Busy this week cooking and helping the older children with maybe a project or two?  I found this site when I went looking for some coloring pages for our preschoolers.  There is much more...lots of unit type study material.  Some coloring pictures are strange (as all freebie sites) but I did find a good amount of things to keep them busy with their glue and scissors this week while we prepare for our Thanksgiving feast...

http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM

Enjoy!  Happy Thanksgiving!  Theresa

We are including a section in our spring issue of Seasons at Home called "Everything Babies".. we will be featuring some homebirth stories (modest details only), a midwife chat....If you have a business centered homebirth or (handmade preferred) baby products; Or are interested in submitting your homebirth story for publication, please contact us for details.  Send the link to your website if you have one; and a short summary of your story. 
ripe4harvest@msn.com  

Our magazines issues are being delivered daily.. Full subscriptions are now available!  The School Room column is already getting full for the spring issue.  We still have a little room.  The School Room is anything homeschooling.  We are more interested in projects, unit studies if you want to share one, focused methods, curriculum or resources (of course we TOS is in there!) than we are lengthy 'reading only' type articles only..
Many Blessings,!  Visit our sites, Nutrimill giveaway on...!

I sure am missing reading all the lovely blogs, our current projects have kept us very busy!  Take a minute to read about the section in our new magazine for homeschoolers above.  Since we run a family business everyone had to be involved, including the children and Dad!  We would love to hear from all those creative homeschoolers out there and give them yet another outlet to share their creativity.. so contact us!   We also are looking for women to share in our magazine.  If you haven't subscribed, please consider it so you can see what our magazine is about.  If you love to share homemaking projects, or love to write and have wisdom to share, see our current outline for this issue.  We are working hard at putting up all the information for our spring issue so be patient, my daughter and I have been two busy women!  Please email us if you have any questions at ripe4harvest@msn.com .

PLUS we are blessing someone with a one-speed Nutrimill for the holidays; visit either of our sites to get the details on when entries will start!  We are expecting our magazine any day here at the homestead so delivery will be very soon!

Many blessings on your day!

I came across this tonight looking for another folder and got a giggle.  Through a particular time, I was told to write out what I expected from a certain older child in my home.  We were under a lot of persecution at the time and I wasn't going to hold back to please any itching ears.  I told it like it was in this house. 
I was told that too much work is bad for children, well.  It was a very trying time for us... The Lord is good to all who call on Him....This is our expected list..

  To Live or Not To Live

If  I want to be wise I must seek the Lord.  Therefore I need to spend time in God’s Word, no one will do it for me.

If  I want clean clothes they have to be washed, therefore when laundry is piling up I must wash it and put it away.

If I want to eat I must be able to prepare food, therefore when needed I will prepare it. 

If I don’t want to be sick from not cleaning, I must clean.  Let’s face it, things become unsanitary and dirty with my help.

If  I want to further my head knowledge I must study and do my school, If I don’t, no one will do it for me and my head will stay empty.

If I want to live in harmony with my family I must be part of their team, I must like it because that is where I was put, the size won’t change and no one wants to hear about how I have rights to anything.  I will not let my circumstance rule my joy.

If I want to be heard, I must listen.

As for all other work…there are 394 verses in the bible about work.  Most of them are about working the ground.  I think that covers anything required outside when needed.

We all know what is required of us.  We may need to occasionally remind you, but you are expected to already know all of the above. 

If you have any questions about your appointed place feel free to contact us, we are always happy to listen, however your schedule for life will always stay the same.  

Love, Dad and Mom
Ephesians 6:1

Theresa

I blogged on my homesteader about the same thing here.  I thought the picture was perfect for my school blog too and those who don't do the homesteader.. our situations can sometimes cause fear, the fear causes us to do things the Lord never intended for us to pursue!  We have tried everything to fix our seemingly scary situation, but the Lord isn't scared of it.  :)  So this morning after all the 'fixes' the words 'be still' came to my mind.  I had to look up the verse, we know it, we just wait too long to listen! (Because we aren't still)  Psalm 46:10>  Be still and know that I am God.  I will be exhalted among the heathen, I will be exhalted in the earth. 

This little fellow knows how to be still.  He knows who feeds him.  The children loved watching his little jaws chew and chew.. just happy and content in my garden of dill.. eating away... see his little hands holding on..
Oh nature, when you need to 'be still'  go out and watch His creatures...

