we love books

We seriously LOVE books around here. I have been reading to the kids since they could blink. Now, I still read aloud with my kiddos, but I keep excellent books around for them to devour on a regular basis.  I want to try to share some of the great books we have been reading here, much like I used to. Maybe someone will be encouraged in some new books to read. I love seeing what others are reading, too.  I love reading history in accordance with where we are in history as well. So many great books!! Ugh.

Here is a fun, young lady book that we discovered, that I think many of you already know about, but in case you don't...well here it is.

The Princess Academy.
There is a sequel as well.   The Palace of Stone

There is also a third book coming out!!

Yep, that is it. A lovely story about a lovely girl, taken to an academy where an entire journey is laid out before her, requiring cunning and courage.  We, my damsel and I, giggled over this one. It had a very light, subtle, understated and tasteful boy relationship that was girl friendly. I am picky about these things.

What are you reading currently?? What are your favorites?

Classical Conversations, week 2

So, we have started our school year. I must admit, it is far too early for my brain.  Something about this year has been extremely more stressful and busy than last year.  Maybe because my expectations of myself was much lower, while recovering from our loss.  I was simply loving on my kiddos and grieving. I am still grieving. There is something different now though, because I am logical, therefore, my 2 students left at home need me, so I am all in.
It has been crazy with a capital C around here. My school room / office is still in a tornado like state. I am still going to keep working on that, but the children's challenge binders are organized and complete, their books and supplies are all accounted for and they're are excited fairly agreeable to getting started!

Above is my Challenge A students map. She loves to draw, so the quality is vastly superior to her brother's previous map. Did you know that just by starting in the same place each time you draw, you actually create new neuron pathways?? WOW!
However, thankfully, any map drawing has a tremendous amount of value for a child's developing brain. I am tutoring this year in geography and rhetoric and I LOVE it.

We are still working out our schedule.

Stay tuned!

Blessings.....

flower dye continued...again...

Day 4

Well, here is day 4.

It appears to have a general hue of blue throughout, although it is quite subtle.

The peony is on its last leg.

Next time we will add a new color after day 2.

What do you think??

flower dye continued

Day 3

Well, what do you think? 

My observation is twofold...

1. Peonies are not a great flower for this project in relation to the fact that this flower, quite frankly, does not live long outdoors let alone in a vase in the house...hence the droopiness.

2. I feel as though I am observing a slightly more intense blue at the tips, but not actually more diffusion throughout the petals.

What do you think?

See you on day 4.

flower coloring to dye for

DAY 1

DAY 2

We are experimenting with our beautiful peonies.  

The littles and I were at the Dentist's office last week and we noticed these lovely 'tie dye' tulips. 

They were amazing!

So, we decided to experiment at home, 

we picked our white peony,

added blue dye,

kazoom!!

Keep watching for updates!

summer changes

This summer is going way to fast!  We miss our dear boy every single day, but our days do go on.  It just is. We have school starting on August 12th for Ninja and August 26th for Damsel.  Oh how I wish I were planning school for Braveheart!!
After much prayer and consideration and an already solid adoration for Classical Conversations, we are going to home school both of the kids full time.  Saying this, one must know that it is harder for me lately with all we've been through, however, Damsel did a great job last year. We were in Essentials and did the Foundations work at home.  She took math at Ninja's school. Our day was choppy with all the driving, so I am looking forward to that being done. Also, my Ninja is very hard to home school. It's just true. They all have different personalities right?  That being said, after much progress with his two subjects at home, I believe we can do this. God will help us and we are keeping much of our 'busy-ness' to a minimum while we adjust to a new way of doing things for him.

Now, with such a busy summer, I am wishing for some quiet days at home while I get some planning done. I am also trying to adjust my lifestyle and diet. After losing 40 pounds last year with the help of juicing, then gaining most of it back and then feeling so sick....catching things (due to stress, I know) and the chonic issues I have with my bad knee and feet, chronic tiredness, and many other symptoms, then finding out my daughter has Thyroiditis....I know I need to find out what is going on and fix it. So, we are all making changes and I am reading some great books to add to my arsenal of changes.
My first plan is to prepare for and follow through with an elimination diet. Something I am doing is making me sick and me and my dtr have some kind of inflammation issues.  I will not just watch her and wait until she might need pills.
More on that later. Pray for me. Miss you always Braveheart!!!!

investing in their hearts...encouragement for mommies

A QUOTE FROM SALLY...

Now it is true that we are in difficult times and the culture pulls at our children’s hearts and some may go astray. But that doesn’t mean all will-and it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t fight for their hearts, give them a reason to be faithful, seek to make our home the best place they will ever be, so that they will want to be with us and love the God we love and serve.

Here is the link for the full article.  It doesn't mean everyone MUST homeschool, but whatever God leads you to do, let it be an investment in their hearts.....


http://www.itakejoy.com/aaaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhhh-foolishness-abounds/


I hope you can take a moment and read this article.  I always love reading things from Sally.  

multiplication blank grid

I wanted to share a link with you for a multiplication blank grid. I decided to have my kids do some math fact drills on a blank grid. This one was easy to print out. As you can see there are many to chose from. With this we can time ourselves in filling it out. Damsel really enjoys this! Have fun.

starting school!

plans have been made.... (some still tidying up)
afterall, it is me...

desks are being prepared...

books being organized...

college boys looking studious....:)

flowers being picked from the garden...it was a test for the kiddos, give me ten minutes and stay focused..they did!! I know I left the susans out in the sun to long..they look tired but oh it is pretty on the table...zinnias are my favorite flower...

me playing with my camera...the batteries died as I took the one to show you my tomato harvest..

first day good, I am encouraged, a little brain fried but see the routine taking shape...giving some incentives for careful attentive work....

wordless wednesday

unschooling illegal??

