The whole of creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth as it awaits its final redemption from the effects of the fall. ~Romans 8:22

As my grandma lay dying a year and a half ago, I was struck by how her suffering reflected the pains of childbirth. I felt as I watched that she was somehow being "born" ino heaven, passing out of the pain of this world to be caught up in the loving arms of her Savior on the other side, as all the angels stood by watching in joyful anticipation. I even had this Norman Rockwellish image in my head of the whole event. While it was very sad for all of us, there was a certain beauty in the process.

Yesterday, this thought came back into my head as I was reading from a book called Blessing Your Husband by Debra Evans. After quoting Romans 8:22, Mrs. Evans goes on to say, "Though it is easy on difficult days to forget our ulimate goal, our labor and groans are deeply productive where God's eternal purpose for us is concerned.  'For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:17-18' "

Not much is said about the symbolism of childbirth in the Bible, but there it is, an answer to the question of suffering and a picture of our salvation, put into words that only a mother could fully understand. That's just an awsome thought, isn't it, that God is speaking specifically to us who have gone through the pains of childbirth? Just picture the whole of creation groaning in the midst of labor, and then that final moment when the child arrives and there is instant and complete relief, and overwhelming joy. Our labors are over, our sinful natures are gone, along with all the pain that accompanies them. Amazing! And not just us, but someday "the whole of creation" will feel that relief. Don't you long for that day?

We've been studying the history of art at co-op these past two months. The class is being taught by one of our wonderfully talented co-op mothers and I have really enjoyed being a casual participant. Every week, she sends home several projects ideas. The children are supposed to complete them as written, or do a similar project that they or their  parents might think up.

My mom was in town for the first two weeks of co-op, so we were taking break from our other schoolwork. This gave the children a lot of free time, so the first week's of projects were a lot fancier than the later ones.  For Ancient Art, the assignment was to do a cave painting using a brown paper bag as your "painting" surface.

Since it has been a while since we have done an papier mache, I suggested that my oldest son make a cave diorama for his cave paintings.

He liked this idea and made a second diorama for Egyptian Art.

There actually wasn't a project for Egyptian Art, but the two younger boys each made a picture anyway.

The Greek Art project was supposed to be painting pottery. Since we had already done several projects like this when we studied Greece two years ago, we decided to try a project we hadn't done- scratch art!

The younger boys had a great time coloring, painting, and scraping.

For Roman Art, the children were supposed to make a mosaic. There is no way I was going to afford materials for five children to make real mosaics, so we settled for the paper variety.

However, I really WANTED the children to be able to experience making a "real" mosaic. While shopping in the local bakery and bulk foods store, I spotted some chocolate rocks and inspiration struck. Why not make a mosaic on a sugar cookie?! We ended up purchasing several kinds of dried fruit and my 12 year old designed a delicious mosaic snack to share with all his friends. (CHEF are the initials of our co-op.)

My 12 year old son and my 11 year old daughter decided to combine the first three projects by making miniture art museums to showcase their work. My son did this in the form of a pop-up inside of a file folder. This was then three hole punched so he could store it in his notebook.

And my daughter made hers inside of a small cardboard box.

The responsibility of teaching highschool literature can be a bit overwhelming. There are so many questions to be answered: what books ought to be read, should poetry be included, should literature and writing be taught separately, what are the elements of literature, how should literature be analyzed. The author of this book does a wonderful job answering all these questions and more.

If you plan to homeschool through the highschool years, you will find a wealth of information and encouragement in this book. The author explains in great detail her own goals in teaching literature, and gives several practical ways to accomplish these goals. There are ideas for teaching literature in a book club, through blogging, and also through traditional classes. In addition to detailed lesson plans for several different literature classes (which are alone a good enough reason to buy this book!) there are also ideas to help you plan your own classes. Two pages are devoted to analyzing literature, both verbally and in writing, with questions to ask about plot, setting, characterization, and point of view. Literary research papers are also discussed, with step by step instructions on how one should be completed. There is even a list of Christian works which can be used as refrences for these papers. Finally, there are several blank book report forms for your child to use in recording what they have read.

This book has everything you need (except for the literature) to teach literature to your highschool student. There are more than enough ideas to help you plan your own class. Or you can go the easy route and use one of the plans included in this book. This book has been a great blessing as I plan our American literature studies for next year. It has saved me many frustrating hours of trying to figure this all out for myself!

