McKinley Point Academy
By wisdom a house is built, and by understanding it is established; and by knowledge
the rooms are filled with all precious and pleasant riches. ~Proverbs 24:3-4
• Oct. 3, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme - #7 Favorite Snacks
We like the following snacks (listed in no particular order):
salt & vinegar chips
pretzels
popcorn - butter for the kids & fat-free for mom
salted mixed nuts
salted peanuts
bananas with peanut butter
apples
plums
any fresh fruit
cookies
muffins
peanut butter on a spoon
freezer pops
popcicle
frozen bananas (peel, slice & freeze)
trail mix
chips & salsa
warmed up pepperoni on a plate (kids only)
cheese
Slim Jim (kids only)
Fruit Chillers |
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• Sep. 25, 2008 - Battle of Fredricksburg
In American Story 2, we have been cutting out Civil War soldiers. We finally got enough to react the Battle of Fredricksburg. The South had the advantage as you will see in these pictures. We had a lot of fun setting them up and doing the battle.
The South had wall to protect them and they only had to fire down the hill.
The North had to advance up the hill, unprotected.
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• Sep. 24, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme- week #6
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| Cowbird Lesson (go read it here) |
Visit to lavender farm |
We raised them from tadpoles! |
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| The boys and Dad went to Boy Scout Camp |
Morning Glories |
Happy 4th of July! |
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| We celebrated 25 years ago! |
Paul played Ultimate |
So did Mark |
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| Moon Flowers |
Mei learns water safety at Girl Scouts |
Mei lost a tooth |
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• Sep. 17, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme- week #5
This week, we are to write about our favorite websites in the following categories.
- Magazines/Carnivals - in print or online
The Old Schoolhouse - yes, I know they sponsor my blog, but really I do like their magazine best. I have read others and they just can't compare.
- Freebie sites - any sites that offer freebies or often have giveaways
Homeschool Freebie of the Day
- Homeschool news/informative
HSFCC Yahoo group - Christian Homeschoolers with Adopted Chinese Children - There is a member (Hi Kim!) that always posts the latest news for us about homeschooling.
Many Yahoo groups for homeschooling - most are curriculum specific or subject specific.
- Networking, Blog “About” (sites that offer tech-support or tutorials for computer/internet) & Quick Links
None.
- Mom site - a sites just for moms
I like to stop by Daring Young Mom's blog. She is just plain funny!
- Inspirational/encouraging/motivational
Christian Women Take Root - a new community for any Christian woman - Love it! Referred to as CWTR here after!
- Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them
None.
This one and several within CWTR.
- Organizing/crafts - sites that you look to for organizing tips or crafts
Ha! I am so organized already and I don't have time for crafts. Okay, I am comfortable with my level of organizational and I pretty much only do scrapbooking using Creative Memories products.
No favorites. I do get a couple of the cooking magazines from Taste of Home.
- Bible-focused - sites mainly about God’s Word
CWTR again!
- Homeschool Method - sites that offer a lot of info on a certain method
WinterPromise Forum, WinterPromise Yahoo group, and various other Yahoo groups-- Most of what I know has come from books I read over the years.
- Family blog - sites that give you a glimpse into another family’s life, run by a family
Check out the links to the right ---->>>
- Businesses, particularly homebased
Creative Memories - because I am a consultant.
And a couple of other favorites I have:
Library Elf - It tracks your library books for all the different cards your family has and sends it all in one email. It can also send text messages to your phone. It notifies you when things are due, when requests are available, etc. No more relying on your memory or the library system calling you when stuff is already overdue!! Now you just have to keep track of the books!
LibraryThing - Create your own online catalog of the books you have in your personal library. Love it! Plus you can put a great little display thing of your books on your blog. Check out my library ---->>>
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• Sep. 13, 2008 - Week 4 in review
We finished week 4 this week. We are still working out the kinks in our schedule and adjusting to things.
On Tuesday, we had a planning session for our homeschool association's enrichment. I will be helping out in Mei's class. They will be studying Endangered Animals. Mark will be taking a Shakespeare class where they will be performing scenes from A Midsummer Night's Dream.
On Wednesday we finally did some of our American History activities. I had felt too rushed trying to get to them in the previous weeks. We are still studying the Civil War.
On Thursday, I attended a teacher's open house on an art exhibit. We will be visiting it as part of a field trip at the end of this month. I loved the art and look forward to showing the kids real paintings. The regular exhibit at the museum also has some pieces that fit into the art we have already studied.
On Friday afternoon, Mei's Girl Scout troop worked on the Olympics badge. They had a great time. I manned the table on Chinese food. We made them eat rice and chicken with chopsticks. We also took some of Mei's books from China, including our travel album. There is another girl adopted from China in her troop. I am hoping she will make a lot friends by participating in this.
About 2 weeks ago, I set Mei up with her own email account. She is now sending and receiving emails on her own. I am pleased.
Observations:
- The meeting on Tuesday was a good reminder of what our Tuesdays will soon be like. The good news is that Enrichment is only twice a month.
- Mark gave me some attitude in algebra this week. After I explained his choices for how we do algebra, he quickly changed his tune.
- Still having a hard time finding time to clean the house, but did get the key things done this week.
- I love teaching the art class, but it is taking lots of my time to prepare. I love all that I am learning about the artists! I know the extra research is more for me, than because I need to do it!
- I did not exercise this week. I woke up stiff on Friday.
- I stayed up late several times this week. I was awake in the middle of the night several times this week.
- We got some of our extras done this week. I moved timelines and mapping to Wednesday.
- Mark did more writing this week.
- Mei wrote a sentence for each spelling word.
- We did the spelling test this week. We also did last week's, which we had skipped.
- I ordered Explode the Code 6 1/2 so that Mei would have more worksheets to do.
- My friend Jill is also feeling overwhelmed. We may do Art/Music every other week instead of every week.
- Paul was stressed out over several things, including his college application process.
Changes:
- Go exercise - regardless of the time it takes away from homeschooling. My body needs it. Pray that they will start an early morning class so I can not interrupt our school day twice a week.
- Continue to have Mark write daily.
- Continue to have Mei write sentences with her spelling words.
- Work more with Mark on spelling - specifically the syllables and the letters that make up each.
- If we do art/music every other week, then the alternate week can be typing /computer skills.
- Create a college application schedule for Paul.
- Give up some of my time online so I can clean the house.
Pictures!!!
 What happens to a brother when his sister loves her animals, especially Puppy (spotted one), 10 Webkinz, and a few others. They attend school too. They are model students, although their narration skills are weak!
 Mei writing with her homemade ink from crushed berries. Oh, the fish were hanging out as illustrations of the various body types of fish.
 Mark working on his Civil War map. I had him color code the battles and because of bad attitude, he also marked all the battles on Mei's map too.
 Mei isn't in this picture, but here are some of the other girls learning to use chopsticks!
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• Sep. 13, 2008 - Zoology 2 Lapbook
We finished the first 5 lessons of Apologia's Zoology 2: Exploring Creation Day 5: Swimming Creatures. Mei created a lapbook. Mark did notebooking. This was our first time to do lapbooking. We used the lapbook from Knowledge Box Central.
For the second half, Mei is making another lapbook. Mark wants to do the booklets, but will be mounting them on paper in his notebook. He is hoping this will reduce the amount of writing he has to do. I hope it makes recording what he has learned more enjoyable!
Mei's lapbook - her cover:
We like to include pictures of the animals rather than just writing everything.
Although I do most of the writing, Mei also does some of it:
The back:
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• Sep. 10, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme - #4
Something New for us this year is Art and Music!
We are doing this with another family. My best friend Jill is teaching the music part, while I am teaching the art. We are doing history and appreciation, with some hands-on projects thrown in. We are trying to coordinate the music and art so that we cover people from the same time period. We are doing one or more artists/composers a week.
For art, I am following the Charlotte Mason approach except that we are not focusing on a specific artist over a long period of time as she recommends. I got a lot of my ideas from a Squidoo lens that Jimmie wrote: http://www.squidoo.com/cmartiststudy
The books we are using are:
Art in Story
Discovering Great Artists
Sister Wendy's Story of Painting
And of course, lots and lots of websites, most of which are on Jimmie's lens. |
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• Sep. 7, 2008 - Weeks 2 & 3 Review
Wow! That holiday in there threw me off all my schedules!