I am sure some of you have seen the report on the news that covered the 'unschooler' families right? Well, I have to tell you, I don't 'unschool' nor do I particularly advocate it. My kids tend to need a little more guidance over here. I admit, I was a little astounded by the coverage. I do think there are 'seasons', but I don't think that can actually be called 'unschooling'. However, I can see the value it may have in 'some' families. I can understand how we cannot over regulate those few so as to maintain the freedom of the majority. (ie. no homeschooling allowed due to a very few being abused) Now this being said, I found what I thought was a very truthful, interesting article concerning the ABC covered story.

http://spunkyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2010/04/should-unschooling-be-illegal.html

escape from warsaw

We just finished a read aloud that was quite good. A group of children right after the war try to travel across Europe to reach their parents all by themselves. Plenty of adventure and sacrifice. It is based on a true story. Very entertaining. Fairly quick read. Highly recommend.

god's smuggler

We are listening to a wonderful book for our history time period. It is called God's Smuggler? Have you ever read it? It is post WW 2 and covers the life of a man called Brother Andrew and his work for the Lord. So far we are thoroughly enjoying it. It has humor and is full of such amazing insights into the power and provision of God. It makes me really want to regroup and learn to really rely on the Lord for all our needs in a way that is deeper. I have found it to be readily available in my library system in book and audio form.

bananagrams anyone?

For any of you that know me, I love games like everyone else, but I am no nut for scrabble. I hardly ever play it I am afraid. Not too long ago I discovered Boggle again and really love that. Then, one day, we played Bananagrams!! If you haven't jumped on this wagon yet, it is time to get going quickly. It is so addicting, fast paced, challenging, great for teaching (you know I couldn't resist that one).
Let me know how you like it!!

chemistry is fun!

A local college holds an annual chemistry open house for young children to come and watch and interact with all kinds of fun experiments and explosions! We fell upon it by accident many years ago and it has been awhile since we last went, so we were thrilled to take the family there again. I am sure damsel was too little to remember when last we went. This is only a small example of the very many cool experiments going on. The free candy near the entrance was a plus too. :)

Notice the Milky Ways on the right there next to the oozing bucket of liquid nitrogen? They became Milky Chunks...

Liquid nitrogen ice cream!

A balloon twist on baking soda and vinegar.

You know that goo that comes in those games for kids? Did you know it was an accident and my kids got to make some?? Eeeeeee.......
Isn't it cool that God is a God of even chemistry and He has orchestrated all it's interactions and purposes and it thrills me to see, interact in and show my kids His awesome creations.

chocolate pilot

This is one of our read alouds for our WWII adventures. This story is based on a the real life of a young girl in Berlin after the war, while occupied by Stalin. (he really was a very greedy, communist man) We especially love plane stories since our grandma is a pilot! This was an endearing story about a very generous man that started a huge mission to bring some very sweet joy to these poor little kids. The illustrations are lovely. We even learn a little about what happened when the girl grew up. I won't give the whole story away, since you can read for yourself. This is a fairly quick read too, so make sure you add this one to your list.




mercedes and the chocolate pilot
by

margot theis raven

bach's goldberg variations

This book is so cool. It was such a fun read aloud for the littles which included the story behind this song that was written by Bach. I found it to be quite interesting and I learned something new. It comes with a cd to listen to.
Have a great learning week!

That crazy bloogspot..look what it has done to my photo through no fault of my own..ugh.

co-op art class

We have a lovely little informal co-op group filled with some lovely homeschooling ladies that encourage me every time I meet with them. We are doing an art study every other week for the year, thanks to a very sweet mom with three young boys and lots of energy!! (thanks Stephanie) With that, other mom's have stepped forward as they are able and offered other fun learning opportunities. It's even right nearby, which I love. This has really blessed me. I will keep updating our adventures here.
Above is a photo of the art gallery we visited to start off the year.

violin dreams come true

After much patience and anticipation, damsel girl was finally able to start violin lessons! We were graciously blessed with the loan of a most beautiful violin for her to start with and a wonderful, nearby teacher who is very good at what she does. Someone is very excited!

it's official now....

Well, it's that time again isn't it? We have started our 'official' homeschooling adventures some weeks back. I wasn't nearly as excited this year. I had post medical crisis nerve sensitivity, which was making the prospects of homeschooling less desirable. It was as if all my nerves suddenly started popping out unsheathed upon my skin as an after-effect of this crazy cancer battle being waged. Usually I am so excited for new paper, new ideas and new schedules, but found the thought daunting as Sept. approached. We took it quite easy this summer, maybe too easy. Thankfully, I started a very slow version to start out and worked on the transition with the littles, slowly adding in a longer day. They have made much progress. There have been some ups and downs, but alas, that is the way it is when you have youngins' no matter where they are all day.
So, the books are out, the schedule printed and passed around and hung up, the pencils sharpened and prayers being prayed! We appreciate any of those you want to send up for us! We pray that you and your week is blessed as well.