Iditarod 2010 starts in the morning!

I'm so excited!  In case you don't know what the Iditarod is I'll tell you in brief - it is an annual 1150 mile dogsled race in Alaska.  It starts the first weekend in March and runs about 10 to 17 days.  This year is the 38th year for the race. You can learn more about the history of the Iditarod at the official Iditarod website.  There are a few mushers that have caught my eye this year. I'll tell you more about them in a minute.

I first learned about the Iditarod two years ago and wrote Following the Iditarod, in which I shared how I learned about it, and Still Enjoying the Iditarod, in which I shared some things I found interesting in learning about the Iditarod.  I now that I was working on posts about last years race but I don't think I ever actually posted them.

I love following this race!  There are always so many great stories that come out of it.  There's also a lot of opportunities for fun learning around the Iditarod.  Walter McKenzie has developed The EIditarod Project to help educators make the most of learning opportunities.  One of the things that Walter suggests is to get to know the mushers and pick one in particular to claim as your musher as you follow the race.  I can never manage to narrow it down to just one musher to watch.

Every year I like to keep track of the Canadians that are involved in the race.  This year there are 8 Canadians, 2 of which are rookies and 2 of which are females. Clicking on the names will bring you to the biographies.  Last year's second place winner, Sebastian Schnuelle (39) is one of the Canadians involved this year.  The Canadian females include veteran Karen Ramstead (45) and rookie Michelle Phillips.  The other rookie is Hank Debruin (47) and he's joined by veterans Hans Gatt (51), Gerry Willomitzer (39), Warren Palfrey (34), and Ross Adam (57).

I also like to follow mushers that have a homeschooling connection.  In an acceptance speach for an award a couple of years ago veteran Ramey Smyth (34) mentioned that he was homeschooled by his mom, who was also a musher.  I assume his brother, veteran Cim Smyth (33), was also homeschooled.  Veteran Mitch Seavey (49) and his wife Janine homeschooled their children.  Dallas Seavey (22) is one of their children and is classed as a veteran because this is not his first time running the Iditarod.

Another musher that catches my eye each year is female veteran DeeDee Jonrowe (56).  It just amazes me that she's still participating.  I think she is one brave, tough lady.

This year there's another musher that has caught my eye - rookie Newton Marshall (26) is from Jamaica!

I'm really looking foward to following the race over the next couple of weeks and see how these mushers do.

Advice to Newly Weds

Dear Head Over Heals in Love,

Get a nice piece of paper and something comfortable to write with.  Sit down in a comfortable place to write.  Write out what you love about your spouse and why you wanted to marry.  Fold the note carefully and store it in a safe, easily accessible place.  

Believe it or not there will probably be days when you will wonder what you ever saw in your spouse and why you ever wanted to get married.  On those days it will be good to be able to pull out your note and remind yourself of how you feel today.

inspired by the March the 4th cue at 

Perfect Snow by Barbara Reid and our plasticine pictures

The Golden Goose is the first book by Barbara Reid that I read and noticed her amazing plasticine illustrations.  That sent me on a search for more books by her.  The search eventually led me to Perfect Snow, a book little one and I really enjoyed.  The illustrations in the book are amazing!


While talking to Little One about how amazing the illustrations were and the fact that they were made with plasticine, which is something like playdough, I thought that it would be fun to try our hand at making pictures with playdough.  I decided to try to find out more about Barbara Reid and her illustrations and a google search lead me to Barbara Reid's website - what a great find!  I was thrilled to discover that she had videos showing how to make plasticine pictures.  The girls and I watched the videos and were even more excited about trying it for ourselves.

I didn't have any plasticine so I decided to make playdough, using this cooked playdoh recipe from a friend, and try it with that.  Here's what we created:

Little One's creation (age 4)

Mom's creation 

Sis's creation (age 17)

We had fun and were pretty pleased with our creations but we wanted to give plasticine a try so we made a trip to the local dollar store and got some Crayola Modeling Clay.  The modeling clay was much better to work with.  Here's what we created with it:

I printed off the picture and Little One filled it in with plasticine.  We only had four colors but I did some mixing to get other colors.

Little One drew a picture of her doll and then filled it in with plasticine

Sis did this beautiful scenery from her head.  It's a row boat in the water on a sunset evening and there's a moose almost up on the shore.

I pointed out the Barbara Reid books to our librarian and suggested doing a Barbara Reid themed story hour and having the children make plasticine pictures.  It went over quite well!  Here's what Little One made at the event:

I see many more hours spent enjoying Barbara Reid books and playing with plasticine in our house in the future.

