Hi! Welcome to my blog! My name is Jane (PlainJane) and I am the blessed and happy wife to Jeff and doubly blessed mama of two perfectly wonderful daughters. Please join me as I share our Lifestyle of Learning through Christian homeschooling and homesteading on our little hobby farm with our prairie girls.
Amber (Bookworm) is our dd15/10th grader.
Our perfectionist and over-achiever. She loves reading, playing violin, all things vintage, riding her Paint horse, and being a farm girl.
Anna (Ladybug)
is our dd12/7th grader.
Our "girls just want to have fun" girl. She loves to play and has a great sense of humor, but also enjoys cooking, music, and riding her QH pony.
Oct. 10, 2009~ Lifestyle of Learning - October 10, 2009 ~
Here are some highlights from our homeschool week...
It was a very good school week and we got much accomplished...
Our Text of the Week:
Our school day usually begins the evening before as "the evening and the morning were the first day." We have family Bible reading time where we all gather in the family room and read a portion of Scripture (reading through the Bible - not skipping anything), discussing, and answer the correlating Balancing the Sword questions. Then we gather in a circle, holding hands to pray.
This week's reading was Leviticus 23-27.
Opening Time: Our day begins with prayer, pledges, sword drills, hymn sing, or missions study, depending on the day. This week's hymns: "Faith is the Victory" and "I Sing the Mighty Power of God."
Scriptorium: Since Bible Quizzing started, the girls now spend this time working on their Bible Quizzing verses in I & II Corinthians. Wednesday Chapel Time: We watched from Dr. Hovind's Creation Seminar, Part 4A "Lies in the Textbooks". We just love his seminars.
Bedell Curriculum: We are continuing in Volume 4, Lessons 24-25 in the Bedell books based on Leviticus 21, 24-25. Here are some of the things we were learning/discussing this week...
The High Standard of Holiness; Evil was to be strictly punished; justice & punishment; obeying your parents
Representative democracy vs. dictatorship; the Miranda Rights; law enforcement as "ministers of God".
Spankings vs. Dr. Spock; corporal punishment
The Sabbath Year & the Year of Jubilee
Farm land fertility; nitrogen & lighting
Business cycles: boom or bust, bull or bear market
(Note: Since we use the Bible as our No. 1 textbook, sometimes we don't have a Bedell lesson to correlate with the day's Scripture).
Hands-on American History: More fun lapbook inserts with Homeschool In the Wood's Time Travelers "The American Revolution". This week we continued timelining & mapping several battles of the Revolution; focused on John Adams & Baron von Steuben; and made a diorama of Valley Forge. And we decided we would rather have George Washington as our current president :). The girls' dioramas of Valley Forge. The photo doesn't do them justice, but they are done in 3D using the foam spacers for scrapbooking. They really turned out nice.
Music & Ministry: Thankfully this was a much quieter week than last week and we only had Awana on Wednesday night (as Cubbie leaders), otherwise it was a stay-home week.
Science: We made good progress in projects for our interactive notebook (like a lapbook only in notebook form). This week we reviewed the three types of rocks (only in greater detail/highschool level stuff). We get most of our material from "The Geology Book" by Dr. John D. Morris and also use the DK Rocks & Minerals book for additional beautiful photos as well as a nice rock collection purchased from Rainbow a few years ago. Once we research something, we make a nice lapbook-type booklet for our notebooks (currently I'm using some inserts from HS Treasure Trove's Rocks and Minerals lapbook ideas) to help us remember. We won't be doing everything from this lapbook, but will be adding our own material as well. US Geography: The girls finished researching their states of Kentucky and Arkansas; served their state dishes; & gave their reports Friday evening. They love this so much, one day after they had been at it for quite some time -- researching, and I had to remind them that they could stop -- they didn't want too. :) They have now drawn their next states and will begin all over again next week.
Language Arts: They are both pretty much done with language arts except Anna is doing a little BJU Spelling that she didn't finish last year. She got 100 percent on this weeks spelling test - she always draws a blank when the she begins to take the test and thinks she is doing poorly, but she does just fine.
Equestrian: Our horsey time has really been suffering with all the cold and rainy weather we have been having of late. We were rained out on Tuesday from a lesson, but did get out to ride Thursday, even though our hands & ears froze - it was good to get back at it again. Now, waking up this (Sat) morning to 26 degrees and snow on the ground, it's had to say when the girls will be riding again.
Home Economics: Amber finished cutting out quilt pieces for a doll-size log cabin quilt for her Christian Light Home Ec. book (we got a rotary cutter now that works slick) and we should watch the dvd that came with my new sewing machine so Amber can get sewing; Anna continues enjoying book one and working on some kitchen math (coverting to oz. and figuring cups & quarts, etc.) and is making some cookies next week.
Our first snow of the season came early this morning, only about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch. I guess that's it for this week's review. I still haven't bought a new camara since breaking our last one but Anna has graciously taught me how to upload her camara to photobucket. :) Have a Good Weekend!
Here are some highlights from our homeschool week...
Our school day begins the evening before as "the evening and the morning were the first day." We have family Bible reading time where we all gather in the family room and read a portion of Scripture (reading through the Bible - not skipping anything), discussing, and answer the correlating Balancing the Sword questions. Then we gather in a circle, holding hands to pray
Our Text of the Week:
This week's reading was Leviticus 8-13.
