) 

*Story time: As I read Reddy Fox and we learned that his Granny is teaching him how to get away from dogs, Ian worked on his handwriting and tracing skills. I had him trace in a crayon this time and it was much neater! 

* In math we did some visual discrimination in finding differences. This as a breeze for him. 

*We ended his day with him doing his keyboarding work. 

Preparing
*Science; The girls had to read and then narrate to be about the arctic tundra telling me that it is flat and cold and about some animals found there like polar bears, foxes, and caribou.
*Reading: The girls and I worked on cause and effect. They had to draw or write about a cause and effect example from their reading and then read two pages of their choice out loud to me.
* Extras: The girls went off and did keyboarding, extra math, and piano practice while I finished up working with Ian.
*Poetry: We read and discussed our poem.
*Bible: We read and talked about our verse and how to apply it. We then listened to our CD.
*Language: Telling sentences was our focus. I was nice and let them orally do their work today.
*Writing: We reviewed our outline and did a retelling with it. We learned the vocabulary words blast and tumble. We played a game learning about action verbs and banning words like go, went, came, come, said, and say. We found better ways to say them in our writing. Tomorrow we will publish our work.
*Spelling/Dictation: Each girl had a short lesson with mom over what they are working on. We all enjoy this time : )
*We did an oral math review today though some answers I let the girls do on their white boards. They love using them!

Friday
We took an easy approach to our school day today! I let the kids sleep in just a little and I did too ; ) The first thing we tackled for the day was PE. I let the kids put on an ABC video that they love and we got all of our wiggles out of the way before any seat work began! I did the elliptical and the kids did their video and it was a win all around!

LHGHG
Ian started working on Day 3 of unit 1 today.
*He led me in the calendar today! I am so proud that he loves doing this each morning. It really does build many math skills.
*We did the letter J for our phonics and did jump jacks!
*I read about more about history, which even to me is a bit of a dry read, while Ian worked on his handwriting and cutting and gluing skills.
*Bible: we traced more of Matthew 19:14 and also played a game where we took turns saying part of the verse. He almost has the whole thing down! We then listened to our song while we laughed at the baby dancing.
*Rotating: We talked about it how it takes the sun to go around the earth and that equals a year. We walked 5 times around the 'sun' because Ian is 5 years old.
*Math: Ian likes ending with math and knows his day is over when he gets done so we have to remember to not rush. We talked more about differences and he did great identifying  numbers and finding the wrong one.

Preparing
Since preparing is a 4 day guide the girls had a light day because I couldn't let them off and not Ian. Typically we have co op once a week and it will work out great that they each have school the other four days. The girls didn't do anything from Preparing today.

*Writing: The girls published their stories for the week about Joshua and the Battle of Jericho. They had to remember to indent, double space, start and end sentences correctly, add adjectives, and strong verbs, and for bonus they could use vocabulary and/or a who-which clause. They also added a picture. I give them one point or check for each item listed above (adjectives and strong verbs get once check for each one used). I tell them I want a total of 8 on their paper as a goal. Ally ended up with a 12 and Audrey with 15! I am so proud of them.
*Computer Time: The girls did keyboarding and xtramath. They each finished their keyboarding lesson for the week and went up in multiplication fact practice.
*Piano Time: They have to practice 10-15 minutes each day in preparation for their lessons. 

Last year on Fridays I had the girls keep a learning log in which they had to write 3-5 things they learned during the week. This year I decided to let them do a video of one thing they are proud of or wanted to share from the week. I can include Ian in this as well. I am super proud of their first one! I am trying to figure out how to get them from my phone to on here! Here is a link to view it. 

https://www.facebook.com/lisa.vanevera/videos/10207501779166126/?l=7206926327725776019

As we wrap up our first week let me share how we set up our school this year. We do not have a school room, we use the whole house but mainly the dining room. I have a big shelf in our laundry room that house supplies, games, our HOD books we are not using, and books.

One last cute photo of the day. This is one way that Emersyn keeps herself entertained during school time! She loves her basket of puzzles, colors, books, play dough, and her toy.

-*

In our dining room I bought a three drawer cart. The girls have all of their materials in the big drawer, Ian has a drawer, and I have a draw with miscellaneous things we use. On top of the cart sits our easel/whiteboard.

Next to it is our bucket of work! This year I have binder for the kids but instead of fulling them with paper and print ables before hand the kids have a clipboard which hold their work for the week and then we will transfer completed work to their binders for safe keeping.

I also have a basket that I pull out daily that houses all of my teacher guides. So far this system works for us!