Heart of Dakota - BLHFHG Week/Unit 11

It was fabulous to take a week off schooling for a fun filled fall break! After a few days down the slides at Great Wolf Lodge and several more camping in the great outdoors, these kids and their teacher were not anxious to get back to routine on Tuesday morning.  We enjoyed our time off though and picked up in Unit 11 right where we left off! 

Here are their "I can't believe we are at Great Wolf Lodge" faces!
They had such a great time... especially since the dd was tall enough to ride the 'Tornado'!

This is my ds journal drawing of roasting marshmallows while camping! Pretty cute! 

Our memory verse this week was Psalm 143:10. My dd loves writing in rainbow colors. Her handwriting is still improving every week and I'm so proud of her! 

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We introduced the spelling list this week by writing the words and using 'Pop the Pig' burger game pieces for all the letter o's.  She thought this was so much fun and it changed things up from the norm! 

We began piano lessons online and they are both really enjoying it.    You can try piano lessons for your child at  www.freepianolessonsforkids.com.

I'm hoping that music is something they will desire to learn more about and this online program is a good start. 

We had a cooking class this week too and the kids made pumpkins, bats, & heart shaped cookies.  They rolled out the dough and cut out the shapes.  They loved icing them and really had fun being creative.  They couldn't wait to taste their creations! 

In History, we learned that the pilgrims chopped down tall trees to make their houses. We talked about how they used a wedge to divide the wood into planks.  We learned they used brown oiled paper for their window coverings instead of glass. We put cooking oil on paper bags and let it dry. The light then was able to show through the paper. 

Oil paper was a bit messy but it was neat for the kids to understand what the pilgrims actually used for windows instead of glass.

We added Plymouth, Massachusetts and a drawing of a log cabin to our 1600 timeline. 

 We learned that it was an exciting day when the pilgrims raised the first wall frame of the house.  We made a frame with craft sticks and learned that when we used an extra piece to go across diagonally it made the frame stronger. 

We built log cabins with the Lincoln Logs and even tried to make a small village! 

The kids were equally excited to change the pace and have school in a blanket tent stretched over the furniture in the living room.  We imagined what it might have been like to live in a close area like the pilgrims did their first winter in their new house. 

We learned that an Indian came into their village and taught the Pilgrims how to plant corn. We learned that they joined together to give thanks with a big feast that we still celebrate today... Thanksgiving!

In math, both kids completed their Abeka workbooks and I printed out some holiday fun pages too. 

My ds is doing an awesome job with his multiplication tables & drills and my dd grasped adding double digit numbers including carrying ones.  Love when they understand new concepts and watching their joy as they actually get it!  :)  With each new problem I would write down, she would giggle as she got it correct.  Now, if I can just get her to write her 5's and 6's the correct direction we will be in good shape! 

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We did a little bit of pumpkin carving this week and my dd decided she wanted to carve Rapunzel on hers! We talked about the similarities and differences between pumpkins and apples while we were working  on Rapunzel and then made a venn diagram to show the similarities and differences. 

  I love this face of hers while she was getting the goo out of the pumpkin! Ewwwww! 

It turned out cute after all and we had fun carving it together! 

We talked about adjectives and how they describe.  In their journals, the kids drew pictures of their pumpkins and listed adjectives to describe them.  Slimy, seedy, smooth outside, orange, stringy and big! 

It was a fun and busy week and I enjoyed getting back on our schedule. Love that Heart of Dakota is introducing the Pilgrims just in time for Thanksgiving.  We are really enjoying the history and we will be making a thankful tree soon!

See you next week! 

Be blessed! 

Heart of Dakota - BLHFHG Week/Unit 10

It's always a good week when you don't even realize the weekend is so near! This week flew by!    

Our memory verse this week was Psalm 118:1.  

The kids both enjoyed the song on  the 'Hide Em' in your Heart' CD.  They memorized the verse quickly putting the verse puzzle together and singing along. 

I cut up the verse a little more each day into "puzzle pieces." This week was an easy one so it didn't take them long at all to have it memorized!

Learning real life grocery skills with coupons, pushing their own cart, finding the groceries, scanning their items at self checkout and paying. Our Kroger experience was fun for them and there are all kinds of learning opportunities during a morning trip to the grocery store!  Who else educates everywhere you go?!?! Tell me I'm not alone! Lol! 

    Spelling practice with flash cards! 

