Free Worship CD Download (Acquire the Fire)

If you'd like a free contemporary Christian worship CD, visit Acquire the Fire's website and click the "Free ATF Worship CD Download" button on the left. My son has the opportunity to attend this event this weekend.

Friday Fill-in #111

And...here we go!

1. It seems like spring should be here by now.

2. Put the seat down when you're done, please? (And make sure you didn't drip!)

3. If I thought you would go, I'd invite you!

4. Your blog is what I think of most when I think of you.

5. To me, Valentine's Day means heart shaped cookies, making homemade cards with doilies, and conversation hearts.

6. Singing praises to God gives me strength.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to doing SOMETHING with a friend, tomorrow my plans include doing SOMETHING for Valentine's Day and Sunday, I want to read my book!

They Came, They Bowled, They Partied

Today was our homeschool group's Valentine party, held at a bowling alley. The kids are invited to create a Valentine box to serve as a "mailbox". They are supposed to do this completely on their own (although I think some parents "help" a bit too much). Anyway, this is a 'tradition' in our group. We've done it for years now. Here are my children's entries. David did not participate. In fact, none of the 12+ crowd did. I think all 12 of the ones who showed up in that age group today were all boys!























No, none of my kids won a prize. Each age group was judged separately. But because I thought they each did a phenomenal job deciding what to make and making it, yes, on their own, I bought them each a prize myself.

Simple Woman Daybook - February 9

For Today... February 9, 2009

Outside my Window... more SUNSHINE! I'm getting spoiled. Less snow than last week. It's melllllltttttiiiiinnnngg.

I am thinking... about miracles.

From the learning rooms... a late start today; everyone is ready but being so nice and quiet! (I think that's the equivalent of getting your teacher off talking on a tangent. lol)

I am thankful for... Knowing how to read! And enjoying it! And books being affordable and plentiful!

From the kitchen... Going to go mix up some peasant bread so it can rise for lunch.

I am wearing... Jeans, black silky shirt under a magenta/white/black striped v-neck shirt, white socks, black slippers, and I scrunched my hair sorta curly today. No makeup and not doing any today.

I am reading... . The Note by Angela Hunt. Reading Isaiah in The Message. Going to be reading Jane Eyre for book club soon.

I am hoping... Bob does well on his retake of the census test today.

I am creating... my novel Forget-me-Not and hoping to finish the first draft this week. I may still be looking for a beta reader. Anyone interested (that hasn't already contacted me)?

I am hearing... faint happy sounds from upstairs, the furnace running.

Around the house... I have an organizer basket I want to find a use for. I also want to sew the "extra pieces" onto the recliners. They have a name, but I don't remember what it is. Antimacassar? Anyway, the seats are getting threadbare and I thought I'd sew them there.

One of my favorite things... Potted plants! My husband bought me a potted tulip for Valentine's Day. (Yes, a week early. lol At least he did it, right?) When it blooms, I'll share a photo.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... Not as busy. Tuesday the boys have Chess Club and at night James has soccer training, Wednesday we have a Valentine bowling party for our homeschool group and Pioneer Club at night. Saturday is Valentine's Day, so I imagine we'll do something fun. Lots of writing needs to happen!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
Yes, that's my family, looking all energetic at the beginning of a day of lessons! LOL Can you say 'apathy', children?

The Need to Be Cool

Here is a quote I read the other day in Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller. This is an issue I've considered before, especially in light of my tendency to be an obsessive fangirl. :-)

"I was wondering the other day, why it is that we turn pop figures into idols? I have a theory, of course. I think we have this need to be cool, that there is this undercurrent in society that says some people are cool and some people aren't. And it is very very important that we are cool. So, when we find somebody who is cool on television or on the radio, we associate ourselves with this person to feel valid ourselves. And the problem I have with this is that we rarely know what the person believes whom we are associating ourselves with. The problem with this is that it indicates there is less value in what people believed, what they stand for; it only matters that they are cool." p105

Feel free to discuss in comments!

Co-op Classes are Cool!

Homeschool co-op was Friday. We've belonged to our co-op for 4-1/2 years now; I started it back then along with a few other families. (If you want to know how to do co-op, check out my e-book. Link to the left.)

This year I am teaching a class called Glass Slipper, which focuses on multicultural Cinderella stories. This week we read The Golden Slipper, a Vietnamese version of the story. Then we did watercolor pictures of a rooster, mimicking one in the story. I had the students trace a black-and-white outline of a rooster with a grey crayon, to imitate the style of art in the story (see cover illustration). Then they were given real watercolor paints (from tubes) and encouraged to fill in their crayoned outline.

I am also teaching a class in which the students are writing and illustrating their own books. This week was taken up with summarizing what should be completed already and working on book jackets .

