Questions, questions!  by ArtsyCraftsyK
I know how important questions are to learning. We observe something, we ask questions, we get answers, we learn. And as a parent I'm supposed to foster my children's inquisitive nature. But it seems there are just some questions that can't be answered. Take my middle child, for example. He doesn't ask questions about why the sky is blue. I can answer that one (believe it or not). No---he asks "mom, why is our CAR blue?" "Um...because that's the color Daddy and I wanted." "But WHY is it blue." Sigh...."Because that's the color the men painted it." "But why did they paint it BLUE?" "BECAUSE THEY (more)

Sept. 7, 2008  by Patti
It has been warm again here in Northern California. Up in the low 100's. It's supposed to last for a few more days. I am SO looking forward to the fall. When it gets warm like it has been, I can't go out on the porch until after dark. Then, it's so sweet to sit and ponder my day. I can't remember if I told you this, but Frank put up some deck lights around the porch. The lighting is soft, subtle and really pretty. He set three spot lights pointing at my fountain. So I go out, sit on (more)

Blogger Friend School '08  by Christa
I am enrolled in Blogger Friend School '08 and I'm participating in their Back to School Give away! Read more about it below. Blogger Friend School is having a BACK TO SCHOOL GIVEAWAY! August 25th - October 6th, 2008 In honor of BFS’s 3rd year together, we have put together a Nature homeschool package and want to give all our Blogger Friend School students a chance to win! This package consists of two beautiful hardbound Nature books and a Nature Journal! We hope that this will give a homeschooling family a special opportunity to enjoy their family learning with implementing nature walks into your yearly homeschooling (more)

Fishers of Men  by mpetit
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What Could Go Wrong, Indeed  by Sue
This evening we went for a barbecue at Mike's boss Steve and his wife Jen's house.  It started out great.  There were tons of people there from Mike's work and lots of delicious food.  There was also a Caribbean theme with music and decorations.  Good times, right?  It was going to be fun, and it was all geared toward a big announcement Steve was going to make about a company trip to the Bahamas that people could possibly win. So.  Not long after we arrived Zach mentioned that he didn't feel great.  Both Mike and I thought maybe he was just (more)

week 3?...not sure....  by Panshrmu
My goodness these past few weeks have been rather blurry, and I doubt it will get any better. Let's see: Ds1 seems to be enjoying RS books. I must confess that currently we haven't had a specific school time, we just try when baby is sleeping. The afternoons seem to be when she sleeps longer, so we try to get stuff done. If not, I nurse while I teach. Though at 4th grade, there currently is not a whole lot I need to do with him, other than English, History and Science and occassional math, he really does most of it (more)

It's been awhile  by Linda
I went on a partial hiatus this summer due to feeling lousy from HG and still trying to take care of the other five kids who live under the same roof I do.  I'm very happy to say that the dark hole I felt I've been living in for the past few months, I have climbed out of and I've reentered the beautiful sunshine of public life again. :) A few days ago I stopped taking Zofran and I have been doing great.  I still get a little queasy here and there, but not enough to make me feel like I (more)

Teach your Children Right .... or else!  by Terry
I am guessing that many parents came away after reading “Teach your children well” (Newcastle Herald, Weekender 6 Sept 2008: 12-13) feeling like they should be registered ... I did and I dislike that feeling ... immensely.  As I searched for potential reasons for my feelings I attempted to delineate the  message from the article or perhaps the purpose of the article. What were the journalist’s/editor’s/ newspaper’s motive(s) for running the story the way it did? The glossy surface message was a feel good family story, but I felt the underlying message was more menacing ... the clue was essentially (more)

Busy Week!  by luv2sing
Wow!  It seems hard to believe that it's been a week since I've taken time to blog!  It has been a pretty busy week though! My time has been spent in canning and in last minute preparation to begin our school year this coming Monday.  I think we're ready to get started!  I managed to pick a bushel and a half of beefsteak and roma tomatoes on Wednesday, then can 21 quarts of stewed tomatoes and 11 pints of salsa on Thursday and Friday.  This was the first time I've canned either.  Stewed tomatoes are quite easy, but salsa is very (more)

Pizza Night  by Rachelle
This summer I found this pizza recipe and it is really good! The pizza dough is actually a Weight Watchers Recipe and it is 3 pts per slice, depending on what you are putting on it. I use Ragu Pizza Sauce, Cheese and Pepperoni slices. The kids always like helping me when I make this so I thought I would make a slide show of them doing that and share it here. It was funny because Whitney thought she wanted to help kneed the dough until she got her hands into it and didn't like the feel of it, my husband (more)

I start a new year of dance next week  by casy
I start dance on Monday. I am taking hip hop, ballet and lyrical. I also do other dancing too. I do jazz, tap and musical theatre! I also do violin too. This is my third year and I play violin on streets for money. I am saving up for a touch.  (more)

Nice Day  by Nette
I literally rolled out of bed washed my face and left with Mike this morning. We were off and running on errands. Walter and the kids went on a bike ride. We are home ready to grill. Mal is off to Denise's to stay the night later and then church tomorrow. We are going to fix the dishwasher, laundry is running, and it is 72 and sunny outside, we had such a nice bike ride last night there were 6 of us, that is funny we have more bikes than people. While out and about we saw Gram and visited at (more)

Football and Wildlife Rehabilitation and Amazing Discoveries  by pawsandclaws
I had a busy day! First my mom and I and the littles went to Santa Ynez to watch Coleman play his first football game of the season.  The score was 26 - 0 We lost.  It was fairly hot.  Everyone was complaining.  We stayed only until just after half time, because we had to drive an hour to get to the AG Library in order to get to see the Pacific Wildlife Rehabilitation demonstration at 2:00.  Coleman stayed of course to finish the game and Dad is a coach. They had a kestrel, a merlin, a great horned owl, an opposum and a (more)

Hands-On Science  by Becca
We just started using Apologia's Elementary Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day.  One of the activities is to make an ocean box.  You line a box with blue paper, and as you study a sea creature, you make it out of clay or whatever you want, and then add it to your box in the position it would go in the sea.  That would be in the Sunlit Zone, the Twilight Zone or the Midnight Zone.  I'm using this with three kids and the thought of three boxes floating around our house just totally irritated me.  I hate clutter, and (more)

Well, the cast is now off!! (:  by Youngwife
Friday, Callie got to have her cast taken off!!  Yay!!!  We are quite excited! This is one of our little princess once she got feeling like eating the night after her surgery. We are so thankful that the Lord has blessed her body with health to heal well. Here is a link to her running with her cast on... http://s50.photobucket.com/albums/f321/youngwife/?action=view&current=100_5355.flv Thank you for praying for Callie.  Please continue to pray for Rachael, she is dealing with a lot of pain on a daily basis. On a homeschooling note, our family is talking a lot about politics and such with the election coming up soon.  So, I (more)