So we have finished up week 2 and week 3 of our school. Here is what we have been studying the last 2 weeks:
American history: various battles of the Civil War
Science: finished marine dinosaurs and started fish
Bible: Proverbs chapter 1 and almost all of chapter 2
Math: Mei is chugging along in adding and subtracting. Mark completed Chapter 1 (9 lessons) of algebra.
LA: Mei worked on sh, ch, and th. Mark is up to chapter 8 of Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe
Music: Gregorian Chants, Ambrose, and antiphonal/polyphonal
Art: Gothic cathedrals, illustrated manuscripts, and Giotto
Girl Scouts: first meeting this week
Observations:
- My plans for work in the car on Labor Day didn't happen, although we did read The Great Turkey Walk.
- We squeezed the whole week's work into 4 days since we took Labor Day off.
- Girl Scouts pretty much takes over Friday afternoon.
- By Friday, I am tried and doing anything before 10am Art & Music hasn't happened yet
- Mark got a 90% on his first algebra test. Most errors were non-algebra related.
- Mei is reading quite well.
- Mark wrote some more this week.
- Mark's work is much more teacher intensive than last year. It makes it harder to clean the house during school hours. It also means more time for Mei to be self-occupied.
- Mark & Mei played Monopoly several times this week.
- Yoga takes up too much time on Monday and Wednesday.
- Except for Fridays, we have made praying and reading God's word our first priority each day.
Changes:
- I need to go to bed earlier! So we can do a few things before 10am on Fridays.
- Pray that they add a 7am yoga class so I can do that before the school day starts.
- Move history timelines, map making, and typying to another day, since Friday is so full.
- Continue to encourage Mark to write. Insist on daily writing.
- Start Mei writing weekly.
- Adjust housekeeping schedule to fit school - or accept the reality that something else may need to go.
This coming week is very busy as I prepare for several things. Mark is participating in the Shakespeare class at Enrichment, which will be meeting twice a month. I need to figure out how that will fit into our schedule. I am busy as I help plan a ladies' retreat at church, happening in 2 weeks.
Paul's college quest is getting busier. All kinds of presentations to go to and soon, paperwork to fill out. As of now, he has decided on Computer Science Engineering as his major. He has a first and second choice college identified. Now on to finding out what scholarships are available. Some require an early application. He also needs to work on his Eagle project for Boy Scouts. His original idea got vetoed by the school principal.
Lunch time at our house almost always includes a game of Skip-Bo or Uno. Mark is wearing a candy wrapper mustache.
 My first day of school pictures - except we took them on day 10 (hee hee). I still need to take Paul's picture. |
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• Sep. 7, 2008 - Personal Stuff
Things have been very busy here. School this year is more teacher intensive. My new housekeeping plan is not working since we added school to our days.
Our "regular' activities are sneaking away my time and then you add the extra stuff...
The boys have scouts on Monday nights. I have Bible Study on Tuesday nights. We have home group on Friday nights. We are starting the Financial Peace course by Dave Ramsey on Sunday nights for 12 weeks. Mei has Girl Scouts on Friday afternoons. Both kids have Enrichment through our homeschool association twice a month on Tuesday afternoons. I host a monthly Saturday crop.
Then there is field trip planning for our homeschool association - once the initial push is over, it should slow down.
I am helping to plan a ladies' retreat for church. We are covering the highlights of the book As Silver Refined by Kay Arthur. I have several presentations to prepare. The retreat is less than 2 weeks away.
My Creative Memories business is taking off. In fact, I am meeting with someone this week about them signing up as a consultant. It is good to make money, but it too takes my time. On a side note, I devoted this past Saturday to scrapbooking and got 22 pages done in my 2007 album. Yay! That was May through September! See, even consultants get behind...
Our neighborhood women's club starts meeting this month. I am responsible for updating and printing the neighborhood directory. At least that is over by November!
I am feeling overwhelmed. Then there are blog posts to write and blogs and emails to read. No wonder one of my friends enjoys limiting her involvement in things.
Then there are all those projects around the house waiting to be done...
I would like to start a new Bible-based study called Character Makeover. Christian Women Take Root is starting it on Sept. 22. I think it can be really beneficial and yet, it might take too much of my time right now. More prayer needed here! If I do this, I plan to blog my daily thoughts on my blog in CWTR, so come join me there to read it.
God gave me the answer today. It is the same answer he showed me months ago. I needed to be reminded once again. Spending time with God and obeying the Spirit develops the Fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Gal. 5:22 & 25. I feel the need especially for self-control and so I recommit to spending time with God this week.
So did you like this blog post? Tell me if you want to read this personal stuff or not... |
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• Sep. 4, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme - #3
Meme: Post your routine for homeschool
Although I am task-oriented, I am not into routines and set schedules. So we don't have set times for doing things. However, I do have a list of things to do each day. So here is what little schedule we have:
6:00am - I get up and get Paul off to public school
6:30am - my quiet time followed by computer time, or school prep time, or more sleeping
8:30am - rise and shine for kids (and me if I went back to bed)
8:35am - prayer for good school day and Bible study (currently Proverbs)
Now to the variety:
Mon & Weds - 9:15am to 10:45am I am at yoga. The kids either read or do some of their independent work. Or they watch an educational video (like School House Rock). Or they play Monopoly (good math for the 6 yr old!)
Tues & Thurs - school
Lunch is when we get hungry - often around 11 or 11:30 because I eat breakfast at 6am! We usually play a quick game of Skip-Bo over lunch.
More school after lunch with hopes to finish by 3pm at the latest when Paul comes home from p.s. because no work gets done after that.
Fridays - Bible, then spelling tests, then 10am Art and Music class at a friend's house. Then lunch and starting this week, Girl Scout in the afternoons. Somewhere in there we also do timeline and mapping work for history.
We do our subjects in whatever order they feel like, although I do try to have one working independently while I help the other. I try to squeeze in housekeeping while they are both doing independent work.
My biggest challenge this year is keeping Mei occupied while working with Mark. The curriculum I picked for Mark's math and LA this year is much more teacher intensive than last year's. He also likes to do his work verbally which requires my time. Mei on the other hand, is very independent, especially since she can now read most of the instructions. Of course, 2nd grade work just takes a lot less time. If she is done with her work, she gets to play on the computer while Mark finishes up.
p.s. We do not have any "seat work". We use clipboards and school all over the house.
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• Aug. 27, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme - #2
Prior to any real planning (other than buying some curriculum), I followed Lori's steps for goal setting and planning on the Homeschooling Through Highschool thread on the HSB Company Porch. Although I don't have a high schooler in homeschool yet, I found her steps to very useful. The best outcomes were 1) finding a bunch of Bible verses that applied to us and school and 2) understanding what priority Bible needed to have in our day and how we should approach it. The Bible verse at the top of this blog is our key one.
I am using Homeschool Tracker for tracking my kid's assignments. I am also using it for another use, but more on that later...
I have a 6th grader and 2nd grader. This week is our second week of school.
First, the subjects we are doing together.
- Bible - reading through Proverbs - one verse or passage a day & discussing it. No lesson plans.
- American Story 2 from WinterPromise - comes with everything all planned out. We read and discuss 4 days a week and do timelines and projects on Day 5. Most weeks we follow the plan as written.
- Apologia Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures - try to read or so something each day - no lesson plans.
- Art & Music - planned on a weekly basis - co-teaching with a friend - using Charlotte Mason approach.
6th grader:
- LA - Total Language Plus - Currently doing Lion, Witch, and Wardrobe - plan to do one unit per week with a few breaks between books. Other books we are (or may) do: Hobbit, Christmas Stories, My Side of the Mountain, and Cricket in Times Square.
- Algebra - Jacob's Algebra - one lesson per day - because my ds is taking this so early, I do the whole lesson, including the problems, with him to make sure he really understands it. We discuss it a lot.
2nd grader:
- LA - WinterPromise's LA1 - planned out for me.
- Math - Horizons' 2nd grade - she does at least 2 pages, some times more, each day.
Other things I want to add in a week or so - not included in lesson plans:
- Typing and general computer skills for both, maybe web design for the oldest.
- Enrichment - once a month for just a few hours - 6th grader: Shakespeare, 2nd: Endangered Species.
