Sep. 27, 2006 Web search engine - supporting charities
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Okay, so I don't know what I'm doing. I thought I would like to see if this works. The Malachi House is a wonderful ministry here in a local city that helps men released from prison to get a job and get back into society through Jesus! This search engine gives a portion (50%) of their profits to the organizations choosen. Neat idea! Give it a try! Support the Malachi House on Allgive.com.
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Sep. 11, 2006 Learning is Happening!
I was so thrilled! My 9yo, Caleb, sat down and read most of the book "Betty Greene" this evening because he wanted to! Yeah! I've waited for this day. What he didn't know...I have assigned him this book to read this week! (He's almost finished in one evening. It's only 32 pages, but Wow!)
Betty Greene is a modern heroes book put out by YWAM Publishing. She was a missionary pilot. I like these books because they have lots of pictures...very colorful. The writing is on one page and the pictures are mainly on the facing page...although they spread into the page with the print on it. The children are able to read about real world heroes! Betty had determination, a very good character trait to learn about.
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I've been filling out my children's assignments in Homeschool Tracker Plus. It's so very time consuming! I feel like I'm doing IEPs! Maybe I should just go back to the old-fashioned calendar-looking spread on paper.
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It's so neat, I talked with my 16yo, Ian, about one of his classes today. He helped me decide which topic he would be more interested in. I am trying to use a little from the book "Senior High A Home Designed Formula." We are thinking about an literature course for this semester and an Expository Writing course for next semester. For the lit course, I have this wonderful book that's meant as a teacher's reference. It outlines over 100 great writers from all over the world. Each writer has approximately 3 pages. Now this is exciting for me! We read in the "Senior High A Home Designed Formula" that they used a book called "The Great American Bathroom Classics." This book has a synopsis of great writings on two pages each! I asked him if he would rather read the two page synopses of stories or the 3 page synopses of the authors. He choose the stories. So, I need to find that book. I told him that I would still like him to do several of the writers anyway. I really would like him to know who Homer, Aristotle, John Milton, Yeats, etc. are; so, we decided that he would do a few of the writers, too.
It's nice when the children don't fuss about learning new things. I have 3 very motivated students this year. My youngest for the first time is starting the sad look when I ask him to read or write, etc. I'm going to try to nip it in the bud somehow. Maybe have some exciting activities and have him bite the bullet and do the stuff he may not enjoy so much right now, too. Maybe I should just have a talk with him about his attitude. I know it's hard after a full summer off to start back and "have to" get things done. We're back to no video games until Friday afternoon after 4pm. So there is a little wandering around going on. (This is the same one who sat down this evening and read "Betty Greene.")
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Off to bed! Ciao!
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Aug. 31, 2006 What a fun summer!
We had a wonderful time learning this summer about Japan and our exchange student's life and language. We had a meal cooked by her. It was Somen noodles dipped in a dipping sauce. You use your chopsticks and take the noodles from a common plate. Then you put your noodles into your dipping sauce. Then you, using chopsticks still, take the noodles out of the dipping sauce and eat them. Boy was this funny! My youngest son was trying to eat and couldn't, so he put a chopstick in each hand and did it that way.
Got to go help my daughter with math. ttyl!
I'm back! Our family is so excited! We are a very musical family. We wanted each of our children to learn an instrument during their "school" years that they could use to lead praise and worship with, if necessary. Well, so far, this is how it's turned out. Our oldest daughter wanted drum lessons! Hmm...can you lead praise and worship and drum???? Oh well, that's what she's really interested in. Okay.
Second child, he was interested in electric guitar. Oh my.... Well, since you're highly interested. Then after a couple of years of lessons, his guitar and amp got buzzy sounding. Would it be wrong to smile here? ;) We found him an acoustic that had a pick up in it so that it could be plugged into the church sound system. Oh, I love this guitar! It sounds soooo pretty!
Third child, didn't want to follow in anyone's footsteps, so he chose the bass guitar. Hmm...can you lead praise and worship? Well, no, but he's really interested...well, okay. It really does add to the music to have that bass sound in it. So, we are very thankful for his talent.
Skipping the 4th child for the time being, we put our 5th and 6th children into piano lessons. The youngest one asked to take them. As soon as he signed up, his older sister wanted them, too. Well, God provided an instructor for $5 for 1/2 hour, so both went into piano lessons. The youngest didn't enjoy practicing but boy did he enjoy "goofing off" on the piano. They both made it through the first year of piano. My daughter, 5th, loved the piano! And she hosted the Japanese Exchange student this year. Her friend, Midori, also played the piano! So, we had lots of piano playing this summer in the house!