Have a 'still' day... blessings, Theresa

Well, if anyone read my first blog post since June you might be saying I'd better perhaps take up spelling tests!  For myself of course... that curriculum... I always get the u and i mixed up....

Grace!

Here is a really neat resource if you are studying the American Revolution.  This little gazette is filled with topics you can look up and study as a build to the revolution..  it has a few graphics, very neat indeed.

http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/tea%20gazette.pdf

Enjoy!  Theresa

I was really excited to find this art supply site, I bet a lot of moms know about it though!   It's Mister Art.  They have just a ton of things I've been looking for, one of them being dipping pens, ink and nibs.  We are working on our pretty penmanship over here.  My daughter needed watercolor paints, can't think of the brand right now, but the tubes.  They are $3.49 over at Michaels, they were $1.90 on this site.  So the prices seem pretty good.

http://www.misterart.com  Wonderful site! 

I bought Mary Daly's "Whole Book of Diagrams" and the Elementary text to go with it.  I think I only needed the elementary text though.  The book of diagrams is just examples with lessons from what I've seen so far.  The text however starts with lessons and blank pages to practice.  Still looks great as a teaching resource for diagramming.  I'm thinking about Harvey's Grammar and Composition book also.  I did buy the first 3 McGuffey readers from http://keepersofthefaith.com , the 1836 version.  Their prices were a little lower for the whole set than the mott media site.   We don't need the high school 4 edition just yet.  So that helped save a little money right now. 

Our other news is we have a baby due Jan. 08; #10:) 

Off to the morning, blessings, Theresa

Our lives don't have to be this exciting to journal our children's steps.  Anything written down that your children say or do will come back to you one day a hundred fold!  This morning was a lovely devotional by Elisabeth Elliot where she recalls her daughter's life in the jungle with Indians.   She kept a small notebook and dictated the happenings.  When written her daughter was just about to married with only 9 weeks to spare.   What a wonderful time to pull out our precious remembrances.  Read on....

 When she was born she was a marvel and an object of deep concern to the Indians of the jungle where we lived, for she was put not only in a bed separate from that of her parents, but even in a separate room. Demons, the Indians warned us anxiously, would certainly "lick" her if she was not protected between her father and mother. When we assured them that no demon would bother her at all, they shook their heads in bewilderment: another of the inexplicable differences between themselves and these foreigners. Demons don't like foreign children. But what about vampires? That, we knew, would have been a real danger if we had not lived in a screened house.

She was carried around in an aparinga, an Indian carrying cloth, not only by her mother but by Indian women and girls who asked if they might "borrow" her for a little while. She learned two languages at once and managed to keep them separate in her mind. She played, swam, walked the trails and ate fish heads with the Indian kids. The "slumber parties" she went to were in Indian houses where she took her blanket and curled up on the bamboo slats beside her friends, coming home in the morning to announce that breakfast had been soup. "What kind of soup?" I once asked. "Oh, rat soup, I guess," she said, and she was right.

Because she always went barefoot she had to wash her feet every night before going to bed, a chore she sometimes wished she could get out of. One evening while washing the supper dishes in the river she looked up to see a beautiful sunset. "It looks as though Jesus might come through there," she said to me, "and then I wouldn't even have to wash my feet. Jesus would wash my feet for me--he's kind."

In a small notebook I kept the accounts Val sometimes dictated to me of her doings with the Indians. One fragment from the notebook reads:

"We got to a little pool, a little lake. Uba just got one fish with her hands. With a knife she whacked it. And then we went to get pitumu [palm fruit]. We got chicha [manioc drink] where the little lake was. It was Ipa's chicha. She squeezed it for me into a little leaf, because we didn't have any cups. At home we have cups. I was thirsty. Kumi, Kinta and I drank some. The rest didn't have any because there wasn't any left. Then we got the pitumu and made a basket with some leaves, and then we came home. I saw wild pig and tapir footprints and that's all."

Later: "I took some poison down to the river and watched how Ana fixed it. Then I got some and put it in a little hole in the ground and punched it and punched it and punched it, and when the leaves got soft I put it in the basket and then in the water. Soon I got a little fish, a little fish, and a little fish [this is the Indian way of saying 'three fish']. Their names were kuniwee, niwimu and arakawae. I brought them to Gimari's fire and put them on a little stick that was burning and they got toasted and then I ate them. And that's all."