In History, we read about how one of the pilgrim children on the Mayflower got into some mischief when he decided to try to make a firecracker with a feather quill and a bit of gunpowder. He called it a squib.   He didn't think of the consequences of what might happen when he lit a wick near the barrels of gun powder. The Pilgrims were thankful that the Mayflower didn't explode!  The kids enjoyed this story and the art project that went with it. Too funny! 

We also talked about how the Pilgrims were still trying to find a good place to establish their new land. The weather was getting colder. The kids traced and labeled their map of Massachusetts, Plymouth Bay, and Cape Cod area. 

We learned that the Pilgrims stepped foot on Plymouth Rock as they got off the Mayflower and hoped to start establishing their new homes and village soon.

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We enjoyed the emerging reader Owl at Home, the I can read level 2 book.  The kids were able to read it easily and they both thought it was funny. 

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We took a break from our day to day routine to go run the hills on the golf course behind our house. My ds had a lot of energy due to being pinned up from the rain so he ran up and down the hills until he was ready to get back to work. Lol! 

My dd found other entertainment looking for pretty colored leaves, acorns, and pinecones to add to her nature journal.  She has really enjoyed finding items to trace and record in the nature journal.

In Science, we talked about God's special plan to make fresh water with the water cycle. God created the sun to help take the salt out of the ocean water to make fresh water.  We learned that as the sun heats the water, it turns into water vapor and floats into the air. The salt stays in the ocean because it is too heavy to float into the air with the water vapor.  The water vapor fills the air, it changes into rain which falls to the earth.   In this way, God fills the lakes and rivers with fresh water. Then this water flows into the seas, and the circle starts all over again.  

We tried creating the circulation in a Ziplock Baggie with 1/2 cup of water and a couple drops of food coloring. We taped our baggies to the window and watched.  Despite it being dreary and wet outside, the kids were fascinated with this experiment as the cloud slowly appeared and water droplets began to fall back to the "ocean water."   We will keep watching this one for sure.

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We learned that the pilgrims measured the depth of the Plymouth Bay to make sure large ships would be able to enter the area. We made a clay model of the ocean floor that shows the levels of the land under the Oceans.  The dd insisted that 'Flounder' be a part of the picture and so the only thing my son could find was a snake!

We learned that nearly 3/4 of the earths surface is covered with oceans.  Ocean water is salty. We did an experiment that showed salt water helps things float. We had 2 glasses - one with fresh water and one with salt water. (We did have to add a bit more salt than what it called for in the HoD guide.)  We made predictions and placed half of a crayon in each glass. The one in the freshwater sank to the bottom immediately and the one in the salt water floated to the top.  The salt made the water thicker and the crayon floated.  The kids tried this several times and really tried  to sink the crayon in the salt water but it kept floating to the top.  We talked about the Dead Sea being 7 times saltier than the ocean. 

Several rainy days this week so the kids stayed busy, math worksheets, spelling practice, and had fun water painting with Q-Tips. 

This simple water color set was something I picked up at JoAnne's Fabrics in the $ bins.  The kids really enjoyed the art painting and it kept them busy for a bit too. Something different = FUN!

We also made recipe/handprint turkey's with their very own recipe for "how to cook a turkey."  These turned out kinda funny! HA!  You can print this free off of my Pinterest Homeschool page.  You can find it here!

Here are the recipes that they wrote:

My dd's recipe:  "You go buy a turke. Then, we cook it for 5 secunds and then we slice the eyes off. We put salt and then you eat a bite.   Cook in the oven on 10 hundred degrees. "

My ds's recipe:  "First you buy a cikin from the store. Then, you cook it for 60 mimutes. Then, cut the skin off. Then, you put sesning on it. Last you cut it up and eat it. Cook on stove about 150 degrees. "

I have to admit I have been asked 100 times in the 10 weeks we have been homeschooling, "How do you stay sane?!? My kids would drive me crazy! I have to send my kids to school to get them out of my hair!"  All I can reply is that it isn't always cupcakes and roses....  we have tough days, ears that won't listen and hands that don't follow directions.   It isn't always easy, but it is always rewarding.  Every day is a new day and in the big picture, I know that we are following God's plan for our family.  These 2 are the light of my eyes and true gifts from God.  I am so thankful that He has blessed us with each of them and allows me the opportunity to be their teacher and their mom. 

Thanks for following our blog.  We will be taking a week off for Fall break next week.  It's always good to take a break!  

