My Thoughts on Last Week's Library Loot

Here are my thoughts on the books we had out last week:

My Visit with Periwinkle by Alison Inches, illustrated by David B. Levy (Ready-to-Read: Level 1)

- I'm not a big fan of Blue's Clues and I'm also not a fan of many Ready-to-Read books.  I should probably post a post about that sometime.  Anna likes Blue's Clues right now and she enjoyed the story.  Blue is expecting Periwinkle to visit and he makes a list of things he needs to do to prepare for the visit.  This would be a good book to use to introduce the idea of making lists to help you remember things you have to do.

Big Sarah's Little Boots by Paulette Bourgeois, illustrated by Brenda Clark (Canadian Author)

- we actually had this book out before and enjoyed it so we both enjoyed reading it again.  Part of the appeal to us is that Sarah is the name of one of my children.  In the story Sarah has outgrown her favorite rubber boots and is not too pleased about it.  I love the story, and I also love the illustrations.  A great book to share with a child that is having trouble with letting go of some things that he/she has outgrown.  

A Summertime Song by Irene Haas

- I love this book!  It's a very whimsical story about a little girl that gets an invitation from a frog to go to a birthday party and ends up with a very special surprise.  I love the ending!

Olivia and Her Ducklings adapted by Veera Hiranandani, illustrated by Shane L. Johnson (Ready-to-Read: Level 1)

- I like Olivia a little better than Blue's Clues but I'm still not a fan of these Ready-to-Read books.  In this story Olivia makes friends with a family of ducks and they end up following her home.

Where is Baby's Beach Ball? by Karen Katz (a Lift-the-Flap book)

Anna liked this board book.  It's a great book for toddlers but even almost 5 year olds like to lift flaps.  :)  The baby has lost his ball and you have to lift the flaps to help him look for it.  This actually ended up being one that we revisited a lot and Anna could almost read the whole book totally by herself by the time we brought it back.

Spot Goes to the Farm by Eric Hill

- this is actually another lift the flap book, but it's not a board book.  Anna enjoyed this one too.  Spot searches the farm for the animals his dad wants to show him.  It would make a good addition to a unit about animals and could be used to review the names of animals and their babies.

What a Treasure! by Jane and Will Hillenbrand

- a cute story about a mole that is digging for treasures and finds all kinds of things that are treasures for other creatures before he finds a treasure for himself.  Could be used in a social studies lesson talking about how what is a treasure to one person may not be to another.  This is another book we revisited a lot.  It has many repeated phrases.  Whenever I spot that in a book I make a point of pointing out the repeated phrases while I'm reading them and after I while I just start the phrases and get Anna to finish them.  I love how she gets into saying the phrases with expression.  She was really doing well with reading the repeated phrase by the time we brought the book back.

The Stuffed Animals Get Ready for Bed by Alison Inches, illustrated by Bryan Langdo

- nice bedtime story book.  A little girl tries to settle her toys down for bedtime.  We liked the rhythmic, rhyming words as well as the story.

A Second Is a Hiccup: A Child's Book of Time by Hazel Hutchins, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton ( Canadian author and illustrator)

- love this book.  A great book to use in a discussion of time and comparing the length of time between seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and years. Could be used for math and social studies.  A very nice book.

Boy in Motion: Rick Hansen's Story by Ainslie Manson, illustrated by Renne Benoit (Canadian author)

- I wondered if this one would be too old for Anna but it wasn't.  It tells the story of the life of Rick Hanson.  I enjoyed learning more about his childhood and what made him who he was.  Could be used for social studies to talk about famous people and also about the challenges people in wheel chairs face and how they are just as normal as anyone else.

Furious George Goes Bananas by Michael Rex

- this was a funny story, a parody of Curious George. It tells the story of an ape that keeps selling to different people but the ape keeps escaping and the man keeps finding him and selling him again. Could be used in a literature lesson to discuss parodies and the likeness and similarities of the stories.  This is another book that we revisited.  There were a few repeated phrases in this one too that Anna really enjoyed reading on her own.

Sleepy Cadillac: A Bedtime Drive by Thacher Hurd

- a good bedtime story.  A boy climbs aboard the sleepy cadillac and drops into dream station on his way to pajama land before being deposited back in his bed to sleep.

Read Me a Story: Canadian Favourites (5 different authors)

- this is actually a collection of 5 books by Canadian authors.  I love introducing Anna to Canadian author and we had already read books by a couple of these authors.  The site I've linked the title too has a great description of the book and you can also read excerpts from it there.

Blue's Checkup by Sarah Albee, illustrated by Ian Chernichaw
- in this story Blue is nervous about having to go to the doctor for a check-up but he gets through it just fine.  A nice book to share with a child that might not be looking forward to a visit to the doctor's office.

This Week's Library Loot and a new plan

I have been listing the books we get from the library for a bit now but doing nothing more than listing them.  I'm thinking about adding short, one or two sentence, reviews of some of the books after we have read them.  For a while now I've been debating whether I'd post separate reviews for books, and I may do that from time to time, but I think for now after we have read all the books in the list I'll post a second post listing the books and including add short reviews.  The reviews will basically just be either a description of the books or my thoughts on the books and how they could be used for different subjects.

That's the plan for now anyway, we'll see how it goes.

These are the books we got from the library this week.  We got the books Tuesday and we actually have all but one of them read already!  I'll probably post my review post tomorrow.

My Visit with Periwinkle by Alison Inches, illustrated by David B. Levy (Ready-to-Read: Level 1)

Big Sarah's Little Boots by Paulette Bourgeois, illustrated by Brenda Clark

A Summertime Song by Irene Haas

Olivia and Her Ducklings adapted by Veera Hiranandani, illustrated by Shane L. Johnson (Ready-to-Read: Level 1)

Where is Baby's Beach Ball? by Karen Katz (a Lift-the-Flap book)

Spot Goes to the Farm by Eric Hill

What a Treasure! by Jane and Will Hillenbrand

The Stuffed Animals Get Ready for Bed by Alison Inches, illustrated by Bryan Langdo

A Second Is a Hiccup: A Child's Book of Time by Hazel Hutchins, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton

Boy in Motion: Ricck Hansen's Story by Ainslie Manson, illustrated by Renne Benoit

Furious George Goes Bananas by Michael Rex

Sleepy Cadillac: A Bedtime Drive by Thacher Hurd

Read Me a Story: Canadian Favourites (5 different authors)

Blue's Checkup by Sarah Albee, illustrated by Ian Chernichaw

I have a post in this edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling

The Carnival of Homeschooling #253 is up at Dewey's Treehouse.  

I am so impressed with this Carnival for continuing so long.  I had tried to do a Canadian homeschoolers blog carnival for a while but life became to hectic to continue it.  I was trying to do it all myself, which really wasn't a good idea.  I have been thinking I might try to revive it again in the near future, but make some changes to it so that I'm not doing it all myself.  Let me know if you'd be interested in that.

Anyway, check out the Carnival of Homeschooling edition #253

Fun Learning Sites - Big IQ Kids

Little One and I have been having fun on some sites lately.  I thought I'd share some of them.  Here's the first one I've decided to share.

BigIQKids.com - there's a whole lot of good stuff here, and a good portion of it is available for free.  Because of Little One's age, we're only using one part of the site, the Spelling Program.  Truthfully I didn't have any thoughts of doing spelling with Little one for a long time yet but she's taken an interest in trying to write and I thought I'd capitalize on it.  The thing that drew me to this Spelling Program was that you could input your own word lists.  I started with a personalized list of our family names, because Little One was interested in learning how to spell all of our names.  She loved using the program and learned how to spell our names quickly so I decided to check out the graded word lists.  She flicked her way through the first word list for grade one, the "at" family list.  I guess we'll move on to the next list, as long as her interest stays.  I will make more personalized lists, using words she asks to spell and also using words from a prepimer dolch word list.  If she was older I would make use of the other programs available on the site, and you never know, I just may be making use of them sooner than I think because Little One is eager to learn.

Write or Die

I've decided to try NaNoWriMo again. I figure that if I discipline myself I should be able to write for at least some time in the morning and the night. It will mean some changes. I will have to get up earlier and I will have to change what I do in the night but I think it is doable.

I took the goal of 50,000 words and and divided it by 31 to see how many words per day I would need to shoot for and it works out to be approximately 1667 words per day. If I write twice a day I would need to write approximately 834 words a session. I was thinking I'd probably need about an hour per session.

This morning I decided to use Write or Die to get an idea of how many words I could write in an hour. I didn't get up early this morning so I didn't actually have an hour to spare so I decided to see what I could write in 20 minutes and then just multiply that by 3 to see what I could write in an hour.

