Little Hands to Heaven

Over the past year and a half I have been working through the first book of the Heart of Dakota homeschool program with my oldest child.

I was delighted when we finally finished it just before the year ended. We have had so much fun using Little Hands to Heaven. And I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a Bible based, easy to use homeschool program. It is for ages 2-5. We began it when my son turned four and finished it when he was 5 and half. It took us while, since we were in no hurry. He has learned so much, and I have so enjoyed teaching him. One thing I would say though is that you should definitely get the Bible The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes. The first year or so we used our own children's Bibles, we had three of them. But there were a lot of stories that the teacher's book said to read that are not in other children's Bibles. The New Bible has all the stories needed it seems :)

I had all the materials ready to go for us to start up again in 2014 with the next program using Little Hearts for His Glory and even though it takes a lot more time and might be a tad hard (at the moment) for my 5 1/2 year old we are already really enjoying it. He loves the science book and also is very into the story of Reddy Fox.

I have also started the Little Hands to Heaven program with my 3 year old daughter, and she is enjoying that so far. We are still on unit one, but I am looking forward to a great experience with her as well.

Thanks to Heart of Dakota for these great materials with a focus on the Bible, we are so enjoying them.

Homeschool Blindspots

Thinking of homeschooling? Were you homeschooled yourself? 

I was homeschooled, and am considering it now. This article hit home on a lot of things, I highly recommend reading it. 

Homeschool Blindspots- Joshua Harris

Alphabet Recognition

After a two month pause in our preschool home-school program we are attempting to get back into the swing of things.

My 4 year old boy is having a horrible time remembering and telling the difference between some letters that are quite similar in appearance. Like, d and b. Or c and e.

I am feeling desperate to come up with some ideas to make remembering letters more fun and easy. There are days I feel I am not cut out for teaching home school because of my lack of patience.

I was searching online this evening for ideas of games and suggestions for learning to recognize letters.

Here are a few I want to try:

• salt tracing : making letters in salt
• Wet, Dry, Now You try
•  Race to the Top
• Matching Game: Maybe not exactly this one, but something similar and this was a cute idea.

Any ideas, tips, games or links you can share to make learning letters fun for little boys? 

School Time

As the approach of the new school year shines ahead of us I am eagerly beginning to choose some supplies for D-boy. I have always loved new crayons, pencils and notebooks and choosing ones I know he will like is so much fun.

This will be the first "real" school year for D-boy. He is four now and we have decided I will start him with the preschool material "Little Hands to Heaven." I am so excited to begin teaching him. He has been showing more of an interest in letters lately and loves watching one kids film called "The Letter Factory." He has been learning some of the sounds by doing this.

Wishing you all a happy beginning of the school year.

Thoughts on Homeschool

As my son nears his fourth birthday I find myself thinking more and more about education, and homeschool.

I was homeschooled for my entire school career- and then I attended college and got a B.A. with flying colors. To me homeschool is natural, normal and just the best way of doing it. I can see I learned good study skills and therefore did well in college.


But being homeschooled makes a person different. I have always been different, have always felt like I didn't quite fit in and though at times that may have made me feel awkward- now I am ok with that. Being different makes a person special and unique. But being different isn't easy- especially growing up.


Being homeschooled was not the only thing that made us different. We were pastor's kids-living in the "fish-bowl'' as some say. My Mom wanted me to wear skirts growing up- I didn't mind. My husband tells me now that there are so few girls who wear skirts that when one does she stands out as feminine and attractive. (Smile).  But it did make me different. There were other things- but who really cares now. . .


Anyhow, back to homeschool. Homeschooling here is NOT normal. Usually only sick children are kept home. It is however, becoming more popular and even could be said to be a growing fad. But it is still widely frowned upon. I remember the expression of horror, disbelief and wonder when one of my colleagues/teachers at my language school (where I taught English) found out I had been entirely homeschooled. She was LITERALLY speechless. As if my parents were complete genius or utterly stupid.

I feel confused as to the education of my son. I know that for the preschool years I can teach him at home and no one will think too much of it. However, he also needs to learn the alphabet in Latvian and how to read. These are things I cannot teach him because I want him to learn them without flaw or accent. I don't know if he should learn both alphabets at the same time or first English, then Latvian. I don't know if two languages at once will confuse him and make learning to read too hard. I feel confused.

I also don't know if we should homeschool him during his school years- my husband is against this I think. I personally feel he ought be homschooled through the early years so as to get back-bone and learn how to stand his ground in his character and beliefs. He is like a sponge now, soaking up everything- good and bad. But people think he would have a hard time adjusting- would he? I just don't know.

In my deepest heart I believe in homeschool and that a child learns best with their parents who know them and their learning styles best. I know homeschool isn't for everyone. But I doubt my ability to and mostly I doubt the skepticism I will encounter. If I had a teacher's degree it would be different- I wish I had majored in something more practical in college. I could go back to school now and get a teacher's degree- but that would be hard with my little ones. I hear so many criticisms of the school system here and I really DON'T want to send my children there. What can be done about? Start my own Christian school? Homeschool? Private school? So many questions. . .


For this fall our materials are ordered and I will begin teaching D his letters and numbers in a more serious manner. I have chosen "Heart of Dakota" after much consideration and the recommendations of my friend Jessica. I am going to use the "Little Hands to Heaven" this fall.  I look forward to seeing this material first hand and trying it out with D. I hope our first year of homeschool goes well and pray that God gives us wisdom to sort through all these questions for the years to come.