- Field Trips - perhaps one a month
- Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts
Other than starting with Bible, we do not have a set schedule, but work on whatever subject they want to do next. As long as we are done by 3pm, it is a good day! We eat when we are hungry and play around a lot. I also squeeze in my housekeeping for the day when they are working independently
Okay, my other use for Homeschool Tracker is scheduling my housekeeping! I have a student called Housekeeping and I print the assignment sheet every week. I took all the housekeeping tasks, figured out how often I wanted to do them and on what days. Since I have dedicated certain days to certain tasks it was easy to use the copy feature and make every Monday laundry, every Tuesday kitchen, every Wednesday dusting/vacumming, and every Friday bathrooms. Thursday is when I do those odd chores that only need to be done once a month, quarter, or year. So for Thursday, I had to type those all in. The only thing not scheduled on the sheet is the tasks that I do every day, like "processing the dishes", decluttering the kitchen table and family room, etc.
Just in case you wondering - I like crossing things off a list, so having a printed list each week motivates me.  |
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• Aug. 24, 2008 - Homeschool Memoirs Meme - #1
Hi! I am Bev. Married to my dh James for 25 fabulous years, we have 3 children. Paul, 17, a senior in public school, Mark, 11, a 6th grader at home, and Mei, 6.5, a 2nd grader at home. Mei has always been home. Mark joined us at home last year. Last week, started my 3rd year of homeschooling.
Back when Mei was approaching her 4th birthday, I realized that she would not be able to go to Kindergarten the following year due to her late birthday. So we played around at preschool at home. I learned quite a lot about myself and homeschooling that year. The following fall, we started Kindergarten (4 months before she turned 5). We had so much fun, we decided to continue. I was praying that Mark would join us and he decided to do that! Last year, I taught them both and we loved it!
Six years ago, I got laid off after being a career wife and mom for 20 years. We decided I could stay home. The following year God brought our adopted daughter into our family. I love being home and THANK God for allowing that to be possible!
I used to hang out in a bunch of online adoption groups, but I have reduced them to a handful. These days you will find me here at Homeschool Blogger and at Christian Women Take Root.
 Our family - taken last Thanksgiving.
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• Aug. 23, 2008 - We finished our first week of school for 2008/09!
Argggggggggghhhh to Yay!!!!
Week before school - "Can we start school now?" "I already did these pages in ETC. Can I do more?" "How do I do this page?" "Can we start school now?"
Day 1: "Why do I have to get up now?" "I don't want to be home schooled." Insert crying here... "This is so hard." "Why do I have to do this?" "Can't we start next week?" "I already did all my ETC for the week. Can I do some more pages?" "Do I have to do math?" "What can I do now?' "Write a story." "Sit down. Sit up." "Listen." "We are going to do this because you need to learn it." We do not even get to history or science today. Dd writes a story.
Day 2: "Can you read another chapter? I like this book." "Please, please, keep reading!! - insert whine here - this book is really, really good" "Wow, that is really cool." "This algebra stuff is easy." "I am all done for the week, mom." "You are making this hard." Insert lots of tears here. "Why do I have to do this?" "I have only read these words, I have never had to write them. That is why I can not spell them." "You are right - you are not used to doing this are you? Maybe we can make it easier for you." "You are doing a great job of writing. Would you like to send your story to Splash?" We do yesterday's history and science. We also read the entire week's reading of "Ghosts of the Civil War." Dd types up her story. I add periods and capital letters and we send it off to Splash. I send out emails about what do about the diction in ds's LA and get answers back. New plan for tomorrow; I tell ds before he goes to sleep.
Day 3: Before ds even got out of bed that morning: "Mom, you know what I said before about homeschool, I didn't mean it." "I like being homeschooled." "Please, please, read another chapter". "Mom, this is much easier." "Yay! They liked my story!"
Day 4: "Please, please read another chapter." "Can we go to the library? I finished my book and we don't have the next one in the series." Ds sneaks the history book and reads another chapter. Now half the family is behind - or ds is ahead? "Look dd, your story is on the web" Click here and then scroll down to the picture of Domino.
Day 5: Quick Bible study and then it off to our new Music History and Art History classes, taught by my BFF Jill (music) and by me! Then home for lunch, spelling and vocabulary tests, timelines and mapping. Then the Prinicpal (a.k.a. Dad) takes everyone to the movies for the afternoon - Star Wars: the Clone Wars. BTW - save your $$ - see it on DVD, preferably with a "free movie" coupon.
Observations:
- American Story 2 is off to a great start. The kids love "The Great Turkey Walk." We are on schedule!
- ds and the LA did not start off too good. We changed the dictation to copywork mid-week - much better for him. Spelling and vocabulary were okay. Writing was so-so.
- dd loves her LA.
- our Fridays are going to be BUSY once Girl Scouts starts in 2 weeks.
- ds is doing his Algebra in his head - at least for now when the concepts are easy.
- dd likes to write!! Yay! Finally a child that likes writing!
Changes:
- do projects in AS2
- be stricter with ds's LA - he is not working up to grade level - insist on daily writing in personal journal
- look for cheap copy of ETC 6 1/2 for dd, so she has more worksheets to do.
- encourage dd to write more
Other notes:
- going to see El Greco paintings on Thursday - at least talk about who this artist is first
- run around and get oldest ds all the stuff he needs for school. He starts Monday!
- pack for trip to see In-laws and other related family over Labor Day
Pictures from this week:
 Me reading the Great Turkey Walk. Mei was busy taking pictures. I am in typical homeschooling garb. I went to yoga earlier and had not changed or showered yet - but my ds doesn't mind...
My early morning visitor:
My flowers are blooming. Morning Glories for the day time and Moon Flowers for the night time.
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• Aug. 5, 2008 - Wrapping up the summer
Only 1.5 weeks until home school starts and 2.5 until public school starts. My kids are busy wrapping up their summer - squeezing in all those last minute things. Now, if I could just get off the computer and get my summer projects done. 
My boys have been playing Ultimate. I did not realize it was a real sport until they started playing this summer. It has been around since 1970. Read all about it here. Some of the adult leagues decided to start a youth league for our area this summer. They had 4 high school teams and 4 middle school teams. It was really, really hot playing this summer, so they are talking about moving the league to late winter/early spring. A little cold for spectators, but a whole lot more comfortable for the players!
 Paul played lots of soccer when he was younger, but became a serious student in middle school and gave up sports. Mark played sports when he was little (age 4-6) but hasn't played since. So I was glad both wanted to play something. Mark has really improved in his game.
Close-up -- Love that face! Let's see if Paul ever reads his mom's blog....
 Mei has been busy too. There is a minor league baseball team in our area and they sponsored a sleepover on the outfield for the Girl Scouts. I volunteered to spend the night with another leader and our 5 girls. There were about 270 girls and leaders altogether. After running around, doing cartwheels, handstands, and being silly, it was lights out at midnight. Mei didn't go to sleep until after 1am. She was missing her puppy pillow. She has mostly given him up, but this was the first night she spent without him. Neither of us thought of bedtime when she stated she wanted to leave him at home. It was hard but she got to sleep without him. She is growing up!  Time to get up Mei!
Some times my dear husband is so silly! He is laying in a bike rack outside the ball field. He absolutely loves, loves LibraryThing and has been entering all our books. He has over 500 in there so far. He hasn't even done the kid's bookshelves yet. Who would have guessed we had that many books? |
Speaking of growing up, LOOK who lost her first tooth! |
 And me? I have been learning more html and hanging out at CWTR. It is a social network for Christian Women. Come join CWTR! |
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• Aug. 1, 2008 - Help with setting goals for our children
• Jul. 23, 2008 - I saw God today...
Last night while eating dinner, I noticed this bird, in the picture, on my deck railing. She was flapping her wings as if to dry them or to stretch them. As I watched, a Carolina wren flew up to her with a seed in its mouth. It gave the seed to her by putting it in her beak. Then the wren flew back to my window feeder and got another seed. It flew back to the bird and fed her again. This happened several times. The bigger bird tried to fly to the feeder but was unable to land there. Although the bigger bird could fly some, I think its flight was limited. Finally they both flew off.Female of unknown species
 Carolina Wren
I was amazed to see how the little bird was looking after the big bird. It was clear that they were different species. It reminded me how we are to care for one another and of how God cares for us. It was cool!
Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience....And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:12 and 17
I shared this story with my mom and she thinks the big bird is actually a baby cowbird. The cowbird mom lays her eggs in another bird's nest and then the other bird raises her young. Doesn't sound right does it?
