Let the Tutoring Begin

Our school is offering tutoring after school M&W.  I signed the kiddos up - I remember the Japanese family we hosted a while back.  They really take the kiddos education seriously.  My kids are not failing math - but really... can't they be doing better?  Sure they can... so - until they have "arrived" they will be going to school, after school.

They are not excited.

Thank you Northstar for offering this to us.

2 hour delay

If school were not delayed 2 hours

we pay be pushing.

So we will put off taking showers

until 8:00

I am not a poet...

Creek Edge Press

THIS web-site is a wonderful find!

AmyKate is a wonderful home school-er.  If you ever need one to emulate - she's one!

And NOW - now she is sharing her knowledge and skills with US!!  :sigh:  She's wonderful! 

Go check it out - you will NOT be sorry, even if you don't buy - you can glean... you can ALWAYS be a learner, you know.  Always!  I hope you like what you find... I did. °Ü°

The Next Four Years

Do you know what you will be doing in four years? (the Lord willing)



Well -- I do.  ACTUALLY I know what TORI will be doing in 4 years... because I said so...

Think I'm crazy?  No -- just a planning freak gone wild.  For those of us who LOVE to plan and make charts and organize and think and drool over home school stuff... you know who you are... The four year high school planning stage is HEAVEN (said in a high sing song voice!)  Woo hoo...

I was trying to spread my enthusiasm around a bit last night... and people quicly fled the room... I found myself sitting at the dining room table all by myself... leafing through the Scope and Sequence book from Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum... turning the pages... thinking, "what if".  "If only".  "My kid will be so smart when they are done with this four year plan." sort of thoughts...  She will KNOW all about the North American Continent before European colonization... and isolationism versus diffusionism.  "The Fish I didn't Catch" will be read and comprehended and vocabulary from that story used.  Binomials and Tinomials will be talked about (hopefully with her dad... think he remembers that stuff?)   After four years Tori will have learned about Hygiene... there is a class for everything -- in case I forgot to teach her about footcare, or deodorant.  And shop... need I say more? 

I bet since I'm typing about TORI's life you think I'm typing about shopping.  NO -- I did not mistype... I said SHOP...  electricity, plumbing, machine shop and carpentry sort of Shopping.  It's an elective... I let her elect.  Well -- the more I thought about it -- the more I liked her choice.  She is a first born driven sort of gal... and in week one of SHOP she has to choose a project to do from one of the four areas...  Well -- I need a new deck.  I'll give her an A+ in shop if she builds me a deck (that will work).  It can't cause me to break my leg every time I use it...  I'm so excited!! 


And Spanish I.  Some things I'm less excited about... Dan did peruse her schedule and crack open the Spanish workbook... as he was pronouncing those words, I realized I'll probably be the Spanish coach, not he.  That's too bad... just ask my dad... he was my Spanish I coach.  Well -- we are planning for Spanish in her Freshman year -- that way if it takes her four years to do... NO -- I'm kidding!!  It'll be fine...  (oh me)...

I am excited about one thing -- being from a Christian curriculum... her Spanish class goal is to be able to present the Gospel to a Spanish speaking person.  That's a lofty goal, and I pray she attains it!  And it does come with some CD's...

My one huge strangling fear was that after 4 years of high school... she would decide to go to college and then "they" would all turn to me and say, "Her transcript please," and I would be standing there -- under a really bright light -- with only my slip on... and one curler left in my hair and lipstick on my chin and me crying and saying... "Trans wha??". 

Well -- LFBC gave me a sample to follow -- and I'm all over make charts... so I sat down and did it already.  LOL  I'm such a nerd.  I'm so eXciTeD!!!  I feel like we have arrived already.  Poor Tori - for some reason -- seeing all those classes and charts and credits and grades and BLAH!  She may be a bit overwhelmed... so we'll take it one day at a time... but my parts done.  So There!  (Whew... I don't even own a slip... that was making me a bit nervous).

Here we go Tori!!!  (first lets finish this year... only 1 more day of school left... you can DO IT!) 

5 Words

My on-line friend Melissa -- not to be confused with Melissa who needs to update her blog -- sent out a TAKE 5 challenge.

