Jul. 5, 2009 - Thoughts after the 4th

Like many of you we had fun last night watching and lighting off various fireworks.  It seems like this year many more neighbors were doing the same as we had quite a show from all sides.

This morning getting up there was a haze lingering over our yard and woods.  Upon opening our door we were greeted by the smell, gunpowder.

Being the homeschool family that we are, my history buff husband remarked, “Can you imagine what the smell was like after the Civil War battles?”  When you see the smoke hanging over your yard the next day you can only imagine what it was like with the guns they had back then.  Maybe if you had a stiff breeze it went away but otherwise the haze and smell did linger.  One of the smells the people then would have associated with war I suppose.

Jul. 1, 2009 - Cherry picking

We got to go pick tart cherries on Monday.  I thought the season was just about done but to my surprise it was actually the first day they were allowing people to U-pick.  It's so beautiful with the sun hitting the red cherries.  This year I didn't bring my camera but I did take a couple with the cell phone camera, thought they're not quite as sharp.  The boys stayed home this year, so it was just the girls.

Once we got home we canned and dried.  I was disappointed in the jam however.  On the way home we stopped at Save A Lot and picked up some of their brand of "Sure-Jel" which I was initially thrilled with as it's only .99cents versus $2 for the brand name.  Well not so thrilled because it didn't work!  The first batch which I used real Sure-Jel set great like always.  Second batch I used the other brand and it didn't set, very disappointing!  We'll use it for smoothies or something but still disappointing.

We also froze a bag of prepared cherries for a crisp and dried a bunch to use in muffins and granola.

This year I also tried a cherry salsa recipe.  It's different and good.  I'm not sure if it will can well.  I may freeze a cup or two and try it that way first.  So far we've ate it with chips but I think it would be great over a pork roast or something too.

Cherry Salsa

1 1/2 cups tart cherries chopped

1 T. fresh cilantro snipped

1 clove of garlic crushed

1 T. of finely chopped jalapeno pepper

1/2 purple onion chopped

1/4 cup of finely chopped dried tart cherries (I used what we had left from last year!)

Some cherries juice (probably about 1/4 cup) with a teaspoon of cornstarch blended in. 

Mix all ingredients in sauce pan, stir in the juice with cornstarch and heat until slightly thickened.  Cool and serve.

Jun. 28, 2009 - Good to be home

We’re back from CHEO convention in Columbus and while we had a great time it’s always nice to be home!  CHEO added something I think a lot of attendee’s and vendors appreciated this year, an Internet area.  Our booth for Total Language Plus was right across from it and I know it got a lot of use.  It was great to just be able to pop over and check your emails without having to get your laptop out, wait for it to load etc… (Though you could do that as well since there was wireless available.)

Welcome to anyone from CHEO or any of the last few conventions we’ve done just checking out the blog for the first time.  Feel free to check out all the categories at right but especially of interest may be the TLP/Literature one.  Typically I post a lot of ideas and extras we used with our Total Language Plus studies after we’ve done them.  I get busy and don’t get all of them on there but hopefully you can use some of the links and ideas in your own homeschool.

Don’t forget as well if you purchased the new novel, Bertie’s War, to go Total Language Plus site for free discussion question, Cuban missile crisis information and timeline.

Jun. 28, 2009 - Old Schoolhouse Crew

Old Schoolhouse Crew

(If you’ve read this one already scroll down for newer)

I’ve been chosen!  I don’t know if you heard anything about it last year but Old Schoolhouse has a “crew” that gets to preview lots of curriculums and give their opinions.  Well this year I made the team!  It’s exciting because I get to check out lots of curriculums (and what homeschool mom doesn’t love looking at curriculum) and give my opinions.

My friend Heidi over at Reviews by Heidi had a blog about it stating that they were especially in need of moms of high schools so I thought why not, I’ve got two guinea pigs!  My boys may or may not love me for this, we’ll see.  I’ll also get to check out things for the younger kids too which my girls will probably most of the time by happy about.

I won’t be doing a review for the “Crew” each day or even each week but when it is a crew review I’ll place this banner in the review just so you’ll know.

I'm placing this blog entry at the top for a few days just so some of you who are "regular" readers get a chance to figure out what's going on.  I hope you'll enjoy checking out some projects with me this year!