Anyway, the wren was happily doing her job of raising the cowbird. Sometimes things don't go the way we planned, yet are we willing to do our best -- and feed the baby that really isn't ours?
Oh, Lord may it be so with me. |
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• Jul. 17, 2008 - God and Squirrels
I was reading some older blog posts and realized I didn't blog my follow-up to the squirrel story. Here is what I wrote on June 16.
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The squirrels have annoyed me for the last time - I hope! About 2 months ago, I bought a window bird feeder and we have really enjoyed it. Then the squirrels found it. They come up on the deck and climb my window frames or the French door frame. I tried using the red pepper powder but they still eat it. So I moved it to another window in the family room, away from the deck. Well, the squirrel jumps off the deck railing and most times makes it. Today he knocked down the feeder just minutes after I had filled it.
It is now on the window over my sink. I don't think he can jump from the railing. I will not be able to reach the window from the outside unless I use a ladder. However, since my windows tilt in for cleaning, I should be able to refill it from inside the house. We will see....
Otherwise, I may have to use a second story window - except we are not up there enough to enjoy the birds...
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So it was up there about 2 days when it got knocked down - again. Now they are jumping from the other deck railing. I thought about putting it on the window one further away from the deck railing, but didn't get around to it. The following Sunday morning I was reading and praying when I heard this awful noise in the kitchen. The squirrel was on the window I was going to try next, looking around for the food.
I had been doing a study on listening and obeying God. It talks about taking everything to God, so I did. My prayer went like this - Dear Father, I am so frustrated by those squirrels. They keep eating all my bird seed. I really enjoy seeing the birds and Lord, what am I going to do about those squirrels? The birds are your creatures Lord and I love them. Then I waited....
Then the answer came - Beverly, the squirrels are my creatures too. So the feeder is back where we started. The squirrels can get to it without knocking it down. The birds can reach it. I can reach it...
And yes, the squirrels come, but the birds do too. Thank you Lord for helping me to see that you care about all of your creatures. Just as you care about all of your people, may I also care about everyone as you care about them.
The feeder...
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• Jul. 11, 2008 - Recent Updates
On July 4th, we had fun with friends. My friend Mandy and her family were there. Mandy and I enjoyed trying to take pictures of the fireworks, the kids, and the lightening. I love how Mandy's pictures look on her blog and may have to redo my blog soon.
 Mei and two of Mandy's sons enjoying
the show.
This was a pretty funny scene. There was a storm coming in and the young men were trying to capture the lightening on their cell phones and cameras. Notice, there is no picture of Mandy and I trying to do the same thing. 
Well, the boys (including dh) made it home safely last Friday. It was really good to have them home. After some catching up on sleep on their part and a huge, huge mountain of laundry on my part, we were back to normal.
Mei had her first Brownie Try-It this week - a water safety one. She really enjoyed it except for the part where they jumped in full dressed. The water was deeper than she was used to and the extra clothes upset her. But she recovered fine. I would like her to take swimming lessons, but she says she is not ready yet. (Thanks to Christine for taking the picture.)
I completed my first week of housekeeping on my new schedule!! Yay!! It really wasn't that hard or time consuming. And hey, my light switches are clean! I looked at a lot of different plans for cleaning and could not find one that worked like I wanted to work. So I copied the list of tasks from 3 different places to make my own list and schedule. To manage it all, I entered it into Homeschool Tracker, under a student called Housekeeping. Since I like to have a laundry day, a kitchen day, a bathroom day, etc. it was easy to create repeating tasks. I created a "lesson plan" for each day of the week and then put the task list in the Description field. If I can figure out how to upload a file so you can see it, I will do that. Now each week, I just print out my weekly schedule of cleaning.
I am still planning school lessons. I am getting closer to being done. I just received the new art books, so I need to read and plan those lessons. And guess what? My close friend is adding Music this year - but not art. Since I am adding art, but not music, we might try getting together for Friday afternoons of Art and Music. My kids are excited.
When dh and the boys were gone, I stayed up to 3:30am three nights and up to 1am one night. I found a new toy...LibraryThing. See my books on the right? My dh loves it too! So we will be getting a lifetime membership and entering all of our books. We are also thinking of creating one for our church library so that the list of books is accessible to our members online. |
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• Jul. 3, 2008 - Boys at Camp
The boys are at Boy Scout camp this week. It is Paul's last summer camp because he will be 18 in April. It is Mark's first summer camp. Since this is the only time they will be there together, my dh James went too. Mark is taking swimming, leathercraft, and a beginning scout program. Paul is taking rifle shooting and I am not sure what else.
Mei and I painted two walls in her room blue this week. I had painted a faux lavender color before we adopted her. So now it is lavender and blue, which matches her quilt. We also rearranged the furniture and pictures on the walls. Now to sort through all those accumulated toys, papers, and assorted stuff . I am hoping most of it goes to live somewhere else.
Mei and I went bowling today with a friend and her mom. It was Mei's first time and she loved it! She played three games with the bumpers up. I don't remember all her scores, but she got a 83 on the first game. That was better than my first game without bumpers - a mere 57 I think. My second game I used the bumpers too and scored a 118.
We have a cookout to attend tomorrow and then the boys come home on Saturday. I hope you have a wonderful July 4th holiday. Happy Birthday America!
My boys at camp:
And dear husband:
Mei's new look:
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• Jun. 25, 2008 - Wedding Pictures
Finally, as promised. Here is our wedding picture. We were a young 23 and 22 years old. Want to hear a funny story about my first husband and my second husband?
Way back before the big day, James and I were both living in Kentucky. We wanted to have our wedding in Michigan. Of course, the requirements for wedding licenses were different in the two states. Michigan required blood tests and an exam by a doctor. After some searching, we found someone in Ky. willing to give us the proper blood tests and send them to my childhood doctor in Michigan. In talking to my doctor, he said that he examined the bride but only talked to the groom. So he really didn't need to see my dear hubby-to-be. So I went to Michigan a week before the wedding (a 6 hour trip). I was to see the doctor on Monday, take the forms to the court house for the license, pick it up on Friday, and get married on Saturday. James was driving up with friends on Friday.
So Monday, the doctor does his thing and as he is signing forms he says: wait, I can't sign James's form because he has to sign it front of me. Well James is in Ky with no way to get there - a friend driving up from Georgia to be his best man was picking him up. So there is no way to get a license before Saturday. I call the minister that is to marry us and explain the situation. I beg him to marry us anyways, because after all - who is the true authority of marriage - God or the law? He agrees to marry us without the legal paperwork with the promise we will get married legally later.
James arrives late Friday afternoon. We have rehearsal on Saturday morning, play mini-golf in the afternoon, and get married that evening. Everything goes off as planned. Sunday afternoon we load up the car with the gifts and drive back to Ky. Monday morning we go the court house to apply for a marriage license (there is a 3 day waiting period). That afternoon we head off on our honey moon - a camping trip through the mountains of Ky and Tenn.
The following Monday we pick up our license and after work we go see a Justice of Peace. One of our friends that was unable to go to the wedding comes along as a witness, The Justice's wife is the other witness. The guy has glasses as thick as the bottom of Coke bottles. James and I are laughing the whole time. We take our wedding rings off - hand them over for the ceremony and then put them back on. Poor Justice. We did not explain what was going on to him. We just stood there and laughed.
And oh, James forgot to tell his parents about it. A friend of his rode home with his parents and on the way, casually mentioned that wasn't it a shame about our wedding not being legal? I can't imagine how the rest of that trip went...
So I married my first husband on June 11 and my second husband on June 20. We celebrate the 11th. James enjoys joking about my first husband. He has been a wonderful husband to me for 25 years.
Wanta know one of the coolest things about him? I can't sing - I have no idea if I am on pitch, on key, etc. Not once in 25 years has James ever said anything to me about my singing. James can sing. Now that is something to endure! 
So here we are 25 years ago:
And here we are just 2 years ago. James was tickling me when Paul took the picture. This is one of my favorites of us. Sorry, our recent pictures have not been as good.
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• Jun. 22, 2008 - Lavender and the Stare Down
A couple of Saturdays ago, my friend Lois and I visited a lavender farm. Mei went too. I didn't know much about lavender but learned a lot that day. I also came home with 2 little plants of my own. Maybe next year I can cut lavender from my own plants. 
