Heart of Dakota - Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory - Unit 1 Complete!

Here are some highlights from Unit 1 of our new curriculum -

We got a few new supplies.  All of their written work will go in their binders.  Their spelling words and memory verses will be written on index cards and stored in their index card holders.

 The kids got to use Legos to make the earth and the 7 continents.  They also made a ship to sail from Europe to North America.  We started a timeline beginning with Columbus and we will add to it throughout the year.

Sean has been reading in his new Beginner's Bible and I had him draw pictures to show the days of creation.

 I didn't want Eleanor to feel left out, so I had her make a construction paper octopus to go along with her Learning to Read book from Christian Light.  The letter that day was soft "O" and octopus was the animal that went along with that lesson.  Eleanor is flying through her reading and math from Christian Light!  She is a smart girl.  Soon we will add extra language arts and reading to her learning to read.  It all goes hand in hand.  We are enjoying the Christian Light 1st grade for reading and language arts.  Sean is also still using his Christian Light language arts and math.

We now have all of our read aloud books that I got nicely used and cheap off of eBay!  Eleanor was excited to see the author's name on "Ginger Pye" :)

We have learned in history this week about the early European pioneers traveling by ship to settle in St. Augustine, Florida.  We read about the hardships of traveling by ship on the great ocean and how the early pioneers had to trust in God to protect them from the storms.  We also learned about the ocean currents and how the wind and the currents helped the ships get where they needed to go since ships back then did not have motors like we do today, so they had to rely on the sails.  We also learned about some of the animals the early pioneers might have seen, like whales and dolphins, and how they have blubber that keeps them warm in cold waters.  We had experiments that went along with both of those concepts, but I was unable to take pictures since they both involved water and I wanted to protect my camera!  We read and somewhat memorized a poem and a verse that also went along with the history lesson.  The poem "The Storm" by Sarah Coleridge and Psalm 4:8.  Our verse has a song that goes with it and the kids loved being able to learn a song to help memorize the verse.  Soon I will try to get a video of them singing it :) 

Today we read Psalm 18:1-6 -  

I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;
my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my SHIELD and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I called to the Lord, who is worthy of praise,
and I have been saved from my enemies.
The cords of death entangled me;
the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.
The cords of the grave coiled around me;
the snares of death confronted me.
In my distress I called to the Lord;
I cried to my God for help.
From his temple he heard my voice;
my cry came before him, into his ears.

So the last thing the kids got to do for this Unit is paint!  Probably the highlight of the whole week!  Chloe and Lily painted big apples to go along with learning the letter A and the number 1.  We also took a trip to the library and got some books about apples for the two little girls earlier in the week.  Sean and Eleanor made and decorated shields to go along with our Bible and history combined to reinforce the concept that God is our shield and he keeps us safe and gives us peace, just as he helped the early pioneers when they prayed to him and trusted him.  We can do the same in all of life's storms.  God hears us when we pray to him!

Here are the apples and shields all dried and finished.

We are absolutely loving this new curriculum!  Sean even loves it and enjoys doing school and reading, which is huge since before it was a struggle and there were a lot of tears and frustration.  I am so happy we made the change when we did.  I love how everything ties together nicely and there are simple, fun, hands on activities throughout the week to reinforce what is being learned.