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Hey all, I have just a minute (well, not even that really, but...) and wanted to share a fun, encouraging video I found on the Math-U-See web site. Now don't think this entry is just for those who use that curriculum or that it's about math. It isn't at all. It's about surviving and enjoying this school year. Please take a few minutes to watch and be encouraged. When you get to the page, scroll down to the entry entitled "You Will Survive". God's blessings to you all!

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This week marks national Lightning Safety Awareness Week, and NOAA wants you to know how to keep yourself safe during thunderstorms. If you hear thunder, you are within striking distance of the storm. NOAA’s safety motto, “when thunder roars, go indoors,” should be heeded at all times. To help keep you and your family safe, NOAA’s Lightning Safety Web site offers useful safety tips and education resources such as posters, coloring pages, and games.

“One of the most common mistakes people and animals make is they huddle under trees and other structures to stay dry during thunderstorms. This can be a deadly mistake,” said NOAA lightning safety expert John Jensenius. “Lightning can strike from a storm that is as far away as 10 miles, so if you hear thunder, you need to get inside a building or car immediately.”

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I love visiting blogs I've never been on. I found this web site called Mother Styles on Mikki's blog in her June 5 post. On it you take a short quiz to determine what kind of mother you are.  Mine describes me pretty well (except for when I get sidetracked )! Here's my results:

Your type is: ISTJ  —The “Responsibility” Mother

“I have a serious love affair with to-do lists. I could sit for hours reading, organizing, and rearranging my weekly calendar.”

• The ISTJ mother has a highly developed sense of responsibility: for work, home, family ... particularly her children. Whether she’s overseeing daily baths or insisting on a 10 p.m. curfew, her efforts are largely focused on providing her children with order and routine. She wants them, regardless of age, to be able to count on her and the structure she provides.
• In carrying out her commitment to her responsibilities, the ISTJ mother is organized, industrious, and detail-oriented. Because her focus is the day-to-day realities of life, her children are likely to feel secure and well provided for.
• The ISTJ mother also sets a good example and provides her children with practical guidance on being a productive, responsible individual. Still, with all her seriousness, she may delight family members with her quick wit and observations about the details of life.

Funny thing is, as long as our routines are done I can be spontaneous. To me, that's the joy of having "everything" done; now we can play! Actually, that's very Flylady -ish. That's probably why her routines work for me. It fits my style. (BTW, right now Flylady has some great summer fun ideas posted. They're free or affordable, fun, and educational ideas; how can you go wrong?Check them out!)

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How quickly it starts! "I'm bored." "I don't know what to do." Ohhhh, my sweet little children, I have things you can do! We all needed a break from school, but that doesn't mean we do nothing. I have already given my children the "God has nothing good to say about laziness in His Word" lecture. The next step in training my children to not be lazy sloths during the summer months was making a list. So here it is (for starters anyway - it'll probably morph as the summer progresses): The first group (red) will be their first choice; notice they're not so fun chores (this is in addition to their regular chores). Then they may choose from the blue group which are mostly educational but I also included things that might be considered chores but I'm hoping they'll see as privileges. Then, they may choose a fun activity from the yellow group. Again I "hid" some educational activities in that list, hoping they'll enjoy them. I certainly don't want them to lose a year's worth of education over our summer break!  So, if I hear the "B" word, they'll immediately have 3 things to do! Ta da! Boredom no more!

Clean the basement stairs, wipe baseboards,  sweep: entryway, front porch or deck, clean interior doors, declutter 10 things from your bedroom (give or throw away), put 5 of your out-of-place things back in their place.

Read: Bible, library book, book you own, do a page in an activity book or your devotional, gardening: pull weeds, water flowers, nature journal,  bird watch, write a letter to: God, a relative, or a friend, write a story: real or pretend, ask Mom if you can help cook dinner

Play a board game, play with toys, practice skills: sewing, measuring: linear, liquid, weight, counting: money, skip counting, minutes and hours, months and weeks, go outside: play in tower, ride bike or scooter, swing, make a mini nature home, art: paint, crayon, chalk, clay, play dough, draw, listen to music, call a friend to come and play or just to talk to. Note: I saw the cutest fairy home on Melissa's blog which is where I got the idea for the mini nature home. My daughter will love doing that!