Purchase from Currclick:

Teaching Literature in High School with High School Classes You Can Use

Ducking, dodging, and hiding is a common occurance wherever cameras are found. (Let's face it, some of us just aren't that comfortable with our photgraphic image.) But with the  increasing popularity of digital technology comes yet another reason to hid our faces- and those of our children- from the lens.

Warning! This photo may appear on Facebook!

It seems like everywhere I turn these days I find my childrens'  names and faces plastered on the internet. And, to be honest, I find this frustrating. Though my husband and I  have tried to protect our children by keeping their personal information private and by not posting their pictures in public places, there is no way we can control the actions of others.

So, what's the solution?

Should we, like a  Scrooge of the blogosphere, approach each party with a request to remove the offending snapshots? Or should we arrive at every social event with an announcement of our wishes? Is it even reasonable to expect that our wishes be followed in this area?  Does it really make a difference anyway?

Any thoughts?

Recently mother-in-law bought the children some little cheeses as a special treat. Who knew it would lead to a new hobby for my 12 year old son! Here are some examples of the wax modeling he has done.

wolf chasing deer

Billy goat

The neatest thing about this medium is that he can rework his creations to make a new masterpiece . . .

butting goat

Meet our newest addition:

"Cracker Jack"

born August 12, 2009 at 6:06 AM

8 pounds, 2 ounces; 21 inches long

On my new Squidoo page titled Homeschooling? Six Things You Need To Know I talk about taking advantage of educational opportunities that we find around us. But sometimes, we as homeschool mothers must go one step further and actually help to CREATE these opportunities.

For instance, my oldest son has recently decided that he does in fact want to go to college (!). His reasons being:

1. to learn how to type
2. to learn all he can about fixing and opperating computers
3. photography

Now, you can see from this list that college is not an absolute necessity in order for him to reach his goals. However, learning opportunities are certainly required and I as his teacher have the responsibility to create those opportunities for him.

Ofcourse, it might be easier for me to ignore his goals and stick to my OWN plan for his education. And I might suceed in giving him an education which is excellent by many standards. But, in reality, I will have crippled him and left him unprepared to follow the path God is directing him to follow.

This isn't to say that education should always be left to the whims of the child. I am not advocating unschooling or child-led education, but we do need to take into consideration the goals and interests of  our children, especially as they grow older.  And we ought to do all we can to help them to reach those goals. So, with that in mind, I'm off to create some opportunities!

What opportunities have you created lately?

Debra at NotebookingPages.com is having a HUGE back-to-school sale.  During the first week of August (3rd-7th), you can get a 50% discount coupon to the store!  
 

During this first five day portion of the sale, you can buy EVERYTHING in the store for just $50.00!  That's a great price for some wonderful notebooking sets. Basic Primary and Regular-Lined Pages, Character Study Pages , Alphabet Copywork Pages, Other assorted copywork pages, American Presidents Pages, Famous Composer Pages, Famous World Explorers Pages, Presidential First Ladies Pages, Fifty States Notebook sets with bonuses (this is a HUGE collection!),  7 diferent history sets, Latin & Greek Word Study Pages, Nature Study Pages, and 4 different bird study sets! And, if you purchase the full set during these five days, you will also receive a special e-gift package from several of her publishing friends (including Lilliput Station!) as well as some of her own free gifts. 

There will also be a Pro-Click Binding System prize giveaway for all participating customers.  (And wouldn't we ALL like  to win one of those!)

Remember, these great deals will only be around for 5 days! (Though all sets will be 35% off for the remainder of the month.) Don't miss out!

NOTEBOOKINGPAGES.COM

With the baby coming sometime in August and my mom coming for a two week visit in the middle of September, I decided it would be easier to just take those months off. So, in order to fit in the days we need to complete our schooling this year, we ended up with a crazy schedule that starts today and goes for two weeks before we break for two more months.

So, today was our first official day of the school year, and it went really well. In reality, however, my children got bored with vacation long ago and started working on some of their favorite subjects on their own. Here are some pictures of an experiment my thirteen year old did last week. It is from the Apologia Physical Science book.

And here is my four year old working with some cloths pin counting cards I made so she could practice her number recognition and counting skills.

