4th of July

Happy Independence Day!

What a wonderful day to celebrate our country's freedom AND our freedom in Christ! He is good!! It's about 9pm and my husband is working at the hospital tonight, so the children and I are just headed outside to watch what we can see of the fireworks in a neighboring town. There are perks to living high up on a hill...you can see for miles and no traffic! LOL Happy Independence Day to my fellow Americans and let us not forget what today means!

Declaration Of Independence

by Thomas Jefferson

In Congress, July 4, 1776

THE UNANIMOUS DECLARATION OF THE THIRTEEN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

WHEN, in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the Powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness. That, to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,-That, whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such Principles, and organizing its Powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world:

He has refused his Assent to Laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavored to prevent the Population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and Payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our People and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to, the Civil Power.

He has combined with others, to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States;

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world;

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent;

For depriving us, in many cases of the benefits of Trial by Jury;

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences;

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighboring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies;

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering, fundamentally, the Forms of our Governments;

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with Power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here by declaring us out of his Protection, and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the Lives of our People.

He is, at this time, transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens, taken Captive on the high Seas, to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions, We have Petitioned for Redress, in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free People.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind,-Enemies in War,-in Peace, Friends.

WE, THEREFORE, the REPRESENTATIVES of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, in GENERAL CONGRESS Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, DO, in the Name and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly PUBLISH and DECLARE, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be, FREE AND INDEPENDENT STATES; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that, as FREE and INDEPENDENT STATES, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which INDEPENDENT STATES may of right do. And, for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the Protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor.

Josiah Bartlett	Matthew Thornton
William Whipple	John Hancock
Samuel Adams	Robert Treat Payne
John Adams	Elbridge Gerry
Stephen Hopkins	William Ellery
Rodger Sherman	William Williams
Samuel Huntington	Oliver Wolcott
William Floyd	Frances Lewis
Philip Livingston	Lewis Morris
Richard Stockton	John Hart
J Witherspoon	Abra Clark
F Hopkinson
Robert Morris	J Smith
Benjamin Rush	George Taylor
Benjamin Franklin	James Wilson
John Morton	George Ross
George Clymer
Caesar Rodney	Thomas M'Kean
George read
Samuel Chase	Charles Carroll
William Paca	Thomas Stone
George Wythe	Thomas Nelson Jr.
Richard Henry lee	Francis Lightfoot Lee
Thomas Jefferson	Carter Braxton
Benjamin Harrison
William Hooper	John Penn
Joseph Hewes
Edward Rutledge	Thomas Lynch Jr.
Thomas Heyward Jr.	Arthur Middleton
Button Gwinnett	George Walton

Lyman Hall

Homeschool Materials on Sale at CBD

Mystery of History (Vol. 1) is on sale this weekend only as one of the "Fabulous Friday" deals.

Mystery of History

Also check out the "WOW" deals, several of the items offered are homeschool resources:

Limited Time "WOW" Bargains

I know there was a coupon code published in a homeschooling magazine recently so you may be able to find it if you surf around. With the code you could get 10% off a $35 purchase.

Here's an Alibris coupon if you are doing some book shopping online:

 Use coupon code 4THJULY on checkout at Alibris to save $2 on $20 or more of books, music, & movies at www.alibris.com. Hurry, this coupon expires July 20, 2008.

Potty trained?

We are on day 2 of potty training and doing GREAT!  I wasn't planning on doing it yet, because I didn't think she was ready.  Yesterday she changed her pullup 6 times before 9:30 am and most were not wet, so I figured it was a ripe time.  I asked if she wanted to wear panties and she said yes.  She went all day yesterday with no accidents, even naptime!  Today she went with dad to the store for 2 hours and came home dry (and running for her potty).  LOL!   We even did #2 today!  Way to go, mama's baby!  (That's what she insists I call her....)

I wonder Why ....

I just read this article and I wondered why the Obama campaign feels it is necessary to keep his original birth certificate out of the public eye? Why did they lie about the forged document and say it was real???