Since I am getting back into the blogging swing of things, I thought perhaps this would be a good challenge to accept.

Here we go.

The rules:

Melissa got 5 words from another blogger and she did a post about the words she was given. She then offered to give 5 words to someone else. I thought it would be fun, so now I'm going to post on the five words she gave me. If you want to join in, tell me in the comments and I'll send you your own five words! (I am the cut and paste queen... just so you know, I did NOT make up those rules.)

1. Friends

I LOVE friends. I have recently decided that having friends into my home and my life is important to my well being. I asked my dear husband if we could practice hospitality once a month this year. So far we have done that by having friends over from church after our morning servcie, for lunch. A few months we opened our house up to the ProTeens group from church. This summer I used the pool as an excuse to have friends over. Often on Fridays friends came to swim.

Oh... another FUN friends thing is that 2 of our kids got to have a FRIENDS party this year. Our policy is that the kiddos get to have a "friends" party when they turn 6, 10, and 16. Well -- Dani turned 6, and Mansel turned 10 this year. Friends parties are fun... every once in a while.

I want to find a different way to focus on friends this year. We will be getting to see MORE of our home school friends this year since we have re-joined their co-op. 2 times a month and more if we do any extra activities with them.

Oh AND!! How can I forget? I get to go to ladies Bible Study this year. Third Thursday of the month. I went to the first one already. My friends gathered there... I think I wore out my welcome. It was 10:00 p.m. when I left. I stepped off the porch laughing and chatting -- at the same time -- really loudly... and someone poked me and reminded me that I was NOT in the boonies... some one may be sleeping. That's what friends are for -- a poke in the side every once in a while!

2. Bargain

Oh for crying out loud... what do I know about bargains? I do know that if you clothes shop the season ahead for you kids, you should do so in January and July. Isn't that crazy? In the middle of winter the clothes go on sale and they start putting the summer clothes out. I LOVE the Monster sales at The Children's Place in January and July. It's a great place to get matching clothes for the younger kids. Tori has out grown that store now. It seems they are having a 25% off sale right now... but just hold out a bit longer. It gets better in January.

Other bargains?

My husband seems to be the bargain hunter in this household. He bought a swimming pool off of Craig's List for $500 this spring -- a bunch of stuff included... then he sold the heater for $250. Not a bad deal. Who knew we would need the heater in the 25th coldest summer in the last 115 years? Live and learn. One friend came over and swam this summer and the pool was only warm once. The rest of the time we sat and chatted while the kids did the polar plunge. They didn't seem to mind. It was still a bargain... no matter how you look at it.

3. School

Hmm... I wonder if Melissa remembers that we home educate our children? So -- school is going well here. We are still on track. I made up a chart on Excel -- I'm loving highlighted the things that are DONE! I'm such a list maker! Milo in particular is my favorite this year. I get to read aloud a lot of his books to him. We are reading Understood Betsy right now. We were to read to page 36. I finally stopped on page 47, because it was the end of a chapter and we were in the car and it was getting too dark to read. Poor guy... it was funny watching him try to narrate back all that I had just read. I was getting carried away. I love doing school this way! We are using Ambleside On-line for the boys. Tori is REALLY doing well with her Narnia Unit Study. Dani is flying through 100 EZ lessons. We skip days because she'll do 3 lessons in one day. I knew that would happen. She'll be reading before long. :sigh: I don't really want her to grow up!

4. Faith

Faith -- it is encouraging that I'm still learning. Bible study Thursday night was about grace. Something I don't have much of. BUT... if I'm to exhale grace (to others), I need to be inhaling grace(from God!). Did I get that right Tara? Seems that just when I need this -- God delivers. Another area that I'm working on is memorizing scripture. I've decided that not only are my children going to learn their Bible verses each week -- they are going to REVIEW them each week. It really irritates me that they learn them for Sunday School, then forget them for Monday school. Blah... that's so wrong. So I'm putting them on 3x5 cards. You know I love me some 3x5 cards! Use them all the time -- run them through my printer... I punched holes in these and put rings through them... so they have little Bible Verse packets. We are going to LEARN them... write them on our hearts! While my kids are doing this -- I hope to catch a few here and there.