 Lois and Mei cutting some to take home.
Another visitor to the lavender.
My dear husband noticed the Stare Down. It went on for quite awhile. The bird won. Domino gave up, jumped down from the railing, and laid on the porch instead. The house finch stayed in triumph and then flew away. They like to make nests in my flower pots.
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• Jun. 16, 2008 - Update
Just an update...
Last week was our 25th anniversary. Yup, we have been married for 25 wonderful years. It was a quiet day. My dh gave me a beautiful necklace and I wrote him a list of all the reasons I love him.
The week before was my birthday. I am now just 2 years from the big 50. My dh got me a wonderful card that plays "Super Freak". Remember that song? If so, your age is showing...
Our frog died. We set all of them free but the smallest. Last night we found her floating. Dh and the kids buried her in my flower bed around the mailbox.
My Best Friend in Texas is coming to visit me on Friday. Yay!
The squirrels have annoyed me for the last time - I hope! About 2 months ago, I bought a window bird feeder and we have really enjoyed it. Then the squirrels found it. They come up on the deck and climb my window frames or the French door frame. I tried using the red pepper powder but they still eat it. So I moved it to another window in the family room , away from the deck. Well, the squirrel jumps off the deck railing and most times makes it. Today he knocked down the feeder just minutes after I had filled it.
It is now on the window over my sink. I don't think he can jump from the railing. I will not be able to reach the window from the outside unless I use a ladder. However, since my windows tilt in for cleaning, I should be able to refill it from inside the house. We will see....
Otherwise, I may have to use a second story window - except we are not up there enough to enjoy the birds...
I am still working on goals and planning classes. I am using free version of Homeschool Tracker to plan the non-WinterPromise subjects. WP comes with this wonderful schedule.
No pictures this week. I hope to scan in our wedding picture some time soon and will post that. |
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• Jun. 12, 2008 - My Homeschooling Scriptures From Step 1
When I prayed last week for my kids and looked up scriptures about teaching my children. My favorite was this one:
Proverbs 24:3,4
"By wisdom a house is built and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures."
May I fill my children's rooms (hearts) with rare and beautiful treasures as I increase their knowledge and understanding.
This verse has been important to me in several ways:
1 Timothy 4:8
"For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to
come."
1) When I was going crazy over exercising and dieting, God showed my that although being healthy is a good thing, it is not as good as godliness.
2) Although teaching my kids math, science, history, etc. has some value, it is more important to teach them godliness.
One of my goals is this verse:
Psalm 34:11
"Come, my children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord."
And this one for me:
Titus 2:7-8
"In everything set them an example by doing what is good. In your teaching show integrity, seriousness, and soundness of speech that cannot be condemned, so that those who oppose you may be ashamed because they have nothing bad to say about us."
And those are just some of the scriptures God gave me about teaching my children. |
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• Jun. 9, 2008 - Frogs - One of God's Wonders
We set our frogs free today except for the smallest one. We are going to keep her for awhile. Mei named it Mei so it must be a her. They really seemed ready to go.
Jump! Jump! You are free!
Last Friday, we attended a dance recital that several of dear friends were in. My dear friend Jill has two daughters that participated. This past January, her daughter Erin asked for prayer in guidance in picking a song for a dance solo. It was right after I had asked God what it meant to glory him. He answered by saying this next song on my MP3 player was how. It was "In Wonder" by the Newsboys. I almost cry every time I hear it now because I know it is from God. I suggested it to Erin. I could just see her twirling to the song in my mind.
Her dance was accepted and she danced it for me and the audience on Friday night. It was so beautiful. Erin came up with the dance herself. Her sister helped her with the closing movements, which Erin forgot - so she made up her own movements for the end. That is my favorite part because it seems more worshipful and personal. I was quite a way back in the audience so I got some heads in the pictures, but here she is... A wonder of God... Thank you my dear sweet sister in Christ.
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• Jun. 5, 2008 - New Laptop!
Hi! Today is my birthday and yesterday my birthday present to me came. I have a new green laptop!!!! I have been busy moving all my stuff to it, so I can work (I mean play) while the other two computers at my house have children playing on them,
School is done and now it is fun time. Time to finish those projects and do some painting.
See ya soon! We are going to a dance recital tonight. I am hoping that a beautiful young friend of mine is dancing to my favorite song - In Wonder by the Newsboys. |
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• Jun. 1, 2008 - What I spent Memorial Day doing...
I accomplished my plans for Memorial Day. Which was a surprising in hindsight because I was in a lot of pain. The Wednesday before I had my back molar pulled. It already had a root canal and a crown on it, so there was nothing left to save. It is out and it hurt. I swelled up big time and my jaw and neck were bruised.
Anyways, back to the weekend. I removed all the books from our library book shelves. Then I removed the old computer. I pushed the empty book shelves and 2 small file cabinets to the center of the room, along with the computer - could not give up computer access all weekend. I then mopped and dusted since it had been 9 years since some of those walls have been touched. We also removed the desk and table the computers were on.
On Saturday, I painted and started moving furniture back. I also started building the new furniture. Even though it is solid particle board rather than solid wood, it weighs a lot. I got a new corner shelf unit for the printers, etc., two new computer desks (one with a hutch), and two more file cabinets. By Monday, we had everything back in place but the books. My dh is sorting through them and organizing them as he returns them to the shelves. So we still have books in the hallway.
Meanwhile, my dh went to a friend's house to help cut down the monster tree. It was a huge oak that is rotting from the inside out. The main branches are about 35ft up and are as big around as most trees themselves. After hacking on it two days, they tried to pull one branch down with a dump truck. They broke two wire cables. Today, it rained really hard and the wind blew -- and guess what, God brought that part of the tree down. It fell right where they wanted it to and it didn't hurt anything. Praise the Lord!
We are done with school, including testing. Yay!!!! 
All the tadpoles are now froglets. They ate all the fruit flies, but we have fruit fly larve crawling in the fruit fly tube and hope they will soon become adults so our frogs can eat. I did shake out some larve and the frogs ate them. We feed them all the small crickets. We have 7 frogs now.
 My new furniture and new paint color. It is called Peanut Butter. As Markie says - a peanut threw up on our walls. it really does look like a creamy peanut butter.
 James the brave. They used a wench on a truck to raise and lower themselves up the tree.
 James preparing to hack on the biggest branch they want to remove.
 God's Handiwork! Perfect in every way. |
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• May. 21, 2008 - Frog Update!
Day 16: May 21
I bought some flightless fruit flies at Petco yesterday. They love them! Or at least they are disappearing from the habitat. These guys don't fly but can crawl like crazy, so I had to tape most of the air holes shut. I moved the crickets back to the cricket habitat. I counted 6 frogs today. These guys are good at hiding.
Thank you Lord that our little froglets are eating and we continue to ask that you keep them alive! |
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• May. 19, 2008 - Tadpoles to Frogs Saga
So we are doing Apologia's Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. In lesson 4 on aquatic herps, it has an experiment you can do with tadpoles.
Day 1: May 6
We were visiting someone's house and the kids found a bunch of tadpoles so we brought them home for our experiment. We put 5 tadpoles in one small habitat container and the other 5 in another habitat container. We boiled some lettuce and are feeding it to them.
Day 4: May 9
We started our experiment and drew pictures of their size. Each day, we shown a bright light on one container for 2 hours to warm the water. Some had little leg buds.
Day 7: May 12
Well it worked, those warm water tadpoles started growing like crazy and soon got full back legs, complete with toes. Colder water ones still just have buds. We put a rock in each container for them to climb onto.
Day 8: May 13
Two in the warm water now have front legs! Some of the ones in the cold water now have a bend in their back legs. I buy some frozen bloodworms for the froglets to eat. They don't eat any that I can tell.
Day 10: May 15
Three froglets in the warm water are climbing out of the water and clinging to the sides of the container. Then disaster strikes that evening. We find one froglet floating dead. We remove him.
Day 11: May 16
Another dead froglet this morning. We are now attached to these guys and the deaths are too much. We skip school and make a mad dash to the pet store. We buy a frog friendly container with a gentle slope. We buy small crickets for them to eat. The froglets love their new home because they can sit in the water and poke their heads out to breathe. There are also little rocks to hide under. We add two crickets. We put all the tadpoles into one habitat container and turn the other into a cricket house for the extra crickets.
