Heart of Dakota BLHFHG - Unit 15

Our verse this week was Matthew 25:21. This is what rainbow Copywork looks like when someone is racing and in a hurry to rush and get it done quickly. 

I know she can do much better than this and she tried a bit harder on her poetry Copywork. 

In poetry, we copied the poem 'The Cow' by Robert Louis Stevenson.  We made an art picture of Trinka the cow grazing in tall grass. Trinka was one of the early explorer cows that made the journey from Holland to New Amsterdam.  We learned a lot about cows this week and how cows chew their cud. One thought it was awesome and one was disgusted. Lol! 

In history, we learned that the Dutch established an area called New Amsterdam in what we today call New York. 

The Dutch sent a ship from Holland and it carried cows, pigs, & sheep to America.  The pastures were not prepared so the animals were placed on an island to keep them safe from wolves and bears and in one area. The Indians had never seen these type of animals before and were very curious. Of course, there was eventually not enough grassland/food for the animals so they decided to move them off the island and watch over them closely on the mainland. 

We played a little game keeping the animals corralled on the imaginary island while a small canoe rowed them one at a time to and from the shore. 

The people were excited to have the cows, sheep and pigs in America. We talked about the many reasons we need these animals. 

We made homemade ice cream. The kids mixed milk, vanilla and sugar in a small Baggie. Next, we put it in a larger Baggie with ice and salt. The kids gently shook the bag for 5 minutes and were happy to find ice cream inside when the time was up! Of course, we added chocolate syrup and m&m's for extra yumminess! 

Some of the cows that they brought over on the ship ate poisonous weeds and died. Watching over the cows while they grazed in the pasture was an important job for the young boys. 

The kids made a picture of Trinka the cow with her red ribbon on her tail. We also talked about how cheeses, butter, cream, curds & whey can all be made from cows milk.  We poured milk in a glass and added 1 1/2 TBS of vinegar. After 5 minutes, the curd separated from the whey. One was actually brave enough to try the curds with a little salt! She said it was yummy! 

We couldn't resist to go on an impromptu field trip to a local farm.  Wish it would have been a little more sunny and warm out but, the kids had a great time feeding the animals and observing the cows! They couldn't imagine getting on a boat with all those cows like the early settlers did! Especially not on a canoe! 

We learned that later English warships sent by the brother of the king of England (the Duke of York) came and took over New Amsterdam. The Dutch governor named Peter Stuyvesant, who had a wooden leg, ordered the Dutch men to fight the English.  The English had more guns and cannon than the Dutch. The Dutch would not fight. "It is foolish to shed blood for nothing..." Governor Stuyvesant surrendered at last. He could not fight alone. Down came the Dutch flag and up went the English flag.  The English changed the city's name to New York. 

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We have been reading our fantasy book, Charlotte's Web. We talked about the character moods and retelling the story.   The kids are really enjoying these books as we read to them. I love seeing their imaginations working as they listen.  

Our emerging reader this week was Buffalo Bill and the Pony Express by Eleanor Coerr.  The kids voted and they both liked this story!  The little one had some difficulty with words in this book but, overall did well with a level 3 reader. 

They liked the part where Billy dressed a scarecrow up with a pumpkin head and put it on a horse. The robbers were tricked and thought the fake scarecrow was the rider on the pony express. 

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With our spelling, I had both kids write out their words on a dry erase board. This Little Miss decided to write a poem with her words.  I see a couple misspellings but what a cute and creative idea for her! 

This is how she read it to me....

'Never ever over. Over?

Faster! Faster under river. 

Under, under? Not there!

Here? No, we're almost there.

Here she is!'

Not to shabby for a 6 yr old's first attempt at writing poetry! 

For a fun activity, the kids colored and cut this Thanksgiving number order puzzle. 

In art, we talked about symmetry and the kids both finished these thanksgiving pilgrim boy and girl drawings.  

We are taking off school to celebrate Thanksgiving with friends and family.  Our thankful tree we made is overflowing  with thankful leaves as there are so many blessings in our lives. Hope each of you have a safe and joyous Thanksgiving and have time to reflect on the blessings in your life too. 

Be blessed! 

Heart of Dakota- BLHFHG Unit 14

Couldn't have asked for a better weekend, spending time with family and enjoying the crisp autumn air. The extra day off on Monday for Veteran's Day was nice too and especially since we got to spend it with our favorite military man. I may never understand ones willingness and bravery to give their all for our country but, I'm so thankful for the amazing men and women who do just this everyday. I'm hopeful to impress upon my children the importance of our country and never forgetting the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom. 