What a surprise I got!

Murder Mysteries

Some of my favorite TV shows are murder mysteries - NCIS, CSI, Criminal Minds. I love them! Presently I'm reading a book, The Bride Collector by Ted Dekker, that reminds me of Criminal Minds.

My daughter read this book a while ago and told me I would love it. We went on a long trip again a couple of days ago and I needed something to read so I asked her for a book and this is the one she gave me. I am loving it! Funny thing is that while I'm reading the book I'm picturing the characters of Criminal Minds as the characters in the book. It's uncanny how much the book reminds me of the show.

8 questions tag

I don't usually do these things but I've been slack in posting anything lately so I figure why not do it and at least get a post up. :)

Shannon tagged me in her 16 questions post. I enjoyed reading her answers and initially thought I was supposed to answer the same questions as she did and was getting ready to do that when I reread and realized that I was to answer different questions that she had posted.

Anyway, here's her questions and my answers:

1. Toddlers or Teens? Which is harder and why?
I happen to have loved all the stages of my kids and can't say that I found any stage harder than the others. I do believe, however, that starting over again at an older age is harder.

2. What is your favourite Christmas tradition?
Hmmmm...honestly, I'm not a big fan of Christmas. It can be such a stressful time. I like things plain and simple and to me the time together with family doing simple things are the best. One of my favorite things is driving around looking at the Christmas lights.

3. What do you do (if anything) for regular physical exercise?
Ha! Regular??? Physical???? Exercise???? All three words are kind of foreign to me. :) I am trying to get back into the habit of walking every day and hoping to work back up into running a bit too. Been trying for a few months now and so far I haven't had much success.

4. Country/Traditional/Eclectic or Modern – which is YOUR home decorating style?
Ha again! :) Home decorating style - more foreign words to me. I have no style, in fashion or home decorating. :) My house is very plain and thrown together with little thought other than what is needed and what is available.

5. Baths or Showers? Which do you prefer and why?
Hmmmm...I haven't had a bath in a long time, though I think I actually prefer a bath. My do-it-yourselfer hubby renovated our upstairs washroom, where our bathtub is, and we've been unable to use it for about 5 years. Luckily we have a shower downstairs that is functional. I think I prefer a bath because I find it more relaxing and more like a get away. I can soak in the tub for a long time in peace and quiet away from everyone. A shower is more energizing, not as relaxing, and doesn't last as long.

6. Have you ever lived abroad? Where and for how long?
Never.

7. What is your favourite season and why?
I love all the seasons but I think fall is my favorite. I love the smells and the nice crisp feel in the air. I love that it's not too hot and not too cold, but just right. I also love how colourful it is.

8. Are your parents still alive? If not, what do you miss most about them and if yes, have you told them today that you love them?
Yes, they are. I haven't told them tonight because I can't get a hold of them. They must be out partying again. :) I talk to my parents just about every day at least once and most every visit or phone conversation ends with kisses, hugs and I love yous. :)

Now, I'm supposed to tag others, but I'm not good at that either so instead I'll just say if you read this and want to answer the questions I answered consider yourself tagged, and let me know that you did. :)

This Week's Library Loot

We were out of town last week and missed going to the library on our regular day so went a couple of days off schedule. We also didn't manage to read all the books we got out last week because of our travels and activities so I had to get some books renewed.

Renewed from last week
Where's Pup? by Dayle Ann Dodds, pictures by Pierre Pratt
David and Goliath by Mary Auld, illustrated by Diana Mayo
Song of the Circus by Lois Duncan, illustrated by Meg Cundiff
Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman

New this week:
Van Gool's Cinderella
Leaving the Nest by Mordicai Gerstien
One Potato, Two Potato by Cynthia Defelice, pictures by Andrea U'ren
Teddy Bears Stay Indoors by Susanna Gretz and Alison Sage
Firebears The Rescue Team by Rhonda Gowler Green, illustrated by Dan Andreasen
Amber Waiting by Nan Gregory, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton
Chicken Said, "Cluck" by Judyann Ackerman Grant, pictures by Sue Truesdell (an I Can Read book)
What am I? by Linda Granfield, illustrated by Jennifer Herbert
No News is Bad News by Margaret Hennigar, illustrated by Marjorie Speed
Sammy and the Miracles of Christmas stories by Ray Guy, illustrated by Boyd W. Chubbs
Flight to Freedom by Jackie Greene, illustrated by Alison Stalker
Octopus's Walker by Carin Greenberg, illustrated by Pattie Silver-Thompson (a Preschool BabySitter Board Book)
Here's a Little Poem: A Very First Book of Poetry collected by Jane Yolen and Andrew Fusek Peters, illustrated by Polly Dunbar
Kitten's First Full Moon by Kevin Henkes

I won! I won!

Remember when I asked if you Wanna win some Fudge? I got an email a couple of days ago telling me that I won! Can't wait to get my Chocolate Cherry Pecan Fudge from Fudge by Design.

Also, I recently took part in the Schoolhouse Expo, an online homeschooling convention put off by The Old Schoolhouse. I thoroughly enjoyed taking in all the sessions and was greatly inspired by them. I took lots of notes and may share more about them at some point in time. For every session that you attended you got to put your name in for a prize. I received notification that my name was drawn for two prizes! The Right Brain Phonics Reading Program was donated by Diane Craft during her session on Identifying Your Child's Learning Glitch. I loved her session! I could have listened to her for longer. The Let's Get Ready Complete Series was donated by Cedar Valley Publishing. I'd never heard of them before I went searching to see what I had won. Looks interesting. I can't wait to get these things and use them with my Little One.

Hunting and Reading Update

Finished my book but still didn't get a moose. Oh well. Maybe next time. :) I'll most likely be sharing more about the book when I get home and have more internet time.

Me reading time!

I'm at the inlaws. One thing that I like about time at the inlaws is that I manage to find some time to read, not just to Anna, but for me. It's a 6 hour drive to get to the inlaws so the reading starts on the drive here. Also, bedtime at the inlaws is 10-10:30pm, unlike my usual the 1-2am bedtime, so I get to read in my bed until I finally fall asleep. Also, I don't get to choose what I watch on tv so any time that I would normally spend watching tv, which really isn't much but it is some, I now spend reading. All that adds up to lots of reading time for me, and I love that, even if I am missing my TV shows.

A while back I received Trudy Morgan Cole's newest book Lydia, A Story of Philippi. I have really been wanting to start reading it but just couldn't find the time. Now I have the time, and, boy, am I enjoying the book!

I actually received the book compliments of the author. I participated in a challenge she had on her blog last year and my prize was this book! I was thrilled, because I haven't yet met a Trudy Morgan Cole book that I haven't enjoyed. And this book is proving to be no exception.

I'm only about a quarter of the way through the book yet, but it's only been two days yet, and I do still have to spend time reading to and occupying little one. If I could devote all my time to reading for myself I would be much further ahead. Still, I'm hoping that I will get pretty far through the book before the week is over.

I've come across a few quotes already that I think are worth noting. Here are some of them:

While Lydia and Luke were discussing the seemingly opposite teachings of Jesus saying that he did not come to bring peace, but Paul talking about the peace Jesus brings, Luke says "Perhaps He meant that following His Way would bring us into conflict with others, yet we would have peace in our spirits."

When Lydia was thinking about one of her fellow Christians that tended to rub her the wrong way she thought to herself "Being sisters in Christ was one thing, but even the love of Jesus didn't make it possible to actually love everyone."

In a discussion about what roles and responsibilities the Christians had Epaphroditus says "Our job is to tell people about Him so they'll be ready, not to attack the rulers of the world"

I'd say more but I'm being driven to bed again. Time to break out my little night light reader and get into the book again. :)

I don't want to go hunting!

I used to love hunting. Moose hunting. I've successfully shot a moose a number of times. One particular time stand out in my mind. One shot and the moose dropped right to the ground. It wa amazing! This year, however, I have no interest. Actually, my interest has been wanning a few years now. Unfortunately I have to go hunting this week. It started today. Bleh. I'm just not in the mood. Apparently I have to go again tomorrow too. Bleh! I'd like to get the moose within ten minutes and get it over with. I wonder will I be that lucky. Probably not. I'll let you know.

That's what's on my mind right now.

