A Movie Worth Seeing

I heard a Family Life Today broadcast yesterday while in the van. It was about a new movie coming out called "Bella". The broadcast has me hooked...I want to see this movie. If you are able, and it's opening in your city this weekend--GO! and show your support for good clean movies.

Chuck Swindoll

Our kids like to listen to the radio show, Paws and Tales. This Bible-based show is part of Chuck Swindoll's ministry. One can find articles, encouragement, and lots more on his website.

Cool Math Site

Did I just say "cool" and "math" in the same title?? Yes, I believe I did! I have to admit when I was in school, I did NOT understand math. I struggled something awful with it. Now as I homeschool, I'm learning things for the first time...and understanding them. Funny how that works.

Last night Marissa and I found a cool math website with games, definitions, examples, etc. on it. We had so much fun navigating the different areas and playing some of the games. Some require strategy like "connect 4" others require skill like "invaders".

Now, the name of the site we aren't quite sure about--Maths is fun. What is "maths"--the plural of "math"? I always thought math was like the word "deer", the plural also being "deer".

Anyway, it is a neat website! Check it out!

And I'd like to dedicate this entry to our good friend, Ben. He is a highschool math teacher--extraordinarily brilliant in his field. He adapted this quote:

Math is cool.
There is nothing cooler.
If cool were a kingdom,
Math would be the ruler.

Fall Organizational Challenge

I just might be a sucker for punishment...or a really weird person who likes to purge the rooms and closets of her house. I suppose you'll have to determine which one.

I'm thinking about joining the Fall Organizational Challenge sponsored by Laura at Organizing Junkie. You can find the details on her blog. It is easy to be a part of it...the hard part is the actual cleaning. I may choose a small space this time instead of the large space I chose last time. :)

So, stay tuned, join the challenge with me and come November 1st....everything MUST go! (in that one small space, that is).

Hundred Acre Wood Personality Test

Yes, this is another personality test. This one is cute and fun. I've always liked classic Pooh--ever since I was little. So, walk on over to the Hundred Acre Wood and find out who you are most like. If you take it, let me know in the comments. Thanks Laura at I'm an Organizing Junkie for the link.


Take the 100 Acre Personality Quiz!

The Farm Girls learn Monoprinting

So, we Farm Girls aren't just learning how to plant and harvest. Tonight we learned monoprinting. One of the new ladies to our group is an artist and she taught us this style of painting/printing. I looked up some links so you could get a idea what it is...unless you already know in which case the rest of this entry may be of no use to you.

This article is cleverly called "How to Make Monoprints".
Kinderart offers this lesson activity with step by step instructions for monoprinting.

The internet, of course, offers more information that I could ever need or digest about this subject, so let's move on to a short explanation of how we did ours.

We used acrylic paints and the friend who taught us brought the rollers. (They probably have a far more technical name, but the word "rollers" gives us visual learners a good mental picture.) She also gave each of us a piece of cardboard with a gallon sized ziploc bag around it. This is what we used to squirt our paint on and roll it around. Very easy. After the paint was rolled around, we made some sort of drawing. We used the eraser end of a pencil, q-tips and cotton balls to make my pictures. Now the picture is drawn (etched) in the paint, we placed a piece of paper over the drawing and pressed it down (without sliding it around). Then we lifted it up and presto--a picture! Here is one of my monoprints.


It was fun and easy (although somewhat messy). I'm going to make cards out of some of the prints.

Books I'm Reading

To Fly Again: Surviving the Tailspins of Life by Gracia Burnham with Dean Merrill
What a Husband Needs from His Wife: physically, emotionally and spiritually by Melanie Chitwood
Discipline: The Glad Surrender by Elisabeth Elliot
I, Isaac, Take Thee, Rebekah by Ravi Zacharias

I borrowed these from the library and I'm excited about starting to read them. I read the introduction to the book by Ravi Zacharias. This is part of the intro...

"it may not be an overstatement to say that a person makes heaven or hell on earth depending on the one he or she marries. Any married person will agree, with a groan or a smile. Marriage is an extraordinary relationship. It is a commitment from which you dare not take a vacation. It demands nurture and care, and like a tender shoot, the better the care, the better the blossom. But to be sure, it is hard work."

What are you reading?

Autumn Gladness

The Glad that Autumn Brings
falling leaves
hiking trails
baking pies
babbling brooks
crisping air
glowing sunshine
whispering winds
laughing people
warming sweaters

A Good Gift

I've been given a good gift.

Oh, be sure, I've been given many good gifts. These good gifts, much like the one I've been given today, are not material in nature or temporal. To name a few:

• my salvation: Ephesians 2:8-9 "For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, lest any should boast."

• my husband and good friends: Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 "Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him--a threefold cord is not quickly broken."

• my children: Psalm 127:3 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward."
  

My gift today is from a dear friend. My friend gave my husband and I a weekend by ourselves! She graciously came and picked up my kids this morning. And she doesn't want me to come get the kids until Monday morning.

Now, that is a good gift.

