|
I decided to move my blog to my own domain. Check it out at www.roadstoeverywhere.com/blog.html Don't forget to comment to let me know you stopped by! See ya there! |
|
I was in Denver last week for a training conference, along with about 30 others. Everyone was to leave after 1:00 p.m. on Saturday so we were dropped off at the airport about noon. My flight was not scheduled to leave until 9:40 p.m. I knew I'd have a long wait just hanging out until my flight started boarding. What I hadn't realized was that I wouldn't be able to check my suitcase at the ticket counter more than 4 hours before my flight. So I had to hang out in the terminal outside of security until 5:40 p.m.! 10 hours in the airport was just a little ridiculous, but not something that happens very often, so I just enjoyed the experience! Actually I felt a little like that the main character in The Terminal! I kept moving around just for a change of scenery. I walked around the edge of upper level just to see what shops there were. There was a series of glass cases down on one end with a museum type exhibit about a pioneer aviator. I don't remember his name but his statue is just outside the security area on the middle level. Walking around dragging a heavy suitcase soon got old, so I found a place to camp out on the middle level across from the fountain to read, knit, and people-watch. I had bought a copy of Jane Eyre the day before. I don't think I've read it since I was a teenager. Jane got through school and had just met Mr. Rochester when I put "her" aside, and found a phone booth to sit in to visit with my mother on my cell phone for awhile. (It's quieter in a phone booth.) Finally the time arrived when I could check my suitcase. In my explorations of the main terminal earlier I discovered a sky bridge to Concourse A that you could walk across rather than take the shuttle train. (If you've never been to the Denver airport, there is a main terminal, then 3 concourses, which are each connected by an underground shuttle train.) I decided to walk across to my concourse for something different. There's a security checkpoint about half way across, so I didn't have to go through security in the main terminal. There was no one ahead of me in line at the ticket counter or at security either one, so flying late does have its advantages I guess. I visited the shops on Concourse A, bought some supper, sat down at a vacant gate to eat, listened to some radio dramas on MP3, knitted, and people-watched some more. Finally, I decided to hike to my gate in outer Siberia! It was one of Frontier's commuter gates on the ground level way out beyond the furthest gate on the main level. At the end of the concourse there's a down escalator and then a lengthy hike to the very end to gate A62! We boarded by going outside and walking across the tarmac over to the plane and up the stairs. Very interesting experience! The gate area reminded me of that little airport in the sit-com Wings. There were several gates for Horizons, but I also noticed 2 or 3 for "Great Lakes Airlines" which flew to obscure places like Gillette, Wyoming. There was one other Horizons flight going to a nearby city about the same time at the gate next to mine, but other than that it was quiet down there. I sure wouldn't want to do it every week, but for once I think it was kinda fun! I have to say, I was more than glad to tumble into bed shortly after midnight Pacific time. |
|
I spent the afternoon giving the homeschooling portion of my website a good overhauling. It was long overdue to say the least! I also set up an Amazon affiliate store to highlight some of my favorite books and materials. I'll be adding more to it as I get time. |
 |
|
My cell phone plan includes "new every 2" so my husband just got me that new "Chocolate" phone that plays MP3s. Do I need it? Not really. I have a perfectly good cell phone... and a tiny 2gig portable MP3 player (not an IPod, but similar), so what do I need with a phone that combines the two? I'm just spoiled, I guess. It's "free" and it's cool. Isn't that the American way? But I'm weird. I don't listen to music much, nor even talk radio. My listening preference is for old time radio (drama/comedy/mystery) or audio books. I love stories!!! Old time radio is readily available in MP3 format, so that's mostly what's on my player at any given time. Speaking of technology, about a year ago I unearthed some 40-year-old home-recorded reel-to-reel tapes in my mother's attic (formerly my grandmother's attic). I brought them home with me with the hopes of converting them to digital format and restoring the sound quality. I bought a player for them cheap on eBay and now I'm trying to figure out how to proceed from here. Getting them to the computer is not the problem, but oh, the sound quality! Lots of static, hiss, poorly recorded to start with, etc. However, in a family heritage sense, these are priceless recordings so I have high hopes that the sound can be restored. We also recently discovered some old slides that hadn't seen the light of day in 30 years or more, and were able to scan them onto the computer. I do know enough about photo-editing to clean those up a bit, so that was very exciting to have some "new" old pictures that hadn't been thumbed past in the family albums hundreds of times over the years. Christmas 1971. I was 6! I showed the group picture to my husband and asked if he could pick me out of the crowd. He said, "Of course! You were the cutest one!" I laughed at him, but he did pick the right kid out of about 15! |