Opening Time: Our school day begins with prayer, pledges, sword drills, hymn sing, or missions study, depending on the day. This week we sang: "My Anchor Holds" and "Higher Ground." We sing along with the congregational singing I found on the internet.
Sword Drill Time, "Attention, Draw Swords, Charge"
Scriptorium: This week we started memorizing and scribing (in Edwarding-type calligraphy) the Romans Road. We pretty much already know it by heart, but it's always good to review.
Wednesday Chapel Time: This week we listened to (& took notes) Dr. Adrian Rogers' sermon on "Living in the Last Days". I just love the internet in that my girls are blessed to hear many of the great preachers like I have had the privileged of hearing over the years. Listening to our chapel speaker and taking notes.
Bedell Curriculum: We are continuing in Volume 4, Lessons 19-21 in the Bedell books. Here are some of the things we were learning/discussing this week...
The Seriousness of Worshiping God (Nadab & Abihu's Sin)
Some Churches Offering Entertainment Instead of True Worship
Detailed Study of Clean & Unclean Animals
Leprosy (Human & Household - how it's like sin)
Hemorrhaging & Anemia
(Note: Since we use the Bible as our No. 1 textbook, sometimes we don't have a Bedell lesson to correlate with the day's Scripture).
Hands-on American History: More fun lapbook inserts with Homeschool In the Wood's Time Travelers "The American Revolution". This Week: Liberty Bell; Thomas Jefferson; Battles of NY; George Washington; Nathan Hale: God's Hand of Providence; Soldiers of the Revolution.
Music & Ministry: We had our first AWANA meeting (actually of fun Kick-off night with dinner at the church and more like an AWANA carnival). The children are darling and full of energy. Amber & Anna are so excited to be leaders and it will be such a good experience for them. Anna also found out that she is old enough to serve in the nursery and is all excited about that too. And this morning (Friday) we helped at the local nursing home (we do this twice a month) and we had so much fun there too. Anna serves in the salon and Amber & I help the Activities Director. They have a new Director and she is so much fun - we did ceramics today.
Science: We did a kindof introduction to geology and discussed the Canopy Theory vs. the Hydroplate Theory. US Geography: The girls continue to work hard - researching about their states of Kentucky and Arkansas. They will have 2.5 weeks to research and prepare their oral & written reports for the family. They love geography!
Language Arts: They are both pretty much done with language arts except Anna is doing a little BJU Spelling that she didn't finish last year. Not one of our favorite subjects but we keep plodding on.
Equestrian: The girls continue with their weekly lessons and practice. We continue to make good progress. It is getting more difficult to practice now with school in full gear and less daylight hours. Last night we went out to practice, but the bees were too bad and we had to throw in the towel. Horses and bees are a dangerous combination.
Home Economics: Amber continues cutting out quilt pieces for a doll-size log cabin quilt for her Christian Light Home Ec. book and Anna is enjoying book one.
That's it for this week's review. I broke our camara by forgetting it out on a barrel with the horses - when I came back, it was buried in the sand. I'm now at the mercy of using Anna's camara - but she has to download it on the new computer since I don't know how. Isn't it sad when our youngest children know technology better then we "experienced" adults. Have a Good Weekend!
As they say, "there's two sides to a coin". I could write much about this, and started to but I'll let the following speak for itself as I don't like to read long posts either.
Please Read the following bio . .
"(named given lated) (Aug 1937) is an American engineer and young earth creationist (YEC), who is the director of his own ministry called the Center for Scientific Creation. According to his self-published book, (Name) has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and served in the US military until he retired in 1980.[1] (Name) is considered one of the leaders of the creationism movement.[2] He currently lives in Phoenix, Arizona."
Now please read this bio...
"(Name) received a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he was a National Science Foundation Fellow. He has taught college courses in physics, mathematics, and computer science. (Name) is a retired Air Force full colonel, West Point graduate, and former Army Ranger and paratrooper. Assignments during his 21 years of military service included: Director of Benét Laboratories (a major research, development, and engineering facility); tenured associate professor at the U.S. Air Force Academy; and Chief of Science and Technology Studies at the Air War College. For much of his life (Name) was an evolutionist, but after years of study, he became convinced of the scientific validity of creation and a global flood. Since retiring from the military, (Dr. Name) has been the Director of the Center for Scientific Creation and has worked full time in research, writing, and teaching on creation and the flood.
Okay, now after reading both bios, which person discribed do you have the higher regards? Well, as you may have guessed (but would hardly know it from the bios), both bios are about the same person, Dr. Walt Brown. The first bio is taken from Wikipedia and seems to be discrediting Dr. Brown's accomplishments to say the least and rather unimpressive. The second bio is from Dr. Brown's website that really impresses one's socks off.
We are beginning our study on geology this week and I will be teaching the Canopy Theory vs. The Hydroplate Theory. I have nothing but the highest regards for Dr. Walt Brown and will be using his excellent book, In the Beginning, Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood for much of my information on the Hydorplate Theory. But I didn't learn of nor would I have been esp. apt to find Dr. Brown from Wikipedia's bio, but rather found him a while back from Dr. Hovind's recommendations. Wikipedia's bio on Dr. Hovind are equally discrediting.