Gina

Jun. 24, 2009 - Rhode Island vacation

 Crab CoveFound a starfish (alive)

 found a ray

One of the things we always do is have steamers and lobster.  They go pick them right from the fishing boats down the road in Gailee which is fun for the kids.  Plus it’s a whole lot cheaper that way then buying them imported to MI!  Taylor especially likes Lobster and ate four that day (not all at once, he just kept eating leftovers!)  Steamers are kind of a Rhode Island thing.  They are actually cohogs which are similar to clams of mussels.  I don’t like mussels but I like cohogs as long as you get the sand out. 

eating steamers

My sister-in-law recently got married and her husband is from Lebanon, he’d never had steamers.  He had to try them but it took him till we were down to one left to get up the nerve.  Turns out, he likes them but they were gone by the time he figured that out.

The other thing that always seems to be a problem for us is the early sun in Rhode Island.  We’re on the West end of the Eastern time zone so it doesn’t get light quite so early.  Out there we’re up by 5:30 a.m. thanks to the sun.  Most mornings it makes for a nice quiet walk on the beach (except half the days when it rained) and a good long quiet time before all the kids are up!

We did drive to Boston one day but I’ll save that for another blog.  I’ve got a lot of pictures from the Freedom Trail that I’ll post.  It was defiantly worth it but it takes WAY longer (at least for a homeschool family) then any review I’d read before we went!

It’s good to be home…even if only for a few days.  We leave for our last convention soon…so if you’re going to CHEO, look me up!

Jun. 21, 2009 - 2009 Old Schoolhouse Planner

The 2009 Schoolhouse Planner is just loaded with much more then you would initially think you’d find in a “planner”.  It's offered by The Old Schoolhouse Store for $39.  This is a downloadable ebook which makes printing off just what you need (and not printing what you don’t) very easy.  When I think of a “planner” my mind thinks first calendar or datebook but that’s not really what this is at all.  It has so much to it.

 The best feature by far is the enormous amount of forms that you can actually type right into.  Over the years I’ve found many sites with “planning forms” but not many that allow you to “type” right into them as they are protected which means you can print but not alter.  The ones in this planner say at the top of your Adobe screen ,”You can add comments and mark ups to this document.”  Without this feature you’d have to print and write in what you want but with this feature you can print and write or type it in and have a neater looking copy.  I Love it!

Many of the forms are ones I’ve either had to locate or create myself and they’ve got them all put together for you.  Trust me, over the 10+ years I’ve been homeschooling this would have been great to have to START with.  Just some of the ones I’ve found necessary to create that they’ve included are transcript lists, yearly planners, weekly planners, due dates, library books, book report forms, freezer inventory, menu plans and a lot more.  A few of the ones I haven’t got around to creating that I’ll use are the report card (my daughters have been asking me for one), test score recording sheet, high school hours (I’ll make my son use this one), progress reports and Bible memorization records.

Besides the forms they have lots of “fun” stuff.  You know all the extra charts and things you get in datebook or cookbook.  You might normally find measurements charts, substitutions, state abbreviations etc…  Well in here you’ve got those type of things but for homeschoolers.  Who else but a homeschool mom would like charts of the thirteen colonies, explanations of the branches of government and the solar system.  Along with these “school” related helps are the home related things like car maintenance records, gift logs and chore charts.

With a $39 price tag you do expect to get a lot and you really do.  Besides all that I’ve mentioned so far they’ve included articles from favorite homeschool authors like Jay Wile and Amanda Bennett.  If that weren’t enough they’ve also thrown in some recipes for good measure and who doesn’t love to at least think about trying some new recipes (even if you never, “get around to it!”)

Yes, if you think like I do and expect calendar pages in a planner they are there too though if I were to make a criticism it would be in this area.  They have one page calendars of the next couple years which come in handy for long range planning and they have a two page month by month calendar but that’s it.  I would have liked to see more options here.

So bottom line, will I use it and should you buy it?  I will defiantly use parts of it.  I’ve however become a creature of habit and do already have many similar forms that I’m accustomed to so I’ll keep those but will defiantly add some from this planner!  You should defiantly consider buying it if you’re just starting out or just starting out getting organized.  If you’re fairly organized like me and have a system that works well with forms you’ve created or found along the way you may not get the whole bang for your buck (although I guarantee you will find some things to use!)  Though if you’re an organized type already you’re probably fairly addicted and what could be more fun then more forms?!?!?!

