I'm Nobody! Who Are You?

New Books!

2012-01-27T15:57:00.000-08:00

Look at all the fabulous books I purchased from a friend!

I'm drooling.

Thanks, Kathy!

Week in Review 1/23/12 - 1/27/12

2012-01-27T07:35:00.000-08:00

We had a busy week and I didn't realize until today that I had only taken one picture. I also usually keep a running summary in a post draft and that didn't happen this week, so you are going to get a short and sweet highlights update this week.

Bible/Memory

Completed lesson five in Understanding the Faith on God's decrees and their execution.
Passed 2-3 sections each in Awana Club & practiced our catechism questions.
Read in the book of Acts about Paul's missionary journeys and the council in Jerusalem.

Math

Buttercup completed five Saxon math lessons and was thrilled that she made 100% on her test. She also completed the first investigation which she thought was fun but not very instructive. Saxon swears you shouldn't skip them though. Hmmmm.
DragonFly completed four Abeka math lessons and four Math-U-See lessons. Using Math-U-See to teach concepts that are then reinforced in Abeka is working out wonderfully!

Language Arts

Both children completed four R&S English lessons. DragonFly worked on memorizing the state-of-being verbs and learned to identify direct objects. Buttercup diagrammed dependent adjective clauses.
Buttercup started a new unit in IEW but hit a wall which was entirely my fault. I still haven't found time to watch the dvd lesson she is working on. I must make it a priority this weekend.
DragonFly struggled with spelling but we had a bit of a break though on Wednesday.

History

We took the week off to explore our own interests. Buttercup finished up her research on Napoleon, and DragonFly read more about ~~war~~ guy stuff. I'm so glad I plan these weeks through-out the year. A little unschooled history is perfect in the dead of winter when you don't feel like doing much of anything.

Science

We finished God's Design for the Physical World: Heat and Energy this week. We are 2/3rds of the way through our science for the school year! Our final topic was on light, lenses, refraction, and all that good stuff. I had bought a set of lenses and we enjoyed conducting various science experiments. DragonFly is at the stage where any science experiment would be improved with the addition of explosive material so lens experiments didn't rank super high on his excitement scale. Both children are looking forward to the last book in the God's Design for the Physical World. Inventions here we come!

Reading

Buttercup picked back up her Abeka Of Places book this week and read an excerpt from Robinson Crusoe and several poems. For free reading she read The Lost Stories (Ranger's Apprentice) by Flanagan and The Queen's Own Fool by Yolan. She reminds me that she also read a huge stack of books on Napoleon, her favorite being Napoleon on the Art of War by Luvaas.
DragonFly read Knights Castle and Magic or Not? by Edward Eager. Once he discovered that Eager was a fan of Nesbit, he was hooked. We are all Nesbit fans in this house. He is also listening to LibriVox recordings of Tanglewood Tales by Hawthorne and The Tales of Shakespeare by Lamb on his MP3 player.

Today we are off to the library, park day, a birthday party, and Bible study with friends. I hope you all had a wonderful week.

This Spelling Moment Brought To You By Dysgraphia

2012-01-26T07:44:00.000-08:00

The above is life at our house. At first glance you might think this was DragonFly's spelling test, and you would be correct, but it is also more than that. It was my test, too.

I started out this test by telling DragonFly to get out a sheet of paper. He asked if he could use pen. Normally I would have said no because he has to erase so much when using pencil. I figured a pen would be a nightmare. For some reason, I said, "Sure." The first word, eat, went okay. The second word, please, became a study in frustration. He made an f. He knew it wasn't a p. He made a 9. Then his letters were all out of order. The lid blew off the top and the crying started.

DragonFly, you know how to spell this word. We've spelled it everyday this week with the tiles. What's the problem? At this point I'm just as frustrated as he is. Silent thoughts swirl in my head. "He's behind. Is he ever going to get this?" He's thinking, "I can't do this! Why is everything so hard?"

Then I had an epiphany.

DragonFly, you DO know how to spell this word. Your hand just doesn't know how.

DragonFly looked up at me with something like, "Yeah, right. You're nuts, Mom."

I know you are upset but look at momma. Do you know how many steps it takes to write down a spelling word? Did I know how many steps it takes him to write down a spelling word? Let's think about it.

1. You have to hear me say the word the right way to you.
2. You have to hold it in your head long enough to think about it.
3. You have to try and get a picture of the word in your head. (And he fails...)
4. You have to start breaking down the sounds, asking yourself if that one sound is made with one letter or two letters or even more?
5. You have to ask yourself if there are tricksy letters that you can't hear.
6. Your brain has to send all those individual letters on a train down your arm all the way to your fingers.
7. While the train is traveling you have to remember the word and the sounds and the letters that you really can't see in your head.
8. Your hand has to understand what your brain just told it to do.
9. Your hand had to keep all those letters that came on the train straight. Sometimes the train cars get all mixed up and the letters are jumbled.
10. Not only does your hand have to remember all those letters in the right order, but it has to remember how to form all those letters physically. You can't see them in your head so it is a bit like trying to remember a long string of oral directions on how to draw something (try that sometime).
11. Then and finally your hand muscles have to actually move the way your brain is telling them to move, and we know that hand doesn't always like to do that. After all that is why we spent a lot of time on small hand coordination exercises.

So I KNOW your brain knows how to spell these words. Let's see how we can help you get the information to your hand better.

How about if you TELL your hand what to do? You know, out loud?

DragonFly says, "Okay, we can try that. Maybe my hand will listen then."

DragonFly spell "please" for me.

DragonFly starts spelling out loud...P - L - E - A - S and I have to add the E so that please doesn't look plural (a rule we learned).

Awesome! Let's see if your hand will write it now.

And what you see above is the result.

If we had stayed with pencil, I would have just let him erase and erase and erase.

That's what I mean by that spelling test being my test. Every day in our house is like that. I'm learning too. I've read just about everything I can get my hands on about dyslexia and dysgraphia, but the best way to teach DragonFly isn't found in a book. It is found in patience, persistence, and lots of prayer.

I had one happy child at the end of that spelling test.

We both earned gold stars (this time).

Disclaimer - I have to say it so here goes. None of the above constitutes professional advice and should not be used in informally diagnosing your child. If you suspect your child is a atypical learner please pursue a professional evaluation.

The Voice of Saruman

2012-01-24T18:52:00.000-08:00

Suddenly another voice spoke, low and melodious, its very sound an enchantment. Those who listened unwarily to that voice could seldom report the words that they had heard; and if they did, they wondered, for little power remained in them. Mostly they remembered only that it was a delight to hear the voice speaking, all that it said seemed wise and reasonable, and desire awoke in them by swift agreement to seem wise themselves. When others spoke, they seemed harsh and uncouth by contrast; and if they gainsaid the voice, anger was kindled in the hearts of those under the spell. (Narrator describing Saruman in The Two Towers)

'You are a liar, Saruman, and a corrupter of men's hearts. You hold out your hand to me, and I perceive only a finger of the claw of Mordor. Cruel and cold! [...] what will you say of your torches in Westfold and the children that lie dead there?' (Théoden)

And that's why I didn't bother to listen to the SOTU speech.

Birthdays

2012-01-24T10:06:00.001-08:00

I had a birthday on Saturday. I'm now 18 plus a score, but as my friend reminded me, "We don't keep score!" She made me laugh.

I've reached a point where birthdays just don't do it for me anymore. I don't mind being a year older. Actually I kinda like it. I wanted to be 40 this year. Forty seems a nice mature number, but for some reason that grown up feeling never comes. It is as elusive as tomorrow. My mom was right. When you are 38 years old you still feel like you are 20. Of course the gnarled hands and gray hair start to remind you otherwise but inside...20.

Lots of tough decisions to make and all I can think is, "Hey, I'm too young to be making these tough decisions. Isn't someone going to bail me out?"

Buttercup is almost 13yo and I'm thinking, "Hey, she can't be 13 because I'm only 20!"

Sage is using a heating pad on his back and I'm thinking, "When did HE get old?"

I mess up again and I think, "Am I ever going to grow up?"

If it was up to me I'd ignore birthdays; no birthday cards, no Facebook shout-outs, no cake, no presents.

Every year I feel this huge conflict warring within me on my birthday. I hate reflection. I hate that feeling all day long that if I look over my shoulder I'll see all those years gone already like a vapor. And if I look ahead it is all shrouded in mist.

All I really have is right now.

All I've ever had is right now.

And right now the laundry needs folding.

And right now the kids need me to kiss their foreheads "Good Night."

And right now I'm both adult and child, mature and immature, old and young, right and wrong, making good choices and lousy ones, sacrificial and totally selfish.

Right now I'm still just a clay jar when I had hoped to be a ~~lovely~~ ~~vintage~~ something better than dollar store vase by now.

Another reason to dislike birthdays. The other 364 days of the year it is far easier to remember it isn't all about me.

Time to get back to right now. Reflection over.

Week in Review 1/16/12 - 1/20/12

2012-01-20T09:36:00.000-08:00

I'm not a big fan of four-day weeks. The rest of the week just feels crammed. I finally gave up and chilled out. Everyone would have been happier if I'd done that on Tuesday instead of waiting until Thursday.

DragonFly...

...completed three Abeka math lessons and two MUS lessons. Abeka is still review right now so he is flying through it.

...copied another two stanzas of the dwarf song from The Hobbit.

...completed three R&S English lessons on helping verbs.

...did great on unit 16 of All About Spelling.

...proudly wrote silly sentences.

...brought me sheets of ice from outside every day & never lost his amazement at seeing it. Definitely something SoCal kids don't usually get to see.

...talked incessantly about WWII airplanes, battles, and other army stuff (I need a translator half the time because I have NO clue what those guys are talking about).

...read Mathematicians Are People, Too (vol 1) for his assigned reading time.

I want to say something about a "king cow" but I'm going to refrain.

Buttercup...

...finished another story for IEW. For the first time she did every bit of the typing (3+ pages typed) on her own.

...independently completed two R&S English lessons on the use of descriptive adjectives. "So easy, Mom!"

...completed another section in Spelling Power.

...managed to get through three Saxon lessons. These lessons are review for her but they are LONG. Saxon had a lot of problems, but everyone has advised not skipping any. She's doing very well though.

...read chapter 8 in Exploring the World of Physics by Tiner. She only has one chapter left.

...did Logic with me on Wednesday night while the boys were gone to Awana club. We did logic and then watched 2 hours of behind-the-scenes LOTR stuff. Awesome fun.

...memorized the ring verse from LOTR just for fun. Yeah, my kids are obsessed right now.

Look at that. The science pictures came up first so I guess I'm talking about science next.

In Science we...

...studied waves and the electromagnetic spectrum.

...got entirely too carried away with the slinky.

...learned how to measure sound waves and a bazillion terms like pitch, frequency, wavelengths, amplitude, etc.

...made our own stethoscope.

...watched Bill Nye, of course.

In Bible/Memory we...

...memorized questions 14 and 15 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

...completed the next lesson in Understanding the Faith and discussed the Trinity.

...passed another 4-5 sections in Awana. I think we are finally caught up.

...obviously memorized anything to do with The Lord of the Rings.

In History/Geography we..

...studied the Counter-Reformation or Catholic Reformation this week.

...had a tough week. Trying to teach about Ignatius Loyola, the Jesuits, and the Council of Trent while being fair to the Catholics and honest to our Protestant beliefs was not easy. Some days I would give anything for an EASY button (No pictures of notebooking pages this week).

...discussed how the decisions at the Council of Trent influenced the Catholic Reformation, Protestant Reformation, and Inquisition.

...completed our lessons in Maps, Charts, and Graphs. Buttercup seriously hates these workbooks but I think they do a good job of teaching her to USE her brain.

...mapped the distribution of Christianity in Europe in 1560.

In Reading we...

...read a lot. The kids finished all the books you see below.

...discovered a new series called You Choose. These are great history books! For each title you get to choose one of three characters. For example, in the Revolutionary War book you can choose between being the daughter of a militia captain, a Connecticut patriot, or a loyalist. Then it is just like a Choose Your Own Adventure book with different endings based on your choices. The back of the book provides a timeline, other viewpoints to consider, and additional resources.

...continue to read The Two Towers by Tolkien.

Wooden Train Sets

2012-01-18T14:13:00.000-08:00

A little friendly advice...

Don't get rid of those wooden train sets too early!

What started out as Thomas and Friends when your son was five years old...

...will become the reenactment of the battle at the Ludendorff Bridge during WWII at 10 years old.

7 Lies About Homeschoolers

2012-01-16T19:19:00.001-08:00

Hilarious!

Fun Way to Practice Skip Counting

2012-01-13T09:00:00.000-08:00

We stumbled upon a great way to practice skip counting today. DragonFly was jumping up and down and screaming, "Math is fun! Math is fun!" DragonFly has had a long and difficult time learning math facts so I'm thrilled to find anything that can help make the process a little less painful. I was pleased to discover his skip counting ability really improved with this activity.

It doesn't get any more simple than this, folks.

You'll need...

One Laundry Basket
12 sandwich or quart-size bags (plastic or reusable cloth)
Socks, cotton balls, basically something soft and in great supply.

We started with two's and used paired socks.

DragonFly's goal was to throw as many paired socks into the basket as he could. He then counted by two's to determine points earned.

After that we moved on to three socks in a bag.

Eventually we worked on numbers high enough that cotton balls in ziploc bags made more sense.

{Shhh, but even Buttercup wanted to get in on the action.}

I can see we'll be repeating this activity on a regular basis.

Of course eventually the entire thing dissolved into a giant paired sock fight. Maybe I should have titled this post...In Which Daisy is Buried in Socks and her Children Dance with Glee.

Week in Review 1/9/11 - 1/13/11

2012-01-12T19:46:00.000-08:00

This week we eased back into our work load after two weeks off.

Buttercup...

...started Saxon 8/7 with DIVE this week. She's doing great & completed five lessons.

...completed four lessons on adjectives in R&S English.

...outlined and wrote her first draft for a new creative writing lesson in IEW (rewrite of an Andrew Lang fairy tale of her choice).

...had a week off from Abeka Literature.

...flew through four Spelling Power lists.

...copied a few songs from The Hobbit. She wants to memorize them.

...completed her map skills, typing, and logic workbook.

...read and took the quizzes for three chapters in Tiner's Exploring the World of Physics. She only has two chapters left.

DragonFly...

...is also copying a song from The Hobbit that he wants to memorize. Actually I think he has half of it memorized already.

...completed six Math-U-See lessons, 6 pages of Singapore Math review, and two Abeka lessons.

...finished four R&S English lessons on state-of-being verbs and helping verbs.

...did well on his All About Spelling for the week which covered /oo/ words.

...had the week off from assigned reading mostly because I needed to pick his next book.

...did extra work in his maps workbook and typing.

Bible/Memory Work we...

...spent the week reviewing all of our poems and catechism questions. It was definitely needed after three weeks off.

...completed Lesson 3: God- What Is He Like? in Understanding the Faith.

...passed five sections each in their Awana books!

In History/Geography we...

...studied Copernicus. DragonFly was very excited that this was a sciency history week.

...learned about heliocentric and geocentric views of planet movement.

...learned a bit about Poland since that was Copernicus' birthplace.

...read about mathematicians from the period of the Reformation in Mathematicians Are People, Too (vol 1 & 2). DragonFly loved these books so much I'm going to let him read them as his next assigned reading.