On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Found this book while perusing the shelves at our local library and thought it might make an interesting read.  I can't decide if I was right or not.  It was kind of interesting, but kind of boring too.  It is classed as a children's book and is a good example of diary entries.  I could see using it to introduce children to the idea of keeping diaries.

I thought it was going to be interesting because I had been a fan Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series but I should have known that it wasn't going to be the same.  There's quite a difference in novel writing and diary writing.  It was kind of interesting to read about what life was like for them in the 1894 during their travels but there really wasn't anything exciting about it.  Then again, it is a diary, not a novel.

So, I did kind of enjoy On the Way Home: The Diary of a Trip from South Dakota to Mansfield, Missouri, in 1894 by Laura Ingalls Wilder, but it's not a book I would likely recommend to anyone looking for an interesting book to read.

A Brand New Month - time to evaluate

At the beginning of each month I tend to slip into this evaluating mode.  I take some time to look at the past  month - what I've done, what I wish I'd done differently, etc.  Then I look ahead to the coming month and think about things I'd like to change and things I'd like to accomplish in the coming month.  I always find there's lots of room for improvement.  :0)

One thing I have to work on soon is a new look for my blog.  We didn't get much snow yet this winter but DH informed me that there is snow in the forecast for the next few days so maybe I'm safe in leaving the snowy look on my blog for another little while, but I will be working on a new spring look in the next couple of weeks.

Something I started working on last month but will be working on more this month is a new blog - Anna's Adventures. Antics, and Activities.  Today I actually finally published what I've done there so far.  In the Blog Plan and Explanation post I shared that I created the blog specifically to keep track of, and share, the books Little One and I read together for the 100 Books a Month Challenge, but I may throw in additional posts from time to time.  I'm thinking it may end up being where I record Little One's learning journey.  We'll see.


So, that's some of my thinking today.  There's lots more that I'm not sharing but some of it may come up in future posts. How about you?  Do you find yourself evaluating a planning at the beginning of the month?

Talented Teens

Tonight the youth led the worship in our church service, and what a great job they did!  Their choice of songs showed respect and consideration for the fact that there are a lot of different preferences of musical styles represented in our church, and yet they managed to make it all flow together beautifully.  It is such a pleasure to see them using their talents to bring glory to God.

Not Thursday, but inspired by

Sooooo Tired

My six words for today:

Partied out.  Need some sleep now.

I am posting this at almost one in the morning, but I will be fudging with the time thanks to the Post Options so that it will seem like I posted it before midnight.  I was out partying past midnight tonight.  Actually our whole family was, Little One included.  Little One had a great time with all the teenagers.  Should be fun times tomorrow!  Not!  A friend had invited the family to her daughter's sweet 16 party and we had great fun, but I am oh so tired.  I have been feeling extra tired all week and tonight just did me in.  Have to clue up and head to bed, but it has been a great day!

What Will the Weather Be? by Linda DeWitt

Little One and I really enjoyed What Will the Weather Be?.  It is a great way to introduce weather concepts.  There is a lot of material packed into the little book and we will need to revisit it many times to wrap our heads around it all but we loved it so much that revisiting it will not be a chore.  I'm definitely adding it to my science resource list for the next few years.

Nursery Rhymes of Newfoundland and Labrador by Robin McGrath

I picked up this book during a recent visit to our local library thinking that it might be a book I could share with my little one.  In light of that, I found this quote from the introduction interesting: "Contrary to popular belief, nursery rhymes are not written by or for children - they are generally part of the adult world and are co-opted by children who appreciate their simplicity or are merely fascinated by the enigmatic sound of the words."   While there are rhymes in Nursery Rhymes of Newfoundland and Labrador that I would share with little one there are some that I wouldn't and I'm glad I decided to read it myself before sharing it with her.

Robin McGrath did not actually write the poems in the book but she did compile and edit them.  There is a fair bit of history packed into the rhymes and I found it interesting to read.  I like the addition of the notes at the end of the book, though I would have preferred the notes actually included by the rhymes they are about. The notes make the rhymes more meaningful.

Made in Canada by Mary Graham Bonner

Came across this book while browsing the art section of our local library.  It's an old book, published in 1953, but I really enjoyed it.  There was a lot of history packed in the book.  It was very interesting to read about, and see pictures of, artwork of first nations people as well as settlers.  I have a bunch of notes made of things I want to research and learn more about.