Thinking of pulling your child out of school? Three expert homeschool moms reveal how you can rescue your child - and your peace of mind!Three homeschool moms with over 35 years of experience will spend an hour with you at your convenience. You'll get answers and advice you can use to create the ideal learning atmosphere for your child... And bring harmony back to your house. You'll also get free extras worth over $60:
|
|
I told the girls a few days ago that they didn't have to do school work this week. Chores, yes. School work, no. Their response? "Why?" I couldn't believe it! I guess they've gotten used to me telling them, "I don't care whether or not the public school kids are out of school, you still need to do school today." I've been trying to put in some extra hours of work while I have the chance. My goal for today is to get my bedroom organized better. There is still a mountain of boxes of "miscellaneous" to do something with, from when we moved in August! It's driving me nuts. I have also been spending some time this week getting lesson plans and materials all set up to start school fresh next Tuesday. My 11yo has an "auditory processing deficiency". We have been seeing a neurodevelopmentalist to help us plan out her school work to help her make the most progress. Her re-eval was the Wednesday before Christmas, so we have a new program to start. I've been gathering materials and printing out appropriate worksheets and setting up a schedule for her. I am modifying a chore pack that came with the Managers of Their Chores book I got last summer, to list all the various activities she needs to do. I'm color coding them to help her see which ones need to be done once a day, twice a day, etc. For math, I've been printing out some worksheets from The Math Worksheet Site. I am so impressed with what is available there! I highly recommend it as a supplement to any math program. The site has a free section, but the subscription section is well worth the price! (You can subscribe for a month for $2.50 or for a year for $20.) For Bible, I plan to print out some of the lessons at Calvary Chapel Children's Bible Curriculum. Top quality worksheets for every story you can think of in the Bible! And it's completely free! Now, if I could just find some nice worksheets featuring Christian heroes of the faith. I've seriously been considering developing my own! My kids enjoy have puzzle sheets or coloring sheets to do as they listen to read-alouds. I'm also looking for some color-by-number print-outs. That is supposed to help my daughter with attention to detail. I have found a few pages online, but nothing I'm real impressed with yet. |
|
I got this by email from both of my sisters. Rather than emailing it out to all my friends, I thought I would post it to my blog. Feel free to copy it and pass it on (with your answers, of course)! Welcome to the Christmas edition of getting to know your friends. Okay, here's what you're supposed to do, and try not to be a SCROOGE!!! Just copy (not forward) this entire email and paste into a new e-mail that you can send. Change all the answers so that they apply to you. Then send this to a whole bunch of people you know, INCLUDING the person that sent it to you. 'Tis the Season to be NICE! 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Paper, usually.  2. Real tree or artificial? Artificial this year. Last year we didn't have a tree. The year before that we went to the National Forest and cut down a wild tree. That was fun! 3. When do you put up the tree? Whenever we get around to it. Sometime between the-day-after-Thanksgiving and about December 15 or so.  4. When do you take the tree down? Sometime during the week between Christmas and New Year's. 5. Do you like eggnog? Yes, if it's homemade and non-alcoholic.  6. Favorite gift received as a child? Oh, my... I have a hard time picking a favorite of anything. We always had great Christmas gifts, even though we were very "poor" by today's standards. My parents always put a lot of thought and love into our gifts. Mother often sewed rag dolls and clothes. Sometimes she would find nearly-new things she knew we would like at garage sales. Dad made us wooden doll cradles one year. Another year he worked at a grocery store that sold toys at Christmas time. It seems like we got a lot of cool toys that year. I think it may have been discards that perhaps had a part missing or an open package or were for some other reason unsaleable. We didn't care! My favorite thing that year was a huge pile of ViewMaster reels and the viewer. We got way more reels than the standard 3 that come with the viewer, and then 3 per package for a ridiculous price. That was very cool! 7. Do you have a nativity scene? Yes. It's small... the figures are maybe 2" tall... and plastic. But very sweet. The children enjoy setting it up under the Christmas tree. When they were younger they would play with it and act out the Christmas story. That's why I bought a plastic one!  8. Hardest person to buy for? Hmm... it varies from year-to-year. 9. Easiest person to buy for? My kids, of course.  