Along with the holiday, we squished in dental appointments and a field trip to the Mariners Museum. We combined our HOD school week into 3 days which can be a bit rocky & stressful but, doable with cooperation from the little ones.   I love the flexibility that homeschooling offers when planned accordingly. Unfortunately, I failed to plan as well as I should have so this week was a bit of a struggle trying to get everything in.  I think overall though, we did a good job and made it through just fine! 

The Mariners Museum in Newport News was fantastic & interesting.  The kids seemed to relate everything they saw to 'Stories of the Pilgrims' and the Mayflower.  Which helps me know they have been paying attention!  There was a display of Columbus' ship, Ninã  that we discussed in the earlier units. The kids thought it was neat to find it at the museum.  

Our verse this week was John 14:1-2.  We talked about how our hearts should not be troubled because we know that God is preparing a place for us in heaven. What an awesome promise to hold onto in our troubled world we live in. 

In our Bible Study, we read in Exodus 14:5-31 about how God protected the Israelites and saved them from the Egyptians. The Lord watches over His people. We talked about the miracle God did when He parted the Red Sea and allowed the Israelites to cross safely.  He showed the Israelites that He is the one true God.  We talked about the God we serve is the same God that saved the Israelites. Can you imagine how amazed the Israelites must have been to see the waters of the Red Sea part?

We filled a bowl with water and added black pepper to the top. We placed a bar of soap into the center of the water and the pepper quickly parted to the sides of the bowl.  The kids amazement was much of the same in awe of the black pepper separating.  Very neat demonstration.

In history, we learned this week that an Indian came to warn the pilgrims that a ship was coming. The pilgrims feared that it may be a French ship coming to capture their settlement in Plymouth. They were relieved to discover a red cross on a white flag which showed it was an English ship.  The kids each made an English flag. 

The English ship carried the pilgrims friends and family but, it did not have suffice food nor were the Pilgrims prepared to add an additional 35 more to the settlement as they were already struggling to feed everyone throughout the winter.   They were able to visit a tribe of Indians and get more corn that they needed. God continued to provide for their needs. 

The pilgrims had a surprise visit from an Indian messenger and they weren't able to understand what he was saying. The Indian warned of an attack on the pilgrims.  He showed them a rattlesnake filled with arrows and ranted. Governor Bradford of the Pilgrims removed the arrows and replaced with gun powder and sent it back to the Indian chief as a warning. The Indians did not attack. 

We read about snakes and we made a snake too! The kids glued on hole punch dots one by one. This was a very tedious art project... especially for my little perfectionist. They pressed forward and the snakes turned out very cute. They liked the way the snake skin felt but, may I suggest making an even smaller snake!  

This week we also learned the great Chief Massasoit became very sick. He sent a messenger to the pilgrims for help. The Indians soon learned that broth, fresh air, water & quiet time worked better than the dancing, painted faces and ranting medicine men trying to scare away his sickness. The Indians found that the medicine men did not have the power they thought they did.  

In Science Exploration, we learned that broth is digested more quickly than food because it doesn't have to break down. 

The broth dripped easily and quickly through the stomach (coffee filter) into the small intestine (glass). The cracker takes longer  to dissolve and digest.  The nutrients were able to reach the intestine faster with broth. 

In geography, we took a closer look at our globe and labeled and colored the continents and oceans.  They drew a line around for the equator.  You can print this globe printable from my Pinterest Homeschool board,  here.

The puppy loves going to school with the kids... Especially when there's a blanket around.  

In math, we used mini marshmallows as manipulatives to help with adding and subtracting.  My 6 yo was concerned with adding several numbers and finding the missing addend (2+1+3+___= 9) .... until we added marshmallows.  Then, she loved it and wanted to do more math! The little one kept needing extra marshmallows along the way.  For some reason they just kept disappearing! Lol! 

Our copywork is going well and becoming less of a struggle each week. Here is a peek at my older son's poetry cursive writing.  His hard work and practice is paying off as he is doing so well and I am very proud of his beautiful writing.

The kids had fun playing this Thanksgiving themed... sight word & math game called Word Bump. It was great practice as they counted the total of 3 dice and bumped each other off the squares with lots of word writing practice. You can get the game from my Pinterest homeschool board...   Click Here

This game helped with their weekly sight word practice. In our lesson this week we learned about -or. 

We read Amelia Bedelia for our book in the Emerging Readers set. The kids took turns reading.  Both are excelling with sounding out words and loved this silly story. 

After our readings, I have the kids complete this listening worksheet. 

