March 6, 2011

I forget which week we are on-5 or 6. It is a "IG Week" this week. We have been doing one week on IG and one week 'off' to focus on our electives that have gotten behind schedule. We have really been hitting the FLL hard the past weeks. I can't seem to get myself to skip any lessons; so we are still on Level 2 and will be for a while. I have been able to get 2 days of FLL into one day; which seems to work well for us.

We are still doing lots of co-op activities for the rest of this month. We have been here in Indy for over 5 years now; and finally got accepted into some christian hs co-ops (2). After all these years of about 2 activities a MONTH; we now do that, or more, each WEEK! What a huge shift for us. I have to say; it is so nice to see dd have friends. It is truly a blessing for her. This week she has a Gym & Swim class today; a co-op on Thurs. morning, and a Gym class on Fri. This makes me especially glad we are going at 50% on our IG currently.

She is doing great on her reading. She is ahead in her Readers, and is reading a bunch of other books that are all over the place. I have taken the past 2-3 weeks off Charles Dickens (Great Expectations). Christie recommended Beth Moore and I am enjoying that.

I have a question; speaking of reading. In Incans Aztecs Mayans, our book keeps referring to God as "Yahweh". I am totally ignorant of why? Could someone explain this to me? As we have been searching for a new church; one place we went also called God "Yahweh". I understand it is the Hebrew way to say "God"; but it isn't as common to me as saying "God". Anyone know? Anyone else notice that?

C said: I don't have much time to chat but I wanted to reply quickly to your question about Yahweh. Dr. Elmer Towns states, "LORD (all four letters capitalized) is pronounced "Yahweh" or "Jehovah." There are no pronunciation marks in the original Hebrew, so we do not know how to accurately say it. Out of reverence, many Jews would not write or pronounce the name." This comes from a Bible study My Father's Names and you can access the study guide online by clicking the title. I just wanted to comment on that question because it was something I also wondered about.

This is another book that A read to AJ, so I never got to see the reason given in this book. I am certainly not offended by the question, I also had the same question and never REALLY felt like I understood this fully. What I do understand is that different names for God given in the Bible describe the attributes of God, for example, Jehoviah Jireh means the Lord provides. Yahweh, means I AM. This points to the eternal existence of God, that He is, was, and always will be - has no beginning or end. I like this website which talks about the names of God. It is so beautiful to think that God knows we will have a difficult time understanding exactly who and what He is, so He goes to great lengths to describe himself with names that show His attributes so we can understand. This website also has a good description. In other words, one would normally use Yahweh, or Adonai, or another descriptive word for God other than just the name "God" to subtly point out the attributes of God. I am also careful when I hear other names for God used and do not like to take that lightly. It is always best to research it, in my opinion, than to just take it at face value and someone tell you - oh, it's just another name for God... 

M said: Yahweh is the English pronunciation for the Hebrew YHWH which is an abbreviation of what God replied when Moses asked for a name and God responded, "I am who am." Jews (and ancient Hebrews) never utter the name of God (2nd commandment), and often wouldn't even say God, instead using "Lord." Why different Christian traditions prefer "Yahweh" to God or Lord, I don't know.

March 14, 2011

We finished Week 6 last week. This is a "Left-Overs Week" for us. We focused on LA (FLL/WWE) the last LOW; so this week will be science. We are still working on SL Science 2. We have read about half of The Sign of the Beaver and are really enjoying that. It is a really easy read.

We have 3 activities signed up for this week. I am not sure how many weeks we have left of our co-op classes. Two co-op's goes for 6 weeks, and one class goes for 8 weeks. We are over half done. It has been a lot of fun and I am so glad I let go of our normal schedule to try some new things. We have Aqua Athlete's on Tuesday that is 1/2 Gym and 1/2 Swimming, co-op science, money, and gym on Thursday all morning, and a quick one hour Gym class on Friday.

We are probably on our last week of MUS Beta. DD wanted to do 2 pages a day last week to finish sooner. These last pages is reading gauges and is very easy. I've ordered TT and thought we would give it the 30 day trial to see if it right for dd. I hope it is a good solution; but I won't be sad if we go back to MUS. That is such a great program; if only Steve would intermix the concepts to always keep them fresh. He does such a good job covering each concept; but then drops it to learn a new concept. I know my dd would benefit from having more 'review' pages- a lot more review pages actually.