10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Both. And also, hand deliver. 11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? My sister mentioned, "Ms. McKinley next door at our house in Lufkin when I was in the third grade gave us girls all a pair of boys socks – UGLY boys socks!!" I have to agree with that one. Mother said Miz McKinley later said something to her about never seeing us wear the socks she gave us. Can you believe she noticed?!? So Mother told her they were boys' socks so we gave them to our little brothers. Miz McKinley was just appalled. She had no idea! Bless her heart... she was trying to be nice!  12. Favorite Christmas Movie? It's a Wonderful Life. 13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? As early as I can. 14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Sure. 15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? cookies 16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? This year they are clear. I prefer colored, but clear are pretty. 17. Favorite Christmas song? O Little Town of Bethlehem  18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Usually stay home. 19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? uh-huh, unless I forget 20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Angel 21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Our kids open 2 gifts on Christmas Eve. They are always the same thing... a new pair of pajamas and a new Bible story book (or tape/video related to the Bible). We open other gifts on Christmas morning. 22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? Charities trying to make you feel guilty for not giving more, especially on years when it's all you can do to put Christmas together for your own family. I've had a couple of bad experiences in this regard that kinda turn me off of the whole "give to those less fortunate" drive that goes on. Lest you think I'm a complete Scrooge, I do give to needs I am personally aware of as I am able... but I don't usually give to the big charity drives. 23. Does Santa leave the gifts wrapped or unwrapped? wrapped  24. Do you have Jesus in your heart this Christmas? No point in celebrating Christmas otherwise, is there? |
|
Every time I post, I think, "Well, that wasn't so hard! I should do that more often. Yup. Gonna start blogging every day." And then, of course, I don't because when I think about it, it just seems like too much effort... Tomorrow is the last day of the fall trimester for our homeschool co-op. I'm so ready for the break! We don't start back up again until mid-January, and I finally bit the bullet and only agreed to do half-days for the winter trimester. I've been waffling on that for 2 months! First, I think we'll quit... then I think we won't... I weighed the pros and cons and still didn't come to a good conclusion... DH wasn't a bit of help. I begged him to make the decision for me. Doesn't he get the idea? I'm willing to be a "submissive wife"! Just tell me what to do! Got the kids' school pictures back today. The photographer captured great smiles! The only drawback was that for some reason all the pictures came back too dark. The entire homeschool group's pictures were all too dark. And nobody had backgrounds on their pictures. It was the kind of deal where you choose the background and they add it in digitally later, or something. I don't really understand how that's done... but these are just blah-dark... no color, not even really black. The photographer was just really having a bad day that day. He forgot some critical part and had to go back to Spokane after it, so the picture-taking was delayed an hour or more. It was a mess! They've offered to retake them, but I'm not sure I want to go through the hassle again. Hopefully they'll just refund our money. The disappointing thing is, they were actually really good pictures! The mountain out my window has snow on it. Today was the first day the sun shone since it snowed up there. I really enjoyed my view today! But another storm is supposed to be moving in, so we'll probably get snow tonight or tomorrow. It will still be pretty, just not as dramatic as when there's snow on the mountain and not down here. We've actually already had snow twice, but both times melted off within a day or two. It's still a little early for it to stay any length of time. Still working on trying to get the dog to not bark when we leave her home alone. Funny thing is, she's not usually a barker... at least when we're around. But we can't leave her home, because the other lady in the building sleeps days. We've been watching "The Dog Whisperer". Fascinating show. He recommends walking the dog for at least an hour a day to wear her out before we leave, but who has time for that? But then he demonstrated how to teach your dog to walk on a treadmill, if you don't have time to walk the dog that much. So now I'm looking for a second-hand treadmill, cheap! We think it's hilarious! Finally saw "Cars" on Saturday night. DH bought it for the kids. (At least, that's what he said! |
He won't. So... I finally compromised. We'll go for 2 classes instead of 4.
But, hey... if it works... 