So off we go into a productive and playful summer!

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Yesterday was  my son's last soccer game in his first soccer season. He played hard, did his best, made his team (not to mention his parents ) proud, and excited all the team parents. He scored all 3 goals for his team!! It's so precious to see and hear his humility. He never bragged; he was just as excited that the ball went in the goal as the rest of his team.

His coach gave every player a trophy, not because they won anything (at this level they don't even keep score officially). He gave it to them just for playing all season and having fun.

As we were celebrating his great season later over ice cream, Elijah said, "This trophy is my treasure, but God's treasure is my soul." AMEN, little brother!!

My hubby and I then shared with our children that whatever they do, they should do it to glorify God. And remember that in all you do, you are God's treasure.

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What a blessed night my Elianna and I had! We are officially finished with school and are on summer break!!! I told her that since she's now through with 3rd grade she is an official 4th grader.  To mark her accomplishment, we attended Alliance Girls tonight for her first time.

Alliance Girls is a ministry at our church for 4th-8th grade girls. The purpose is to learn about missions, hear missionary speakers, learn about other cultures, pray, and support missionaries. We loved it! Tonight a precious saint who served in Irian Jaya (now West Papua New Guinea) for 20 years shared her testimony with us. As she encouraged the girls to seek someone to disciple them and what that means, I felt like I was being discipled by her right then and there!

We had a yummy traditional dinner that the Dani tribe would eat. It would traditionally be cooked in a pit lined with banana leaves with hot rocks. Layered into the pit would be sweet potatoes, green beans, sometimes corn, spinach, and to top it off a whole split pig! This would be covered with more banana leaves, sprinkled with water, and covered with more rocks. It would be left for 3-4 hours and then uncovered and eaten! Obviously we didn't have ours cooked in a pit, but it was delicious anyway. Oh! The fun part was HOW we ate it. We sat on the floor as the Dani do (except we were on a plastic table cloth), used napkins for our plates instead of banana leaves, and ate with our hands! It was a unique experience watching 8 girls and 5 women eating on the floor with their hands! Loved it!

My sweet girl and I look forward to this new chapter in her young life and I'm tagging along for sure!

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Haven't been here in a while. Sorry. Just trying to finish off the school year, although the learning never stops, right?

Elijah is officially done with Saxon Phonics 1 as of today. Yea! He has also completed First Language Lessons for  grade 1. Elianna finished Math-U-See Beta last week - yippee! And together they've completed Story of the World, vol.3.

I've decided that it's ok, really, to not complete a text in one year. However, I am a stickler for finishing them. So, next year Elijah will finish Math-U-See Alpha and Elianna will finish Prima Latina and Rod & Staff Beginning Wisely English 3. I looked through the end of these and the next books really do build on the previous books. So on we go...

For summer, I can't handle official summer school. I have never gone myself (public schooled) and my mind is made up - summer is all about play! However, learning never stops. So, I have some fun workbooks that my children have agreed they'll do with me or without me when they get bored. Anytime that "B" word comes out of their mouths, I know what I'll present to them as a boredom buster (or maybe a chore I really need help with  ). Really, they are cute and they've done some of them already and enjoy them. They are published by School Zone. I discovered them last year and they've been quite useful for extra learning pages or for a break from regular textbooks that we use, but my children are still learning the same concepts.

Elijah will complete School Zone First Grade Scholar Deluxe Edition next week and is excited to do the 2nd grade book. He's also used pages from Language Arts 2 Deluxe and Math Basics 1. Elianna has used Language Arts Deluxe 2, Time, Money, and Fractions 1-2, Math Deluxe 2, Summer Scholar 3,  Math Basics 3,  Story Problems 3-4, and Multiplication Facts Made Easy 3-4.  (I didn't link all these titles because the School Zone site is very easy to navigate by grade, then by subject.)

