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We are in our 3rd week of school and things are absolutely great. Can I just say that I love the Heart of Dakota Program!!!!!!!!!! Everything is already planned for you but it has hands on activities that we enjoy doing. Bryanna is doing Preparing Hearts and so far she has made a shield of faith, a collage, painted a rainbow, started her timeline and done 2 science experiments among the other work she has done. I have to say that I really like reading out of books rather than textbooks for history and science, seems much more interesting not only for her but me as well.

BW is doing Little Hands and he has done excellent with this. Only complaint I have is it doesnt last long enough each day. But he has a devotional every week and a memory verse and I have been amazed at how a 4 year old can remember so much. He has had a lot of hands on as well, doing art work and letter and number activities. And he loves the other added work as well.

I am also adding in a theme for every month and some months 2 themes. This month happens to be about the ocean. I just went to the library and the internet and pulled for these. Very Exciting!!

I think things are going much better than last year, is it that the curriculum is better or the fact that I am not a newbie to the homeschooling thing anymore? Not sure, in some ways I still feel like a newbie!

We will have 5 more weeks of school and then we are heading out for vacation with the hubby for a week. I think this will be a nice little break, but while we are gone we are going to some museums, aquarium and hopefully a lighthouse. So guess who will be counting these for field trips.

So if you have started school I hope you have as much success as we have already. If you havent started school yet I wish you and your school all the best this year.

Annette

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Jul. 20, 2009
School is coming....

First off let me say we have been very busy this month. We have been getting things ready to start school, have went on vacation, had a family reunion, started a new bible study at church(which by the way is great, Thanks Michelle for doing this) and even got to enjoy a friends wedding. But school is just ahead, thats right we are planning on starting back on Monday, July 27th. I cant believe it is here and now I question do I have it all together to be able to start so soon. But I know with God all things are possible. I am a little nervous not only is my little girl starting 5th grade but BW is starting his preschool program too! He is excited, thinks he is a very big boy now. He will be like sissy. All this new curriculum we are trying this year has a lot of hands on activities, which we are looking forward to. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer break and I will keep you guys posted about our school year.

Annette

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Jun. 16, 2009
Rambling

So I was thinking of what to post about today and this is what I have come up with. Well things have been really busy around here, my grandma has been really sick and they say she has neuralgia. She is scheduled for a brain scan on Friday, I pray everything will be ok. We are having a party for my daughter this week she will be 10. I just cant believe it. Ten years ago I had a precious little girl who weighed only 2 pounds 7 ounces and now she is a healthy little ten year old. God is so good. I was looking at the calendar today and we start school in 6 weeks, wow it seems so close. I really need to organize some things before we start. I am excited we are using all new curriculum this year and everthing looks great.  It seems that summer time is just a busy time of the year, but fun too! Speaking of school, I am looking for a handwriting curriculum for my daughter and my 4 year old son, do you have any suggestions?

Annette

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Jun. 9, 2009
Great Recipe

I found this recipe over at Abbysweets.blogspot.com and it is absolutely delish!

Cinnamon Roll Cake

Yellow Cake Mix
4 eggs
¾ cup oil
1 cup sour cream

Mix by hand and pour in 13 x 9 greased baking pan.

1 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
Mix and pour over cake batter. Swirl into batter with knife.

Bake @ 325 for 40 minutes. Let cake cool 10 – 15 minutes before icing.

Icing:
2 cups powdered sugar
4 tbsp milk

Pour over warm cake

Annette

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Jun. 8, 2009
Our Family

So this is the picture of our family drawn by my 4 year old son.You have to look carefully there is one person drawn in yellow. I think he did such a wonderful job. I just love to see when kids start drawing people, just so cute.

 

Annette

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Jun. 4, 2009
Roses

I think roses are a gorgeous flower and when I look at these flowers it makes me think about our amazing God. Our mighty God created this beautiful flower but what about the thorns. Just like the rose has thorns on it, we also have thorns in our lives. I think that we should take time to examine our life to see if there is anything that needs to be removed. Jeremiah 4:3 says-For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Just like Jeremiah told the people we too have to remove these thorns so we can grow closer to God. 

This is one of my rose bushes and I thought this cluster of roses was so pretty. This rose bush is called Stairway to Heaven.

 

Annette

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Jun. 3, 2009
Please excuse..

Please excuse the mess, I am in the process of updating my blog template.

Annette

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Jun. 2, 2009
Homeschool Conference

I went to the homeschool conference on Friday, dragged my mom with me so I wouldn't be by myself. Thank goodness I did, it was just a little overwhelming(sp?) Let me start by saying we parked at the fairgrounds and was going to take the shuttle bus to the convention center,I was expecting to see a little short bus. Not so, we got there and the shuttle bus was like a greyhound bus. Yes this big. Get to the conference and go to the book fair...as soon as I walked in I was like oh my gosh where do I start. 98 vendors to go through and let me say we were there for 5 hours and only attended the book fair, no workshops. I had every intention on going to some of the vendor workshops but no time. I had so much fun and came home with all of our curriculum for next year except for science. And I will definitely be going back next year. So here is how it all plays out for next year:

BW: Heart of Dakota-Little Hands to Heaven

Bryanna: Heart of Dakota-Preparing Hearts for His Glory(History/Bible)
                 Rod and Staff (English)
                 Math U See
                 I also bought a Charlottes Web Study Guide that we will start for  reading at the first of the school year.

Annette

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Jun. 2, 2009
The reason for the title of this blog...

So I thought I would share the reason behind the name of this blog. Last year my dad was diagnosed with bile duct cancer and a month and ten days later he passed away. During his illness we were debating whether to take our 4th grader out of public school and start homeschooling. We finally made a decision to do so and I told my husband when we decided on a name I somehow wanted my dad to be a part of the decision since we could not share the beginning of our homeschooling journey with him. So we went through so many names and we come up with Echoes of Love Academy. It couldn't have been more perfect! My dad was one of the most caring and loving people anyone could have ever known. And he shared his love with everyone. He was a christian man full of wisdom, he showed leadership and was a friend to all. He never seem to meet a stranger. He always cared for others and when he passed we were so blessed to meet so many people that knew him. You see, we knew what he meant to us but never realized what an impact he had on others lives. Although I miss him dearly I know that my dad is with his Heavenly Father and will no longer suffer with the cancer. And though he may not have been able to see the start of our homeschooling journey he had a part in it. He would have been so proud of how this all turned out.

Annette

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