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After 4 weeks of Sonlight Lanague Arts, I knew I needed to quickly make a change.
I did quite a bit of research – and weighing up what I needed, included what my budget could afford, I decided on the Primary Arts of Language Writing.
I only replaced the creative writing section of Sonlight LA. The Copywork was destroying whatever hope we had of a good school day. We are starting PAL writing at Unit II – the copywork section.
So far it seems to be a more gentle but structured approach to introducing writing and story composition. He loves their Check-point poster that he uses after he has done his copywork.
Our Language Arts still uses Sonlight LA for reading. PAL for copywork/writing, Handwriting without tears for technique, and All About Spelling. I would have loved to get All About Reading but that is just not in the budget at any stage – due to shipping.
Our day is scheduled like this:
Bible – We are using Sonlight B Bible with a NiRV Adventure bible. Elijah will not let us start our day any other way.
Math – Math U See Alpha
History – Sonlight B
Afrikaans 2nd Language – Afrikaans sonder grense and other resources
Language Arts – as discussed above.
Science – Sonlight B
Literature – Sonlight B
TOTSchool
Jessica has very few days where she is willing to do any type of structured activity with me. But I am persevering through. Today was a great day, the first in a long time. She still attends occupational therapy once a week. I can see definite improvement in her development every week.
She has not decided if she is left or right dominant, but I am giving everything to her right hand and although she seems stronger in her left hand for now, I am trying to encourage strength in her right hand. This was something discussed with her therapist.
Some of the Activities/resources I use:
I am mainly using ABC+123Fun from Shirley ErweeNo time for Flaash Cards is a site with great crafts and we follow the Letter of the week from there
Making Learning Fun is a absolute must for our week. I use the magnet pages and various others each week
Sonlight P3/4 – I use various books for reading/literature time
Bible – I use this bible for school time. It includes cd’s of songs for each short story.
Gabriel falls in when he wants. I have put up a baby gate at the door to the school room to keep out the little ones while Elijah is busy with Math and LA. It works 50% of the time.
Blessings,
The year started off quite well. Science is still Elijah’s favorite subject. What was really surprising is that Reading comes second! We are using Sonlight LA 1 with readers 1. The I Can Read It books seem quite nice so far. I was sceptical about what to expect after fun tales.
We have moved away from bible stories with Elijah, we will still be getting exposure with Jessica though. We are using the NiRV adventure bible and find it quite nice.
Jessica also had a turn to do some stuff but the she was only interested in stamps and dancing to the songs.
After school was done (took less than 2 hours for them all) we took a trip to the local Mugg&Bean for some Babychino’s for the kids. (Photo quality is not that great  )
   