The Cards class teacher was absent and I volunteered to take her place and taught the students how to play Minorca. This is a crazy addictive game that my friend Vicki taught us several years ago. She is apparently the only person in the world who calls it that since googling that word comes up with nothing. Some people call it Speed or Spit and play with slightly different rules. Anyway, Maryann and I SHOWED the kids how to play - let the masters demonstrate, children! LOL

My kids enjoy co-op and I wouldn't trade the experience for anything!

Friday Fill-in #110

from Friday Fill-Ins by Janet

Questions courtesy of YellowRose this week; thanks, friend! And...here we go!

1. Please don't tell the kids I ate one of the fudgesicles.

2. Can you smile in the morning? It takes me a while.

3. The color pink makes me want to put on makeup and do my hair!

4. I have a craving for chocolate! Chocolate! Chocolate!

5. If my life had a pause button, I'd pause it with my family nearby, being sweet to each other.

6. Eyes are the thing I look at first.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to spending the night with a friend and have girl talk, tomorrow my plans include relaxing and planning a Sunday School lesson and Sunday, I want to spend time with my family!

Weekly Review - Week 22

Since I cannot concentrate on writing until the kids are in bed, I guess I'll do my weekly review. We have co-op tomorrow and that means our lessons for the week are done. They may have a little "homework" to finish up on Saturday, but I'm not up to checking the work right now. It's been a HECK of an afternoon. :::brave smile:::

I also took NO PHOTOS of lessons this week, so the old style review returns for a bow.

David supervised lessons on Wednesday morning since Bob and I both had an errand. We came home to find ALL assigned work completed! WOW! Great job, David!

Bible

• We started two new songs: Shine Jesus Shine and Since Jesus Came Into My Heart. We also reviewed 3 previously learned songs.
  
• We read part of Chapter 4 of Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends
• We had family prayer time Mon-Wed. And hope to do it Friday before co-op.
• We read 2 Kings 16-17 and selections from the books of Amos and Hosea.
  

Math

• David worked on Lesson 5 (Cartesian Coordinates - graphing) in Algebra 1.
  
• Emily began Lesson 28 in Gamma (multiple digit multiplication). Bob worked one-on-one with her most of the way.
  
• James finished Lesson 16 (Multiply by 4, 4 Quarters = 1 Dollar) in Gamma and took the test. He began Lesson 17 (Skip Count by 7 and Multiplication by Multiples of 10) and did 2 pages.
  
• Suzy finished Lesson 17 (Addition of the Extras, 3+5, 4+7, 5+7) in Alpha, took the test, and started Lesson 18 (Introduction to Subtraction).

Language Arts - Literature and Reading

• David read Chapters 1-8 of Streams to the River, Streams to the Sea by Scott O'Dell, answered comprehension questions for some of it and wrote a summary for another part. (This book is about Sacagawea and Lewis and Clark.
• David is also reading a book on manners for teens. He's thrilled, let me tell you. He read the intro and Chapters 1-2.
  
• Emily read Chapters 1-8 of King of the Wind by Marguerite Henry and answered comprehension questions online. She has some homework to do on Saturday with this book.
  
• James did 4 Read and Think Skill Sheets (A Beka).He is getting very good at answering the comprehension questions now.
  
• James read pp26-51 from Birds Do the Strangest Things and wrote each day in his literature journal about it.
  
• Suzy read pp12-27 in the old reader We Live on a Farm and wrote in her literature journal.
• Suzy has been working on the two sounds of C and the two sounds of G in Alphabet Island Phonics.
  
• James and Suzy each did 8 pages in their Explode the Code books.
  
• Everyone did some silent reading throughout the week.
  

Language Arts - Writing

• David and Emily began Lesson 10 in IEW: SWI-B (Institute for Excellence in Writing: Student Writing Intensive, Junior High Level). This lesson is on sentence openers and story-writing.
  
• Everyone wrote in their Communication Journals (writing back and forth to me).
  
• Everyone wrote a letter.

Language Arts - Other

• David and Emily both did several pages in Easy Grammar about irregular verbs.
  
• David, Emily, and James each did 3 lessons in Spelling Power.
• James and Suzy did 2 pages of penmanship. Suzy started cursive this week, at her request, and she was thrilled!
  

Science

• David worked on Apologia Physical Science Module 6 which is on the earth and the lithosphere. He did some comprehension questions.
  
• Emily, James, and Suzy studied the nesting habits of birds in Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.
  

History

• David had the week off from History. He is awaiting an audiobook.
• Emily, James, and Suzy had the week off History.
  

Other activities

• Most of the kids worked on the computer for art and typing.
• The two younger kids went to Pioneer Club and each one brought a friend.
  
• James went to soccer training clinic on Tuesday night.
• The three oldest had art class on Wednesday afternoon.
  
