HOD BLHFHG - Unit 30

Easter was a wonderful weekend for us with our family and gave us a much needed break even if only for a couple days. The kids all had fun hunting Easter eggs and playing outside together.

We found this Pinterest recipe for mega bubbles and had to try it out.   RECIPE HERE

The kids enjoyed trying to blow the biggest bubbles. Hoping to try this again soon and add a bit more glycerin to help with the consistency!

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This week was a review of the verses we have recently learned. We didn't mind at all repeating the songs we have become so fond of. 

This week we continued talking about the pioneers traveling west on the Oregon Trail and we learned that pioneers traveling in lines and groups of covered wagons were called wagon trains. The kids both sketched a covered wagon.  I'm impressed by my sons improvement with his sketching.  He is doing so much better with this!  

My son was so confident when he said, "When I watched Gunsmoke with Papa I already learned all about this!" LOL... Love him! 

We  learned about the covered wagons and that they were made to endure long and rough travels. They usually traveled about 20 miles each day. Climbing mountains, narrow pathways, and sometimes they even had to cross rivers or streams. Often the oxen could pull them across if it were shallow water, but if it were deep they would have to use the wagon as a boat. The wagons often needed repairs by the end of the day.  

To lighten their loads along the way, we learned that the pioneers would throw out heavy stoves & furniture  to make it easier on the animals pulling the wagon. 

We read about a family that heard a stampede of Bison coming towards them as the ground shook. They eagerly tried to direct the huge bison and fired shots at them to turn their direction away from the covered wagons. 

We learned that Bison grow to be 6' tall and 10' long. They are the largest land mammal. We measured out just how big they are with a sidewalk chalk drawing and the kids were surprised!  

The kids were also shocked that there were millions of bison that roamed the prairies and within 15 years there were only 1500 remaining. Bison became extinct because they were widely hunted for their meat and warm coats. 

We learned many pioneers lost their lives during the years of travels. We read a story about  a wagon that had turned over, the oxen pulling the wagon had died after pulling the wagon many miles seeking water for themselves to survive. There were vultures flying overhead.  Dan and his dad were out hunting when they saw this wagon tragedy and heard noises coming from inside the wagon. They found an abandoned  baby girl inside.  They had mercy upon her and took her back to their camp to care for her as their own. 

We read more about vultures in Science.  Vultures are birds that fly on a column of warm air.  We made vulture index cards. When we blew at them the draft of our air helped them  lift them.  The kids drew a vulture on the side ! 

We observed the index card riding on the air just like a vulture riding on a column of warm air. 

We talked about the difficult journey the pioneers made traveling through the mountains. Snow and rain made it difficult to follow the trails.  Some peaceful Indians were helpful and showed the pioneers the right way to go. 

What a fabulous country we have and are honored to be a part of.  I love how Heart of Dakota expresses this!  Can you imagine how the early pioneers must have felt as they came upon this great land?  We listened to America the Beautiful and watched as the scenes showed fabulous views of our country.  You can listen and see here:  America the Beautiful

God surely has blessed our nation!   The art this week was to make a mountain sky! 

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The kids have been working hard on reading their emerging reader chapter books.  I let each of them choose their book.

We decided to make diorama shadow boxes!  We found a shoe box and the kids decided on their favorite scene in their book.  We used construction paper, paint, cotton balls, aluminum foil, sticks, and just about anything else lying around that we could find.  I let the kids talk thru this with me but, they were able to do the project on their own.  My son struggled a little drawing Tornado the dog so we photocopied his picture from the cover of the book!  That was much easier!

My son wanted to read 'Tornado' by Betsy Byars. His diorama shows the dog, Tornado, hiding in a ditch, his dog house, and the playing cards he used for tricks.  He did a great job drawing the doghouse, used sticks for the trees and even made a ditch for Tornado the dog! 

My daughter decided on 'Animal Adventures' by Laura Ingalls Wilder.   She really enjoyed these short stories and will do great with Little House in the Big Woods next year.  Can't wait! 

Her scene was after a snow the girls wanted to slip on the ice on the nearby frozen lake.We used cotton balls for the snow and aluminum foil for the frozen lake. The moon glistened on the frozen ice and the girls saw a wolf sitting on the hill.  We used glitter for the reflection of the moonlight.  The girls were frightened and ran home as fast as they could. 

They both read a chapter each day... my son on his own and my daughter out loud with me. We finished their reading with this book report sheet.  You can get this free printable from my homeschool pinterest page here:  Book Report Worksheet

Making the diorama shadow boxes of their favorite part of their book was their favorite thing we have done so far.  They even shared about it with each other. This was a fun project and great success at promoting their reading comprehension.