I just thought it was curious to see such a blantant disregard for an accomplished Christian creationist as compared to say an evolutionary scientist. I find this so often. It goes to show, we must all be vigil in our careful and prayerful use of text materials as we teach our children. May we all be discerning and consider the source.
We just completed our first week of school for the 2009-2010 school year and ahhh, what a great (although short) week it was. Once again we are following a 4-day school week (M-TH with Friday as a ministry, fieldtrip, or whatever day) and being Monday was Labor Day holiday, we enjoyed an easy 3-day week this week. With the 4-days-on/3-days-off schedule, we run a very tight ship with everything scheduled from 6:45 am - 3:30 pm in order to get everything done and be able to earn that extra day off and I have to say, it has been great for all of us. We all three loved getting back to school, and the satisfaction of getting er done, and having a clean house to boot with a 45 min cleaning time M-TH
Here are some highlights from our homeschool week...
Our Text of the Week: Actually, our school day begins the evening before as "the evening and the morning were the first day." We have family Bible reading time where we all gather in the family room and read a portion of Scripture (reading through the Bible - not skipping anything), discussing, and answer the correlating Balancing the Sword questions. Then we gather in a circle, holding hands to pray. It was always our beloved Peanut's habit to enter the middle of our circle for prayer time and her presence was truly missed. This week's reading was on Leviticus 1-7 which is on the law of the various offerings -- we were thankful that Jesus shed His blood for our sins and that we don't have to offer the blood of animals since Jesus paid it all.
Opening Time: Our school day begins with prayer, pledges, sword drills, hymn sing, or missions study, depending on the day. This week we sang: "Love Lifted Me", "He Lives", "Wonderful Grace of Jesus" and "God's Wonderful Book Divine (thanks Christina)." I found a couple of sites that play piano hymns or have congregational singing that we could sing along with too.
Scriptorium: Together we reviewed our verses from last year (Exodus 20: 1-17 and Psalm 119: 9-16) and worked on scribing various potions of these passages using Edwardian-type calligraphy.
Bedell Curriculum: We are continuing in Volume 4, Lessons 18 in the Bedell books. Here are some of the things we were learning/discussing this week...
The Offering of God
Types of Offerings
Presumptious Sins
Giving up things for God
Not eatting fat
Unsaturated and Saturated Fat
(Note: Since we use the Bible as our No. 1 textbook, sometimes we don't have a Bedell lesson to correlate with the day's Scripture reading and as in this week, may have a large portion of Scripture, but just one Bedell lesson to go along with it.)
Hands-on American History: More fun lapbook inserts with Homeschool In the Wood's Time Travelers "The American Revolution". This week we picked up where we left off last year with lessons 11 & 12. Reading about Nathan Hale, Patrick Henry, the Declaration of Independance and the Liberty Bell and doing lapbook projects about them.
Music & Ministry: This week in the ministry department, we had an AWANA leaders' meeting at our church - our whole family is volunteering. We belong to a small country church, so I am in charge of Cubbies and Amber & Anna are helping me and Jeff will be a T&T leader. I have served in AWANA for 10 years but this is my first time in Cubbies. Then today (Saturday) the girls and I helped at our local competition of the National Bible Bee. I was a judge and the girls volunteered as runners. Very fun.
Science: We finished up putting together our Weather notebook from last year and I need to bring it to Office Max to have it comb bound. Next week we start geology. US Geography: The girls drew states and got to work...Amber has Kentucky and Anna has Arkansas. They will have 2.5 weeks to research and prepare their oral & written reports for the family. They love geography!
Language Arts: They are both pretty much done with language arts except Anna is doing a little BJU Spelling that she didn't finish last year.
Equestrian: The girls continue with their weekly lessons and practice. This week they worked out a few bugs with their horses. Our trainer says I may be able to ride my horse in two weeks.
Home Economics: Amber is busy cutting out quilt pieces for a doll-size log cabin quilt she is making per her Christian Light Home Ec. book and Anna is starting out in book one with kitchen safty.
That's about it this week. I hope to have more photos for next week.
My dear friend Christina is once again hosting Learning Logistics where we can share our list of plans and resources for the up-coming school year and link back to her to share with others. Won't you join us?
If you are visiting here for the first time, we have two daughters, ages 12/7th grade and 15/10th grade and have been homeschooled since conception. We take a Biblical approach to education and our main textbook in ALL subjects is the Bible first - so even though I didn't list it under each subject, it's our first source above all else in EVERY subject and area of life.
Here is my list... (All subjects are done together except where otherwise noted)
Bible
(together as a family) Bible reading: KJB Balancing the Sword by Allen B. Wolfe
US Geography
The girls draw a state out of a hat twice a month and do a written and oral report for the family as well as cook a state-related dish. Information comes from may sources & the internet. Doing research & being the "expert" on their state has become one of their favorite subjects and they can hardly wait to get back to it again this fall. My post on this with references can be found here.
Home Economics Home Economics 10-booklet series from Christian Light Publications. This is Amber's 3rd (I think) year and she is finishing up book #5 and will be doing a lot of sewing this year. Anna is just starting the series this year, but couldn't wait and already started book 1 this summer. They love all things domestic and are quite skilled in the kitchen and around the house.
Music
Music Appreciation:An Introduction to the Classics cd's (various)
Hymn Study: Various Sources
Anna: Is patiently waiting for mom to find a good local guitar instructor; she also enjoys playing her electric keyboard and is progressing in the (self-taught) Alfred's All-in-One Sacred Course (piano).
