Jul. 1, 2009 - Bargains Rock
I want to share a great website/blog with you all. It's called Bargains Rock and is run by a good friend of mine. She gives all kinds of bargains every day. I signed up to receive them as an email to make it more handy. Enjoy!
www.bargainsrock.com
By the way, right now my 8 yo is holding my 9 month-old up to a map and saying, "There's Kentucky, there's the Bahamas, there's Cuba." So cute!
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Jun. 23, 2009 - Wow--a month!
I can't believe it's been a month since I last posted. We have had a whirl-wind and very fun summer already. I'll give a little update here and post more with pictures later. We just got back in town, and I have a mountain of laundry and 132 emails! I've already vacuumed and gotten the bread made this morning. The kids are happily playing in the basement at present.
The fun started on May 22 when my husband took the two older boys (ages 7 and 8) on a camping trip to Michigan. A week later my mom, sister, nephew, and niece from California visited for 12 days. We had a ball going to Old World Wisconsin, Kohl Children's Museum, Brookfield Zoo, and just hanging out around the house and backyard. My mom and sister so kindly babysat so that my husband and I could attend the Illinois Christian Home Educator's convention for two days. It was wonderful, as usual.
A few days after they left we set off on our vacation to Pennsylvania and surrounding areas. Here are some of the highlights:
--2655 miles traveled (with 8 people in an 8-passenger vehicle!)
--11 states visited
--stayed at 7 different hotels/ bed and breakfasts
--stayed 3 days at a working dairy farm
--ate dinner at an Amish family's house
--saw where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution were written and signed
--visited Gettysburg
--went to the Crayola Factory
--took a ferry (from Cape May, NJ to Lewes, DE)
--played at the beach (Rehoboth, DE)
--saw a few sights (too few) in Washington D.C.
--rode the Metro train there (thankfully the Lord protected us)
--went to a zoo and an aviary
--saw pandas!
--the boys went to the International Spy Museum
--drove through the beautiful Shenandoah Valley
more later. . .
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May. 22, 2009 - Pictures
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May. 22, 2009 - Quilting
One of my hobbies is quilting, but I really haven't been able to do much! And I've never even actually "quilted" anything. As preparation for our Pennsylvania trip I had the older kids try to piece a small quilt together. Here are some pictures.
Two of the kids did "nine-patch."
My oldest wanted to do a "crazy quilt."
When I graduated from college (in 1995) I started this quilt sampler. I doesn't have any filling or a back on it yet. It's all sewed by hand.
Here are two quilts I made for my sons. The first is a solid fabric that looks like a pieced-together quilt. I just sewed the top to a solid blue bottom with the filling inside. I tied red embroidery floss to keep it together.
This one was much more difficult to make. Each square was sewed by machine to its backing with the filling inside. Then all the squares were sewed together and I cut the extra seam allowance as fringe.
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May. 22, 2009 - This year's garden
We have finally gotten almost everything planted in our garden for this year. My husband added a new area, so we'll now have 3 separate small gardens. One has tomatoes, corn, and peppers. The second has (or will have as soon as I can get out there this evening to plant) pumpkins, butternut squash, and zucchini. The last garden has peas, sugar snap peas, cucumber, cilantro, and three kinds of lettuce. We've done some work to keep Peter and cousin Benjamin (bunnies) away. I hope it works! I love walking to the backyard to get fixings for a salad!
We started seedlings inside this year:
And I also need to plant some flowers!
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May. 20, 2009 - Missionary Stories With the Millers
We just finished reading (again) a wonderful book called "Missionary Stories With the Millers" by Mildred A. Martin. I heartily recommend it! It's a collection of stories of some of the most amazing God-fearing missionaries around the world. The stories are exciting even for boys! (My 8 yo would say, "Could you please read the next one, too, Mom?" We read a chapter of this book every morning during our morning Bible Time. And I have to tell you--I cried at almost every story! I love how each story begins with a map so we could locate where the event took place. Here are some of the missionaries featured: Jim Elliot, David Livingstone, Hudson Taylor, and Amy Carmichael. There are 29 stories in all.
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May. 20, 2009 - Win a Free Apologia Notebook
I haven't started doing "formal" science work with my kids yet. (Instead, we do nature study/journaling and unit studies on topics that we're interested in.) But, when we do switch to a textbook, Apologia will be the company!
I am also excited about the elementary textbooks that Jeannie Fulbright has written. We'll probably start these when my oldest is 10. She has also written some notebooking/lapbooking materials to go along with the textbooks. And she's giving away 8 copies! See info about it below.
- A daily schedule for those who like to have a plan or would like their children to complete the book on their own
- Templates for written narrations, the notebooking activities and experiments
- Review Questions
- Scripture Copywork, with both print and cursive practice
- Reading lists and additional activities, projects, experiments for each lesson
- An appendix with beautiful, full-color, lapbook-style Miniature Books
- Field Trip Sheets to keep a record field trips
- A Final Review with fifty questions the students can answer either orally or in writing to show off all they remember and know at the end of the course.
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May. 16, 2009 - Other chores
Here are the other chores that my children are doing now:
After Lunch
8 yo boy: Take out kitchen trash, put dishes in dishwasher
7 yo boy: Rinse dishes, wipe table
5 yo girl: Clear off table
4 yo girl: Wipe chairs
Afternoon (before Daddy comes home)
8 yo boy: Straighten up family room, Sweep kitchen/dining area floor
7 yo boy: Pick up things off kitchen floor, Set table for dinner, Put clothes in washer
5 yo girl: Straighten up parlor and backyard
4 yo girl: Straighten up laundry room and backyard
After Dinner
8 yo boy: Wipe counters and stove, put dishes in dishwasher
7 yo boy: Wipe table, Rinse dishes
5 yo girl: Clear off table
4 yo girl: Wipe chairs
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May. 14, 2009 - ChorePacks
We finally started using ChorePacks this week--and so far, so good! (See Titus2.com). I have had and have been using the book "Managers of Their Chores" for several years, but never got to the point where I actually made the ChorePacks. I felt like I had to do it perfectly--printed on the computer, laminated, etc. That put a block in it. So, this weekend I just cut out some cardstock the right size and wrote out their chores in marker! Here is what each child is assigned for their morning chores (after breakfast):
8 yo boy: Take vitamin, Put away dishes in cabinets, Handwriting, Brush teeth, Practice violin
7 yo boy: Put dishes on counter (from dishwasher), Take vitamin, Practice violin, Brush Teeth, Handwriting
5 yo girl: Take vitamin, Brush teeth, Clear off table, Handwriting
4 yo girl: Take vitamin, Brush teeth, Put away silverware
I love this system. It is so organized. The kids wear their ChorePacks (so they'll see what they are supposed to do next and won't start playing) and move the card to the back when finished. If they are unable to do a certain chore (because someone else is brushing their teeth, for example), they move it behind the next card and will see it again to know to do it. I don't have to keep on them anymore making sure that they have done everything. Here's my part, though. I have to thoroughly train them so they know exactly how to do the chore. And I have to inspect. ("Don't expect what you don't inspect.") To remind me to do this, I have them clip their ChorePacks onto me after they are finished. That way I will remember to inspect the chores and know what I'm supposed to inspect!
It will also make adding more chores easier later on. We'll probably get some more ChorePacks for their "after lunch chores" and for "afternoon" chores. The system also makes it very easy to add things that only have to be done once a week or once a month. So, eventually we will be quite organized and clean around here! (I hope!)
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