Now, to this year, we really wanted child #4 to learn an instrument. He said that he was a "sound man" and didn't want to learn and instrument. So, Dad and I discussed it and hadn't really come to any conclusions on the matter yet. Then, all of the sudden, "Hey, Mom! I'd really like to play the flute!" Great! Can you lead praise and worship with it? (I didn't ask him this, of course! I was thinking it though.) I was really excited that he wanted to learn how to play the flute, because I've always wanted to learn how to play the flute! So, I told him, "You take band, and then teach me!" Dad wasn't so sure. He had "preconceived" ideas about what gender plays the flute. So, Mom went online and hunted for flautists. I found it was about 1/2 and 1/2. 1/2 male 1/2 female. Then I was reading a blog from one of the male flautists. He recalled the first time in his life that he saw a -female! - play the flute. He didn't know women played the flute! So, I told Dad about my findings. By this time, he was fine about it anyway. He just had to overcome some preconceived ideas. Then we discussed the "leading Praise and Worship" topic. He was all for guitar...it could be carried anywhere! Even into jungles! Then the thought occured to me...what could be more portable than a flute? It's tiny, can be carried very easily. You could start the song with the flute, stop and sing, then add riffs in as you all sing! Bingo! That did the trick! So, #4 is starting band today!
We're having to travel so far for band, that I felt we should add another child to the mix. Sweetie #5 wants to take drum lessons...daughter, that took piano last year. Well, maybe she could do that in the band. That didn't turn out, because it's only percussion, not the full trap set. So, low and behold, our youngest...#6 (took piano last year)...wants to play the trumpet. Hmm...Can you lead praise and worship with it? ....hmmm...oh well, he's had 1 year of piano. (and Dad played the trumpet :) ...so, okay, that settles it. Two to band this year. One flautist and one trumpeter!
One minor problem, we've lost our drummer at church. Our oldest daughter has joined another church because they are more missions-oriented and they have college- age kids and youth that she can minister to. Our youngest daughter wants to play the drums. Now...(ahhh...mom's getting nervous here...lessons and band aren't cheap when you're homeschooling...you actually have to pay for all this.) Dad wants her in drum lessons this year. (She's also taking piano lessons this year.) I haven't reconciled to the "oh, well..." just yet...
What an exciting year in the Smith household! Off to band!
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May. 22, 2006 Graduation went well!
Andrew's graduation went very well! I am so happy. He was very happy about it and told us "thank you." He said he had a great time. He and his best friend were honored at the party we gave. His friend is public schooled and won't technically graduate until June 4th, but he's completely finished with his schoolwork. They both looked happy.
It was neat, Andrew's grandma came to our church...something she never does; and Jason's (best friend) Dad came, too. That's also something new. So, it was fun. I got lots of pictures!
His senior table was a hit! I just love it! I'm leaving at church because lots of people were on vacation yesterday :(. Hopefully, they'll come Wednesday and sign his Autograph book.
Thanks so everyone's best wishes!
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May. 19, 2006 Graduation is Sunday!
Well, I've been trying to get ready for the Graduation Ceremony and party for my second graduate from our homeschool! I'm planning on having a Senior Table set up at the covered dish party we're having.
I'm going to put his prom pictures, 4-H photos, some of his 4-H certificates and awards, a basketball, his 3 on 3 basketball shirt (cleaned, of course ), photos of him over the last 4 years, and his diploma will be displayed on the table. If you can think of anything else, please let me know! (I guess I could display his guitar? No maybe I can find a photo.)
Unfortunately, this is the same weekend that the church is having a campout on Friday night through Saturday. Ahhhh...So many things going on at one time. The list keeps going. Maybe it'll slow down when the hot temps set in.
I'm planning on baking and decorating the graduation cake also. Boy, I hope I can do this without getting too frazzled! I did buy some Wilton letters for imprinting on the cake before I try to write on it. I know it will look a 100 times better than my freehand words! I'm bad about not giving myself enough space for the words that I need to write. I also purchased some darker colors for the icing. I only had pink and baby blue from our friend's Quinceannera in March. Oh...a playing we will go...a playing we will go...Hi Ho the dairy O...a playing we will go!
Happy Graduation to all you seniors out there!
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Hi all,
Our local paper had an article on Gary. The man that's walking across America to bring awareness to obesity in the US. Gary has gained more and more weight after he got out of the military. I'm not sure what his total weight was but he's losing it just by walking across the US. I went to his website and read some of his journal entries and looked at his photos. It's really neat! Our 4-H theme in NC this year is "Fit for Health." I thought this story would be great to share with the kids.