She thought these were the best fun and got them out again today to work on. I had planned to work on alphabet sounds with her today, but she surprised me by knowing more than I thought she did. So, we ended up doing some reading instead. She did great (normally she pretends she doesn't know things, but today she actually did the work) and I was very pleased.

And here are a couple more pictures from today. First, a model of the solar system my eleven year old made. This experiment comes from the Apologia Astronomy book.  We had a little trouble getting the balloons the right size, but I still think it looks cool.

And here is my favorite picture. This is my five and a half year old practicing her reading. She is the one I wrote about on my Preschool Phonics lens. As you can see, she still can't sit still!

I spent a good deal of time last week going through my pile of disks containing the school files I have purchased or gathered from the internet. I was also finishing up the last of my planning for next year's school and getting ready to place a final curriculum order. As I looked through my files, I realized how foolish it was to order a bunch of extra books when I already had what I needed- "free" for the printing. So, this year I am going to be using as many of those resources as I can. Here is our plan, using what I had already purchased, a few things left over from last year, and a bunch of things I am printing from my files. Now I just have to finish printing before the baby arrives!(As you can see, my older children are somewhat behind in math, the younger two boys are behind in language arts, and my 5 year old is advanced to the point that I can't stay ahead of her. I hope to get everyone else caught up this year while keeping my daughter from getting bored.)

In addition to what is listed below, we will also start each morning with Bible reading, learning new hymns using a free online digital hymnal, and doing Home Ec using a curriculum by Christian Light Publications.  

JCT- 13 yob

Horizons Math Grade 6 book 1 & 2/ Math Phonics pre-algebra/ Painless Algebra

Apologia Physical Science with Live-N-Learn lapbook

Analytical Grammar

Great States! workbook

Economics and Government using:

the Uncle Eric series by Richard Maybury

Capitalism For Kids by Karl Hess

Economics: A Free Market Reader

Notgrass American Government

US Economics, American Government, The United States Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence  lapbooks from Hands of a Child

CET- 12 yob

Horizons Math Grade 6 book 1 & 2/ Math Phonics pre-algebra/ Painless Algebra

Apologia General Science with Live-N-Learn lapbook

Alpha and Omega Language Arts Life Pac grade 7

Great States! workbook

Economics and Government using:

the Uncle Eric series by Richard Maybury

Capitalism For Kids by Karl Hess

Economics: A Free Market Reader

Notgrass American Government

US Economics, American Government, The United States Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence  lapbooks from Hands of a Child

KJT- 11 yog

Horizons Math Grade 6 book 1 & 2/ Math Phonics pre-algebra/ Painless Algebra

Apologia Astronomy with journal

Alpha and Omega Language Arts Life Pac grade 7

Great States! workbook

Economics and Government using:

the Uncle Eric series by Richard Maybury

Capitalism For Kids by Karl Hess

Economics: A Free Market Reader

Notgrass American Government

US Economics, American Government, The United States Constitution, and the Declaration of Independence  lapbooks from Hands of a Child

RTT- 9 yob

Math Mammoth grade 4

Apologia Zoology 3 with Peterson Field Guide Color-in Books: Mammals

Alpha and Omega Language Arts Life Pac grade 3/ Just Write Book 3

My State Notebook (using pages I made)

Mystery of History 1 with Ancient History Notebook pages

ECT- 8 yob

Math Mammoth grade 3

Apologia Zoology 3 with Peterson Field Guide Color-in Books: Mammals

Alpha and Omega Language Arts Life Pac grade 3/ Just Write Book 3

My State Notebook (using pages I made)

Mystery of History 1 with Ancient History Notebook pages

EGT- 5 1/2 yog

Horizons Math Grade 2 book 1/ Math Mammoth grade 2

Apologia Zoology 3 with various lapbooks, coloring pages, etc.

reading practice (using readers from Reading A-Z)/ copywork

My State Notebook (using pages I made)

Mystery of History 1 with Ancient History Notebook pages

MFT- 4 yog

Hands-on math activities/ worksheets

Apologia Zoology 3 with various lapbooks, coloring pages, etc.

phonics/ reading practice

My State Notebook (using pages I made)

Mystery of History 1 with Ancient History Notebook pages

Yesturday we found my four year old's cat dead in the road. After her initial grief has abated, she began to worry about the kittens. Who would feed them? Who would protect them?