) After our sojourn on Route 66 this summer, we especially enjoyed the extras on the DVD telling what inspired the movie. DH is a huge auto-racing fan, so he loved all the parodies of the race car drivers and other celebrities. I told him, "I'm sure I'm not appreciating this movie as much as you are." He said, "I'm sure you're not either!"|
Today is our wedding anniversary! I've spent over half of my life with my very favorite person. Who could ask for anything better than that? No special plans this year. Today also happens to be the 15th birthday of the boy in our youth group who was killed in a car accident a few weeks ago. He shared his birthday with his older brother, so I know they are really missing him today especially. Continue to pray for their family. The mother is improving, but her recovery will be slow. |
I'm kinda bummed about that. It just didn't work out. But I'm just reminding myself that it's a blessing to have such a great marriage... and every day is special because of that!|
We visited the Spokane office of the National Weather Service with some other families from our homeschool co-op on Friday. We learned a lot about weather and what is involved in forecasting weather. The meteorologist who was our tour guide was very friendly and enthusiastic. He showed us a bunch of different satellite images and dramatic photographs. And then we found out that many of them are available on the NWS website! My kids want me to "put that website on their computer"! (We have the internet blocked on their computer, except for websites that their dad or I approve.) I think that's great! They can learn a lot by exploring the site, and then keep us up-to-date on the weather forecasts. Oh... and by the way, it's weather.gov, not weather.com. The .com site is the Weather Channel, which is fine, but it does have ads. The .gov site is the NWS and you don't have to worry about ads. We also discovered that the NWS is who broadcasts the weather radio station that the kids discovered on one of the channels of their walkie-talkies. The highlight of the field trip was at 4:00 p.m. when we got to watch them release a weather balloon. I have seen weather balloons occasionally, but I never knew they were released twice a day, every day, all over the world at the same time! (I think the guy said 1,100.) There is a small styrofoam box, about the size of a shoebox, tied to the bottom of the balloon with instruments to gauge things like temperature, wind, and moisture. The balloon is bigger than I thought it would be. Maybe the size of a bean-bag chair, if a bean-bag chair was inflated? They track the balloon for an hour-and-a-half. They said it usually travels 150 miles or so before it "pops". The box has a label on it so if anyone finds it, they will know to return it to the NWS. Our guide said that about 15% are returned. He estimated that it costs about $300 for each balloon that is released! Speaking of weather, we had our first snow of the year last night and it's still on the ground this morning! Maybe a half inch or so. The kids are excited. I dread driving in it. |
|
What a week we've had! We aren't used to this much "testosterone" in our house, so it's been a riot! Last night the hunters came in without a kill, but with great pictures, video footage, and stories. That's as good as a kill, in my book. They saw several moose and got pictures. (They don't have moose tags, so couldn't shoot them.) What's amazing is that we have lived here for over 8 years and in that length of time have only seen 2 moose on 2 separate occasions. Yesterday they saw a cow and her calf, and a bull moose, and some others. They saw a grouse strutting its feathers like a peacock or a turkey. They also saw several deer, and I'm not sure what else. They just have a great time! (No bears, though.) I'm not sure what time they left this morning, but they were long gone when DH got up at 6:30 to go to work. About 11:00 I got a call from them. How would we like grilled venison tenderloin for supper? One of them got a deer, and they would butcher it themselves! The others were still hunting, so they may come home with more than one. |
|
My uncle and cousin and 2 of their friends are here this week from Missouri to go hunting. The season opens today. Their tags are good for a deer, a bear, or a mountain lion! They are all hoping for a bear!
DH took them on a scouting expedition yesterday. He's not a hunter himself, but he took the day off to show them around since they couldn't shoot anything yesterday anyway. They spotted a big buck, so they headed out before dawn this morning to see if they could find the buck again. (And maybe some of his relatives... or a bear!)
|
|
Is there really such a thing as "normal"? I'm not sure that there is... but after what seems like months of chaos, our lives are finally beginning to fall into somewhat of a routine again.
First, the move...with 90 days notice which will be up the-day-after-tomorrow! However, we quickly realized that when they said "90 days" they really meant "as quickly as possible" so we just basically threw stuff in boxes and tossed it in the new house in the most haphazard fashion... and we're still digging out! (BTW, the house we were living in has long since sold and closed... and they got close to their asking price! It's crazy what people will pay for real estate around here these days.)
We managed to get all our stuff dumped into the new place before time to leave on vacation. We hadn't been home long when the kids and I took off to Texas to help with a family situation for 2 weeks. While we were there we managed to pick up a Texas-size cold virus that has pretty much wiped out the whole family for more than 2 weeks. (Yes, DH even caught it from us as we brought it home!)