Amber: Now beginning her 9th year of violin lessons - she currently takes lessons every-other week and plays/ministers at church, nursing home, and other functions. She is also progressing in the (self-taught) Alfred's All-in-One Sacred Course (piano).
Typing/Keyboard/Computer Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing CD-Rom Bible-based Self-paced Computer Typing Curriculum
blogging and emails to friends
Electives
Equestrian: Weekly horse riding lessons at our farm when weather permits and nearly daily practice; Parelli & various natural horsemanship dvd's; 4-H Horse Project Activity Guides
Ministry
Ministry in Music/violin at church, nursing home, and where possible
Girls Bible Study
Serve at Nursing Home twice a month
Amber: Nursery in church once a month
I think that about wraps it up. I posted our up-coming school schedule here. If you want to join in and receive the swell graphic, please see Christina. (Thank You Christina!).
Have a Wonderful School Year! I'm not sure when we will be officially starting our school year quite yet - we have some traveling & harvest to think about first.
I have been working on a schedule for this coming school year & I think I have it just about done. It is much like last year, however, I was hoping to shorten our school day up some, but just don't know where to trim. The times are just ball-park figures and some days we won't be doing everything listed - for instance, the illustrative outline, etc. section may only be a couple of times a week. I considered doing American History only 3 times a week and US Geography twice a week, but we have so much good stuff I hate to cut there and would really like to finish it before the girls turn 20.
Approx. Time
2009/2010 School Schedule
M - F Activities
4:40 a.m.
Mom & Dad rise & shine; mom makes dad’s lunch
5:00 a.m. - 6:45 a.m.
Mom kisses daddy good-bye; gets ready for the day; makes bed; feeds indoor pets; has personal devotions; blogs a little; makes sure girls are awake by 6:45
6:45 a.m. - 7:15 a.m.
Girls have personal devotions and get dressed for the day
7:15 a.m. - 7:30 a.m.
Barn Chores: Feed & turn horses out; tend to chickens.
7:30 a.m. - 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast; clean-up; and finish getting ready for the day
8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
House Blessing: All 3 of us girls clean the house;
free time
9:00 a.m. - 9:30 a.m.
School starts: Opening Time; Prayer; Pledges (M); Sword Drill (T- TH); Hymn Sing (M-TH); Missions Study;
Chapel Time (TH); Christian Service or Girls Bible Study (F)
9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m.
Bible Memorization & Scribe Scripture with Spencerian Penmanship
9:45 a.m.- 10:15 a.m.
Illustrative Outline or Lapbook Today’s Scripture Reading; Setting (Map); Timeline; Bible Words Vocabulary Study
10:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Applicable Bedell Curriculum Lesson
10:45 a.m. - 10:55 p.m.
Vocabulary (English Roots; High School Vocab.; Vocab. Cartoons; Idioms)
10:55 a.m. - 11:15 p.m.
Barn Chores
11:15 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Lunch & Free Time
12:15 p.m. - 12:35 p.m.
Reading + Anna 3 pages of Health
12:35 p.m.- 1:15 p.m.
Math: Anna - Teaching Textbooks 7; Amber - Assigned
1:15 p.m. - 1:45 p.m.
American History - The American Revolution & beyond/Lapbooking
1:45 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.
Science - Geology/Lapbook
2:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.
US Geography
2:30 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Home Economics (1-2 pgs. a day)
3:00 p.m. - 3:15 p.m.
Music Appreciation (M), Art (T), Typing (W-TH)
Equestrian; Free time; own interests
Evening
Family Bible Reading; Balancing the Sword; & Prayer
May. 14, 2009~ Teaching Geography & Missions with a Christian Worldview ~
Oh, let's see, where shall I begin..perhaps at the beginning, shall we? As some of you might remember from earlier posts, I'm a pretty missions/soul-winning minded person. I've always loved missions, even as a child. I took a college-level missions course in our Christian high school; went to college for missions & elementary education; and did the preliminary application work to join African Inland Misson when I was in my early 20's, intending to go to Tanzania - even learning some Swahili through the U of M. Unfortunately shortly before the Urbana Conference that year, where I was to interview with AIM, I ended up with a botched kidney stone surgery that almost left me dead, a week's stay in the hospital, and an even longer recoup to regain my strength afterwards - unable to travel, thus missing Urbana. I guess I will never know whether it was God's way of telling me that I shouldn't go - that he was just testing my willingness, or whether I didn't pass the test and decided to not go, but at any rate, I abandoned the effort to go far away on the misson field - but have still always had a heart for missions. But have had the joy of leading others to Christ, including our own two daughters, and now have the blessing of teaching them how to lead others to Christ.
So now let's fast forward, about a month ago I was at a Half Price Books store and found these two book...
I knew I wanted them from the moment I picked them up and paged through them, even carried them around for a bit, but then with a feeling of both pride & sadness, I put the two books down - pride because I had already taught world geography a couple of years ago and afterall, when would I have time to go through it again, and sadness because they looked like such good books and I'm known for buying far more than is humanly possible to teach in an eternity. At any rate, I left the store empty-handed, saving myself the "whopping" $9.96 cost of the two books combined, but still sad to leave the books there and praying that if the Lord wanted me to have the books, He would let me know.
