Mystery of History Vol. 2
Considering God's Creation (Joe & Kade)
Music Ace Deluxe
Art Studies
"Cale" Seventh Grade
CQLA Level B
Purposeful Design Spelling
Teaching Textbooks Math 7
Literature from the Library (Ambleside Online)
Apologia's General Science
Boy Scouts
"Joe" Fourth Grade
Horizons Math 3
CQLA Pre-A
Purposeful Design Spelling
A Reason for Handwriting
Literature from Library (Ambleside Online)
Webelos Scout
"Kade" Age Four
Teach Your Child to Read in 100 EZ Lessons
Horzons Math K
Interlock (Joy, too)
"It is only by introducing the young
to great literature, drama, and music,
and to the excitement
of great science,
that we open to them
the possibilities
that lie within the human spirit--
enable them to see visions
and dream dreams."
Eric Anderson
Currently Reading
Family read-aloud
Swiss Family Robinson
Rick and I are reading together
When Sinners Say I Do
by: Dave Harvey
I am reading
A Shepherd Looks at Psalm 23
by: Phillip Keller
Seed Catalogs
by:
Our Morning Devotions are:
The Daily Bible
and
Big Truths for Little Kids
Cale and Joe are reading
Adam of the Road
Cale is reading:
Viking Adventrue
by: Clyde Bulla
Joe is reading:
The Lord of the Rings Triology
by: JRR Tolkien
Kade is reading:
Cowboy Books
Magazines to which we subscribe: The Old Schoolhouse
Birds and Blooms
Consumer Reports
Answers
World
Favorite Music
Selah
Steven Curtis Chapman
Chris Tomlin
Gaither Gospel
Dixieland Jazz
Keith Green
Rich Mullins
Quote Collection
"Til sin be bitter,
Christ will not be sweet."
Thomas Watson
"Faith is the bird that feels the light and sings when the dawn is still dark."
unknown
"We wish you PEACE
It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work.
It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart."
unknown
"Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness
has never danced in the rain."
unknown
"The best and most beautiful things cannot be seen or even touched.
They must be felt with the heart."
Helen Keller
"All I have seen teaches me to
trust the Creator
for all I have not seen."
Emerson
"There is only one way to lead a child down the right path
that is to go that way yourself."
unknown
"We find delight in the beauty and happiness of children that makes the heart too big for the body."
Ralph Waldo Emerson
"Oh the laugh of a child
so wild and free,
Is the merriest sound
in the world to me."
Isobel Atholwood
"Sometimes,"
said Pooh,
"the smallest things take up
the most room in your heart."
A.A. Milne
"Cleaning and scrubbing
can wait 'til tomorrow.
For babies grow up,
we learn to our sorrow.
So quiet down cobwebs!
Dust, go to sleep!
I'm rocking my baby,
and babies don't keep!"
unknown
Jul. 3, 2009 - Show and Tell Friday...Scrapbooking
Less than eight weeks to go until baby Faith makes her appearance!
I have some big goals for the time that I have left. Mainly I want to get my scrapbooks caught up...at least all of the photos that I have had printed over the years and use up all my supplies from Creative Memories left from the days I was a consultant for them. They are discontinuing the size album/pages that I have stored up and so I feel this urge to get it done before they are out of anything I might need to finish.
So, I will be spending a lot of time here in my corner of the sunroom with the hundreds and hundreds of photos I have stored. At least they are somewhat organized.
I will be using a method from my old consultant days called Power Layouts, but on a smaller scale since I don't have much space with which to work. I have some 12x12 white cardboard and I have put out eight sheets of it on my table. I pair them up to represent two-page spreads.
I get out the next handful of photos for the album I am working on and lay them out in piles on the pages so I can see what the pages will be about and if that photo group will take one or two pages. In the past, I have done this for about 30 pages at a time, but I don't have that kind of space here.
Next, I pick out which papers I want to go with each page. I like doing this step all-at-once so I only have to get out my big paper file one time for each 8-page batch. It is during this step that I also loosely layout how I want the photos to appear on the page. Next, I get out my paper cutter and blades. It is good that I only have to do this once as well. I don't like having blades out around the children.
I do all the cropping of photos and paper during this stage.
In the photo you can also see the large 12x12 box I have to store my work-in-progress. This is the key to me being able to scrapbook with little ones around. At any point in the work, I can neatly stack the pages and put them in my box and put it up on the shelf. It is easy to get back out and lay them out again the next time I have 15 or 30 mins to do a bit more. I keep it cleaned up and the pages stay laid out the way I want them while they are stored.
When I get all the paper cut and the layout the way I want, then I just transfer it to my album pages and stick it all down. Voila! It is done.
Sometimes I do the journaling before I put them in the album and sometimes I do it after everything is stuck down. I rarely use stickers anymore, but those are generally added later on and I'll go through and do that for 20 pages at a time or so. Mostly, I try to keep it simple.