...discussed the life of Bartolome' de Las Casas and his fight for the rights of the indigenous peoples of the Americas.

Buttercup listened to Viggo Mortensen read some of Bartolome' de Las Casas journal about the treatment of the native peoples. Please preview as we decided it was best for junior high and up. The English portion begins about five minutes in.

Viggo Mortensen reads Bartolome de Las Casas, "The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account" (1542) in Spanish and English from Voices of a People's History on Vimeo.

In Science/Health we...

...has a blast reviewing magnetism. The kids spent the week telling me all about electromagnets, inverse square laws, and all kinds of stuff. They are way smarter than I am.

...read Max Axiom's The Attractive Story of Magnetism.

...watched these videos by Bill Nye on youtube.

The kids were attacked by Orcs and are repairing their shields. In Reading we...
...are about three hours into our audio of The Two Towers by Tolkien.
Buttercup read a ton of books this week. A few include; Snow in Summer by Jane Yolen, The Last Musketeer by Stuart Gibbs, HIVE Dreadnought, etc.
I asked DragonFly what he read and he said, "Funny books." He read a bunch of books from the Bad Kitty series again, a stack of Science Behind the Scenes: Spy Files, and J.R.R. Tolkien by Wallner (wonderful picture book about Tolkien).

There's Nothing Quite Like a Real Book

2012-01-11T07:39:00.001-08:00

All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes

2012-01-07T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm currently reading All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes by Kenneth A. Myers. Three chapters in and I can say without a doubt I'm going to love this book. Here are a few favorite quotes from the first three chapters that highlight the idea of deliberateness and why examining popular culture is important.

It [Popular Culture] unobtrusively provides the backdrop, scenery, costumes, minor characters, script, and background noise of much of our lives. When we arrive the stage is already set, the lyrics and music written, our lines and our movements already determined. Popular culture has the power to set the pace, the agenda, and the priorities for much of our social and our spiritual existence, without our explicit consent. It requires a great effort not to be mastered by it. (p.xiv)

Each of us arises every morning with, in the providence of God, a number of duties, dilemmas, opportunities, and confusions that stem from living in a particular culture at a particular time. Our decisions about what sort of involvement with popular culture is prudent does not occur in isolation. Just as a critic cannot understand a song or a novel or a movie outside of its cultural context, so we cannot anticipate or evaluate the effect popular culture has on our lives without looking at that context. Do I want to read that book because everyone else is reading it, or because of some intrinsic merit it has? Am I turning on the television because there is something I want to watch, or because I am addicted to distracting titillation? (p.31)

Culture...is the result of billions of separate choices by millions of people...Rarely if ever is the condition of a culture the product of deliberate decision...(p.32)

What we find beautiful or entertaining or moving is rooted in our spiritual life. (p.27)

I hope you'll consider putting this book on your to-read list for this year. I plan on writing a review when I've finished it, but as I'm trying to exagorazo time in my life this year, I'm not going to write a summary of each chapter. If you are interested, Brandi at Afterthoughts wrote a series of posts on All God's Children and Blue Suede Shoes a few years ago and I'm sure you'll enjoy them as much as I am.

Chaffee Zoo 2012

2012-01-02T17:33:00.000-08:00

We had a lot of fun at the Chaffee Zoo today. It was 75+ degrees!

Blast From the Past

2012-01-01T18:03:00.000-08:00

I was just about a month shy of eight years old in this picture. I'm on the left if you couldn't figure that out.

Hey, is that a Roll Tide Roll cap? I think my parents are committed Auburn fans now. Maybe that's why they let us put that cap on the snowman.

I lived on this swing set. I was usually flying through the air singing at the top of my lungs.

Yeah, I was cool.

Bible Reading Plan 2012

2012-01-01T16:31:00.000-08:00

I hope you've chosen your Bible Reading Plan for the year. It isn't too late though if you haven't. Nathan Bingham posted a great list of Bible Reading Plans at Ligonier.

Our family subscribes to Tabletalk: The Devotional Magazine of Ligonier Ministries so I plan to continue following the OT reading plan they provide. For our family reading of the New Testament we'll be following the schedule set up by our weekly small group.

In additional to Bible reading, I have a two other devotional type books I'm looking forward to reading this year.

365 Days with Calvin edited by Joel R. Beeke

I love how accessible Beeke makes Calvin's writings. These devotionals will be simple enough that the entire family can enjoy the daily readings.

The Valley of Vision compiled by Arthur Bennett

This is a collection of Puritan prayers. I've used this frequently over the last few years but have never systematically read through it. I'm going to read one prayer per day.

Something new I'm going to try and do is keep a journal. No, not one of those day in the life of..journals but something more like a commonplace book. I need to start writing down the nuggets of wisdom I glean from the books I read. I'm discovering my brain has become leaky with age and I'm spending more and more time trying to hunt through previously read books for that ONE sentence. Hopefully a journal will prove useful.

What great devotional or Bible reading plan have you picked for 2012? I want to know!

One Word for the Year

2011-12-31T12:57:00.000-08:00

Savoring Time

I found my word for 2012.

It's Greek and means to redeem.

More specifically it means...

To redeem by payment of a price, to recover from the power of another, to ransom, buy off
To make wise and sacred use of every opportunity for doing good, so that zeal and well doing are as it were the purchase money by which we make the time our own.

In the dictionary, the definition of redeem is as follows...

1.
a : to buy back : repurchase
b : to get or win back
2: to free from what distresses or harms: as
a : to free from captivity by payment of ransom
b : to extricate from or help to overcome something detrimental
c : to release from blame or debt : clear
d : to free from the consequences of sin
3: to change for the better : reform

4: repair, restore

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise,

making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.

Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Ephesians 5:15-17

The words in italics come from this Greek word, exagorazo.

What do I want to redeem this year? Just a few things would include...

Redeem time away from lesser things.
Redeem relationships with my children and family. Buttercup will become a teenager this year!
Redeem my health and fitness. I've lost 40+ pounds and want to keep that momentum going.
Redeem my priorities.

I'll be thinking and blogging about this more in the next few days and weeks, but I wanted to share this year's word with you today, on New Year's Eve.

I pray you all have a blessed and safe last day of 2011.

Christmas 2011

2011-12-31T05:30:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas 2011

We did something different this year. We spent the vast majority of our Christmas budget on families in need and we had the best Christmas EVER.

There weren't as many presents under the tree on Christmas morning but that's because we'd already delivered them to other places far and wide and to people who have far greater needs than we do.

I can't think of a better way to spend Christmas than spending it on others. As you'll soon see, the kids still got plenty of stuff...

New Lamplighter books! We are part of the Lamplighter monthly book club. Sage wisely moved up two books in our queue he thought the children would especially like.

I bought this for our science this year but had not used it yet. The kids don't know part of their science curriculum became a Christmas gift. LOL.

From their aunt and uncle, the kids received gift cards. They came early so I went ahead and bought the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the 1950's version of Zorro for the kids.

New Bibles! DragonFly is so happy to have a Bible that properly translates the passages in Job about the Behemoth. His simplified children's version was really annoying him by calling the Behemoth a hippopotamus. Buttercup was ready for the ESV Student Bible. She kept snatching my ESV Bible with commentary.

The rest of the Jonathan Park series! This was another gift that I bought earlier in the year when Vision Forum was having its half off sale. We've given them as birthday presents and now Christmas presents. We all love this audio series.

The kids love buying each other gifts with their saved money. DragonFly bought his sister a floating pen.

Buttercup bought DragonFly this Lego Star Wars book.

Thank you, Nena and Papa, for buying this book series about woman of the Reformation for Buttercup. She loves them!

Thanks, Nena and Papa, for buying snap circuits.

For some reason stockings are always a huge hit in our house.

It made Sage smile that Buttercup got a girly scarf and a pocket knife in her stocking.

There's the after-gift-opening carnage.

Thanks to Christmas money received from Sage's parents and another aunt and uncle the kids were able to go buy....

MP3 Players!

Yep, we've finally joined the 21st century.

They are not anything fancy. No iWhatever. But the kids are having a blast with them. Librivox has become our new favorite website with all their audio books.

What did we do on Christmas?

We opened presents, went to church, went for a walk, and then watched the movie, The Fellowship of the Ring, since we'd finished the book.

Hey, wait. SOME of us watched the movie and others of us apparently took a nap.

We hope you had a wonderful Christmas!

O Holy Night

2011-12-24T17:08:00.000-08:00

O Holy Night

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining;
It is the night of the dear Savior’s birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared and the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary soul rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
So led by light of a star sweetly gleaming,
Here came the wise men from Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger,
In all our trials born to be our friend!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love and His Gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break for the slave is our brother
And in His Name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy Name!

Fall on your knees, O hear the angel voices!
O night divine, O night when Christ was born!
O night, O holy night, O night divine!

Buttercup's 8th Grade Wishlist

2011-12-22T19:47:00.000-08:00

It is time to start thinking about next year (2012/2013). Before we know it, we'll have an eighth grader. Buttercup is really starting to take charge of her own education. I wish she'd take charge of the pocketbook. Her wishlist is OUCH! High school courses are not cheap. While educating your own children is a great privilege, it definitely doesn't come without a cost. Here's what Buttercup is hoping for next year.

Math - Saxon Algebra I or Algebra 1/2 (depending upon placement) - $90
Language Arts -

Spelling Power (thankfully we already own)
Rod and Staff English (also already own)
Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings - $110 (She may have to settle for Excellence in Literature for $30 plus cost of the books I can't get through the library).
Institute for Excellence in Writing - Student Intensive Continuation Course - $240 (I think I'll just pass out now).

Science - Apologia General Science with lab supplies - $140
History - TruthQuest - Age of Revolution I - $30 for guide. I'll need to buy at least four other books (From Sea to Shining Sea, Story of the Thirteen Colonies, Story of the Great Republic, and Trial & Triumph) but hopefully this will total less than $100 and will teach history to both kids. Buttercup will also need some kind of government supplement but I think I can go the inexpensive route with a textbook from Christian Liberty Press.
Bible - Going to just throw together my own stuff and try to spend nothing.
Elective - She really wants to starts German with Rosetta Stone. I'm also hoping I can get a friend of ours from Germany to spend some time weekly just conversing with her. - $150 for Level 1.
Logic/Critical Thinking - No clue but hopefully we'll find something inexpensive.

Hopefully at least some of this will count for high school credit.

So I should tell her to get a job, right?

I haven't shown Sage this yet. His jaw is going to hit the floor.

I suppose the good news is that DragonFly told me he would be perfectly content if I didn't spend a dime on his homeschool curriculum. Haa haa. Nice try, kiddo.

Week in Review 12/19/11 - 12/22/11

2011-12-22T11:08:00.000-08:00

I hadn't really planned on doing a weekly review this week, but here is a shortened version. We had a very light week because the kids only needed to finish up their math and English. Our goal was to be half-way through our school year by Christmas, and we succeeded. Both kids finished their math textbooks and will be starting new books in January. They've reached the half-way point in everything else.

Buttercup...

...finished her Rod and Staff math book and will be starting Saxon 8/7 after Christmas break.

...completed chapter seven of R&S English this week. She only has four chapters left for the year.

...got caught up on her maps workbook and her logic book.

...read Shakespeare Stealer by Blackwood and The Sun King; Louis XIV of France by Apsler

DragonFly...

...completed his Math-U-See book. We are still not sure what direction we are taking next. I know, we better decide quickly.

...worked hard to reach lesson 60 of his R&S English book.

...did extra lessons in his map workbook, probably just to annoy his sister since she was moaning and groaning about having to do hers.

...read three or four Sebastian Super Sleuth books and keeps stealing The Fellowship of the Ring so he could read ahead of the audio. We only have a hundred pages left.

Practicing clock lessons with our MUS blocks.

Miscellany...

We baked Pfeffernüsse, no-bake cookies, and oatmeal white chocolate cranberry cookies.

Enjoyed having Sage home with us on Tuesday, although it was because he had a doctor's appointment and a dentist appointment.

Screamed with delight over The Hobbit trailer...

The kids are really hoping they include several of the songs from The Hobbit. DragonFly has a few of them nearly memorized he loves them so much.

Lastly, we've had the absolute joy of delivering Angel Tree presents to five families this week.

I pray all of you have a very...

Holiday typography featured at Smashing Magazine.

That's Christmas

2011-12-21T08:08:00.000-08:00

That's Christmas (Short Film) HD from St Helen’s Church on Vimeo.

HT: Justin Taylor at Between Two Worlds.

Week in Review 12/12/11 - 12/16/11

2011-12-16T13:17:00.000-08:00

Is it taking forever for Christmas break to arrive or WHAT? Sage has to work right up through December 23rd this year so we are too. Thankfully this is our last full week.

Interesting musical instrument

DragonFly...

...completed four units in Math-U-See. He'll finish the book next week and I'll give him the placement test again. I'm hoping he places into Gamma.

...completed four R&S English lessons. Diagramming verbs is easy. Spelling irregular past tense verbs correctly...torture.

...finished Story of the Pilgrims.

...is half way through his All About Spelling book.

Buttercup...

...finished her R&S Math book. Next week she'll work on reviewing a few concepts (ratios).

...completed six lessons in R&S English. This entire chapter has been review. I don't know why they do that. I should have just let her test out of the chapter.

...took the week off from spelling. We'll pick it up again after Christmas. In the meantime she is working on some words she consistently misspells.

...finished her creative writing story for IEW (I can see we still missed a couple of typos).

...snuggled in bed with me on Wednesday night and read logic. She's her mother's daughter.

In Bible/Memory work we...

...finished our unit in Understanding the Faith.

...finished up the Gospel of Luke and started John.

...listened to Handel's Messiah.

In History/Geography we...

...spent the entire week on John Calvin.

...learned about Calvin's life and his contributions to the Reformation.

...read quotes and excerpts from his writings.

...continued to fill in our Family Tree of the Reformation.

...discussed the Doctrines of Grace and The Canons of Dort (out of sequence with our timeline but I wanted the kids to connect The Canons of Dort with Calvin's writings).

...read John Calvin by Simonetta Carr which is an amazing book! We also started The River of Grace by McPherson but that is going to take us through Christmas break.

...reached the half-way point in our map workbooks.

...mapped Switzerland because Zwingli (studied last week) and Calvin were both preachers in that country. The kids got off on a tangent. DragonFly started telling me about Hannibal's route to Rome, and Buttercup just wanted to talk about Napoleon crossing the Alps. It's CALVIN, guys, CALVIN. You know The Reformation? They were like, "So?" I finally threw up my hands and said, "We need Swiss chocolate. Let's go."

...were supposed to make a 3D topographical map of Switzerland with playdough but we made this instead. Humph.

In Science we...

...covered EIGHT lessons on solar energy and electricity. Topics like conducting, lightning, current, voltage, power, serial and parallel circuits, etc.

...read about Michael Faraday's contributions to the field of electricity and electromagnetism.

...had lots of fun with our snap circuits!

...learned a lot from our resident expert, Mr. DragonFly. I won't be surprised at all if that child grows up to be an electrical engineer.

In Reading we...

...are more than half way through The Fellowship of the Ring.

...didn't get much else read this week as a family due to social obligations.

DragonFly read a graphic novel of The Man in the Iron Mask.

Buttercup read a stack of books for her "research". I'm pretty sure that means everything she can get her hands on about Napoleon and French History.

Miscellany...

We went to Holiday Lights at the California Living Museum (zoo).