Sooo, now let's skip ahead to last Friday, we walk into Half Price Books again, and lo & behold, there are "my" books still on the shelf (that never happens to me). With a silly grin on my face and looking this way & that, as if I'm expecting to be pounced on by everyone around me clammoring for the same books, I hold my treasure close to me and head for the cash register. (ching, ching).
Since then, I have been pouring through these books, and I have to say...If I had to do over again, this is definitely what I would have chosen for World Geography!!! I just love these books! Author, Ann Dunagan knows from which she writes as a homeschooling mom and evangelist's wife, she has ministered in over 20 countries throughout the world. I also love it because it challenges and stretches families to not only learn about missions, but to be doers.
On page 22 of Volume I, Ann Dunagan quotes,
"...did you know that in America we have over one million full-time Christian workers (one full-time Christian leader for every 230 people), while among the "unreached" peoples, there is only one missionary for every 5000,000 people? (1) Ninety six percent of all Christian finances worldwide are spent in America -- on only six percent of the earth's poplulation. That means only four percent of all Christian finances goes to the rest of the world! (2)
Eighty-five percent of all Bibles today are printed in English -- for only the nine percent of the world who read English. Eighty percent of the world's population have never even owned a Bible and Americans have an average of 4 in every household. We hear the Gospel again and agian, while nearly 2.7 billion people are still waiting for their first chance to hear!" (1)
(1) K.P. Yohannar, Revolution in World Missions
(2) Sjogren, Unveiled at Last
And I'm sure the numbers haven't changed much for the better since it's publication. Copyrighted in 1995, Teaching With God's Heart For The World is currently out of print (but I have read that they may be reprinted sometime). I don't know what the two volumes cost originally - I see they are for sale on Amazon & Half at quite a bit more than what I paid for them, but, the good news is that you can check them out for freehere, at the Dunagan's Harvest Ministry site.
I highly recommend these books! They would be great for any study of world geography, missions, and/or just as a Bible study for a missions-minded family. It's divided up in nice daily unit study lessons that you can easily adapt to your situation. I wish I had seen this study before we did World Geography (sigh), but will try to figure out some way I can still use it. Just thought you might like it too!
(Just a note: All Scripture quoted in this study are from the NKJV).
(Oh, ps, I would now advise against letting young single ladies go on the mission field outside of the protection of their father - but I'll save that for perhaps another post someday :)).
It's been a while since I did a Homeschool Weekly, soooo...
Here are highlights from our homeschool week...
Our Hymn for the Week was: the "Doxology"
Bible Memory: Psalm 119: 9-16 Our Text for the Week: Exodus 32 - 34
Thursday Chapel Time: This week we watched the 8th (last) dvd in "The Way of the Master" evangelism series. We have seen all the dvds from this series now and enjoyed them. They were very motivational to go out soul winning and eye opening to see/hear people-on-the-street's ideas on why they think they are going to heaven - so many just make up their own beliefs, totally contrary to the Bible - they have no clue. How sad. The intermediate Training Course sounds interesting too, maybe some day I'll get that.
Bedell Curriculum: We are currently in Volume 4, Lessons 14-16 in the Bedell books. Here are some of the things we were learning/discussing this week...
The Golden Calf & the Tendency to Leave God
Pleasing People vs. Pleasing God; Peer Pressure
All about Gold
Walking by faith and not by sight
Seeing God
Theophany & Christophany
Getting close to God
God's holiness vs. darkness & evil
The Things of God Should be Reverenced (Treating the Bible with respect; our best behavior in the House of God; dressing nicely for church; respect those in the ministry)
US Geography: Monday evening the girls did their oral reports on the states of Massachusetts and North Carolina for our family and G-ma & G-pa were able to join us. The girls also make one dish representing their state for supper - this time it was BBQ pork and Boston Cream Pie, yum yum. They really enjoy being the experts and doing all the research, and the cooking of course - we will continue this course next year.
Music & Ministry: We serve at a wonderful Nursing Home a couple of times a month. This past Friday we had the privlidge of being there again. Ladybug helps out in their salon, wheeling residents there and back again and visiting with them. Bookworm and I get to bake or do a craft with some of the residents - whatever we want. This time we made oatmeal cookies. Three of the seven ladies that joined us helped stir the batter and place the dough on the cookie sheets, then we served the cookies to the rest. Bookworm also played her violin for these ladies while the cookies baked and then went to another one of their dayrooms to give another mini concert while I gave hand rubs. The girls have so much fun they have requested that once our girls Bible study is over for the summer, that we go to the nursing home more.
This past week we also attended another political Tea Party along with about 300 others. Jeff was able to go with us this time and we all had fun. They handed out little copies of the Constitiution along with a tea bag that we could symbolically drop into a kiddie pool.
This was basically our last week of school for the 2008-2009 school year, well, kind of, next week we will do standardized tests and finish up the book of Exodus with one more Bedell lesson (a good stopping point). And Ladybug still has a few more math lessons to finish. Otherwise we will take a break to put in our garden and get a few projects done around the house; but... Bookworm has already requested that we then continue on with doing some school throughout the summer -- go figure.
Have a Good Weekend!
Much thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for starting and hosting Homeschool Weekly. Mrs. C is following the Lord's leading and is taking a break from blogging, at least for a while. We will miss her, but understand and will be praying for her and her precious family.