Be blessed! 

Heart of Dakota BLHFHG - Week/Unit 9

A much needed day at the Children's Museum kept us busy learning and having fun!   There was a perfect demonstration of the earth orbiting around the sun and it made it much easier for the kids to understand more so than my make shift beach ball with a crooked taped wrapped equator that I attempted last week.  

Our memory verse this week was Colossians 3:23. We talked about how the pilgrims believed in this scripture and knew there would be much work that needed to be done in the new land. 

This weeks poem is  'Maker of Heaven and Earth' by Cecil Frances Alexander.  Since there wasn't a song assigned to this unit, we searched YouTube and found this version to listen to of the poem.   Click here to listen!

Wow.... The penmanship of my dd and ds have both made huge improvements since the first of the year.  I'm so proud of how far they both have come in their writing. They may not like Copywork but, it has really helped and is becoming routine, easier and less of a battle for them each week. 

We needed a change of environment and decided to take school out and about. We worked on our HoD outside and the kids enjoyed changing things up a bit. 

After our work was finished, we raced around the track and took a few minutes to admire this awesome Navy F-14 plane and to play at the park. 

I am learning that the more breaks in our routine...  the better our school day goes. The kids enjoy doing different things and it keeps me on my toes too! 

I found these awesome FREE princess and helicopter math color sheets on Pinterest. You can get them here.  Multiplication & Division or Addition & Subtraction

They enjoyed math a little bit more this week with the pictures appearing as a reward for their math effort. 

Multiplication tables are completely learned for my ds and he tested great on his facts. I'm so proud of him for learning them so quickly but honestly can take very little credit once we used the Times Tales referenced in my earlier blog post.  Click here  That program was a God-send and was a snap without the battle to teach multiplication tables to my visual learner.  I highly recommend looking into it for anyone struggling with multiplication. 

In History, we learned that the storms blew the Mayflower off course and the Pilgrims landed in Massachusetts instead of the intended warmer Virginia. We were able to demonstrate this by blowing a marble straight to Virginia...  But when we added the side storm winds (brother) the ship/marble blew north to Massachusetts. 

We learned that the Pilgrims were anxious to get their washing completed after so long being on the ship.  The women set up kettles on the shore and scrubbed their clothes.  The men began searching for a stream of fresh water when they saw the Indians. They tried to offer a string of bright colored beads to the Indians and they did not accept, turned and ran away.  We learned that the Indians watched the Pilgrims from afar.  Meanwhile, the Pilgrims discovered a deserted Indian village with wigwams.  The Pilgrims discovered a basket of buried corn and took it back to the Mayflower because they were getting low on food.  They hoped to repay the Indians someday for what they had found.

In Geography, we made a giant poster and used a compass rose to give directions to follow the (fist painted) footprints to the basket of corn.  The kids played this for awhile taking turns giving directions...  Go 3 footprints north and 1 east... etc. 

In Science, we learned how God made sea creatures with spiny skeletons on day 5 of creation.  We learned that the starfish squeeze clams with their strong rays/arms.  You can find the starfish FREE printable that we used below on my Heart of Dakota Pinterest page  here.   We crushed up frosted flakes and glued them onto their starfish after they colored.  They enjoyed feeling the texture of these after they had dried... as it felt much like a real starfish. 

In Writing,  I pulled this "Create a Lego Character"  and write about it from my Pinterest homeschool board. The kids enjoyed being creative with their characters and wrote neat stories about their unique figure.  Find it here:  http://www.pinterest.com/pin/98938523037293290/

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Our Day 5 Bible Story was Nehemiah 4:6-23.  

God called Nehemiah to rebuild the wall in Jerusalem. Just like Nehemiah, the Pilgrims needed to build a protected town. The Pilgrims were willing to work hard at the job they felt God had called them to do, just like Nehemiah did.  The kids used Jenga blocks to build a wall 3 bricks high. I sounded a warning by pounding the floor 10 times before attacking their wall. It was hard to build the wall when worried about an attack. 

~ART~

We finished the week with an art painting project. The kids have been so fascinated with the leaves changing colors and falling off the trees that we decided to go outside and paint with some of them! We used a black piece of construction paper and painted firm leaves white. We made an imprint of the veiny side by pressing it onto the paper. The kids then used sponges to add the colors surrounding their leaves.  These turned out so cute! We love autumn! 

See you next week! 

Be blessed!