A little bit about my life and times http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:55:00 -0600 Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:55:00 -0600 Tavern and Tickets On Saturday, we ordered our tickets for our trip to England!  We are to leave July 7 from Pittsburgh and return on July 22.  Woo!  I've always, always, always wanted to go to England, and, Lord willing, I shall be going this summer!  We found a nice hotel in Reading (where TGD's math conference is the first week), and I found a nice bed and breakfast in Bath.  We don't have reservations at either place yet, as we just want to check a detail or two before committing. Also on Saturday, TGD took me out to one of my favorite restaurants, The Tavern.  It's a local place, very Penn State, with a median dining age of at least 53 years old.  They had one of my favorite dishes on the menu, too, Beef tips over noodles in a Burgundy wine sauce.  (The menu is printed daily at The Tavern.)  We also ended the meal with chocolate chip cheesecake. It was a delightful time to eat and flirt with my husband. Little Miss is sitting on my lap as I type this, runny-eyed and nosed and coughing. Yes, the diseases just linger on here.  Grinner and LibbyK are coughing and tired, still.  But, I can't bear the thought of loosing another day of school to this illness!  (Unless, of course, I come down with it. Then the whole world will just have to stop.) I finally got my "Christmas" cards out to church friends this weekend.   I made them on the computer (just for something else to go in the envelope with the family picture), and they read:  Our Christmas cards were late this year.  Now February is already here.  So with good wishes we do say... Have a very merry President's Day!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/287329/ Sun, 18 Feb 2007 19:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/287329/ I wanted to let you know about a wonderful book written by our very own Patenaude ! (Xanga name)  The book is Emotional Purity: An Affair of the Heart. I began reading this book last night, and I am so excited about the message she shares that I'd like to use this book for a study this summer for high school and college girls. Singles have the "sexual purity" message preached to them, but very few people or books mention the idea of emotional purity. What is emotional purity? It is not getting involved emotionally with a member of the opposite sex until you are sure that both of you are interested in marriage with each other.  How does one avoid such emotional connections? What about being friends? I had the same questions, but Paulsen (her name when the book was written) handles all these issues.  Each chapter ends with questions designed to get the reader thinking or a group talking. This book would be great for parents and children to work through together, small groups (single gender!), or as a book to read solo.  The third thing to report is that I got an email back from the publisher to whom I had submitted a book proposal idea.  The email read-- Dear Ms Sellers, An interesting idea! When you have written at least 3 chapters or 50 pages, please send it to us for further consideration. --WP [Wytherngate Publishing] Should I be excited? If I actually had three chapters written, I suppose I would be!  So, now begins the task of turning my play into a novel.  I just don't know if I want a first-person novel or third-person. Such decisions!  Any suggestions? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/282563/ Thu, 8 Feb 2007 21:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/282563/  A hearty how-de-do to Ferrol if you are reading! What a nice surprise to see your name and hear from you! Well, well. How did it get to be Friday already?  I feel like I'm still not on top of things this homeschool year. The kids are all doing their work, projects are being completed, but I just feel as if I'm not doing my part.  Strange. Tomorrow, The Hunter and TGD head to Palmyra, PA, for a shooting match. This will be Hunter's first of the year.  Oh, boy.  I get to sit in a ski lodge from 12 to 5 as the Youth Group indoor chaperone and bag-watcher.  The rest will be tubing (except Little Miss who will spend the day at a friend's house).  Ah, five hours to sit and read and play the occasional board game. Life sounds pretty good!  I know many of you are avid readers and movie watchers.  Imagine that this weekend you had the opportunity to switch places with any character in any movie or book (but just for this weekend). Which one would you choose?  If I had to switch forever, I'd pick very differently than for just a weekend jaunt.  Would I like to be Thursday Next?  Guinevere? Trinity? Ada Monroe?  So many choices. Which do you choose? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/275453/ Fri, 26 Jan 2007 12:51:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/275453/ A Most Excellent Day Even though you've already read this post, here it is again, just so you have a fresh place to post! First of all, I encourage you to check out Alias Eliot, a wonderful website made by a dear friend of mine. If you are interested in global issues and humanitarian efforts, please don't miss this excellent site! There are action items, links, discussion forums, and more.  For Christmas, TGD got me a gift certificate to an afternoon-long, bookbinding class at an art studio near us.  I've been looking forward to it with great eagerness, and today was finally the day!  For over five hours, I got to sit in an art studio and learn how to make different types of books and how to bind them, eat a catered lunch, and actually work on making books.  Although I didn't really learn a lot of new information in terms of the technical details, I was given a book on loan which explained how to turn me into Mo from Inkheart.  (a real, live bookbinder)  I vastly enjoyed the relaxation of creating with paper.  We were given the instructions and were told, "Okay, make whatever you want, whatever size you want. All the supplies are there." We had just about everything we would want for art supplies, of course, and all of them were included in the class fee. The first book we made was an accordion book. Here's the front. It actually looks really pretty in real life. It's hard to see the subtle and delicate details online. (Is anyone else piffing and snorting at the thought of anything I make having the words "delicate" and "subtle" attached to it? As if! Okay, it's just ripped paper with glitter and braided hemp.) Here's the back of the book. Since it's an accordion book, it might be the front. Because some of my pages had seams where they met, I decorated the inside a bit. This picture shows one decoration. The book I just showed you was given to LibbyK.  Not to ignore Little Miss, I made a book for her as well with a different binding technique. The inside is just blank paper, so here's the more interesting cover.  (The bears are just cut out of paper. I didn't make them, of course!) I loved the day. I forget how much I love arts and crafts, especially paper crafts.  If you had five hours to spend however you wanted it (with no guilt!), what might you do?  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/272645/ Sun, 21 Jan 2007 12:38:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/272645/ Sunday afternoon, in between watching football plays, the boys were flipping channels when they came across the public access channel which was broadcasting live from the Pennsylvania Farm Show.  They were showing Tractor Square Dancing. Now, just in case you aren't familiar with this event, a large square is marked out in the dirt, and eight tractors (with drivers, of course) partner up and a pair goes to each side of the square. A square dance caller sings the calls, and the tractors maneuver through the paces.  "Do-see-do!  Allemande right!"  It was fascinating and so very Pennsylvania. Today, I did something surprising that I had not planned to do.  I submitted a book proposal to a publisher.  No book, just the proposal.  We shall see what happens!  (If anyone has any experience in this area, I'd be grateful for your wisdom!) Here's a scrap of a poem I liked: A Color of the Sky by Tony Hoagland Windy today and I feel less than brilliant, driving over the hills from work. There are the dark parts on the road     when you pass through clumps of wood and the bright spots where you have a view of the ocean, but that doesn't make the road an allegory. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/269911/ Tue, 16 Jan 2007 11:17:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/269911/ Thanks to a wonderful Fibonacci poem written by my husband, I got to go out on a date tonight. First, we went to Outback Steakhouse, which is usually wonderful. I'm just glad it wasn't our first visit, or I doubt we'd have gone back. The food didn't taste its usually yummy way. Plus, they served the salads in smaller bowls.  Alas. Afterward, we went to see the new James Bond, Casino Royale. I had been told it was quite violent, so I was prepared for something on the order of License to Kill,  but it wasn't so very miserable.  However, the movie was confusing in that it was obviously supposed to be the first James Bond movie, as he gets his "double-oh" at the start of the movie. But, M was still Judi Dench, and it was obviously set in 2006.  Bond makes a lot of mistakes in his undercovering, rents some nondescript Ford while he's in the Bahamas, and he doesn't know how to dress properly. The female interest forces him to wear a tuxedo!  I enjoyed the movie, nonetheless. The funniest part of the night was our discussion of the movie on the way home. TGD said, "James Bond doesn't drive a Ford. I drive a Ford!"  Oh, James... On a side note, in the novel Casino Royale, one of Bond's friends is Rene Mathis.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/265528/ Sat, 6 Jan 2007 20:46:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/265528/ In the spirit of the new year, I thought I'd reflect on last year's resolutions.  If nothing else, they would be good for a laugh, eh? 1.  I want to be able to jog from my house to the Wilson's house and back without stopping or dying.    Ha ha! I do hate to jog, and making it a resolution didn't change that fact. This resolution was a dumb one, and I won't try it again. It ranks right up there with my desire to be a research physicist. It sounds wonderful and interesting, but it's not really a good match. 2. To watch my junk intake until the five pounds are gone.  Well, I watched the junk. I watched it go right into my mouth. I'm basically where I was last year in January with weight.  So, I'll keep thinking on this one. 3. To memorize a verse a week.  Although I memorized several verses, I didn't memorize 52.  I'll keep at it. 4. To read six missionary biographies in addition to some other non-fiction histories. Yeah! Something I actually did! 5. To make my blog more interesting. You'll have to decide on this one. It was interesting to me, at least. What do you like best about it? Is there something I should do more often or start to do or not do at all? Speaking of my blog, is my font too small? It looks fine on my machine, but I want it to be readable for all. How many books did you read this year? What were your favorites? Did you complete something of which you are particularly tickled?  I'll have to review my list of things done to see if there was something of note. I'd love to hear yours! I hope to post some pictures of the party when my computer is fixed. The part is in State College, now, so it shouldn't be long before it's at my door!   (Presses nose to window, waiting for that big, brown truck.) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/263141/ Wed, 3 Jan 2007 10:30:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/263141/ On the second day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...many pictures of Christmas day! I hope that you had a wonderful Christmas and are still finding lots of time to relax and enjoy yourselves. We had a delightful time, even though David woke up feeling very sick Christmas morning. No one likes to be in painful tears before opening presents, but Advil worked its magic, and we were back on the road to a happy day. The first picture is of Sibling Night, which was last Tuesday.  I have pictures of Christmas morning, but I like this one better.   We opened presents at our house and then headed to my mom's house where we had our usual lunch of ham, cornflake potatoes (mmmm!), and crescent rolls.  Although we got so many wonderful presents, I won't fatigue you with all the gifts. Here's a pictorial representative sample. David got an Ipod. (So did the Hunter.)   Here's the mighty hunter with his quarry, a Snapalope.  (My mom made it. She's cool.) Lovely LibbyK models a shirt that her brother got her at Disney. It's another Sibling Night shot, but I didn't think anyone would mind. LoeschDogg may be a bloody-toe athlete, but I've got a Mathlete! My mom got me this pie plate. Er, pi plate.  She also got me a Jane Austen stuffed doll, and you can see Jane and me in my bio picture. Michael got two new Gameboy games, so he spent most of his time at my mom's house taking advantage of the "no time limit" playing time. Rachel was thrilled to pieces to get American Girl Doll Bitty Baby Twins and a double stroller. She named them Daniel and Sarah. This afternoon, we packed up the presents and our diseases and came home. David is still coughing badly, although the fever seems to be gone. Rachel is now coughing, and I'm still going strong, too. Thankfully, I feel just fine. We enjoyed ourselves and watched Sahara tonight. I'd seen it before, and it contains one of my favorite lines of all movies, but the line is in the deleted scenes.  If I can quote it correctly, it's, "You know, I've been thinking about the funny part. We're oceanographers, and we're probably going to die in the desert chained to truck parts.  So, when they write our obituary, that will be the funny part." (It's much better spoken. Really, it is. I promise.) Tomorrow, Libby, my mom, and I are going shopping again! This time it will be to return the "don't wants" and "don't fits" and spend the $30 coupon I got at Kohl's (clothing store) which expires in a week. What fun plans do you have for the rest of your Christmas break? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/260019/ Tue, 26 Dec 2006 18:39:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/260019/ Yesterday, I woke up and said, "I think I'll just stay in bed." My cold took a turn for the worse, so I spent most of the day under a thick pile of blankets on a soft mattress. Some of the children wandered into my room to do their school work, but I still got the rest I needed. By late afternoon, I felt I should get up and do something other than forage for food and hot tea. This need was precipitated by the fact that the washer repair man was coming.  (By the way, it was yet another sock and piece of a pair of windbreaker pants clogging my front-loading washer.  HOW do they get in there?) TGD brought pizza home for supper, and Libby made a salad.  It was a tasty start to Sibling Night.  We played Spinergy and Catch Phrase and had a good time with the opening of presents. Afterward, we all watched Nathan's present, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.  We snacked on popcorn and milkshakes/Blizzards made by my dear husband. So, all in all, the day was not so very bad! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/257094/ Wed, 20 Dec 2006 11:44:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/257094/ This past Sunday, the Youth Group visited homes to deliver Christmas gifts purchased by church folk to Angel Tree children and some lower-income children. I was the driver for one group of teenage girls, and my son Nathan was in another group. My group visited a single mom with three children.  The girls shared the gospel using evangecubes, and acted out the Christmas story.  After presents were opened, two of the girls played with the younger children,  and the third girl and I shared the gospel specifically with the mother.  When I asked her if she would like to know for sure if she would go to heaven or hell, she quickly said, "Yes," her eyes bright.  I was able to lead her in a prayer of salvation, which was wonderful. What's even more wonderful is that her next-door neighbor is a amazing, Godly woman from our church who had been sharing her life and the love of God with this lady. She'll be there for the discipleship and follow-up which are so vital for new Christians. Meanwhile, Nathan's group visited another family, and Nathan, for the first time ever, shared his faith and the plan of salvation. He spoke with a 13 year old boy, and when Nathan asked him if he'd like to pray, the boy agreed, and Nathan was able to lead him in a prayer of salvation!   Amen! You'd think that I spent the rest of the night praising God. But, instead, I was so convicted. What about MY neighbors? Why aren't I bold to share Christ with them? What about discipleship of others? Why aren't I investing the time?  My selfish heart was convicted, which was a good thing.  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/254789/ Thu, 14 Dec 2006 20:37:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/TeacherPerson/254789/