Review of last week

Last week was week 2 of a nasty cold thats been traveling around the family.  It is still lingering. That slowed us down, but we did manage to fall into a routine with the new school schedule.  The girls all know what is expected of their study time and, for the most part, are jumping into the work on their own in the mornings.

The 11 year old wrote a review, and added typing lessons to her daily plan, we also have enjoyed many sessions of coloring together.  That was my favorite part of the week.  I am thinking the key for Thinking Tree Journals working well for us will be allowing our family to enjoy its flexibility, to not get too caught up in a schedule.

My school goal for this week.  Keep the learning fun.  Thats it.

Mirrer's Homeschooling Creative Girls Review

I have been working on the Homeschooling Creative Girls for about two months now and it's not really as organized as I would like and but if you love coloring this is a homeschooling book I recommend to get and I also like  reading and this book has it, the book recommends to do 5 to 8 pages a day, I do like that you can do whatever you would like because it's my own journal to remember what I did as I get older. I don't really color much so this book gave me a new experience to enjoy while I have it! So yes I really like this book, so thank you Thinking Tree for making such a good Homeschool book for me and other kids my age to enjoy doing school.

Mirrer, age 11.
  For more Thinking Tree Reviews  http://training6hearts4him.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-thinking-tree-link-up.html

My sister and I colored together.

Passion

I love when the Little Ladies self motivate to explore a passion, new or old. 

Patience awoke with a plan, paint a horse. She choose to dabble in acrylics, I gave her a small canvas and the new brushes.  We briefly discussed which brushes go with which paints and she was off.  She got a good start on her horse, and then went into her 10 Subject Portfolio and recorded the goal of finishing a nice horse painting in the arts section. Wednesday, at my encouragement she picked an acrylic technics lesson and took film study notes, after running to me a billion times to impart the newly gained knowledge, she has decided that after finishing the horse she is going to paint a cloud scene.  

Luxie has discovered maps. A book she can read, due to the symbols. Binoculars mean natural Wonder. She knows what the mark for springs are.  Airplanes mean airport. After her daily lessons she pulled out the Utah Atlas, this is a 60 something page book filled with detail.  Tonight when I tucked her in she still had the map book and requested keeping it in her book crate, so it's handy for tomorrow.

Mirrer has been waiting weeks to start the 12 subject portfolio.  After much debate I choose the PDF version. To start I let her pick 3 subjects (History, The Arts and Mathematics) and printed the first few pages of them, along with the Films Study, Projects Pages, and Geography.   She's finds math challenging, so her choosing it first was a surprise to me.  She dove into the Mathematics section today, writing a few goals, and then finding a math app to help learn times tables and more on her tablet. She pointed out that her book requires computer math games. She's very impressed that the school book is encouraging her to learn outside of the text book. Many times I spotted her with complicated problems smiling and enjoying herself.  She also shared with her sister, it was great to see them loving to learn. 

Hours of playing, and I can feel happy counting it as hours of school. 

Learning by doing.   Success. 

As I thought about the girls and the passions they are nurturing I was reminded of the passion of Christ. 

Acts 1:13 To whom(apostles) also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God:

Christs gave his life and was raised up, seen alive on earth for forty days, at times by 500 people at once.  What amazing love.  

I pray daily that my Little Ladies grow up knowing the love of Christ, that they will one day stand strong in the faith of our Lord.

Other Posts about The Thinking Tree books can be found below

Homeschooling 6: The Littlest Math Book Review

Flipping into Fun School - Schedule for the week of Feb 15th

We have switched completely over to Thinking Tree/Dyslexia Games for the core of our education.  Here is our trial schedule, I am sure it will change as we are always adjusting and changing things to meet our ever changing days.  We are on a 6 day work week schedule, the 7th day we take off for resting in the Lord, and just having a good old fashioned family day.  No working, other than basic keep everyone feed chores.

EVERYDAY

Everyday bedrooms tided(so mom can walk through without crunching something), animal and house chores completed by 10 am.  This gives everyone time to go through their morning routines, eat, and do some studying in PJ's before gearing up to brave the weather. In the evenings we also have a few animal chores, and household responsibilities.  Through out the day are many outdoor adventure opportunities. 

Lux 9 years old

Language Arts - 20 Min of Dyslexia Games A and some time with clay.

Money Time - 20 Min of Are you a Math Genius? She does one lesson with mom, then gets to color the pictures, practice adding, and count her money.

Daily Topic or Project - 30 Min Together we pick something fun to learn, recording it in her 4H Journals or her Ages 6 to 9 Fun-Schooling Journal.

Math Time - 20 Min of Life of Fred Apples (with reading assistance) and then Base Ten blocks or some other hands on math fun.  

Listening Time - 30 Min to color or play with a sticker book while listening to Little Women.

Quiet Time - 30 Min alongside sisters and mom having a snack and working on our Quiet Time Journals or something from our baskets.

Dad Time - At least 3 times a week, 15 min recording our learning with dad in the Dad Time Journal. Many hours a week are spent learning with dad this time of year, but it's not always easy to remember to take a moment and grab the journal.  I am sure this journal will be a kick to look back on when the kids are grown.  

Mirrer 11, and Patience 10

Language  Arts - 30 Min  Dyslexia Games B on Days 1, 3, 5 and 150 Misspelled words on Days 2, 4

Money Time - 20 Min Are you a Math Genius? on Days 1, 3, 5 and How to Make Money on Days 2,4

Daily Topic - 1 hour of researching and recording something in the 10 or 12 Subject Portfolio, sometimes this could be copied applied to records in the 4H journals also.   

Math Time - 30 Min  Life of Fred and any other math fun they may want to do.

Listening Time - 30 Min of Little Women and coloring or quiet work.

4H Journals - 1 Hour working on any of our many projects or leadership responsibilities  3 days a week.

Quiet Time - 30 Min alongside sisters and mom having a snack and working on our Quiet Time Journals or something from our baskets.

Dad Time - At least 3 times a week, 15 min recording our learning with dad in the Dad Time Journal. Many hours a week are spent learning with dad this time of year, but it's not always easy to remember to take a moment and grab the journal.  

Day 6

This is the day to finish any unfinished projects, do major 4H or animal projects, and extra jobs around the house.  

This past few days we have been setting up some baskets and picking what projects we want to work on next week, we are hoping to make a trip to town and the library on Monday.

Updates to come!

Huge Victory

Today we have had a huge victory.  The kiddo who just a month ago was writing in a format that required a mirror to read, legibly wrote!  We are only partially through book 2 of Dyslexia Games Series A and are seeing great progress. What a blessing this series is proving to be!

If any of your littles are struggling to read and write check out http://www.dyslexiagames.com

To see a great review about a wonderful book by Thinking Tree click on the link below. This one is going on my wish list!
Homeschooling 6: The Four Seasons Spelling Time Book B Review