I assured her that the kittens would be fine. They are old enough now to be on their own, which is why we have been trying to find new homes for them.  But she was still worried, especially about Cherry Dumplin, the kitten we had told her she could keep as a substitute. (dark grey one on far left)

As we were putting things away and closing the house up for the night, I noticed my oldest son carrying a wooden box out to the back of the house. He had spent the afternoon building his sister a cat house out of scrap lumber. She was absolutely thrilled.

Someday she may appreciate the fact that she has brothers who protect and care for her. But for now, she is content knowing her kittens are safe.

I found a couple of neat ideas in a library book I was reading today, and thought I would "file" them here so I don't forget about them.

The first idea was to create a cloud diary using cotton balls stretched out to show how the clouds look each day. I thought this would be a great idea to use in a notebook or lapbook on weather to show the different types of clouds.

The second idea was to place an abandoned bird's nest in a shallow pan with 1/4 inch of water.  After a few days, any seeds that were left in the nest will grow, and you will be able to see what the mother bird fed to her babies.  I'm guessing this would only work with certain types of birds' nests, but it sounds fun anyway.

My four year old was upset because she got left home alone while all her brothers and sisters went to the store with Papa. So I came up with this quick lapbook for her. The puppets on the side are from the Making Friends website and the coloring pages are from the membership area of the Danielle's Place website. My five year old was very jealous when she got home and complained that she shouldn't have gone.

I love how they think a lapbook is a special treat. :-)

I was recently going through some boxes of papers and came across some old issues of Crowned With Silver magazine. I used  subscribe to this publication and loved reading it, but somehow forgot about it over the years. I decided to do a quick internet search to see if it was still available.

While this magazine is no longer being printed, it is still being published digitally and is now available for free online.  I'm so excited!

Crowned With Silver Magazine

I love to study geneology. I find it facinating to look at lists of names and dates that tell me who my ancestors were, when they were born, and when and how they died. I enjoy reading those long lists of names in the Bible and figuring out who was alive when various events took place. I even love  visiting cemeteries and reading the gravestones. It is interesting to see what names were popular at different times and what each family thought was important enough to record on the headstone.  But what I really love is the stories that are hiding behind all those names and dates. That's also why I love geography- it is the study of stories that are still being lived.

There are may wonderful  resources available on the internet to help you start learning these stories from many nations. Harvest Ministry is even offering a complete free downloadable homeschool curriculum with an emphasis on missions. Teaching With God's Heart for the World  is a two-volume world missions curriculum by Ann Dunagan. The curriculum includes day-by-day teaching plans, missionary highlights, motivational mission stories, crafts, songs, prayer projects, and hundreds of ways to incorporate a passion for the lost into nearly every subject (including Bible Study, Family Devotions, Reading, Writing, Geography, History, Art, Science, and even highlights for Math).

Everyone, in every part of the world, has a story to tell and every story is different. But no matter how different, they all have one thing in common. Your story and my story and every other story from Adam until the end of time are all part of a bigger story- HIS story.  No matter how different we all may be, God can still use our lives for His glory. And even though the world may seem like a very large place, there is no place so far away that God's love cannot reach it.

For more geography ideas, please visit my Geography Unit Study page.

My 13 year old just finished the Live and Learn Press Lapbook for General Science. Although he isn't a fan of science or of lapbooking, he did admit that he learned a lot this year. And, much to my surprise, he requested that I order the lapbook to go along with Physical Science next year. The price is a bit steep, but as I plan to use it with all of my eight children I think I will get more than my money's worth.

I really like how easy the LNL booklets are to cut and assemble. There aren't many shapebooks, so most of your cutting is on straight lines. Although some of the graphics are "silly" the overall look is nice.  I did compare this with the Knowledge Box Central lapbook and prefered the Live and Learn Press overall, though the lab forms in the KBC version are a really nice addition.  

If you're interested in making your own comparison, both companies have samples available.

Live and Learn samples

Knowledge Box Central samples

Here is the chocolate lapbook my 13 year old son just completed using a kit from Hands of a Child. He also made chocolate using a kit which can also be purchased from Hands of a Child.

