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This week’s theme is about sharing your 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. You’ve been preparing your plans for sometime and you’re ready to go. Or you’re still in the planning-stage and need some inspiration or tips on what to use. Because many use different curriculum and methods there is always something new to be gleaned from other homeschoolers. It’s always fun and interesting to see what other’s are using and the WWWWH as Robin Sampson suggests.

So this week we are to share what we'er doing this year for your homeschool agenda. We are suppose to share the  curriculum we’re using. 

Please share a Bible verse that has encouraged you or inspired you during this planning-process, and how.

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Bible

For the Younger 2 ...( but have 2ds help teach...( a sneaky way to get him to learn too)

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~Leading Little Ones To God by.. Marian M. Schoolland

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~Betty Lukens ..Through The Bible in Felt

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All Boys...

finish...

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~"Searching For Treasure" ...A Guide to Wisdom and Charachter Development ( using Proverbs) by Marty Elwell

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~Christian Manhood by... Gary Maldaner

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~ For oldest I haven't totally figured out what I want him to use yet.

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Amongst all this I am trying to learn how to teach with Dianne Craft's, MA, CNHP  material of ....

" Teaching Your Right Brained Child" manuals and DVD's and also  Right Brained Phonics Program , A Reading Program for the "Struggling Reader. 

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History

This year I really wanted to cement my boys in their Canadian History and Geography. Now me a new Canadian citizen myself I can't wait to really dive into all this. 

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The teachers manuals that I will use and improvise off of are...

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~Courage & Conquest ~Discovering Canadian History by..Donna Ward

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~Modern History Through Canadian Eyes by .. Heather Lenner

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~Canadian Natives Long Ago by ... Donna Ward

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~The Ultimate Lap Book Handbook by Tammy Duby and Cyndy Regeling

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~ Talk a latte mp3's by Cindy Rushton on Lapbooking and Notebooking and Charlotte Mason Primer.

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I have picked a lot of different

historical novels for example....

(a trilagy)

~ A Circle Of Silver

~By The Standing Stone

~Under A Shooting Star

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~Jason's Gold by.. Will Hobbs

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~Flight by ..Connie Brummel Crook

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~The Kings Daughter by .. Suzanne Martel

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~The Broken Blade by.. William Durbin

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~Madeleleine Takes Command by ..Ethel C. Brill

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Canadian history activity books 

(Discovering Canada Books by ..Robert Livesey & A.G. Smith

~The Vikings

~The Fur Traders

~New France

~Native Peoples

~The Defenders

~The Railways

~The Loyal Refugees

~The Rebels

~Black Heritage

~The Great War

~The Mounties

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~Westward Ho ! An Activity Guide to the Wild West by Laurie Carlson    ( this book is from the U.S but history didn't stay only in it's own borders and the history of the US and Canada crossed A LOT more than people realised.)

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~More Than Moccasins ...A Kids Activity Guide To Traditional North American Indian Life by.... Laurie Carlson

( once again the tribe names were different but there was enough to use even for the Canadian Native Americans who didn't put a border between the two countires. [0;)

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Other resourse books we will use...

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~Canada Votes by ..Linda Granfield

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~Our Canadian Governments by... Ruth Solski

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~My First History Of Canada by..Donalda Dickie and Rudiger Krause

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~The Story of Canada by..Janet Lunn & Christopher Moore

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~The BIG Book of Canada~ Exploring the Provinces and Territories by .. Christopher Moore

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~The Kids Book of Canada by Barbara Greenwood

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~The Kids Book of Canadian Prime Ministers by ..Pat Hancock

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~The Kids Book of Railway and how the CPR was built by ..Deborah Hodge

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~The Kids Book of Canadian History by ..Carlotta Hacker

~ O Canada by ..Ted Harrison

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Historical DVD's

~Canada - A People's History  Set 1 and 2

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Also I will read from selected stories from ...

~Stories from across Canada by...Bernard L. McEvoy

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~Great Canadian Animal Stories compiled by...Muriel Whitaker

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Science

~Nature Study  and...

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~for ds' 2, 3 and 4 Exploring Creation with Zoology #1

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~1ds ...Exploring Creation with Physical Science

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~I will also add some unit studies afterwards or another Apoloigia book

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World View

1ds will also be reading and notebooking from ..

~Streams of Civilization Vol.2

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Art

4th ds will use " I Can Do All Things" by..Barry Stebbing

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2ds, 3ds will use "God and the History of Art" by Barry Stebbing

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Arts and Crafts ~ as I feel inspired !!! Watch for coming posts. [0=

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~Picture Study - of famous artists and their paintings will be done by all four boys

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~Music with the Masters ~ Music appreciation and learning about the famous composers

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~Learning piano basics and guitar basics too

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P.E

~Curling in the fall and winter

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~ swimming lessons in the Fall

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~The Ultimate Homeschool Physical Education Game Book

 ( Fun and Easy-To-Use Games & Activities To Help You Teach Your Children Fitness, Movement & Sports Skills)   by.. Guy Bailey 

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Math 

We use Math U See for all boys

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1ds15 ~  Algebra

2ds13 ~ Zeta

3ds10 ~ Delta

4ds7 ~ finishing Alpha

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Language Arts

We will use notebooking, lapbooking, copywork, dictation, spelling, narration - written and oral.