I've often thought that if my husband and I don't make our marriage a priority and fight for our marriage, no one else will either. Well, the Lord has taught me a valuable lesson. My friend, whose children are now grown, is giving my husband and I time together...to make our marriage a priority.

What a good gift.

Fire Prevention Week

Some of you who know me know that I'm a fanatic when it comes to safety (and germs--but that's a whole other topic!). So when I learned that this is Fire Prevention Week, I was giddy with excitement. Not that I can't (and don't) teach my children fire prevention other times, but a whole week dedicated to fire prevention--that is a safety-lover's dream come true.

This is a great week to thank the firefighters in your neighborhood for all they do to keep you safe. Hey I might even bake some cookies to take to them! :)

This link from Toytown Treasures was sent to me by someone in our local homeschool group. I checked it out this morning and it is pretty much a "one-stop shop" to teaching fire safety. (Ahh, safety bliss!)

Hope you take time out this week to thank a firefighter AND teach your children about fire safety.

Do you have a fire escape plan?

Rock of Ages, Take My Life

We sang two wonderful strong hymns this morning: Rock of Ages and Take my Life. The more I think about the words of these hymns, I find myself praying that He, the Rock of ages, would take my life ever only all for Him.

Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee;
let the water and the blood,
from thy wounded side which flowed,
be of sin the double cure;
save from wrath and make me pure.

2. Not the labors of my hands
can fulfill thy law's commands;
could my zeal no respite know,
could my tears forever flow,
all for sin could not atone;
thou must save, and thou alone.

3. Nothing in my hand I bring,
simply to the cross I cling;
naked, come to thee for dress;
helpless, look to thee for grace;
foul, I to the fountain fly;
wash me, Savior, or I die.

4. While I draw this fleeting breath,
when mine eyes shall close in death,
when I soar to worlds unknown,
see thee on thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
let me hide myself in thee.
Lyrics from Hymnsite.com

Take my life and let it be
1. Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.

2. Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee;
Take my voice and let me sing,
Always, only for my King.

3. Take my lips and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee;
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.

4. Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise;
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.

5. Take my will and make it Thine,
It shall be no longer mine;
Take my heart, it is Thine own,
It shall be Thy royal throne.

6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure store;
Take myself and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee.
Lyrics from Timeless Truths

Sea Turtle Study

In science this week we are going to study sea turtles. For Bethany's science, I take off what Marissa is doing in Apologia Exploring Creation: Swimming Creatures. I do a shortened version for her because in kindergarten I am striving to give her exposure to a wide variety of topics.

I searched our local library for picture books about sea turtles. This is what I brought home:
Sea Turtles by Martha E.H. Rustad

Sea Turtles by Gail Gibbons Lots of facts and pictures although it does contain a page or so of evolutionary thinking.

Online I've found these resources:
Enchanted Learning Sea Turtle Coloring page and facts (A little too detailed for kindergarten, but Marissa will like it.)

Sea World offers free guides for teachers on their website. I found this one called Ocean Discovery for prek-kindergarten.

Kidz Korner has a page of links for sea turtles. Lots to be explored here.

LearnNC has a art lesson plan for drawing a sea turtle--step by step instructions.

I've found more than enough to teach her (and me) lots and lots about sea turtles. What are you studying this week?

Anne of Green Gables

Marissa and I are reading Anne of Green Gables. I do enjoy Anne's dramatic ways of saying things, although she drives me to exhaustion reading her monologues aloud. Here is a passage we recently read. Anne has just arrived at Green Gables and Marilla wants to know where the boy is.

Anne begins: "You don't want me!" she cried. "You don't want me because I'm not a boy! I might have expected it. Nobody ever did want me. I might have known it was all too beautiful to last. I might have known nobody really did want me. Oh, what shall I do? I'm going to burst into tears!"

Burst into tears she did. Sitting down on a chair by the table, flinging her arms out upon it, and burying her face in them, she proceeded to cry stormily. Marilla and Matthew looked at each other deprecatingly across the stove. Neither of them knew what to say or do. Finally Marilla stepped lamely into the breach.

"Well, well, there's no need to cry so about it."

"Yes, there IS need!" The child raised her head quickly, revealing a tear-stained face and trembling lips. "YOU would cry, too, if you were an orphan and had come to a place you thought was going to be home and found that they didn't want you because you weren't a boy. Oh, this is the most TRAGIC thing that ever happened to me!"

Thanks to Literature.org for the cut and paste text.

This website gives a virtual tour of Green Gables. We haven't taken this yet, but maybe next week. A vacation would do us good.

Here is a pdf version of chapter questions and activities for the book.

Easy Fun School has a list of possible activities, questions and vocabulary from the book.

I am using this teacher's guide (borrowed from a friend) to help supplement what I already have. We will also watch the movie, how could we not?

Included in our study will be a run through Canada...there's that vacation again...We may have to settle for books from the library and the internet in order to 'see' Canada.

Career Direct Personality Profile

My Hunny and I are taking a Crown Financial Bible Study at church. This morning I was checking out the website. The website offers free downloads and articles. It also offers a personality profile--a little insight into how God has wired you. My results are below.
View my Career Direct personality profile

Try it yourself!