Jun. 20, 2009 - unplugging

Well we've been away for a week and more unplugged from the computer then I thought we would be.  I thought we'd have almost daily access but it didn't work out that way. 

Some things I missed while being "unplugged";

Missed...being able to immediately see the weather whenever I wanted.  I had to use the Old fashioned and more time consuming TV for weather checks.

Missed...checking if there even IS anything on TV without even having to turn the set on.

Missed...checking out opening and closing times for places we were going easily and quickly.

Missed...be able to communicate with family, friends and business associates EASILY.

Missed...being able to upload my photo's immediately to the site I order from.

Some things I didn't miss while being "unplugged";

Didn't miss...the time spent waiting for the computer to load up and think.

Didn't miss...frustration when I can't find the files/sites I'm looking for.

Didn't miss...kids constantly asking if they could have turn on the computer.

So overall it's good to be back and "plugged in" again!  Missed you!

Gina

Jun. 9, 2009 - Garden is growing!

Well my efforts so far this year are paying off although I keep praying protection over the garden (from those bunnies that love my pea pods!)  Many things are growing well and we’ve even had some lettuce and radishes to eat.  The only one who likes radishes is my daughter Ariel (and my Dad but he lives 2 hours away) so we don’t plant too many.  It’s too bad because it’s one thing I seem to be successful at growing!

The lettuce has done well but I’m not crazy about the variety.  I tried a Burpee mix and it’s just okay.  I may dig this up and try another either soon or later in the summer for a fall crop.  I’ve just let it go at this point since it’s in the cold frame full of grass.

Oh, you didn’t hear about the grass I’m growing?  Well, I put ground cloth down under the cold frame which on the label said it was “guaranteed” to be weed proof!  Apparently the company does not consider “grass” a weed because it grows real well right up through the ground cloth, several inches of dirt and looks just like a weed to me!  Because of the ground cloth it’s impossible to pull the grass out (the root does get stuck under the ground cloth) and so unless I weed it daily I grow grass.  Grrrrr….

But on to happier subjects…the pea pods, green onions, potatoes, turnips, dry beans, zucchini, cukes, tomatoes, melons and peppers all seem to be off to a great start.  The black beans are only coming up sporadically and both the eggplant and cherry tomatoes didn’t seem to transplant well.  They are in but don’t seem to be growing.

I did make a frame for the pea pods from pipe which cost me about $35.  My sons bunk bed has since then broke (or I would have used that and not paid $35) so now I’ve made another frame and will put in a climbing/non-bolting spinach type I got from Seed-Savors.  I’m really hoping they’ll thrive because we love spinach salad and especially spinach dips!

Hope you are having a good summer and able to grow some things too.

Gina

Jun. 1, 2009 - Advanced Complete-A-Sketch

This past school year Taylor did  Advanced Complete-A-Sketch from Insight Technical Education.  He really likes to draw and we thought this might be a good introduction to drafting type drawing and it was.  My Dad who has a background in Toolmaking and CAD was impressed when he saw the contents of this curriculum.

He learned to work with some simple drafting tools and draw 2D, 3D and isometric sketches as well as build models.  I didn’t assign him all the models in the curriculum as I knew he loves to draw but from building a owl model for science fair with him I’d learned he doesn’t love models quite so much.

 I don’t know if I’ll use this with my other kids but I could which is a nice feature.  You can print off as many as you want for your own use. 

The year before last he did painting and comics for his elective, this past year the Complete-a-Sketch and now planning for next year he’s switched gears a little and is doing some Genetics and DNA investigations.

It’s always fun to give them some “fun” school besides the stuff they have to do!

May. 27, 2009 - 16 years ago

My oldest is 16 years old today, how life has changed in 16 years!  Do you remember your life before kids?  I’m not sure I do remember it clearly anymore….

I have to say that Logan certainly changed my life.  His birth was the most difficult for me physically and emotionally and changed my perspective on health care forever.  Our experience with sending him to school changed our thoughts on schooling forever.  And of course, being my first he taught me what motherhood was all about.

He is a pretty neat young man if I do say so myself.  One of my prayers for him was that he develop strong leadership skills and he sure has.  My prayer for him also was that he would find Jesus at an early age and he did.  He’s becoming quite the Godly young man.