So... we've mainly been dabbling at school for the past month, but finally today, with just lingering mild coughing and sniffling, I announced that It Is Time To Get Serious About School! Oh, the weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth!
Today's schedule (and every Monday's) called for a trip to Spokane for vision therapy for my oldest daughter. Her appointment is at 11:00. It takes 45 minutes to get there. So we left shortly after 10:00. VT lasts an hour and then it's about 12:40 by the time we're passing the shop where DH works, so we are able to meet him for lunch. After lunch I had 2 or 3 small errands to run while we were in town, so it puts us about 2:45 getting home. I had offered my 13yo the choice this morning of doing school before VT or waiting till we got home. She chose to wait. We listened to her history book on tape in the car as we drove. I did some one-on-one stuff with my younger daughter while we waited at VT. But, yes, there was still school work to be done when we got home...
"No, Mom! We can't do school now! It's after 3:00! The public school kids are out of school? Why do we have to do school?" Can you believe it? The little turkeys! Needless to say, they did not get out of doing school just because it was supposedly after school hours!
Our routine for the fall calls for fitting homeschooling around:
So... no, ma'am, you don't get excused from school just because it's not on the public school schedule!
|
|
The North Idaho Fair opens today. I had intended to enter several things in the Open Class category, but I would have had to have them there last week, and I just didn't make it. Mainly because most of the things the girls and I have made over the past year are still in various and sundry boxes who-knows-where! However, I had also pre-registered to enter the table-setting category. They only accept 9 entries and you have to apply about 2 months in advance. So I had applied before we knew we were going to need to move in July. I did manage to get that exhibit together, and went last night to set up. (Good thing I didn't have to have it there last week!) There are 3 themes for the tablesetting division, and supposed to be 3 tables for each theme. Turns out they only had 6 entries this year... 3 in the "Blue Ribbon Good Times" theme, 2 in the "Home for the Holidays" theme, and 1 in the "Baby's First Birthday" theme. Each theme is judged for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, so I think you're pretty much guaranteed a ribbon for even entering. If you're the only entry in a particular theme, I don't know if you automatically get the blue or what... but as it turns out, mine was the "Blue Ribbon" theme, so I have more competition. I assume they did the judging this morning... but we aren't going to the fair till tomorrow, so I'll have to wait to see how I did. The girls went with me to set up, and we had to wait around a little bit because there was some tastin' and judgin' going on in the corner of the room where we were to set up. When they were finally finished we started unpacking and setting the table. One of the things I did was make a loop of wide blue ribbon and pin a small sunflower at the center of the loop, to lay across the tops of the plates as "place cards". As I carefully set each ribbon into place it became very apparent that they would not stay in place, because there was a fan behind my table blowing vigorously! That would not do! I had to think fast. No, I didn't have any tape with me. What else? A-ha! I pulled a package of chewing gum out of my purse. "Here, girls! Chew some gum!" And we stuck those ribbons to the plates with wads of chewing gum. There's an ol' Ed'ards sayin' about that: "Necessity is the mother of invention." |
|
When I was a little girl, we mostly lived out in the country. So we never went camping. No need to, really. However, DH was a city boy and among his best memories growing up are the family camping trips. He taught me how to camp after we got married, and I've always loved it. I think mostly because I miss living out in the country. I also think it's a great thing to do with the kids.
We started off, all those years ago, with a borrowed tent and no supplies... but over time we gradually accumulated the necessary equipment, until finally this year we were able to get a nice family-size RV. Being able to stock the trailer has made it much more convenient to get away for a couple of nights at a time here and there. So... you would think this would be our best year ever in regards to camping, right? Well, you would think!
After the disasterous way our last camping trip at the near-by state park started off, we decided to go way out in boonies last weekend, to a national forest campground about 60 or 80 miles from here, to avoid the over-crowding problem we ran into before. So, we started off on Thursday evening. (Because of church responsibilities we need to not be gone over Sunday, so we plan our camping outings to be back home by Saturday night.)
It was raining a little as we left home, but we weren't too concerned because, after all, we would be sleeping in a trailer, not a tent! But as we got into the mountains the storm really kicked up. Still not a huge amount of rain, but sky-to-ground lightning and high winds. There were some small branches on the road in places. But we persevered. DH decided that maybe it would be better to stay in the closer of the forest service campgrounds (Bumblebee), rather than the one we had originally planned on (Kit Price), so we took the turn-off for it. We drove the 3 miles in to Bumblebee to discover it was closed! Good grief! We turned the rig around and headed back to the main road, and on in to Kit Price, about 10 miles further.