Apr. 18, 2009~ Homeschool Weekly - April 18th, 2009 ~
Here are highlights from our homeschool week...
Our Hymn for the Week was:"Christ the Lord is Risen Today"
Bible Memory: Psalm 119: 9-16
Our Text for the Week: Exodus 23 - 24
Thursday Chapel Time: This week we watched the third dvd in "The Way of the Master" evangelism series. We also practiced handing out tracts.
Bedell Curriculum: We are now in Volume 4, Lessons 9-10 in the Bedell books. Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
Blessings and Cursings
Sabbath rest for the land & what happened to Israel when they didn't rest the land
Prophets
Time Line of the Bible; Daniel
Talking to God face-to-face; Messengers from God
Israel choosing to serve God (Ex. 24:3)
Free-will; predestination; chooing to have God rule over us
Represnetative vs. Pure Democracy
The First and Second Great Awakenings - Americans confirming their desire to follow God compared to today with many Americans rejecting God and before long, God will reject this nation - a perfect lesson in light of the tea party rally we attended Wednesday
Music & Ministry: Like I said in my last post, Friday was to be our first "official" day our family begins serving at the nursing home, but unfortunately, Ladybug, who has been fighting a cold all week woke up with a fever, so her and I couldn't attend. But, my somewhat reserved 15 year old did it all on her own - making sugar cookies with (for) the residents, playing her violin for them, and even visiting with the ladies, without mama there. (sniff, sniff). It was a big step for both of us. She had fun, but is also looking forward to next time when hopefully we all will be able to attend.
As far as Wednesday's Tea Party went, we attended a rally in a near-by town in a church that was packed to standing room only. It was very fun and a proud moment in American history - joining with so many who love our country but are equally not happy with it's recent turn in government. I felt the girls were not just reading about History, but making it; and it went along so well with our study on the American Revolution. I'm not an activist - this is the first time I have done anything like this, and was torn, in a way, whether or not to participate since I belive we are living the end times anyway and our turn in government is all part of it, but I guess the rebel in me just wants to let the government know that come what may - I'm not happy with what they are do. lol
That's it for highlights this week. We look forward to next week when we start studying the building of the Temple - stay tuned to see why. :)
Have a Good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
Apr. 4, 2009~ Homeschool Weekly - April 4th, 2009 ~
Here are highlights from our homeschool week...
I apologize for being away from HW for a couple of weeks, life has just been busy, but I'm back at blogging now, so here we go...
Our Hymn for the Week was:"Man of Sorrows What a Name"
Bible Memory: Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Our Text for the Week: Exodus 15 - 20
Thursday Chapel Time: We changed our Friday Chapel to Thursday as although our Fridays were light school days or catch-up days, everything just seems to get crowded out by hospitality, Ruby Girls Bible Study, or now, serving at the nursing home. I was thinking about moving our chapel day anyways, but was so pleased when Bookworm suggested it because she missed chapel time when we didn't have it. This week we watched the first lesson in "The Way of the Master" evangelism series.
Bedell Curriculum: We are now in Volume 4, Lessons 1-5 in the Bedell books. Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
The stories behind various American songs
How the Children of Israel kept from diseases; the immune system
The Smithsonian Institution
Moses' arms being kept up with the battle of the Amalekites
Weather Science: This was one of the subjects that got pushed off during the last couple of busy weeks, so we returned to our Hurricane "Week". We learnt how to track a hurricane using longitude and latitude - we used the coordinates of hurricane Andrew and tracked it's path - afterwards Ladybug said, "That was fun" :). We also read some about hurricanes and naming them. (When I lived in Ft. Lauderdale, I was debating/praying about whether I should move further south or move back home to MN - thankfully at the time I chose to move back to MN as the area I was thinking about moving to was the hardest hit be Andrew - I moved back north only about a month before Andrew)
English: Ladybug worked on her usual BJU Spelling and BJU English. The girls also blog and write pen pal letters a lot.
Misc.: The girls also do their weekly Sword Drills (this has helped increase their speed of finding Scripture passages in church); Vocabulary Cartoons; Typing; Math (love Teaching Textbooks); Home Economics (Christian Light Ed); Maps Charts & Graphs.
Music & Ministry: In ministry we are gearing up to leave tracts in various places and going through The Way of the Master evangelism couse for Thursday chapel. We also started serving in a nursing home. Ladybug is helping out in the beauty salon with getting the folk and bringing them back or taking out rollers; Bookworm and I will be helping with activities like baking or doing crafts with the residents; and we all will be taking them outdoors, chatting, making smores, and wheeling them around on fieldtrips to places like Target or the auto dealership. This will probably be 3 days a month for now.
That's all I have to report - sorry I keep forgetting to take more photos.
Have a Good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
It was a pretty good school week with the exception of all us girls having a hard time getting use to daylight savings time again - school started late Monday thru Thursday, but we still got almost everything done - even if it took us until supper time.
Our Hymn for the Week was:"O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go"
Bible Memory: Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Our Text for the Week: Genesis 46 - Exodus 4
Friday Chapel Time: None this week - we went swimming at our local motel pool.
Bedell Curriculum: We are in Volume 3, Lessons 38-42 of our Bedell books. Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
Weather Science: This was Hurricane Week in our school - this was the one subject we didn't get to as much as I hoped and will continue Hurricane Week next week. I love technology with regard to our science studies and being able to watch several YouTube videos of severe weather that gives the girls an idea of what various weather is like that we don't experience up here - like hurricanes and waterspouts.