We enjoyed another week and are excited to be nearly finished with our school year.  Look what we got today in the mail! So excited to begin a new year with Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory!

Just a reminder that you can follow our daily adventure and be our fan on our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/takingoffwithhomeschool

See you next week! 

Be blessed! 

HoD BLHFHG Unit 29

This week was a fantastic week of crazy weather!  Beautiful sunshine and frigid rainy blahness....  The flowers and trees are pushing on nonetheless and blooming and budding out. Spring is here despite the inconsistency!

Our verse this week was Deuteronomy 5:16.  The kids again loved the song that went with this unit. 

In history, we read that as the pioneers continued to move west, the Indians grew more and more angry as they felt they were being invaded. The pioneers cut down trees and killed  animals on the land and stole belongings from the Indian villages.  Some pioneers were honest and purchased items from the Indians but, often the pioneers caused problems.  We also talked about different ways the early pioneers could been more peaceful with the Indians.

We learned that some pioneer families would travel down the rivers using flat boats instead of the long journey through the Wilderness Trail. It seemed to be a more favorable option to load all of their belongings and animals to float down the river. This was easier than walking, the oxcart or horse drawn carriage because the roads were so rough, steep, narrow, and long. However, the Indians were likely to attack with arrows and guns if they saw the boats on the river. 

We read about one family that had moved several times and continued moving west in search of farmland and out of the crowded areas. They transplanted their special flowers with them on each of their moves. This time they were floating down the river and saw a light flickering in the distance.  As they floated closer they realized it was a large fire with Indians dancing around it.  They were afraid  because of the stories they had heard about the Indians attacking the flatboats and taking their belongings.  The family was able to escape the Indians because the Indians couldn't see them floating down the river.  It was night time and there was a new moon that wasn't shining. 

We read about the phases of the moon and I found this awesome free printable mini book here! 

Moon Phases Mini Book

The kids put it together and colored the different phases of the moon.  We also thought of adjectives to describe the moon shapes. 

We also made the phases of the moon using Oreo cookies! The kids both had fun with this even if my little chocolate lover didn't quite get thru all the phases without eating the rest! 

We also read about Johnny Appleseed and how he gave apple tree seeds to families before they traveled west so that they could plant the seeds on their new land and enjoy their fruit.   The families were eager to plant the apple seeds.

We talked about the parts of a tree  (Trunk, Branches, Crown, Roots, Flowers, Fruit)  and learned that God made trees to help in many ways; changing carbon dioxide into oxygen, shade, beauty, shelter, paper, food, and medicines.

We touched on this at the beginning of the year when we visited the apple orchard, made a apple lap book, and other apple activities.

You can find that blogpost here:    Apple Activities

The kids worked on a special apple tree project. 

We used tea bag grounds as the trunk of the tree. The kids liked painting the glue and sprinkling the tea onto their artwork.

They dabbed on the green crown of the tree with paint on a paper towel and glued on yarn for the roots of the tree.

Last they enjoyed placing the fingerprint apples on their trees and used small pieces of tissue for the blossoms.  They labeled the parts of their trees.  Overall, both kids enjoyed this project. 

YAY! We have ordered HOD Bigger for next fall.  Still trying to decide on a math to use next year.  HELP!  What Math do you absolutely love?  Still looking for that great fit.  I am leaning toward Rod and Staff or Math Mammoth.

We need to push through these last Beyond units as our schedules are filling up with busy baseball  practices and games and  more dance rehearsals and recitals!  We are likely to begin double timing next week and going through 2 units per week.  I will likely limit their copy work and continue to focus on their math, reading, spelling, science and history.... squishing in the artwork as we can.  

Hope you have a fantastic Easter weekend.

Be Blessed! 

HOD BLHFHG Unit 28

This week our verse was Proverbs 26:4.

"Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it " 

Holding onto this promise each day! 

Our song this week was loved and repeated many times! So glad my two enjoy the music CD with Beyond. They have been able to learn many verses easily just by singing along. 

In history, we read about a brave pioneer named Daniel Boone. His journey marked a path 1,000 miles long as the Wildreness Trail for pioneers to use through the mountains and valleys into Kentucky. At first the path was rough, narrow, and muddy. We learned 35 axmen helped clear the pathway.  The travel was long and hard and pioneer families trained their children to be hard workers.  From 1775-1810 over 250,000 people traveled on the Wilderness Road. 