What I really like about them is the publisher notes to the teacher/parent to take the grade level loosely. Use whatever book will meet your child's need. Teach the child, not the grade. I love having that choice as a home school teacher.

Other fun learning I'm planning on this summer is more nature study. They have plenty of space in their nature journals that we're all excited to fill in. I think I need one of my own. I keep asking them if I can draw or add notes in theirs! Elianna uses My Nature Journal by Adrienne Olmstead and Elijah uses My Nature Book by Linda Krantz. They're very different, but I like them both.

Some of our end of year outings got rained out but one we did get to do was the local arboretum. My children were asking to return before we even left the first time. And it's FREE! Yes, we'll be there plenty this summer, as well as our local nature santuaries. With the price of gasoline, we won't be traveling far from home, but God has blessed us with a great place to live. We'll definitely be appreciating our beautiful bluegrass this summer!

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I love discovering new resources so I just had to share. I got my e-newsletter from homeschool helper online.  The monthly topic is chores and allowance which I've been researching so I can have a plan for my kiddos. I think their plan may help me.

I decided while I was on the site to look at their free lapbooks. They have one for chemistry so I ended up linking to some cool web sites for science.

The science web sites are created by Andrew Rader Studios and are similarly named "science"4kids. These are great with kid friendly definitions, very helpful for parents, online quizzes, and LOTS of info and pictures. I'm still exploring but here's the links for you to check them out yourself: biology, chemistry, physics, earth science (physical geography), astronomy.

I haven't checked to see if there's evolution content. The bit I saw didn't mention anything like that. I didn't see any mention of God either, so it's probably secular. But, as a Christian parent, I am responsible to teach my children that everything exists because GOD IS CREATOR! I haven't found a Christian published science curriculum that follows the classical 4 year model of biology in 1st grade, astronomy in 2nd, chemistry in 3rd, and physics in 4th. So, I constantly talk about God during our science to be sure my children understand that God makes it all possible. I'll be ordering a book from Rod and Staff that I hope will further assist me in this. It's titled The Biblical View of Science. Have fun exploring God's world!

Andrew Rader also has a new site for math. It also has definitions and quizzes. It seems like a fun alternative way to get students to practice math. In addition, the book Beyond Numbers is a parent resource to help you teach math from a Biblical perspective.

Worship God in all you do and teach!

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My precious boy thrills my heart. Don't you just love when your children have an "I get it!" moment when you're not schooling them? This year we're doing chemistry so we've done fun experiments and had enlightening discussions on molecules.

Just a couple of days ago, Elijah was eating a mint and said, "God is so cool to make us so we can even eat molecules." He didn't know that our science experiment this week involved mints and their molecules! I believe God set that up.

We did the experiment today and my kiddos were so excited. We took a wintergreen Lifesaver, put it in a plastic baggie, and crushed it with pliers. When the sugar molecules and the flavor molecules are crushed, they expend energy and produce LIGHT! We were in our pitch dark interior bathroom to see the tiny flash of light. It was very cool. I asked them if they thought when we chew them in our closed mouths, do they light up in our mouths? They liked that idea.

The other thing my son said today on a drive while looking at the sky was, "I get it - when there's too many water molecules in clouds, they fall and we get rain." I love these unsolicited comments; they give me insight into what he's thinking about. Our science curriculum isn't from a Christian publisher, but I figure I'm doing a pretty good job of tying in our study of how the world works and our awesome Creator who makes it all happen. Thanks, son, for the encouragement.

