Camping 2015

We only fit in two camping trips this year.  It’s at that point when we question if it’s worth it to own the camper!  The kids overheard us talking, and they are horrified at the thought of selling the camper.  So for now, it stays.  We’ll see how often it gets used next year, and then bring up the discussion again.

Our first camping trip was a rather wet trip to a campground in Bristol, IN called Eby’s Pines.  My brother’s family loves that campground, so we thought we would give it a try.  We had a nice weekend, but the weather kept it from being a great weekend.  I hope we can try again next year!

Our second trip was close to home, as Max had a soccer game that weekend.  It was hot, but the only rain came during the night, so that was nice!  We enjoyed the campground, cooled off in the lake, left for Max’s soccer game and an air-conditioned lunch at McDonalds, and then headed back to the campground to jump in the lake again.

Here’s a random assortment of pictures from our second trip. I don’t think I took many pictures on the first trip because of the rain.  These are all cell phone pictures, so the quality is nothing great…

LOTS of time at the beach, which was perfect for the hot weather!  It’s so nice that the boys can both swim decently enough that they don’t need floaties.

Using a pool noodle, filled with water, to spray water all over






Obstacle Course at the campground

obstacle course at the campground


roasting marshmallows



We have a great debate over the best way to roast marshmallows.
Daddy and the boys like to set them on fire and eat blackened s’mores.
Mommy likes them lightly and evenly toasted.
Jensyn likes them slightly melty, but still white.


The boys had a great time biking down this hill, over and over again.
I think Daddy is the one in this picture, but it’s hard to get a picture of a blur of bikes!


Every Saturday night, this campground has a “Gotta Glow To Go” wagon ride around the campground.  Kids (and parents, if you’d like) parade around the campground on a tractor-pulled wagon.  Campers wave and cheer as the kids come by, and many of the seasonal sites have special light shows on their campers.  It’s fun!  We do this every year!  This year’s ride was super-speedy.  I still enjoyed it, but it was almost scary-fast this year!

Our campsite neighbors were the BEST!  They were two adult couples, both of whom have older children that did not come along on this trip.  They had three dogs, and our children adored the dogs.  We couldn’t keep our kids away, and these sweet couples were SOOOO good to our kids.  They even came out to wave to our kiddos on the glow ride route.



Alex fell asleep wearing his glowing glasses.  He slept this way all night.
I know the picture didn’t turn out, but it is still hilarious, and I want to remember it!

Parade & Festival Fun

We’re not always around on the weekend of our town’s annual parade & festival.  This year, though, we were home and able to attend!

We started the (hot!) morning at the parade.  The kids were SUPER excited to watch everything go by and collect candy.  They did NOT love the noise of the fire engines.  None of them were scared, but they all covered their ears!

Walking the landscaping rails while we waited for the parade to start.


Still waiting for the parade to start…they attached their candy bags (an advertisment from a local business) to the nails sticking out of this utility pole.


One of the Orak cars died right in front of us.  We got to watch them make a quick repair while the parade was at a stand still for a few minutes.  The man facing us was saying that he can’t take his car out of gear to help, or his car has issues, too.


After the parade, we walked down to the festival at the park.  Alex made friends with a clown and got some ‘clown money’ as a souvenir.



We allowed each child to spend $5 at the festival. 
The boys chose to use their money to buy some time on the inflatables. 
Jensyn took her money straight to a jewelry booth and bought a pretty princess bracelet.





We had lunch, walked around, ran into some friends and chatted a bit, and then let the kids cool their feet in the fountain before we headed home for the rest of the afternoon.


This little sweetheart doesn’t nap anymore, but she simply couldn’t keep her eyes open after such a fun morning.  She was snuggled on the couch watching TV with Daddy, and her eyes kept closing on her.  She ended up sleeping on Daddy for almost an hour.  I must say…I was VERY jealous of that cozy snuggle!



At night, we headed back to the park for fireworks.  We sat with a friend from church & her little boy, and our kids ran around together and played until the fireworks started.  It’s impossible to take a good picture of fireworks without a good camera, but Jensyn asked me to try. 

I also took a little video for her.  It’s not a great video, but I love that I will be able to look back and remember her sweet little voice at 4 years old. 

Curriculum Choices 2015

This year, all three of our children are in their own Heart of Dakota guide!  So far, it seems like it is completely do-able!  After 5 completed school days, we’re just starting to figure out how our routine will flow to keep everyone on task, happy, and out of mischief.  We’ve had a few bumps along the way (and one reaaallllly bad day!), but I think by the end of August, we’ll have a decent flow to our day!

Heart of Dakota is just sooooo easy to use, and it’s beautifully Christ-centered.  As long as we feel it’s working well for our family, we will continue to use their curriculum as our core.  (I’d like to say we’ll use it forever, as I think we will, but you just never know!)

Using three different programs may sound complicated, but we have discovered the Heart of Dakota is SO easy to use that it’s really not a big deal…at least not at this point.  HOD slowly eases children in to independent learning, so they are gradually learning to do more and more on their own.

We’re trying to begin our day by doing a devotional reading together in the living room.  I discovered this book series through an HOD Facebook group, and I felt like it could be a good fit for all three kids this year.   We are reading a devotion each Monday, and then reading the suggested Bible readings/doing the suggested activity throughout the week.


As far as individual work time, I need 20 minutes to devote to Jensyn. (Alex does copywork and spelling practice, Max does handwriting and Rod & Staff workbook).

Then I need about 30 minutes to work with Max.  (Jensyn colors, does her ‘worksheet’ for the day, or runs off to play in her bedroom.  Alex is supposed to work on math, once I’ve given him instructions.  So far, he has daydreamed, listened in on Max’s lessons, and found other ways to waste time. I *think* I can fix this issue soon when he makes some changes in math.)