We read about a family that was leaving their home and making the journey on the Wilderness Trail because they had heard there was good land to be farmed out west.  In our story, we learned that pioneers worked hard to learn to do many new things. The mother made her daughter a long blue journey dress. They sheered the sheep, cleaned and dyed the wool, made it into yarn and sewed the new dress. 

We brushed our cotton ball, rolled it into yarn, dyed it, and hung it to dry. 

The kids thought it looked like cotton candy once it dried and even asked to try a bite!!  I had to remind them of the cotton ball we started with!  ;)

The journey for the pioneers was exciting at first, but became long and tiring on their way to the fort in Kentucky. There were hard times and we read about a horse that slipped and dropped the load it was carrying into water.  They worked hard to gather the wet items and lay them out to dry on the shore.  And another time, a boy had to shoot a wildcat in the tree to save his sisters. His bravery earned him a  real gun.  The children were trained to think of others and watch out for ways to be helpful. 

We talked about the long rifles they used on the frontier and learned that they were 4 feet long. The 3 parts of the rifle:  the lock, stock, and barrel.  

In Math, the little one is doing well on her review.  So proud of both of their progress this year. 

Love this picture so much! The little one is listening to her 'Frozen' Soundtrack doing her schoolwork with her dolls. Love that she has the freedom to school with some of her favorite things close by. 

Homeschooling is continuing to be a perfect fit for our family.  Our memory verse this week was an excellent reminder that if I train up my child in the right ways then it will stick with them as they grow older! Looking forward to ordering our HOD Bigger books soon for fall! 

The kids are enjoying the beautiful weather and their adventures during their outside time are priceless in their youth.  We are blazing through the bubbles and the sidewalk chalk soaking up this spring weather!

Have a great week! 

Be blessed! 

HOD - BLHFHG Unit 27

Our memory verse this week was Luke 16:10.   “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much."

 This verse fit perfectly with some of our recent household "yes, I already brushed my teeth" moments.  Although, I did find it necessary to take the time to explain the history of April Fools Day to both the children after they pranked me!  Hard to enforce one and have a day of fun pranking the next.  

In history, we read about little Betsy who was excited to wear her best dress as a flower girl at the front of the parade welcoming George Washington on his tour of the south.  For art, we made flowers like Betsy may have had in the parade. 

Betsy was greatly disappointed to find out that she wasn't able to go to the parade as her mother needed her to stay home to take care of her grandmother. She obeyed her mother and when a weary kind man came to her door she gladly served him some of the homemade cornbread she had made.

 After awhile, as the man was leaving, Betsy asked his name and she was surprised when he replied, "George Washington." The Lord blessed Betsy with his special visit because she obeyed her mother and followed her simple instruction even when she didn't want to. She was honored with a special guest! 

The kids followed a recipe and did a great job making the cornbread just like what was served to George Washington!  YuMmY! 

We read about where George Washington lived on Mount Vernon and the kids followed the directions  given to sketch a map of the 5 large farms that he had on the Potomac River. We learned that President Washington took very good care of the women, children and the poor. He provided fishing poles and allowed the people to fish for herring on the docks at the wharf.  He encouraged the use of his fields for corn.  President Washington was not greedy and he was careful with all that God had given him. 

The kids sketched a herring fish and learned that they live in schools in the North Atlantic Ocean. They grow to be 17" long and are nicknamed "saw bellies" because of the many sharp scales on their belly. 

Next, the kids color washed their fish sketch with paints and cut them out!  They enjoyed this art project and the herring fish turned out great! 

President Washington made it a priority to leave simple written instructions in letters and in diaries to take good care of the farm animals, their stalls and the fields.  It was important to him to give good care for the big and small. 

In Math, we revisited place value with this fun game. I cut up and used paint sample cards. This was a great help with my first grader and she grasped the concept much easier after playing this placement game.

We also had a counting money quiz! This is something we will continue to work with but, overall was a success once she had real money in hand. 

We did fun m&m's graphing and both kids enjoyed this of course!  They both guessed how many were in their pack before they opened them.  Then, they guessed which color would be the most and the least. 

They especially liked eating the math manipulatives!   :) 

The little girl asked to learn to sew! Although, I am not a seamstress, I can teach a simple stitch or two!  We started with this simple stitch and she did a great job putting this little patch ornament together.  With all the reading about little girls sewing in Stories of the Pilgrims, she is actually wanting to do her own cross stitch sampler!  Looking into that in the future for sure! 

The weather was beautiful and we loved the outside play this week! Both kids couldn't get enough of the sunshine this week.  It was such a motivator to get their work done quickly  and correctly so that they could get back outside!  We love spring! 

See you next week! 

Be blessed!