March 17, 2011

We finished Week 6 last week. This is a "Left-Overs Week" for us. We focused on LA (FLL/WWE) the last LOW; so this week will be science. We are still working on SL Science 2. We have read about half of The Sign of the Beaver and are really enjoying that. It is a really easy read.

We have 3 activities signed up for this week. I am not sure how many weeks we have left of our co-op classes. Two co-op's goes for 6 weeks, and one class goes for 8 weeks. We are over half done. It has been a lot of fun and I am so glad I let go of our normal schedule to try some new things. We have Aqua Athlete's on Tuesday that is 1/2 Gym and 1/2 Swimming, co-op science, money, and gym on Thursday all morning, and a quick one hour Gym class on Friday.

We are probably on our last week of MUS Beta. DD wanted to do 2 pages a day last week to finish sooner. These last pages is reading gauges and is very easy. I've ordered TT and thought we would give it the 30 day trial to see if it right for dd. I hope it is a good solution; but I won't be sad if we go back to MUS. That is such a great program; if only Steve would intermix the concepts to always keep them fresh. He does such a good job covering each concept; but then drops it to learn a new concept. I know my dd would benefit from having more 'review' pages- a lot more review pages actually.

Week 7 Core 3 / D March 21, 2011

Happy 2nd day of spring everyone. We are expecting snow this week here in Indiana. I will remain optimistic until it actually arrives!

We are on Week 7 (I think). We finished The Sign of The Beaver and dd finished The Thanksgiving Story last week. Since we are ahead, and this week is way over-scheduled; I think we may put off starting a new RA book. But, I almost find it impossible to not be reading a RA. DD has been enjoying the TT so far. She has done the first 7 lessons, and the Ch. 1 quiz. It has been a very easy review so far; so there isn't a reason for her to not like it yet. I am hoping she will get to some of the harder work before our 30 day trial is over! But, so far it is promising.

We started the audio version of The Secret Garden about 2 1/2 weeks ago. I couldn't have timed it better. There is the build up for spring to arrive; then the huge moment when spring has arrived!!! And it is such a big deal! And as we are listening to this each day; we have been also building up for spring to arrive and it has arrived here as well! My dd is the one who picked out listening to this story; not me. I have lost count how many times we have listened to these discs; over and over! Another favorite has worked itself out again: Matilda. We just love hearing this one over and over; but it doesn't have the significance of being spring related.

We planted spinach seeds this weekend; but still haven't gotten to the lettuce yet. But, our garden looks ready to plant and is all worked up. Last year we didn't do it early and it rained and rained and ruined our schedule. THis year, we are ready!

We have a big week scheduled again this week. It is our last week for one of the co-op groups. There is only a few more weeks of activities and then we will be back to normal. I am hoping some of the friends will stick and we might have playdates during the summer. We have something planned everyday this week.

The Incans, Mayans, and Aztec's book is a long, hard read (to me). I wish we could have had a more exciting book. I guess it is difficult to cover so much material in a short way. It is odd how as I'm reading along; out will come some sentence about bloodletting and human sacrifices; as if it were a list of items and not a huge concept. I am blessed to have a few good picture DK/Eyewitness type books with lots of big, colorful pictures from each of the three different groups to show to dd to add in some visuals to go along with the book. Anyone else not so impressed with this book? I guess I am happy we are reading it; but am a little disappointed that the book isn't more engaging....b/c the material is.

March 28, 2011

We are on a LOW (Left-Overs Week). We had a huge week, last week and didn't get as much done as we normally do. We had lots of activities to do and enjoyed each one. I slept 12 hours on Saturday! This week we should have a much slower time. It is 'spring break' here, so one of our co-ops (where we have a 1 hour gym class on Fri.) is taking the week off. So, we only have 1 class--Aqua Athlete's on Tue. Dd is really enjoying herself in this class; I wish it went year round.

I am not sure what our next book will be. I haven't decided if I should fit in another book, of my own choosing, or move to The Witch of Blackbird Pond. I have a week to fit in something; so there is a chance I could fit in something extra. We finished listening to Matilda (Roald Dahl), but still have 1 disc left on The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett).

This week is suppose to be some science, the 4 r's (reading, 'riting, 'rithmatic, and religion), and hopefully more AAS.

I have been memorizing The Lord is My Shepherd and finally got it last week! You wouldn't believe how long it took me to memorize the 23 Psalm.