Translation:  "The dressed up chicken"

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This week with our piano lessons, the kids practiced dictating and clapping rhythms. They both can play 'Hot Cross Buns' using the correct notes and rhythms.  They liked using these cards we made from the hardware store paint sample cards to create their own rhythms to clap out.  The cards are perfect sized for notes and would make great flash cards for sight words, math facts or just about anything else you can think of. 

They both tried to make a difficult rhythm to trick each other on the rests. It was fun watching them do so well with this and creating their own rhythms.   They also learned how to play 'Frog in the Middle' on the piano and sing the So-Mi-Do pattern. You can find out more about our free online piano lessons at  https://www.hoffmanacademy.com

We soaked up the sun walking outside and our dd decided we should make this shadow chain. 

It truly is the simple things in life that give happiness.  Their giggles of joy and silliness are priceless. I pray those sounds always echo in my mind and flood over the cries, struggles, and mischievous moments. 

Please take a moment to comment, I would love to hear from you if you are following our homeschool journey!

See you next week! 

Be blessed.

Heart of Dakota - BLHFHG Unit 13

We started the week learning our new memory verse and song, Romans 8:28. What an encouragement this verse was to me this week!

My silly striped girl standing by our new  thankful tree.  In honor of the Thanksgiving season, we made a tree out of twisted brown paper bags and put it at the top of the stairs where everyone can see. The kids cut out leaves and each day we add one to the tree with something that they are thankful for written on the leaf.  Making this a family project, the hubby and I are also writing our leaves for the thankful tree. What an eye opening project counting our many blessings each day as the tree gets more and more leaves! 

You can print the leaf template on my Pinterest Homeschool Board. 

Leaf Template

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In History, we learned that in the spring the pilgrims were given a choice to return back to England on the Mayflower and all declined and decided to stay in America.  After a summer of working hard in the fields, the pilgrims prepared for their great harvest. We learned that the pilgrims then had a week of thanksgiving and thanked God for the many blessings. They invited the Indians to their village and shared in a great feast together known as Thanksgiving. They had many foods that we still have today at their large feast; deer, turkey, duck, corn, turnips & other vegetables, clam broth, bread, nuts, dried fruit, pies and cookies. 

We learned that the pilgrim children dug on the beaches to find clam shells for the broth that was served on Thanksgiving. We made our own clam shell art project with Caro Syrup paint and glitter.  We added a marble in the center as a pearl.

We learned that the Pilgrims and Indians played games during Thanksgiving week to celebrate their good harvest. We played some of the games inside because of a rainy day. We had a jumping contest and then tossed the dog sock into the laundry basket... Moving it back further each time they got it into the basket. They had fun and so did the dog chasing his sock!! Lol! 

We talked about autumn and learned more about why leaves turn colors. We did a Science Exploration sheet about leaves as I explained how the nutrients in a leaf entered through the stalk and into the veins of the leaf. The kids really enjoyed this project. 

We cut leaves out of paper towels and gave them long stems. The kids drew veins onto their leaves with markers and then we placed the stems into the water. 

My son said, "This is awesome!" The water slowly crept up the stalk and into the leaves. As the water reached the veins - the tubes - the color exploded and spread.  They loved watching the colors as the water filled the paper towel. What a great demonstration! 

This was such a simple and fun project.  They even liked writing about it on their Science Exploration pages.

Emerging Readers book was Wagon Wheels and the kids were able to read this together throughout the week.  They had many questions regarding slavery with this reading and my son was soon challenged to make a 150 mile journey by foot from the example of the boys in the story.  

For our fantasy reading, we chose Charlotte's Web. The library nearby has several copies of the book but, all apparently checked out and not to be returned until the end of the month.  :( Boo! So, it looks like we may try to borrow one or look at an old bookstore around town. Needless to say, each day we aren't reading... we are getting behind.  

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Take a look at what we are working on in math! Fact families, adding, subtracting fractions and division this week! I have backed off of working from the Abeka Math workbooks.  The sighs and complaints were overwhelming.  So, we have changed it up and I have printed grade level  math packs with several worksheets stapled together that we work on throughout the week.  This seems to work so much better for us.  I have printed a variety of these FREE worksheets we use from this site. You can check it out....   here.

Here, my daughter is working on a November turkey color by number! 

This was a fun mini book that my daughter cut out, colored, and put in the correct order. She really enjoyed this project and it was a great time filler for her while I worked with brother on his math. 

You can get this FREE printable Thanksgiving turkey pack & book on my board, here.

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We took a break this week to enjoy a special day with friends.  We started out at a Cracker Barrel breakfast and ended up at an indoor trampoline jumping zone called Rebounderz. The kids had an awesome time and loved bouncing out some of their energy!

It's been another great week with HoD. Check back on the blog next week to follow our homeschool journey. Thanks for reading and please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the things we are doing! 