Yesterday's Library Loot

Where's Pup? by Dayle Ann Dodds, pictures by Pierre Pratt
David and Goliath by Mary Auld, illustrated by Diana Mayo
Song of the Circus by Lois Duncan, illustrated by Meg Cundiff
Norman the Doorman by Don Freeman
Birdsongs by Betsy Franco, illustrated by Steve Jenkins
Ten Little Fingers and Ten Little Toes by Mem Fox, Helen Oxenbury
Ollie's Easter Eggs by Olivier Dunrea
Ollie by Olivier Dunrea
Where the Giant Sleeps by Mem Fox, pictures by Vladimir Radunsky
City Dog, Country Frog by Mo Willems, pictures by Jon j. Muth
The Cow Love Cookies by Karma Wilson, illustrated by Marcellus Hall
Carl's Summer Vacation by Alexandra Day
Pirate Girl by Cornelia Funke, illustrated by Kerstin Meyer
Toy Story 3: A Read-Aloud Storybook adapted by Christine Peymani
Good Morning, Chick by Mirra Ginsburg, pictures by Byron Barton
Caramba written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
What Are You Doing Sam? written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Stella Princess of the Sky written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
When Stella was Very, Very Small written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay
Stella Fairy of the Forest written and illustrated by Marie-Louise Gay

Will I Nano this year?

NaNoWriMo time is coming close. I've given it a try a number of years but I've never actually finished. To be perfectly truthful, I don't get very far. For some reasons, though, I just can't seem to resist given it a try.

Last year I found a site which I used to help prepare plot notes. There were daily assignments for the month of October to help you get ready for writing in November. I'd really like to try that again, but I can't seem to find the site. Grrrrr....

That's what's on my mind tonight.

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!

I love it when Little One says something that is inspired by a book we have read together. That happened just now. I was sitting at the dining room table on my laptop and there was a bag of Christy's Chunks Ahoy! sitting on the table. Little One came by and reached into the bag while saying "Muncha! Muncha! Muncha!"

Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! happens to be the title to a book that we read recently by Candance Fleming. This is a cute story about a man that has to war with some hungry bunnies while he tries to grow a vegetable garden. Little One loved the book. We've read it a few times. We especially like making the sounds the bunnies make as they invade the garden.

I love that I knew what was on her mind as she reached for the cookie and said "muncha, muncha, muncha". She often does that, repeats a phrase from a book that we've read. I'm glad we get to share those special moments reading together and that they allow for more special moments when we get to share a secret that others might not fully understand.

That's what's on my mind tonight.

Submitted to, and included in, Carnival of Homeschooling #253

Wanna win some Fudge?

Check out the Happy Birthday contest at DownLoad N Go.   There are a number of different ways to get your name in for the draw.  Be sure to check it out.

While you're there, check out DownLoad N Go.  It's a great idea by Amanda Bennett, unit study queen.  I attended a webinar presentation by Amanda tonight and she said that DownLoad N Go takes unit studies to the next level.  These are downloadable unit studies complete with web links to helpful resources.  They look very interesting!

I completed the 90 Day Challenge with One Day to Spare!

I learned about Amy's, from Mom's Toolbox,  Bible in 90 Days Summer 2010 Challenge the very day that it started, July 5, 2010.  You can read my post about joining the Bible in 90 Days Challenge by clicking on the words.  I seriously wondered if I could do it, but I completed the challenge today, with one day to spare!  I actually read the whole Bible through in 89 days!  I still find it hard to believe.

I truly loved this experience and I will be doing it again.  Actually, Amy is starting another challenge January the 3rd.  If you are at all  interested or curious about it, be sure to check it out.  I challenge you to take the challenge yourself.

There were over 600 people that signed up to take Amy's challenge.  As people report in about finishing she is adding their names under the Bible in 90 Days Summer 2010 Grads list on her blog.  It is amazing to think that so many of us did this together.

I have to say, that I am proud of all those that took on the challenge, even if they didn't finish.  Sometimes life gets in the way of your plans and you don't get to do the things that you really want to do, but you shouldn't let that get you down.  The time that you did take to read your Bible was profitable and I'm sure it helped you grow in ways you may not even realize.  If you happen to be someone that took the challenge but didn't complete it, chin up, don't get down on yourself.

Today's Library Loot

Some of these we have read before.  I'm getting less picky about that.

Arthur Babysits by Marc Brown (boardbook)
The Best Pets Yet: A First Book, Set 2 by Foster & Erickson, illustrations by Kerri Gifford
Busy Little Mouse by Eugenie Fernandes, illustrated by Kim Fernandes
Peek-a-Little Boo by Sheree Fitch, illustrated by Laura Watson
Pirates Don't Change Diapers by Melinda Long, illustrated by David Shannon
One Ted Falls Out of Bed, by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Anna Currey
A Squash and a Squeeze by Julia Donaldson, illustrated by Axel Scheffler
Buster Goes to Cowboy Camp by Denise Fleming
Alphabet Under Construction by Denise Fleming
Bark, George by Jules Feiffer
Buster by Denise Fleming
Muncha! Muncha! Muncha! by Candace Fleming, illustrated by G. Brian Karas
The Cow Who Clucked by Denise Fleming
Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming
Time for Bed by Mem Fox, illustrated by Jane Dyer

"....in it's own time."

One of my favorite books from our latest library visit is Once Upon a Time, Upon a Nest by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Rebecca Harry.  I love this book!

The story is about a little duckling that is behind its siblings in everything right from the start.  Her daddy worries about it and wonders if she'll ever catch up.  But her mommy keeps saying, "She will, in her own time."  And sure enough she does.

I love the message of the book!  Each child will develop in their own time.  Don't get caught up in comparing them and expecting them all to develop at the same speed.  Relax and let them develop at their own speed.

Love it!

Math turned into Art

I am sure Little One has an artistic bent.  Our walls are full of indications of this.  :)  Seriously, from a very young age she has loved to draw, color, paint, create and I have been amazed by many things she has done.

One day last week we were doing a page in the Kindergarten Scholar work book I picked up at WalMart a while back.  It was a math page on identifying geometric shapes.  There was a suggestion at the bottom of the page to use cans, bottle caps, etc, to trace around to make a bunch of different sized circles on a sheet of paper.  Little One loved doing this and we filled our paper with circles and that was that.  Instead of doing a whole lot of different sized circles we used just a couple of different sizes but we used different colored leads to trace around them  A little later in the day I found the page of circles sitting on the bench in the porch, but the circles now had faces in them.  I thought it was very cute.  She informed me that it is our family and the Reids, friends of ours that found come visit.

Palette knife painting workshop

This is what I created during a palette knife painting workshop that I attended today.  Doug Downey is a local artist that uses a palette knife to do his impressionistic style paintings.  He has started offering day long workshops to anyone interested in trying the technique and I was privileged to sit, well actually stand, in on a workshop today.

I say stand in because Doug actually encourages his students to stand, rather than sit, while painting.  I'm not used to being on my feet for such a long period of time and I'm also not used to having footwear on for such a long period of time.  My feet were burning by the end of the day, but it was worth it.

Today's Library Loot

We read all the books we had out and needed new ones so off to the library we went.  Here's what came home with us today:

Spot's First Easter by Eric Hill
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr., pictures by Eric Carle
White if for Blueberry by George Shannon, pictures by Laura Dronzek
Chicken, Pig, Cow and the Purple Problem by Ruth Ohi
The Queen's Feet by Sarah Ellis, illustrated by Dusan Petricic
Ben Over Night by Sarah Ellis, illustrated by Kim LaFave
Watch out, Little Wombat! written and illustrated by Charles Fuge
A Number of Numbers by bp Nichol, pictures by Michelle Nidenoff
Brady Brady and the Most Important Game by Mary Shaw, illustrated by Chuck Temple
The Boy Who Loved Bananas by George Elliott, illustrated by Andrej Krystoforski
Once Upon a Time, Upon a Nest by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Rebecca Harry
I Love You Always and Forever by Jonathan Emmett, illustrated by Daniel Howarth
Home to Me, Home to You by Jennifer A. Ericsson, illustrated by Ashley Wolff
Thing-Thing by Cary Fagan, illustrated by Nicolas Debon
The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn, illustrated by Ruth E. Harper and Nancy M. Leak
Pie in the Sky by Lois Ehlert

I hate technology!

I know, I know.  In my last post I was gushing about how much I love technology, and it's still true, but it's one of those things where you have a love hate relationship at the same time.  Technology is wonderful when everything works right but it's a royal pain in the backside when it doesn't work.

Tonight I was reminded of the hate side yet again.  I had power cord trouble again.  I don't know what it is with me and power cords but I am on my 4th power cord in less than 2 years, and the one I'm using now my husband has had to repair 3 times.  Thankfully he was able to repair it again tonight.