Day 13: May 18
We keep moving froglets to the frog home. We now have 4 crickets, a dead fly, some bloodworms, and some lettuce in there with the froglets The crickets are as big as the froglets. What are the froglets eating?
Day 14: May 19
We have just 2 tadpoles left in the tadpole habitat and 7 froglets, 4 crickets, some bloodworms, a dead fly, and some lettuce. We are trying to capture some gnats. That hasn't worked yet. We heard you can buy wingless fruit flies at the pet store. Going to try doing that tonight.
So what are they eating? Who is going to die first? I put some potato in there for the crickets. If I starve them will they be so weak the frogs can eat them? The frogs are interested. We saw them having a stare down. Meanwhile, the crickets are getting bigger.
Stay tuned....
 One of our tadpole habitats. The other has a purple lid. That is leaf lettuce floating in there.
 He is a little out-of-focus but that is a froglet on the rock and 3 tadpoles in the water.
 This guy is ready to be moved to the new frog habitat!
 Our frog friendly habitat on the left, tadpoles in the middle, and crickets on the right. The light is still useful for spotting these guys.
Current update: I tried to count the frogs - could only find 5. Did 2 become dinner for the others?? There is also two suspicious white balls. Could they be cricket eggs? If so, maybe the frogs can eat the hatchings. That would work... |
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• May. 15, 2008 - Recent Fun Stuff!
Last week we attended Paul's induction into the National Honor Society. It was a nice ceremony and we are proud of his efforts in school. He also took his AP Chemistry exam this week, which he thinks went okay.
Also last week, we went to Jan's house from our home school association so us moms could work on the Egg Drop supplies. The kids got to run around and have fun. Mei helped catch a bunch of tadpoles, which I will blog about in their own post. I helped count and make up bags of straws, note cards, and packing peanuts. Then two of us moms used the supplies to build an egg protector. We tested them by dropping them out a second story window. Mine got a small dent and oozed. The other mom's had a crack all around it and it oozed too. So no winners there!
This week on Tuesday we had our Egg Drop. Each child or mom could build an egg protector from anything they wanted as long as it weighed less than 3 pounds. We dropped them just to see if our ideas were any good. Then we had the timed competition with 3 age groups. We declared a winner in each group and one over-all winner. The winning contraption, built by a 5 year with help from mom, protected the egg through 5 drops to win. Then the kids played soccer and the moms talked. What a great afternoon!
Next week is our last, except for Mark's testing!
 Paul and friend from church, both were inducted in NHS.
 Mei dropping my contraption.
 My contraption - some where under all those air bags is an egg. It cracked.
 Mark drops his over the side.
 It made it! He packed it in a small bag of packing peanuts, put that bag in a bigger bag of peanuts, and then put that bag in a box of peanuts. SUCCESS!
 This 16 year old built this from the materials in our bag. Creative design, but the egg cracked.
 Some where under the peanuts, Mark has an egg. His egg did not survive.
To see all the pictures, click HERE. Many creative ideas. The foam tray with the egg taped it to worked! Perhaps because there was a breeze that day. The egg in the peanut butter and flour bag survived too. |
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• May. 10, 2008 - Summer Plans
With Paul in public school, the younger two, especially Mark is pushing for doing nothing. Mark and Mei are done by Memorial Day, with Mark having state required testing the following week. Paul won't be done until June 8.
Both boys will going to Boy Scout camp for a week away from home in late June. My dh is going with them. It will be Paul's last summer camp and Mark's first summer camp. Mei and I will enjoy girl-time for a week.
Paul is hoping to get a job or do some volunteer work. Mostly he will hang out with friends and play video games. Hopefully, he will start his Eagle project for scouts. Or maybe decide where he wants to go to college and what he wants to major in.
Mark is planning to read the entire Left Behind Series for Kids. He is on book 4 so he might make it through book 40. We'll see. I also want him to work on probabilities and statistics some before starting algebra in the fall. Oh, and lots of video games and TV.
Mei will play and practice her reading and her addition/subtraction facts.
Mark and Mei have recently made friends with another home school family with kids close to their age. So we will probably get together with them quite a bit, if this week was any indication. 
I will read all those IG's and plan and dream about the perfect school year. I also want to work on setting and writing down goals for the kids. Oh, and paint some more rooms, finish my living room curtains (yes, it has taken me 2 years to get these done), get caught up on scrapbooks, and read some good books.
We may go somewhere for a week in early August and then school starts in August - whatever date will get me done by Memorial Day next year. Paul will start the first business day after August 25.
I got some cool pictures this week. I'll try to blog about them later. Gotta run and take Mark to a program about bats (the hairy, flying kind) at our local museum. |
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• Apr. 27, 2008 - I've been Tagged!
My Best Friend in Texas tagged me. So here you go, dear friend o'mine. You know me too well - I can't resist.
What was I doing ten years ago?
Celebrating my dear son's (ds) 7th birthday and my dear hubby's (dh) 37th birthday.
Enjoying my one year old ds.
Working for a living, but wishing I could stay home full-time.
Dreaming about the big house we were building and what we going to do with all that room.
Saying good-bye to our close friends as they moved back to Arkansas.
Five things on my To Do list today
1. Worship God
2. Have birthday lunch for ds and dh
3. Take a nap
4. Ensure my oldest ds and dh get to the college presentation
5. Eat only what I am supposed to eat
Things I would do if I were a billionaire
Call my husband's boss and tell him James quit. (Suzie had this one and I loved it!!!)
Give 40% to God's work.
Use another 50% to pay taxes - or is this billion tax free?
Send my children to the colleges of their choice.
Travel to China to visit my dd's birth place and all the other interesting places in China. This could take months.
Travel to Australia and New Zealand.
Live like I do now and invest the rest.
Three of my bad habits/qualities
1. Lies I believe/believed about food.
2. Talking about myself a lot. That's why I like these things :)
3. Not letting friends know how important they are to me.
Five places I’ve lived
1. Big house in my current town
2. Green house - just 1 mile away from big house
3. Apartment - just 1 mile away from my first house, aka. the Green house
4. Apartment at 123 State Street - far, far away in another state
5. My childhood home - really far away in another state
Five Books I’ve recently read
1. Bible
2. Christ the Lord: Road to Cana by Anne Rice
3. Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt by Anne Rice
4. Breaking Free by Beth Moore
5. Love and Respect by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs
I tag Jenn, Mandy, Mary, Sherri, Lindygirl and anyone else that wants to play.
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• Apr. 25, 2008 - I AM PURPLE!
I always said I am purple. There is no skin color difference - we are all purple. I have a friend that claims purple does not exist because he can not see it. But it is there - it is the color we all are underneath our skin. It is the color that makes us one.
I do know I am NOT GREEN! Okay, enough with the green stuff. I have decided I am anti-green because of all the advertising. Everybody is Green now! First there was organic - which I can hang with. Now it is green - green cleaners, green cars, green companies, and even green video game manufacturers. Let's all put the word GREEN on our product so that everyone that buys it will feel good about themselves. Yuck!
So I am purple. I am a purple person doing her part by saving not one, but two blue recycle bins of recyclables from the big land fill every week! And one of those is just all that junk mail that keeps coming to my house!
I have used organic based cleaners for the past 17 years! Where have the rest of you been?
We cut our water bill in half in the past 4 months by getting a front loader washer and by not flushing all the time. We also catch the cold water in a bucket while the shower is heating and use that to flush with. We take quick showers. If I indulge in a full bubble bath once or twice a month, then we use that to flush with for the rest of the week. We just got a rain barrel for watering our outside plants.
We have programmable thermostats to keep the house warm and cool effectively. We turn out lights. And some day when all those incandesents burn out, they will be replaced by fluroscent ones. We track our water, electric and natural gas usage from month to month and year to year. We are down! Yeah!!! More money for pizza!
When my dh remembers to empty our collectors, we even carry organic matter out to the compost heap. Old moldy bread, apple cores, etc. go flying off the deck - gotta feed those deer, squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and other critters that live in my backyard.
So am I against saving the environment? Heck, no.
I am just anti-GREEN! I AM PURPLE! |
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• Apr. 16, 2008 - Only 5 weeks and 2 days left....
of school for Mark & Mei!!! The end is in sight! I do have to do Mark's state testing the week after we are done. It is about the last week you can do it for this "regular" school year. I am so determined to be done with classes by Memorial Day.
