My dear Polly turned seven a couple of weeks ago. She received her heart's desire for her birthday present. It was something she's been wanting for ever so long. She was so brave and didn't cry at all!
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Her Daddy bought her real gold earrings and on her birthday evening, we went to the local jewelry store and did the deed. She's so lovely!!
Each of our girls have gotten their ears pierced at this store...it's a family tradition! Missie, my last little girl, will likely get hers done in February.
Sorry for the blurry picture. The woman doing the piercing had such cleavage showing I had to crop in really tight, This was the best of the several shots we took.
I have lots of little Lambies, along with my bigger ones. What to do with little ones while schooling the olders? This year, I am prepared!
I made up bags and bags of activities that are only for school time. I bought a three dollar clear tub to put them all in and *poof!* preschool is ready! There are many more bags, but this gives you an idea of the activities. Most are "on-your-own" things the little ones can do by themselves while I am teaching the bigger ones in the same room.
I got ideas for the baggies contents here and here. Since I had almost all of the manipulatives already, the cost was very minimal. I purchased a bulletin board alphabet set at our local teacher's store and punched out two of each letter. I bagged them in groups of about five for a letter identification and matching activity. Everything else came from around the house.
Troubles loves his school box. He shares the activities with the three year old I babysit most of the time, but not always. I don't make him, since it is "his school". Along with being involved in Bible time, being read to by brothers and sisters and watching the older children's activities, he is busy and engaged almost all morning! Throw in chores, lunch, free time and nap time comes fast!
I am finding it a joy to school seven children along with two preschoolers... and we are still getting done by 2 PM daily!
Please share how you include your preschoolers in your day!
I received an award! Rachel at BabyMakers so kindly bestowed it to me. I now get to pass it on to seven others.
Now for the award instructions:
1) The winner can put the logo on his/her blog.
2) Link to the person you received your award from.
3) Nominate at least 7 other blogs.
4) Put links to those blogs on yours.
5) Leave a message on the blogs of the people you have nominated.
I choose these fine bloggers, in no particular order:
In the wake of the unanimous ruling of the Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District to recognize homeschooling as a legal option in California, two of California’s most senior officials have given their opinion of the ruling.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger:
“This is a victory for California’s students, parents and education community. This decision confirms the right every California child has to a quality education and the right parents have to decide what is best for their children. I hope the ruling settles this matter for parents and homeschooled children once and for all in California, but assure them that we, as elected officials, will continue to defend parents’ rights.”
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell:
“I am pleased that the courts have clarified the right of California parents to homeschool their children. I have respected the right of parents to make educational decisions they feel are in the best interest of their children. I recognize and understand the consternation that the earlier court ruling caused for many parents and associations involved in homeschooling. It is my hope that today’s ruling will allay many of those fears and resolve much of the confusion.”
HSLDA appreciates the efforts of these two officials as they were part of the group who defended the right of parents to homeschool before the Court of Appeal.
I'd like to share today about one of my very simplest, but favorite-est meal planning strategies. I created a form for my Home Management Binder that makes planning much more simple. I sat with my recipe box and a notebook and wrote down every meal that I make with hamburger as the main ingredient. Then chicken, then fish, then vegetarian, then bean and rice, etc. I typed it all up nice and added extra lines for new meals we liked.
Now I have a great tool for those times I need to make a meal plan with just what's on hand. It also greatly assists my tired brain when I haven't planned (bad, Momma, bad!) and it's nearing meal time. "I do have a package of chicken thighs. What can I make with it?"
We never end up ordering pizza due to lack of a planned meal anymore.