Why can't I get a cord that will last forever?!  I'm so fearful that one of these times the cord is not going to be fixable and I'm not going to be able to find a new cord that fits, or I'm not going to be able to afford to buy a new one.  So far so good, but how long is it going to last.  Hopefully forever, but I guess time will tell.

That's what's on my mind tonight.

I love technology!

I recently participated in my first webinar courtesy of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.  They are hosting an online homeschool conference called Schoolhouse Expo October 4th-8th.  The webinar that I participated in was part of their first preshow on August 24th and featured presentations by Jeannie Fulbright and Dr. Jay Wile. The next preshow is coming up September 21st and I can't wait for it!

Thanks to the wonders of technology I get to sit in my home in Newfoundland, Canada, and connect with other homeschoolers across the world and sit in on presentations by some veteran homeschoolers and experts in their fields.  I love it!

A few weeks back I listened to and enjoyed the interviews made available by Kerry Beck during her Homeschool SuperHeroes Week.  Every weekday, excluding weekends, from August 23 - September 3 she made available an audio recording of an interview with a homeschool superhero.  I missed the first day or two because I didn't find out about it until after then but I did manage to catch them all once I heard about them and I found them every inspirational and encouraging.  The recordings of the interviews are available for purchase and I was considering purchasing them to loan out to friends but when I asked if that was permitted I was told that they were really meant for single family use so I didn't get them because I had already listened to the interviews live and had notes taken from them.

I also participated in Kerry's Start School Year Right This Year webinar this week and once again I was inspired and took lots of notes.

Just this week I discovered something else exciting!  The Old Schoolhouse and HomeschoolBlogger.com have joined together and are offering a number of Free Classes!  There is a schedule of classes on the site and more are added to it from time to time. I participated in one this week and I'll tell you more about that in a bit.  I also discovered that you can check out classes they have done in the past on their Recorded Free Classes page!  This really is a great resource.  If you can't actually make the class during the actual presentation time you can always check it out later when the recording gets posted to this page.  I will definitely be checking out the classes that I missed.  Actually, I already did check out the "Level With Me About Math" - Can I really Teach It presentation and I loved it!

The Free Class I participated in this week was called Quizzy's World and Cram Stoppers.  The recording of the presentation isn't up on the Recorded Free Classes page at the time that I'm writing this but it will be there later and it is worth checking out.  During this presentation I learned all about Quizzy's World, Cram Stoppers, and Quiz Infinity.  The first two sites were created with the purpose of helping students learn how to study properly and to help them master their learning.  Quizzy's World is especially for grades pre k-8 and Cram Stoppers is for highschool and college students.  The idea is that students learn how to use material they are studying to make quizzes for themselves, thereby learning to master their material.  It really is a great concept.  Quiz Infinity is a site for teachers, including homeschoolers, and tutors.  There is a 30 day free trail to the first to sites but Quiz Infinity is free, at least at the present time.  It really is worth checking out, but you probably won't get to really understand it and appreciate how useful it could be until you see the presentation about it.  So watch for when that is available.

One advantage to participating in the Free Classes live is that they sometimes offer free giveaways during the live classes.  I actually won a lifetime free membership to Quizzy's World in the class I participated in.  :)

I just love technology!  That's what's on my mind tonight.  :)

How big is a whale?

Our local homeschool group went on it's first field trip of the year today.  We went to visit the newly opened whale pavilion in a nearby community. Hanging inside the pavilion is the complete restructured skeleton of humpback whale.  Everyone enjoyed the information shared by the worker on duty.  She shared information about humpback whales in general and also about all the work of volunteers that made the display possible.

I noticed a poster on the wall that I had seen before and brought it to the attention of the group.  The poster shows all the whales that are known to travel the waters around Newfoundland and the drawings are all done to size to compare to a drawing of a moose also on the poster.  Most everyone in Newfoundland is familiar with the size of a moose and when you see the size of the moose compared to the size of the whales it is very eye opening!  The moose was the size of the fluke on the tail of one of the whales.  Pretty amazing to think about.

That's what's on my mind tonight.

Today's Library Loot

Sally Goes to the Vet written and illustrated by Stephen Huneck
Wiggle by Doreen Cronin, Art by Scott Menchin
Daisy Gets Dressed by Clare Beaton
Goodnight, Me by Andrew Daddo, illustrations by Emma Quay
Please Say Please! Penguins Guide to Manners by Margery Cuyler, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
Please Play Safe! Penguins Guide to Playground Safety by Margery Cuyler, illustrated by Will Hillenbrand
I Already Know I Love You, by Billy Crystal, illustrated by Elizabeth Sayles
A Child's Treasury of Nursery Rhymes by Kady MacDonald Denton
Martha Speaks: Meet Martha, written by Karen Barss, based on characters  created by Susan Meddaugh
Silvery/Good Night, Good Night by Dennis Lee, illustrated by Nora Hilb (A board book)
Clap Hand by Helen Oxenbury (board Book)
Pinkalicious: School Rules by Victoria Kann
Clean Your Room, Harvey Moon! by Pat Cummings
I am Going! by Mo Willems

My thoughts on dentistry

I am not a fan of dentists.  I had a very bad experience when I was a teen. I had dentistry work done without being properly frozen. I told the dentist that it wasn't frozen but he chose to ignore me and proceed.  It forever scared me and that is part of the reason for my dislike of dentists. But it goes beyond that.

I don't think that we are all meant to have the same perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth and it really bugs me that that seems to be the goal of dentists these days.  I think that the way your teeth are is part of what makes you unique.  I happen to have what is sometimes referred to as fangs.  Now days if you have fangs you are encouraged to have them removed.  I'm not interested in having my fangs removed.  They are part of me that makes me unique.

That is just some of my thoughts on dentistry.  I have many more, but I'll leave it at that for now.

That's what's on my mind today.

Little One is so Eager to Learn!

I thought we would start out slow and gradually introduce more learning into the day, but Little One just wants to get to it!  She flicks through my plans in no time, and leaves me scrambling trying to get more for her to do.  It's so exciting!

One of the things we did today was work on one of the readers. What's the Weather Like?, that comes with the Weather themed unit at Kinderplans.  We printed off the pages, colored them together, made them into a book, and then read the book together.  Later, when we had reading time, she asked me to read it to her again along with the library books that she had chosen to read.  When Dad came home she read the book to him all by herself!

Tonight before she went to bed I suggested that she read a book to me and then I would read a book to her.  One of the books that we got out of the library this week was All Fall Down by Helen Oxenbury.  It is a book of few words and I thought it would be a great one to work on her being able to read all by herself.  I read it to her the day we brought it home and the next day I typed up with words and printed off two copies, one to cut into strips and one to keep whole.  Yesterday I helped her match the word strips to the book and we read them together.  Then I showed her how they matched the words on the copy I printed and left whole and we read it again.  I put the book, along with what I had printed off into a ziplock bag.  She discovered that bag this afternoon and took it out and read the book to me with very little help, but she wasn't interested in matching the strips.  Tonight this was the book she decided to read to me and she read it with no help at all!

I know that at this point some of it is simple memorization of what is on the pages based on the pictures.  I also know, however, that some of it is actual reading because she is pointing out the words and correcting what she says based on the letters she sees.  I just love watching her learn!

That's what on my mind today.

I'm so tired!

It's been a crazy busy day.  Little one was very demanding today.  She wanted to do school and I was doing my best to keep her happy.  We covered a lot of stuff.  It wore me totally out.  I lay down to read tonight and fell asleep and slept for about 2 hours!  Meanwhile she was still going strong.  There's something wrong with this picture.  I think tomorrow I'll try to find ways to wear her out so she'll want a nap.  :)

That's what's on my mind at this moment.

Today's Library Loot

For Anna:
Animal Song, adapted and illustrated by Marcia Sewall
All Fall Down by Helen Oxenbury
Later, Rover by Harriet Ziefert, pictures by David Jacobson
Animals should definitely not wear clothing written by Judi Barrett and drawn by Ron Barrett
Seal is Lost by Priscilla Galloway, pictures by Karen Patkau
Rat-a-Tat, Pitter Pat, sounds by Alan Benjamin, pictures by Margaret Miller
Very Last First Time by Jan Andrews, illustrated by Ian Wallace
Mother Hen's Canada by Kenneth M. Mercer, illustrated by Clara (maher) Dunne & Danielle Dunne
Father Fox's Pennyrhymes by Clyde Watson, illustrated by Wendy Watson
Look! I Can Read by Susan Hood, illustrated by Amy Wummer
Clifford's Busy Week by Norman Bridwell
Henry and Mudge and the Funny Lunch by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Carolyn Bracken
Arthue Writes a Story by Marc Brown
Brachiosaurus text by Lucie Duchesne and Andrew Leitch

And renewed for me:
Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year by Laura Brodie


I wonder will I get a chance to read any of my book this time.  Since we've been home from the library we've already read the first 6 books in Anna's list, and if I'd listened to her we would have read more, but my throat needed a break.  :)

Last Week's Library Loot

I've decided to start recording on here the books that we get out of the library so there will be a Library Loot post every once in a while.  We've read all our books from our last visit and most likely we'll be off to return them and get some new ones tomorrow, so I figured I'd better get them listed tonight.