One evening I overheard Valerie singing to her kitten:

"Amazing grace, how sweet the sound

That saved a wretch like you."

Among the questions asked on a single day were, "Why can't we breathe under water?" "Will we go through a rainbow when we go to God's house?" "Owls got kinda paper faces, don't they?" "Can God make the tea stop coming out of the pot?" and "Why do dogs have knees in the back of their legs?"

Hers was a happy life with the Indians, but she dreamed of having a brother or sister. Standing in front of a mirror once she said, "I sometimes think this is my sister, my twin, and I talk to her and she answers me and smiles."

Perhaps this solitude helped her to understand the solitude of others. She loved taking care of things. In the jungle, making people comfortable meant, among other things, building a fire, and she spent a good deal of time at this. I found her tending two tiny fires underneath our house (which was on stilts), "one for me," she explained, "and one for my little birdie so he won't be cold." She had put the baby woodpecker's basket close by. Another time she was tucking up her small friend Taemaenta (both were about five years old) in her hammock, covering him with a doll blanket and fanning up the fire. When she climbed in beside him I inquired what she was up to. "Just being kind to Taemaenta because his mother is gone," she said. She carried her own dolls around in an aparinga, covering their heads with a rag when the trail led out into the sunshine, protecting them with her hand when she stooped to go under a fallen tree or through a patch of underbrush.

Her education for the first three years was the Calvert School correspondence course, begun under taxing conditions since we had no place to put books and things, living, as we were then, in a wall-less house. It was difficult to concentrate with Indians hanging over her shoulder, peering at the pictures, fingering the books, trying out the crayons, snipping things with the scissors.

The third-grade work included a lesson on mythology. As I was telling the story of Pandora's box I tried to explain the meaning of hope. After giving several other illustrations I asked, "What was my hope when your daddy died?" "Me!" was the immediate reply.

She was indeed. In the bleakest times she was there, a gift of joy, lifting her little face in love, smiling, not knowing anything of the need she met.

She thought much about God and heaven (which was to her not only the Father's house but her daddy's as well). I sometimes wrote down her prayers after I had kissed her goodnight. I did this not because I feared they would otherwise be lost (the great angel with the golden censer will see that they are not lost) but because I knew that they would be lost to me. I would forget. And also because I had no one, at that time, to tell them to.

"Dear Lord, thank you for this sentence: 'There is a green hill far away where the dear, dear Lord Jesus was crucified.' Jesus, you know that we don't understand your words. Just like those people long ago, when you told them you were going to come alive. They didn't understand. We're just like those people. So help us to understand. Help us not to lie and disobey and steal. Let's be sweet. And help me with my arithmetic tomorrow. In Jesus' name. Amen." She was eight years old.

She had seen birth and suffering and death in our life with the Indians, had acquired a "nerve of knowledge" that rendered her sensitive. When I asked if she ever thought about death she said, "Yes, sometimes when I'm washing my feet. You know how the sink is dry, and the water creeps up the sides when I'm filling it? There are little points around the edges of the water, and I think these points are the number of days before I'm going to die, and go to see my daddy. But I don't count them. I splash the water up quickly." With these intimations of mortality she was at the same time full of joy. She told me several times of dreams in which she found herself floating and singing. If she wakened in the night, she often sang. A friend described her walk as "not on but slightly above the ground."

When she was twelve I went into her room one evening to thank her for washing all the dishes when I had guests. "Mommy!" she said as I started to leave. "I want to thank you for my whole life! For all you've given me and for all the things you've done for me and for all the food you've cooked for me!"

To look at the woman who was that child of nine years ago and to realize that I am thanked for what I cooked and did and gave--thanked for doing what I could not possibly have helped wanting with all my heart to do--is to understand in a new light the words of Jesus, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." More "blessed"? He must have meant that it is a happier thing to aim at the giving rather than at the receiving, but, strangely, if we put the giving first the receiving necessarily follows. For me, from this child, the receiving seems to have been without interruption. It is not immediately so for all. I know. If we give out of love, however, there is ultimately no way in heaven or earth to avoid receiving, and receiving far more than we could possibly give.

Nine more weeks. Shall we have a multi-media presentation flashed on the walls of the church as she moves down the aisle? Swimming to the bottom of the rain barrel, eating rat soup, drinking chicha from a leaf cup, snuggling with Taemaenta in her hammock, floating and singing? Not a very workable idea. But I shall be remembering, and giving thanks.