After enjoying Year One of Ambleside Online together, I realized that my daughter was not ready to move onto Y2. I decided I would create a Year 1.5 for her this year. My Year 1.5 is also serving as Y1 for my six year old son, for they will move together into Year 2 in the fall of 2009. I used books from the free reading list that we did not get to during Y1, and chose living books already in my library to fill the remaining subjects. Here's the booklist we'll be enjoying together:
My Year 1.5
General History
*Viking Adventure by Clyde Robert Bulla
**William Tell illustrated by Margaret Early
**The Silver Mace: A Story of Williamsburg by Maud and Miska Petersham
***Thirty More Famous Stories Retold by James Baldwin (Audio CD)
American History
*Pocahontas by The D’Aulaire’s
**Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
***Our Country’s Story by Francis Cavanah
Geography
Home Geography For Primary Grades by C. C. Long (done with older siblings)
Geology
* The Little Island by Golden MacDonald (Margaret Wise Brown)
** Hill of Fire (Volcanoes) by Thomas P. Lewis
**The Buried City of Pompeii by Shelley Yanaka
***The Year of Fire by Teddy Jam and Ian Wallace
***WildFire by Evans G. Valens, Jr. illustrated by Clement Hurd
Natural History/Science
Handbook of Nature Studies for additional information
Christian Liberty Press Nature Reader 1
*Mammal/Fish Focus:
Animals Born Alive and Well by Ruth Heller
Strange Fishes of the Sea by Olive L. Earle
Fish Out of School by Evelyn Shaw
Dissect a fish from the grocery store
**Reptile/Amphibian Focus:
I Caught a Lizard by Gladys Conklin
Frogs and Toads by Herbert S. Zim
Snakes by Herbert S. Zim
Pet store visit/ friend’s house for snake visit and handling
***Bird/Insect/Invertebrate Focus:
Birds At Home by Marguerite Henry
Birds and their Nests by Olive L. Earle
The Honey Makers by Gail Gibbons
All Upon a Sidewalk by Jean Craighead George
Worms by Lois and Louis Darling
Phonics
100 EZ Lessons until finished OR
Phonics Pathways then
McGuffey’s Pictorial Primer
Mathematics
Finish Math-U-See Primer, begin Alpha
Foreign Language
Sign Language
Spanish
Poetry
* **The Girls’ Book of Verse compiled by Mary Gould Davis AND/OR The Boy’s Book of Verse compiled by Helen Dean Fish
*** First Poems of Childhood complied and illustrated by Tasha Tudor
Literature
*Happy Little Family by Rebecca Caudill
**Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
***Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Mythology/Folklore
*D’Aulaire’s Norse Gods and Giants
**D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths
***American Tall-Tale Animals by Adrien Stoutenburg
Virtues/Hero Stories
* **Child’s Book of Heroes by William Bennett
** ***The Children’s Book of Virtues by William Bennett
Artist Study, Folk Song, Hymn, Composer all according to the AO schedule
Free Reading
IR=Independent Reader
RA=Read Aloud
The Wonder Clock by Howard Pyle RA
King of the Golden River by John Ruskin (repeat) RA
Pinocchio by C. Collodi RA
The Red Fairy Book by Andrew Lang RA
A Lion to Guard Us by Clyde Robert Bulla RA
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams RA
St. George and the Dragon retold by Margaret Hodges, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman RA
The George and Martha Series by James Marshall IR
Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren RA
Little Bear Series by Else Holmelund Minarek illustrated by Maurice Sendak IR
The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes illustrated by Louis Slobodkin IR
Nurse Matilda by Christianna Brand illustrated by Edward Ardizzone RA
The Plain Princess by Phyllis McGinley RA
Mother West Wind’s Children by Thornton Burgess RA
I came across this while browsing a new blog this evening. It's from Simply Thrifty and lists 100 things you can make at home, along with links to recipes to do it. I have marked the things I have actually done in bold print. How many have you done yourself?
We took up a new hobby this weekend! Have you heard of geocaching? It's a world-wide treasure-hunt that uses GPS and lots of participants. You get coordinates off of a site and use your GPS to get close to the cache. Then the real hunt begins. We searched for four local caches yesterday and found two of them. There is a log book which you sign in every cache. Many times, there is a small collection of trinkets. You take one out and put in a new one. You can save all the things you collect, or trade them back into another cache. Within ten miles of us, there are 409 caches registered with the site we are using. It's a family-friendly free hobby!
"How many candidates would adopt a severely ill child, bring home another very ill child, pay for the care of both and not blow their own horn about it?"
Kimi at Nourishing Gourmet is hosting a frugal and nourishing carnival! What a great way to get some healthy and inexpensive meals! This carnival is focusing on main dishes. Can't we all use some tried and true help there? The next carnival will feature sides, salads and desserts and will be here.
My husband and I tease each other about our various OCD tendencies. He has more than I do, really! I tell him that his OCD is showing when he's being bothered by something.
What's on your OCD spectrum? What's mildly important, but important nonetheless? What HAS to be done just right or it's just GOT to be done over?
What's the oldest thing you have? Here's mine:
It's not too much to look at, but it's a great old book from 1743. It's bound with hide and written in Latin. It's Volume Seven of a series on Catholic teachings, I think. I'm pretty sure this page mentions the sacraments of baptism, confirmation and eucharist.