At this point, I take a break to read Max his storytime book for the day.  All 3 kids can listen to the story if they’d like.  Kids can get snacks or drinks, too.

Once Max is finished, he can run off to play while I work with Alex (at least an hour to finish math, read history together, review his Bible verse and do a brief Bible lesson, do science, etc.)

After lunch, I can do Alex’s read-aloud and finish up any of the occasional bigger projects (art/science) that would have disrupted our morning.

Heart of Dakota is our core for each child, but they also have a few additional resources.  Here’s a breakdown of child’s materials this year.

Jensyn ~ Little Hands To Heaven

We used Little Hands To Heaven with Max a few years ago, and we LOVED it!  It’s simple, sweet, Bible-based, and only takes 20 – 30 minutes to complete each day.  We supplement by adding a few free printable pages each day, and we will likely add in the Rod & Staff Preschool ABC series workbooks soon. 

I love the New Bible In Pictures for this age group.  The stories are not told quite like a traditional Bible story book.  It encourages thought and asks interesting questions.

We have an older guide, which recommends different devotional books than the ones currently recommended by Heart of Dakota.  I purchased (used, online) both of those books, but I still prefer Big Thoughts For Little People.  (If I was using LHTH with a 5 year old, I would use My ABC Bible Verses, though!)

As for the rest, I spent some time this summer collecting a variety of printables from online so that Jensyn could do a page each day and feel like a ‘big kid’.  Here’s a list of some of the printables we’re using.

Playdough Mats from 123Homeschool4Me

Bingo Marker Alphabet Letter Find

School Sparks Alphabet Letter “Mazes”

Over The Big Moon Letter Identification Dot Marker Pages

Max ~ Little Hearts For His Glory

We used Little Hearts For His Glory with Alex, and we absolutely adored it!  I was very excited to use it again with Max!  I just breathe a great big sigh of relief when I think about how ‘open and go’ it is.  There’s pretty much no advance planning for Mom – just open the guide each morning and get started!  It gets even better when you realize that this program is so amazingly Christ-centered!

LHFHG offers two Bible options.  I haven’t used the other Bible option, but I do know that we really enjoy the Family Time Bible In Pictures.  Max loves the pictures in this Bible!

We are mainly sticking with HOD’s recommendations for all subject areas, but Max is using Rod and Staff’s “Going On Eagerly” book.  HOD recommends books D & F for kindergarten or G & J for 1st grade.  We happen to own “G”, so we’re using it.

I’m also using a different handwriting choice for Max.  I prefer a traditional handwriting style, yet I’m not a fan of the page setup in “A Reason For…” which is recommended by HOD.  After lots of hunting, I found this Universal Handwriting’s newest publication with a fun little activity on each page. Max started it last spring, and he’s continuing through this book now.  When he is finished, we will likely move on to the next book in the series in order to solidify his letter formation before he starts copywork with Beyond next year.

Max is a math whiz.  It’s just his ‘thing’!  So we skipped Singapore Essential Kindergarten Book A and started him off (this past spring) with Essential Kindergarten Book B.  He’s enjoying it and doing very well so far!  We will move on to Singapore 1A early next year.

Heart of Dakota recommends two phonics options, and while I believe these are GREAT options, we choose to use All About Reading Level 1. Max will be starting this in September, once we have our school routine going smoothly.

Other resources are used, and you can find all of these resources AT THIS LINK. 

Other than that, we only use these extras from the LHFHG Facebook group:

1) Bible Memory Verses the size of index cards.  We’ve printed and laminated these verses to keep on a metal ring.

2) Storytime Notebook pages to go along with the writing/drawing activities suggested in the guide.  Having these printed and bound makes it SOOO easy to keep all of these projects together in one place as a keepsake. (We did NOT have this resource for Alex, and I am finding it such a TREAT!)

Alex ~
Beyond Little Hearts For His Glory

We started Beyond Little Hearts last November.  Since it is designed for age level, rather than grade level, are able to easily switch to a new guide mid-year.  This year, we started up with Unit 19.  I hope to finish the guide in early January, and then Alex will move on to the next guide (Bigger Hearts). 

These history books are all so neat!  They help to bring the early days of America to life for young learners!

 

He is currently finishing the last few pages in Singapore 1B mathematics (US Edition).  Singapore takes a pretty quick pace, and Alex is getting bogged down a bit at this point.  Math is not his strongest subject, and he is getting frustrated.  We have both Singapore 2A and 2B *and* Teaching Textbooks 3 as options.  (We bought a used copy of Teaching Textbooks 3 from a friend over the summer so we could check it out.)

Teaching Textbooks does have an actual textbook, but what makes it so neat is that the lesson is entirely computerized.  It’s colorful, a little bit fun, and has a great teacher who explains each detail with a visual presentation.  It is self-grading, as well, so it gives students instant feedback.  Alex did a few lessons over the summer, and he is leaning towards trying this.  Yes, it is labeled 3rd grade, but it appears to do a little review of what Alex covered in Singapore 1 and then pick up where he needs to be.

We’re also adding on Growing With Grammar Level 2 this fall.  Although Beyond includes a once-a-week grammar lesson and daily copywork, Alex was not comprehending grammar as much as we would like.  I wanted something that would have him reviewing and practicing DAILY rather than just once a week.   He has completed 5 lessons so far, and Alex is really enjoying this book!  (We may eventually switch to Rod & Staff, which is recommended by HOD, but I wanted a simple workbook to get him started.)

Other than this, all of our resources are what HOD recommends for Beyond on THIS PAGE.

Alex is going to finish the Emerging Reader series this year, and then we will decide where to go from there.  I’m not sure he is ready for DITHOR (HOD’s reading program) just yet, but we will likely read DITHOR chapter books without doing the complete program.