Books for Anna:
Brave Heart, by Heather Kellerhals-Stewart, illustrations by Werner Zimmermann
Tigress by Nick Dowson, illustrations by Jane Chapman
Lucy's Big Plan by Bob Kerr
Feelings by Joanne Brisson Murphy, illustrations by Heather Collins
A Giant's Cake and other poems selected by Anne Hanzl, Yevonne Pollock, and Diane Snowball
Amelia Bedelia and the Surprise Shower by Peggy Parish, pictures by Fritz Siebel
Beach Ball by Peter Sis
Emma's Cold Day by Margriet Ruurs, illustrations by Barbara Spurll
Billy's Shoes by Gen LeRoy, pictures by Winslow Higginbottom
The Stray Dog by Marc Simon
Emma's Yucky Brother by Jean Little, pictures by Jennifer Plecas
Pig and Crow by Kay Chorao
Muddle Cuddle by Laurel Dee Gugler, art by Vlasta van Kampen
Annie and Snowball and the Dress-up Birthday by Cynthia Rylant, illustrated by Sucie Stevenson
Two Messy Friends by Barbara Bottner
Henry and Mudge and Annie's Good Move by Cynthia Rylant, pictures by Sucie Stevenson
Yeah, I'm a Little Kid by Darryl Borden, art by Lynn Smith
Franny and the Music Girl by Emily Hearn, illustrated by Mark Thurman

and one for me that I haven't even turned a page in yet so I'll be getting it out again:
Love in a Time of Homeschooling: A Mother and Daughter's Uncommon Year by Laura Brodie

Scheduled/planned learning versus Natural Learning

I have found that the longer I homeschool the more aware I become of the natural learning moments that come up and it's caused me to question as to which type of learning is more effect - the scheduled/planned learning or the natural learning.

I didn't really have anything in particular planned for little one's learning today.  Her Dad is still off and she likes spending time with him and often doesn't get to spend a lot of time with him so I'm letting her make the most of this time.  We'll catch up on the planned learning later.  In the meantime, I'm sure that she's learning lots while she's following him around all day.  On top of that, I make the most of the moments that she does come spend with me during the day.

Little one loves to read - well, she loves being read to because she's not actually reading on her own yet.  At one point today she came to me and asked me to read her a book.  We make regular visits to the library and always have a big batch of books on hand. 

The book that little one chose for me to read to her today - I always let her choose which books to read - was Brave Highland Heart by Heather Kellerhals-Stewart, with illustrations by Werner Zimmermann.  What a lovely book!  The illustrations and writing seemed to engulf us today as we took our time and read through the book discussing different things that came up while we read. 

The book is about a little girl who wants to stay up and celebrate the ceilidh with her family.  We talked about the bag pipes featured in the story and about the kilts.  This led us to decide that once we finished reading the book we would search on youtube for videos where we could listen to the bagpipes and see the people dressed in the traditional dress and doing the traditional dances.

This has become a ritual for us lately.  Something in a book that we've read sends us searching the internet for more information and we've traveled some amazing bunny trails of learning.  Little one loves it, and so do I.

Aside from our internet search, we also checked out her inflatable globe that we have sitting at the top of our watercooler and I pointed out to her where Scotland was and what continent it was on.  Of course we also talked about where it was in relation to where we live.

While we were reading I also took the time to explain to her the meanings of words that were new to her and pointed out to her words that she is starting to recognize and asked her to help me sound out some others that I knew would be easy for her.

Later tonight, just before bedtime, she came to me asking me to read to her again.  This time the book that she chose was Beach Ball by Peter Sis.  Though this is a book of few words we found ourselves lingering over the pages and we only made it through the first few pages before our reading time was up.  She begged for more but I promised we'd come back to the book tomorrow.

This book is one of those books where you search the pages for all that things that are hidden in them.  I'm not usually a big fan of those books but I like this one. 

One of the spreads that we did manage to get through tonight had us searching for things that began with the different letters of the alphabet.  Unbeknownst to little one while we were doing this I was checking out to see if she recognized the letters and the sounds that each of the letters made.  I wasn't the least bit surprised to discover that she did. 

Another spread had us looking for things of different colors and patterns.  Once again, unbeknownst to her I was checking to be sure that she recognized and could name the different colors and types of patterns.  Once again I wasn't surprised to discover that she could. 

The next page had us looking for numbers of things and of course once again I was taking advantage of the chance to see if she recognized the numerals and could estimate the number of items and then check by counting.  Once again no problem. 

And we had so much fun as we went through all this.  We're looking forward to doing the shapes, opposites, and animal pages tomorrow.

So, while there wasn't any scheduled/planned learning for today, it doesn't mean that learning didn't take place.  There was lots of natural learning taking place and I sometimes wonder if that kind of learning doesn't have a more lasting impact than the scheduled/planned learning.

That's what's on my mind today.

First Day of School

Today could have been little one's first day of school.  It felt kind of weird to read all the facebook statuses about how sad or excited everyone was to be sending their kids to school.  It made me glad that I got to sit and cuddle with my little one as we continued the natural learning processes that we have been doing since the beginning.

That's what's on my mind today.

I love playing with information!

I've recently taken on the job of updating membership information for our provincial homeschool association and I am having so much fun doing it!

DH had the day off today and little one announced that she had to help Daddy so she spent the day with him and I enjoyed playing with information.  I inputted a bunch of stuff into a master spreadsheet so that I could see what we were missing.  I then made a number of information specific spreadsheets from the master spreadsheet so that we could more clearly see how we were doing in certain areas.  It really was a lot of fun.  Then I sent out a bunch of emails requesting updates for information we were missing and I got so excited when replies started coming in.

I can't wait to play with the information some more.  I know I'm weird.  :)

That's what's on my mind today.

Changing Focus Yet Again

I can't ever seem to settle on a focus for my blog, but then again, right in the heading I say that "this is a place for me to share whatever happens to be on my mind at the moment".  My mind changes it's focus often, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, so that would explain why the focus of the blog changes so much.  I'm going to stop worrying about finding one particular focus and I'm just going to do what my heading says I planned to do in the beginning, use this place to share what happens to be on my mind at the moment.

What happens to be on my mind right now is homeschooling, though I really hate that term.  Maybe that's a blog post for another time.

My baby is 4, turning 5 in November.  Everyone is always commenting to her about her starting school this year.  It drives me crazy!  And it's causing some confusion for her.

In our province children can be enrolled in a public school in the year that they turn 5, so that would be this year for my little one.  You are not actually required by law to register a child for school until the year they turn 6, and even then there is always the option of homeschooling.  An option that we took advantage of for our 3 older children, who are all now over the age of compulsory education and are in the workforce.

Why would everyone just assume that I am going do anything different this time around?

Maybe part of the reason is because, well, I am older.  I had my baby when I was over 40 so if I continue to homeschool her right until she is past compulsory school age I will be homeschooling until I am almost 60.  That does sound old but I think there are at least some older teachers in the public school system.

Maybe part of the reason is because little one is, in a way, like an only child.  All her siblings are basically young adults and she has nobody close to her own age to interact with in our home.  It's the old "socialization" concern again.

Either way, I wish they would stop, but I know they won't.

In the meantime I am gearing up and starting to get excited about starting over again.

Finished Day One of the B90 Challenge!

It's my third time reading this particular portion of Genesis since January 2010.  :)

I had started a Bible reading plan at the beginning of the year and had read all of Genesis, as well as other books.  I did real good with that plan until about April.  I had been doing my Bible reading online and I started having computer troubles and that's when I started to fall behind.

Then, in April I got a new Bible, because my old one was worn out and falling apart and I was afraid to take it out in public for fear of losing pages.  When I got my new Bible I decided that the first thing I wanted to do was read the Bible from cover to cover.  I wasn't following any particular reading plan.  I was instead just reading along, starting from the beginning.  I had made it as far as Exodus 11.  I really wasn't as consistent in my Bible reading as I would have liked.