April 21, 2011

I decided to put Daniel Boone off for a bit longer b/c we hadn't really gotten all we could from Jamestown/Roanoke/Mayflower/Pilgrim experience yet. So, this week we read:

The Mayflower Secret: William Bradford (Trailblazer Books #26) - Paperback (May 1, 1998) by Dave Jackson and Neta Jackson

Priscilla Alden and the Story of the First Thanksgiving (Let's Celebrate Series) by Alice Benjamin Boynton and Christa Kieffer

Our Colonial Year - Hardcover (Dec. 6, 2005) by Cheryl Harness

I don't want to jump too far ahead in our time table and miss out really understanding the first parts of our history. Last night I learned something new. Did you know that Massassoit sent over one of his warriors (Hobowok-sp?) to camp by the Plymouth settlement? I had never heard that before. It was pretty interesting listening to Myles Standish's version of being on the Mayflower and then to hear Elizabeth Tilley's version this week.

We went to our 4H office yesterday to pick out some projects for dd to work on. She is pretty excited about it. I hope I can figure out all the dates and deadlines for her. I've never done anything like this. I think the things she signed up for are: fun for sewing, sewing, food, gardening-veggies, and arts & crafts--fine art.

Monday 4-18-2011

We are due to start The Thanksgiving Story and finish the Sign of the Beaver---but we've already finished those. So, I checked out:

The Trailblazing Life of Daniel Boone and How Early Americans Took to the Road (Cheryl Harness Histories) - Hardcover (Sept. 11, 2007) by Cheryl Harness

We finished Cheryl Harness' book :The Adventurous Life of Myles Standish and the... by Cheryl Harness and liked it so well; I thought we would add this one in too. I have a big stack of books I want to read for this part of history. I'd really like for us to get to know the Pilgrims, Jamestown, Mayflower, Speedwell,.......

Last week was less than a LOW. We had dd's birthday party here on Saturday. So, it took us part of everyday to get things ready. We did math, handwriting, and reading everyday. We missed a few days of bible. We had a Hawaiian themed party and all the girls wore hulu skirts and lei's. For our main craft the girls each got a new white canvas bag from Michaels and got to glue on fabric birds, flowers, fish, leaves, flip-flops, etc. then with fabric glue they wrote their names in the middle. It was a lot of fun watching them create! The second craft was making bracelets/necklaces with beades (*esp. shells) to finish up the theme. There were just 4 girls total (dd and 3 others) so it was a small group.

I guess we practically had a 'spring break' with the small amount of lessons we accomplished. It was good for us to get a little break. I had shopping and we don't 'shop' normally; except for groceries, so it was good to go look for craft ideas and compare the stores and all that.

This is our last week of Aqua Athlete's; the gym and swim lesson class. Dd has really loved it. Her teacher came over to us last week and said she thought dd should join a swim team and invited her to come to her class the following night to give it a try. We went and they swam laps for over a hour. Dd didn't complain; but she decided she wasn't ready for that much swimming!!! I was disappointed; as a past swim instructor myself, that they never corrected anything. She could really have used a few pointers; but all they did was keep going lap after lap without any instruction. I am glad we went; and will now work on the strokes with her myself.

I want to thank you all for praying for my tooth. I know it sounds so less than even mentionable to even bring up a tooth hurting compared to all the major things going wrong in the world. I had just had it capped a few weeks ago and I knew it only needed to settle down after all the trauma and it would be okay again. It is doing so much better. It isn't back to normal yet; but it is greatly improved. Thank you all so much!

We went back to a church we found 2 weeks ago and really enjoyed our visit. Out of the last 3 Sunday's we have gone there twice. It is very small, very much like our old church we loved before we moved. They sing out of the hymnal; which we love. And the sermons have been home-runs! Bonus! Some of you all know how long we have been looking for a church to replace the one we first started going to when we moved here; and had a bad blow-out when we left. This church is a bit of a long drive out into the country; but well worth the effort so far. This could be an answered prayer request. The congregation has been very friendly; but not awkward, which is a hard thing to balance. I am praising God for this step in the right direction.