Attended the HERC Christmas showcase on Thursday so that Buttercup could see the many classes offered by this Christian high school co-op. It was really inspirational. I got choked up when the philosophy class presented, "Why am I not an atheist." These students know how to give an answer for the faith they have. We had a great time and I know it has sparked Buttercup's interest in a few classes.

Last, but not least we made cookies for DragonFly's Awana birthday party for Jesus. We also ate too many cookies, fairy bread, cupcakes, etc. My diet was completely blown. LOL. Oh well.

How to Draw the Life and Times of the...Presidents

2011-12-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

Look what we bought today!

Timberdoodle carries these books and the kids have wanted them. We lucked out today and were able to get ten of them for about $30!

It is rare that the words President and budget-friendly go together.

Fairy Bread

2011-12-13T15:37:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Jeanne's Christmas Fairy Bread post, we decided to make fairy bread today. It was a huge hit. Who would've thought that white bread, butter, and sprinkles could be so good!

Can I say this is much easier than making sugar cookie dough and cutting it all out. I think I'll make bread crumbs* with all the edges.

I wish we had all the different colors that Jeanne over at A Peaceful Day has at her disposal but hey, multi-colored sprinkles taste every bit as good.

The kids shout a huge, "Thank you Mrs. Jeanne and Miss Jemimah for sharing your fairy bread with us! We love it!"

*Nevermind. All those edges are GONE. This is probably only the second time my kids have ever had white bread and they ate every last bit of it. LOL.

Cello Wars by The Piano Guys

2011-12-13T07:43:00.001-08:00

We just can't stop listening to this!

Holiday Lights at CALM

2011-12-11T19:50:00.001-08:00

We have a membership to our local California Living Museum. CALM is a local zoo dedicated to providing a home for native California animals that have been injured or abandoned. The kids have been going to CALM since they were tots and one of their favorite yearly events at CALM is Holiday Lights! This event raises money that helps to upgrade animal habitats and keeps the zoo affordable for the community.

Free Train Rides!

Cool!

The areas are set up in themes with animals made from Christmas lights.

This is near the reptile house.

The kids love Winter Wonderland because they have a real snow machine blowing.

Lights and music everywhere. Teen Challenge was selling hot drinks, popcorn, and dumplings. Yummy.

Free carousel rides.

For those who may be worried about the real animals, they are off display at night. They wouldn't appreciate the huge crowds and need their beauty sleep.

Another great year of Holiday Lights. Thanks, CALM, for helping us celebrate Christmas!

Romancing the Tea Kettle

2011-12-11T13:49:00.001-08:00

We had a kettle; we let it leak:

Our not repairing made it worse.

We haven't had any tea for a week...

The bottom is out of the Universe.

~Rudyard Kipling

That is how things started. My cherished stainless steel kettle began a trickle that sprung quickly into a fire-extinguishing leak. Unfortunately, it was beyond my ability to repair.

Can you see it? The kids have commandeered it for their fort. They don't care that it leaks into their fire. I miss that tea kettle. We were good friends for at least eight years.

Strange how a teapot can represent at the same time the comforts of solitude and the pleasures of company. ~Author Unknown

A lack of a tea kettle constitutes an emergency in our house.

If man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding
truth and beauty. ~Japanese Proverb

So I went down to Target and bought a Copco kettle. I wasn't thrilled with it, but it seemed good enough and the price was right at $25.

It worked okay. It lacked a certain finesse and tended to dribble when you tried to pour your cup, BUT it completed its task. It boiled water. It REALLY boiled water. Actually it got so hot yesterday it melted the cheap plastic spout lid. MELTED it. I don't even want to know many chemicals we all drank before it completely disintegrated. Copco, you were a two month fling. Ciao.

Remember the tea kettle - it is always up to its neck in hot water,
yet it still sings! ~Author Unknown

Or at least it should. I certaintly can't sing if the PLASTIC SPOUT melts!

Today we went back to Target where they gladly refunded us our money in the form of a gift card (shameless plug for Target's return policy since all we had was the actual kettle). That's where I discovered this...

Wow.

Dear Electric Kettle, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship. You know all about making a proper pot of tea. Best of all, the kids can use you without my having to keep lighting the gas stove. Is it too soon to say, "I love you" even though you are bit more modern than the kind of kettles I'm accustomed to?

A Proper Tea is much nicer than a Very Nearly Tea, which is one you

forget about afterwards. ~A.A. Milne

All's well with the world again. I have my tea kettle and it has my tea.

My dear, if you could give me a cup of tea to clear my muddle of a head I should

better understand your affairs. -Charles Dickens

Week in Review 12/5/11 - 12/9/11

2011-12-09T09:22:00.001-08:00

DragonFly...

...needs a haircut!

...completed his work while fighting a fever all week long.

...finished four lessons in R&S English and did very well on his test.

...finished five units in Math-U-See.

...is doing so much better with his handwriting!

...completed unit 14 in All About Spelling. He is half way through his book.

...almost finished Stories of the Pilgrims from CLP.

Buttercup...

...completed four lessons in R&S English on the use of quotation marks. It was a piece of cake for a girl who routinely writes pages and pages of dialogue.

...is enjoying Spelling Power because she flew through six lists this week.

...is finishing up her R&S Math book. We just ordered Saxon 8/7. I could have placed her into Algebra 1/2 but decided we'd just test out of the review in 8/7 instead. I hope I made the right choice.

...read the Christmas unit in Of People.

...completed four logic lessons. She loves that book. I overheard her teaching her brother all about red herrings, special pleading, and ad hominem attacks.

...completed the rough draft of her story for IEW. We'll work on editing next week.

In Bible/Memory we...

...completed lesson 2 in Understand Our Faith.

...continue to read in Luke.

...reviewed our catechism questions to date but flaked on everything else.

In History/Geography we...

...studied Ulrich Zwingli, Anabaptists, and Menno Simons.

...compared Zwingli's use of the sword to resolve conflicts with his successor Heinrich Bullinger.

...discussed the doctrinal differences between the Roman Catholic Church, Luther, Zwingli, and the Anabaptists.

...discussed the persecution of the Anabaptists.

...had planned to watch The Radicals (About Anabaptist Michael Sattler, Netflix streaming) but we haven't had the chance. Hopefully we'll get to it this weekend.

...completed at least four lessons each in map skills. They were a bit behind. I want them half way through the workbook at Christmas break.

In Science we...

...

...did NOTHING.

Our next unit is electricity and circuits and Sage asked me to wait for Christmas break. He wants to PLAY too.

Reading...

...The Fellowship of the Ring (unabridged audio) and we are about 1/3 of the way through it.

...still working on our other read-alouds.

Buttercup read A Christmas Carol by Dickens and illustrated by Lynch. We love this unabridged and illustrated version! She also read Night Preacher (Menno Simons) and Silent Church (Anabaptists), both by Louise Vernon.

DragonFly read The Man in the Iron Mask (Great Illustrated Classics). He has a thing for French history. I have no idea why but he loves anything to do with it. He also read The Betrayer's Fortune: Menno Simons by Jackson.

Miscellany...

We managed to go roller-blading on Monday before DragonFly came down with a fever. I had a major wipe-out and felt a bit like I'd been beat with a bat for a few days.

As you can see above, the boy seems to be feeling better finally. He went outside for a while this morning to help his sister build the annual tee-pee. He is still coughing but the fever is finally gone.

If You Give a 12yo an Assignment

2011-12-07T10:16:00.001-08:00

If you give your 12yo an assignment to read a Christmas poem,

She'll read the poem and then

Ask you what Cherabim and Seraphim look like.

She'll look it up in her Bible but realize she needs a bigger concordance.

She'll haul out the 20lb Strong's Concordance.

She'll get momentarily distracted by all the lovely Greek and Hebrew words.

Then she will find what she is looking for and get utterly lost in Ezekiel.

She'll start copying large chunks of Scripture about angels which

Will give her a hand cramp.

She''ll stop for a break and ask for a cookie.

You'll bring her a cookie and she'll think of angel cookies.

She'll then tell you all about what angels look like and how people get it all wrong in books and Christmas cards.

You'll sit back and listen and be ever so glad that you homeschool.

Retooning Christmas

2011-12-05T13:26:00.000-08:00

Our family loved this video!

Light of Life

2011-12-04T19:52:00.001-08:00

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 ESV)

Note to Self...Don't get distracted by the lesser lights.

Week in Review 11/28/11 - 12/2/11

2011-12-02T00:30:00.000-08:00

Buttercup...

...completed five math lessons on geometry; area and circumference of circles and volume of a cube.

...completed four R&S English lessons on capitalization. She was very happy to have review lessons.

...worked on her next short story for IEW. Outlining short stories is giving us a bit of a tough time but after talking with IEW, I realized I was the one being too picky (I love how supportive the folks at IEW are).

...dropped R&S Spelling and went back to Spelling Power. R&S Spelling was killing us. Too much of the workbook contains regionally-specific pronunciation marks. I gave Buttercup the placement test for Spelling Power and she scored right where she should be (late 7th/early 8th grade).

...completed four lessons in logic. We were a bit behind.

...read four lessons in her Abeka literature.

DragonFly...

...blew me away with his super neat handwriting all week long!

...completed four units in Math-U-See. He is going to finish this book by Christmas break. I'm trying to decide whether to just go to the next book or give him the placement test again to see if he is ready to jump into Gamma.

...completed four lessons in R&S English on possessive and demonstrative pronouns.

...read 30+ pages in his CLP reader. He finally decided he liked the book.

...did a wonderful job with unit thirteen of All About Spelling. He had to learn when to double consonants when adding vowel suffixes.

In Bible/Memory Work we...

...continued with our memory work but I'm considering setting it aside for something more seasonally appropriate. I think we need some Christmas cheer around here. Christmas carols and a fun poem to memorize might just do the trick.

...started on Understanding the Faith: A Workbook for Communicants Class by Stephen Smallman. This will be a 17 week course for our family. The kids are really enjoying it and it is much easier considering how much of the catechism they have memorized already.

...read Luke 8-12. Thank goodness for commentaries because the kids can ask some really tough questions now.

In History/Geography we...

...learned about Lady Jane Grey from The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation by Christine Miller.

...watched portions of Lady Jane on Netflix (Instant streaming; rated PG-13 which is why I only showed them excerpts).

...read a fairly balanced perspective on Mary Tudor "Bloody Mary" from Mystery of History vol. 2.

...contemplated whether the nursery rhyme, "Mary, Mary, quite contrary..." is rightfully attributed to Mary Tudor or Mary, Queen of Scots. The jury is still out.

...discussed doctrinal differences between Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.

...read about the martyrdom of Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley in Reformation Heroes.

...read and discussed some of Hugh Latimer's writings (Buttercup and Daisy only).

...listened to

...completed 2-3 lessons each in their geography workbooks.

In Science we... ...learned all about heat transference this week. Have I said I'm really enjoying God's Design for the Physical World? ...Buttercup completed chapter seven of Exploring the World of Physics and only missed one question on the quiz.

...realized DragonFly learns a ton of science from Mythbusters because he constantly references that show to illustrate the various science concepts we are learning.

Bill Nye the Science Guy taught us all about conduction, convection, and radiation.

Other online resources we used included...
BBC Physics: Heat in the Home
Three Methods of Heat Transfer: Conduction, Convection, and Radiation
National Weather Service: The Transfer of Heat

In Reading we...

...didn't do much in the way of read-alouds. We have colds, and coughs really put a damper on oral reading. Fellowship of the Ring (audio) is waiting for us at the library so hopefully we'll start that this weekend. We are still working on Under Drake's Flag by Henty and The Red Fairy Book by Lang.

Buttercup read Rules of the Road by Joan Bauer, Lady Jane Grey: Reluctant Queen by Marguerite Vance, Red Hugh, Prince of Donegal by Robert Reilly.

DragonFly read books three and four of The 39 Clues series. Sage pre-read those and Focus on the Family has reviews of the first five books (all that we've looked at so far). We don't do any of the online activities and since these are library books they are always missing the cards. DragonFly also read a stack of Christmas books. We call him Nephew Fred from Charles Dicken's Christmas Carol. That boy loves Christmas.

Links I'm Reading

2011-12-01T13:22:00.001-08:00

Ladies: Do Not Shy Away From Theology by Jessica Thompson at Crossway - "A woman sitting at the feet of her Rescuer, discovering the greatest love of her life; His likes and dislikes; pushing herself into who He is, relishing every aspect of His beautiful, amazing character. This, my sisters, is what theology is." [I loved this post!]

Out of Darkness at NYT - There was a time when my wife, Giulia, said “Yes” to almost everything I suggested. But before she consented, there was always an unnatural pause, a pause so small it may have gone unnoticed by others. But it was painfully obvious to me. That pause did not come from her; it came from the antipsychotic medication she had to take. [Wow. If you've ever had a close family member suffer through a mental illness this will resonate with you. HT: David Murray]

Immanuel: The Real Meaning of Christmas at Between Two Worlds - Justin Taylor linked to this five minute video and I had to share it with you.

Using Handel's Messiah for Advent by Cindy Rollins at The CIRCE Institute - I love this idea for breaking down Handel's Messiah into daily chunks for Advent season. Other great resources for studying Handel include Hallelujah Handel (Classical Kids), The Story of Handel in Words and Music, and Handel at the Court of Kings by Opal Wheeler.

On Religion by Brandy at Afterthoughts - Brandy tackles why religion has been turned into a negative term and what the word really means. I'm one of those who bristles when I hear religion used in the pejorative. I think framing our theology as religion vs. relationship has a tendency to leads us down a nebulous path of spirituality. When was the last time you heard a person say, "I'm not really into religion and church, but I'm a very spiritual person"? My guess is it wasn't that long ago, and it illustrates the problem in losing valuable defining words like religion.

The Plague Strikes

2011-11-29T19:09:00.001-08:00

Sage is sick with a nasty cough.

Buttercup is having allergy issues with her eyes (red, swollen, stinging). I'm pretty sure it isn't conjunctivitis.

DragonFly's head hurts bad enough that he is crying...

Well, nevermind.

DragonFly just puked all over the CAR!

And so you'll understand why I'm not blogging much this week.

Oh, one more thing.

Of course this happened because I spent all of Black Friday afternoon writing detailed lessons for the entire month of December into my teacher planner.

There is a probably a moral somewhere in there, but I'm too tired to figure it out.

Thanksgiving Day Walk

2011-11-24T16:13:00.001-08:00

One of our Thanksgiving Day traditions is our post-meal walk. The weather was gorgeous today.

I'm chilly and DragonFly is in shorts and short sleeves. Go figure.

Graffiti on a tree. Welcome to California.

Finally, some fall colors!

Simple Pleasures

2011-11-23T10:52:00.001-08:00

Sometimes it is the simplest things that make your day.

Like a Spice Cake that pops out of the fluted pan PERFECTLY.

Hmmm, must consider icing now.

Oh, and you might want the recipe. It's my mom's...

Spice Cake

1 c. vegetable oil

1.5 c. sugar

3 eggs

2 c. flour

1 tsp each of salt, baking powder, baking soda, nutmeg, allspice, and cinnamon (I always lower the salt a bit).

2 small stage one jars prune baby food

1 c. buttermilk

1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine oil, sugar, and eggs. Add dry ingredients. Mix in baby food, buttermilk, and vanilla.

Bake 35-40 minutes for a greased 9x13 pan or about an hour for a greased fluted pan. Check for doneness (clean toothpick).

I decided on a simple buttermilk glaze.