• Everyone had a dental appointment on Thursday afternoon.
  

Sharing about Scheduling

Last night was our homeschool group's monthly parent support meeting. I love going to the meetings and make it a priority. If you have the opportunity to attend a support meeting, I highly recommend it. I put the dates on my calendar as soon as I know them; that way I don't forget about them.

Anyway, I was asked to post a summary of the meeting. (Thanks, Michele, for that idea!) The topic was scheduling and routines. We had about 10 parents (1 dad!) there. (and one very active toddler! lol) Since one mom there had just pulled her 7th grader out of the public schools, we took time to address her questions and concerns before moving on to our scheduled topic.

We discussed Managers of their Homes (MOTH) by Steve and Teri Maxwell, which describes a very structured approach to scheduling. Every half-hour segment of the day is scheduled and color-coded by child. I did a MOTH schedule a few years ago, but found that being that strictly structured was not something I could stick to easily. I also had a few issues with some of the themes in the book, the one I remember most clearly being scheduling breastfeeding times for your baby. (I firmly believe in breastfeeding on demand.) But, this was the beginning of my scheduling journey.

From there I have moved to a spreadsheet schedule, based on my MOTH-type schedule - still color coded, still mostly 30 minute blocks. However, I use it more for planning purposes (ensuring there is enough time in our day for what I want to accomplish) rather than a timeclock (I don't move on to the next thing at the chiming of the clock).

Sarah, the parent support coordinator, had asked me to share some of my scheduling & lesson planning methods, so I showed my spreadsheet schedule and my lesson planning sheets and described how I manage my time and lessons.

As I've mentioned, I have started doing a month's worth of lesson plans at a time. For David, I give him the whole month's assignments at the beginning of the month. I give the other kids a week's assignments at a time, divided into daily assignments. Any of them is free to work ahead, if they so choose. (They usually do not.)

I have described lesson planning on this blog before recently, so I won't reiterate all that here. But it's working well for us and I described that method at the meeting.

Sarah also discussed her loop scheduling method, which I find intriguing. At some point, when we need a change, I may implement this, especially with the younger two. If you are interested in loop scheduling, here is another blog post about it that I found on doing a web search.

All in all, a very rewarding and valuable meeting! Put the next one on your calendar!

Simple Woman Daybook - February 2

For Today... February 2, 2009

Outside my Window... Sunshine, blue skies, and piles of white snow.

I am thinking... about what is going to happen since my husband's disability appeal was DENIED last week. Will he be able to find and hold a job? Will I end up working full time again? Will we move to another state? Will the kids be in school or can we continue to educate at home? So many questions that have been weighing on us for so long. Nearly seven years of this now. (Hey! Did I break a mirror when I was pregnant with Suzy? JUST KIDDING! I don't believe in luck.)

From the learning rooms... nice new planning sheets completed for the whole month. One day of intense planning and I get the rest of the month off! Well, at least from planning.

I am thankful for... God's promise to never leave me nor forsake me.

From the kitchen... .Vitamin C, echinacea, zinc, garlic. Several here are fighting a cold.

I am wearing... apple green flannel shirt, grey long sleeved t-shirt, jeans, white socks, black slippers. And yeah, the hair is washed and combed and I've not yet gotten around to makeup.

I am reading... Mortal Danger by Ann Rule. Reading Isaiah in The Message. Going to be reading Jane Eyre for book club soon.

I am hoping... to finish writing Forget-Me-Not (my novel) this week. It's probably another 15,000 words or so, but I ought to be able to do that! Right?

I am creating... yeah, that novel. And that's all. Oh yeah, and a whole new life?

I am hearing... James playing with a slinky. Bob telling James to put away the slinky. James whining and then the slinky slinking down onto the end table.

Around the house... Nothing new.

One of my favorite things... .My new breakfast. Every day I eat 1/2 cup of Kashi GoLean cereal (74 calories, 7 grams protein) and 6 oz of light yogurt (80 calories, 5 grams protein). I also have a cup of coffee with 2 TBSP sugar-free flavored creamer (32 calories). Breakfast under 200 calories but with 12 grams of protein. Lasts me a lot longer than a regular bowl of cereal with milk. OK, the GoLean isn't all that tasty, but in yogurt, it's just fine. And different flavors of yogurt provide enough variety for me.

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week... HECTIC WEEK! Monday night I have a homeschool support group meeting, Tuesday night James has soccer training and the girls have Keepers at Home, Wednesday is art class in the afternoon and Pioneer Club at night. Thursday all the kids have dental appointments. Friday is co-op. And those pesky 15,000 words!

Here is a picture thought I am sharing with you...
David spends a lot of time creating things from Legos. Lately it's guns. This one has a removable clip (the yellow thing) and some kind of dealie with a rubber band.