I'm also getting nudged in Sunday School by my pastor to KNOW the gospel so I can be able to TELL it when called upon. I really want to be able to do this. And he asked us Sunday -- were there any divine appointments in our lives this week? I sort of shrugged on the inside... then he said, "Was your husband a divine appointment?" Oh bother! There is that conviction again.

5. Kids

Oh -- look it there... she saved the best for last! I love talking about my kids. Perhaps I should have broken this up into 5 different posts. KIDDING!!

Wayne is the biggest baby 4 year old I've ever meet. OK -- that's not true. Just wait... I'm going to blog about him helping me in a few days. Oh... he is so cute... especially when he calls me "mama". I'd give him the moon if he said, "Please Mama, the moon?" Today I decided he needed a little discipline. We did some "yes ma'am training". Good grief... I only had to remind him twice and he just spit out that response for every little thing. He is the hardest for me to train -- all he has to do is look at me... with those eyes! WHY did God make the babies so cute. He KNOWS they need training. If it were me I'd make the youngest the ugly ones... so we wouldn't SPOIL them so much. You know I'm kidding.

Tori is a fun girl. I got to cut her hair this week. She is so brave. Be quiet -- I'll post pics later. LOL she is running cross country right now.. Doing fine... better then me. I saw the last place guy come running/shuffling in tonight. Tori was already in the Suburban by then. I said, "Oh -- I'm so proud of him... he comes in last every time, but still keeps on running." Tori just looked at me. DING... "Oh yeah... that's why I'm so proud of him... I can relate really well with him and that last place thing." Ü yes she never said a word. Isn't she a good girl?

Mansel is growing up. I can see peeks of him manhood every once in a while. Oh me... that makes me afeerd. Very afeerd! I've had no brothers... just one husband. I hope he knows what he is doing in the raising boys department.

Milo is growing too. I OFTEN stop him and give him a "middle child" hug. I would never want him to have that as an excuse for anything! He is precious to me. So different than I am... I love him so.

Danielle is playing soccer now. First season for this -- oh me... she is not a quitter. Her team has only 5 players. The minimum you need on the field at her level. She played a team with 8 players Saturday. That means they get no rests. Or if one of you team mates gets :nicked on the arm and he thinks he is choking" (the coaches words... not mine), you only have 4 team members on the field. She was running and running and running... and just wouldn't quit! I was so proud of her. Her coach said she is a good listener. She gets that from me. LOL KIDDING!!

Wayne... Wayne, Wayne... wait -- I started with him didn't I? Well -- you all know... he's cute. Plus I love'em.

How did i do Melissa?

Anyone else want to play? Leave a comment or two -- I think of some good words for you to blog about! Oh YES I will. Come on and play along!!

More Ambleside Online

Mansel will be starting year 4. I did year 4 with Tori... she didn't like it much. Mansel is a much different reader than she is. He is already looking forward to starting the school year. His most favorite classes this year were science, in which I had him read and narrate to me out of a reader, and literature... more reading of course.

So -- he will read the following books.

History

This Country of Ours by HE Marshall Charles I-George III
** ***George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster 349 pages
(optional extra) ***An Island Story ch 95 and 96, 1760-1820, George III; Free Audio at Librivox Part 1, Part 2.

History Tales and/or Biography

Trial and Triumph (Church history from a definite Protestant perspective) by Richard Hannula (selected chapters) Read a sample excerpt or purchase the book. Now online Descriptions of some trials of the Christians may be intense; parents should preview chapters to determine suitablity based on their children's sensitivities. If you prefer, you can cover church history in Years 7-9 with a different book, Saints and Heroes.
* Poor Richard by James Daugherty
** *** Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober (note).

Geography

Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling (Mississippi River Page) (map or map) Beautiful Feet sells a set of maps for the Holling books, do a search for Holling Maps

Natural History

The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (a 1911 version is online in various formats here)

Science

We are skipping out on Ambleside Online science books. I'm going to start the boys on the Apologia Science experience. Exploring Creation with Astronomy. With it we are going to use the Lapbook CD that is available. I'm sensing a science fair project coming on. Eventually all the littles will be doing this science together. In 7th or 8th grade I'll switch to the "grown up" version of Apologia for their science.

