This is my first year homeschooling the youngest of my four children. I am a woman studying to please God and to practice holiness in my daily life as Jesus commanded and as Paul taught the early believers. I call it Old School. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:01:00 -0500 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:01:00 -0500 I just finished reading Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson. The traditional way of study has been to seperate the study of God's plan for the Jews, his Chosen People, from the ordinary study of ancient civilizations. For one thing, most modern texts compartmentalize the various ancient peoples. Egypt is studied, then Babylonia, then Greece, then Rome. The tie between these cultures is largely seen as simply chronological; one came before or after the others. But there is a more important relation between all cultures. They are all moving toward or away from the central hitorical event of all time: the incarnation of the Son of God. Hittite Warrior shows the relationship between all these ancient peoples at one time in history, bringing into clear focus, the connection between salvation history and the rest of the events of the world. This story, based on an episode in the Bible's Book of Judges, took place about 200 years before the days of Saul and David, and about 1200 years before the birth of Christ. I highly recommend this book for anyone over the age of 10 years, especially those who are studying the ancient world!       http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/603177/ Sat, 11 Oct 2008 08:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/603177/ Have you ever wondered... What Light did God divide from the darkness on the first day of Creation if the sun and moon and stars were not created until the third day? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/602152/ Thu, 9 Oct 2008 07:37:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/602152/ I want to welcome my pilot homeschool students, Mark, Trina, and Savannah! They are leaving public school to be homechooled and are already working very hard. I will be here to help them get started and to make sure they have the right curriculum. We all know the first few weeks are a little stressful and even difficult at times so show them support and leave encouraging comments! Right here...click on the comment button...do it now! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/592757/ Sat, 20 Sep 2008 13:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/592757/ WOW! We just got Winston Grammer in the mail today and have already tried it! It is so easy! You get a set of colored cards, each color a different particle of speech.  The student arranges the cards (one per word) to identify each word of a sentence you have written on the board (or piece of paper). To correct his own work, he turns the cards over. Each card has it's own rules on the back! Then you follow that exercise with a sentence diagramming worksheet. These are very easy because you start out with only two colored cards and blank ones for ones you haven't learned yet. So you only have to find the nouns and the articles in the first two lessons. Ryan loved doing this lesson! It is SO painless that I can't even argue about why or if it should be taught. This is just plain fun! We even came up with a way that all three kids can do the same workbook without having to make copies! We carefully tore all the pages out of the workbook and placed them in page protectors. They can use dry-erase markers (in pretty bright colors) to diagram the sentences. They use the colored cards (rules are on the back) to self-correct their work. All you do is dialog with them asking them "why or why not..."  (they learn by correcting) Then just wipe them clean! Mrs. Winston must have made a fortune with this wise and creative way of teaching!  I got the basic and the advanced sets together from eBay (used) for $35.00! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/592451/ Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/592451/ I want to thank my friend Laura, at Jelly Bean Designs, for the custom made template! She worked so  long and hard on it (forgiving me for pickiness!) and she deserves an award for her great talent! I like the way it shows off my photography and the simplicity of the tables! THANK YOU!!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/591744/ Thu, 18 Sep 2008 07:44:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/591744/ Is it important to know what a predicate nominative is? I guess if you were going to become a writer, quite possibly, it would matter! But can anyone tell me why all children, everywhere in the U.S., in every grade, sit down with their little sentence diagramming workbooks, and labor to learn this stuff? I am a college graduate and don't know the meaning of knowing this stuff! I have excellent communication skills, in my opinion.  I am a good writer.  I have a nicely seasoned vocabulary, and functional spelling skills. And yet...I don't know WHY! Can anyone elaborate? Help me out here...go ahead, leave a comment. PLEASE! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/585891/ Sat, 6 Sep 2008 00:10:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/585891/   I found a Preying Mantis in the nursery today. He is about three inches long! We have been feeding him grass hoppers. I  wonder how long he'll stick around? He has a ferocious appetite! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/583299/ Mon, 1 Sep 2008 09:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/583299/ Ryan has been doing a lesson per day in math for a whole week now... indepenently! He is doing very well too! Well, until today. I corrected his lesson from yesterday and found that he had missed 9 problems. I went back through those nine and found that the Saxon Textbook shows you, with each problem, the chapter in which the concept was first introduced! All nine problems that he got wrong had a number (6) next to it. We reviewed Lesson 6 this morning, then he repeated the written practice from yesterday, AND GOT THEM ALL RIGHT! Oh, How I love Saxon Math!  It won't let him forget anything! Year One in TOG begins at the beginning, with Creation. Last night I brought up a couple of questions that came to me during Ryan's lessons this week. Before I knew it, my husband was searching the web, I had my nose in the concordance, and Ryan was digging in deep with the King James version! We finally decided to use our "shout out" and called a friend for help. There was a large group of people at her house for a bible study and soon they were all digging in as well. We answered the first question but it soon led to another and another! We had such a good time! So, in case you are wondering...the original question was...why did God feel the need to put the Tree of Life in Eden, even before Adam and Eve sinned? Were they not immortal in the beginning? I am not going to spoil your study and give you the answer, but I will tell you that Genesis is a very fascinating book to study!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/582141/ Fri, 29 Aug 2008 12:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/582141/ Our Lord and our God. We joy in Thee. Without Thy Help we could not face unafraid the year before us.   I stand between the years. The Light of My Presence is flung across the year to come - the radiance of the Sun of Righteousness. Backward, over the past year, is My Shadow thrown, hiding trouble and sorry and disappointment. Dwell not on the past - only on the present. Only use the past as the trees use My Sunlight to absorb it, to make from it in after days the warming fire-rays. So store only the blessings from Me, the Light of the World. Encourage yourselves by the thought of these. Bury every fear of the future, of poverty for those dear to you, of suffering, of loss. Bury all thought of unkindness and bitterness, all your dislikes, your resentments, your sense of failure, your disappointment in others and in yourselves, your gloom, your despondency, and let us leave them all, buried, and go forward to a new and risen life. Remember that you must not see as the world sees.  I hold the year in My Hands - in trust for you. But I shall guide you one day at a time. Leave the rest with Me. You must not anticipate the gift by fears or thoughts of the days ahead. And for each day I shall supply the wisdom and the strength. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/581366/ Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:16:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/581366/ Ryan started reading How Majestic is Thy Name today, and he does not want to put this book down! Not only does it have beautiful pictures of God's creation in it, but it contains the most amazing facts too! Ryan couldn't wait for Dan to get home to share this book with him!   Ryan: How hot do you think the sun is? Dan: Oh, about 450 degrees? Ryan: Come on now, we're not baking a pizza! Me: (fall off my chair and roll on the floor laughing! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/580130/ Mon, 25 Aug 2008 17:20:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/apeculiarpeople/580130/