LookyBook is a really cute site for picture books that allows you to preview the entire book before you buy.  Actually, some little ones might be happy just being read to from the site.  ;-)  I was able to embed the above book, but since the print is so tiny, here's the link, if you'd like a better look. 

http://www.lookybook.com/mainpage.php?name_id=1533

I chose this book, because Kelli learned this poem with her English curriculum this year. 

~ Karen

Yes, I realize that Mike Huckabee has dropped out of the 2008 presidential race.  I guess I'll eventually take down the widget over on my sidebar. 

Baby steps. 

~ Karen

04-15-2008 Addendum:  Mike Huckabee revealed his web site today for his new political action committee - Huck PAC.  This is their mission statement:

Enjoy some Irish music by clicking here! 

"In selecting men for office, let principle be your guide. Regard not the particular sect or denomination of the candidate - look to his character. . . When a citizen gives his suffrage to a man of known immorality he abuses his trust; he sacrifices not only his own interest, but that of his neighbor; he betrays the interest of his country."

~ Noah Webster

You can learn more about Noah Webster here.

Kelli likes to go geocaching with Scott, so he took her and a friend to look for a few caches a couple of weeks ago.  Geocaching is basically a treasure hunt, hugely popular the world over, in which you enter grid coordinates into a GPS unit to locate a "treasure", which is usually some type of weatherproof box hidden by another geocacher.  The box might contain little goodies like toy soldiers or arrowheads, or it might only contain a log that you're supposed to sign and date.  It's really just a little more complicated than that, but that's it in a nutshell.  You can obtain these grid coordinates from the Geocaching.com web site after registering.  Geocaches are ALL OVER - EVERYWHERE.  Whenever we travel, we stop all along the way for caches.  When we reach our destination, we look for caches.  On the way home, we look for caches.  Well, you get the idea.  ;-)

~ Karen

Christopher went with his Boy Scout troop to winter camp in January and received his climbing merit badge.  The requirements for the merit badge included learning the skills and safety procedures for three different surface climbs, belaying (securing a person by attaching to one end of a rope), and repelling on their 40-foot tower. This was his first experience with climbing and repelling, except for a man-made rock wall at a local town festival, so I was really impressed. 

~ Karen

"When I was young, I admired clever people.  Now that I am old, I admire kind people." 

~Abraham Joshua Heschel

Mike Huckabee Addresses the Fair Tax During Debate

FairTax.org

This week we started experimenting with nature journals and sketching.  I love reading Harmony Art Mom's blog, so I've been trying to follow her advice and taking some inspiration from her.  Today, we even tried out our oil pastels, which was a lot of fun.  The weather has been absolutely beautiful here this week, with temperatures into the upper 70s, so I thought we would take advantage of it.  Their assignment today was to sketch anything in nature, not necessarily something that they were experiencing at the moment.  I've come to the conclusion, just within a week, that all three of us enjoy sketching trees, leaves, and plants more than anything else, which is fine, but I think I'll have to broaden our horizons just a bit next week.  LOL. 

~  Karen 

Live a Life That Matters

Ready or not, someday it will all come to an end.

There will be no more sunrises,

no minutes, hours or days.

All the things you collected,

whether treasured or forgotten,

will pass to someone else.

Your wealth,

fame and temporal power

will shrivel to irrelevance.

It will not matter what you owned

or what you were owed.

Your grudges, resentments, frustrations,

and jealousies will finally disappear.

So, too, your hopes, ambitions, plans,

and to-do lists will expire.

The wins and losses

that once seemed so important

will fade away.

It won’t matter where you came from,

or on what side of the tracks you lived,

at the end.

It won’t matter whether you were beautiful or brilliant.

Even your gender and skin color will be irrelevant.

So what will matter?

How will the value of your days be measured?

What will matter is not what you bought,

but what you built;

not what you got,

but what you gave?

What will matter is not your success,

but your significance.

What will matter is not what you learned,

but what you taught.

What will matter is every act of integrity,

compassion,

courage or sacrifice that enriched,

empowered or encouraged others

to emulate your example.

What will matter is not your competence,

but your character.

What will matter is not how many people you knew,

but how many will feel a lasting loss when you’re gone.

What will matter is not your memories,

but the memories that live in those who loved you.

What will matter is how long you will be remembered,

by whom and for what.

Living a life that matters doesn’t happen by accident.

It’s not a matter of circumstance but of choice.

Choose to live a life that matters.

by Michael Josephson

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

I'll have to post the links that we used in the making of the lapbook later on tonight.  Kelli's using Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day for science this year, and she completed this lapbook last week.  She had so much fun with it and was even looking for information about bats in her free time! 