Mathematics

He too will be working on a worktext from Rainbow Resource. I have plans on them using Practical Math, which is not the same thing as Practical Math as seen here . I look forward to my kiddos being able to make on-the-spot, emergency recalculations for their return and reentry to the atmosphere with notepads and pencils in the days when there were no interactive computers to depend upon. You will find these books to be entirely wholesome, as well as very challenging, for your children. Your children will be drilled by lists of problems that will require them to perfect each arithmetic skill in every possible facet and type of problem in which it can be faced. Oh... I'm just kidding. It's the old fashioned way... that's for sure. It's not Saxon... that's all I'll say. LOL

Foreign Language

Not Latin, because I'm a wimp. He will just use the Spanish CD from Costco.

Literature

The Age of Fable by Thomas Bulfinch preface to 14 (Minerva-Niobe)
* ** The Life and Adventures of Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (Book II, The Further Adventures, is not scheduled and is not included in most versions)
** *** Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
*** The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford
short works:
*** The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving (listen to it on librivox.org)
*** Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (listen to it on librivox; scroll down)
*** Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving (listen to it on librivox.org; scroll down)

I'm so looking forward to Mansel's school year. I think he will like it too. You know what I did? With Tori she read Kon-Tiki... well -- the AO ladies have taken that out of the schedule for some reason. I'm going to have Mansel read it. I think he will like it. So -- he'll also being reading that too.

Handing writing of course, and spelling.

I've got my schedule on the computer... our days off all planned out. We are going to be doing a 4 day school week, with Fridays reserved for appointments, or Home School Co-op Activity Days.

As always -- the beginning of the school year is so exciting for me. I'm really looking forward to this school year. I'm learning that we doing all have to do school the same way. Tori is going to do one thing, the boys another thing.

Oh -- I can't forget Dani. She's starting school this year. More to come.

Ambleside Online

Mansel and Milo will be doing school the Ambleside Online way. I'm looking forward to this.

Ambleside Online.

Here is what their web-site says. "Ambleside Online is a free curriculum designed to be as close as possible to the curriculum that Charlotte Mason used in her own PNEU schools. Our goal is to be true to Charlotte Mason's high literary standards. Ambleside Online uses the highest quality books and costs no more than the cost of texts."

So -- with the help of Rainbow Resource... we are on our way. I only had to get 3 books from Amazon, for Mansel. That Rainbow Resource is spectacular! Hooray.

Milo will be doing year 2. I know... I should probably start him with year 1, but I'm not going to. He's going to be in 2nd grade, so we'll start with year 2. I'll be doing most of his reading. But he will have some to read on his own as well, and narrate back to me. I love that part!

History

An Island Story by HE Marshall ch 22-60 1066-1553, Harold II-Edward VI, (Our Island Story is the same book) Free Audio at Librivox Part 1, Part 2.

This Country of Ours (TCOO) by HE Marshall ch 1-5
A Child's History of the World by Virgil Hillyer ch 47 on Charlemaigne, skip Alfred - ch 61

History Tales and/or Biography

Trial and Triumph (Church history from a definite Protestant perspective) by Richard Hannula (selected chapters)

* ** The Little Duke by Charlotte Yonge (An author CM used in the PNEU curriculum. This is a lively, literary biography of Richard, Duke of Normandy, great-grandfather of William the Conqueror, beginning in 943 AD. Yonge's historical information about events of the Viking era is meticulously researched, although presented in a somewhat Victorian tone.) Text also here.
*** Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley

Geography

Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling -- map)
Seabird by Holling C. Holling

Natural History/Science

The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock (a 1911 version is online in various formats here)
* ** The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thornton Burgess See Kelly Kenar's taxonomy key to research more about the animals in the book
*** Pagoo by Holling C Holling

Phonics/Reading Instruction

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Engelmann, Haddox and Bruner. Milo will be finished with this in 2 more lessons, I believe. Then we go on from there with Pathway Readers. I may pick up some explode the code workbooks. We'll see.

Mathematics

Math Worktext from Rainbow Resource!

Foreign Language

A Spanish CD we got from COSTCO.