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Since I never did any formal art program before this year, I started both my children in ArtPac 1 from Rod and Staff. They've enjoyed the projects I chose for them. I didn't go in order because some things were too "young" for my 3rd grader or out of season for when we'd be doing them. They learned different techniques for coloring, shading, practice cutting with scissors better, collage and silhouette to name a few. They were pleased with the end results and wouldn't have thought of adding to their artwork in the way they were instructed. I posted a few on my refrigerator throughout the year and visitors always commented on how neat and unique they were. We'll be continuing with this curriculum next year and adding extras as we find them.

We also used some books from Usborne. Very cute and simple but beyond stick figures, we used I can draw people and I can draw animals. We're just beginning to use the Usborne Complete Book of Art ideas. I think this may carry us through the "I'm bored!" summer days ahead.

My children also loved when I found books on artists tied to the period of history we were learning. Our favorites are by Mike Venezia, Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists. I bought a few at our library's yearly sale and the rest we checked out from the library. His illustrations make learning about history fun and funny.

A child-led addition was ArtLab Clay Studio. My children accompanied me to the Joseph-Beth Kids' Book Blowout sale. It was great. My daughter found the clay kit and I immediately knew it was a great find. It retails for about $20, but with the sale and my teacher discount I only paid $7.60. It includes 4 posable armatures (kind of like skeletons), high quality sculpting clay, and an instruction book. The nice thing is they can reuse the clay and remake creatures for as long as they want. (Since it was on special sale at Jo-Beth, it's not available there now, but it's available through various sellers online.)

The book alone would have been worth the price. It included information on sculpting and bits about the history of it as well. Since I'm not an art major, I've never heard the terms armature, additive sculpting, or subtractive sculpting. Once again, I learned something new with my children and sounded like I knew what I was talking about!

My son is loving it! He's diligently working on his chameleon. Arrggh! If I ever learn how to post pictures in my blog I'll add their creations in this one later.

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Yesterday we went to Fort Boonesborough, named after Daniel Boone. Our fieldtrip ended up being on Earth Day. I honestly don't pay much attention to Earth Day but my dear daughter does. So first thing in the morning she comes to me and asks, "Mom, what are you wearing for Earth Day?" Taken off guard because I didn't know one should dress for it, I lamely replied, "Um, earth shoes?" (I really was; I LOVE them - soooo comfortable!) "I'm wearing green and blue for earth. See?" she shows me.

So off we go, properly attired to a very cool historic site. After touring the fort, we had lunch in the adjacent park. Off the kids went to explore the river. This is bad that I'm not positive, but I'm pretty sure it was the Kentucky River. By the time I joined them, Elianna was already picking up trash. "Mom," she says, "I just couldn't stand it. It's so pretty here and I just wanted to get rid of the trash." That's my girl! As I watched her go up and down the shore (there's sand so it's called the "beach") I thought she was so insightful to do such an earth friendly activity on Earth Day. When I told her how proud I was of her for taking care of God's creation on Earth Day, she said she forgot and didn't realize that it was a very appropriate thing to do on that day. I told her God must have put that on her heart. She beamed. I love my girl....

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I loosely follow a classical education format. Before I looked into what classical education was, I never dreamed I'd teach my children Latin. I am so glad we're doing it!

My dear husband is bilingual (English/Spanish) so I tried teaching my daughter bits and pieces when she was  younger. (About all I know of Spanish is elementary level.) I really slacked off when my son was born and big sis was 2 yrs. old, so he knows even less. Anyway, I quit trying when Elianna was in 1st grade because she was resistant.

As a 3rd grader, I started her in Latin using Prima Latina. She loves it! I knew many English words are rooted in Latin. In fact, the abundance of words in the English language, not to mention Spanish, French, and Italian that come from Latin, convinced me that my children would ultimately know English better if they knew Latin. A bonus is her memory is already being jogged through Latin to recall the Spanish she learned earlier. I'll definitely be using Latina Cristiana for her next year. I also bought her an Usborne Latin Words sticker book for fun.