I want you to know, less than a mile before we got to Kit Price, we hit something on the road (still don't know if it was a rock or a branch) and had a blow-out on the truck! The great big Dodge truck that we'd had less than 2 weeks, with great big macho tires on it. Not one of the little, wimpy, cheapy tires on the trailer... no... it had to be one of the new expensive tires on the truck! And, of course, it was raining. Sheesh! Ya think maybe we're not s'posed to go camping this year?
We got out, in the rain, and got the stupid tire changed and pulled on into the campground and made camp.
The rest of weekend was fun and relaxing... so it was worth it... I guess. Maybe. Anyway, the kids had fun playing in the river the next day... finding pretty rocks, catching frogs and tadpoles, and visiting with other campers.
I hope our kids will have good memories of camping when they are grown, like their Daddy does! Maybe the "disasters" won't traumatize them too bad!
|
|
Oh, my!! Did I forget how bad telemarketing calls were back in the day before the "Do Not Call" list? Or have they doubled up on targeting phone numbers that aren't on the list? Or is it because we've just moved, so they think we need all these services? Since we've moved I've been getting about 6 or 8 telemarketing calls a day! It actually took me a week or so to realize that our new number hadn't been registered at the Do Not Call website. As soon as I thought of it, I did register it but it can take up to a month to take effect. *sigh* Where's that list of things you can say to a telemarketer to discourage them from calling? Ah... found it! (See below.) It's funny to read... but I don't have the patience or the nerve to actually try any of these. How To Deal with Telemarketers1. If they want to loan you money, tell them you just filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money. 2. If they start out with, "How are you today?" say, "I'm so glad you asked, because no one these days seems to care, and I have all these problems; my arthritis is acting up, my eyelashes are sore, my dog just died..." 3. If they say they're John Doe from XYZ Company, ask them to spell their name. Then ask them to spell the company name. Then ask them where it is located, how long it has been in business, how many people work there, how they got into this line of work, are they married?, kids?, etc. Continue asking them personal questions or questions about their company for as long as necessary. 4. Cry out in surprise,"Judy! Is that you? Really?!? Judy, how have you been?" Hopefully, this will give Judy a few brief moments of terror as she tries to figure out where she could know you from. 5. Say "No", over and over. Be sure to vary the sound of each one, and keep a rhythmic tempo, even as they are trying to speak. This is most fun if you can do it until they hang up. 6. If MCI calls trying to get you to sign up for the Family and Friends Plan, reply, in as SINISTER a voice as you can, "I don't have any friends... would you be my friend?" 7. After the Telemarketer gives their spiel, ask him/her to marry you. When they get all flustered, tell them that you could not just give your credit card number to a complete stranger. 8. Tell the Telemarketer that you work for the same company, they often can't sell to employees. 9. Answer the phone. As soon as you realize it is a Telemarketer, set the receiver down, shout or scream, "Oh No!!!" and then hang up. 10. Tell the Telemarketer you are busy at the moment and ask him/her if he/she will give you his/her HOME phone number so you can call him/her back. When the Telemarketer explains that telemarketers cannot give out their HOME numbers you say "I guess you don't want anyone bothering you at home, right?" The Telemarketer will agree and you say, "Me, either!" Hang up. 11. Ask them to repeat everything they say, several times. 12. Tell them it is dinner time, BUT ask if they would please hold. Put them on your speaker phone while you continue to eat at your leisure. Smack your food loudly and continue with your dinner conversation. 13. Tell the Telemarketer you are on "home incarceration" and ask if they could bring you a pizza. 14. Ask them to fax the information to you, and make up a number. 15. Insist that the caller is really your buddy Leon, playing a joke. "Come on Leon, cut it out! Seriously, Leon, how's your mom?" 16. Tell them you are hard of hearing and that they need to speak up... louder... louder...louder... 17. Tell them to talk VERY SLOWLY, because you want to write EVERY WORD down. |
|
It's that time of year again... time to be thinking about what the children should learn for the next year. So, I've been doing the research and gathering my materials and laying out my plan for the year...