We are also doing some light school work. Joe requested to learn about Geology, so last week I sat down and wrote up a unit for him to learn since I couldn't find any texts already written on that topic for his age that I liked. I am using The Geology Book by John Morris and a book from the library called Geology Rocks! as the backbone of our study. We've been doing lots of experiments and have some field trips in the works. I plan to have this study finished before Faith arrives.
Having said that, I will probably not be on the computer much. It just doesn't fit in with my goals for the next month or so.
To see more Show and Tell posts head on over to CanadaGirl and Mr. Linky.
Q&A:
MasonMoments asked if I have an album for each child or just the family and if I do them chronologically.
Yes, I have an album for each child and albums for the family.
And, yes, I try to go chronologically for the most part.
I'm not sure I would have done it this way had I known 16 years ago (when I started all this) that I would have such a large family. But, I do enjoy making the books and I do want each child to have their memories to take with them. I can say that I do a lot less in the books now than I did with the first child And his books are getting slimmer by the years, too.
We weren't expecting rain. Not a drop in the forecast. That is why we planted grass seed yesterday. It seemed like a good time to do it.
When the storm clouds rolled in and the rain started, I took the little ones out on the porch to watch the storm. We were mostly enjoying it until the wind really picked up and things started to fly across the yard.
I decided we should head inside. Good thing we did, because next we got this:
It made for a fascinating science lesson. We broke a couple of them open to look at a cross-section and see how they form as they bounce like popcorn in those clouds. And now we have a big mess to clean up. So far we've already filled to lawn bags full of wet leaves.
There are more out front and we haven't even begun to clean up the back. We found a bird's nest in the mess out front. I wonder what happened to the poor birds.........
And the back yard.
Praise the Lord, the gazebo seems to have survived.
I am also very thankful that we got the garage cleaned out enough last week for me to park inside, so my car is okay.
My neighbor's cars didn't fare so well.
My garden is very sad indeed.
The cukes look like they will make it, but most of my tomato bushes, the green beans and the sunflowers for sure did not survive.
I am pretty bummed about that.
But, I have so very much to be thankful for that I dare not dwell on the little that I lost. And, I am thankful that we got rain.
We sure did need it.
I'm sure we'll have some family bonding tomorrow as we clean up the rest of the mess left by the storm.
Jun. 26, 2009 - Show and Tell Friday.....Fancy Nancy
I have been introduced to the world of Fancy Nancy. For those of you with only boys, she is a book character who loves to dress-up and use fancy words. It is mostly twaddle, but we have learned some good vocabulary words in reading the books. It is not something we indulge in often as I really don't want to encourage a Miss Priss attitude around here.
Anyhow, the library had a Fancy Nancy party and I took the girls. Joy dressed up in her blue velvet dress and Hope just wore a pretty dress with butterflies on it. There were lots of little girls giggling in their dress-up clothes. There were different craft stations and we made a bracelet, a "stained glass" piece, and a little purse. Joy then got to paint her nails....Oooh-la-la!
She had a blast.
And can you believe how big Hope is getting?!!!!!!!
I took this shot at the party.
For more Show and Tell entries, visit CanadaGirl and check out
Mr. Linky.
Thought I'd share a little tip I learned from my mother-in-law recently.
When saving left-overs, instead of using plastic wrap just put a plastic shower cap over the bowl. It is so much easier to put on with the elastic than to fool around with that sticky saran wrap. Much easier for young hands to figure out when helping mom clean up the kitchen, too.
The caps can be washed and dried and used again. I bought a package of them at a beauty supply store and it came out to about 25 cents per cap.
I would not use them in the microwave, but then, I don't use plastic wrap in the microwave anyway.
Just a little something that made my life easier.
As an aside.........I only have about nine weeks to go with this pregnancy! Probaby less since I tend to have them a bit early. I am predicting this one will come on August 25th.
My feet and back have been "killing" me by late afternoon the past several weeks. So bad that it felt torturous to stand and cook dinner or walk to the bathroom, but alas, these things must be done. I haven't gained THAT much weight this pregnancy and it is not normal for me to feel this way even at the end of the third trimester. So, I looked at my shoes.
My sneakers are at least five years old and my fave sandals are older than that. A bit worn out on both counts. It was time for new shoes and this time I wanted some really good ones as I don't want to hurt anymore.
So, last week I went to a New Balance store and got professional help in finding the right shoes for me. It cost an arm and a leg! I never spend a lot of money on shoes so it was really hard to swallow the bill.
They definitely feel different. They "force" me to walk correctly and so the first couple of days it was a little weird feeling. On Saturday I wore them faithfully most of the day and then kicked them off (sneakers are a bit hot these days). That evening I had to run to the grocery store for a bit and thought I'd just wear my old sandals. I was in for a surprise. By the time I got through the store my feet and back were most certainly fussing at me. Owieeee!
I can't believe the difference the new shoes have made.
I am now a believer in wearing good shoes.