For his 16^th birthday we chose to give him ring as a symbol of what he’s working to be.  He chose the ring which has the words El Shaddai Warrior on it.  With it we gave him a framed piece stating what this ring and “El Shaddai Warrior” represents.  Here’s just part of what’s in his frame;

 “If I have the COURAGE to face my fears; HONOR , which I show to God and my fellow man; the proper ATTITUDE  concerning myself and my circumstances; the MENTAL toughness required to make hard decisions; PURITY  of the heart, mind, and body; the INTEGRITY to stand for what I believe, even in the most difficult situations; effective OWNERSHIP of all that is entrusted to me; and focused NAVIGATION in order to successfully chart my course in life; I will live as a true EL SHADDAI WARRIOR, committed to battling evil and changing my world for God’s glory.”

We adapted most of what we put in his frame from a book called Teknon Warrior that my husband had used with him over the last few years.  When presenting it to him my husband pointed out that this isn’t an ending but a starting point and his training in becoming a Godly man continues.

I thank God for a husband who is willing to take ownership of this area of parenting and care enough to train our boys into the men God wants them to be.  I also thank God for a son who is willing to take up the standard and become the man God wants him to be.

May. 22, 2009 - Schools out for the summer!

Okay, well at least that’s partially true…I’m done.  It seems each of the kids have a “few” (or one of them maybe a lot) of things to complete to get done and be officially released for summer.  We ended on Wed. and before noon on Thursday my youngest had her things complete.

We had a great first day.  I planted the rest of the garden, sprayed the edges of the yard for stray poison ivy (used up the whole bottle!), took two bike rides and played a game of Quiddler with my daughter on the deck.  All in all it was a good start to summer.

Now unfortunately I can’t “play” away all the rest of the days of summer, too much work to do.  I’ve promised myself to get caught up on some writing projects I’ve set aside for a time.

We’re also hoping to do a few Michigan field trips this summer.  I’ve never really liked the idea of doing state history as a separate subject but I’d like to cover it chronologically with the rest of our history.  That just makes more sense for us.

I’m hoping to fit the MI timeline into our schedule and maybe even hit a few museums and sites over the summer.  My husband was even excited about possible going back to Mackinaw in the fall (two forts up there to cover.)  We did that one year in September years ago, it was great just us and the retirees.  Everyone was so kind to our kids and thought they were so cute, of course they were the only kids anywhere we went.  Now, they are older so I doubt we’d get the “cute” comments but still, it’s a good time to go.  We’ll see….

We are also planning on visiting family out east and contemplating what to see while we’re there.  A few years ago when we went we did Plymouth Plantation which was great.  I’m pondering The Freedom Trial in Boston which has 15 historical sites including Paul Reveres house (now museum) and the U.S.S. Constitution (which my son did for history fair a couple years ago.)  We also thought about Mystic Aquarium.  There are so many choices but so little time.  You see, we also want to relax at the beach and see family (that’s the main reason for going!)  Being the homeschool family that we are however we just have to fit in a field trip!

And of course I was hoping to get each of the kids to work on a new skill/project over the summer, maybe some carpentry project, sewing, quilting or canning. 

Well summer is here, it’s Memorial Day weekend!  Enjoy some time with your family whether your school is “done” or not!  Happy Summer!

Gina

May. 21, 2009 - HomeWork

Okay, I must be slow but I initially read the title of this e-book and thought that doesn’t pertain to me, my kids don’t have homework.  Even after reading the sub-title, “Juggling Home, Work, and School Without Losing Your Balance” I still didn’t get it.  Once I figured out the “cute” title I was in for a treat.

This Gem of an E-book is actually about working from home and balancing your home, business and homeschooling.  If you’ve ever thought about working from home and need some ideas this will help.  For those of us who have worked from home we’ll not only identify with these moms but find encouragement and inspiration. What a great read it is!

More than a list of possibilities, instead stories of real life people from so many different business venues I never knew existed!  Lot’s of things I’ve heard of like sales, writing, and publishing as well as things I never thought of such as on-line travel referrals, pet breeding businesses and so many more.

This is not your typical work from home book.  It’s actually all homeschool moms so it not only tells you about their business but how they work their school and homes in, sometimes right down to what they do at 7 a.m., 8a.m and so on.  There are moms living in mobile homes, moms working till 2 a.m. to accommodate their husbands schedule and oh so many more “unique” circumstances.