First of all, as church youth director, I needed to come up with something fresh and pertinent for the next few months (at least until time to start working on the Christmas program!). I decided that a study on the spiritual parallels in The Chronicles of Narnia might go over well, with the recent popularity of the movie. So I got: We started that 2 weeks ago and it seems to be going over pretty well so far. A Family Guide lists scriptures for each chapter of all 7 books. I have found that very helpful!
Then, for our homeschool co-op this year I will be teaching a literature class where we'll be reading The Lord of the Rings trilogy, one each trimester. Don't ask me why I had the brilliant idea of trying to teach Tolkien and Lewis both at the same time, because I'm really beginning to think I'm quite nuts! I'll be using the Progeny Press study guides for the literature class.
I have also volunteered to be the coordinator for a new Keepers at Home club we will be starting at co-op. We have about 40 girls enrolled so far, ages 5 on up through teens. And several moms have volunteered to help. I'm excited about this as an incentive for both myself and my daughters to learn homemaking skills that I really do need to take time to teach them!
Naturally, we will again be using Sonlight for our main curriculum at home. It's what we've been using since we first started "formally" homeschooling 9 years ago. (Wow! Has it really been that long already?) We will be finishing up Core 7 (Intro to World History, Part 2), and be ready to start American History In-Depth next year as my oldest goes into high school. I deliberately planned it to take 3 years to cover the 2-year World History course, so that American History could count for high school. We were able to add in more books to the World History course that way, as well.
I'm excited that our co-op will be offering a class in conversational Spanish, since we bought the Rosetta Stone program a couple years ago and haven't really used it much. So I want to work that into our schedule this year.
My oldest will also be using Apologia Physical Science and getting her lab class at co-op. I was happy to discover that they have the textbook available in MP3 format, because she has a visual disability, and I read the honkin' big ol' General Science book to her last year! I really enjoyed it (love Dr. Wile's style), but it was terribly time-consuming on my part. Having the audio book will be a huge help this year.
My brain is whirling! But once I get it all organized in my mind, I'll be good to go. I'm tentively planning to start school the week before Labor Day, even though we'll be in Texas staying with my sister at that time. Life goes on... and the beauty of homeschool is that you can just work around it. |
|
I nabbed it from redmom's blog. Anybody else wanna play? Just copy and paste... and change my answers to yours, of course!
1.Grab the book nearest to you, turn to page 18, find line 4 and write what it says. |
|
No, this isn't one of those brain teasers where you have a train leaving one city at a certain time, and another one leaving somewhere else at a certain time, and then way too many other details for me to every keep track of! This is a real-life mystery that I'm sleuthing around on the internet trying to put the clues together to get the solution! (Yes, I'm easily entertained.) A railroad track runs past our new apartment. It's only about a half-block away so we have front row seats for every train that goes past both day and night! People tell us we will get used to it and begin to tune them out, but so far we haven't. The trains run frequently! We haven't kept a log yet... (I want to. I told the kids that we will have a unit study on trains this fall.) ...but they go by every 5 to 45 minutes. It's interesting to notice what kinds of cars are in each train... grain cars, box cars, tank cars, flat cars with containers, and several I don't know what to call. But, of course, we never see a passenger car. And that is where the "mystery" comes in. About 30 miles northeast of us is an Amtrak depot (in Sandpoint, Idaho). The Amtrak route runs from Sandpoint to Spokane, Washington. So I assumed that the Amtrak train did come past our house, but just in the middle of the night, which is why we never saw it. (I remembered from looking up Amtrak once a long time ago that it only came through Sandpoint once a day, about midnight.) Well, yesterday I happened to notice that there is another railroad track that runs more or less parallel to this one about 4 miles south of here. Hmmmm, maybe Amtrak runs on that one? So... that's my puzzle!
Ya know, it never really occurred to me before that each railroad track you ever cross belongs to a particular railroad. Probably because I never really thought about trains much before at all. Naturally, I know the story of the race to connect the Union Pacific with the Central Pacific to make the transcontinental railroad... but beyond that, I have no idea what's what. So now the question remains, does the Amtrak train from Sandpoint to Spokane travel the BNSF line or the UP line? Inquiring minds want to know! |
I hopped on line and did some digging around until I discovered that "our" train track is the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe. At least I was pretty sure it was. I confirmed that this morning when I noticed that the engines going by had BNSF on them. The other railroad, from all I can figure out, is the Union Pacific.