When I read Life as Mom's post yesterday about the Bible in 90 Days Challenge that was starting today I was intrigued.  I had read about the 90 challenge before and was tempted to try it before but I resisted the temptation.  This time, however, I gave in.  :)  I really liked what she said about wanting to do the challenge because she wanted to spend more time with Jesus and get to know Him better.  That resonated in my spirit.  My time with Jesus has been sadly lacking lately and I decided it was time to do something about it and I figured this challenge would help.  When I popped over to read Mom's Toolbox's post about where this challenge originated I was sold.

I printed off the schedule this morning and started in to read.  I was in the house alone so I started reading out loud, and I really liked that.  I've decided to try to do most of the reading out loud in my house if possible.  It just feels good to have the word actually spoken in my house.  I read for a bit this morning and finished it off this evening.  I even read one extra chapter thinking that it was part of the prescribed reading for today.  So, I'm ready to start with Genesis 18 tomorrow.

Read Your Bible in 90 Days

I just signed up for a Read Your Bible in 90 Days Challenge.  You can read all about it here - http://www.momstoolbox.com/blog/2010/04/05/bible-in-90-days-sign-up-for-the-july-2010-edition/ .  My Bible reading has been haphazard for a while now and I'm hoping this will get me on track again.

It's Bloggiesta time again!

It's been over a month since I posted here.  I kinda got in a slump, but....I'm really hoping that participating in the 3rd Edition of the Bloggiesta this weekend will break me out of that slump.  I completely missed the first bloggiesta but I did manage to participate in the second one and I learned alot while participating.  I'm hoping for the same this time around.  If you are interested in learning more about blogging and getting ideas for things to do with your blog, be sure to check out the Bloggiesta, and let me know that you do.  Now to go find some Mexican treats to enjoy during the party  ....    :)  

If it's not lapbook trouble it's modem trouble!

Been missing posting partly due to modem trouble.  I finally got the laptop up and running again and I started having trouble with my internet connection.  It was coming and going.  DH blamed it on my daughter's new mac but I was convinced it was the modem.  Turns out I was right. :)  Things finally seem to be straightened out.  Sure hope it stays that way.

Happy Scrapbooking Day!

I miss scrapping.  It's been a long time.  I don't know if, or when, I'll ever pick it up again.  I love it, but I don't have the time, space, or money for it.  Most of the time I don't think about it much, but once in a while it strikes me, and today is one of those days.  The first Saturday in May is known as National Scrapbooking Day.

I've had a lot of fun during National Scrapbooking Day in years past.  I think the most fun was the year I was in to digital scrapbooking and I celebrated the day with Digitals and 3Scrapateers.  Every NSD I'm tempted to visit those sites and play again.

I'll miss my laptop tonight

I've been banned from it for the night.  My eldest son and eldest daughter have booked a hotel room for DH and I for the night, with a couple of stipulations, I'm not allowed to take my laptop and he's not allowed to take any fire department work.  Seeing as the playoffs are on, I think they should have added another stipulation - no hockey.  I'm trying to decide if I'll add that stipulation myself or just take a book to read while the game is on.  Hmmmmm.....

When your children ask...tell them

These words, taken from a passage in Joshua, sum up my philosophy of parenting and teaching - when they ask, tell them.

I remember being struck by these words years ago and I was reminded of it again tonight as our pastor's message was taken from Joshua 4.  In the passage, God divides the Jordon river so that the Israelites can cross to the other side on dry land, but He gives special instructions for them to do something while the river is divided.  He tells them to collect stones from the middle of the river bed and to use them to erect a memorial so that when their children ask about it they can tell them about the miracle of the dividing of the Jordon.   I think it is a lesson in the importance of handing down the stories of our faith and walk with God and how "memorial stones" or items can spark our children's curiosity to ask and remind us to tell.

I've taken the words, even further, however, and I've used them as the basis of parenting and teaching my little one.  I haven't set up a structured learning plan for her yet, but I have followed her leading, while at times putting things in her path to see if she wants to explore them.  When she asks questions, I answer them as best I can and try to expand on her curiosity to make the most of her interest, but I stop when the interest is gone.  This method has been working quite well with her so far.

Blech! I hate hockey play-offs

For quite some time now I have been enjoying some peace and quiet and time to myself rather late at night when everyone else is gone to bed.  Lately, however, my time to myself has been interrupted.  I hate it!  There was a time when I loved to watch hockey, but that was over 20 years ago before I married a man that lived and breathed hockey.  Before long I become totally sick off it.  Even then, for many years I still liked to watch the playoffs, but finally there came a point when I couldn't tolerate hockey at all.  This year it seems worse than ever to me.  I really hate it!  It make it that much worse now because it's cutting into my time to myself.  The over time lately is really, really making me want to scream!  I can't wait for it all to be over and done with.  Hence my six words for this Saturday

Hockey play-offs are wrecking my routine!

By the Rivers of Brooklyn by Trudy Morgan-Cole

The first book I read by Trudy Morgan-Cole was Esther: A Story or Courage and I absolutely loved it.  By the Rivers of Brooklyn is only the second book by her that I've read, and while it is nothing like the first, I thoroughly enjoyed it too.

I am a big fan of historical fiction, and, being a proud Newfoundlander, I especially like finding a good historical fiction book that is based in Newfoundland, or about Newfoundlanders.  In By the Rivers of Brooklyn, Trudy Morgan Cole tells the story of three generations with Newfoundland roots, starting in 1924.  The story concentrates mainly on the women, with the men being mostly in the background.  It tells about how many family members had to leave Newfoundland for work and how some never did come back to stay.

The story starts with a girl searching for the illusive trunk in the attic that holds information about her family history.  I think it's something we all do in one way or another.  She never does find the "trunk" but there is a scene near the end of the book that does tie back to the opening scene in a really neat way.

Though totally different from the first book I read by Trudy Morgan Cole, this book, like the first, has left me wanting to read more of her work.

Today is the Launch of the Get To Know Contest

All children/youth ages 19 and under are invited to submit art, writing and photography to the Robert Bateman 2010 Get to Know Contest.  Check out the official Get to Know Contest rules page for information about the prizes and guidelines as to what is expected.  For inspiration and ideas, check out the past winners of the Get to Know Contest.

The idea of the contest is to get the kids outdoors exploring and learning about the world around them.  They have until the 28th of May to submit entries and they can submit as many entries as they like.  So take advantage of the nice days for the next month and a bit and get out and "Get to Know" the amazing world around you.

Today our local homeschool support group went on a hike and I introduced the contest to the children/youth and they set to work right away.  I'm looking forward to seeing what they come up with.

I'd love to hear from you if you decide to join in the fun.

God Let's You Choose Your Own Adventure

I had a thought today.  Psalm 139 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible and the last part of verse 16 is one of my favorite verses.  It says, "All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be."  I've always loved that thought.  Before I was born, God wrote the story of my life.  He had it all planned out for me.  One thing I never really understood, however, is how to reconcile that thought with the fact that God has also granted me free will to make choices in my life.  The way I've always reconciled it was to think that God knew me so well He knew which choices I was going to make, so that's how He could write the story of my life before I even started to live.  Today, however, I had another thought.

A nice while back I heard about these Choose Your Own Adventure books where the reading could determine what happened in the story by making choices along the way.  Now, I have to admit that I have never really seen one of these books.  What I've heard and read is that at certain points in the book the reader is asked to make a choice between a couple of ways that the story can proceed and, depending on the choice they make, to turn to certain pages in the book to continue.  The choice they made would determine what happened in the story.

I have always been fascinated with the "if..then" statements in the Bible.  Some great examples can be found in Deuteronomy 11:13-17.  God sets before His people a couple of different paths they can take and tells them the results of each path, and the results are quite different, depending on the choice they make.

My thought today was that maybe when God wrote the story of my life, He wrote it like a Choose Your Own Adventure book.  He gives me choices to make along the way.  The choices I make determine how the story goes.  But He doesn't leave me stumbling along not knowing which way to go.  He provides direction, but it's up to me whether I follow His directions or not.  That's doesn't mean that every path leads to the same ending.  It doesn't.  The ending is determined by the choices I make.  I must choose carefully.

Fun, Colourful Newfoundland Art

 A day or so ago I came across The Grumpy Goat Gallery blog and I spent a lot of time checking out the fun, colourful artwork displayed on it.  Go take a look.  Be sure to read some of the blog posts, too.  They are quite entertaining. The blog, and artwork, is the work of two artists living in Upper Island Cove, Newfoundland and on their blog they extend an open invitation to all to drop by their studio.  How I would love to do that!  Maybe some day.  For now I have to be content with a virtual visit via their blog.