Some of the authors I recognized as I’ve seen or even bought their products and some of course I’d never heard of before.  It was interesting to read about the businesses of those I was familiar with and see a “different” side of their product.

Besides the stories this e-book does offer a bit of practical “bookkeeping” type advice which is useful but definitely not what earns the “gem” status.  It’s the inspiration, encouragement, honestly and practical advice from another homeschool mom that gives you your monies worth here!

If this is a topic you’re interested in I hope you’ll consider this e-book.  I feel it was time well spent!

May. 15, 2009 - From the Mixed Up Files focus guide

This year we kind of threw in a quick unplanned study with From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.   It hadn't dawned on me that this could easily go with our study of the Renaissance until one of my blogging friends mentioned it. The Total Language Plus focus guide is designed to be a multi-age three week study on letter writing with so we sort of snuck it in!  I know those of you who have seen my planner can’t believe this but it’s really true!

I’m so glad we did because the kids just loved it!  It’s a very fun and humorous story that is actually a letter.  While reading the “letter” you learn all the parts of a friendly and business letter as well as go over comprehension and thinking questions from the novel.

The story itself is very amusing!  Though my oldest daughter will probably not admit it she at times related quite a bit to the heroine, Claudia and all my kids cracked up over her side kick brothers’ favorite line, “Baloney!”  The two set off on an adventure, carefully planned by Claudia, to live in a museum and end up finding a mystery to solve.  That’s where the Renaissance comes in, the mystery revolves around a piece of sculpture thought to possibly be a Michelangelo.

There are many funny parts and several things that modern kids may find amusing.  One of the interesting things to my kids was the use of type writers as well as the inexpensive prices they pay for food (like 50 cents for cheese sandwich and coffee, probably can’t even find coffee for that anymore.)  It was written in the 70’s so it could be an interesting study of that time period as well.

Doing the Total Language Plus study guide along with it helps you get so much more from the book and honestly with this one they were sad to see it end!  Each day we read the questions that went with the chapters to gain further insight.  Some were simple things about what happened but many are about the why’s and what would you do’s that always lead to interesting discussions.  That’s what I love about TLP, is how it helps you really “see” how your kids think (for good and bad!)

In the book there are letters within the “letter” that are used as correction exercises and well as opportunities to write your own letters.  It even goes over how to address the envelope.

My kids were with me at our first big convention this year and we sold out of this one because they talked to everyone and told them how much they liked it.

If you’ve never tried TLP this would be a great little “taste” to get you started.  I would say it’s best suited for 4^th-6^th but could stretch in either direction a little.  I did it with a 3^rd, 5^th and 8^th grader.  They all liked it.

May. 13, 2009 - Christian Kids Study Chemistry

This year I haven’t seemed to blog as much about our science or even history for that matter and how time does fly!  We have been plugging along with CKS Chemistry.  I also decided to add in Exploring The World of Chemistry by John Hudson Tiner with our Chemistry study.

Exploring The World of Chemistry adds a lot more of the scientists, discoveries and stories to what CKS is explaining.  It’s perhaps a little over the head of my 3^rd grader but it adds more especially for my 8^th grader.  He decided to do Ancient Metals for his Science Fair project this year (though he may not admit it) because of this book.

On the metals for instance it tells you about how Egyptians made Iron and how an Antarctic exploration was doomed because of what they didn’t know about metals.  I won’t tell you what happened you’ll just have to check it out.  If you really must know look up Robert F. Scott, British Explorer 1912, I at least have to make you look for it!

Getting back to CKS Chemistry, we’re almost done with unit three so we’ll finish four and five next year.  We didn’t start Chemistry until December because we took some time in the fall to study birds.  This last week they went on a house hunt filling in charts with products that contain various kinds of acids and bases.  The pictures are from a couple weeks ago with the bubbling “chemical” reaction experiment

 >

Though they have enjoyed Chemistry and I feel it’s giving them a good grasp of the basics and working with the periodic table it hasn’t been their favorite CKS of the series.  I would also say that it’s a little more difficult then the Biology and Earth and Space we’ve done in previous years.  I would definitely save it for last (so your kids are older!) 

Next year I had planned on moving on to Physics but after looking at it we’ve decided not to, at least for now.  Several of the chapters are really repeats of things we’ve already done in Chemistry or Earth and Space volumes.  It might be beneficial to do in a year or two but not next year.