One day I would like to recall my children's words.  We will forget.  I can read through my children's sayings from 5 years ago and laugh at them because I have deeply forgotten their humor when so little.  Even a video doesn't capture their heart as their words do.  Words, so important.  If you want more encouragment to write your families stories down, see "The Gift of Family Writing" !

May the Lord bless you deeply this Mother's Day!  Theresa

Is there anyone out here that has used both 'The Story of the World" and "Tapestry of Grace" that can give me their likes and dislikes of TOG compared to SOTW?  Or just used TOG?  I have used Story of the World for years now, and it's fine but it's hard to scale down the activites so a wide range of children can participate.  Plus the reading suggestions and map work is so so in my opinion.  Maybe we are just getting bored with it? 

Thanks for any help!   

Blessings, Theresa

A friend of mine is a montessori teacher and gave me this resource years ago.  At that time they didn't have much on there but last night when I got looked again they have expanded their catalog quite a bit.  Some of their products were quite expensive back then also but I've noticed they are carrying many products that are super reasonable.  One thing I found were art puzzles 8 to a set, they are 5" x 7" for $18.00.  That really isn't too bad and my children love puzzles.  I don't necessarily agree with all of Maria Montessori's ideas, but some learning techniques and product suggesstions fit well in our school.

www.montessori-n-such.com   Have some time handy before you go to the site, you'll want to look at everything once you get started!

Blessings, Theresa

P.S.  Thanks for the grammar contributions below friends!  I am not interested in workbooks but am using our outloud reading and copywork for grammar right now.  :)

Well, I'm on the search for an easier way to teach grammar.  I know there are numerous ways of doing this and I confess I've been burdened by textbooks.  As our number of children increases, I've seen them learn things that I know I haven't personally sat and taught them.  It must be from reading, in general, outloud and independently.  We have used Rod and Staff for years.  But with each child in a different book it gets tiresome for all parties!  I thought this morning after looking at the grammar and composition book I have from an Abeka program, that this is it.   I'm going to start using their real reading and copywork to teach grammar.  Whew! I'm feeling less pressure already.  I would love anyone's recommendations of simple books and helps in that area.  I mean simple!  I don't want a 20 book program on teaching from real books!!    Mother of 9 wants it's easy!

Off to morning, blessings, Theresa

This may not be news for some but it sure was for me!  The find this time is www.academicsuperstore.com  Homeschoolers qualify for these discounts with proof of educational status!  You can get many adobe products on here, oh my.  It was so incredible you just have to go see for yourself!  Go take a look and be blessed. 

Blessings, Theresa

What a wonderful book and audio cd you will find here.  If you haven't visited Remembrance Press, do so!  Jill's book and audio cd are the most encouraging works I have encountered about writing in my homeschool journey.
She gently leads you to write for your children, with your children and about your children!   Not just children, but your loved ones.  It encouraged me to often write letters to my husband!  As I listened to her it was like having a story read to me.  She encourages you how to lead your child to write so they won't get discouraged, so you won't get discouraged.
When you finish this book and hear her lovely stories and ideas, you will be anxious to start your own family writing.  Lasting memories to be read over and over in the future is what you will have in your possession!  
Her link is on my sidebar.  Don't wait to be encouraged.   Days go by quickly.  To learn how to preserve the time we spend with loved ones could be missed.

Also see the Girlhood!  It's coming out soon! 

Blessings, Theresa

Well, this post is more appropriate for my homestead blog, but for days I haven't been able to add a new entry.  My daughter is having the same problem.  We just can't figure it out.  So until it's resolved I'll enter them here!

The phonics process is a long one and can get so boring.  Not to say that some phonics programs are worthless, but my children are more excited about learning whole words right off the bat.  My daughter used Calvert School from the 1st grade on.  They teach reading with a whole word approach.  She is an excellent reader, but sometimes lacks spelling knowledge.  So that can be fixed.  :)

I'm using a whole word approach with my 4 year old right now.  He is enjoying this much more and the plan we use is simple and fun, like a puzzle!  I'm enjoying this more relaxed way of teaching them to read. 

Here is something fun.  I tagged a letter on my 4 year old's shirt the other day.  He was to wear it all day, and he did.  I wanted to see if he would remember the sound and the letter.  He loved it.  He felt so special and at the end of the day, MMMMMM was the sound and "milk begins with M".   