His website is called "A Fat Man's Journey." If you want to check it out, here's Gary's website: http://afatmansjourney.com/
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Apr. 10, 2006 More info on RSS
RSS - It's a program that will go to other websites for you, collect the information, and put it all into one place for you to read over. FeedReader is free. I like the icons.
In Homeschoolblogger, the column with all your information has a link that states "My blogs RSS." Click on that. Your RSS "feed address" is up in the spot that you usually type in web addresses that you want to go to. (I just copy and paste that information into FeedReader to add someone to my list. Here is an example of what that address looks like: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/rss.php?u=Grace This one is mine.)
Then, whenever I want to read through friends' blogs, I open FeedReader. It immediately goes out into the internet and pulls in all the blogs that I have added to it. (By the way, I also pull in HappyNews, Scientific America, financial articles and other neat websites' articles.) Then I just click on the blog I want to read, it appears in FeedReader's box to read. (No pictures, backgrounds, etc. Very plain.) It is set up very much like all email programs.
Then if I want to "Read more." I just click on "Read more" and it actually brings the website up into your Feedreader. You can browse the article including pictures and backgrounds, etc. Just like you do through your ordinary web browser. It's kinda cool.
Sometimes I just get the news really quick through feedreader...especially if I just want the headlines and don't want to have to watch TV to get the info.
You can also just google "RSS." You'll get lots of information about it!
Hope this helps. Feel free to ask me more questions if you have them!
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Apr. 7, 2006 Enjoying RSS Feeds
I'm still enjoying reading lots of blog entries on my RSS Reader! Thanks to all who have their RSS turned on!
FeedReader, an RSS Reader, has been great! I like all the icons, etc. on it.
You may enjoy it if you are in a hurry to see the highlights! You can quickly move from journal entry to journal entry. You will miss the beautiful backgrounds...unless you open it up within FeedReader! I do this occassionally. Especially if someone has put pictures in for the day.
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Mar. 27, 2006 Imploded buildings
Some of us in our home really enjoy watching explosions. This one happened in North Carolina and I found some good video in Kansas. (Why not NC? Maybe it was Google.) Here's the link if anyone else wants to watch it.
http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/14177801.htm
Our favorite was the air shot video. (Second was the slo-mo.)
For school today, we have some company over. Socialization is just so much fun! Actually, it's just one 15yo friend, but it's a fun change of pace. Today they have been doing some woodburning on their homemade bows and swords. Then they went and shot some arrows. I'm amazed at how accurate homemade bows can be!
For math today with Caleb, the 8 yo, I got out the game Presto Chango and we studied subtraction with regrouping using money. It went really well. He understood the concept. I think I'll probably have the same lesson again tomorrow and let him write the problems on the white board while we are working them with the Presto Chango money.
We may get to plant some seeds in our peat pots today. I've used bleach water to clean the holding trays. I should have started the plants two weeks ago, but I just never got around to it. It's so pretty and our deck is warm. I'm wondering if I should just put them on the deck so I don't have to go through the hardening off phase? Hmmm???
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Has anyone else tried Sudoku? It's number puzzle. There is also another one named something like Katoku...I saw the book at Walmart but haven't found it on the internet yet. I did find a Sudoku site...free puzzles and you can even print yourself a free E-book! (I love E-books...especially when my PDA was working. I could read anytime I wanted to in the car.)
The site is www.websudoku.com It even does LARGE print versions!
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Mar. 15, 2006 Addicted to Learning?
Does anyone else feel like they are addicted to learning? I'm beginning to wonder. I just really enjoy...immensely ...learning. Lately, I'm learning things and starting to ignore the children - I'll just get so caught up in the learning process.
Of course, they pick up on some of it. They start trying to do what I'm doing. (But not all the time.)
Hopefully, they'll pick it up...but only if that's what the Lord wants them to do. It has been neat to see them picking up their Bibles and reading, maybe doing a small Bible study. That's good...I just don't want them to think that education is god.
Oh, did any of you see J-Mac? It's a really fairy-tale story. Check out this video! The words don't give you the same effect that the video will. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=2352763
Off to bed! Good night!
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Mar. 10, 2006 Piano review website
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Thanks for all the game ideas! We just love trying new games. I also found some musical flashcards on the internet today! They aren't "loads" of fun but good for review.
http://www.pianotools.com/piano_flashcards/staff-to-keyboard.html
One of theses days I'm going to learn how to change my whole template. We'll see. Maybe this summer.