I want to know more about  Sis-hu-lk, also known as Francis Baptiste, a member of the Okanagan First People's nation.  In the book I learned that he won a bronze star in 1936 from the Royal Drawing Society of London for his artwork titled "Canadian nativity".  From the 1940 page of the Drawing on Identity: Inkameep Dayschool and Art site I discovered that he also won a gold medal for his contribution to Canadian culture and that in 1940 he started signing his work with his Indian name.  You can see pictures of him and some of his other work sprinkled throughout An Inkameep Photo Album.

I'd also like to know more about Francois Baillairge, who Mary Bonner says is Canada's foremost woodcarver and sculptor.  I found an online gallery displaying some of Francois Baillairge's work.

And that's just some of the things I want to learn more about.  I am very glad that I picked up this book.  I'd love to own it.

Using Talents as Intended

Today I got to listen to the beautiful sounds of my talented daughter playing her guitar and singing hymns and choruses in preparation for leading the worship time at the our church's adult prayer meeting tonight.  She was a little shocked when her youth pastor called this morning and asked her to do it and when she told me about it she said she felt sick to her stomach thinking about it, but she overcame that and set to work preparing.  I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her prepare.  Unfortunately her dad and I had other commitments tonight and didn't get to go to hear first hand how she did but when we went to pick her up a lady made the point of tapping on our window and telling us that we have a very talented daughter.  I love that she is using her talents to bring glory to God.  I pray she always does.

A couple of days early but inspired by

Young Authors Day at Pokeweed Public School by John Bianchi

This is great book to use as part of a special week of reading and writing. The book tells about just such a week at Poke Weed Public School, where the teacher, Ms Mudwortz shows the importance of reading with FRED (Free Reading Every Day).  I used to do the same thing with my older children when they were younger but I never thought to give it a cool name.  Little One got a kick out of the illustration showing all the students of Pokeweed Public school enjoying their FRED time.  Ms. Mudwortz also has a Young Author's Week where the first day is writing day.  The students have to start with an idea, come up with a beginning, a problem, and a solution).  The second day is picture day when the students turn words into pictures and do illustrations for their book.  The third day is Book Day when they create a title and cover for their book and then bind it all together.  The fourth day is RAT (Read Aloud Time), because as Ms. Mudwortz says, "A book is just a bunch of paper stuck together until someone reads it".And the last day is  Young Authors Day when they have a visit from an author and are surprised to find he is so different from how they imagined.

Inspired by 

He forgives... and erases... when we confess

It's a truth that has always amazed me.  Forgiveness is freely available.  Completely free.  Completely freeing.  All we have to do is confess.  That's sometimes the toughest part - the confessing.  And the letting go, really letting go and letting it be erased as He wants it to be.  Sometimes that's hard too.

In her post When a Family Needs a Fresh Start: Making a Place of Repentance, Ann explains a way to make it so real and vivid.  It makes me wish again that we had a prayer bench in our house to set up such a thing.

Six Words Saturday

Fun at WinterFest with Little One!

Clowns, balloon creations, magician, face painting, Teddy Bear Picnic!

What a great day!

Tinkering with my blog layout a little

I wanted to add a record of my progress in the different reading challenges to my blog somewhere but couldn't decide how to do it.  I finally decided to do it by adding link list gadgets for each challenge in the sidebar.  I decided to go with link list gadgets rather than just list gadgets because I wanted to link to my posts about the books. I would really like the different challenge gadgets to be in alphabetical order but I am having real trouble moving them around.  I had to give up because I was getting so frustrated. I may try again another time. I've added some books to the gadgets already but I still have more to record yet.  Once I get caught up I will continue to update each gadget as I read books for the different challenges.

I also changed the way my archives and labels are displayed.  The reason for this is so that they would take up less room.  The archives are now available through a drop down menu rather than a list.  I decided to not display some labels and to change the display to a cloud rather than list.

I'm done playing for tonight.  What do you think about the changes?

Not even on the shelves, and already on my to-be-read list

According to Trudy Morgan-Cole's post Titles: What's In a Name?, Lydia: A Story of Philippi  is expected to hit the shelves late March.  She ought to know.  She is the author.

I definitely want to get my hands on a copy ASAP.  I've only read one of her books so far, Esther: A Story of Courage, and I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I'm thinking this newest book will be just as pleasant an experience.  I'll let you know for sure when I read it.