Thanksgiving Thoughts & Links

2011-11-23T08:31:00.001-08:00

We Give Thanks Print by Jessie Willcox-Smith at Art.com

You probably don't need me to tell you that this is the week that we celebrate Thanksgiving in the United States. Our family doesn't make a huge to-do over holidays. Maybe we have some Canadian in us somewhere. LOL. We'll share a family meal together on Thanksgiving and then if the weather cooperates, we'll go on our yearly hike. In the evening Sage and the kids are heading over to an elderly friend's house for dessert.

Thanksgiving Menu:
The day's menu is simple; turkey, cornbread stuffing, homemade cranberry sauce, a green veggie of some kind, and spice cake. I think I have everyone's favorites in there. There is a Costco pumpkin pie as well but we've decided to save it for another day.

Black Friday:
I probably won't be going shopping online or in person on Black Friday. I have occasionally joined the fray as a sort of study in sociology. I enjoy being the one person at the store at 5:30am who ISN'T in a hurry. I fancy that my, "Here, take my buggy," and, "Can I help you with that?" make a difference in the attitudes of those around me. I never buy anything though. I know, I'm weird.

On Gratitude:
I was tempted to feel guilty about not having blogged much on gratitude this month. I usually try to write at least a few posts. I've been struggling a bit through the mulligrubs and my thankfulness has been hard-won. There comes a time when the best way to show gratitude is to simply live the life you are thankful for.

Links to Share:

The Thanksgiving Lesson - J.R. Miller - "Today's sunshine will not light tomorrow's skies. Every day must be a thanksgiving day for itself."

Seven Things to do with your Family this Thanksgiving at Doug's Blog - Doug Phillips is doing a series of posts this week for Thanksgiving. Definitely worth checking out. You can read chapter four Of Plymouth Plantation here.

Turn Haters into Friends, Ask Them for a Favor at Head, Heart, Hand - This really does work. My suggestion is to try it on that curmudgeonly family member who is visiting for Thanksgiving.

An Easy, No-Frills Advent Calendar by Simple Mom - I loved the use of scrapbooking paper. Great idea and simple enough anyone can do it.

Behold the Lamb of God: An Advent Narrative Book at Between Two Worlds - This looks like a fabulous book. It is also recommended by Sally Lloyd-Jones, authorof The Jesus Storybook Bible.

One more link. The kids said I HAD to link to this...

22 Manly Ways To Reuse an Altoids Tin by The Art of Manliness - There is something here for everyone. I'm thinking, "Stocking stuffers?"

Week in Review 11/14/11 - 11/18/11

2011-11-19T14:30:00.000-08:00

Just a quick update this week. The children worked very hard and doubled up lessons in several subjects because they wanted to take off all of Thanksgiving week. I didn't have the chance to really take many pictures.

Math - DragonFly completed two units and continues to enjoy Math-U-See. Buttercup finished chapter eleven of her math book and made 93% on her exam.

Language Arts - Both children are studying pronouns. Buttercup finished her chapter and made 94% on her exam. She got a little tripped up on trying to determine parts of speech for pronouns within clauses. I showed Sage the section and he said he would have failed it. LOL. DragonFly is struggling a bit to know when to use a comma and when not to. Not surprising considering how many adults suffer from the same problem. Spelling was completed. DragonFly did a great job with vowel suffixes. Buttercup finished another short story for IEW. She re-wrote Aesop's The Salt Merchant and his Ass and used the article, Salt Mining Leaves Bitter Taste for Indian Workers, as inspiration.

Bible, Handwriting, & Electives - Completed without much fanfare.

Science - We studied thermal energy this week. We took a bit of a rabbit trail to conduct experiments with calories (food turned into thermal & chemical energy) and weather (heat, temperature). We learned about Fahrenheit and Celsius. Buttercup completed chapter six of Exploring the World of Physics.

History - We studied Thomas Cranmer, William Tyndale, and Edward VI. We used Reformation Heroes as our primary text this week. We watched Torchlighters: William Tyndale from Netflix and completed the pdf student guide from Torchlighters. We also watched God's Outlaw: The Story of William Tyndale.

Reading - The kids caught up on some books that finally came through inter-library loan. A couple of favorites included...

Henry VIII: Royal Beheader (Wicked History) by Price (They both liked this one).

Nine Days a Queen: The Short Life and Reign of Lady Jane Grey by Rinaldi (Studying after Thanksgiving but Buttercup couldn't wait).

The Bible Smuggler by Vernon

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving
with family and friends.

In Which Buttercup Writes Profound Truths

2011-11-18T12:12:00.000-08:00

I'm helping Buttercup type up her IEW writing assignment this morning. She had to do a rewrite of Aesop's fable, The Salt Merchant and the Ass. IEW has the students identify the plot but then encourages them to make creative changes in the rewrite.

A quick summary of the fable looks something like this. A salt merchant and a donkey are taking a load of salt to the market. The donkey stumbles while crossing a river and the load of salt gets wet and dissolves, leaving the donkey's burden much lighter. To the irritation of the merchant, the donkey decides he likes this and proceeds to stumble on purpose with each new load of salt. The last time the donkey submerges his load he discovers his burden has become much much heavier. The merchant had tricked the donkey by replacing the salt with sea sponges.

Last week Buttercup read an article about the lives of salt miners in India. She was amazed to discover that the article would work as a wonderful inspiration for her rewrite. It had salt miners, wild asses, and the same area in India also exports sea sponges. She enjoyed writing her story and showed it to me this morning.

So here I am typing and laughing. I have to share the last few sentences of her final edit with you. [Emphasis my own]

Ali had filled the bags with sea sponges! The exhausted Ass finally trudged into the village having learned an important lesson. Short-cuts at the expense of others are often longer than they seem and cause more work for everyone. Because of the Ass' hard-learned lesson, Ali discovered that an ass on the job might just be the catalyst one needs to find a new career. Ali and the Ass opened a sea sponge business and never went back to the salt pans.

Can't. Stop. Laughing.

Out of the mouths of babes.

Links - Mental Health Edition

2011-11-14T08:35:00.001-08:00

These are a few links I'm enjoying. They deal with a wide range of human emotions and conditions.

Anger is Essential by Paul Tripp - "You simply cannot look at the world with the eyes of truth and with a heart committed to what God says is right and good, and not be angry at the state of things in this fallen world."

A Game Plan for When You Start to Worry by Justin Taylor - "How do you get a grip when barbarians are rioting in the streets of your mind? Terrorist attackers, a gang of criminals, suicide bombers, cities invaded, fires everywhere, a lion in the street, chaos. Your mind loses its grip. Fear and anxiety have taken over. Nothing’s safe or certain.Anxiety is a universal human experience, and you need to approach it with a plan."

8 Ways to Help Depressed Christians by David Murray - This is definitely worth your time.

Ministering to the Depressed from HeadHeartHand Media on Vimeo.

Finding Hope, Finding Joy by Tim Challies - "Paul is not only the greatest theologian of the New Testament, but he is also a man whose life is worthy of emulation. He did not just know theology, but he also practiced it. What amazes me is that though the man endured an amazing amount of abuse and torment, he continued to be full of joy."

Grocery Prices

2011-11-13T12:41:00.001-08:00

Holy Cow! I just needed a little bit of ricotta for my spinach quiche.
The 16oz mozzarella ball was almost $10.
Unlike!

Week in Review 11/7/11 - 11/11/11

2011-11-12T11:00:00.000-08:00

I can't believe we are only a week out from Thanksgiving break. The kids are progressing well. If they work diligently next week, they'll be set to take off the entire week of Thanksgiving. Our pacing is going well. I wish we were a little farther along in Buttercup's pre-algebra book but it is supplemental so I'm not going to sweat it. We are on target with everything else.

DragonFly...

....completed two units in Math-U-See.

...finished three English lessons on pronouns and comma usage.

...did really well learning how to spell suffixes and is improving in his ability to distinguish phonograms in a word.

...working on printing and cursive.

...enjoyed a Mythbuster science marathon while his sister went on her field trip.

...read about the pilgrims and had to re-read a couple of times due to less than enthusiastic narrations.

Buttercup...

...completed five lessons on geometry in her R&S Math book. "What do you mean I have to actually memorize the formulas?" Life's rough.

...finished three English lessons on relative clauses and something else that I can't remember right now.

...only missed two words on her spelling test. She mixed up biennial and biannual. There are probably quite a few of us that would make that same mistake.

...enjoyed the creative writing unit of IEW.

...had a half day field trip on Tuesday that consisted of a tour of the juvenile court building by a local judge. She came home with stories of all kinds of deviant behaviors. :-p This was a Jr/Sr High field trip only which explains why DragonFly stayed home.

...read five lessons in her literature book and wrote a couple of essays.

...read her chapter in Exploring the World of Physics and received 92% on the quiz. She laughed and said that has been her most common score for every subject this quarter. She's right. I think she has scored 92% something like nine times.

In Bible/Memory work we...

BAILED.

Oh my word. This was the worst week ever for our memory work. Sadly, we completely flaked on everything except our reading of Mark.

Uh, yeah, I'll wait while you go change your vote for the SUPER homeschool mom award.

(Jeopardy music playing)

In History we...

...studied Henry VIII and reviewed how he fits in with the timeline of the other figures we've studied (Francis I, Charles V, Pope Clement, Martin Luther, etc).

...listened to Greensleeves and had lively debate about whether we think Henry VIII actually wrote the song or not. I think the final consensus was that the song is cool and we don't care if he wrote it or not.

...studied Henry VIII's family tree and marveled at how screwed up those royal family trees can get.

...learned all about Henry VIII's six wives and had DragonFly teach us the ditty he read in SOTW; divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.

...discussed Sir Thomas More and his book, Utopia.

...read a few excerpts from Utopia and discussed whether man is capable of creating an environment that would lead to perfection.

...had to watch Ever After because the main character references quotes from Utopia several times during the movie (as if we, girls, needed the excuse).

In Science we...

...learned about nuclear energy.

...studied how nuclear power plants are operated, and the benefits and risks associated with them.

...discussed nuclear energy in current events with conversations about Japan and Iran.

...learned about the nuclear bomb.

...researched the Manhattan Project.

In Reading we...

...read two chapters of Under Drake's Flag: A Tale of the Spanish Main by Henty and started The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang (second go around for Buttercup but DragonFly wanted me to read it).

Buttercup read a bunch of books but she isn't at home to tell me what they are right now.

DragonFly read George Washington's Socks.

We took off today for Veteran's Day and for dentist appointments. The kids were so mad at me for making a dentist appointment on a HOLIDAY! I must be the cruelest mom EVER. I think Buttercup said something like this, "Good thing the dentist isn't open on Christmas or mom would make us go THEN." LOL.

The Cross of Christ - ch 13

2011-11-10T18:51:00.001-08:00

We've come to the end of The Cross of Christ by John Stott. This week's final chapter was on suffering. The author's "object in this chapter is to explore what relation there might be between the cross of Christ and sufferings." He explains this relationship with six points.

1. The cross of Christ is a stimulus to patient endurance.
2. The cross of Christ is the path to mature holiness.
3. The cross of Christ is the symbol of suffering service.
4. The cross of Christ is the hope of final glory.
5. The cross of Christ is the ground of a reasonable faith.
6. The cross of Christ is the proof of God's solidary love.

I loved this quote from the chapter...

We have to learn to climb the hill called Calvary, and from that vantage point survey all of life's tragedies. The cross does not solve the problem of suffering, but it supplies the essential perspective from which to look at it (p.320).

It is so true isn't it? Christianity isn't a Disney fairy tale. There are no happy thoughts and sprinkled fairy dust to make everything magically better. Christianity is the cross. It is so much better than a fairy tale. It is the story of ultimate suffering and sacrificial giving and consequently, it is the story of ultimate love.

Challies - Suffering and Glory

Giving Thanks for Neighbors

2011-11-09T16:32:00.000-08:00

I just walked in from spending a few hours outside and I realized how very thankful I am to live in my neighborhood.

It isn't a fancy place. You won't find a homeowner's association, community rec room, or anything like that, but we did form our own version of a neighborhood watch and sent that drug house packing a few years ago (That's teamwork). The ranch houses were built in the late 50's, early 60's. Quite a few show the wear and tear that prove their owners are of modest means. We have a good mix of older original homeowners and newer families. Mulberry and Ash trees line the street. I love it.

There's the older Hispanic couple next door who have a revolving door for the constant comings and goings of their children and grandkids. They are the place to be in the summer because they have a pool! They also have an avocado tree which means I REALLY love them. We work out trades. My citrus for their avocados.

Then we have the family a few houses down where the boys practically run a mechanic shop out of their garage. If you want to know about cars they are the people to ask. Sage goes down and sits for hours with the elderly patriarch talking about the old days. They are partial to any overflow in summer tomatoes our garden produces.

The neighbors closest to us have a party just about every Thursday night. There are times when I get irritated but when I look out that window and I see three generations laughing and singing karaoke, I just can't help but smile. They like that our lemon and apricot tree hang over the fence into their yard. Their escape-artist beagle thinks he lives here. He sees our children and makes a crazed lop-eared waddle to my son so he can slobber DragonFly with wet kisses.

The family across the street homeschools through an online program. My kids are drawing elaborate chalk roads with them right now. The matchbox cars (left over from Sage's childhood) line the sidewalk. Their kindergartner jumps up and down and wants to tell Buttercup all about the Raiders. She can't believe that Buttercup doesn't watch football. DragonFly is in a headlock with the 5th grader but they can't stop laughing long enough to figure out who has who penned.

The family kitty-corner to us home educates through a local charter school. They are the borrowers. The lawn mower, the plumbing snake, the chain saw. But we borrow right back. Their truck, their green waste cans, their square shovel. They are always on the go, so we babysit their dog and chickens frequently. Sage had his neck surgery and the husband of this family mowed our lawn for months.

I'm thankful for my neighbors.

I'm thankful that we've taken the time to get to know each and every one of them by name. I'm thankful that we share life with them; the good, the bad, and the LOUD. Our pray is that each of our neighbors will come to know how very much they are loved by God. In the meantime we'll love them. Love them with garden bounty, orchard overflow, karaoke deafness, and simple conversation. And we'll be thankful for them.

Home Culture

2011-11-08T07:26:00.000-08:00

Frontier Father Reading to His Children

The impression that home leaves upon the child comes largely from its evenings. The visions which memory delights in conjuring up are the old scenes about the evening fire or the evening lamp.

I read this last night while re-reading Home-Making by J.R. Miller (highly recommend). Doesn't that sound so nice? A real Little House on the Prairie moment. The only problem is that we don't live in the 19th century anymore. Some parents would try to go back to that time period. Buy the grain mill and the oil lamps. Learn to play the fiddle like Pa? Are they just replicating a romanticized moment in time by essentially creating an elaborate stage set? Or am I missing something? I keep reading.

The point the author is driving at is that our evenings are important. Here's the rest of what he says...

The days are so full of occupation for most of us, from early morning til nighfall, that whatever real home-life we make we must make in the evenings...Its few short hours are all the uninterrupted time we have at our disposal to know our own or be known of them....It were better that we should neglect some social attraction...than we should neglect the culture of our own homes.

Hey, but homeschoolers don't have this problem. We are home with our children all day. We don't neglect the culture of our homes. We read Charlotte Mason for crying out loud. We know everything there is about home culture. And yet...