Mei is whizzing along in 2nd grade math. We started it since she finished the 1st grade books. Mark is close to finishing 6th grade math. The stuff he is learning now is the same as his first chapter in Algebra, so that will make it a nice review.
We are really enjoying Swimming Creatures!! Mark is even Notebooking without fussing. Mei is working on a lapbook for it. We hope to complete 4 lessons and start raising our tadpoles before we stop for summer.
Language Arts and History are going well too. We will be glad to be done!
Yesterday, we took another field trip. I organized this one - a visit to a Civil War site. It is only about 2 miles from our house. The best part was the staff member in solder costume that talked about life as a solder and fired his rifle for us. It was fun.
 If you can't decide to be for the North or the South, you can always wear both hats...
 Right before he shot the rifle for us. |
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• Apr. 8, 2008 - Spring Break!!!
We went to Orlando for spring break last week. We had a great time, although we were disappointed in not being able to hug Mary and meet her family. 
On Sunday, we visited the swimming creatures at Sea World. Mark suggested we could count it as school since we are studying swimming creatures right now. Sea World is my favorite park in Orlando. I got brave and rode Kracken (the roller coaster) twice with the boys - once in the back row (fastest) and once in the front row (scariest). Mei got wet.
On Monday, we met some friends from home at Disney Hollywood Studios (used to be MGM). We loved the Areosmith roller coaster. I did not like the Tower of Terror. Mei enjoyed the High School Musical show. Mei got wet.
On Tuesday, we were supposed to meet Mary at Busch Gardens in Tampa, but her ds got the chicken pox. Since we were worn out from spending literally all day at the parks on Sunday & Monday, we took a day off. We watched movies we brought from home, swam in the pool, made a grocery run, and cooked dinner. Mei got wet.
On Wednesday, the boys and dh met another friend from home at Disney Quest, where they played video games for 12 hours and fought the pirates 6 times. Mei and I went to Magic Kingdom where she picked the rides. We rode Dumbo (or Dumby as she kept calling him), the spinning tea cups, and the race cars all twice. Of course we also rode Peter Pan, Small World, the rockets, Buzz Lightyear, the flying carpets, and even the kid's roller coaster. Minnie's House was closed with a sweet note from Minnie about why. Mei had to read it every time we walked by it. I just loved seeing her put her reading skills to work! The fireworks were great. Mei got wet.
On Thursday, we headed to Tampa and Busch Gardens. We didn't get there until almost 1pm and they closed at 7:30pm, so we decided to go back on Friday. All of us except Mei rode the 4 bigger roller coasters. Mark rode the smaller one too, so he could proudly wear his "I Defied the 5" t-shirt. Mei got wet on Thursday, but stayed dry on Friday. Guess she had enough of wet clothes finally.
On Saturday, we packed up and came home. It was a great vacation. I now remember why I don't like wooden roller coasters, but my love for the non-wooden ones has been restored.
The kids sat in the Splash Zone at the Shamu show but did not get wet. Mark and Mei made up for it afterwards in the fountain.
Mei getting wet at MGM in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground.
Getting wet at Magic Kingdom.
We like to try on the hats in the stores and take pictures. Mei took this picture of me as Captain Jack Sparrow.
Us getting on Montu at Busch Gardens - my first time and the boy's third time riding it.
Dad's turn on Montu. This was Paul and Mark's favorite ride.
On to Sheikra - one of the few 90 degree straight down drops. You hang for 3 seconds before you drop. There are 2 drops in the ride.
Mary told me the secret...
My boys and dh rode it on Thursday. I rode it with the boys on Friday. They wanted the front row and I agreed. Here you are, Mary....
 I loved it!!!! It was just way to short. Gotta go again some time. That is Paul beside me - he sure looks like his dad in the picture.
We usually visit Orlando about every other year, so we will catch you next time, Mary. We can ride it together on the first row! Are you ready? |
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• Mar. 25, 2008 - We saw the BIG cats today!
FIELD TRIP!! We tried to go several weeks ago and it got rained out. However today was gorgeous, although a bit chilly.
First we have the little cat at home - Domino:
Then a little wild cat - the serval:
The really big cat - tiger named Rajah. This one was actually small for a tiger.
Here is Lucky:
And here is Jelly Bean:
We also saw some ocelots binturong  and caracal.
This place is a "retirement home" for big cats. They really seemed to be enjoying themselves. We were about 4 feet away from them with only a chain link fence between us. |
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• Mar. 23, 2008 - Markie Mark is Eleven Today!
My second son turned eleven today, Easter Sunday. Eleven years ago, they had just released the enhanced versions of the first 3 Star Wars movies. My dh wanted to make sure I saw them all before I had our baby. So Friday night we saw the first. Saturday afternoon we saw the second and Saturday evening we saw the third. I went into labor around 11pm. Mark was born Palm Sunday morning around 10am.
When big brother Paul heard that he had a little brother, he said, "See God lets the big brothers pick." He had been praying for a baby brother, while we were praying for a daughter.
Mark, you are one special, sweet boy, who is almost to my shoulder. A just turned Boy Scout. A great little brother and a great big brother. You are often out-spoken, yet often times very insightful. You are very caring and sensitive of other's feelings. I love having you home with me every day - even those days you protest having your writing assignment. You rock! We love you dearly!
Happy Eleventh Birthday!!!!!
 One of my favorite pictures of Mark, on the left. Taken at preschool through a window in a cardboard house.
 When Mark wasn't Superman, he was Markie-no, the cat.
 Mark at age 4. He sung "Hark the Herald Ages Sing" on the local radio station.
 Taken today with his brother and sister. I love how my children love each other.
And I promise not to call you Markie Mark or Markie Bud in front of your friends if some day it embarrasses you. However, you will always be our Markie Mark, Markie Bud, and Buddy. |
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• Mar. 20, 2008 - Cow's Eye
See I got behind. Tonight I should be cleaning floors and toilets for my guests that are coming tomorrow, but instead I am sharing my thoughts. WOW! Three posts in one day. I sound like my best friend in Texas.
Last week, Mark had his second dissection class. They did a cow's eye. Being a good mom, I did what I thought I was supposed to do. I made him read all about eyes, even though he already knew most of it. So when we got to class, the teacher was asking these prompting questions and my son seems to be the only one that knows all the answers. I was rather embarrassed and asked another mom if I was not supposed to prepare them. The answer was, well, yes you are supposed to prepare them, but nobody does.
So next month, they are dissecting a rat --- yuck! If it still has the fur and tail, I will be grossed out. I don't know what systems they will be looking for. I don't think I will prepare Mark this time.
Anyway, here is a few pictures of Mark and the cow's eye. Mark had the same lab partner. He didn't want to cut much this time and he had to leave early. Enjoy!
 Me pulling the fat away from the eye so Mark can cut it off. There was lots of it.
 Mark says, "Man, I love this cutting up stuff! Can I cut it open yet?" |
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• Mar. 20, 2008 - What I thought of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt
I was looking over my old posts and realized I had not followed up on this book.
First, let me say I like Anne Rice's writing style. I enjoyed her early vampire books until they got too violent and over-the-top for me. So I was eager to see how this read. I still enjoy her style of writing.
I had read reviews of Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt that questioned the accuracy of her story. It is fictional, but she claims to have based it on the Bible, the Apocrypha, Roman Catholic doctrine, and the opinions of writers she thought were believable.
I like her Mary and Joseph a lot and thought they were believable. However, I don't agree that Mary was always a virgin. Nor do I believe that James, the brother, of Jesus was from Joseph's previous wife. I believe he was Mary's son, Jesus's younger brother. If you can get around the issue of who James' mother was and his birth order, I thought her James quite believable.
I didn't like her many aspects of her Jesus. Her Jesus, at age 7, does not know who he is. No one will tell him what happened at his birth and so the book is about his quest to figure that out. Because he doesn't know who he is or what powers he has, the book opens with him accidentally killing a bully. To me that is sin and the Jesus I know did not sin. There are other examples, but that one was the most offensive to me.
I do have a good recommendation for the author's note at the end of the book. It is her story of how she came to writing about Jesus, how her research restored her faith in God, and her conversion. It is interesting. The paperback version has an additional update on the emotional impact of her conversion and answers some of the more frequent questions she got from readers.