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TRIPLES with EMMA
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Feb. 23, 2006 Educational Games
Hi Everyone,
Would you do me a favor and post your favorite educational games? Could you pass the question on to other HSB ladies and send them here? Then we could have a great list of wonderful games to play with the children!
My Favorites:
Apples to Apples (Imihaly - This is another great Language Arts games for nouns and adjectives!)
Balderdash
Mad Libs
Scrabble
Presto! Chango! (Math - money skills)
Masterpiece (Buying and Selling, Auctioning, Contains photos of all the great artists!)
Games...Tools for Learning (This is a book with lots of game ideas and how to's on making your own games.)
How to Get Your Child Off the Refrigerator and Onto Learning - another book with many game ideas!
I'm really looking forward to your games!
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Just thought I would stop in and say Hi to everyone! Our studies are going pretty well. I was so happy today when Marcus, 12yo, actually came to me and asked me to teach him his math lesson! Wow! His older brothers hardly ever come to me for help. It's great to know that he'll ask when he needs it, instead of just letting it slide.
CJ is ready to start her pair of pants. We need to go and buy bottomweight fabric. She needs it done in time to model during the 4-H Fashion Review in April.
We finally got the soldering iron and solder for trying some electric projects. I think the first one will be how to use the soldering iron and solder without getting burnt. I found a college website that shows exactly what a good solder looks like. So, we'll go there and take a look then practice trying to make ours look like theirs.
Well, off to bed! God bless you and good-night!
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Feb. 11, 2006 I'm still here...and Winter Chicken Soup recipe
Wow, it's been awhile since I blogged. It's that time of year when I get in the mood to try and organize things. I guess I do that since it's winter, cold outside, dark lots of hours, etc. It just seems easier to sit down and go through my paperwork and try to get it in order.
I just went to a 4-H Volunteer Leader's Conference. It was great. I have some wonderful ideas of things to do with the youth. We are hoping to start working on the Target Shooting Sports project. My 11yo dd is planning her year. She's going to sew an outfit, be in the Fashion Review (show), do project records this year, work with her dog on her Pet project, knit scarves for her friends, ...I think the list goes on and on. My boys don't seem inclined to plan anything. I'm trying to get them to look ahead a little more than they do. I think I will have them put together project records on the Target Shooting Sports activities.
We were blessed today with lots of wood! One of our friends had a neighbor who had a huge tree taken down. They said we could have the wood if we would come get it and clean up the yard. So, 38 degrees, raining...we rented a truck, borrowed a trailer, and went and got two trips worth of wood. We filled both the truck and the trailer both times. We still have lots to go get but we couldn't do that today. Hopefully, while we have the rental truck we can go get at least one more load tomorrow. The rest will have to wait until next Saturday...of course, what we are going to use to tow it with...? I don't want to have to rent a truck next weekend also. We have been praying and asking God for something to tow a trailer with.
I think it's kinda' nice to just rent a truck. $60 for the weekend. We don't have to make monthly payments or do any maintenance on it, just use it for the weekend then drop it off.
Latest Yummy recipe:
Winter Chicken Soup
1 whole chicken
2 or 3 chicken boullion cubes
1 package of mixed vegetables
2 or 3 potatoes, cubed
Some spaghetti noodles
Boil chicken in water until it's done. I put a couple of chicken boullion cubes in it and cook the chicken until it's just about falling off the bones.
Remove chicken from the water/chicken broth and take all the meat off the bones. Put the meat back into the broth.
Add the package of mixed vegetables and potatoes. Add some pepper. (I don't add salt because the chicken boullion already has salt in it.) Cook until the vegetables are done.
Break the spaghetti noodles into small pieces, add to the soup. Cook until the noodles are done. Serve! (I love to use Oyster Crackers with this soup.)
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Jan. 9, 2006 Random Thoughts
I've enjoyed using the RSS Feeds. I'm getting used to my FeedReader and checking out new headlines. I've subscribed to "Happy News." It's wonderful to get to read fun and great things that are going on in the world.
We're starting school back up tomorrow...so what am I doing up at 1 in the morning? I accidentally took a 3 hour nap at 5pm this evening. But it has given me the opportunity to get some papers ready for my son to apply for a 4-H scholarship this week. I've looked at his transcript, printed out an application for enrollment in a couple of colleges, and made a couple of notes for him. Planning a haircut for him and some pictures. Then we'll have to print out a photograph to include with the scholarship application. That has to be in by Friday.