Seems a bit ominous to me  ... ( cue twilight zone music ;0)

Here's the link so you can check this out!

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2008/07/forgery_revealed_in_kos_public.html

Happy Independace Day !!!!

Happy 4th of July

Amazing Lady of Tremendous Courage and Bravery

Check it out:
 http://www.irenasendler.org/ 

AND
http://junkscience.com/Features.html

Thinking about our School Year

Last week when we went shopping the library was having their annual book sale, it's by donation.  I stopped to look and picked out a nice box of children's books!  Some of them are for the Before Five in A Row and Five In A Row program we use.  I was so excited about that!  I also found some nice history story books.

We happened to be back in town a few days latter and they were still having the sale.  So I just had to peek again.  LOL  I found another book to go with the B4FIAR and some nice children's farming books!  I'm planning to do a farming unit this fall with the kids.  The International Plowing Match will be in our area and we are planning an all day field trip there.  Dh is really looking forward to that to.  I also picked up some wonderful animal videos for the kids and some documentaries for us.  Dh also picked out a encyclopedia set on natural history.

I'm hoping to get to a homeschool book store this weekend.  My shopping list has been gone over and over..I'm still tweaking it.  So far I'm thinking of getting this:

• Christian Liberty Nature Readers 1 & 2
• Bob Books #1
• Leading Little ones to God
• Canadian Colouring book
• FIAR Christian supplement
• Before FIAR
• Canada My Country
• Ecoutez! Parlez! (beginner French)

Our plans this year are:

2 year old.

I'm going to use B4FIAR with her at a slow pace.  Should be fun!

4 year old PreK

• Teach Your Child to Read 100 Easy Lessons
• Bob Books
• B4FIAR
• FIAR
• Leading Little Ones To God

6 year old, grade 1

• FIAR
• Math U See Beta
• SOTW 1 (we started this last year and put it on hold for a bit)
• God's Design for Science, The plant kingdom and human body
• Leading Little Ones To God
• Canada My Country
• Nature Study
• Copy Work
• CL Nature Readers

DD6 and 4 will also be starting on some hand crafts, keep working on crochet and maybe simple sewing.

Canada Day Photos

Tuesday was Canada Day and despite the littles still being some what sick we had a nice day.  Dh had some errands to do but after supper we took the kids for a walk at the park.  They got to see all the animals (birds and deer) and play for a while. 

Then we headed home and dh surprised them with a few fireworks!  They LOVED it we'll have to get some more before summers over.

Little dd2 wasn't to sure about it!

Just a Quick Note on a Devotional I am Reading

I'd love to say I'll take the time to write more later, but I since I seem to be keeping busy (sometimes busy doing nothing) lately, I can't.  So here's a quick recommendation anyway.

I am reading The Practice of Godliness and really enjoying it.  The book has served as a reminder of where I am headed and provided useful tips on how to get there more effectively.  I have really enjoyed reading the Scriptural selections mentioned in the book and have found them to be very inspiring.  My only "complaint" is that in the second portion of the book where the development of specific godly traits is discussed, the author sometimes fails to actually provide the Scriptural citation for his references.  For instance, the author makes a reference to Paul indicating that he can do something because God strengthens him but doesn't provide the book, chapter and verse citation for me to read the referenced passage.  This is a small issue and most of the non-cited references are ones that I recognized well enough to know that they really did exist (somewhere).  This is a very small issue with what is otherwise a very useful book. 

The author did an excellent job of explaining and supporting his explanation for what our true motivations should be and how we should behave toward our God.  I am taking notes as I read through the book and plan to re-read the text and accompanying Scripture to my DH and my children as well.  Some books I read and get a little from and I'm OK with that, as there's always some wisdom to be gleaned if only from reading the reference Scriptures alone.  But I often find myself counting how many pages I have left until I can put a particular book aside and move on to something more inspiring.  I recommend this book because it's one that actually made my heart "sing." 

I hope that you each find something this week that can inspire you and make your heart sing.  God has given us lots to sing about.