I know I'm terrible about evenings especially as the children have grown older. I work pretty hard at creating a learning environment during the day, but once evenings hit, I'm seriously done. Sage gets home and I just want to pull a disappearing act. I default to treating my family like a job. Punch in the hours and then flee the building at quitting time. I'm a good teacher and too often a lousy mom.

Evenings are the brief time when we are ALL together as a family. Last night Sage started a fire in the fireplace and I lit candles. It was our first really chilly evening of the fall. We all sat in the living room and talked and laughed and spent time together. Sage played his saxophone for us and the kids sang.We used to do this all the time when the children were younger. We had family devotions, read-alouds, played games, and just spent time together. It wasn't about recreating Little House on the Prairie. It was about simply being together.

I've fallen away from that in the last year. It is pretty sobering when you realize you can't blame it on the teenager and you can't blame it on a husband who works late. I'm the one who is sneaking off to play on the computer while the kids play with their Dad or I'm hiding with a book in my bedroom. The only person to blame for lost home culture in this house is....Mom.

It's time for me to remember that "we are all making our todays the memories of our tomorrows. Whether these shall be pleasant or painful to contemplate depends on whether we are living well or ill. Memory writes down everything where we shall be compelled to see it perpetually."

I've seen the negative impact on my family life when I bail out on our evenings. I want to spend ~~my moments~~ my children's memories carefully.

2011 Homeschool Blog Awards

2011-11-07T16:34:00.000-08:00

I'm completely shocked. I was actually nominated for the 2011 Homeschool Blog Awards.

There has to be some mistake because I've never seen categories like...

Homeschool Moms Who Daily Lose Their Mind
Homeschool Blogs With Absolutely No Computer Design Sense
Homeschool Moms Whose Children Think They Should Be Committed

and I KNOW there is no way I belong in the categories,

Best SUPER Homeschooler
Best Homeschooling Methods Blog

I'm not sure whether to laugh at this phenomenon or have a moment of stunned silence.

If you came here looking for a super homeschooler, I'm sorry to disappoint. She's a bit of a recluse. I'm the only one that can see her. She lives in my mirror and I can guarantee you she is psychotic.

Anyway, now go vote for a real SUPER homeschooler, which would be anyone else on the list but me.

World of Science and World of Animals Review and GIVEAWAY

2011-11-07T10:14:00.000-08:00

The Johns Family is having a wonderful give-away! I hope you'll enter for a chance to win these resources. While you are at her blog check out all the great product reviews.

World of Science and World of Animals Review and GIVEAWAY:

MasterBooks, a division of New Leaf Publishing Group, has released two new educational resources entitled: World of Science and World of Animals. These books will give you and your children incredible knowledge of both science and animals while never having to worry about evolution theories popping up in the text. These titles do not compromise God's Word and in fact, they stand firm on the truth of creation. These would make great supplemental material in homeschooling, are a wonderful reference book and children from elementary to high school students can use them and enjoy them...

For the rest of the post, head on over to the Giveaway.

Cabbage Anyone?

2011-11-05T08:55:00.000-07:00

This is a seriously HUGE Napa cabbage.

Good thing we like cabbage.

Week in Review 10/31/11 - 11/4/11

2011-11-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

DragonFly...

...completed two units in Math-u-See and is doing great on his online math drills.

...completed four lessons in R&S English on pronouns.

...made it half way through All About Spelling unit eleven. That is a very long unit.

...finished his Jan Brett cursive pages and went back to Cheerful Cursive and his Queen Homeschool copywork book.

...read 25 pages in Stories of the Pilgrims and a bunch of books about explorers.

Buttercup...

...jumped right into the creative writing unit for IEW. She loves it! She spent a lot of time on her story this week and is ready to start editing.

...completed chapter ten of her math book and did very well on the test. She's on track to finish this book by Christmas.

...managed to still get three lessons on R&S English done in spite of all the time she spent on IEW.

...finished unit 10 of spelling and made 100% on the test.

...read through the end of unit three in her literature book and took tests for unit 2 & 3. I forgot to give her the test for unit 2. She still did fine. She enjoyed this unit so much she has decided to read Of Plimouth Plantation by Bradford on her own. That's quite the book.

...completed her electives in logic, geography, health, etc.

In Bible/Memory we...

...worked on our new hymn, Praise To The Lord, The Almighty.

...started back up with our IEW Poetry Memorization and worked on The Yak by Hilaire Belloc.

...enjoyed some of John Bunyan's poetry.

...memorized catechism question #13 and read the corresponding pages in Training Hearts Teaching Minds.

...finished the book of Matthew and began Mark.

In History/Geography we...

...learned about some pretty nasty dudes.

...researched explorers; Cortez, Pizarro, Magellan, Ponce de Leon, Cartier, De Soto, and De Coronado.

...reviewed what we already learned last year about the cultures they were invading (Inca, Aztec, Filipinos, Native North American Indians).

...examined why the Spanish conquistadors were so interested in gold and why everyone was racing to discover a new route to the East.

...didn't shy away from discussing tough questions like:

Was God bringing judgement upon the Aztec people?

Does the fact that Christianity was brought to the native peoples excuse the behavior of the explorers?

Is God still sovereign even when people do evil things?

Why can't history be easy and these people be all good or all bad?

...worked on labeling the explorers we've studied so far and their routes on our giant wall map.

In Science/Health we...

...started the next book in the God's Design for the Physical World series.

...reviwed what we'd previously learned about kinetic and potential energy.

...learned about the various forms of energy; chemical, electrical, mechanical, thermal, etc and demonstrated how energy in converted.

...examined differences in renewable and nonrenewable energy sources with special focus on solar and wind energy since those are so common where we live.

...took a closer look at chemical energy through a short study of photosynthesis and human digestion.

Buttercup also read chapter five in Exploring the World of Physics by Tiner and took the corresponding quiz.

In Reading we...

...finished up listening to Jonathon Park disc three and backed up to disc two (I just bought it).

...flaked on any other reading aloud except for our Scripture reading. Sage is going to start Under Drake's Flag by Henty this weekend.

Buttercup read The King's Fifth by O'Dell and Close to Famous by Joan Bauer. I read the Bauer book also and LOVED it. She writes such great books for the tweens/teens.

DragonFly read Magellan: First Around the World by Syme (we've really enjoyed Syme's history books) and a stack of books about cars from A.T. McKenna (Ultimate Car series). They must have been interested because I saw Sage and DragonFly pouring over them.

Miscellany...

The kids are taking fencing lessons on Saturdays. If you missed the pictures from earlier in the week, you can find them here.

Awana club is going well. Buttercup is stuck on a tough review week and DragonFly just keeps trucking along.

The Cross of Christ - ch 12

2011-11-03T17:58:00.000-07:00

I'm going to point you in the direction of Challies and Rebecca Writes this week. I read this week's chapter on Loving Our Enemies, but I'm really not in the mood to spend a long time writing a post. In this chapter, Stott addresses conciliation, discipline, what a christian's attitude towards evil ought to be, and the authority of the state. I particularly liked Stott's treatment of the authority of the state,

1. The origin of its authority is God.
2. The purpose for which God has given authority to the state is in order both to reward (and so promote) good and to punish (and so restrain) evil.
3. The means by which the state's authority is exercised must be as controlled as its purposes are discriminate.
4. The due recognition of the state's authority is laid down. Citizens are to submit unless the state misuses its God-given authority, perverts its God-given ministry, and begins to promote evil and punish good.

And a couple of my favorite quotes from the chapter included...

The incentive to peace-making is love, but it degenerates into appeasement

whenever justice is ignored (p.289).

Justice without mercy is too strict, and mercy without judgement too lenient (p.290).

To get a better sense of the chapter I hope you'll head over to

Challies

Rebecca Writes

Open Letter to the 7 Billionth Baby

2011-11-02T07:39:00.000-07:00

The Pyromaniacs' open letter today is amazing... Go read it.

My Dear Young Friend:

Welcome to our world. It's unlikely that you can read this, or that you will be able to read this. You were likely born in Asia someplace on 31 Oct 2011, but the buzz about you has put aside some of the other things going on which the English-speaking world is thinking about this week, so I thought I'd drop you a line to celebrate with you.

First of all, congratulations on making it here at all. You have been born into a world where 1 child in 5 is aborted. What is fascinating about this is that, when you were mentioned by the Secretary General of the United Nations, and he brought us the fact that you are born into a world of "contradictions," he didn't mention that one child in five is aborted prior to birth -- making it 86 times more likely than maternal death in childbirth, and 240 times more likely than death by malaria. This is a morose way to welcome you here, but that you were born at all is a miracle not just because you are a unique person in the image of God, but because you had to overcome the brutality of mankind against itself to get here...

Open Letter to the 7 Billionth Baby:

by Frank Turk

Links I'm Reading

2011-11-01T10:56:00.000-07:00

Since Google Reader has pulled all its sharing/social tools, I'm going to be sharing my favorite links here in a daily post. We'll see how it works out. If any of you know of a good rss-based aggregate site with social aspects, please let me know.

Heavenly Springs has started a series entitled Women of the Reformation. The first post is on Katherine Von Bora Luther. I highly recommend the series. Ligonier did a series on the Men of the Reformation earlier in the month: Luther, Zwingli, Tyndale, Bullinger, and Calvin.

A selection of the November Tabletalk columns is now available online. I've said it before but this is my favorite devotional. We actually have two subscriptions to this devotional magazine so that Sage and I can have our own copies.

Pyromaniacs have started a New Twitter Hashtag #EternalGlorieswithChrist. It sounds interesting, but that hashtag is going to seriously eat into your 140 character count. LOL.

If you haven't seen this yet, Redeemed Reader is doing a series of study-guide-type posts on The Pilgrim's Progress and Dangerous Journey. I'll definitely be using these when we start these books after Christmas.

Sojourn Music is still have its Reformation Day sale. You can purchase both Isaac Watts Hymn cds for the price of one. This is one of Sage's favorite music groups.

Afterthoughts is voicing similiar frustrations with Google Reader and its changes. She tackles the issue with her post, Google Reader and Attendant Problems.

Our Studies of John Bunyan's Poetry

2011-11-01T09:02:00.000-07:00

John Bunyan and Shakespeare are the two poets we've chosen to study this year. Upon the Barren Gig-Tree in God's Vineyard by John Bunyan has been our focus for the last few days. We are using Lessons From Nature: Poems for Boys and Girls by John Bunyan, but as you can see above most of these selections are available online for free. Some of what we discussed included...

1. Read Matthew 21:18-19 (Story of the Cursed Fig Tree) and compare with Psalm 1. Read Luke 6:43-45. Explain why Bunyan chose to use the fig tree in his poem.

2. How does line 6 relate to the catechism question, "What is the chief end of man?"

3. What kind of fruit should the Christian bear? Read Galatians 5:22-25 and list the fruits of the Spirit. Read Romans 7:4-6.

4. How is it possible for Christians to demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit in their lives? Read John 15:1-11.

5. What is the warning in John 15:6 to those who do not bear fruit? Can you think why Bunyan would choose to set a barren fig tree in the vineyard?

6. Do you think Bunyan's use of repetition was effective in this poem? Why do you think he chose that line to repeat?

The children were inspired to create art projects.

Fencing Lessons

2011-10-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

DragonFly and Buttercup are loving their fencing lessons.

Our reasons for having DragonFly take lessons are so that he will learn to listen carefully to directions and develop greater physical self-control.

Of course HIS reasons for begging for lessons are completely different.

Buttercup just thinks it is a WAY cooler way to develop poise then dance or ballet.

My Dad commented on their sibling conflict resolution technique when he saw this picture. LOL.

As you can see below, I'm sure this skill will came in handy some day.

In Which Daisy is Asked to Donate Money to the Hospital

2011-10-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

In July, I spent a torturous 6+ hours in my local hospital's emergency room waiting to be seen for an acute kidney stone attack. It was a nightmare. By the time, I was finally seen at 5am, the kidney stone had passed. The doctor said, "Yep, you had a kidney stone." No foolin' Sherlock. They sent me home with the typical "See your doctor if it comes back" type instructions.

Thankfully my insurance covered the outrageous cost of being trapped in the hospital's ER for six hours sharing one restroom with 50+ moaning, bodily-fluid-spouting, plague-sharing victims, but I still had to fork over a co-pay for the privilege.

Then today I get this letter. I could not believe the brazenness of these people.

I have to laugh because it is just so unbelievable.Does anyone actually DONATE money to a hospital that left them writhing on the floor in agony for six hours?

Thank you, thank you, hospital, for leaving me in terrible pain. Because of your snail-like response to my pain and distress and your billing me an outrageous sum for nothing, I'm now going to donate generously to your foundation. Not.

How to Read a Book

2011-10-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

I finally got around to starting How to Read a Book by Mortimer J. Adler this week. I love it! I wish I'd moved it to the top of my to-read pile instead of missing this gem for months. The author begins with a discussion of active versus passive reading. I found this quote especially interesting...

There is a sense in which we moderns are inundated with facts to the detriment of understanding.

One of the reasons for this situation is that the very media we have mentioned are so designed as to make thinking seem unnecessary (though this is only an appearance). The packaging of intellectual positions and views is one of the most active enterprises of some of the best minds of our day. The viewer of television, the listener to radio, the reader of magazines, is presented with a whole complex of elements--all the way from ingenious rhetoric to carefully selected data and statistics--to make it easy for him to "make up his own mind" with the minimum of difficulty and effort. But the packaging is often done so effectively that the viewer, listener, or reader does not make up his own mind at all. Instead, he inserts a packaged opinion into his mind, somewhat like inserting a cassette into a cassette player. He then pushes a button and "plays back" the opinion whenever it seems appropriate to do so. He has performed acceptably without having to think.

My first thought was he is describing a public school education. Read the textbook blurp and regurgitate the facts on a multiple choice test. No independent thinking allowed. But even as homeschoolers we can fall into this default way of educating. It is far quicker to tell your kids to read a chapter and answer the questions then it is to teach and model for your children deeper understanding. I think some homeschooling methods lend themselves more easily to this type of active learning, but we should be aiming for this regardless of our choice in publishers. I need to be better about this in our non-history subjects. In what ways do you encourage your children to really think instead of just regurgitate facts?

I also chuckled at the dated reference to cassette tapes. He, obviously, doesn't mention the internet either (The latest edition of the book was in 1972). Do you think this quote is more or less relevant today? Some might argue it is less relevant since there is such a wide variety of resources available through the internet. Perhaps we are better now at synthesizing information and not buying into pre-packaged views? For example, many people now get their news from multiple sources instead of relying on television alone. Others would tend to believe we are worse off now. We let Google or our search-engine-of-choice doing our thinking for us. People still want to be told what to think. They just have more canned "intellectual positions and views" on the shelf from which to make their selection. What do you think?

Week in Review 10/24/11 - 10/28/11

2011-10-28T10:59:00.000-07:00

I wasn't going to do a weekly review today because we only did full academics TWO days this week, but then I started thinking you all might like to really know what a week that has been completely blown looks like. Let's entitle this, "Keeping it Real."

Monday - We spend the day with fellow homeschoolers at an apple orchard. Because it meant driving to a town that is an hour away, we couldn't leave without visiting our favorite German bakery and Mediterranean restaurant. Yes, I completely blew my diet. Dolmas, shawarmas, falafels, grau brot, sechskorn, and molasses cookies. We also came home with nearly a bushel of apples. I didn't take any pictures. That's lame. Sorry.

We finished The Hobbit, completed our memory work, and listened to some of Providential Battles in the car.

