Friday, October 30, 2015

Week in Review: October 26-30, 2015

This was a week of changes to some of our curriculum. It never fails, does it? We completed week 14 in school this week. After 14 weeks, there are some things we had to change. While there are many things I love about Heart of Dakota's Bigger Hearts for His Glory and Little Hearts for His Glory, there are several things I don't love about it, but didn't realize until this week. My children simply weren't enjoying the read aloud books for history and science, which is the core of the program. I don't know if we are going to abandon it altogether, but for now, we are taking a hiatus.

So what are we doing? We are going to try delight-directed homeschooling. I have always wanted to do this, but was afraid the kids wouldn't learn "what they should". Who decides what a child should learn? As I thought about this, I realized my children learn more and retain more when they decide what they want to learn. When they get interested in a topic, find books at the library, watch YouTube videos, and ask questions, they learn so much more.

Enter Do-It-Yourself homeschool journals by Sarah Brown. A sweet blogger friend, Linda at Homeschooling6, has been blogging about these journals for several weeks. I was so obsessed interested! Sarah has given me the opportunity to review these beautiful journals. We started yesterday, and let me tell you, so far, it is just what I was looking for.

I had the kids choose 8 or 9 things they were interested in, and we took a trip to the library. I had them choose one geography, one history, and one science book, and the rest were totally their decisions. I was proud of their selections!

{7th grade choices}

{5th grade choices}

{2nd grade choices}
 
They have already shown me such motivation to learn new things. The journals are absolutely beautiful, and I even have my own! They have written short stories, done copywork from their library books. drawn pictures, made meal plans, written recipes, and much more!
 
Other than that, we have been continuing in math and grammar as usual. Mercie is still learning her 3 multiplication facts and pronouns. Eli is learning about different geometric shapes and angles and lines in math. In grammar, he is still learning predicate adjectives and nouns. They are both working in their cursive books and doing great!
 
Silas, my kindergartner, learned the letters Q, R, S, T, and U this week. We introduced syllables to him, and he learned to clap out words. In math, he worked in his math journal and Essential Math workbook.
 
 
Mikaela has been crocheting some more, making her own cookbook with recipes she wants to try, and watching videos on how to use fondant.
 
Eli has  been making paper airplanes, reading about pyramids, and drawing his own town.
Mercie found a recipe in her cookbook for kids that she wanted to try, and luckily we had all three ingredients! It was called Nifty Nachos, and all the kids scarfed them down.
 
{Yes, she is wearing gloves...}
 

Silas and Titus have been making things with Magformers all week: hats, helmets, belts, balls, toys...

My husband's job is winding down, and he only has a few weeks left. We have been in Ohio for 6 months now, and I am ready to go home! {Louisiana} We will be packing and cleaning this rental house for the next few weeks.

{Reading a  book called "Mistakes that Worked"}

That was our week in review! How was your week?

13 comments:

  1. Thank you for the shout out, that was very kind of you.

    I like the Texas book choice ;) and the Mistakes that Worked looks like one I'm going to have to find at the library. I love those kinds of books.

    I'm so glad you all had a great week using the Thinking Tree journals. I'm planning out Lance's next 4 years, lol!

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    1. We live in Louisiana (when we aren't on a job!) So we are neighbors ;-).

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  2. Oh, and I forgot to say, we'll be making some nifty nachos :) What a great idea, I don't know why I always forget to put mine in the oven to melt the cheese.

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  3. We do mostly delight- directed learning and we just love it. It took us a good three years of homeschooling before I finally let go of my fear that they weren't the "right" things. It's funny how much our own expectations and ideas can hold us back. But I too realized my kids learned more and retained the most information when they were interested and invested in what we were learning about. My middle son just cheered tonight while trick or treating with our town businesses; one group handed out a small packet of Halloween themed coloring pages and worksheets and he saw what he thought was a graphing paper. "YEAH! Graphs! Mom, I think this is a graphing page!" I just had to laugh. How many 9 year olds cheer when getting a graphing page in place of candy?!

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    1. That is funny, and it sounds like my 10 year old son! Thank you for the encouragement. I know I'm doing the right thing but its still a little scary!

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  4. Love the gloves Mercie has on.... And I may need one of those journals! Lol!

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  5. I'm not sure how I came across your blog (I'm clicking around today :)! I see Homeschooling6 comment above, so maybe from there :) And, yes, she me intrigued by her Journal reviews, too.

    I'm also transitioning from HOD this year, but we are really missing our read-alouds. I'm on a quest to find some to add to our learning.

    Nice to meet you.
    Sunday Blessings ~

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! We are still doing some read-alouds from HOD Storytime section. The kids are loving The Indian in the Cupboard, and all 5 listen in! Stop back by! I will be doing a review on the journals and having a few giveaways!

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  6. Oh, what a great idea! I have done a little of this type of learning in the past but my older kids would rather they knew exactly what they need to do. They would function quite well in a public school setting! But perhaps my younger son, who's a very different learner, would enjoy this approach...Something to ponder! Let the learning strive!

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    1. The journals we are using really facilitate our learning. The kids choose their topics, and the journals tell them what to do like copywork, drawing diagrams, finding selling words, and fun things like that! I will be having a giveaway in a few weeks with one or more journals, so come back by!

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  7. I'm so happy for you that you have yourself permission to change what needed to be changed for your family! I love how you let your kids choose. I'm going to ask mine the same question. We ended up veering into the Middle Ages this year for my youngest because that's what he wanted to learn about. It's been great so far :) Looks like you have a lot of fun ahead!

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    1. It has been a lot of fun for myself and the kids. They are excited to do their schoolwork now! That makes me happy! And they are learning so much! I am so glad I took this leap.

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