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Now for the bible verse God gave me in the last 9 months....

" This is what the Lord says: "Stand at the crossroads and look: ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls." Jeremiah 6:16

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...This verse has encouraged me to get back to my Charlotte Mason roots to teach what I should and stop trying to do too many things that can be done in a few. 

 For example... copywork and narration covers ALL kinds of grammer skills and we can encorperate our intrests and focused subjects while we do it.

I wanted to post a quick TWT b/c this week is another busy week .  Just in case you didn't see my friend Chasity's post for S&T Friday I wanted to draw your attention to it.  She gave a link to A Year Of Crockpotting   It is a NEAT site and a great link to get ideas for tons of recipes.  We are ALL looking for ways to cut down on our cost of living and crockpots are for sure one way. 

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Please also scroll down to the next post and see the Anti-Procrastination Challenge Meme for this week.

"There are only a few big ways to save money but there are a lot of small ways....that all adds up."

 Please go visit these lovely ladies and glean some good tightwad tips from them.  

Remember:  The best way to get a comment is to give a comment

Blessings and ((HUGS)) in Him<><

CHALLENGE

Well here we are in week 2 if the Anti-Procrastination Challenge.  I didn't get to work on mine as much as I would have liked b/c of me applesaucing !

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But I did decide on somethings to get rid of !  I am feeling so much better !   If all goes well next week I can show the updated pic and I am picking out colours for the molding and the bottom of my claw foot tub.

Please go visit these other lovely gals and their Anti-Procratinations Projects and encourage, encourage, encourage !!!  We can bust these projects YES WE CAN.

 ( Please scroll down to the next post today for a fun and cheerful post too )

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Well, I have a update on our situation with our friendly neighbor and the water system.  I must forwarn you that this isn't a bright and cheerful post but it is what is going on here.   Our friendly neighbor has put his property up for sale.  But, he has put it up for a outragous price.  I know a lot of people would buy it IF it was a reasonable price. ((sigh))

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I have to be honest that I have been feeling very discouraged lately about ALL of this.  If you think of me while you pray please pray for us and about this saga.    This has been dragging on for 3 years now and it will be at least another year (or more)  before we can put our permenant water system in. 

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 I guess I get frustrated when I have to keep maintaining and juggling the use of the water between our house,the shared garden with MIL , and Hansomes Aunt and Uncles garden.  I am not saying that I don't mind sharing but when I keep not having water to the house and have to start trouble shooting why we don't have water this time... I get discouraged. 

 I have been clinging onto the vs that God gave me in John 11 about that all this will be for the glory of God.  But I have been asking myself why with all the prayer that nothing is changing.  My Handsome and BIL just went 2 days ago to try to talk to our  neighbor and work things out of court.  But it didn't work.  Our friendly neighbor didn't loose his cool and he asked very courteously for them to get off his land.  That was that. 

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I will continue to hold onto that ...

God is in CONTROL,

 He is Faithful,

And with Him ALL things are POSSIBLE.

I do find that today's verse is ...

Saturday August 23, 2008   Today's Verse:    Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. James 1:17 / KJV Put this Verse on your site.

~Thank you God for The House that God Built.  It isn't a mistake we are here.  Even if it is tough at times.

To join please click graphic

I joined a meme here on Homeschool Blogger. Every Wednesday there will be a new theme,
"to not only keep a 'memoir' (posts) of your homeschool year, but to make a way for homeschoolers to get to know each other." Today's them is All About Me, "the author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool." Here it goes...

Hi there.  I am Mary aka Canadagirl.  I have 4 boys 15, 13, 10, and 8 years old.  We have been homeschooling the boys  sense their birth.  We live on our homestead in the southern part of British Columbia, Canada on the Kootenay Lake. 

I remember having a friend in our High School Youth Group at church that homeschooled.  It intriged me very much !  But it wasn't until I got married and moved to the Greater Vancover area that I met 3 families at  church that homeschooled. This  really peaked my interest.  I remember asking them (kids included) all about homeschooling.  I loved what I saw in them and heard.  And how they as a family were close knit and it seemed to work. 

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When my oldest was 3 1/2 I thought I better seriously get my brain wrapped around the hs'ing how to's.  So that lead me to my first hs support group night.   The night I went was their last meeting for the school year and it was a Show and Tell Night. ( I think this is really what started S&T Fridays )

It was a night they could to share what they did that school year that was soooooooo neat or some kind of curriculum or book that they thought was GREAT.  After hearing all that that night  was TOTALY convinced I NEEDED to hs my kiddos.