English: Ladybug worked on her usual BJU Spelling and BJU English. The girls also blog and write pen pal letters a lot.
Misc.: The girls also do their weekly Sword Drills (this has helped increase their speed of finding Scripture passages in church); Vocabulary Cartoons; Typing; Math (love Teaching Textbooks); Home Economics (Christian Light Ed); Maps Charts & Graphs.
Music & Ministry: This was an exceptionally exciting week for Bookworm as she got a new violin Thursday (she was long overdue in getting a bigger (full-size) violin and we finally found one. She is having a lot of fun playing with her new "toy" (new violin is not in this picture, but you can see it here). Ladybug had the last of her 6 community ed. guitar lessons, which were a bit disappointing as the teacher wasn't too organized and said/did the same thing three lessons in a row. Time to find her a new instructor. In ministry we are gearing up to leave tracts in various places and going through The Way of the Master evangelism couse.
Here the girls are working on playing "Beautiful Saviour" together.
That's all I have to report.
Have a Good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
It was a good school week and we got almost everything done dispite us still recovering from our illnesses and my mom visiting all day Wedneday. It's encouraging to see, along with the warmer weather, that we are nearing the end of some of our subjects - some subjects we will finish early in, like Science, and I think everything will be finished by May 1, except for Ladybug's BJU Spelling, which may take us an additional month (sigh). We always shoot for the first week in May being the end of our school year since that's our typical planting season.
Sword Drill Time
Our Hymn for the Week was:"Breathe on Me, Breath of God"
Bible Memory: Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Our Text for the Week: Genesis 39-45 Reading the day's Scripture - we often do this in the evening with daddy, taking turns each reading 5 verses until we are finished with the day's passage. Then I ask questions on what we have read from "Balancing the Sword".
Friday Chapel Time: I gave the girls a choice between 3 different cds/dvds and we chose to watch another Kent Hovind Creation Science Seminar - which we LOVE!!! It always brings tears to my eyes - just the thought of God's marvelous creation; and it stirs my soul - the thought of all those who do not believe in our Creator.
Bedell Curriculum: We are in Volume 3, Lessons 33-37 of our Bedell books. Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
Joseph & what does a household overseer do?
Civil rights & the Constitution
Insurance & taxes
The justice system of Western nations based on the Bible
Dreams, REM, and EEG
Memory and memory loss
The Gross Domestic Product
The change in Joseph's brothers; becoming like Christ
Birth order
Statistical impossibility for the earth to evolve by chance
American History: After more computer/copier technical problems, we FINALLY finished Lessons 4 and 5 of Homeschool In the Wood's Time Travelers "The American Revolution" (lots of activities), making and playing a game called, "Taxation Frustration" - helping show how frustrating it must have been for the colonists to pay all the taxes required by the British. We also read more in our Landmark book on "Ben Franklin of Old Philadelphia".
Playing Taxation Frustration with copies of real Shillings & Pence
Weather Science: We finished up our study on tornadoes with vocabulary words, learning all about the Fujita Scale, tornado myths and safety, and a little about waterspouts for good measure. Next week is hurricane week.
English: Ladybug worked on her usual BJU Spelling and BJU English. The girls also blog and write pen pal letters a lot.
Misc.: The girls also do their weekly Sword Drills; Vocabulary Cartoons; Typing; Math (love Teaching Textbooks); Home Economics (Christian Light Ed); Maps Charts & Graphs; and music lessons.
That's all I have to report.
Have a Good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
Feb. 28, 2009~ Homeschool Weekly - February 28th ~
Here are highlights from our homeschool week...
This was only a partial week of school since all us girls are down with various stages of a cold/sinus/flu thing - just something that has gotten ahold of us and doesn't seem to want to let go - we are still not all well! Anyways, we did put in 3 fairly good days of school, but between the fever and a comedy of technical difficulties, mama had to wave the white flag of surrender.
Our Hymn for the Week was:"Breathe on Me, Breath of God"
(We will carry this song over to next week - with our laryngitis, we didn't attempt actually singing it (just read about it) until Wednesday, and then half way through the song - the power flashed off just long enough to throw off the cd - we would have had to start this rather slow song over again).
Bible Memory: Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Our Text for the Week: Genesis 35-38 (it was suppose to be -40, but sickness took over)
Friday Chapel Time: Again, didn't get a Friday Chapel in like I would like to have (mom sick in bed), but we did manage to watch another Kent Hovind Creation Science Seminar earlier in the week - which we LOVE!!! For those of you who are familiar with them, we watched Seminar 3B on the evidence of dinosaurs still in existance today - this was our second time watching it and I think I could see it another 25 times and not tire of it - all glory be to God for his marvelous creation!
Bedell Curriculum: We are already in Volume 3, Lessons 29-32 of our Bedell books. Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
What does the name, "Benjamin" mean and who came from the tribe of Benjamin
Whom God often calls (I Cor. 1:26-29)
Esau's descendants - the nation of Edom
Hybrid animals
Fixed species vs. Charles Darwin & evolution
Name Jacob's 12 sons
Joseph's coat; What is a mordant?
