Oct. 16-20
USII High School:
One of my favorite things about using Heart of Dakota is the Christ-centeredness of each part of the plans. This year Wyatt and I are discussing Bob Schultz's Created for Work. He is one of our favorite authors and has been throughout our use of HOD. He is an excellent storyteller, and his stories really hit home for young men. I also love that Wyatt is very connected to his personal Bible. Verses he's memorized through the years within HOD are high-lighted, and he takes it to church each Sunday too. I love that this is the most important Book we use in school!
Mathhelp.com has a College Algebra course that Wyatt is completing. We figured out every time he exits out of a pretest or a test, an incomplete score of '0' is given, and incomplete scores are figured into his course average. Yikes! Anyway, Mathhelp was kind enough to remove his completes when we explained our misunderstanding! Now Wyatt is working very carefully on both pretests and posttests and has a 97% average. Hooray!
In R & S English, Wyatt works on many language arts skills. He usually diagrams sentences as part of the lesson, and he has become very good at it! But diagramming is not just a separate isolated skill - it is taught to improve writing. Wyatt has learned the importance of using varied sentences lengths and structures within his own writing, as well as the importance of using varied transitional words. HOD is Charlotte Mason inspired, so poetry appreciation has been a wonderful part of Wyatt's homeschooling from the very beginning! Working on rhythm, rhyme, pentameter, marking accented/unaccented syllables, and just plain enjoying poetry has always been fun! Especially since poetry is often either related to the history being studied or to a specific poet!
Riley has been reading about sites in the Holy Land, Ireland, and Scotland. His notebook is full-color and just beautiful! The pictures, maps, diagrams, photos, and primary source documents really make this a special notebook!
For Riley's World Religions and Cultures half credit elective, he just finished a biography called Mimosa. It was so encouraging how Mimosa chose to live her life for Jesus - even among very difficult obstacles! Now he is reading a book called Sitting at the Feet of Rabbi Jesus. Studying Jesus in the light of His Jewish culture background. Just understanding the context of the time in which He lived sheds even more light on Scriptures! We know Jesus as our Savior, but getting to know Him more deeply is a blessing!
Riley's Book of Centuries continues to grow, as he adds new chronological timeline entries each week. I love that the Book of Centuries is continued all the way through high school! Four years of history studied from 9th to 12th grade will be chronicled in a beautiful chronological keepsake - what a neat way to remember what has been learn in a logical order that will always be a good reference for history's most important events!
Emmett has been learning about God's chosen people entering Canaan. His history project had him recreating the crossing of the Red Sea. He made the Ark of the Covenant, as well as 12 rocks. The 12 rocks were piled after the crossing of the Red Sea as a symbol for the 12 tribes of Israel to remember God's goodness and faithfulness in saving them. I loved hearing Emmett retell this story with Bible in tow, as he used his history project! One organization thing we have ben doing I thought I'd mention is we have been having Emmett set out the books/resources he will be needing for each teacher block of time I work with him. He likes seeing what he will get to do, and he also likes triumphantly putting them away as he has successfully completed each portion of his school day!
Here is a picture of Emmett sharing his Robert Frost poetry reading and discussion with his brothers. He loves this and reads with great expression! He also completed a new Travel Log for his geography study of the Holy Land, read some wondering science info in his Land Animals... book, and enjoyed completing his science experiment alongside his reading! Another great week!
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