It's time to find out if your little girl will receive the Reina doll from the contest for a Friends Forever Girls doll!

Welcome to a world filled with friendship, character and community! Watch as The Friends Forever Girls form lasting friendships on Butterfly Lane and, with the Butterfly Promises, create the opportunity to discuss the topics that matter most to the young girl in your life.

The Dr. Toy Best 10 Educational Toys of 2008 ~ The Friends Forever Girls *Reina doll* 5 prizes will be given. http://www.friendsforevergirls.com/ 

Many people who actually classically unschool, do it different ways.  Some people say that the subjects are  classical (math, latin, logic, rhetoric, etc) but how they are done  is more of an unschooling flavour.   Others  have  a few structured subjects, like latin and math,  and the rest of the time is spent  as how  the children want to spend it.  This is where the unschooling part comes in.

Classical Unschooling is the marriage of structure with child-led  learning.  Some people say that this is the best of both worlds.

Here are a few blogs  discussing  the oxymoron of Classical Unschooling:

The Bonny Glen

Every Waking Hour

Musings of a Prairie Girl

Enjoy!

Julia is living with her husband on the Can. Prairies, homeschooling her 3 children and attempting to give them a classical education.

We're more than half way through the 21 Days to More Godly Communication now.  Today I'd like to share with you a passage from Proverbs where the Lord talks about seven things that are an abomination to the Lord. 

"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." -Proverbs 6:16-19

Did you notice how many of them refer to our communication?  Four of the seven speak directly of nonverbal or oral communication.  1. "a proud look", 2. "a lying tongue", 3. "a false witness that speaketh lies", and 4. "he that soweth discord among brethren."

More than half of these things that are detestable to the Lord are accomplished by communicating with someone or, to be more specific, by communicating badly with someone.  This is significant!  Many Christians don't realize just how much of our lives we spend communicating.  Statistics show that 87 percent of what the average person does all day is communication related!

* An email to your Yahoo group

* A phone call to Aunt Mildred thanking her for your son's birthday gift

* A conversation with your husband about the children

* A discipline discussion with your daughter

* A talk with the sales clerk at the store because you want to return your toaster

* A chat with your daughter's doctor about her allergies

* Sharing about the Lord with a neighbor

* Writing a report for work

* Asking your boss for a raise

* Smiling at an old man from across the street

Everything we say and do and some of the things we don't say and don't do communicates something to those around us and God shares with us His lessons for our communication HUNDREDS of times in His Word!  The Bible has literally hundreds and hundreds of scripture verses that tell us how (or how NOT) to communicate with others.   Only a very small portion of those will I share with you during this series.

I tell you this because I learned something significant after reading the Bible through several times.  God doesn't mention every subject in His Word and the Bible only dwells heavily on a miniscule list of concepts.  So if He spends hundreds of verses telling us the importance of how we communicate with one another, it is probably a subject He wants us to give further attention and study...Amen?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

JoJo Tabares holds a degree in Speech Communication, but it is her humorous approach to communication skills which has made her a highly sought-after Christian speaker and writer.  Her articles appear in homeschool publications, such as Homeschool Enrichment Magazine and The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, which also endorses her Say What You Mean curricula.  You can also find JoJo on web sites such as Crosswalk.com and Dr.Laura.com.  For more information on communication FUNdamentals and Christian-based communication studies for the whole family, please visit http://www.ArtofEloquence.com

With the New Year approaching, I've been contemplating changing around our school-day-schedule yet again.  It seems in a growing family, needs are always changing, and we tweak and flex to keep everything flowing.

I've been toying with the idea of working more intently with the older children on their independent work on alternating days, and having each child use their "in between" days be for independent follow-through.   My hope is that it will improve their focus—and my own! 

What fun it was to read Jimmie's blog and see that she's implementing something along a similar vein.

Like her daughter, Sprite, I've found my children don't focus in little bits at a time here and there.  (My girls never did operate this way, they've always liked time to immerse themselves, and not just dabble.  My little boys seem better suited for shorter lessons—at least in these early years.)  

Head over to Jimmie's post, then come back and chime in!  What do you think of her idea?  Have you ever tried alternating subjects (or, as I might do, alternating students)?

The beauty of homeschooling is that it can be customized and optimized to best suit the individual child and family.  How is your schedule uniquely suited to the needs in your  home?


Domestic Chaos Tamer and Homeschool Mom of Five, Dell writes about home, heart and hearth.

Wow! Is Christmas in only a few days already?! It's just amazing how time goes by, isn't it? At times it makes me want to hold my little ones a bit closer, for they won't be little very long. That's why I try to incorporate my children in the many things that I do. It not only teaches them important and useful things, but it also allows them time with me. I have five children, 7 years old and under, I homeschool my two eldest, I take care of our home. . .so my time is split in many different ways. I don't always get the time I want to spend with each of them. But having them do things in the kitchen with me gives me the opportunity to do things with them collectively or one on one.

One of these times this week has been to make a ginger bread house. I have never made one before and thought it would be an extra special thing to do with my children. And it was! We all had a blast! We made on big one and on Sunday, December 21, we are having our family over for supper and games. There are 10 cousins, ages 10, 8, 7 1/2, 6, 5 1/2, 4, 2 1/2, 2, 11 months. and 4 weeks old . So I was thinking for something fun the older children could do and I thought of gingerbread houses. I would make them and construct the houses before they get here, while they could decorate them how they choose to. But since I had never made one before, I figured I'd better try out a recipe and see how it all will go together.

