For some reason my last, very important entry did not come through on many, if not all feed readers. So I'm putting this notice out there again that I have a new blog home.

I will no longer be posting at this site....visit me at www.inthesparrowsnest.com!

I confess, I'm having a hard time getting geared up for this Christmas.  Several reasons - having completed our 2nd remodel in two years has set us back financially, we've been busy helping Mom get settled in her new house right behind ours, and we have a large lawsuit looming over our heads from my husband's consulting business.  All of this has also contributed to some very light schooling lately, and a lack of desire to update this blog.

But here it is, the 19th. My dd's birthday is today.  She's seven and so excited.  We took her to Build a Bear for her birthday, and while at the mall began our Christmas shopping.  Fortunately, our list of those to buy for isn't too long, so it shouldn't take long to complete. 

With all the stuff going on, and working part-time, we are considering changing curriculum.  I love Weaver, but don't feel like I'm able to do it justice.  To do it the way I want to requires more prep time than I currently have.  Anyone want to offer their suggestions for a low-prep, Christ centered curriculum?  I have some ideas, but am always open to suggestions.

I hope your Christmas is filled with those things that bring you peace and joy!

Robin

First, let me clarify.

My title is, "What I Want."  The title is not, "What I Need."

And No, I do not want world peace. Why do I not want world peace? Well, because it is not possible, so why would I spend my time wanting something that we shall never have this side of Heaven. I don't mean to sound cynical, but as long as sin is present there will not be "world peace." Now, striving for peace in our family and doing my part to promote peace are a totally different issue. Blessed are the peacemakers! But again, as long as there is sin present, there will always be troublemakers.

   Perdy, but a troublemaker, nonetheless.

Okay, I got off track there a bit.

Someday, I would like to have an old fashioned pickup. We will see these on the road sometimes and I always pipe up, "I want one of those." Now whether or not I get one is beside the point. I want one and suffice it to say that I do have other wants.

I want the dogs to quit unearthing my lawn.

I want the moles that cause the dogs to unearth my lawn, to go away.

I want the energy that I had when I was twenty-five to suddenly reappear, yeah right, like that's gonna happen.

        Here I am at twenty-five, wrapped up in the world and as lost as a ball in high weeds.

And anyway, I wasted it all on being a "troublemaker." I've often thought about writing a post entitled, "My life as a Pig." But that wouldn't be theologically correct. "My Life as a Goat" would be more accurate or even "My Life as Chaff."

Oh my, another time and another post, I've gotten off track again!

Back to my wants:

I want to be able to type faster! You have no idea how long it takes me to get an entry completed...too long is all I can say.

I want to completely get rid of the five black whiskers that stubbornly keep growing out of my chin. Yes, I pluck, but they're back in a week.

I want, I want, I want!

 Wow, I sound a bit narcissistic, don't I.

But, we all know these are not needs. Not a one.

My needs are ALL met, Thank You, Lord.

But those wants just keep nagging at me...

I hope your week has gone great and thanks for all the comments on my "Random Thoughts" post, that was fun!

Blessings, Julie

It was just a dusting, but beautiful nonetheless. We've already been outside having fun in it! The temperatures are in the 30's so we know it won't last long!

The following is a link to our Snow Studies from last year. We'll be doing many of those things again, plus more starting in January using the Snow and Ice unit that Shining Dawn Books will be releasing very soon!

Snow Studies

Our final week before Thanksgiving and Christmas vacation was a blast.  We did some review during the early discussion then let the children team up to do some inventing of their own with specific sets of the oddest materials. They were resourceful.  We ended the afternoon with a "snack" as usual, this time it was a pre-Thanksgiving dinner.  Instead of going into all the details, I'll let you view our final co-op day of 2009 in pictures.

I love when things come together as if by coincidence.  God is so cool how He lines things up.

For Thanksgiving we traveled to see family and along the way, we happened upon a steam engine.

We were on our way to supper and I asked dh to drive up the engine so the kids could get out and take a look at it since we had just finished learning about steam engines and been to a railroad museum for a field trip.  We were all so excited, it was lit up beautifully and on display as if, just for us.

When we drove around to the parking lot behind it we discovered it was in fact a restaurant!!!!  Can you guess where we ate our dinner that night?   In the caboose!!!  As we dined, the children explained to their father the importance of the caboose on a train and why they are not needed anymore.  No, I don't think this was a coincidence, I don't believe in those.

We've been doing tons of reading lately about inventors and their inventions.  After reading about steam engines one final time and how they came to be useful on paddle boats, I let my kids have some fun.

We used an old foam poster board from a previous academic fair display to build a boat that would float.  The kids and I cut out the pieces with an exacto knife and glued them together.  Then we cheated and used a rubber band to give our paddle its power. 

 The kids christened it with a toy soda bottle and sent it on its maiden voyage in the bathtub. 

We have just begun the Great Artists book that my friends have so highly recommended to me.  The first artist is Giotto.  After reading to the kids about him and showing him some of his paintings via the internet (Oh, what did people do before the internet?!) we went ahead with the activity. 

Rather than recreating his pieces and focusing on technique or style, our focus was mostly on materials, the type of paint Giotto had available to him in the 13th century (he made his own) and the fact that he painted on specially treated wood.  Although we didn't have his special wood hanging around the house we could go down to the garage and pull out some boards from the scrap pile.  Grinding down our sidewalk chalk and mixing the powdered colors into egg yolk was fun for the kids and simple enough to do.  Our selection of colors was not very bright so I was a bit worried the paint wouldn't turn out very colorful but it worked out well as you can see.

Recently we started keeping a monthly nature calendar. As an example, at the beginning of this month we took our sheet of paper and labeled the top "December Nature", and then throughout the month as we visit parks and take nature walks we are keeping a list on this page of the different things we find and observe in nature.

Our monthly lists are such a neat thing to look back on and remember our walks and what we found. Plus it will be neat to look ahead to the coming months and anticipate how nature will be changing by looking at our lists.

This last week we had one day of bright sunshine and good temperatures, so we headed out to our favorite park to begin our list. Here are some of the things we found.

These male and female Mallard Ducks were swimming in the wetlands.

We noticed several abandoned nests and wondered what species of bird lived in them back in the spring and summer.

We were shocked to find so many dandelions still growing in the cold weather, or are we shocked, those things are resillent!

We found lots and lots of seeds on tree and plants in general, settled in with hope of the future spring season.

We also found several places where fungus was growing, mostly in and around trees. This photo below is of fungus growing on a huge tree that had damage around the base.

Of course we took time to stop and throw rocks in one of the water pools!

There was splashes of color everywhere. It's amazing that once all the leaves and brush goes away how much more color stands out. They are like splashes of bright color on a gray/brown canvas.

Speaking of color, each month the park that we were at, which happens to also be an arboretum, hosts one of their trees/plants as their "Plant of the Month". This one, the Deciduous Holly, we believe was chosen very timely, adorned in it's formal winter red dress.

The sun was shining so brightly on the red berries that they looked like they were on fire.

These are just a few of the things we added to our December Nature calendar. What sorts of things will you add to yours?