I've been working on this lapbook with my two little girls off and on for several months now. We've had a lot of fun, but we are glad to finally be done. The printables for this lapbook come from an Evan Moor Literature Pockets book that I purchased at Currclick. I just printed at half-size, and everything was the perfect size for a lapbook. The girls have had the best time going back and playing with the minibooks and puppets and reciting the poems they learned.  They are so proud of the final product. I think this has been their favorite lapbook so far.

Here is the lapbook completed by my 4 year old:

And here is the lapbook completed by my 5 year old:

If you have studied economics you are probably familiar with the expression "There's No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." As homeschool moms who face an abundance of teaching resources, avaiable at the click of a mouse, with no cost to us personally, it is easy to forget this fact. But the truth is, none of those "free" resources are really free. Each and every one of them has cost somebody something to create them or host them and it  is by their generosity that these resources are available to us. In return, we ought to consider it our duty to show gratitude for the benefits we receive.

Here are three easy ways to demonstrate your appreciation to these "silent heroes" of the curriculum world:

1.  Don't forget to say "thank-you". This ought to be obvious, but how often do we really send out notes of thanks for the freebies we receive? Most of these individuals ask for nothing more than to know that they have made a difference in someone's life. Be dilligent to encourage those who otherwise receive no recompence for their labors and they will feel that all their time and effort was well spent. 

2. Be fair in your critiques.  Have you ever downloaded something and thought, "What a waste of my time! I could have done a better job than this!" or "This isn't what I was hoping for!"  Yet, the fact that you have no need of that item doesn't make it less valuable to others that might download it, or make its creator any less generous for offering it.

As both a reviewer and a publisher on the Currclick website, I like to keep up with the comments posted there. Over the past several months I have noticed some very bad reviews being given to products which are offered as  freebies. People download a file because it costs them nothing, then give a review based on how the product fit their needs, rather than on the quality and merits of the product. They do this without stopping to think what it cost that publisher to offer it in the first place or to consider what their review will do to the overall reputation of that publisher.  I wonder how many of these publishers, after making such a sacrifice and receiving such a poor thanks, will have the desire to make that mistake again?

 
3. Respect copyrights. It is easy to assume that because a publisher is willing to give his product away, he has given up all rights to it. Yet this is not the case. Many publishers use free promotions to draw traffic to their  websites and generate income to support themselves. Others offer freebies solely for the gratification that comes from helping others. No matter the reason, and no matter the price, these items are still under copyright. It is up to the publisher to decide where they are posted and who receives them. And it is also up to the publisher whether or not these items should remain free.

 
Too often I've seen examples of files being copied from various websites and posted on Yahoo Groups or  on file sharing sites without the permission of the original creator. I 've also witnessed conversations concerning limited time freebies. Someone who has missed out on the opportunity to download a previously posted freebie will request that the item be forwarded to her  and someone else will send it.  We may see these as harmless acts, but if intellectual property rights are not respected, more and more publishers will decide that these "free" products are not worth the cost.

I'll end with a quote from Jessica Feliciano of Notebooking2Learn. I believe she voiced the thoughts of  all our "silent heroes" when she wrote:

"For those of you who have been blessed by the free resources that you find here and elsewhere among generous homeschooling mom's, please don't take them for granted. They truly are labors of love and many times cost their creators much more than time. What some may not realize is the that the cost of clip art, printer ink and paper to make these resources and to make sure that they "work" before they are shared can really add up. If you are blessed by a free resource, consider taking the time to say thank you. It is a little gesture that goes a long way. Be considerate of the creators and make sure you link others back to their work and don't just share a resource because it was free. Be grateful for the resources that are available and don't make a habit of expecting more."

I stepped out on my front steps this afternoon to be greeted by the sight of our cat nursing five brand new kittens. She had given birth to them on a pile of clippings left under the holly bush. This is her second litter and, just like last time, there are three white and two grey kittens. We aren't sure if they were born last night or this morning, but since I was an Easter baby myself, that is my vote.

Here is SnowWhite as she looked when I first found her.

And here are the kittens. The third white one rolled out of the "nest" when its mama stood up, so it didn't get to be in the "group photo."

We quickly made up a box and put it under the bush for them and Mama cat moved them in right away. I'm sure those old holly leaves were  pretty uncomfortable.