Tuesday - We managed to get most of our school work done, but had to cut the day short because Buttercup had a doctor's appointment in the early afternoon. We also hit the library.

Math and English lessons

Handwriting

Started our spelling units.

Studied how simple machines are used in making clocks.

Learned about Hernando Cortez in history.

Wednesday - We have absolutely NO excuse why we didn't do school other than the fact that Sage was home due to procedure he had done on his foot. We just enjoyed our day with him. The kids did do math lessons and they read. We studied Awanas too (okay, I'm sounding desperate now) and dressed DragonFly up as John the Baptist.

Thursday - Our other academic day.

Math, English, and Spelling completed.

Geography done.

We completed God's Design for the Physical World: Machines and Motion.

Studied Pizarro. The kids called him Emperor Palpatine. Real nice guy. (Notebook pages will be finished next week).

Completed our assigned literature.

Friday - Homeschool park day in the afternoon and another appointment in the morning. Gah, weeks like this drive me crazy. Just go with the flow, Daisy. Thankfully, they don't happen often.

Books Read - That is the one redeeming thing about weeks like this. We spend a lot of time in the car and the kids read like crazy.

Buttercup read Peeled by Bauer, Jason's Gold by Hobbs, Hittite Warrior by Williamson (this may have been her second time with this book), The Little Prince by de Saint-Exupery, Captain Cortez Conquers Mexico (Landmark) by Johnson, Francisco Pizarro: Destroyer of the Inca Empire (Wicked History) by DiConsiglio, and Roverandom by Tolkien.

DragonFly read The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis, The War with Grandpa by Smith (he noticed when it mentioned Machiavelli), Bilbo's Last Song by Tolkien, and Francisco Pizzaro: The Founder of Peru by Syme.

And we finished The Hobbit. The kids are now die hard Tolkien fans.

Apology

2011-10-28T07:56:00.000-07:00

I removed my post about the church that refuses to allow children under the age of twelve in the sanctuary. Look, the bottom line is if your pastor says something you feel doesn't line up with the word of God, you have an obligation to go speak to him about it.

This gentlemen isn't my pastor. A five minute video doesn't really show me his heart.

I wasn't attempting to point fingers at him or his church specifically, but when I went back and re-read it, that is pretty much what it looked like. My goal was to equip readers with Scripture that might help them when dealing with their own churches that are moving in this direction.

I felt conviction when I read this comment by Pyromaniacs on a thread they wrote about discernment blogs...

No matter how broadly you want to interpret 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, one of the clear implications of that text is that it's not fitting for a woman who has no teaching authority in the church to raise a public objection against a teaching elder whose office is recognized by the church. That's not to say the pastor is infallible or above critique, and there is (of course) a proper venue for a lay woman to share her concerns or ask her questions, but a blog on the Internet is not that venue.

If any woman fancies herself a gift to the church as a guardian of sound doctrine because she thinks she has a special "gift of discernment" that entitles her to go online and write insulting epithets against a duly ordained and divinely-called pastor, She is seriously mistaken and grossly out of line--and she is an embarrassment to propriety and feminine modesty.

Ouch.

My sincerest apologies for singling out the pastor whose video I linked here. I behaved badly out of frustration with the increasing number of churches who do not welcome intact families in worship.

I've never thought for even a second that I have the gift of discernment, but I obviously need to work on propriety and feminine modesty. Sigh.

The Cross of Christ - ch 11

2011-10-27T16:06:00.000-07:00

This week in The Cross of Christ by John Stott we read about Self-Understanding and Self-Giving. Stott answers the questions: Who are we? How should we think about ourselves? What attitude should we adopt toward ourselves? He first shows us how the world typically answers this questions with one of two extremes self-loathing (low self-esteem) or self-love (power of positive thinking mentality). Then he asks, "How can we avoid a self-evaluation that is either too low or too high, and instead obey Paul's admonition 'think of yourself with sober judgement' (Rom 12:3)? The cross of Christ supplies the answer, for it calls us both to self-denial and to self-affirmation."

The author spends some time explaining what he means by self-denial and self-affirmation and ends with this...

So then, whatever we are by creation we must affirm: our rationality, our sense of moral obligation, our sexuality (whether masculinity or femininity), our family life, our gifts of aesthetic appreciation and artistic creativity, our stewardship of the fruitful earth, our hunger for love and experience of community, our awareness of the transcendent majesty of God, and our inbuilt urge to fall down and worship him. True, it has been tainted and twisted by sin. Yet Christ came to redeem it, not to destroy it. So we must gratefully and positively affirm it.

but...

Whatever we are by the Fall, we must deny and repudiate: our irrationality, our moral perversity, our blurring of sexual distinctives and lack of sexual self-control, the selfishness that spoils our family life, our fascination with the ugly, our lazy refusal to develop God's gifts, our polluting and spoiling of the environment, the antisocial tendencies that inhibit true community, our proud autonomy, and our idolatrous refusal to worship the living and true God. All this (and more) is part of our fallen humanness. Christ came not to redeem this but to destroy it. So we must strenuously deny and repudiate it. (p.275)

What does biblical cross-centered self-denial and self-affirmation lead to? Self-sacrificial love

Stott explains that, "the choice that faces the Christian community in every generation [is] between the way of the crowd and the way of the cross."

The choice is between

selfish ambition and sacrifice,

power and service,

comfort and suffering

"Where are the Christians who are prepared to put service before security, compassion before comfort, hardship before ease? Thousands of pioneer Christian tasks are waiting to be done, which challenge our complacency and call for risk." (p.281)

This was a wonderful chapter full of very practical application. We only have two chapters and the conclusion left to read. Next week is chapter 12: Loving our Enemies.

To follow the conversation head over to...
Challies: Self-Understanding and Self-Giving
Rebecca Writes

John the Baptist

2011-10-26T17:47:00.000-07:00

Now John wore a garment of camel's hair and a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. (Matthew 3:4 ESV)

The Rich Young Ruler

2011-10-26T15:37:00.000-07:00

And behold, a man came up to him, saying, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?” And he said to him, “Why do you ask me about what is good? There is only one who is good. If you would enter life, keep the commandments.” He said to him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother, and, You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man said to him, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” Jesus said to him, “If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” When the young man heard this he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. (Matthew 19:16-22 ESV)

I used to struggle to understand this passage of Scripture when I was a child. Was Jesus saying that "keeping the commandments" will save you? Was Jesus saying we all need to be paupers? We covered this passage this week with the kids and I thought I'd share with you what I told them.

The issue with the rich young ruler was his inability to recognize his total depravity. He didn't recognize that he was a sinner. Even though Jesus had said to him, "There is only one who is good," the young man was convinced that he kept all the commandments faithfully. However, he was in violation of at least the first commandment.

You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 ESV)

How do we know this? Jesus tests him by asking him to give up that god and follow him.

The rich young man went away sorrowful because he was unwilling to admit his total depravity and unwilling to give up that idol.

Like the rich young ruler, we all reach a point where we are confronted with our own sinfulness. We will either react like Paul,

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! (Romans 7:24 ESV)

at which point,

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9 ESV)

or,

If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. (1 John 1:10 ESV)

John Calvin's thoughts on the passage...

Hence we infer, that this reply of Christ is legal, because it was proper that the young man who inquired about the righteousness of works should first be taught that no man is accounted righteous before God unless he has fulfilled the law, (which is impossible,) that, convinced of his weakness, he might betake himself to the assistance of faith...

The young man saith to him. The law must have been dead to him, when he vainly imagined that he was so righteous; for if he had not flattered himself through hypocrisy, it was an excellent advice to him to learn humility, to contemplate his spots and blemishes in the mirror of the law. But, intoxicated with foolish confidence, he fearlessly boasts that he has discharged his duty properly from his childhood. Paul acknowledges that the same thing happened to himself, that, so long as the power of the law was unknown to him, he believed that he was alive; but that, after he knew what the law could do, a deadly wound was inflicted on him, So the reply of Christ, which follows, was suited to the man’s disposition...

He went away sorrowful. The result at length showed how widely distant the young man was from that perfection to which Christ had called him; for how comes it that he withdraws from the school of Christ, but because he finds it uneasy to be stripped of his riches? But if we are not prepared to endure poverty, it is manifest that covetousness reigns in us. And this is what I said at the outset, that the order which Christ gave, to sell all that he had, was not an addition to the law, but the scrutiny of a concealed vice. For the more deeply a man is tainted by this or the other vice, the more strikingly will it be dragged forth to light by being reproved. We are reminded also by this example that, if we would persevere steadily in the school of Christ, we must renounce the flesh. This young man, who had brought both a desire to learn and modesty, withdrew from Christ, because it was hard to part with a darling vice. The same thing will happen to us, unless the sweetness of the grace of Christ render all the allurements of the flesh distasteful to us. Whether or not this temptation was temporary, so that the young man afterwards repented, we know not; but it may be conjectured with probability, that his covetousness kept him back from making any proficiency.

In Which Daisy is a Cool Mom

2011-10-26T09:42:00.000-07:00

Lest any of you should doubt my coolness factor, I'm leaving the house right now to buy face paint and live crickets. DragonFly has to dress up as a Bible character for Awana club tonight and we decided on...

John the Baptist!

Pictures will be coming, of course.

Did I ever tell you about last year when Buttercup went as Jael? She carried a tent peg. She was quite the sensation.

Quite a Little Fellow

2011-10-24T16:35:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of talk about celebrity pastors lately on the web. You can read any number of posts by Thabiti Anyabwile, Justin Taylor, Pyromaniacs, Carl Trueman and others. I happened to think about all those posts as I read the final lines from The Hobbit today to my children...

Gandalf speaking, "...You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!"

"Thank goodness!" said Bilbo laughing, and handed him the tobacco-jar.

And all I can say is "Thank goodness!"

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-21T16:11:00.000-07:00

We had fun going to the local pumpkin patch with friends this morning. This one is the best in town with its large corn maze, farm animals, and a wide variety of pumpkins. Now that the kids are older, the corn maze was definitely the hit of the trip. I didn't ask permission to post pictures of my friends' children, so you'll just see the ones I took of Buttercup and DragonFly.

To Autumn

William Blake

O Autumn, laden with fruit, and stain’d

With the blood of the grape, pass not, but sit

Beneath my shady roof; there thou may’st rest,

And tune thy jolly voice to my fresh pipe,

And all the daughters of the year shall dance!

Sing now the lusty song of fruits and flowers.

“The narrow bud opens her beauties to

The sun, and love runs in her thrilling veins;

Blossoms hang round the brows of Morning, and

Flourish down the bright cheek of modest Eve,

Till clust’ring Summer breaks forth into singing,

And feather’d clouds strew flowers round her head.

“The spirits of the air live in the smells

Of fruit; and Joy, with pinions light, roves round

The gardens, or sits singing in the trees.”

Thus sang the jolly Autumn as he sat,

Then rose, girded himself, and o’er the bleak

Hills fled from our sight; but left his golden load.

Another year older. Bittersweet.

Week in Review 9/17/11 - 9/21/11

2011-10-21T07:14:00.000-07:00

Buttercup...

...completed four lessons in R&S Math, took her chapter 9 test, and completed a Pre-Algebra lesson.

...skipped R&S English this week.

...completed Unit 9 of Spelling and was happy to see 100%.

...is glad to be moving on to a creative writing unit for IEW.

...had a week of poetry in Of Places. She loves the poetry selections.

DragonFly...

...completed three lessons in Math-U-See. That puts him at 8/30 lessons completed.

...did two lessons in English and finished Unit 10 of All About Spelling.

...only has three letters left of his Jan Brett cursive pages.

...is warming up to Stories of the Pilgrims.

In Bible/Memory we...

...finished memorizing our excerpt from Martin Luther's speech at the Diet of Worms. (Buttercup gets SO nervous).

Blooper version. I had to post this because the REAL Buttercup comes out at the end.

...had a review week in memory work so nothing new.

...read Matthew 9-18.

In History/Geography we...

...read about the rivalry between Charles V (Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain) and Francis I (King of France) and their attempts to cozy up to the Pope and Henry VII (King of England).

...learned about the alliance Francis I made with Suleiman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.

...examined how all the above influenced the spread of the Reformation.

...read some of Suleiman's poetry.

...mapped the 16th Century Ottoman Empire.

In Science/Health we...

...studied circular motion and periodic motion.

...spent way too much time watching ice figure skaters demonstrate circular motion with their spins, but we had FUN.

...completed a worksheet on how the space shuttle demonstrates the laws of motion.

...discussed the motion of the planets.

...learned about Johannes Kepler and his contributions to science and to the Reformation (He signed the Augsburg Confession. Who knew?)

Folding laundry. This counts for something right?

In Reading we...

...are half-way through The Hobbit.

...continue to read The Artist of the Reformation (I'm annoyed with myself because I really wanted to finish it this week) and Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation.

Buttercup read The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle by Avi and Backwater by Bauer.

DragonFly read The Silver Chair by C.S. Lewis.

Miscellany...

DragonFly had Potato Head Night at Awana club.

We skipped school on Wednesday so we could clean house instead. It is so nice to have the kids' rooms spotless.

Today, we are meeting friends at the pumpkin patch. I'm sure pictures will be coming.

The Cross of Christ - ch 10

2011-10-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

This week we read chapter ten of The Cross of Christ by John Stott. The chapter was entitled, The Community of Celebration.

"...the community of Christ is the community of the cross. Having been brought into being by the cross, it continues to live by and under the cross. Our perspective and our behavior are now governed by the cross. All our relationships have been radically transformed by it. The cross is not just a badge to identify us and the banner under which we march; it is also the compass that gives us bearings in a disoriented world." (p.250)

Stott then explains how our new relationship with God should reflect three major characteristics; boldness, love, and joy. And that these three characteristics are evident in our public worship.

"Humbly (as sinners), yet boldly (as forgiven sinners), we press into God's presence, responding to his loving initiative with an answering love of our own, and not only worshiping him with musical instruments but articulating our joy in songs of praise...the whole life of the Christian community should be conceived as a festival in which with love, joy, and boldness we celebrate what God has done for us through Christ." (p.251, 252)

The author then spends the rest of the chapter discussing the two sacraments of the Protestant faith with greater time devoted to The Lord's Supper. He spends quite a bit of time carefully articulating the different interpretations of The Lord's Supper, and he explains how The Lord's Supper and the cross are connected. I'm going to leave it at that because while I found the chapter profitable and encourage you to read it, I'm not in the mood to start a theological debate on this blog. It wasn't the easiest chapter to understand and I'm sure I'd completely butcher a debate on it.

Challies doesn't have his summary up yet, but when he does, I'll link to it. He'll probably be brave enough to dive right in. LOL.

Rebecca Writes The Cross of Christ: The Community of Celebration.

Potato Head Night 2011

2011-10-19T16:25:00.000-07:00

Previous Potato Head Nights...

Miss Carrot & Mr. Frightened, 2009
Fairy and Alien, Spring 2010
Dinosaur and David & Goliath, Fall 2010

Peanut Butter Sandwich Made With France

2011-10-17T14:46:00.000-07:00

DragonFly changed around on of his favorite songs today after learning about Charles V, Francis I, and Henry VII.

Here's the original Raffi song...

And DragonFly's lyrics...