Blessings, Theresa

A great weekly find here!  I love using index cards and when Molly's site showed up I was excited that someone would offer this.  I have two boxes with dividers for my index card use.  It's such a simple thought but many people don't think to use them.  Molly has a lot of it thought out for you.  It can be as addictive as notebooking!  There are a variety uses for the index cards.  She offers sets with guides that include math, lanuage, art and music.  Index cards can be used for games, lapbooks, flashcards and more.  She also has a notebooking section and was a big blessing by offering great freebies ready to print.  Go visit her wonderful and helpful site.  Thanks Molly!

Homeschooling with Index Cards

Blessings, Theresa

Do our children really have 'breaks'?  At my house, I don't ever consider them on break.  We may not have a formal sit down learning session, but I have to keep them busy and their wheels turning.  If we don't do this, the next time we sit back down at our formal lessons, I will have a table full of crying children.  I can tell you what I've noticed.   Video games, television and pure fast entertainment kills the thought process!  Lots of kids on break are all of a sudden allowed all these freedoms that makes their mind lazy.  My children do much better if I at least read and engage them in conversation on these 'breaks'.  Drawing also stimulates their thoughts.  Just because you don't sit down with them doesn't mean they can't be constructive.  Reading, drawing, writing or even copying something on these 'breaks' keeps them creative.  Board games that require thinking are good for breaks.  Audio tapes such as the history ones I listed are wonderful.  I TRY to make learning as fun as possible.  I can't stand boring text books myself and although we use a few, I still try to break up the blahs with out loud recitations of a passage just read, of memory work or anything to let them participate.  Today for example, we were talking about Newton's laws.  Ok losing some of littles here...(4&5 yr. olds) Gravity came into the conversation and I had them all jumping off low objects then moved to letting them jump off the kitchen table to test how hard they would fall.  By the end of the lesson the younger children could explain gravity, while the older children understood why the moon doesn't fall on us. 

On your 'breaks' never let your family reading book slide.  Always be reading a family reading book!!  We are working through Swiss Family Robinson after dad reads the bible every night.  It's just a habit now and is quite enjoyable. 

Just some thoughts if you 'break'!

Blessings, Theresa

I am just starting to really enjoy unit studies and lapbooks with the children.  I'm so bored with our regular session of reading and writing for history.  Whew, does that sound bad! 

I purchased Amy Pak's "History through the Ages" Unit Study on CD.  This is the New World Explorers unit.  I am totally impressed with how she has arranged this whole unit.  I can pick and choose where to start if my children already have covered some things and I just want to move on.  Areas that we didn't explore well enough in our reading with the explorers are there with nice projects!  For example Lesson 6 covers navigation, this is where I'm starting.  Well, she covers knots in lessons 1-5 and we have to do this.  Lesson 6 covers the Sextant, Astrolabe, Back Staff, Cross Staff and Compass.  Very nice masters are included!  Project pages and text pages are separated.  The design on the file is so easy and well thought out.  Master pages for projects are separated once into the projects.  She has definitions and instructions all the way through for the lap book. 

I wish I could give a better description here.  But WOW!  I'm going to buy her Colonial Unit just out.  I feel like I'm going backwards a bit but that is the great thing about homeschooling.  We can choose to re-study, move ahead and just take as long as we like with our learning. 

www.homeschoolinthewoods.com  Great stuff!

Thanks Amy!!    Blessings Theresa

We are almost finished reading a biography of Issac Newton.  Giant of science?  Humm.  It was really sad at first.  He was sad and lonely as a child, abandoned by his mother to marry someone who didn't want him.  He had so much time to think, so that is what he did.  He didn't have many 'close' friends, I didn't read of marriage or children.  I think so far I've only enjoyed his want to learn why things are the way they are.  Light, stars, motion, colors, etc.  He would investigate the cause and effect of everything, even to the point of doing harm to himself.  He was almost blinded by his own doing to understand why his eyes worked the way they did.  He never took anyones word on how something worked, he found out for himself.  I think that is the only thing I admired about him.

We are coming to the end of this biography.  I think I can guess how it ends.  He made great discoveries.  Apparently, he never liked to publish his works.  He sounded pretty selfish and awful!  Battling and feuding with anyone he was able to.  He is well into his eighties and from his behavior so far, I bet he dies paranoid and unhappy.  After all that work!  Things he could share to others joy, he didn't seem to care about that. 

Well, very interesting food for thought.  Biographies, don't you love them.