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We have been homeschooling for 11 years now and plan to go the FULL distance.  My oldest has two years left and I am now in the season of figuring out how to get him into the collage program he wants.  I am developing trascripts for him now.

Here is a family photo but I REALLY have to give a updated one next week. ( this is a year old )

 Top row:  Luke, Philip, Handsome, and Me

Bottom row: Nicolas, and Noah

It didn't start out too well as the previous post showed, but by the 3rd day it was better. I think because I stuck my ground, ds1 realized he wasn't going to get his way. We do need to have a written schedule for the boys, and a list of things to do I think. Maybe if they can SEE is then they can at least mentally cross it off.

DS2 is doing ok with school. We don't do a whole lot at this point, but his reading is taking off. He is not really into alot of coloring and writing, but that will come with time. Now if we can get ds3 to be quiet at certain times, that will be better.

Anna has been fussy all night. I don' t know if it is something I ate, or what it is. Anyway, hopefully this will pass SOON.

I have a new chipin box at the top. We have some unwed mothers (www.panfamtaiwan.blogspot.com) that will be needing support and future ones as well. If you think you can do something, please do.......

It's that time again...

I have to share a long lost treasure that was buried in the cove of future upstairs bathroom. ( okay if you are wondering what in the world is she talking about please scroll down a couple posts and read my Anti-Procrastination Project ) This was my Father in Laws shell collection.  He passed away a few months before Handsome and I got married almost 18 years ago.  I have been packing it around all boxed up for 10 years now.  I am finally in a situation where I feel I can now unwrap it and figure  out a nice way to display it.  I haven't totally decided "how" I want to display it yet.  But I had a lot of fun unwrapping it and looking at it.  I am kind of thinking of a shadow box frame on the wall.  We will see.  I promise when that comes together it will be part two Show and Tell of Seashell Treasure. 

Now....

*** Remember in Show and Tell Friday ...the best way to get a comment is to give a comment. ***

If you want to join us

just...

~Make a Show and Tell Post and make sure it is wholesome.   It can be pretty much what ever you want to share.  It could be about you ...or your family ....or what is going on in your homeschooling.

~Some how link me ( Canadagirl ) so others will know where to go to join S&T.

~Come back to me and  let me know you posted your S&T by using Mr. Linky. ( I need you  to tell me each week that you want to participate  , okay ? )

~If you want the S&T button to put on your blog go HERE

~Then , please go visit other gals wonderful Show and Tells !

MORE apples ????

 Update:

A friend asked me what does it look like when a worm gets into the apple.  Well...this is what it looks like.

Yes, I said more apples.  I didn't show all the apples in my Wordless Wednesday yesterday.  It isn't what you call a fast process in canning apples sause.  So far I have canned 21 quarts and froze another 14 quarts of apple sause and still have 4 boxes to can.  Then...there is another tree to pick if we can get to them today.  Now you know why I am not getting around blogland as much. lol 

Today's to do list is ...

-Can apple sause

-Can zucchinni pickles ( one batch today)

-Start "trying" to catch up on laundry

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Today started off a bit rough.  Last night one son woke up with what we call toxic dreams.  That is when he eats to many foods he is allergic to and wakes up in a state that he is kinda awake but not really and can't settle down to sleep.  Fortunatly this time wasn't too bad.  Then this morning at 5:20 am my 3ds woke up with a croupy cough.  He settled down shortly and then the green house collapsed a bit and had to go out and fix that at 5:30 am.  After I kinda propt it up and sort of fixed it I came in for ....coffee. Thinking of my days to do list I decided to run a load of canning jars in the dishwasher.  That made me feel a little better.  Now it is 7:20 and the rain is letting up a bit and I don't feel so concerned about the green house collapsing ...as much.

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Okay, I guess you get to see why we haven't started homeschooling yet.  I have come to accepting that we start on September 2nd and that will allow me to try to finish the fair chunck of my food preservations for the winter. Plus, believe it or not I REALLY want to paint my front door red and paint my window and door trims the colour "Stone".  Yes, I will Show and Tell it when it is done.

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It is funny but I keep asking myself "how" do I create "margin" in my life ?  I try to keep my outside activities to a tameness.  But this time of year gets  so... busy.  I just have to accept it and go with the flow I guess. 

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One thing that has really blessed me and should have been common sense and already in place but it wasn't.  Is ...I am sitting down in the morning with a cup of java and bible and sit in my comfy chair in my room and have a quiet time with the Lord.  I have found if I don't allow myself to turn on the computer before I do that I am much more calm for the day.  Yes, I know that is the way it should be.  But my life was out of whack and it is better now.  I am reading the book of Esther and I am really enjoying the way the Lord is reaching my heart right now with it.  Thank you God.

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Okay,  I will end it here.  I am truley rambling now.  Hee he.  See I can do it JoAnn and I didn't think I could.  What a blessings it was to ramble.  You might just have started something for me JoAnn.

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Blessings and ((HUGS))