Suzy's Scribbles - Homeschool Blogger

Homeschool Toolbar blog Launch

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 19:23:00 -0600

OK, I'm going to be perfectly honest here. I'm not exactly sure what "Homeschool Toolbar" is. But if Tiany is involved with it, then it's something super! So, even if blogging about this didn't enter me in a random drawing for a cool prize, I'd STILL tell you about it. Her NEW blog is Launching, and in honor of that, she is giving away a cool prize. Go over and see what it is. And help spread the word! Just click on the graphic button above to check it out.

What Our Kids Should Read is NOT a New Debate

Wed, 30 Sep 2009 11:19:00 -0500

I found this on the internet while researching Dime Novels of the 19th century. Poor "Johnny" has been the subject of many debates the last couple of centuries. [note the date of the article}

WHAT DOES JOHNNY READ? (from The Little Corporal, January 1872, p. 34)

"Oh, every thing," says his father, proudly. "Johnny is a perfect book-worm, and we just have to drive him away from his book."

Sorry to hear it, master Johnny; a live boy has no business to be a book-worm. It is no more a sign of a smart boy to be a great reader than it is of a strong man to be a great eater. One may read too much as well as eat too much, and the brain as well as the stomach be loaded with undigested food that is only an injury to it. It is not what you eat, but what you digest, that makes you strong. It is not the food in your stomach, but the food taken up by the wonderful machinery of your body and made over into blood, and bone, and nerve, and sinew, that keeps up the daily growth of your body and builds you up into a man. And just so the food which you give your mind must be taken up and worked over, and become part of the mind itself, or it is good for nothing. If it has no nutrition in it, nothing to make new thoughts and new ideas, if it can not give something to the mind, or waken something in it, then it is chaff, rubbish, poison, any thing but food. Half a dozen lines of the right sort, read in the right way, are worth volumes of trash, or even of good sense carelessly read and then forgotten.

Do n't throw away your books, Johnny, but learn to go through them as the miner goes through his panful of sand and quartz, watching for the gleam of gold, and carefully picking out the precious bits.

And we should like to say to Johnny's father and mother, do not rest satisfied while your boy "reads every thing." It is a direful day for you if you have neglected to direct and cultivate his taste until he has come to be a mere devourer of the stories of wild, improbable adventure and exciting fiction, which is poured out like a flood for the destruction of our boys; but even yet you can do something to counteract the evil if you are willing to work for it--by taking your child with you into the fields of art, of history, and of science, which may be made as charming to the unfolding mind as the regions of romance.

A contest for an Ed Dunlap Book!

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 11:10:00 -0500

The homeschool porch is giving away a book. Here's the link. Go enter it! It looks great.
Click the book cover to enter
to win Ed Dunlop's latest book
The Isle of Dragons

The Enumclaw Street Fair

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 22:01:00 -0500

This year's street fair was really nice! The Salt Shaker bookstore asked me to come on down and sign books, and boy, did they ever give me a "red carpet."

Check out the left sidebar, which has my Circle C Fan Page on Facebook displaying recent posts. I'm pretty sure you can click any of the pictures, etc. and see the fun we had for 2 days. You don't have to be on FACEBOOK to look at my Fan page. Pictures are SO much easier to upload on Facebook

Join Mary for more Show and Tells!
I know I've PRE-posted this a whole week early, but I'm off to a writers conference on Monday and will be in no condition to immediately post something when I come home next Thursday afternoon.

Better late than never!

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 09:14:00 -0500

Mary faithfully hosts Show and Tell Fridays! Join her today!

I was a vendor at the WHO (Washington Homeschool Convention) a few weeks ago, and I created a short slide show to share with you all. :-) Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

The 2009 WHO homeschool convention!

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 10:00:00 -0500

Make a Smilebox slideshow

A Free Writing E-zine!

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 18:21:01 -0500

A Writing E-zine!

My new writing workbook, Reach for the Stars, is finally available. In addition to having the book published, the publisher started a Reach for the Stars Writing Club for anyone--even if you don't have the book. ANYBODY can sign up! We're putting out a monthly (well, l hope monthly) E-zine with story starters, a Parent's Corner, Grammar Gremlins, Photo Fun, and more (even contests eventually). We'll also share readers' stories in the E-zine.

To sign up for the FREE Writing Club and to download the June 2009 launch E-zine, go here:

Reach for the Stars Writing Club sign-up and E-zine

For more Show and Tells, visit Mary: CANADA GIRL

Today Only! Win a free book!

Fri, 5 Jun 2009 12:49:00 -0500

Go over to The Christian Pulse and learn how to win a free, autographed copy of Andrea Carter and the San Francisco Smugglers (I'll even thow in a small China doll)!

CONTEST

No fancy graphics today. I'm at our homestead, and the satellite is not the fastest route in town.

Go see MARY for more show and tells!

Every day on the Christian Pulse there is another giveaway from your favorite Christian authors! So visit often: 22 books, 22 reviews, 22 winners!

Bible Challenge Week . . . ???

Sat, 23 May 2009 22:58:00 -0500

I've kept up with my Bible reading, although I had to make up some time AGAIN! Things are just hopping around here. I'm trying to get ready for the WHO convention June 19-20. I have a swell booth location. I'll do a Show and Tell on it when I get back.

I'm reading Chronicles, and let me tell you, those first 10 chapters or so are really, really boring. Names, names, and names . . . a roll call of every Israelite who ever lived, seems to me!

Hope all of you are doing well, too!

Tween Fiction--Disaster or Delight

Fri, 15 May 2009 13:53:00 -0500

SHOW AND TELL WITH MARY!

Today I want to share a link with you of one of my first article-writing attempts. It's for the Christian Writing Examiner, and talks about the trends in the "tween" (aka middle-grade, ages 8-10) market. The good and the bad.

If you're interested, hop over here and leave a comment for the Christian Writing Examiner!

TWEEN FICTION--DISASTER OR DELIGHT!