It all went off really well! Every one had fun and they came out with some very interesting houses! Grandpa and Grandma were the judges and since there were 7 houses to judge, there were 7 categories(this way no one was the "winner" and no one was a "loser".) I forgot to take pictures of them decorating their houses, but I did get a few of the finished products. I have shared them with you at the bottom.

Gingerbread dough

6 cups of flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 baking powder
1 cup of butter (2 sticks)
1 cup of dark brown sugar
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. ground cloves
3 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs *
 1 1/2 cup of molasses

* if you are using whole wheat flour, you will need 3 eggs *

Directions:
1. Mix all the ingredients together in your mixer and mix until well incorporated. Chill in the fridge for about 1 hour. While your dough is in the fridge, find or make the template that you want for your house. You can find templates in books and on the internet. I had an idea of what I wanted my house to look like, so I just got some notebook paper and cut it out. As you will see in the pictures below, I cut the front and back pieces out with the gables. But you can do them separately if you wish. And it is easier to cut out any doors or windows you want in your house before you cut out the dough.

2.Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. On a very well floured surface, take a portion of the dough and roll it out to about 1/4" thick. You will also need to flour your dough often to keep it from sticking to your rolling pin.

Place your template on the dough and cut around it with a sharp knife.

Place the cut out house pieces on a baking sheet and bake for about 20 minutes.

Take out of the oven and allow to cool completely (overnight is best, but the pieces will be totally cooled in about an hour).

Royal Icing (aka "the glue")

3 egg whites
5 cups of powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Beat the egg whites and the powdered sugar together in your mixer until well mixed and thick. Add  food coloring now, if you wish to have colored frosting. Put frosting in a pastry bag with a large tip.

To put your house together, start with the front or back piece. Liberally apply the frosting to the bottom of the piece. Place that frosting side down on the the base (a piece of cardboard covered in foil works well). A second pair of hands works well at this point. Take one of the sides and liberally apply the frosting to the bottom and to the side where it meets the front/back piece. Place it onto your base, making sure the two pieces touch as much as possible. While someone else holds them down and together, fill in the gaps with more frosting. Hint : wet your fingers a bit before touching the frosting. The frosting is very sticky and thick, and will stick to your fingers if they are not wet. Your damp fingers work well to "pack down" the frosting into small opening and crevices.

Repeat the steps above for the remaining pieces. Once you get the to roof, apply the frosting to where the roof piece will touch. Apply gentle pressure to ensure the frosting sticks to the roof piece. Fill in the gaps where needed.  Once your house is together, let it sit for about 30 or so minutes, to let the frosting "set".
(You can see that the front piece broke. But the frosting works great as a glue and as you'll see below, I found a way to hide it! And you wouldn't think so, but I did have enough candy not eaten to finish my house!)

Get ready to decorate! This is where the fun begins! Use your imagination and allow your children to help. Maybe let them do it, with a little guidance from you. This will be a great time for you all and it just might be something you will return to do next year.



(And of course, your house needs a Mr. and Mrs. Gingerbread!)

( My son's gingerbread house. Nice and simple, it reminds me of a small chapel.)

( My 5 year old daughters. I like the smile made out of MnM's.)

(My 8 year old niece's. That is a Christmas tree in the corner there. And her gingerbread girl has her Christmas dress on, I'm told.)

( My 7 year old's. She won "most unique". This totally represents her personality!)

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Jennifer Dewing has experience in the restaurant business. She turned in her chef's hat and donned the many hats of a stay-at-home mother 7 years ago. She is now the mother to 5 children, 7 years and under. She home schools her eldest two children. Her husband is a professional chef and in their house, food is a big part of their family. Come visit her at The Days' Dewings.

When's the best time to host a contest? Whenever you want really! Think about the prize, is it suitable for a holiday that is coming up? If so, and your gift is a physical one, then hold your contest a couple of weeks in advance to allow for mail time. You don't have to wait for a holiday, however. People are always looking for something fun to do.

Blog Tip Challenge of the Month

So, have you decided to host a contest yet? Then, tell us about it! The bloggers want to enter your contest and you want bloggers to enter, so spread the news right here on the HSB Company Porch. To make this even more fun, the Porch is also hosting a contest for the most creative contest! If your contest is the most creative, then you will win a one-year subscription to The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine (or one-year renewal)!

Once you have your contest posted, share it with us so we can enter! Just come back here to the HSB Company Porch Blog Tip Challenge and sign up with Mister Linky. Don't forget to leave a comment as well, so I'll know you've entered the contest.

The contest rules are as follows:

• You must be at least 18 years of age to enter.
• You must live within the U.S.
• You must sign up for the contest using the Mister Linky below. Make sure it is a direct URL to your contest so that the people who want to enter don't have to search for the contest.
• Don't forget to leave a comment! This is just so I can get a notification email that you have entered.
• Your contest must be family friendly. Any contest found to not be appropriate will be deleted with no notification.
• I must have access to your email address either in your comment or from your blog. Contest winner will ONLY be notified by email.
• If after one week the winner does not reply to the notification email a new winner will be chosen.
• This contest ends Jan. 3, 2009. Your contest can end whenever you like.

I can't wait to see what kind of contest you come up with!

Tia Linschied
Senior Editor of HSB

Following the same form as I have for the other  types of Classical Education,  I will pass on some blogs of people who are following some form of LCC. With many of these blogs, it might benefit to look through the archives in order to get a better idea of how LCC works for these families. 

Latin Centered - This is the official website of LCC. You can find quite a few good articles here.

Running River Latin School

Barefoot Meandering

One Sixteenth

Enjoy!

 Julia lives with her husband on the Canadian Prairies homeschooling their 3 children  and attempting to give them a Classical Education.