Our Grace Journey has the 2009 Inductive Advent study up on the website! Print it now so you are ready for Sunday!
While we have a usable Jesse Tree from HERE (I have blogged about it in the past), I found something that I think Young M and I will work together on for next year (perhaps a set for us and then a set to be made and put away for each child - for when they have their own households). It is a cross-stitched set - what a wonderful heirloom idea (or hope chest!).
We have Bartholomew's Passage ready to go. I just have to go buy our candles for our Advent wreath.
We will also continue our deviation from our regularly scheduled language arts and "reading" curriculum (but keeping up with our history/lit readings from AO) and work on the Christmas Unit Study I bought a couple of years ago from www.unitstudy.com. I also have a freebie lapbook from Hands of a Child that are purely "fun" and not any kind of educational, lol, Free Here! Young M wants to also do the Symbols of Christmas lapbook from HOAC as well. I suspect she is loading herself up, but, as long as she gets her other work done, she can go for it.
That and along with making a few Christmas presents for some people, cookies (fun, free e-book from Homeschoolfreebies.com last week) and hopefully, some caroling, we should have a fun, Christ-centered month leading up to Christmas.
At this point, the question is no longer "Why do WE homeschool?", the question has become "Why on earth don't YOU?".
And no, maybe, just maybe this particular thing is not happening in your child's school - but do you know it for sure? Are you willing to put your child at risk any longer??
Sorry for the radio silence over here. Baby G is 1 and walking everywhere - he keeps us all very, very busy. I have a brief moment while he is busy trying to sweep with the children's broom (one that my parent's bought them from Nappanee, IN several years ago - it is the real corn straw deal, but with a short handle).
Anyway, I decided that we were seriously stuck in a homeschooling rut and decided to take a break from much of our regularly scheduled curriculum and do a unit study on Thanksgiving that I had purchased 2-3 years ago, but had not used. I think I will be adding in a Lapbook to go along with it. Currently, the children are working on Amanda Bennett's Thanksgiving Unit Study. I have Young M working in the Upper Level and Med. G. in the Lower Level. I also have a Hands of a Child Pilgrims Lapbook, I think one on Natives and one for total Thanksgiving goofieness (I have had a couple of these for several years!). While still doing their Math (and Young M, her Latin), the Unit Study will take place of most of the rest - Lit, History, handwriting, etc. Plus, they are learning research skills.
The AB Unit Study, for each day, has a quote or scripture to copy into their notebooks, Words of Wisdom to look up the definitions and copy into their notebooks, a section on Interesting People and Places that includes various activities. Yesterday was about King David. Today is some mapwork. Then there is a section called Read and Discover. There are various books she recommends to get from the library and/or websites to look at for information. She also includes some out of publication (and copyright) pieces within the unit and a list of resources for each age group and family activities/books/videos. There are also included a couple of craft activities. Needless to say, because they get to use the computer, the encyclopedias and dictionary along with their literature, they are currently enjoying this process.
Well, this recipe started with us buying a soup mix (for a rather premium amount). After getting tired of paying that amount for a piddling bit of food (IMHO) and looking at the ingredient list, I decided that I would attempt to make the mix on my own. After starting with their list of about 4 ingredients, I fiddled with it until I got something that we all liked. I will state that we like to eat spicier foods. While this is not overly spicy hot (Med. G would not eat it if it was too hot), it does have a bit of a bit to it. For those who want it more mild, reduce the amount of cayenne pepper (a little goes a LONG way).
So here it what we came up with (and will now start making already bagged up "kits" for our own ease - they I do not have to drag out half the spices in the pantry each time, lol) - remember, though, I am making "kits" for us so all I have to do is add water - thus all the dry spices. You could easily use fresh:
Melisa's Lentil Soup
6 Cups of water
1/2 C of dry rice
3/4 C of red lentils (although, I suppose any color would work!)
1 TBS dried onion (if you have fresh on hand, absolutely use that)
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp basil
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp basil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
Put into a pan, bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for about 45 min. Dinner is served. You can do this in the crockpot as well, but allow about 6 hours for it to cook. I have made it like that numerous times. Kind of nice to dump it all in a crockpot and not have to worry about it until you are ready for dinner.
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On a side note, I also cook extra rice (for texture and to make the soup go further). Usually 1 C dry rice/2 C of water. AND I also use cut up bites of chicken in it much of the time. The chicken is absolutely NOT needed, but something I sometimes want.
Gary and I like to put shredded cheese, sour cream and a tiny bit of hot sauce in our bowls as well. The children prefer to eat theirs plain.
After reading and totally enjoying Jotham's Journey last year during the season of Advent, we are anxiously awaiting Bartholomew's Passage to arrive in the mail. We fully expect to buy Tabitha's Travels when it is republished next year. Here is the description of the 1 we are waiting on: Bartholomew's Passage is an engaging story that guides families through the Advent season. Young Bartholomew's adventures start when Roman soldiers destroy his village and disperse his family, continue through his enslavement to a tyrannical master and his escape with his new friend Nathan, and end with a reunion with his family in Bethlehem. Along the way Bartholomew makes a new friend, a young boy named Jotham!
When I had a chance at a good price at the end of last year, I bought a few as gifts for those I knew who had been looking for them, but had missed out on the great price I had paid for mine earlier in the season and a couple of others as gifts.
One thing I should add, though, is that if you have very young children present for each nights reading, I would make sure you pre-read and potentially edit some of it as it could be potentially scary to very young children (I am talking about the 5 and under set here, in my opinion - but we read a lot of great literature that includes edge of your seat stuff - it could be different for your family).
Anyway, for those of you reading and have read the series during Advent and enjoyed them, please add your .02 here for the books!
A journal of our home educating endeavors and our walk through life.
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