Be blessed! 

Heart of Dakota - BLHFHG Unit 12

I love this time of year!  Cool mornings, beautiful leaves falling off the trees, hot chocolate, fall festivals, and warm clothes are all my favorites!

So much so... we enjoyed a day of outside school soaking up the autumn fresh air and writing in our nature journals. 

It was an exciting and fun weekend as the kids dressed in their costumes and we visited a nearby farm for a harvest event.  We had a fantastic day filled with crafts for the kids. They made bird feeders from pine cones, learned about herbs and butterfly life cycles, pressed leaves with crayons, and fed the animals. 

In the picture above, they rolled a pine cone in a Crisco/cornmeal mix and then in birdseed. These were a favorite treat for the squirrels when we hung them on our trees! 

The kids enjoyed pressing the different leaves with crayons which is something I remember doing as a child but had forgotten.  Thought I'd share this so you could try it with your little ones this season. 

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Loved having a review week in HoD to repeat the songs, memory verses & concepts. 

In History, we learned that the winter was long and hard for the pilgrims. Disease spread amongst them & with little medicine it killed half of the pilgrims that came to America on the Mayflower. 

We demonstrated how germs spread by tearing up pieces of paper and putting them into a cup. We covered the cup with our hand, "sneezed" and the germs stayed in the cup. When we didn't cover the cup, the germs flew everywhere. Needless to say, both kids had a great time "Ah-chooing" all over the place many times!  Even the dog had germs on him. Lol!  It was tough to get a pic of the sneeze but the smile on their faces speaks louder than the silly sneezes! 

We talked about how an Indian named Samoset walked into the fort. The pilgrims reached for their weapons and were surprised as the Indian spoke in English. The pilgrims were hesitant but soon trusted him and invited him to eat with them and stay the night in their home. 

We learned that the pilgrims observed the Sabbath - The Lords Day and would not trade with the Indians on Sunday but welcomed them to bring their fine furs the next day.  

The pilgrims and Indians created a peace treaty. The Indians promised not to harm the white men, and if other tribes made war upon Plymouth, they would help the pilgrims. They also promised not to bring their bows and arrows into the pilgrims settlements.  The pilgrims equally promised not to harm the Indians or carry their guns into the Indian villages. They promised to always give the Indians a fair price for the furs and other trades. 

Once they both signed the peace treaty, it was kept for 50 years. 

We talked about how Squanto lived with the pilgrims and taught them many things about the land including planting corn, tracking animals and about the native language. The Indians used symbols to tell stories and were fascinated with the white men's "talking paper". Squanto learned the English language.  The kids wrote stories with symbols just like the Indians. 

In Geography, we learned about reading maps and making a key.  The kids drew their own maps of the Plymouth Fort, added a key, and labeled their maps. 

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We talked about alphabetical order and both kids were able to put their spelling word cards in the correct order.   They both are doing great on their weekly word tests I give on Fridays. 

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Online piano lessons are a hit! The kids are doing very well this week with rhythm and note identification. 

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We did a fun journal entry creating their own silly monster and writing about it.   Both kids were unique with their creations and loved sharing them with each other. 

We made a fun Halloween mummy lunch for the kids.  They enjoyed wrapping their own mummy hot dogs with crescent rolls.  Adding in holiday festivities made for a great week! 

In Math, the 6 year old is doing a great job identifying even & odd numbers and working on fact families. The 8 year old, is multiplying 2 digit numbers.  He actually loved doing this and thought it was easy.  We also started working on identifying fractions and touched on equivalent fractions.  This was a bit more complex, but with more practice I am sure he will get it soon!  

For those that have asked, our hermit crabs are doing quite fine. They were  interesting to the kids at first but, soon became Mommy's pets after a couple weeks.  We added 3 more crabs to keep it exciting .... so we now have 5 total and increased the size of their crabitat.     

~ Herman-Sherman, Rosetta, Sherlock, Jigsaw and Lovie ~  

I'm still fascinated by these nocturnal critters as they are so much more than a mall kiosk special with Sponge Bob shells.   Here is our very photogenic crab, Herman-Sherman.  

The kids are still intrigued as they dig, climb, and crawl around in their crabitat but, maybe not as much as me!  Isn't he cute in a weird way?


Hope you had a happy and safe Halloween!  Our kids enjoyed dressing up and trick or treating in our neighborhood.  We had a Jedi and a Masquerade Princess Fairy! 

My kids were so anxious to dump out all their loot the morning after that we worked it into our school day. Sorting, counting and graphing of their fabulous candy treasures were fabulous activities to keep their attention!   ;)

See you next week! 

Be blessed!