Blessings,
This story had almost too much for me to read it in one sitting. Maybe it was because the themes were too real? Death, infidelity, infertility, bad decisions with consequences. I have seen many of these in family and friends marriages so it is definitely relevant for today.
The main character has some tough decisions to make and work through. There were quite a few times in the book when I thought, “Yes. I can imagine that.” But I wanted more from certain scenes in the book. I enjoyed the premise of the three ladies on a trip but I think the Husband’s character could have been more developed.
Not badly written, but I just could not get into the book. Left me feeling unsettled throughout.
I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
When I read the book description, I thought this would be an interesting book to read. I wasn’t sure about how anything vampire fits into a Christian book. It didn’t think it was necessary but I can see how it fits into the genre.
This book comes up against a tough market. There are many young adult books out there are many but there are quite a few that are quite popular. There are not many clean, entertaining reads that actually teach or reach out to a reader.
I really found that this book fits right in there in the top of my list as a book that will reach out emotionally.
It does touch some tough topics. Depression, eating disorders, death.
I was really pleased by the ending. I am a happy kind of person.
The main character is well developed and from page 1, I knew I would not be able to put it down until I knew the end to her story.
There is still a villain. There generally needs to be one. I wonder to myself if I would have reacted the same way as the main character? Probably not.
An engaging story, I had tears at one stage. 5 Stars.
I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
This book has been on my wish list for quite a while. I loved the cover and I knew a beautiful cover would hold a beautiful story.
It did that and more.
I loved the historical setting of the post-civil war era. Struggles are plenty, there are all kinds issues that face different people.
The Author didn’t get in too deep, but still pulls off an emotional journey for the main characters. It was enjoyable, thought provoking, left me with lots of good memories and hopes for future books.
The characters are well developed. I loved the difficulties that were in play throughout the story.
I could see where the story was leading, but I still how the ending came out.
A wonderful story with beautiful characters.
I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Stumbling Into Grace
Confessions of a Sometimes Spiritually Clumsy Woman
By Lisa Harper
The Author quickly draws us into this diary/devotional, with easy stories from her own life. Each chapter starts with a honest and thought provoking story, followed by a Prayer, reflection or discussion as well as a journal idea.
I loved the writing style of the book. Felt like I was having a chat with a close friend. The discussion questions or reflection moments are very interesting. The stories she shares are often funny and I’m smiling along as I read. Love the humour she uses to reach the reader. There was not one point in the book where I think to myself “what is she talking about”. She shares some good points to get you thinking about God in your life, while covering topics for life, gifts and growth.
This is not a daily 2 minute devotional type book. Not that the chapter are exceedingly long, but I used at least a few days to let God speak to me through the topic and scripture readings. Saying that, this devotional part is also not a very heavy one.
I have used other devotionals that seem to go on, while I was struggling with the first concept. This is not one of those.
Do I recommend this book. Definitely.
I received this e-book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
Elijah is 6 yrs old. We have been using Sonlight Core A with great success. We only have six weeks to go at this stage. So very near the end.
Science is still his favourite subject in school. He has completed his Math-U-See Primer, so we will be using the next six weeks for review and games.
Here Elijah found a ‘Growing’ Onion in the kitchen bag and came to inform me all about this Bulb.
He found this nest outside and made some eggs to go in.
Our experiment with water. Freezing water to see that it expands where other things generally don’t.
Making Music with straws and glasses with water.
Elijah brought home some tadpoles he caught on our Mini-holiday. We breated a ‘Paludarium’ for his babies.
 
Fun with water and creating suction. (Gabriel is never far)
We made ‘tracks’ for walking and running all over our lounge. We used different coloured Insulation tape.
Never to be left out, Elijah joined his siblings for some paint with Strings.
Thanks for Visiting.
Blessings
What can I say about my Littlest Big Boy?
Gabriel is my Mr. Happy! He can’t stop smiling, always ready with a giggle to make my heart fill with joy.
He loves cars. Playing with them, playing IN them too. He will often be found lying on the floor pushing a car around.
But he does have a bad habit. Biting. With a Smile!
He loves almost All food things. He prefers vegetables to meat. But sweet things most of all.
He is such an easy child. Just goes along with everything but makes sure he gets his time with Mommy too.
He is now sleeping in his own bed now with such good nights.
String painting with siblings
 
Jessica and Gabriel rarely play together in harmony. Jessica prefers playing with Elijah without “baby”. Poor Gabriel!
But they do get good moments sometimes. I am not sure how they came up with single sock day! But they did and had fun doing it.
When I think back on all the difficulties I had while pregnant with Gabriel, I can not imagine a bigger Blessing than my Darling, Smiling, Happy Child.
God Bless You All!
Jessica is 3yrs old (39 months)
There has been no real update to TotSchool in a while because I took a break trying any kind of structured learning with Jessica for quite a while. She was not interested and I was scared of making her frustrated with ME as well as learning.
A little while ago, Jessica thankfully started Play therapy. We have a Occupational therapist that we love. Elijah has been on a long journey with her (which I think is done) and thankfully the kids loves her too. Already there is improvement though, so here we start again, as she seems interested in learning and playing again.
Music and dancing with scarves. Gabriel is hiding there somewhere.
Using our Melissa and Doug Farm stamp set. This is always a hit.
Playing with our Princess Felt box. I had to constantly keep Elijah from trying to take over. Jessica looks to Elijah to see if she is doing a good job. He is definitely the Big Brother, but she is learning to explore on her own.
I need to find the link for this but Somewhere on my Pinterest. I Cut circles out of craft foam and Elijah helped me with drawing patterns on. I then cut them in half for Jessica to match them up.
Jessica chopping up FischerTips.
Last week we worked on the Colour Yellow. So we ended the week with a String-painting activity for the kids.
 
Don’t forget to check out 1+1+1=1 for other great ideas!
Blessings
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Copyright Please do not use any photos of my children or any other photos or text that I post before obtaining written permission.
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