~Karen

How to determine if technology has taken over your life:
        -------------------------------------------------------

  
You can no longer sit through an entire movie without having at
least one device on your body beep or buzz.

You think of the gadgets in your office as "friends," but you
forget to send your mother a birthday card.

When you go into a computer store, you eavesdrop on a salesperson
talking with customers -- and you butt in to correct him and
spend the next twenty minutes answering the customers' questions,
while the salesperson stands by silently, nodding his head.

You know all of your friends' e-mail addresses, but you have to look up your
own social security number.
     
You sign Christmas cards by putting :-) next to your signature.

Off the top of your head, you can think of nineteen keystroke
symbols that are far more clever than :-).

You back up your data every day.

You think jokes about being unable to program a VCR are silly.

On vacation, you are reading a software manual and turning the
pages faster than everyone else who is reading John Grisham novels.

The thought that a CD could refer to music rarely
enters your mind.
   
You would rather get more dots per inch than miles per gallon.

You know without a doubt that disks come in five-and-a-quarter
and three-and-a-half-inch sizes.

You own a set of itty-bitty screw-drivers and you actually know
where they are.

While contemporaries swap stories about their recent hernia
surgeries, you compare mouse-induced index-finger strain with a
nine-year-old.

You are so knowledgeable about technology that you feel secure
enough to say "I don't know" when someone asks you a technology
question instead of feeling compelled to make something up.

You rotate your screen savers more frequently than your
automobile tires.

You have a functioning home copier machine, but every toaster you
own turns bread into charcoal.

You understand all the jokes in this message.  If so, my friend,
technology has taken over your life.  We suggest, for your own
good, that you go lie under a tree and write a haiku.  And don't
use a laptop.

You forward this message to your friends over the net. You'd never
get around to showing it to them in person or reading it to them on
the phone. In fact, you have probably never met most of these
people face-to-face.

Hee-hee.

~ Karen  ;-)

I've been tagged by Pam for a book meme.   (This is the first time I've done this, so I hope I'm doing it right...)

Here are the rules:

Here's my book:

"Remind yourself that the wildly chaotic times with your kids will pass.  Enjoy the noise and excitement that kids inevitably bring to your life.  Someday the house will be quiet and orderly, and a part of you will long for these times."

From:  Devotional Book for Mothers (Honor Books)

I tagged: 

Antoinette

Deborah

Missy

Holly

Amy

If you have too much going on right now, please don't feel that you have to participate!  This is supposed to be fun  -  not another chore! 

~Karen 

This is a national event that takes place over three days: Feb 15-18, and is sponsored by Cornell's famous Lab of Ornithology and Audubon. It takes minimal time in the field. You can do it in your backyard or anywhere outside, and you get to enter data that scientists actually use.

www.birdsource.org/gbbc

Also, the Cornell Institute now has new homeschool materials based on their Project Feeder Watch program. It is a free download.

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/pfw/Members/EduHomeSchoolResources.htm

Happy birding!

~Karen

I just read about this on one of my Yahoo groups, and I just got so excited about it, although I'm not sure it'll be compatible with HomeschoolBlogger.  It would be a wonderful way to preserve memories for our children of homeschooling days, holidays, field trips, vacations, or just their lives in general.  You could slurp your own blog, or you could create a blog for each one of your children, and then have it slurped as a special Christmas or graduation gift.  The possibilities are just endless.  Some grandparents would probably love these, too.  I just copied and pasted the information below from the site, Blurb.com.

~Karen

Works with many blogging platforms – Supports Blogger, LiveJournal.com, TypePad, and WordPress.com blogs.

• Edit in real time – Allows you to customize and edit your book as little or as much as you like.
• High quality – Hardcover and softcover books feature professional binding and four-color printing on coated, semi-matte paper. Up to 440 pages accommodate thousands of blog posts.
• Fast turnaround – Orders arrive on your doorstep in approximately 7 to 10 business days.

• Automatic slurp action (watch the video) – Imports and maps blog text, images, comments, and links into professionally designed page layouts.
• Affordable – Prices start at only $12.95 for a 40-page softcover, $22.95 for a 40-page hardcover with dust jacket. The bookmaking software is free.
• » Watch the Blurb video overview
  » Take the BookSmart Getting Started Tour
  » Learn More about BookSmart

Christopher used my digital scrapbooking software for this project.  I'm going to require him to do a PowerPoint presentation all on his own by the middle of next year, so I thought it was time for him to get his feet wet with this sort of thing.  He was really getting the hang of it by the time we finished up today, and I thought he did a great job. 

~Karen