Literature

Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
Pilgrim's Progress Book 1 (Christian's Journey) by John Bunyan - the original language is recommended; read why and see recommended versions here.
* Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (published as "Betsy" in the UK)
** The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame (we recommend the edition illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard)
*** Robin Hood by Howard Pyle (this book may be continued into the summer if necessary to finish) Don't let the language put you off this book. After getting a feel for the rhythym and phrases, many moms report that this is a favorite with their children, especially boys. It can be the book that helps transition children to some other challenging AO books. Now available as an unabridged audio with British accent from Audible.com.

Milo will also continue using the Getting-Dubay handwriting curriculum.

He will be using the Spelling CD for his grade as well.

Bible we will all do together with Dad. We are still working on our Bible Curriculum from Landmark Freedom Baptist. Working through Proverbs together.

Dani Starts school This Year

She is SO excited!!

100 EZ Lessons

and

Italic Getty-Dubay workbook

and

A Math Workbook from Costco.

There ya have it.

Do you like to read about school?

Here is what I have planned for school this year.

Tori - 8th grade.

F.U.F.I. I hate acronymns. LOL Ok... well -- hate is a very strong word. Good grief... don't google that one. Bleck. Anyway. Further Up and Further In This is what Tori will be using for her 8th grade year. The web-site says this... "This rich study is based on C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia. It covers a wide range of subjects, including English and literature, history and social studies, geography, science, Bible and character building, cooking, and art."

Tori and I have been struggling with SAXON Math. I mentioned this to a friend. She recommended KEYS TO series. She had one of her kiddos do those for a while and really nailed those math facts. I've decided that I don't really like the "spiral" approach to math. Or the Incremental method. I want the learn this and practice it until you get it, then we'll go on. No merry-go-round stuff for us. We are taking a year off from the packaged "stuff" and going to go with the Keys To Series. We are going to STICK this math and get it. Really get it. Then start highschool math stuff in 9th grade.

She'll also still do handwriting. After 7 years of handwriting, she thought she was done. Ahh ha ha ha! Fooled her. I found this neat book in my Rainbow Resource Catalog. That catalog is a GOD SEND b.t.w. Wowza... what took me so long to find that? It's amazing. OK -- back on track. Character Italics. They use the Getty-Dubay Italic handwriting, but have "character" stuff in it. It's for 5th graders... just don't tell Tori. She'll never know. OK -- she can read... maybe I'll embelish her workbook with stickers or something, before I give it to her.

Bible she will be doing her ProTeen memory work and daily Mana book. b.t.w. if there are any local teens out there... well - Parents of teens out there, this ProTeens is the BEST thing I have seen for teens. This is not an entertainment type deal. It gets them into God's Word. A discipleship program. Learn the Word. Figure out how to apply it to your life. Memorize scripture. Serve others. I really like it. Earn points through out the year. Tori has learned a lot and grown tremendously. Of course... you only get as much out as you put in. But there aren't any crazy games, and wild parties... just God's word. They call the youth group ProTeens... they also meet once a month. Do after game activities together. But the emphasis is not on entertainment with this group. I truly love it for my kids!

She will still be doing spelling as well. I've got a spelling CD we got from Costco. We go all out for our kiddos, I tell ya. It has several grades on one CD. She'll be thrilled. (Not really). I've noticed her spelling has gotten better the older she gets and the more she cares about it. We really struggled for a while. She's getting there. So -- we are still going to do spelling... even in 8th grade.

That's it... the basics.

More tomorrow -- that'll be the Ambleside Online stuff. I need a new word. How many times did I use the word stuff in this post. Probably 1 too many.

School at My House

Yeah... most school days I don't wear much make-up...

but I like to lecture.


My kids love to listen.

I know they do...

really...

deep down inside -- they do...

New Blog

Well -- I've gone and dun it...

I'm started YET ANOTHER blog!!

I'm going to do this to hold myself accountable.

I love to blog.

I hate to write myself notes about what I've done for school that day, or trying to remember -- just what DID I do all day, when my dh asks me that infamous question, or keeping any symblance of MEMORIES of my children's education.

So -- here it is... my attempt at killing several birds with one stone.

