Our HOD week in Review - Unit 32

Since we have vacation coming up in a week and a half and we are only two units away from completing our adventure in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory we are trying to squeeze these last two units in before we leave.

It's kind of bittersweet as we have enjoyed this journey so much but we will do our best to enjoy these last few days with Beyond.

In Unit 32 we finished our travels on the trails out west. We met with a brave young girl named Nell who protected her young twin nephews from the all too common bear enconters during this very difficult period in our country's history. We also traveled on the California Trail with young Ken as he went alone to find his father. We followed the excitement of the pioneers as they all scrambled out west to find the gold that they so desperately searched for. We learned along with them that California was added as the 31st state to our great nation and felt the excitement as all of the characters filled with pride over this great event.

We learned a little about bears and the children got to experience how difficult easy task such as picking up a cup would be if our hands were more like the paws of bears.

The girls drew great pictures to go along with this week's poem. I am so glad that I decided to make up these poem sheets because I just know that these will be favorite treasures to look back on in the years to come.

On Friday the girls completed their notebooking page along with a few extra worksheets that I printed off for them.

We began reading In Grandma's Attic by Arleta Richardson at the end of this week and the kids are just loving this book!! This is the last book that we will read as part of Beyond's storytime selections. We chose this book from the Girl Interest Pack of recommended books. I highly recommend this book as a must read for families with girls. The stories are highly interesting and I love how Grandma's stories of her childhood always teach a beautiful lesson in Biblical living.

This week we also read from Psalm 121:1-8. We read that the God who takes care of us never sleeps. He is there, always watching us, caring for us, never becoming weary. We talked about how even as the pioneers struggled in the early days, months and years of our country, God was there; caring for them.

We also created some artwork using the girl's own hands to trace.

Lovin' Learnin'

LHTH Week 1

This week I started my 3 year old son's "preschool time" using Heart of Dakota's wonderful Little Hands to Heaven curriculum. This week we begin with the "a" sound as in "Adam", learning about God creating the world and some simple math.

Checking out the pictures from his Bible story.
The first day he said, "Mommy I just want to play." So I told him that I just wanted to read him a Bible story and teach him a new poem. He agreed and we sat down and began. He really seemed to enjoy it but didn't get into the poem too much at all. Fifteen minutes later we were done and he was off to play. The time was very short...but for him it was just enough!!!

Acting out the alligator from our poem. This was a blast!!
The next day we began with the poem and this time he was THRILLED to do it!! Even his big sisters wanted to join in! We had a blast!!! From the poem to the Bible story to walking on a large letter A to learn the formation of the letter he was 100% involved and loving it!! He laughed the whole time!! Jackpot!! Success!! He enjoys it, has fun and is not bogged down with "busy work!"

Working on his math skills page! Drawing two caterpillars in each box.

Biggest sister helped us count by two's when we were done!

Everytime I've showed him the "Aa" flashcard he puts his hands on his cheeks and says, " ah, ah, ah...Adam." He is learning while having fun as well!!


Big sister helping him say, "Ah, ah, ah, "
I'm hoping that everyday (or at least most!) go just as well as our second day! The curriculum is perfect for my short attention span little guy! There are times of reading where he will have to sit and listen (good practice!), times of active movement, and times of math practice to exercise his little mind! Wonderful!!



Walking on a letter A that his biggest sister drew for him.
Check back weekly to see our progress!! The girls loved the work we did with brother...I can't wait to start the Beyond manual with them in August!!!