So get the book from the library and read her testimony. That part is cool. Go to Amazon.com and pull up the book to read the other reviews. Then read the story if you are still interested.
I am on the second chapter of the newest book, Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana. So far, I like what I have read. If her description of the culture, people's attitudes and actions are correct, then it really does shed some light unto some Bible passages. For example, there is a scene where two young boys are stoned by the community without a trial and without anyone but the rabbi questioning if the reasons are true. In her story, Jesus has not reveled himself yet, so he is silent and does nothing. If the people of that time & place were really that quick to stone people for sin, alleged or otherwise, then Jesus being able to stop the stoning of the woman caught in adultery was pretty amazing.
Look for a full report when I finish the book. |
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• Mar. 20, 2008 - Curriculum for Next Year
The WinterPromise published their new catalog online (hard copies started mailing this week). They have added a version of their American Story 1 for middle school students, with an add-on for high school level. So now your entire family can study American History together. They also added a very simple world history program for the K-1st graders. So check it out, if you are looking for a fun history program.
So here is what we are doing next year and then I will talk about it.
Next Year's Plan to start with:
WinterPromise's American Story 2
Apologia Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures
Mark: Jacob's Algebra
Mei: Horizons 2 math
Mark: Total Language Plus w/ addtl grammar work
Mei: WinterPromise's LA1
Bible for both
American Story 2(Civil War to WW2) - This continues where we will leave off in American Story 1 this year. I thought about doing something else next year and waiting for WP to update AS2 in 2009, but after some prayer, this seemed best.
Swimming Creatures - We started this 3 weeks ago and are loving it! We just finished the first chapter on aquatic creatures. Mark is already counted the weeks until we get to raise tadpoles (chapter 4). He is also lobbying for raising the sea monkeys or triops soon. It was an either choice for them in chapter 8, but since I got both, he wants to do one soon. He is also interested in raising baby chicks, so we are already talking about doing Zoology 1: Flying Creatures for the second half of next year.
Jacob's Algebra - Mark is ready for algebra so we are going to take it slow and see how far we get. I am excited about Jacob's. It is very teacher intensive which excites me. I prayed about this one a lot!! Yes, my God is interested in algebra books and yes, this one seems to be the answer.
Total Language Plus - I found this while searching for something else. I can't even remember what it was - spelling maybe? It is a LA program based around a specific fiction book. I got it because they had some books I wanted Mark to read and I planned to use just the reading comprehension part of it along with WP's LA6. I ordered the LA for the Hobbit and since I could save on postage, I also got the LA for Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe. When it came, I really liked all of it. It is completely centered around the book you are reading. It has comprehension, vocabulary, spelling, dictation, writing, projects, and grammar. So I decided to use it for all of his LA. I will be adding additional grammar resources to cover the rules. They even have LA programs for two of the read-alouds that are in AS2. How cool is that?
As for WP's LA6, I don't have anything against it. It just isn't right for us this year. The focus is creative writing. That is about the only writing that Mark was taught in public school since the state writing test is creative writing based. Mark needs work in writing more analytical type essays, including a research report. I also want him to start reading the "classics" or traditional literature for his age. TLP is built on many of the books I want him to read. He is quite excited about it.
Mei started with WP's PreK/K LA in Kindergarten and did the Advanced K LA for first grade this year. It has taught her to read, which I am very glad about. We will go onto the next one, LA1 next year. Although it is labeled as a first grade program, it is harder than most first grade programs, so using it for second grade should be fine. Regardless of the label, it is where Mei is at and it is working for us! Maybe some day we will catch up with the label - or I will get over the labeling and grade level issue.
Mei and math... She has 5 lessons left in her book this year and 8 weeks of school. One of the things I want to do with her is get those adding/subtracting facts memorized. Otherwise, we will probably start her 2nd grade math books in a few weeks.
Bible - First, I need to be consistent. Second, we need to finish our book on the first half of John.
What have I learned about my kids and myself this year? Lots, but that is a subject of another post! |
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• Mar. 7, 2008 - Still waiting although rumor
has it that it will be posted to the web this weekend. We will see!
Well, the Total Language Plus books came yesterday and I have made a new decision. We will use this for Mark's LA instead of the WP LA. First, I really like what I see in the lessons and writing assignments. The only weakness I see is the grammar, so we will restart with Grammar 5/6 like the WP LA does. That does mean I have to make up lesson plans - but just for one book. Although the Hobbit book looks harder, we will do it first. That way, we can the easier Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe closer to Christmas when we want to relax. I am not sure what other book(s) we will do.
The guides have the same words for both vocabulary and spelling, so they tend to be harder words that are found in the book you are reading. The Hobbit guide has words that I don't know how to spell, pronounce, and even a few that I am not sure what they mean. I get to learn too!!
Okay, still waiting and waiting... |
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• Mar. 4, 2008 - Anxious and waiting...
Just a quick update. We got our first box of books for next year last Friday. I have already read the first lesson in Jacobs Algebra and skimmed the whole book. Mark is asking if he can start skipping stuff in his 6th grade book so he can start Algebra. Mei looked at her grade 2 books and is already figuring out if she can also start early. Both are several weeks ahead, so they probably can.
I have no problem with them starting early. But I don't think they will want to continue through the summer. I don't really have a schedule for math anyway, so maybe we will dive into it....
Our science book also came on Friday - Exploring Creation with Swimming Creatures, Zoology 2. The science supplies I ordered came on Monday. I still have to go shopping for the others. We started the introduction lesson from Zoology 1 on Monday. Yes, we are diving into this one. Mark wants to know how quickly we can get to lesson 4 and start raising tadpoles. We are also going to raise sea monkeys and triops. I am pretty excited too!
I also ordered some supplemental LA reading comprehension & writing for Mark from Total Language Plus. Since I wanted a break on shipping, I ordered the guides for the Hobbit and the Lion, Witch, and the Wardrobe. It should be here soon.
I am waiting and waiting for WinterPromise to publish their new catalog. They are posting it on their website as soon as it starts mailing and mailing starts in March. Come on, it is March 4th already! I don't think they will have anything new that I will want, but just in case they do, I am waiting...
I am ordering American History 2 (Civil War to Modern) and the Language Arts programs for grade 6 and 1 from them. Yes, Mei will be in grade 2, but WP's grade 1 is more advanced than most grade 1 programs. She is doing really well with reading.
I am also waiting on some books I ordered for me. I got inspired to read the books Anne Rice has been writing about Christ. I read some of her vampire books when they first came out. I enjoyed them until they got too violent and "evil". She became a Christian in 2005 and has written two books - one about the Christ's childhood (Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt: A Novel) and one about the first half of his ministry (Christ the Lord: The Road to Cana) They are in the mail now!
I also ordered two school books to have as reference. One briefly describes various religions and spends a lot of the book describing the various forms of Christianity . My Friends' Beliefs: A Young Reader's Guide to World Religions. The other is the story of our state, which happens to be one of the original 13 colonies - state history is always a good thing to study.
Back in November I was asked to join a customer advisory board for our Internet Service Provider - Earthlink. For posting my thoughts and taking their surveys, they give me a $15 gift certificate at Amazon.com each month. Now how cool is that? You can bet I will be making a wish list now!
No pictures this week. Our field trip to see the big cats got rained out. We are going to a hands-on reptile field trip tomorrow.
What have you been up to? Have you picked your curriculum for next year yet? |
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• Feb. 23, 2008 - Mei learns to ride her bike!!
Today was a fun day. I had a scrapbook crop at my house and two of the moms brought their dd over to play with Mei. Since I only had 4 croppers, I got to work on my album. I redid an album I had in made in college of my overseas study in London. I had to pry some of the pictures out of the magnetic glue stuff. And ta-da! I finished it today!
After everyone left, Mei decided to work on riding her bike without the training wheels. We had tried a couple of months ago, but she was too scared to keep practicing. Today, I took them off and got her started. Then I went inside while she stayed outside and practiced. She got good enough that she could start off on her own and turn! Yeah Mei!
Mei also started reading on her own this week and is whizzing through the Little Bear books. Insert Happy Dance here... I taught my daughter to read, I taught my daughter to read.... This is major for me because I worried how I was going to do this since I didn't know my phonics when we started. Now I do! Thank You WinterPromise!!!!
Mark is doing well. He is looking forward to our field trip next week. We are visiting a place t | | |