Johnston Academy

Catchy Title... huh?

I know -- the creativety was just oozing out of my pores this morning.

I've got a start on it.

I'm supposed to update it weekly.

Yeah -- I've got a family blog I'm supposed to update monthly... that I forget about... so I'm praying you'll BUG ME if I forget.

Oh hey... I've got a google calendar -- I just might schedule this. Hmmm...

Dr. Laura about home schooling.

My kids are probably not the best example of well socialized home schooled children -- they sort of take after their parents... whom some of which... are not the most socially acceptable people on the face of the planet. BUT... that opinion aside... I like what Dr. Laura had to say in this article about Home Schoolers and socialization.

Yeah -- interesting reading. Now -- I'm going to go fish my kiddos out from the basement for a little socialization training. They MUST look me in the eye or else they don't get any free time... and it's back to the grind stone. Oh my word!!! I'm just kidding!!

I will admit that I've had this conversation with 1 non home educating parent. I said, "I don't even WANT my kiddos socialized to today's standards. I prefer the Laura Ingalls Wilder manners and social skills, if you must know." Several other government school moms were sitting by and they agreed with me -- laughing a little. But one mom -- she said, "You don't live in that day in age any more. That's not possible."

Who says?? I'm gonna try!

AND -- one more point I wanted to make to that mom... but didn't think of it until too late (that comes from my lack of social skills, I think -- I'm always thinking of something to say AFTER the fact)... she said, "My kids learned how to read when they were 3, by not challenging them in a public school setting you are holding them back." HA! I say (now)... you are REALLY a home schooler and you are probably holding YOUR kids back by putting them in a public school system. If her kids learned to read by the age of 3... who taught them to read... SHE did... and now -- they are all getting straight A's... they have MAXED the public school system out. How thrilling would it be if she would keep them at home... they would SOAR! It would be so exciting to see how MUCH they could learn at home... but she wouldn't believe me if I HAD said that. She was a staunch public schooler... poor kids. They are missing out.

Anyway... how did I get on that topic? I'm a little scatter brained today. Must be that public schooling I'm putting to use.

That's Not On the Test

::giggle:: Awww... to be homeschooled!!

High Flyer

We had a field trip the other day.
We toured the local small town airport.
We got to participate in the EAA Young Eagles Program. They will come in and give a child from ages 8-17 a free flight. How exciting. I took all the kids, and we got to watch Mansel fly.

The pilot did GREAT with the kiddos. He let Mansel hop up into the plan and get a great photo op. "Look Ma, I'm flying!" Ü

Then they all climbed in and took a 20 minute flight... for free. Amazing. Mansel said he didn't realize it was so hilly where we lived. LOL

We stuck around while everyone was flying, because at the end we took a tour and got to see where they stored planes, and worked on planes and fueled them up. It was a neat field trip. We drive by the airport many times going to and from town. Sunday -- on the way home from church -- Danielle said, "Look... there is the airport."

Learn something new every day.

Thanks to my friend Tricia for organizing these field trips for our group. She really does a great job! She makes our homeschooling experience so much richer!

MFW Music

I stumbled upon a site today that may help me with My Father's world Rome to Reformation year next year. We will be doing an Introduction to Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.

That is who we will be concentrating on -- and look it here. There is SCADS of stuff free at the Classic Cat. Looks like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is very well represented.
Woo Hoo... what a find.

What do you use to study music?

ISO: 2008 Curriculum

** THIS WILL BE A STICKY POST FOR A WHILE**
Scroll down for the updated posts. Thank you
****************************************************

Here is a list of things I am seeking out for school next year -- if you have any... or know of someone who is looking to get rid of some... I would be interested in buying.

(I love this time of year!)

What I did was list what I needed right off of the My Father's World web-site. I like most used curriculum should sell for LESS then new price. Ü Don't you?