Well, it seems I am having a hard time staying on topic! I hope you don't mind my over-sharing; but God has truly blessed me these past 2 weeks. I just wanted to share. Ever since we have moved up by Indianapolis our life has been very, very difficult. My health really took a dive, my dh's job took a huge dive, dd's behaviors, all 3 dogs we brought up with us have slowly, one by one died off, huge church problems -where before church had always been a blessing, no friends, no fellow homeschoolers to befriend....it has truly been very tough. But, through all this hardship I've felt my faith in God grow by leaps and bounds. He has really stayed so close to me throughout each day and I've felt him and the power of prayer. I was listening to the radio a few days ago and the message was about how he had traveled a long time with 'peace/contentment' and she rambled and talked the whole time. When he arrived at his destination he found he had not learned anything. Then, he traveled with 'hardship' and not a word was spoken the whole time; but when he arrived he had learned so much. It is truly encouraging to know that even though we have to go through such hard life lessons that God will be with us throughout, and that in the end our faith and wisdom will be increased--we will be blessed by having gone through it.

Empty Post--deleting pictures to find space!

Sophie is 1/2 Great Dane and 1/2 Black Lab.  Her mouth is all Great Dane & all drool!

Favorite Books Read or Audio, Picture Books (before, during, and after Cores)

First Books:  I should preface this by saying that we have read thousands of Picture Books and most were never written down or specifically remembered.  Here are some that I wrote down b/c we enjoyed them a little more than the others.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst
Bedtime For Frances (series) by Russell Hoban
The Biggest Bear by Lynd Ward
Blueberries For Sal,  Make Way For the Ducklings, One Morning in Maine by Robert McCloskey
Eric Carle: *just about all his books; own most
Beatrix Potter: *many read; many owned
A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs by Judi Barrett (saw the movie too)
Corduroy; A Pocket For Corduroy, Norman The Doorman by Don Freeman
Crow Boy by Taro Yashima
Curious George (many read & owned)
Dawn,   Ten, Nine, Eight  by Molly Bang
Doctor DeSoto  , Brave Irene  by William Steig (like Steig)
Arnold Lobel -many read & owned : Fables, Frog and Toad....
Frederick by Lionni
The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
Hans Anderson-classic fairy tails-read and owned
A Birthday for Francis by Russell Hoban
The Jolly Postman (series) by Allan Ahlberg
Eloise (series) by Kay Thompson
Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox
Yo! Yes!  by Chris Raschka
Goldie and the Three Bears by Diane Stanley
 Froggy (series) by Jonathan London
Miss Nelson is Missing (series)by  Harry Allard
 Cinder Edna by Ellen Jackson
Princess Smartypants by Babette Cole
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Swimmy  by Leo Lionni
Goodnight Opus by Berkeley Breathed
Jessica, Owen...by Kevin Henkes
Harry The Dirty Dog by Gene Zion
The Island of Skog, The Mysterious Tadpole, many by Steven Kellogg
Katy and The Big Snow, The Little House, Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel...by Virginia Burton
The Legend of the Bluebonnet by Tomie dePaola
Little Bear (series) by Else Holmelund Minarik
Little Toot by Hardie Gramatky
Madeline (series) by Ludwig Bemelmans
Sylvester and the Magic Pebble by William Steig
Where The Wild Things Are, Dear Mili   by Maurice Sendak
Thy Friend, Obadiah by Brinton Turkle
The Wreck of the Zephyr, The Stanger, The Garden of Abdul Gasazi, Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
The Great Gracie Chase: Stop that Dog! by Cynthia Rylant and Mark Teague
The Secret Shortcut,  How I Spend My Summer Vacation,   Detective La Rue..,  Pigsty,   One Halloween Night,   Frog Medicine,  How Do Dinosaurs Eat There Food  by Mark Teague
Chrysanthemum,  Sheila Rae, the Brave, Chester's Way,  Wemberly Worried,  Owen,  Lily's Purple Plastic Purse.... by Kevin Henkes
Max's Dragon Shirt (Max and Ruby series) by Rosemary Wells
Henny Penny, The Little Red Hen, Three Little Pigs, The Gingerbread Boy, Three Billy Goats Gruff by Paul Galdone
There's a Nightmare in My Closet, There's Something in the Attic, There's an Alligator Under My Bed by Mercer Mayer
Island Boy, Chanticleer and the Fox, Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney
Just Plain Fancy, The Keeping Quilt, Pink and Say, Rechenka's Eggs, Thank You, Mr. Falker, Thundercakes, When Lightning Comes In A Jar, The Butterfly, The Bee Tree, An Orange For Frankie, Ginger and Petunia, Welcome Comfort, John Philip Duck, Some Birthday, The Graves Family, Picnic at Mudsock Meadow, Something About Hensley's, Luba and the Wren,  Chicken Sunday and many more by the wonderful Patricia Polacco
A Chair for My Mother by Vera B. Williams
Toot and Puddle, Wish You Were Here, Charming Opal, The New Friend, Top of the World, I'll Be Home For Christmas, You Are My Sunshine, A Present for Toot and more by Hollie Hobby
George and Martha series by James Marshall
The Ox-Cart Man by Barbara Cooney
Henry Hikes to Fitchburg by D.B. Johnson
Miss Spider's Tea Party by David Kirk
Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin
Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters: An African Tale by John Steptoe
A Bad Case of Stripes by David Shannon