In her blog post, Trudy gives a glimpse of how a book gets it's name.  Very interesting.

One is Canada by Maxine Trottier

I just finished reading One is Canada to Little One.  I did not particularly enjoying reading the book but Little One was quite smitten by the illustrations.

The book was illustrated by Bill Slavin and we were part way in the book when Little One exclaimed "He is a good drawer!  Who drew the pictures?"  She is 4, remember, and I was a bit shocked with this exclamation.  I hadn't noticed the pictures at all.  I turned to the front of the book and told her the illustrators name and continued reading the book, but I kept getting interrupted with her exclamations about how great the pictures were.  At one point she exclaimed, "I have to tell him he's a good drawer."  :)  I think I'm going to have to look for more books illustrated by Bill Slavin.

Maxine Trottier, though not born a Canadian, became a Canadian citizen in 1974.  She lives in my home province, Newfoundland and Labrador.  I skimmed a list of her books and I will be making a point of checking out more of them.

This book caught my eye during our recent library visit because it is a Canadian book and it is a book about numbers.  I've been making a conscious effort to expose Little One to numbers and math concepts lately because it's something I haven't really put much effort into so far.  As I said earlier, however, I did not enjoying reading the book.  After reading it I read on the inside flap of the dust cover on the book that it is "a rhythmical read-aloud".  It may just be me, but I didn't find it rhythmical at all. Having said that, however, I do think I will go back to this book again.  There is a lot of history and geography wrapped up in this picture book.  It would make a great jumping off point for further learning.

This book counts towards the following reading challenges:  Canadian Authors Challenge, Newfoundland Authors, and Young Readers Challenge

Starting to Read

Little one read her very first sentence totally on her own today!  She is 4 years old and I haven't really worried much about teaching her anything yet.  I take advantage of opportunities that come up in the day but I have not been following any kind of structured plan.  She has always loved books and being read to and pretending to read herself but today she actually read a sentence all by herself.

A while back a friend introduced me to the Learn to Read with phonics Starfall.com site and little one has been having fun with it for quite some time now.  She's spent hours on the ABC alphabet Phonemic Awareness page. She often asked me to let her play on it and I'd set her up to play on my laptop at the kitchen table while I was busy doing kitchen chores.  When I'd finish my chores I'd have to drive her away from the site because she wanted to stay on it.  She really loved it, and I knew she was learning so I loved it too.

Today I decided to give the next level a try and introduced her to the Learn to Read section of the site.  Instead of setting her up to go to it on her own I stayed by her to guide her a bit.  She played the "an" and "at" parts in section 1.  She loved it and did really well!  I got her to read the words herself after she had completed it and she printed of the sheets that went with it and did those too.  Then we decided to give the Zac the Rat book a try.  I love how it is set up!  Each page has a short sentence and you can click on each word to have it sounded out and then read.  I guided her to ensure that she did them in the right order and after hearing each word read I got her to read it herself.  After doing this for the first few pages she was noticing that some of the words were the same and she was starting to just read the words instead of clicking on them to hear them sounded out and read first!  First it was just with a word or two but then she finally came to a page where she didn't bother to click on any of the words at all but just simply read the whole sentence!  Of course we had to have a little high five celebration at that.  I was so proud of her, and she was pretty proud of herself.  She wanted to keep going on the site and try out some more but I didn't want to overload her so I just let her play on it on her own for a bit before finally talking her into leaving it for the day. We did print the Zac the Rat book and she wanted to read it tonight before bed.  She couldn't remember a lot of it but that's okay.  We'll probably play on the site again this week to refresh her memory.  I will be following her lead and using this site as she shows an interest in it.  I am certain it won't be long before she'll be zipping right along in her reading.

Eyewitness Weather by Brian Cosgrove

This is the first book I've read to count towards the Science Book Challenge.  Eyewitness Weather is a Dorling Kindersley book.  I definitely want to use this book later as part of little one's science learning.  On the Amazon site the School Library Journal suggests it is a great resource for grades 5-8.  I love all the pictures and explanations of the different weather instruments used throughout the years.  It's history and science all wrapped up together.  A great resource!

Help me to love as I ought

Prayer based on 1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Lord, help me to be patient, help me to be kind. Help me not to envy, not to boast, not to be proud.  Help me not to be rude, not to be self-seeking, not to be easily angered, not to keep a record of wrongs.  Help me not to delight in evil but to rejoice in the truth.  Help me to always protect, always trust, always hope, always persevere.