Rome to the Reformation Teacher's Manual
$ 100.00

How The Bible Came to Us
$ 10.95

The Roman Empire
$ 7.95

Augustus Caesar's World
$ 17.95

Galen and the Gateway to Medicine
$ 13.95

The Story of the World, Volume 2
$ 16.95

Medieval World
$ 14.95

Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History (Man alive... I used to own this book ) $ 21.00

The Human Body for Every Kid
$ 12.95

The Body Book
$ 18.95

First Encyclopedia of the Human Body
$ 9.95

The Wonderful Way Babies Are Made
$ 14.95

Exploring Creation with Astronomy
$ 29.95

The Bronze Bow - a powerful story of hatred and forgiveness that shows the struggles of the Jewish people at the time of Jesus.
$ 6.95 **Free from PaperBack Swap** Woo Hoo!!

Twice Freed - historical fiction set at the time of the apostle Paul.
$ 6.95

Dangerous Journey - the classic story of Pilgrim's Progress retold in a beautiful hard-back edition with full-page illustrations.
$ 24.00

Door in the Wall - a boy in the Middle Ages learns the meaning of the "open door that no one can shut" from Revelation 3:8 in this Newbery Award book.
$ 6.95

Starting Chess
$4.95

Make This Model Medieval Castle
$ 9.95

Exploring Creation with General Science $74.00

Exploring Creation with General Science Daily Lesson Plans written by My Father's World $15

Exploring Creation with General Science Multimedia Companion CD $11.95

Saxon Math 8/7 3rd Edition Complete Package $134.50

Saxon Math 8/7 Homeschool Kit with Solutions Manual $84.50

Saxon Math 8/7 MFW Daily Lesson Plans $15.00

Saxon Math 8/7 DIVE CD $50

Primary Language Lessons (for Grades 2-3) $ 14.95

MFW 1st Grade Student Materials $50.00

Writing Strands Level 3 $ 20.00

Thanks for looking!

** RED means I found one. °Ü°

2008 Project Fair Night

It's that time of year again. Our family participated in our Home School Groups Project Fair Night. Mansel and Tori worked on the Old Testament Tabernacle Model. We did that a few weeks ago with the My Father's World curriculum, so I decided to save it and use is as the project. Dan helped Mansel make the back drop, while Tori and I typed up the informational sheets all about the tabernacle. Tori and Mansel had to stand by their table for 20 minutes and talk to the adults all about it. Makes a mommy nervous. They did very well -- they could answer every question asked of them. Whew... Milo helped with the project too, at home, but he didn't have to stand there... he got to go scope out the other projects.




Which he did. He found his favorite. SPRINT CARS. Wow... neat display. The orange car was his favorite, he said.

Danielle said the chocolate chips cookie display was her favorite. This girl was smart -- bring along some SAMPLES... people will linger. LOL. They were good too. I know... I sampled.

My favorite? The BAT. This young man MADE this bat... from scratch. He found some wood in the old barn... and made a bat. Wowza... I was impressed. Rather menacing fella... isn't he? Funny kid... I like him... and his bat.

So -- another year -- another fair. My kids are already talking about NEXT year. I said.. MAYBE I'll let them chose their own projects next year... maybe... if they start working on them NOW... maybe they'll be done in time. We'll see. LOL

Baby Bottle Math

In Des Moines there is a Crisis Pregnancy Center that our church supports, the Alpha Women's Center. Every year they pass out Baby Bottles, at the churches who support them, that can be filled with $$. All sorts of money. We save our coins all year and put coins in the baby bottles. I've seen them returned with 1 single check in them. I bet they appreciate those bottles.

This year -- it was Milo's job to fill the bottle. But first -- we had to count the money. Why? Because -- he's in Kindergarten, and that's hands on math, if you ask me.

So -- he counted to 10 and put the money in piles.

Then of course filled the bottle.

But not before I'd shown him how to cheat and add it up with a calculator. LOL

Looks like we needed another bottle. I think I'll run that by the bank, have them change it into bills, and we'll stuff the bills into the top of the bottle.

This being Sanctity of Life week -- it seems like an opportune time for them to pass out baby bottles. REMEMBER!!! I just want to do all I can do to pass the word for us all to REMEMBER the babies!!

This page of their web-site shows the truth about Adoption vs. Abortion. What it says is very true. There are some similarities between adoption and abortion. But there are some very TRUE and REAL differences. The difference between life and death. And if you think it's something you can take lightly and just shrug away... think again.