Extra Favorite Picture Books:
***Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney 
***The Raft by Jim LaMarche 
***Albert by Donna Jo Napoli
***Marven of the Great North Woods by Kathryn Lasky & Kevin Hawkes
***Angelo by David Macaulay
***The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant
***Westlandia by Paul Fleischman
***The Library,  The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

***The Rag Coat by Lauren A. Mills
***The Talking Eggs by Robert D. San Souci
***Crickwing, Stellaluna, Pinduli, Verdi,  by Janell Cannon
***Paul O. Zelinsky-if he illustrated it; it has to be great!
***Little Oh,  The Rainbabies   by Laura Krauss Melmed
***Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathmann



Favorite Picture Book Authors:
Patricia Polacco
Steven Kellogg
Jane Yolen
Joanne Cole & Bruce Degan
Jan Brett
Ezra Jack Keats
Kathryn Lasky
Kevin Hawkes
Beatrix Potter
Mark Teague
William Joyce
Barbara Cooney
Tomie DePaola
Diane Stanley

Robert D. San Souci
Kevin Henkes
Bill Peet

David McPhail
Holly Hobbie
Ted Arnold
Bill Peet
David Shannon
Janell Cannon





Favorite Series:
Little House on the Prairie
American Girl Historical Characters: Kit, Julie, Samantha, Kaya, Josephina,Addy,Rebecca,Molly
American Girl books-"Welcome To....World"
American Girl Mystery Books--most AG books are very good.
Magic School Bus
Magic Tree House
The Boxcar Children
Elizabeth Enright-The Melendy Family
Eleanor Estes-The Moffats
Dear America

Narnia by C.S. Lewis



Favorite Authors for Children:
E.B. White
AVI
Elizabeth Enright
Beverly Cleary
Roald Dahl

Jean Fritz
Robert Clyde Bulla

Judith St. George
Cheryl Harness
Dave & Neta Jackson
Geoff & Janet Benge
Andrew Clements
Kate DiCamillo
Diane Stanley





Favorite Audio Stories:
Cherry Jones narrating any Little House on the Prairie stories; we've heard 'em all!
Jim Weiss-he has lots & lots of great audio resources, which we love 'em all too!

Five Years & Older:
Kathryn Lasky: The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, **Marven of the Great North Woods, The Man Who Made Time Travel.
Cynthia Rylant: Henry and Mudge & Mr. Potter and Tabby & Poppleton series
Rudyard Kipling: Just So Stories, and Jungle Book
Michael Bond: Paddington Bear Series
Astrid Lindgren: Pippi Longstocking  Series
Charles Dickens: Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, and parts of Little Dorritt
James Herriot-Dog Stories, Cat Stories, and Treasury of his Stories
The Complete Tales of Uncle Remus by Joel Chandler Harris
Mary Poppins,  Mary Poppins in the Park   by Pamela Travers
The House at Pooh Corner, Now We Are Six, When We Were Very Young... by A.A. Milne
Stuart Little by E.B. White
Ralph S. Mouse series, Ramona the Pest series by Beverly Cleary
Peter Pan  by J.M. Barrie
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Little House series by Laura Ingles Wilder
Ingri D'Aulaire: Pocahontas, and George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln, Buffalo Bill ...
E. Nesbit: The Railway Children (great), The Cockatoucan
Roald Dahl-James and the Giant Peach, Charlie series, Matilda, Twits, on and on - all great!
The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink
My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George
The Borrowers by Mary Norton