A peanut butter sandwich made with France,
Some for Hen-ry and some for Charles the Fifth,
A peanut butter sandwich made with France,
Stick, stick, stick, stick, stick…

I can think of ‘wiches good and bad,
But the best ‘wich that I’ve ever had was a …
A peanut butter sandwich made with France,
Yum, yum, yummy, yum, yum …

A peanut butter sandwich made with France,
Some for Hen-ry and some for Charles the Fifth,
A peanut butter sandwich made with France,
Stick, stick, stick, stick, stick…
Yum, yum, yummy, yum, yum.

And that's how we assess learning around here. LOL.

All About Spelling - Breaking Down a Unit

2011-10-17T13:34:00.000-07:00

Kel at The Flight of the Phoenix asked me on my week-in-review how I break down a unit of All About Spelling.

DragonFly learns best when we follow the recommendation of All About Spelling and spend 15-20 minutes a day on spelling. We typically cover one unit per week.

This is how I've been doing it.

Day 1 - Review and New Teaching
Day 2 - Reteach or Finish New Teaching as necessary & use tiles to practice spelling words.
Day 3 - Write spelling words on paper and complete 2 dictation sentences.
Day 4 - Complete 2-3 more dictation sentences.

I've not been really happy with this set up because it means I can only do dictation twice a week. I don't start the dictation sentences on day one because we haven't learned the spelling words yet. However, I think DragonFly would benefit from daily dictation, so this coming week we are trying a new schedule.

Day 1 - Review & 1/2 New Teaching; Two of previous week's dictation sentences.
Day 2 - 1/2 New Teaching; Practice spelling words with tiles; Two dictation sentences.
Day 3 - Write spelling words on paper and complete two dictation sentences.
Day 4 - Reteach as necessary (mistakes w/spelling words or dictation) and complete 2 more dictation sentences.

This should provide DragonFly with more dictation practice (but spread out) and will also help me assess how well he remembers the previous week's lesson.

Does anyone else work this differently? I'd love to hear how you are using All About Spelling.

The Cross of Christ - ch 9

2011-10-15T12:07:00.000-07:00

This week we (Reading Classics Together) read chapter nine, "The Conquest of Evil," of The Cross of Christ by John Stott.

This chapter was a call for Christians to stop living lives of seeming defeat. We need to recognize the victorious life we have in Christ. I grew up with my dad singing that old Pentecostal hymn, "Victory in Jesus" just about every week. I remember how passionately he would sing that hymn. Stott reminds us that we cannot overlook the victories that Christ has won for us on the cross.

Look at him there, spread-eagled and skewered on his cross, robbed of all freedom of movement, strung up with nails or ropes or both, pinned there and powerless. It appears to be total defeat. If there is victory, it is the victory of pride, prejudice, jealousy, hatred, cowardice and brutality. Yet the Christian claim is that the reality is the opposite of the appearance. What looks like (and indeed was) the defeat of goodness by evil is also, and more certainly, the defeat of evil by goodness. Overcome there, he was himself overcoming. Crushed by the ruthless power of Rome, he was himself crushing the serpent's head (Gen 3:15). The victim was the victor, and the cross is still the throne from which he rules the world....the cross secured the conquest of evil. (p.224)

The author then lists six ways that God through Christ won the victory;

The Conquest Predicted (Prophesied judgement of the serpent in Genesis)
The Conquest Begun (Christ's ministry)
The Conquest Achieved (The Cross)
The Conquest Confirmed and Announced (The Resurrection)
The Conquest Extended (Ministry of the Church)
The Conquest Consummated (Christ's Return)

He goes on to discuss that while Satan has been defeated he has not conceded that defeat. Satan still tries his best to wage war. Stott then lists "four works of the devil from which Christ has freed us."

Through Christ we are no longer under...

The Tyranny of the Law - While we are still obligated to obey God's law, we are not longer condemned by it.
The Tyranny of the Flesh - We are no longer enslaved to our passions. We have been crucified with him).
The Tyranny of the World - I loved this quote, "Nothing weans us from worldliness more than the cross of Christ." Amen!
The Tyranny of Death - “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.(1 Cor 15:55-57"

This chapter made me want to stand up and shout! But more than that though, it should propel us all to proclaim a victorious Christ to the ends of the world.

Kids' Yard Sale

2011-10-14T20:05:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual kids-only yard sale with our homeschool group. This is one of my children's favorite events every year. They do all the work on their own (just the way I like it).

They...

Went through all their stuff.
Cleaned the garage while looking for more stuff (This was my favorite part, by the way).
Cleaned and organized the items by bundling magazines, folding clothes, etc.
Priced the items, which required much discussion.
Created a master list of merchandise with pricing so that they both knew what to charge.
Determined how much of a loan they needed from me for change.
Made change at the bank.
Carried all their stuff to the car and then to the park.
Set up their display.
Sold their merchandise.
Handled all the money transactions.
Worked the crowd with their sour punch candies.
Didn't eat or spend all their profit. Hey, this is harder than you think.
Walked their remaining items to the donation center.
Did all the math necessary to pay me back, determine their profit, and split the proceeds.

Hey, we sound like unschoolers!

I love how entrepreneurial some of these children are at this yard sale. This year we had a young man selling fresh popcorn, a young lady who had made beautiful hand-crafted bracelets, and a couple of sweet girls who managed to sell more cupcakes then they ate. Last year, I remember one child made homemade jam and another brought fresh eggs.

At some point during the afternoon, I overheard Buttercup say, "Hey, I could have my own business some day if I wanted to." DragonFly wisely replied, "Only if we sell sour punch candies."

Week in Review 10/10/11 - 10/14/11

2011-10-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Buttercup...

...completed five lessons in R&S Math. She likes figuring out percentages for sales tax and discount prices. Future shopper?

...completed three R&S English lessons on pronouns and one writing lesson.

...completed lesson 6 for IEW and wrote a paragraph on blood transfusions. She was less than thrilled with this topic.

...practiced cursive with her Queen's Copywork for Girls (She loves this).

...took two days to study an excerpt from The Pilgrim's Progress. She did very well with the allegory and is inspired to read the entire book (We'll be doing that his year).

...completed her other subjects; spelling, logic, music, geography, typing, etc.

DragonFly...

...completed four lessons in R&S English on proper/common nouns and singular/plural nouns. He also did quite a bit of diagramming.

...completed All About Spelling unit 9. I think I've decided to use the dictation sentences as review during the next week's lessons. I think it will make it easier to spread them out over the entire week.

...began reading Stories of the Pilgrims from CLP. I read this to him when he was 4 years old but it is his turn to read it now.

...did very well with the first five units of Math-U-See and asked for math every day.

...is almost finished practicing his cursive letters and then he'll move into his Queen's copywork book.

...also completed his electives; vocabulary, geography, typing, music, etc.

In Bible/Memory work we...

...worked on memorizing catechism question #12 which covers God's Providence in regards to man and studied the implications of the question with Teaching Hearts Teaching Minds.

...set aside Our Family Ways in order to have more time to do our reading for our weekly small group. Studied Matthew 1-9 this week.

DragonFly - Liked when we read about how we shouldn't repay evil for evil in Matthew 5. He says that is hard because sometimes other kids can make him mad.

Buttercup - Liked Matthew 3 when John the Baptist points the way to Jesus instead of trying to build a ministry that was all about himself. Hmmm. She also likes the Temptation of Christ in Matthew 4 because Jesus uses the Bible to answer Satan.

...started memorizing our new hymn, "Praise To The Lord, The Almighty."

...continued working on Luther's speech at the Diet of Worms.

In History we...

...read about Albrecht Durer in Famous Men of the Renaissance and Reformation.

...studied Durer's art and wood blocking.

...learned more about Martin Luther's friend, Philip Melanchthon, and his contributions to the Reformation.

...studied the 1529 Diet of Speyer where our ancestors were first called, "Protestants."

...read, but didn't notebook, about Martin Bucer, another gentlemen from our book, Reformation Heroes.

...added the various cities studied this week to our map of Germany.

In Science we...

...studied the law of gravity.

...tried to explain terminal velocity.

...got really worried when DragonFly asked how high he'd have to get in order to send an egg flying at terminal velocity.

Buttercup read chapter three of Exploring the World of Physics and made 92% on the quiz. She's really enjoying that book.

...learned about center of mass/gravity.

...determined the center of gravity for our irregular objects.

...laughed until our sides hurt at trying to touch our toes while backed up against a wall. DragonFly fell right over.

In Reading we...

...continued with The Hobbit. Everyone is loving this. The kids are grilling Sage about what happens next since he's read the book a million times. He's not telling though.

...read, Artist of the Reformation: Albrecht Durer, by Joyce McPherson. This was a wonderful book!

...re-read old favorites for most of the week. Not going to the library as often is having its advantages.

Miscellany...

DragonFly passed his Awana section, but Buttercup did not. She was in a bit of an Awana funk this week. I gave her a pass.

The kids are working feverishly through all their toys in the garage on Thursday because today is the yearly children's yard sale at our homeschool group. The kids are completely responsible for pricing, selling, buying, and bartering. (Yes, the garage is a disaster right now and yes, my son is still in pajamas at one in the afternoon. We are real people here, folks).

The Cross of Christ - ch 8

2011-10-13T19:49:00.000-07:00

Chapter eight of The Cross of Christ by John Stott is "The Revelation of God." In this chapter, Stott explains that the cross must be viewed as salvation and revelation. It was a "work and also a word." Through Christ's action on the cross, God's very character was revealed.

He lists four major characteristics of God that were revealed through the cross.

1. The Glory of God
2. The Justice of God
3. The Love of God
4. The Wisdom and Power of God

My favorite quote from this chapter was this...

What we have been hearing throughout this passage is variations on the theme of the wisdom and power of God, his wisdom through human folly and his power through human weakness. The gospel of the cross will never be a popular message because it humbles the pride of our intellect and character. Yet Christ crucified is both God's wisdom (1 Cor 1:24) and ours (1 Cor 1:30). For the cross is God's way to satisfy his love and justice in the salvation of sinners. It therefore manifests his power too, "the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes" (Rom 1:16).

So when we look at the cross we see the justice, love, wisdom and power of God. It is not easy to decide which is the most luminously revealed, whether the justice of God in judging sin, or the love of God in bearing the judgement in our place, or the wisdom of God in perfectly combining the two, or the power of God in saving those who believe. For the cross is equally an act, and therefore a demonstration, of God's justice, love, wisdom and power. The cross assures us that this God is the reality within, behind and beyond the universe. (p.221)

As an after note, I loved Stott's detour into authentic love. He references William Vanstone's book, Love's Endeavor, Love's Expense and lists three marks of false love and three characteristics of authentic love. I thought they were worth noting and thinking more about.

False Love:

The mark of limitation (something is withheld)
The mark of control (manipulating people)
The mark of detachment (we remain self-sufficient, unimpaired, unhurt)

Authentic Love:

Limitless self-giving
Risk-taking with no certainty of success
Vulnerability which is easily hurt

I may have to add another book to my to-read pile. LOL.

Challies on The Revelation of God.

He Won!

2011-10-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

DragonFly was so excited today because he won the raffle for this 3-dimensional painting at our local county fair. He can't wait for Sage to hang this on his bedroom wall.

I have terrible luck and teased DragonFly that the only reason he won is because I refused to fill out his raffle ticket for him. If I had touched it, all would have been lost.

J.R. Miller on Reading

2011-10-11T07:00:00.000-07:00

Books and Reading

J. R. Miller, 1880

It is said, that it would require hundreds of years to read the titles alone, of all the books in the world's libraries. Even of those that issue each year from the press newly written, one person can read but a very meager percentage. It is therefore a physical impossibility to read all the books which the art of printing has put within our reach. Even if our whole time were to be devoted to reading, we could in our brief years peruse but a very small portion of them. Then it must be considered that in these busy days, when active duties press so imperiously, the most of us can devote but a few hours each day at the best to reading, and very many find, not hours—but minutes only, for this purpose. There are hosts of busy people who cannot read more than a handful of books in a year.

It is settled, therefore, for us all, that we must be content to leave the great mass of printed books unread. Even those who are favored with most leisure cannot read one in a thousand, or ten thousand—of the books that offer themselves. And those whose hands are full of activities can scarcely touch the great mountain of printed matter that looms up invitingly before them.

The important question, then, is: On what principle should we select out of this great wilderness of literature the books we shall read? If I can read but a dozen volumes this year, how am I to determine what volumes of the thousands they shall be?

Daily on my Way to Heaven has posted the rest of this article. I thought it timely considering my recent discussion of our library woes.

Our Journey to Math-U-See

2011-10-10T18:47:00.000-07:00

For better or worse, homeschoolers buy their own curriculum. Often this is a positive as we can purchase curriculum from a particular publisher based solely on the needs of our child. In practice though it can feel like a negative. How do you choose? Do you choose the program that is economical, most interesting to your child, most interesting to you, most academic, most popular? Will it get them into college? Will it drain me dry of every spare minute? There are a million factors involved and worst of all, the buck stops with YOU. Yikes. There is so much pressure to make the right choice.

Enter our faithful friend, Rod and Staff math. I rarely looked at math publishers because I've used Rod and Staff for more than six years with Buttercup. It was economical, nonconsumable, mastery-based, and academically solid. Unfortunately as I've discovered with spelling and other subjects, what works with Buttercup doesn't always work with DragonFly (sadly enough for our pocketbook).

DragonFly was really struggling with Rod and Staff math for three major reasons.

It is nonconsumable which means he either had to write very tiny in the book or he had to copy the problems on paper. This is truly a nightmare for a child with dysgraphia.
DragonFly wasn't ready to make the transition to abstract math. He'd look at a page full of math problems and all he saw was hours of misery with no real connection to the real world.
R&S focuses on rote memory. It doesn't spend a whole lot of time explaining the concepts of math. Consequently if you have a child who struggles with memorizing their facts, they just become frustrated by not remembering how to do the math and they don't understand why they should be using a certain strategy.

For most of last year, I just pushed through the meltdowns and frustration assuming we were dealing primarily with a behavioral issue, but once we knew better, it was time to reevaluate. After talking to many homeschool moms with atypical learners, we narrowed the field down to two math publishers; Teaching Textbooks and Math-U-See. Sage was very helpful in the progress of making a decision. He studied the scope & sequence, placement tests, read reviews, emailed the publishers, etc (That's pretty sexy by the way).

Both publishers were rated very highly. Teaching Textbooks was DragonFly's math of choice. He watched the sample lessons and thought it was the neatest thing ever to do math on the computer. He aced the placement test which initially surprised me and would eventually give me pause. Teaching Textbooks would take some of the pressure off of me because it is more independent and computer-based. We also thought computer-based work might be easier for DragonFly and his dysgraphia. But we had doubts. I worried about not being able to modify the computer lessons and that DragonFly would tire of doing lessons on the computer and then we'd be right back to a primarily written format. Sage worried about the lack of hands-on teaching. He wondered if the audio component of Teaching Textbooks would keep DragonFly's attention or if he would zone out. We were both worried that DragonFly would have the same problem of just trying to memorize HOW instead of really understanding the WHY of math.

It was time to take a closer look at Math-U-See. Sage and I had looked at Math-U-See five or more years earlier when looking for Buttercup's math. The only reason we didn't go with it at the time was because of the expense. We enjoyed watching how Steve Demme explained math concepts and I know Sage even implemented a few of the ideas from the sample lessons in his first grade classroom. We started really thinking about how MUS would help our son learn math. It is mastery-based which was a plus with Rod and Staff. DragonFly definitely needs one concept at a time. With its dvds and skip-counting songs, it has an audio/visual component like Teaching Textbooks. But the huge bonus for us was that MUS is manipulative-based and allows the parent to modify the written work based on the child's need for more or less reinforcement. DragonFly learns best when he can do something over and over again. If ever there was a kinesthetic learner, this kid is it.