I don't read Latin, so I'm not certain of the specifics. If you can translate, please comment!! It has a coverplate from Sutro Library in San Francisco, CA as a lovely valley with a few log homes and a man with a pickax working on the soil. I got a bit curious about my old book last night. I didn't have the Internet when I bought it! I googled Sutro Library and found it still exists! I also read about Mr. Sutro, who loved books, was mayor of San Francisco for a short time, made millions in the railroad industry and mining, built the Sutro baths, (I had heard of them, but hadn't put the two together). Some of his library was burned in the 1906 earthquake, but some still exists in the Sutro Library. Here's a link about him.
I called the Library this morning and described the book and asked if they had any information about it's history. The lady on the phone took the information, searched in the computer, took some more infor about the book, then asked if she could have the Head of Antiquities call me tomorrow. She said "This is very interesting....I know she will be eager to speak with you."
Here's hoping they want the book back for a cool $25G! One can dream, right?? I actually had it appraised years ago. The hippie with the pot smoke floating about his head said it was worth about $200.
I'll let you know what happens with it!
*Update* The Librarian called me back and said that they do indeed have a copy of the book, and she hasn't any idea how this copy ended up in a swap meet in Rocklin, CA. Poof- there goes my 25G...oh well.
As you may remember, we camped a little over a week ago. We went to our lovely Sequoia National Forest, which we SO enjoy visiting.
After setting camp, we explored, enjoyed and relaxed. We were blessed to be with our dear friends, R and E and their three kids. R is quite adventurous, and among other things, knows how to rock climb. He brought his equipment and all the children got to climb up and repel down! I have many more pics, Grandma, if you want them. All the children made it up to Daddy, even Troubles! They had a great time.
We also fished in the pond, with a few little fish being caught. We hiked, enjoyed smores and learned that crushing fern and rubbing it on nettle burns makes the stinging stop.
I found a wonderful exoskeleton of a dragonfly nymph that had "made the change" while clinging to a blade of thick grass. I collected it, but it was accidentally crushed before I got a picture. We also got to see a newly emerged dragonfly resting on his discarded exoskeleton. Here is a photo essay on the process. We observed chipmunks, squirrels, birds of various kinds, water skimmers, trout, and lots of insects. We collected pond water and creek water for observation under the microscope.
At home, we found tiny plants and microscopic little worms in the pond water and had a discussion on why you always boil water from natural sources before drinking it! We haven't looked at the creek water yet, so we won't find anything living, I think.
Here is a picture of all of us in front of the Sequoia in our campsite. The 'cave' in the tree that is behind me was big enough for most of the children to fit inside, all at once. Sequoias often have these hollows.
Here's my "I need it" list and my wishlist for next year. Now I don't have to think about them anymore, until I buy them, updated now for my convenience!
Math-U-See
EmBlem-Zeta TP and SB
GirlofGod-Delta TP and SB BlackSpidey-Gamma SB mid-year
Trixie- Gamma SB mid-year
Polly-Alpha SB
Jack-Primer
Apologia Exploring Creation with General Science (plus I got Physical Science, Biology and Chemistry, so all of middle school and some of high school is covered!)
I have been making cat food lately. Someone asked me how I do it, so here is a quick tutorial.
First, roast a chicken or two. Pick off the meat and save the bones. Use the meat for a meal. Make chicken broth with the chicken carcass. I have full instructions how to do this here. When the broth is strained you are left with a strainer filled with this:
Now put all that, plus extra meat, cooked rice, appropriate leftovers, etc if you wish, and put it in your blender with some liquid. You can use broth, water or milk. Blend it all into paste and serve as wet food.
Store extra in the refrigerator for up to two weeks! My cats love it, and it's so much better for them than store bought 'food'.
I'm the blessed wife of My Honey of 12+ years, and Momma to eight wonderful Lambies aged 12 and under. We live in Central CA, and use Ambleside Online for our curriculum. I'd love to meet you , so browse a while and feel free to leave a comment!
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There are many more bags, but this gives you an idea of the activities. Most are "on-your-own" things the little ones can do by themselves while I am teaching the bigger ones in the same room.![[Brillante_Award.jpg]](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_gfj6N6VuExE/SJMN4vOdyPI/AAAAAAAABTM/5lPpqjiZXpk/s1600/Brillante_Award.jpg)
I have many more pics, Grandma, if you want them. All the children made it up to Daddy, even Troubles! They had a great time.