For my son, I figured I'd try to give him a bit of Spanish until I'm ready to start him in Latin. I'm using a little workbook that certainly isn't all inclusive and nowhere near what I would call a Spanish curriculum. However, since I have Daddy to refer to for conversational Spanish, I'm just trying to teach him basics. Since I know some Spanish, it works well for us, but I don't know that I'd recommend it to someone who doesn't know Spanish pronunciation. Anyway, it's called Let's Learn Spanish - Grade 1(Hayes School Publishing Co.). He liked it well enough to want to continue using the 2nd grade book next year. We'll see how far it takes us. I also read Spanish books to him and have the Usborne First Thousand Words in Spanish book and The Kids Can Press Spanish & English Phrase Book for additional resources.

Needless to say, I'm learning right along with them and loving it!

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I so love learning with my children. I'm sure that's why I love this time of year when I contemplate what to buy for next year's adventure in learning.

Since I am following The Well-Trained Mind's recommendations (mostly), my daughter is in her third year of science following the classical model which means this year was chemistry. Not much exists for chemistry on an early elementary level (my 1st grade son is tagging along on her schedule so I have to keep his ability in mind).

Susan W. Bauer in WTM recommended Adventures with atoms and molecules. It is a simple book of fun experiments that both of my children have enjoyed and we have all learned from (I never took Chemistry). I only purchased book 1 and found it sufficient for one year. With thirty experiments in it, it can last a whole school year doing one per week. We haven't even done that much because I have also interspersed kitchen chemistry (aka cooking) throughout the year.

In contemplating next year, I haven't even looked at WTM to see Susan's recommendation, but may already have my mind made up as to what I'll be using. I received an exciting e-mail from amazon with a suggestion for Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Connects to Language. Well, I quickly checked to see if they have Physics (our science topic for next year) and they do!

The Real Science 4 Kids series includes the teacher manual for all three topics - biology, chemistry, and physics. Students use a text, laboratory worksheets, and the connects to language book. These links are for physics, but you can easily navigate on amazon to the other topics from these.

Here's the exciting thing: I am  following the classical model, so this is my daughter's first year of Latin (I'll write about that in my next post). This book teaches the Latin and Greek connection to science language! I love this! Science can seem "too hard" to understand simply because of the "big" words. But when you know the root words and meanings from Latin, it's very easy comprehend. I'm so glad someone has connected it to science as well.

I can hardly wait to get started with next year.... 

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This entry is to honor my parents on their 53rd wedding anniversary. I am so proud of them! Every year that passes is a testimony to their faithfulness, commitment, and integrity. They are my inspiration to hang tough through the difficult times, be patient through the unpleasant times, be understanding through the crazy times, be joyful in the blessed times, be prayerful in the impossible times, and be trusting in the scary times.

I am currently reading The Greatest Generation by Tom Brokaw. Repeatedly he states the fact that the generation who endured World War 2 were a people who believed in duty, responsiblilty, and commitment to their vows. The chapter I started yesterday is about the effects of the war on marriages. To quote: "It was the last generation in which, broadly speaking, marriage was a commitment and divorce was not an option....They were also part of a generation accustomed to sharing and working together toward a common good...many...came from homes or conditions where life was a team effort. In the face of severe economic deprivation, illness, or unexpected death, the preservation and common welfare of the family was the collective goal...the enduring qualities of love, marriage, and commitment are, I believe, equal to any of the other achievements (winning the war or building the mighty postwar economy)."

Can I say  "Amen!" to Tom Brokaw's words that the achievement of enduring love and commitment are to be highly honored? Although my parents were married after the war, they exhibit these same respectable qualities. In this day of easy and acceptable divorce, I deeply treasure my parents example to me that marriage is "till death do us part". For my husband and me there is no divorce option. When we made our promise to each other at our wedding altar it was also a promise to God. That is a promise we dare not break.

Thanks, Mom and Dad, for the legacy of marriage you have given to me, my husband, and our children. WE LOVE YOU!!!!!!

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