MUS offered us a wider variety of ways to learn the material. I know the multiple intelligences theory has fallen out of vogue in some circles but it is something I'm familiar with so I'm going to use it to explain our preference for MUS. MUS provides the following...

Spatial - Written practice of math problems & audio/visual dvd lessons
*Linguistic - Child orally reteaches the math concepts to the teacher (a bit like narration).
Logical - Mathematical - Using games to discover new ways to use numbers. Really learning the whys behind numbers.
*Musical - Skip-Counting cds
*Inter-Personal - Modeled learning by the teacher
Intra-Personal - Independent practice
*Bodily-Kinesthetic - Manipulatives

The starred numbers are the ways DragonFly learns best and we are happy to say these figure prominently in Math-U-See.

We took a deep breath and decided to follow the advice of MUS and just start at the beginning. I'd be lying if I didn't say we were slightly terrified of backing up that far. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to do a lesson per day (rather than per week) for at least a while. Our goal (okay, my personal desire) is to be in Gamma by this summer. Either way, starting at the beginning will help him rebuild his confidence. More importantly I hope it helps him rediscover the joy of learning about numbers.

Library Woes

2011-10-09T18:56:00.000-07:00

I'm really feeling frustrated with my library system right now. We've always been huge library fans. We are on first name basis with the librarians and usually go to the library two times PER week. We used to go to every story hour. We'd bring home 60 books at a time. However, since Buttercup has started reading higher level books, I'm having to rethink how we use our library.

I guess I should preface this post with a bit of a disclaimer. If you don't monitor or filter what your children read, you will probably want to skip this post because you won't find it helpful.

It is so difficult to find good books for the 5th grade and up crowd at the library. Our library carries very little on the way of wholesome middle school literature and it carries NO Christian literature unless you count Amish romances (I don't). The vast majority of what is being acquired by our library system for the children's department is fantasy and supernatural fiction. Buttercup pulls book after book off the shelves and I find myself continuously saying, "Sorry, not that one..."

Because it has swear words (And you'd be surprised at how common swearing is in books now. Books in the children's department!).
Because it has demonic or supernatural themes (We don't mind fairy tale magic, but occultic themes don't fly in our house).
Because it has sexual content or innuendos.
Because it has too much violence (Why would children want to read about a murdering toymaker who steals children's hearts and inserts them into his toys?).
Because it glorifies evil and/or sinful lifestyles.
Because it contains blatant anti-Christian bias.

Worse, I find myself saying, "No," so often that I start to feel badly about it and I GIVE IN. I've compromised on too many books. I've been wishy-washy because I didn't want to be too strict. I really had hoped by this point that Buttercup would be able to know herself if a book was appropriate or not, but it hit me this past week that if I can't recognize a trashy book because of all its slick packaging, how is she going to be able to recognize it?

I talked with Sage about how we should tackle this and we wrestled with it a bit over the last few weeks.

We've pretty much decided on the follow steps...

We will carefully read reviews about a book and/or pre-read it before giving it to our children to read. This is no different than how we tackle movies or music. We shouldn't have a lower standard just because the media is in print.
We will put appropriate books on hold with our library and get them that way instead of browsing through the books. It takes longer but it will be worth it.
We went through the house and got rid of any books that were not God-honoring (We've always been more careful about what we purchase but it was still time for a culling).
We signed up for Lamplighter Publishers monthly book club so that we could bring more wholesome books into the house. Other publishers we've always enjoyed include Bethlehem Books and JourneyForth. We are not restricting our reading to only Christian books but we do want wholesome books.
We want to be careful to explain to our children why we are returning books unfinished. I do fairly well with explaining to the children why a book they picked out isn't appropriate but we need to do better with explaining to our children why we are returning our own books unread. It is nice to hear Sage say, "I'm taking back this lousy book because it has swear words. I don't want to read that." Our children need to know that we hold ourselves to high standards in reading also.
We need to pray together for greater discernment in this area of our life.

So my question for conservative families with children who are heading into older books is how do you handle it? Do you have favorite publishers? How do you respond when your children ask to read a book that you know very little about? How do you find good books at your library? Has anyone given up completely on their library?

Sage read this post and said, "It's just sad." He's right. It is sad that libraries are throwing away classic books as fast as they can to make room on the shelves for books that are devoid of anything edifying. We used to think of the library as a friend but now it feels more like one more battlefield for the hearts and minds of our children.

The Cross of Christ - ch 7

2011-10-07T12:42:00.000-07:00

I find myself behind again in this book. Oh well. I think that is just the bane of a homeschooling mom's existence.

This chapter on The Salvation of Sinners was thirty-four jam-packed pages. I'm stumped as to how to break it down for you. Stott uses four images to illustrate the salvation of Christ; propitiation, redemption, justification, and reconciliation.

Propitiation brings to mind a temple court. Redemption puts us in a marketplace setting. Justification's view is more that of a court of law and reconciliation puts salvation in the context of a restored relationship.

While all these images are very different, according to Stott, they have three themes in common;

1. Each highlights a different aspect of our human need.

Propitiation underscores the wrath of God upon us
Redemption our captivity to sin
Justification our guilt
Reconciliation our enmity against God and alienation from him.

2. All four images emphasize that the saving imitative was taken by God in his love.

God propitiated his own wrath
Redeemed us from our miserable bondage
Declared us justified in his sight.
Reconciled us to himself.

3. All four plainly teach that God's saving work was achieved through Christ's substitutionary atonement; Christ's blood.

Propitiatory sacrifice, through faith in his blood (Rom 3:25)
In Him we have redemption through his blood (Eph 1:7)
We have now been justified by his blood (Rom 5:9)
You who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ. (Eph 2:13, Col. 1:20)

I highly encourage you to read Rebecca Writes response to this chapter, The Salvation of Sinners, because she posted on the four phrases that Paul uses when discussing justification. It was my favorite part of the chapter.

Challies summarizes the main point of the chapter and offers up a few quotes at Reading Classics Together: The Salvation of Sinners.

Week in Review 10/3/11 - 10/7/11

2011-10-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

We had a full week. We started out the week with homeschool roller-blading and picture day. Wednesday morning, Buttercup volunteered with Gleaners. And finally we had two different doctor's appointments this week. It was a FUN and busy week.

Buttercup...

...completed five lessons in R&S Math on percentages.

...took several tests this week. She made an A in English and Spelling and a B on her science quiz.

...completed lesson 4-5 for IEW and began lesson 6 (that's a total of 4 paragraphs outlined, written, edited, & typed).

...finished Of People unit 2 this week and decided to spend the rest of the week free-reading since we are ahead of schedule.

...spent Wednesday morning volunteering with Gleaners.

...completed logic with The Fallacy Detectives (Anyone else think this book was overly simple? Even DragonFly understands it).

DragonFly...

...took his unit one test and worked on proper nouns in English. He made an A on his test.

...finished his Christian Nature Reader book and wants to start number five.

...completed All About Spelling unit 7 on /e/ spelled y.

...had a super easy math week as he awaited his new curriculum.

...did fun worksheets, online math games, and living books math.

...worked on typing, geography, vocabulary, and other stuff.

In Bible/Memory Work we...

...memorized catechism #11. I'm realizing it is my old brain that is taking longer to memorize. The kids had it down last week.

...memorized half of the portion of Martin Luther's speech from the Diet of Worms that we are working on.

...finished up A Mighty Fortress in our God.

...read about the providence of God in the book of Esther.

...discussed the theology behind the Five Solas of the Reformation.

In History we...

...studied Erasmus and his influence on the Reformation.

...compared the worldviews of the Reformation and Renaissance.

...spent the rest of the week on Martin Luther, Pope Leo X, and Katharina Von Bora.

For those interested. I do discuss how we tackled Luther's failings in the comments section of this post.

...created Graham Cracker Wittenberg Churches (The church to which Luther nailed his 95 Theses).

...read the entire 95 Theses at the kid's insistence.

...decorated papal indulgences and burned the papal bull against Luther.

...traced Luther's movements on a map of Germany

...watched Luther on dvd.

...read Martin Luther's definition of faith and acted out the Diet of Worms.

...read various books on Luther; Thunderstorm in Church (Buttercup), Spy for the Night Riders (DragonFly), The Barber Who Wanted to Pray, and Martin Luther: A Man Who Changed the World.

In Science we...

...studied Newton's Laws of Motion.

...read chapter two of Exploring the World of Physics (Buttercup bounces around in the book based on our topic).

...laughed hysterically at YouTube videos of high school students acting out the laws of motion.

...applied Newton's laws to all sorts of things from seat-belts to roller-blading to rifles.

In Reading we...

...read the books above on Luther.

...got caught up on Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation.

...started this unabridged audio version of The Hobbit. Everyone loves it!

...listed to The Hedge of Thorns and enjoyed it so much we signed up for Lamplighter Publisher's book club.

DragonFly re-read Paddington Bear and Buttercup read Rules by Cynthia Lord which was recommended by Redeemed Reader in her post on Living with Autism. Buttercup loved that book.

Faerie wheelbarrow?

Fall Is Finally Here!

2011-10-03T16:28:00.000-07:00

In our neck of the woods, we say fall has arrived when we can finally go outside in the afternoon and not die of heat stroke in 15 minutes. Today is a gorgeous day! It's 4pm and 80 degrees outside. It doesn't get any better than that.

Look at those lovely long shadows. The family that lives in that house home educate.

DragonFly is making sure no lunatic drivers are coming around the corner. By the way, the family that lives in that house are homeschoolers, too!

That girl is posing. GO roller blade. I want a natural picture.

This is my favorite time of year. Chilly mornings and gorgeous afternoons.

I suppose I'll have to call them in eventually for dinner.

Road Kill

2011-10-01T17:33:00.000-07:00

Those crazy kids!

The neighbor's children and my own saw hundreds of turkey buzzards flying overhead so they decided to see if they could attract their attention by acting like road kill.

They had entirely too much fun.

I think all their giggling clued the birds in to the fact that this particular road kill was still very much alive.

The Hedge of Thorns

2011-10-01T15:58:00.000-07:00

We just finished listening to the dramatic audio, The Hedge of Thorns, by Lamplighter Publishers. This is an amazingly powerful production and so well done! We were delightfully surprised to hear John Rhye Davies play the part of the host. Finally wholesome literature that is both God-honoring and well-written.

The book this audio version was based on was written in 1611 and is thought to be a true story. We cried with young John as he learned so painfully the lesson that God often places hedges of thorns in our life in order to protect us and keep us on the narrow way. We learned with John that "going beyond the path prescribed for us will bring bitter consequences, but our heavenly Father is still abundant in mercy toward those who turn to Him."

The Hedge of Thorns (book and audio) will be cherished and revisited many times by our family.

We've also decided to join Lampligher Publisher's monthly book club so we hope to have many more wonderful evenings spent as a family reading high-quality and godly literature.

A note: While we enjoyed The Hedge of Thorns very much, it is most appropriate for children aged 9 and up as it contains references to drunkenness (very much condemned) and describes a scene of peril that may frighten younger children. Please take this into consideration when purchasing.

Week in Review 9/26/11 - 9/30/11

2011-09-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

September is finished. I find it amazing that we've just completed our seventh week of school for the new year.

Sage and I have finally come to the realization that DragonFly is an atypical learner. I don't really know how else to state that since he has received no official diagnosis. I had him informally evaluated and it appears we have dysgraphia and possibly some form of dyslexia going on. Some of you may wonder how that is possible considering DragonFly is a good reader. His affected areas are mostly in spelling, the way he processes information, and the dreaded writing. There has been a lot of frustration, a lot of wrongly assuming this was behavioral, and in general a lot of negativity in our schooling of DragonFly for the last year or so. After watching a three hour webinar on dyslexia and seeing my son over and over and over again in the examples and hearing the speaker talk about how discouraging it is for these children, I sat down with DragonFly and apologized for having thought he wasn't really trying. He broke down crying. I share all this to say that you'll see even more changes in DragonFly's course of study in the near future and hopefully you'll see a little boy rediscover the joy of learning.

DragonFly...

...completed a Teaching Textbook's placement test and one for Math-U-See. As of this moment, we still haven't made a decision about which curriculum will work best with DragonFly's learning style. All I know for sure is that we have hit a major wall with Rod and Staff mostly due to the fact that it is non-consumable. I'll keep you posted.

...completed three Rod and Staff English lessons on irregular past tense & irregular plurals. We spent a lot of time looking up words in the dictionary.

...studied ur/er words this week in spelling and after five days still wanted to spell hurt as /hrt/. Breathe in, breathe out. It will be fine.

...blew through three lessons in his maps workbook. DragonFly loves maps!

...finished up reading about snakes and toads in CLNR (He finishes this reader next week).

...practiced cursive, vocabulary, and typing.

Buttercup...

...completed four R&S Math lessons on percentages and a Pre-Algebra lesson on inverse operations.

...finished R&S English lessons on active and passive voice.

...did a rewrite of the legend of Gordion's Knot for IEW. She was thrilled since she loves Alexander the Great.

...said she HATED a story in her Abeka book. I asked her why. She read it to me and I HATED it too. It was called A Secret for Two by Quentin Reynolds. I'm warning you though. You'll cry.

...completed all her subjects. I'm not really in the mood to list it all. We did it. That's good enough.

In Memory Work/Bible we...

...finished memorizing our short poem and started working on Martin Luther's speech at the Diet of Worms (we are only memorizing the last paragraph).

...read from the Gospel of John. DragonFly really loved the story about Jesus meeting the men on the road to Emmaus.

....memorized Westminster Shorter Catechism #11.

...passed our Awana sections.

In History we...

...had a short week due to our day at the county fair.

...studied Cesare Borgia and watched Prince of Foxes with Tyrone Power and Orson Welles. This was a fabulous movie shot on location. The kids started jumping up and down when Orson Welles (Borgia) quoted Machiavelli's The Prince.

...learned about Machiavelli and how his writing influenced various historical figures and the field of political science.

...compared Machiavelli's worldview with a biblical one.

...learned about satire and had a discussion on whether we thought The Prince fit the bill or not.

In Science/Health we...

...finished up our study of dental health.

...studied speed, velocity, and vectors and had to listen to They Might Be Giants sing this song ALL week long.

They Might Be Giants - Speed and Velocity from They Might Be Giants on Vimeo.

...practiced acceleration with matchbox cars. [sarcasm]It was really rough forcing ourselves to play with cars. [/sarcasm]

...learned about the Theory of Relativity and made a notebook page on Albert Einstein.

...spend Tuesday at the county fair for nature study. Right? Right!

This sheep gave DragonFly a big smooch.

In Reading we...

...finished Mattimeo and The Black Arrow. We loved them! The kids really loved all the references to The War of the Roses in The Black Arrow. I think they have a much better sense of the time period now.

...planned to start The Hobbit but Sage decided he wanted an audio version so now we are on hold until it comes to our library through interlibrary loan.

Buttercup and DragonFly both read Artimis Fowl this week but we decided not to continue with that series. (One of those times when I wish I had taken the time to pre-read. Sigh). I mention it only because you'll want to pre-read it if your children show an interest.

Yes, this is up early. We are working on domestic engineering, physical education, and mental health on Friday.