Jun. 18, 2009 - Show and Tell Friday......Timelines
There are so many choices for how to do a timeline in homeschooling. Way back when we started, I just used a 3 ring binder and page protectors and we would do coloring sheets or print outs and slip them in the protectors in order.
Then a couple of years ago we started Mystery of History and I adopted their use of a sewing board to make our time lines. The whole thing folds out to about 5 feet long and then folds up nicely for storage. I wasn't able to get a good full-length shot of ours due to space restrictions.
So, here is our first time line from Mystery of History. I did some of our own little characters and some from Homeschool in the Woods (I think it is History Through the Ages kit).
We aren't currently "using" this time line and it is tucked behind the front door in the entry way. It is hanging on the wall, but generally out-of-sight of guests since the door would be open when they come and go.
I have this one covered in clear contact paper to preserve it longer. This is the top of the same time line.
This year we are making all of our own little figures using an idea I got from My4Sweetums blog. She steered me to this site where you can print out paper doll figures, so that is what I am using.
I'm sorry for the poor quality of the photos today.
The yellow backgrounds are to show us the dates we are to memorize for MOH. We've mostly enjoyed making our own figures this past year.
This time line is the one we are currently working on and it is on display in our sunroom/playroom.
So, that is how we are doing our time lines. We don't have a hallway in our home or really any length of wall space anywhere for a time line, so the sewing boards have been the perfect solution for us.
Every now and then I try to throw something new at the children just for fun. Most of the time it goes well, though the time I suggested they eat ice cream sundaes without using their hands they refused to play along. I'll try that one again when they are teens.
So, anyway, we were at the grocery store and I saw Ugli fruit. It really is ugly-looking. I decided to buy one for our latest family adventure. They all enjoyed holding it and saying how ugly it was and they were good sports about giving it a taste. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it is a citrus fruit when we cut it open. I had no idea what to expect on the inside. My husband described the flavor the best when he said,
"It tastes like scooping up lemonade powder with a spoon and eating it straight."
Joe absolutely loved it. Everyone else pretty much enjoyed it. And we have another family memory under our belts. We might even buy it again, if it is ever on sale.
Every now and then I hear my children say something I just don't want to forget. Whether it shows a bit of their personality or it's just cute or profound, I want to try to capture it forever.
Here are a few I've heard lately:
While checking the progress of our garden awhile back I told Kade that we would soon be eating those tomatoes that are growing. He looked horrified and said,
"We can't eat those,
they have beetle poop on them!"
This morning we were out in the garden (again) and Joy found a little caterpillar. She was having a grand time showing him around and then let her brother, Kade, take a look. Next thing I heard was,
"You killed it, Kade, now you 'pologize to him!"
Kinda late for an apology, I'm thinking.
This next one isn't all funny, but one to remember. We were driving down the highway this afternoon, probably going 65 to 70 when all the sudden we realized the traffic in front of us was at a dead stop. My husband, who was driving, had been looking elsewhere for a moment and didn't see the cars stopped. I realized we were quickly heading for impact and screamed. He looked up and swerved mightily. The van went all over two lanes and nearly hit the concrete barrier dividing the highway, but somehow we managed to stop without hitting anything or rolling over. (Praise the Lord) So, you know then we are just all tense and our muscles are tight and our hearts are not beating normally for a long time afterward. We were shocked and stunned, ya know. A couple of minutes later, Joy looks out the window at the cars in the next lane and says,
"There is that car we just smooshed!"
And that broke the tension. Rick and I laughed and laughed so hard. We were so thankful for the words out of her little mouth and so very, very thankful that we did NOT smoosh any other cars!
Yesterday I did that long post of all the wonderful blessings we've received recently, but today I was reminded that our greatest blessings are the breath of life that God gives us and the health and lives of those we love. Nothing like seeing life flash before my eyes to make me realize what my real blessings are and to make me ever-so-thankful to my precious Lord.
Highway Happenings
General Family Life KidCraze
Things the Kids Say and Do Baby Boulevard
Pregnancy and Baby News Meandering Path
Random Thoughts Rest Stop
From My Quiet Time Learning Lane
Homeschooling Out in the Field
Field Trips Idea Interstate
Holiday and Random Ideas to Share Tag Trails
Tags I've Completed
Books We Like:
Little Kid Books
Books for Ages 7 down Big Kid Books
Books for Ages 8 and Up Science and Nature Books
Science and Nature Books Historical Books
Books We Like for History Grown-Up Books
Books for Mom, Dad, and Teens
I have some 12x12 white cardboard and I have put out eight sheets of it on my table. I pair them up to represent two-page spreads. 
Next, I get out my paper cutter and blades. It is good that I only have to do this once as well. I don't like having blades out around the children.
Mostly, I try to keep it simple.
And his books are getting slimmer by the years, too.
It made for a fascinating science lesson. We broke a couple of them open to look at a cross-section and see how they form as they bounce like popcorn in those clouds.
And now we have a big mess to clean up. So far we've already filled to lawn bags full of wet leaves.