I came across their blog thanks to the Newfoundland and Labrador Blogroll, another site which I very recently discovered.  Being the proud Newfoundland that I am I had to add the blogroll to my reader so that I could discover other Newfoundland blogs to boast about.  The blogroll has a blog of the week feature and I can't wait to see which great Newfoundland blog will be featured next week!

I Don't Like that She Reminds Me of Me

Have you ever seen yourself in a character in a book you read?  That's what's happened to me, and I'm not happy about it.  I don't like this character.  She's a good woman that's been dealt a hard hand in life.  She tries to make the best of it but she makes some big mistakes.  She tries, really tries, to make things right but reaches a point where she doesn't want to try any more.  She becomes bitter and unhappy and she doesn't realize how much it affects those she loves.  I don't want to be like her, but I am.  Is it too late to change?  Can I make up for the damage I've caused?

Straight Out of the Camera

Here's the photo that I used in the banner I created.  This is what it looks like straight out of the camera.

As you can  see, there's isn't much colour in it but I wanted a black and white, with shades of gray colour, scheme for my blog so I totally striped it of all colour before using it in the banner.

post inspired by

Can't wait!

Less than a month before conference!

No more snow...

... at least on my blog, but there was plenty outside my window when I got up this morning.  Blech!  It was snowing and blowing most of the day.  The snow seems to be disappearing fast, though, and I'm hoping we don't get any more.  I'm also happy to finally have managed to clean the snow flakes off my blog.

Here's what it used to look like:

It was a great look for the winter but winter is over, at least it's supposed to be.  :)

I did a lot of playing around with my blog today.  I just couldn't get a background that I like but I'm finally satisfied.  Having said that, however, I don't know how long I will keep this look.  It's okay for now but I might want something more summery for summer.  We'll see.

I created the blog banner using a photo I took a while ago while little one and I were checking out our favorite summer haunt.  The sun was starting to go down and it looked so nice.  While playing around in my graphics program I discovered the tree graphic and thought it went well with the picture.  I used it in the banner and also in the background.  I decided to make the trees white in the background graphic to contrast the tree in the banner and also because the silver birch tree is my favorite tree.  I created a number of different background graphics before I finally settled on one that satisfied me.

So, what do you think?

Working on a new look!

Tonight I managed to find some time to play around and recall out how it was I gave my blog a new, personalized look a while back.  I know it would be so much easier to just use templates that are available but I like to use my own graphics and really personalize it.  I'm not quite ready to publish the new look yet but I do have a new banner designed and hopefully I'll find the time tomorrow to design the new background.  If all goes well my new look should be ready to publish before next week!  Yeah!!

Kind of ironic though, I'm trying to get rid of the snowflakes on my blog while the weather man has forecast snow for us tonight and tomorrow.  Blech!  I love snow and wish we had more this winter but I do not want snow now!  Guess we'll see what happens

A great local band makes the big time!

A big shout out to some friends!  Anyday is a local band that has made the big time - today they went to Nashville!  My girls and I are big fans of theirs.  We go to every concert we can.  My eldest girl took photographs for them at their first concerts.  It was really nice of them to give her a chance to work on something she enjoyed.  The band members have great talent and great hearts.  Check out their music on their website and if you ever get a chance to see them live, don't miss it.  They are great!

How do you choose what CD to buy?

I recently discovered that my daughter chooses which CDs to buy based on how cool the band members look on the CD cover.  Is that weird or what?

Feeling Frustrated

That is how I am feeling, for so many different reasons.  Many of those reasons are related to this blog.  I'm frustrated because I want to update the look and I can't remember how to do what I want to do and I don't have the time at the present to research it and do it.  I'm frustrated because I don't know what I actually want to write here or what the purpose of it is.  A part of me wants to be able to just share whatever I want whenever I want here but another part of me really hesitates because I don't want to give up my privacy.  Yet I feel like I need a place to share some things to get them off my chest.  I always found it helped to write about my feelings but I really don't think that putting them out there for the whole wide world is a good idea.  Some things are meant to be private, but some times I wonder if it would help to let some of it out.  So many frustrations.

Perhaps I should get back to counting my blessings and using Monday as a time to post them.  I certainly wasn't as frustrated when I was doing that.  Hmmm...I need to get back on track and get rid of these frustrations.  I know that airing them all is not the answer.  The answer is to get back on track with all the things that I've gone of track with lately.  See, even writing it out in all this vagueness helped.  It doesn't matter that it might not interested anyone else.  It helped.  Then again, it just might help someone else that might be feeling the same way.  Who knows?

"This is a work of fiction."

Ever read that in the front of a book?  It usually continues with "Any resemblance to any persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."  There have been a number of times when I've read that and thought, "Yeah, right!  That's a fine way to cover your behind."  And that's really what it is, at least I think.  Trudy Morgan Cole also thinks so.  She says so in the front pages of her book By the Rivers of Brooklyn.

Trudy also reminds as that often "writers mine their own lives for material."  In talking about her book she says "This book, finally, is pure fiction, and its story includes things that really happened in my family and in other people's families and a few things that may never have happened in any family."  I love that honesty, and I think it is true of all fiction books.

BTW, I am enjoying the book and you may find it referred to in a few more blog posts in the future.  I already have another planned out in my head.  :)

Duh!

Stun One!  Forgot to post yesterday!

Living out the Message of Easter

Dear Fallen Leader,

You, of all people, should rejoice in the message of Easter.  It is a message of hope and renewal.  He died to take away your sin and make forgiveness and new life available for you.  It won't be easy.  Even with forgiveness there are still consequences to sin.  Your life will never again be the same.  You have lost things that you can never get back but He can still work through you as you humble yourself and allow Him to do the work.  You cannot do it yourself.  You must lean on Him and learn from Him.  He was wounded and said not a word in His own defense, instead He prayed for others. There are so many others that are hurting because of your fall.  They need your prayers. He took the punishment and allowed the work to be finished, so that God could be glorified in the end.  May you do the same.

I am praying for you, and for your family and all those affected by your fall.

With love,
A fellow sinner




Dear Disappointed and Hurting Comrade,
 
How hard it is to watch your leader fall!  How easy it is to question everything and lose your focus.  You have discovered that one of your leaders is human and prone to err. Don't let that knock you off the course. Look to the cross. God is still God and truth is still truth. The message of the cross is still one of forgiveness and new life and victory over sin, even for your fallen leader.  Will you follow God's example of forgiveness or will you join the masses that will kick him while he's down? Now is your chance to live out the message of mercy and grace.  No, that doesn't mean that you sweep it all under the rug, but it does mean that you leave it all at the cross.  Let God handle it.  Pray for your fallen leader.  He will need it.  Pray for his family.  They will need it.  None of us are perfect.  We all make mistakes and we all need forgiveness.  Thank God that He offers that forgiveness to us all.  May we all do our part to forgive and support one another.

With love,
A fellow disappointed and hurting comrade

Post inspired by the April 8th theme, Happy Easter, for Letters That I'll Never Send.

Minor Hockey Madness

My boys were always involved in Minor Hockey.  They loved it.  I loved parts of it, but I also hated parts of it.  My boys are now 20 and 21 so I haven't been involved for a few years, and I can't say that I miss it at all.

The tales I heard tonight reminded me of the minor hockey madness that I hated.  DH just got back from officiating an end of season minor hockey tournament in a community a few hours away and he was telling me about the wonderful time he had.  It's such a pleasure to have parents and kids and coaches swearing and uttering threats at you.  Not!  Not a pleasure, that is, but that is exactly what he had to put up with, and that is exactly what I don't miss about minor hockey.

I don't understand why there is so much minor hockey madness.  What does it accomplish?  Absolutely nothing. Well, that's not really true.  It does accomplish something.  It teaches kids to disrespect authority and to let loose with whatever emotions they might be feeling at the moment without any thought for how it might affect someone else.  It doesn't have to be that way.  If the coaches and parents would set the example of good behaviour and insist that the kids act the same, there wouldn't be such minor hockey madness.

One of our boys was into hockey big time and it did crazy things to him, but he didn't get away with it.  There were many, many times, when he was quite young, that I made him sit out games and practices for his behaviour and attitude.  I would not allow him to return until he apologized to the team.  I had coaches and parents tell me I was crazy because it was a part of hockey.  My son wasn't impressed with me at the time but recently we chatted about how it helped him develop character.  He still loves his hockey, and he still has to fight to keep control, but he knows how important it is to do so.  He's learned to be aware of when he is starting to slip into the hockey madness and he's learned how to walk away, and still hold his head high.

It's not easy to stand against the crowd and stand for what's right but if more of us did it those that do what is wrong would eventually find it harder to do what is wrong and we might finally get rid of the Minor Hockey madness.  Wouldn't it be nice to be able to enjoy watching your children play hockey and have everybody leave the game feeling proud of the way that every body acted?