Instead we’ve decided on a whole new route for science next year but I’ll leave that for another blog….

May. 12, 2009 - Winding down

How’s your end of the school year going?  We’re winding down but not fast enough for my liking.  Some years it seems like no big deal and other years we’re just ready to be done!  This is one of those we’re just “waiting” to finish.

Part of the problem is we tackled a very difficult book for the end of the year and it really seems to be draining us (it’s Pilgrims Progress but more on that in another blog…)

Activities are coming to an end which is good.  We had our talent show last week (which is the end of band), and our History Fair last month.  The kids didn’t do Spring sports this year which was VERY nice!  Awana ended last week too.  I think summer really will get here!

The Band pictures turned out really dark (they always seem to at the church we use for that) and the Awana award pictures not so good either so I’ll post a couple from the science fair/derby.<>

In the picture with the three boys, my Taylor's the one on the left but I put the one with his friends in because it's so cute.  They are sure growing up.  My oldest didn't do a fair project or car, he was working (refereeing soccer.)  Time flies...

Hope the rest of the schoolwork  flies!  We should be done May 20th.  Then we'll have to do something fun on the 21st to celebrate!

May. 11, 2009 - Career Exploration for High School

Over the last few days it’s been interesting reviewing a few of these “we-E books”.  The last one I chose to review was, “Career Exploration for High School Students”.

Old Schoolhouse site listing for this one reads, “Carol Topp has written this WeE-book™ as an easy-to-understand guide to exploring potential professions for anyone, but especially for your teenager.”  From that description I thought it might be a great thing to hand to my 8^th (almost 9^th) grader and have it give him some idea’s.  For that purpose it missed the mark in my opinion.

It’s more of a recounting of how she taught a group of students and the tools (for purchase) that she used.  If you were looking at doing a co-op on career choices, or looking into the “YES” guide she recommends as a resource, this might give you some good direction.  As a parent if you’re looking for resources she recommends several books to read as well as surveys that would be very helpful.

Her advice to use a 4 step plan in your exploration is excellent.  It could easily be tailored into some assignments for your teens in evaluating careers. 

It's useful for sure but not quite what I thought from the description.

Gina

May. 8, 2009 - Transcripts, CLEP’s and Other Ways to Get Into College

One of the other We-E books I chose to review (see previous blog for more We-E book information) is titled, “Transcripts, CLEP’s and Other Ways to Get Into College” written by Claire Novak.  In a nut shell I’d call this, “Exploring Options For After High School 101.”

If you’ve already attended a lot of workshops or read a few books on this subject you may be disappointed but if you perhaps have a Junior High student and are starting to wonder or even worry about these things this would be for you!

Do homeschool students get accepted in college?  What are colleges looking for?  How do homeschool students adjust?  What tests and forms do we need to complete?  Should my child even go to college?  What about testing for credit from home?  This We-E book answers all those questions and more while consulting and quoting college admission offices and homeschool graduates now in college. 

I have done a lot of reading and attending workshops on many of these issues that are pertinent to high school homeschooling families and for sure if someone came up and asked me about the options this We-E book contains what I’d tell them!  This also contains links to more resources (for purchase) on various aspects of the issue which is nice for those that need a place to go further.

The fact that the author also points out  your student may not even need to go to college is appreciated.  Many resources on this issue seem to skip that fact maybe assuming since you already bought the book/guide on college options that not going isn’t even a possibility.  I really like the quote she uses under this point from Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), “Never let your schooling get in the way of your education.”  Well said!

Personally, we have been looking heavily into the CLEP testing route and I’m sure in the future I’ll be blogging more about our experiences there!

May. 7, 2009 - Mentoring in Action

I was asked to review a few things over the next week or so, one of them I chose was a “WeE-book” titled, “Missing in Action or Mentoring in Action?”  Right away the title caught my attention for two reasons, but wait, I’m getting ahead of myself.

First you ask, what in the world is a WeE-book?  Trust me, I had no idea either.

You’ve probably heard of an e-book (and if you’re like me downloaded not a few!)  This is simply a smaller version with a small price to match.  Old Schoolhouse if offering them and they’ve gathered quite a list to chose from!  It was hard to make my choices but I did chose three (more on the other choices later.)