I have really enjoyed this Christmas and the accompanying break. I really feel relaxed. We didn't do half as much as we normally do and it was okay. I think the children enjoyed it also. They still received presents and got to go to Grandma's. They have been enjoying the trampoline immensely. It's good to even see Andrew out there on it! (He's my 17yo that loves to sit and work on computers and websites for hours.)
Ian's leg is healing! Yippee! The doctor took the brace off at 9 weeks. I'm so happy to see that the sharp point on the bone has been nicely covered over with bone. He still has a place where it was all fragmented that doesn't have bone growth in it yet. So, he still has to use crutches. If he doesn't use the crutches the doctor told me to put the brace back on him. He has two more months until he can play any sports. (He's really frustrated about that. He really thought he was going to get the brace off, no crutches and be able to start playing.)
Well, maybe I should be getting to bed. Maybe a nice long warm bath will help me to go to sleep. Good night!
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Jan. 2, 2006 Christmas and Two Great Helper Websites!
Christmas was beautiful this year. We didn't have a lot, but the children were so sweet and thankful! I was so blessed by them. Since we didn't have much, we decided to open the gifts one at a time. Even the children agreed to do it this way. I was so proud of them.
Then we went to Grandma's. They were just as thankful at her house. What a blessing it is to have a good Grandma to visit on Christmas day. The younger three had asked Grandma for a trampoline...sharing all their Christmas money. So, that's what Grandma got them. They have all had a blast playing on it. Today was the first day they couldn't play on it due to rain.
They got to play with their cousins. Two of their cousins even came over to spend the night! Yippee! We had lots of fun playing Twister, Guess Who?, watching a movie together and eating popcorn.
Daddy has been home since the day before Christmas. That has been a wonderful blessing for all of us. He goes back to work tomorrow. I think I'm going to take a day or two for "teacher's workdays." I need to get the academics back in order, plus we have a couple of doctor's visits we need to do this week.
I have found two really cool websites! LibraryThing.com. It lets you put your books in and keep them all listed, just like at a library. Then others can come and look at your list! I've asked a friend to join. Then when we need something, we can just look at each other's libraries and ask to borrow it. (I'd be careful about loaning to someone that doesn't get my books back to me though. I really need my homeschool books!) Website number 2 is Del.icio.us.com. This website lets you put all your bookmarks into it and tag them. That way, all my "book" websites...I tag with "books." But I can also tag with "Education, kids, Christian, finances, etc." Then when I'm looking for a particular link...I can click on any of my tags that I think it might be under and find it. I also think it's a great backup to my browser. Just incase I lose the info on my computer, it's on the web. (So far, I haven't put on any really personal websites like financial type links. I think I'm going to keep them off of it. Just playing it safe.)
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Dec. 17, 2005 I've read some great blogs!
We have some very talented writers on this site! Wow! I wish I was as funny as some of you ladies. I really like the..."what happens when a car and a sofa collide at 70mph!" (That's TC)
We went to Grandma's today to help decorate her Christmas tree and her house. I know she was thankful to have the help. It looked so pretty when we were done. Lights in the room turned out. Christmas tree on. Fire going in the fireplace! Ahhhh....what a wonderful life.
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Dec. 2, 2005 New Website backgrounds - RSS
One of these days I'm going to learn how to change my background on this web blog! I've looked at some of the other ladies. They are soooo pretty! Christmas is such a fun time of the year.
I just love looking at the decorations and lighting candles all over the house. We have really good Yankee Candles this year. My absolute favorite though is Aunt Kook's Apple Cider. The only place I've found it is at Christian book stores. It lasts for hours and hours! I can buy one and use it all winter. Let me see if I can find the name of the company that makes them....off to google land. It's "Keepers of the Light." The "Mama" size jar burns for 120 hours! That's the size that I usually find at the bookstore. Hmmm....I think I just got an idea for a Christmas gift for myself!
I just learned a little about the Site Feed - RSS yesterday. I downloaded two different RSS readers. Feedreader and Sharpreader. Both are free. I really like Feedreader better. It has cute icons! Sharpreader is very "business-y" looking and doesn't have the break down of "folders" that Feedreader has. I made a new folder on Feedreader called "Blogs." Then, I tried subscribing to some of our homeschoolblogger names. I'm actually getting to read some people's blogs on my Feedreader. It's really cool and quick!
I also subscribed to a finance site, a conservative news site, and PC Magazine. Now I can quickly run through the titles of the articles, read the ones I want, and delete the whole group with one click when I've finished reading from one source. Example, 10 articles from PC Magazine. I read two, then click the "scissor" icon and delete all 10 articles from under PC Magazine. It's neat!
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Nov. 30, 2005 CJ's Miracle Dog! |
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