But here I am -- probably preaching to the choir... my one or two readers a day would NEVER dream they'd be in the position to even have to make such a choice. So what is our job?

Well -- I'd start by saying... Fall on your face before God and beg for forgiveness for even allowing such a choice in our country. Then get up on your feet and do something. Even a little thing such as giving your spare change to the local Crisis Pregnancy Center... Make it a math project if you have to.

Oh God Forgive Us!

Let's Talk about the Weather

Do you recognize this guy? Some of you Iowa readers might. I'll give you a hint. He wears make-up when he performs his job. Not many men will admit to that.

Today our home school group had a field trip. We gathered at the library in town to meet with Jason Parkin. Mr. Parkin is the weather man from KCCI Channel 8 News. It was a very interesting field trip.



He started out by telling us all about himself... ok -- probably not ALL about himself -- but a few things about himself. Did you know he once had a job where he wore a hair net? Interesting, I know. I never knew.

Then he showed a video. It explained all about his job as a weather man. I'm curious as to why Wayne has the deer in the head lights look.

Then we all got to ask HIM questions. Robert wanted to know if it would be snowing when his Grandma flew into Iowa from California on Friday. It MAY BE! Won't she be thrilled? There were some other good questions asked...

Mansel asked about how to measure snow fall. Do you know how?
One can measure the snow fall in 8 different locations in your yard, then average them together, and that the snow fall for that area. I think we could find 8 different place in our yard to measure. I think that would be interesting to know. What is the snow fall for OUR YARD!!
He said it doesn't work to just measure in the snow drift and call in 12" of snowfall... that's not accurate.

I asked him what his dream job would be as a meteorologist. He mentioned being a storm chaser in Oklahoma. That doesn't sound fun to me -- but then again... I'm a mom and not a meteorologist. Ü I wear make-up, but I don't know much about predicting weather, or chasing tornadoes.

Here are some VERY COOL links he told us about. Check out the movies on You Tube by AKRHERZ. He said the one to watch is the "Gravity Wave". I'll admit -- that's a pretty awesome 32 seconds of video. Check it out.




That show me how AWESOME our God is. Who knew there would be weather video on You Tube viewed almost 1/2 million times? Cool.

One more suggestion was for us to check out USA today for some "good weather graphics". I found it -- he's right. The USATODAY.com weather graphic index is FULL of stuff that is neat to know.

AND last but not least -- he was kind enough to pose with my kiddos... most of them. Danielle decided to run off and play ring around the rosie with some of her friends when he was done talking. She missed out on getting her photo taken with some one famous.

Mr. Parkin is a very personable guy, and knowledgeable about the weather -- we just couldn't stump his this time... maybe next time.

Billy the Kid

Do you all get the History Channel?

I do.

I also get "This Week's Educational Programming Update" via e-mail, from the History Channel.

Sometimes there is information in the e-mail that I find useful.

Like this little tidbit. Investigating History: Billy the Kid, Thursday, January 17thth at 5PM/4c

There also is a link so you can BUY the DVD instead of watching it on TV for free. Ummm... I think I'll turn my TV on for free. Here is the link so you can take a sneak peak at what is coming up next.

Oh... I bet I could stop what I'm doing and take a sit down and watch a bit of the history channel.

Let's see -- what do I know about Billy the Kid? Not much actually.

The History Channel e-mail writers say that...

Billy the Kid was the Old West's most infamous desperado, yet we actually know little about his short life--and more important--his death. Now, New Mexico has reopened the investigation into Billy the Kid's crimes and mysterious death in 1881. Did Sheriff Pat Garrett kill him or fake the death and allow his friend to escape? Throughout this one-hour episode, we talk to those involved in the investigation, including Governor Bill Richardson, Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist N. Scott Momady, and historian Robert M. Utley to unravel the mystery. This program would be an excellent companion to course units on the American West.

Well -- what do ya know about that? I'll put that on my calendar -- and count it as school. ;) Remember watching TV during school? The teacher would turn the TV on and we'd all count down with the TV... 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4... I wonder what that was... was it the History Channel or PBS, maybe? I don't know... but if the public schools can do it -- I can do it too. °Ü°