Broke Posting Streak

I am bummed.  I have been on a posting streak since the New Year started.  I hadn't missed a day, until this past Sunday.  I had computer trouble and couldn't post.  Missed the next day for the same reason.  I'm bummed.  But I'm trying to get over it.

I'm not sure what I'm most bummed about, breaking my posting streak or all the computer troubles I've had to deal with lately.  But I'm really trying to get over both.

New Bibles!

I finally got a new Bible!  I'd given up taken my old one to church for a while now because pages, and whole sections, were falling out of it so I was always afraid I was going to lose some.  Today I got a new Bible so tomorrow I can finally take a Bible to church again!  I'm so excited.  I like to be able to look up the scriptures that are mentioned and of course I always have my trusty pencil and paper on hand to jot down notes.  I had the pencil and paper even when I didn't have the Bible but it's just not the same.  Sometimes the wrong references are given and I prefer to look up the verse and make sure the reference is right before jotting it down.

Along with my new Bible to take to church, I also got a Chronological Study Bible.  I spotted this Bible last week when I was checking around for a new Bible to take to church and I really, really wanted it.  I was torn because I wanted a new Bible to take to church, but I also wanted this Bible.  Thankfully DH agreed to purchasing both today!

I have followed chronological Bible reading plans a few times in the past, including last year, and I found that it helped me to understand some things better.  What I really like about the Chronological Study Bible is the study notes and features that are included throughout.  I'm thinking this will help even more.

I started reading the introductory pages right away and I've learned so much already!  It's really interesting to read about how they decided on the order they've used in the book.  They make no bones about the fact that there are many different opinions about the correct order and they do not claim that the order they have chosen is the correct order.  I like that.

I'm looking forward to using both my new Bibles.

How about you?  Do you own a Bible?  Do you like to take a Bible to church with you?  Have you ever read the Bible through?  Have you ever read the Bible through chronologically? What is your favorite Bible Reading Plan?  What is your favorite Bible Study tool?

Good Friday

Every year I have good intentions of doing a better job of acknowledging Easter and all that it embodies, but that's as far as it gets.  Oh how I wish I was more like Ann.  She has been posting about Easter for a while and sharing great ideas.  The one that stuck with me the most was the Easter Garden which she posted about in Family Activities to Celebrate Jesus This Easter.  Maybe I'll do better at fulfilling my intentions some year.

April is National Poetry Month

Want some help to celebrate?

A Year of Reading is attempting to post a day about teaching or learning.  If Poem #1- Teaching is any indication, it is going to be well worth checking the blog each day this month.  Go check it out.  It ends with a good question - "Who is guiding you?"

At the GottaBook blog there will be a new children's poem/poet combination posted every day.  His post today - Alice Schertle - Triolets that Trouble my Sleep - has me wanting to find some Alice Schertle books in my library and also wanting to try my hand at a triolet.

Have you found any good resources?

Dreaming of gardens and trouble proof computers

Inspired by spring, the question for I Want...Wednesday #75 is "What do you want to grow?"

I would love to have a beautiful flower garden and a productive vegetable garden.  I am not a gardener, but I am a gardener wanna be - very much so.  You would never know it if you were to visit my yard.  Most of my gardening takes place in my  head.  I would love to have a flower garden that bloomed with color in every season and a vegetable garden that provided us with our favorite fresh vegetables in the fall.  Problem is I have a very, very small yard and I very, very "ungreen" thumb.  I keep saying that some day I'm going to fulfill my dream, and maybe I will if there is gardening in heaven.  :)

They also asked "What else do you want this week?"

Well, after the day I had today I want a trouble proof computer, one that would never, ever gave me any trouble.  I was thrilled last year when my mom and sister surprised me with a laptop, but it has caused me much grief in the little over a year that I have owned it.  For some reason I have to totally reformat it every month or so.  I am no computer expert so I have no idea what causes it to do what it does but at least I have discovered how to reformat and it clears up all my problems, at least for a while.  This is fresh on my mind because I had to reformat again today.

post inspired by the March31st - 

Busy, Busy, Busy

That's what I've been lately, but I'm thoroughly enjoying it!  I've been busy contacting businesses and suppliers about supporting our provincial homeschool conference by sending us information pamphlets and/or catalogs and sample materials for door prizes.  I've sent out over 40 requests!  I've also had some great responses so far.  It's so exciting!  You can check out who has agreed to support us on The CHENL Channel.  I cannot believe how generous some of these people are being!  We are going to have a great display and some great door prizes.  It's so exciting!  I will be updating the list as we get more support.

Our Local Homeschool Heritage Fair

There were a number of interesting presentations in our local homeschool Heritage Fair today.  A primary age student explained a display she had put together about a relative of her's who was a well known midwife.  She spoke clearly and with confidence and was quite interesting.  Another primary age student told us about the birth provinces of his parents and shared memories his father shared with him about growing up in another province.  One junior high student explained his display about the Tsunami of 1929.  Another junior high student clearly explained the proper naming of distant relatives as he pointed out names and pictures from his family tree, which he has traced back many generations.  A couple of senior high students shared their grandfathers' stamp and coin collections and explained how and when stamps and coins first came into use in Newfoundland.

This is the first time we held a heritage fair and it was a learning experience for all of us.  I am fairly certain that we will do it again.  It was a great experience for the children to put together and to do the presentations.  They did a great job.  There were presentations other than the ones I named above but I felt these best embodied what a heritage fair is all about.

I learned about the Heritage Fair program from a fellow homeschooler's blog a year or more ago.  It sounded very interesting so I decided to check it out.  This was the first year that our local homeschool group expressed an interest in participating.  When I went searching for the information again I was disappointed to discover that the Heritage Fair program was going through changes and I had trouble finding information on local fairs and the national fair.  I finally found out that there was not going to be a local heritage fair in our area this year and I'm still not sure if there is going to be a national fair or not, but we decided to go ahead a hold a heritage on our own anyway and I'm really glad we did.

Straight Out of the Camera

A couple of shots I took during a recent walk with my girls.

Inspired by

Great day!

Mother/Daughter time with eldest daughter

Science Lesson Plans from Robert Bateman

I'm discovering all kinds of great things on the "Get to Know" program website.  On the teacher resources page there are a number of lesson plans which include video introductions and PDF files, all available for free!  As the site says, the lessons are geared for grade 4-6 but are easily adaptable for older or younger students.  They can be used as a springboard for all kinds of fun learning.  Be sure to check them out.

Contest for all Canadian children ages 19 and under

Have you heard of the Get to Know Contest?  The contest starts April 22 and ends May 28, but it's never to early to learn all about it and get prepared.  Here's a quote from the site:
"Enter the Robert Bateman Get to Know Contest by submitting art, writing, or photography of your wild neighbors. The goal is to be as creative as possible - so let the natural world inspire you! Go wild with your creation and you could win amazing prizes..." .  
Here are the official rules and information.  Definitely worth checking out.

CHENL Conference on the Rock 2010

I am so looking forward to the Newfoundland provincial homeschool conference!  I love getting together with other homeschoolers.  We are very spread out across our province and I look forward to this annual event when we have the chance to come together for a couple of days.  If you want more information about the conference check out The CHENL Channel.

A Treasury of Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman

Jillian Jiggs by Phoebe Gilman was a favorite of my first three children.  We read the book often and I had the privilege of sharing it with Little One recently.  She, too, loved it.  On our next visit to the library I came across Jillian Jiggs to the Rescue and couldn't resist bringing it home to share with little one.  What a great book!  We loved it!  I remembered also reading The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs to my first three children so I looked for that the next time we went to the library.  I didn't find it but I was delighted to find A Treasury of Jillian Jiggs in our local library during a recent visit.

The Treasury is a collection of all five of Gilman's books about the Jillian Jigg character - the three mentioned above as well as Jillian Jigg's and the Surprise and the Jillian Jiggs and the Great Big Snow.  Also included is background information on each of the books and clues of things hidden in the books.  It would make a great addition to any book shelf.

Phoebe Gilman moved to Canada in 1972 and married and settled in Canada.  She died August 2002.  She considered herself as more of an artist than a writer and she did the illustrations for all of her books.  Her first book was The Balloon Tree, which I am yet to read, but will definitely be looking for.  She also wrote 5 other books, besides the ones already mentioned here.  We already read The Gypsy Princess but have yet to find and enjoy the other 4 titles.

Phoebe Gilman did a really neat thing.  In each new book that she wrote, she included some kind of pictorial reference to all her previous books.  It is fun to look for those in the books.