Ionic bonds & covalent bonds
Slavery
Eli Whitney and the Cotton Gin
Greed & loving money vs. tithing and giving to God
Weather Science: We read about hail and tornados. We made one lapbook insert on tornado alley and then ran into printer technical difficulty - will try to finish up next week.
English: Ladybug worked on her usual BJU Spelling and BJU English. The girls also blog and write pen pal letters a lot.
Misc.: The girls also do their weekly Sword Drills; Vocabulary Cartoons (we will be done with book 1 soon and book two just arrived in the mail - another goodie, but with much bigger words); Typing; Math (love Teaching Textbooks); Bookworm just finished her required math for the year already, which reminds me, I suppose I better order our CAT tests to administer soon; Home Economics (Christian Light Ed); Maps Charts & Graphs; and music lessons - there was no guitar this week, but daddy took Bookworm to violin while mom was sick.
That's all I have to report.
Have a Good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
Feb. 21, 2009~ Homeschool Weekly - February 21st ~
Here are highlights from our homeschool week...
Our Hymn for the Week was:"O The Deep, Deep Love of Jesus"
Bible Memory: Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Our Text for the Week: Genesis 29-34 (it was suppose to be -38, but sickness took over)
Friday Chapel Time: Postponed due to flu.
Bedell Curriculum: We are already in Volume 3, Lessons 24-28 of our Bedell books. Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
Jacob's wages; God's increase
Salary, taxes, unions
A college education (or not)
The 12 Tribes of Isreal
144,000 and the Book of Revelation
Recessive & Dominate Traits; Heredity
Monuments
Jacob's thigh and all about joints, ligaments, and tendons
Trusting God in difficult times
Maturity; the office of pastor & deacons
Salem Witch Trials; Seeking the counsel of the Lord; zeal without knowledge
American History: We are still in Lesson 4 of Homeschool In the Wood's Time Travelers "The American Revolution" (lots of activities). We finished a notebook page that charted the American Government under the control of England and did eight pie-shaped parts for a Pie Book of "Acts" (taxes) - we still have to put it together.
Weather Science: We made lapbook insert on thunder and lightening.
English: Ladybug worked on her usual BJU Spelling and BJU English. She finished her Spelling early and took her Spelling test on Wednesday.
Misc.: The girls also do their weekly Sword Drills; Vocabulary Cartoons; Typing; Math (love Teaching Textbooks); Home Economics (Christian Light Ed); Maps Charts & Graphs; and music lessons. Nothing exceptional to report there.
Ladybug did well at getting all her school work done, but Bookworm was hit hard with a fever/flu and I had a low-grade fever as well, so we didn't get any of our together-stuff done on Thursday & Friday - we will try again next week. We have a fun week planned and we hope we are all healthy to enjoy it.
I guess that about covers it. Have a good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
Feb. 14, 2009~ Homeschool Weekly - February 14th ~
Here are highlights from our homeschool week...
Our Hymn for the Week was:"I Know Whom I Have Believed"
Bible Memory: Exodus 20:1-17 (The Ten Commandments) Our Text for the Week: Genesis 24-28
Friday Chapel Time: We had Ruby Girls Bible Study and didn't have time of an additional chapel time - next week!
Bedell Curriculum: Here are some of the things were were learning/discussing this week...
Isaac & Rebekah and the best way to find a mate
Meditating on God's Word
What the Bible says about equality between genders
Abraham's sons with Keturah (Arab nations)
Esau & Jacob; about twins
All about hair
Cunning Hunter: Danie Boone & Davey Crockett
The American West
Esau's birthright; two kinds of people
Springs of living water; artesian wells; geysers
Isaac's eyesight; cataracts; macular degeneration
Animal tracks; scents
Jacob's ladder
American History: We did a newspaper article on the French & Indian War; made a lapbook insert comparing George Washington to King George III; compared Whigs to Tories; and we listened to the Vision Forum cd on "George Washington: America's Joshua". We also learnt about the various Acts (taxes) placed upon the Colonists by Britian at the time.
Weather Science: We made lapbook (or notebook - haven't decided what we will do with them yet) inserts comparing Fahrenheit to Celsius (learning the conversion formula); compared frost, fog, & dew; and did an insert on the four frontal systems. We also started a chart comparing the meteorologist's forecasted temps. to what they actaully are - this week they were right on.
English: Ladybug worked on her usual BJU Spelling and in lieu of BJU English, she finally finished her thank you notes from her birthday party.
Misc.: The girls also do their weekly Sword Drills; Vocabulary Cartoons; Typing; Math (Teaching Textbooks); Home Economics; Maps Charts & Graphs; and this week we also got to go swimming and Ladybug had guitar lessons (Bookworm has violin every-other week).
I guess that about covers it. Have a good Weekend!
Many thanks to Mrs. Cuddles for hosting Homeschool Weekly ! If you would like to join in or visit the Mr. Linky to others sharing about their school week, please see my dear friend, Mrs. Cuddles for all the details.
The girls' dioramas of Valley Forge. The photo doesn't do them justice, but they are done in 3D using the foam spacers for scrapbooking. They really turned out nice. 
Our first snow of the season came early this morning, only about 1/4 to 1/2 an inch.
Listening to our chapel speaker and taking notes.
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Sword Drill Time
Reading the day's Scripture - we often do this in the evening with daddy, taking turns each reading 5 verses until we are finished with the day's passage. Then I ask questions on what we have read from "