Getting back to the “Missing in Action or Mentoring in Action”; the first reason the title caught my attention was pairing the mentoring with the missing.  This has been a subject that has come up a lot in various Bible studies and churches I’ve attended in years past.  Just where are the “older women?”  The second reason was a little humorous (okay to me at least), our men’s group at church is called M.I.A., standing for “Men in Action”.

It’s not just about mentoring but specifically mentoring to other homeschool moms without putting in a lot of time.  If you’ve been homeschooling longer than a week and ever talked to mom who’s considering homeschooling you’ve probably already done it without knowing it.  That is pretty encouraging!

The WeE-book focuses as well on mentoring at your local convention.  From first hand experience at the many conventions I attend I can agree and attest to the effectiveness of the “snippet” method described.  It is a big need that is so easy and enjoyable for us “veteran” homeschool moms to fill!

If you’ve been homeschooling for at least a year and your heart feels for other homeschoolers (especially new ones) this We-E book can make you aware or affirm you in what you already know about how to have an effective ministry without sacrificing your own homeschool and family time.  Plus by getting the “We-E” versions you won’t spent too much of your time reading about it instead of doing it!

May. 6, 2009 - Notebook page sale!

Wow!  Notebooking Pages is having their sale again!  It’s 50% off all notebook page sets.  If you read my blog before you know (and have seen pictures) of many of these we’ve used.
   

I highly recommend the blank notebook pages.
  Right now we are using these almost everyday for History.  While I read the kids simply write down what catches their attention and then after we finish our lesson we share and discuss what we wrote down.  There are so many to chose from so I usually scan the lesson right before we start and chose one with or without a picture spot (that we’ll either sketch a picture in or draw a map in) and with the right number of spots to write in.  Some of our lessons may focus on more than one person or event so I may chose a page that has two or three sections.

We also used the bird pages extensively this fall.  Before we started our “regular” science for the year we studied birds.  My daughter Ariel is still doing bird pages, she really enjoyed them.  Here goal is to get all of the “notebook” pages for the birds filled out and colored and she’s doing it now in her spare time (a mom’s got to love that!)

Anyway, I can’t recommend them highly enough.  The sale is only for three days (starting today) so don’t miss it!

May. 5, 2009 - Spring gardens

Spring does FINALLY seem to be here in lower Michigan.  My lilacs are blooming and my daughter Ariel picks me lovely bouquets.  It brings back lots of good memories from my childhood of vases of lilacs.

This year I’m trying to do more with the garden then I have in years.  When we first moved to this house I did a decent vegetable garden the first couple years then as I had more children and less time the garden didn’t fare so well.  In fact some years it wasn’t there at all.  Over the last few years I’ve gone back to it again and each year doing a little more but this years’ definitely has the most thought, planning and time into it so far!

One of the things I decided to do was keep a garden notebook.  In years past I’ve always sketched out a little design on a piece of paper but that’s about it.  This year I wanted to keep track of when I planted what and have some idea of harvest dates and such.  My daughter laughed at me for my notebook (I must truly be a homeschool mom to have a garden notebook, right!?!?) but my friend (who is another homeschool mom) came over and she truly understood!  In fact she has one too!

So far things are going pretty well in the garden.  I’ve started onions (both bunching and fall crop), potatoes (Yukon gold), radishes (mixed carrot seeds in but no luck there), turnip, as well as lettuce and spinach in the cold frame.  They stay in the cold frame because in years past I just can’t keep the rabbits out of the garden and away from them.

While at convention a few weeks back with the help of my Dad my boys built my cold frame.  It’s great!  It even snowed after I started my seeds in there and the lettuce and spinach still came up just fine.  My only frustration was the ground cloth I used under it that was “guaranteed” to block weeds does not.  I have blades of grass growing through that are impossible to pull out with the root because of the ground cloth.  UGH!

It’s supposed to be another beautiful day today and my daughter Ariel has finally shown some interest, not in vegetables but flowers.  She wants to get started today so we’ll probably work on an area of flowers that I haven’t had much time for that she’s going to take over and add some of her own.  We’ll see how long her enthusiasm holds out for her new interest!

My younger daughter is taking a “square” in the garden to put in what she chooses.  Most of what she wants is warm weather crops so we should still wait a week or two though with this weather it’s VERY tempting to put in now!

So are you gardening this year?  Come on, at least put in a tomato plant, you know you want to!